The US coughs and Canada catches cold

guns, Mass killings, racism, Trump

 

Some ask why I talk so much about the United States. “What about Canada?” The fact is that the United States is a very important country. It is not just in economics that the claim “The United States coughs and Canada catches a cold,” is true. It is also, sadly, often true in social matters too. So I will continue to comment on what happens there, but never forgetting that usually Canada is in the same position, though as a junior partner.

Recently, on the August long weekend, 2 mass killings occurred in the United States. One in Dayton Ohio and the other in El Paso Texas. After the killings, Donald Trump uttered some fine words, clearly saying that racism and hatred were unacceptable. His words could not be faulted as in other cases, but were his words adequate for the moment? Democratic rival Cory Booker called them “bullshit soup.”

As Alexander Burns pointed out in the New York Times, “President Trump faced intense new criticism and scrutiny for the plain echoes of his rhetoric in the El Paso gunman’s anti-immigrant manifesto.” According to Burns, “Democratic challengers blamed him explicitly for giving succor to extremists.” The leading Democratic contender at the time, Joe Biden, said Trump was guilty of trying “to encourage and embolden white supremacy.” Another contender, Elizabeth Warren, captured the situation well when she said that Trump had repeatedly been “amplifying these deadly ideologies.”

What is clear is that Trump is no innocent bystander here. In recent weeks he has been loudly speaking out at rallies about 4 American Congresswomen of colour that they should go back to the rat infested countries from which they came. This was so even though 3 of them were born in the United States. I am not sure what a trope is or a dog whistle, but it is clear that such statement have made over and over again by blatant racists in the past.  Then at rallies he basked in the glow of hearing his audience loudly chant “Send them back; send them back.” In such circumstances “amplifying these deadly ideologies” is hardly an exaggeration. That is exactly what he has been doing.

In contrast to that, President Obama has been the voice of empathy and dignity. This is what he said, as quoted in the New York Times,  former President Obama wrote, “We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments, leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as subhuman, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people.” That is exactly what we should do–reject them.

The fact is that Donald Trump is not really the issue. The real issue, I submit, is that the United States, with Canada following right behind, is a country deeply infused with violence. It takes very little to light that fuse. Almost any crackpot can do it. I believe this is the legacy of a racial bias that runs so deep and came so early to that country and to Canada that it  led to genocide against the original inhabitants of this hemisphere and the subsequent enslavement of African people numbering in the millions in the US and less in Canada. Then we added male supremacy and visions of human superiority over all of nature to that already toxic stew is. It is hardly surprising that we are in a lethal mess. It is probably inevitable.

Ancient Bison Hunters of the Plains

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact

 

To my surprise there is archaeological evidence of Indigenous People living on the plains of what is now called Canada, about 11,500 years ago, even slightly before the first appearance of the grasslands and bison about 11,000 years ago. I always assumed it was the other way around, namely that after the continental Ice sheets disappeared grasslands appeared on the plains of North America and after that bison and then people.  That still seems most logical to me, but Mother Nature is not always rational. Or perhaps, more accurately we don’t always appreciate the reasons she acts as she does.

The bison (sometimes improperly called buffalo) provided for most of the needs of the Indigenous People of the Plains. Its primary use was of course for food. As mentioned early it provided food with amazing nourishment.  And there were plenty of them. It has been estimated there were as many as 65 million bison on the North American plains when Europeans arrived.

The people of the plains, such as Blackfoot, ate bison meat fresh but also dried. The made pemmican by pulverizing thin strips of lean bison meat and then adding crushed Saskatoons (service berries). Personally I like anything with Saskatoons–the world’s finest berry. Hot fat was also added by boiling the marrow of bones.  The bison meat was important for its ability to be stored this way as it provided meat in the harsh winters when meat was often difficult to find or catch.  It was also an important part of the fur trade because it provided fuel for the voyageurs.

Bison were used for many other things, beside food. In particular the skins provided vital shelter and clothing. There were so many uses that the Plains peoples tied their cultural life to the bison. Bands were formed to hunt the bison. The band sizes varied from 25 to 100 to reflect the number of people needed to hunt the bison by drives or impoundments. According to John Steckley and Bryan Cummins, in their book, Full Circle Canada’s First Nations(2008) “warrior societies were developed primarily to police the hunt so that no one would spook the buffalo herd.”

It was because of the close cultural connection between Plains People and bison, and not just the food, clothing, and shelter they provided, that the destruction of the bison herds after contact with Europeans, was so devastating. I am not saying Plains Indigenous people were entirely innocent in this destruction, though they were by no means the primary driver of it.

The methods the Plains People employed to hunt buffalo were ingenious. The earliest was the buffalo cliff drive or jump. As I mentioned earlier, there was a spectacular one at Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump in southern Alberta. If you ever travel that way I urge you to stop and admire the first class exhibit. That site is 3,000 years old! And people say (stupidly) that we have no history in Canada! We have lots of history. We just don’t have so much European history. At that site bison were driven through carefully designed lanes that led to a cliff from which they fell over to be crushed. The Indigenous people sometimes killed large numbers of bison this way. Perhaps more than they could consume.  This is one of the reasons we have to admit they were not always environmental saints.

Buffalo Pounds developed later around 250 A.D. when the technology of bows and arrows arrived on the Plains. When Indigenous People killed bison in large numbers, as sometimes they did, bows and arrows were much safer and more effective for bison hunters than spears.

However, it was complex work to create these pounds. Historian John Friesen described the work this way in his book Rediscovering the First Nations of Canada

…a walled enclosure, generally circular in shape, ranging from 10 to 75 metres in diameter. Extending from the entrance in a “v” shape were two wings of spaced stations made of piles of rocks, wood, or dried buffalo chips…These lines stretched out for several kilometres and the open mouth of the “v” was almost two kilometres in width. The pound itself was hidden from the view of the bison as they ran towards the lines of the “v,” which grew ever narrower, and then it was too late.

The one thing that is very clear though is that these were pretty sophisticated hunters.

Indigenous People of the Plains

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact

 

On the northern plains of North America populations were sparse, as they are relatively today as well. According to Dickason and Newbigging “the population averaged less than 1 person per 10 sq. miles (26 sq. kilometres). Of course some places had much greater density than others. There were also significant seasonal influxes of population. Sort of like Arizona and Southern California today. In the north however it was not the great weather that attracted people, but the seasonal hunt. The bison hunt was the basis of the plains culture.

Everything depended on the food provided by bison. The calories provided by bison were astonishing. Some have considered it the miracle food. It was one of the greatest food resources on the planet, and the Indigenous people were the beneficiaries. Its ultimate loss was one of the world’s greatest ecological disasters ever!

As James Daschuk described it, in his remarkable book Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, which everyone should read who believes Canada is a fair country,  “Studies of skeletons have shown that, in the mid-nineteenth century, peoples on the plains were perhaps the tallest and best-nourished population in the world. As a result of the bison, the Plains were lands of great civilization.

There was another factor that pointed to a great civilization on the Plains. Bison Hunters used both drives and jumps depending on how the land was configured. According to Olive Patricia Dickason and William Newbigging, in their book  A Concise History of Canada’s First Nationsthe earliest site was 5,000 years old!  Many jump sites are found near the Rocky Mountains the most famous of which is Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump in Alberta. I was very surprised when I visited it a number of years ago with our family. It was a very large site. It was so large tribes had to co-operate to use it. A group had to hunt cooperatively.  Archaeologists have discovered 30 mazeways along which bison (not really buffalo) were driven with up to 20,000 cairns that guided the bison to their doom.  When Europeans arrived the use of jumps was actually increasing.  Buffalo pounds were more common on the plains because, of course, the land was flatter.

The real significance of these sites however in my view was pointed out in a comment by Dickason and Newbigging: “These forms of hunting called for co-operation and organization within bands but also between bands and tribes. Impounding, or corralling, was the more complex method, a form of food production rather than hunting.”

And this required civilization.

Anishinabe/Ojibwa Spirituality

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact, Indigenous Religion and Philosophy

 

My daughter-in-law Debbi is part Anishinabe. I have learned a lot from her and her sister Kelsey. Kelsey is a teacher of Ojibwa culture and history. I have learned a lot from them , though not nearly enough.

Kelsey taught me that like so many Indigenous Peoples, Anishinabe (Ojibwa) people pay particular attention to directions.  This reminded me a lot of the Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest and Central America. Paying attention to the 4 directions helps orient them to the world around them and ground them in a place—a sacred place. This too is a recurring theme among many Indigenous nations. They often believe that their beliefs and spirituality arise naturally from their home place. I really like that idea. Wallace Stegner, a fantastic writer believed the same thing.

Kelsey taught me that the number 4 is sacred in their culture.  I also learned from my friend Carl Smith of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation that the Ojibway people have 4 fundamental interrelated concepts—Respect, purpose, balance and interconnection.

Kelsey also explained to me the importance of the Sweat Lodge. As the Canadian Encyclopedia explains it, “Sweat lodges are heated, dome-shaped structures used by Indigenous peoples during certain purification rites and as a way to promote healthy living.”

Inside the structures intense heat is generated usually from pouring water onto heated rock. That is done specifically to promote sweating because Anishinabe believe this will help to expel toxins and negative energy that creates imbalance and disorder in life. They believe it can help to cleanse the soul, mind, and body. This process may take several hours, but there is no set procedure that must be followed.

The Sweat Lodge is considered a sacred place compared often to a Mother’s womb. In fact that is what it is shaped like. The entrance to the Sweat Lodge usually faces east to symbolize a new day. In order to enter one must bend low to encourage humility. More religious people should practice humility. No let me correct that. More people should practice humility, including, me. Then one can exit the Sweat Lodge  reborn. Many people can gain deep spiritual experiences from the engagement with the lodge. It is hoped that one exits reborn. A new person. this is sort of like the Christian concept of being born again.

The person who operates the sweat lodge is often called the keeper. Often that person is an elder or healer. Usually no charges are incurred for the experience, though people are encouraged, but not required, to offer a gift of something like cloth or tobacco. Gift giving itself is often an important spiritual experience for people. This too is a recurring theme among Indigenous people. Sometimes tobacco is exchanged for advice.

The purpose of the sweat lodge is not to generate revenue, but to heal and cleanse body and soul. Non-trained operators are discouraged because it can be dangerous. In 2009 three  sweat lodge participants in a New Age “Spiritual Warrior” retreat near Sedona, Arizona died.

Sweat Lodges were strongly discouraged by European settlers of Canada as part of their efforts to suppress Indigenous spirituality in favor of their own Christian belief system. It was part of that wholly unjustified sense of superiority again.

One of the things I liked best about the Sweat Lodge ceremony was that anyone could participate. No particular beliefs are required. No particular beliefs about whom or what one is worshipping is a pre-requisite either. Anyone who is respectful can participate.  I believe that is how all religions should operate.

I hope to learn much more about Anishinabe culture from my new family.

Manitoba’s Cactuses

Natural History, Nature, Wild flowers of Manitoba

 

 

In June 2016 I went on one of my most spectacular botany trips ever. That is saying a lot since I have on some outstanding trips. This was truly one of the best.

Normally I am a bog guy. I love bogs. I love the orchids and other plants that inhabit our wetlands. Most of my flower hunting has been in these wetlands.  Today I felt a bit like a faithless lover because I wandered a near desert in search of cacti. I have come to love cacti as much as orchids. Both are pretty close to divine.

 

I love deserts. I just never thought I would experience one in Manitoba. Actually, I did not experience one that day. It is not really a desert but it is as close as we get in Manitoba. Spruce Woods gets about twice the amount that is the limit for what is considered a desert. The annual moisture received there is 300-500 millimetres per year-nearly twice the amount received in a true desert region. This rainfall enables plants to colonize the sand dunes, hiding most of the sand. In fact as I walked along the trail I was struck by the great variety of vegetation. For a plant guy like me that was fantastic.

 

Of the original 6,500 square kilometres of delta sand, only four square kilometres remain open today. The balance is now covered with vegetation that is gradually covering the sands. Most of the sands are now covered with a rich variety of plants and wildlife. The Spirit Sands had their origin more than 15,000 years ago when the ancestral Assiniboine River, was much larger than it is today and it created a huge delta as it carried glacial meltwaters into ancient Lake Agassiz.

The origins of the Spruce Woods require one to consider the massive continental ice sheets that covered Manitoba and much of the northern part of North America.  About 20,000 years ago, all of Manitoba was covered by an enormous ice sheet that in many places was up to 2 km. deep.  There was an awful lot of water locked up in that  ice.

When that fantastic ice sheet started to melt, a wide melt stream flowed into the recently created Lake Agassiz.  It was the largest lake the world has ever seen! As the water flowed in it dropped silt, sand, and gravel into many parts of Manitoba including a pathway that was centred roughly on what is now the Assinboine River.  This created a huge river valley.

The sand deposits thus created were vast and deep. In places they were up to 200 feet deep and covered approximately 6,500 square km. These deposits spread out in a fan shape that reached as far as Portage la Prairie. Winds created heaps of sand that we call dunes. Large dunes were built up in this area. Those dunes are still active today.

When the great continental ice sheets finally melted away, about 12,000 years ago, the Assinboine River was a mighty river, about 1.5 km wide. The modern descendant is a puny shadow of that.  The river drained into huge Lake Agassiz just south of present day Brandon Manitoba. As the glacier continued to retreat northwards Lake Agassiz drained south—opposite of today. The massive ice sheets blocked northward flow. This south flow of the river exposed massive sand from the river delta.

 

To the aboriginal people the Spirit Sands were a spiritual place close to the Great Spirit or Kiche Manitou. The present name—Spirit Sands acknowledges the religious importance of the dunes to indigenous people.

Today Spirit Sands is a fragile sand dune about 4 km2.  The rest of what is left is covered with vegetation. The dunes are moved along the prevailing northwesterly winds and like so many dunes, cover anything that stands in their way.

 

Cactuses or cacti  are magnificent. I have spent  a few winters now in Arizona looking at cacti and have come to love them nearly as much as orchids, as heretical as that might sound.  Our Manitoba cacti are small low plants but the flowers are extraordinary and can hold their heads up high to any Arizona cacti.  And they love sandy conditions.

Many people are surprised to learn that cacti can be found in Canada. After all, are cacti not a plant of the southwestern deserts? Yes and no. Certainly they can be found in the southwest of the US and are in fact famous for that. Yet they can survive in the north as well.

There are actually 4 species of cacti native to Canada. These are Escobaria vivipara, Opuntia fragilis, O. polyacanthaand O. humifusa. None of these species are found farther north than their locations in Canada.

There is another species of cactus in Manitoba that I have not seen yet. That is prickly pear and it can be found from BC to Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba. There are as well a few sites in northwestern Ontario. I have seen this cactus in Manitoba but not when it was in bloom. A nature group of which I am a part, Native Orchid Conservation Inc. went to see it but I had to miss that field trip. Sometimes life sucks.  Next year for sure!

Anishinabe/Ojibwa

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact

Anishinabe (Ojibwa or Ojibway) are the Indigenous People with whom I have had the most contact.

To begin with, my son Nicholas married Debbi a woman who is the daughter of an Anishinabe woman and one of the most wonderful women I have ever met. Her daughter is cut from the same cloth and we are very proud to have her part of our life. Not only that they have produced 2 wonderful children who are now our grand children.

I also have a significant connection with the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation because I was part of a group that partnered with them to establish an ecological reserve near their reserve and we would never have got it established if it were not for their co-operation.

I have also got to know Anishinabe people at Buffalo Point where we have a cottage on land leased from them in their reserve. As a result I have got to know a number of Anishinabe people personally.

All of this is to show that I am not entirely unbiased when it comes to the Anishinabe people.

According to John L. Steckley and Bryan Cummins in their book, Full Circle Canada’s First Nations, “Anishinabe” is the name that the people of all groups of Ojibwa (or Ojibway) usually use to call themselves. “Ojibwa” is the name given to them by Europeans, though some groups have adopted the European names. For example, the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation in Manitoba uses the name “Ojibway”. As far as I am concerned each group can use whatever name they choose, and the rest of us should usually respect that choice. In the United States they are often called Chippewa.

Like so many other First Nations or Indigenous People, the name of Anishinabe for themselves is the word for “human beings” or “people.” Scholars believe that the original Anishinabe came south from the Eastern Subarctic. They may have moved to the Atlantic coast and then to the north shores of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. Later many moved to the prairies when European traders arrived there.

Three of the bands survived: Mississauga, Saulteaux, and Ojibwa. Did you know that the following words are all based on Ojibwe words: “chipmunk” (referring to squirrels), “totem” (referring to clan), and “pecan” (meaning nut.)

In the area of the Great Lakes the Anishinabe/Ojibwa people occupied the region of the boreal forest north of the lakes . I love that country.   We drove through it last year and I  had to stop many times to take photographs. There they hunted moose beaver, and other animals and collected berries, tubers, and birch bark. As far as I know, there they were mainly hunter/gatherers.

These people were traders long before Europeans arrived to teach them how. Groups farther north were generally not as active traders because trading partners were spread out more. It is difficult to trade with someone 1,000 kilometers away. The Ojibwa traded beaver pelts of the area they occupied to the Odawa and Huron peoples farther to south and east in exchange for horticultural products like corn and tobacco.

Like the Cree farther west, the Ojibwa lived mainly in small family hunting groups and were constantly in search of game and fish. It was a pretty good life.

Gradually the Anishinabe moved further west into the territory of the Cree for reasons that are not entirely clear, but probably to trade with the Europeans who had arrived there by then. In the prairies in particular, they also farmed, particularly wild rice.  I will have more to say about this later. Anthony Hall, in his wonderful book, The American Empire and the Fourth World,  called there manner of farming “Among the most vital living expressions of Aboriginal agriculture in North America.” I will discuss this in greater detail later.

Ancient People of Canada

Ancient Humans, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous People before Contact

 

The more we learn about Indigenous People of the Americas the more we are forced to realize we did not know very much. Recent discoveries are leading scientists to believe that people have lived in what we now call Canada for much longer than people have previously believed.

Recently, scientists have discovered an ancient village on the west coast of Canada. The arrival of Europeans on the west coast of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are more well known.

The recent discovery is  of a 14,000-year-old ancient village and this might change our perception of early civilization in North America. Researches have said these remains are much older than the the Giza pyramids of Egypt. They have found artefacts that reach right back to the Ice Age. Interestingly this aligns with oral traditional history of some First Nations which history was previously discounted. Scholars may have to rethink their customary disparagement of traditional knowledge.

According to J. V. Wright, Curator Emeritus of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and author of A History of the Native People of Canada: Volume I (10,000 -1,000 B.C.) the earlier and orthodox archaeological view of native history the first period which occurred from 12,000 to 10,000 B.P the material cultures that were called the Palaeo-Indian and Northwest Palaeo-Arctic stretched across sites in what we now call the Yukon, the Prairies, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. These cultures have similarities with the Dyuktai culture in Siberia dating back as far as 18,000 B.P. This is understandable since it is generally now believed that the first Indigenous People arrived in the western hemisphere after travelling from Asia across the land bridge that was exposed at that time on account of lower sea levels.

The shared features include wedge-shaped tools made out of rock, not flakes that are broken off, microblades (which are flakes from a core sample of rock), bifacial knives (knives with a blade on both sides), and burins (stone tools for working with antler and bone).

The second period was set by Wright as the period from 10,000 to 6000 B.P. During this time, weapons technology developed substantially. For example, the atlatl or spear thrower was so effective that megafauna (Huge animals found in North America) started to disappear as a result of hunting from Indigenous people. We have to remember that Indigenous people were responsible for some extinctions too. They were not environmental saints.

It is difficult for scientists today to agree with certainty how these ancient people were related to current Indigenous peoples for as they often say, “the stone tools don’t talk.” They have to proceed on the basis of inferences, rather than firm science. This job is made more difficult by the fact that these people migrated widely.  For example, according to their own traditions, the Anishinabe people moved from the Atlantic coast to Quebec and Ontario. Later they even moved into Manitoba, where many of their descendants now reside.

The third period occurred from 6000 to 3000 B.P. The people of this period are the likely ancestors of the Algonquin nation and perhaps Hodenosaunee (Iroquois).

I think what is most important about his history is the necessary recognition if you want to know the history of Canada, the history since the contact of Indigenous people with Europeans is a very brief period of time. This is not a Christian country, or a country founded by the English and the French. This country was founded by the Indigenous Peoples. For example, the first Europeans came to Manitoba less than 400 years ago. That means that more than 95% of the history of the people of this province is not European. As John L. Steckley and Bryan Cummins said in their book, Full Circle Canada’s First Nations, “If you want to learn your history, you need to learn about Natives first.”

Lady’s-slippers

Orchids of Manitoba

 

 

 

Lady’s-slippers (Genus Cypripedium) This genus of orchids, for good reason, is named after Kypris the Greek goddess of love and beauty. The other part of the Latin name refers to the “foot” or better, “slipper.”  There are about 45 species in the world and 6 or 7 in Manitoba, depending on how you count. I have been lucky enough to see all of them in Manitoba. The flowers in this genus are all famous for having a pouch that looks like a slipper that has led to its name.  The slipper is really an inflated lip.

Insects crawl into the lip through an opening at the top of the lip but then usually are unable to get back out the same way. This forces the insect to to crawl inside the lip where there is an escape hatch. Orchids can be liars and cheats, but are not mean. The pathway in the Lady’s-slipper is pinched so that the hapless insect contacts the stigma (female organ) first where pollen on its back is deposited to start the process of fertilization.  Then it is forced to pass the anther (male organ) where it gathers pollen hopefully to deposit it in another Lady’s-slipper which will also be pollinated. Because the process is usually repeated in the next flower that ensures cross pollination.

At some of my favorite locations for Lady’s-slippers I have noticed holes where people dig them out. No other orchid is dug out more frequently than Lady’s-slippers and this has contributed greatly to their decline. The World Wildlife Fund in 1995 rated lady’s-slippers as among the 10 most wanted plants
or animals threatened by illegal and unsustainable trade. Transplanting them is rarely successful. We should all learn to appreciate them in the wild rather than horrid them at our homes.

 

 

The largest and flashiest of the Manitoba Lady’s-slippers is properly called Showy lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium reginae). The name is derived from the Latin word reginae which means queen.  It is the queen of every bog, swamp and fen in which it is found.

 

 

Moccasin- Flower or Pink lady’s-slipper(Cypripedium acaule) is not usually found in bogs and swamps though I have seen them there. They prefer pine forests.

 

Ram’s-head lady’s-slipper(Cypripedium arietinum) is the smallest of Manitoba’s Lady’s-slippers. The entire flower can be hidden by a dime. Here is one with a mosquito on it that shows the size well.

Small white lady’s-slipper(Cypripedium candidum) is the rarest of Manitoba’s Lady’s-slipper and is the only one on the endangered species list. Though all of them are rare and should be protected.

 

We have 2 species of yellow Lady’s-slipper in Manitoba, though some argue that there are actually 3 while others say all should be considered one species. Northern small yellow lady’s-slipper(Cypripedium parviflorum). Besides size, the most reliable way to tell them apart, though not without its complications, it has a smaller lip and usually darker petals and sepals that are often more twisted.

 

Large yellow lady’s-slipper(Cypripedium parviflorum Salisbury var. pubescens)is larger than the smaller cousin.

 

Then we have hybrids between the white and yellow Lady’s-slippers.

 

Sparrow’s-egg lady’s-slipper, Franklin’s lady’s-slipper(Cypripedium passerinum)is found in northern Manitoba. I have not included a photograph.   I have seen it as far south as Grand Rapids.

 

I found this very interesting when I found the small Ram’s Head Lady’s-slipper and Large Yellow Lady’s-sllipper side by side. Naturally I could not resist photographing them.

Unfortunately there is one very said fact I have to mention, though it gives me great pain. I have to report that there is a monstrous conspiracy among some scientists to have Lady’-slippers removed from the family of orchids. This is worse—far worse—than the movement to have Pluto ousted from the class of planets in our solar system. This conspiracy is so heinous I fear that armed rebellion may be needed to put it down. Keep your powder dry.