Well - first, I guess, just to be different, a polite sort of little letter one was inspired to pen a day or so ago - you just never know what's gonna set the old keys flying - a story this time about how the "new" NDP government in Manitoba has decided they need a raise - but for some reason didn't feel it was an appropriate subject for talk in the recent election campaign. They do this all the fucking time, and it really does piss me off - there really are better ways to deal with MLA-MP remuneration, rather than this childish sneaking around after the fact shit -

Editor, Winnipeg Sun,
RE: MLAs get to write their own cheques, RM archive copy by Frank Landry November 14, 2003

Once again the old, old story - within weeks of being elected, the first important order of business of the new government is that all-important item of - what? take a guess!! - what would be so important for the citizens the MLAs represent that they had to get at it right away?!?! - better health care? improving the school system? reducing crime? reducing poverty?!?! hurrying along this climate change stuff so the legendary Manitoban winters finally eased off a bit? - well, nice try - but actually not!! No - the most important thing demanding the immediate attention of these great democrats, these guardians of the Public Affairs (which includes, of course, the Public Purse) is (little drum roll!!!!) - - - nothing other than increasing their own salary-benefit packages!!! - salaries which have been, for at least the last 20 years or so, substantially above the average income of the people who elect them as their representatives.

It gets annoying after awhile, to say the least, and is undoubtedly part of the package of increased cynicism of voters, and the falling number of them who even bother to vote anymore. That is to say, these politicians, our representatives, have just recently gone through a longish election campaign during which they had more than ample opportunity to tell all of the voters they thought they were being underpaid, and would be looking for a raise were they elected - but somehow they all seem to have overlooked that item in their election rhetoric (I have located a story on the CBC, which can be found here - Election Promise Box - listing some 29 election promises of the NDP (along with 42 or so of the Conservatives, and 21 for the measly Liberals, maybe having something to do with their poor showing) - and not once - not anywhere - does anyone mention that they think the hardworking members of the Manitoba Legislature ought to get a larger chunk of the tax dollars of their voters in their pay packets each month. One might point equally at the media, since this question of asking for salary raises shortly after being elected is an old, old pattern, and one might think some journalist somewhere would have thought to ask what the current group of vote-solicitors felt about it. Although there don't appear to be that many real journalists running around anymore, given the coverage of a lot of stuff these days, but that's a topic for another time. Darn.)

If MLAs remuneration wasn't an issue a few weeks ago, it hardly seems fair to make it an issue now, vaulting to the top of that lengthy list of as yet unaddressed other promises, after the voters have voted for them all, and aren't, in the normal course of events, going to get to have a practical say on what they think of such a raise for another 4-5 years. I expect a lot of voters would have liked an opportunity to express an opinion, through their ballot, on the expectations of their representatives concerning pay, had they been informed that such a move was in the works. Although maybe I have it wrong, and this is not something the voters are considered qualified to judge - in your story, for instance, you say:

"...They (politicians like Premier Gary Doer, Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard and Tory Leader Stuart Murray) are the ultimate authority in Manitoba and they have to vote on something," said Backman, the former chief executive officer for the Brandon Regional Health Authority...."

Really! - well isn't that amusing, not to mention informative - and here I (and I expect quite a lot of others!) have been labouring under the (evident) illusion for years that, in this "democracy", the people, the citizens, the voters, were in fact the "ultimate authority"!! - just goes to show how wrong one can be, I guess.

Speaking of Mr. Backman, were I a citizen of that fair province of Manitoba, I would also most certainly have liked to have been consulted about the idea of paying someone a very tidy $175.00 per HOUR, for a period of 6 months!!!!!! - to conduct a review of MPs salaries and benefits, and what not ("constituency resources" was also mentioned in the story) - a quick check on my handy computer calculator indicates that, at a standard 40-hour work week, that works out to something in the area of $180,000.00!! - OOF! - or even higher - if, as lawyers tend to do (don't know if he is a lawyer or not, but it's legal sounding work!) he works (or at least bills for hahaha!) closer to 60 hours a week, we're getting into the neighbourhood (or stratosphere) of $270,000.00!!!

Well. Wow. Words sort of fail me, facing those figures - exactly what kind of "work" is this man going to be doing that someone couldn't be doing just as good of a job of for a heck of a lot less money, I'd like to know! And does anyone dare suppose that, given that kind of largesse, this individual would ever recommend that those providing this tidy retirement package should receive a decrease in pay?!?!? or even only a small increase?!?! - hahahaharight!!!!! - well, I guess time will tell - but I will take any and all bets that he recommends a rather tidy benefits increase for the MLAs who are asking for this report and paying him this rather lucrative stipend for it. This sort of thing goes on all the time in Canada, and it really should be stopped - some consultant of some sort hired to "do a report" on MP/MLA benefits for a very tidy sum - and then recommending an equally tidy increase for those who engaged his services - perhaps your paper could get something underway, some citizen involvement in this process, some real democracy!! (I don't have time to go through a search of similar incidences, although I have no doubt it would be most interesting, but I do recall one case from my own former province of PEI where a Provincial Court judge was asked to do a report on PEI MLA benefits, and recommended a nice little increase, and within months he was rewarded by being named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of that fair little isle! - no connection of course between the two events!!! hahahahaaaa change the channel you darned conspiracy theorist you!)

It is a very serious waste of money, if you ask me, 200 grand for a simple little pay package recommendation - just what exactly is this Mr. Backman going to be doing to be earning all that cash? Just for fun, to point out what a huge waste it is, let me tell you what I would do, if charged with this task, and what sort of remuneration I would expect for it.

Briefly, I would first spend an hour or so on the internet, and find out what politicians in other parts of Canada are getting paid, and what their workload is - that is, how many constituents they represent, how many days their governments actually meet each year, and what sort of accomplishments they can point to over the last few years that have benefited the people of the province, to get a rough idea of what others in similar jobs are doing. Add to that a quick search to find what the average Canadian makes in a year, maybe, and the average Manitoban that these MLAs represent - it's always good to have a lot of figures, to get things in context. Perhaps, if my internet connection was working well that day, I might even browse around some other countries, for a wider comparison. But let us say half a day, altogether, given a somewhat erratic internet connection, mid-morning coffee break, dealing with some emails, stuff like that. Cut and paste appropriate findings into a preliminary report file, print out a copy to look at later and jot down ideas about other things that might be useful.

Next I would compose a short letter for publication in the provincial papers and other useful places that might suggest themselves, indicating that a review of MLA remuneration and consistency (HAHAHAHA!!!! - only in the on-line edition you lucky buggers!! What a GREAT Freudian typo HAHAHAHA!!!!) expenses was underway, and submissions from any and all interested persons, indicating what they thought a fair level to pay their representatives would be, would be received until such and such a date (snail mail ok, email preferred, for various reasons) - perhaps a month hence - this is, after all, hardly a big-ticket item, and there should be no need to spend much time on it, really (how much time did YOU spend negotiating your salary-benefits package, at any job you ever had?). MLAs themselves would also receive a similar letter, asking for details of their work load, and if they thought they deserved a raise, and if so how much, and justifying that figure. Taking my time, and being careful with the wording of the letters and what not, I could probably kill the rest of the day doing that and messing around haha excuse me doing research on the net. One day so far, resulting in the necessary wheels being set in motion to gather the data I needed.

Say in about 2-3 weeks I would have a preliminary look at the accumulated mail, and start making some lists of the salary-etc packages recommended by different people - the voters in one list, and the MLAs themselves in another; and then I would start work on the eventual report, by setting up the computer file, and making some notes of the more common and insightful reasons people were giving for whatever recommendation they were making re the benefit package, setting up some preliminary comparisons between all the data that I was getting from the various sources. Another not-too-stressful day, but good progress made - again, print out whatever documentation was underway for review and notes about changes, improvements, whatever.

At the end of the month I would gather in the rest of the submissions, finish the tabulation process, and get to work on the report. Since the MLAs are, after all, public servants, I would give first priority to the suggestions of the citizens themselves, a majority of whose recommendations would hopefully fall into a certain common range. If not, I would do my best to make a range of options. Then a page on what the MLAs themselves thought they should be paid (naming names, of course!!! - this is hardly the kind of thing where secrecy is appropriate - no employee gets to hide their face when asking what salary they expect!!! don't be silly!!!). Another day spent, maybe two if there was a lot of mail, which I would not really expect (but a day or two could be added if necessary).

Then add a day to finalise the report, in which I would outline the things I had found concerning pay ranges in similar jurisdictions, and summarize the various letters/submissions I had received. It should not be any more than 15-20 pages tops - we could always make the full archive of the submissions received available on a webpage or something, for those who were interested, and in the interests of complete transparency, which should of course be a given in a democracy.

Finally I would prepare a short question for the ballot, reflecting the information I had received - something like "Your MLAs from the last Legislative Session feel they should, in the next Legislative Session, receive an increase of $XX and these additional items in their retirement package/ constituency expense account/ etc-whatever. The citizens of Manitoba, when questioned, indicated that you/they feel your/their representatives should receive a pay-benefit package of XXXX. Indicate on the ballot below which of the various options (selected from the most common ones recommended by both voters and MLAs) you think is fair." For this process would, of course, logically be done in the runup period to a provincial election, and while the voters were voting for their MLAs, they would also be voting for how much to pay them, based on past performance and how much credibility they placed in the promises of the campaign, as well as comparative data from comparative sources, which would be provided to those who took an interest in the process. If a certain party wanted to make a certain pay package a part of their platform, and they got elected on such a platform, it may be that this could override the referendum on pay or make it unnecessary in the first place - but that sort of thing could be specified before the election.

Anyway, all in all, I figure about a week's worth of work, for which if I was to get say $2,000, I would feel I had been quite well paid. Stretching it a few days to $5,000 if a bit more was desired in the way of face-to-face hearings or something would be possible - but not really necessary.

Or just take the ideas above for free!!! as a public service (some of us do that kind of stuff without expecting huge amounts of money for it - really! - that is what democracy and community are all about, or should be!! - really, I've spent probably an hour or maybe two on this letter, and would not begrudge the ideas herein expressed being of use to someone for free!!! (you're right - I'd make a lousy capitalist)), and get some secretary already on the public payroll to work on it - there's nothing real complicated there. Certainly nothing that requires the expertise of someone who feels they deserve $175 an hour!! - it is, after all, a democracy, and we the citizens are supposed to be running things - things like deciding how much our MLAs get paid. (It would be most interesting to ask either (or both) of the government and this Mr. Backman exactly what additional value they expect to receive for the ~$200,000 they are going to pay for THEIR report!!!)

(I just can't leave this here without saying something about what I think about MLA remuneration! - Personally, I think most of these people are waaaaaayyyyy overpaid for the "work" they do - the same CBC site referred to above also has a list of NDP promises from the last election (you can find it here - 1999 Election Promises) - and just have a look!!! - and think about it - this very short list of things is what these people have "accomplished" in FOUR YEARS!!!! - there are about 15 "election promises" listed here, and they have actually managed to fulfil at least partly about 12 of them. In four years!! When you think about it, that is NOT a heck of a lot of work!! And on top of this, it would, I expect, be most interesting to make a list of just how much money these people cost the taxpayers in other ways - such as junkets hahaha excuse me "working trips" hither and yon around the province and country and overseas - and it would be equally interesting to read the reports from the MLAs about why they went on such trips, and what they learned, and how exactly whatever they did or learned was used in the performance of their duties, and resulted in something good happening for the average people of the province!! - I know they will all protest loudly and indignantly and at length that they do huge amounts of "constituency work" - but again, I would like to see some of that quantified in one way or another, and justified - a great deal of such "work" is supposedly intervening for constituents with government offices that are giving the constituent a hard time for some reason - but the answer to that is to get a better grip on the government bureaucracy, so there are fewer screwups that need intervention, surely!! - yes, it's ok to have MLAs - necessary, really, as democratic representative government is as good of a way as any for running things in a big society with a lot of people and activities and needing to be organised and deal with other people and governments and whatnot - but let's keep things in perspective, and realise that these people are, after all, only our Representatives, supposedly doing what WE tell them and/or want them to do!! - it is not supposed to be a career, after all, or an "I AM THE BOSS!!" position, and they shouldn't be treating it that way!!)

Well - obviously I had better sign off - getting right carried away with my ideas about how Accountable and Responsible Employee-Representatives ought to behave, and be treated, when I just started with a short comment on this "sudden" concern of the MLAs about their pay-benefit package.

But how about it, as a basic question - don't you agree that the employers - in this case, the citizens of the province who are footing the bills - ought to at least be consulted in the matter of how much their employees are being paid - and that that consultation ought to happen in public, as part of or at least before an election campaign?

(my wasn't that a polite little note!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!)

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

--- followed by what I will politely HAHAHAHAAAAA call just a system dump - notes and stories and ideas coming out the fucking ying-yang, as an old friend was known to remark on occasion, and too few hours in the day to get fucking organised properly - man, the day job was active this week.

So - Why aren't we sheeps winning - there are SOOOOOO many more of us than the wolves??? - but I guess the answer would be the same sort of thing as the answer to a question about why lions are known as "king of the jungle", even though the animals they prey on are found in much greater numbers. The evolution of humans was a haphazard sort of thing (if evolution it indeed was, given all the stories about some alien species "seeding" our planet at some time in the past - another day!!!) - but whatever the history, the present indicates that whatever we are, we embody most traits found in the animal kingdom - both good and bad - well, insofar as you can call anything like that "good" or "bad" - it all depends, it all depends!!! as me old dad or someone like that used to say - running like hell from danger, for instance, might keep a deer alive and thus more likely to pass on his/her genes to another generation (which, after all, is pretty much what it's all about - ask any biologist HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!) - but on the other hand, running from dangerous situations would not have the same result for most predators, whose immortality genetically speaking depends more on overcoming most dangers they are normally going to face. But what about we humans? Fight or flight? Or some big confusing mix of the two????? ORRRRR - something else altogether?!?!?! (OUT OUT DAMNED SPOT!! OUT OF THE BOX!!!!!)

The herd animals will have democracy, and run their own herds as something besides a walking butcher shop for the predators, when they rise up and fucking TAKE democracy and control from the predators - you do not convince a predator to stop preying on you by pointing to law no 34564 and saying "You can't do that" - the predator will have a good chuckle as he tears out your throat, and later have a good ol laugh with his fellow predators while describing what a fucking idiot you were - they'll all have a good laugh over that, and share similar stories. You stop a predator by demonstrating to him that if he does not do as you wish, YOU will tear HIS fucking throat out. And do it when and if required. But few herd beasts can manage that, and whatever ability there might be for that course of action is, as much as possible, beaten and otherwise forced out of the young of the species through many years of forced indoctrination in the "education" system in the countries and communities they all share, which are, and have been for almost all of their existence, controlled by the predator class. If we are going to triumph as a species, we have to shed, and quickly, this cultivated herd-beast status, and equally the predator status we have allowed the few to assume - and become, all of us, some combination of the two - neither dominant leaders, nor meek followers, but all equal in terms of the right to exist and participate in our community and its governing.

The modern human predators are pretty smart though - and they've got all the herd beasts convinced that we live in a "society of laws" that we all must obey - the thing is, the predators demand that the herd beasts obey all the laws, and have set in place great bureaucracies full of scary cops with guns and radios and attitudes to let everyone know they are by fuck being watched to make sure they behave themselves, and somber courts designed to make one feel intimidated by the great and powerful and impartial majesty of the law when they are caught misbehaving, and stuff like that to ensure that they do, while not feeling very constrained by these laws themselves - any herd beast caught in any minor transgression gets hammered severely, while the predators generally live outside of these laws, routinely scamming us all for billions with nary a word of protest from anyone, etc and etc. - note, for instance, the great indignation with which the mandarin bureaucrats of the recent Harris government spoke of the fictional abuses of "welfare mothers" supposedly "ripping off" the public treasury for a few thousand dollars - and yet how eagerly they themselves transferred billions of dollars of public assets to their wealthy masters for pennies on the dollar, speaking proudly of the great things they were doing. They lie and lie and lie - and we let them get away with it by refusing to demand that such people are ever prosecuted some time down the road when their crimes have become evident. ((late addition!!! - as always, something new and related! - this from fucking CBS News of all places - evidently an older guy who actually can remember real journalism and journalists, and is a bit unhappy about the current dismal state of that profession, and his country - anyway, he writes on "...The emerging accounts of thievery in the world of mutual funds confirm, for me at least, something I have suspected since the go-go 1980s -- the existence of an economic predator class.. Not big news - but in case you were thinking I was alone!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! (I am actually - but don't tell anyone HAHAHAHAHAAAA)

Funny all that should come up - the "Law" has been in the news quite a bit this week, in various ways -

Where to start? - Here for instance, I guess, as good a place as any - Canada's courts 'joke': U.S. lawyer (Vancouver Sun Wednesday, November 19, 2003) - the lead - "The Canadian justice system is a lax joke and a breeding ground for scam artists who are ruthlessly bilking countless thousands of elderly Americans out of billions of dollars, a frustrated assistant U.S. attorney charged Tuesday..." - well, I don't have any particular problem with the basic thesis of this, that the Canadian "justice" system is a joke (much worse that that, really, since a joke is supposed to be amusing, but the injustices in the Canadian "justice" system, and the christ knows how many lives hurt or ruined because of them, are anything but funny) - but fuck - coming from an American?!?!?!?!?! - whose "justice" system is quantum leaps ahead of the Canadian in terms of "worseness" if I might coin a word?!?!?! - fuck - the ol jaw is hanging too wide open in disbelief to even laugh in irony and outrage!!!!. This is the American "justice" system, might we recall, whose Supreme Court APPOINTED the fascist Bush to his job in the White House, from where he is the figurehead for a regime doing damage around the world that will take decades to undo, if we actually regain enough control to start undoing it, with nary a fucking whimper of protest from anyone official in America, at this outrageous transgression of justice, which was the first act of many over the last 3 years that basically have ripped apart the great documents known as the US Constitution and Bill of Rights!!!; or - the "DA" ("District As... naaaaaa - too obvious!! HAHAHAHAAA) in this story is speaking from California which, very recently in time, was blatantly bilked of something like 10 Billion dollars by Enron, and is doing NOTHING to recover the money from that scam (which makes complaining about a Canadian citizen bilking a few people of a few million look and sound pretty ridiculous - christ, "Scams'R' US" might be the slogan of American "business" the last 10-20 years - fuck what am I saying?!?!?!?! - their whole existence - the country is based on a scam!!!! - remember the original great American "businessmen" buying Manhattan Island from the natives for a bucket of beads and trinkets?!?!?! - and they haven't stopped - a sucker born every minute one of the basic American business maxims!!! caveat emptor!!! etc etc et-fucking-cetera!!! - and since the businessmen also consider politicians an investment, they write the laws to protect themselves and encourage such scams - fuck I don't need to get into that, everyone knows it....). One could go on and on and on and fucking on about "justice" in American - but let's not right now - I don't have a lot of time HAHAHAHAHAAAAA. (I actually had an "enlightening experience" (fuck you just can't shut it up once it starts HAHAHAHAAAA) with the US "justice" system when a young lad - crossed over the border just to say we'd done it one time, see what the big fuss was about Budweiser (HAHAHAHAAAA beer-flavoured piss in a can!!! - drink it all day and not bother a breathalyser HAHAHAHAAAAAAAA) - got caught "running" a stop sign (99.9999% stopped wasn't enough), hauled down to the local "JP" HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA - where in due course (after letting us shiver in fright in his waiting room for a couple of hours, imagining all the worst things possible - picture some 16-year old pretty innocent Ontario boys sitting in the anteroom of Darth Vader, whose stormtroopers and Klan-ers were shooting hippies at Kent State and any progressive politicians they could find, like King or Bobby or Malcolm!!! waiting for judgement) we were finally hauled in front of this paragon of American "justice" - he asked us how much money we had - being too young to even think about lying in this august presence or to see what was happening, we told him honestly "About $100" - he thought for about 2 seconds, then said "The fine will be $80" - generously leaving us a few bucks for gas and whatever else to get out of the country - for purportedly running a stop sign on a deserted road HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA - true story - and an early step - one of many steps on the road to enlightenment of THIS particular grasshopper HAHAHAHAHAAAAA)

Anyway - another ongoing example of "justice" in America - anyone who follows public affairs a bit and the news will be aware of the big trial of the "Washington Sniper" or whatever it is being called, and the pretty much unanimous guilty verdict of the media and public officials that has been levied (there is, when you watch "justice" systems either in America or Canada in action and think about it (HEY!!!!! - WHO IN THE FUCK TOLD YOU TO "THINK" EH?!?!?!?!! - CITIZENS DO WHAT THEY ARE FUCKING TOLD!!! AND "THINK" WHAT THEY ARE FUCKING TOLD!!!), very, very, very little of this "innocent until proven guilty" shit that we are taught happens to people accused of crimes, actually happening) - but as always, in America and other places, what you see on the surface is rarely what is boiling around down below - I have referred to a guy called Dave McGowan before, and his Center for an Informed America (CIA HAHAHAHA!!!! good one Dave!!!) - but have a boo at this, if you want something to think about (not to mention he's a good writer) - NEWSLETTER #45 - November 18, 2003 - The DC Sniper Trial, Part I - a somewhat different perspective than appears in the national "media" (one finds these days one needs to use a lot of quotation marks, as many words do not actually mean what we have been taught they mean, and one ought to point that out to avoid confusion - words like "education system", "media" and "justice" for instance - you can readily picture the juvenile minds running the show these days crossing their fingers behind their backs, and winking at each other and giggling at what they think is their little secret when they say things like "democracy" (heeheehee!!) or "justice system" titter titter!!)) - like so many things in a society based on lies, when the leaders must pretend to be doing one thing - the theoretical stuff that citizens are taught about their society in "dick and jane and spot the dog" school - to please or pacify the citizens and maintain their standing, while actually having completely different goals to fulfil. lies lies lies lies and more fucking lies it never fucking stops.

Another one, getting back to the joke of the Canadian "justice" system - for the last few weeks the Arar case has been in the news, with growing demands for a public inquiry which the government is not going to get anywhere near (thank god for terrorists!!! - we can justify damn near anything these days by saying NATIONAL SECURITY!! - CAN'T TALK ABOUT THAT BECAUSE IT MIGHT HELP THE TERRORISTS AND YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO DO THAT!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA (and even if you did we don't plan to let you citizen - don't forget who has the nightsticks and mace and more if we need it) - anyway, this one brought a smile (grim and cynical and despairing indeed - the story is far from funny) to the old face - U.S. officials insist they did nothing wrong in Arar case: Easter HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! - the gangsters say they did nothing wrong HAHAHAHAAAA - well, as someone once said, they would say that, wouldn't they?!?!?!!! - when was the last time an organised crime figure admitted their misdeeds?!?!?!? HAHAHAHAAAAA - but it isn't that funny actually, as it indicates a couple of rather serious things about Canada, and our relationship with the US - let me rephrase that, the relationship of the Canadian organised crime syndicate which is currently running around the world calling itself the Canadian government and the parallel (but much more powerful) body in the US - first, Easter's meek acceptance of Ashcroft's words is a pretty clear statement that it doesn't really matter what the US does, there ain't much WE can do about it! - but perhaps more ominously, it indicates that in all probability the Canadian spies and cops were and are guilty as charged - that is, they gave the US the info which the spies there used to justify sending Arar back to Syria to be imprisoned and tortured for a year - and the Canadian spies (and government) KNOW that most Canadians aren't going to be real happy about this kind of shit, so they better lie about it, and keep it covered up. Here is an excellent piece on the situation `We need Canadians to speak up' by Thomas Walkom, and here a quote from it - "Maher Arar, the Canadian deported from New York so he could be tortured in a Syrian jail, is a living example of North America's 9/11 frenzy gone toxic. He is also a living rebuke to Canada's practice of sharing so-called intelligence information with outlaw states, be they Syria, Egypt or George W. Bush's United States." - for all of its apparent move to the neocon position in the editorial room, as noted oft before, the Star still has by far the best columnists in Canada, and Walkom is one of the 4-5 leaders of the pack there - this is, I think, the first time I have seen the US referred to in the Canadian media as the "rogue state" which it has surely become - AND he refers to the 911 hysteria which has been promoted by the governments and media, through which they are well down the road to creating fascist states in our countries based on this manufactured fear. WAY TO GO TOM!!!!!! HAHAHAHHAAAAAA. Other good ones in the Star, if you missed them - All this happening in Canada, eh? by HAROON SIDDIQUI, one of the other leading lights at the Star; Why is Ahmad held by Egypt? by THOMAS WALKOM again; and a piece by Gwynne Dyer, a bit of a right-leaning lad, but one with his feet on the ground, thus this astute commentary - Barking up the wrong bush - an example - "...In the face of the torrent of deceitful propaganda, it has to be said again and again. The invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with the "war on terrorism." The only terrorism in Iraq is that which was caused by the invasion...".

In another good piece about this, from the sane left perspective (the kind of John Prine perspective that tells us "Your flag decal don't get you into heaven anymore" HAHAHAHAAAAA - love it!!!!), another guy I've mentioned before, Robin Mathews, writes a very good article about how ludicrous it is to let cop and spy agencies investigate themselves, as the Canadian spy people (HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA - that really is funny!!!!! kids in the sandbox pretending to be grownups!!!) are doing here - I mean, the outcomes are pretty predictable, although we see it time and time again in the Great Democracy - Maher Arar and the RCMP Public Complaints Commission: a joke too brutal for laughter RM archive copy. (I remember a related incident many years ago, another step on the road to enlightenment of this grasshopper HAHAHAAA - again in that bastion of justice and democracy PEI - I had been getting pretty seriously screwed around by the "justice" system, and similar things were happening to a lot of people that I was slowly becoming aware of, and I wrote the Canadian Judicial Council or whatever they call themselves suggesting they investigate the PEI "justice" system - and they wrote me back a rather short but firm letter (CITIZEN!!! - BACK IN YOUR CAGE!!! DON'T QUESTION THE MASTERS!!!!), telling me that IF the PEI judges thought they needed to be investigated, they would ask for one!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!! - again, true story!! - you can't make this kind of shit up (truth is, indeed, far stranger than fiction!) - but the thing is, before getting involved personally with the "justice" system, being a well trained (brainwashed) Canadian citizen, I would have upheld its honour as the very exemplar of Justice in the world against all who would have dared disparage it in my presence (which is why I got involved in the first place, looking to have a wrong righted, and COMPLETELY confident that once I had explained my case to the great Canadian impartial justice system, they would come down with the very fury (and of course fairness!!! HAHAHAHA YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!!!! STOP IT STOP IT!!!!) of Solomon on the heads of the offending party - unfortunately for me (although I didn't realise it at the time) that wrong was committed by someone of considerably more political-financial influence than a poor student, which I was at the time, and it was there I learned my first lesson in Canadian justice - that he with the most money and best connections usually wins. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (yes I really WAS that innocent (stupid if you like!) at one time!!!!!!) - like "democracy" (another of those words we have to use quotation marks for these days) - it doesn't mean quite what we were taught - not one person one vote, but one dollar one vote - and "justice" usually means something more like "the one with the most money does what he fucking wants" HAHAHAHAAA) - but man, you try to talk to people - people like I was before I got involved! - and they almost unanimously figure people who complain about the "justice" system are just whiners or losers or commies or other kinds of lowlife - because EVERYONE KNOWS in their hearts that the Canadian "justice" system is absolutely fair and fantastic and impartial!!! BUT - it's all a lie. But as long as they're good little citizens, and don't do things the nice police don't want them to - why, they'll never have a chance to open a door onto the Truth of things in Canada (and most places) - corruption reigns, and a central part of that corruption is brainwashing the citizens to know nothing about how corrupt the place really is.

As I talked about the last time, things are not at all what they want us to believe - the military is not there to protect us all - it is there first as the "muscle" (c'mon - we've all watched the Godfather!!) of the elite, and, for bigger elites in bigger countries, to carry out wars of aggression to acquire new property and/or resources, and to protect the elite from the citizens when they get upset at what the elite are doing to them (ran across a couple of things this week that speak quite directly to that - check out, for instance, War is a Racket, by one General Smedley Butler RM archive copy - an old piece, about things in the early 1900s - but the operating principles of our society haven't changed - or a newer piece Blood, Oil, Guns And Bullets by one Aziz Choudry RM archive copy, one of a group of newer writers talking about this stuff very politely, but forcefully (again, stuff you will NEVER see in the mainstream media, for some odd reason - and it AIN'T because all these people are whacko commies spaced on on "conspiracy theories" venting their childish fantasies on the net, as the gov and mainstream media would have you believe HAHAHAHAHAAA - actually, there are many real fantasies out there - but most of them are being spread by the gov and mainstream media HAHAHAHAAAAAA - that is to say - read the latest Fraser report on how Private Auto Insurance is FAR BETTER than public lately??? or likewise Privatising Hospitals - or how fucking WONDERFUL!!!!! "Free Trade" is for everyone?? or how YOU AND I created that HORRIBLE NATIONAL DEBT????? - or seen any WMDs in Iraq lately???? HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - Rude in Fantasyfucking Island indeed!!!!!!!!) - and the "justice" system, equally, is not there to dispense "justice" to the citizens - it is there to validate the rule of the elite, and protect them from the citizens in a "justifiable" way (you are NOT supposed to know about this!!!! (you sure as fuck won't read about it in the mainstream or in the government handouts about how WONDERFUL your "justice" system is!!!!) - but tell em ya read it here HAHAHAHAH!!!!) - the "rule of law" rather than the "rule of brute force" - although for those who choose to question the law in any more than a theoretical way, the "rule of brute force" is very, very close at hand (Vancouver, Toronto-OCAP, Quebec, Dudley George, etc and etc). With all of the modern weapons and Darth Vader stormtrooper gear, and complete media control of the information flow about such things (which when such things happen in other countries we quickly call fascism and propaganda!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!! - here too!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA) - well, as noted, few people ever really understand the way the "justice" system really works, and that's exactly the way it's supposed to be in our great "democracy".

Couple of interesting sites with LOTS of readings about the Canadian "justice" system - stuff you'll NEVER see in the mainstream media - man, this internet is our BIG chance to actually achieve some kind of real democracy in Canada and the world, if enough people can break away from their brainwashing long enough to take advantage of it before it too is somehow neutralised by the NWO fascists - Sheila Steele's Injustice Busters, and another called Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted - lot of interesting stuff on both of these sites, and as much as it is, it only scratches the surface. The point of the system is NOT to achieve any actual kind of justice - or they'd run it completely differently with, for instance, Crown Attorneys whose job was to ensure someone was guilty of whatever they were charged with before convicting them, rather than get convictions at any cost (there is a BIG difference between the two), or making access to lawyers available for EVERYONE charged with a crime - but to provide a method for the elite to keep the populace under control, and from stepping too far out of line. And it is working very well.

And what the hell - another small story of justice in good ol PEI - The Beer Story - you will note, if you read this, that there is no actual crime here, and in terms of major injustices like people being imprisoned (or executed in other countries like the US) for crimes they did not commit, this is pretty small potatoes, as Humphrey might say - but what it says to me is that if the system can be this corrupt and malfunctioning at the lowest levels (and most people just accept whatever happens to them no matter how fucked up it is rather than spending months fighting for a relatively small matter - but then I always admired the good Don Quixote HAHAHAHA!!!! - just call me Sancho!! HAHAHAAAA), then it is a pretty clear indication that the rot spreads all the way through the system - it is just much better covered up at the upper levels, where collusion between government and "justice" system and media and elite make decisions behind closed doors about everything of importance, and then devise their marketing plan for whatever it is they are doing - the chances of "The Truth" about such things ever getting out to the public is about as great as Big George standing up someday and telling us all he was lying about everything, or something. People who get too close or too noisy about this stuff tend to wind up dead too - in PEI as well as America.

Christ it's all there - I'm connected to the ether I just don't understand how yet - I wrote last time about the craziness of "supporting our boys" unquestioningly, ignoring the fact that first they are the tool of the elite who will be used to suppress US if and when needed, which is to say that supporting your oppressors may be great for them but is kind of stupid for us - but also that rather unsurprisingly a lot of people who willingly join any military do so because there they are not only allowed but often encouraged to give full freedom to their natural inclinations of violence - and these are NOT the kind of people I really want living around me or entrusted with the job of "looking after us" HAHAHAHAAA - indeed, it is to a large extent what the entire civilisation movement the last several thousand years has been about, getting rid of this kind of thing so the less violent can live lives free from fear of violence - anyway - as so often happens, at the same time I am writing about something there are stories circulating about the same thing in one way or another (a tide in the affairs of me! (man what a typo!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!) - anyway, Willie knew, like he knew so much - another thing to write about - why were so many people apparently so much fucking smarter one or two or three or more hundred years ago?!?!?!?! - where is our Socrates today? (debrained in school, I would surmise as a first guess) - anyway, here is a story about how so many of the military REALLY act, although the media for some reason don't give this kind of thing much attention - The Scalping Party (I've linked to a site called TomDispatch, which is worth subscribing to - an elderly (it would appear - no insult intended HAHAHAH!!!) American journalist, one of the REAL ones, it appears, somewhat unhappy about the current dismal state of the art in America - read down a bit to get to "The Scalping Party") - and if you're offended about the idea of NOT "supporting our troops" without question, explain to me someday why we should support this kind of stuff. (And the idea that most of the military people are not like this is a bit thin, to say the least - basic training and everything else they go through while "learning the craft" is designed to MAKE them like this - a soldier that won't shoot who he is ordered to is not of much use to the army. Think about it. Not in Canada you say? Check out the Winnipeg General Strike. Or a certain situation in Montreal a few years ago.....)

The crowning of Paul Martin continues apace, with nothing but wonderful words coming out of the mainstream media about how fucking WONDERFUL our new PM is!!!! - fuck, you'd have to go back to Princess Diana to find someone in the elite the mainstream media loves so much! - but WHY one must ask??? That is to say, what has Paul done for the PEOPLE of Canada??? He has bragged about slashing spending on social programs and other stuff for average Canadians back to 1950 levels!!!! - and he's given the wealthy a 100 billion tax break (those two things are very related!!!) - it's easy enough to understand why the corporate media love this guy, but I hope to fuck a bunch of Canadians are starting to wake up to the game, I really do!!! - Remember Mulroney??? The Great Saviour, after Trudeau was demonized thoroughly in the national media - and 8 years later after taking Canada a LONG ways down the road to complete domination by America and Big Business (not unrelated!!!! HAHAHAHAAA!) he was booted big time by pissed off Canadians - and replaced by a "little guy from Shawinigan", with great fanfare and love from most of the media again - to carry on with the policies of the despised Mulroney. And at the same time the Common Sense God Mike Harris was ushered in as Saviour of the largest province in Canada (after the previous guy was thoroughly demonized, again) - and a few years later suffered the same fate as Mulroney for the same reasons (taking a progressive province and neo-conning the people into taking it a long ways backwards - sweatshops 'R' us!!!), ignominiously booted by people who had had enough. And now we have these new "saviours" Martin and McGuinty - full of great ideas and words - as were their predecessors, being given a great buildup by the corporate press, sucking the voters into giving them a few years more of taking the country back and back and back to the dark ages of government, social policy sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed and stupidity and ignorance. (For instance - McGuinty was ABSOLUTELY going to stop building on the Oak Ridges Moraine - but now? welllllll - 5,700 houses to be built on Oak Ridges moraine !!!! - that darned contract!!!..... )

What is saddest of all is how many Canadians fall for this shit, election after election after election. I suppose the falling voter turnout is an indication that people are slowly catching on - but will it be in time?!?!? Tune in next week folks for the exciting conslusion to the great story of the late 20th century - will the people wake the fuck up in time to save their country, or are we doomed like the dinosaurs, unable to see or understand or prevent the great calamity facing them?!?!?!? HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA

I can't figure what the ETs must be thinking about this - maybe having a good laugh at the little humans fucking everything up again, but that would be a human reaction, at least "human predator", which I think does not really represent what we could and should be - no, I expect the ETs are more sorrowful, as creatures with true intelligence would be, not happy at the suffering of others. It would be nice to find out someday. But true ET intelligence would sure as fuck be avoiding anything like we have offered, as a group, so far. Greed, ignorance, stupidity, and inflicting pain and death ever more horribly and in greater numbers seem to be our main accomplishments as a species. Not a survival trait, in the long term. And most of our "leaders" are too fucking stupid to understand that.

Anyway, why in the fuck anyone should believe anything Martin says, or that he will do anything different than Mulroney and Chretien and continue to follow the path the Bay St. Boys and their US masters have laid out for Canada, I don't know - but it is clear that the national media are doing all they can to give this guy a free ride to the election next year - they aren't going to ask any hard questions - so it is up to YOU to ask them questions - even if you only ask them of yourself, since there is no way the media is going to ask them, or Martin going to answer them.

The thing that always gets me about many of these new people, that applies to Martin big time - I want them to tell me - you have been in the fucking government for YEARS now - exactly WHY have you not done some of these great things already?!?!? - and WHY in the FUCK should we believe that you're going to start doing them NOW?!?!?!

Or what - 8-10 years down the road, you are the new demon, the country is several steps further down the road to falling apart - and the corporate press comes up with a new saviour?!?! It's no wonder these people don't like talking about history much - too many people might start waking up to the endless scam that is being perpetrated on them - around and around and around we go!!! - the old saying is very true - those who do not know or understand history are doomed to repeat it - and somewhere in that saying juxtaposed with our "modern" society we can understand that the people, the elite, running our society do NOT want us to learn from history - they do NOT want to change the patterns we have been repeating and repeating and repeating hundreds of times - the despotic ruler, enlightened or otherwise, having essentially unfettered control over the ignorant populace, who work as essentially slaves to provide the ruling clique of the day with great power and wealth - the power and wealth that should collectively go to benefit the great mass of people who actually create that power and wealth

Oh well enough of that - on we go to the TERRORISM ALERT OF THE WEEK!!!!! - fuck these guys - treating everyone like children - well, I suppose as long as the people keep acting like children the elite will keep treating them that way - Look kiddies!!!! Here come Santa Paul with WONDERFUL new toys for everyone!!! - But beware!!!! - do as Santa's Stormtroopers tell you, because there are BAAAAAAADDDDD BOGEYMEN just waiting to get BAADDD little boys and girls who don't do what they're told HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!

fuck me gently, as we used to say when faced with something particularly disgusting. or at other times HAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!

- anyway - here we go!!! - Smallpox emergency vaccines on the way - Shipping of 10 million doses to guard against bioterror attack to begin next month - bioterror attacks coming to Canada!!!! - smallpox!!!!! AIEIAIIEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"On Friday, in fact, it was disclosed that Canadian and American commanders are quietly preparing plans for a joint military response to future terror attacks, including a response to the deliberate infection of homeless people in major cities with variola, the virus that causes smallpox... - well - the Americans ought to know about this one - that's how they got rid of most of the native North Americans when they wanted to steal their land a couple of hundred years ago. If that sort of thing qualifies as terrorism, then that was undoubtedly one of the greatest and most terrible terrorist attacks in the history of the blood-drenched planet - let me see what I can find out about that time in my history books - hmmmmmm - doesn't seem to be any mention of it - isn't that odd!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA - well, actually, I guess that's like most "terrorism" - if we do it to them, it's just fine, for any number of reasons - but when they do it to us - well - anyway, this is looking more and more like the runup to some version of Orwell's dystopic vision of the future from 1984 - permanent WAR!!!! CITIZENS DO WHAT WE TELL YOU!!! BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING etc and etc. That is to say - the idea behind the story that they do NOT elucidate for some reason - them damned terrorists are out there like bogeymen in the night, always threatening, and we must protect ourselves and (in other stories) devise new ways to attack them!! - but why is all of this happening? Why don't we start some talk with these people who appear to want to go around killing us, and ask them what their fucking problem is - can't we work something out?!?!? HAHAHAHAHAAAA - but seriously, why do we - nononono!!!! - why do our governments!!! - insist on demonizing these people, and creating big bogeyman stories???? - I gave up believing in bogeymen when I was about 10 years old (until I started trying to figure what was going on in my society and world, anyway, and realised that there actually were bogeymen - but by and large they were not under my bed, but occupying the higher levels of power in the world - like the White House and American embassies and consulates around the world HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA) - anyway, as far as I can see, it is not the Muslims who hate freedom and democracy, but Bush and his stormtroopers, running around the world destroying democratic governments wherever they exist in a country that has something the US would rather steal than trade for fairly (and the US, of course, is just the modern version of the bogeyman squad - before the Americans it was the Brits, and the Spanish, and the Romans on a really big level, and dozens of lesser versions) - but once you see this, you start to understand that the way to deal with these people is NOT by bombing and killing and spreading idiotic "trolls in caves" stories to scare the kids with at night, but by getting out of their faces, and letting THEM lead lives that are more free and democratic because WE are not oppressing them - we may have to deal with some bad karma for awhile, for being stupid enough to let our governments carry on like this (really, we cannot pretend these things didn't happen, and you DO have to pay for bad stuff you do or let others do in your name - sorry!! - but that's what happens in the real world, after you grow up and leave the fairy tales behind - including the fairy tales of your own governments) - but in the end we will all be better off without all this killing and shit - or having to listen to idiots like George Bush lying every day on the tv - man that is so offensive!!!!! - every time he opens his mouth we probably set back the date the ETs will come here by a hundred fucking years!!!!

And from them paragons of reliability, the US Office of Homeland Security (HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA - that's one of those typical fascist Big Brother things that means exactly the reverse of what it says!! - ALL US citizens (not to mention those of us in the rest of the world) are considerably LESS secure with these people in the picture - middle of the night arrests by presidential fiat, no trials, no access to lawyers, secret indictments, etc and etc - just think of all the worst things you've been told to believe about the horrible horrible commies under Stalin et al, or the horrible Nazis under Hitler - they do it all and more, much much more, with the most modern technology in the world, in the Department of Homeland Security (it is just one indication of their stupidity that they even came up with a name with such obvious connections to various forms of totalitarianism, probably not even being aware of it!!! - people who do these things have a lot in common, including not being very well educated....) - we have yet a-NOTHER fucking warning about 'terrorist attacks" - U.S. issues terror warning, cites cargo plane attacks - it just amazes me how these people are still in power in the US government - how many of these completely false warnings have they issued in the two years since 911 - 30? 40? 50? - I had a quick look around but couldn't find anyplace who has made a list - but for all of these warnings, not a ONE has ever come to pass - you'd think there'd be a few questions about their reliability by now - but I guess not in the great free Amer-adian media. But just think of this one - more yapping about hijacked planes being used as weapons - and the odds of this have to be worse than the odds of me winning the next fucking space shuttle lottery for the trip to mars!!!! - really!!! - that is to say, I am one who believes that the original attacks on the World Trade Center were NOT hijackings by "regular" terrorists, but were actually the work of the American government, for the same reason Roosevelt allowed the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbour and Hitler burned the Reichstag - documented stuff, as this 911 WTC stuff may be some day but probably not (I imagine that what little paper trail there might have been of this, one of the biggest crimes in history, would have been VERY carefully dealt with) - an attack which really should NOT have happened, explainable only by the ordered standdown of the American 'defence" system - a standdown which they will assuredly NOT be allowed to get away with again (even the docile American herd beasts are starting to get inklings that something might be a bit amiss with their government these days, and just maybe they're being lied to a lot - better not to wake this beast up) and are probably not stupid enough to try - really, with modern airline transponders and whatnot, it is KNOWN within minutes that a hijacking has occurred, and normal procedure has jet fighters up by the hijacked aircraft in short order, and if they look like they're going anywhere NEAR something important, it is a very simple matter to shoot down one of those aircraft - meaning that IF one of these aircraft ever was to get used for "terrorist" purposes - it would be with the active complicity of those who control the jet fighters that could shoot them down. As it was that day in September 2 years ago. And that ain't theory. It's fact. Whether or not you read it in the fucking National Pispot HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA

Anyway - terrorist warnings abound. Yes there are some violent things happening around the world, but I hesitate to let the people who wish to take over the world set the vocabulary and define the words, i.e. getting us all just to refer to them as "terrorists" - that is half the battle right there - remember, in Darth Vader's eyes, Luke and Obi Wan and Princess Leia and Chewbacca and Yoda and the rest were bigtime terrorists!!!! - out to destroy the established order!!! - think on that, and believe it, and relate it to what is happening in the world today - if we do start thinking, maybe we can turn some of their propaganda back on them - and that is always delicious!!!! Whatever the Muslim fanatics are doing, they are NOT doing because they "hate freedom and democracy" as that idiot Bush and his minions around the world (including many in Canada, oh my poor soul! - how are you supposed to keep sane in this crazy, crazy place?!?!?!) keeps spouting and the propaganda matrix masters keep repeating - and really, how simple-minded do you have to be to believe such shit? And the fact that a lot of Americans apparently do believe it says a great deal about their credibility and stupidity and how successful the NWO brainwashing matrix is, not about the veracity of Bush's words - who is pretty much acknowledged now to be the greatest liar to ever sit in that big White House in Washington, Nixon and Kissinger not excepted. Reagan lied a lot of course, but it's far from a sure bet that he knew what he was saying on the best of days. Clinton? Of course he lied - they all do. But lying about a blow job is not in the same league as lying about the reasons for going and bombing the fuck out of some country around the other side of the world (although, of course, Clinton managed to do that as well (remember the "genocide" in Kosovo?!?!?!?) - but nobody cared about those lies except we CTs!! HAHAHAHAAAA)

And even though Canada, through some as yet not fully understood process in the mind of Jean Chretien, kept out of Iraq, which invasion is being connected to the recent spate of bombings in the mideast and particularly the attack on British interests in Turkey - our Terrorist Bogeyman Squad still wants us to remain in a state of panic - them damned Terrorists are still coming for us - Anti-U.S. terrorists could hit here, RCMP warns - a quote - "...The recently released assessment of extremist threats warns that although Canada refused to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, terrorists might strike at participants with assets on Canadian soil — with embassies and consulates being obvious targets. The occupation is "likely to result in retaliatory terrorist attacks against the coalition countries and their interests," the RCMP report says. "Coalition interests in Canada could be at risk of attack...." - well, personally, I gotta take anything the RCMP or Canadian "security" forces say with a lot of big grains of salt - remember, these are the same people that spent a year or so investigating some students here in Canuckland, then performing a mass roundup of arrests accusing everyone of "terrorist ties" (ohmygodno!!!) - and then over the next few weeks had to let them all go, when it turned out they had all done nothing worse than come to Canada on funny visas and Canada has not yet sunk to the extremes of Ashroft's very Nazi-sounding Office of Homeland Security - I wonder if DC comics had a more sinister meaning - trying to warn us of something! - this stuff sure belongs in comics, and not in a real world. Fuck it would be funny if it wasn't so dangerous. But these people do not have a lot of credibility. Funny you don't see any juxtaposition of these stories in the Canadian media - any REAL media would be asking everyone - from politicians right down to the editors of these fucking papers - exactly WHY they want us all to be terrified of bogeymen coming to attack us in the night - and why they aren't promoting some more intelligent courses to deal with the problems in the world, problems that such acts of violence as we do see from time to time make very clear - not to mention asking exactly why we should believe them anymore about anything, given the completely fucked up "investigation" just noted (fuck the Hardy Boys would have done a MUCH better job!), or the shifty shady connections with Ashcroft and the Nazis - I mean fuck, we do NOT want that shit here in Canada, right?!?!? RIGHT?!?!?!!!!!. The problems in the world could and should be dealt with through civilised means, not bombing and fear and lies, which, as anyone who has some education outside of tv and the local school system, understand begets only further violence - seeing who can hit the hardest is not a good way to solve anything. Why are our governments and media taking this course?!?!?!? Why can't we be the country to stand up tall and proud and free and say "GEORGE!!! STOP THE FUCKING BOMBING!!! IT IS DETRIMENTAL TO THE CAUSE OF WORLD PEACE!!!!!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA - better stop that, I'm losing control.

Anyway - the media is full of this shit these days, and we all have a choice to make - either we believe George and Tony and their followers are, as they want us to believe, Captain Kirk and the noble Good Guys fighting the Klingons to save our world from a fate worse than death and them damned "aliens" who only want to kill us in terrifying ways for no perceptible reason that anyone ever elucidates beyond the worse-than-idiotic "they hate fredom and they hate us for being free" fuck!!! (the scenario we have been trained since birth to accept - "WE" are ALWAYS the Lone Ranger good guys!!! - and the reason that noone ever explains WHY "THEY" want to kill us is because there IS no reason - the idea is just nonsense!!! - as this crap about "they hate democracy and freedom" - oh my shattered nerves, as me old dad was known to say occasionally upon being fed some completely outrageous story about something one of his wee charges was trying to get away with or something HAHAHAHAAAAA) - or we understand that in reality the most powerful government in our world has been taken over by the Darth Vader camp, and the Empire itself is the bad guys. Scary shit for sure. But you don't avoid having to deal with scary shit by turning on the tv and believing lies.

The allegory is far from perfect - allegories usually are - and the people in Iraq or Palestine or other places setting bombs that kill many innocent people indiscriminately are for sure not to be equated with Luke and Obi Wan - but neither should they be mindlessly relegated to Klingon status, as the governments and Bush followers are so determined to make us all see them - but we should see them for what they are, people who have been brutalised for most of their lives, and who live in situations of violence generally through no fault of their own and are dealing with it as best they can, trying to improve their lives, with ALL of the fucking decks stacked against them - and when Bush and whoever go after them with more violence, we are just perpetuating a terrible cycle. The answer to the violence we see is NOT more violence - but listening to them, first of all, and finding out WHY they feel the need to commit such violence, and then addressing those problems - and in a meaningful way, not the typical western political way of saying a lot of great words while being fully committed to a completely different agenda in reality (as for instance the Canadian government pretending to be committed to preserving health care to keep the Canadian herd beasts in a state of pacification, while in reality following the BCNI-CCCE agenda of Americanization of the whole thing).

As with most things in life, we CAN do it - if we want to. But the policies the western governments are following are clear indications that in reality they have no intention at all of following policies that would lead to a cessation of this violence, for that would involve leaving those people in charge of their own countries and lives and resources - which they are not going to do.

ENOUGH ENOUGH ENOUGH!!!!!!!!

Buy Nothing Day from Adbusters - very good site, if you haven't been there yet. Buy Nothing Day itself is less than a drop in the bucket in terms of fighting globalisation - but a good drop, and if it can spread awareness a bit then it's worth doing. Far from adequate - but in the right direction. Be sure to get your beer the day before.

Movies!!!! - a great one this week - old - called Powder - about a young man who had a strange birth, and somehow became "different", and was locked up for years by his parents and grandparents who hated him - but who was perhaps what people could and should be, in a sane world, where the human traits of intelligence and compassion took precedence over the currently dominant but (I prefer to think) less-than-human traits of greed and ignorance. Very well done - even elicited a choke from a close friend not known for choking! - *****

About Schmidt - Jack Nicholson does a great job of acting in a movie about the shallowness and hollowness of the American Dream. NO VIOLENCE!!!!!!!!!!!! - unbelievable. No wonder I'd never heard of it. Or Powder - a bit of violence, but not the kind of vision the people running things, or the herd beasts in general apparently, want to see.

Man the time goes fast when you're having so much fun!!! - but it's late, and the day job is nagging again, and Mike Weir and Ernie Els and some other internationals are playing the President's Cup in South Africa (and fuck it I am just going to assume and never ask anyone that that means the President of - oh - the PGA or something like that HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA - VJ Singh beat Tiger yesterday - man was he pissed!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA - go get em Mike and Ernie and VJ!!!!!!........... )

"I didn't say it would be easy. I just said it would be the truth." - Morpheus

- and insofar as this grasshopper understands it, so it is.