Yessirree. Our premier has been named the second best fiscal manager in Canada by - wait for it - the Fraser Institute. Yes, the Fraser Institute, a propaganda front for big business just loves Alward. The Liberals have been critical. But that's not fair. What we should be doing is opening another Hall of Fame. We could call it the New Brunswick Hall of Corporate Boot-Licking Fame; and it would have pictures of the inductees surrounded by photos of them at work - on members of the New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame. Maybe they could even do live shows at the events centre.
The editorial is back to its old, inane style. This time, it praises public consultation by government. That shows a fundamental failure to understand democracy. The idea of democracy is not that we elect people to listen to us. After all, the average New Brunswicker like average people around the world has no special insights into fiscal policy, social programmes or the other challenges. If they did, we wouldn't need elections or politicians. We could simply hire a few people to do what we tell them to do.
But that doesn't work very well. So we have democracy. The idea is that candidates appear before us to explain their basic principles, to say what they plan to do, and why they plan to do it. If we agree to that, we vote for them. If we don't, we vote for somebody else.
In the last election, neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives had anything that could be called a platform. Mr. Alward was the farthest out to lunch with his promise to listen to us. If we wanted a good listener, we'd elect a dog. (Yes, I know we elected a dog. But we might have chosen a more intelligent breed.)
As it is, this province simply holds phony consultations, ignores the advice it doesn't want to hear (Dr. Cleary's report comes to mind), picks stooges to write the kind of reports it wants to hear; and then does whatever corporate bosses tell it to do.
This is a government (Liberal or Conservative) that runs on propaganda and lies. No wonder the Fraser Institute loves Mr. Alward.
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Norbert sees signs of hope in Justin Trudeau. Norbert must be very easy to please. He also repeats an old myth that Liberal-haters love - that Pierre Trudeau was stunningly arrogant. In fact, he was a shy man, almost to a painful degree. He was an introvert. But he could become an extrovert for the occasion. That sort of behaviour is called extroverted introvert. He could appear to be confident and arrogant. If he had to. You cannot politically survive as a political leader if you stand shyly in front of crowds of reporters, each convinced of his or her own brilliance - or in front of opposition members. Trudeau adopted a pretend-arrogance as a defence against people who really were arrogant - like newspaper columnists.
Poor Justin, though, has so far shown nothing except for a confused view of gun regulation. But that's enough to impress Norbert.
_______________________________________________________________________
David Suzuki has an important column. I don't think the dangers of the events we face - and soon - have begun to sink in. When you hand over the kind of power that we have handed over to big business, we throw away our democracy and our own futures. Under Harper, Canada is becoming a colony again; even less than a colony, we are becoming something just to be used, then thrown away.
You want arrogance, Norbert? Harper has the real thing, and to a degree we have never before seen in a prime minister. You don't notice it because, like Trudeau - and even more so - he is an introvert, dreadfully tied up inside himself. He can't break out to be an extrovert. But such tight introverts can also be very, very arrogant, an arrogance that makes up for their lack of extroversion. And Harper is supremely arrogant. Next time you see a photo of him, look at the tight, forced smile. Think about it. What does a smile like that tell you about a person? (Our instincts often beat our logic.)
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As for the foofaraw over the new bus system, we'll see. Meanwhile, it should be a simple matter to get a story on just how much the lockout cost us. There's the lost revenues. It should be possible to measure the increased spending on taxis. What did it cost us? What did we save by the settled wage? Did we save as much as it cost us? Was the lockout worth it?
I find it interesting that city council has not given such figures to justify its handling of the negotiations. Why are the councillors so shy? And where are the inquiring minds of our journalists?
_______________________________________________________________________________
The TandT seems to be unaware that Canada is on the edge of signing a trade deal with China which will surrender Canadian control over our own resources, our own environment, even our own jobs. Even if the deal utterly poisons even the air we breathe (and it may well do so) we cannot change the regulations to protect Canadians without paying financial settlements in the billions. Quebec is fighting such a case in the courts right now.
As well, the news treaty gives China the right to import cheap labour (chosen from the cheapest countries in the world) to supply labour for those resources. Now, it just happens that making such a deal with China would mean any company in a free deal with Canada could then legally demand the right to import its own labour, too.
In other words, there aren't going to be any jobs in shale gas development. Not for you. We're about to get one hell of lesson in the full meaning of free trade and globalization. It's not just goods that can be moved freely. It's people, too. Canada has resources. But why on earth would any developer, even big-hearted Mr. Irving, pay high salaries to work those resources when he could easily bring in cheap labour from some of the most destitute countries in the world?
Think of that next time somebody tells you that shale gas is good because it will produce jobs. It will produce jobs, of course. But not for New Brunswick.
Free trade has been put together as a system to benefit big business. And it has done so. That's why most people are getting poorer while big business is getting richer. In the US, it has largely destroyed manufacturing, driven up the rate of poverty, and created a real unemployment rate of 22%.
Big business has only one purpose - to make a profit. Producing wealth for the nation and its people is something that happens by necessity. And developments of the last thirty years have erased that necessity. For couldn't care less where its cars are made or who makes them or who buys them. All it cares is that they get built somewhere by somebody cheap, and that somebody buys them. Big business has no nationality, no loyalty to any country or any people.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The TandT hasn't bothered to mention that we are on the edge of at least three, new wars, possibly more. But I'll save that for another day.
Oh, and it didn't bother mentioning that a UN body, the International Telecommunications Union, is close to getting agreement to a law for all of us that will allow governments to inspect our computer files at any time, and without warrant. It's already being done, of course, by the big 'democracies' like China and the US.
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I have long followed a good source for news opinion called Truthout.org. It's easy to find. Just use google.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Truth as propaganda....
Yes, the truth can be propaganda. In the case of Syria, for example, we have frequently been told of civilians being killed by government troops. But it has been extremely rare to mention such killing by "rebels" - and almost no mention of the "rebel" terrorism carried out against Syrian Christians. The reality is that both sides have killed large numbers of civilians. But the message of our press is that the government troops are bad guys while our friends, the "rebels", are good guys. The trick of honest lying is to tell part of the truth.
And that is what immediately struck me about the story that the auditor general is investigating questionable billing by some doctors in New Brunswick.
It's been a big story in the TandT for two days now. And it's quite possible there is some - even a good deal of - truth in it. And, if so, there should certainly be prosecution. But -
When is the last time you read of excessive funds going to corporations - in billing, in padded contracts, in questionable loans, in overpriced purchases? Of course, I realize that corporate bosses and politicians have much higher moral standards that doctors do ----but still-----
---well, at the most obvious level, I cannot understand the deal involving Moncton High School. I don't understand the proposed sale of Highfield Square. And these are surely not tough questions to find answers to - if we are dealing with an honest government.
Then there's the whole issue of private/public partnerships and highway maintenance and land and forest giveaways and much, much more. Ever seen a big story taking a hard look at them?
But what propaganda motive could there be in playing up these accusations against doctors?
Think Dr. Cleary. Think shale gas. Negative news about doctors, almost any doctors, has the effect of weakening the credibility of Dr. Cleary. It's a very natural and human reaction. And that helps only one group - the shale gas industry.
What we are watching is a very sophisticated campaign to push shale gas through. You can see it in the sudden appearance of pro-shale gas groups, all with their signs seemingly made in the same place, in the big TandT coverage given to a half wit survey carried out on a few dozen, anonymous people by a radio disc jockey, and in the recent tone of editorials in the Irving Press.
This is not being done by the government or by the Irving Press. Nobody in either has the brains to set up a campaign as good as this one. This is the work of hired hands with big money. That's what it takes to tell the truth in order to to lie.
__________________________________________________________________
On a related topic take a good look at Norbert's column. It's about maritime union - a subject of which he knows little. He talks, for example, about union being a threat to cultural uniqueness. Oh? Really? It must be quite a shock to adjust to the cultural differences on a visit to Amherst. (Your going to hear a lot of intellectual bafflegab about maritime union in the next few weeks.)
Forget the culture nonsense. The important thing about Norbert's column is that he would never have written it if the boss were in favour of maritime union. Obviously, the boss is not in favour. Case closed. It's not going to happen. So skip all the tiresome debates. Cooperation on liquor stores and energy? Maybe - if it suits the boss. But no union.
Rod Allen offers us his usual piece of tortured and unoriginal over-writing that he thinks is wit. I marked many a paper like that when I taught high school.
Jody Dallaire takes a pleased but cautious approach to recent government moves to pay more attention to women's issues. The key word is cautious. I would add a further caution to hers. Let us hope that the women Mr. Alward is going to listen to are different from the men he has been listening to.
There's really nothing else worth talking about in this edition - so let's look at what didn't make it into The Moncton Times and Transcript.
1. The OECD (Office of Economic Cooperation and Development) has said that this younger generation in the US will be the only generation in the developed world to have less education than the generation before it. Only twenty percent will have education equal to or better than their parents. This has never happened before.
Obviously, the economic crisis has something to do with it - but even the generation of the Great Depression managed to move ahead in education. What's stopping that now? And why is it only in the US?
Hint - The US is now well over a dozen years into a grand scheme to privatize education. (To understand why the US is privatizing education, read the wise words of Norbert - government bad. Private corporations good.)
The result has been a disastrous drop in the quality of education in the US. Worse, it has forced millions of parents to begin fee-paying for public/private schools no later than the first year of high school. Result - by the time students reach university age, neither they nor their parents can afford it.
Norbert - sometimes public education is bad. But, sometimes, so is private education. And, as we can see in the US, the general privatization of education is a disaster in both learning and cost. Someday, when Atlantic Studies comes out with another phony study of the benefits of privatizing education, maybe you might raised enough integrity to tell them to stuff it.
2. The US has developed a bomb which does not explode. When it hits, it emits energy waves that destroy all electrical devices - ALL pf them. It doesn't kill people. Isn't that nice? (Well, actually, it sort of kills them. It destroys almost all capacity for food production or transport; it shuts down hospitals; destroys the economy by shutting down all financial transaction,..well, in fact, it kills millions by starvation, lack of medical care, stuff like that. But, you know, it doesn't splatter them or do anything messy. You can read about it in Israil National News, Dec. 12.
3. Quebec is amending its language laws to force even small businesses to conduct all work in French. Even saying "good morning" would be a violation. Talking to customers in English would be a violation. As well, any Quebecker signed up for Facebook would have to write all personal information for the home page in French. Oh, and it will be tougher, much tougher for English-speaking children to get into English schools.
The purpose? There are two. a)to force more anglos out of the province. b)To maintain power by exploiting hatred and fear of the anglos. The separatist movement, in its early days, had a progamme of quite useful social legislation. But that was always a front for a movement that was always about pushing out anglo billionaires so that franco billionaires could replace them and get all the government deals. With no economic or social programme left, the PQ has to rely on fear and hatred. So we can expect lots more irrational and destructive language legislation.
My sympathy for Acadians in new Brunswick is rooted in my Quebec experience of the damage a bigoted majority can do.
3. Have you read anything of Mr. Harper's "omnibus" budget? Got a cottage on a river or lake? A couple of days ago some two and a half million Canadian lakes and rivers had environmental protection. Today, that number is somewhat reduced. It's now 62. (No, not 62 million, just 62).Thinking of buying or renting a cottage on the water? Better choose a river or lake that has a Conservative cabinet minister living on it.
This is all part of Harper's environment "streamlining" -which really means destroying environmental regulations to make resource industries (shale gas springs to mind) happy. Mr. Harper, who publicly claims he does not believe in global climate change and be flexible, though. Due to the melting of the ice sheet, he wants turn oil companies lose on our far north. I guess he figures it's only the Arctic climate that is changing.
4, Israel now has the second highest poverty rate in the world. One quarter of all Israelis live in poverty. What's curious about this is that Israel, with barely 8 million people, gets more US aid than any other country in the world. With so much money coming in to so few people, how come a whole quarter of the population can be living in poverty?
5. Harper has been "streamlining" standards for meat packing. Regulations for meat being exported remain high. But regulations for meat that is just for Canadians have been considerable relaxed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, I forgot the poll report on A 1.
New Brunswickers remain steady in support of Alward. (I have no idea why.)
The Liberals have a new leader who looks nice. So they also like him.
That means that by the next election they might be made enough at the conservatives to vote them out and vote the liberals in - to teach the Conservatives a lesson. Just like they taught the Liberals a lesson in the last election and just like they taught the Conservatives a lesson in the election before.
Frankly, until New Brunswickers wake up, take a little bit of trouble to figure out what politics is about and spending just a little bit of time thinking of something besides which rock group member is having a birthday today, the province has no future at all.
If either the Liberals or the Conservatives have any economic, social or moral principles, I am damned if I can see what they are. Indeed, I would appreciate any reader sending us a brief note on the social, economic or moral principles of either of those parties.
And that is what immediately struck me about the story that the auditor general is investigating questionable billing by some doctors in New Brunswick.
It's been a big story in the TandT for two days now. And it's quite possible there is some - even a good deal of - truth in it. And, if so, there should certainly be prosecution. But -
When is the last time you read of excessive funds going to corporations - in billing, in padded contracts, in questionable loans, in overpriced purchases? Of course, I realize that corporate bosses and politicians have much higher moral standards that doctors do ----but still-----
---well, at the most obvious level, I cannot understand the deal involving Moncton High School. I don't understand the proposed sale of Highfield Square. And these are surely not tough questions to find answers to - if we are dealing with an honest government.
Then there's the whole issue of private/public partnerships and highway maintenance and land and forest giveaways and much, much more. Ever seen a big story taking a hard look at them?
But what propaganda motive could there be in playing up these accusations against doctors?
Think Dr. Cleary. Think shale gas. Negative news about doctors, almost any doctors, has the effect of weakening the credibility of Dr. Cleary. It's a very natural and human reaction. And that helps only one group - the shale gas industry.
What we are watching is a very sophisticated campaign to push shale gas through. You can see it in the sudden appearance of pro-shale gas groups, all with their signs seemingly made in the same place, in the big TandT coverage given to a half wit survey carried out on a few dozen, anonymous people by a radio disc jockey, and in the recent tone of editorials in the Irving Press.
This is not being done by the government or by the Irving Press. Nobody in either has the brains to set up a campaign as good as this one. This is the work of hired hands with big money. That's what it takes to tell the truth in order to to lie.
__________________________________________________________________
On a related topic take a good look at Norbert's column. It's about maritime union - a subject of which he knows little. He talks, for example, about union being a threat to cultural uniqueness. Oh? Really? It must be quite a shock to adjust to the cultural differences on a visit to Amherst. (Your going to hear a lot of intellectual bafflegab about maritime union in the next few weeks.)
Forget the culture nonsense. The important thing about Norbert's column is that he would never have written it if the boss were in favour of maritime union. Obviously, the boss is not in favour. Case closed. It's not going to happen. So skip all the tiresome debates. Cooperation on liquor stores and energy? Maybe - if it suits the boss. But no union.
Rod Allen offers us his usual piece of tortured and unoriginal over-writing that he thinks is wit. I marked many a paper like that when I taught high school.
Jody Dallaire takes a pleased but cautious approach to recent government moves to pay more attention to women's issues. The key word is cautious. I would add a further caution to hers. Let us hope that the women Mr. Alward is going to listen to are different from the men he has been listening to.
There's really nothing else worth talking about in this edition - so let's look at what didn't make it into The Moncton Times and Transcript.
1. The OECD (Office of Economic Cooperation and Development) has said that this younger generation in the US will be the only generation in the developed world to have less education than the generation before it. Only twenty percent will have education equal to or better than their parents. This has never happened before.
Obviously, the economic crisis has something to do with it - but even the generation of the Great Depression managed to move ahead in education. What's stopping that now? And why is it only in the US?
Hint - The US is now well over a dozen years into a grand scheme to privatize education. (To understand why the US is privatizing education, read the wise words of Norbert - government bad. Private corporations good.)
The result has been a disastrous drop in the quality of education in the US. Worse, it has forced millions of parents to begin fee-paying for public/private schools no later than the first year of high school. Result - by the time students reach university age, neither they nor their parents can afford it.
Norbert - sometimes public education is bad. But, sometimes, so is private education. And, as we can see in the US, the general privatization of education is a disaster in both learning and cost. Someday, when Atlantic Studies comes out with another phony study of the benefits of privatizing education, maybe you might raised enough integrity to tell them to stuff it.
2. The US has developed a bomb which does not explode. When it hits, it emits energy waves that destroy all electrical devices - ALL pf them. It doesn't kill people. Isn't that nice? (Well, actually, it sort of kills them. It destroys almost all capacity for food production or transport; it shuts down hospitals; destroys the economy by shutting down all financial transaction,..well, in fact, it kills millions by starvation, lack of medical care, stuff like that. But, you know, it doesn't splatter them or do anything messy. You can read about it in Israil National News, Dec. 12.
3. Quebec is amending its language laws to force even small businesses to conduct all work in French. Even saying "good morning" would be a violation. Talking to customers in English would be a violation. As well, any Quebecker signed up for Facebook would have to write all personal information for the home page in French. Oh, and it will be tougher, much tougher for English-speaking children to get into English schools.
The purpose? There are two. a)to force more anglos out of the province. b)To maintain power by exploiting hatred and fear of the anglos. The separatist movement, in its early days, had a progamme of quite useful social legislation. But that was always a front for a movement that was always about pushing out anglo billionaires so that franco billionaires could replace them and get all the government deals. With no economic or social programme left, the PQ has to rely on fear and hatred. So we can expect lots more irrational and destructive language legislation.
My sympathy for Acadians in new Brunswick is rooted in my Quebec experience of the damage a bigoted majority can do.
3. Have you read anything of Mr. Harper's "omnibus" budget? Got a cottage on a river or lake? A couple of days ago some two and a half million Canadian lakes and rivers had environmental protection. Today, that number is somewhat reduced. It's now 62. (No, not 62 million, just 62).Thinking of buying or renting a cottage on the water? Better choose a river or lake that has a Conservative cabinet minister living on it.
This is all part of Harper's environment "streamlining" -which really means destroying environmental regulations to make resource industries (shale gas springs to mind) happy. Mr. Harper, who publicly claims he does not believe in global climate change and be flexible, though. Due to the melting of the ice sheet, he wants turn oil companies lose on our far north. I guess he figures it's only the Arctic climate that is changing.
4, Israel now has the second highest poverty rate in the world. One quarter of all Israelis live in poverty. What's curious about this is that Israel, with barely 8 million people, gets more US aid than any other country in the world. With so much money coming in to so few people, how come a whole quarter of the population can be living in poverty?
5. Harper has been "streamlining" standards for meat packing. Regulations for meat being exported remain high. But regulations for meat that is just for Canadians have been considerable relaxed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, I forgot the poll report on A 1.
New Brunswickers remain steady in support of Alward. (I have no idea why.)
The Liberals have a new leader who looks nice. So they also like him.
That means that by the next election they might be made enough at the conservatives to vote them out and vote the liberals in - to teach the Conservatives a lesson. Just like they taught the Liberals a lesson in the last election and just like they taught the Conservatives a lesson in the election before.
Frankly, until New Brunswickers wake up, take a little bit of trouble to figure out what politics is about and spending just a little bit of time thinking of something besides which rock group member is having a birthday today, the province has no future at all.
If either the Liberals or the Conservatives have any economic, social or moral principles, I am damned if I can see what they are. Indeed, I would appreciate any reader sending us a brief note on the social, economic or moral principles of either of those parties.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Dec. 5: Always be suspicious....
At the bottom of A1 of the Moncton Times and Transcript is a column by Brent Mazerolle, the TandT's chief hatchet man. In just four years, the city's labour costs have risen by ( hide this from the women and children)------------ 3%. Wow! Let's see, now -3 multiplied by the cost of postage stamps, then the square root of the number of hockey pucks used by the Wildcats in season..... Why, that's almost one percent for every one of those years. This is sheer madness. And what is causing it?
Is it possible that it has had something to do with city projects in that period? We don't know. Young Brent doesn't even look at that. No. But he does take a long look at them those unions. Drivin' us to perdition they is. Nor does he waste any time looking at the inflation rate (almost one percent per year.)
And so you got them there city workers sashaying around and wavin' their money in the faces of our business leaders who don't know where their next billion is going to come from.
Has Brent Mazerolle ever written a report on what percentage of our money goes to corporations in the form of gifts, grants, tax breaks, overpriced contracts, etc.? Does anybody think he ever will?
___________________________________________________________________________
For contrast, turn to C4. Take a look at some of the really big money being dished out to "labour" at the highest levels of the civil service, such as the head of NB Energy. And check out how many people are getting those high salaries. Then notice how quickly those top salaries have been rising, and how the number of people getting them has been rising. While NB Power has been talking of cutting back to pay down its debt, it has increased its higher-salaried staff
But there's not a hint in the TandT story of anything wrong with . But two point eight percent for bus drivers? A-a-a-a-h. They aren't worth it. Damn union. At NP Power, the number of those getting a hundred thousand or more has jumped, in just two years, from 580 to 739. Nor is that the whole story.
The government service follows the private model. That is, it shows contempt for the lower paid jobs, and real hatred of those unions. But for the top level jobs, nothing is too good. Even getting fired for doing a lousy job is rewarded.
If you get fired as a bus driver because you're not a good driver,you're just fired. That's it. But get fired from a top job in either government of private business because you have botched everything and caused millions in losses? Well, then you're looking at a goodbye gift of half a million at least - and often far more than that.
______________________________________________________________________________
On the op ed page, Brian Cormier and Eric Lewis have less to say than the SPCA's pet of the day at the bottom of the page.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The editorial is, yet again, on the 'events' centre. Again, it's written with the skill of a hired propagandist. It's about a city councillor, Daniel Bourgeois, who suggests the real cost of a centre will not be 100 million, but more like 165 million.
While pretending to be impartial and calm, the editorial is cleverly set up to discredit the councillor. The headline, for example, is "Real Concerns or Fear Mongering?" And that sets the tone. It's built on in the second paragraph, "...we will take Mr. Bourgeois at his word and assume his statement is based on real concerns rather than cheap politicking." That's a particularly slimy way to plant the idea that m. Bourgeois IS politicking - without entering the slightest evidence that he is.
Then, rubbing it in, the writer suggests council appoint a mature, experienced councillor to be a watchdog on the project - a neat way to plant the idea that m. Bourgeois is immature and inexperienced. Concentrating on the watchdog also takes us away from the real issue. Is the project wise in the first place? If it isn't then a watchdog becomes just a helpless spectator watching a disaster.
This editorial was not written by Norbert. You can tell. Norbert rants. Rod Allen? I don't think so. I haven't seen any skill in him or any of the editors to write in this slimily clever way. This is a very skilful example of lying by insinuating. It takes training to do that. I remain convinced that the TandT has lately been getting its events centre editorials written though a "communicatons' company - perhaps even from one within an easy walk of the TandT offices.
________________________________________________________________________
Alec Bruce has the first, intelligent column I have seen on the proposal for maritime union. It's a sensible column. But I'm not convinced that sense is a factor here. Nor are our opinions a factor.
Confederation of Canada did not happen in the first place because British North Americans liked each other or shared a culture. In fact, nobody cared what they thought. Confederation happened because wealthy and influential investors in Britain wanted it to happen. It was needed so they could build a profitable railway and shipping line connecting to British Imperial markets all over the world.
Today, maritime union will happen if the local financial barons want it to. If they want it, you will see the Irving papers full of babble about our common culture, etc. If they don't, you will see the Irving papers babble about cultural differences, mutual suspicions as if we were three primitive, tribal regions, each with its own gods.
_______________________________________________________________________
Oh, the UN (NewsToday, C1)has issued a strong warning about climate change and the disasters it will trigger. Will it have any effect? Probably not.
It's a very human quality for us - of all degrees of intelligence - to see only what we want to see. That's why it's very human to be good at one thing - and to be terrible at everything else.
Mr. Harper is a smug and confident man. He also has a considerable skill in maintaining his authority. His weakness? He does not see what he does not want to see. He doesn't believe in climate change. So he doesn't see it. He doesn't see damage to the environment. If you took him by the hand to an area in which the land was poisoned and the animals extinct, he would look at it - but not see it. We all know people like that.They will not see anything they don't want to see or don't want to understand.
In consequence, far from responding to environmental problems, Harper has done more to dismantle existing protections than any prime minister in Canadian history. And Canada's sluggishness in dealing with climate change has become an international scandal.
In this, he is supported by business leaders in Canada and the US. They, too, don't see any problems because it is not in their interest to see them. Clever as they may be in making money, they are commonly of low intelligence in anything else. Unfortunately, their ability to make money has convinced them that they possess a broad wisdom, so broad that, as Mr. Irving suggested, they have a right, a right by birth and social station, to take part in government. And they really believe it.
And as long as we accept that view, we will be in trouble.
Is it possible that it has had something to do with city projects in that period? We don't know. Young Brent doesn't even look at that. No. But he does take a long look at them those unions. Drivin' us to perdition they is. Nor does he waste any time looking at the inflation rate (almost one percent per year.)
And so you got them there city workers sashaying around and wavin' their money in the faces of our business leaders who don't know where their next billion is going to come from.
Has Brent Mazerolle ever written a report on what percentage of our money goes to corporations in the form of gifts, grants, tax breaks, overpriced contracts, etc.? Does anybody think he ever will?
___________________________________________________________________________
For contrast, turn to C4. Take a look at some of the really big money being dished out to "labour" at the highest levels of the civil service, such as the head of NB Energy. And check out how many people are getting those high salaries. Then notice how quickly those top salaries have been rising, and how the number of people getting them has been rising. While NB Power has been talking of cutting back to pay down its debt, it has increased its higher-salaried staff
But there's not a hint in the TandT story of anything wrong with . But two point eight percent for bus drivers? A-a-a-a-h. They aren't worth it. Damn union. At NP Power, the number of those getting a hundred thousand or more has jumped, in just two years, from 580 to 739. Nor is that the whole story.
The government service follows the private model. That is, it shows contempt for the lower paid jobs, and real hatred of those unions. But for the top level jobs, nothing is too good. Even getting fired for doing a lousy job is rewarded.
If you get fired as a bus driver because you're not a good driver,you're just fired. That's it. But get fired from a top job in either government of private business because you have botched everything and caused millions in losses? Well, then you're looking at a goodbye gift of half a million at least - and often far more than that.
______________________________________________________________________________
On the op ed page, Brian Cormier and Eric Lewis have less to say than the SPCA's pet of the day at the bottom of the page.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The editorial is, yet again, on the 'events' centre. Again, it's written with the skill of a hired propagandist. It's about a city councillor, Daniel Bourgeois, who suggests the real cost of a centre will not be 100 million, but more like 165 million.
While pretending to be impartial and calm, the editorial is cleverly set up to discredit the councillor. The headline, for example, is "Real Concerns or Fear Mongering?" And that sets the tone. It's built on in the second paragraph, "...we will take Mr. Bourgeois at his word and assume his statement is based on real concerns rather than cheap politicking." That's a particularly slimy way to plant the idea that m. Bourgeois IS politicking - without entering the slightest evidence that he is.
Then, rubbing it in, the writer suggests council appoint a mature, experienced councillor to be a watchdog on the project - a neat way to plant the idea that m. Bourgeois is immature and inexperienced. Concentrating on the watchdog also takes us away from the real issue. Is the project wise in the first place? If it isn't then a watchdog becomes just a helpless spectator watching a disaster.
This editorial was not written by Norbert. You can tell. Norbert rants. Rod Allen? I don't think so. I haven't seen any skill in him or any of the editors to write in this slimily clever way. This is a very skilful example of lying by insinuating. It takes training to do that. I remain convinced that the TandT has lately been getting its events centre editorials written though a "communicatons' company - perhaps even from one within an easy walk of the TandT offices.
________________________________________________________________________
Alec Bruce has the first, intelligent column I have seen on the proposal for maritime union. It's a sensible column. But I'm not convinced that sense is a factor here. Nor are our opinions a factor.
Confederation of Canada did not happen in the first place because British North Americans liked each other or shared a culture. In fact, nobody cared what they thought. Confederation happened because wealthy and influential investors in Britain wanted it to happen. It was needed so they could build a profitable railway and shipping line connecting to British Imperial markets all over the world.
Today, maritime union will happen if the local financial barons want it to. If they want it, you will see the Irving papers full of babble about our common culture, etc. If they don't, you will see the Irving papers babble about cultural differences, mutual suspicions as if we were three primitive, tribal regions, each with its own gods.
_______________________________________________________________________
Oh, the UN (NewsToday, C1)has issued a strong warning about climate change and the disasters it will trigger. Will it have any effect? Probably not.
It's a very human quality for us - of all degrees of intelligence - to see only what we want to see. That's why it's very human to be good at one thing - and to be terrible at everything else.
Mr. Harper is a smug and confident man. He also has a considerable skill in maintaining his authority. His weakness? He does not see what he does not want to see. He doesn't believe in climate change. So he doesn't see it. He doesn't see damage to the environment. If you took him by the hand to an area in which the land was poisoned and the animals extinct, he would look at it - but not see it. We all know people like that.They will not see anything they don't want to see or don't want to understand.
In consequence, far from responding to environmental problems, Harper has done more to dismantle existing protections than any prime minister in Canadian history. And Canada's sluggishness in dealing with climate change has become an international scandal.
In this, he is supported by business leaders in Canada and the US. They, too, don't see any problems because it is not in their interest to see them. Clever as they may be in making money, they are commonly of low intelligence in anything else. Unfortunately, their ability to make money has convinced them that they possess a broad wisdom, so broad that, as Mr. Irving suggested, they have a right, a right by birth and social station, to take part in government. And they really believe it.
And as long as we accept that view, we will be in trouble.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Dec. 4: where to begin
A reader was kind enough to send me information from city hall concerning Highland Square. (The form reply - and another item - appear at the end of this blog.)
The property was referred to as a CN Terminal plaza and centre appraised at some six million dollars. The yearly civic tax on it is over $280,000. What it doesn't say it that the land is really worthless in its present state because it is severely contaminated.
Gee. You're landowner stuck with a useless piece of property. It's not making any money. It's not likely to. The spread of the automobile and the shift to large malls has made it obsolete. And it's costing big time in taxes. What to do? OOOOOH! I know.
You start a whispering campaign - isn't it a shame that Main St. is not as popular as it used to be? Wouldn't it be nice to revive it? Then....
OOOOH! We really need a new hockey rink. Yes. And the city should build it by borrowing a hundred million dollars. and it will make money because hockey rinks draw stores and restaurants. (Right. Like the present one.)
Good try. But not a big enough seller. OOOOOH. I know. Don't call it a hockey rink. It's an events centre - AND - with a room where old folks can sit down.
Yes. That's it. And it will be a huge money-maker. (Of course, it it's such a sure thing, why are the present owners letting the city build it? I mean, they already own the land. And they say the rink/events centre is sure to be an economic boom. So why not build it themselves, and keep all that money? I guess they're just big-hearted.)
Well, let's be real. It's not going to make money. What has happened is that the landowners get rid of a piece of property that is almost impossible to sell. They get full price. And they get off the hook for over a quarter million a year in taxes. And they don't have to spend the millions it will take to clean it up.
And all you need to do it is have a cooperative city council and a propaganda newspaper that doesn't ask questions. Then, with the whole western world on the brink of financial collapse, we will borrow a hundred million. I mean, if it could draw just those Americans who are living on food stamps, there's fifteen million customers right there.
Will it be built? I doubt it. The name of the game is to sell a worthless piece of land. Do that, and it's mission accomplished.
Oh, there might be a smaller hockey rink built. After all, the owner of the hockey team needs a cheap place to rent - so helping him is a civic duty - like making sure everybody gets a turkey at Christmas.
By the way, doesn't the owner of contaminated land have an obligation to clean it up? I've asked that question of the minister of the environment many times. But he's a busy man. You wouldn't believe how many pencils he has to sharpen, how many boots he has to lick.
The bottom line is that the owner of the land is off the hook for the cleanup - and gets to carry off the full price as well.
Moncton would be better off with the Mafia running the city. Mafia prices are far more reasonable.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Mr. Coon is upset that, as a party leader (Green Party) not yet elected as an MLA, he does not get an observer's seat in the legislature. After all, the new Liberal leader, also unelected, was immediately given such a position. But Mr. Coon obviously does not understand the New Brunswick system of democracy.
You see, Mr. Coon, the Liberals and the Conservatives of New Brunswick are actually the same party with all the same principles - of lack of any. Both are under the same ownership. New Brunswick is a just-pretend democracy. And you can be a part of it.
Just kiss Mr. Irving's ring (or whatever) and you, too, can have a turn in being premier.
______________________________________________________________________________
As for today's paper, really...what can one say? The good news is that premier Alward is in Ottawa today to see Stephen Harper. The bad news is that he'll soon be coming back.
__________________________________________________________________________
There is an op ed piece by Ian Cavanaugh, the CEO of Ambir Solutions. The nicest thing one can say about this is that it is an obvious ad disguised as an opinion column. Ever hear of Ambir Solutions? Know what it does? Me neither.
It speaks of organizations like KITE and NB Women in IT (which certainly sounds intriguing). I'm sure the average reader is as familiar with those terms as he or she is with the larger organization, IT. Whatever it is that Mr. Cavanaugh and Ambir Solutions do, I hope it has no connection with communications.
And I do wonder at the competence of an editor who would not demand changes to such an unintelligible piece of writing.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Alan Cochrane offers us an op ed piece which simply repeats the message of an excellent story that appeared in the paper yesterday - the one dealing with violence to women.The only thing wrong with that is that Mr. Cochrane has nothing of his own to offer to the original story. Indeed, his column is so vague and soppy that it weakens and even misses the point of the original story.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The editorial is a masterpiece of doubletalk. While its theme is that cities must keep their debts down, the writer uses it to come to the conclusion that we should borrow heavily to buy some contaminated land to build a hockey rink on.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The only thing worth reading in the whole paper is Alec Bruce's column. This one, though about Britain, is an important part of something that is happening all over the world. A major British newspaper has been caught being abusive of its power, improperly intrusive in government, lying - a sort of big-time example of what the TandT would be if it weren't for the fact that government and newspapers in New Brunswick are both owned by the same people.
Anyway, there is a scheme going around to impose legal controls on all news media. I know. I know. In New Brunswick, that wouldn't make any difference. But a free press in Britain has generally done a good job The problem is the occasional bad boy who distorts the news. I
But if we ever allow government to pass laws placing restrictions on newspapers, it will be a cure worse than the disease. (In fact, the publisher at the heart of the British scandal is Rupert Murdoch who is also owner of FoxTV. His influence in government is so great that any government legislation affecting newspapers would make them all as bad as his.)
This is part of a much bigger problem. Take a hard look at the world. Capitalism is in collapse. It's not because of the capitalist system. It's because, as we can see in New Brunswick every day, the abuse and distortion of capitalism by the very people who claim to represent it. Throughout the western world, the greed of those who (quite wrongly) call themselves capitalists, has so funneled money only into the pockets of the rich that of course there are few customers left to buy their goods.
As well, it was not the people on food stamps or living off welfare who destroyed the banks in the US. It was the corrupt and even illegal behaviour of the capitalists who ran the banks - and who then put the American people into hopeless debt forever. And not one of them has ever faced a court.
Add to them those corrupt politicians and defence industrialists who have bled the country dry.
Western capitalism is in collapse because of the perversion of it and because of the greed and, it must be said, the stupidity of its leading figures.
With that collapse there comes a need to impose severe controls to prevent civil unrest. the sort of unrest we are just beginning to see in nations like Greece. It is a repression that has long been common in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia. Now, we're increasingly seeing it in a US in which the president can imprison and even assassinate people with no charge or trial, a US which now has a domestic espionage system which is the largest in the world, and free to investigate the most private affairs of anybody without warrant, and to compile massive files on virtually every living American. This is a police state. This is what the word means.
Now, though it isn't in the TandT, the UN is getting into the act. It wants to control all use of the internet through a body that would meet in secret. Its laws would affect all member states of the UN. For a start, that means a law desired by China (which almost forbids the internet) would become law in Canada - so long as China could round up enough support. And that support would not be hard to find. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the US..... Yes, the US. The social media are a threat to the controlled message sent out by most of the press. There is already support for such laws in the US - and in Canada.
The social media have given us access to information and opinions. Those in power, including those in the so-called 'democratic' world, don't want us to have that access. So the threat is a very real one.
But don't worry. Just stick to reading the TandT, and you won't even know it's happening.
_____________________________________________________________________
Remember - tonight (Tuesday) at 7 is the meeting of the current events group at Moncton Library.
___________________________________________________________________________
Below, I will try to post a copy of the city report on Highland Square that I began with - and a superb letter to the editor on fracking that the TandT refused to publish. (sorry to give you so much reading.)
____________________________________________________________________________
The property was referred to as a CN Terminal plaza and centre appraised at some six million dollars. The yearly civic tax on it is over $280,000. What it doesn't say it that the land is really worthless in its present state because it is severely contaminated.
Gee. You're landowner stuck with a useless piece of property. It's not making any money. It's not likely to. The spread of the automobile and the shift to large malls has made it obsolete. And it's costing big time in taxes. What to do? OOOOOH! I know.
You start a whispering campaign - isn't it a shame that Main St. is not as popular as it used to be? Wouldn't it be nice to revive it? Then....
OOOOH! We really need a new hockey rink. Yes. And the city should build it by borrowing a hundred million dollars. and it will make money because hockey rinks draw stores and restaurants. (Right. Like the present one.)
Good try. But not a big enough seller. OOOOOH. I know. Don't call it a hockey rink. It's an events centre - AND - with a room where old folks can sit down.
Yes. That's it. And it will be a huge money-maker. (Of course, it it's such a sure thing, why are the present owners letting the city build it? I mean, they already own the land. And they say the rink/events centre is sure to be an economic boom. So why not build it themselves, and keep all that money? I guess they're just big-hearted.)
Well, let's be real. It's not going to make money. What has happened is that the landowners get rid of a piece of property that is almost impossible to sell. They get full price. And they get off the hook for over a quarter million a year in taxes. And they don't have to spend the millions it will take to clean it up.
And all you need to do it is have a cooperative city council and a propaganda newspaper that doesn't ask questions. Then, with the whole western world on the brink of financial collapse, we will borrow a hundred million. I mean, if it could draw just those Americans who are living on food stamps, there's fifteen million customers right there.
Will it be built? I doubt it. The name of the game is to sell a worthless piece of land. Do that, and it's mission accomplished.
Oh, there might be a smaller hockey rink built. After all, the owner of the hockey team needs a cheap place to rent - so helping him is a civic duty - like making sure everybody gets a turkey at Christmas.
By the way, doesn't the owner of contaminated land have an obligation to clean it up? I've asked that question of the minister of the environment many times. But he's a busy man. You wouldn't believe how many pencils he has to sharpen, how many boots he has to lick.
The bottom line is that the owner of the land is off the hook for the cleanup - and gets to carry off the full price as well.
Moncton would be better off with the Mafia running the city. Mafia prices are far more reasonable.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Mr. Coon is upset that, as a party leader (Green Party) not yet elected as an MLA, he does not get an observer's seat in the legislature. After all, the new Liberal leader, also unelected, was immediately given such a position. But Mr. Coon obviously does not understand the New Brunswick system of democracy.
You see, Mr. Coon, the Liberals and the Conservatives of New Brunswick are actually the same party with all the same principles - of lack of any. Both are under the same ownership. New Brunswick is a just-pretend democracy. And you can be a part of it.
Just kiss Mr. Irving's ring (or whatever) and you, too, can have a turn in being premier.
______________________________________________________________________________
As for today's paper, really...what can one say? The good news is that premier Alward is in Ottawa today to see Stephen Harper. The bad news is that he'll soon be coming back.
__________________________________________________________________________
There is an op ed piece by Ian Cavanaugh, the CEO of Ambir Solutions. The nicest thing one can say about this is that it is an obvious ad disguised as an opinion column. Ever hear of Ambir Solutions? Know what it does? Me neither.
It speaks of organizations like KITE and NB Women in IT (which certainly sounds intriguing). I'm sure the average reader is as familiar with those terms as he or she is with the larger organization, IT. Whatever it is that Mr. Cavanaugh and Ambir Solutions do, I hope it has no connection with communications.
And I do wonder at the competence of an editor who would not demand changes to such an unintelligible piece of writing.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Alan Cochrane offers us an op ed piece which simply repeats the message of an excellent story that appeared in the paper yesterday - the one dealing with violence to women.The only thing wrong with that is that Mr. Cochrane has nothing of his own to offer to the original story. Indeed, his column is so vague and soppy that it weakens and even misses the point of the original story.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The editorial is a masterpiece of doubletalk. While its theme is that cities must keep their debts down, the writer uses it to come to the conclusion that we should borrow heavily to buy some contaminated land to build a hockey rink on.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The only thing worth reading in the whole paper is Alec Bruce's column. This one, though about Britain, is an important part of something that is happening all over the world. A major British newspaper has been caught being abusive of its power, improperly intrusive in government, lying - a sort of big-time example of what the TandT would be if it weren't for the fact that government and newspapers in New Brunswick are both owned by the same people.
Anyway, there is a scheme going around to impose legal controls on all news media. I know. I know. In New Brunswick, that wouldn't make any difference. But a free press in Britain has generally done a good job The problem is the occasional bad boy who distorts the news. I
But if we ever allow government to pass laws placing restrictions on newspapers, it will be a cure worse than the disease. (In fact, the publisher at the heart of the British scandal is Rupert Murdoch who is also owner of FoxTV. His influence in government is so great that any government legislation affecting newspapers would make them all as bad as his.)
This is part of a much bigger problem. Take a hard look at the world. Capitalism is in collapse. It's not because of the capitalist system. It's because, as we can see in New Brunswick every day, the abuse and distortion of capitalism by the very people who claim to represent it. Throughout the western world, the greed of those who (quite wrongly) call themselves capitalists, has so funneled money only into the pockets of the rich that of course there are few customers left to buy their goods.
As well, it was not the people on food stamps or living off welfare who destroyed the banks in the US. It was the corrupt and even illegal behaviour of the capitalists who ran the banks - and who then put the American people into hopeless debt forever. And not one of them has ever faced a court.
Add to them those corrupt politicians and defence industrialists who have bled the country dry.
Western capitalism is in collapse because of the perversion of it and because of the greed and, it must be said, the stupidity of its leading figures.
With that collapse there comes a need to impose severe controls to prevent civil unrest. the sort of unrest we are just beginning to see in nations like Greece. It is a repression that has long been common in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia. Now, we're increasingly seeing it in a US in which the president can imprison and even assassinate people with no charge or trial, a US which now has a domestic espionage system which is the largest in the world, and free to investigate the most private affairs of anybody without warrant, and to compile massive files on virtually every living American. This is a police state. This is what the word means.
Now, though it isn't in the TandT, the UN is getting into the act. It wants to control all use of the internet through a body that would meet in secret. Its laws would affect all member states of the UN. For a start, that means a law desired by China (which almost forbids the internet) would become law in Canada - so long as China could round up enough support. And that support would not be hard to find. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Libya, the US..... Yes, the US. The social media are a threat to the controlled message sent out by most of the press. There is already support for such laws in the US - and in Canada.
The social media have given us access to information and opinions. Those in power, including those in the so-called 'democratic' world, don't want us to have that access. So the threat is a very real one.
But don't worry. Just stick to reading the TandT, and you won't even know it's happening.
_____________________________________________________________________
Remember - tonight (Tuesday) at 7 is the meeting of the current events group at Moncton Library.
___________________________________________________________________________
Below, I will try to post a copy of the city report on Highland Square that I began with - and a superb letter to the editor on fracking that the TandT refused to publish. (sorry to give you so much reading.)
____________________________________________________________________________
| PAN: | 5339925 | Assessment Year: | 2012 |
| Location: | 1222-1234 MAIN ST | County: | Westmorland |
| Current Assessment: | $6,020,400 | Current Levy: | $280,815.54 |
| Property Description: | CN TERMINAL/PLAZA&CENTRE | Tax Class: | Fully Taxable |
| Taxing Authority: | City of/Cité de Moncton ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Monday, December 3, 2012
Dec. 3: The Moncton Times and the CBC
CBC Moncton has a news website. Just google to find it. On any day, compare the news it has to that in the The Moncton Times and Transcript. There's a reason why Google news takes items of Moncton news from the CBC every day - but almost never from the Irving Press.
Today, for example, the CBC tells us that proposed property tax cuts in this province will be of benefit mainly to big businesses like potash mines, shopping malls. The biggest winner will be - wait for it - Mr. Irving. Yessirree, an $800,000 tax cut for Irving - a Christmas gift from all of us. And that's surely generous considering that we also have to come up with enough to cover a record and growing deficit (not to mention a hundred million dollar hockey rink for which we will have to purchase contaminated land which we will then have to pay to clean up.) And I would also dearly love to know exactly who owns that land.
There's also the story that the government plans to cancel a successful police programme, a specialized unit to fight organized crime. The St. John police chief voiced strong objections to the cut. But the TandT paid him no never mind. After all, it's not as if the chief's name were Irving.
I mentioned CBC in particular because it's the one that Norbert cannot mention without foaming at the mouth. There is something bizarre about a man who writes columns, often dreadfully uninformed and ranting ones, for such a dreadful newspaper - while criticizing another news service that is superior by light-years.
Here are two, big stories that went right over the heads of the entire reporting and editorial staffs of the Irving press. I mean, all they had to do was to google CBC Moncton news to get it. But, from what I've seen, the editors of the TandT don't follow any news medium. They are actually and profoundly ignorant of what the news is around the world, in Canada, and even in Moncton.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Extremely dangerous situations are developing in the middle east and Africa. There is chaos in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and with huge changes developing in Lebanon, Israel, Palestine... These are part of fundamental changes for the whole world - including us. In fact,(and as de Adder's cartoon shows) Canada is already publicly committed to war on the side of Israel no matter who starts the war or for what reason.
Why is our federal government doing so? Religious principles? Compassion? Nah. Neither of the above. They are doing it so the Conservatives can continue to enjoy the vote of those evangelicals who dance with joy at the prospect of a world that will be destroyed with a war beginning in the Holy Land. They dance because then Jesus will come, and they shall be carried up in naked innocence to sit on clouds where they can watch the rest of us suffering from attacks by scorpions before being cast down into the eternal flames of hell.
So enjoy the cold while you can.
And so much for the Nov. 11 chatter about how our soldiers died so we could have freedoms and rights - like the right to decide for ourselves when and where and why we should fight future wars.
______________________________________________________________________________
The editors of The Times and Transcript appear to be ignorant of all this. Their choice for the big, world story? It's a huge story on pp. C1 and C9, led by a large photo. "Shania Twain knocks their socks off in Vegas."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Craig Babstock, editor-at-large, has a column on how news gets around on social media these days - and it's even sillier and shallower than that description suggests. Allen Abel has his usual nothing - this time about how to say Merry Christmas in Washington.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The editorial is a cute piece of propaganda - again, it's the sort of manipulation that is, I'm quite sure, beyond the feeble grasp of any staff writer at the TandT. Posing as a story about the CN building at 1234 Main, it turns into a hymn of praise for the grandeur and sweep of Moncton's history and future, written in a style usually reserved for the rise of Rome. The real message, the kicker in a story supposedly about the CN "glass tower", is in the last half of the last sentence.
"....citizens anxiously await new developments toward an events centre."
Yes. Anxious indeed. Public washrooms across the city have been jammed for weeks, and with long and fidgeting lines outside them.
The spirit of Dr. Goebbels, chief of propaganda for the Third Reich, lives on. And seems to be earning great contracts for the communications company that employs him to write more sophisticated propaganda than editors of the TandT can manage.
.__________________________________________________________________________
Another BIG story is that the TandT discovered an 1879 copy The Daily Times. Big deal. University libraries are full of old copies of newspaper, many a lot older than 1879. They are quite different from current ones. And, in fact, that is part of what I will be talking about at the current events meeting tomorrow, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Moncton Library. The huge changes came in the 1890s and early 1900s, changes that made it possible for newspapers to become effective devices for propaganda and mind control. Developments that should have made for a more effective democracy have, in fact, done enormous damage to democracy.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Two pages of Section A, pages 8 and 9, stand out as extraordinarily effective pages of reporting and editing . Look at each photo. It's important. It creates a feeling I cannot describe. So I won't try to. Look at those two pages. And make sure you look at each photo. Really look.
Other than that and Alec Bruce's column and de Adder's cartoon, there is no point to reading this paper.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, but there is every reason to attend the current events group on Tuesday (tomorrow) Dec. 4, at the Moncton Library, 7 p.m..
Come along, and see if your favourite TandT staff writer is there.
Today, for example, the CBC tells us that proposed property tax cuts in this province will be of benefit mainly to big businesses like potash mines, shopping malls. The biggest winner will be - wait for it - Mr. Irving. Yessirree, an $800,000 tax cut for Irving - a Christmas gift from all of us. And that's surely generous considering that we also have to come up with enough to cover a record and growing deficit (not to mention a hundred million dollar hockey rink for which we will have to purchase contaminated land which we will then have to pay to clean up.) And I would also dearly love to know exactly who owns that land.
There's also the story that the government plans to cancel a successful police programme, a specialized unit to fight organized crime. The St. John police chief voiced strong objections to the cut. But the TandT paid him no never mind. After all, it's not as if the chief's name were Irving.
I mentioned CBC in particular because it's the one that Norbert cannot mention without foaming at the mouth. There is something bizarre about a man who writes columns, often dreadfully uninformed and ranting ones, for such a dreadful newspaper - while criticizing another news service that is superior by light-years.
Here are two, big stories that went right over the heads of the entire reporting and editorial staffs of the Irving press. I mean, all they had to do was to google CBC Moncton news to get it. But, from what I've seen, the editors of the TandT don't follow any news medium. They are actually and profoundly ignorant of what the news is around the world, in Canada, and even in Moncton.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Extremely dangerous situations are developing in the middle east and Africa. There is chaos in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and with huge changes developing in Lebanon, Israel, Palestine... These are part of fundamental changes for the whole world - including us. In fact,(and as de Adder's cartoon shows) Canada is already publicly committed to war on the side of Israel no matter who starts the war or for what reason.
Why is our federal government doing so? Religious principles? Compassion? Nah. Neither of the above. They are doing it so the Conservatives can continue to enjoy the vote of those evangelicals who dance with joy at the prospect of a world that will be destroyed with a war beginning in the Holy Land. They dance because then Jesus will come, and they shall be carried up in naked innocence to sit on clouds where they can watch the rest of us suffering from attacks by scorpions before being cast down into the eternal flames of hell.
So enjoy the cold while you can.
And so much for the Nov. 11 chatter about how our soldiers died so we could have freedoms and rights - like the right to decide for ourselves when and where and why we should fight future wars.
______________________________________________________________________________
The editors of The Times and Transcript appear to be ignorant of all this. Their choice for the big, world story? It's a huge story on pp. C1 and C9, led by a large photo. "Shania Twain knocks their socks off in Vegas."
_________________________________________________________________________________
Craig Babstock, editor-at-large, has a column on how news gets around on social media these days - and it's even sillier and shallower than that description suggests. Allen Abel has his usual nothing - this time about how to say Merry Christmas in Washington.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The editorial is a cute piece of propaganda - again, it's the sort of manipulation that is, I'm quite sure, beyond the feeble grasp of any staff writer at the TandT. Posing as a story about the CN building at 1234 Main, it turns into a hymn of praise for the grandeur and sweep of Moncton's history and future, written in a style usually reserved for the rise of Rome. The real message, the kicker in a story supposedly about the CN "glass tower", is in the last half of the last sentence.
"....citizens anxiously await new developments toward an events centre."
Yes. Anxious indeed. Public washrooms across the city have been jammed for weeks, and with long and fidgeting lines outside them.
The spirit of Dr. Goebbels, chief of propaganda for the Third Reich, lives on. And seems to be earning great contracts for the communications company that employs him to write more sophisticated propaganda than editors of the TandT can manage.
.__________________________________________________________________________
Another BIG story is that the TandT discovered an 1879 copy The Daily Times. Big deal. University libraries are full of old copies of newspaper, many a lot older than 1879. They are quite different from current ones. And, in fact, that is part of what I will be talking about at the current events meeting tomorrow, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Moncton Library. The huge changes came in the 1890s and early 1900s, changes that made it possible for newspapers to become effective devices for propaganda and mind control. Developments that should have made for a more effective democracy have, in fact, done enormous damage to democracy.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Two pages of Section A, pages 8 and 9, stand out as extraordinarily effective pages of reporting and editing . Look at each photo. It's important. It creates a feeling I cannot describe. So I won't try to. Look at those two pages. And make sure you look at each photo. Really look.
Other than that and Alec Bruce's column and de Adder's cartoon, there is no point to reading this paper.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, but there is every reason to attend the current events group on Tuesday (tomorrow) Dec. 4, at the Moncton Library, 7 p.m..
Come along, and see if your favourite TandT staff writer is there.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Dec. 2: Some Sunday thoughts...
On this Tuesday, Dec. 4, the current events group will meet at Moncton Library from 7-8 p.m.
This time the topic will be the origins of our modern (mass-circulation) newspaper, and how it has been wide open to corruption and abuse since its origin in the 1890s...and how there is a connection between that corruption and Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts...with a glance at how and why it reached its lowest point with the founding of the Irving Press.(and when I say lowest, I mean I'm placing the supermarket gossip tabs a notch above the Irving Press.)
We'll also take a look at the impact radio and TV news had - and didn't have.
I won't pretend the current events group has been a breakaway success. New Brunswick has, so far as I can tell, no tradition whatever of public discussion of public matters. That is what has made it such easy pickings for over two centuries for scoundrels and liars.
I invite all the local news media to be there to explain to the audience where I am in error.
___________________________________________________________________________
Is Mr. Craig Leonard, our energy minister a fool? A liar? Both? (I am also open to the possibility that he is too big a fool to be a liar) Mr. Leonard told the legislature that the reports of Dr. Cleary and Prof. Lapierre on shale gas came to the same conclusion, that the development of shale gas should go ahead.
I will pass lightly over a convention in our democracy. An elected member does not EVER lie to the legislature.Such a lie is so far beneath contempt that no apology can ever make up for it. There is only one, possible answer for such an act, only one act that can restore some degree of honour. The liar MUST resign.
That won't happen here, of course. The word honour has no meaning in New Brunswick public life unless, of course, it refers to being elected to something like the NB Business Hall of Fame.
It's not hard to predict where New Brunswick will be in the very near future if it continues to elect a government made up of people whose normal form of locomotion is slithering, and continues to bow down to corporation bosses who are notable mainly for greed combined with a general incompetence in provincial affairs, and a lack of anything that could be called morality.
This is going to be a an economic and environmental sinkhole. Soon. It is already on the way.
One of the most disgusting examples of all the 'elites' of this province working together was the period that began under the Liberals and continued under the Conservatives. It was a period of vile attacks on the public system, encouraged by ignorant editorials in the Irving Press (was it Rod Allen who wrote those? Or Norbert?) Much of the attack was based on "studies" released by Atlantic Institute of Market Studies, an organization of intellectual whores assembled by the corporation bosses of New Brunswick to peddle their propaganda.
What they were after was a gradual privatization of the schools as has been carried out, with disastrous results, in the US.. This was a part of the drive for privatization of everything - as in public/private/partnerships. It wasn't to help the schools or the children. None of those people gave a damn for either. It was to make rich people richer.
That drive has left us with continuing interference with the schools coming in the form of school rankings - a thoroughly unscientific and fraudulent practice.
To cap it all, Mr. Irving had the arrogance to announce that he was in coalition with the government, that is he was a member of the government - even though nobody elected him. And Alward was, apparently, so unprincipled and/or spineless that he failed to point out the illegality of that in a democracy, and then crashed all the way by naming Mr. Irving advisor to the government on economic policy.
Apparently, we have prime minister and we have a leading businessman, neither of whom understands the concept of democracy or the concept of conflict of interest.
I have seen rot in many Canadian provinces (heck, I'm from Quebec). But I have never seen anything so bad as New Brunswick. And shale gas will be the final touch.
Follow the lawsuit in which an American fracking firm is suing Quebec for imposing a moratorium on fracking. Apparently, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, if a government discovers that fracking is damaging to the environment and human life - and so tries to ban it or even just to pass stricter regulations - the company can sue the government for the loss of all the profits it expected to make. And that can be figured out to any number they like - certainly many billions.
So - New Brunswick gives the green light to exploration. And what happens here is what has happened elsewhere, devalued property, sickly and dying livestock, poisoned lands and water tables, sick people, maybe even dead ones. So, we finally elect a government with brains and integrity - and we try to do something..
Boom....we are hit with a lawsuit that will impoverish New Brunswick forever. Property rights comes first. Human rights don't count.
But would our corporation bosses do such a thing?
They've had no qualms about doing it for the whole history of this province.
If you want to sit in a church to reflect on that, I suggest you try the Irving Chapel. Its ad invited people for just that purpose.
Well, anyway, we may touch on some of this on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in the Moncton Library. This will be the only chance to hear it unless, of course, there is a big story in the press or in ding-ding, trumpet blast, Moncton's News-Talk station. "In breaking news, the sun is shining. Now - an ad-break....ihere is a special report from out on -the- spot news team....a retired man said something at a library last night somewhere.ding ding ding, clatter...and now an ad-break....."
This time the topic will be the origins of our modern (mass-circulation) newspaper, and how it has been wide open to corruption and abuse since its origin in the 1890s...and how there is a connection between that corruption and Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts...with a glance at how and why it reached its lowest point with the founding of the Irving Press.(and when I say lowest, I mean I'm placing the supermarket gossip tabs a notch above the Irving Press.)
We'll also take a look at the impact radio and TV news had - and didn't have.
I won't pretend the current events group has been a breakaway success. New Brunswick has, so far as I can tell, no tradition whatever of public discussion of public matters. That is what has made it such easy pickings for over two centuries for scoundrels and liars.
I invite all the local news media to be there to explain to the audience where I am in error.
___________________________________________________________________________
Is Mr. Craig Leonard, our energy minister a fool? A liar? Both? (I am also open to the possibility that he is too big a fool to be a liar) Mr. Leonard told the legislature that the reports of Dr. Cleary and Prof. Lapierre on shale gas came to the same conclusion, that the development of shale gas should go ahead.
I will pass lightly over a convention in our democracy. An elected member does not EVER lie to the legislature.Such a lie is so far beneath contempt that no apology can ever make up for it. There is only one, possible answer for such an act, only one act that can restore some degree of honour. The liar MUST resign.
That won't happen here, of course. The word honour has no meaning in New Brunswick public life unless, of course, it refers to being elected to something like the NB Business Hall of Fame.
It's not hard to predict where New Brunswick will be in the very near future if it continues to elect a government made up of people whose normal form of locomotion is slithering, and continues to bow down to corporation bosses who are notable mainly for greed combined with a general incompetence in provincial affairs, and a lack of anything that could be called morality.
This is going to be a an economic and environmental sinkhole. Soon. It is already on the way.
One of the most disgusting examples of all the 'elites' of this province working together was the period that began under the Liberals and continued under the Conservatives. It was a period of vile attacks on the public system, encouraged by ignorant editorials in the Irving Press (was it Rod Allen who wrote those? Or Norbert?) Much of the attack was based on "studies" released by Atlantic Institute of Market Studies, an organization of intellectual whores assembled by the corporation bosses of New Brunswick to peddle their propaganda.
What they were after was a gradual privatization of the schools as has been carried out, with disastrous results, in the US.. This was a part of the drive for privatization of everything - as in public/private/partnerships. It wasn't to help the schools or the children. None of those people gave a damn for either. It was to make rich people richer.
That drive has left us with continuing interference with the schools coming in the form of school rankings - a thoroughly unscientific and fraudulent practice.
To cap it all, Mr. Irving had the arrogance to announce that he was in coalition with the government, that is he was a member of the government - even though nobody elected him. And Alward was, apparently, so unprincipled and/or spineless that he failed to point out the illegality of that in a democracy, and then crashed all the way by naming Mr. Irving advisor to the government on economic policy.
Apparently, we have prime minister and we have a leading businessman, neither of whom understands the concept of democracy or the concept of conflict of interest.
I have seen rot in many Canadian provinces (heck, I'm from Quebec). But I have never seen anything so bad as New Brunswick. And shale gas will be the final touch.
Follow the lawsuit in which an American fracking firm is suing Quebec for imposing a moratorium on fracking. Apparently, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, if a government discovers that fracking is damaging to the environment and human life - and so tries to ban it or even just to pass stricter regulations - the company can sue the government for the loss of all the profits it expected to make. And that can be figured out to any number they like - certainly many billions.
So - New Brunswick gives the green light to exploration. And what happens here is what has happened elsewhere, devalued property, sickly and dying livestock, poisoned lands and water tables, sick people, maybe even dead ones. So, we finally elect a government with brains and integrity - and we try to do something..
Boom....we are hit with a lawsuit that will impoverish New Brunswick forever. Property rights comes first. Human rights don't count.
But would our corporation bosses do such a thing?
They've had no qualms about doing it for the whole history of this province.
If you want to sit in a church to reflect on that, I suggest you try the Irving Chapel. Its ad invited people for just that purpose.
Well, anyway, we may touch on some of this on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in the Moncton Library. This will be the only chance to hear it unless, of course, there is a big story in the press or in ding-ding, trumpet blast, Moncton's News-Talk station. "In breaking news, the sun is shining. Now - an ad-break....ihere is a special report from out on -the- spot news team....a retired man said something at a library last night somewhere.ding ding ding, clatter...and now an ad-break....."
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Dec. 1: bo-ring...
There are times when even the lies and evasions and banalities of the Moncton Times and Transcript can't rouse.
I suppose that when I was new to the province, and naive, I might have been roused to anger by the obvious collusion of the Irving press and the government in telling us that the Alward government is going to complete drawing up regulations for the gas industry this month, and it will be taking into account the recommendations of Dr. Cleary, the province's Chief Medical Officer and Professor Lapierre. The gas industry tells us it cannot comment on the government's guidelines until it sees them.
We should know the rules about the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, an event otherwise noted in the paper mostly in advertising supplements.
And perhaps its just as well to make a separation between the ignorance, lying, lack of ethics, betrayal of the government and gas industry - and the hypocrisy of Christmas. After all, simple hypocrisy does less damage.
The gas industry is waiting to hear what the regulations will be? Like hell they are..Can you you believe that the collection of twits we have in Fredericton are even capable of writing regulations? It is far more likely the regulations are well known to the gas industry, and are being dictated to Mr. Alward with the pen he got as an election gift ("From your friend, Jim."), the pen that writes only what Jim tells it to write.
Based on the recommendations by Dr. Cleary? Like hell they are. Dr. Cleary's report, the only one coming from an expert and the one with the support of the whole medical community of this province, is being completely ignored. And we are being treated like fools by a government and a newspaper that pretend otherwise.
The recommendations being followed by the government are those of Dr. Lapierre, a person with neither the mandate nor the qualifications to make the recommendations he did. I long ago lost a good deal of respect I once, as a bright-eyed new prof, had for the integrity of universities.But U de Moncton seems to be unusually -----compliant. Untrustworthy. A tool of the wealthy. I recognize its importance to Acadians. That's why they must make it serve their needs, not the needs of rapacious corporations that don't give a damn whether or not Acadians even exist.
For all New Brunswickers, your chief medical officer has told you. We need much more research before we can even think of regulations. Without that research, we risk poisoning ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, our land, our waters - forever.
("Duh," says professor Lapierre, "we might get some jobs out of it. We gotta take risks.")
Sure. For a few jobs, with damn little of the money staying in this province, what the hell, it's worth risking the lives and futures of our children. Meanwhile, almost all the benefit will go into the pockets of a few billionaires who make it a point not to risk their lives or those of their children by living here.
I mean, why should we listen to advice from medical doctors when we have the pledged word of billionaires? I mean, it's Christmas, the time of the birth of Jesus, and one of those billionaires even has his own church. It's just like the visit of the magi all over again.
_______________________________________________________________________
That, and because we're close to Christmas and all, takes me to the Faith page.
Has it never occurred to any of the clergy who write sermonettes for that page that Jesus did not always talk about cute and goodsy things? Nor did He always talk about going to heaven and running in innocent nakedness through the clouds. No. He talked a good deal about life on this earth, and about the evil with which some treat others, about killing, about exploitation, about abusing the poor and helpless.
Has it not occurred to our churches that there is a moral dimension to the news we read every day? That we need moral guidelines for our political and economic decisions?
Apparently not. Jesus, we are told, will be with the poor on Christmas day. I'm glad. But will He be there when they are being made poor by corporations that rob them blind? By government that lies to them?
Just recently, we have fought in two wars. We have killed people. We have sent our own to be killed or crippled. Any moral questions in there? The closest I've seen to any church response was a cutesy slogan on a local church, "Pray for our soldiers in Afghanistan."
Damn right. Jesus doesn't care about any soldiers but ours. And He certainly doesn't care about deaths of Afghan civilians from our weapons, nor about the cripplings, the deaths by starvation and lack of medical care that we inflicted on them. I mean, when Jesus said "Love your neighbour", he meant love folks like us. You know, ones who go to the same church as us and move in our socio-economic circle.
What do our churches think of the morality of politicians (and newspapers) who lie to us, who put our health and even our lives into jeopardy to make a profit for their bosses? Do they see any moral issue in shale gas?
Nah. It's easier to tell cutesy stories about being good. It's easier to be good Christians by praying for our troops. I'm sure that's what Jesus would have done.
Or maybe someday our churches could wake up and realize there's a price to being Christian (or any other religion - something else the Faith page never mentions). You cannot be a Christian (or a Jew or Muslim or Hindu or Confucist) and still be respectable in a world dominated by greed, exploitation and cruelty.
Could we please get some faith onto the Faith page?
Oh, I know. The TandT could host a Christmas Eve vigil at the Irving chapel to watch for angels. Participants will get a free copy of Ralph Costellos's book, The Price of Honesty.
__________________________________________________________________________
And that takes me to Isabelle Agnew who contributes an interesting column in the Whatever Section. As a new driver, she is getting used to the idea of driving within the white or yellow lines. Then she takes it a step further, and sees the importance of guidelines on the road - and their importance in every aspect of daily life. Guidelines are the way we learn to who to act so that we can live together as a society.
True enough. Generally, we should learn to respect guidelines. Generally. Not always.
The problem with the road of life is that there are all sort of yellow and white lines, all laid by different people and laid out for very different reasons. And some of them, many of them, are laid out for bad reasons - for greed, for power, for killing,...
And sometimes, we should damn well cross some of those lines.
I suppose that when I was new to the province, and naive, I might have been roused to anger by the obvious collusion of the Irving press and the government in telling us that the Alward government is going to complete drawing up regulations for the gas industry this month, and it will be taking into account the recommendations of Dr. Cleary, the province's Chief Medical Officer and Professor Lapierre. The gas industry tells us it cannot comment on the government's guidelines until it sees them.
We should know the rules about the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, an event otherwise noted in the paper mostly in advertising supplements.
And perhaps its just as well to make a separation between the ignorance, lying, lack of ethics, betrayal of the government and gas industry - and the hypocrisy of Christmas. After all, simple hypocrisy does less damage.
The gas industry is waiting to hear what the regulations will be? Like hell they are..Can you you believe that the collection of twits we have in Fredericton are even capable of writing regulations? It is far more likely the regulations are well known to the gas industry, and are being dictated to Mr. Alward with the pen he got as an election gift ("From your friend, Jim."), the pen that writes only what Jim tells it to write.
Based on the recommendations by Dr. Cleary? Like hell they are. Dr. Cleary's report, the only one coming from an expert and the one with the support of the whole medical community of this province, is being completely ignored. And we are being treated like fools by a government and a newspaper that pretend otherwise.
The recommendations being followed by the government are those of Dr. Lapierre, a person with neither the mandate nor the qualifications to make the recommendations he did. I long ago lost a good deal of respect I once, as a bright-eyed new prof, had for the integrity of universities.But U de Moncton seems to be unusually -----compliant. Untrustworthy. A tool of the wealthy. I recognize its importance to Acadians. That's why they must make it serve their needs, not the needs of rapacious corporations that don't give a damn whether or not Acadians even exist.
For all New Brunswickers, your chief medical officer has told you. We need much more research before we can even think of regulations. Without that research, we risk poisoning ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, our land, our waters - forever.
("Duh," says professor Lapierre, "we might get some jobs out of it. We gotta take risks.")
Sure. For a few jobs, with damn little of the money staying in this province, what the hell, it's worth risking the lives and futures of our children. Meanwhile, almost all the benefit will go into the pockets of a few billionaires who make it a point not to risk their lives or those of their children by living here.
I mean, why should we listen to advice from medical doctors when we have the pledged word of billionaires? I mean, it's Christmas, the time of the birth of Jesus, and one of those billionaires even has his own church. It's just like the visit of the magi all over again.
_______________________________________________________________________
That, and because we're close to Christmas and all, takes me to the Faith page.
Has it never occurred to any of the clergy who write sermonettes for that page that Jesus did not always talk about cute and goodsy things? Nor did He always talk about going to heaven and running in innocent nakedness through the clouds. No. He talked a good deal about life on this earth, and about the evil with which some treat others, about killing, about exploitation, about abusing the poor and helpless.
Has it not occurred to our churches that there is a moral dimension to the news we read every day? That we need moral guidelines for our political and economic decisions?
Apparently not. Jesus, we are told, will be with the poor on Christmas day. I'm glad. But will He be there when they are being made poor by corporations that rob them blind? By government that lies to them?
Just recently, we have fought in two wars. We have killed people. We have sent our own to be killed or crippled. Any moral questions in there? The closest I've seen to any church response was a cutesy slogan on a local church, "Pray for our soldiers in Afghanistan."
Damn right. Jesus doesn't care about any soldiers but ours. And He certainly doesn't care about deaths of Afghan civilians from our weapons, nor about the cripplings, the deaths by starvation and lack of medical care that we inflicted on them. I mean, when Jesus said "Love your neighbour", he meant love folks like us. You know, ones who go to the same church as us and move in our socio-economic circle.
What do our churches think of the morality of politicians (and newspapers) who lie to us, who put our health and even our lives into jeopardy to make a profit for their bosses? Do they see any moral issue in shale gas?
Nah. It's easier to tell cutesy stories about being good. It's easier to be good Christians by praying for our troops. I'm sure that's what Jesus would have done.
Or maybe someday our churches could wake up and realize there's a price to being Christian (or any other religion - something else the Faith page never mentions). You cannot be a Christian (or a Jew or Muslim or Hindu or Confucist) and still be respectable in a world dominated by greed, exploitation and cruelty.
Could we please get some faith onto the Faith page?
Oh, I know. The TandT could host a Christmas Eve vigil at the Irving chapel to watch for angels. Participants will get a free copy of Ralph Costellos's book, The Price of Honesty.
__________________________________________________________________________
And that takes me to Isabelle Agnew who contributes an interesting column in the Whatever Section. As a new driver, she is getting used to the idea of driving within the white or yellow lines. Then she takes it a step further, and sees the importance of guidelines on the road - and their importance in every aspect of daily life. Guidelines are the way we learn to who to act so that we can live together as a society.
True enough. Generally, we should learn to respect guidelines. Generally. Not always.
The problem with the road of life is that there are all sort of yellow and white lines, all laid by different people and laid out for very different reasons. And some of them, many of them, are laid out for bad reasons - for greed, for power, for killing,...
And sometimes, we should damn well cross some of those lines.
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