Egypt's Long Protest and China's shorts

Contributor: "YYC"

Mubarak appoints new ministers

What part of "get lost" does Mubarak not understand? Or for that matter, does the Obama administration just not get?

It seems what we have here is the typical western response to crisis by attempting to turn it to their own use. Did Mubarak obey instructions to cut off the Internet so that the western MSM could control the news - you know the looting and all?

Even the Globe and Mail is suggesting, without saying, that the US is orchestrating the whole thing, Obama having withdrawn overt support of Mubarak and "pushing" him to appoint a vice president - Omar Suleiman - who not incidentally has long been the intelligence chief in Mubarak's government, and presumably has the dirt on all of his colleagues.

So is this really a quiet, internal coup?

Nonetheless, it's not what the Egyptian people want, so it will be interesting to hear the upcoming promises of free and fair elections, and other fake goodies.

It's more than interesting to see how China is lending support to the status quo by reportedly not talking about it. I checked out Xinhuanet and it's true - no mention of Egypt beyond one short piece saying that Mubarak has appointed a new government.

To be fair, China does have its New Year coming up on Feb. 3, and if it's anything like here at New Year's the drinking has already begun. And of course personal predictions for the Year of the Rabbit are no doubt a huge distraction.

I wonder if the world would be a better place if we all wore red underwear.

Unemployment: Recipe for Unending War?

Contributor: "YYC"

Egypt: 'This is a massacre'
The 18 million residents of this sprawling city awoke Saturday to find not a police officer in sight. Some had shed their uniforms and left them abandoned the street where protesters picked them and waved them gleefully on sticks.

Maybe if the Toronto G20 protesters had been ready to stay in the streets until they were heard, and had been desperate enough to risk life and limb, as the Egyptians have (100 dead so far), the police and government might have been worn down. But in Canada we have only weekend protesters.

I suppose that's because because so many of the organizers have day jobs, but I'd be willing to bet that many of the youthful attendees don't, although obviously things have not yet reached the sorry pass of the youth of Egypt.

There appears, however, to be a high degree of political lethargy among Canadian youth, and Obama-style hypnosis of young people (false promises of jobs and reduced tuition fees?) may be the goal in the next election :

Elections Canada takes aim at disengaged young Canadians
Only 37.4 per cent of voters ages 18 to 24 cast ballots in the 2008 federal election. Turnout by young voters has been dropping steadily since the 1960s, when about seven in 10 of those eligible to vote for the first time went to the polls.

The jobless numbers are growing here, and one hopes that our politicians will take note of what happens when things get too desperate in the general population. Right now we have an ingenious way of diguising the true numbers of unemployed - by counting only those on Unemployment Insurance not those whose insurance has run out, but who is really fooled by that?

Yes, I know our politicians have taken to calling it "Employment" Insurance, but they exist in 1984 whereas I not only remember the past, but also live in the present, and can recognize newspeak when I hear it. The true numbers will be patently revealed when unemployed workers take en masse to the streets, like their Egyptian counterparts.

Then, of course, the MSM will show pictures of looting and burning, painting the "mobs" as vandals and savages, while the police commit (VIDEO) their own brand of vandalism and savagery on the bodies of peaceful dissidents.

VIDEO: Obama's hypocritical instruction manual on how to handle protesters

Looting in Egypt?
Al-Jazeera is reporting that apprehended looters were in possession of central security services IDs and government issued weapons.

Watch the latest developments in Egypt live on Aljazeera

VIDEO: Former CIA agent on FOX: "I think you can write off the peace process forever"

Question: Isn't unending war the goal of the global agenda?

Related on YYC: As in Egypt ...

Credit where it's doo-doo

Contributor: "YYC"

Stephen Harper's grand achievement
The prime minister is altering the political culture of Canada, moving it almost imperceptibly to the right.

Aw shucks, coos Steve, I couldn'ta dun it widout the help and support of my darling Iggy. We have play fights, but our pillow talk is just delightful. He's a very good listener.

You're not likely to get anywhere near as clear a picture of that from the MSM, but the following excerpts of Globe and Mail readers' comments from December 2008 show that many Canadians were aware early on of Ignatieff's true role - the death of the Liberal party, to be brought about in much the same manner as the way was paved for the "Christian" Reformers by Mulroney (whose own "grand achievement" was "Dragging Canada kicking and screaming into the 21st century" Wiki) - although one YouTuber fully credits Peter MacKay for the gory demise of the Progressive Conservative Party.

"Iggy shook hands with Harper to extend the American War in Afghanistan, He says the 'Pearsonian' days of Canada as a Peacekeeper are over.."

"Sounds like we'll have another arrogant party leader that we can't trust. Maybe Harper and Michael can sit and have dinner and each take turns stroking their own egos."

"Compared to Ignatieff, Stephen Harper is warm and spontaneous ... The country doesn't need a leader with Ignatieff's politics. The job is already taken."

"Did you know most American Presidents were educated at Harvard? The other few were from Yale. These two universities account for over 90% of the membership of the Brotherhood of Death, the Secret Skulls and the Lizard-Men from Alpha Centauri. Mr. Ignatieff is well placed."

"Wasn't it, like, a month ago that the Toronto Star endorsed Dion as PM? Whatever happened to Dion?"

"And remember boys and girls, it was Ignatieff who likened the Liberals to puffins. Real good at hiding poo."

"In a way this is great news. Harper and Ignatieff are closer ideologically than Ignatieff and Layton."

Honourable mention goes to Best Man Jack Layton:

"That whole 'workin-man' theory is just a fantasy cooked up by the NDP who need to brainwash the workin' man for his support. 'vote for us and we will build big fast ferries, and our government will supply good-payin' jobs and all that rot. It's a Robin Hood Complex that we need to be wary of."

Little wonder that Harper's attack ads have aleady been pulled. Were they just another play fight to hide the nuptial poo?

Actually, that opening Citizen article smacks of a bit of an obituary, don't you think? I mean, celebrating Harper's grand achievement as if there is no tomorrow? Nothing grander in the picture?

I keep asking, will Harper walk away if he ends up with another minority and the Liberals survive another term?

Image borrowed from Trashy's World

The Canadian Zionism Question ...

an important avenue for journalistic research.

Contributor: "DGR"

Why are the mainstream media avoiding this obvious Canadian question?

The above-titled article has been reposted on several news blogs and discussion sites:

http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/01/the-canadian-zionism-question/
http://activistteacher.blogspot.com/2011/01/canadian-zionism-question.html
http://www.countercurrents.org/rancourt260111.htm
http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/8238-the-canadian-zionism-question.html
http://rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/canadian-zionism-question-why
http://www.blogfrommiddleeast.com/?new=74318
http://engforum.pravda.ru/showthread.php?304848-The-Canadian-Zionism-Question
http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2011/01/27/title-78#more9124
http://www.silobreaker.com/the-canadian-zionism-question-5_2264313848368463873
http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/the-canadian-zionism-question/
http://jfedac.org/?p=11416

As a result several tentative answers (research directions) have been suggested. Here is a sample list, with additions:

* The Israel Lobby owns the media, via direct ownership and advertisement.
* Canada is a client-state of the US on which it is economically dependent: This determines its foreign policy.
* The Politicians are ideological, arising from Zionist Christian pressures.
* Significant political campaign donations are tied to Israel Lobby leverage.
* Business interests for political after-life are tied to Israel Lobby leverage (pay back).
* Politicians who step out of line on Israel are subjected to career-damaging media mobbing.
* Politicians who do not support Zionist initiatives are subjected to sustained media harassment.
* Actual politician and elite indoctrination from Israeli diplomacy campaigns including the well known courtesy and diplomatic and exchange trips to Israel.
* Islamophobia and identification of Israel as fighting Arabs (i.e., anti-Arab racism).
* Israel Lobby status and funding derives from Israel.
* Israel is a stable and significant generator for the US military economy and a major military and intelligence ally in maintaining US hegemony.
* Politicians instinctively feel and follow power.

Note that the suggested academic research would be aimed at identifying and describing the actual dominant psycho-social mechanisms operating on individual politicians to give rise to Zio-zeal. The research would further quantify the relative importance of concomitant influences. A powerful research approach would be to obtain research interviews with politicians and/or their aids and advisers.

For more obvious questions, please contact:
Denis Rancourt, Ph.D
Former physics professor, University of Ottawa

Apologies, holocaust and survivors

Contributor: "BeeSting"

The word holocaust is defined as a religious animal sacrifice that is completely consumed by fire, from Ancient Greek holocaustos (wholly+ burnt). The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines the word as:

1: a sacrifice consumed by fire
2: a thorough destruction involving extensive loss of life especially through fire , and
3: a (often capitalized) : the mass slaughter of European civilians and especially Jews by the Nazis during World War II - usually used with the ; b : a mass slaughter of people; especially : genocide.

Holocaust and words such as Nazi and antisemitism have been/are being misused by politicians, pundits and others to tar opponents' reputations and shut down debate.

Big mouth Glenn Beck was put on the spot by Rabbis who are demanding that Fox sanction Glenn Beck for "diminishing" the memory of the Holocaust, and also an apology from Fox News chief for calling Beck's Jewish critics 'left-wing rabbis'.

Meanwhile, the French railways company SNCF is also in trouble, although its president did apologize for its role during the Vichy regime. The apology seems key to access by the SNCF to "lucrative contracts to build high-speed rail in the United States."

However, the European Jewish Press noted that Rosita Kenigsberg, executive vice president of the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Florida, thought that the French rail's Holocaust regrets were "not complete," and US lawmaker Ron Klein is planning a "bill, with help from Holocaust survivors and their families, targeting "the SNCF's bids on high-speech rail projects in his home state of Florida – from Orlando to Tampa- and in California."

Holocaust Survivors say that "France's Train Company Owes Us 'Blood Money'". A New York lawyer is following that path, having filed a class-action lawsuit against SNCF in 2006 on behalf of 600 Holocaust survivors. She said that she was not impressed by the SNCF president’s statement: "SNCF has no plans to pay reparations, which enrages Tamen, who said Pepy should have "skipped the bowing and written a check instead."

Speaking of cheques and reparations, a major Israeli bank was sued for refusing to return funds to Holocaust survivors.

To understand the situation of some survivors, see (VIDEO) Paying for Justice. This doc was shot in Germany, The Netherlands, USA and Israel and:

"deals with the situation of the Holocaust survivors in Israel and around the world. The Filmmakers follow the billions of dollars transferred from the German governments and other European governments as compensation for those who managed to live through the Nazi Terror."

Harper donates Canada to the US via Lockheed Martin

Contributor: "YYC"

Photo: US/Canada defence lackies so tight they happily share water glass.

There are grave predictions (VIDEO) about the fate of the USA. Meanwhile, the Canadian government informs us of our wonderful solvency. So it was very generous of the Canadian people to hand the US our census data in 2006 (very useful for formulating business plans), and it's exceedingly special of them that we will now help out the US by buying their planes.

We have it on the word of Lockheed Martin that Canada selected the F-35 for Next-Generation Fighter. But there's a lot of muttering that this might not be all that true. No Kidding, eh?

Harper hasn't been portrayed as a US laptop since day one for no reason at all (not that Iggy isn't also). So who cares what LM says; the U.S. expects Canada to buy F-35 - or else? The North American Union (NAU)/Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) was not formed to benefit Canada. CNN said it was "on behalf of the investment class": (VIDEO).

I was bemused back in 2008 to learn that Maude Barlow was appointed some kind of water expert for the UN (and the UN declared that water was a universal right - but did anyone expect them to say out loud that it wasn't?).

Barlow's organization, The Council of Canadians, soon started saying that the SPP was dead, and congratulating Canadians for winning the fight against it. "We killed it. And we should be singing it from the rooftops." But an SPP by any other name ...

In keeping with Canadian/US melding, war machine manufacturer Lockheed Martin, nothing if not wildly and expediently diversified, provided the software for our last census. Could that be why Harper doesn't really see the need to foist another mandatory census upon us? Could it be that the American military/industrial monster now has all the info on Canadians it needs to begin privatizing all our services?

I agree with Rabble that complaints from Canadians were not the reason Harper decided to scrap the mandatory long form census (I did my part in 2006 by sending my deliberately poorly completed short form to Maxime Bernier with the request that he forward it to the census office because, as the Minister in charge, he should take responsibility for the fact that my information was going to end up in US hands).

But once again I am bemused by so many socialist organizations' support of mandatory census-taking under these circumstances.

If there was lying going on - and there was, because there always is - it was also on the part of the media who downplayed the number of complaints about the census. For pete's sake, there was a whole "Count Me Out" movement in 2006 (and an updated one has begun for 2011), adamant that Lockheed Martin should not be privy to Canadian data.

Strange that nobody seems to remember that.

Flaherty's Flatulations

Contributor: "Brian H."

I heard finance minister Jim Flaherty on CBC the other day claiming that the Canadian economy is currently doing substantially better than the USA's due to his party's good management through the course of their stewardship.

That rankled more than a bit, as it seems to me that, for any one with a memory for recent history (shame CBC for not pointing this out), the real reason likely goes back somewhat further to the Liberal era, late '90's, and the disallowance of wholesale bank mergers that the big Canadian banks claimed was absolutely necessary to ensure their competitiveness amongst the big fish in the worldwide banking biz.

Now I only have my suspicions to go on as to who these "big fish" might be in that argument, but it seems pretty good odds that the likes of Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks, are likely on the roster there somewhere.

If one looks at the rampant frauds perpetrated by these "too big to fail" fish on the American and indeed world economies ...

BANKERS GONE WILD - HOW THE US GOVERNMENT HELPED WALL STREET GANG-RAPE AMERICA'S MIDDLE CLASS

one has to be downright thankful that incestuous expansionary bank mergers were nipped in the bud here, by a government with a modicum of restraint (whatever their actual motivations might have been).

Disturbing also is the recent, apparently fluid, Wall Street style transition of Harper's environment minister Jim Prentice, from the cabinet to the board of the CIBC. That however is still festering and grist for a future rant.

Flaherty Image from CBC article

Don't Censure Richard Falk!

Contributor: "Brian H."

Falk's 9-11 remarks "condemned" by UN sec.-gen

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Dear UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,

I would like to commend Mr Richard Falk for his recent courageous remarks on inaccuracies in the official 9/11 narrative.

It seems to me obvious that a dispassionate look at the physical evidence, at the very least, supports calls for a proper investigation of these events. 9/11 after all underpins at least two wars currently raging and poised to exceed ten years in duration. How could this not significantly impinge upon human rights of inhabitants of these war zones?

I feel it is high time that such an investigation occur. Further I find arguments to the contrary citing disrespect to 9/11 victims to be specious, vacuous and mendacious. Obscuring the real truth, after all, serves no one but the perpetrators.

I suggest you ignore all calls for censure of Mr Falk and instead laud him far and wide for his courage and resolve. I personally take heart from his forthrightness. I hope for more of his calibre to step forward to be counted on this issue.

Thanks and best regards ...


Ed. Note: This letter was sent by email to OHCHR -

infodesk@ohchr.org

and to P.M. Stephen Harper

pm@pm.gc.ca

You might wish to do the same.

Israel’s Peacemakers Unmasked

Contributor: "Relayer"

The Palestine Papers

What a story. The details of Israeli intransigence although not surprising are nonetheless stomach turning.

I wonder if this information will actually make a difference now that it is obvious that the US has never been an honest broker and that the Palestinians have never had a peace partner.

"For more than a decade, since the collapse of the Camp David talks in 2000, the mantra of Israeli politics has been the same: “There is no Palestinian partner for peace.”

"This week, the first of hundreds of leaked confidential Palestinian documents confirmed the suspicions of a growing number of observers that the rejectionists in the peace process are to be found on the Israeli, not Palestinian, side."

Ed. Note: See videos and other discussions of The Palestine Papers

Winnable Fight: Urge U.S. Not to Veto Settlements Resolution

Contributor: "YYC"

Emailed Message from Jewish Voice for Peace

The recent release by Al Jazeera and the Guardian of some 16,000 documents related to nearly 20 years of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations sadly substantiates what Jewish Voice for Peace has said publicly for years- that the U.S. is not the neutral broker it claims to be.

The United States' unconditional support for Israel has helped to perpetuate the occupation by promoting endless negotiations that have enabled Israel to expand settlements while claiming to work towards peace.

Israel's lack of interest in ending the occupation and being a partner to peace is now nakedly revealed in documents which show its reaction to he Palestinian Authority's unprecedented concessions, shocking because they far exceed the requirements of international law. Israel offered an intransigent 'no' to every concession, with the U.S. looking on in approval.

There is a chance, however, for the Obama Administration to differentiate itself from the ineffectual American actions revealed in the leaked documents.

Palestinians and their supporters have put forth a key resolution on the Israel-Palestine conflict that is now before the UN Security Council. Largely echoing stated U.S. policy, the resolution embraces negotiations, endorses the creation of a Palestinian state, and demands an immediate halt to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. But even though the resolution echoes U.S. policy, President Obama is under heavy pressure to veto the UN resolution from forces in Washington who want to protect the Israeli occupation.

Will you join Jewish Voice for Peace and Just Foreign Policy in urging President Obama to support the UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem?

Prominent former diplomats, including Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Ambassador James Dobbins, have written to President Obama, urging him to instruct our Ambassador to the United Nations to vote yes on this initiative, noting that it echoes U.S. policy.[1]

But sixteen Senators, led by New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, have urged Secretary of State Clinton to veto the resolution.[2]

It's not an immutable law of the universe that the U.S. has to veto UN resolutions critical of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Indeed, last year, the U.S. promised the Palestinians to "consider allowing UN Security Council condemnation of any significant new Israeli settlement activity," the Guardian reported. [3]

U.S. policy is at a cross-roads.

If the U.S. vetoes the UN resolution, it will signal implicit American support for illegal, Jewish-only settlements. Such support would be a departure from longstanding stated U.S. policy and would encourage accelerated settlement construction. A U.S. veto would also embolden the most reactionary forces in Israel, which have been escalating their efforts to silence Israeli dissent against the occupation.

This is a historic opportunity for President Obama to show leadership and back up the words of his speech in Cairo with deeds. Urge President Obama to support the UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Thank you for all you do to help bring about a change in U.S. policy,

Cecilie Surasky, Deputy Director
Sydney Levy, Director of Campaigns
Jewish Voice for Peace

References:

1. "Pickering, Hills, Sullivan, Beinart, Dobbins, More Ask Obama Administration to Support UN Resolution Condemning Illegal Israeli Settlements," Steve Clemons, The Washington Note, Wednesday, Jan 19 2011, http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2011/01/pickering_hills/
2. "UN Resolution on Israeli Settlements Puts Obama in a Diplomatic Bind," Tony Karon Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2043326,00.html
3. "U.S. gives Abbas private assurances over Israeli settlements: Americans consider withholding veto protecting Israel at UN if building goes ahead at Ramat Shlomo," Rory McCarthy, Guardian, Thursday 29 April 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/29/israel-settlement-building-peace-talks

As in Egypt ...

Contributor: "YYC"

Can Egyptians Revolt?

"The traditional wisdom has always been that Egyptians don't revolt simply because they are an agricultural society. Farmers require stability and patience to tend their land.

"Farmers also need a strong central government to protect them against natural disasters, such as floods and droughts.

"Egypt is no longer an agricultural society."

"... In the 1990s Mubarak was forced to speed up the privatisation process under the pressure of a daunting foreign debt crisis and foreign international lending organisations, such as the World Bank and the IMF, who made privatisation a pre-condition for aid."

Egypt is a classic case of shock doctrine - the World Bank and the IMF taking advantage of a nation's vulnerability by appealing to the greed of a few power seekers.

"After privatisation, the new business elite gained control over millions of workers or potential voters who used to work for the public sector in the past. The new wealthy elites can now buy the loyalty and votes of millions of private sector workers through wages and other economic benefits. They also have much needed cash to support their political campaigns and their parties if needed."

So in Canada ...

Walmart to open 40 supercenters, to add jobs

And to destroy other jobs by killing smaller businesses. Have you noticed that every small town looks the same now as you enter it by bus or train? McDonald's, WalMart, Home Depot ...

All you have to do is look at the crappy Mexican and American produce at the supermarket to know that we're not an agricultural country. Can Canadians revolt? Are we prepared for this? Are we prepared to die, as in Egypt (VIDEO) and Tunisia (VIDEO)?

Did you notice in the Egypt video that in the areas where some vandalism was done, there were few protesters? It's the same here in Canada. Most people want peaceful protest, but the police are not "peaceful". They are no longer there to serve and protect us and our so-called democratic freedoms; their job is to support the power structure, whether good or downright evil.

VIDEO: G20 scenes of police brutality

NOTE: There's a unique analysis of our justice system near the end of this video.

Related: Tunisia Wants to Arrest Deposed President
Included: Video of Tunisian protest. Again, fewer protesters in areas where people are shown throwing rocks at police.

The Tunisia article tickles my fancy. There are so many "leaders" I'd like to see arrested. The Tunisian president's promised concessions are way too little, way too late.

Walmart Image borrowed from here: My Walmart Dilemma

Stop the Meter on Your Internet Use

Contributor: "YYC"
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are about to impose usage-based billing on YOU.

We call on Canadian decision makers to stop big telecom companies from forcing usage-based Internet billing on Canadians.

Sign the message to the CRTC. Who knows? It might do some good.

Drugging the Nation

Contributor: "YYC"

High dose narcotic painkillers prescribed: study

"Patients are receiving strong pain medications such as morphine and OxyContin at doses higher than recommended, a new study of people on social assistance in Ontario finds."

I suppose the reason the study was carried out on recipients of social assistance is because their drugs are paid for by welfare. And I suppose it's possible that, if well-drugged, some homeless people might die in their sleep a lot quicker, and more comfortably, in frigid weather due to their vitals being slowed by the drugs - and therefore "decrease the surplus population" (Scrooge) of useless eaters. But this insanity crosses so-called class lines.

And the users are peeing it into our drinking water.

Geez, they arrest people for peeing on war memorials, but nobody's held accountable for the drugging of the nation, and the resulting pollution of our water.

The Good, The Bad, and Goldstein

Contributor: "YYC"

Moscow airport bomb: Doubts about Russian tactics

Rest assured, that no matter how highly touted airport security is (particularly when overseen by Israeli-based security companies, as were the 9/11 airports), if a useful incident is needed, one will occur.

In the case of the most recent Russian bombing, even without any investigation, the BBC is happy to insert hypnotic suggestion into its report:

"Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the greatest challenge to Russia's national security and the severest threats from radical groups and Islamist organisations come from the North Caucasus"

And what's in the North Caucasus? The usual: Muslims and oil.

And why are periodic incidents required?

"Russia is often criticised by human rights organisations for the behaviour of its military and security forces in the region."

Next comes the self-righteousness: Russia bad; Britain and USA more civilized. In fact Russia is practically neanderthal:

"This behaviour suggests little has changed superficially since Russia incorporated the region in wars of expansion in the 19th Century."

On the other hand, Islamists fighting for self-determination are much badder (especially when Russian security conveniently fails):

"What started off as a disorganised yet determined campaign for national self-determination in the final years of the Soviet Union rapidly metamorphosed into one of the ugliest and most violent Islamist campaigns."

Goldstein is universal; war is multi-national big business; invest your children in "the highest calling".

Related: Obama to focus on jobs, education, infrastructure

In his speech tonight, that is. But not in reality. Goldstein is, and will continue to be, his main focus.

New fashion statement - TSA inspired

Contributor: "YYC"

The best apparel to wear if you're planning to fly anywhere ...

Here are some of their testimonials. I like the third one best.

Click on image to enlarge.

Speaking of Terrorism….

Contributor: "BeeSting"

Related: Terrorism, White Lies and Omissions

Question: If the US of A can indict Iraqis for killing American soldiers, can Iraqis equally sue the USA for killing Iraqi civilians and militants, considering that the Iraq war was illegal?

An Iraqi-Canadian man, Sayfildin Tahir-Sharif, was arrested this week at the request of the US of A.

“He is accused of conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and providing material support to terrorists, including Tunisian suicide bombers who killed American soldiers in Iraq.”

According to what has been disclosed by the RCMP and the FBI joint terrorism task force, Tahir-Sharif is not accused of having killed US citizens himself.

Contrast this with the treatment of Luis Posada Carriles, a CIA-trained terrorist. He was arrested by the Venezuelan authorities along with three other co-conspirators for the October 6, 1976 bombing of Cubana Airlines flight 455, killing 72 civilians on board.

He also “admitted to organising a series of hotel bombings in Cuba” in 1998.

Other declassified files on Luis Posada Carriles:

National Security Archives

CIA

Double standards (Cubana and Lockerbie) in death as in life: (VIDEO) presidential pardon.

Food for thought?

Fluoride: The Ultimate Tooth-Fairy Tale

Contributor: "YYC"

Fluoridated water is ineffective, unsafe and unethical

Related: Pushing Drugs - through your faucets

"Studies" have shown (Emphasis mine):

... a striking fall in cavities over the past five decades to the same degree in countries not fluoridated as in countries fluoridated ...

The four large studies of the first kind started in 1945 and are often cited as evidence of effectiveness of fluoridation, but in fact none of them actually did so.

There is substantial evidence that a higher rate of hip fracture among the elderly is associated with concentrations not much greater than that in fluoridated cities in North America.

Knowing this, they still discuss what quantities they should be putting into the water? Especially so late in the game? And it is a game.

The reason we have had fluoride in our water is because it is a mining waste product that needed some place to go. So excuses were found to market it as a miracle drug. Naturally, the media went along with the ruse.

The only reason we're reading negative comments now is because companies that have been producing phosphates are going out of business and therefore there is less available waste product, so now the gullible public has to be mentally prepared (mind controlled) for cessation of the fluoridation practice. It's as simple as that.

But they don't want anybody putting two and two together, so they're pretending there's a whole new debate of the pros and cons, but playing up the negatives for the first time. Now they're saying out loud what they've branded for decades as fringe paranoia.

This is just another example of what sheep so many people have been (including the medical and dental professions) to have literally swallowed a real life tooth-fairy tale.

A water treatment plant should be mandated only to remove junk from water, not put junk into it - not for any reason - and certainly should not be exploited to funnel tax dollars into corporate coffers.

Image thanks to clipartguide.com

Mohamed Harkat Will Appeal

Sophie Harkat (second from right) with long-time supporters
in front of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) office in Ottawa.
Click on photo to enlarge.

Contributor: "YYC"

Accused terrorist served with deportation order; vows to fight

It's always been bemusing to me that the mainstream press often like to portray Mohamed Harkat in shadows (see photo of him in above news item), as if trying to make him seem sinister. Even when Peter Mansbridge interviewed him in jail, way back when Harkat's English wouldn't allow him to express himself properly and he was barely holding himself together, he was sitting in the shadows and Mansbridge was bathed in light.

This prompts me to remind you that you, too, could be a terrorist if the media and the spooks decided to make you into one.

Anyway, Yours Truly didn't make it to the Friday rally on time; most people had left (including Moe Harkat) or were leaving by the time I arrived. But the mood seemed reasonably upbeat.

I hated to be like the MSM and ask, "How do you feel?" of Sophie, so I apologized first, but asked anyway because I knew that her husband had been knocked quite low by the judge's decision.

Her reply was direct: "I've always been very hopeful. It's Moe who sometimes needs bolstering. The appeal is another chance to prove the unconstitutionality of the Security Certificate."

Christian Legeais (at right in photo), spokesperson for the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee, pointed out that a challenge to the certificate could not be made during the recent deportation hearing, but now there is another opportunity.

This is not just about one person or five persons; the Security Certificate, depending on circumstances, makes all Canadians vulnerable to indefinite arrest on secret evidence without any charges being laid.

If you haven't signed the latest statement, now's the time to do so.

Thanks to Paul Smith (second adult from left in photo) for letting me take the pic with his camera. My own little digital was complaining of the cold.

Pushing Drugs - Through your Faucets

... and in your food.

Contributor: "YYC"

Antidepressants found in fish
Drugs not removed by sewage treatment

But they want us to worry about CO2 instead.

It's not just antidepressants in the water:

"...drugs such as chemotherapy medicines, hormones and antibiotics have been found in fish and they pose a greater danger to human health than antidepressants."

I've been using a water distiller, purchased from Sears, for the past few months. It's not a total solution by any means, but it greatly reduces my overall levels of crap ingestion. Now I have to think about how much fish I can eat without involuntarily undergoing chemotherapy.

I wouldn't take a prescription drug if paid to. And next time somebody suggests I'm endangering my neighbours by not getting vaccinated, I can tell them I don't pee drugs into their drinking water, so we're even.

January's almost gone and so far this winter I haven't had so much as a sniffle, which can't be said for for many of my neighbours, including, or maybe especially, the ones who got their flu shots.

If you want to stay healthy "Just say no"!

Related Post: Contributor: "Bugman": Flu Jab: Damned if you don't, and ...

Fish image from designbuzz.com

Keith Olbermann & Modern "Opium of the People"

Contributor: "BeeSting"

VIDEO - TV, the drug of the nation

The New York Times has reported that Keith Olbermann and MSNBC parted ways rather abruptly. Questions about the reason for the divorce have been raised by many, including Café Sentido and Forbes.

What no one seems to address is the detrimental effect of such mergers on democracy. Last year, Comcast was said to partner with the Tea Party for a new network , as if ultra-rightist Fox wasn't enough. Comcast issued a denial.

Canada's own ultra-rightist network will soon be heard on our airwaves, no doubt foxilized to boot. Should Canadians be warned that speaking out against Fox North's big mouths is hazardous to one's well-being, employment etc., as it is for Fox South:

What Comcast owns
What Newscorp owns

Another entry on Crooks and Liars: David Shuster interviewed by Anderson Cooper, with comments.

Stephen Harper: Grim Reaper

Contributor: "YYC"

Harper’s Liberal fixation

Excerpt: with emphasis and square-bracketed comments by YYC.

To be critical of the Harper government is seen as synonymous with being a Liberal — the worst thing that many Conservatives can think to call someone.

["Socialist being the nasty, underlying implication, despite the Liberals having moved to Centre Right. But Harper's pastor should remind him that Jesus was a pinko with God's full approval. He taught his followers to share all things in common so that none among them lacked -Acts 4:32-37. In Acts 5, however, the community spirit did take on a brutally Stalinesque aroma (Authoritarian Left). Nowadays God's community seems to consist of corporations (fascism), and in the Harper era it means pay your taxes so business can profit - or at least have the good grace to off yourself quietly (legal) without assistance (illegal).]

“... His theory, as [Harper] explained to me, was that conservatism would be better served in this country if Canada had a two-party system, one that pitted right against left, free enterprise against socialism, Conservatives against New Democrats” ...

[Our so-called democracy exists to serve conservatism? New Democratic leader Jack Layton seemed willing to go that route in 2009, and apparently still does.]

The Harper government also pays huge attention to symbols and metaphors — hockey, Tim Hortons and the military are the new political correctness. To question any of them is to be unpatriotic (or a Liberal “latte-drinker.”)

[Symbols and metaphors: Just one of the cardinal signs of fascism increasingly being observed in North America.]

There’s a new fondness on the part of the Harper government ... to call private companies “job creators.”

[Orewellian newspeak]

Harper's model is the US of A, but hitching Canada's wagon to US donkeys is obliterating the borders, even though there is incessant talk of "sovereignty" and "security".

Mussolini also tried to kiss up to the US because he did so admire their corporatism, but he came to a bad end anyway.

Mussolini Congratulates U.S. Supreme Court (VIDEO)

Umberto Eco, who knew Italian fascism well, when speaking of one aspect of it: "The cult of heroism", said: "The Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death."

Harper: "I believe that military service is the highest calling of citizenship."

The question "Who Killed Canada? (VIDEO)" has been answered.

Update on White Lies

Contributor: "BeeSting"

Re: January 21 entry: Terrorism, White Lies and Omissions

FAIR blog has also noticed the absence of coverage and mentions a 2007 Left i blog entry entitled: "Terrorist pleads guilty. Press yawns."

Update on Mohamed Harkat

Contributor: "YYC"

Terrorist tag exit order for Harkat

Accused terrorist Mohamed Harkat will be handed his deportation papers Friday by Canada Border Services after fighting more than eight years to stay in Canada.

Please see Sophie Harkat's callout to an emergency rally today in Ottawa at 2 PM. Also note the opportunity for you to sign a statement on Harkat's behalf.

Tagging Harkat as an accused terrorist would be reason aplenty for torturing him in Algeria, but trial by secret whispers is no proof of anything except that the Canadian government is itself capable of inflicting extreme, long, drawn-out mental torture on certain selected immigrants.

We like, however to be seen as humanitarian, so there are still some scant legal avenues open to Harkat.

More on the National Archives Iranian Threat

Contributor "YYC"

The Plot Thins

With reference to my previous blog entry:
False flag at National Archives?

Compare the following headline to the actual content of the article:

Library tried dumping Iran film before cancellation

Feelers may have gone out for other venues, but the film was not cancelled until late on the day of the scheduled showing, and only after white powder appeared and police had to be called.

Note how pro-Israel, anti-Muslim Fred Litwin has the ear of the Heritage Minister who, by ordering the museum to show the film - with no indication that he consulted with his Public Safety colleague who one might think ought to have had the last word on the threat level - has effectively demonstrated that the Iranians aren't anywhere near as big a bogeyman as they're made out to be by the Zionists and their Christian, pro-war supporters in Parliament, and maybe that Public Safety is more about propaganda than the welfare of the public.

Or did Moore and Litwin have advance knowledge that if powder appeared, it was strictly for media attention? Was the film fest not as all-round successful as hyped?

Terrorism, White Lies and Omissions

Contributor: BeeSting

Spokane bomb casualties could have been severe, FBI says

One would think that a thwarted terrorist attack in North America would have made front page news as it targeted so many innocent people celebrating Martin Luther King Day.

Terrorist attack? It is not terrorism because (1) it cannot be attributed to Muslims/Arabs/Al Qaeda and (2) it is far away from New York/Washington - remember Times Square.

Imagine...Extremists in the USA? Shouldn't they all be exposed?

The term "news media" suggests that their business is to report news that matters to the public. However, while the Canadian Press distributed the news:"Bomb left along route of King parade in Washington state unusually sophisticated" in Canada only a few other regional/local newspapers such as the Brandon Sun carried it. Didn't make it into our so-called national newspapers.

Sloppiness on the part of our mainstream media or worse?

DEPORTATION ORDER TO BE SERVED ON MOHAMED HARKAT

Contributor: "YYC"

Message from Sophie Harkat:

URGENT - Deportation Rally

If you can, please be there to show your support--

Date: Friday, January 21, 2011
Time: 2:00 pm
Place: Canada Border Services Agency, 2265 St. Laurent Blvd, off of Walkley Road (OTTAWA)

Moe and his lawyer, Matthew Webber will be available for questions afterward.

Moe will not be deported immediately. CBSA will conduct an assessment of danger and the security certificate finding is under appeal. In fact, serving the deportation order at this time is harassment. And deportation to torture is always illegal.

Whether or not you can come tomorrow, show your support by signing the new statement of the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee at www.harkatstatement.com

Stop Secret Trials. Abolish Security Certificates. No deportation to torture.

Same sex marriage and the tyranny of the Left

Contributor "YYC"

Sask. marriage commissioners must wed same-sex couples

This is not right, it's Right, even though it's coming from the so-called Left.

This is what I meant when I said: "... partisanship is not in a straight line from Left to Right but on a circle. Slide too far Right and you end up Left. And vice versa ..."

Apart from my personal bemusement at gays eager to practise straight traditions, if they want to get married (and ultimately divorced) that's fine, but the pendulum swings too far when hidebound opposers are forced to officiate at their weddings.

There's no reason why there can't be a registry of the willing that gays could consult. There would certainly be more of those than the other kind, thus an adequate supply. Why in the masochistic world would they want to have their vows solemnized by a hostile or homophobic official? What place does spiteful force have in a ceremony that's supposed to be all about love?

It's not democracy; it's authoritarian; it's a tyranny of the Left, and it's not even rational.

False flag at National Archives?

Contributor: "YYC"

National Archives cancels screening of documentary on Iran after threats

Threat at Ottawa national library a false alarm

False alarm or a false flag that backfired?

As usual, lazy reporting raises more questions than answers.

Who actually shut down the building - the staff at 4:45 or the police at 5:15? Take your pick from the news reports.

From the Natural Compost:

... staff thought it necessary to close the entire building ... at 4:45 p.m., said archives spokeswoman Pauline Portelance.

From the CBC:

Police were called in and around 5:15 p.m. ET shut down the building

What political entity is behind the showing of the film, and who wants to make Iran look bad? Well, they don't really like to say it out loud, but their film schedule provides a strong clue.

Did Litwin and his Israel Lobby friends want just a little too much to create the impression there was an Iranian threat - even here in Ottawa?

From whence really cameth the letters and white powder that turned out to be no threat at all?

Was it a case of backfire when the Archives staff panicked and shut down the building?

Metaphysically, is what's gone around coming around?

How many shows and exhibits do you think B'nai Brith, the Israel Lobby and the Jewish Defence League in Canada, the US and internationally have succeeded in shutting down, or at least given a serious hard time to?

Who is Fred Litwin, apart from being the founder of the so-called "Free Thinking Society"? One of his blog articles gives a clue:

Excerpt from: The right candidate for Ottawa Centre

I believe candidates like Emrys [Graefe] are the future of the Conservative Party ... Ottawa Centre needs to challenge Paul Dewar. While Paul is a nice guy – his party is among the most reactionary around. The NDP would happily sit down and negotiate with the Taliban! They think George Galloway is a peace activist. They hate Israel….and we almost had Jack Layton as a Minister in a coalition government. So, nice guys like Paul Dewar should be sent packing, and Emrys Graefe is right person to do that.

I'm no fan of any politician, including Paul Dewar, and Litwin is virtually one of them. Like most politicians, he's more of a muddled thinker than a "free" one. For example, he claims to champion limited government yet he supports a Prime Minister who has added a total of 30 seats to Parliament and a slew of Conservative sleeping heads to the Senate, and who is operating a virtual dictatorship.

Litwin is so anti-Islam, pro-war and foremostly pro-Israel he could pass for a straight Christian Zionist. And he is nothing if not a rabid, but somewhat clumsy publicity hound.

Flu Jab: Damned if you don't, and ...

Contributor: "Bugman"

Seasonal flu vaccine fairy tale rapidly collapsing as the truth comes out

The PTB are really still trying to push the flu vaccine. So far people that got jabbed seem to get some kind of a flu while those without are sliding through the winter with minor problems.

I am getting in the habit, when a physician tries to foist any pills on me, to politely refuse due to the many side effects that just happen.

Article Excerpt:

After months of urging everyone to get vaccinated (and blaming non-vaccinated people for skipping out on their “public health obligation”), UK health authorities announced last week that “healthy people” were to blame for causing a vaccine shortage that they claim now threatens the lives of sick children. As part of this ruse, they even suggested that pharmacies should be banned from selling flu vaccines to healthy people, explaining that healthy people didn’t really need them anyway.

Wronging a Right

Contributor: "YYC"

A tale of two Harpers, five years on

Harper (all teary-eyed): “My father used to say just because it’s right doesn’t mean you should do it.”

Harper (all red-faced): Did I say that out loud?

The right thing to do is to design a budget everyone can live with. But Harper's crew are reportedly ahead in the polls, and they've rolled out the TV ads again that make Harper seem capable but cuddly (despite his favouring the death penalty and that he would ban choices for women if he thought he could) and Ignatieff too terribly intellectual, so ...

Imagine, only about 1/3 of Canadians say they'd vote for the Cons, yet Harper will rule again and still call it democracy.

BTW: It's also a tale of at least two rugs, but for some reason the media can't bring themselves to mention that. It's on their minds, though, so in the side panel under "Must Reads" there's a headline about Jennifer Aniston's hair instead.

Speaking of dictatorship, why is there now a discussion of who's next in line should Harper die? There are many issues on which the media could do some investigative work, and the pecking order of the Cons seems hardly one of them.

Does Harper plan to walk if faced with another minority? That would make me a seer of sorts. Here's what I said in September 2009:

... if Harper doesn't win a majority this time, he may well walk away. In fact, there's even the possibility he won't run if he can't see a majority ahead of him. Watch the mainstream "news" to see if it plays up any of his cabinet ministers - such as Lawrence Cannon, for instance. It's already downplaying Ignatieff, and he is (reportedly) falling in the polls as well.

Portraying Cannon so close to Clinton is pretty suggestive as well. That could bode either way for him, though. But keeping Canadians polarized seems to be effectively melding the parties and getting us accustomed to a more Americanized system, which appears to have been the plan at least since Paul Martin's day.

(VIDEO): Press For Truth Confronts Paul Martin on Bilderberg and the SPP

Martin admits in the video that he actually signed the SPP. Remember the Harper government saying that was a myth (VIDEO)?

It's always something

Contributor: "YYC"

Jews fear 'orchestrated campaign' of hate

But the bridge game must go on, even if the window has a crack in it.

True antisemitism is an ugly thing, it causes real oppression with no recourse to be found in the laws. But when you see the pranks being pulled here you have to wonder if it's just somebody yanking chains to see how far it'll get blown out of proportion in the media and out of the mouths of politicians.

There are women in my apartment building who are afraid to go out alone these days because they believe a man is going around Ottawa attacking females with a hammer. Me, not so much. It's not pleasant, but no one was seriously injured.

The details are vague; third parties are interviewed, which amounts to little more than gossip as far as I'm concerned.

Although I think I did see the hammer culprit sitting peacefully on a bench at the public library. For a second I thought it was Jesus. Maybe it was. But essentially, I feel I'm in far greater danger from crazy Ottawa drivers. And people in Edmonton have to worry about a drunken snow plow operator.

In the words of Roseanne Rosannadanna (VIDEO), "it's always something".

If it's not men and women hitting each other with hammers simply because they hate the opposite sex, it's people vandalizing properties because they're Jewish, or homophobes punching guys in bars because they're gay. So we have to keep our wits about us, all the time, no matter where or who we are.

Addendum January 19/11:

I should have also mentioned the cross burning in Nova Scotia on the lawn of an interracial couple, one of them being a Black.

Death of Police Officer Exploited for PR?

Contributor: "Brian H."

What's really behind the media frenzy over the memorial and funeral for the police officer killed in Toronto last week? Don't get me wrong I am appalled and saddened by the unnecessary & untimely death of a good honorable young family man as anyone. It is tragic, but let's face it it was a traffic fatality. Why the size and fury of the media reportage and canonization of the young fellow? Could it be P R subterfuge to whitewash the police rep post G7 / G20 debacle?

Just the day prior, this same young officer apparently participated in an armed standoff with an unarmed motorist. A highly disproportionate show of force that puzzled me at the time, as if they were just spoiling for a fight. Or was the desired outcome really a favorable press op?

I don't claim to know but I have to wonder.

Cops and Stats Canada: stripping people bare

Contributor: "Mac"

Strip-search in police cell 'a travesty,’ judge rules

I stumbled across this the other day and it made me very angry. This story deserves to be made known. There is very little that I would put past Canadian cops after the G20 summit. It is sad that there is usually very little to no punishment for cops that are caught abusing people.

I contacted YayaCanada about the labor force survey* that purported to be "mandatory." That was a little over a year ago. I'm happy to report that after I told them to "either charge me or leave me alone," they opted for the "leave me alone" option. Thanks for YayaCanada's insight into the matter. I can't wait to give them hell come the next census!

* See: The Chosen Ones - Statistics Canada's Invasive Labour Force Survey

People for Corporate Tax Cuts

Members understand why every household in Ontario has to pay $500 so our government can give a $2.4 billion a year corporate tax cut.

Contributor: "Brian H."

Following is a missive from my bargaining agent that I thought might fit with YayaCanada's call for submissions.

Dear friends,

Over the past five months or so, I’ve been talking to OPSEU members about corporations – what they are, and what they stand for. One question I’ve been asking is, “Who has more power, corporations or governments?”

Nobody ever says governments. Not these days.

At one time, democratic governments were the driving force in society. Voters pushed politicians to build things – things like Medicare, community colleges, and safe, modern highways. We pushed for health and safety laws and pensions and better lives for vulnerable people.

We pushed, and we got results. But these days, corporations and their millionaire CEOs call the shots.

They can pay hundreds of dollars a plate at fundraising dinners to keep politicians beholden. They can offer them the promise of a richer lifestyle after politics. They can bamboozle them with their think tanks and talk radio.

When they control politicians, corporations get what they want. And what they want most of all is money. Buckets of it. Barrels of it. Billions of it.

Here at home, Dalton McGuinty’s tax cuts for corporations will top $8 billion a year when fully phased in. Just one of these, the corporate income tax cut, will cost $2.4 billion a year.

That’s a big number. It works out to $500 for each of the 4.8 million households in Ontario.

But why should Ontarians pay, either in cash or in lost public services? The idea that those tax cuts will create jobs and prosperity is a myth spread by the same people who get the money. These tax cuts are no strings attached. Job creation by the corporations who receive them is strictly voluntary.

It’s time Ontarians said “Enough is Enough” to corporate power. It’s time we took government back from the corporations.

It’ll be a battle, but somebody’s got to fight it. It might as well be us.

Starting today, OPSEU is launching a new campaign that is unlike anything we’ve ever done. It has YouTube videos, community advertising, and even a contest where you can win $500. The campaign is called “People for Corporate Tax Cuts,” and yes, it does use satire to make a point.

We want this campaign to “go viral,” as people younger than I am like to say. The only way that can happen is if you want it to. Please go to the web site at www.peopleforcorporatetaxcuts.ca and dive in. When you find something you like, e-mail a link to your friends, put it on your Facebook page, and talk it up.

You just might make our democracy stronger.

In solidarity,

Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President
Ontario Public Service Employees Union

She's up and Left? Don't you believe it.

Contributor: "YYC"

Profile: Marine Le Pen

The new leader of France's far-right National Front may have the blessing - and indeed the surname - of her predecessor, but her stated aim is to bring change to the party.

Marine Le Pen, who succeeded her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, is hoping to shed the party's xenophobic image and move it towards the mainstream of French politics...

Ms Le Pen has adopted more liberal positions on social issues ...

Some said: 'Here's a woman, who is young, who contrasts with the caricatured image that some people might have of the National Front - a macho party, a rather tough party'” ...

No, the National Front's macho image will not be softened. There is no soft image in politics, and a glance at Ms Le Pen's raised fist in the press photo shows she's no exception.

Polls suggest the party could come third in the 2012 presidential elections.

Ah, like Canada's NDP. Always striving to come third. Can you imagine selling your soul for a chance to place third?

The far Right National Front tries to look more centre Right, and the once-Left NDP cozies up to the the Far Right Reform/Alliance who masquerade as centrist Conservatives - all just to keep treading water.

(The proof is in the toque. Look at the press photo of Jack. If he was the socialist everybody thinks he is, his toque would look like this.)

There's a theory, you know, that partisanship is not in a straight line from Left to Right but on a circle. Slide too far Right and you end up Left. And vice versa, judging by the fact that there's a well-known term: Authoritarian Left, and I've personally seen a fair amount of that in action.

The trend now, though, is to start creeping stealthily along the spokes to the centre of the circle where globalized populist yet stern paternalism resides and from whence the herd is thoughtfully culled and managed for the good of all. It's called The Third Way. Some prefer to call it centrism, but since it will have to be brutally imposed ...

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine): Past invocations of a political 'third way' or a 'middle way' have included the Fabian Socialism, Distributism, Technocracy (bureaucratic), Keynesian economics, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Italian Fascism under Benito Mussolini, Harold Macmillan's 1950s One Nation Conservatism and Phillip Blond's Red Toryism.

That's what Harper and Ignatieff are going for. Iggy's weak little raised fist in the press photo is strictly for show.

Speaking of sissies, you'll note in the above-linked news item that the pseudo-erudite journalistic Word of the Day is "Sisyphean" - used inaccurately, of course. It ain't the politicos pushing heavy stones uphill; they're too busy elbowing for space at the trough. No, we have seen Sysyphus and he is us.

But as Albert Camus said: "... it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious."

Politicos can afford to buy homes, for instance, even as they make it more difficult for you - to save you from yourself. They want you mired in debt, but not so deeply so that you can't pay the interest. And if that's not authoritarian kindness cum fascism, maybe I don't know what is.

Speaking of dictators ...

He's Ba-a-a-a-a-ack

Baby Doc Duvalier was run out of Haiti by an angry mob (what was left of them after the thousands he had slaughtered and left in poverty), but now the dear, caring soul wants to "be with his fellow countrymen" out of respect for those who died in the recent earthquake.

This is probably what Woody Allen meant when he said in Annie Hall that politicians are just a notch below child molesters (besides Freudianly hinting that he might also be one himself - or both).

Bizarrely, Baby Doc has supporters. Lobotomized ones, mind you, but still capable of campaigning for him. Haiti has a US/Canada-backed government that is so terrible even a murdererous dictator looks better.

Back under old Management ...

Dear Readers:

A Message from Corinne (the original YayaCanada):

As you know, this blog has been inactive since mid-October.

Today, Google gave me the opportunity to reset the password, and I have done so, and have taken back ownership.

My thanks to Catharine in Western Ontario for her efforts to keep the blog alive when I badly needed to take a break after 7 exhausting years of writing almost every day, but apparently now her own life has conspired to keep her from blogging as she had intended.

Please stay tuned for further developments. I'm hoping to come up with a way to continue the blog without killing myself.

For now, here's one of my favourite cartoons:

Image from: http://jp-petit.org/Site_Anglais/Humor/humor1.htm

All the best for a happy and timeless 2011
(I'm sort of with Jared Loughner with regard to the strange, arbitrary numbering of years in an infinite universe [he may well be erad3 as the moderators at Above Top Secret have said he probably is]. I mean the earth is billions of years old, so why have we tolerated this arbitrary numbering that reflects only one particular religion on earth?)

YayaCanada