The front page
headline is “Murder suspect makes first court appearance”. And
what does that tell us? Nothing. Nothing is what usually happens on
the first appearance. This deserves, at most, two or three sentences
on a back page. So why is it the lead story for the Irving press?
Because this is what is called sensationalism. This is like the
old-time carnival shows that advertised seeing the fat lady or the
thin man or the infant body preserved in a bottle of alcohol as an
“educational experience”.
The is for people
who don't want news. They want a thrill – the same people who buy
the scandal mags with their stories about how Elvis is still alive.
The second biggest
story is really a free ad for a coffee shop that is reopening after a
fire.
The only story of
importance is that Gallant's austerity budget will not touch
education or health (this time). A4 has two 'news' stories that are
really free ads for stores. And, of course, there's the daily story
about a fire somewhere.
This region seems to
have a lot of fires. Could it have anything to do with the wide use
of wood in building? Could it have something to do with inadequate
(or unenforced) building codes? Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a
reporter ask some questions about that? Has city council ever
discussed it?
For a city that isn't very big, Moncton really sprawls. Public
transit can't deal with that. It would be cheaper to used much
smaller buses instead of those long lines of empty ones. And,
perhaps, using enough of them to let children go to school (free) by
public transit. There's something wrong with very expensive buses
that are almost always empty. Has the Irving press ever thought of
looking at that?
The editorial is
just an exercise in kissing the asses of Mr. McKenna and Dominique
Leblanc. It also has a line that is more than a little obnoxious –
that bilingualism is good because there's a business case for it. As
always, this paper can think of nothing but money and the 'business
case'. Some things are good because they are good for people.
Bilingualism is one of them. Not everything in this world is about
money.
Ditto for Norbert
who discusses refugees as a business opportunity. In fairness, that
may be because he sees the people of New Brunswick as being able to
understand nothing without a dollar sign on it. And the implication
is that we should change 'Love thy neighbour' to 'Love thy neighbour
because it's good for business”. (“Believe in Me, and ye shall
win the next Lotto Max.)
We should accept
these people because they are people, and they need our help. That
should be enough. We should help them because the alternative is
they will live in misery and early death. Not enough?
We should help them
because we have created the hell they live in. We have been
overthrowing their governments, killing their people, and looting
their oil for over a century. We have destroyed their societies. That
why some of the rubble rises in the form of ISIS.
And there are some
good, selfish reasons, too. My own experience of immigration was the
post-war immigration to Montreal. It enormously enriched the cultural
scene in Montreal. (Moncton could use that). It brought me some of my
best friends, and broadened my understanding of what family and
friends and values could mean.
I gather from the
story on the death of Rene Angelil that the Irving press approved of
him. I knew many people like him. He grew up just a few streets from
me. He was a second-generation Syrian then. Much like the Syrians we
are receiving now.
I do wish the Irving
press would learn that this world is about people. Yes. Money is
important. But people come first.
Cole Hobson has
rather a vapid column about the unconquerable restaurants of Moncton.
Brian Murphy's
column – this is my second attempt to write about it – and still
can't get beyond his – what? Ignorance? His contempt for the
intelligence of the people of this province? His ego that forces him
to how well he knows famous people, and they're his friends. He
discusses liberalism and conservatism – but obviously has no idea
what those words mean. He says he found Harper engaging and sincere.
Harper told him a joke that I remember almost from my cradle: If
you're not a socialist when you're twenty, you have no heart. If you
aren't a capitalist when you're thirty, you have no brain. I suspect
that Mr. Murphy missed both stages. In any case, a capitalist (or a
Conservative or Liberal or a Liberal Conservative or a Conservative
Liberal or a Ted Kennedy Liberal) who has no heart and is proud of it
is not much help to the world.
He tells us he was a
committed Ted Kennedy Liberal. I have no idea what that means; and I
doubt whether Mr. Murphy knows. I doubt whether he knows what
socialism means. (It means, among other things, old age pensions,
medicare, public schooling, social equality, feeding the hungry.)
He admires Mulroney,
and calls him a closet Liberal. That could be true, but only if you
use the word 'liberal' in an eighteenth century usage – that
capitalists should have absolute freedom to do what they want. He
knows Mulroney well, Murphy, says as a man of heart, thought and
emotion. This is just drivel. (And, gee, if he had a heart he must
have been a socialist.)
Brian Mulroney made
a career out of kissing the asses of the rich. The only heart he had
was for money. He accepted large bribes as prime minister. He married
into that spoiled rich crowd he wanted to be a part of. His wife
lived largely for shopping. Montreal's most expensive clothing shop
was closed on Sundays – but open just to her.
Even the wealthiest
of the Conservatives in Montreal disliked Mulroney. A well remember
being an observer at a party when Brian and Mila entered. Most people
pretended they didn't see him. This was shortly after the
Conservative convention held to pick a new leader.
Whenever the MC at
that convention mentioned the name of a noted Conservative, like
Stanfield, the audience stood and applauded. But Mulroney's name
always got a dead silence.
“Dominic Leblanc
is the best politician in Canada”. What does 'best politician”
mean? Hitler was clearly the “best politician” in 1930s Germany.
Murphy puts Frank
McKenna high on this personal list of saints. Frankly, I have never
had cause to admire him. And I find many of his political ideas
self-serving. And he certainly keeps unpleasant company at
international conferences. But the Irving press has been blowing
kisses at McKenna for the last couple of days. That suggests to me
that something is cooking.
This is quite the
worst column of vague (and possibly ignorant) blather I have ever
seen. I really cannot find a word of intelligence or of clear meaning
in this whole column. I really can't tell whether he thinks we're all
stupid or whether he just wants to tell us he knows famous people
Hey, Mr. Murphy, look at me; look at me. I knew Pierre Trudeau and
Romeo Leblanc and Field Marshall Earl Alexander and ever so many
famous people. Clap hands for me.
I know lots of
editors. (Clap, everybody). I have never met one who would stoop so
low as to allow this column to go to print.
And Moncton elected
this guy as an MP?
Alec Bruce had a
great day – yesterday. Today, he's closer to Brian Murphy. He's
preaching the gospel of austerity, and saying it's our fault for
being profligate. Really? Are we the ones that gave away a forest to
a billionaire? Are we the ones who, over the years, have squandered
money on outfits like Atcon? Exactly what is the wage gap in this
province? Who is getting most of the money this province produces
every year?
How much money do
our very wealthy pay in taxes? I mean real money, not just a
percentage. The people of New Brunswick sure as hell do not look
profligate to me. I don't see much super-expensive housing or cars. I
don't see squandering on fashionable clothes.
I do see politicians
ready to spend anything at the wish of the very rich – like a
hundred million on a skating rink. But precious little for the
homeless and the hungry.
And for austerity as
the road to prosperity,I have never heard of a society that got rich
by submitting most of its people to poverty.
So that's it. Not a damn thing worth reading in all of section A.
Section B has very
little about its topics, Canada and the World. And even the little is
either trivial or useless without informed commentary. So let's look
elsewhere.
_________________________________________________________________________
The U.S. produces
huge wealth, and spends by far the world's biggest budget. That makes
it odd that unemployment has been rising, average incomes moving
slightly if at all, the worst homeless problem of any developed
nation, and it has had to cut its help to the growing number of
starving in the U.S.
The reason? It needs
ever more money for the biggest defence budget, by far, in the whole
world. And all that money is voted by politicians like Hilary Clinton
(and almost all the rest) who get elected on money from the arms
industry.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43938.htm
I am always
intrigued by the self-righteous parades of some religious groups
protesting hospital abortions. I say self-righteous because that's
all it is. I've never seen them protesting the murders we and our
allies commit all over the world every day. I missed the their
protest over mass murder in Guatemala Iraq. If they protested against
a minimum wage that keeps people at a level of malnourishment, I must
have missed it. I've never known them to protest any war. But they're
big on protesting abortion. And, looking at them, I can see why.
Unlike the sins of war, of imposed poverty and suchlike, abortion is
safe to protest. Nobody likes it. And none of those who demonstrate
seem likely ever to need one.
But the reality is
that abortion will happen whether legal or not. It's been happening
for tens of thousands of years. Into the twentieth century,
abortion-inducing products were commonly sold in drug stores as 'For
feminine weakness'. It's always been happening. There's also a long
history of new-born babies being drowned or tossed in dumpsters. The
only difference with medical abortions is that the women more often
survive. Forbidding medical abortion doesn't save lives. In fact, it
creates a higher death rate.
Try this article…
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/13/whos-driving-high-abortion-rates-religious-right
Then there's this
one that tells its own story.
When the Irving
press talks about austerity budgeting, it never mentions the role of
the wealthy. In fact, a major reason so many people in this province
are short of money is because the wealthy get such a large and
growing part of it.
The government of New Brunswick is working on the wage gap – sort
of. But it refers only to the gap between men and women – which is
certainly one that should be remedied. But there's a much bigger one
it prefers not to look at.
Then there's this
story about the native peoples of Canada we seldom hear of.
For those, like the
Irving press who talk about the refugee problem as being a chance for
'a good business deal', take a look at the people we must help, even
if it's not a good business deal. As the article below says,
murdering civilians, including children, by starvation has always
happened in war. But there's been a change. Throughout the twentieth
century and increasingly today, civilians, including children, are
the main targets. And it's done by even the nicest people, even by
those people who hold up anti-abortion posters.
One of the great
decisions by both the Axis and the Allies in 1942 was to make
civilians the major target of bombing. They still are – for all
sides. Now, starvation is also being widely used in the middle east.
Our side is using it in Yemen. (Perhaps that's why the Irving press
never reports on Yemen). All sides are using it in Syria.
And we're helping to
starve those children – just to show we're good friends to the U.S.
Then there's a story
I haven't seen yet – but we can see it for ourselves if we look.
Oil companies are looking at drilling for oil in the Arctic. (Expect
some real problems over that because neither the US nor Russia
accepts Canadian claims to that region.) Saudi Arabia may have
reached peak oil. So the U.S., Russia and China are scrambling for
new sources. The West is spending trillions of dollars on endless
wars for oil in the middle east. Russia is in Syria for no reason but
to get access to oil.
What does this suggest the chances are of the Paris promises on
climate change being carried out?
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