We all live our lives in such a world of propaganda and myth that the truth goes past being crackpot to becoming something we can't even imagine. That first began to dawn on me when I studied Canadian history in graduate school. Do you remember the story of the great hero, Dollard des Ormeaux? He led a small group of heroes out to stop an Irquois attack on Montreal - knowing they would all die in the effort.
Rubbish.
He his men were out on a common mission to attack any small band of Iroqois coming out of the fur country, and to steal their furs. So he found a small band of Iroquois, and attacked it. But - he didn't know that right behind that small band of Iroquois was a big band of Iroquois.
We all are raised to believe we opposed Hitler and his treatment of Jews in the 1930s. No, we didn't. Major figures in Canadian and American business saw Hitler as the hope for the future. Among his admirers and supporters were Henry Ford and prime minister Mackenzie King. When Jews tried to flee Europe in the 1930s and even through the war, both Canada and the US refused to accept them. They were sent back to the death camps. And our governments knew about the death camps.
It's a long slog - first to gather that information, then to let the whole meaning of it sink in. To this day, I cannot think of Mackenzie King as a Nazi sympathizer and a partner to the Naziis in the holocaust. He was. But I still can't shake the image of him as a good guy in comparison to the baddies like Hitler and Goebbels.
I'm going to try more often to give you guides to sources, and to talk about sources. But you'll still find it hard to believe - and even harder to grasp the meaning of it.
For example - In 2001,the US army was told to prepare for a series of wars to give the US world dominance. In effect, they were steps to world conquest. Sounds like a real stretch, eh?
The source is General Wesley Clark, the American general who commanded the Kosovo operation.
Google International Clearing House, Oct. 13, 2011. I don't always trust the opinions I read on this source. But I find their hard news pretty accurate.
He was told to prepare for attacks on Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, ...and Iran. It was all to be finished in five years. Obviously, it's behind schedule. In fact, the process has stretched the American military and economy to such a point it cannot be done by conventional warfare. You will find this report remarkably similar to a document put on the web by far right wingers like Jed Bush, Rumsfelt and others. It is called Project for the New American Century. It called for American "leadership" of the world to be established by military force. But it had to be done quickly - before the "window of opportunity" closed.
Now,it's already past closing time. But the leading GOP candidate for the presidency has just said God wants America to establish world leadership - and he will increase the military and cut other spending to do it.
I really, really want to believe that Obama is not like Hitler. He supports torture, fights wars of aggression, has declared himself as having the right to put American citizens in jail or have them assassinaed without trial, lawyer, or even a charge. And he's done it. The American constitution says he can't. But he's done it. And american democracy is so degraded that only one congressman has said Obama is acting illegally.
Please tell me how Obama is different from Hitler.
And her's the situatin - you have a goal that you can't achieve with your economy and with conventional forces....so....what are you tempted to do?
Yes. I find it hard to believe, too. I wish I could think of a reason not to believe it.
On Saturday, the Occupy Wall Street movement reaches 71 countries It also reaches Moncton. New Brunswick has received almost no infomation about it though it has been in world news for over a month. Of course, many people will find it disturbing. Of course.They have no idea what it's about. Most of our news media won't tell them.
It's about the destruction of democracy in North America. It's about corporations which have taken over the people we elect. It's about corporate abuses of us and our families. What it's about is a revolution against corruption,greed, arrogance and destruction. It's a peaceful one - but I suspect the corporations and their political doormats will make it violent as soon as possible.
That is a lot to wrap our heads around. Even if we get the meaning of the words, it takes ages for the reality to sink in. Canadians and Americans are being bled try by corporate leaders. We are sending our children, our relatives, our friends to get killed - to make one percent of our population richer.
That was obvious in the invasion of Iraq. Martin and Harper knew it when they sent Canadians to get killed in Afghanistan. The Canadian Council of CEOs knew it when they told Martin and Harper to send the troops.
Oh, yes. Exxon is in court. remember the massive oil spill on the Alaska coast? Exxon was supposed to clean it up. It did, a bit. Now it says it's not going to do any more.
Don't forget to check Google news. There's much more news there than in the TandT. Of course, you still need the TandT to know that Madonna might come to Moncton, and see the big ads to celebrate 35 years for some Irving company. Celebrate. What the hell... You probably paid for it.
Oh, the TandT says we have to cut social spending, reduce government, and lower business taxes. I know from my study of Canadian history that this is a lie. Don Savoie will, I am sure, be interviewed to tell us all this nonsense. So....
Google Robert Reich seven. Up will pop a short paper called "The Seven Biggest Economic Lies."
Reich, who is Chancellor's Professor of public policy at U. of California, is quite a bit more famous than Don Savoie. I guess that's why the TandT never interviews him.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Oct. 13: check previous blog
I wrote a blog late last night. It should appear at the end of this one. I think it's more important than this one.
As for the Oct. 13 edition, there is almost nothing to say about the trivia that fills the news pages. To go along with the trivia, this edition must have set a record for ads, including a three page one from the boss.
The one surprise I got is that it gave space to the Occupy Moncton gathering that begins this Saturday noon at City Hall. Unfortunately, the reporter does not seem to know what the movement is about. One motive is, of course, to make the very rich pay their share of taxes. (Is there some reason why they shouldn't?) However, it is above all to restore real democracy to the western world. Currently, our politics and our lives are controlled not by us but by the super wealthy.
Most of us have lost faith in the democratic process as it is now. That's why voter turnour has been dropping. That's why less than half of all potential voters took part in Ontario's recent Provincial election.
Democracy is being destroyed. One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see that in New Brunswick. We have to say that we want democracy restored. We have had enough of the Allwards and the Grahams and most of their predecessors. We want government that responds to our needs, not just to the wants of those who own the parties.
Alec Bruce's column sets my theme for the editorial and op ed pages. Bruce, influenced by film-maker, journalist, writer, stand-up comic Josh Freed (who happens to be an old friend of mine) complains about the ignorance that gets paraded as wisdom these days thanks to news media and the web. He's quite right, of course -though I thought it cruel of him to single out bloggers at the start.
But that has, as he says, always been part of the human condition. And it includes newspaper commentators, editorialists, professors - all sorts of people. Even Alec Bruce. What has made it worse is that some of these "experts" now can employ very sophisticated propaganda to sell their nonsense.
The answer, as it has always has been, is to make yourself as well informed as possible, to think about what you read, to discuss it, and to form your own opinion. There is no other way. We are not robots, perfectly programmed. We are humans and, like all humans always have been, subject to prejudice, bigotry, ignorance, greed, cravings for power, fear, indifference to others. But we still have to make decisions. There is no other way to exist.
Currently, most of our "expertise" comes from the very rich and their servants. And if you think very rich equals wise, you would have loved Al Capone. Perhaps you might want to elect the Mexican drug cartel for the NB legislature. (Perhaps you already have.)
For an example, take a look at the editorial. It responds to the final report of the Canadian Council on learning, a federal body of people who have spent their lives as teachers, administrators and scholars of education. The editorial writer, who has almost certainly never taught for a day and who almost certainly doesnot have even a basic teaching certificate, dismisses the council as "bureaucrats". (This suggests the editorialist is also unfamiliar with the meaning of the word bureaucrat. Don't they have a dictionary for TandT staff? Doesn't he know newspapers have a bureaucracy - and he is part of it?)
Incidentally, the editorial does not even mention the most damning part of the report - the part dealing with universities.
Norbert Cunningham, similarly, has a column about education, a subject he clearly knows nothing about. He advocates public/private partnerships as a way to save money in building and maintaining schools. It works, he says, and saves money. Oh? Where is it working? Where is it saving money? How can it save money? The private partner has to cover cost PLUS a profit PLUS bonusses for top execs. Public/private partnerships have generally been marked by higher costs - and more than hints of political favours and corruption.
He also says the public must play a role, provide input. Great. But how can it play a role when it gets no information, nothing but propaganda, from Brunswick Media? And how can it play a role with a government that doesn't give a damn what the public thinks. Remember fracking?
Rod Allen, the staff writer for for this day's op ed page, avoids charges of being a phony expert in the way that all writers for this column do. He writes about nothing. These staff writers must be the world's ho-hum champs.
Once again, Jody Dallaire's column stands out. That's because she doesn't pretend to give expert advice. She gives information and argument. She doesn't tell us what to think. She convinces us.
As for the Oct. 13 edition, there is almost nothing to say about the trivia that fills the news pages. To go along with the trivia, this edition must have set a record for ads, including a three page one from the boss.
The one surprise I got is that it gave space to the Occupy Moncton gathering that begins this Saturday noon at City Hall. Unfortunately, the reporter does not seem to know what the movement is about. One motive is, of course, to make the very rich pay their share of taxes. (Is there some reason why they shouldn't?) However, it is above all to restore real democracy to the western world. Currently, our politics and our lives are controlled not by us but by the super wealthy.
Most of us have lost faith in the democratic process as it is now. That's why voter turnour has been dropping. That's why less than half of all potential voters took part in Ontario's recent Provincial election.
Democracy is being destroyed. One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see that in New Brunswick. We have to say that we want democracy restored. We have had enough of the Allwards and the Grahams and most of their predecessors. We want government that responds to our needs, not just to the wants of those who own the parties.
Alec Bruce's column sets my theme for the editorial and op ed pages. Bruce, influenced by film-maker, journalist, writer, stand-up comic Josh Freed (who happens to be an old friend of mine) complains about the ignorance that gets paraded as wisdom these days thanks to news media and the web. He's quite right, of course -though I thought it cruel of him to single out bloggers at the start.
But that has, as he says, always been part of the human condition. And it includes newspaper commentators, editorialists, professors - all sorts of people. Even Alec Bruce. What has made it worse is that some of these "experts" now can employ very sophisticated propaganda to sell their nonsense.
The answer, as it has always has been, is to make yourself as well informed as possible, to think about what you read, to discuss it, and to form your own opinion. There is no other way. We are not robots, perfectly programmed. We are humans and, like all humans always have been, subject to prejudice, bigotry, ignorance, greed, cravings for power, fear, indifference to others. But we still have to make decisions. There is no other way to exist.
Currently, most of our "expertise" comes from the very rich and their servants. And if you think very rich equals wise, you would have loved Al Capone. Perhaps you might want to elect the Mexican drug cartel for the NB legislature. (Perhaps you already have.)
For an example, take a look at the editorial. It responds to the final report of the Canadian Council on learning, a federal body of people who have spent their lives as teachers, administrators and scholars of education. The editorial writer, who has almost certainly never taught for a day and who almost certainly doesnot have even a basic teaching certificate, dismisses the council as "bureaucrats". (This suggests the editorialist is also unfamiliar with the meaning of the word bureaucrat. Don't they have a dictionary for TandT staff? Doesn't he know newspapers have a bureaucracy - and he is part of it?)
Incidentally, the editorial does not even mention the most damning part of the report - the part dealing with universities.
Norbert Cunningham, similarly, has a column about education, a subject he clearly knows nothing about. He advocates public/private partnerships as a way to save money in building and maintaining schools. It works, he says, and saves money. Oh? Where is it working? Where is it saving money? How can it save money? The private partner has to cover cost PLUS a profit PLUS bonusses for top execs. Public/private partnerships have generally been marked by higher costs - and more than hints of political favours and corruption.
He also says the public must play a role, provide input. Great. But how can it play a role when it gets no information, nothing but propaganda, from Brunswick Media? And how can it play a role with a government that doesn't give a damn what the public thinks. Remember fracking?
Rod Allen, the staff writer for for this day's op ed page, avoids charges of being a phony expert in the way that all writers for this column do. He writes about nothing. These staff writers must be the world's ho-hum champs.
Once again, Jody Dallaire's column stands out. That's because she doesn't pretend to give expert advice. She gives information and argument. She doesn't tell us what to think. She convinces us.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
0ct. 12: This is a postscript to the regular Oct. 12 blog below
Two things have happened today that may be closely related. The TandT reported - not very well - on one of them. It didn't report on the other at all, though both may be the most important news stories in decades.
I have spent much of today checking news sources, mostly in North America, Britain, Europe, and Israel.The story that emerges is not a pleasant one.
1. The US government announced that terrorists under Iranian orders were caught, planning to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to Washington. Many of the best media in the US and Britain and Europe are not buying the story. That includes The Guardian - perhaps the outstanding paper in the English-speaking world.
It is, as I suugested in my own, regular blog, not credible. Such a scheme, whether succeeding or failing, would be diastrous for Iran - with no possibility of any gain at all.
And why kill him in the US - the place where the scheme is hardest to organize and most difficult to pull off?
Agreement is pretty widespread that this is a set up, almost certainly arranged by the US government.
Is it, like Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction", an excuse for invading or bombing Iran? If so, they have two months to do it before the weather makes it more difficult. And Harper has already committed us to follow in the greater war that would certainly follow.
Is it to stoke up the fears of Americans so that the Occupy Wall Street movement gets pushed into the background? It could be both.
Occupy Wall Street. That's the story the TandT didn't mention. And it is rapidly becoming the biggest story you will ever read. US newspapers reported police beating up on veterans who were participating in a Boston demonstration as members of Veterans for Peace.
Essentially, it's a demand for a return to real democracy rather than what we have now - politicians owned by wealthy families and corporations. The wealthy and the corporations created their own problems with their greed and arrogance.
In the US, they showed greed by destroying the American economy with their demands for bailouts and their refusal to pay taxes. (Please don't say that giving money to the rich is a way to create jobs. Look at the millions of hungry and hopeless Americans. See what is there, not what some "expert" tells you. And we are not yet even close to hitting bottom)..
Western captialisn, in its present form, has failed. Possibly it can work again - but not in its present form of corporate domination over governments - all the way from Washington down to Fredericton.
It's over. It's failed.
Then there was the arrogance of accepting taxpayers' money for bailouts - then publicly giving hundreds of millions of it (probably more) as bonusses to executives for their good work in causing the crisis. At the same time, they continued to kick millions of Americans out of jobs, out of homes, out of lives.
The anger that created is why Occupy Wall Street has spread so quickly.
We haven't completely hit the wall yet - but it's coming. The arrogance has been here a long time.
Mr. Irving publicly declared himself a part of the government. That's what the word coalition means. That is contrary to Canadian constitutional practice. And it's arrogant.
He formed a committee of his hacks to plan the New Brunswick economy. That's what we are supposed to control, through our elected representatives. That was arrogant.
He then got the government to give his gang official status for access to the Minister of Finance. That is not only arrogant; it is profoundly anti-democratic. The most important power of a democratic goveornment is its power to control spending - what the British called "the power of the purse."
As for the premier, I don't know whether he is stupid or cowardly or unashamedly for sale. But I do know the reality. New Brunswick, like much of Canada and Europe and the US, is not a democracy. It hasn't been for a long time.
Most of the western democracies are controlled by a greedy and out of control minority who get richer even as we get poorer. Their greed and arrogance has destroyed our economic and political lives. There comes a time when you have to choose sides. Folding your arms to show your tattoos and biceps isn't enough.
Occupy Wall Street is a movement to return to the democracy and the freedoms we once had. For many of its supporters, probably most, it's a move to save western capitalism before the greed and arrogance of western capitalists destroy it.
I'm not sure there's time left to do that. But I am sure that that unless we can make changes very soon, our lives are going to become very brutal, indeed, and the futures of our children destroyed.
On this Saturday, Oct. 15, the movement spreads across Europe, South America, North Africa and many other parts of the world. It comes to Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and other cities. Including Moncton.
I have no great love for filling my life with demonstrations. But I have no choice. I can either be on the side of the fascism we have slid into (yes, fascism. I am using it in a correct, dictionary sense.), or I can demand the right to live in a democracy. I will not stand by while arrogant bullies destroy our society. So I shall be with Occupy Moncton at Moncton City Hall on Saturday, Oct. 15.
I would be delighted to see you there - unless, of course, you prefer to spend your life being debased, lied to, and ripped off by arrogant and greedy billionaires.
I have spent much of today checking news sources, mostly in North America, Britain, Europe, and Israel.The story that emerges is not a pleasant one.
1. The US government announced that terrorists under Iranian orders were caught, planning to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to Washington. Many of the best media in the US and Britain and Europe are not buying the story. That includes The Guardian - perhaps the outstanding paper in the English-speaking world.
It is, as I suugested in my own, regular blog, not credible. Such a scheme, whether succeeding or failing, would be diastrous for Iran - with no possibility of any gain at all.
And why kill him in the US - the place where the scheme is hardest to organize and most difficult to pull off?
Agreement is pretty widespread that this is a set up, almost certainly arranged by the US government.
Is it, like Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction", an excuse for invading or bombing Iran? If so, they have two months to do it before the weather makes it more difficult. And Harper has already committed us to follow in the greater war that would certainly follow.
Is it to stoke up the fears of Americans so that the Occupy Wall Street movement gets pushed into the background? It could be both.
Occupy Wall Street. That's the story the TandT didn't mention. And it is rapidly becoming the biggest story you will ever read. US newspapers reported police beating up on veterans who were participating in a Boston demonstration as members of Veterans for Peace.
Essentially, it's a demand for a return to real democracy rather than what we have now - politicians owned by wealthy families and corporations. The wealthy and the corporations created their own problems with their greed and arrogance.
In the US, they showed greed by destroying the American economy with their demands for bailouts and their refusal to pay taxes. (Please don't say that giving money to the rich is a way to create jobs. Look at the millions of hungry and hopeless Americans. See what is there, not what some "expert" tells you. And we are not yet even close to hitting bottom)..
Western captialisn, in its present form, has failed. Possibly it can work again - but not in its present form of corporate domination over governments - all the way from Washington down to Fredericton.
It's over. It's failed.
Then there was the arrogance of accepting taxpayers' money for bailouts - then publicly giving hundreds of millions of it (probably more) as bonusses to executives for their good work in causing the crisis. At the same time, they continued to kick millions of Americans out of jobs, out of homes, out of lives.
The anger that created is why Occupy Wall Street has spread so quickly.
We haven't completely hit the wall yet - but it's coming. The arrogance has been here a long time.
Mr. Irving publicly declared himself a part of the government. That's what the word coalition means. That is contrary to Canadian constitutional practice. And it's arrogant.
He formed a committee of his hacks to plan the New Brunswick economy. That's what we are supposed to control, through our elected representatives. That was arrogant.
He then got the government to give his gang official status for access to the Minister of Finance. That is not only arrogant; it is profoundly anti-democratic. The most important power of a democratic goveornment is its power to control spending - what the British called "the power of the purse."
As for the premier, I don't know whether he is stupid or cowardly or unashamedly for sale. But I do know the reality. New Brunswick, like much of Canada and Europe and the US, is not a democracy. It hasn't been for a long time.
Most of the western democracies are controlled by a greedy and out of control minority who get richer even as we get poorer. Their greed and arrogance has destroyed our economic and political lives. There comes a time when you have to choose sides. Folding your arms to show your tattoos and biceps isn't enough.
Occupy Wall Street is a movement to return to the democracy and the freedoms we once had. For many of its supporters, probably most, it's a move to save western capitalism before the greed and arrogance of western capitalists destroy it.
I'm not sure there's time left to do that. But I am sure that that unless we can make changes very soon, our lives are going to become very brutal, indeed, and the futures of our children destroyed.
On this Saturday, Oct. 15, the movement spreads across Europe, South America, North Africa and many other parts of the world. It comes to Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and other cities. Including Moncton.
I have no great love for filling my life with demonstrations. But I have no choice. I can either be on the side of the fascism we have slid into (yes, fascism. I am using it in a correct, dictionary sense.), or I can demand the right to live in a democracy. I will not stand by while arrogant bullies destroy our society. So I shall be with Occupy Moncton at Moncton City Hall on Saturday, Oct. 15.
I would be delighted to see you there - unless, of course, you prefer to spend your life being debased, lied to, and ripped off by arrogant and greedy billionaires.
Oct. 12: a confusing day
Important --- it is necessary to read the October 11 addendum which appears below this commentary. You need it to understand my opening comments here.
To my surprise, the TandT did carry a story on the final report by a federal education council. Full marks for carrying it. But it was close to unintelligible and with huge gaps. That seems partly to be because it is based entirely on a staff reporter's interview with a New Brunswicker who was on the council.
The gaps are so big (universities and colleges aren't mentioned at all; there are few specifics on why the problem has developed; no mention of international comparisons;...) Obviously, the reporter never read the report in the first place - and never even read the stories on it that appeared in other Canadian papers yesterday.) I expected devious reporting. I didn't expect hopelessly incompetent reporting.
As for it being incoherent, the first two paragraphs give the impression this is a provincial report. Not until the third paragraph do we get a hint this is federal - and even then it's not clear.
Anyway, if you read my report in the blog below, you will find it contains far more information than the TandT report does - though it's no longer. You can also get far better reports simply by googling Canadian Council of Learning final report.
I must confess to my own blunder, though. I misnamed the organization that issued the report. The TandT reporter got it right as Canadian Council on Learning.
The next thing to watch for is what the TandT does with the report.
There are some stories in which we can't even guess the truth. A prime example is in NewsToday "Iranians charged in U.S. over plot". Two points to bear in mind....
1. Many countries routinely assassinate leading figures in other countries. The US long ago admitted it has made several attempts to kill Castro. In the Vietnam war, it cooperated when South Vietnamese generals assassinated the president. that's no secret. It was almost certainly complicit in the murder of a president of Chile. And there's not the slightest doubt it assisted the murderous General Pinochet in replacing him as dictator. The reason we have tense relations with Iran is because back in the 50s, the US, Britain and France overthrew the democratcally elected government of Iran, and replaced it with the murderous dictatorship of the Shah. For information on this, just google Mossadegh (the leader who was overthrown).
The was the final step in decades of western invasions and plundering of oil by western nations that drove Iranians into the arms of the Ayatollah.
2. The US has been looking for years for an excuse to make war on Iran. Iran has oil. It is now oil that is outside US control. The US says Iran is evil. Gee! Coincidence after coincidence.
Remember the story that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? -the ones that nobody has been able to find? Remember the story that Afghanistan was behind 9/11? We now know it was planned by Saudis - and they did their planning in Europe. (Did you know that polls show a majority of Americans still believe the 9/11 attackers came from Canada?)
Who knows what's going on in that secret world of international plotting and propagandizing? Certainly, I don't. I do wonder, though,what Iran could possibly hope to gain from the assassination of a Saudi ambassador. This is a strange story.
On the op ed page, a big business hack pushes the hare-brained scheme to build a hundred million dollar hockey rink to revive the downtown area. He will no doubt have the cooperation of a not-very-bright city council.
Reality - people shop in malls because malls provide free and convenient parking. The mall stores are not going to pack up and move to main street just so they can be close to a hockey rink.
This scheme will also put New Brunswickers heavily into debt when they are already sliding pretty deep, and when we are almost certainly heading into a deeper recession.
There is nothing for New Brunswickers in this scheme but disastrous indebtedness. The only winners will be large hotels and the owner of the Wildcats. This, with shale gas, is the final suck at the orange. There isn't much left to steal from us. Thank you, all you Liberals and Conservatives; thank you Moncton Times and Transcript; thank you, corporations.
To my surprise, the TandT did carry a story on the final report by a federal education council. Full marks for carrying it. But it was close to unintelligible and with huge gaps. That seems partly to be because it is based entirely on a staff reporter's interview with a New Brunswicker who was on the council.
The gaps are so big (universities and colleges aren't mentioned at all; there are few specifics on why the problem has developed; no mention of international comparisons;...) Obviously, the reporter never read the report in the first place - and never even read the stories on it that appeared in other Canadian papers yesterday.) I expected devious reporting. I didn't expect hopelessly incompetent reporting.
As for it being incoherent, the first two paragraphs give the impression this is a provincial report. Not until the third paragraph do we get a hint this is federal - and even then it's not clear.
Anyway, if you read my report in the blog below, you will find it contains far more information than the TandT report does - though it's no longer. You can also get far better reports simply by googling Canadian Council of Learning final report.
I must confess to my own blunder, though. I misnamed the organization that issued the report. The TandT reporter got it right as Canadian Council on Learning.
The next thing to watch for is what the TandT does with the report.
There are some stories in which we can't even guess the truth. A prime example is in NewsToday "Iranians charged in U.S. over plot". Two points to bear in mind....
1. Many countries routinely assassinate leading figures in other countries. The US long ago admitted it has made several attempts to kill Castro. In the Vietnam war, it cooperated when South Vietnamese generals assassinated the president. that's no secret. It was almost certainly complicit in the murder of a president of Chile. And there's not the slightest doubt it assisted the murderous General Pinochet in replacing him as dictator. The reason we have tense relations with Iran is because back in the 50s, the US, Britain and France overthrew the democratcally elected government of Iran, and replaced it with the murderous dictatorship of the Shah. For information on this, just google Mossadegh (the leader who was overthrown).
The was the final step in decades of western invasions and plundering of oil by western nations that drove Iranians into the arms of the Ayatollah.
2. The US has been looking for years for an excuse to make war on Iran. Iran has oil. It is now oil that is outside US control. The US says Iran is evil. Gee! Coincidence after coincidence.
Remember the story that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? -the ones that nobody has been able to find? Remember the story that Afghanistan was behind 9/11? We now know it was planned by Saudis - and they did their planning in Europe. (Did you know that polls show a majority of Americans still believe the 9/11 attackers came from Canada?)
Who knows what's going on in that secret world of international plotting and propagandizing? Certainly, I don't. I do wonder, though,what Iran could possibly hope to gain from the assassination of a Saudi ambassador. This is a strange story.
On the op ed page, a big business hack pushes the hare-brained scheme to build a hundred million dollar hockey rink to revive the downtown area. He will no doubt have the cooperation of a not-very-bright city council.
Reality - people shop in malls because malls provide free and convenient parking. The mall stores are not going to pack up and move to main street just so they can be close to a hockey rink.
This scheme will also put New Brunswickers heavily into debt when they are already sliding pretty deep, and when we are almost certainly heading into a deeper recession.
There is nothing for New Brunswickers in this scheme but disastrous indebtedness. The only winners will be large hotels and the owner of the Wildcats. This, with shale gas, is the final suck at the orange. There isn't much left to steal from us. Thank you, all you Liberals and Conservatives; thank you Moncton Times and Transcript; thank you, corporations.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Oct. 11 addendum: What will the TandT do on Oct. 12?
I'm sendinig this one out before Oct. 12 because the TandT faces an unusual problem on Oct. 12.
There is a stunning report on Canadian education just out. It's a major news story across Canada. Of course, The Moncton Times and Transcript might ignore it. They often ignore major news stories. But this one might tempt them. It will be interesting to see if and how they decide to go for it.
The Council of Ministers of Education, set up PM Paul Martin to evaluate and coordinate all levels of education across Canada, has been axed by PM Harper. As its final effort, it produced a report on Canadian education.
It's a damning report at all levels. For universities, it says they are dysfunctional, concentrating on publication to build up personal and institutional reputations while neglecting teaching. (I quite agree. In fact, I made a nation of academic enemies by frequently saying so, and by publishing an article about a year ago in Reader's Digest about the scandal of money wasted on research for the sake of personal repuation - and the ignorance of university teachers of even the fundamentals of education.)
It also says there is no standard of measurement for the quality of universities. Quite so. There isn't. The MacLean's ratings are a crock But they have done enormous damage as university presidents scramble to model their schools on what some magazine editors say makes a good university.
On elementary and secondary schools, it says student performances show a steady decline in literacy and math - and a decline in world standing.
Now, the TandT represents the Atlantic Insitute of Marketing Studies which represents the corporate elite of New Brunswick. They all want to destroy the reputation of the public schools so they can bring in privatization and make profits out of our children. That's why the Atlantic Institute runs its fraudulent school rankings. That's why the TandT ran a scandalous, unethical, and ignorant campaign to discredit the public schools through most of last year. This destruction of public schooling began about thirty years ago in the US (and has been a dreadful failure), and is now spreading across Canada. some people are stunningly greedy.
This report could be a bonanza for the TandT. It could used to revive its campaign to discredit our public schools - just as it did in a long series of editorials and commentaries last year.
But there's a catch.
The report is clear that the universities are to blame for the mess they are in. But....
...it also makes it clear that the problems of the public schools are not caused by the public schools, not by their teachers, and not by their administrations. They are caused by bumbling and uncooperative ministers of education, by poor political leadership, and by federal/provincial squabbles over jurisdictions.
Of course, the TandT could skip reporting that final part, and just go on blaming and bashing the teachers and the school districts.
So let's see what they do. Will they go for the attack - and hope that nobody finds out what the report really says? (I mean - what's the risk of anybody finding out the truth in the press of this province?)
Or will they simply ignore the most important report on education in Canada that we have ever seen?
Tomorrow will be fascinating. See you then.
There is a stunning report on Canadian education just out. It's a major news story across Canada. Of course, The Moncton Times and Transcript might ignore it. They often ignore major news stories. But this one might tempt them. It will be interesting to see if and how they decide to go for it.
The Council of Ministers of Education, set up PM Paul Martin to evaluate and coordinate all levels of education across Canada, has been axed by PM Harper. As its final effort, it produced a report on Canadian education.
It's a damning report at all levels. For universities, it says they are dysfunctional, concentrating on publication to build up personal and institutional reputations while neglecting teaching. (I quite agree. In fact, I made a nation of academic enemies by frequently saying so, and by publishing an article about a year ago in Reader's Digest about the scandal of money wasted on research for the sake of personal repuation - and the ignorance of university teachers of even the fundamentals of education.)
It also says there is no standard of measurement for the quality of universities. Quite so. There isn't. The MacLean's ratings are a crock But they have done enormous damage as university presidents scramble to model their schools on what some magazine editors say makes a good university.
On elementary and secondary schools, it says student performances show a steady decline in literacy and math - and a decline in world standing.
Now, the TandT represents the Atlantic Insitute of Marketing Studies which represents the corporate elite of New Brunswick. They all want to destroy the reputation of the public schools so they can bring in privatization and make profits out of our children. That's why the Atlantic Institute runs its fraudulent school rankings. That's why the TandT ran a scandalous, unethical, and ignorant campaign to discredit the public schools through most of last year. This destruction of public schooling began about thirty years ago in the US (and has been a dreadful failure), and is now spreading across Canada. some people are stunningly greedy.
This report could be a bonanza for the TandT. It could used to revive its campaign to discredit our public schools - just as it did in a long series of editorials and commentaries last year.
But there's a catch.
The report is clear that the universities are to blame for the mess they are in. But....
...it also makes it clear that the problems of the public schools are not caused by the public schools, not by their teachers, and not by their administrations. They are caused by bumbling and uncooperative ministers of education, by poor political leadership, and by federal/provincial squabbles over jurisdictions.
Of course, the TandT could skip reporting that final part, and just go on blaming and bashing the teachers and the school districts.
So let's see what they do. Will they go for the attack - and hope that nobody finds out what the report really says? (I mean - what's the risk of anybody finding out the truth in the press of this province?)
Or will they simply ignore the most important report on education in Canada that we have ever seen?
Tomorrow will be fascinating. See you then.
Oct. 11: odds and ends
A friend today told me I should give sources with my news. He's right, of course. and I'll certainly try to do so more often. (It's hard because doing the research and then the writing for this blog takes hours of every day..)
For a start, we'll try an easy way to get sources for a few cases I've mentioned - and we'll do it a thorough way using google.
1.leading presidential hopeful Romney said God wants the US to dominate the world. Go to google. type
Romney God wants America dominate. You will get 1,190,000 sources. (Google often overstates. You will probably not find more than 10,000 or so sites on this subect.
2. Obama and the power of imprisonment of people without charge of trial, including US citizens. . type Obama imprisonment without trial. 11,000,000 sites. They include Guantamo prisoners to be held for life without trial - but also include americans who are "suspected".
3. The presidential assassination of American citizens. type Obama assassinate US. 33,200,000 sites.
Imprisonment and assassination without charge or trial are both forbidden by the American constitution. Sentencing of war prisoners to life with no charge and no trial is contrary to treaties signed by all civilized countries - including the US and Canada.
No country whose leader can assassinate or imprison without legal process can be called free or a democracy. Amazing the TandT should find this too trivial to report.
I was also told I should check my spelling more carefully. True. I can spell. But I'm an erratic typist. I'm going to see if I can install spellcheck on this. (I'm not so hot with all these here electricity gadgets.)
There's an excellent column on the op ed page today by Charles Doucet. It's on shale gas; it's well-informed; it's eminently sensible and clear; and it's deservedly critical of Don Savoie's remarks on the subject.
Norbert Cunningham is impressed by a book called Better Angels (which he hasn't yet read.) I'm not impressed by it (and I haven't read it, either - only excerpts - but I do know something about the study of history.) The book argues that this world is becoming a less violent place. I don't see how he proves that at all. For openers, his count for deaths in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars is some 137,000. that's absurd.
There is no such thing as a standard method for counting war dead. But estimates for Iraq alone run from a hundred and forty thousand to one and a half million. Afghanistan alone must be in the tens of thousands. And that's not counting the thousand or so Pakistanis killed by drones. Even today, estimates of Vietnamese dead range from a very conservative one and a half million to nine million. I have never heard of a scholar in the field who would even claim to know an accurate count.
We don't even have a working definition of what a war is. Officially, the US has had very few wars. In fact, it has invaded other countries at least 200 times. (google US military actions, wars.)
Most of what is now the US was the property of native peoples. Their lands were invaded and taken by the American army. But there weren't officially wars. Ditto for Hawaii. Ditto for dozens of wars in Latin America. Historically, Panama was a part of Colombia. Ever wonder how it became separate just in time to build the canal? Vietnam was not officially a war. Neither is Libya. Neither was the bombing of Cambodia that killed a half million civilians.
As you get back into history, the figures become even less reliable - and for much of the world there are no statistics at all to draw on so far as violence - or anything else - is concerned.
To write a book on how peaceful the world is getting at a time when we are edging closer to destroying all of it in a matter of minutes also strikes me as pretty inane.
Norbert - you say the author shows violence has declined in the world over the millenia. Millenia means thousands (plural) of years. I should love to see his records of violence over thousands of years in the Americas, Africa and most of Asia.
By the way, how come the TandT is one of the very few daily newspapers that does not have a book review section.
Oh - and to suggest Stephen Pinker, author of Better Angels, is one of the world's leading scientists is a bit of a stretch.
Todays paper is almost all trivia and drivel. There's not a mention of the Occupy Wall Street movement though most news media all over the world are taking it very seriously now. It arrives in Canada, perhaps in NB, this weekend.
Understand. This is no repeat of the hippie anti-war movement. This is far more serious. It is becoming an almost world-wide movement against the greed and power of corporations, and against the rampant corruption in our political parties. It's a protest against the very rich making even more money at a time when most others are suffering. (Of course, New Brunswick is not at al like that.) It's fed by the harshness of the recession and, unlike the Vietnam war, the recession is not going away any time soon. Maybe it's time for us to learn a little bit about what's happening. We are part of the world. And the world is facing an enormous change. That means we are, too.
Read today's paper for Charles Doucet and Alec Bruce. The rest is scrap.
For a start, we'll try an easy way to get sources for a few cases I've mentioned - and we'll do it a thorough way using google.
1.leading presidential hopeful Romney said God wants the US to dominate the world. Go to google. type
Romney God wants America dominate. You will get 1,190,000 sources. (Google often overstates. You will probably not find more than 10,000 or so sites on this subect.
2. Obama and the power of imprisonment of people without charge of trial, including US citizens. . type Obama imprisonment without trial. 11,000,000 sites. They include Guantamo prisoners to be held for life without trial - but also include americans who are "suspected".
3. The presidential assassination of American citizens. type Obama assassinate US. 33,200,000 sites.
Imprisonment and assassination without charge or trial are both forbidden by the American constitution. Sentencing of war prisoners to life with no charge and no trial is contrary to treaties signed by all civilized countries - including the US and Canada.
No country whose leader can assassinate or imprison without legal process can be called free or a democracy. Amazing the TandT should find this too trivial to report.
I was also told I should check my spelling more carefully. True. I can spell. But I'm an erratic typist. I'm going to see if I can install spellcheck on this. (I'm not so hot with all these here electricity gadgets.)
There's an excellent column on the op ed page today by Charles Doucet. It's on shale gas; it's well-informed; it's eminently sensible and clear; and it's deservedly critical of Don Savoie's remarks on the subject.
Norbert Cunningham is impressed by a book called Better Angels (which he hasn't yet read.) I'm not impressed by it (and I haven't read it, either - only excerpts - but I do know something about the study of history.) The book argues that this world is becoming a less violent place. I don't see how he proves that at all. For openers, his count for deaths in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars is some 137,000. that's absurd.
There is no such thing as a standard method for counting war dead. But estimates for Iraq alone run from a hundred and forty thousand to one and a half million. Afghanistan alone must be in the tens of thousands. And that's not counting the thousand or so Pakistanis killed by drones. Even today, estimates of Vietnamese dead range from a very conservative one and a half million to nine million. I have never heard of a scholar in the field who would even claim to know an accurate count.
We don't even have a working definition of what a war is. Officially, the US has had very few wars. In fact, it has invaded other countries at least 200 times. (google US military actions, wars.)
Most of what is now the US was the property of native peoples. Their lands were invaded and taken by the American army. But there weren't officially wars. Ditto for Hawaii. Ditto for dozens of wars in Latin America. Historically, Panama was a part of Colombia. Ever wonder how it became separate just in time to build the canal? Vietnam was not officially a war. Neither is Libya. Neither was the bombing of Cambodia that killed a half million civilians.
As you get back into history, the figures become even less reliable - and for much of the world there are no statistics at all to draw on so far as violence - or anything else - is concerned.
To write a book on how peaceful the world is getting at a time when we are edging closer to destroying all of it in a matter of minutes also strikes me as pretty inane.
Norbert - you say the author shows violence has declined in the world over the millenia. Millenia means thousands (plural) of years. I should love to see his records of violence over thousands of years in the Americas, Africa and most of Asia.
By the way, how come the TandT is one of the very few daily newspapers that does not have a book review section.
Oh - and to suggest Stephen Pinker, author of Better Angels, is one of the world's leading scientists is a bit of a stretch.
Todays paper is almost all trivia and drivel. There's not a mention of the Occupy Wall Street movement though most news media all over the world are taking it very seriously now. It arrives in Canada, perhaps in NB, this weekend.
Understand. This is no repeat of the hippie anti-war movement. This is far more serious. It is becoming an almost world-wide movement against the greed and power of corporations, and against the rampant corruption in our political parties. It's a protest against the very rich making even more money at a time when most others are suffering. (Of course, New Brunswick is not at al like that.) It's fed by the harshness of the recession and, unlike the Vietnam war, the recession is not going away any time soon. Maybe it's time for us to learn a little bit about what's happening. We are part of the world. And the world is facing an enormous change. That means we are, too.
Read today's paper for Charles Doucet and Alec Bruce. The rest is scrap.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Oct. 10: a blank
I had intended to prepare in advance a list of stories that would not appear in the TandT today. Just as well I didn't. I had never imagined it possible to leave so much out of the news.
1. The British Minister of Defence almost certainly faces firing for becoming close friends to a weapons manufacturer - and allowing him full access not only to meetings of senior civil servants, but to paticipate in policy making decisions. It is, in most democracies of this world, a policy to not allow any unelected person such access. It's a major news story across Canada; but I can see why the TandT skipped it.
Months ago, Mr. Irving announced that he was a member of the government (though never elected.) Then he announced he had formed a committee of cronies (also unelected) to plan the New Brunswick financial policy. The spineless (and probably brainless) Mr. Alward accepted this.
Alward even gave these private and unelected people entree to the Minister of Finance. (This is precisely what the British minister of defence did - and is in trouble for.) Mr.Alward then actually paid this gang of scoundrels to do what is highly improper for private interests to do in any democracy.
And soon the budget is coming down. Guess who prepared it? Guess who will benefit from it? New Brunswick is being bled to death.
It's time for Mr. Alward to go. Not only is he intellectually and morally incompetent - I mean, we're used to that - but he has now acted unethically, and in such a manner as to destroy democracy.
2. The paper has no mention of the Wall Street movement. It's big news all over the world. Even the Canadian and American press have had to recognize it. It covers most cities in the US, is spreading to Canada and all over the world, even to New Brunswick. Clergy are now joining it. A Jewish congregation had a service at the centre of it.
But here, in The Moncton Times and Transcript, it's just another do-de-do day. (Don't think about those things. Don't talk about them. Concentrate on a new hundred million dollar hockey rink. You are getting very, very sleepy....)
3. The paper has a front page SPECIAL REPORT on whether public education is sustainable. This is in a city and province which speak of borrowing 300 million dollars and more for a hockey rink and a football stadium - and even more for a CFL team. But it wants to make cuts in education. It wants to start bleeding our children more, just as it has always bled us. How much more foul can this get?
The report tells us that Allward is looking for our input. Sure. Just like he looked for it when he supported shale gas development. Where is all this going? That's easy.
Watch for a series of articles and editorials advocating a gradual privatization of public schools. That's what AIMS wants. And if AIMS wants it, then that's what private corporations want. It's been going on in the US for decades with desastrous results. The same sort of bastards now want to destroy our children so that they can make money out of them. (But don't even read this. Close your eyes. Think about how the whole world will be watching Moncton to see if we build a hockey rink.)
4. The sports section gave more space to a hot dog being thrown at Tiger Woods than the whole paper has given to the Occupy Wall Street movement since it began. And almost as much as it has given to fracking in the past month. .
5. In big news of the day, Bahrain is still fighting its "Arab Spring". Iraq, though still occupied by US troops is now opposing the US by supporting the Syrian government with words and money; and by developing an alliance with Iran. Saudi Arabia has been dealing with an Arab Spring. President Obama's government has formally announced the president has the right to assassinate American citizens simply by giving the order. No reason need be given before or after. Afghanistan has signed an alliance with India: and China is moving to an alliance with Pakistan - both in preparation for an American assault on Pakistan. New York doctors have called for a ban on fracking. Apparently, large quantities of shale gas have already been shipped out of New Brunswick - at no charge. Violence in "free" Egypt is out of hand with police killing at least 28 people in Cairo. Libyan rebels have not been able to establish control in Libya, even with massive Nato firepower and other help.
None of this made the TandT today. They big story NewsToday? "CBC distances itself from Don Cherry's fighting words. Boy! maybe Moncton can get an CHL team. Then the whole world will really be watching us.)
The editorial is a pseudo-spiritual comment on how good it is we share at Thanksgiving. Indeed, we do. Just think of how much we have shared this year, some of us going hungry to do it - so our coporate bosses could have overflowing tables, (always remembering to thank God for His kindness to them before tucking in.)
Craig Babstock has the usual inane staff writer op ed piece, this one about how chldren can thank their parents for standing up for them. Right. Think of how boldly they have stood up to corporate bosses and their journalistic friends who want to destroy our children's education so they can make a profit out of it. Think of the valiant and public stand taken by Home and School and Parents' Associations.
Alec Bruce's column, as usual, is intelligent - though he goes too far in saying Allward wants to help New Brunswick through supporting Senate reform. I have seen no evidence that Allward has any wish but to obey Harper - probably in return for a promise of some sort.
A democracy represents people. It represent them as individuals. It does not represent welders simply because they are welders or nurses because they are nurses. It does not represent people because they are short or because they are tall or because they live in a small province or because they live in hilly country. A democracy represents all of us.;
We all have equal right to vote for members of the House of Commons. That's democracy.
The purpose of a Senate has nothing to do with democracy. John A. Macdonald created a senate because he did NOT trust democracy. It was appointed so it could be stuffed with the better sort - bankers, railway builders, and their reliable political hacks ... The idea that it is now a place of "sober, second thought" is absurd.
I have watched Senate debates. I have testified to Senate committees. Not all, but a clear majority of senators, are highly partisan and not very bright political hacks. They do almost nothing useful.
And, if we do give the senate more power, the only place it could come from is Commons. In other words, we would be taking power from a democratically elected body to put it in the hands of a less democratic one. As well, candidates would need money, lots of it, to run in province wide elections. They won't be able to get enough from widows and orphans. So guess who will be paying their election bills?
An appointed senate is largely useless. An elected Senate would be destructive of democracy. Best to simply get rid of what what has been a deliberately anti-democratic institution from the start. (The same, incidentally, is true of the US Senate. The men who wrote the American constitution were dominated by the wealthiest people in the US - with George Washington leading the way as the nation's largest slave owner.)
There is a good letter by Francis Cormier on city planning for downtown. It makes far more common sense than the ideas from city council which, I suspect, are based more on corruption than on thought. (To be fair, it is possible that city-councillors are not currupt - just as dumb as squids at low tide.)
1. The British Minister of Defence almost certainly faces firing for becoming close friends to a weapons manufacturer - and allowing him full access not only to meetings of senior civil servants, but to paticipate in policy making decisions. It is, in most democracies of this world, a policy to not allow any unelected person such access. It's a major news story across Canada; but I can see why the TandT skipped it.
Months ago, Mr. Irving announced that he was a member of the government (though never elected.) Then he announced he had formed a committee of cronies (also unelected) to plan the New Brunswick financial policy. The spineless (and probably brainless) Mr. Alward accepted this.
Alward even gave these private and unelected people entree to the Minister of Finance. (This is precisely what the British minister of defence did - and is in trouble for.) Mr.Alward then actually paid this gang of scoundrels to do what is highly improper for private interests to do in any democracy.
And soon the budget is coming down. Guess who prepared it? Guess who will benefit from it? New Brunswick is being bled to death.
It's time for Mr. Alward to go. Not only is he intellectually and morally incompetent - I mean, we're used to that - but he has now acted unethically, and in such a manner as to destroy democracy.
2. The paper has no mention of the Wall Street movement. It's big news all over the world. Even the Canadian and American press have had to recognize it. It covers most cities in the US, is spreading to Canada and all over the world, even to New Brunswick. Clergy are now joining it. A Jewish congregation had a service at the centre of it.
But here, in The Moncton Times and Transcript, it's just another do-de-do day. (Don't think about those things. Don't talk about them. Concentrate on a new hundred million dollar hockey rink. You are getting very, very sleepy....)
3. The paper has a front page SPECIAL REPORT on whether public education is sustainable. This is in a city and province which speak of borrowing 300 million dollars and more for a hockey rink and a football stadium - and even more for a CFL team. But it wants to make cuts in education. It wants to start bleeding our children more, just as it has always bled us. How much more foul can this get?
The report tells us that Allward is looking for our input. Sure. Just like he looked for it when he supported shale gas development. Where is all this going? That's easy.
Watch for a series of articles and editorials advocating a gradual privatization of public schools. That's what AIMS wants. And if AIMS wants it, then that's what private corporations want. It's been going on in the US for decades with desastrous results. The same sort of bastards now want to destroy our children so that they can make money out of them. (But don't even read this. Close your eyes. Think about how the whole world will be watching Moncton to see if we build a hockey rink.)
4. The sports section gave more space to a hot dog being thrown at Tiger Woods than the whole paper has given to the Occupy Wall Street movement since it began. And almost as much as it has given to fracking in the past month. .
5. In big news of the day, Bahrain is still fighting its "Arab Spring". Iraq, though still occupied by US troops is now opposing the US by supporting the Syrian government with words and money; and by developing an alliance with Iran. Saudi Arabia has been dealing with an Arab Spring. President Obama's government has formally announced the president has the right to assassinate American citizens simply by giving the order. No reason need be given before or after. Afghanistan has signed an alliance with India: and China is moving to an alliance with Pakistan - both in preparation for an American assault on Pakistan. New York doctors have called for a ban on fracking. Apparently, large quantities of shale gas have already been shipped out of New Brunswick - at no charge. Violence in "free" Egypt is out of hand with police killing at least 28 people in Cairo. Libyan rebels have not been able to establish control in Libya, even with massive Nato firepower and other help.
None of this made the TandT today. They big story NewsToday? "CBC distances itself from Don Cherry's fighting words. Boy! maybe Moncton can get an CHL team. Then the whole world will really be watching us.)
The editorial is a pseudo-spiritual comment on how good it is we share at Thanksgiving. Indeed, we do. Just think of how much we have shared this year, some of us going hungry to do it - so our coporate bosses could have overflowing tables, (always remembering to thank God for His kindness to them before tucking in.)
Craig Babstock has the usual inane staff writer op ed piece, this one about how chldren can thank their parents for standing up for them. Right. Think of how boldly they have stood up to corporate bosses and their journalistic friends who want to destroy our children's education so they can make a profit out of it. Think of the valiant and public stand taken by Home and School and Parents' Associations.
Alec Bruce's column, as usual, is intelligent - though he goes too far in saying Allward wants to help New Brunswick through supporting Senate reform. I have seen no evidence that Allward has any wish but to obey Harper - probably in return for a promise of some sort.
A democracy represents people. It represent them as individuals. It does not represent welders simply because they are welders or nurses because they are nurses. It does not represent people because they are short or because they are tall or because they live in a small province or because they live in hilly country. A democracy represents all of us.;
We all have equal right to vote for members of the House of Commons. That's democracy.
The purpose of a Senate has nothing to do with democracy. John A. Macdonald created a senate because he did NOT trust democracy. It was appointed so it could be stuffed with the better sort - bankers, railway builders, and their reliable political hacks ... The idea that it is now a place of "sober, second thought" is absurd.
I have watched Senate debates. I have testified to Senate committees. Not all, but a clear majority of senators, are highly partisan and not very bright political hacks. They do almost nothing useful.
And, if we do give the senate more power, the only place it could come from is Commons. In other words, we would be taking power from a democratically elected body to put it in the hands of a less democratic one. As well, candidates would need money, lots of it, to run in province wide elections. They won't be able to get enough from widows and orphans. So guess who will be paying their election bills?
An appointed senate is largely useless. An elected Senate would be destructive of democracy. Best to simply get rid of what what has been a deliberately anti-democratic institution from the start. (The same, incidentally, is true of the US Senate. The men who wrote the American constitution were dominated by the wealthiest people in the US - with George Washington leading the way as the nation's largest slave owner.)
There is a good letter by Francis Cormier on city planning for downtown. It makes far more common sense than the ideas from city council which, I suspect, are based more on corruption than on thought. (To be fair, it is possible that city-councillors are not currupt - just as dumb as squids at low tide.)
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