My cat has just walked across my keyboard and destroyed a blog I had almost finished. And it's the most important one I've ever done.
I'll start again - but I'll have to shorten it to get it done in time.
So, forget the news in Section A.
There's a big story about a statue erected on the lawn of a Pentecostal church in Moncton to honour the mounties who were killed a year ago. The trouble is that the pastor says it will help the community to heal.
For Christ's sake, pastor, the community is not the hero and it's not what needs help. This community, if it's to be any help all, has to demand full information on why this happened. How did that man get such a gun? Why were police sent so poorly equipped? What are we going to do with the answers to these questions?
We don't need any soppy healing. We need to demand action. We need governments and people who want to deal with the problem.
There's also a big story on a fracking commission report. Nobody's read it yet, and the paper doesn't say much about it, really. But we're assured that it says fracking is perfectly safe. But we knew that before the commission even started. Didn't we?
The rest of the news part is trivia. Wow! A man was charged with masturbating in a parking garage on Church St. Great story. I needed to know that. Where are the photographers when we need them.
The editorial is the usual, shallow boosterism and, as usual, it's about the city making money. (I wonder how much of that money ever filters down to us?)
_____________________________________________________________________________
But then, Norbert Cunningham has a fine column very sensible, very well written about the report on reconciliation with our native peoples. This would do any newspaper credit. I think the best we can do is to give native people much more land, more power, and even independence. If they ever want to rejoin us, well, that's up to them. However, we all know that Harper won't raise a finger because big business, like shale gas and oil, prefers native people to be subordinate so they can send in the boys in camouflage suits and carrying combat rifles if native peoples get in the way.
However, I won't talk about the column itself. Read Norbert for that. But I want to add to it.
Our native peoples are part of a much, much bigger problem that the west has created. Ever since 1492, our superiority in ocean travel, in weaponry, and in utterly immoral greed, particularly displayed by a warped and out of control capitalism, has killed hundreds of millions and destroyed societies and cultures all over the world.
That's why this world developed an extreme form of Islam. That's why China tried communism. That's why terrorists carried out the 9/11 attacks. We "Christians" created the fear and hatred and the instinct for survival that has made hell out of so much of the world and made so much of it hate us. We did it to loot and abuse people all over Africa, Asia, Latin America.
It was and is to make money. That's why Canada played along with the US, to send "peacekeepers" to drive Haiti back into hopeless poverty and early death. It pleased billionaires who wanted to keep Haitians among the poorest people on earth. That's why we were taught to hate Castro for getting in the way of our looting. Check out our mining companies, the Canadian ones, in Central America and Congo. Check out the poverty, the exploitation, the destruction of the land to make bigger profits.
And remember Lac Megantic. And who remember who didn't have to answer any questions about it.
It's true that most of that wealth never reached most of us. The very rich have always been able to abuse their own people just as much as any others. When the British Empire was at its height, making vast fortunes out of looting India and forcing huge quantities of opium on China, and gathering slaves from Africa for sale to sons of the empire in America (and killing millions in transit) so they could build palaces in England, most of the British people lived in vile conditions and were so poorly paid that men joined the army and navy at pennies a day just to get food and have a place to sleep. There, they killed and died to make the rich even richer. Then, when they were bled dry, they dumped back into the slums they came from - with nothing.
So much for Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah for the British Grenadiers. So much for Rule Britannia. Britannia rules the waves....
We made hell out of most of the world (while chaplains, of course, blessed the ships and blessed the muskets.) And most of our ancestors suffered a hell in our own countries as they suffered the same abuses as native peoples all over the world -bad health, short lives, abysmal pay, and slums so the rich could get richer out of us, too.
Greed, pure greed allowed to run wild has created measureless hunger, killing and early death all over the world since 1492. That's why Canadian pilots are killing people today in Iraq and Syria.
We have to deal with this very soon because the destruction of other cultures and societies is causing the destruction of our own. And, right after that, the self-destruction of those uncaged predators we call big capitalists.
But we vote for moral eunuchs those capitalists tell us to vote for. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy. And he is us."
That's why I get so angry every Saturday when I read the pabulum slopped on what the TandT calls a Faith page.
___________________________________________________________________________
Right next to Norbert Cunningham's column is another excellent one by Steve Mallory. It's about a reality TV show on CBS, "The Briefcase", in which the poor are publicly exploited and humiliated by each other. Again. I won't talk about it. Read it. This is good stuff.
And Alec Bruce is in top form in a column on how we are being lied to and abused by our own leaders.
Those are three top-rate columns in any league.
_____________________________________________________________________
Then we hit Canada&World. "Snoop Dogg to appear in Trailer Park Boys". Then, a big story from 1785 on how St. John wanted to be the capital of New Brunswick." B3 has a half page on the death of a Fredericton lawyer. I'm sorry to read it. But that's not a half page of news.
B4 has a half page story that Tom Mulcair say "Pope should apologize for abuse at schools" I agree.
But in world in turmoil, that is not a half page story. He might well have added that the Catholic church in Quebec has a lot to answer for. It had pretty much a monopoly on French Quebec group homes for orphans, shelters for the mentally ill and, oh, they abused the children and the mentally ill every bit as badly as they abused native peoples.
The last page has a 'stop the presses" story about how people in Paris are riding bicycles with balloon tires and with baskets that have baguettes in them.
This whole section is infantile crap. There is no excuse for an editor who would do this.
_____________________________________________________________________
Where is the story about Dr. Cleary who spent six months risking her life to save people from ebola? She's our chief medical officer, and she did this. CBC carried a big story about this yesterday. Do the news editors at the TandT just listen to music radio? Gee. What if her name had been Irving? Do you think then they would have mentioned it? JDIrving tosses his loose change to a safe charity and we get a big announcement that this puts him into the philanthropic hall of fame - and the paper refers to him as a 'philanthropist". What a sleazy collection of news editors this paper must have!
Incidentally, if you check the CBC news site, you'll find the story. Read the comments, too. Most of them, when I checked yesterday, were disgusting. The bad ones read as though they came from Irving press readers who are angry at her because she criticized fracking. They are the sort of ignorant louts who have never done anything for anybody, but who demean Dr. Cleary's courage and service by saying that she did it just to get attention. In fact, maybe those obnoxious comments are from Irving press editors.
The Irving press. rear-end kissers also missed the story about the blogger in Saudi Arabia whose blog displeased the king. He has been sentenced to ten years and 1000 lashes. This is really death sentence by torture. And the king of Saudi Arabia is on our side. Yeah. He's a good guy. We like him. And it was Lawrence of Arabia who made all this possible.
________________________________________________________________________________
Student columnist Jessica Naugler is on C2, and talks about getting ready for the stressful exam season. Jessica, take it from an old pro. There's no need for stress. Here's how I managed it in grade ten.
Since I did naughty things in my seat at the back of the class, the teacher moved me to a desk right up front, and touching against his. Many would have been dismayed at that. But, I, born with the eye for opportunity and advancement that is a genetic trait of the Decaries, calmed surveyed the possibilities. And it paid off big in exam time.
Right in front of my face was the teacher's row of books on his desk. When the exam came, it was the work of just seconds to put my crib notes between his books, to be pulled out as the need arose.
I eventually got kicked out of school. But I was never stressed.
________________________________________________________________________
In closing, I leave you a web site that's quite fascinating. It's run by very orthodox Jews who wear black hats, are bearded, have very soft hands, and spend most of their time in study and worship. Their wives shave their heads on marriage, and wear wigs for the rest of their lives. (I haven't seen any in Moncton, but knew many of them in Montreal. They're an interesting bunch, and very, very strict.) Many of them are highly critical of Israel, and fear it will be destructive of Judaism. The American ones don't support Harper or the US government on Israel. They think Obama and Harper should look after their own countries.
To read them, google True Torah Jews
I'll start again - but I'll have to shorten it to get it done in time.
So, forget the news in Section A.
There's a big story about a statue erected on the lawn of a Pentecostal church in Moncton to honour the mounties who were killed a year ago. The trouble is that the pastor says it will help the community to heal.
For Christ's sake, pastor, the community is not the hero and it's not what needs help. This community, if it's to be any help all, has to demand full information on why this happened. How did that man get such a gun? Why were police sent so poorly equipped? What are we going to do with the answers to these questions?
We don't need any soppy healing. We need to demand action. We need governments and people who want to deal with the problem.
There's also a big story on a fracking commission report. Nobody's read it yet, and the paper doesn't say much about it, really. But we're assured that it says fracking is perfectly safe. But we knew that before the commission even started. Didn't we?
The rest of the news part is trivia. Wow! A man was charged with masturbating in a parking garage on Church St. Great story. I needed to know that. Where are the photographers when we need them.
The editorial is the usual, shallow boosterism and, as usual, it's about the city making money. (I wonder how much of that money ever filters down to us?)
_____________________________________________________________________________
But then, Norbert Cunningham has a fine column very sensible, very well written about the report on reconciliation with our native peoples. This would do any newspaper credit. I think the best we can do is to give native people much more land, more power, and even independence. If they ever want to rejoin us, well, that's up to them. However, we all know that Harper won't raise a finger because big business, like shale gas and oil, prefers native people to be subordinate so they can send in the boys in camouflage suits and carrying combat rifles if native peoples get in the way.
However, I won't talk about the column itself. Read Norbert for that. But I want to add to it.
Our native peoples are part of a much, much bigger problem that the west has created. Ever since 1492, our superiority in ocean travel, in weaponry, and in utterly immoral greed, particularly displayed by a warped and out of control capitalism, has killed hundreds of millions and destroyed societies and cultures all over the world.
That's why this world developed an extreme form of Islam. That's why China tried communism. That's why terrorists carried out the 9/11 attacks. We "Christians" created the fear and hatred and the instinct for survival that has made hell out of so much of the world and made so much of it hate us. We did it to loot and abuse people all over Africa, Asia, Latin America.
It was and is to make money. That's why Canada played along with the US, to send "peacekeepers" to drive Haiti back into hopeless poverty and early death. It pleased billionaires who wanted to keep Haitians among the poorest people on earth. That's why we were taught to hate Castro for getting in the way of our looting. Check out our mining companies, the Canadian ones, in Central America and Congo. Check out the poverty, the exploitation, the destruction of the land to make bigger profits.
And remember Lac Megantic. And who remember who didn't have to answer any questions about it.
It's true that most of that wealth never reached most of us. The very rich have always been able to abuse their own people just as much as any others. When the British Empire was at its height, making vast fortunes out of looting India and forcing huge quantities of opium on China, and gathering slaves from Africa for sale to sons of the empire in America (and killing millions in transit) so they could build palaces in England, most of the British people lived in vile conditions and were so poorly paid that men joined the army and navy at pennies a day just to get food and have a place to sleep. There, they killed and died to make the rich even richer. Then, when they were bled dry, they dumped back into the slums they came from - with nothing.
So much for Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah for the British Grenadiers. So much for Rule Britannia. Britannia rules the waves....
We made hell out of most of the world (while chaplains, of course, blessed the ships and blessed the muskets.) And most of our ancestors suffered a hell in our own countries as they suffered the same abuses as native peoples all over the world -bad health, short lives, abysmal pay, and slums so the rich could get richer out of us, too.
Greed, pure greed allowed to run wild has created measureless hunger, killing and early death all over the world since 1492. That's why Canadian pilots are killing people today in Iraq and Syria.
We have to deal with this very soon because the destruction of other cultures and societies is causing the destruction of our own. And, right after that, the self-destruction of those uncaged predators we call big capitalists.
But we vote for moral eunuchs those capitalists tell us to vote for. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy. And he is us."
That's why I get so angry every Saturday when I read the pabulum slopped on what the TandT calls a Faith page.
___________________________________________________________________________
Right next to Norbert Cunningham's column is another excellent one by Steve Mallory. It's about a reality TV show on CBS, "The Briefcase", in which the poor are publicly exploited and humiliated by each other. Again. I won't talk about it. Read it. This is good stuff.
And Alec Bruce is in top form in a column on how we are being lied to and abused by our own leaders.
Those are three top-rate columns in any league.
_____________________________________________________________________
Then we hit Canada&World. "Snoop Dogg to appear in Trailer Park Boys". Then, a big story from 1785 on how St. John wanted to be the capital of New Brunswick." B3 has a half page on the death of a Fredericton lawyer. I'm sorry to read it. But that's not a half page of news.
B4 has a half page story that Tom Mulcair say "Pope should apologize for abuse at schools" I agree.
But in world in turmoil, that is not a half page story. He might well have added that the Catholic church in Quebec has a lot to answer for. It had pretty much a monopoly on French Quebec group homes for orphans, shelters for the mentally ill and, oh, they abused the children and the mentally ill every bit as badly as they abused native peoples.
The last page has a 'stop the presses" story about how people in Paris are riding bicycles with balloon tires and with baskets that have baguettes in them.
This whole section is infantile crap. There is no excuse for an editor who would do this.
_____________________________________________________________________
Where is the story about Dr. Cleary who spent six months risking her life to save people from ebola? She's our chief medical officer, and she did this. CBC carried a big story about this yesterday. Do the news editors at the TandT just listen to music radio? Gee. What if her name had been Irving? Do you think then they would have mentioned it? JDIrving tosses his loose change to a safe charity and we get a big announcement that this puts him into the philanthropic hall of fame - and the paper refers to him as a 'philanthropist". What a sleazy collection of news editors this paper must have!
Incidentally, if you check the CBC news site, you'll find the story. Read the comments, too. Most of them, when I checked yesterday, were disgusting. The bad ones read as though they came from Irving press readers who are angry at her because she criticized fracking. They are the sort of ignorant louts who have never done anything for anybody, but who demean Dr. Cleary's courage and service by saying that she did it just to get attention. In fact, maybe those obnoxious comments are from Irving press editors.
The Irving press. rear-end kissers also missed the story about the blogger in Saudi Arabia whose blog displeased the king. He has been sentenced to ten years and 1000 lashes. This is really death sentence by torture. And the king of Saudi Arabia is on our side. Yeah. He's a good guy. We like him. And it was Lawrence of Arabia who made all this possible.
________________________________________________________________________________
Student columnist Jessica Naugler is on C2, and talks about getting ready for the stressful exam season. Jessica, take it from an old pro. There's no need for stress. Here's how I managed it in grade ten.
Since I did naughty things in my seat at the back of the class, the teacher moved me to a desk right up front, and touching against his. Many would have been dismayed at that. But, I, born with the eye for opportunity and advancement that is a genetic trait of the Decaries, calmed surveyed the possibilities. And it paid off big in exam time.
Right in front of my face was the teacher's row of books on his desk. When the exam came, it was the work of just seconds to put my crib notes between his books, to be pulled out as the need arose.
I eventually got kicked out of school. But I was never stressed.
________________________________________________________________________
In closing, I leave you a web site that's quite fascinating. It's run by very orthodox Jews who wear black hats, are bearded, have very soft hands, and spend most of their time in study and worship. Their wives shave their heads on marriage, and wear wigs for the rest of their lives. (I haven't seen any in Moncton, but knew many of them in Montreal. They're an interesting bunch, and very, very strict.) Many of them are highly critical of Israel, and fear it will be destructive of Judaism. The American ones don't support Harper or the US government on Israel. They think Obama and Harper should look after their own countries.
To read them, google True Torah Jews
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