Globe's Ibbitson grasps at straw man

... to insist Libs and NDP not merge material

Contributor: "YYC"

The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. Fallacy: Straw Man

Talk all you want – but Liberal and NDP pieces just won't fit
Merger can only happen when both sides can see their future clearly, and that future is bleak.

Lib red, NDP orange

The NDP are holding the merger door open.  Do they see their future as bleak?  The Libs are obviously talking about a merger, and if that's not because they see their future as bleak, it ought to be.

Nevermind; Ibbitson goes on to blow his own premise anyway:

With no one in either party having the authority to squelch such talk, merger speculation fills the leadership vacuum.

It strongly appears that the Liberals are in fact already inclined to merge, and only Ibbitson claims not to see how that's possible, while at the same time admitting that a strong leader would have kept that inclination under wraps until what would be considered a more appropriate time - such as when they actually do have an elected leader.

Well, maybe Ibbitson knows more than the Liberals themselves when he insists the parties are too dissimilar, but how much real difference could there possibly be when Baloney Bob, who hopes, no, plans to be the elected leader, came out of the NDP himself? Even his good pal Iggy said fairly recently:

“We have certain values that we have always shared and we’ve shared for 60 years”

Indeed, the Liberals have worked very well with socialists (CBC archive video) in the past.  And now that the NDP are enhancing their appearance it's almost as if they are anticipating a marriage proposal.

Ibbitson is grasping at straws to suggest this situation is different from the "Progressive" Conservative merger with the pretty-far-right and fundamentally religious Reform Party.

Or is Ibbitson hinting that the Liberals have moved too far right to be a fit?  Does he think they should merge with the ReformCons?  Not likely, although there is no doubt a mixture of right-leaning and left-leaning within the Liberal party, and there have been some spectacular floor crossings in the not-too-distant past, so there's no reason to think there couldn't be more - leaving a remnant that may well see no choice but to merge with the NDP.

No, it looks more like the media have been encouraged to help Baloney Bob quell the speculation - for now.

Face it: The Liberals and the NDP are "different species" only in that one is orange and the other is apple!

Image borrowed from here.

How Screwed Are You?

Ontario union takes a humourous approach to a serious topic

Contributor: Phil Haynes

Three out of eight jobs in Ontario are now part-time jobs with low pay, no benefits, no security and no future.  Post-secondary students in Ontario are carrying an average debt load of over $20,000.  Put those two facts together and the prospects are dim for students, parents who try to support them, and all those who can only find part-time work for which they are often greatly over-qualified.

Raising awareness about this calamity, and a very practical solution, is what the recently launched “How Screwed Are You?” campaign is all about. The website takes a provocative and humourous approach to challenge visitors to think about the question: "What kind of Ontario do you want?", and features the following:

► Quizzes for students, parents and part-time workers to help them find out how screwed they really are.

► A Corporate Tax Grab video game where players can take back the recent $2.4 billion a year corporate tax cut and decide how to spend the money.
          
► A contest that asks entrants to complete the sentence “I am so screwed that ...” to win $2,400. (Hundreds have already entered.)
          
► An “email your MPP” form asking politicians what they’re doing about jobs and student debt as Ontario nears a provincial election.

The proposed solution is for Ontario to cancel the most recent $2.4 billion corporate tax cut and use that money to help people. Approximately $1.8 billion would reduce post-secondary tuition fees by 50%. The remainder could create a Jobs and Investment Fund to improve working conditions and create thousands of good, full-time jobs.

The campaign is an initiative of OPSEU, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, and follows their previous “People For Corporate Tax Cuts” campaign that helped to make corporate tax cuts an issue in the recent federal election.

Screwy and Friends
(Click to enlarge image)

Related on YYC:
People for Corporate Tax Cuts
Your civic doody... pay your share of corporate taxes

"House negro": insult, yes; racist, no way.

Contributor: "YYC"

 LawTimes: U of O law prof suing colleague over ‘house negro’ remark

[Former U of O Professor Denis] Rancourt ... is being sued by {Prof. Joanne] St. Lewis for $1 million. At the heart of the dispute is a February 2011 blog post by Rancourt, “Did Professor Joanne St. Lewis act as Allan Rock’s house negro?”

Denis Rancourt

Here's a link to the offending blog post.

Basically, the Student Federation presented a report that said that people of colour were more likely to be suspected of academic fraud at Ottawa U., and Prof. Lewis was asked by the university administration to prepare an independent assessment of that report - though how it could have been deemed "independent" is beyond me, since it was her boss telling her to do it - and she concluded the students had not proved their case, and even went so far as to trash the report itself, saying that the methodology was all wrong.

And now she's saying that Rancourt was not only wrong but racist, and wants to be compensated.  Rancourt has countered with "expert opinion" (PDF document) that the term "house negro" when used in its original sense, is in no way a slur directed toward a whole race of people (which certainly does constitute racism) but an historical term used to describe some particulars members of that race.

The fact that the word "negro" is no longer in polite use - which has more to do with current fashion than with its inherent offensiveness (the word "negroid" still being a valid anthropological term and not considered an insult)  -- although at one time it was considered far more polite by both "whites" and "blacks" than the vulgar-sounding term many African North Americans surprisingly still use today when referring to one another, and which is quite offensive to my own ears, regardless of whether spoken by a "black" or a "white", because it connotes the terrible hatred and brutality of the slavemaster.

It should be noted that Rancourt didn't directly call St. Lewis a "house negro"; he asked the question, did she act as one or didn't she?  I, on the other hand, have come right out and accused certain "black" politicians of being the very same.  And it's too bad that people rush to shocked judgment before even acquiring a proper understanding of the term itself.

Malcolm X

Even the Law Times, despite having read the words of Malcolm X and watched the video,  failed to grasp the full significance of the term, saying only that:

The term “house negro” was used by civil rights activist Malcolm X in his 1963 “Message to the Grassroots” speech to describe slaves who were subservient to their white masters, and received better living conditions than their peers who worked in the fields.

But then, probably most people are not as intelligent as was Malcolm X (or as good-looking).

The fact is, that all slaves were (are) subservient, though generally not well-disposed toward their masters. One was (is) called a "house negro" when one was rewarded for willingly putting the master's interests and wellbeing ahead of those of one's fellow slaves, all the time knowing, however, that one misstep, such as questioning the master's judgment, could quickly land one back in the fields.

A similar example might be the Jewish kapo, or certain prison trustees.

It seems to me quite an honour that a photo of Denis Rancourt can be found on the same Google Images search page as those of Malcolm X.  Of course, there's a photo of Obama between them, and guess what he's been accused of.

Related: Freedom of Information Documents Show Joanne St.Lewis’ Lack of Independence from Central Administration

Rancourt Photo: David Kawai / Postmedia News

Bob Rae: Mr. Baloney

Contributor:"YYC"

Bob Rae says NDP merger not on 'agenda' for Liberals

Bob Rae: Mr. Baloney

I'm pretty much just going to leave you with what former NDPer Bob Rae says and with what Warren Kinsella said except to suggest that what Rae means is that there will be no merger until the Liberal party is completely destroyed, and he has finished what Iggy started.

Pertinent quotes from Kinsella:

Rae and his inner circle are busily at work on making the interim job permanent [although he promised to only be an interim leader - 2 years tops].

Bob Rae is the right man to be interim leader. If he gets his wish, however, and transforms the assignment into a full-time job, the next federal election will be the last for the Liberal Party of Canada.

And the remnant will merge with the NDP, while Bobby fades away into virtual retirement like his good friend Iggy. Et voila, Canada ends up with a two-party system to match the American one, and the NDP, already worried about its "socialist" image, will become the DemLibs and serve as mirror to Harper's ReformCons.

Canadians will resume switching back and forth between illusions of conservative and liberal - just as if they were Americans, always hoping for some sort of change for the better.

Image borrowed from here.

Libya and the Baloney Mongers

Contributor: "YYC"

I've created a new tag: "BALONEY". Somehow "hoax", "doublespeak" and "mind control" don't seem to adequately cover the constant diet of, well, baloney we are daily being fed that sounds as if somebody just cut and pasted a bunch of notes from some spook's scribbled fantasy. You see, nobody is even sure what baloney is made from. It's a kind of conglomerate of scrap material, probably swept up off the floor in the butchering room.

C.I.A. Drone Is Said to Kill Al Qaeda’s No. 2

Baloney

He is Libyan, of course. And if you never heard of him before, don't feel ignorant. I think he was just made up to prove that tearing the hell out of Libya is going to protect us all.

But, at the same time, they don't want to actually create too much of a sense of relief or people might start expecting the wars to stop.  So not only has New York been frightened half to death over a hurricane that got downgraded to a tropical storm - no, "post-tropical" (although a big deal is made about the power being out, as if that hasn't always been a common occurrence during heavy thunder and lightning, and especially now with the poor condition of infrastructure while the money is spent on wars) - there's the 10th anniversary of 9/11 coming up:

Battered al-Qa'ida down but not out

"Bin Laden retained until his death a passion to launch a significant attack against the US, ideally linked to the 10th anniversary of 9/11" and he was working out a plan with his now dead No. 2. So ... will the deaths of Number 1 and Number 2 prevent an anniversary attack? If it doesn't happen, will Obama start looking good again?

"Down but not out", says the headline, indicating that the fear mongers are not yet ready to give up on the potential threat of "Al Qaida", a creation of the CIA.

Maybe Obama will put on his Superman suit just prior to the next presidential election and vanquish "Al Qaeda" forever.  But not until there is a new bogeyman to take its place.

Now, if the above didn't convince you to consider the NATO assault on Libya well worth every life and dime, maybe this will:

Guardian: Lockerbie bomber found dying in Libya
Calls for Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to face extradition appear redundant after footage emerges showing him close to death

Too bad he's wearing a mask, eh? It's almost like he could be, well, anybody. But whoever it is, he sure makes another good case for bombing Libya to rat poo.

Ironically, it was the Guardian that first presented the "alternative theories" about the Lockerbie disaster, one being that it was a CIA operation and that Libya was framed. If so, the named perpetrator would be much more convenient "dead" (that is, living under an assumed name and identity) than on a witness stand.  It was convenient too that he supposedly developed terminal cancer just as he was about to be imprisoned, so Scotland compassionately released him back into the world  - in 1988 - and he's only dying now.

Courtesy of the always fantastical Telegraph, we have a more uptodate picture of the bomber conveniently wearing another kind of mask.

Ah, the tantalizing fragrance of baloney.

VIDEO: Full length - The Maltese Double Cross (1994) [Pan Am 103 Bombing Cover-up by the CIA]

Libyan war: A psychological event

Contributor: "Lucilla"

VIDEO: Libya / Incredible media lies - BBC shows "Green Square" in INDIA

In the above video, the people are dressed like Indians and they are waving the Indian flag.  You can see the real rebel flag in this next video:

Rebel Flag

VIDEO: LIBYAN PEOPLE WELCOME THE REBELS IN TRIPOLI!
(Heavy Sarcasm)

Lendman: Rebel Assassins Terrorizing Libyans

VIDEO: UNIDENTIFIED MEN (CIA?) SHOOTING DEMONSTRATORS

 “Inconvenient” Videos Show Libyan Rebels Torturing, Murdering, Raping:  Where’s Outrage?

It really does seem that Mahdi Nazemroaya was correct in his understanding of what is going on in Lybia. He says it is a Psy-op - a fear campaign being unleashed on Tripoli. It reminds me of how Stalin put hardened criminals in charge of political prisoners in the Gulag to keep them terrorized and under control, and used them in "blocking units" to "mow down soldiers who thought to flee a battle".  Later, these criminals were released along with other prisoners into the general population.

They've kept Mahdi Nazemroaya captive because if they let him go they know he will talk about what is really going on. This way, they keep him quiet and pump up the propaganda to vilify Gadhafi and further "enoble"
NATO's "humanitarian mission".

According to the Examiner, it will be a miracle if Nazemroaya survives.

In this case, I wonder if all of this is an attempt to goad Gadhafi into a violent response that can be blown up in the media and justify a NATO land invasion of Lybia. The recent references to WMD's sounds like a false flag in the making - what's to stop one of the pirate/terrorist/special forces/"Al Qaida"/mercenaries/rebels/whoever they really are from finding this WMD cache and setting it off making it look like Gadhafi did it.

Gadhafi would likely never endanger his people by setting them off (or else he would have already) but these creeps crawling all over Tripoli couldn't give a damn about the Lybian people.

Libyan capital Tripoli faces water, power crisis
Hospitals are running short of stocks, and food and fuel are difficult to come by

In the old days, when they wanted to take a castle they put a dead animal in the water supply to make it undrinkable and blocked the roads so that supplies couldn't get in.  Now they just bomb the crap out of it. 

Everyday, I am more and more aware of what war is really about - it is primarily a psychological event.

What is awful is watching it all unfold knowing that the vast majority of people will never know the truth. The public is so easily swayed by war propaganda, it's no wonder the "elite" despise the people.

CONFIRMED: Libya War is CIA Op 30 Years in the Making

"As rebels loot his home and his compound in central Tripoli, he is now being disingenuously portrayed as an opulent tyrant who hoarded state resources at the cost of his population. Betraying the duplicity of this lie is the UN's own Human Development Index which lists Libya as one of the most developed nations in Africa and is ranked higher than many other nations including Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia."

The UN document - Human Development Index (PDF format)

Related: Libya SOS

With the discovery of oil in Libya in 1959, a very poor desert country became a very rich little western protectorate. US and European companies had huge stakes in the extremely lucrative petroleum and banking sectors, but these were soon nationalized by Gaddafi. Thus Libya overnight joined the list of US 'enemy' or 'rogue' states that sought autonomy and self-determination outside the expanding sphere of western Empire.

Chavez: "We only recognize one Libyan government, the one led by Muammar Gaddafi!"

"This is kicking, spitting on the most basic elements of international law," he said. "Where are the international rights? This is like the caveman era."

Libya: Independent Journalist Mahdi Nazemroaya still in danger

Contributor: "YYC"

Press Release received today from Director, Student Appeal Centre, Student Federation, University of Ottawa:

Independent Journalist Mahdi Nazemroaya reporting from Libya continues to fear for his life despite relocation of journalists

August 26, 2011 - Although journalists reporting from the Rixos Al Nasr Hotel in Tripoli were relocated to the Corinthia Hotel, also in Tripoli, on Wednesday August 24 in an effort to increase their safety, independent journalist and Canadian citizen Mahdi Nazamroaya continues to express grave concerns for his life. Mr. Nazemroaya told friends on Thursday that his safety was now even more at risk with armed groups entering the Corinthia hotel. Mr. Nazemroaya is unable to leave the hotel.

The planned departure of a boat which would have brought journalists and migrants outside of Libya was delayed and the transfer of journalists to the boat in all safety remains uncertain.

The Canadian Government has yet to act to ensure that Mr. Nazemroaya is repatriated to his home country despite having ties with the Hungarian embassy in Tripoli. Friends and family continue to demand that the government take concrete action to ensure that Mr. Nazemroaya is escorted back to safety.

Mr. Nazemroaya is a recent graduate of the University of Ottawa where he also held a research assistant position.

Related: Video Reports from inside hotel Rixos
Independent Journalist fears for his life

Libya: Media Sham

Contributor: "YYC"

It's pretty sad when NATO and the established media have so little with which to sell copy they are reduced to talking about what was nearly accomplished on Wednesday in Tripoli and producing a posed photo of a bunch of actors. (Click photo to enlarge)

The guy wearing the backwards ball cap - does he look to you like "Special Forces" pretending to be a rebel?

Many analysts believe France, Britain and Arab allies, notably Qatar, may have some special forces on the ground in Tripoli working with Libyan commandos.

"May have", my foot. Have.  And lots of them.

Libya: Video reports from inside hotel Rixos

UPDATE: Thanks to commenter: -  Mahdi Nazemroaya is reportedly safe and on his way home.

UPDATE: VIDEO - Corbett: Libya's Weapons Not Safe in NATO's Hands

Shades of Saddam - is this the start of the final push?

Contributor: "Lucilla"

Further to the earlier report of Mahdi Nazemroaya being trapped in the hotel Rixos in Tripoli, below is a collection of videos featuring his comments regarding the overall situation and his experiences being holed up with other journalists in the hotel - the most recent ones first. (Note: the spelling of his last name is slightly incorrect in the original press release.)

Aug 23
Nazemroaya: Journalists Trapped Inside Looted Hotel in Tripoli
"International community needs to take action to get us out of here"

Aug 22
Nazemroaya: NATO's Mainstream Media "Killing The Truth" in Tripoli
"Some of the journalists are frightening; they are not real journalists at all"

Aug. 22
Journalist threatened By Allies Do Not GO AGAINST NATO PROPAGANDA OR BE KILLED

Aug. 21
Nazemroaya: "Media are waging a Psychological War on People of Tripoli"

Aug. 21:
NATO Wants Bloodbath in Tripoli Journalist Threatened & Shot At RT

Extra: July 2011 on Corbett report's Sunday edition (with globalresearch.ca) - he appears at 4:46


NOTE: The World Bank is ready to help Libya. The sharks are circling.

-----

Ed Note: The looting that's going on is reminiscent of the kind of dirty war that was waged in Iraq.

Related articles:

Global Research - Concern regarding the death threats hanging over Mahdi Nazemroaya and Thierry Meyssan

YYC - Libya: Dirty Secrets and Damned Lies

Libya: Dirty Secrets and Damned Lies

Contributor: "YYC"

Saif al-Islam makes a defiant appearance in Tripoli
after being reportedly arrested by rebels on Sunday

The BBC described Saif al-Islam as "confident and full of adrenalin". He said the rebels had fallen into "a trap" and would be defeated.

You know how I hate to boast, but can I call 'em, or can I call 'em! These are my words from yesterday:

Funny, my first thought on seeing those rebels inside Tripoli and the streets deserted by the residents, was that now Gadhafi has them corralled.

The statement that two of his sons have been killed rings as hollow as the all the other times they've said it.

Here's another interesting statement from the Guardian:

After being caught by surprise by the speed of the rebel advance on Tripoli, Nato chiefs have ordered what defence officials described a "tactical pause" in the bombing campaign.

(Yes, that's it - a tactical pause; our pants were up, baby.)

Jeepers, if I could smell a trap, why couldn't NATO? This could go to my head.

So much, also, for what we knew all along were myths about NATO "boots on the ground".:

The Guardian has learned that a number of serving British special forces soldiers, as well as ex-SAS troopers, are advising rebel forces, although their presence is officially denied ...
The Guardian has previously reported the presence of former British special forces troops, now employed by private security companies ... They have been joined by a number of serving SAS soldiers.

The SAS work covertly, and, Mossad-like (see definition #3), they know how to pass as locals, so how many mercenaries do you think might be masquerading as Libyan rebels?

Like all the other wars for oil and global capitalism, everything about this one is a lie. Only one member of the SAS is known to have had some sort of sense of right and wrong, but attributed the wrong to the American military, who he said had a "gung-ho and trigger happy mentality" and viewed the locals as "untermenschen".)

Isn't it comforting to know that it's British boots "advising" the rebels? They are such decent chaps; well, one of them may have been.

I've just finished watching the fine British series "Foyle's War" (I'm a little bit in love with Michael Kitchen) and a statement made in the final episode is as true now as it was during the rout of Hitler:

"Just remember: a war always hides a great many dirty secrets."

Related:

Rebels rock Tripoli, but Gadhafi refuses to surrender

Several young men placed a head seized from a statue of Mr. Gadhafi under their feet and kicked it. One happily lifted it above his head while his comrades danced and yelled joyfully around him.

(Echoes of the fake toppling of Saddam's statue)

Live RT media coverage in Tripoli

U. of Ottawa student, independent journalist trapped in Tripoli

... fears for his life

Contributor: "YYC"

Press release just received from the Director, Student Appeal Centre (SFUO) at the University of Ottawa:

Mahdi Darius Nazemroya

Ottawa – August 22, 2011 : At 11:27am today, Mireille Gervais, Director of the Student Appeal Centre (Student Federation of the University of Ottawa) received a phone call from Mahdi Darius Nazemroya, a Canadian citizen and independent journalist who indicated that he was currently hiding in the Tripoli hotel Rixos Al Nasr, fearing for his life.

Mr. Nazemroya, a client of the Student Appeal Centre, asked Mrs. Gervais to do everything in her power to “get me out of here”. He feared that he may be dead at any moment and asked that Canadian Foreign Affairs intervene to save his life.

Mr. Nazemroya further indicated that he had not slept in three days and was hiding in the hotel with other journalists.

The Student Appeal Centre calls on federal authorities to do everything in their power to obtain the safety of the un-imbedded journalists and humanitarian observers who have sought refuge in the Rixos Al Nasr hotel in Tripoli.

Mahdi Darius Nazemroya studies political science and anthropology. He is a past Ombudsman of the University of Ottawa English-language student newspaper. He has been a dedicated contributor to student and alternative media for many years.

-----

Ed Note: Readers, if you feel it might help to email or call the Prime Minister and/or your Member of Parliament on Mr. Nazemroya's behalf, now's the time to do it.

Images provided by Ottawa U.

Libya: The oil tycoons' craps game

Contributor: "YYC"

Jubilant Libyan rebels hunt for Gaddafi in Tripoli

U.S. officials fear last-minute Gadhafi reprisals in Libya

"There is reason to believe (Gadhafi) remains in Libya" and may still be able "to issue orders" to his troops through a limited communications network, a U.S. official told CNN.

Funny, my first thought on seeing those rebels inside Tripoli and the streets deserted by the residents, was that now Gadhafi has them corralled.

The statement that two of his sons have been killed rings as hollow as the all the other times they've said it. So much of this western-orchestrated battle has been propaganda that it's always a wait-and-see situation.

One thing's certain, to some people Libya is nothing more than oil futures.  People are actually betting money on the outcome of the battle.

And you've been paying more for gasoline because of it.

About Jack and the Promised Land

Contributor: "YYC"

NDP Leader Jack Layton was a political Moses who never entered Promised Land

It's common for the flowery descriptive language to be hauled out once a politician's dead, even by conservative news outlets describing leftwing politicians. But Moses didn't take his people to the Promised Land by entrenching them in Egypt. The majority of the NDP's new seats are domiciled in Quebec. Knowing he was dying, Jack made a deal with Quebec separatists so he could go out on a high note.

Despite its cloying quality, the above article managed to shed some light for me.We should all take a good look at the history of the Waffle Movement, an NDP "radical" faction during the late 60s and early 70s. James Laxer was one of them; Jack Layton was just a little boy at the time or he would have Waffled then too.

The Movement "espoused Canadian nationalism, and solidarity with Quebec's sovereignty".

And it only appeared to die when what it actually did was go underground.  The NDP became aware of the expediency of public image, so much so that even just lately they wanted to remove the word "socialist" from their constitution because it seemed an impediment to going mainstream.  Not that they aren't still nominal socialists, but they are first and foremost politicians who want to keep their jobs.

Now you know why Nycole Turmel can call herself a "Canadian nationalist" while at the same time having been (and still is) a long time supporter of Quebec sovereignty - and Newfoundland sovereignty for that matter, and no doubt Western sovereignty.  When the rest of us hear the term "Canadian nationalist" we think Unity, but for Turmel it means that Canadians should be free of the monarchy, and if Quebec can manage that by separating, more power to them.

True socialism can't abide monarchy.  We saw what happened to the royals in Russia when the communists took over - not that I expect the NDP would be likely to assassinate the woman who calls herself the "Queen of Canada". It won't be necessary, anyway, once Canada has been blended into the North American Union, and global governance has been achieved.

Those media apologists who tried to defend Turmel by pointing out the past allegiances of other politicians were ignoring the fact that Turmel's allegiance remains in the present.

And I've no doubt so does that of Stephen Harper, who sneered at both Canada and the monarchy in 1997.  This business of restoring the word "royal" to the armed forces is laughable cosmetics.  Maybe it's also a prelude to disbanding them altogether and outsourcing to PMCs. Maybe the present "Queen of Canada" wants her grandson to be Ruler of the Planet once global governance is achieved. Hence my earlier thoughts that there might be a royal power struggle going on, because there are royal sons in other countries who might like the job as well - Spain for example; Felipe is just as cute as William.

Hey, I'm just feeling my way through all of this, same as you.

Harper has an appointed role to play, and things are progressing according to plan.Soon there'll be a two-party system to match that of the US. Bob Rae, with his NDP past, would not be made the slightest bit uncomfortable by a merger of the crippled Liberals with the NDP. He too has a job to do - his pal Ignatieff having laid the groundwork - and I've no doubt he's quietly doing it.

If the various secessionist movements have their way, Canada is on its way out as a federal system and a constitutional monarchy, and Turmel - along with Harper and Rae - is a walking symptom of it.

I've never been any kind of nationalist, I'm revolted by flag waving (it's too much like the waving raised hands at a revival meeting, or the Nazi salute), and national anthems are emotional trickery, so I'm not terribly bothered by the thought of Canada breaking up into "nation states" and becoming part of a North Amercian Union.

I'm too aware of the smallness of our planet in a huge Universe, and the fact that lines drawn in the sand create enmity. I hate war, I hate mankind's inhumanity to its own species; I'm embarrassed by the way certain religious and polticial elitists dress themselves up in ludicrous costumes and we allow them to lord it over us.

But most of all I hate being lied to, and I'm also not superstitious about speaking ill of the dead. Jack lied, Harper lied, they've all lied to us. Canada has not been ruled by Canadians for quite some time, and it is slowly being divvied up, and Jack knew that and he didn't say a word.  He pretended to care about "working families" all the while he watched their jobs go overseas as a natural consequence of the corporate-driven global capitalism he decided to work with and within.

As we've discovered by watching the Israelis, even if Jack had reached the promised land, it would not be anything like what it's cracked up to be.

Related: Quebec sovereigntists endure harsh weekend
The new sovereigntist group, called Un Nouveau Mouvement pour le Québec, held a daylong colloquium in Montreal on Sunday, at which participants accused the PQ of failing the push for an independent Quebec by being unable to capture the votes of all Quebec separatists.

No particular order

Fat cats at DND

About Burma

London mets vs. OPP

Obama's Election Threat

Israeli Mishugas

Pope doesn't understand God

Contributor: "YYC"

Today I'm just going to muse on the nooze in general. It's rawther amusing, eckshully.
-----

►The fat-cats at DND

Report attacks passive DND spending
Military-civilian team targets failure to support troops in defence and battle

I guess if I had billions to spend I'd be less inclined to use it if I had to go through a convoluted paper process every time I wanted to buy something. But really, did we need a special report (how much did that cost?) to tell us that desk military bears no relation to war military? They've been there forever and have entrenched themselves in the line of least resistance.  I've seen them walking down the streets of Ottawa.  The lower ranks of desk rats wear the camouflage uniforms, so I guess they think they're invisible. They nearly all have fat derrieres.

Little do they know they're all going to end up outsourced to profit-making Canadian PMCs. Because the wars are just getting started, eh? And this is the 21st Century, eh? The century of greed, of profits, of global capitalism.

Oh, we'll still have a military, but its job will be to protect PMs, Queens and Popes from the motley crowds, while mercenaries fight the wars. So, still a money waster, all round, but lots of prestige!

==========================================

►About Burma

Burma's Democracy Leader Encouraged by Meeting With President

Burma? No longer Myanmar? Well, imagine that. No wonder the Burmese people wanted Aung San Suu Kyi freed. So she could have photo ops with a puppet and the West would go back to calling their country Burma!

Sorry, but you know I'm a chronic skeptic, and I've always been very skeptical of this whole Suu Kyi thing. I still say she went back to Burma for the sole purpose of trying to get elected in order to help the UK (and the US) wrest Burma's oil out of the hands of China.

I mean, face it, she abandoned her husband and children and went home supposedly to "take care of her ailing mother" - which has become the widely accepted myth for those who want to see her as some kind of saint - but then she quickly abandoned said mother for politics.

She would hardly announce to the world she was going back to Burma because the political climate might provide a window of opportunity. I don't believe at all that she didn't have foreknowledge of a changing political scene. Unfortunately, she placed a political bet and lost, and she, her spouse and children, and the whole country, have been paying ever since.

I'm willing to bet that no matter how "democratic" Burma becomes, the people will still not benefit from its natural resources, and will still be struggling to make ends meet.

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►What the London Met Police have in common with our OPP

Officer arrested after leak in phone-hacking scandal

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that anti-corruption officers had arrested a 51-year-old male officer serving on Operation Weeting, the force's phone-hacking investigation.

A leak would hardly be worth anything if it didn't come from the inside, and you can't get any insider than this.

But it makes me wonder if there is a pecularity about police officers everywhere that hasn't previously been considered. They can't be trusted. Why? Well, standing around not doing much tends to get them gossiping. In fact, the only time they don't talk is when the allegations are levelled at themselves.

Same thing happened with the OPP investigators who further victimized one of Russell Williams' victims.

One officer told her neighbour, Massicotte said, that police suspected she was trying to "copycat" what happened to another sexual assault victim in Tweed, Ont., 12 days earlier.

Told her neighbour!

Now this is really funny - the police interrogated Massicotte so thoroughly and long that they themselves finally confessed: "that this similar situation happened 12 days ago and we didn't warn anybody about it."

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►Obama: nothing if not subtly ruthless

In case you haven't seen this video:
Barack Obama Threatens Loughner & Norway Style Lone Wolf Attacks For 9/11 10th Anniversary

It's also another example of how the media cooperate in the business of public mind control. There's a lot of guessing about how many millions Wolf Blitzer rakes in per year, but here's the best answer to that.

Blitzer says he's covered "terrorism" for a long time.  He left out a word: "up". No, two words:  "up" and "state".

============================================

►Israeli Mishugas

Israel 'regrets' deaths in Egypt and promises inquiry

Excuse us?  We didn't say we're sorry; we didn't say we killed anybody.  We said we "regret" that people died.  Big difference, and don't you forget it. We have no bad feelings against Egypt's new leadership, although if you don't mind us saying so, Mubarak he ain't ... not exactly.

But boy oh boy, those rockets out of Gaza do provide an excuse for some fun, don't they?  You'd almost think they were lobbed by some of our own "intelligence", wouldn't you?  Especially those few stray ones that got into Egypt.  Not that we're mad at Egypt.  Oh no. Well, maybe just a little peed off.  Nothing serious.  Yet.

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Israel's 'social protests' rattle Netanyahu government

They say their "movement" is deliberately non-political. It is not about Israel and the Palestinians but normal Israelis concerned that their country is losing all sense of moral and collective responsibility.

When was it ever about the Palestinians, except for a small minority of Israelites?  No, of course not.  It's just that some Jews are realizing that their glorious homeland is not the special, comforting refuge it has been Hasbaraed to be. It has gone the way of all countries under global capitalism, and the proof of that is in the following statement:

Israel is a country where a tiny minority of families and individuals control a hugely disproportionate amount of wealth... 

But, but ... "But Israel is a young country founded on strong ideals of social responsibility and cohesiveness."

All that says is that Jews are people.  No kidding, eh? They can be duped, had, bamboozled, just like anybody else.

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►Pope misunderstands God's sense of humour

“The storm was a parable of Christian life in which moments of difficulty are overcome by the strength of faith" Pope in Madrid

What a petty, mean, vicious little smiter of a God Christians think they have. He's a lot like the one the Children of Israel think they've had since Genesis. They attribute to God all of the most despicable human qualities, but are infinitely more patient with God than with humans, and make all kinds of excuses for his atrocious behaviour.  Yet it never occurs to them he might just be playing around.

If you had the kinds of powers God has, wouldn't you want to have a little fun with them?

Maybe all God intended was to knock off his holiness's skull cap (not at all like the one Jesus never wore) and muss up his hair, and soak his speech papers, all in good, affectionate fun - yanking his chain, messing with him a bit. I mean, who wouldn't poke fun at that wizened up old hypocrite, dressed up like some kind of potentate while claiming to represent the lowly carpenter Jesus - if they didn't fear they'd burn in hell for it.

God didn't mean for anybody to get hurt, and just like Israel with Egypt at the moment, God "regrets" that it happened, but rationalizes those people were crazy to be there in the first place.

It's enough to turn a person to atheism, except that they "don't have no songs"(video)

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I did it - I was successful at HTML-ing some jump tags into my blog entry. Fingers crossed that they still work because Blogger has a tendency to change stuff. I'm exhausted from the apprehension and elated by my apparent success.

Over and out. Have a fun Sunday.

American dream becomes a nightmare

... welcome to Zombie World

Contributor: "Lucilla"

VIDEO: US streets full of formerly middle class

Did you know that in several US states it's actualy illegal to feed the homeless? People have reportedly gone to jail for this.

There are lots of analysts predicting that the US is heading towards economic apocalypse in 2012 which may further explain why Canadian securities no longer look appetizing to foreign investors. If the States falls into economic depression, Canada will also be affected. Likely, US investors in Canadian securities have switched over to gold.

Also Venezuela's Chavez is making noise about nationalizing his gold mining industry and wanting his gold back (that is being held in trust in US and European banks) to the tune of 11 billion dollars. This will make less gold available on the market and will likely drive up its price to - who knows what the market will bear.

I'm no financial expert - I just try to look around for patterns and trends - but if I were an American I would certainly get my money out of the bank and put the bulk of it into at least another currency or gold or some other precious metal or land - something that would retain value or could be liquidated as needed. I'd get my backyard garden going, try to figure out alternative energy systems that decrease my dependence on the public system, put in a cistern and stop driving my vehicle.

If they encourage this economic apocalypse, this is where all the "zombies" will come from that we keep hearing about in the media - people who have lost everything, normal middle class people wandering from place to place, living in tent cities. Some of them will really lose their minds;  many of them will be likely be medicated and most importantly, they will be desperate. Society will be ready for them, desensitized to them, used to seeing them everywhere, and will simply go on with their lives.

I wouldn't live in a big city now for anything,

The stuff with Chavez sounds a lot like fear-mongering; the main problem with nationalizing gold mining means that it will simply be out of the "elite"'s control. The media give the impression that Chavez will hoard his gold (maybe he will because perhaps he wants to issue gold-backed currency in his country, just like Gadhafi, which is a big no-no in the global scheme of things).

The public has no idea why Chavez put gold into trust in foreign banks or what kind of deal was made about it and certainly no one is likely ever going to tell us.

I am concerned that the system and the fear-mongering seem to be working together to deliberately raise the price of gold because it seems to indicate that once lots of people have gold, and especially are caught up in gold futures, the string pullers may engineer a sudden severe drop in gold prices.

Gold has traditionaly been the best way to protect wealth, especially in times of economic or societal turmoil.  I have always wondered what would happen if there was a sudden whack of it dropped into the system, (we're talking about tons here); the value would crash overnight.

There are all sorts of rumours that even George Soros is reportedly moving out of gold and buying land. The claim is that rising food prices make agriculture a lucrative investment. Real estate is also a good way to protect wealth and I have to wonder if it's more of a move away from gold than toward agriculture.

Bank failures mean no money for Juan and Juanita Q. Publico, and consumerism is stopped dead in its tracks. The wealthy always get their money out first and always have the resources to get through a financial crisis - food, shelter, water, energy. Other people can't buy food or pay for services and so have to use their imaginations to get by.

Not even soup kitchens in the UK - welcome to zombie world.

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Ed Note:  After reading this, it's occurred to me: you can't put someone in jail for being homeless, but you can arrest people for feeding them, so when the homeless become really desperate they will turn to looting, and then you can round them up.  This sheds a little more light on the uses of those "FEMA concentration camps" all over the US.

Image borrowed from here.

Yo! Shape up or ETs are gonna gitcha!

Contributor: "Yo Momma"

ET is watching you

Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists
Rising greenhouse emissions could tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat, warns a report

Quotes:

It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

To bolster humanity's chances of survival, the researchers call for caution in sending signals into space, and in particular warn against broadcasting information about our biological make-up, which could be used to manufacture weapons that target humans. Instead, any contact with ETs should be limited to mathematical discourse "until we have a better idea of the type of ETI we are dealing with.

Green" aliens might object to the environmental damage humans have caused on Earth and wipe us out to save the planet. "These scenarios give us reason to limit our growth and reduce our impact on global ecosystems. It would be particularly important for us to limit our emissions of greenhouse gases, since atmospheric composition can be observed from other planets.

Even if we never make contact with extraterrestrials, the report argues that considering the potential scenarios may help to plot the future path of human civilisation, avoid collapse and achieve long-term survival.

What this sounds like to me is a threat that if the "stock", the common folk, don't toe the line the "elite" will kill them with DNA specific bioweapons. Interesting how they want to stop the sending of signals, so that if anything happens it's under their control. Nice touch at the end to say that, well, even if the aliens don't come it's still best that we all toe the line anyway - for the good of humankind.

And am I to assume that the article below, the basis for all this, is actually a peer-reviewed paper?

Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis

Ed Note:  Like I always say, beware of any headline that includes the words, "scientists say".

Image borrowed from here.

Hackers "terrorize" BART in poetic justice

"You've got no secrets to conceal; how does it feel?"  Bob Dylan, Like A Rolling Stone

Contributor: "YYC"

BART admits halting cell service to stop protests

"All over the world, people are using mobile devices to protest oppressive regimes, and governments are shutting down cell phone towers and the Internet to stop them," said Michael Risher, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. "It's outrageous that in San Francisco, BART is doing the same thing."

Hackers break into BART police union Web site

... we're going to forward this information to the FBI," the BART union president, Jesse Sekhon, told the San Francisco Chronicle today. "These people need to be brought to justice. They can't be terrorizing people."

As gratifying as this may be, we still need to consider this statement (emphasis mine):

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the embarrassing information leak--a Twitter account affiliated with Anonymous said that no one has "claimed responsibility for the hack," and speculated that it could be the work of either an ally or an adversary.

In other words, a possible false flag designed to give police more cyber powers. Usually, however, the false flaggers dream up a "previously unknown" terror group to blame. So watch for a statement like that.

Image borrowed from here.

Israel "terror" attacks: The usual confusing reports

Contributor: "YYC"

AP: 3 attacks target Israelis near Egypt, 6 dead

In Egypt, a senior security official denied that the attackers crossed into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula or that the buses were fired at from inside Egyptian territory.

"The border is heavily guarded," said the Sinai-based official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Keep in mind that this comes from Associated Press, the greatest obfuscator of all time, but it sounds like 1967 all over again, where Israel was the completely innocent victim yet ended up in control of more choice Palestinian lands.  Egypt always lies and Israel always tells the truth.  Or so it's been generally accepted.

Other things stand out in this article:

The military said a "large number" of assailants were working in multiple squads. "We are talking about a terror squad that infiltrated into Israel," said Israeli military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich. "This is a combined terrorist attack against Israelis."

A "large number" is hardly specific, and using the term "terrorists" is just the done thing nowadays, so again, we're only told what they want to stick in our minds.  How can the military be so certain of any of this when they have no details to offer?

And most chilling (and incidentally most favourable to Israel's overall plans for Palestine):

"The real source of the terror is in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and determination."

I guess the Gazans must be very stupid to keep messing up like this, bringing Israel's "full force and determination" upon them.  I guess they miss it when Israel isn't bombing them to pieces.

If you want to see the Israeli produced video, here it is.  The body of the bus looks quite undamaged by gunfire except for a hole at the top of the windshield  - and I'm no forensic expert, but wouldn't that shot have to have come from above the truck?  If you want to kill passengers, should you aim that high?)  It looks a lot like the hole that was made in the windshield of the truck that moved my furniture recently, when 100 mile winds suddenly came up and blew a Liberal campaign sign up from the road, dinging the corner of the windshield as it flew over the roof of the truck. Maybe there are Liberal terrorists in Canada; I don't know.

The bus windows look as if they were smashed by blunt objects.  Not gunfire.


Bits of clothing on the floor of the bus don't tell us anything, nor do bits of clothing strewn on the road - which incidentally looks quite military in colour.  This is a lot like looking at the interior of Bin Laden's compound, except in this case there doesn't seem to be any blood - not in the video anyway.  And even if there were, who could tell what it came from?

There are big plans for the Middle East and Africa which we must not question. It's all for the good of the people, of course. For instance, just when Syria's Assad is starting to make improvements, Obama suddenly gets tougher and says he has to step down.  Didn't he say that to Gadhafi also and then ended up bombing the place?

But Mubarak they want back. Go figure.

Royal power struggle afoot in push toward global governance?

Is the West backing the British royals against the European ones?

Contributor: "YYC"

CBC: Royal military renaming slammed as colonial throwback

"We've had gradual, incremental changes toward putting our colonialist symbols into the dustbin of history, and this is the first time a government has taken steps to restore it"

Elizabeth in Ireland

Apart from the fact that veterans whose whole identity seems tied up with whatever their military unit was (is) called are a sad lot indeed (they should have gotten real lives long ago), MacKay's mention of a petition with 6,000 names on it strikes me as hypocritical to say the least.  Remember the SPP petition that had 10,000 names?  The government wouldn't even accept them, and they were abandoned to be stepped on and pepper-sprayed in front of a police line at Montebello.

The CBC chose to use the word "only" when saying that 42% of Canadians outside of Quebec want an end to royal rule of their country, ignoring that less than 40% of Canadians voted Conservative in the last election yet this is seen as very significant by the Harper government and the media, who gleefully crowed that conservatism is becoming mainstream in Canada!

Once again, gullible cannon fodder are being used for a different purpose than they are led to believe in.  The very freedoms they boast about fighting for are being eroded before their eyes, and they are suckered into supporting that. Since the Bush administration, there has been a cozying up to the British royalty unlike any I've seen in a long, long time.  The Obamas, as well, are photo-opping with them, looking quite intimate indeed, and Harper, who once strongly suggested that the monarchy was irrelevant, seems to now have had some sort of conversion himself.

The British royals are showing up everywhere these days, even in Ireland of all places!  It's as if they're re-peeing on all of their threshholds, just in case of - what?

People need to think about what this all means.  When you consider that North America is well on the way to be being melded into one union similar to the EU, and may well end up with a single currency; when you consider that the UK, although ostensibly a member of the EU, has refused to accept the Euro; when you consider that the words "global governance" are now spoken aloud, you might begin to wonder what this new emphasis on the British monarchy is really all about.

How can Harper possibly be a fundamentalist Christian and support "global governance".  Doesn't he know his Bible?  Doesn't he know that a sign of the "Second Coming" is a one-world government?  If so, to support that concept makes him part of the anti-Christ paradigm, doesn't it?

Read this article and get a taste of what the British monarchy is all about.  It is sexist, it is patriarchal, it discriminates against certain religions, it is colonialist in the most racist and oppressive sense, it is hidebound, it is virtually neanderthal - and most definitely is anathema to "democracy".  Yet Harper decides for us as if he were himself a monarch: “I don’t think Canadians want to open a debate on the monarchy or constitutional matters at this time." Case closed? I don't think so.

Anyway, Christian Fascism is not a new thing, even though it's about as Christian as Satan worship.  As discussed on YYC some time ago, Harper has an openly Christian fascist staffer.

This recent poll reveals Harper's divide and conquer strategy:

Harper equally best and worst PM

The poll's findings illustrate Harper's status as a uniquely polarizing figure, with 19 per cent of Canadians surveyed naming him the best head of government in the past five decades, while an equal percentage named him the worst.

It's Harper's job to polarize the country, just as it was Bush's job to polarize the United States.  That way we can't unite to fight back as alien concepts (decidedly not Christian ones) are put into practice.  Harper fosters "a strong sense of Us v. Them" right down to street level.  "Christian" Canadians bamboozled by Harper actually applaud his "tough on crime" agenda, even though crime rates in Canada have gone down appreciably over the past few years.

But what I find most curious in all of this monarchy revival is Harper's 1997 speech to the Council for National Policy, a right-wing (Christian) U.S. "think tank", in which he made it clear he felt the American system of government was superior to Canada's, in fact his whole tone in speaking of ours was derisive:

On the surface, you can make a comparison between our political system and yours. We have an executive, we have two legislative houses, and we have a Supreme Court.

However, our executive is the Queen, who doesn't live here. Her representative is the Governor General, who is an appointed buddy of the Prime Minister.

Of our two legislative houses, the Senate, our upper house, is appointed, also by the Prime Minister, where he puts buddies, fundraisers and the like. So the Senate also is not very important in our political system.

He points out the physical absence of the monarch, he derides the office of Governor General, and he says the Senate is also "not very important".

So what do you suppose has brought about such a change of heart, where he happily stacks the Senate with his "buddies" and appoints a good "buddy" as our most recent GG whose bio doesn't mention how he helped make the Mulroney Airbus scandal fade from view?  And where he happily schmoozes with royals, spending massive amounts of tax dollars on hosting their visits.

Bildberberg 2003, perhaps?  And is there a power struggle developing among the royals involved in the push toward gobal governance? Is there a new British Empire in the making, one that aims to rule all of the waves, everywhere on the planet?