In the last two days, physicians at the Moncton Hospital and medical staff at the Dumont have voted for a government moratorium on fracking for shale gas in this province.
The Moncton Times and Transcript, the paper that promised to keep us informed on this subject, and the government that vowed it would listen to us and respect our views - and also that it would keep us informed about developments - have neither of them said a word about it. The medical concern is that fracking and shale gas could have serious medical repercussions. But, obviously, neither the Times and Transcript nor the government give a damn about was happens to us. They're now lying by omission. Their position is by now quite clear.
They will support fracking for shale gas at whatever the risk to the people and the lands and waters of this province. The government doesn't listen to us or to doctors who know something about medical risks. What it will do is to make grand statements about passing the toughest regulations in the world, regulations that we are still in no position to judge, that almost certainly are deeply flawed, and that almost certainly will never be enforced.
We are being lied to and placed in danger to make a tiny number of people very rich, leading figures among them people who have enriched themselves at our expense and our loss for generations.
Meanwhile, we have a prime minister in Ottawa who who never saw a piece of pollution and destruction he didn't like.
We are all getting a lesson in greed, and the stupidity induced by greed. The people who call themselves capitalists have long ago destroyed both capitalism and democracy by their greed and their indifference to the rest of us. Now, they are destroying the very earth we live on. And the reason they offer is that this will provide jobs - until, of course, they have destroyed the earth as effectively as they have destroyed capitalism and democracy.
In the past year, while the poor have been getting poorer, the very rich have actually been getting richer. Latest studies around the world show the wage gap continues to grow, even as tens of millions more fall into poverty.
Common sense would tell a child the outcome of this. As the poor get poorer and the rich richer, fewer have money to buy goods. That means even more poverty as businesses cut back on staff. The remedy proposed by the rich? Cut the taxes of the rich. Right. Make the wage gap even bigger. Impoverish even more. Ultimately, set off severe violence all over the world (which, now I come to think of it, is happening.)
Common sense would tell a child this. But common sense is quite uncommon in the corporate boardrooms of this world. Watch this year for another favourite idiocy of corporations. They want even more control over government, more 'private/public partnership (a form of corporate welfare), and more privatization of just about everything. It's a movement so strong it dominates the US and the UK; and Harper is a certifiable ideologue for the same madness.
I also watched for another story that I knew wouldn't be there. It's one I mentioned yesterday, the deportation of the American woman that American warhawks are demanding. A volunteer in the American army, she served in Iraq. There, she was horrified by the slaughter of civilians. This was not at all what what she had been raised to believe America was about.
On her return, her conscience would not allow her to stay in the army; so she sought refuge in Canada. Big mistake. Harper is deporting her within days. She will almost certainly be separated from her two, young chldren, and imprisoned.
Harper, you could have protected her. It's not as if she did damage to anyone or betrayed a trust or killed anybody. Harper, can you spell bastard?
On the editorial page, the editorial is the usual bombast, Norbert is harmless; I profoundly disagree with Alec Bruce (first time, I think.) Alberta is, as he says, making big money out of oil. It is also up to its ears in pollution that will stay millions of years after the oil is gone. The oil and gas industry could create jobs for us? Yes.So could selling all our water and marketing out children as slaves. Then what? Alec - think of priorities.
Think of consequences.
There are two, absorbing columns by Lynda MacGibbon and David Suzuki. I agree with both, but think ms. MacGibbon has to look at the church, itself, as part of the problem. One part of the problem is, of course, the highly commercialized and consumerist world that the business world (which has taken over the task of parenting) has created.
But then there's the problem that the churches have largely failed to get past ritual (and some mythology) to deal with the issues Jesus talked about. Jesus did not come to say, "Nyah, Nyah. My mother's a virgin and yours isn't." He dealt with rather more important problems. But you'd never know it from listening to most sermons.
As for the rioting in the Moslem world, why the surprise? And, no, the anti-Mohammed movie is not the cause of it. It's the trigger. It's not the gunpowder.
There is a reality, several realities, ignored by almost all of the western press. For over a century, western powers have been invading Moslem countries (among others). They have killed by the millions. The have killed or impoverished mothers, fathers children. They have shattered societies.They have extracted trillions of dollars in profits- with a healthy share going just to dictators and "kings" they put in power - just to keep the locals quiet.
No wonder so many governments in the region are unstable.
The West is, with excellent reason, hated in much of the Moslem world. The United States, as the most prominent of the western countries in leading the assault since 1945 is the most hated though Canada, under Harper, has brought Canada up to the front rank.
Governments and the news media, especially North American ones, used 9/11 to fan hared and fear of Moslems. (This did not escape the notice of Moslems.) They created a paranoia which made it seem justifiable to invade Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11. Hatred of Moslems was easily extended to a trillion dollar assault on Afghanistan which, almost certainly, had nothing to do with 9/11. It is now used to justify attacks on Pakistan, Libya, Syria, and sundry African countries.
Let's get real. The US and, to a lesser degree, Canada were once the mostly high respected countries in the world. We are now the most distrusted, feared and hated. That's the reality, and there are hundreds of polls to show it. When I was travelling in Euope and Asia, wearing a maple leaf with the word Canada over it was a guarantee of welcome. Today, Canadians are commonly warned not to wear national symbols when travelling.
The film about Mohammed would once have been ignored. Now, it is a cause of rioting, destruction and death. Who caused that?
We did.
.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Sept. 13: A brief supplement to this day's blog....
I have been waiting for a story that has not appeared in the TandT.
An American woman named Kimberley Rivera has been living in Canada as a refugee for four years. She has two children born here in Canada.
She was in the American army, and served in Iraq. What she saw there so disgusted and upset her that she decided she could not go on with this. Her conscience would not allow it. So, when she was returned to the US, she entered Canada as a conscientious objector.
The US has demanded she be returned. It can, of course, make any request it likes. Canada has no obligation to respond, and every right to allow such a person to stay in Canada. Stephen Harper has, of course, agreed to deport her, and to do it as quickly as possible. September 19 is the day.
As he knows, she faces prison, separation from her children and, given recent information about the US prison system, every possibility of military justice (which means no justice), solitary confinement, and even torture. (Yes, Virginian. The US has been known to torture people - including Americans. Private Manning can tell you all about it - if they ever let him out of solitary.)
And all because she doesn't want to kill people. Great set of priorities, Steve.
The United Church of Canada has set up a link to enable you to intervene in this case. It's:
http://www.united-church.ca/getinvolved/takeaction/120911
This is an interfaith project - so all are invited to join it.
Time is short. This is a time for church-goers to think over what their faith is all about -and to do something.
An American woman named Kimberley Rivera has been living in Canada as a refugee for four years. She has two children born here in Canada.
She was in the American army, and served in Iraq. What she saw there so disgusted and upset her that she decided she could not go on with this. Her conscience would not allow it. So, when she was returned to the US, she entered Canada as a conscientious objector.
The US has demanded she be returned. It can, of course, make any request it likes. Canada has no obligation to respond, and every right to allow such a person to stay in Canada. Stephen Harper has, of course, agreed to deport her, and to do it as quickly as possible. September 19 is the day.
As he knows, she faces prison, separation from her children and, given recent information about the US prison system, every possibility of military justice (which means no justice), solitary confinement, and even torture. (Yes, Virginian. The US has been known to torture people - including Americans. Private Manning can tell you all about it - if they ever let him out of solitary.)
And all because she doesn't want to kill people. Great set of priorities, Steve.
The United Church of Canada has set up a link to enable you to intervene in this case. It's:
http://www.united-church.ca/getinvolved/takeaction/120911
This is an interfaith project - so all are invited to join it.
Time is short. This is a time for church-goers to think over what their faith is all about -and to do something.
Sept. 13: Maybe I'm too hard on the TandT....
...maybe they aren't lying. Maybe they're just illiterate.
A1. "Billboard company cuts Dieppe presence" Wow! Those words clearly indicate that a billboard company has done something. It has cut its presence in Dieppe. That impression is reinforced on p. A 15. "Billboard company reduces Dieppe presence". Again, it is the company that has taken action. And it is a company that has just been fined for infractions of the Dieppe signs bylaw which requires bilingual signs.
So, the invisible sub headline is "Pattison Outdoor Advertising tells French where to get off."
Now, I am no admirer of any law that tells private companies what language their signs should be in. I've seen it in Quebec. I've seen the idiocy and trouble it can lead to. I also think that city councils which operate on the principle that you can make people respect the language of others by forcing them to put up signs in your language - especially with the added idiocy that the language they have to respect must go on top - are being pretty stupid.
I grew up in a Montreal district in which most people were French - and so were most signs. And some French who lived in majority English districts saw more English signs. Big deal. I thought nothing of it. Then, a law that required ALL signs to be in French only or to have French in letters twice as big as English did not make me respect my French neighbours more. Quite the contrary.
I think advertisers in a francophone district should have advertising that is at least bilingual - or even unilingual French. But it's up to them. They're the ones with something to sell. Passing a law in such a case is simply going to encourage resentment and even bigotry on both sides. But back to Pattison Outdoor Advertising...
What Pattison did was to say his business in Dieppe is slowing because advertisers don't like the extra expense. In that respect, Pattison was not cutting or reducing or doing anything. And the one thing he did do was to take down one (count them, one) billboard.
In other worse, that only thing Pattison did in any sense of the word 'cut' was to take down one billboard. That means the story has one hell of a misleading headline. And why does taking down one billboard justify a front page story that, in its continuation, goes on for almost a full page?
It this a deliberate attempt to stir up anglo bigotry? Or is the Moncton Times and Transcript simply incompetent? Bookies are offering 50/50.
A4 has a gush-gush, kiss-kiss story about Frank McKenna.
There's an important story in Newstoday, page 1. "Pakistan factory fires kill 314 workers". It's important because someday soon, it could be about you.
The workers, in two factories, died because conditions in the factories were unsafe. Of course. Pakistan has virtually no safety regulations or enforcement for private business, and only weak unions to put pressure on factory owners. Why should the owners care about safety? They're in business to make profits. Safety cuts into profits. So they hire workers cheap, demand long hours, and don't give a damn about safety.
We're part of that. It's part of what's called globalization. It's what gives us low prices on clothes and electronics. And who are the owners who care so little about human life? Well, a good many of them are members of some of Canada's "better" families. And they care as much (or as little) for people in Canada as they do for those in Pakistan.
Think of that. Think shale gas. Think oilsands. Think Arctic oil drilling. Think breaking up unions. After all, ordinary people have very little "worth". Remember that term when it has been used in the TandT in connection with our bus strike?
Factories in Canada used to be like the ones in Pakistan. And it wasn't the owners who cleaned things up. It took voters and unions almost a century to do that. Now, we're heading back to the bad, old days. Get used to it. Investors don't give a damn about you or your family or your health. They even lack the wit to understand that all this greed and damage is eventually going to hurt them.
Read the whole story. It's also about you.
C16 has another important story - that because of the murder of the US ambassador to Libya, Canada is worried about the safety of its diplomats over much of the world. I have a special concern, here. One of my early students is now Canada's ambassador to a Moslem country. When I last saw him, a half-dozen years ago, he was already living in danger. An armed guard was constantly with him, and his car had light armour. It's needed because in much of the world Canada is perceived (rightly) as being a puppet for American big business. My former student, much as I like him, is quite clearly such a puppet.
Harper broke diplomatic relations with Iran. It was to make attacks on Iran that have no practical effect on anything. He withdrew the diplomatic staff from Iran because, he said, he did not want to leave them in danger of attack from an Iranian mob. There are two problems with that.
1. He made his attack on Iran while the staff was still there - and needed a week to get out. Great way to protect them.
2. That act, as we now see, has put our diplomats around the world in danger. Great thinking, Steve.Are you going to withdraw them all?
Oh - a cute note. Read the last sentence of the story. It's about how terrorism became a major concern after 9/11. That's the day 2,700 Americans died in New York.
Actually, there were acts of terrorism long before that.
From 1965 to 1973, the US airforce dropped on Cambodia far more tonnage of bombs than had been dropped by all the allied forces all over the world during World War Two, making Cambodia, a country the US wasn't even at war with, the most heavily bombed country in history. Estimates of the dead range to 600,000 and more. It was done -and this was openly admitted - to cause terror. I think that's what's called terrorism.
Before and into the administration of George Bush sr., the CIA directed a genocide of Maya civilians in Guatemala. The dead included men, women, children, babies. Whole villages were wiped out. I think that's called terrorism.
But it's not the same is it? We grieve with New York. But we never even think of those civilians our side has murdered and still murders. I mean, they're not people like us. Not really. So we mourn for the victims in New York. But any Canadian who suggested we should mourn for the Cambodians or the Maya would be regarded as a crackpot. It can be terrible to kill in order to terrorize. But it depends on who is the killer, and who is the victim.
So terrorism didn't become a concern until 9/11.
The editorial is a kiss-up to some rich people. It uses big words to make itself sound important.
Norbert's column is trivial - but interesting. However, it should not be on an editorial page. That page - and op ed - is for serious comment. I have seen nothing to suggest that Norbert is capable of serious and informed comment. I would cettainly encourage him write the sort of catchily interesting stuff he can do: but put it a few pages earlier in the Life and Times section.
Alec Bruce's column can seldom be long enough to say all that I'm sure he could say. Today's is a good one. But I'll just add a blunt bit.
The defence industries in Canada and the US are as corrupt as they come. The reason Canada cancelled the Arrow is quite possibly because the US defence industry wanted a monopoly on aircraft production. The reason we're getting stuck with an American fighter plane with a price tag that can climb faster than any jet can is because the major purpose of the defence industry is to rip off tax-payers. Harper will stick with an American plane that doesn't work because those are the rules of the US-Canada relationship.
The defence industry has always been like that. If you know an old hunter, ask him about the Ross rifle.
Rod Allen's op ed column begins with a photo of him showing a straight face. That's the only part of the column worth looking at.The rest of the column is about an idea for students that will be appealing for old grouches of low intelligence, but raise raise enormous educational and social problems.
Jody Allaire is, as always, intelligent and well-informed. It's also a reminder that the world can march backwards as well as forwards - and commonly goes backward more quickly than forward.
There's an interesting Letter to the Editor about nurses. I was appalled to read about the salaries and working conditions of nurses. However, I think she makes a big mistake in attacking the bus drivers as if they were the cause of her problems. That's playing an old game. I'm our sure our bosses love the underpaid to fight the underpaid. But the reality is that it is not the bus drivers who are to blame for conditions in nursing. Nor will them getting less pay mean the nurses will get more. On contrary, if the bosses can get away with paying the drivers less, then they'll also try to pay the nurses less.
Fight your enemy. Don't fight someone who's in the same boat as you.
A1. "Billboard company cuts Dieppe presence" Wow! Those words clearly indicate that a billboard company has done something. It has cut its presence in Dieppe. That impression is reinforced on p. A 15. "Billboard company reduces Dieppe presence". Again, it is the company that has taken action. And it is a company that has just been fined for infractions of the Dieppe signs bylaw which requires bilingual signs.
So, the invisible sub headline is "Pattison Outdoor Advertising tells French where to get off."
Now, I am no admirer of any law that tells private companies what language their signs should be in. I've seen it in Quebec. I've seen the idiocy and trouble it can lead to. I also think that city councils which operate on the principle that you can make people respect the language of others by forcing them to put up signs in your language - especially with the added idiocy that the language they have to respect must go on top - are being pretty stupid.
I grew up in a Montreal district in which most people were French - and so were most signs. And some French who lived in majority English districts saw more English signs. Big deal. I thought nothing of it. Then, a law that required ALL signs to be in French only or to have French in letters twice as big as English did not make me respect my French neighbours more. Quite the contrary.
I think advertisers in a francophone district should have advertising that is at least bilingual - or even unilingual French. But it's up to them. They're the ones with something to sell. Passing a law in such a case is simply going to encourage resentment and even bigotry on both sides. But back to Pattison Outdoor Advertising...
What Pattison did was to say his business in Dieppe is slowing because advertisers don't like the extra expense. In that respect, Pattison was not cutting or reducing or doing anything. And the one thing he did do was to take down one (count them, one) billboard.
In other worse, that only thing Pattison did in any sense of the word 'cut' was to take down one billboard. That means the story has one hell of a misleading headline. And why does taking down one billboard justify a front page story that, in its continuation, goes on for almost a full page?
It this a deliberate attempt to stir up anglo bigotry? Or is the Moncton Times and Transcript simply incompetent? Bookies are offering 50/50.
A4 has a gush-gush, kiss-kiss story about Frank McKenna.
There's an important story in Newstoday, page 1. "Pakistan factory fires kill 314 workers". It's important because someday soon, it could be about you.
The workers, in two factories, died because conditions in the factories were unsafe. Of course. Pakistan has virtually no safety regulations or enforcement for private business, and only weak unions to put pressure on factory owners. Why should the owners care about safety? They're in business to make profits. Safety cuts into profits. So they hire workers cheap, demand long hours, and don't give a damn about safety.
We're part of that. It's part of what's called globalization. It's what gives us low prices on clothes and electronics. And who are the owners who care so little about human life? Well, a good many of them are members of some of Canada's "better" families. And they care as much (or as little) for people in Canada as they do for those in Pakistan.
Think of that. Think shale gas. Think oilsands. Think Arctic oil drilling. Think breaking up unions. After all, ordinary people have very little "worth". Remember that term when it has been used in the TandT in connection with our bus strike?
Factories in Canada used to be like the ones in Pakistan. And it wasn't the owners who cleaned things up. It took voters and unions almost a century to do that. Now, we're heading back to the bad, old days. Get used to it. Investors don't give a damn about you or your family or your health. They even lack the wit to understand that all this greed and damage is eventually going to hurt them.
Read the whole story. It's also about you.
C16 has another important story - that because of the murder of the US ambassador to Libya, Canada is worried about the safety of its diplomats over much of the world. I have a special concern, here. One of my early students is now Canada's ambassador to a Moslem country. When I last saw him, a half-dozen years ago, he was already living in danger. An armed guard was constantly with him, and his car had light armour. It's needed because in much of the world Canada is perceived (rightly) as being a puppet for American big business. My former student, much as I like him, is quite clearly such a puppet.
Harper broke diplomatic relations with Iran. It was to make attacks on Iran that have no practical effect on anything. He withdrew the diplomatic staff from Iran because, he said, he did not want to leave them in danger of attack from an Iranian mob. There are two problems with that.
1. He made his attack on Iran while the staff was still there - and needed a week to get out. Great way to protect them.
2. That act, as we now see, has put our diplomats around the world in danger. Great thinking, Steve.Are you going to withdraw them all?
Oh - a cute note. Read the last sentence of the story. It's about how terrorism became a major concern after 9/11. That's the day 2,700 Americans died in New York.
Actually, there were acts of terrorism long before that.
From 1965 to 1973, the US airforce dropped on Cambodia far more tonnage of bombs than had been dropped by all the allied forces all over the world during World War Two, making Cambodia, a country the US wasn't even at war with, the most heavily bombed country in history. Estimates of the dead range to 600,000 and more. It was done -and this was openly admitted - to cause terror. I think that's what's called terrorism.
Before and into the administration of George Bush sr., the CIA directed a genocide of Maya civilians in Guatemala. The dead included men, women, children, babies. Whole villages were wiped out. I think that's called terrorism.
But it's not the same is it? We grieve with New York. But we never even think of those civilians our side has murdered and still murders. I mean, they're not people like us. Not really. So we mourn for the victims in New York. But any Canadian who suggested we should mourn for the Cambodians or the Maya would be regarded as a crackpot. It can be terrible to kill in order to terrorize. But it depends on who is the killer, and who is the victim.
So terrorism didn't become a concern until 9/11.
The editorial is a kiss-up to some rich people. It uses big words to make itself sound important.
Norbert's column is trivial - but interesting. However, it should not be on an editorial page. That page - and op ed - is for serious comment. I have seen nothing to suggest that Norbert is capable of serious and informed comment. I would cettainly encourage him write the sort of catchily interesting stuff he can do: but put it a few pages earlier in the Life and Times section.
Alec Bruce's column can seldom be long enough to say all that I'm sure he could say. Today's is a good one. But I'll just add a blunt bit.
The defence industries in Canada and the US are as corrupt as they come. The reason Canada cancelled the Arrow is quite possibly because the US defence industry wanted a monopoly on aircraft production. The reason we're getting stuck with an American fighter plane with a price tag that can climb faster than any jet can is because the major purpose of the defence industry is to rip off tax-payers. Harper will stick with an American plane that doesn't work because those are the rules of the US-Canada relationship.
The defence industry has always been like that. If you know an old hunter, ask him about the Ross rifle.
Rod Allen's op ed column begins with a photo of him showing a straight face. That's the only part of the column worth looking at.The rest of the column is about an idea for students that will be appealing for old grouches of low intelligence, but raise raise enormous educational and social problems.
Jody Allaire is, as always, intelligent and well-informed. It's also a reminder that the world can march backwards as well as forwards - and commonly goes backward more quickly than forward.
There's an interesting Letter to the Editor about nurses. I was appalled to read about the salaries and working conditions of nurses. However, I think she makes a big mistake in attacking the bus drivers as if they were the cause of her problems. That's playing an old game. I'm our sure our bosses love the underpaid to fight the underpaid. But the reality is that it is not the bus drivers who are to blame for conditions in nursing. Nor will them getting less pay mean the nurses will get more. On contrary, if the bosses can get away with paying the drivers less, then they'll also try to pay the nurses less.
Fight your enemy. Don't fight someone who's in the same boat as you.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Sept.12: Gee! Wayne Gretzky
Today's Victoria Colonist has an interesting story on how Harper said in 2007 that global warming is the biggest crisis the world faces. But ever since, he has been encouraging the use of fuels that create global warming (and sundry other forms of poisoning), has shut down our only station to monitor the ozone hole in the Arctic, and has put in its place a science station to encourage oil production in the Arctic. Oh, and he just relaxed regulations on the use of coal (which, as a producer of the gases that cause global warming, is even worse than oil.)
But don't worry about it. You haven't have to suffer reading any nasty stuff like that in The Moncton Times and Transcript. Instead, put on your Oilers sweater, sit back, and enjoy most of the front page and another page of pictures of Wayne Gretzky and trivial chatter. After all, you're only twelve once.
Apparently, people paid some 70 bucks a shot to hear discussion of the great issues of the day - like who is the greatest player after Gretzky. Money well spent.
Nothing about shale gas leaks or about the storm of opposition to fracking in the US and around the world. No, the purpose of the TandT is to keep people in the dark about anything of importance. It's the daily popsicle for the mind.
There is a story about a businessmen's group that wants to play a role in discussions about language in New Brunswick.(A3.) Look, kids,I don't know where business leaders get the idea they have any special talent in dealing with social issues. Their record so far on anything is not very strong. They have ruined the world economy, created a global warming that threatens our survival, spread poverty, particularly in Africa and Central America. And destabilized the whole world.
Tell you what, kids, find out where Wayne Gretzky is speaking next, get out your old Oiler sweaters, and sit back and enjoy something you understand.
There is a language issue bubbling below the surface in New Brunswick. But it's one the francophone community has to deal with. Some of its leaders seem to be enthusiastic about the Quebec model for language. But the Quebec model has been a disaster. It has cost Quebec heavily - and things are likely to get far, far worse.
As well, there's a great difference between Acadiens and Quebecois. Quebecois are deeply racist in the form that's called nativism. That nativism breeds and feeds on hatred- and there's no future in that. Acadiens are not Quebecois. They are not living in the same situation. They are not dealing with the same problems. What is not working in Quebec is going to be even worse in New Brunswick. And that can only hurt the Acadiens. But I don't think a committee of anglos and francos is the way to solve it. Acadiens are quite capable of dealing with their own affairs.
NewsToday has a story, quite true, that both government and rebels are committing war crimes in Syria. Big deal. I'd like to meet anyone who can name any war in history in which both sides did not commit war crimes. In every war of the past century, the majority of victims have been civilians. And it h as been quite deliberate on all sides. Torture has been freely used. But the only people ever charged with war crimes have been the losers.
There are very strong and recent examples of war crimes by Britain, the US, Russia, and uncounted others. Tony Blair, former PM of the UK, is commonly described as a war criminal, even in the British Press. Bush and Obama and Blair are certainly war criminals, if only for their use of torture. So where are all the trials?
Israel was condemned for war crimes and for abuse of human rights by the UN on many occasions. It was saved only by the US veto.(and the silence of most of our news media.)
The only trial of note on our side was Lt. William Calley who was found guilty by a US court of murdering 112 people. (The real total of dead was closer to 800). He spent one night in jail.
Remember the marine in Aghanistan who slaughtered 30 or so women and children, then burned their bodies? Heard much news about his trial?
Meanwhile, Iraqis are being killed every day in large numbers. Two days ago, it was a hundred. Read much about it in the TandT? Or about the protesters shot by soldiers in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates?
Forget war crimes trials. They're for losers. We hang a Saddam Hussein. We don't hang a Washington cabinet minister named Rumsfeld who paid him to kill Iranis.
The only columnist worth reading on the editorial or op ed page is Alec Bruce. And he's very well worth reading. I'll just add a touch which he may or may not agree with.
Over the past sixty years, we have seen a tremendous expansion of business moving into control of government. In fact, one observer said the American system of government had become the same as that of the Roman Empire in its last days - legalized bribery.
That's always been a problem in Canada, too; and Harper has been encouraging the problem. Here in New Brunswick we see it with business people appointed by business leaders acting as official advisors to the government on economic policy. Corporate bosses can be extraordinarily arrogant people, actually believing that they have wide gifts to make decisions about human affairs.
One of their decisions was to widen what we call the wage gap - the difference between incomes of the very rich and the rest of us. So we watched it widen. We watched it for thirty years.And what happened was what should have been obvious would happen.
The very rich stored up vaults of money. Most others went downhill, and became unable to buy. Result? Recession, of course. And made worse by deregulated banks that played money games which were illegal even after deregulation. In the past month of "recovery", an additional million and a half Americans have slid below the poverty line. The very rich, meanwhile, sit on their vaults of money safely stored in tax havens.
And who do they blame for this crisis? Why, it's them there poor people, expectin' too much when they ain't worth it.Yeah, I have a few billion. But I worked hard for it. Had only two billion to start, but built it up.It's mine. Ain't payin' it in no taxes. You got hungry kids? Your problem. Tell you what. You give me a tax break and a government grant, and it'll all get better.
We have lived increasingly well for five hundred years based on the ability of a very few of us to exploit the resources and the people of all the world, the years of the western empires. Most of us never got much even in those "good' years. And now they're over. We need a new formula. We need an improved system of leadership and governance. And, as we face that, one thing is surely clear. He who has eyes to see, let him see.
Business leaders do not, as a group, have the competence to run any part of a society.
Oh, skip the op ed page. That's just a lollipop with no lolli and no pop.
Oh - a last note. This blog began a couple of years ago, drawing a hundred or so viewers a month. But things are picking up. It's now running at 5000 viewers a month and - today - it should hit a grand total of 50,000. When it does, I'll crack open a lollipop.
But don't worry about it. You haven't have to suffer reading any nasty stuff like that in The Moncton Times and Transcript. Instead, put on your Oilers sweater, sit back, and enjoy most of the front page and another page of pictures of Wayne Gretzky and trivial chatter. After all, you're only twelve once.
Apparently, people paid some 70 bucks a shot to hear discussion of the great issues of the day - like who is the greatest player after Gretzky. Money well spent.
Nothing about shale gas leaks or about the storm of opposition to fracking in the US and around the world. No, the purpose of the TandT is to keep people in the dark about anything of importance. It's the daily popsicle for the mind.
There is a story about a businessmen's group that wants to play a role in discussions about language in New Brunswick.(A3.) Look, kids,I don't know where business leaders get the idea they have any special talent in dealing with social issues. Their record so far on anything is not very strong. They have ruined the world economy, created a global warming that threatens our survival, spread poverty, particularly in Africa and Central America. And destabilized the whole world.
Tell you what, kids, find out where Wayne Gretzky is speaking next, get out your old Oiler sweaters, and sit back and enjoy something you understand.
There is a language issue bubbling below the surface in New Brunswick. But it's one the francophone community has to deal with. Some of its leaders seem to be enthusiastic about the Quebec model for language. But the Quebec model has been a disaster. It has cost Quebec heavily - and things are likely to get far, far worse.
As well, there's a great difference between Acadiens and Quebecois. Quebecois are deeply racist in the form that's called nativism. That nativism breeds and feeds on hatred- and there's no future in that. Acadiens are not Quebecois. They are not living in the same situation. They are not dealing with the same problems. What is not working in Quebec is going to be even worse in New Brunswick. And that can only hurt the Acadiens. But I don't think a committee of anglos and francos is the way to solve it. Acadiens are quite capable of dealing with their own affairs.
NewsToday has a story, quite true, that both government and rebels are committing war crimes in Syria. Big deal. I'd like to meet anyone who can name any war in history in which both sides did not commit war crimes. In every war of the past century, the majority of victims have been civilians. And it h as been quite deliberate on all sides. Torture has been freely used. But the only people ever charged with war crimes have been the losers.
There are very strong and recent examples of war crimes by Britain, the US, Russia, and uncounted others. Tony Blair, former PM of the UK, is commonly described as a war criminal, even in the British Press. Bush and Obama and Blair are certainly war criminals, if only for their use of torture. So where are all the trials?
Israel was condemned for war crimes and for abuse of human rights by the UN on many occasions. It was saved only by the US veto.(and the silence of most of our news media.)
The only trial of note on our side was Lt. William Calley who was found guilty by a US court of murdering 112 people. (The real total of dead was closer to 800). He spent one night in jail.
Remember the marine in Aghanistan who slaughtered 30 or so women and children, then burned their bodies? Heard much news about his trial?
Meanwhile, Iraqis are being killed every day in large numbers. Two days ago, it was a hundred. Read much about it in the TandT? Or about the protesters shot by soldiers in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates?
Forget war crimes trials. They're for losers. We hang a Saddam Hussein. We don't hang a Washington cabinet minister named Rumsfeld who paid him to kill Iranis.
The only columnist worth reading on the editorial or op ed page is Alec Bruce. And he's very well worth reading. I'll just add a touch which he may or may not agree with.
Over the past sixty years, we have seen a tremendous expansion of business moving into control of government. In fact, one observer said the American system of government had become the same as that of the Roman Empire in its last days - legalized bribery.
That's always been a problem in Canada, too; and Harper has been encouraging the problem. Here in New Brunswick we see it with business people appointed by business leaders acting as official advisors to the government on economic policy. Corporate bosses can be extraordinarily arrogant people, actually believing that they have wide gifts to make decisions about human affairs.
One of their decisions was to widen what we call the wage gap - the difference between incomes of the very rich and the rest of us. So we watched it widen. We watched it for thirty years.And what happened was what should have been obvious would happen.
The very rich stored up vaults of money. Most others went downhill, and became unable to buy. Result? Recession, of course. And made worse by deregulated banks that played money games which were illegal even after deregulation. In the past month of "recovery", an additional million and a half Americans have slid below the poverty line. The very rich, meanwhile, sit on their vaults of money safely stored in tax havens.
And who do they blame for this crisis? Why, it's them there poor people, expectin' too much when they ain't worth it.Yeah, I have a few billion. But I worked hard for it. Had only two billion to start, but built it up.It's mine. Ain't payin' it in no taxes. You got hungry kids? Your problem. Tell you what. You give me a tax break and a government grant, and it'll all get better.
We have lived increasingly well for five hundred years based on the ability of a very few of us to exploit the resources and the people of all the world, the years of the western empires. Most of us never got much even in those "good' years. And now they're over. We need a new formula. We need an improved system of leadership and governance. And, as we face that, one thing is surely clear. He who has eyes to see, let him see.
Business leaders do not, as a group, have the competence to run any part of a society.
Oh, skip the op ed page. That's just a lollipop with no lolli and no pop.
Oh - a last note. This blog began a couple of years ago, drawing a hundred or so viewers a month. But things are picking up. It's now running at 5000 viewers a month and - today - it should hit a grand total of 50,000. When it does, I'll crack open a lollipop.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Sept. 10: The invisible story
It's not in the Moncton Times and Transcript, though one would think it kind of important, as important, say, as a big, section A story that Riverview Council has set its priorities for roadwork. I learned of it only through friends at La Presse Libre de Moncton Free Press. (You should read it. Just go to Google, and type in either the French or the English part of the title.)
The auditor-general is our (yours and mine) watchdog on federal government spending. It's had a wild time with the government's determination to buy the F-35 fighter from a US company, a fighter which will almost certainly be an antique before it ever gets into service. Nor is it at all clear how it would be of any use in defending Canada.
The bigger problem is that the government made a royal mess out of negotiating for it. The cost, always vague, has run out of control - and it still hasn't peaked. Defence Minister Peter MacKay, GHU (God Help Us) sets the price at 9 billion. His own department sets it at twelve to 13 billion. The auditor-general, using the government's own figures, comes to a total of at least 25 billion. Oh, and its performance so far is quite disappointing.
The auditor-general, who is OUR watchdog, wants to release the figures to the public. He asked for them under the freedom of information act - but they won't let even him see them. And they're going to court to stop him from making public what he has.
Hey. That's OUR watchdog; but apparently he's not allowed to bark.
The government reason? O-o-o-h. It would help the enemy - whoever that might be by the time that mess gets into the air. What enemy? Well, in Harper's book, anybody who's not in the cabinet it the enemy.
It's our money. But we're not allowed to know how it's spent. I've never even heard of an auditor-general being muzzled like that. (Must make us all proud to know that Harper's parent's were from Moncton/Port Elgin. Stephen was born shortly after they moved to Toronto.)
(George Bush, by the way, let out the word that a certain American ambassador's wife was a CIA agent. He did it because the ambassador was a political enemy. In doing so, he put in danger not only his own CIA agent, but all those in the network she had set up. That betrayal of national interest is exactly what Assange is being charged with. But there was no charge for George.)
Harper is not just petty and annoying. He's a dedicated threat to democracy - and I don't exaggerate. He's threat to democracy at a time when democracy has all but disappeared in the US, and when Canada is being economically and militarily subordinated to the US to a degree it was never subordinated even to Britain.
This is no small matter. It's one hell of a serious one. Harper is telling us we have no right to know how he spends money. As to military secrets, the performance so far of the F35 is no secret. It's a standing joke all over the world.
But it's not important enough to make the TandT.
There's a bizarre story on p. 1 of News Today. People in the diplomatic world are wondering why Harper cut off diplomatic relations with Iran. So Harper has come up with a new reason. He wanted to speak against human rights abuse by Iran; and he feared that if Canadian diplomats were there when he said it, they would be in danger.
Well, duh, yeah..I guess...maybe... But if that's the case, why did he make the speech about human rights while the diplomats were still in Iran?
And if his pants were so on fire about defending human rights, why has he never mentioned American torture? The illegal invasion of Iraq with its murder of a million people? The massacre of a quarter million Maya in Guatemala? The illegal use of drones which seems to being killing mostly civilians, anyway? The turning over of prisoners from Canada to the US for torture? The use of special ops to carry out illegal murders (which, I believe, is called terrorism)..... While chatting with the Queen, did he mention to her Britain's use of torture?
John Mundy, a former Canadian ambassador to Iran, wrote in The Globe, that in a time of crisis, diplomats should be the last to leave a country, not the first. A Harper hack replied that the veteran diplomat really didn't understand these diplomatic matters.
It says something when a newspaper becomes simply a list of things we are not allowed to know about. This is not a small matter. It is not even just the arrogant and dictatorial streak in Harper. This is all part of a direction we're going in. And the TandT is doing its share, keeping us amused and ignorant of our national purpose - to change the ending or O Canada to "O Canada, yum tiddy dee. O Canada, we stand on guard for whatever, O Canada we stand on guard for whatever." Freedom in both Canada and the US - and in Britain - is dying fast.
Today's editorial is another appeal to spend big bucks on another scheme that will without doubt produce a gee-whiz profit from tourism. You know, like the proposed hockey rink. And, also like the latter, it will produce an even more sure-thing bonanza for some contractor friend of the government.
Norbert's column is harmless. Alec Bruce's column looks light. It really isn't.
Gwynne Dyer I found a little odd. I know I've read that column before. Could it be a repeat? In any case, it's good column.
And - bless his little heart, staff writer Alan Cochrane wrote a column that is actually about something. That's a rarity for that staff writer space. It could be harder edged - but it's a good starting point for a serious examination.
There's a letter to the editor about hospital food. It is, indeed, vile. I think there's a rule that it has to be. Long ago, I was deeply in love with a hospital dietician. But love fled like a snow drop in hell when she cooked a lunch for me. As well, on a recent visit to a hospital to say goodbye to an old friend, my appendix,I learned something even more sinister about hospital food.
I ate, as you will understand, as little as possible of each meal. As well, a part of me had been cut out and sent to appendix heaven. After five days, I rushed home to see how much weight I had lost.
I hadn't lost. I had bloody gained - seven pounds.
The auditor-general is our (yours and mine) watchdog on federal government spending. It's had a wild time with the government's determination to buy the F-35 fighter from a US company, a fighter which will almost certainly be an antique before it ever gets into service. Nor is it at all clear how it would be of any use in defending Canada.
The bigger problem is that the government made a royal mess out of negotiating for it. The cost, always vague, has run out of control - and it still hasn't peaked. Defence Minister Peter MacKay, GHU (God Help Us) sets the price at 9 billion. His own department sets it at twelve to 13 billion. The auditor-general, using the government's own figures, comes to a total of at least 25 billion. Oh, and its performance so far is quite disappointing.
The auditor-general, who is OUR watchdog, wants to release the figures to the public. He asked for them under the freedom of information act - but they won't let even him see them. And they're going to court to stop him from making public what he has.
Hey. That's OUR watchdog; but apparently he's not allowed to bark.
The government reason? O-o-o-h. It would help the enemy - whoever that might be by the time that mess gets into the air. What enemy? Well, in Harper's book, anybody who's not in the cabinet it the enemy.
It's our money. But we're not allowed to know how it's spent. I've never even heard of an auditor-general being muzzled like that. (Must make us all proud to know that Harper's parent's were from Moncton/Port Elgin. Stephen was born shortly after they moved to Toronto.)
(George Bush, by the way, let out the word that a certain American ambassador's wife was a CIA agent. He did it because the ambassador was a political enemy. In doing so, he put in danger not only his own CIA agent, but all those in the network she had set up. That betrayal of national interest is exactly what Assange is being charged with. But there was no charge for George.)
Harper is not just petty and annoying. He's a dedicated threat to democracy - and I don't exaggerate. He's threat to democracy at a time when democracy has all but disappeared in the US, and when Canada is being economically and militarily subordinated to the US to a degree it was never subordinated even to Britain.
This is no small matter. It's one hell of a serious one. Harper is telling us we have no right to know how he spends money. As to military secrets, the performance so far of the F35 is no secret. It's a standing joke all over the world.
But it's not important enough to make the TandT.
There's a bizarre story on p. 1 of News Today. People in the diplomatic world are wondering why Harper cut off diplomatic relations with Iran. So Harper has come up with a new reason. He wanted to speak against human rights abuse by Iran; and he feared that if Canadian diplomats were there when he said it, they would be in danger.
Well, duh, yeah..I guess...maybe... But if that's the case, why did he make the speech about human rights while the diplomats were still in Iran?
And if his pants were so on fire about defending human rights, why has he never mentioned American torture? The illegal invasion of Iraq with its murder of a million people? The massacre of a quarter million Maya in Guatemala? The illegal use of drones which seems to being killing mostly civilians, anyway? The turning over of prisoners from Canada to the US for torture? The use of special ops to carry out illegal murders (which, I believe, is called terrorism)..... While chatting with the Queen, did he mention to her Britain's use of torture?
John Mundy, a former Canadian ambassador to Iran, wrote in The Globe, that in a time of crisis, diplomats should be the last to leave a country, not the first. A Harper hack replied that the veteran diplomat really didn't understand these diplomatic matters.
It says something when a newspaper becomes simply a list of things we are not allowed to know about. This is not a small matter. It is not even just the arrogant and dictatorial streak in Harper. This is all part of a direction we're going in. And the TandT is doing its share, keeping us amused and ignorant of our national purpose - to change the ending or O Canada to "O Canada, yum tiddy dee. O Canada, we stand on guard for whatever, O Canada we stand on guard for whatever." Freedom in both Canada and the US - and in Britain - is dying fast.
Today's editorial is another appeal to spend big bucks on another scheme that will without doubt produce a gee-whiz profit from tourism. You know, like the proposed hockey rink. And, also like the latter, it will produce an even more sure-thing bonanza for some contractor friend of the government.
Norbert's column is harmless. Alec Bruce's column looks light. It really isn't.
Gwynne Dyer I found a little odd. I know I've read that column before. Could it be a repeat? In any case, it's good column.
And - bless his little heart, staff writer Alan Cochrane wrote a column that is actually about something. That's a rarity for that staff writer space. It could be harder edged - but it's a good starting point for a serious examination.
There's a letter to the editor about hospital food. It is, indeed, vile. I think there's a rule that it has to be. Long ago, I was deeply in love with a hospital dietician. But love fled like a snow drop in hell when she cooked a lunch for me. As well, on a recent visit to a hospital to say goodbye to an old friend, my appendix,I learned something even more sinister about hospital food.
I ate, as you will understand, as little as possible of each meal. As well, a part of me had been cut out and sent to appendix heaven. After five days, I rushed home to see how much weight I had lost.
I hadn't lost. I had bloody gained - seven pounds.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Sept. 10: Norbert says it all....
Seriously, Norbert does say it all. It's in a quite decent column on the editorial page in which he comments on an extraordinary discovery about our DNA. He says the implications for humanity are enormous.. Then he says....
"I think there's a good case to be made that editors around the world missed the boat by not making this their lead, headline news."
Yes, indeed.
When was the last time you saw a lead, headline story in the Moncton Times and Transcript with enormous implications for humanity?
Is it one of today's lead stories? "Moncton dips into food fest"? Or is it that big picture of a balloon?
In the whole of section A, there are, at best, two or three items worth reading. And there is a kind of important story "Baghdad rocked by car bombs". It's important because in the continuing disaster that was the British/American intervention in Iraq, we are now well into a worsening phase that the TandT hasn't bothered to say much about. The country is, quite literally, being torn apart.- and that is going to make for one hell of an unstable middle east.
But even that didn't make the paper's headline. It was hidden on p. 2 beside the chess quiz and the sudoku puzzle. Whey put it there, in a section that is normally local news? Probably because there was an empty space there, and the story just fit.
To balance that, NewsToday, which usually carries national and international news, has a New Brunswick story. It also has an inane story telling us that Stephen Harper is of the opinion that Canada's victory in the 1971 Canada-Russia hockey series helped end the cold war. This is pure childishness.
Then, a really important international story is hidden on the back page of NewsToday. It seems that the 9/11 attack on New York killed more than 1,000 people just from its after-effects as the fires released toxic chemicals. That's in addition to the more than 2,700 killed immediately. And people are still dying from 9/11. Some 20,000 more are being treated for illnesses related to the attack. And another 40,000 are being monitored. That's a total of some 63,000.
Now, in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the US killed at least several millions with bombs, fire, napalm, toxic chemicals and depleted uranium. At 9/11, the ratio of the total killed immediately and those who are dying early, is 25 to1. So that would make the death tolls for Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan at least 75,000,000 - and probably far worse considering the lack of medical facilities in those countries.
And none of those countries had attacked the US, or had anything to do with 9/11.
But don't expect to see a headline on that, either, in the Moncton Times and Transcript.
The editorial writer gushes like a lovesick cow at the coming of Wayne Gretzky, and speaks of his/her excitement at the thought that Gretzky might put in a good word for the new hockey rink (oops, sorry, events centre.) Might put in a good word?
Gretzky's talk is being sponsored by TD Canada Trust and Enterprise Greater Moncton. Oh, and he will be introduced by the geegoshwhizeroo former "most illustrious" premier of NB, Frank McKenna.
And the editorial writer is just keen to hear what Mr. Gretzky's thoughts might be on the new hockey rink.
Well, gee, duh, like I think, you know, duh, he might think it's a good thing. Just like the illustrious hustler Mr. KcKenna does and all the illustrious deep thinkers of Enterprise Greater Moncton. I mean, like, do you really think he's just here to see the tidal bore and maybe dine out at a Big Stop?
And they're so good to us. I mean, you put all those people together, and they could easily pony up enough of their money and borrow enough more to build that rink - and then to keep for themselves all the huge profits that the rink will surely generate. But no, they want us to have all that profit. I kiss the ground those saints walk on.
Oh, and Mayor Leblanc will be there to answer questions, so everything will be clear and out in the open.
And Gretzky should be ashamed of himself. (The others won't be. If they were capable of shame they wouldn't be partners to this scam.)
If you read just a little bit between the lines of Alec Bruce's column, few Americans are crazy about either of their political parties. That's probably more dangerous for Obama than it is for Romney because Obama last time had the advantage of being the image of hope. And he has certainly left that image in ashes.
But it's even more dangerous for the nation. Political trust, belief in democracy are the lowest they have ever been in the US. This is coupled with massive unemployment, and low wages for those who do get jobs. And it's going to get worse, much worse. The major response of government so far has been to militarize the police in both equipment and training, to set up a domestic espionage system that is the most extensive in history with files on the private lives of virtually all Americans (and more than a few of us), with the extension of powers to imprison American citizens with no charge or trial - even to assassinate them on presidential order - and with torture the flavour of the day.
The spying is often illegal; and it concentrates on African Americans, hispanics, anyone who looks different.
The reality is that the US is a police state. It's not going that way. It's not showing tendencies. It has happened. All that remains uncertain is how long it can maintain even a facade of democracy. Oh, and how long we will remain a democracy - if we still are.
The op ed page is the usual dead loss. It, alone, is free of any danger of being spied on.
"I think there's a good case to be made that editors around the world missed the boat by not making this their lead, headline news."
Yes, indeed.
When was the last time you saw a lead, headline story in the Moncton Times and Transcript with enormous implications for humanity?
Is it one of today's lead stories? "Moncton dips into food fest"? Or is it that big picture of a balloon?
In the whole of section A, there are, at best, two or three items worth reading. And there is a kind of important story "Baghdad rocked by car bombs". It's important because in the continuing disaster that was the British/American intervention in Iraq, we are now well into a worsening phase that the TandT hasn't bothered to say much about. The country is, quite literally, being torn apart.- and that is going to make for one hell of an unstable middle east.
But even that didn't make the paper's headline. It was hidden on p. 2 beside the chess quiz and the sudoku puzzle. Whey put it there, in a section that is normally local news? Probably because there was an empty space there, and the story just fit.
To balance that, NewsToday, which usually carries national and international news, has a New Brunswick story. It also has an inane story telling us that Stephen Harper is of the opinion that Canada's victory in the 1971 Canada-Russia hockey series helped end the cold war. This is pure childishness.
Then, a really important international story is hidden on the back page of NewsToday. It seems that the 9/11 attack on New York killed more than 1,000 people just from its after-effects as the fires released toxic chemicals. That's in addition to the more than 2,700 killed immediately. And people are still dying from 9/11. Some 20,000 more are being treated for illnesses related to the attack. And another 40,000 are being monitored. That's a total of some 63,000.
Now, in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the US killed at least several millions with bombs, fire, napalm, toxic chemicals and depleted uranium. At 9/11, the ratio of the total killed immediately and those who are dying early, is 25 to1. So that would make the death tolls for Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan at least 75,000,000 - and probably far worse considering the lack of medical facilities in those countries.
And none of those countries had attacked the US, or had anything to do with 9/11.
But don't expect to see a headline on that, either, in the Moncton Times and Transcript.
The editorial writer gushes like a lovesick cow at the coming of Wayne Gretzky, and speaks of his/her excitement at the thought that Gretzky might put in a good word for the new hockey rink (oops, sorry, events centre.) Might put in a good word?
Gretzky's talk is being sponsored by TD Canada Trust and Enterprise Greater Moncton. Oh, and he will be introduced by the geegoshwhizeroo former "most illustrious" premier of NB, Frank McKenna.
And the editorial writer is just keen to hear what Mr. Gretzky's thoughts might be on the new hockey rink.
Well, gee, duh, like I think, you know, duh, he might think it's a good thing. Just like the illustrious hustler Mr. KcKenna does and all the illustrious deep thinkers of Enterprise Greater Moncton. I mean, like, do you really think he's just here to see the tidal bore and maybe dine out at a Big Stop?
And they're so good to us. I mean, you put all those people together, and they could easily pony up enough of their money and borrow enough more to build that rink - and then to keep for themselves all the huge profits that the rink will surely generate. But no, they want us to have all that profit. I kiss the ground those saints walk on.
Oh, and Mayor Leblanc will be there to answer questions, so everything will be clear and out in the open.
And Gretzky should be ashamed of himself. (The others won't be. If they were capable of shame they wouldn't be partners to this scam.)
If you read just a little bit between the lines of Alec Bruce's column, few Americans are crazy about either of their political parties. That's probably more dangerous for Obama than it is for Romney because Obama last time had the advantage of being the image of hope. And he has certainly left that image in ashes.
But it's even more dangerous for the nation. Political trust, belief in democracy are the lowest they have ever been in the US. This is coupled with massive unemployment, and low wages for those who do get jobs. And it's going to get worse, much worse. The major response of government so far has been to militarize the police in both equipment and training, to set up a domestic espionage system that is the most extensive in history with files on the private lives of virtually all Americans (and more than a few of us), with the extension of powers to imprison American citizens with no charge or trial - even to assassinate them on presidential order - and with torture the flavour of the day.
The spying is often illegal; and it concentrates on African Americans, hispanics, anyone who looks different.
The reality is that the US is a police state. It's not going that way. It's not showing tendencies. It has happened. All that remains uncertain is how long it can maintain even a facade of democracy. Oh, and how long we will remain a democracy - if we still are.
The op ed page is the usual dead loss. It, alone, is free of any danger of being spied on.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Sept. 9: more lying?
There's a remarkable story that is not in Saturday TandT - though it has appeared in papers around the world. Let me bore you a little bit at the start because it's related to a problem that has long bothered me about the Times and Transcript.
The editorial layout of the Moncton Times and Transcript is puzzling. The only sections that appear to have been organized by an intelligent life form are Sports, celebrity news, horoscopes and advice, and the comics.
The front page, normally the locale for big news of the day, is a graveyard of trivia in the TandT. The rest of Section A is usually local and provincial news, but with the occaisonal national or international story. Why?
NewsToday looks like it should be the foreign and national news section - as though Canada were a foreign country. But even that isn't consistent. The section for September 8 carries a reminder that tickets are still available to see Wayne Gretzky (be still, my heart) when he comes to Moncton.
Any foreign news stories come from Reuters, and national ones from PostMedia - neither of them with any great reputation for reliability. But I suppose the TandT must get a special rate. Both of these sources are so unreliable that one cannot begin to understand the news by reading them. That's where columnists can help.
But the TandT has only four columnists who know what they're talking about - and only of them appears daily. The editorials are essentially propaganda for the boss. The staff writers specialize in personal trivia that no serious newspaper would tolerate; and Norbert just loves rambling on about subjects he know nothing about - like Quebec.
It's a sloppy paper. It's a lazy one. But what particularly caught my attention recently was a very large story on Harper at a trade conference. It's long. It's boring. And it will mean close to nothing to most readers. in fact, it's a prime example of why newspapers need opinion columns. But what caught my attention is that this was not the Harper/trade conference story that appeared in most newspapers around the world.
Unlike others, the TandT didn't mention Putin. But Putin and Harper had a personal and private meeting. I don't know. It seems to me that a meeting between Harper and Putin is kind of newsworthy. And in that meeting they discussed an issue that had made the news day after day. And Putin had something new and newsworthy to say about it. So why didn't the TandT, like The Globe and other newspapers around the world mention it?
Putin told Harper that the two year sentence of the Pussy Riot girls for blasphemy in a church had high support from the Russian people - and even more so because Pussy riot had just shortly before that staged a group sex show at a Moscow Museum.
Now, Putin in not a nice guy. He rose by dint of a career of murder, torture and brutality. It's quite possible, even probable, he ordered those prison terms. In fact, the career of Putin has been very similar to that of George Bush Sr. The elder Bush, too, made his way up as a high level assassin. For example, he was head of the CIA at the height of the slaughter of a quarter million Maya civilians. That means he was also no stranger to torture. There are, I'm afraid, few nice buys on either side.
Now, if Pussy Riot did put on a group sex performance, and if the general public in Russia knew about it and was profoundly offended (and it if was on facebook), how come we never heard about it? Western reporters covering the trial - even the Reuters ones, would almost certainly have been residents of Moscow, and fluently bilingual. How is it possible they never heard about a group sex show in a major, Moscow museum? And if the Russian public was angry about that, how come they never reported it?
And if the TandT found it important enough to run several stories about the trial and the church blasphemy, how come it never mentioned the public,group sex? Would public group sex be acceptable at, say, the Moncton library? Would storming a Baptist church to desecrate it win applause from the Moncton Times and Transcript? The Reality is that Pussy Riot could well have received two years in any Canadian or American court for a similar crime. For example:
An American woman who served in the military turned against the Afghanistan war based on what she had seen. She came to Canada for refuge. Harper, his nose never far from the bottom of an American president, ordered her deported. She faces separation from her child, and a prison sentence. Will Madonna put in a plea for her? Will the Times and Transcript follow the case day by day?
Pvt. Bradley Manning has been over a year in solitary with torture, and is now facing a secret trial for his involvement in Wikkileaks.. He will almost certainly be returned to a military prison for the rest of his life, much or all of it in solitary (though the UN defines solitary as torture.) Read much about that in the TandT?
The poverty stricken in parts of Latin America face prison for stealing a glass of clean water, since all clean water in many countries is now the property of the privately owned (and usually American) water company.
But we never read reports about that from Reuters or PostMedia.
I don't know the truth about the Pussy Riot. I do know that Canada or the US could quite likely hand down a similar sentence for such an attack on a church.And I'm certainly sure it would if there was also a public display of group sex.
But the Moncton Times and Transcript didn't even find it worth reporting on.
This is a trivial, lazy and incompetent newspaper. Why? Because it's sole puprose is to keep New Brunswickers in the dark. That's the way the boss likes it.
The editorial layout of the Moncton Times and Transcript is puzzling. The only sections that appear to have been organized by an intelligent life form are Sports, celebrity news, horoscopes and advice, and the comics.
The front page, normally the locale for big news of the day, is a graveyard of trivia in the TandT. The rest of Section A is usually local and provincial news, but with the occaisonal national or international story. Why?
NewsToday looks like it should be the foreign and national news section - as though Canada were a foreign country. But even that isn't consistent. The section for September 8 carries a reminder that tickets are still available to see Wayne Gretzky (be still, my heart) when he comes to Moncton.
Any foreign news stories come from Reuters, and national ones from PostMedia - neither of them with any great reputation for reliability. But I suppose the TandT must get a special rate. Both of these sources are so unreliable that one cannot begin to understand the news by reading them. That's where columnists can help.
But the TandT has only four columnists who know what they're talking about - and only of them appears daily. The editorials are essentially propaganda for the boss. The staff writers specialize in personal trivia that no serious newspaper would tolerate; and Norbert just loves rambling on about subjects he know nothing about - like Quebec.
It's a sloppy paper. It's a lazy one. But what particularly caught my attention recently was a very large story on Harper at a trade conference. It's long. It's boring. And it will mean close to nothing to most readers. in fact, it's a prime example of why newspapers need opinion columns. But what caught my attention is that this was not the Harper/trade conference story that appeared in most newspapers around the world.
Unlike others, the TandT didn't mention Putin. But Putin and Harper had a personal and private meeting. I don't know. It seems to me that a meeting between Harper and Putin is kind of newsworthy. And in that meeting they discussed an issue that had made the news day after day. And Putin had something new and newsworthy to say about it. So why didn't the TandT, like The Globe and other newspapers around the world mention it?
Putin told Harper that the two year sentence of the Pussy Riot girls for blasphemy in a church had high support from the Russian people - and even more so because Pussy riot had just shortly before that staged a group sex show at a Moscow Museum.
Now, Putin in not a nice guy. He rose by dint of a career of murder, torture and brutality. It's quite possible, even probable, he ordered those prison terms. In fact, the career of Putin has been very similar to that of George Bush Sr. The elder Bush, too, made his way up as a high level assassin. For example, he was head of the CIA at the height of the slaughter of a quarter million Maya civilians. That means he was also no stranger to torture. There are, I'm afraid, few nice buys on either side.
Now, if Pussy Riot did put on a group sex performance, and if the general public in Russia knew about it and was profoundly offended (and it if was on facebook), how come we never heard about it? Western reporters covering the trial - even the Reuters ones, would almost certainly have been residents of Moscow, and fluently bilingual. How is it possible they never heard about a group sex show in a major, Moscow museum? And if the Russian public was angry about that, how come they never reported it?
And if the TandT found it important enough to run several stories about the trial and the church blasphemy, how come it never mentioned the public,group sex? Would public group sex be acceptable at, say, the Moncton library? Would storming a Baptist church to desecrate it win applause from the Moncton Times and Transcript? The Reality is that Pussy Riot could well have received two years in any Canadian or American court for a similar crime. For example:
An American woman who served in the military turned against the Afghanistan war based on what she had seen. She came to Canada for refuge. Harper, his nose never far from the bottom of an American president, ordered her deported. She faces separation from her child, and a prison sentence. Will Madonna put in a plea for her? Will the Times and Transcript follow the case day by day?
Pvt. Bradley Manning has been over a year in solitary with torture, and is now facing a secret trial for his involvement in Wikkileaks.. He will almost certainly be returned to a military prison for the rest of his life, much or all of it in solitary (though the UN defines solitary as torture.) Read much about that in the TandT?
The poverty stricken in parts of Latin America face prison for stealing a glass of clean water, since all clean water in many countries is now the property of the privately owned (and usually American) water company.
But we never read reports about that from Reuters or PostMedia.
I don't know the truth about the Pussy Riot. I do know that Canada or the US could quite likely hand down a similar sentence for such an attack on a church.And I'm certainly sure it would if there was also a public display of group sex.
But the Moncton Times and Transcript didn't even find it worth reporting on.
This is a trivial, lazy and incompetent newspaper. Why? Because it's sole puprose is to keep New Brunswickers in the dark. That's the way the boss likes it.
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