I just love it when headlines talk dirty. If seems the mayor of Riverview gave a speech to the Men's Probus Club. I've never seen a man's probus. But, then, I never kissed a girl until I was 36, so there's a lot about sex I don't know.
Anyway, the mayor gave them the speech that mayors always give about how great things are going Riverview. So it's important to have it up there on p.1 for anybody who missed the several thousand times it's been given before.
Actually, there are only two stories in Section A worth reading.
Page 2 has the sad news of the death of Stompin' Tom Connors Though generations out of style by this time, Stompin' Tom was always welcome for his down home honesty and energy. And, unlike many, many current stars, Stompin' Tom could actually sing.
Page 6 has a story about NDP leader Dominic Cardy who wants to end the practice of corporations and unions giving donations to political parties. The lesson is obvious from the US experience in which the financing power of big business has effectively destroyed democracy. I'm not convinced his proposal is the whole answer - but it is a opening to begin discussing the issue.
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B2 is headed by the story of a million Syrians who are refugees, having fled to neighbouring countries. It would be a good story - if only it told the truth. Instead, it (Associated Press) gives the impression that this is a case of freedom fighters that the west is not helping enough.
First, the west is sending help and has been sending help from day 1. Indeed, the war was almost certainly provoked by the western powers, working through the freedom-loving king of Saudi Arabia (the world's most complete and anti-democratic dictator). The west has supplied money for mercenaries, weapons, intelligence and training for the so-called rebels - most of whom are not rebels but hired invaders (there's a difference.)
The US certainly doesn't give a damn about democracy in Syria. (Some of its best friends are dicators like the king of Saudi Arabia). And democracy is not what the war is about. It's about the restoring the western empires in Africa that were lost after 1945 - but this time with the US taking the lead.
It's about breaking up any countries that won't follow the US lead.
Then, at the end, we'll go through the old farce of the US pretending to spend billions on a ruined country -the same game we played with Iraq. You haven't read much about the "rebuilding" of Iraq because few North American newspapers aren't saying much - so here's the scoop -
The Inspector -General of American spending has just announced that the US has spent 60 billion dollars to rebuild Iraq. There is almost nothing to show for it. Some of the money was simply wasted on useless projects, much of it went into the pockets of American contractors for work that, in fact, was never done. And 1.7 billion can't be found at all. Like American aid to Haiti, this is just the old story of greed and corruption and absolute indifference to the suffering of people.
But you'll never read about it in the TandT. So try Agence France-Presse, Marcy 6, 2013.
B1 has a story on Venezuela which really says nothing. You'll know when the real story develops with things like, oh, the story of civil war being whipped up by the CIA, of "freedom fighters" suddenly appearing on the border of Venezuela. The US has been waiting for its chance to get control again of Venezuela - and Cuba. This could be the chance. We don't have nearly enough wars going on.
On, for collectors of dumb mistakes, go to "Karzai asks for end to abuses" on B1. In the sub-head, it refers to Karzai's "normal tact of blaming NATO alone". Boy, nothing worse that a leader who tries to pull some fancy 'tact".
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Alec Bruce writes today with a tone of bitterness - and understandably so. We are facing the worst economic crisis in recent history. And our federal finance minister, Mr. Flaherty is ignoring all we have learned about dealing with such crises. Instead, he's going to the old, ideological route of making most of us pay for the blunders of a very few of the wealthiest of us. It won't work this time any more than it has worked in the past - which is not at all. And, modelled as it is on practice in the US and western Europe, it is sending us into a world that will be a very bad one, indeed.
I think I'll talk about that on Sunday when I discuss the arrival of the police state.
Norbert Cunningham spits contempt at people who get welfare. They should, he says, use their unemployed time to upgrade their educations, get another job....etc. Damn right. That's what Jim and Jamie Irving did. Pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps, they did.
Obviously, Norbert has never experienced the reality of being broke, out of a job and, perhaps, with family to look after.
For it is written in the Gospel according to Norbert, We're responsible for ourselves. Forget this crap about caring about other people. I know. I know. Some guy in sandals in the middle east talked about caring for other people. Damn lot of good it did him.
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On the op ed page of serious comment, Rod Allen tells us a juvenile story about two cats. And he's an assistant managing editor. Maybe we could fire Rod, and hire the cats as managing editors.
Jody Dallaire is a welcome break.
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Thursday, March 7, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
March 6: Mostly boring....
The lead story is that the CFL will play a game in Moncton this fall - and we'll make millions and millions of dollars. Several questions have always puzzled me about these extravaganzas.
1. How much do they cost us?
2. How much money do they bring in?
3. How much of that money stays in Moncton? After all, money spent on hotels and fast food, perhaps most of it, goes somewhere else.
What are we getting for our money? And why does the TandT never report on that?
A Target Store is going to open in the Fall. Be still, my heart.
Headline on A2 - "Coalition won't publish attack figures". Real story? The US government has been caught lying in releasing figures suggesting it is winning the war in Afghanistan when, in fact, it lost it a long time ago. So it won't release any more figures on the scale of taliban attacks. It might take a moment to figure that out because the report is a beautiful piece of bafflegab.
Skip the rest of section A unless you didn't know that schools were on March break, and that kids sometimes go to Crystal Palace on the break.
________________________________________________________________________
On the Your Business page, the big story is that PEI is producing a new beer which can now be obtained in NB liquor stores. It's called Beach Chair, and it has a picture of - you guessed it - a beach chair in the sun and on the sand. In other words, the whole image on the can is heat. However, it is my experience that few people buy a can of beer to warm up. Beach Chair may not be a brilliant marketing concept.
But, evidently, it's big news in the Moncton business world.
_______________________________________________________________________
Section D has a longish story on the death of Chavez of Venezuela which tells everything but the truth.
Historically, Venezuela was run by a a wealthy elite (something like New Brunswick) who lived high on the nation's American-controlled oil reserves while the rest of the population lived in utter misery.
Chavez changed that. He took national control of the oil, and used the money to provide services the general population had never had before - education, medical care, decent housing... The rich immediately fled to the US where they joined their friends, the dictator's thugs who had fled Cuba in the 50s.
The oil companies, with the help of most US governments, have been trying to stir up a civil war or to murder Chavez ever since. My guess is they'll now go for a civil war to bring back the good, old days when oil barons ruled the land and kept most in poverty, and when elections were rigged to keep it that way. And then our hypocrite prime minister will praise Venezuela for returning to "democracy and freedom". (Harper's other great friend is Saudi Arabia, the country with the tightest and cruelest dictatorship in the world. Harper's kinda guys.)
John Baird, our Foreign Affairs Minister, pledged to punish Palestine if it took charges of criminal behaviour against Israel to an international criminal court. He might, for example, cut off humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people - who desperately need it.
What a thorough bastard!
For a start, if Israel is innocent, a court will decide that. Who is Baird to decide that a country cannot take a case to court?
And who is that tool of Harper to inflict punishment on people who desperately need food and medical help?
Result? The American and Israeli far right who want to wipe out Palestine will pat pit bull Baird and his master Harper on their unattractive heads. And we will continue to play the stooge for American foreign policy while the innocent suffer.
__________________________________________________________________________
Both Alec Bruce and Norbert Cunningham write on the same topic today - the future of universities.
Norbert has some good points. What a pity he cannot make them without rant - or with evidence. I was struck, though, by his attacks on Frank McKenna as a "spin doctor" (liar) and on bureaucratic madness in big corporations. Wow! If they're as bad as he says, why has never attacked them as he attacks the poor, the unemployed, and anybody he doesn't agree with?
There is some truth in what he says about universities. The problem is he is so ignorant of what universities are and what they do, he has no foundation making any suggestions to improve the situation.
Alex Bruce comes closer to the mark, but he misses by thinking too highly of what the universities have to say for themselves. He says that high school does not prepare students for university.
Not true.
The high schools do prepare them. The universities officially recognize that. There are university officials whose job it is to examine applications to the university. They have records of the high school standards of just about every country in the world. They decide on who gets accepted. And that acceptance letter MEANS that the student is ready for university.
So where does it all go wrong?
It goes wrong with the professors. Most don't have a clue on how to move the student into the next level of learning. Most have no training whatever in teaching. Indeed, those profs who know big words will say that teaching is yuckie-poo. Many think only of the subject, and not at all of the student.
If they were trying to hitch a trailer to a car, but couldn't do it because the car had no ballmount, they would say it was the car's fault.
In universities, they blame the student for not being prepared for university. I don't know how often I've heard that excuse. The university has said they are prepared. That's why they got accepted. Of course, they aren't prepared to jump into the deep end. They need someone who cares about teaching and knows something about it to make the transition.
But what they get, too often, are arrogant, ego-driven profs who don't have a clue about how to teach, indeed who have contempt for the very idea of teaching. And I have seen that arrogance and incompetence repeated all the way through university so that some final year professors still say - they're students aren't prepared for university.
And I must disagree with Alex's final point - that critical thinking is what professors do best. All my experience is that what they do best is pumping up their own egos, and shining their personal prestige.
Critical thinking is what they can do well - within their own, narrow fields. But it rarely gets much beyond that.
The universities face a very real crisis. They should have realized that fifty years ago. They didn't. They still don't. And they won't.
I have two, strong memories of my undergraduate years. I had only grade ten when I started. (I had been kicked out of school in grade eleven.) I was often at sea in my classes, as Alex mentioned he was. I still passed. So much for the importance of preparation.
The second memory is that today I remember almost nothing of what I was taught and passed exams on. That's because most university teachers don't have a clue about how to teach writing or thinking (which would be useful for all of us.) All most can do is give us useless information to memorize (which is forgotten months after the final exam).
However, I remember one thing. If you have two rabbits, one black and one white and each of them only one sex and that a different sex from the other, and they get married and have four bunnies - one bunny will be black, one white, and two grey. (I think). This is the first time in my life I've had an opportunity to use that information.
______________________________________________________________________________
Eric Lewis and Brian Cormier on the op ed page are so boring and irrelevant, they should be university teachers.
____________________________________________________________________________
1. How much do they cost us?
2. How much money do they bring in?
3. How much of that money stays in Moncton? After all, money spent on hotels and fast food, perhaps most of it, goes somewhere else.
What are we getting for our money? And why does the TandT never report on that?
A Target Store is going to open in the Fall. Be still, my heart.
Headline on A2 - "Coalition won't publish attack figures". Real story? The US government has been caught lying in releasing figures suggesting it is winning the war in Afghanistan when, in fact, it lost it a long time ago. So it won't release any more figures on the scale of taliban attacks. It might take a moment to figure that out because the report is a beautiful piece of bafflegab.
Skip the rest of section A unless you didn't know that schools were on March break, and that kids sometimes go to Crystal Palace on the break.
________________________________________________________________________
On the Your Business page, the big story is that PEI is producing a new beer which can now be obtained in NB liquor stores. It's called Beach Chair, and it has a picture of - you guessed it - a beach chair in the sun and on the sand. In other words, the whole image on the can is heat. However, it is my experience that few people buy a can of beer to warm up. Beach Chair may not be a brilliant marketing concept.
But, evidently, it's big news in the Moncton business world.
_______________________________________________________________________
Section D has a longish story on the death of Chavez of Venezuela which tells everything but the truth.
Historically, Venezuela was run by a a wealthy elite (something like New Brunswick) who lived high on the nation's American-controlled oil reserves while the rest of the population lived in utter misery.
Chavez changed that. He took national control of the oil, and used the money to provide services the general population had never had before - education, medical care, decent housing... The rich immediately fled to the US where they joined their friends, the dictator's thugs who had fled Cuba in the 50s.
The oil companies, with the help of most US governments, have been trying to stir up a civil war or to murder Chavez ever since. My guess is they'll now go for a civil war to bring back the good, old days when oil barons ruled the land and kept most in poverty, and when elections were rigged to keep it that way. And then our hypocrite prime minister will praise Venezuela for returning to "democracy and freedom". (Harper's other great friend is Saudi Arabia, the country with the tightest and cruelest dictatorship in the world. Harper's kinda guys.)
John Baird, our Foreign Affairs Minister, pledged to punish Palestine if it took charges of criminal behaviour against Israel to an international criminal court. He might, for example, cut off humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people - who desperately need it.
What a thorough bastard!
For a start, if Israel is innocent, a court will decide that. Who is Baird to decide that a country cannot take a case to court?
And who is that tool of Harper to inflict punishment on people who desperately need food and medical help?
Result? The American and Israeli far right who want to wipe out Palestine will pat pit bull Baird and his master Harper on their unattractive heads. And we will continue to play the stooge for American foreign policy while the innocent suffer.
__________________________________________________________________________
Both Alec Bruce and Norbert Cunningham write on the same topic today - the future of universities.
Norbert has some good points. What a pity he cannot make them without rant - or with evidence. I was struck, though, by his attacks on Frank McKenna as a "spin doctor" (liar) and on bureaucratic madness in big corporations. Wow! If they're as bad as he says, why has never attacked them as he attacks the poor, the unemployed, and anybody he doesn't agree with?
There is some truth in what he says about universities. The problem is he is so ignorant of what universities are and what they do, he has no foundation making any suggestions to improve the situation.
Alex Bruce comes closer to the mark, but he misses by thinking too highly of what the universities have to say for themselves. He says that high school does not prepare students for university.
Not true.
The high schools do prepare them. The universities officially recognize that. There are university officials whose job it is to examine applications to the university. They have records of the high school standards of just about every country in the world. They decide on who gets accepted. And that acceptance letter MEANS that the student is ready for university.
So where does it all go wrong?
It goes wrong with the professors. Most don't have a clue on how to move the student into the next level of learning. Most have no training whatever in teaching. Indeed, those profs who know big words will say that teaching is yuckie-poo. Many think only of the subject, and not at all of the student.
If they were trying to hitch a trailer to a car, but couldn't do it because the car had no ballmount, they would say it was the car's fault.
In universities, they blame the student for not being prepared for university. I don't know how often I've heard that excuse. The university has said they are prepared. That's why they got accepted. Of course, they aren't prepared to jump into the deep end. They need someone who cares about teaching and knows something about it to make the transition.
But what they get, too often, are arrogant, ego-driven profs who don't have a clue about how to teach, indeed who have contempt for the very idea of teaching. And I have seen that arrogance and incompetence repeated all the way through university so that some final year professors still say - they're students aren't prepared for university.
And I must disagree with Alex's final point - that critical thinking is what professors do best. All my experience is that what they do best is pumping up their own egos, and shining their personal prestige.
Critical thinking is what they can do well - within their own, narrow fields. But it rarely gets much beyond that.
The universities face a very real crisis. They should have realized that fifty years ago. They didn't. They still don't. And they won't.
I have two, strong memories of my undergraduate years. I had only grade ten when I started. (I had been kicked out of school in grade eleven.) I was often at sea in my classes, as Alex mentioned he was. I still passed. So much for the importance of preparation.
The second memory is that today I remember almost nothing of what I was taught and passed exams on. That's because most university teachers don't have a clue about how to teach writing or thinking (which would be useful for all of us.) All most can do is give us useless information to memorize (which is forgotten months after the final exam).
However, I remember one thing. If you have two rabbits, one black and one white and each of them only one sex and that a different sex from the other, and they get married and have four bunnies - one bunny will be black, one white, and two grey. (I think). This is the first time in my life I've had an opportunity to use that information.
______________________________________________________________________________
Eric Lewis and Brian Cormier on the op ed page are so boring and irrelevant, they should be university teachers.
____________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
March 5: Brilliant and fair-minded......
.....by the standards of the Moncton Times and Transcript.
The front page even has a full colour picture of a shale gas protest, featuring two, very cute, little girls. The story is followed up on A9 - though I good deal of it is given over not to shale gas protestors but to those with an interest in developing shale gas.
By contrast, just below the story on A9 is a story about how shale gas developers are ready to start work - it has not a word about protests. Still, give the TandT credit for noticing.
A2 has a story about Jack Mintz, a man who was an advisor to New Brunswick's Liberals on tax policy, warning against raising taxes on the rich and corporations.That's not surprising. He teaches public policy at university of Calgary - and U of Calgary is the greatest kisser of rich feet in Canada. (They also list him as chair of the department - as though that makes him a wise man. However, being chair has nothing to do with being wise. I was chair of a department for six years without a single mark of wisdom in that whole period.)
Funny thing about big business and taxes. Before their taxes were cut, they were making huge profits. After their taxes were cut, they made huger profits. Now, we're told that if we dare go back to the old taxes, they'll leave. Why?
They were making huge profits under those taxes before. And they didn't move out. They did quite well. Now, all of a sudden and with lower taxes, they claim they're being taxed to death. And they still get so much in grants and privileges that it probably makes up for the little they do pay in taxes.
If they want to go, let them go. If Irving doesn't want our forests, somebody else will. If he doesn't want our shipyards, somebody else will. We could even develop these thing ourselves. Any expertise Irving has comes in the form of hired people. We, too, can hire such people. There is no special gift in any corporation family. And they do not create wealth. The wealth was created here in our land long before they were born. They don't create it. They soak it up.
Jack Mintz sounds like an advisor to bank robbers who tells us that if we don't don't leave our banks unlocked, then robbers won't come here any more. Then what will we do?
Still, the gesture was there. Protestors were given space and faces. They are admited to exist. That's a giant step forward for such a baby foot.
_________________________________________________________________________
There are two items worth reading in NewsToday - which is two more than usual. On the Business Page, Tom Mulcair is playing a politically astute game (I hope) in being open to discussion of a free trade deal with Europe. If he isn't open to discussion, he'll be condemned as a wild-eyed radical. The risk is that such free trade deals normally come with severe damage to social programmes and even to basic human rights to countries that take part in them. The rich do well out of out them. Everybody else takes a pounding. For example, the Europeans want Canada to strip government regulation of Canada's banks. Right. Just what we need after we see the chaos that sort of thing has cause in the US and Europe.
On C4, the UN is nailing Canada for its failure to deal with poverty in this country, and its moves away from human rights. These are touchy points for Harper who loves parading his virtue. But the fact is that he has created a rise in poverty in Canada; and he has taken part in human rights abuses, including torture.
____________________________________________________________________________
Norbert has a good point in his column - but, as usual - he destroys his own position with rant, name-calling, and lack of evidence. He couldn't say happy birthday without slandering somebody.
Alex Bruce is very solid on how ideology has taken over from common sense in political, social and business goals. We can see it right here in New Brunswick as the province imposes business methods on the operation of medicare, schools, and government in general.
But one size does not fit all. It might not fit even business. But one size is the new ideology. Harper is a man of ideology He believes. He has no evidence, and he tolerates no disagreement. He just believes. (Alward is not an ideologist; he's just a puppet.)
Actually, Norbert and Bruce discuss very similar problems. The difference is that Norbert is so committed to a blind ideology that he's just as bad as the people he denounces as tech idealists and deluded diehard socialists.
On op ed, Alan Cochrane writes a typical staff writer column. Intellectually, he gets beaten out by the column just below his, one on maple syrup.
______________________________________________________________________________
Then there's the news that didn't make it into this best-ever edition of the Moncton Times and Transcript.
Two items stand out.
Eight thousand Haitians have died of cholera in the worst outbreak in decades.
But who gives a damn. Right?
Haiti is the island ravaged, starved, robbed and raped by the gangsters who were its army under a brutal dictator installed by the US. They kept Haiti a place of incredibly cheap labour, vile living conditions (and no services) for the benefit of big corporations operating exotic farms and cheap factories.
When Haiti got rid of the dictator and elected its first democratic president, a former priest, the American government expressed its displeasure, and warned him not to do any unAmerican things like charging taxes or building schools.
When he did that, the US promptly organized a rebellion (of thugs who had been in the Haitian army under the dictators), and used that as an excuse to send in a 'peacekeeping force'. The peacekeepers promptly forced the president onto a plane and into exile, while the invading thugs shook hands all round.
Then came the earthquake.
The US promised vast amounts of aid - most of which never arrived. Much of it went into the pockets of 'contractors' who did nothing to earn it. The rest simply was stopped.
Always a place of poisonous water and virtually no sanitation, Haiti only got worse after the earthquake. Thousands are still living under canvas that can only politely be called tents. There is still virtually no clean water available, often no drinking water at all, and no toilets or any semblance of a sanitation system.
The cholera that struck these people almost certainly came from peacekeeping troops from Nepal. But the UN refuses any responsibility. So the Haitians go on dying.
In Cuba and Haiti we see two nations who lived under a long series of American-installed dictators, two countries pillaged by good ol' companies like Dole. (The original Dole was a missionary to Hawaii.) Both were and are among the poorest nations in the hemisphere.
Cuba broke away from American control. It now has decent and sanitary housing, medicare which makes general health superior to that in the US, free public education all the way through medical school (in fact, many American medical students now train in Cuba). But if there's any derogatory news about Cuba, depend on the Moncton Times and Transcript to publish it. And count on it to ignore the good parts - unless Norbert were to write a column calling the Cubans "deluded socialist idealists".
Haiti, thanks to US control, lives deep in filth and poverty. There is virtually no education, no sanitation, no health care. And there are the dead. And the dying. Count on the Moncton Times to ignore that, too.
______________________________________________________________________________
Nor has there been any mention of Pfc. Bradley Manning, and American soldier was held in a military prison for three years without charge or trial. Almost all his prison time was spent in solitary confinement, often with sleep deprivation (maintained by waking him every half hour, day and night.
His crime? He released thousands of the Wikkileaks stories (which were ignored by the Irving press and most of the North American press.) The American government says he endangered US security by releasing military secrets. But that's not what they said at the time it happened.
Then, they said that the information was embarrassing, but not a threat to national security. Why the change of mind?
Because it was embarrassing. It revealed that the US was deliberately carrying out war crimes, and inflicting terrible suffering and death on innocent people by the millions. Bradley was badly shaken by what he saw, and by the obviously deliberately savage behaviour of the American government. As he told the court, the felt that as a matter of conscience, this had to be made known.
That's why he now faces a military court with 150 witnesses (all partners in the brutality that was done) to testify that his action did damage national security. Bradley's probably fate? The rest of his life in a military prison, perhaps in solitude. The government wants him badly.
Gee. Perhaps this could be a sermonette for the faith page on Saturday. You know - if Jesus had been in private Bradley's position, what would He have done?
Nah. I mean, Jesus would have said, "My country, right or wrong." Jesus was a big patriot and defender of the free enterprise system. Just ask Norbert.
The front page even has a full colour picture of a shale gas protest, featuring two, very cute, little girls. The story is followed up on A9 - though I good deal of it is given over not to shale gas protestors but to those with an interest in developing shale gas.
By contrast, just below the story on A9 is a story about how shale gas developers are ready to start work - it has not a word about protests. Still, give the TandT credit for noticing.
A2 has a story about Jack Mintz, a man who was an advisor to New Brunswick's Liberals on tax policy, warning against raising taxes on the rich and corporations.That's not surprising. He teaches public policy at university of Calgary - and U of Calgary is the greatest kisser of rich feet in Canada. (They also list him as chair of the department - as though that makes him a wise man. However, being chair has nothing to do with being wise. I was chair of a department for six years without a single mark of wisdom in that whole period.)
Funny thing about big business and taxes. Before their taxes were cut, they were making huge profits. After their taxes were cut, they made huger profits. Now, we're told that if we dare go back to the old taxes, they'll leave. Why?
They were making huge profits under those taxes before. And they didn't move out. They did quite well. Now, all of a sudden and with lower taxes, they claim they're being taxed to death. And they still get so much in grants and privileges that it probably makes up for the little they do pay in taxes.
If they want to go, let them go. If Irving doesn't want our forests, somebody else will. If he doesn't want our shipyards, somebody else will. We could even develop these thing ourselves. Any expertise Irving has comes in the form of hired people. We, too, can hire such people. There is no special gift in any corporation family. And they do not create wealth. The wealth was created here in our land long before they were born. They don't create it. They soak it up.
Jack Mintz sounds like an advisor to bank robbers who tells us that if we don't don't leave our banks unlocked, then robbers won't come here any more. Then what will we do?
Still, the gesture was there. Protestors were given space and faces. They are admited to exist. That's a giant step forward for such a baby foot.
_________________________________________________________________________
There are two items worth reading in NewsToday - which is two more than usual. On the Business Page, Tom Mulcair is playing a politically astute game (I hope) in being open to discussion of a free trade deal with Europe. If he isn't open to discussion, he'll be condemned as a wild-eyed radical. The risk is that such free trade deals normally come with severe damage to social programmes and even to basic human rights to countries that take part in them. The rich do well out of out them. Everybody else takes a pounding. For example, the Europeans want Canada to strip government regulation of Canada's banks. Right. Just what we need after we see the chaos that sort of thing has cause in the US and Europe.
On C4, the UN is nailing Canada for its failure to deal with poverty in this country, and its moves away from human rights. These are touchy points for Harper who loves parading his virtue. But the fact is that he has created a rise in poverty in Canada; and he has taken part in human rights abuses, including torture.
____________________________________________________________________________
Norbert has a good point in his column - but, as usual - he destroys his own position with rant, name-calling, and lack of evidence. He couldn't say happy birthday without slandering somebody.
Alex Bruce is very solid on how ideology has taken over from common sense in political, social and business goals. We can see it right here in New Brunswick as the province imposes business methods on the operation of medicare, schools, and government in general.
But one size does not fit all. It might not fit even business. But one size is the new ideology. Harper is a man of ideology He believes. He has no evidence, and he tolerates no disagreement. He just believes. (Alward is not an ideologist; he's just a puppet.)
Actually, Norbert and Bruce discuss very similar problems. The difference is that Norbert is so committed to a blind ideology that he's just as bad as the people he denounces as tech idealists and deluded diehard socialists.
On op ed, Alan Cochrane writes a typical staff writer column. Intellectually, he gets beaten out by the column just below his, one on maple syrup.
______________________________________________________________________________
Then there's the news that didn't make it into this best-ever edition of the Moncton Times and Transcript.
Two items stand out.
Eight thousand Haitians have died of cholera in the worst outbreak in decades.
But who gives a damn. Right?
Haiti is the island ravaged, starved, robbed and raped by the gangsters who were its army under a brutal dictator installed by the US. They kept Haiti a place of incredibly cheap labour, vile living conditions (and no services) for the benefit of big corporations operating exotic farms and cheap factories.
When Haiti got rid of the dictator and elected its first democratic president, a former priest, the American government expressed its displeasure, and warned him not to do any unAmerican things like charging taxes or building schools.
When he did that, the US promptly organized a rebellion (of thugs who had been in the Haitian army under the dictators), and used that as an excuse to send in a 'peacekeeping force'. The peacekeepers promptly forced the president onto a plane and into exile, while the invading thugs shook hands all round.
Then came the earthquake.
The US promised vast amounts of aid - most of which never arrived. Much of it went into the pockets of 'contractors' who did nothing to earn it. The rest simply was stopped.
Always a place of poisonous water and virtually no sanitation, Haiti only got worse after the earthquake. Thousands are still living under canvas that can only politely be called tents. There is still virtually no clean water available, often no drinking water at all, and no toilets or any semblance of a sanitation system.
The cholera that struck these people almost certainly came from peacekeeping troops from Nepal. But the UN refuses any responsibility. So the Haitians go on dying.
In Cuba and Haiti we see two nations who lived under a long series of American-installed dictators, two countries pillaged by good ol' companies like Dole. (The original Dole was a missionary to Hawaii.) Both were and are among the poorest nations in the hemisphere.
Cuba broke away from American control. It now has decent and sanitary housing, medicare which makes general health superior to that in the US, free public education all the way through medical school (in fact, many American medical students now train in Cuba). But if there's any derogatory news about Cuba, depend on the Moncton Times and Transcript to publish it. And count on it to ignore the good parts - unless Norbert were to write a column calling the Cubans "deluded socialist idealists".
Haiti, thanks to US control, lives deep in filth and poverty. There is virtually no education, no sanitation, no health care. And there are the dead. And the dying. Count on the Moncton Times to ignore that, too.
______________________________________________________________________________
Nor has there been any mention of Pfc. Bradley Manning, and American soldier was held in a military prison for three years without charge or trial. Almost all his prison time was spent in solitary confinement, often with sleep deprivation (maintained by waking him every half hour, day and night.
His crime? He released thousands of the Wikkileaks stories (which were ignored by the Irving press and most of the North American press.) The American government says he endangered US security by releasing military secrets. But that's not what they said at the time it happened.
Then, they said that the information was embarrassing, but not a threat to national security. Why the change of mind?
Because it was embarrassing. It revealed that the US was deliberately carrying out war crimes, and inflicting terrible suffering and death on innocent people by the millions. Bradley was badly shaken by what he saw, and by the obviously deliberately savage behaviour of the American government. As he told the court, the felt that as a matter of conscience, this had to be made known.
That's why he now faces a military court with 150 witnesses (all partners in the brutality that was done) to testify that his action did damage national security. Bradley's probably fate? The rest of his life in a military prison, perhaps in solitude. The government wants him badly.
Gee. Perhaps this could be a sermonette for the faith page on Saturday. You know - if Jesus had been in private Bradley's position, what would He have done?
Nah. I mean, Jesus would have said, "My country, right or wrong." Jesus was a big patriot and defender of the free enterprise system. Just ask Norbert.
Monday, March 4, 2013
March 4: How not to write a headline....
Headlines are normally written or, at least, approved by editors. The purpose of the headline is to give readers a sense of the main point of the story. This is important because many readers won't go past the headline. Below that is a sub head which enlarges slightly on the headline. Again, this is important because many of the readers who get past the headline will stop reading at the sub head.
So here's a header on p.1...
"EI changes not leading to spike in complaints thus far"
And the sub-head...
"Early numbers show changes haven't resulted in number of formal appeals rising, despite widespread criticisms" (well, of course it hasn't resulted in a rise in appeals yet. It's just coming into effect. Most of the months given for comparison are months in which the new system was not in effect. Whoever wrote that sub head is either a fool or a liar).
So what's the point of the head and sub-head? Ain't nuthin' happenin'. Ain't no real criticism. Nothin to look at, folks. Just keep movin'.
Now read the story. That's not what it's about at all. I's a long story about widespread criticism of the the tightening of EI, and of Alward's failure to make any response. A journalism student in first year (first week?) would be wearing a dunce's cap for writing a head and sub-head like that. What does this tell you about the quality of editors at the TandT?
P. 1 is the usual mix of trivia (wolf pup captured very quickly after taking a walk outside its enclosure) - repeats of stories in the last edition ("RV's still popular summer homes") - and the obsession with world fame (getting a CFL game in Moncton.)
I would rather expect the worsening American recession (and ours) will have a lot more effect on visitors, hotels and restaurants this summer that RVs and a football game will. But there's scarcely a word on that.
And I should think that rising energy prices, mass transit crises, and urban sprawl are going to be bigger problems in only a few years than a wolf pup going for a stroll. But I have yet to see a word in this miserable paper about our city's master plan for dealing with these - if there is such a plan.
The rest of Section A is just as silly. (There's to be a new Kent Building Supplies Store in Harrisville. Hold me back.)
______________________________________________________________________________
In world news, a husband and his pregnant wife were killed in a car crash but their baby survived - in New York. That's the big news in a world in which at least tens of thousands of men, women, and children are bombed, starved, burned and shot to death every day. Of course, they aren't real people, not like us.
Catholics are thinking about choosing a new pope. Gee. Who would have guessed? Will the new pope make radical changes? Sure. That why the cardinals who will choose him were picked for their extremely conservative views - rather like our Senate.
In Syria, the big news is that the opposition leader visited areas held by his supporters. Gee. That tells us a lot. The story does mention that the US might now being supplying medical aid to Syria. Whoopie. This is largely a US made war supplied by allies of the US (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France), with rebel training and intelligence supplied by the US with through charitable groups like the CIA. The US has been up to its ears in this war since day 1.
Meanwhile, the Syrian people hate most of the rebels because they are, in fact, foreign invaders, and they are extreme jihadists in a Syria that is largely secular. The rebels, who call themselves Free Syria, would in fact almost certainly lose any free election against Assad. Meanwhile, a hundred coptic Christians who fled Syria to escape rape, murder and plunder by "Free Syria" have been imprisoned and are being tortured by our buddies whom we installed as the rulers of Libya in place of that terrible Ghaddaffi who used to imprison and torture people.
Oh, and those silly little budget cuts in the US made necessary by the failure of politicians to come to agreement on a budget? Not to worry. Page C3 tells us "Republicans say spending cuts modest". That will come as a great comfort to hundreds of thousands of American civil servants who are getting their pink slips as you read this. (So don't count on them to boost NB tourist figures this summer.)
The editorial page has a "must read" editorial. Maple sugar, it seems, is nice. And it will make Moncton "syrup central" to the world. (with the possible exception of those millions who are dying of starvation.)
Norbert Cunningham writes on the long road to a cancer cure. Hint - if you want to tell people about the long road to a cancer cure, then make it a news story based on interviews with people who actually cure cancer. This is not something to be expressed as an opinion by a person who once read an article about it.
Good column by Alec Bruce on Tom Flanagan of University of Calgary and former top advisor to Stephen Harper who expressed the view that viewers of child pornography are not committing any crime. It's a crushing embarrassment to Harper who had earlier blessed Flanagan as a holy prophet of the far right. (University of Calgary is so far right, it makes U de Moncton look normal.)
Craig Babstock writes a sort of Miss Manners column for drug dealers. Well, that should solve that problem...
Allen Abel again shows his ability to take a topic which seems to have no meaning at all, and write it up as a column that has no meaning at all.
There are three, good letters to the editor which outclass everything in the paper with the exception of Alec Bruce. They are "Does history repeat itself?', "Premier should fight EI reform", and (unlikely as it sounds) "Use coal for energy, not gas".
_____________________________________________________________________________TThere were stories that could have interesting, but which missed the eagle eyes of our journalists at the Irving Press. One of them was the stunning gift of Alward to the man who will some day be his news master.
1. Exactly why was an organization headed by Jamie Irving given two and a half million dollars for his volunteer group on literacy?
2. If there was money to be given, why not give it to the schools which actually know something about teaching literacy?
3. Exactly what will our two and a half million be spent on?
4. How much authority will Jamie-boy now have to intervene in matters which normally are wholly controlled by the department of education or by the schools? How much will he and his buddies be interfering in curriculum?
5. How come parent's associations and DECs are not asking these questions?
Oh, and why on earth would the Irvings want to see a literate and thinking public in this province? Such a public would not long put up with them. That's why Jamie's newspapers are designed to keep people illiterate and unthinking and trivial.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The current events group meets this Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in Moncton Library.
I have hopes that Jamie Irving will choose the occasion to name me Moncton Library Chair of Current Events, with a substantial donation to sustain those little comforts that any current events commentator needs.
So here's a header on p.1...
"EI changes not leading to spike in complaints thus far"
And the sub-head...
"Early numbers show changes haven't resulted in number of formal appeals rising, despite widespread criticisms" (well, of course it hasn't resulted in a rise in appeals yet. It's just coming into effect. Most of the months given for comparison are months in which the new system was not in effect. Whoever wrote that sub head is either a fool or a liar).
So what's the point of the head and sub-head? Ain't nuthin' happenin'. Ain't no real criticism. Nothin to look at, folks. Just keep movin'.
Now read the story. That's not what it's about at all. I's a long story about widespread criticism of the the tightening of EI, and of Alward's failure to make any response. A journalism student in first year (first week?) would be wearing a dunce's cap for writing a head and sub-head like that. What does this tell you about the quality of editors at the TandT?
P. 1 is the usual mix of trivia (wolf pup captured very quickly after taking a walk outside its enclosure) - repeats of stories in the last edition ("RV's still popular summer homes") - and the obsession with world fame (getting a CFL game in Moncton.)
I would rather expect the worsening American recession (and ours) will have a lot more effect on visitors, hotels and restaurants this summer that RVs and a football game will. But there's scarcely a word on that.
And I should think that rising energy prices, mass transit crises, and urban sprawl are going to be bigger problems in only a few years than a wolf pup going for a stroll. But I have yet to see a word in this miserable paper about our city's master plan for dealing with these - if there is such a plan.
The rest of Section A is just as silly. (There's to be a new Kent Building Supplies Store in Harrisville. Hold me back.)
______________________________________________________________________________
In world news, a husband and his pregnant wife were killed in a car crash but their baby survived - in New York. That's the big news in a world in which at least tens of thousands of men, women, and children are bombed, starved, burned and shot to death every day. Of course, they aren't real people, not like us.
Catholics are thinking about choosing a new pope. Gee. Who would have guessed? Will the new pope make radical changes? Sure. That why the cardinals who will choose him were picked for their extremely conservative views - rather like our Senate.
In Syria, the big news is that the opposition leader visited areas held by his supporters. Gee. That tells us a lot. The story does mention that the US might now being supplying medical aid to Syria. Whoopie. This is largely a US made war supplied by allies of the US (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France), with rebel training and intelligence supplied by the US with through charitable groups like the CIA. The US has been up to its ears in this war since day 1.
Meanwhile, the Syrian people hate most of the rebels because they are, in fact, foreign invaders, and they are extreme jihadists in a Syria that is largely secular. The rebels, who call themselves Free Syria, would in fact almost certainly lose any free election against Assad. Meanwhile, a hundred coptic Christians who fled Syria to escape rape, murder and plunder by "Free Syria" have been imprisoned and are being tortured by our buddies whom we installed as the rulers of Libya in place of that terrible Ghaddaffi who used to imprison and torture people.
Oh, and those silly little budget cuts in the US made necessary by the failure of politicians to come to agreement on a budget? Not to worry. Page C3 tells us "Republicans say spending cuts modest". That will come as a great comfort to hundreds of thousands of American civil servants who are getting their pink slips as you read this. (So don't count on them to boost NB tourist figures this summer.)
The editorial page has a "must read" editorial. Maple sugar, it seems, is nice. And it will make Moncton "syrup central" to the world. (with the possible exception of those millions who are dying of starvation.)
Norbert Cunningham writes on the long road to a cancer cure. Hint - if you want to tell people about the long road to a cancer cure, then make it a news story based on interviews with people who actually cure cancer. This is not something to be expressed as an opinion by a person who once read an article about it.
Good column by Alec Bruce on Tom Flanagan of University of Calgary and former top advisor to Stephen Harper who expressed the view that viewers of child pornography are not committing any crime. It's a crushing embarrassment to Harper who had earlier blessed Flanagan as a holy prophet of the far right. (University of Calgary is so far right, it makes U de Moncton look normal.)
Craig Babstock writes a sort of Miss Manners column for drug dealers. Well, that should solve that problem...
Allen Abel again shows his ability to take a topic which seems to have no meaning at all, and write it up as a column that has no meaning at all.
There are three, good letters to the editor which outclass everything in the paper with the exception of Alec Bruce. They are "Does history repeat itself?', "Premier should fight EI reform", and (unlikely as it sounds) "Use coal for energy, not gas".
_____________________________________________________________________________TThere were stories that could have interesting, but which missed the eagle eyes of our journalists at the Irving Press. One of them was the stunning gift of Alward to the man who will some day be his news master.
1. Exactly why was an organization headed by Jamie Irving given two and a half million dollars for his volunteer group on literacy?
2. If there was money to be given, why not give it to the schools which actually know something about teaching literacy?
3. Exactly what will our two and a half million be spent on?
4. How much authority will Jamie-boy now have to intervene in matters which normally are wholly controlled by the department of education or by the schools? How much will he and his buddies be interfering in curriculum?
5. How come parent's associations and DECs are not asking these questions?
Oh, and why on earth would the Irvings want to see a literate and thinking public in this province? Such a public would not long put up with them. That's why Jamie's newspapers are designed to keep people illiterate and unthinking and trivial.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The current events group meets this Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in Moncton Library.
I have hopes that Jamie Irving will choose the occasion to name me Moncton Library Chair of Current Events, with a substantial donation to sustain those little comforts that any current events commentator needs.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
March 3: Truth is stranger than fiction....
....and far less believable.
A century ago, we were preparing to fight World War One, the biggest war yet. The war ended in chaos for both winners and losers with rampant inflation, shortages, hardships... It was a result that destroyed the Conservative party of Sir Robert Borden. and set up the long dominance of Mackenzie-King and his Liberals.
The war had been fought with normal, peacetime economic practices. We learned that you cannot do that in a war. The war disruption of an economy causes shortages and inflation, destroying economies and forcing nations into economic chaos.
The answer was obvious; and every warring nation remembered that lesson in World War Two. Governments intervened heavily in the economies to control prices and supply. The result, for Canada, was that economic conditions on the home front actually improved during the war.And at the end of it, Canada did not fall back into depression but was launched on on a decades-long period of prosperity and growth. Most Canadians cheered big government and its controls.
But, oh, big business hated it. Big business didn't want controls. It didn't want big government. It didn't want government at all. Big business wanted to BE government.
That's why it set up its "think-tanks" to spread propaganda. That's why it encouraged columnists it owned in the news media it owned to chant, "Government too big. Small government better." And Canadians (and American and others) forgot that government was something they could control. The alternative was big business which they could not control.
The first step of big business was to destroy the power of government by destroying democracy. In the US that was done largely by making elections so expensive that candidates could win only with the support of big business - and of the news media that big business owned. That's why only two parties have any chance of winning an American election - and, for all the hype about their differences, both are the same. Obama is Bush. Indeed, in extending his legal powers of ordering assassination or imprisonment without charge or trial, Obama has gone further than Bush.
The decline of democracy, and the rise of American oppression in Central America, the middle east, and Vietnam was covered by encouraging a super-patriotism based on hysteria and hatred. The Soviet Union and China served well for this purpose. Later, Moslems would serve just as well in creating acceptance of wars of aggression, of torture, of presidential powers of assassination, mass murder of civilians. Americans now live in a police state, with the most widespread domestic spying system in history. Many Americans, citizens of the most powerful country in the world and the most difficult to attack, feel they are under constant threat of attack by tiny nations with almost no military power - and for no reason at all. Why, them there people's just evil.
Under Harper, Canada is moving in the same direction. Fast. We have already turned over Canadians to be tortured. We already use the domestic spying agencies to report to big business on 'shit-disturbers' like opponents of shale gas.American police are now free to operate in Canada. Watch for more. Soon.
Another big help in destroying democracy is free trade. Harper is about to conclude a free trade deal with China which will allow Chinese Irvings to exploit Canadian resources - without coming under Canadian law. Anything Canada does that might affect profits (tightening environmental rules, for example, if the Chinese operations should prove damaging to land and lives) would be illegal. The Chinese could take us to court (for secret hearings) to any court in the world - say, in China - to demand billions for real or imagined loss of profits.
In effect, Harper plans to sign away the right of Canadians to govern their own country.
That sort of thing is common in free trade deals. In fact, the major purpose of free trade is to destroy the right of any country to govern its own society. Kiss democracy goodbye. This is not something that is going to happen. This is something that has happened.
As well, of course, big business gets the right to ignore the welfare of Canada. It can export jobs, creating recession here, and enabling it to lower our wages and to destroy our benefit programmes - all to the cheers of the propaganda press like Brunswick News.
Meanwhile, we are engaged in wars that have nothing to do with terrorists or Islam or bringing democracy to the world - or even helping little girls go to school.
What's going on in Africa, for example, is an attempt by the US with the help of Britain and France, to reconquer the old empires that were broken in World War Two. The long term objective is to plunder their resources, cheaply, at the price of environmental and social destruction. We've done it before. This is just history repeating itself.
But this time, the objective is bigger. It's world dominance. That's why Canadians died in Afghanistan. Most of the wars of big business have been disasters. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya - all killed uncounted millions of innocent people, created millions of orphans (can you imagine the horror of an Iraq in chaos trying to cope with just the number of orphans in that country? Can you imagine the hatred that this is causing?)
Vietnam was lost, despite the slaughter of uncounted millions and the poisoning of the land. Iraq, with its million dead, is on the edge of collapse; Afghanistan is lost; Libya, the one we bombed to bring democracy, is in turmoil, and has become a major source of recruitment for Moslem jihadists.
Hey. I said our big business leaders are greedy and destructive. I never said they were smart. In fact, they have proven utterly and tragically incompetent as rulers. -though this has not yet and never will dent their formidable egos.
But if we don't have democratic governments any more, who will govern us?
Easy. People like Henry Ford and Edison and other business leaders were discussing this a century ago.They would govern. After all, they were, well, they were Henry Ford and Edison... They would govern the whole world. Yes. That was the answer. Nations were a nuisance. World government by big business. That was the answer. (Ford and many of his friends would later switch their enthusiasm and their millions to support a promising young fellow who was struggling for power in Germany. His name was Adolph Hitler.)
The discussion still goes on. It was the business page of the TandT on March 1 or 2 that had the article on how the European powers would like Canada to deregulate its banks - to free them from government control, just like those wonderful banks in the US that created the recession, just like the big, British bank that was laundering money for Mexican drug lords and for Al Quaeda. The idea behind this is that bankers should rule the world.
There are organizations that meet regularly to discuss questions like this. Most are very secretive. By invitation only. Of course, their secrecy attracts many a crackpot conspiracy theorist - and these come from all sides of the political spectrum. I have no idea whether there is any merit in any of these conspiracy theories.
But it is known that these groups exist to discuss questions like who should rule the world. We do know their discussions are secret. We do know that while national leaders are invited - usually for only one-shot appearances - the regulars are people associated with big business and banking.
One of these groups is called Bilderberg Group, founded to establish a "new world order". A frequent attender of its meetings is Frank McKenna of New Brunswick. Doesn't that make you proud?
When questioned about this on TV, he dismissed it with a some joking words, and said he goes just because he gets to meet interesting people. Maybe. But these meetings are by invitation only. and he is a banker. I don't think Mr. McKenna is being invited just to meet interesting people.
But you gotta admit. At the end of the day, good ol' Frank is always everybody's best friend.
A century ago, we were preparing to fight World War One, the biggest war yet. The war ended in chaos for both winners and losers with rampant inflation, shortages, hardships... It was a result that destroyed the Conservative party of Sir Robert Borden. and set up the long dominance of Mackenzie-King and his Liberals.
The war had been fought with normal, peacetime economic practices. We learned that you cannot do that in a war. The war disruption of an economy causes shortages and inflation, destroying economies and forcing nations into economic chaos.
The answer was obvious; and every warring nation remembered that lesson in World War Two. Governments intervened heavily in the economies to control prices and supply. The result, for Canada, was that economic conditions on the home front actually improved during the war.And at the end of it, Canada did not fall back into depression but was launched on on a decades-long period of prosperity and growth. Most Canadians cheered big government and its controls.
But, oh, big business hated it. Big business didn't want controls. It didn't want big government. It didn't want government at all. Big business wanted to BE government.
That's why it set up its "think-tanks" to spread propaganda. That's why it encouraged columnists it owned in the news media it owned to chant, "Government too big. Small government better." And Canadians (and American and others) forgot that government was something they could control. The alternative was big business which they could not control.
The first step of big business was to destroy the power of government by destroying democracy. In the US that was done largely by making elections so expensive that candidates could win only with the support of big business - and of the news media that big business owned. That's why only two parties have any chance of winning an American election - and, for all the hype about their differences, both are the same. Obama is Bush. Indeed, in extending his legal powers of ordering assassination or imprisonment without charge or trial, Obama has gone further than Bush.
The decline of democracy, and the rise of American oppression in Central America, the middle east, and Vietnam was covered by encouraging a super-patriotism based on hysteria and hatred. The Soviet Union and China served well for this purpose. Later, Moslems would serve just as well in creating acceptance of wars of aggression, of torture, of presidential powers of assassination, mass murder of civilians. Americans now live in a police state, with the most widespread domestic spying system in history. Many Americans, citizens of the most powerful country in the world and the most difficult to attack, feel they are under constant threat of attack by tiny nations with almost no military power - and for no reason at all. Why, them there people's just evil.
Under Harper, Canada is moving in the same direction. Fast. We have already turned over Canadians to be tortured. We already use the domestic spying agencies to report to big business on 'shit-disturbers' like opponents of shale gas.American police are now free to operate in Canada. Watch for more. Soon.
Another big help in destroying democracy is free trade. Harper is about to conclude a free trade deal with China which will allow Chinese Irvings to exploit Canadian resources - without coming under Canadian law. Anything Canada does that might affect profits (tightening environmental rules, for example, if the Chinese operations should prove damaging to land and lives) would be illegal. The Chinese could take us to court (for secret hearings) to any court in the world - say, in China - to demand billions for real or imagined loss of profits.
In effect, Harper plans to sign away the right of Canadians to govern their own country.
That sort of thing is common in free trade deals. In fact, the major purpose of free trade is to destroy the right of any country to govern its own society. Kiss democracy goodbye. This is not something that is going to happen. This is something that has happened.
As well, of course, big business gets the right to ignore the welfare of Canada. It can export jobs, creating recession here, and enabling it to lower our wages and to destroy our benefit programmes - all to the cheers of the propaganda press like Brunswick News.
Meanwhile, we are engaged in wars that have nothing to do with terrorists or Islam or bringing democracy to the world - or even helping little girls go to school.
What's going on in Africa, for example, is an attempt by the US with the help of Britain and France, to reconquer the old empires that were broken in World War Two. The long term objective is to plunder their resources, cheaply, at the price of environmental and social destruction. We've done it before. This is just history repeating itself.
But this time, the objective is bigger. It's world dominance. That's why Canadians died in Afghanistan. Most of the wars of big business have been disasters. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya - all killed uncounted millions of innocent people, created millions of orphans (can you imagine the horror of an Iraq in chaos trying to cope with just the number of orphans in that country? Can you imagine the hatred that this is causing?)
Vietnam was lost, despite the slaughter of uncounted millions and the poisoning of the land. Iraq, with its million dead, is on the edge of collapse; Afghanistan is lost; Libya, the one we bombed to bring democracy, is in turmoil, and has become a major source of recruitment for Moslem jihadists.
Hey. I said our big business leaders are greedy and destructive. I never said they were smart. In fact, they have proven utterly and tragically incompetent as rulers. -though this has not yet and never will dent their formidable egos.
But if we don't have democratic governments any more, who will govern us?
Easy. People like Henry Ford and Edison and other business leaders were discussing this a century ago.They would govern. After all, they were, well, they were Henry Ford and Edison... They would govern the whole world. Yes. That was the answer. Nations were a nuisance. World government by big business. That was the answer. (Ford and many of his friends would later switch their enthusiasm and their millions to support a promising young fellow who was struggling for power in Germany. His name was Adolph Hitler.)
The discussion still goes on. It was the business page of the TandT on March 1 or 2 that had the article on how the European powers would like Canada to deregulate its banks - to free them from government control, just like those wonderful banks in the US that created the recession, just like the big, British bank that was laundering money for Mexican drug lords and for Al Quaeda. The idea behind this is that bankers should rule the world.
There are organizations that meet regularly to discuss questions like this. Most are very secretive. By invitation only. Of course, their secrecy attracts many a crackpot conspiracy theorist - and these come from all sides of the political spectrum. I have no idea whether there is any merit in any of these conspiracy theories.
But it is known that these groups exist to discuss questions like who should rule the world. We do know their discussions are secret. We do know that while national leaders are invited - usually for only one-shot appearances - the regulars are people associated with big business and banking.
One of these groups is called Bilderberg Group, founded to establish a "new world order". A frequent attender of its meetings is Frank McKenna of New Brunswick. Doesn't that make you proud?
When questioned about this on TV, he dismissed it with a some joking words, and said he goes just because he gets to meet interesting people. Maybe. But these meetings are by invitation only. and he is a banker. I don't think Mr. McKenna is being invited just to meet interesting people.
But you gotta admit. At the end of the day, good ol' Frank is always everybody's best friend.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
March 2: the blahs....
Section A of today's Moncton Times and Transcript can be safely skipped. - except for an item on page 2, just a small item; but it says a lot about the TandT. "Smoke smell closes school again". In yesterday's paper, it said the school was evacuated immediately when it filled with smoke. A reader who happened to be at the school that time wrote to this blog to say it was NOT immediately evacuated. In fact, there was and unwise and dangerous time lag. Now, note the wording of today's item which begins by referring to the same incident.
"...students were sent home shortly after the school day began on Wednesday..." Shortly after the school day began is not the same as evacuated immediately. It's much vaguer. Does that matter? Yes, it means the whole issue of whether the right action was taken is hidden in vague words. Now, nobody has to worry about a fuss being made. And DECs and Home and School can go back to sleep.
(A real newspaper would have printed this with the label - correction.)
Anyway, bless 'em all for printing a whole section A so irrelevant there's no need to read it.
___________________________________________________________________________
The lead story in section D is important. Obama and Congress have not come to a budget agreement. That means there will have to be cuts. Some will have to be in a big area like defence. There are, of course, huge areas of defence spending that are pure waste and corruption - but those are not likely to get touched. Then there are benefits to whole society, a society in which tens of millions are already living in something worse than poverty. (I know. I know. They're all lazy and drunken and Mexicans and Africans. But they're still people. And, gee, there might even be some white folks in there.)
The suffering will be severe, and possibly dangerous with the police cracking down on the complaining poor just as tough as they crack down on terrorist environmentalists.
It will also slow down the American economy even more - with effects on us.
Fortunately, there's no need to worry about the rich who caused this recession. They all got bailed out by the tax money of the poor; and they're making great profits.
There's also a story that the State Department has approved the pipeline from Alberta to Texas. They admit that a pipeline will be a serious cause of pollution (something our heroes in Fredericton haven't done.) But - now get this - they say that our reliance on gasoline means we'll get more pollution, anyway.
Anybody notice the flaw in the logic?
_________________________________________________________________________
Ignorant, biased, ranting, self-righteous, and hate-filled were a few of the words that occurred to me as I read the editorial, "Is CUPE now a political party?"
Apparently, the Canadian Union of Public Employees has said it is opposed to shale gas.Well, huffs the editorial, it collects dues from its members for union purposes, not for taking political positions.
Oh, bullshit, you ignorant, bigoted lout.
1. In a democracy, everybody is allowed to speak on political issues, even people that the twits who write editorials for the TandT don't agree with. Every person, every group has that right. Bankers have that right. Remember Fixer Frank McKenna's speech recently, the one that you praised?
2. The Irvings not only speak on political issues, they get private interviews with wimpy Alward; they get their hacks into official positions advising the minister of finance; they have their own newspapers to spread their political opinions and to shut out others; they pay the scum of the world of journalism to write editorials in praise of what they want and to condemn those they don't agree with.
When I see a journalist in Brunswick News who has the courage and integrity to criticize the boss, then maybe I'll start to take it seriously.
3. CUPE exists to serve its members? Damn right. Just as you exist to serve Mr. Irving who is not only allowed to speak publicly on political issues but even had the nerve to announce in your pages that he was a member of the government. Where was your tough talk then?
CUPE does exist to serve its members. That's part of the reason it was right to speak on shale gas. Not everybody has to kiss the same ass you do.
4. As to its demand that the federal government get active to modify what is being done to EI, you say they were wrong to do that because it is not a provincial government matter. They know that, you moron. Can't you read? They don't ask the provincial government to change it. They ask it to discuss change with Ottawa.
The editorial writer would not have said a word if Mr. Irving asked Alward to go to Ottawa. And you can be sure that Mr.. Alward would have his little roller skates on in minutes. And you'd be praising him for his quick action.
5. The editorial says shale gas is mainly supported by various community groups across the province. (I shall not waste time pointing out why this sentence is an incoherent piece of writing.) But exactly what is a community group? And how many are there in this province?
Nobody, including you, Mr. Editorial writer, could possibly know the answer to those questions. Nor can you possibly know the figures for how many such groups support shale gas, and how many oppose it. Your statement is one of pure ignorance.
This editorial is so bad, so biased, so unethical, I plan to submit a complaint to Atlantic Press Council which is supposed to oversee such matters. I don't know whether the take Atlantic Press Council seriously. It may be a puppet of big business as so much else in this region. But one can try.
Norbert Cunningham writes his column about universities. He knows nothing about universities. There are, indeed, serious problems with universities across North America. But Norbert doesn't have a clue what those problems are.
University of Toronto is a respectable, quality institution? What are you talking about Norbert? What does quality in a university mean? I taught in universities for forty years, and I can tell you that the universities themselves have no clue about what quality means. All they have is ego and PR.
Excellent column by Bill Beliveau on the behaviour of Harper on the EI question. Well worth a read.
Brent Mazerolle contributes a quite incoherent column on the papacy - I think. I'm not really sure what it's about - if anything.
There's also a column on pensions which I won't comment on since I know nothing about the subject.
Get the idea, Norbert?
Then there's the Faith page.
____________________________________________________________________________
We live in a world controlled by the greedy who suck every bit they can out of us, out of our environment, out of our hopes for the future. We live under politicians and business leaders who give no outward sign of the principles of any faith I have ever heard of. (I don't suggest that churches should directly intervene in politics or business. I do suggest that churches, mosques, synagogues should be places where we discuss the principles of faith and morality, where we learn to live by them. and to apply them in our daily lives, including politics.)
I don't say this for simply religious reasons. Morality does not exist simply because it is goody-goody. Morality and ethics exist because no society can survive without them. The society I have in mind is ours. Our country. Our world. All of us.
We live in a world in which torture, mass murder, assassination, plunder are quite acceptable in the most polite circles and by the nicest people. We sent Canadians to die and to kill in Afghanistan. Why? (No. Afghanistan did not attack the World Trade Centre.) We sent Canadians to kill in Libya. Why? Had Libya attacked us? To bring democracy? Oh? Have you looked at the mess in Libya, and the sort of people we brought to power?
We live on cheap resources from near-slave workers in countries where we install dictators, plunder the land, commit mass murder.
We live in a country in which the very rich add too their wealth by taking the little and diminishing that we have. And we check the houses of the poor who are on EI and who might be getting a few bucks somewhere else. When when was the last time you heard of police going to Mr. Irving's house to find out what he's doing with his money?
Morally and ethically, we live in a wasteland. And so I read the sermonette on the faith page.
Spring always returns at Easter, and the earth revives. Yes. So we should always look up to the skies, and hope for the future.
What an inspiring message! I must send copies to the quarter million men, women and children murdered in Guatemala, the million or more killed in Iraq, the millions of dead and tortured and enslaved by us in Congo, the tens of thousands dying in the hell we have inspired and created in Syria, to those of us in Canada and the US who sleep in the streets or live at bare survival level so that the rich can get even richer, for the children who will never get a chance.
I know what. I'll go sit in the spiritually vacant Irving Chapel, and I'll reflect. Then, following the words of wisdom in today's sermonette, I shall "Go outside, bask in the sunshine, look up at the stars, believe in tomorrow."
Our clergy must believe that Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed were real wimps.
"...students were sent home shortly after the school day began on Wednesday..." Shortly after the school day began is not the same as evacuated immediately. It's much vaguer. Does that matter? Yes, it means the whole issue of whether the right action was taken is hidden in vague words. Now, nobody has to worry about a fuss being made. And DECs and Home and School can go back to sleep.
(A real newspaper would have printed this with the label - correction.)
Anyway, bless 'em all for printing a whole section A so irrelevant there's no need to read it.
___________________________________________________________________________
The lead story in section D is important. Obama and Congress have not come to a budget agreement. That means there will have to be cuts. Some will have to be in a big area like defence. There are, of course, huge areas of defence spending that are pure waste and corruption - but those are not likely to get touched. Then there are benefits to whole society, a society in which tens of millions are already living in something worse than poverty. (I know. I know. They're all lazy and drunken and Mexicans and Africans. But they're still people. And, gee, there might even be some white folks in there.)
The suffering will be severe, and possibly dangerous with the police cracking down on the complaining poor just as tough as they crack down on terrorist environmentalists.
It will also slow down the American economy even more - with effects on us.
Fortunately, there's no need to worry about the rich who caused this recession. They all got bailed out by the tax money of the poor; and they're making great profits.
There's also a story that the State Department has approved the pipeline from Alberta to Texas. They admit that a pipeline will be a serious cause of pollution (something our heroes in Fredericton haven't done.) But - now get this - they say that our reliance on gasoline means we'll get more pollution, anyway.
Anybody notice the flaw in the logic?
_________________________________________________________________________
Ignorant, biased, ranting, self-righteous, and hate-filled were a few of the words that occurred to me as I read the editorial, "Is CUPE now a political party?"
Apparently, the Canadian Union of Public Employees has said it is opposed to shale gas.Well, huffs the editorial, it collects dues from its members for union purposes, not for taking political positions.
Oh, bullshit, you ignorant, bigoted lout.
1. In a democracy, everybody is allowed to speak on political issues, even people that the twits who write editorials for the TandT don't agree with. Every person, every group has that right. Bankers have that right. Remember Fixer Frank McKenna's speech recently, the one that you praised?
2. The Irvings not only speak on political issues, they get private interviews with wimpy Alward; they get their hacks into official positions advising the minister of finance; they have their own newspapers to spread their political opinions and to shut out others; they pay the scum of the world of journalism to write editorials in praise of what they want and to condemn those they don't agree with.
When I see a journalist in Brunswick News who has the courage and integrity to criticize the boss, then maybe I'll start to take it seriously.
3. CUPE exists to serve its members? Damn right. Just as you exist to serve Mr. Irving who is not only allowed to speak publicly on political issues but even had the nerve to announce in your pages that he was a member of the government. Where was your tough talk then?
CUPE does exist to serve its members. That's part of the reason it was right to speak on shale gas. Not everybody has to kiss the same ass you do.
4. As to its demand that the federal government get active to modify what is being done to EI, you say they were wrong to do that because it is not a provincial government matter. They know that, you moron. Can't you read? They don't ask the provincial government to change it. They ask it to discuss change with Ottawa.
The editorial writer would not have said a word if Mr. Irving asked Alward to go to Ottawa. And you can be sure that Mr.. Alward would have his little roller skates on in minutes. And you'd be praising him for his quick action.
5. The editorial says shale gas is mainly supported by various community groups across the province. (I shall not waste time pointing out why this sentence is an incoherent piece of writing.) But exactly what is a community group? And how many are there in this province?
Nobody, including you, Mr. Editorial writer, could possibly know the answer to those questions. Nor can you possibly know the figures for how many such groups support shale gas, and how many oppose it. Your statement is one of pure ignorance.
This editorial is so bad, so biased, so unethical, I plan to submit a complaint to Atlantic Press Council which is supposed to oversee such matters. I don't know whether the take Atlantic Press Council seriously. It may be a puppet of big business as so much else in this region. But one can try.
Norbert Cunningham writes his column about universities. He knows nothing about universities. There are, indeed, serious problems with universities across North America. But Norbert doesn't have a clue what those problems are.
University of Toronto is a respectable, quality institution? What are you talking about Norbert? What does quality in a university mean? I taught in universities for forty years, and I can tell you that the universities themselves have no clue about what quality means. All they have is ego and PR.
Excellent column by Bill Beliveau on the behaviour of Harper on the EI question. Well worth a read.
Brent Mazerolle contributes a quite incoherent column on the papacy - I think. I'm not really sure what it's about - if anything.
There's also a column on pensions which I won't comment on since I know nothing about the subject.
Get the idea, Norbert?
Then there's the Faith page.
____________________________________________________________________________
We live in a world controlled by the greedy who suck every bit they can out of us, out of our environment, out of our hopes for the future. We live under politicians and business leaders who give no outward sign of the principles of any faith I have ever heard of. (I don't suggest that churches should directly intervene in politics or business. I do suggest that churches, mosques, synagogues should be places where we discuss the principles of faith and morality, where we learn to live by them. and to apply them in our daily lives, including politics.)
I don't say this for simply religious reasons. Morality does not exist simply because it is goody-goody. Morality and ethics exist because no society can survive without them. The society I have in mind is ours. Our country. Our world. All of us.
We live in a world in which torture, mass murder, assassination, plunder are quite acceptable in the most polite circles and by the nicest people. We sent Canadians to die and to kill in Afghanistan. Why? (No. Afghanistan did not attack the World Trade Centre.) We sent Canadians to kill in Libya. Why? Had Libya attacked us? To bring democracy? Oh? Have you looked at the mess in Libya, and the sort of people we brought to power?
We live on cheap resources from near-slave workers in countries where we install dictators, plunder the land, commit mass murder.
We live in a country in which the very rich add too their wealth by taking the little and diminishing that we have. And we check the houses of the poor who are on EI and who might be getting a few bucks somewhere else. When when was the last time you heard of police going to Mr. Irving's house to find out what he's doing with his money?
Morally and ethically, we live in a wasteland. And so I read the sermonette on the faith page.
Spring always returns at Easter, and the earth revives. Yes. So we should always look up to the skies, and hope for the future.
What an inspiring message! I must send copies to the quarter million men, women and children murdered in Guatemala, the million or more killed in Iraq, the millions of dead and tortured and enslaved by us in Congo, the tens of thousands dying in the hell we have inspired and created in Syria, to those of us in Canada and the US who sleep in the streets or live at bare survival level so that the rich can get even richer, for the children who will never get a chance.
I know what. I'll go sit in the spiritually vacant Irving Chapel, and I'll reflect. Then, following the words of wisdom in today's sermonette, I shall "Go outside, bask in the sunshine, look up at the stars, believe in tomorrow."
Our clergy must believe that Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed were real wimps.
Friday, March 1, 2013
March 1: dangerous misreporting....
Yesterday, Ecole Champlain filled with smoke and noxious fumes.The obvious first reaction? Well, evacuate the children, of course. And that the Moncton Times and Transcript reported it as though that is what happened. But, as you can read in a comment at the foot of yesterday's column, that is not what happened. Emergency services was called. But the children remained in the that very dangerous building all that time, and then were evacuated.
I don't intend to pick on the staff of Ecole Champlain. I can see the problem of turning out hundreds of children on a cold day. Where would they go? Home? How? And what if, as in many cases, nobody was at home? There are problems here.
But hundreds of children trapped in burning school, or even just in a school filled with dangerous fumes (possibly explosive fumes?) would have been a much bigger problem. Indeed, it might have caused a fuss - and departments of education hate fusses.
That erroneous report may not have been the reporter's fault. I can well imagine a school official, anxious to avoid fuss and embarrassment, ringing up an editor friend to ask for a favour in "fixing" the report.And from what I've seen of ethics and the TandT, it would be an easy matter.
A truthful report could have been one that would save children's lives in the future. It could have prodded DECs across the province to set down clear standards of action in such situations. It might even have roused home and school, and Parent-Teachers our of their historic stupor.
That would be wonderful for our children. But it won't happen. A misleading report in the Times and Transcript made sure of that.
___________________________________________________________________________
BIG story on p. 1. Lots of people like maple sugar.
P.2 has the word that Frank McKenna has given a million dollars to St. Thomas U for the Frank Mckenna Centre of Communications and Public Policy. Communications - that's means skilful propaganda. And public policy is what you get control of with effective propaganda. That's what Fixer Frank is really all about. We'll probably spare a sentence or two on that subject in the Sunday blog. Frank McKenna - everybody's friend.
Just in time for summer, A4 has a helpful page for the thousands of us who are looking for $200,000 motor homes that use four litres of gas to a mile. Boy, there'll be a huge market for them among women working at Walmart.
__________________________________________________________________________
NewsToday has a flash "U.S. will work with Syrian rebels". Big news. In fact, the U.S. has been supplying the rebels with aid from the start. Still, that leaves the TandT only a year or so behind in the news - and that's a big improvement.
In Your Business, The Fraser Institute, a major propaganda agency for big business, has named New Brunswick as having elite mining status. That means poor environment protection (that isn't enforced, anyway) cheap labour and scandalously low taxes.
I'm so proud. I mean, it's like being name cheapest hooker in a brothel.
C-11 has yet another big story on how President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is struggling with cancer. Why this big interest in Chavez?
It's not secret. American governments in that past have considered killing him or stirring up a rebellion. Chavez has enormously improved living conditions and services for Venezuelans. He has done it by the terrible impudence of making the rich pay taxes, and taking control of Venezuela's oil to benefit all Venezuelans instead of just American oil billionaires.
So you can imagine the CIA just rubbing its hands as Chavez dies. What a great chance to stir up confusion and disorder, and get the right sort of people back into power!
______________________________________________________________________________
Editorial 1 is not bright, but at least not harmful since it is so boring that few will read it.
Editorial 2 "Doing the right thing" is hilarious. It defends the laying-off of staff at the Brandon Street Fire Station on the grounds it will send a message to the fire-fighters union that, at 4.5 percent their annual raises have been too high. He says that raises in the private sector are much lower.
Well, yeah, they've been lower in the private sector if you're a single mother working at Walmart. But single mothers and Walmart do not constitute the whole, private sector. Take a look at top executives, university presidents, etc. They've been cranking out well over 10% a year for many years now.
Norbert's column will be a very enjoyable one for people who enjoy Norbert's column. This time, it's four (count them, four) very short topics, none of which matters a damn.
Good column on the Senate by Alec Bruce. The reality is that the Senate cannot be reformed. It was designed to be an undemocratic body in the first place, and to represent the interests of the rich. ( Our founding fathers were not nearly so democratic as you might have been told in school. John A., Sir Charles Tupper, George Etienne Cartier and friends were scoundrels and on the take - in a big way.)
Any change made in the Senate that would give it power can do that only by taking power away from the House of Commons - the people we elect, thus weakening democracy even more. No.The only route to go is to get rid of the Senate. Electing it would only make it stronger by taking that power from the Commons. So where's the gain?
Steve Malloy gets better with every column. Unlike the staff writers, he never discusses topics he knows nothing about. And he can take issues from everyday life - without trivializing them or making feeble jokes about them. Instead, he brings a very human understanding and a compassionate insight to events in our daily lives. And he writes in a clear, simple and direct style which is a joy to read.
He mentions today that he was once a small businessman, managing two stores. That may explain a good deal. The TandT spends most of its time kissing up to big business, something very remote from our daily lives, and something utterly without either insight or compassion.
David Suzuki has a powerful column in which he reminds us that everything we do to nature has a price - no matter how far away it might be or how unnoticeable the effect might be. That is something, I suspect, that New Brunswickers will learn only after it's too late.
______________________________________________________________________________
Once again, yesterday's Moncton Times and Transcript failed to list my current events group as one of the events of the coming week. They're so - shy.
We meet at Moncton Library, 7 p.m., on Tuesday, March 5.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Generally speaking, today's Tand T has no news worth reading about. None. It has three good columns, one on the editorial page, and two and the op ed. That's it.
A good high school paper could do better.
I don't intend to pick on the staff of Ecole Champlain. I can see the problem of turning out hundreds of children on a cold day. Where would they go? Home? How? And what if, as in many cases, nobody was at home? There are problems here.
But hundreds of children trapped in burning school, or even just in a school filled with dangerous fumes (possibly explosive fumes?) would have been a much bigger problem. Indeed, it might have caused a fuss - and departments of education hate fusses.
That erroneous report may not have been the reporter's fault. I can well imagine a school official, anxious to avoid fuss and embarrassment, ringing up an editor friend to ask for a favour in "fixing" the report.And from what I've seen of ethics and the TandT, it would be an easy matter.
A truthful report could have been one that would save children's lives in the future. It could have prodded DECs across the province to set down clear standards of action in such situations. It might even have roused home and school, and Parent-Teachers our of their historic stupor.
That would be wonderful for our children. But it won't happen. A misleading report in the Times and Transcript made sure of that.
___________________________________________________________________________
BIG story on p. 1. Lots of people like maple sugar.
P.2 has the word that Frank McKenna has given a million dollars to St. Thomas U for the Frank Mckenna Centre of Communications and Public Policy. Communications - that's means skilful propaganda. And public policy is what you get control of with effective propaganda. That's what Fixer Frank is really all about. We'll probably spare a sentence or two on that subject in the Sunday blog. Frank McKenna - everybody's friend.
Just in time for summer, A4 has a helpful page for the thousands of us who are looking for $200,000 motor homes that use four litres of gas to a mile. Boy, there'll be a huge market for them among women working at Walmart.
__________________________________________________________________________
NewsToday has a flash "U.S. will work with Syrian rebels". Big news. In fact, the U.S. has been supplying the rebels with aid from the start. Still, that leaves the TandT only a year or so behind in the news - and that's a big improvement.
In Your Business, The Fraser Institute, a major propaganda agency for big business, has named New Brunswick as having elite mining status. That means poor environment protection (that isn't enforced, anyway) cheap labour and scandalously low taxes.
I'm so proud. I mean, it's like being name cheapest hooker in a brothel.
C-11 has yet another big story on how President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is struggling with cancer. Why this big interest in Chavez?
It's not secret. American governments in that past have considered killing him or stirring up a rebellion. Chavez has enormously improved living conditions and services for Venezuelans. He has done it by the terrible impudence of making the rich pay taxes, and taking control of Venezuela's oil to benefit all Venezuelans instead of just American oil billionaires.
So you can imagine the CIA just rubbing its hands as Chavez dies. What a great chance to stir up confusion and disorder, and get the right sort of people back into power!
______________________________________________________________________________
Editorial 1 is not bright, but at least not harmful since it is so boring that few will read it.
Editorial 2 "Doing the right thing" is hilarious. It defends the laying-off of staff at the Brandon Street Fire Station on the grounds it will send a message to the fire-fighters union that, at 4.5 percent their annual raises have been too high. He says that raises in the private sector are much lower.
Well, yeah, they've been lower in the private sector if you're a single mother working at Walmart. But single mothers and Walmart do not constitute the whole, private sector. Take a look at top executives, university presidents, etc. They've been cranking out well over 10% a year for many years now.
Norbert's column will be a very enjoyable one for people who enjoy Norbert's column. This time, it's four (count them, four) very short topics, none of which matters a damn.
Good column on the Senate by Alec Bruce. The reality is that the Senate cannot be reformed. It was designed to be an undemocratic body in the first place, and to represent the interests of the rich. ( Our founding fathers were not nearly so democratic as you might have been told in school. John A., Sir Charles Tupper, George Etienne Cartier and friends were scoundrels and on the take - in a big way.)
Any change made in the Senate that would give it power can do that only by taking power away from the House of Commons - the people we elect, thus weakening democracy even more. No.The only route to go is to get rid of the Senate. Electing it would only make it stronger by taking that power from the Commons. So where's the gain?
Steve Malloy gets better with every column. Unlike the staff writers, he never discusses topics he knows nothing about. And he can take issues from everyday life - without trivializing them or making feeble jokes about them. Instead, he brings a very human understanding and a compassionate insight to events in our daily lives. And he writes in a clear, simple and direct style which is a joy to read.
He mentions today that he was once a small businessman, managing two stores. That may explain a good deal. The TandT spends most of its time kissing up to big business, something very remote from our daily lives, and something utterly without either insight or compassion.
David Suzuki has a powerful column in which he reminds us that everything we do to nature has a price - no matter how far away it might be or how unnoticeable the effect might be. That is something, I suspect, that New Brunswickers will learn only after it's too late.
______________________________________________________________________________
Once again, yesterday's Moncton Times and Transcript failed to list my current events group as one of the events of the coming week. They're so - shy.
We meet at Moncton Library, 7 p.m., on Tuesday, March 5.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Generally speaking, today's Tand T has no news worth reading about. None. It has three good columns, one on the editorial page, and two and the op ed. That's it.
A good high school paper could do better.
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