–
and a sweet, young lad I was – among the first words I childishly
prattled were the common slang of my neighbourhood. I can still
remember my father's smile of joy as I uttered my first sentence,
“You a brown-nose.”
I don't know whether
the term is still in use among today's young citizens. But it came to
mind as I read the headline in today's Irving press. Now, a headline
should be about news, that is, something that has happened. But
this one is really an opinion piece. “Partnerships could put
province at forefront of health-care delivery.”
Yes, it's clap hands
with joy for Mr. Irving and his friends. It would be a brand new
public/private/partnership to put money into the pockets of those
people who are so much better than us.
Of course, the
Irving press, always mindful of its role, did briefly mention two
people who questioned the plan. But they get only a few lines and,
anyway, they're so far down in the story, few readers will get that
far.
That's what's called
brown-nosing, spelled with a capital BROWN. (I don't 'know what it
actually means. Hey. I'm just a kid.)
The other big story
in section A news is that the Time Horton's Roll up the Rim contest
is now entering its fifth season in Canada. Obviously, this kind of
story calls for a real expert in mass communication. So it was
covered by Brent Mazerolle.
The editorial is
another case of advanced brown-nosing, this time for the pipeline.
It tell us the
safety record of oil pipelines in Canada is good. Oh? What is good?
Exactly what is the record? And how come this paper still has not
mentioned the California pipeline disaster? Are Canadian pipelines
different from American ones?
And it will create
jobs for New Brunswickers? Duh, Yeah. So it's worth taking risks.
Duh. And there won't be any risks at all for Mr. Irving, will there?
Justin Ryan has an
interesting read. Rod Allen's is sometimes interesting but, my, his
desire to be witty can get him into trouble. His final words are,
“….even our landlords, the Mi'Kmag. were once refugees.”
When we steal land
from people, we do not make them our landlords. This line is insult
after injury. And they were once refugees? Mr. Allen, they are
refugees. They are refugees in their own land.
Alec Bruce doesn't
think much of the Gallant budget. But, at that, he is too kind in
saying that the budget is simply the point of the spear, to be
followed by creating a more productive economy. I don't think it is.
Such a budget has never been productive of anything but suffering for
most, and higher profits for the rich.
And to say the taxes
are just the head of t he spear, with cures to follow, is bunk. Mr.
Gallant, as a servant of Mr. Irving, has no cures. Nor, it seems,
does Alec Bruce.
I'm so relieved that Mr. Irving will not suffer under this budget.
Canada and World is
mostly village gossip.
The Syrians peace
talks are stalled. Of course. The U.S. isn't interested in peace
talks. It wants Syria split into at least three. It wants Assad out,
and its own puppet in. And it wants Russia to go away. And peace
talks would destroy all those nice things.
Oh, and Yemen still
doesn't make the news.
The only foreign
news story worth reading is about a 10 year old boy in Afghanistan
who was killed by insurgents. Terrible? Yes. But this is a news
report that tells the whole story. The boy was recruited by his
father, a government military officer, who then used media to make
him a hero. Of course, that also made him an easy target for the
Taliban who who killed him on his way to school.
The story also reports that both the government and the Taliban are
recruiting large numbers of children to send into combat.
Yesterday, much of Ontario hit record high temperatures for this time
of year. There was lots of time for the Irving press to print that.
It didn't. Well, it would just give people silly ideas that we're
experiencing climate change. And we all know that is all just a big
lie, and we all know that oil isn't doing it And, if the climate
were changing, Mr. Irving would tell it to stop.
In CBC news, the
U.S. Senate has demanded that Canada reassure it we are adequately
screening refugees.
Can you imagine the
squeals of indignation if Canada demanded to know whether the U.S has
adequate screening? After all, the U.S. appears to have let in far,
far more terrorists than Canada has. I understand the U.S. has also
let in millions of illegal Mexicans. Shouldn't we question them about
that? I mean, all those Mexicans and terrorists could be heading for
Canada.
Take this seriously.
Americans actually believe that they have a right to tell other
countries what to do. Even now, they're trying to tell Canada what to
do in the middle east. Watch for much more of this in the future.
And here's an opinion on it from The Guardian. I especially like the
last few paragraphs.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/04/us-senate-committee-questions-candadian-border-threat
Another story is
that about half of Canadians don't know anything about the
Trans-Pacific-Trade-Partnership. The greatest support is from
Conservatives at 49% in favour. It is much lower in other parties.
How to explain this of a deal that's been cooking for a couple of
years?
1. Our news media,
mostly owned by the people who stand to get rich out of this deal,
aren't telling us anything. We are particularly ignorant of the part
that says foreign corporations can effectively block any
environmental laws, even if they are proven necessary to save lives.
And the court which decides that will not be a Canadian court. It
will be a private court, owned by billionaires, and it will make its
decisions in secret.
2. Conservatives favour it because the old Conservative government
favoured it. And conservatives will vote for anything with a
conservative label on it because their daddies and grandaddies always
voted conservative.
We're getting
remarkably little news on what Canada will do in Syria. This is
trickier than it looks.
For Canada to take
ANY part in the war in Syria, even babysitting for 'rebel' soldiers
who are off to do the fighting, is illegal under international law
and under the constitution of the United Nations. The U.S. is there
illegally, too, and is, therefore, committing war crimes.
Under law, you can
invade a country only if it poses a direct threat to you. Or – if
it's government invites you to send troops. Russia was invited to
send troops. The U.S. was not. And Canada will not be asked. What the
U.S. has been doing is pulling its 'allies' (puppets) into an illegal
war. We very righteously hanged people for doing that after World War
Two.
Then there's another
problem.
Canada cannot to to
war unless parliament votes in favour of it. That's in our
constitution. (It's in the U.S. constitution, too, but the U.S. has
been ignoring its own constitution for years.)
Every Nov. 11, we
are told how our soldiers died to win us the right to vote on whether
Canada should go to war. That's never been true, really. But it is
the law in this country. Parliament must vote. And Trudeau cannot
weasel out of this by saying the Canadians would just help to train
the 'rebels', or even just to distribute maple syrup in Tim Horton
roll-up-the-rim cups.
And even if
parliament were to approve, it would still be an illegal war.
Any movement into a
country without the permission of its government is an act of war,
and it's illegal. That's why almost all the 'drone' raids are
illegal. That's why most attacks by 'special ops' are illegal. That's
why most American interference in Latin America (as in Panama and
Guatemala and other countries) is illegal.
What we have watched
since World War Two has been the deliberate destruction of
international law, of the UN, of national constitutions. This has
been quite deliberate, with private business playing a major role in
destroying any hope of international order. This is what is called,
in the U.S., American Exceptionalism. And it's exactly like Nazi
exceptionalism. And like British exceptionalism and French
exceptionalism in their imperial days. (For that matter, it's much
like the French, British, and then Canadian exceptionalism that stole
this whole country.)
This has thrown the
whole world into its present chaos, with much worse to come.
However, I would be
willing to offer a compromise.
We could equip and
train our billionaires, and send all of them over.
I find it amazing that no commentator for the Irving press has had to
wit to point all this out. The information is so easily available
that even Norbert could understand it. And it would be a nice change
from his loutish and crashingly ignorant attacks on education and the
civil service.
Today's The Guardian
has many stories about the UN court's decision that Julian Assange,
the man who leaked state secrets to tell Americans about the torture
and murder their country was carrying out, should not have to remain
in hiding at the Ecuador embassy in London. British police have no
right for force him to stay there. And the Swedish courts have no
right to interfere. (All of this has been going on at the demand of
the U.S. government.
Will Assange now be
allowed to go free? I doubt that very much. The U.S., Britain and
Sweden don't give a damn about the law or the UN. That's why nobody
involved in massive torture was ever been charged. The police go
after you only if you tell the truth.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/04/julian-assange-wikileaks-arrest-friday-un-investigation
I wonder if the Irving press will carry this story tomorrow.
er
Here's a suggestion
of why oil prices are low. As well, a reader sent me a comment that
also suggests credible reasons for why the Saudis are being so
generous to us. It's at the end of the blog for Sept. 2.
And there's a very big story about what's happening to the American
dollar. Russia is using and accepting China's Yuan for international
trade. It has also become Russia's major customer for oil. I don't
have enough information yet on this to post anything I've seen. But
I'll be watching for it.
There there's video
of how the US knew about the ISIS convoys of trucks to Turkey from
the start – and did nothing. This is a video – which means you
can see the sources and hear them.
Paul Craig Roberts
is one of my favourite journalists. He's very well informed,
well-experienced, and honest.
And this last site
is one I used only with care. But I'm pretty confident about the
truth of this one because I've been following it in other media.
Mercenary soldiers
are in wide use in every war you hear about in the world, and also in
the ones you don't hear about. These are, to put it plainly, simply
hired killers. It's a career that does not attract charitable
workers. It's more for the kind of person who just loves killing –
killing anybody – just killing. And rape. And theft. They are the
bullies and thieves you always hated in school. One of the biggest
employers of mercenaries is the U.S. However, the world champ in
murder-for-pay circles is Britain. God bless the Queen.
They can be, and
are, sent to countries all over the world – to anybody who can pay
the price And they can do anything they like. Mercenaries were
commonly used in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Latin America. They've
fought for Britain, the U.S., whoever wants them to kill whoever it
is they want killed. And almost nobody reports on them or controls
them. Nobody mentions their war crimes. And their numbers are huge.
https://www.rt.com/uk/331158-britain-global-mercenary-industry/
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