June 8: The tragedy of New Brunswick

New Brunswickers are sheep who BA-A only when the Irvings tell them to. As a result, they are among the poorest in Canada and easily controlled by some of the worst newspapers and radio stations in the western world.  Poverty is high. Literacy is terrible. Public discussion doesn't exist. The provincial debt is high. So much for the Irvings creating prosperity. Ah - and note the cancer statistics for St. John.

Much of this is explained by the article below  (sent to me by a reader). Read it, and send a copy to professor Saillant at UdeMoncton.

http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/06/06/news/what-have-irvings-done-new-brunswick

(Pay special attention to the relationship between Dominic Leblanc and the Irvings. This is the reason I expect no progress under the Trudeau Liberals.)
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In section A, the first story is a warning that our demolition of rundown rooming houses is simply pushing people into the streets. Then there's a sad story of the death of a baby, But the rest is all idle chatter and trivia. (Missing dog found.  Whoopee.)

Most of the Opinion  and commentary sections are pretty decent - though Brian Cormier still doesn't know what a commentary is. This time, he offers an anecdote about how some food packages are hard to open. As well, I can't quite figure what Alec Bruce's point is - unless this is a very soft sell for developing the oil industry in Newfoundland.

Canada&World left me speechless. There is no world. Just Canada and the U.S.  The U.S.  and NATO are carrying out some very provocative war games on the Russian border. South America is in chaos.Millions are starving due to crop failure. Drownings of refugees continue at a horrifying pace. There is every possibility that Britain will pull out of the European Union, and that the those EU will begin to dissolve- with consequences we can only guess at.

But the Irving press ignores all this for the really big stories. Families which lost members in unsolbed murders feel badly about it. Who would have guessed?
Then there's a 'stop the presses' story on beer in New Brunswick. And, a real winner, the province now has a minister of Celtic affairs to maintain Celtic culture in New Brunswick. And what is a celt and what is Celtic culture?
Good luck on that one. Celts were a language group in the central Europe of two thousand years ago or more. Today, their descendents are Irish, Scots, French, Germans, some Spanish. Probably Netherlanders - you name it. And their cultures? Well, they're as different as Irish, Scots, French, Germans, some Spanish... Indeed, I have never seen a clear definition of any culture. They are always changing. I do not have the same culture as my highland ancestors. In fact, we commonly don't even have the same culture as our parents. The world changes. We change with it.

The only story woth looking at (and a pretty weak one) is about our treatment of Japanese-Canadians in World War Two. Its message is that it really wasn't all that bad. In fact, I knew many survivors of the prison camps we put them in. I worked on the campaign to get an apology out of the Canadian government. And I never met one person who felt anything but rage at how they had been treated. The bitterness and sense of betrayal and loss stayed with them all their lives.

This whole Canada and world section is, once again, crap - and such trivial crap as to show utter contempt for readers.
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The UC (United Church) Observer can be quite useful in noticing what most news media don't. In this case, it's the scourge of loneliness in Canada. The irving press misses these because its emphasis is on trivia, money, and giving awards to people with money. The UC Observer reminds us that a society is, above all, about people.

http://www.ucobserver.org/society/2016/06/lonely_people/
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This one is not worth giving a long reference for - but Hillary Clinton has become noted for her very expensive wardrobe. For a recent speech, she wore an Armani coat that cost $12,000. Guess what her priority in life is. Check her speeches. Notice she's been quiet about the rise of poverty in the U.S.? In    one of her few mentions of inequality in the U.S.,  she was wearing her Armani coat.
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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/08/arctic-sea-ice-falls-to-record-low

But, hey, not to worry. Why, yesterday a businessman had a column in the irving press saying climate change isn't really happening at all.
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And here's the kind of international comment we need to understand world news. But, of course, the irving press doesn't eveen bother with world news, so why bother commenting on it?

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jun/08/saudi-arabia-has-been-given-a-free-pass-to-bomb-schools-and-hospitals-in-yemen
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Here's a story about climate change that, just  yesterday, some twit of a businessman writing for the irving press said wasn't happening. Shouldn't the irvings, as our acknowledge kings and award winners, be leading the fight against this?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/07/the-guardian-view-on-the-great-barrier-reef-the-crisis-they-prefer-to-downplay
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For some years, the British government has been conducting an inquiry into the justifications Tony Blair made for joining George Bush in a war in Iraq that killed at least a million people, and has directly led to the horror of today's middle east. The inquiry is complete, but there seem to be (and have been for years) delays in releasing it. However, what has been revealed is a condemnation of Bush and Blair for fabricating reasons for the war. In short, they lied about "weapons of mass destruction" that didn't exist. They lied and they knew they were lying. None of the reasons they gave for that war were true. As a result, a million men, women and children were killed. For those who think that's okay because they were only Muslims, consider that a great many  Americans and British died, too. And for those who still don't give a damn, that war was the direct cause of current wars in the middle east, tens of millions of refugees, of whom at least thousands have drowned trying to escape the slaughter.
Blair and Bush are almost certainly guilty of war crimes. And, if you look at old newpapers, you will find we foamed at the mouth over the war crimes trials of Germans and Japanese after World War II, and we hanged them to the sound of applause.

Now, what do you know about the Chilcot Inquiry from the irving press?
Blair and Bush are in a class with the great killers of history, as savage and greedy and brutal as any people this world has known. And it was known, even as the war was being fought, that they had lied.

But not a word in the irving press. And, certainly, not a question about who they were serving when they set up that war. I wonder if they had any friends in the oil industry. And that would make their friends war criminals, too, and eligible for hanging.

Every Nov. 11, now, my first thought is that a world of mass-murdering billionaires and their political friends is not what so many Canadians died for.

And filling the pockets of the wealthy is not what they died for. We should remember them. We should thank them. And we should apologize to them for what we have allowed to happen. And we should make damn sure we back up our apology with action.
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And this is a  documentary on a topic the irving press has ignored.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44824.htm
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The American public is in hysteria fanned by irresponsible journalism. I am,  therefore, not suprised by the site below.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44821.htm
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This brings us up to date on the Chilcot Inquiry. (Release of it has been delayed - again.)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44825.htm
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This news  is just that one percent hold half of all the world's  money. We knew that. What our news media have not told us is of the wealth of the one percent is growing while that of the rest of us is going down.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2016/Jun-07/355802-one-percent-of-worlds-population-holds-almost-half-its-wealth-report.ashx

Perhaps  the irving press could do a survery on the distribution of wealth in New Brunswick.
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The U.S. has no money to spare for maintenance of roads, sewage systems, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, health for the sick...but it has trillions for war.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44818.htm
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Almost all news media and public figures have been praising Muhammed Ali since his recent death. Almost none of them did while he was alive. Ali was a person of intelligence and honesty. But us humans commonly distrust both. In his lifetime, he was reviled and ridiculed. I can remember that particularly well from boxing circles I knew.

http://www.countercurrents.org/janson080616.htm

Luckily, Ali was also a man of integrity and courage. How would this have gone down in New Brunswick? Check my opening sentence of today's blog.
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June 7:The news that isn't in the irving press

Here's an interesting piece from CBC about how we are being robbed, really robbed, every day  by the wealthy. It begins with the tax havens, and goes on to the government which robs us to make up at least part of the taxes it isn't getting from the rich. This isn't just penny-pinching. It's theft on a scale of uncounted billions. It's theft that means poverty and suffering for millions of Canadians; and it's getting much worse. We send shoplifters to jail. We give wealthy tax-dodgers honours and awards.

The Panama Papers should have been a bombshell. But how many reports of these tax havens have you seen in the irving press?

Your children pay for it in underfunded schools, in university fees so expensive they will be paying loans off until retirement . Millions pay for it with malnutrition and all the hopelessness of poverty.

And most of the news media sit around with their faces hanging out.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fair-shake-neil-macdonald-1.3574375
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Also in CBC news (There's almost no news in the irving press), Canada seems to be planning to go ahead with the F-35 fighter. We've been paying millions every year just to stay in line for it. Its development has been problem-plagued. For our purposes, it's no better than the F-18 that we have. It looks likely to be the most expensive fighter jet in history. (Just the helmet for the pilot costs $400,000. Think of that. $400,000 for a hat.) And it's being produced by an industry that's quite outstanding in its outlandish prices and corrupt relationship with politicians.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fair-shake-neil-macdonald-1.3574375
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And, sometimes, CBC does a bad job. Here's one on China that looks well-founded - if you don't think about it.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/china-microphone-diplomacy-human-rights-1.3618929

It's certainly true that China is a human rights violator on a grand scale. You, know, they even torture prisoners to get information. Gee! I'll bet no other country does that.  (The U.S. not only tortures on a scale unmatched in history; Canada was a party to it.)

And China has no democracy? Gee! Not like the U.S. where the average voter is the real power?

And China spies on its people? Double gee! The U.S. and Canada would never dream of that.

Then the article dwells on Mao. He was certainly dictatorial and murderous. He learned it from us. Mao rose out of a China in which the western powers (God bless Queen Victoria) had been looters and murderers for over a  century. It had also forced the curse of opium addiction on the Chinese.

So a reporter asked a Chinese official about human rights violations in China, and the official had to nerve to get angry at him. Here's a hint for the reporter. Let him ask about the human rigihts record of Canada (which now, in violation of a treaty it signed, is selling weapons to human rights violator and good friend, Saudi Arabia. Let him ask about the record of the U.S. in killing millions all over the world. Let him ask Britain and Canada about their participation in this. Let him ask those same countries about their violations of human rights with spy agencies to spy on their own people.

Yes, Mao was as nasty as they come. But do you think that reporter would ask those questions of an Obama?

What a self-righteous twit!
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The headline for irving press today is what is called sensationalism. It's a story we can't do anything about - which makes it of no use to us. But it's like those headlines in scandal mags. You know, "Kim's secret boyfriend cheating on wife".
 It's perfect from dumbing people down.

At that, it's the most newsworthy item in section A.

The editorial begins reasonably with a request for help for Fort McMurray. Then it becomes a pitch to open up the oil fields again. It says we need oil for at least another 50 years and more. Brilliant. Except - it's not really up to us. What we need (in the view of the editor) doesn't matter. The climate will decide how long we're able to use oil. It's not our decision; and it's extremely foolish to talk as though it is.

Norbert has a good commentary.

The president of the New Brunswick council of business has a column entitled, "Immigration isn't just good for business, It's good for all of us. Then, the column is all about how immigration is good for business. Is there nobody in this province who can think about people and what they need?

Then there's a really dumb one from Troy Media. I wonder about this outfit. It's the only news service I know that routinely publishes reports from those "think tanks" that are really propaganda houses for big money. (AIMS springs to mind.) There are a few honest "think tanks"; but I've never seen one of them in a Troy Media release.
 
Essentially, Troy media seems to be a chain of very small time community papers. Its outstanding journalist is a well-known but undistinguished newsman who wrote for The Post (a propaganda paper on a large scale) and, even lower on the ladder, for The Sun.

This item is by "a prominent Canadian business leader". Wow! He must be real smart. But, if he is, he's too modest to let it show. In effect, he says the scientists are all wrong, and there is no climate change. He "proves" his point by saying it was hotter in the 1930s on the prairies.

Brilliant. But, you see, we're all part of a world. Yes. We really are. And those scientists, while they might not be as smart as a businessman, check temperatures for the whole world -- and they say the temperatures have been rising and running at record pace for some years now. European nations are so convinced, they have been working hard on renewable resources, spending billions on them.
But what do a bunch Europeans know compared to Canadian business leader who has been a director of five, global corporations.

And, oh yes, he'd rather have Canadian oil than that stuff from countries with bad human rights records. Yep. Canadian business takes a strong position on human rights. That's why it invests so heavily in mining companies in South American dictatorships and in Congo.

Alec Bruce softens his opposition to fracking and a pipeline He doesn't deny climate change. But, he says, we need fossil fuels to get through to the point at which we can ban them.

Mr. Bruce.  We are not in a position to set the schedule. The climate will do that. We are not in the driver's seat. Our scientists don't know  how much time we have to deal with this. We don't know and, certainly, the oil industry does not know.

Now, think hard about the record of oil industry leadership on this. Tell me about the giant steps it has taken to reduce C02 in our atmosphere. Tell me about it's pioneering work in developing renewable resources.

 Then face realiity. If we give them permission to build a pipeline or to develop shale gas, the industry will exploit those for maximum profit and for as long as it can. That is the history of the oil industry.  It has surely proven all over the world that it doesn't give a damn about human lives. Look at the horror and chaos it has created in the middle east.

It has never shown any sense of humanity. And, on the issue of climate change, it has never shown any leadership or even brains beyond the self-seeking drivel in the column beside yours.

This cannot be their decision. Their history shows they have neither the will nor the respect for others to do it. No.  This has to be our decision.
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The Canada&World news section is a disgrace. Most of  the Canadian and U.S. news is trivia. The only story outside North America is about the fighting in Syria. But the situation is a very complex one, and the story is no help. This is one that desperately needs a good, foreign affairs columnist.
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The UN has backed off its condemnation of Saudi Arabia for human rights abuses. Some of this was based on its killing of children in Yemen. But I should think there's far more than that on Saudi Arabia's charge sheet.  (And how come the U.S. has never been charged. It's killed far more children that Saudi Arabia has.)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/07/rights-groups-condemn-removal-of-saudi-arabia-from-un-blacklist
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As readers know by now, Hillary has the Republican nomination. So now it looks like a contest between an egomaniac with inadequacy problems and an utterly unprincipled Hillary.

For some reason the irving press has not said a word about the approaching British vote to leave the European Union. Indeed, the whole EU looks pretty shaky.
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I really don't know what to say about this one.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/new-studies-show-liberals-and-conservatives-have-different-brain-structures
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Remember the story about the Saudis killing children and civilians in Yemen? Well, John Kerry says it wasn't the Saudis' fault. It was the fault of the civilians.
While we're on the subject, the U.S. has killed unknown numbers of children. If you put together Iraq, Vietnam, Libya and Guatemala, it could well be over a million.

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/03/kerry-gives-saudis-a-big-pass-on-indiscriminate-bombing-of-civilians-in-yemen/
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Meanwhile, from the country that (thinks it) brought freedom of speech to the world, here's the new rule. You are allowed to think anything you wish. But you must not write it or say it out loud.

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/03/kerry-gives-saudis-a-big-pass-on-indiscriminate-bombing-of-civilians-in-yemen/

Mind you, if you're running  a magazine whose cartoons encourage ridicule and hate for Muslims, that's okay. Hey. We live in the free world.
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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/counted-us-police-killings

This is heading for a record year. Mind you, I don't think all the blame goes on the police.  I don't even think it all goes on the nutbars in the National Rifle Association. American society, in general, is extremely violent, a violence that owes much to racism, to poverty,  to severe class differences - and a sort of national worship of violence.
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As I wrote above, I'm puzzled by the aims of Russia and the U.S. in their seeming cooperation against ISIS. This article might explain it.

http://www.voltairenet.org/article192128.html
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And here's an article for those who know nothing about tax havens and the Panama Papers (i.e. anyone who relies on privately-owned news media to get information.)

http://www.voltairenet.org/article191236.html
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June 6: The things we cannot have....

There are things we cannot do. There are things we cannot have. Most of us heard that from our parents. And our parents were right. There's no point whining about it. There's no point making up fancy arguments for why we should have these things we want. We  cannot have them. And it doesn't matter whether a majority wants these things - or whether it's a wealthy and influential minority. We cannot have them. And any attempt to have them means certain disaster.
We cannot have fracking. And it really doesn't matter if every village idiot votes for it, and even if the Chamber of Commerce votes for it. No, not even if Norbert says it's a good idea. Not even if it 'creates jobs'

The world is going through a climate change that, at best,    will kill hundreds of millions - and make refugees of the rest. We don't know how soon that will happen. We only know it will happen. To embark on a long term investment in fossil fuels would be an insane investment in greed and stupidity at a time when we need all the time and money we can raise to develop alternate forms of energy.

As well, is the fracking process an environmental threat? Goodness, no. You can pump all the toxic chemicals you like into the earth, and you can disturb all the rock structures you like for kilometers down, and you can dump the toxic waste anywhere that's handy. I'm sure the oil industry wouldn't dream of taking risks with our land and our lives. The oil industry has always been considerate and has played a leading role in fighting climate change. Ask any chamber of commerce. It will tell you.

And  this is not a matter of consulting the public or of finding middle ground.There is no middle ground. Either fossil fuels are a threat to human survival or they aren't. Either fracking needs toxic chemicals or it doesn't.
The fact is that in a sane world, we cannot have it.

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In the same fashion, there's a frightening issue which the irving press completely ignored.

The U.S. has been whipping eastern Europe into a frenzy of fear that Russia will attack it. Now Russia, like any nation, is quite capable of attacking out of motives of pure greed and desire for power. But the country that doing all the aggression in the region isn't Russia. It's the U.S.

The overthrow of the Ukrainian government was financed and organized by the U.S. That's in the Congressional record    (though not much reported over here.). The U.S.(with NATO, including Canada) is the one that's sending ships and troops and setting up missile sites near Russian borders. The U.S. is the one that has published a manifesto of world conquest, publicly endorsed by Obama as 'American exceptionalism' and appearing on the web as Project for the New American Century. And the U.S. is the one that has been at war since 1945 for, to put it kindly, questionable reasons. And it includes wars we never hear about with special ops killer squads and drones and 'sanctions' all over the world.
There's nothing new about this. The U.S. has been almost constantly at war to steal land (as from native peoples) or governments  (all over South America and Texas.) After World War Two, the game was to seize as much of the British and French Empires as possible. ( The big  failure was China.) That stage is still on in the fighting in the middle east. Now, it is either looking for a war with Russia or is playing a terminally dangerous game of bluff with it.

Whatever the case, a war with Russia is something we cannot have. It would undoubtedly go nuclear. Indeed, in the craze that such a war would create, it would vey likely cause nuclear reactions in Pakistan, India, Britain, and Israel - at least.

 Pakistan and India would likely attack each other. Israel might well take the opportunity to attack Iran. Whatever the case, and even if not a single bomb hit the Americas, the result would be a destruction as absolute as the final stages of climate change.

Now, more than 70 years after the war to end all wars and to bring some harmony to the world, we are locked into a situation far, far more dangerous than 1939.

But don't worry. Just read the irving press, and you won't even know about it.
Oh, and who is behind these wars? Forget all the stories you ever heard about the causes of war in history books.The war of 1914 was not caused by the killing of an archduke. It was caused by the rise of German industrial power - and the fears of competition that created. World War Two was not caused by Hitler's invasion of Poland - and it most certainly was not  because of his treatment of Jews.   (We couldn't have cared less about either.) It was, essentially, the same cause as World War  One.

Most wars are fought for economic reasons - and for the interests, depending on the period, of the nobility or the wealthy. In the past century, we've added to that the panic-building power of the news media (owned by the wealthy).

But the fact remains. There are things we cannot do. There are things we cannot have.
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Forgive me for not talking much about today's irving press. There's not much to say.

Note the cartoon on the editorial page. It's of Justin (son of Pierre) Trudeau and Dominic (son of Romeo) Leblanc, a leader in Pierre's government. It's worth thinking of the meaning of that. The U.S. was ruled for 16 years by a Clinton and then a Bush whose father had ruled before him for four years. Another Clinton was eight years in a senior position in the cabinet, and  could well be president for another eight. And yet another Bush, an author of The New American Century, was in the race for Republican leadership.

Gee. What a coincidence - out of all those hundreds of millions of people, just two families have ruled for 28 years - and it could be 36 . And, I fear, this is a situation that is coming our way.

The editorial makes the reasonable point that New Brunswick needs an economic plan - not just immigrants - if it is to grow. But it's not as simple as that. This province is run for the financial benefit of a wealthy few. Whether it attracts more population is a matter of indifference to them. They're not in the business of building up New Brunswick. We need of government whose commitment is to us - not to the rich.  It would also be a nice change to see one based on principles.
Norbert's mad at premier Gallant for his moratorium on fracking. Don't sweat it, Norbert. The Liberals are not dragging their tails because of any principles. They just don't want to lose the next election. Relax. I have never seen any sign of principles in either the Liberals or the Conservatives.

Good columns by Alec Bruce and Steve Malloy. The problem is that all of the columns are pretty local. There's a big world out there. And what happens in it affects all of us. We can't afford to spend our lives staring at our own bellybuttons.

Section B, Canada&World, is a dead loss. Among the didn't make its are the American game of provocations on the Russian border, the condemnation by the UN of Saudi Arabia for its war in Yemen - the one that is supplied with weapons from the U.S., Britain - and Canada. Then there is the strong possibility that Russia will send ground troops into Syria. It wants to destroy ISIS. And that's tricky because the US doesn't want ISIS destroyed. It wants Assad destroyed so, for a time at least, it needs ISIS. This is just what we need with U.S. troops on the Russian border.
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Here's the story of what's happening in Eastern Europe, the one that the irving press didn't think it important enough to mention.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/06/nato-launches-largest-war-game-in-eastern-europe-since-cold-war-anaconda-2016
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Here's one on the American economy - which might be a clue to why the U.S. has been stepping up the war fever. If it's going to conquer the world, it's going to have to do so soon.

Also note that the wealthy Saudis are selling off their investments in oil to invest, among other things, in renewable resources. That would put Saudi Arabia ahead of Canada in responding to the fossil fuels crisis. Imagine that. The Saudi royal family is showing more intelligence and leadership in this than western oil billionaires are.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/05/american-economy-brexit-seems-biggest-problem-west

Of course, the defence industry does well out of war. The U.S. has long ago convinced its allies (or colonies) to arm with American weapons. The reason given, as in the case of NATO, is to standardize all weapons. It just also happens this makes huge profits for the U.S. defence industry.
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I don' t know what to think of this one. It's the announcement of a book that is highly critical of Hillary Clinton. But the announcement doesn't tell us much.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3626031/A-Secret-Service-agent-protected-Hillary-Clinton-set-publish-tell-book.html
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Neither the U.S. nor Turkey want to see ISIS defeated. That's been obvious for some years. They need ISIS to destroy Assad (no, he's not a nice guy, either). And both Turkey and the U.S. have been supplying ISIS.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44814.htm
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The governor of New York has announced a law that any person in the state who campaigns to boycott Israel (in defence of Palestinians) will be punished. So much for the land of free speech.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44815.htm
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I have always been doubtful of stories that the U.S. government lied about 9/11. But this article is by Paul Craig Roberts - and he's both intelligent and honest. As well, he makes a very strong case.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/06/us-government-intentionally-destroys-911-evidence.html
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CBC and Toronto Star  conducted an investigation of an offshore-banking Canadian billionaire named Victor DahDaleh.  He first came to their attention as a tax dodger in the Panama Papers. Apparently, he has quite a record for bribery and other questionable practices as well as tax-dodging.

But our universities are broad-minded. When he gave them money, they gave him honorary doctorates, seats on various boards. Notable were McGill, York, and St. FX.  After all, he was a PHILANTHROPIST. Clap, clap, clap. Almost all universities have questionable characters like this who sit on boards, and who come to have considerable power in the operation of the university.   (McGill, in particular, has a long record of the  type.) In some cases, they effectively control the universities.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/panama-papers-victor-dahdaleh-alcoa-bribery-case-1.3598527

Doesn't he just make you proud to be a Canadian? And wouldn't it be nice if reporters for the irving press occasionally did some investigative reporting like this?
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I admit I've had a dislike of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu ever since I watched the riot he deliberately caused at Concordia University in Montreal. Therefore, I was not displeased to see him named as accepting illegal money from a wealthy businessman. The sum was relatively small - but it's obvious there was a payoff for it. There have been rumours of his business dealings for some time, and the sidebar of this article has a story on his many expensive holiday trips at public expense, even when he was out of office -and his generally lavish style of living.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.723405
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Ukraine (the good guys in our press) have named a Nazi who took part in the holocaust as a man to be  honoured. Of course. The Ukraine has been far-right for close to a century, and it never met a Nazi it didn't like. It's also in a revival of anti-semitism.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.722629
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On government-subsized Flag Day in Israel, thousands will march waving Israeli flags. The government has insisted the parade will go through the streets of the Arab section of Jerusalem. (Arabs are segregated in Jerusalem, and forced to live in a walled-off section of the city.) Oh, and it's on the first day of Ramadan, the most sacred period of the Muslim year.

For a parallel, imagine the U.S. government reaction if Muslims wanted to stage a parade through a Bible belt city on Christmas day.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/1.722629
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And here, perhaps, is a piece of good news from China. It's not sparkling and exciting - but it suggests that change can happen.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/05/rise-everyday-freedoms-china-160530105056898.html?utm_source=Al+Jazeera+English+Newsletter+%7C+Weekly&utm_campaign=0b6553ac95-weekly_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e427298a68-0b6553ac95-225407993

June 4:Our failure to help our police

(This one is a little late. Sorry.)

I have often mentioned that we are passing through a revolution.  In fact, it is almost over. The police state is here with domestic spies checking our phone calls, our computers, and any other personal material they can find. And don't kid yourself they're looking for terrorists. They're looking for anybody who thinks the wrong way - as defined by big money.

Big money long ago took possession of our governments. It's now looking at trade agreements which, in effect, make it impossible for us to govern our own societies. All real power will pass into the hands of multi-billionaires. The Conservatives will certainly support this. The Trudeau Liberals will almost certainly support it. And they are the final touch to the end of the Canadian nation.

A reader sent me the following document which is a pretty good summary of the revolution.  ( It's a little wordy, and it applies to the U.S. situation which is even worse than Canada's.)

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176148/tomgram%3A_steve_fraser%2C_how_the_age_of_acquiescence_came_to_an_end/

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We won't waste much time on the irving press today.

Coverage of the unveiling to statues of three, murdered RCMP officers is touching. From the start, people have reacted with sadness and thanks for their sacrifice.  But I can't help but notice that, for all the sympathy, the people and the news media haven't done a damn thing about a major cause of that tragedy.
The man who killed those police could do it not only because he had a rifle that outranged their pistols - but also because it was designed to kill numbers of people and to do it quickly. This was not a hunting or a target weapon. It had a military-style magazine of large capacity; and, as a semi-automatic, it could fire rapidly. This is a gun with macho and very military appearance, the sort of gun designed for men in their 20s and more going on 12.

Why is such a gun available in Canada? The irving press cared so little about this issue, it never mentioned it, and it has run ads for a store that specialize in guns of this sort.

Page A3 has a story about James K. Irving being honoured with a top Rotary award. They also had this story yesterday. Kiss. kiss. Well, that's the Rotary Club. It specializes in honouring the rich who make such great contributions to us.

A10 has a big story about a Moncton teacher. I'm not familiar with his career. But it reads as though he devoted much of his time, experience and leadership to working with youth. But the article doesn't mention him ever getting a Rotary award.
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The editorial is heavy on sentimentality about the unveiling of the statues of three RCMP officers. But it still doesn't say a word about us doing anything about it. Worse, it heaps praise on the irving press for its 'daringly obtained photograph" of the killer. I would certainly praise the photographer. But an irving editor is not the one to claim credit for that. Remember it was the irving press  which , shortly after, fired all its photographers, including that one.

There's a good column by Norbert. We need to be reminded that we are all immigrants, all of us in every country on earth. (Yes. That includes native peoples.) The very existence of this country is possible because of immigrants.

There's also a good column on human rights by John Carpay of Jusitice Centre for Constititional Freedoms.
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One of the big stories in Canada&World is that a pub is being cleaned up after the fire in Fort McMurray. The consistent use of stories as dumb as this can't be an accident. It has to be a deliberate policy of the irving press to keep New Brunswickers as feather-headed as possible.

The only item worth reading is about our Communications Security Establishment (our gestapo which spies on us.) It then takes information it gets by tapping our phones, computers,etc., and shares it with gestapos in the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand. But it won't share it with a Canadian court. It's above the law. That makes it impossible for civil rights associations to find out whether it's illegally invading our privacy.  (Of course it is.)

Sieg Heil, O Canada.

The rest of this section is just trivia.
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Todays sermonette on the Faith Page is enough to make a saint skip church. It avoids any real issue dealing with our world today. I have to presume the writer thinks that Jesus would approve of the massive wealth of a few in the middle of a world of suffering and starvation. I presume He would clap hands to see us sending armoured cars to Saudi Arabia to kill some of the poorest people in the world. And, no doubt, He would be dazzled by the Rotarians' award to Mr. Irving.

The only interesting thing about this column is to find the two, glaring spelling errors in its headline. (Three, actually.)

GOD'S DOSEN'T CARE ABOUT OUR HAPPINESS, OR MAKING US HAPPY
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There's very little in today's The Guardian.  ( I wonder if irving press has bought it.) The one story that struck me was the death of Muhammed Ali. He lived life on his own terms, creating sensations   (and hatred) as he abandoned Christianity for Islam, refused to serve when drafted for the Vietnam war (unlike George Bush, he didn't have a daddy who could make him a legal draft dodger).
The boxing world (a very conformist one) saw him as brash. So he was. But what it and many others missed is that he was also very intelligent and highly principled - and a superb showman.

His boxing made him a legend, so much so that many never saw his other, equally great, qualities. The boxing may also have shortened his life. It commonly does for pro boxers.

Muhammed Ali (nee Cassius Clay) really was 'the greatest', far greater than anyone I see in today's headlines (and not just among boxers).

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/barack-obama-muhammad-ali-tributes
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Russia is close to a decision to commit ground troops to Syria. The story below gives its reasons for doing so. I'm not sure that's a complete list of the reasons.
Certainly, Syria needs the help. But the risks for Russia are very great. One is that Russia is getting itself into a situation that will be hard to back away from. The other risk is confrontation with the U.S. if the U.S. decides it cannot allow Russia to gain influence in the region.

The latter point is glaring when one considers that the U.S., while fighting ISIS, has also been helping it - as in exporting its oil, as in funding that comes from U.S. ally Saudi Arabia and, perhaps even more directly. The U.S. target from the start has been Assad. ISIS has the same target. The U.S. may not want to see ISIS destroyed.

As well, Putin may be thinking of this as a warning to a U.S. which has been behaving, to say the least, provocatively toward Russia.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44793.htm
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The next item is on the same topic. It looks strident. But most of what it says has been known for  several years (if not to the editors of irving press.)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44800.htm
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The following source is one I am normally hesitant to use. But the information in it is all material that I have seen in many, reliable sources over the past couple of weeks. The elected president of Brazil has been disposed of to be replaced with a thoroughly corrupt gang of servants to U.S. corporations. It's not unusual. In fact, it's the major thread that runs through all the modern history of South America.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44794.htm
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The loss of jobs in the U.S. has been turning into a crash dive. Much of that is thanks to the export of jobs to cheap labour and no corporate tax countries, and  to massive corruption at the government level, much of it with the defence industry. Will there be violence?

The U.S. government thinks so.  That's why large numbers of combat troops are based permanently in the U.S. That's why police forces have been militarized.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-03/americans-not-labor-force-soar-record-947-million-surge-664000-one-month
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Wars kill very large number of civilians - commonly it kills mostly civilians. That goes for all sides in all wars.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2016/02/syria-russia-fist-160225053929748.html
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Here's another good one on Muhammed Ali. It explains better than I did why he was 'the greatest'.

http://www.countercurrents.org/hussain040616.htm
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Here's Noam Chomsky on a trade agreement that isn't really about trade. It's about destroying democracies and destroying nations. It's about making us all the servants of big corporations. The irving press hasn't said a word about it. All the indications are the Liberals will support it.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/noam-chomsky-blows-lid-latest-corporate-trade-deal-video
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The irving press editors had space for a big story in Canada&World about the clean-up of a pub in Fort McMurray. But they couldn't find room for the story below.

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/03/credibility-of-brazils-interim-president-collapses-receives-8-year-ban-on-running/

I really don't understand what's going on with editors at the irving press.  Do they deliberately create a section to dumb us all down? Or are they actually terminally dumb, themselves?
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A parting thought. The U.S. national debt is now 20 trillion dollars. Can that ever be paid? Probably not. In fact, at the current rate of spending, especially 'defence' spending, it's certain to grow. That sets the U.S. up for the greatest money devaluation we've ever seen.

How to prevent it?

Easy. Go to war against the countries you owe most of it to - and pound all life out of them. Start with China.

You ask, would our Christian business leaders be too moral to do such a thing? If your answer is yes, apply to the irving press to write a column for the Faith Page.

June 3: A long one, I'm afraid.

I have stopped following the U.S. leadership races. I have no desire to watch a nation in steep decay. Both Trump and Clinton almost entirely ignore the real problems facing the U.S. such as the sharp rise of poverty, a medical care system based on profit rather than healing with the result that the rich live ten years and more longer than the poor. Medical costs are also the leading cause of bankruptcy among the elderly. There's also the massive corruption that has effectively destroyed the political parties.

Trump appears to be a thorough scoundrel with a long record of cheating on taxes, of questionable business practices - and he gives every sign of being a man in need of intense pyschological counselling to overcome his extreme need for attention and respect.

Clinton and her husband have made many, many millions of dollars out of politics. Most of it is from bribes from the very wealthy to serve their interests. As well, Clinton faces charges of leaking state secrets. Another young woman who did that is in the early stages of a long prison sentence. Nothing has yet happened to Clinton - though there are very strong indications that charges are on the way. The charges are serious enough so that the  party bosses are looking for an alternate candidate. (There's no   way they will accept Sanders as their candidate.)

Both Trump and Clinton buy into the idea of ruling the world through U.S. military power. How's that for spreading democracy and freedom?
But, despite massive spending, the military power is not there. The only American military victory since 1945 has been a small, tourist island in the Caribbean. It lost in Vietnam. In fifteen years and over a trillion dollars, it hasn't been able to beat guerilla forces in Afghanistan. In a particularly brutal war, it has to accept the consolation prize of pretending to beat Iraq. The reality is that American plans for that country had to be abandoned, a 'just pretend' democracy was set up, and that country is still unstable - and probably will remain so for a long time to come.

The 'victory' over Libya simply created a mess which ISIS has taken advantage of. And now that war is being fought all over again. South America can be held down only at enormous expense.

Even the Korean war, usually hailed as a victory for the U.S. and the west, was a loss. Commentators forget that it ended, not with a surrender of North Korea, but with both sides back at the starting line. That happened because the western powers, most notably the U.S., could not handle the Chinese army - which at that time was the peasant army of a very backward and poorly equipped country.

The reality is that the U.S. military, for all its size and cost, cannot win wars even against minor powers. And nobody can win a nuclear war.

To follow the American leadership races is to follow the video record of a society in advanced rot.

Then there are the millions who cheer Trump and Clinton. They cheer because of a profound ignorance imposed on them by their news media, by a heavily mythologized history imposed on them by schools and Hollywood, by a mix of racism with a shallow religiosity  that allows them to see themselves as superior to others in all respects, with all others subhuman and, frequently, evil.
This is a madness even worse than that of Hitler's Germany. It is corrupt. It is in a profound moral decay.

 And it's next door to us.

Despite its revolution, the United States has become simply  a projection of the old, British empire - a profoundly racist society that loots the world for the benefit of a handful of billionaires while ingnoring the needs of its own people.
All of this makes the leadership races, with their ignorance, coarseness, racial hatreds dismaying to watch. And it really doesn't matter who wins.
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The biggest news in Section A of today's irving press is that Home Hardware is selling buckets at 50% off. Well, there is a story on A1 that the living accomodations assigned to Syrians in St. John are infested with bedbugs.
Of course they are. These are homes in a poor disctrict, and they  are operated under the tender mercies of the Department of Social Development. For the Syrians this is an introduction to being poor in Canada. It's non discriminating. All people who live in houses under the Department of Social Development get bedbugs.

(But oh it can be unforgettably frightening. I still remember the night many, many years ago when my bed was a couch, and I woke up to see what looked like an army of them marching down the wall to my couch.)
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Today's editorial is a three-in-one. It begins as a tribute to Support to Single Parents. Then, without telling us much about it, switches to a gush about how Moncton is a leader city thanks to its business and political leaders. (But no thanks, apparently, to those ordinary people who do the work.) Then we drift to a tribute to the founder of Support. (And deservedly so). But before we learn anything about her, we're off to a tribute to Dominic Leblanc who is sure to be a good fisheries minister because his father was a good fisheries minister.

Norbert has a reasonable commentary. Essentially, it argues we should protest more when our rights are eroded. Great. But I'd like to see more leadership on this from the irving press. Where have been its denunciations of the spraying of our forests? It's defence of native lands from frackers?

Jon Lister has a good column about the advantages of hiring the intellectually disabled. And there's a heart-warming commentary by a Syrian refugee now living in Moncton. It's by Amar Al Asmi. I grew up by Montreal's district of Syrian refugees of the pre-World War 2 period. I went to school with them. And as I look back over their lives, they did Canada good.

Alec Bruce has an interesting column about a committee formed by the New Brunswick government tp deal with climate change. It's probably too late to escape a marked impact of such change. But time to, perhaps, put a limit on othe damage.

Watch out, though. Neither Liberals nor Conservatives in this province have shown much interest in dealing with climate change. Nor have I noticed much leadership on this issue from what's-his-name who pretty much is the oil industry in this province.

Putting it all together, is it possible that this committee is an attempt to lull public concerns for the day when our government can joyfully announce it has found a perfectly safe way to open the province for fracking?
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Canada and World has only 2  items of world news. One of them is about a study on the origins of dogs. The other is about a speech Obama gave to U.S. air force academy grads not to become isolationist. Translated, that means the U.S. has to exercise its 'right' to interfere in other countries.

Yes. That's been a brilliant success so far.

He claimed this is the opposite to Trump's policy. Trump speaks of imposing tariffs and doing less to ensure other countries' security, etc. In fact, there is no significant difference between Trump's policies and Obama's. The United States did not invade Vietnam, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq to protect anybody's security. It was done to increase the profits of U.S. billionaires. It did not organize the murders of a quarter million  Guatemalans to bring them 'security'. It did not invade Haiti to bring it security.

Obama served the interests of American billionaires. Trump will do the same.
This is a pretty awful Canada and World section, even by irving press standards.
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Student columnist Mhairi Agnew has a well-written column about in incident in which a child managed to get into a gorilla's cage - and how the gorilla had to be shot. The column is heavily critical - and reasonably so - about the neglect of the parents. But why do we focus only on certain deaths?

If a momentary lack of attention had made it possible to a child to get killed in traffic, would that provoke 300,000 Americans to petition for prosecution of the parents? The U.S. government closely supported a mass murder in Guatemala that killed, among others, thousands of children. It didn't even make the news. Saudi Arabia is deliberately starving millions to death in Yemen, including children. The irving press has yet to even notice it. How many children did the US and Britain kill in their staged war in Iraq? in Syria? How many children did the U.S. kill in Vietnam? Hundreds of thousands would be a conservative estimate.

Does a gorilla have to be involved to get our attention?

No. Charge Bush and Blair and Obama with mass murder of children. Maybe even charge the American people for approving it.

 Then we'll talk about inattentive mothers - and let him or her who is without sin cast the first stone.
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How on earth could an editor, even at irving press, miss this story? The flooding is also severe in Germany.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/03/paris-river-seine-floods

At the bottom of the story above, note the list of related stories.
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The U.S. conquered The Phillippines after a particuarly brutal war over a hundred years ago. For the next forty plus years, it had American military dictators. Since then, it has had home-grown dictators. So much for the U.S. as a spreader of democracy. It has also been, and remains, poor. So much for capitalism as a creator of prosperity.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/03/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-nofilter-president-no-joke-journalists-women
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And some very good news.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/jun/03/yamato-tanooka-boy-missing-six-days-forest-found-alive-video-report
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Here's a story for those get indignant that a mother should neglect her child. However, there's not gorilla involved so our news media won't pay this much attention. Will we see this story in the irving press?...................good luck.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44789.htm
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There was a book called (as well as I can remember) "Military Justice is to Justice as Military Music is to Music".  Military courts have been notorious all over the world for their biases and improper procedures. However, they are still in wide use in the United States because they routinely produce guilty verdicts. Here's one that has come to light.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/31/9-11-attacks-destroyed-evidence-khalid-sheikh-mohammed
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I have a personal interest in this one. As a teacher, I know it can be very dangerous to tell the truth or to allow students to tell it.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44791.htm
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The news media haven't paid much attention to this next story. But it's the one that could destroy Clinton. That's why the democrat brass are scrambling to find a replacement for her - just in case.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44786.htm
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Glyphosate is widely used to spread on everything from lawns to forests. It's also related to cancer. More than nine out of ten American tested had traces of it in their bodies. Luckily, nobody in New Brunswick would ever think of using it.

http://www.alternet.org/food/nine-out-10-americans-tested-positive-glyphosate

When are we going to get an explanation of why Dr. Cleary was fired?

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The language of this one suggests a heavy bias. But I think its general points are correct.

1. The U.S. is looking for a war with Russia. It. Its surrounding of Russia with bases and ships indicates that pretty obviously.

2. Such a war would, effectively, obliterate both Russia and the U.S. and, quite possibly, the whole world.

On the face of it, this is insane. But such insanity in the rage for power and wealth has a long history among us humans. It is as possible for American multi-billionaires to be insane as it  has been for millenia of their ancestors.

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/06/03/41522/

(Roberts is not the author of this one.)
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Quebec's English schools are adopting a new history book called "History of Quebec and Canada". now, that's what I call a loaded title. Can we look forward to "History of Shediac and New Brunswick"?

I can agree with the argument that native peoples and immigrant groups should get more attention in our histories. But any master plan for a history book laid down by politicians and school boards is bound to be  heavy on propaganda. I  have never seen a school history book that was not packed with propaganda.
Nor have I ever seen one that most students would ever remember. The very idea of teaching the whole  history of Canada in a course is a crock. History is not an exact science. It's profoundly biased, twisted, sometimes outright lying. As well, there is no point in learning it from a standardized text because any such text is bound to have a bias, and because, since the texts pretend to present the truth and only the truth, all you can do with it is memorize it. And anything memorized in that way is going to be quickly forgotten.

This is the sort of book that teaches you John A. Macdonald was a "great man" who had a vision. Like hell he was. He was a drunken and corrupt scoundrel who was a front for big investors. (That may exaggerate. But it's at least as true as the 'great man' stuff.)

The proper purpose of history is to teach students  how to think, how to make judgements, how to express ideas,   to develop a sense of how us humans behave and why. And even that will not produce a faultless result. Even professional historians will have remnants of arrogance, bias, opportunism that will lead them to questionable conclusions. But it's better than stuffing kids with soon to be forgotten propaganda.

And some parts stick in memory - usually the silly ones that lead people to foolish conclusions.

For example, American children are taught that their founding fathers believed that all people were created equal. Like  hell they did. Most of them were slave owners. And they certainly didn't believe that women were equal to men. And most of them didn't believe that the poor were equal.

Abraham Lincoln did NOT want to free the slaves.

History has nothing to do with memorizing or  getting patriotic. It's about making judgements - and remembering you, like all people, are human - and your judgement could be wrong. (Very few historians learn that last part.)

I don't suggest anyone read this news article about the news course. It's boring.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/emsb-quebec-history-curriculum-1.3614450
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May 2: How to write an editorial without saying anything

Today, I received my copy of The Brief    (NBmediacoop.org). It has a story that our  irving newspaper missed. Irving should be paying a property tax of 8 million dollars a year to the city of St. John for its liquid natural gas property.

But it's been paying only $500,000 each year for the last 11 years.

The Irving newspaper in St. John defends this with the excuse that  Irving creates a hundred jobs and donates money to the hospital and other causes. That's the excuse for robbery that should become the New Brunswick motto.

In reality, we all create jobs. Every time we lunch at Tim Horton's, get a haircut, or buy an Iphone we create jobs. But we're still expected to pay taxes.

Irving, like any businessman, creates jobs that will make HIM money - and not one job more than that. And he will pay the lowest wages he can get away with. And not one cent more. And Mr. Irvinig is not a fairy godmother with a wand who runs around the province to spread prosperity  - despite his award from those turkeys at Chamber of Commerce who honoured him for the help he gives to poor children with their reading. (And despite yesterday's gushing photo of him in the Irving press supposedly teaching a poor child to read. For a moment, I thought this must be a Florence Nightingale gone to seed.)

When the wealthy of this province pay low taxes - or none at all - it spreads poverty. And the donations which put them into philanthropic halls of fame don't change that.  What it amounts to is that the wealthy in this province spread poverty my making all of us pick up the slack they leave. Then they give a small part of it back (with photo ops and gushing news reports); and we're all supposed to clap hands.

All of this copy of Media Co-op is pretty good, including articles on homelessness, and native peoples suing the government over its giveaways of forests to you-know-who with you know who's frenzied cutting of them, and spraying with poisons.
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Everything on the front page of today's irving press should be inside. It just ain't front page news. Outstanding for its nothingness is a big story about Dominic Leblanc. Inside, there's another big story about the great issue of our time, the right to bring Quebec beer over the border. (This is how the media dumb down a whole population).
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The editorial starts as though it's going to be a good one on the moving of the library. It starts as though it's going somewhere, but constantly makes changes of direction from one focus to another. Still, I had hope; and I stuck with it to the last sentence. And that was to name a question that the editorial had not touched on. So all we're left with is a question with not even a hint of an answer. "...is the development served best by a library at its present location or at a new one?"
Shouldn't this last point have been the opening sentence, with the rest of the editorial discussing it?

Norbert insists on writing more about a topic of which he knows nothing - education.

Rod Allen's commentary, as usual, isn't a commentary. As usual, it's a leaden attempt at telling an amusing story. I'm sure he'd be a great laugh in a bar - but only toward the end of the evening.

Above him is another non-commentary. It's actually an advertising pitch for moving the library to the old MHS building. It's put entirely in financial terms with not a mention of how this will affect the people who use the library. (This is, of course, a typical Irving press approach.)

(It is accompanied by an architect's sketch of the proposed alterations.  Take a close look, especially at the right side of the building, and at the ghastly addition at the corner - and tell me how that protects the architectual heritage of the building.)

No. This isn't a commentary. It's a free ad for Denis Cochrane who has a stake of some sort in all this.

Alec Bruce has an excellent commentary - and with good news - on the subject of energy. I think, though, that we are going to have to move even more quickly than he suggests. The climate change threat can not be handled simply by changing energy sources. We  should be thinking very seriously and very quickly about changes we have to make in the way we live.

Or, we could put it all in the hands of the irvings who, I'm sure, would be happy to deal with the issue. They're very big on the environment.
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There's nothing much in section B unless you're a fan of the Dennis Oland saga.
B5 has a story that's an eye-opener on slavery in this world - some 45 million people, many of them children. In fact, it's much worse than that with the near-slavery in, for example, mining companies in South America, Africa and Asia - and with Canadian companies prominent in the game.

Perhaps the ace reporters of the Irving press could find out whether New Brunswickers have any prominence in this.

Then there's the story on B3 that 20,000 children are trapped in the battle for Fallujah in Iraq. We could use some comment from someone like Gwynne Dyer. This crisis, along with ISIS, with Libya, with Syria owes much to the disastrous decision of Bush and Blair to invade Iraq, and to lie about the reasons for it.

There's not the slightest doubt about it. They lied. Then they murdered a million or so people. Then they created a fake rebellion in Syria with its uncounted dead, orphans, refugees. And now, it's brought us to the edge of a world, nuclear war.
Most of the Americans who are now choosing leaders don't know that Bush lied. Even as they mourn the American dead, they don't know that their president lied about the reason for that war. A great many Canadians don't know either. Our news media have not covered themselves with glory in digging for the truth - not that it requires digging. It's well proven by now that Hussein had no weapons of 'mass destruction', and  he was no threat to the U.S.

Bush and Blair should be tried and hanged. But it's not going to happen.

This is similar to the refusal of Obama to apologize by the nuclear bombing of two, Japanese cities. Ninety-percent of Americans will say Truman had to order that bombing because invading Japan   would have cost the U.S. high casualties.
It was shown many times that Truman lied. Japan didn't have much of an army in Japan. And the forces it did have had no fuel - and not the slightest chance of getting any. Nor could it import food because it was surrounded by the American fleet and did not have even fuel to send the shattered remains of its own fleet to attack them.

Japan was ready to surrender. Truman knew it. But he wanted a surrender quickly, before the Russians could make too much progress against the Japanese and move into China. He also wanted the bombing as a warning to Russia.
That's why half a million civilians died.
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Gee. How could  the Irving press miss the big story  that Canada has the worst record in the Americas for protecting its oceans? In fact, the extent of protection is .011%.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/01/north-america-ocean-preservation-target-report

The Guardian, by the way, has an excellent section on the environment.
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Here's an African problem that isn't just African and isn't just the result of political corruption.  You can find it equally in South America, and in the oil fields of the middle east. Capitalism, unlike the image we're told of it as spreading prosperity, more often spreads poverty. That's why some of the most resource-rich countries in the world are also among the poorest for the peoplel who live there.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/11/201211714649852604.html
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Then there's the man who has been held and tortured in Guantanamo Bay for 14 years - with no charges ever laid, and with no evidence against him. That's become a common practice for the 'land of the free' where even American citizens have been imprisoned without charge or trial.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/selling-author-pleads-freed-guantanamo-160602111954436.html

Ever seen a story about that in the irving press?
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This is the best summary I've so far seen of Trump and Netanyahu - and Clinton.

http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.722690?utm_content=%24sections%2F1.722690&utm_medium=email&utm_source=smartfocus&utm_campaign=newsletter-daily&utm_term=20160601-23%3A06
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Here's Ralph Nader on Trump. I think he's right about Trump's character - but wrong about the chance that he can be beaten for the Republican leadership. Nor would it help if he were beaten. His competitors are just as bad as he is - but in a different way.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-nader/cheating-donald_b_10247046.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications
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Because of Sanders, Obama and Clinton have shown a sudden interest in raising taxes of the rich to pay for social benefits for the poor. Will they do it? I doubt it very much. Neither showed any interest in the poor until Bernie Sanders made it an issue. I know of no evidence that Obama and Clinton give a damn about the poor. As well, how are they going to raise taxes on rich, many of whom don't pay taxes anyway? And how are they going to do it without taking money away from a very corrupt defence industry - which contributes to the politicians?

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/02/obama-wanted-to-cut-social-security-then-bernie-sanders-happened/
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Here's an update on the drowning of refugees in the Meditteranean this year. Why is this happening? Because American oil capitalists want to control the world supply of oil. And they really don't give a damn what the consequences are.

http://www.countercurrents.org/kreickenbaum020616.htm

June 1: What can I say?

The big news, the banner headline of the day, is that we're going to get an extra telephone area code in New Brunswick. It's really amazing how the  news media have dumbed us down. That's really what the phenomenon of Trump is all about.

Here's a man running for president who really has no idea of foreign policy.

Here's a man running for president who doesn't seem to know there's a rising tide of poverty in the U.S.  (The same is true of Hillary.) That poverty could well lead very serious social disorder - and worse. But it's not an issue in the leadership race.

Trump has a massive ignorance of both foreign affairs and domestic issues. But many millions of voters, including a majority of Republicans, don't know that. They cheer for idiotic schemes like building a great wall against Mexico.
Anyone should see through Hillary Clinton as an unprincipled tool of the very  wealthy. And even Bernie Sanders is a pretty pale reflection of what is needed  - so pale that he couldn't possibly get most of even his modest proposals through congress.

We're watching a society that has had a century and more of thought control.
But who is this New Brunswicker to talk when, in my newspaper, the biggest issue of the day is that we are getting another area code.
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The editorial is pure gush about an anglo student who studied at UdeM in French. All over the world there are students who study in another language. When the editorial writer gushes that this builds the Metro 'brand', I have no idea what the writer is talking about.Nor do I see what this is supposed to tell us about 'devoted teachers'.

This is the kind of journalism that produces Trump supporters.

For Norbert, the great issue of the day is the right of New Brunswickers to buy beer in Quebec, and bring it home. Donne-moi un break.

Darren Robertson is a man whose only qualification to write a column is that he ran for mayor, and lost. It's all about  how running for mayor is fun. This isn't a commentary of any sort. But it's an intellectual masterwork compared to the column below it by Brian Cormier. This is all just trivial babbling.

The only item that is intelligent is Alec Bruce's column on the departure of our very own Donald Trump - Stephen Harper.
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The big story in Canada&World  news, I mean all of Canada and all of the world, is that the leader of the province's official opposition wants fracking to go ahead. We already know that. He has nothing new to say about it. He presents no evidence that it's safe. And he has no power to put it into effect - so who could possibly give a damn what he says?

Donald Trump, you're looking better with every page I turn in the irving press.

B2 has a worthwhile story about Senator Romeo Dallaire. This is the man who was ordered to just stand and watch massive killings in Rwanda. He wants the world to take action to end the fighting in Syria. But note that he does not suggest military action. As a soldier, he knows that would only cause more suffering.

What he is suggesting is a negotiated settlement. This is the sort thing Canada should be leading the way in. But Canada isn't - because the U.S. wouldn't like that.

B3 at last has the story of how over a thousand refugees have drowned THIS WEEK while fleeing from the horrors of the middle east - horrors that were created largely by the U.S. oil industry.

B3 has a  story of the hell that is the city of Fallujah in Iraq. ISIS holds the city; but Iraqi forces are closing in and, as they do, there's a heavy death toll among the 60,000 civilians trapped in the city. And it's going to get worse.

And before we get a Donald Trump writing me a note that this proves the evil of ISIS, I'll point out that Fallujah has gone through this before. In their invasion of Iraq, American troops gave Fallujah one of the worst batterings any city has ever received. It was quite deliberate, and a revenge on Fallujah for the killing of some military "contractors" (mercenaries). To this day, Fallujah has no love for the U.S. or for the puppet government it has forced on Iraq.

Section B is better than it usually is. But not much. And it still doesn't give any analysis of the news so that we can better understand it.
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Here is the kind of reporting needed if we are to understand the battle for Fallujah - and the issues involved in settling the general conflict.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/31/iraq-falluja-isis-hearts-minds

The American invasion of Iraq was so brutal it destroyed Iraqi society. In the case of Fallujah, it has created a population that hates the U.S. and its imposed government. In fact, many people in Fallujah support ISIS. I'm sure that nobody likes the situation they're caught up in - but there are no good guys for them to turn to. This is an element that our press largely forgets.
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The recent bombing of hospitals is neither accidental nor the act of the 'bad guys'. It's a standard practice for all us 'civilized' nations. The indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets has been a practice since the days of the earliest aircraft. It became standard in World War Two.  Hospitals, schools have been targets, and the killers have been not only the Putins of this world, but also the Obamas - and even us.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/01/hospitals-are-now-normal-targets-of-war-says-medecins-sans-frontieres-adviser
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Yes, there is climate change. Read about this sign of it. And be sure to read the final paragraph.

(And send a copy to MLA Bruce Fitch who really thinks we have to develop fracking and oil pipelines.)

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/01/coral-bleaching-spreads-to-maldives-devastating-spectacular-reefs
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This article opens the way, I think, to the only path to peace in the middle east. The  tendency of the U.S. - as it was with imperial Britain and France and Spain- is to try to solve all problems with force.  Listen to any speech by Donald Trump. He reflects an attitude that Americans have come to think of as normal while they ignore all its defects. The press, instead of countering that, usually beats the drums for more hatred in order to justify force.

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/12/to-defeat-isil-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-must-be-resolved.html

The writer's name is Khouri which is, by the way, a Syrian name.
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The following is from the University of Kansas Press, by no means a radical source. It's about the impact of the corporation as a bully to its workers and to a whole society. (New Brunswickers should understand that because that explains a lot about New Brunswickers.)

It also disputes the old story that capital creates jobs.  It creates some, of course. But it creates as few as possible at the lowest pay possible. The result of this is that it commonly creates poverty, not prosperity. You can see that all over South America. (or you would if the irving press ever did some honest reporting on South America.)

http://www.alternet.org/books/how-unchecked-capitalism-and-massive-inequality-made-america-bully-nation
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Paul Craig Roberts is a superb analyst of world events. Here's a story you won't find in the irving press.

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/05/29/there-has-been-a-coup-in-brazil-paul-craig-roberts/
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This one repeats points I have often made on this site about the military record of the U.S. It is not impressive. Canadian readers might also be interested in his comment about the F-35 fighter which the U.S. is trying to foist on Canada.

(McKay, as defence minister, was very big on the F-35 - a stunningly overpriced and out-of-date aircraft. Trudeau has promised to cancel the Canadian order for it.)

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/05/28/as-our-past-wars-are-glorified-this-memorial-day-weekend-give-some-thought-to-our-prospects-against-the-russians-and-chinese-in-world-war-iii/
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And here's a blog by an excellent reporter (now retired).

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/karl-nerenberg/2016/06/canadas-economic-well-being-stagnant-according-to-new-report#.V070nbVtxFk.gmail
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The biggest obstacle to peace in the middle east is the Israeli government. Netanyahu is determined to take more arab lands; and he has ignored all appeals from the U.S. to be more moderate. And he gets away with this, even though the U.S. pays for virtually all of Israel's military.

http://www.haaretz.com/israelnews/1.722467utm_content=%24sections%2F1.722467&utm_medium=email&utm_source=smartfocus&utm_campaign=newsletter-daily&utm_term=20160531-16%3A05
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And here's just some of the Canadian news you won't see in the irving press.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/155089017e826db3
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