For a change, we'll
open with----
Forgive me. This is
an astonishing site; and it beats anything in the Irving press.
Section A news is
deadly. It begins with a nothing statement by premier Gallant – and
then goes downhill. Call me a dreamer, but I was hoping city
leadership in this burg might show signs of dealing with real issues
– civic plans for anticipated emergencies due to climate change, a
rational public transit system to replace our present caravans of
empty buses – preferably one that does not operate on fossil fuels
– some rational plan for the future of housing that rids us of
being a city of fire traps, one that is designed for an urban population
and not as an endless sprawl of 1950s villages – that sort of
thing. But no such luck.
The only story worth
reading is on A9. The faculty associations at Saint Thomas University
are taking the university to court because it refuses to disclose the
salaries, pensions, and other perks for past presidents. Good for the
faculty associations.
Presidents are
selected by boards of governors that are dominated by business
people, and, usually, high level business people. They know close to
nothing about education, and operate universities as if they were
businesses. And what businesses do is to give absurdly high salaries,
high pensions and lots of other goodies to presidents. What's
happening should be a major scandal.
Mind you, it might
not be a bad idea for faculty associations to investigate professors,
many of whom know nothing about teaching, and avoid it as much as
possible – preferring to use the university to build their personal
glory as intellectuals.
We're paying a lot
for universities. And we aren't getting our money's worth.
The editorial
fearlessly attacks one of the great issues of our time – the number
of sick days permitted for teachers and civil servants.
It says we could
save millions if we cut back on their allowance of sick days.
Brilliant insight! Now, take it just a step further. Think of how
much we could save if we took back the tax breaks (for a tax rate
that is already low) and took action on the hidden profits in tax
havens.
Discuss this with
the editorial staff. I'm sure they would take up the case.
Norbert starts with
the useful reminder that we have to weigh individual and collective
rights carefully. And he makes good points about this with the issues
of vaccination and gun ownership. Then he says we're emerging from
the excesses of liberalism in the 1960s.
What liberalism are
you talking about, Norbert? And what “small-c” conservatism are
you talking about? Liberalism would mean putting an emphasis on
individual rights. That is what we are doing now - for the rights of
billionaires. In the 1960s, we were doing the opposite (at least a
little bit).
And what was
excessive in the 1960s, Norbert? Regulations for business? Medicare? Today, says Norbert, we live in an age of selfish entitlement and
narcissism so that one can do whatever one wants no matter how
harmful, immoral or illegal it might be.
For a start Norbert,
every age in history has been one of selfish entitlement and
narcism. For centuries such entitlement was the mark of the aristocracy. It's
now the mark of the very rich. They expect to be given whole
forests, to get low taxes (and to hide from paying even those).
They expect us to fight wars for them, to pay the taxes they don't
pay, to die if it's good for business.
So who does Norbert
pick on as the entitled and narcisstic? He gives hell to doctors who
want to defend the health system. Ooooh! Evil. Selfish. Then there's
teachers, civil servants, seniors – vicious, all of them. And a
woman who thinks public schools should supply basic materials. Vile!
All of them lazy, and living off the hard work of honest people.
Norbert, you know
damn well who the selfish, entitled and narcisstic people are in this
province. But you wouldn't dare say a word about them.
Norbert developed
all these brilliant thoughts from reading a book by a psychologist,
Stephen Pinker. I know his work only from a book he wrote on the
decline of war. I thought it was a crock. Nor do I see why a
psychologist should be taken seriously on these topics. There's a
note of sensationalism in his writing which leads me to suspect he's
one of those academics who write only for personal status and academic
glory. ( There are quite a few of them.)
Then there's Rod
Allen's column. Mr. Allen likes lobster. See? You can learn that sort
of thing only by reading the Irving press.
The guest column is
about the lumber industry in British Columbia. I have no idea why.
Alec Bruce
contributes a column that doesn't have any clear point except,
possibly, as an act of small town boosterism.
The big news on B1
for Canada &World is the leader's debate ( in French). The big
issue, it seems, will be about banning Muslim women from wearing the
nigab when taking the oath of citizenship. It's normal that national
elections are fought on trivial and even brainless issues. That's why
so many Americans are cheering for Trump. He is the ultimate
brainless candidate - and he knows all about exploiting hatred,
fear and bigotry to get votes.
The future of Canada
does not depend on whether women will be allowed to wear a veil when
taking an oath. But Harper knows that most voters have no idea
(thanks to our news media) of what the real issues are. He also knows
that anti-Muslim bigotry is especially strong in Quebec.
Mulcair is leading
in Quebec. But he has supported the right of Muslim women to wear the
nigab at the swearing-in ceremony. So Harper will play to hatred, fear
and bigotry to pick up votes in Quebec.
There are two, big
stories about the pope's visit to Washington. Neither says anything.
Canada&World is
almost entirely Canada and U.S. There's really nothing in it.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The story below also
appeared in The Independent. It's about the shamefulness of Harper
(and most of us) in doing so little for refugees. We, the U.S. and
Britain are the ones who created their misery. And now we'll do the
least possible. I don't think Canadians realize how much the rest of
the world has developed a contempt for our nation. There was a time
when we were taken seriously. Harper has destroyed that.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42942.htm
Then there's another
piece of news that wasn't important enough for the Irving press. One
candidate, Scott Walker has dropped out of the Republican leadership
race. However, one of the corporations that funded him now insists he
return that part of their funding he has not spent yet. This money
came from the Koch brothers whose vast wealth comes from oil. They also
are the ones who sponsored the claim that climate change isn't
happenimg. (They still do it.) And how much do they say Walker owes
them?
900 million dollars.
That's 900 million for just one of the candidates. They will also have
paid most of the candidates – and, probably, Hillary Clinton. And that's
just for the leadership race – not for the presidency. And it
doesn't count the congressmen and senators they've bought. The total
will be in the billions.
Why are the Koch
brothers so public-spirited? 1. so nothing will be done to fight
climate change. 2. So American tax payers will fund their wars to
control oil. 3. So they won't have to pay taxes.
Is their anybody in
New Brunswick like that? Think hard.
That's why we have
thrown away over twenty years that we needed to deal with climate
change. That's why we have murdered millions all over the world, and about half of those millions were children.
People like the Koch
brothers make Hitler seem like a humanitarian. We can't hide from
this. They have made the whole world a slaughterhouse by war, by
starvation, by exploitation and, increasingly, they will be
destroying us – for profit. This is insanity. But it's real. Don't
worry about Muslim terrorists. Worry about the ones most likely to
destroy us. They are the real terrorists.
The sight below is a
video of Noam Chomsky. He's quite right. There is no real difference
between all the Republican candidates. And, I would add, no
significant difference between them and the Democrats. (and no
difference between them and Harper). It's not too much to say they
are all insane. And, for that matter, the billionaires who own them
are insane.)
And American
democracy is over. Former president Jimmy Carter has recognized this.
And he's far from being the only one. We have done nothing
significant about climate change. We have killed millions as
ruthlessly as any butcher in history has done. We live in fear of
others when we are the ones who are terrorizing the world. And all
for the greed of a very few.
Americans are living
in insanity. And Harper is a face of that insanity. And we don't get that in our news media because the insane own almost all our news media.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42936.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment