The Moncton Times&Transcript is so dismally trivial today, I decided to talk about a couple of general points which take some of the blame away from The Times&Transcript..
New Brunswickers are remarkably polite and friendly people. They are also as passive as oxen pulling a plough. That's why they have allowed themselves to be used and abused by a handful of people throughout the province's history. At first it was the timber barons who controlled almost all employmen, and used that power to control government. Now, it's a handful of corporations.
The corporate bosses want to make money out of New Brunswick's children So they, beginning with their absurd school rating and annual tests, are on a campaign to gradually introduce privatization. It has alreaady damaged the schools and the children. (In the US, the damage of privatization is so severe that American education is internationally recognized as a disaster.) But it will go on; and New Brunswickers will passively give their children. their own children, over to corporate bosses for their profit.
The editors of NB media, who know nothing about education, and rather less about journalism, will play their game of destroyiing public confidence in thes schools. Home and School and other parent organizations will stand around with their faces hanging out - as they always have.
The universities will say nothing and do nothing because they, too, have sold out.
When I saw the results of recent polls (today and yesterday in The T&T), I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Not very long ago, New Brunswickers were furious with the provincial Liberals for pushing a policy that New Brunswickers were strongly opposed to.. So the Liberals were booted out, and the Conservative in.
Now, the polls show the Conservatives sliding as they push for a policy that is widely opposed. And, worse than the Liberals, they refuse to give out information about it. But not to fear. The intrepid voters are moving to voting the Conservatives out, and the Liberals in. Boy! That'll teach somebody.Something. Maybe.
New Brunswick has been doing that for well over a century and a half. That's why it's still ruled by a few families.
And do you seriously believe those families give a damn whether the winning party is flunky Conservatives or flundy Liberals?
At some point, New Brunswickers are going to have to look at the financial and human abuse that goes on in this province, and realize it is their fault. I don't know whether it is fear or passivity or indifference or obsession with fun and games (like Ancient Rome). But at the end of day, it is New Brunswickers who are to blame for what is happening to them. They tolerate trivial newspapers; there is no open discussion and debate/ they just shuffle like a herd of sheep in whichever direction they are pushed.
As we near the tenth anniversary of 9/11. As usual, we are getting "thought" columns from journalists afflicted with eyes that can't see beyond their own belly buttons.
Western powers, since the end of World War Two, have destroyed democracies (Iran, Guatemala,.Haiti, among others), carried out mass terrorism (as in the bombing of Cambodia), killed millions of people (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Guatemala, Algeria, etc.) , inpoverished and maimed more millions, and displaced even more millions. For most of the world, 9/11 changed nothing at all.
9/11 was certainly terrible. But 3000 people (even if most of th em were white and English-speaking) were a pretty small drop in the carnage that preceded it.
As for stepping up the pace of war? That had already been planned long before 9/11. People like VP Dick Cheney and goovernor Jeb Bush had made plans for eternal war long before 9/11. It was no secret. They publised in on the web. It was called Project for the New American Century. Don't any of our journalists ever read anything?
The project ws to recognize (in the 1990s) that the US was at its military and economic peak. So the US had to move immediatly to use its military to establish economic "leadership" of the world. (Other people might call that world conqauest.) It was now or never.
9/11 was the needed excuse. The White House at the time was packed with signatories to The Project...", including Cheney as VP and Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defence.
This is not to say that Bush set up the 9/11 attack. I have no knowledge whatever of that part. But he used it to "make a change in the world" that he and his cohorts planned to make, anytway.
And the real changes are not just searches at airports. They include a vast expansion of domestic spying, imprisonment with no charge or trial, the arbitrary creation of a 'no -fly" list, official use of torture and assassination, and wars that will create ever more terrorists.
And Canada? For all practical purposes, we are becoming a northern state, along with Alaska. That means forget about Canadian soverignty over the Arctic. That is slated to be a hunting ground for US oil companies. We can also expected American-style security at our airports, along with expansion of police powers, and all the other goodies.
In Ancient Rome, the population was largely unemployed and poor. That made it a threat to the caesars and the senators. The caesars lived in glory off the wealth and produce of the Empire. With the Empire working, there was little need for jobs in Rome. But the emperors feared that the population of Rome might rise from its povery, and threated rebellion. So the ceasurs distibuted cheaper foods free to the "mob", and kept them entertained it with gladitorial contests (think of them as extreme fighting because that really is what they were.. Extreme fighting -is entertaining people humiliating others. It attracts people who have contempt for themselves, and like to see somebody else who's worse than them.)
Hey! Wow! We're going to get a CFL game, and new hockey rink.
New Brunswick is being bled dry. And, when it goes dry, our coroporate leaders will go somehwere else, too.. Their (our) money is already going somewhere else.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Sept. 7: Worst yet for The Moncton Times and Tribune?
(I skip the Labour Day edition because I just read it, and it's all filler.)
The big story, front page - there's going to be a CFL game in Moncton. Big picture - Tim Horton's will be selling football doughnuts. Pages A4 and A5 are thrilling pictures of local churches. I have no idea why. P.A6 is pictures of children splashing in the water. Who could believe that children splash in water?
Again, there's a story on Libya and, again, it tells us nothing. I have listed in earlier posts the involvement of Al Queda with the rebels. the presence of people the US lists as terrorists among rebel leaders, the American government providing funding and weapons for Al Quaeda (which is against American law) - information to be found in news media all over the world. But not in NBnedia.
No mention that Libyan, American and British intelligence have been working together closely for years - though it's all over the British press - and could blow into a major scandal.
No mention that we dropped 30,000 bombs on Libya. (Not one of which, of course, harmed any civilian in any way.)
Somalia didn't make The Times at all, and hasn't for weeks. The death toll from starvation is now in the tens of thousands, with half of them children. But who gives a damn? I mean, it's like fracking. The only people who care are tree-huggers. .
Think for a moment of what it must look and smell like. Tens of thousands dead. Who is there to bury so many people? Are there tractors ploughing them into pits? Not likely. What is likely is tens of thousands ob bodies ranging from babies to the elderly rotting on the roads and in the brush, being eaten by wild animals, and swarms of birds and insects... That's what happens when it's more important to drop bombs than food.
The story on a poll of how Canadians remember 9/11 mentions that Canadian are confused about our mission to Afghanistan because "...the message is not communicated clearly..." In fact, it hasn't been communicated at all. That's because the government has no intention of telling us the truth about Aghanistan - and most of our journalists have no intention of asking them.
It's like fracking that way. There's a sudden silence from the frackers. They are saying nothing. The government is saying nothing (Alward's only talent is listening). The NBmedia are saying nothing. Soon, they will accuse us of being uninformed.
On B3, we are told Israel has announced it will "tolerate" civil protests by Palestinians complaining of Israel's effective conversion of Palestine into a concentration camp. (It does not mention that Israeli has also given it forces permission to shoot at protestors. You have to go to The Guardian to learn that.)
On Sunday's blog, I gave a list of stories that were public knowledge in Europe, but not in North America. As I expected, not one of those stories has made it into The Moncton Times and Tribune.
One of those stories is that Israel has been seeing massive demonstrations against the government for its fattening of billionaires while keeping living standards for most Israelis low. Many of the demonstrators are also fed up with Netanyahu's lack of interest in peace. This weekend, some 450,000 Israelis took to the streets in protest. Now, if that had happened in an arab country, it would have been played up as the "Arab Spring". But it wasn't important enough for the Moncton T&T to even mention it..
While we're on the matter of protestors, it was protestors in Moncton that got the city to reconsider chopping down magnificent, old trees. The anti-fracking protest has been enough to destroy Alward's self-delusion that he is open and honest and a great listener. There is a rise of protest all over the world. And it's happening even in New Brunswick.
The response of governments (and hacks for the frackers) is to say these protestors are simply bullies and even criminals. That hasn't worked in putting down the protestors anywhere; and it won't work here. Protest, everywhere in the world, is on a sharp rise. Maybe instead of calling people names, we should look at why so much of the world is protesting.
Or, maybe, we should just say, "Wow! what about that football game, eh?"
And then Horton's could send the leftover football doughnuts to Somalia. (for a tax deduction and admittance to the Order of New Brunswick).
The big story, front page - there's going to be a CFL game in Moncton. Big picture - Tim Horton's will be selling football doughnuts. Pages A4 and A5 are thrilling pictures of local churches. I have no idea why. P.A6 is pictures of children splashing in the water. Who could believe that children splash in water?
Again, there's a story on Libya and, again, it tells us nothing. I have listed in earlier posts the involvement of Al Queda with the rebels. the presence of people the US lists as terrorists among rebel leaders, the American government providing funding and weapons for Al Quaeda (which is against American law) - information to be found in news media all over the world. But not in NBnedia.
No mention that Libyan, American and British intelligence have been working together closely for years - though it's all over the British press - and could blow into a major scandal.
No mention that we dropped 30,000 bombs on Libya. (Not one of which, of course, harmed any civilian in any way.)
Somalia didn't make The Times at all, and hasn't for weeks. The death toll from starvation is now in the tens of thousands, with half of them children. But who gives a damn? I mean, it's like fracking. The only people who care are tree-huggers. .
Think for a moment of what it must look and smell like. Tens of thousands dead. Who is there to bury so many people? Are there tractors ploughing them into pits? Not likely. What is likely is tens of thousands ob bodies ranging from babies to the elderly rotting on the roads and in the brush, being eaten by wild animals, and swarms of birds and insects... That's what happens when it's more important to drop bombs than food.
The story on a poll of how Canadians remember 9/11 mentions that Canadian are confused about our mission to Afghanistan because "...the message is not communicated clearly..." In fact, it hasn't been communicated at all. That's because the government has no intention of telling us the truth about Aghanistan - and most of our journalists have no intention of asking them.
It's like fracking that way. There's a sudden silence from the frackers. They are saying nothing. The government is saying nothing (Alward's only talent is listening). The NBmedia are saying nothing. Soon, they will accuse us of being uninformed.
On B3, we are told Israel has announced it will "tolerate" civil protests by Palestinians complaining of Israel's effective conversion of Palestine into a concentration camp. (It does not mention that Israeli has also given it forces permission to shoot at protestors. You have to go to The Guardian to learn that.)
On Sunday's blog, I gave a list of stories that were public knowledge in Europe, but not in North America. As I expected, not one of those stories has made it into The Moncton Times and Tribune.
One of those stories is that Israel has been seeing massive demonstrations against the government for its fattening of billionaires while keeping living standards for most Israelis low. Many of the demonstrators are also fed up with Netanyahu's lack of interest in peace. This weekend, some 450,000 Israelis took to the streets in protest. Now, if that had happened in an arab country, it would have been played up as the "Arab Spring". But it wasn't important enough for the Moncton T&T to even mention it..
While we're on the matter of protestors, it was protestors in Moncton that got the city to reconsider chopping down magnificent, old trees. The anti-fracking protest has been enough to destroy Alward's self-delusion that he is open and honest and a great listener. There is a rise of protest all over the world. And it's happening even in New Brunswick.
The response of governments (and hacks for the frackers) is to say these protestors are simply bullies and even criminals. That hasn't worked in putting down the protestors anywhere; and it won't work here. Protest, everywhere in the world, is on a sharp rise. Maybe instead of calling people names, we should look at why so much of the world is protesting.
Or, maybe, we should just say, "Wow! what about that football game, eh?"
And then Horton's could send the leftover football doughnuts to Somalia. (for a tax deduction and admittance to the Order of New Brunswick).
Monday, September 5, 2011
sept. 5: More stories that probably won't make the NBMedia
1. BBC News Tonight on Sept. 2 carried the story that the majority of the leaders of the rebels in Libya are Al Quaeda. So are the bulk of the fighters, many of whom have experience fighting westerners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Won't it be interesting to see what happens now? First crack of the bat? Imposition of Sharia (Moslem fundamentalist law).
Many of them are on the terrorist list kept by the US Secretary of state. That means it is illegal under American and Canadian law to give them material support. But we have given them very material support. So when do we arrest Obama and Harper, and render them to, say, Syria for torture?
2. Over the weekend, some 450,000 Israelis protested against living conditions under the Netanyahu government. As in Canada and the US billionaires are making even bigger profits while most other people are suffering. 450,000 protesters. Not enough to catch the attention of NBMedia.
3. Turkey is suing Israel at the world court for its interference with aid ships heading for Palestine. It will also use its navy to escort future aid ships.
4. Shale gas "infomration" meetings have been either posponed or cancelled. The Alward government, famous for listening, has stopped listening to questions about shale gas. And stopped answering. (Given their record, that's not a big stop, really.)
Let's see how many of these stories make The Moncton Times and Transcript on Sept. 6 - after, of course, the big story about the CFL game which is coming - and for which tickets are still available.
Many of them are on the terrorist list kept by the US Secretary of state. That means it is illegal under American and Canadian law to give them material support. But we have given them very material support. So when do we arrest Obama and Harper, and render them to, say, Syria for torture?
2. Over the weekend, some 450,000 Israelis protested against living conditions under the Netanyahu government. As in Canada and the US billionaires are making even bigger profits while most other people are suffering. 450,000 protesters. Not enough to catch the attention of NBMedia.
3. Turkey is suing Israel at the world court for its interference with aid ships heading for Palestine. It will also use its navy to escort future aid ships.
4. Shale gas "infomration" meetings have been either posponed or cancelled. The Alward government, famous for listening, has stopped listening to questions about shale gas. And stopped answering. (Given their record, that's not a big stop, really.)
Let's see how many of these stories make The Moncton Times and Transcript on Sept. 6 - after, of course, the big story about the CFL game which is coming - and for which tickets are still available.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Sept. 4:massacres ond silence. (and Canadian minign companies)
In the Toronto Gobe and Mail of two days ago (Sept.2) is the story of the arrest by Canadian authorities of Jorge Sosa. (He is a Guatemalan who also has Canadian and American citizenship.) He was charged with war crimes.
It seems he led the slaughter of an entire village from babies to the elderly. Mr. Sosa, commanding 20 Guatemalan soldiers trained, supplied and diected by the CIA, was searching for rifles in a village. When he couldn't find any, he decided to kill them all, anyway.
Mr. Sosa led the way, killing infants and young children first with a sledgehammer. Girls and women were next, first raped and then killed. Finally, all the men were killed. It was a common happening in a terror campaign that lasted 39 years.
In the early 1950s, Guatemala had an elected and popular government. The people of Guatemala, especially the Maya native people, lived under starvation wages and brutal working conditions inposed by United Fruit Company (Chiquita Banana). It was not pleased at the elected government's suggestion that it should be possible for a family to live on wages - or about its idea of taxing the land (most of Guatemala) that the company owned.
Surprise! A band of we-armed thugs suddenly appeared to overthrow the government. The American and Canadian press referred to the thugs as freedom fighters. Their first act was to establish a dictatorship. Wages and taxes were forgotten.
Canadian mining companies which, incidentally, have an appalling reputation for brutal working conditions, low pay, and pollution all over the world soon joined the efforts of United Fruit.
When people complained, the CIA mounted a terror campaign that lasted 39 years, killing at least 200,000 Maya. It was never reported in the New Brunswick papers, not even when a Buctouche man, Raoul Leger, was murdcered while working with the Catholic church in Guatemala. (Numbers of priests were tortured and murdered. Nuns were raped and murdered. None of this was interesting enough to attract the North American news media.)
When Leger was killed, the Canadian government refused to even ask about it. It still hasn't. When a film was made recently about the death of Leger, The Moncton Times and Transcript never bothered to mention it. When Billl Clinton, in 1999 apologized for the massacre, nost mews media in North America never bothered to report it. (The head of the CIA for much of the massacre period was George Bush Sr.)
But now, the Canadian police have arrested Sosa, the sledgehammer killer of babies, for war crimes. However.....
The US has asked for his extradition so he can be charged with lying to immigration authorities. Wow! That's really serious. I'll bet he could even be deported to Guatemala for that. As well, if he's tried for lying, then there won't be any need for a court to hear nasty stories about killings and the CIA.
Will Mr. Harper allow the extradition? Do hookers charge money for sex?
Will the story make The Moncton Times and Transcript? (After all, one of the victims came from the "greater Mondton area"). So will The Moncton Times carry the story? Do pinps let hookers keep all their money?
It seems he led the slaughter of an entire village from babies to the elderly. Mr. Sosa, commanding 20 Guatemalan soldiers trained, supplied and diected by the CIA, was searching for rifles in a village. When he couldn't find any, he decided to kill them all, anyway.
Mr. Sosa led the way, killing infants and young children first with a sledgehammer. Girls and women were next, first raped and then killed. Finally, all the men were killed. It was a common happening in a terror campaign that lasted 39 years.
In the early 1950s, Guatemala had an elected and popular government. The people of Guatemala, especially the Maya native people, lived under starvation wages and brutal working conditions inposed by United Fruit Company (Chiquita Banana). It was not pleased at the elected government's suggestion that it should be possible for a family to live on wages - or about its idea of taxing the land (most of Guatemala) that the company owned.
Surprise! A band of we-armed thugs suddenly appeared to overthrow the government. The American and Canadian press referred to the thugs as freedom fighters. Their first act was to establish a dictatorship. Wages and taxes were forgotten.
Canadian mining companies which, incidentally, have an appalling reputation for brutal working conditions, low pay, and pollution all over the world soon joined the efforts of United Fruit.
When people complained, the CIA mounted a terror campaign that lasted 39 years, killing at least 200,000 Maya. It was never reported in the New Brunswick papers, not even when a Buctouche man, Raoul Leger, was murdcered while working with the Catholic church in Guatemala. (Numbers of priests were tortured and murdered. Nuns were raped and murdered. None of this was interesting enough to attract the North American news media.)
When Leger was killed, the Canadian government refused to even ask about it. It still hasn't. When a film was made recently about the death of Leger, The Moncton Times and Transcript never bothered to mention it. When Billl Clinton, in 1999 apologized for the massacre, nost mews media in North America never bothered to report it. (The head of the CIA for much of the massacre period was George Bush Sr.)
But now, the Canadian police have arrested Sosa, the sledgehammer killer of babies, for war crimes. However.....
The US has asked for his extradition so he can be charged with lying to immigration authorities. Wow! That's really serious. I'll bet he could even be deported to Guatemala for that. As well, if he's tried for lying, then there won't be any need for a court to hear nasty stories about killings and the CIA.
Will Mr. Harper allow the extradition? Do hookers charge money for sex?
Will the story make The Moncton Times and Transcript? (After all, one of the victims came from the "greater Mondton area"). So will The Moncton Times carry the story? Do pinps let hookers keep all their money?
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Sept. 3: Important Story Makes The Moncton Times@Transcript!
It's from Wikipedia, no less. And it's a leaked report from the US ambassador to Canada that puts Stephen Harper in a pretty dismal light. Check it out in the NewsToday section, section D, page 1.
A Libya story is on the same page, of course. There's always a Libya story; and it's carefully laundered to tell us nothing. So here's a story on Libya the T&T could have picked up on in plentyof time for today's paper. Ever hear of Abdel Hakim Belhaj? He's an important leader among the rebels who has been put in charge of security in Tripoli.
He is also a man who was tortured by the CIA as a terrorist insider. Gee. Now we know something about the rebel leadership. Other stories were missed, too.
The US government is suing many of the banks it bailed out. It seems it was their criminal behaviour that triggered the economic crisis. I don't know why they're suing them. I you or I do something criminal involving billions of dollars, we go to jail, and the money is confiscated. Must be different rules for banks.
Another miss - a report to the US Congress says private contractors cheated the US out of 30 to 60 billion dollars in Iraq. One of them, a food supply service, overbilled by billions. And it's contract was renewed AFTER that was discovered. The general who renewed the contract is now president of the company's US operations. Coincidence.
A study of North American news shows that the Somalia famine is being largely ignored by the North American press. Well, that puts the T&T in the mainstream.
Oh, as corporate profits soar right through the recession, twelve major American corporations paid more in salary to their CEOs than they did to the government in taxes. At least, Americans can get information on what is happening in the tax world.
How come we can't find out the profits and the taxes paid by major New Brunswick corporations? How much do they cost us in subsidies and other favours? Surely this is, or should be, a matter of public record. Doesn't Brunswick media know anybody in those corporations?
In fairness, there's another important story, this on page A 1. Some 12% of all big prizes in Atlantic Lottery to people in or connected to the lottery corporation, to retailers or suppliers. Coincidence, says the head of Atlantic Lottery Corporation. Nonsense, says anybody who is sober. It is not credible that such a small proportion of the population should win such a high proportion of the major prizes. Obviously, there should be a criminal investigation. But this is New Brunswick.
There is an interesting article on attitudes to work in China - in the entertainment section. (I have no idea why.)
Tess Allen, editor of the student column pages, is moving on to university. Happily, she will continue to conribute to the pages. Isabelle Agnew, always a reliable read, will succeed Miss Allen as editor. What's on Miss Agnew's mind this week is getting high enough grades to get into one of her "dream" universities. Don't worry about it, Isabelle.
.
There is no significant difference, at the bachelor level, between any two universities in Canada. The MacLean's ratings are a crock. At that level, the only difference I have seen is in the degree of intellectual and social snobbery. The Canadian champion in those fields is McGill - though Queen's and University of Toronto are contenders.
Getting into a university with a high level of snobbery is more important when you apply for master's level, and supremely important at the the doctoral level. That's not because these universities are better. It's because they have more snob appeal; and snob appeal is important in landing a job.
A reminder that the current events group meets on the evening of Tuesday, Sept 6. All are welcome. You will find it useful to bring a copy of the Times and Transcript with you.
The library regularly submits a list of its meetings to the Times and Transcript. But the editors usually do not print the one for the current events group. Jounalistic ethics, Moncton T&T style.
A Libya story is on the same page, of course. There's always a Libya story; and it's carefully laundered to tell us nothing. So here's a story on Libya the T&T could have picked up on in plentyof time for today's paper. Ever hear of Abdel Hakim Belhaj? He's an important leader among the rebels who has been put in charge of security in Tripoli.
He is also a man who was tortured by the CIA as a terrorist insider. Gee. Now we know something about the rebel leadership. Other stories were missed, too.
The US government is suing many of the banks it bailed out. It seems it was their criminal behaviour that triggered the economic crisis. I don't know why they're suing them. I you or I do something criminal involving billions of dollars, we go to jail, and the money is confiscated. Must be different rules for banks.
Another miss - a report to the US Congress says private contractors cheated the US out of 30 to 60 billion dollars in Iraq. One of them, a food supply service, overbilled by billions. And it's contract was renewed AFTER that was discovered. The general who renewed the contract is now president of the company's US operations. Coincidence.
A study of North American news shows that the Somalia famine is being largely ignored by the North American press. Well, that puts the T&T in the mainstream.
Oh, as corporate profits soar right through the recession, twelve major American corporations paid more in salary to their CEOs than they did to the government in taxes. At least, Americans can get information on what is happening in the tax world.
How come we can't find out the profits and the taxes paid by major New Brunswick corporations? How much do they cost us in subsidies and other favours? Surely this is, or should be, a matter of public record. Doesn't Brunswick media know anybody in those corporations?
In fairness, there's another important story, this on page A 1. Some 12% of all big prizes in Atlantic Lottery to people in or connected to the lottery corporation, to retailers or suppliers. Coincidence, says the head of Atlantic Lottery Corporation. Nonsense, says anybody who is sober. It is not credible that such a small proportion of the population should win such a high proportion of the major prizes. Obviously, there should be a criminal investigation. But this is New Brunswick.
There is an interesting article on attitudes to work in China - in the entertainment section. (I have no idea why.)
Tess Allen, editor of the student column pages, is moving on to university. Happily, she will continue to conribute to the pages. Isabelle Agnew, always a reliable read, will succeed Miss Allen as editor. What's on Miss Agnew's mind this week is getting high enough grades to get into one of her "dream" universities. Don't worry about it, Isabelle.
.
There is no significant difference, at the bachelor level, between any two universities in Canada. The MacLean's ratings are a crock. At that level, the only difference I have seen is in the degree of intellectual and social snobbery. The Canadian champion in those fields is McGill - though Queen's and University of Toronto are contenders.
Getting into a university with a high level of snobbery is more important when you apply for master's level, and supremely important at the the doctoral level. That's not because these universities are better. It's because they have more snob appeal; and snob appeal is important in landing a job.
A reminder that the current events group meets on the evening of Tuesday, Sept 6. All are welcome. You will find it useful to bring a copy of the Times and Transcript with you.
The library regularly submits a list of its meetings to the Times and Transcript. But the editors usually do not print the one for the current events group. Jounalistic ethics, Moncton T&T style.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Sept 2: The disorderly order of The Moncton Times &Transcript
TheMondton T&;T is the only daily I have seen with no clear system to its presentation.
It is routine, for example, to have a sports story on the front page. Why? They have a sports section for sports stories.
Yes, other papers will sometimes have sports on Page 1, as when a team wins a world championship. But today, there's just big photo of workers asssembling the grandstand for a football game. It has a caption to remind us that tickets are still on sale. This isn't even a story. Nothing has happened.
Also front page - some (2? 50? 3000?) parents are upset about changes in school bus routes. It happens every year in every city that has school busses. So why is this front page news? Why the big picture of a school bus? Does it tell us anything? Do most people not know what a school bus looks like? And the story goes on for most of page 4 - with another big picture of a school bus for those who forgot it from p. 1..
People in the Miramichi are waiting for results of a DNA test on some human remains that were discovered on August 16. that's not a story. A story, several weeks ago, is that remains were discovered. The next story will be what the DNA results are. Until then, there is no story. This is a space-filler.
A10 has a "feel-good" story. A man lost eighty dollars. Somebody found it, and returned it. There's a big picture of a man holding up eighty dollars for those who don't know what a man and eighty dollars look like.
Finally, there's a story on A10 that a blusgrass band is reuniting. I'm happy to hear it. But that should be in the entertainment section.
Over half of section A is ads, obituaries, trivia, non-stories and misplaced stories. That's what happens when you have monopoly ownership, and when the owndership doesn't want us to know anything about anything.
The Sports Section, though mostly ads, is the only section that looks as though it has an editor of some competence.
NewsToday? It's had a story almost every day for six months on Libya. It still hasn't told us what the rebellion is about or who the rebels are. Nor has it explained why we are there when we have ignored similar rebellions as in Bahrain.
There's a report on an inane statement by Jean Chretien that the world has a new kind of warfare called terrorism; and it's practiced by extremists. Come off it. Just about every country in the world has been practicing terrorism since the beginning of time. Apparently, Chretien has never heard of the bombing of Cambodia or the slaughter of Guatemalans. Nor has he heard of the French Revolution, the Sons of Liberty in the American Revolution, or the Society of Hunters in Canada. Nor has he read The Bible.
The ultimate terrorism is genocide, the killing of an entire people because of their "race". The first recorded genocide was by the Israelites who massacred the Canaanites to take their land (now Israel).. They killed everybody right down to babies. That's what the battle of Jericho was about. Check, for example, Deuteronomy 7 and 20, and Joshua 6. Check your local fundamentalist clergyman for excuses.
Barely a word on the terrible situation in Somalia. Nothing on how the promised aid to Haiti and Iraq has never been delivered. Nothing on Saudi Arabia helping the government of Bahrain to kill its protesters.
The editorials, as usual, are ignorant and trivial. The second one -kiss, kiss, Mr. Irving - is propaganda that an overpriced hockey rink will boost the NB economy. It will, in a way, with low paid jobs that will last a couple of years - followed by fifty yeas of taxes to pay it off. We have never been given evidence of any other signicant financial benefit - except for the owner of the hockey team. A newspaper is supposed to give us that evidence.
Alec Bruce has a brief by profoundly disturbing column on the general retreat of democracy, and its failure to deal with serious problems. I'm not sure I agree with his optimism that things will get better some day. But his picture of where we are is bang on.
Gwynne Dyer's column has me puzzled. I knew Dyer fairly well in my early radio days. I had, and have, enormous respect for him his insight and his honesty, Alas, I cannot at all agree with this day's column about Liby a. But I do know Dyer to be honest and capable - so I'll try to keep an open mind on this.
It is routine, for example, to have a sports story on the front page. Why? They have a sports section for sports stories.
Yes, other papers will sometimes have sports on Page 1, as when a team wins a world championship. But today, there's just big photo of workers asssembling the grandstand for a football game. It has a caption to remind us that tickets are still on sale. This isn't even a story. Nothing has happened.
Also front page - some (2? 50? 3000?) parents are upset about changes in school bus routes. It happens every year in every city that has school busses. So why is this front page news? Why the big picture of a school bus? Does it tell us anything? Do most people not know what a school bus looks like? And the story goes on for most of page 4 - with another big picture of a school bus for those who forgot it from p. 1..
People in the Miramichi are waiting for results of a DNA test on some human remains that were discovered on August 16. that's not a story. A story, several weeks ago, is that remains were discovered. The next story will be what the DNA results are. Until then, there is no story. This is a space-filler.
A10 has a "feel-good" story. A man lost eighty dollars. Somebody found it, and returned it. There's a big picture of a man holding up eighty dollars for those who don't know what a man and eighty dollars look like.
Finally, there's a story on A10 that a blusgrass band is reuniting. I'm happy to hear it. But that should be in the entertainment section.
Over half of section A is ads, obituaries, trivia, non-stories and misplaced stories. That's what happens when you have monopoly ownership, and when the owndership doesn't want us to know anything about anything.
The Sports Section, though mostly ads, is the only section that looks as though it has an editor of some competence.
NewsToday? It's had a story almost every day for six months on Libya. It still hasn't told us what the rebellion is about or who the rebels are. Nor has it explained why we are there when we have ignored similar rebellions as in Bahrain.
There's a report on an inane statement by Jean Chretien that the world has a new kind of warfare called terrorism; and it's practiced by extremists. Come off it. Just about every country in the world has been practicing terrorism since the beginning of time. Apparently, Chretien has never heard of the bombing of Cambodia or the slaughter of Guatemalans. Nor has he heard of the French Revolution, the Sons of Liberty in the American Revolution, or the Society of Hunters in Canada. Nor has he read The Bible.
The ultimate terrorism is genocide, the killing of an entire people because of their "race". The first recorded genocide was by the Israelites who massacred the Canaanites to take their land (now Israel).. They killed everybody right down to babies. That's what the battle of Jericho was about. Check, for example, Deuteronomy 7 and 20, and Joshua 6. Check your local fundamentalist clergyman for excuses.
Barely a word on the terrible situation in Somalia. Nothing on how the promised aid to Haiti and Iraq has never been delivered. Nothing on Saudi Arabia helping the government of Bahrain to kill its protesters.
The editorials, as usual, are ignorant and trivial. The second one -kiss, kiss, Mr. Irving - is propaganda that an overpriced hockey rink will boost the NB economy. It will, in a way, with low paid jobs that will last a couple of years - followed by fifty yeas of taxes to pay it off. We have never been given evidence of any other signicant financial benefit - except for the owner of the hockey team. A newspaper is supposed to give us that evidence.
Alec Bruce has a brief by profoundly disturbing column on the general retreat of democracy, and its failure to deal with serious problems. I'm not sure I agree with his optimism that things will get better some day. But his picture of where we are is bang on.
Gwynne Dyer's column has me puzzled. I knew Dyer fairly well in my early radio days. I had, and have, enormous respect for him his insight and his honesty, Alas, I cannot at all agree with this day's column about Liby a. But I do know Dyer to be honest and capable - so I'll try to keep an open mind on this.
Sept 2 damn computers
The post for today, though neither complete nor edited, has been published. I have no idea why. And so far, it refuses to subment to editing. I'm working on it.
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