Nov. 14: The Paris killings.

I'm going to save comments on the Paris killings for tomorrow. It's a difficult topic; and there are people who are going to intensely dislike what I have to say about it.
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The front page has a story about a businessman who is angry because his taxes have been increased. Wow! What a flash! Ever heard of a businessman who was pleased because his taxes WERE increased? This isn't a front page news story. It's not a news story of any sort. At best, it's aletter to the editor. And there's nothing else in Section A news.

The editorial, for the first time, shows signs of human intelligence.

Norbert Cunningham's column is beneath contempt. It's a rant against politicians, educational civil servants and teachers. When I first arrived in the province, I saw a disgusting series of ranting editorials about the education system. Later, when Norbert became a  columnist with his name on the column, I was convinced from his style that he was the one who wrote those editorials. Now, I'm sure of it.

1. He detests politicians and bureaucrats, Why? Well, I'm not sure he really destests politicians. But he knows he can dump on them because they don't really have any role in this New Brunswick version of democracy.

As for bureaucrats, he dislikes them because the big bosses whose rear ends he kisses see bureaucrats as getting in their way. Norbert is one of those people - like Donald Trump and Stephen Harper - who think that big business should rule the world without any interference from us peasantry.

2. What is Norbert's training and experience in education? He's never given us any evidence of any. So I think I can safely say that with six years of teaching elementary school and high school, and some 35 years of teaching  university both in Canada and abroad, I have more training and experience than he does.

Why do children do poorly in school? Sometimes, it's because of poor teaching and underfunded schools - particularly the underfunded schools part. That's why U.S. education has been in decline. But those aren't the major reasons.

A major reason for poor performance is parents who don't give a damn. And even that isn't quite the reason. Often, those who don't give a damn are those who don't see any hope no matter what they do. They're stuck wherever they are, and they know they can't get out. And their children can't get out.

That's related to poverty, of course. And it doesn't even have to be deep poverty.
I've seen it in many lower-middle class families.

All this is closely related to social background. The children grow up in families that are indifferent to education. Usually, the parents have little education. They don't read. They don't discuss. They don't even think much.

I've also taught poor children who were born into social cultures that prized learning. Notably, this has been true of students who were Jewish. And even more so in China.

But New Brunswick, perhaps because of its history of rule by lumber barons and their like, are highly conformist. They don't discuss, and they don't think because that might make them 'different', and they fear being 'different'. This is the only city I've been in where a rock concert is a 'cultural event'. It's also the only place I've ever taught in which not playing the national anthem at the start of the day caused a provincial turmoil. I guess that's the only thing the parents think is important.

And all of this is solidified by newspapers that encourage ignorance and conformity. They encourage the population to remain ignorant with news and columnists that isolate them from the rest of the world and, most importantly, keeps them ignorant of the power that the newspapers' owner holds over their lives.

By the way, Norbert, the Canadian average quality of education is higher than you seem to think. It's consistently rated among the top ten in the world. But you
wouldn't know that, would you?

So New Brunswick does badly in relation to the rest of Canada? Gee. Its teachers have the same training as the rest of Canada. The course contents seem much the same as the rest of Canada.

So I wonder if the problem could be, not  the fault of the teachers, but something wrong with New Brunswick, something that is at least partly due to ignorance-inducing news media, and a concentration of capitalist power that lets people know only what the boss wants them to know.

Students will learn what they want to learn. Making them want to learn is a challenging business - and there isn't much in the attitude of this province or its press that encourages learning.

Norbert's column today is ignorant, destructive, insulting and crude. But it will undoubtedly be approved by his keeper.

En passant, there's another problem - the near-disappearance of after-school clubs like film, public speaking, current events, writing... The school bus makes them impossible. and my experience convinces me these clubs have a major impact.

Is it impossible to use other venues for them?

The other columns are at least worth a read. But, oh, Brent Mazerolle, you say Canada was built on Christian values? Oh? Christian values like destroying the people and culture of those from whom we took this land? Christian values like redistributing wealth from the poor to the rich? Christian values like refusing to let Jewish refugees from Germany get into Canada?

By the way, Norbert, if I were a public school teacher, and discussed questions like the four above, there would be a mob of parents at the door demanding my dismissal. One of the first things I learned in public school teaching is that it can be dangerous to tell the truth.
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During the election campaign, Justin Trudeau made some big and precise promises about what  he would do as prime minister. On B2 of today's paper, he issues instructions to his ministers to set those promises in motion. But the instructions are decidedly gentler and vaguer than the promises.

We're pulling our aircraft out of Syria? Yeah. Sort of. Maybe. Perhaps in a year or so. A year or so will almost certainly be much too late. By then, the middle east wars will be even more severe - and possibly a world war. We won't be able to withdraw. In fact, we'll have to extend ourselves to fight a much bigger war - and one we are in no position to fight.

Why can't he withdraw them right away? It's only six aircraft, hardly a vital component. And why endanger the lives or our pilots for another year? A mission is worth fighting or it's not. There is no middle ground.

And we were going to return to peacekeeping. That was a biggie. And we are - sort of. But it's not actually going to involve any peacekeeping. Of course not. How can it? We are a colony of the U.S.; and the U.S. has no interest in peacekeeping. No. We won't be doing much of that UN stuff. We're NATO   folks, and NATO is under U.S. ownership. We can't be friends of both the UN and NATO.

As for the F35 fighter that Trudeau said he would never touch....it seems this rerquires further study. You bet it does.

The American defence industry is very, very rich and influential. And it's corrupt and corrupting. And it has a lot invested in the F35   though its development has revealed nothing but years of problems - the latest being that ejecting from it could break the pilot's neck.

It's also ruinously expensive. After all, somebody has to pay for all that corruption.

It's not as if the U.S. is the only country in the world that makes military aircraft. There's France, Britain, Russia, China, all of whom have produced excellent aircraft. But we just have to buy from the U.S. defence industry because that iswhere our political and economic pipelines are.

My guess? There'll be sudden news that the problems of the F-35 have been overcome. Praise the Lord.

B7 has the story on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's principled stand on  helping refugees. But I'm afraid she's doomed. We've made such a mess of the Middle East that there is going to be no end to the millions of refugees. And Europe, Canada, and the U.S. have shown very little interest in helping them.

And that's about it for Canada&World news. It's hard to get much news into 8 pages, especially when ads fill half the available space.
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And, tomorrow, the attacks in Paris.
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Today's faith page is even worse that usual - drab and boring and irrelevant.
So, for todays religious reading, try the poem below by Joseph Howe, premier of Nova Scotia and a father of Confederation. It's called To Mary - but not That Mary. It's a poem that gives a reason for going to church - sort of.

http://www.canadianpoetry.ca/longpoems/howe_poems_and_essays/to_mary.htm

I had hopes.  The headline seemed to be about Moncton welcoming Syrian refugees. But it was really a pretty shallow story about all the things that have to be done.

I went to school with Syrians. I played with Syrians. It was a good experience. They were from the first generation to be born in Canada. Most became quite successful. And, with friends who were Syrians, Italians, Poles, African-Canadian, Japanese, I learned it was great to grow up in a society with diversity, lots of diversity. It really shook up our human tendency to be all like each other, and to be afraid of being different, of not conforming. The Maritimes desperately need diversity.

The only other big news is that Gentleman Jim's restaurant has been closed for renovations.
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The editorial picks up on the benefits of accepting refugees. Norbert has a quite decent column though, as in all his writing about provincial finances, he refuses to look at what the very rich are taking out of this province, legally or illegally, every year. Oh, and they're also doing it through executives who get paid as much per person as all other employees put together do. And don't kid yourself that it's okay because the these people will spend their money here. They don't. And they won't.

Cole Hobson writes an opinion column about St. John's United Church and Rev. Aaron Billard. It's a good story. Too bad it had already appeared on yesterday's front page as a news story.

Brian Murphy tells a long and pointless story about his childhood home. He ends with a short paragraph of excruciatingly banal lessons about life which he says he learned from that experience.

Alec Bruce, as usual,  has a sensible and solid column about those who protect us from our governments - officials like the auditor-general and the official languages commissioner.
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The only interesting part of Canada&World is the sentence under a photo of everybody smiling with insincerity as two men shake hands. Try to make sense out of that sentence - Chief electoral officer Michael Quinn, Official Languages Commissioner Katherine d'Entrement, and auditor-general Kim MacPherson shakes the hand of Standing Committee on Procedural, Privileges and Legislative Officers chairman Hedard Albert in the provincial legislature on Thursday.

B5 has a half page "Canada&World story" that is really a free ad for a  Moncton clothing store. Another half page ( out of only 8 for Canada and the whole world) is pictures of people holding up giant cheques. Another full page is taken up with a big ad, and a news story that a 20-room mansion has just been sold in Quebec.
I needed to know that.

It must be a dreary job for a news editor to spend his days to find stories crappy enough to fit the style of the Irving press.

Belowis what I founnd in other news sources is less than an hour.
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For those who don't believe in climate change - do you believe in glaciers? One of them has just collapsed, dumping 10 billion tonnes into the sea. And there's more to come. Get ready for a really interesting tidal bore in Moncton.

 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/12/collapsing-greenland-glacier-could-raise-sea-levels-by-half-a-metre-say-scientists

Slavery still exists all over the world - including Canada, the U.S., Britain. Recently, refugees have added to the numbers in slavery in Britain. But it's all over the world. (Except in the Irving press.)

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/nov/13/perpetrators-modern-slavery-devastating-environment-deforestation-pollution

The next comment warns us about the theory shared by capitalists of this world and their servants like Norbert and most politicians that shovelling all the world's money into their pockets and letting them do what they like will make us all rich.  It never has. And it's going to have dangerous consequences for all of us.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/11/us-uk-politics-economics

The following item tells us something about the collapsing society of the U.S.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/11/its-so-dangerous-to-be-a-black-american-ive-sought-asylum-in-canada

Then there's this one on how global migration is a part of Europe's future. It's a part of Canada's future, too - far more than it ever has been. It's not only because of the wars our capitalists ( with our help) have forced on other countries. Increasingly, it's likely to be drought and flooding.

Speaking of the future of Canada and the U.S. and Europe, the following is a warning about Europe - but it's just as true for us. Greed is very, very destructive.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/12/the-guardian-view-on-global-migration-its-part-of-europes-future

The piece below is one I would normally by wary of. But the writer has a pretty solid record and reputation. It's worth considering.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-iraqi-war-wasnt-waged-for-oil-greg-palast
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On a sombre note, the U.S., which has taunted China by sending ships through waters claimed by China, is now flying bombers over them. China may well be in the wrong - but it is not up to the U.S. to deliver vigilante justice. It's up to international courts.

As well, this is one hell of a dangerous thing to do. It will take just one misstep, by either side, to turn this into a world, nuclear war. We're doing the same thing in Syria. This is much more serious that even the nuclear crisis of the Kennedy era.

So why is  the U.S. tempting fate? Do you seriously think this is all to bring peace and freedom to the world? Or is it very, very dangerous brinkmanship?

Or is it a deliberate provocation to set up a war?

Nov.12: A very dangerous situation.

Why did Britain and the U.S. both announce very shortly after a
Russian airliner crashed in Sinai that it was done by a bomb, and probably shipped aboard as luggage? Why do both say it was done by Muslim terrorists?

At the time, no Americans or British had seen the wreck. Russians who did see it said they didn't know what caused it. Even today, they say it COULD have been a bomb. Others say it could have been rocket fired from the ground. Worse, it could have been a British rocket, one of many weapons supplied to terrorists by the U.S. and Britain.

Putin has said little. But we can be certain he will respond. He could be waiting for a fuller report. Or - he could be calculating how to respond if there is any British or American connection to this.

People on our side would never do such a thing? People on our side have often done such a thing. One of the most notorious is the attack on a Cuban civil airliner that killed 73 civilians. The attackers also set bombs in Cuban hotels. The story below is a very gentle acount of the Cuban airliner attack. (The Irving press probably didn't carry the story. But Putin probably already knows it, anyway.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_455

It's possible the Russian airliner was downed by people with British and/or American connections. If so, what will Putin do? And how will we respond?

The situation is complicated more than a little as Israel yesterday bombed Syrian army bases. (The Irving press would have had a story about this if it hadn't needed half of page B for an inspirational ad on where to buy hockey gear.)

In short, Israel has been flying its fighter-bombers into air space controlled by the Russians. There's an explanation, of course. There always is. But it's much too early to decide who's right or wrong.  In any case, it doesn't matter. This is one hell of a complication with implications for the whole world.

Oh, as a side-note, it seems that the new president/dictator of Turkey is anxious to invade Syria.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.685575

The next site advertises itself as a socialist one. However, The Guardian and other papers take the same position. The chief of staff of the British army has publicly attacked the leader of the Labour Party on a political issue, even implying the possibility of mutiny. This is incompatible with democracy - but the British government supports the general.

The Guardian takes it very seriously, indeed. It's not a question of who's right or who's wrong. It's a question of what the role of an army is in a democracy.

The following story didn't make the Irving press, either. 300 American veterans are now on death row in U.S. prisons. Many were and are suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

What has happened to Canadians with PTSD? Canadians don't seem to care.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/300-veterans-some-ptsd-are-death-row-report-n460111

The next one I just couldn't resist. Many prisons in the U.S. charge prisoners for room and board. Result - they leave prison tens of thousands of dollars in debt -and most with no hope of getting such money - except by crime. The spirit of capitalism at work. The only purpose of capitalism is to make profits for capitalists. The human race has nothing to do with it. That's why capitalism has to be severely regulated. And there are some things it should not be allowed to do at all - like running prisons and hospitals and universities.

In New Mexico, police are charged with a military-style attack on a  home, tossing in stun grenades (with shrapnel) which terrorized three children sleeping there. This sort of incident is not unusual in the U.S. It's part of the militarization of police, precisely so they can terrorize. And it's one of the signs of a society in collapse.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3959152.shtml#.VkTooP9RGic

As the commentary below suggests, there is something insane about Israeli policies. Not just bad, but insane. CNN news had a report on this, reportedly focusing on the mental state of Netanyahu. But when I found the site, it said that the report had been withdrawn. I'll keep watching. (I have a dislike for Netanyahu that goes back to the day I watched the development of a riot that he had deliberately created.)

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/only-psychiatrists-can-explain-israel-s-behavior-1.261115

The final reference is from the Guardian. It's long. But it's almost unique for our news media in that it shows Muslims as intelligent and enquiring.


http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/nov/06/humanist-vs-islamic-perspectives-on-science-and-the-modern-world

I searched to find data on suicide among those serving in Canada's armed forces and their veterans. I couldn't find any reliable figures. Apparently, the Canadian government does not feel it worth while to keep track of this.
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Oh? The Irving press? The only news item in section A is a two page ad for BellAlliant.

Rod Allen tries to write commentary on Remembrance Day. But it's hard to do when the only nouns you know are I, me, and my.

 Alec Bruce makes good sense in writing about good sense.

And Justin Ryan is - Wow! - just great on immigration.

Section B, Canada&World is not as good as section A.

Nov. 11: Things to think of on Nov. 11

The March of the Dead -- Robert Service

(Poem #980) The March of the Dead The cruel war was over -- oh, the triumph was so sweet! We watched the troops returning, through our tears; There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet glittering street, And you scarce could hear the music for the cheers. And you scarce could see the house-tops for the flags that flew between; The bells were pealing madly to the sky; And everyone was shouting for the Soldiers of the Queen, And the glory of an age was passing by. And then there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear; The bells were silent, not an echo stirred. The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer; We waited, and we never spoke a word. The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack There came a voice that checked the heart with dread: "Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black; They are coming -- it's the Army of the Dead." They were coming, they were coming, gaunt and ghastly, sad and slow; They were coming, all the crimson wrecks of pride; With faces seared, and cheeks red smeared, and haunting eyes of woe, And clotted holes the khaki couldn't hide. Oh, the clammy brow of anguish! the livid, foam-flecked lips! The reeling ranks of ruin swept along! The limb that trailed, the hand that failed, the bloody finger tips! And oh, the dreary rhythm of their song! "They left us on the veldt-side, but we felt we couldn't stop On this, our England's crowning festal day; We're the men of Magersfontein, we're the men of Spion Kop, Colenso -- we're the men who had to pay. We're the men who paid the blood-price. Shall the grave be all our gain? You owe us. Long and heavy is the score. Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain, And cheer us as ye never cheered before." The folks were white and stricken, and each tongue seemed weighted with lead; Each heart was clutched in hollow hand of ice; And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead, The pity of the men who paid the price. They were come, were come to mock us, in the first flush of our peace; Through writhing lips their teeth were all agleam; They were coming in their thousands -- oh, would they never cease! I closed my eyes, and then -- it was a dream. There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet gleaming street; The town was mad; a man was like a boy. A thousand flags were flaming where the sky and city meet; A thousand bells were thundering the joy. There was music, mirth and sunshine; but some eyes shone with regret; And while we stun with cheers our homing braves, O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget The graves they left behind, the bitter graves. Like many children, I memorized In Flanders' Fields and, as today's paper tells, it has become perhaps the best-known poem in Canada, and THE poem for Remembrance Day. I realized early, though, that this isn't a poem about remembrance. It's a poem that glorifies and encourages war. Think of the line---- "Take up our quarrel with the foe. To you from failing hands we throw The torch. Be yours to hold it high." Service, ( who, like McCrae, served in World War One, was writing about the BoerWar, a war that should have had nothing to do with Canada. I had memorized 'The March of the Dead' because my father so often read it to me. On the evening after we had gone to the railway station to see him off to the navy, I read it again. Then I read McRae's 'In Fletcher's Fields'. That's when I caught the line 'Take up our quarrel with the foe." What quarrel? The murder of an Austrian archduke? Who cared? In any case, Germany had nothing to do with it. "Oh God, in they great mercy let us nevermore forget The graves they left behind, the bitter graves." Remembrance day is important not to glorify war, but to remind us to think before we create another march of the dead. (I wonder if the clergy leading the prayers will remember that today.) ____________________________________________________________________ There's nothing in section A except for a story that Richard Oland had a mistress 0-0-0-h, can we get more detail and pictures on that? _____________________________________________________________ The editorial is a standard one for November 11. And it's a "take up our quarrel with the foe one." As for its line that war has made us free, we are actually a good deal less free than we were. If freedom is what our soldiers fought for, then we have disgraced ourselves with a domestic spy agency that taps our computers and phones, and makes lists of dangerous environmentalists, lists that are handed out to major polluters. Norbert has a column on changes the political parties have to make. But his changes have nothing to do with principles or values or human needs. They're just tips on how to win an election. He also has nothing on educating the public to what we need. This just treats politics like a sort of fashion show. The commentary page leads with another piece of propaganda from a "think tank". Brian Cormier's column is about nothing coherent. Alec Bruce advises New Brunswick to be more open to immigrants. I haven't noticed that much open racism in New Brunswick. Certainly, NB is way ahead of Montreal and Toronto that respect. I've lived most of my life surrounded by immigrants - Syrians, Italians, Jews, Chinese, Blacks, Muslims, Japanese, Iranis.... If anything, I learned a lot from them. But I have a warning for Mr. Bruce. He expresses pride in his ancestry of Scots-Irish-English. I have  traced my family back to 1600. They were pure Scots, English, and  French. Then I got a DNA test. I'm 71% Irish - which raises the mortal danger some were Catholic. And, though my Decaries of 1600 lived in France, they were of Spanish descent. Decarie comes from the Spanish Descary. And I have trace elements of west Asia - perhaps Mongol rapists. ________________________________________________________________ There is nothing in Canada&World except the lead story that the NB Liberals are planning to get rid of many of the agencies that keep it honest-like the Auditor-General. Quelle surprise! _________________________________________________________________ To find out what is going on in Canada, a better source is Al Jazeera. Below is a story the Irving press has ignored. It's important to be aware of it because the CBC, almost destroyed by Harper, is the only independent news source we have. (So I can understand why the Irving press doesn't care.) http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2015/11/independent- journalism-future-cbc-151101085623421.html I'm not as confident as the writer is that the Liberals will save it. They don't have a good track record on this. _____________________________________________________________________ There's some talk in the U.S. press of American aid to foreign countries. Unfortunately, most of that talk says nothing worth knowing. Though we are never told this, the greater part of U.S. foreign aid goes to rich countries - and it goes in the form of weapons. The biggest recipient is Israel. This serves two purposes. It makes military powers out of countries who are useful to the U.S. for military reasons. It also provides lush contracts for the arms industry bosses who pay off the politicians. Commonly, U.S.foreign aid for poor countries requires that it be spent on buying - say, medicine - from American companies. And, though buying in tremendous bulk, the poor country has to pay the full retail price as at your local drug store. And that doesn't even come close to the rip-off record of the drug industry. Just recently, an American drug company raised the price of a life-saving drug from a few dollars a dose by over 1,000 percent. This is a drug dating back over a hundred years, so the development cost has long been paid off. This is for a drug some people need to take daily in order to stay alive. Most private medical insurers are refusing to pay for this one. So people die. And this isn't the only example. Just wait until the Trans-Pacific deal is accepted with its extension of the drug patent period to almost double it. That will kill not only people. It will also kill medicare by making it prohibitively expensive. Funny how the Irving press missed this story. I guess they needed the page for the real news - photos of smiling people holding up giant cheques. Then there's a site, sent in by a reader, that sent a chill up my spine. I won't comment on this because I don't know enough economics. But it still scares me. http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2015/10/everythings-deflating-and- nobody-seems-to-notice/ ____________________________________________________________________ Robert Service was not always a good poet. In the 1920s, he penned - Please, mother, don't stab father with the breadknife. Remember, 'twas a gift when you were wed. But if you must stab father with the breadknife, Please, mother, use another for the bread. And that reminds of another poet who was a maritimer, noted politician, and a force in creating Canadian confederation. His name was Joseph Howe. But I'll save that for a Saturday because it's (sort of) about going to church.

Nov.10: Let's not waste time on the Irving press today.

There's no news in Section A.

The editorial gushes about our fishery's future under the Trans-Pacific trade deal, nicely ignoring some realities. 1. There are severe limits to the fishery, with much of it already under strain - or worse. 2. Under that same trade deal, there is every possiblity that Canadians will not long own our fishery. 3. The trade deal will also make it impossible to impose restrictions to save a dying fishery.

What this editorial really tells us is that Mr. Irving supports the Trans-Pacific deal.

Norbert is well worth reading.

Alan Cochrane gives us a history of Canada as a "...peaceful nation that has historically stepped up to protect others in times of trouble, but also refused to be dragged into wars that didn't fit our national policy."

He should have signed it BS.

Who were we protecting when we fought aboriginal peoples and Metis?  What did the Boer War do to protect anybody? And what did it have to do with Canada's 'National policy'? What was and/or is Canada's national policy?  

The Korean War was NOT fought to protect  anybody. It  was essentially a U.S. war to prevent North Korea from getting in the way of American imperial expansion. If it made sense to fight in Korea, then it should have made sense to fight a very similar war in Vietnam. (or, we could have joined with the Vietnamese to protect them against the U.S.)

Pearson's peacekeeping certainly deserves full marks. But we effectively abandoned it long ago to become an American poodle.

And what on earth did Afghanistan or Syria or Libya have to do with protecting anybody or any national policy? Does the columnist seriously think the U.S. was there to protect  Afghanis?

We do, indeed, need to remember. That is what Remembrance Day should be about. It should be about the horror of war, not the glorification of it. And it most certainly should not be about bad history.

There's mention of Vimy Ridge in the column. All of it, The stone memorial, the hill itself, the tunnels through it, the command it gave of the enemy lines is the most impressive war memorial I have ever seen. It was a battle won by the finest military leader Canada ever produced, Sir Arthur Currie. But few Canadians have ever heard of him. Funny how we substitute myths for real history.
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Almost all of Canada&World is irrelevant and a model case of really bad editing. But one story stands out as real news. It's on  B1, "Troubled veterans treated as threats as feds ignore inquest recommendations."
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Now let's turn to some real news the Irving press didn't carry.

Read the two sites below. Both were went to me by a reader. Both come from eminently honest and intelligent sources.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/The-Most-Brazen-Corporate-by-Chris-Hedges-American-Hypocrisy_Americans-For-Prosperity_Corporate-Citizenship_Corporate-Crime-151107-882.html

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/11/09/the-re-enserfment-of-western-peoples-paul-craig-roberts/

I always feared that Stephen Harper's policies would lead to the destruction of Canada. So I heaved a great sigh of relief when he was defeated. But that may have been premature.

The implications of the Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic deals are immense. In effect, they re-create the old, European rule by an aristocracy - of whom few will even be Canadians. It's a sell-out of nations, a sell-out of democracy, and a certain producer of more and worse wars and of domestic violence in many countries - including Canada and the U.S.

It's a deal created by the very wealthy to benefit themselves at the expense of the world. I have for a long time wondered about the sanity of Stephen Harper (quite seriously). Now, I have to wonder about the intelligence and integrity of the Peter MacKays who followed him.

It makes U.S. capitalists the dominant figures in the world economy. In effect, Canada becomes a full colony of the American empire. And we will be called upon to make war on Russia and China (you know, because they're evil or something like that. Think of that on Nov. 11.)

Will you and I gain anything by it? No. Corporations don't exist to give out money. They exist to take it. In fact, these treaties will almost certainly lead to the destruction of social programmes, and even of public education. And, no, that's not an exaggeration. The same corporations have already done that in places like Congo, Central America, and even the U.S.

It creates a world in which the needs of people mean nothing at all, a world we shall have no power to change, a world in which an elected government is just decorative.... Will the Irvings support it? Probably. They're pretty small potatoes on a world scale, so they need to hang out with the big spuds. I note that the Irving press has made little attempt to discuss it.  (Just one column by Norbert, and that one favourable. And, of course, today's editorial).

As for the violence, it's already begun. American society has been seeing vast fissures opening, and just about everybody is armed. And American police are now being  trained and equipped militarily to fight those who don't stand in line.
(And, as we saw at Rexton, it's also happening to our RCMP.)

And the middle east is just a foretaste of what's to come as major capitalists (sorry, entrepreneurs) take over our countries and then, the world.

Will the Liberals reject it? I doubt that very much. Since 1867, the Liberals have essentially been a party of big business. The founder of the party, George Brown, built the party to represent the interest of big business (for the time) in Ontario. John A. was the go-boy for Montreal business. The Liberals might make a show of minor re-bargaining of some sections. But I think it most unlikely they will reject it.

We are about to hand over all real power to the least caring, the most ruthless, the most short-sighted, the greediest, the most arrogant people on the face of this planet.

It will be interesting to see how the sermonette in Satuday's paper will manage to avoid talking about this proposal which is as anti-Christian and anti-any religion or morality as you can get.

As for the violence, I don't advocate it at all. Not anywhere. But it's going to happen because this deal, ultimately, leaves no choice.

But their won't be violence in New Brunswick. If people here get mad at the Liberals for passing this, New Brunswickers will show them. They'll vote Conservative next time.
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Another story sent by a reader, and worth reading, is the one below from the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/opinion/despair-american-style.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&_r=2

Actually, it's happening in Canada, too.
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 In a story a couple of days old, premier Gallant told CBC News that climate change 'conversations' with the public will begin once the building of the Energy East Pipeline has started.  Oh ????????


We'll have 'conversations' but not until we are committed to a major issue that is central to the issues of environment and climate change? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

But don't worry about it. If the Liberals pull this stunt on us, we'll make them pay for it. We'll vote for the Conservatives.
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Time to tidy up on my series on the rise of capitalism.

For over two hundred years, the wealth of capitalists has made them major players in national decision making. The old aristocracy, mostly lacking the really big money retained some political power and status. It still does. But it's big money that dominates  governments. And it's big money that deliberately modelled itself on the airs and arrogance of the fading aristocracy. It is not only a class. It is a class that sees itself as real government, just like the old aristocracy - and it often is.

It's a great arrangement for capitalists. They get wars which create profits for the 'right' sort of people. That's what the British and French empires were about. That's what the American empire is about. Governments are told when to declare war and against whom.

And they don't have to pay for their wars. We taxpayers cover it. And they don't have to die in their wars. We do that. World War One was a war between groups of capitalists. That, not the killing of an archduke, was what the war was about. The Germans, of course, were evil. But they ceased to be evil when they were a barrier against communism, and defenders of the aryan 'race',   something which Churchill and others admired. But Germans became evil again when their industry became a serious competitor to British industry. (However, they didn't become evil in the U.S. until the end of 1942.

We killed over a million Iraqis because Saddam Hussein was bad. Then we hanged him. We know now that George Bush and Tony Blair lied in order to stage that war. So how come we haven't tried and hanged them? The Saudi rulers are as brutal and muderous and dictatorial as they come. So how come we're such good friends?

The twentieth century opened with the Boer War that was fought for money, nothing else. Every war I can think of since then was fought for money - including the 'peackeeping'  Canadian role in Haiti. Even the 'peacekeeping' in Congo was to protect the investments of western businessmen who have been pillaging that country for almost a hundred and fifty years.

And now, we have the last touch in the shape of "trade agreements".










                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Nov.9: Year-round reminder of our people who went to war...

....stands in Moncton's Centennial Park. It's Sherman tank, an American design, and the common tank of American, British and Canadian troops for most of World War Two. With all that armour and long gun, it looks like a powerful weapon. But it wasn't.

New Brunswick's Eighth Hussars would discover that when they met the German King Tiger and the Panther in Italy. The first Tiger they met knocked out three Shermans. And they were  helpless. "We kept hitting it," said Major Cliff McEwen, "but our shells just kept bouncing off."

They would soon learn it took at least three Shermans working together to destroy the Panther and, commonly, two of those Shermans would be knocked out. And each Sherman destroyed usually meant the loss of all five crew members.

(Luckily the British managed to fit a bigger gun into the Sherman - which gave it a fighting chance against the German tanks. It was called 'Sherman Firefly', and it was also adopted by Canada. The two tanks look much alike; so I'm not sure the one in Centennial Park is the older Sherman.)

Nearby is an anchor, which is not much to help picture the enormity of the job done by the Canadian navy. World War Two was a war of supply - and the Canadian navy had full control of the whole North Atlantic anti-submarine command - the only theatre of war ever under Canadian command.

Sailors who served there remembered the cramped conditions on those small ships, their dreadful rolling and plunging in rough weather, and the sheer, constantly damp misery of life on them. But their ability to get supply convoys through was one of the most important factors in winning that war.
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There were actually three, important stories in Section A. One is the (deservedly) headline story of two teens killed and one  in critical condition after a car rollover near Port Elgin.

Also on the front page is the difficulty anglophone students have in learning French. This is not a problem peculiar to New Brunswick. And it doesn't happen because French is a difficult language to learn. (I speak a Montreal street French, tabarnaque, but I can read it with ease.) My sister speaks fluent French, and has since she was five. That's because girls play with each other. Boys fight.

When I was teaching in The Netherlands, I was suprised that almost everybody could speak English - and French - and German - perhaps Italian - and Spanish. Most said they learned them from watching TV. Earlier, in teaching elementary school, I knew a French teacher (from France) who could hold a class  spellbound telling French stories using many words closely resembling the English ones (after all, English is heavily French). and making use of gestures and expressions so that anyone could follow the story.

Learning French is not made hard by intellectual demands. It's made hard by a cultural attitude. The solution to teaching it is by finding a way past our cultural attitudes.

A7 has an interesting story about a new clinic in Fredericton to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We are not doing nearly enough of this treatment for our veterans.
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The opinion pages are pretty good. Well, except for the editorial. It's the usual, small-town boosterism about how good our business leaders have been. Yes, what makes a city good is business. Yep. (Really, nope. There are lots of other factors in shaping the quality of life in a city.) Not everything in life can be measured by how many hotel rooms we fill in a year.)

Norbert Cunningham, Alec Bruce, and Steve Malloy do good jobs.

And the guest column, by a professor of health policy, is a superb attack on our rapacious medications industry and the C.D. Howe Institute (a favoured think tank for the industry's propaganda).
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Canada&World has a few stories of importance. On B1, James Balsillie, found of Research in Motion, warns that the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal could become the worst-ever policy move. He is too kind.

What troubles him most is that the deal puts Canada into a partnership with the far, far bigger and richer U.S.; and it will hugely favour American business. As well, any dispute over the treaty will be decided by a court - but not a Canadian court. It will be assigned to a board made up of  "judges" closely tied to inndustry.

And, just from the little I know of it, it's much worse than that. It makes it impossible for Canadians to deal with their own economy or their own national policies. We become spectators in our own country. - And this at the time when we are remembering those Canadians who died to, we are told, preserve our rights and freedoms. Anybody see a contradiction in that?

It's also a threat to medicare. The first threat is that extends medication patents, leaving the pharmacutical industry free to skyrocket prices. It also opens the door to the eventual destruction of medicare. Any economic measure (like medicare), once changed will be irreversible - the death of a thousand cuts.

B2 has a story of road in British Columbia, the "Highway of Tears", where 18 aboriginal women were murdered or disappeared since the 1970s. At last, an investigation is taking place.

On B4, "World Bank says that Climate Change Could Thrust Millions into Poverty.) To be more precise, we could see a hundred million more people living in extreme poverty within the next 15 years. And then getting worse.

Yet we've seen little evidence of any planning at any level of government in this country . And that goes back to the last time the Liberals were in power. Harper is not the only one who made things worse. Why doesn't our newspaper question that? What are the plans? What are conditions going to be like in even ten years? What plans do we have to deal with that, let alone with stopping climate change?

The Irving press is not very big on asking questions. But that's what journalists are supposed to do.

And, of course, there's nothing on Yemen - and no known reason why Saudi Arabia has invaded it or why the U.S. is supplying the bombs. There's nothing on why the new president of Turkey wants to be a dictator, nothing on what his plans for the extension of Turkey into Syria are, nothing on why we were killing Libyans, why we don't seem to care that Libya is now in chaos, nothing on what the Trans-Pacific deal means in terms separating China from Russia - perhaps so the U.S. can invade Russia.

There's nothing on why the former CEO of Volkswagen isn't in prison. He broke the law and, unless you are a true unbeliever, he intensified the risk for climate change for millions of people. If I just let my parking meter run down, I get over a hundred dollar fine. The former CEO of Volkswagen didn't even get a fine for what he did. In fact, he was given a parting gift of 90 million dollars for his graciousness in resigning.

When U.S. bankers went broke, largely because of their own, illegal practices, nobody got punished. They got a huge gift of something approaching a trillion dollars; and their board of directors all got multi-million dollar bonuses. Iceland, in the same situation, put its bankers in jail.

But I've seen no questioning of this in the Brunswick press.
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A couple of days ago, my blog dealt with the Olympics, and how the wealthy have used them to deceive others (and themselves) to believe that the wealthy are an aristocracy. They are privileged, and they are of a higher order than the rest of us.  And I'm sure that many readers didn't take this seriously.

But the wealthy have always taken this seriously. That's why the leaders of the Olympic committee have always been drawn from the wealthy, and that's why they so long insisted on amateurism in the Olympics.

Think about it. What's the virtue in being an amateur? I'm an amateur blogger. But that's only because nobody would pay me. I am not better than others because I'm an amateur. Jim Thorpe, a brilliant, American athlete, was banned from throwing the discuss (and other events) because he had once earned some money, fifty dollars or so, playing baseball for a summer. Why should that disqualify him from track and field events?

The amateur rule existed to keep ordinary people out. People who had to make a living were disqualified because they had to make a living. They were of a lower order. Those who could devote time to sport without getting paid were obviously of a higher class.

For centuries, organized sport had been the badge of the upper classes. From the aristocracy of the middle ages to the capitalists of the 1980s or so, only they could play organized sport. Only they, because they were destined from birth to become economic, social and political leaders. The middle class and the working class had no right to presume they should be allowed to participate in the character-building process. It should be limited to those who were superior to them - the aristocracy and the wealthy.

That's why it was prefectly natural to appoint a member of the family to be VP of the whole, Irving press - despite his limited time in the business. That's why university boards are stuffed with various members of wealthy families who know nothing about universities or education in general. That's why George Bush became president of the United States.

There's a man who, so far as I know, has never said anything intelligent. Added to that, his university grades were terrible, partly because of his love for alcohol and drugs. Yet, he got accepted into a noted university to do a master's in business - though his grades were nowhere close to being acceptable for admission. And he, still heavily into drugs and alcohol, passed it! His first job was as CEO of a company set  up by daddys rich friends. He drove it broke. His second job was sitting in an office so the builder's of a stadium could have direct contact with his father, then the president. Then he became a state governor, and then president. Today, this semi-literate of almost no credentials gets paid a quarter million dollars a pop for giving speeches at universities. His ability didn't do it. His social class did.

If you read Norbert Cunningham's columns, it's obvious he feels that only the wealthy know how to run anything - including our health system. And there are many people who have bought into that medieval and arrogant view of society. And none more so than the wealthy.

For a good two hundred years, the British army was officered almost entirely by the sons of the aristocracy and the wealthy. That's why it produced generations of some of the most incompetent generals ever to grace this planet. And they, too, attributed their "talent" to family origins and to the leadership qualities they developed through amateur sport.

 Sport has been fading as a necessary ingridient for their superior qualities. But we are still back a thousand years and more to an aristocracy of birth, of business aristocrats to whom we pay court and who, commonly, are of no greater talent than anyone else.

And those aristocrats are busily scrapping democracy because it gives undeserved power to us ordinary people. The job is already done in the U.S. And Canada is not so far behind as we might think.


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Nov. 8: Catching up on the news.

Sometimes, even a good news medium runs a really silly story. This time, it's today's CBC. This is about a university prof in the U.S. who says there is always a moral cost in deciding to fight a war, and in  deciding not to fight one.

If we fight them to destroy an evil government, then we must avoid killing innocent people. If we don't fight them, then we are abandoning those who need our help.

Come on. If we were going to stop evil governments which ignore human rights of their people, then we should have invaded the U.S. when it murdered Vietnamese, Guatemalans, Yemenis, Iraqis, Syrian, Afghans, Guatemalans, Libyans by the millions. We should now be invading our good friend, Saudi Arabia.

And it is not possible to fight a war without massive killing of civilians. Modern weapons have made that impossible for at least a hundred years.

And who are we to decide what constitutes the ignoring of human rights? Canada and the U.S. have a long, long history of racism and abuse - and that's not even counting what we have done - and are doing - to our native peoples.

Offhand, in fact, I cannot think of a war in the last century (or in any other) that was fought to protect human rights. The western countries, certainly, have never been nations of tinkerbelles flying over the world to clobber evil people with our magic wands.

The story is in CBC news for today. And it's on the web.
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An odd story of the week has been about statements from British PM Cameron about the Russian airliner downed in Sinai. He said, within hours of the crash, that it was a bomb that did it. and the bomb was placed by ISIS.

But Cameron wasn't there. Only the Russian investigators were there; and they didn't know. They're still not sure it was a bomb. And they don't pretend to know who did it. There are a lot of terrorist groups in the middle east, almost all of them financed and supplied by the U.S.

Why did Cameron feel compelled to make a statement at all? It wasn't a British plane. It didn't crash on British territory. Under these circumstances it's extremely odd that he should have made a statement at all.

Was it just foolishness on Cameron's part? Was it a way to put the blame on ISIS for an act done by some other group? And was it a way to deflect attention from the real purpose of the bombing?

Either Cameron is very foolish. Or there's a game being played here.
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The Guardian has a story about the rising suicide rate of middle-aged white Americans. For over fifteen years, it has been rising so quickly that it is a factor in the decline of life spans in the US as compared to other, rich countries.

The study relates much of  this to low levels of education, poverty (with no sign of hope for a better future), drugs and alcohol. Toward the end, it suggests that poor education and poverty may be the root causes, with drugs and alcohol more a result than a cause.

And the U.S. is not the only country where this is happening. A report by the CBC says its happening in Canada, too.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/suicide-men-50s-causes-1.3263412

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/02/death-rate-middle-aged-white-americans-aids

Hopelessness, poverty, poor education. What a coincidence that these causes and deaths should happen through the same years as we have seen a massive shift of wealth from most of us to a very few, the same years in which the U.S. cannot afford social programmes for that same reason, and because it spends so much on the military - spending which exists to make the rich even richer. And it's combined with the years the very wealthy have been evading taxes. And it's now combined with years in which the poor and the middle classes face more cuts (as in education) and more taxes to make up for those lost taxes of the very wealthy.
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A reader sent me a news site I had not seen before.  It's quite sophisticated, and it had some  useful material in it that we don't get. But beware of the obvious bias. It does carry some very good stuff. But the bias can be annoying.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article189043.html
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When the US bombed and strafed a hospital in Afghanistan, a hospital run by Doctors Without Frontiers, the Irving press gave it only quick mention, and has never offered any opinion or analysis of it. So here's catch-up on the story.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43356.htm
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The following story on the US use of drones was written by a very credible source. Check her credentials at the bottom.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43357.htm
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Remember how are western news media thought it was just wonderful when a 'satirical' magazine called Charlie Hebdo ran grotesque cartoons of Muhammed and of Muslims in general? We congratulated it for its sense of humour, and bought Charlie Hebdo T Shirts.

Well, they've now drawn hilarious cartoons of a Russian airliner crashing and killing all aboard. What a scream!

The following reaction is from a Russian publication. I've yet to see anything at all in the Irving press - though it was an admirer of Charlie Hebdo last time.

https://www.rt.com/news/321019-charlie-hebdo-cartoons-plane/
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Guessing time. What is the US/British strategy for the middle east?

Well, for a start, they want more dictators. Recently,  when Erdogan won a very dishonest and illegal election to gain the presidency in Turkey, his first act was to announce he was going to change the constitution to make himself an "exective president". Translation - dictator. He was immediately drawn to the bosoms of leaders in Britain and the U.S.

It is likely they will also attempt to give parts of Syria to Turkey and Israel. Another part may be given to the Kurds. The strategy is to destroy the state of  Syria by dividing it into several tiny nations. That is almost certainly what is behind the stepping up of US attacks on ISIS in Syria.

We may not hear as much news about Ukraine as we've been hearing. At the start, the U.S. was eager for a war with Russia. That eagerness has faded as the Russian performance in Syria shows armed forces that have improved hugely in the last fifteen to twenty years. As well, Putin has proven to be a leader who is not easily bluffed.

The US may also try to seek a friendly solution to the South China Sea issue because it may need China as a friend in 'dealing' with Russia.

And, yes, all of this will affect even Moncton, and affect it even more than a new hockey rink.

Through it all is the unguessable future for a Europe flooded with refugees it cannot handle - and there are many times more of them to come. Probably many more, even, than are forecast.

This is a crisis created by the U.S., Britain, and with the usually quiet, sometimes active, support of Canada. None of those three will do anything significant to help. I don't know what will happen. The best (and cheapest) answer would be to end the fighting in the middle east, and spend heavily on rebuilding it. But we won't do that because our oil billionaires don't want to re-establish life with hope in that region.

And watch the Trans-Pacific Trade deal. This was designed by big business meeting with politicians owned by big business - and it wasn't designed for us.

It is also a treaty that seems to be intended to establish a new set of national alliances in the world - also creating new enemies for us to be taught to hate. (It's good for business.)

And passed as it is, it certainly means the end of democracy, and the final victory of the very wealthy - the re-creation of the world of kings (dictators), aristocrats, and peasantry.
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