As I began this, it seemed to me I should explain how we got to where we are.
These are very bad times, indeed.
Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, spent billions to get up in the air in a rocket. The thrill lasted for ten minutes. It had no scientific value whatever.
While he was up there, homeless American children were dying from disease and hunger - and that was happening in the millions.
But Jeff Bezos didn't care. But he did give a damn for Jeff Bezos. And the companies he controls are low, low paying with no employment benefits. His ten minute thrill was done at a cost that was billions. His employees got not a cent. They got nothing but starvation wages. As an employer, he lives on a giant scale. His employees get very few holidays, no health care... In the end, his employees just get trashed.
That is what's called capitalism and, oh, capitalism is flying in the U.S. We haven't seen contempt and, yes, slavery, like this for a century and more.
There are, I suppose, at least a hundred men in the U.S. just like Bezos. They starve children in Latin America, and send them to work in mines from the age of six or so. They were involved (with Canadian help) in the destruction of democracy in Haiti. The Canadian help amounted to Canadian soldiers and police who murdered Haitians.
(The Canadian Legion called this 'fighting for country'.)
The Canadian Legion has said the same for troops we have sent to kill in Korea, in Afghanistan, Syria, the Middle East. We will also, almost certainly, send them to Cuba when the U.S. tells us to.
This is fighting for Canada? No. This has nothing to do with fighting for Canada. This is just kissing the asses of super rich Canadians and Americans. In all the wars Canadians have killed and died in since 1945 not one was to defend Canada. Indeed, nobody in the period has ever attacked Canada at all. (The last time anybody threatened to attack Canada was the US shortly after 1900.)
The reality is the Canadian Legion sends out our soldiers as hired killers. The Legion likes to talk as though this has something to do with honour. The reality is that the leaders of the Canadian Legion are low on brains and high on ass-kissing U.S. billionaires.
(In it's origins The Canadian Legion supported British wars. But it was obvious in 1945 that Britain was a dead duck. So that's when the Legion tapered off on singing God Save the Queen, and switched to God Saving the U.S.)
The reality we have to live with is that our biggest enemy is the U.S. That is going to be very clear quite soon as American territory is consumed by climate change all across the U.S. That's when the U.S. will insist on making Canada a part of the U.S. And, yes. This is very likely in the near future.
By the way, who started these monster fires in the U.S. and western Canada? Well, that would be the oil companies who filled our skies with carbon dioxide and other chemicals. And these come down on us, set monster fires, sicken us.
And Trudeau's Liberals and the Conservatives and both American parties have blessed these oil companies. The only party in all of North America opposed to oil and its poisons is the NDP. (That's not a political statement. It's the truth.)
Alas! Liberals, Conservatives, GOPs and Democrats have always supported destructive and greedy causes - and Canadians and Americans have always been dumb enough to support them.
Wake up!
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This world cannot afford another big war. The weapons have become far, far too powerful. And we have far, far more serious problems to deal with. The world also has too many people. Nature, essential to us, has been crowded out of our lives. We have destroyed much of the animal world - and we need to get it back.
But instead of that, we have destroyed much of our world, overcrowding it with cities. How do we deal with that? I don't know. But it has to be done.
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And while I'm on this binge, let me wake up all of us to a reality we have ignored.
Most people think of China as a backward country. And so it was until very, very recently.
When I was in China, it was, indeed, horribly backward. That shouldn't surprise anyone. China was, after all, a hundred and fifty years in vile persecution imposed by the British. The people of China were not stupid and they were not evil. They were victims of the greed and brutality of Britain and then (now) of the U.S.
That was very obvious as I travelled about China in the 1970s and 80s. Hong Kong seemed much better then. Alas! I felt differently when I went out one night for a walk.
I liked Hong Kong. I liked my students. I liked their parents. In fact, I seriously thought of moving to Hong Kong.
I did not like the British who ruled Hong Kong. They were arrogant racists. Particularly wretched was the governor's advisor, the man who really ran the place. (Worse news was to come. I learned that the advisor who was the most arrogant and racist of the lot was my cousin in law. He was married to my cousin.)
But I liked the Chinese.
Then, one night, I went out for a walk. I was stunned by what I saw. Everywhere, the streets were jammed with people sleeping cheek to cheek on pieces of cardboard - adults, children, babies.... other's slept on galleries. Elderly men slept in wire cages just big enough to lie down in. No matter where I walked and looked I saw this misery and horror that stretched out of sight. I had no idea how many there were -- certainly it was many, many thousands of wretched and starving people.
I don't know whether this has changed in Hong Kong. I doubt it. The British didn't give a damn about the misery of the people they ruled.
Mainland China was the victim of British control for over 150 years. And it was caught in the misery until very recently.
But, oh, things have changed.
Communist China has what is probably the best housing in the world. The buildings are new. And everyone is entitled to housing. Even the poorest get free housing. (compare that to the misery of the homeless in Canada and the U.S.) This is an amazingly different China in amazingly quick time.
Education? The new China may well have the best education system in the world. And it's free. Jobs in China are plentiful and well paid. Medical care is excellent and free for all. (Compare that to the U.S. where, if you don't have much money you can simply die in the street.)
Cars? Oh, yes. China also has our curse of dense traffic jams.
Everyone, even the poorest, is well fed. (It's better than Ottawa in that.)
In short, China has become an amazingly advanced country - and more caring of it's people than is the U.S. or Canada.
Funny how our news media haven't noticed that.
Does it kill people? Yes. That happens against some groups. But it is nowhere close to the mass murder by Americans in the U.S. and all over the world. The U.S. is by far the worst mass murderer in the world.
In short, China is quite possibly the most advanced country in the world. That's an astonishing change. But you'll never see our news media mention this.
It is also now a leader in economic development all over the world. And that's what has the U.S. scared. China has the fastest growing economy in the world. In a short time, it is close, very close to beating the American economy.
That's why the U.S. is giving a lot of thought to invading China. As usual, American corporations will demand that the American people go to war against China. (The American capitalists won't pay for it. They'll get you and me to pay for it.)
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