I'm wondering about a new take on the Santa Claus stuff. You know, at some point in your life - maybe you were 7 or 8, or maybe pretty protected and 11 or 12 or so - but at some point, you had to get to the truth - you know, "Mom and Dad, it has come to my attention over the last while, through some pretty reliable sources and stuff, that, you know, really, there isn't actually a Santa Claus - it's really you two putting all that stuff under the tree. What do you have to say about that?" And usually, one way or another, they fess up - not much choice, really - and, after a brief bout of dealing with this untruth that has been such a dominant part of your life for so long, you do realise that, hey, it didn't do much harm in the long run, and was actually pretty nice, believing in this big guy in a red suit just coming around giving you stuff. Later on, you do the same trick on your own kids, and life goes around. With your eyes, at least as far as this Santa shit goes, at least partly opened.

Our government is somewhat less honest, however. Or maybe (the allegory gets pretty loose) only a couple of kids are getting a bit suspicious about some of the stories emanating from on high, but most of them are still wandering around with "Please Santa" lists in a fog - anyway, when we older kids confront the government with our questions about things - i.e. "Mr. Finance Minister, it has come to our attention that this whole National Debt thing is actually, how shall we say this even sort of politely, a, ummm, scam, and rather than gutting our country using the excuse of a horrible debt to be dealt with, you actually intentionally created that debt, when you could have just printed the little bit of money we needed - and all these years, and while you were giving all those hundreds of billions of OUR dollars to "investors" in the name of "debt service", you were actually "servicing" (as in the on-farm definition of "servicing" which is fucking) all of us royally, to make your friends rich. What, Mr. Minister, do you have to say about this?>"

Well, of course, in the time-honored political tradition, they lie. And lie some more. It's pretty understandable - they have been committing probably the biggest crime in Canadian history for a couple of decades now (getting on to 30 years, actually), and if the kids ever get their heads out of the sandbox (or, to get a bit closer to home, if the 'big kids' ever get their heads out of their assholes), there's going to be some serious shit to be paid. I hope.

The other side of that stick, of course, is that the politicians have no incentive to change right now whatsoever - the few of us who have managed to see through the scam have been (and will continue to be) getting NO publicity of this story in the national media (this one can't even be talked about - kind of like Santa, once the seeds of suspicion are laid, the twisted tangle of untruths unravels pretty quickly), and as long as the citizenry keep voting for the politicians (tweedledum-tweedledee-tweedletwat, makes no difference which of the corporate parties you vote for, they're all taking orders from the same offices of corporate Canada (who themselves are taking orders from Corporate International - money knows no countries or borders, there just happens to be a lot more of it in the US - but they're trashing their own average joes pretty good too) - well, they're getting rewarded from every which way for their criminal activities, so where exactly is the incentive to change? They won't - until, as I say, enough people wake up to give them a message. Consequences speak - and as long as there are no consequences for their misbehaviour, there is no incentive at all to change - but plenty of incentive to carry on.

Big fish disappearing from oceans
CBC Wed, 14 May 2003 18:24:04

HALIFAX - The world's oceans have lost 90 per cent of prized tuna, swordfish and marlin since industrialized fishing began, Canadian scientists warned Wednesday.

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

RM Comments:
Just another fish story - 90% of the major big fish gone from the oceans. And we, as a species (I feel somewhat reluctant to use the collective there - but I am one of you/us) seem absolutely determined to finish the job. What is it with everyone? Can nobody see past the end of their fucking noses? What are you all going to do in 10 or 20 years when the fish are all gone, the trees are all cut down, the oceans are all dead, there's no decent air left to breathe, etc and fucking etc? I don't know - sometimes it's like talking to kids in the candy store - Johnny (Suzy, whatever) - if you eat all that candy now, you'll rot your little teeth right out of your head and life won't be so great afterwards - they don't want to listen, of course, because kids quite naturally live in the here and now, and haven't learned to be aware of the consequences of their actions. Usually, though, the adults in the crowd stop the foolish behavior, and guide them along the right paths, until they are old enough to make decisions for themselves. There doesn't seem to be a lot of that happening the last few years though - they're obviously not learning much in school (have you read the literacy figures for high school kids in Ontario? Awesome man!!! - 40-50-60% can't read or write much above a very basic level, and long division?!? - fergetaboutid!! - so we can't expect them to have a lot of knowledge about the world environment, and what drives it - George Bush the brainless corporate puppet is actually a perfect example of the times - mr friggin everyman of the first years of the 21st century - 5,000-plus years of the evolution of civilisation, and this is the best that the most powerful country in the world can do. In a cosmic sense, they're probably laughing pretty loud about it - for us, it's pretty tragic.

This lack of education is not accidental, I would add (fuck does he never stop!?!) - decently educated people are pretty much the LAST thing corporate American-Canada-World really wants - what educated person, with a thinking and thoughtful brain, would do the dogwork required for these corporations to exist, if they had any other options available - and, if a decent percentage were decently educated, they would certainly NOT be listening to and passively absorbing the crap that is dished out on the tvs night after night passing for entertainment OR news - nor would they be voting for any of the halfwitted sleazy clowns currently offering themselves as public puppets (of the mainline corporate-supported parties) running in elections (the citizenry are not completely befuddled, of course - it's no accident that the absolutely necessary in any true election "none of the above" category ever appears on any election ballots in this country!)

Ah well - here we go again - Ms Macedon has the evening meal ready, and it is time to check out once again. So much left unsaid. How many days left to say it?

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.