The media is one of the central problems we face in working for change. Yes, our Canadian media is steps above the US republican media, but it is only a matter of degree. We Canadians are stil pushed very definitely in a particular direction by the Canadian press - and, as in Las Vegas, the house edge does not have to be high to ensure victory in the long run. Really, with the media, the "house edge" favoring the forces of the "right" (I've never been too happy with this so-called right-left political dichotomy - I think we ought to, in the old "call a spade a spade" vein, be a little more accurate, and say something like the 'elite' vs the 'commoner' or something - but doing something like that would probably be getting much too close to the truth for the press in this country to stomach - or their owners, at any rate) in this country is huge - and the recent elections, national and provincial, are more than adequate proof. Why else are Canadians, who in poll after poll are shown to favor strong social programs over tax cuts for the wealthy, electing governments that do the exact reverse of what they want?

RM Comments:
That's our Brian - still pissed off that we haven't joined the US yet. Still parroting his master's voice (geez I wish I could stick a little copy of that dog in here, listening to the phonograph - reminds me so much of our Lyin Brian!) Still spreading the lies - "...we didn't join the mighty US in their defence of freedom!!!" - fuck, it is to puke, I tell you - any body who truly thinks the US invaded Iraq "in defence of freedom" - GET THE FUCK OFF MY PAGE!!! I'll have to wash the whole damn thing now. Geezus.

I still remember when I was younger - proud of Canada, proud of Pierre Trudeau, a real Canadian warrior, doing what real warriors do - standing up to the bad guys (Nixon hated him!) - then we got Mulroney - and all of a sudden Canada became a US asslicker. How embarrassin, Ralph.

But it was that time in the world, of the reaction - the neo-cons were coming into their power, their public power, with Reagan, Thatcher, and the (total lightweight) Mulroney (remember what Thatcher said about him? - big smile, little brain - something like that (anybody knows the quote, send it in). Oh, it's too painful.

RM Comments: This is kind of in the spirit of never give up - bullies like to gloat, our government is no different. Seatbelt laws were passed many years ago, and the propaganda effort before, during and since has been huge. And, as this story shows, they're still at it. Most people, plain and simply, do not like to put seat belts on - they're just uncomfortable. And the odds of really getting in an accident are so small that the chances it is going to do you or me any good are negligible. But these people will not listen to any reason - they're fanatics on a crusade - "Don't bother me with the facts - my mind is made up!!" sort of thing. Do-gooders are fine, I don't have anything against them personally - as long as they keep it to talk. But this is a lot more, and it has always made me wonder why - what I would give to be able to give a few of the people behind this a little shot of scopalamine or something like that, and ask a few questions! Not likely to happen though. But they certainly have a different idea of freedom than me and a lot of others do - sort of like the Nazis in Germany 60-odd years ago, or America the last little while - or in certain places in Canada, for that matter - "Sure you're free, boy! You're free to do what you're fucking told!!"

Call me as paranoid or crazy as you want, but that seatbelt is symbolic - symbolic of the box you live in, and the guards around it - you're about as free as the hamster in its cage.

Safety? I tell you, as a defensive driver I have avoided a lot of accidents in my days, by watching others who were trying to get me one way or another. The way I am most likely to be involved in an accident is by some dickhead running a stop sign or red light, and broadsiding me - the two most serious close calls I recall were like this, and if I hadn't been well on the ball I would have been hit right in my driver's door at a fairly high rate of speed. Think about it - if you were going to be broadsided in this fashion, would you rather be free in the car to at least have a chance to jump to the other side of the vehicle - or be strapped tightly in place while all those tons of metal bend in the side of your car, and you are the soft little pieces of tissue held firmly in place for that metal to crush?

Yeah I know all your arguments about odds and stuff - that holds little factuality too - like most "statistics" used by fanatics. Kind of like the statistic about 100 guys in a bar having an average income of a billion dollars - until Bill leaves (Gates). So it is with accidents - young crazy males have a high accident profile that brings certain stats up - but if you're not in that category, you don't have much of a chance at all of being in an accident. The trick here is driving safely and defensively - that will keep you alive and healthy into your old age. Not the stupid seatbelt. If the government was truly interested in your health - would they be shutting hospitals down and closing nursing homes and doing everything possible to keep drug costs high and not on medicare, etc and etc? Think about it.

Oh well - I bet that's about enough for most of you - guess I'll go grump off somewhere else. Send me your mailing address - I'll send you some seatbelts. No charge. Wear two if it makes you feel safer. You have my blessing, really - it's your decision. But - equally, it is my decision to not wear it, and I'd thank you to keep your face out of my affairs.

Shit - the medical bills? Listen - if you want to deny medical care to EVERYONE whom, in your exalted judgement, contributed to their own medical problem - well, just be fair about it. Any dangerous activity should disqualify one, to be consistent - people who play most physical sports, for instance, have a much greater chance of causing themselves injury and thus requiring medical care - gotta cut them off, for sure. Couch potatoes who sit around watching tv, eating junk food, not exercising, and then one day their heart gives out - obviously self-caused illness, no point in going to the hospital without a good credit card, right? Cancer? - hey, you live in a city and expose yourself to industrial poillution, and then go swimming on the weekends when you KNOW the ozone layer is depleted? And you expect ME to pay your medical bills?!?! HAHAHA - get lost Jack. Well - you see where this leads, I hope? Just be consistent.

Conspiracy crusader doubts official 9/11 version
By MICHELLE LANDSBURG, Toronto Star, May 11 2003
original link

MICHELE LANDSBERG

Barrie Zwicker gazes calmly into the camera, hands clasped, voice clear and resonant, looking the quintessential Canadian progressive: a colourful knitted vest over an open-collared shirt, a neat little beard, a personality that radiates boyish, almost naive friendliness.

Not a shard of irony, not a sliver of petulant, up-to-date narcissism.

Perfect. You couldn't possibly be more agreeable or less threatening.

The RM archive copy - read it all here if the original link has problems

RM Comments: Well - this is quite a shocker - a major columnist in a major Canadian paper actually saying there are some problems with the official 9/11 story!! I expect she's going to be hearing about this! But everyone ought to be asking a lot of questions - as she says - "And if you call him a conspiracy theorist, call me one, too, because I agree with Zwicker when he says, "I don't know exactly what happened, but something smells very fishy." Even more rank-smelling is the refusal of most Canadian journalists to ask embarrassingly uncool questions about one of the worst catastrophes of our time."

As you will see if you peruse the site a bit (RM - not the Star!!), it is the opinion of RM that the whole 9/11 story is a mass of lies - there are just too many unanswered questions to be believing these people (and as the "Smirk" and his government have been showing the last several months, "Hey - lies 'r' us!!" - unbelievable how so few people are calling them on this shit - everyone afraid of the bully in the schoolyard, I guess - I would have thought we had more adults around - but then - I dream a lot. Where's Atticus when you need him? Or Michael Valentine Smith? Kwai Chang? Someone?!?) - the biggest military the world has ever seen, with the biggest budget and most paranoid controllers, couldn't get defensive aircraft in the air over Washington for over two hours? - just how fucking stupid do you have to be to believe that?!?!? (so why DOES everyone pretend to? - a lot of work for some shrinks here....). And if a lot of people don't start demanding a lot of answers real soon, it will be too late to even ask the questions. Heil Hitler! - or whoever (sorry - I just can't say Heil B***! - at least Hitler had charisma and spoke for himself, but this Bush character is a sad caricature, a puppet, a semi-literate joke, a pathetic thing to be the President of the United States - one has to go back to characters like Caligula or Nero for any kind of comparison - even guys like Mulroney in Canada had some personal charisma - but Bush? What a sad state of affairs for Americans. Guys like Jefferson or Franklin, who started that great country with its great ambitions, must be so devastated, if they're watching!. But Orwell would have understood the phenomena well. Anybody read 1984 lately?

Ah well - the glass is empty, the victuals is on the table, and nappy time is getting close. Talk to y'all later. workworkwork. bitchbitchbitch. Write if you like.