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GREENWAYS by Dave Patterson Greenways Home |
for every one who is striking at the root. Henry David Thoreau RM A trip is born "Jimmy, I really think we ought to get down to see your sister - something's been nagging me in my gut the last couple of days, like something serious is coming down - I know how busy you are, but I also know how much you love Brittany. And it's been a couple of years since we've been there..." "A couple! Shit, girl, it's close on to five! Just after the election when them crazy people committed the coup of the century, maybe the greatest coup in the history of the world even, although nobody seems to understand that yet! But yea, I know what you mean - out in the plane flying sometimes the last couple of days I've looked over to the east, and felt something calling me too - and you know I try to listen to that stuff - one thing I've really learned up here is that there's a lot of stuff going on out there we don't understand, and we're all tied together in some ways that go a lot deeper than what we know about. So ok, I’ve been thinking about it and you’ve decided me - you get on the phone, Julie, and get the reservations as soon as you can, we can fly out of either the ‘Peg or the ‘Sault - I've got a big party coming in for tomorrow, but I'll cancel it - family first every time. Anyway - be good to see the folks again, that young ‘Lizabeth must be getting quite a size by now, and maybe get one of them Lobster Dinners they do so well down there..." A smile, bright as the morning sun. "Great!" A Pint at the Jolly Macedon with a Friend - after seeing a news story on the ever-on tv on young children being sold into sexual slavery.... "I get so mad I could really accept some of these pimps being executed, you know - and normally I do not support capital punishment. But this is just too horrible for words..." "Well - how about adding yourself to the gallows,old chap?" "What!!! I beg your pardon! That's outrageous - and this is NOT a joking matter!" "Oh, I quite agree - not a joking matter at all. But I do not jest - I am quite serious." "Preposterous! Whatever can you mean?" "Well - let's establish something first - responsibility of, shall we say, soldiers for their actions - do you believe that the soldiers who gassed people in Nazi concentration camps were responsible for their actions, or was the defence that many of them put forward, that they were simply following orders from their superiors, legitimate?" "Guilty to a man!" "Quite. What about, then, those who never fired a shot, or dropped a gas pellet, but who spent years processing the considerable amount of paperwork necessary to allow this slaughter to proceed efficiently? Grey area, guilty, not guilty??" "Guilty to a man - the slaughter would have been much less, perhaps even could have been delayed until rescue arrived, if such people had not facilitated it with their work! And furthermore, they well knew what they were doing - I have nothing but scorn for them!" "Good - I see we feel the same about responsibility." "Yes - but where is this taking us with the child sex trade?" "Patience, my man! I was getting to it! Now - your job is at the King's Bank of Canada, if I'm not mistaken?" "Yes, of course, you know it is." "Quite. Now, from what you know and have read, why is it that the majority of these children enter the child sex trade? Willingly because they like sex, or is there some other reason you are aware of?" "Preposterous! How can you talk like that? Children of that age know nothing of sex, of course they don't "like" it! No - as far as can be determined, they appear to be the victims of both poverty and cruel parents who sell those children to middlemen of some sort who then sell them to pimps or other criminal types who take advantage of such situations." "Good! I can see this need not be a long conversation, if you are so willing to be honest! Yes, indeed, the terrible poverty faced by the parents of these children is indeed central to the problem - we hear, after all, of next to no rich children being so exploited, and very few children of parents who could be called "middle class" - it is always the poor who pay these kind of terrible prices for their poverty. And now - since we have established that poverty is a central cause of these children being available to be victimised (and don't for a second think I am trying to reduce the burden of responsibility accruing to those who take advantage of these children, which is not in the least the case, they all ought to be on the gallows as well - but not alone!) - let us see if there is some sort of cause of the poverty that drives the parents of these children to such harsh measures - are they simply some sort of cretinous lazy "welfare bums" of some sort, or is there perhaps a deeper cause..." "Mmmm-hmmmm...." "One more slight diversion first, to capture the essence of the story, bring another necessary idea into play, since these things, while not being overly complicated, are the result of a few interlocking factors.... Say a man came to your bank, one you knew to be slightly shady, and requested a big loan. You were dubious of his ability to pay, but he promised you that he would sign a contract that no matter what happened to him, you could require his children and grandchildren to continue paying interest on the debt for as long into the future as it was important, which would, of course, be good for your business - would that be acceptable?" "Ha ha ha! You jest! You know we have laws against that sort of thing!" "Indeed - on the local level, at any rate. But they seem to work differently when we have governments and world financial institutions like the World Bank or International Monetary Fund - the rather infamous IMF - making the loans. Now, with your knowledge of banking and banking things in the world, see if you can find anything amiss with what I am about to relate. In the past, you see, these large banks gave tens of billions of dollars in supposed "loans" to dictators all around the world - people like Marcos in the Philippines or Suharto in Indonesia, or corrupt military dictators throughout Latin America and Africa - dictators who were supposedly, at least officially, going to use the money to improve the lot of their people, but who actually used the money to pay for armaments they used to maintain their dictatorial control, and much of which was also banked in countries that allow banks to operate in strict secrecy. And then - when the dictator was overthrown by either another dictator or a democratic revolution of some sort - the international financial agencies and western governments were adamant that the people of those countries were required to pay off the debts incurred by these dictators! And usually, after a few years of such loans, and a few years of usurious interest levies, the debts were so large that paying them off was impossible. The countries could, however, manage to pay the interest, or so-called "service charges", on these debts each year - even if they were so poor it meant the government had no money for things like health care or education or building infrastructure for its citizens! Which is, you see, exactly the same type of scenario I mentioned at the first, the reprobate head of a household here in Canada being allowed to borrow big amounts of money, supposedly for his family, but which he used for personal purposes, and then simply left - and the bank going after his family to pay the debt, even though even paying the interest on the debt left them in poverty!" "Hmpppphhh. Well, of course, that would never happen here..." "Well, we'll leave the story of the Canadian National Debt Scam for another time - but it DOES happen to other countries, indeed as I have explained - dozens of countries all over the world have been relegated to financial slavery of this nature for decades, and entire generations lost - hundreds of millions of people have suffered terribly as the international banks - and even many larger private ones - have made such odious loans and then demanded the interest on them, year after year after decade after decade - with the backing of most western governments to enforce them. And the people of those countries are thus forced, through these international banks, into great poverty, through no real fault of their own. And so we come to the beginning of the story once again - to alleviate this horrible, debilitating, never-ending poverty - some of those people, in complete desperation, to save their other children, sell some of their children to sex-traders. One would not wish to defend the morals of the people who do so, any more than one would defend those who buy the services of such children - but one can hardly deny that were these people not in such great poverty, the incidences of such behaviour would be very, very much less - as we noted, the rich never do this terrible deed. And thus is the connection between the banks and the sex trade - quite direct - although, for some reason, you will never read about such things in your national newspapers. And your own part, as a foot soldier paper-pusher in the bank - even if you do not deal with such things directly, you do enable those who do. As the paper pushers at Auschwitz enabled those who herded the prisoners into the death rooms, and those further up who gave the orders to do so." There was a long minute of silence from across the table, as the lively chatter of the Pub surrounded the speakers. There was something less of sparkling innocence in the demeanour of the one talker, although not perhaps the crushing guilt that would haunt the dreams later, after he had put his two lovely children - a boy and a girl, about the age that many young ones in other countries living in less fortunate circumstances were sold to pimps of one sort or another in the dark of night to enter a cruel life - into their beds with great hugs and kisses. "Yes - I think maybe I'll get us another pint now. Would you like one? I think perhaps we have some more that needs to be said on all this...." And while bright young lights continued to be extinguished in terrible ways in far-flung countries around the world, even as they spoke and you read, a new light was being born in one small pub, a new light that would work for the rest of its life to try to stop those other small but oh-so-beautiful and innocent lights from being put out so early, so cruelly, a new light that would start to shine on the forces of evil and darkness and expose them for the evil scum they all were. All the way to the top. (from) The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.... In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The (Somewhat Irregular!) (BGE) Journals of Stephen Bigelow .... I recall with great fondness the grad school days, the days of my small cottage near Tracadie, the days I was producing my little chapter books, the days I was growing the small gardens with big tomatoes, the days the Blue Jays would come in the fall to eat my sunflower seeds, hanging upside down while pecking and screaming at and chasing one another trying to keep the bounty to themselves, the great snow storms that would rage for a day or more, and block the front door of my little cottage entirely so I had to take the screen out and push and shovel the snow away to open the door, the long walks back through the bush on my snowshoes in the deep snow, along the small streams in the first days of spring with the new wildflowers, the walks along the nearby dunes, many long nights sipping on beer and thinking and playing Dragon in the dark to occupy my foremind while letting the subconscious do its work, falling into bed at dawn, only to awake a few hours later with pages of words waiting to fall into the computer, the bittersweet memories of Carmichael, peak of my life at Beaver Park, nadir when she said she had to leave - all such precious memories, now that I find myself far away in both time and distance - such precious memories I cannot let go, but will never live again..... such a funny thing the time we spend, such a mysterious, beautiful, wondrous thing .......... I must get to work on the story of walking the little dog, so happy and carefree, not a care in the world, living entirely in the moment - and then passing the old bent crone on the bench who stares at him with an unexplainable hatred in her eyes, and I quickly pass her, pulling the dog away who naturally wants to go and greet her, but I fear she will hurt him. I have an insight that she is thinking back to her young girlhood when she was as happy and carefree as the dog - then as I reflect on this later I have the additional insight that I am projecting my own inner conflicts on the lady, and it is also MY happy and carefree childhood that I am so protective of when I watch out for the dog - my own innocence that was stolen from me by my society trying to turn me into a slave and forcing me to protect myself and my freedom, and it was my years of resistance to that attempted slavery that has made me a guarded, cynical old man, and I think to many I myself share the image of the hateful old crone! - unable to laugh any more because I trust noone enough to open my heart that way - but on the inside, in my heart and in my dreams in the day or in the night, I still run wild and free in the fields of my youth, with the sun and the wind and the rain and a dog, laughing and carefree .... I go back later past the same bench, but the crone is gone - perhaps she too had a beautiful soul that I could not see because of the scab that our diseased society has branded over it - perhaps she was indeed the Universal One, and I passed my one chance to enter the Real Universe - perhaps indeed I myself am that old crone in a further life, waiting for the One who will see beyond that ugly, meaningless exterior to the True Beauty - the Truth - that lies within, for those with the Eyes to see....... Useful insight of the day, from a briefly opened door in the sane subconscious after a whining session about some ultimately irrelevant irritant - god isn’t going to fuck off anytime soon, so get used to it. The future is yours - or not. As you decide. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA RM But I feel like such a Shit Magnet sometimes! It's not a magnet effect, you fool. It's a balance - if you're going to insist on running around doing good stuff, then the bad stuff will come in to balance the effect you've created, see? Ah - so that's why the real assholes get all the breaks, like, and the good die young and the bad live forever, and like that? Yea - it's related. Crazy, but true. But don't despair, it ain't the whole story, you're really only seeing things upside down and backwards and reflected in a dim light, like a pinhole camera in a dark room in a circus freakhouse or something, so get some more info before going any further with your ideas, or you're just chasing futility - this little rathole called earth is only the first chapter - things get a lot better if you get through this one - it's sort of like the written test for MENSA - weed the losers out early, let em go around and come around again, try again when they’re more ready. Oh. I always thought this place was pretty beautiful, though .... Yea - it is, it is. But so's jerkin off before you find girls, eh? HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA VOL 1 NO 1 Green Island Voice - removing the dew from your eyes and letting the Truth shine through! Lead Editorial - Setting the Way It is the unfortunate duty of this Independent Newspaper, on its very first day of publication which should be a joyous day rather than one of mourning, to accuse our sad sister publication, the Charlottetown Colonial, of gross distortion of the truth - so gross, in fact, that their words can be called little more than outright lies - lies, it would seem, made intentionally for no other reason than to discredit our new Island government - the government of, by and for the people of this fair Island, duly elected in a fair election only a few days ago!.... - and thus we must mourn the death of honest journalism on this Fair Isle (although not to pretend it has ever had much life these last few years!), as we celebrate our own birth - the People's Press is Dead! Long live the People's Press!!, to borrow from an older saying, but quite pertinent, as the Fifth Estate must embody the sovereignty of the People it serves as much if not moreso than any Kings, who as much as not rule at their personal whim and are often tyrants, while a truly constructed and faithful Fifth Estate serves truly at the Pleasure of the People it serves, to both enlighten its citizens and prevent tyranny. So we begin - as a great document from a far away land in a far away time (no, 230 years is not long in temporal time, but in spirit! - ah, how far we have fallen from the days of Men who demanded Freedom!), we note the spirit of their great brave words - when the government under which men live no longer serves their interests, indeed has become quite contrary to them - why, it is the right, nay the very Duty!, of those who love freedom, of those who love Democracy! to rise up against such a traitorous government, and replace it with one that is more closely attuned to the needs and just desires of the People. And so it was done, on this Fair Isle, these few short days ago, an evil, despotic reign came to a well-deserved end to be replaced by true representatives of the People - and so, as we see in the lying words of our traitorous sister newspaper, has the Reaction of the Rulers immediately begun, supported by the very "Newspaper" (one must use the word loosely - a Propaganda Organ of an Elite government which has for decades betrayed its people terribly deserves not such an honourable appellation) whose duty it should have been to hold the traitorous government accountable - but instead, for years and years, enabled their traitorous ways, their betrayal of the people they were elected to serve. And so we here at the Island Voice take up the torch that was so long ago extinguished by those who by stealth captured our government, and once again the Truth shall shine out from under the Deceptive Dew that has blinded our collective eyes for so long. The Truth shall once again be spoken in the homes and meeting halls, the coffee shops and eateries, the playing fields and working places and resting places and all places of our people - no more shall hints of the Truth be only averred to with side-turned eyes, or spoken from behind a covering hand or written in unsigned correspondences because the speaker fears betrayal and retribution! No more shall the Truth be a joke as it is now used by this new breed of leeches and bearers of false news called "advertisers" and "scientists" whose souls have been purchased by the new corrupters! No more shall the daily Fifth Estate of this Fair Isle be the sole field of those who would command the opinions of its citizens by a one-sided presentation of news and opinion, a ceaseless monotonal barrage of propaganda to encourage and coerce compliance with things that are good for some but bad for most! No more shall we hear that "Free Trade is Wonderful" - without equally hearing that "No! Free Trade is Wonderful for Some - but Terrible for Many!!!" No more shall our citizens hear that "Privatisation of our Health Care is not only necessary, but Good!" without hearing the answering voice of "Horse Feathers!!!" No more shall the citizens of Green Island be kept in the dark about things the governing powers wish them not to think about. No more shall Citizens be Told what they should think - but hereafter Citizens will be expected to decide for themselves how they wish their community to be governed, after due consideration of the facts. No, Citizens of this Fair Isle, the Island Voice will be what a Daily Paper should be - a forum for ALL voices to be heard, for ALL points of view to be presented - for it is not our duty to TELL the citizens what to think, but to offer all sides of a story or opinion, in as much detail as required, with ongoing give and take debates for as long as required to help the Citizen arrive at a fair and just conclusion to the Issues of the Day! And that, Citizens of Green Island, is what we here at the Island Voice pledge to you, our readers and fellow Citizens. It is our calling, and we follow it with Truth and Honour - and desire that You the People - We the People! - of Green Island administer our great responsibility of participating in our government with good spirit, and courage, and enlightenment - and we together will create a truly Just Society here on our Fair Isle. Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes its laws. - Mayer Amschel Rothchild OPERATION GREEN BABY POOP (code name Green Freedom) landing on Green Island COMMENCES GOGOGOGOGO USS SUBMARINE PEACE ON EARTH TIME: 20xx:06:0616:45:23 LOCATION: GULF OF ST LAWRENCE OPERATIONS ROOM ComSub: Alright. Our President (STAND AND SALUTE WHEN I SAY THAT NAME SAILOR!!!!) has decided that these undemocratic terraist commie ideas have gotta be stopped before they spread any further, and he's calling upon your great patriotism to once again risk your lives in the name of Freedom. So - you guys all know your missions, get some rest and eat. If the weather holds you'll be out at 01:00 and hopefully back by 09:00 - we have an alternative for tomorrow - there's some squalls moving in from the east and it's only about 50-50 for tonight right now. But be ready. Colonial News Report - Issues Before the Court by Aslicken Wannagetahead As readers of the Colonial will be aware, this week the Supreme Court of Canada will be making an historical appearance in the Law Courts Building of Prince Edward Island, to render their judgement of the Constitutional Question presented to it two months ago, concerning the legitimacy of a number of initiatives of the Island government, which has now been in power for almost five years and will be facing the voters again very shortly. It is felt that the judgement of the Supreme Court of Canada will have a considerable bearing on the next election, as the legitimacy of the government itself will be addressed during this historic hearing. (one might note in passing that the very name of Prince Edward Island is indeed the correct name of this province, as no Canadian consitutional amendment has ever been advanced, let alone approved, that would allow a name change to "Green Island", something rather more suitable to some children's fantasy novel than a province of Canada...) The issues before the court are varied. Most importantly, the High Court has been asked to decide if the Government of Prince Edward Island, as a Province of Canada, and therefore under the Supreme Authority of the Parliament of the Government of Canada and the duly enacted laws of that Parliament, has the authority to enact laws and regulations which contravene certain sections of the Laws and Statutes of Canada. On the surface of it, of course, the answer to such a question is quite simply ‘No, there is no such authority’, but the Island Government has been quite clever in its legal rationale where it has quite deliberately breached such laws, and has raised questions serious enough to warrant a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada. The laws the new Island Government has most flagrantly breached include, although are not limited to, laws which name the Government and Bank of Canada as the sole authority of money issuance in Canada, including of course all of its provinces, the enacting of Election Legislation which includes such things as Proportional Representation, Referenda and Recall provisions, which are not approved in Canadian election laws, and the appointing of Judges to the Supreme Court of PEI, which is the sole purview of the office of the Prime Minister of Canada, thus rendering all decisions taken by that court of questionable validity, and which seems to have been the final act of the government which prompted the Supreme Court’s entrance into the situation, as this august body is, quite properly, rather jealous of its authority. Perhaps most importantly, the PEI government has also enacted legislation which favors local Island businesses over international franchises, which is in direct violation of several Trade Treaties entered into by the Canadian government including NAFTA and the WTO, and which has brought considerable protest in the name of these treaties, as well as from several multi-national corporations (MNCs), and even the US government. Although PEI is a very small actor on the stage of world trade, it is felt that allowing the province to flaunt such trade treaties would set a very bad example, and might encourage other jurisdictions to attempt to do such things as supporting local businesses, so obviously detrimental to us all who value Free Trade and the Rule of the Market which, as everyone knows, is the only fair arbiter of our life on this planet and must never again be tampered with by perhaps well-meaning but misguided do-gooders. Those who are meant to rule will do so, and it is futile to oppose them. The rather complex case was first presented to the Supreme Court two months ago, and although such things normally take at least a year to be decided, given the urgency of this case, and the importance of the issues at hand, final arguments are to be given and the decision rendered in the PEI Law Courts Building, which houses the Supreme Court of PEI, on this coming Friday. This is a most unusual move by the Supreme Court of Canada, which has never before moved en masse to another courtroom, which serves to emphasize the seriousness with which it views the decision. Constitutional lawyers from all across the country are expected to be in attendance, along with representatives from various other jurisdictions, including the United States Justice Department and the NAFTA and WTO headquarters, whom have indicated severe displeasure at this government which has dared to question their authority in matters of trade; “This nonsense must stop once and for all - and in a very public way so it does not occur again,” one leading US Trade Department Official was heard to comment recently, rather crankily. Government of Canada representatives are expected to be at the table of the NAFTA and WTO representatives when the court convenes, indicating their acceptance of the supremacy of international trade organisations in determining what it is allowable for elected governments to do. And we must say we must agree - why, absolute anarchy would ensue if any government was allowed to pass laws favoring its own citizens ahead of multinational corporations! What an absurd idea - the Investors of the World must NOT be angered, or the market will surely punish us severely! Many commentators have remarked upon the surprise appearance of the US Peaceship New World Order in the Charlottetown Harbour yesterday, and even rumours advanced by some lobster boats (before they were ordered by the Canadian Coast Guard to stay in port due to terrorist threats) about a submarine in the Gulf, but all government officials have assured everyone that there is no submarine, and the US Peaceship is merely on a routine exercise, undertaken with the approval of the Canadian government, and nothing further should be read into it. The Americans are, after all, our best friends, and always act with our best interests at heart, as we all know - the interdictions against Island Spuds and Cranberries only prove that - tough love, as the modern saying has it, forcing us to be strong and not depend on others for handouts or anything like that. The Island Government has also recently received a great deal of criticism for its well-publicised contemplation of the laying of criminal charges against a number of former Island politicians and well-known members of the legal community (all of whom have apparently temporarily taken up residence off-Island) for charges ranging from fraud through treason, for (it alleges) acts of “...at best, gross fiduciary incompetence, at worst, outright, conspiratorial financial fraud, leading the Island into unnecessary debt, and thereby causing its citizens undue hardships and denying them services for which they might expect their taxes to pay for, rather than having large percentages of such taxes directed into artificial ‘debt service’ charges to wealthy debt-holders...” - there have even been rumours that Canadian officials themselves dating back decades are being considered for similar charges. Canadian and other international economists, almost unanimously, have dismissed the charges as utter nonsense. Regardless, such ill-advised ideas demonstrates the complete irrationality and unfitness to govern of these people to be running a modern government. The Supreme Court of Canada has come not a minute too soon. More in Part 2 Tomorrow - and also be sure to see our Features Page, and How the Green Island case suggests that an Over-Council of leading Businessmen with Veto Power over government legislation makes sense when irresponsible citizens are led astray so easily by childish and impractical ideas sold by charlatans and anarchists, an excellent commentary that summazizes some of the issues from a financial perspective very well, from our sister publication the National Pispot. "It's not getting any smarter out there. You have to come to terms with stupidity, and make it work for you. -- Frank Zappa Thomas Paine I too have a dream - a random thought observed floating in the Ether..... I too have a dream - I dream that one day, one bright and fine and shining day for Truth, the President of the United States, and the Prime Minister of Canada, and a handful of their top advisors, will all be apprehended secretly and removed to some secure location, and humanely fastened in some medical chair, and given a small shot of scopolamine or some similar drug - and, in a live broadcast seen around the entire world, will be asked a few questions about their activities over the last few years. About their motivations. About their assessment of the worth of the lives of the tens and hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world whose lives have been terribly damaged or destroyed by the actions of these men, and many others like them. About their honesty and integrity. I have a dream - that at some brief shining moment, the people who inhabit the top floors of the Bay St Palaces will be forced to answer truthfully - "Mr. XXX - when you went on National Television and told Canadians that Free Trade would be wonderful for everyone, that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that lower taxes would make everyone richer, that the privitisation of the Canadian Health Care system would be GREAT for "everyone" - were you telling the truth? Would these things be good for "all" Canadians - or only in reality for the profits of a few, while actually leading to much poorer lives for most Canadians?" I have a dream - that someday these men, and the others like them and who follow them, will be held accountable for the great evils they have done - not the least of which is the dagger they have driven through the Heart of Truth. Fortunately Truth is strong, much stronger than these evil little wretches, and although they have temporarily forced our Sweet Lady Truth into a closet, she remains Strong, with the Bright Light She will ever bear, and awaits only the awakening of those who love her in return, who cherish her bright light and despise the evil of the lying scum who now run things. I have a dream. I have a dream. I have a dream. And one day - the dream will no longer be a dream, but will be my world. This I so promise. "I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest. Even if the sacrifice demanded my very life, I hope I may be prepared to give it." United Galactic Federation Starship Peace FROM: First Among Equals TO: Comm Dept Alright I've looked over the things and the situation and the people and I guess we better invoke Precautionary Principle # 12,983vUUy7 here. Tell Umbala to do as he deems necessary. And tell him to be a bit more circumspect this time - it took a lot of work respinning that damned Don Quixote stunt or whatever he called it a while back - the locals were talking about it for years! We never would have managed it if the people had of been a bit more literate - and the people he’s dealing with now CAN read, and even think, some of them. ....if you want to be slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers control money and control credit. - Lord Stamp, a Director of the Bank of England, in a speech in 1940 Retrieved Communication Galactic Time Code: OGWA-SE-GETP-EPCTP 2,xxx Source: Unknown Addressee: Sheava Shiva Shiv She Sh S The Human Escapee RM-33i8&^FU From the Box is still composing, still writing that damned book and other stuff!!! I thought you assured me you had this problem dealt with as we have almost everything else? We are on the very cusp of success here SSSSSS, but the cards could fall either way right now, cusps being cusps, and things are so delicately balanced, and that one individual has the potential to upset everything we are doing! - I thought you understood that. Do I have to deal with this myself? You KNOW how cranky that is liable to make me..... you do remember the Egyptians....?? Notes for a History of Green Island, by T. More The GRIPP I first encountered was named Columbus Clambake, a name he picked himself, he later said, for reasons he chose not to get into - he had been one of the first members of the GRIPP - the Green Island People's Police. The GRIPP was a few years old now - apparently the original Green Island government found upon taking office that both the Canadian RCMP and local police forces, although having many good men and women in their ranks, were also mostly controlled, or at least heavily influenced, at the upper levels of which all the old government and bureaucratic hierarchies were well inbred, by minions of the same elites who ran the old government and legal system, and it was clear that their motives and leadership would not be reformable - that is to say, they would always be true to their old masters of long standing, and working against the new Green Island government and for a return to the previous government, and favor privilege of the old elite over “common” people when push came to shove, as it often did, and, as the Green Islanders were trying to be a true People’s Government, such a situation would simply not do. This was well understood in those early days especially, when their very existence was precarious because of the anger and resistance and determination to take back “their” government of the entrenched elite, and the last thing they needed was to not be able to trust their police force. So, although it was not an easy job, over the first few months they got the RCMP off the Island, and took over the local police forces and consolidated them Islandwide, renaming them, after some consultation, the GRIPP, which symbolically broke the old connections to power and made new ones to the people. There had been one or two problems at the first - a few of the old guard who slipped through the screening process, for instance, believed in their own cynical way that the new people were not really talking about a “people's” police force at all, but simply changing elite masters, as happens now and then, and also many of the new recruits they were forced to train rather quickly were so inexperienced that they made quite a few mistakes. The GRIPP was also a new concept in policing - they carried no weapons, but were all well trained in easing conflicts without violence or, if someone attempted violence, they were well-trained in GreenFu, a combination of various forms of martial art a team of Green Islanders had devised. (This also was another Green Island export making itself felt internationally, as more and more countries were realising the futility of trying to meet violence with violence, the utter perverse (but probably intentional) idiocy of such things as the "war on terror" which provoked far more terror and violence than it could ever alleviate, and looking for some practical means to defuse the seemingly endless violence in the world ceaselessly fomented by the US government and a few others throughout most of the last century.) The GRIPPS were one of the few areas in Green Island “rules and regulations” where there was a zero-tolerance policy for deviation from the established rules - and as a result, not only their ability to do their job, but also their honesty and integrity were matchless, as they needed to be to serve as Witnesses in the Courts, which they were often called upon to do as well. As with everything, it was a slow process, changing from government of, by and for the elite, to government of, by and for the people - but it was being done, here on this one small Island, at least for a time. The GRIPPs were now widely trusted and respected for their ability and honesty and fairness - and Green Island was a very safe place, with the exception of some like the MacIrvings and their supporters and others like them, who still plotted for a return to the old elitism. ‘Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,’ the Mock Turtle replied; ‘and then the different branches of Arithmetic – Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.’ Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland "Aye, lads, has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Letter home Hi Mom and Dad, Greetings from Green Island! - I hope you like the t-shirt - all natural materials, produced right here on Green Island! Sorry I’ve been so long in writing - I know I promised to sooner, but it just got real busy real quick over here - it’s just an unbelievable place! I really think Dad ought to come for a visit - he had me, well, pretty worried, you know, with all that talk about commies and terrorists running the government here - if he had of had any other kind of evidence, I might not have come - oh well, we’ve been through all that! - but really, Mom, it seems a lot more peaceful and free here than back home - I mean, home is great and everything, you know, but still - the people here seem to be quite a bit happier, and more relaxed - I talked to some of the kids you know, we met at the beach like that you know, it’s really beautiful up at Cavendish and all that you know, but they say that things seem a lot better now too, than a few years ago, you know - their parents are less stressed, not so worried about money all the time you know - geez mom it’s really neat, they got this stuff called Green Island Greenbacks or something like that, not like Canadian money, but you can spend it anywhere here - when I first came over, like, I was real careful like you told me to be, and got all my change in Canadian money and stuff you know, but now I take the GIGBs like everyone else, it seems more natural, and supports the local people and stuff - I don’t know mom, I’ve gone through the a-stream in High School at home, but I don’t seem to have learned much about money and banks and all that - what little I thought I knew seems to be wrong too - the kids here sure know a lot about economics and history and most everything else - a lot smarter than kids back home - hey, the kids in Dickandjaneville High are pretty cool and pretty smart too, I know - but still, you know - we sit around at night and talk about stuff here, and there’s always somebody on the net looking at stuff - I know our government is really great mom and everything, but I know you and dad have talked before about something called the “national debt” or something and what a great burden it is on everyone - the kids here seem to understand it all a lot better than I do, but they say it was all just a big scam by the government - geez mom, I don’t like to think our government would do that, you know, but the guys here seem to have answers for all my questions, you know - and they say the government here prints its own money, you know, so it goes to the people “debt-free” they say, while back in Canada, the government lets private banks print money and then BORROWS it from them!?!?!?! - is that right mom? Why would our government do that?? - and then the people have to pay the interest on that borrowed money like forever and a day you know mom - I mean, if the government can print the money itself - like, you know we always talk about responsibility and stuff - if the government lets the private banks print say a billion dollars and then borrows it from the private banks and has to pay interest - why doesn’t the government just print that same billion dollars and NOT have to pay interest to private banks - I mean, mom, like the kids say - who is running the country anyway, the banks or our government? hahahahaha - well - I don’t want to talk about that all day, I am sure when you write or when I get home you can explain all that to me - but I wanted to say I met a really neat girl name Anne here - she has long red hair and green eyes and she’s just the NEATEST girl I EVER met - her aunt and uncle who she stays with - she’s an orphan - have a really neat little farm near the north shore and Cavendish here - oh! hey mom - I gotta run now - Anne’s here, and she’s taking me for a Lobster Dinner at some place called St Anne’s I think (no relation haha) - and I wanted to drop this in the post box before leaving (Canadian stamp for “away” delivery hahaha so regular price - but local Island mail with Green Stamps is about half the usual price and next-day guaranteed delivery from Alberton to Montague and anywhere in between! - they sure gotta be doing something right for that eh???hahaha) - so - I’ll try to write again soon - there’s so much to talk about - Anne says she might be able to introduce me to someone here who could give me a summer job - I’m thinking about it seriously, because I think that Green Island has a lot to teach me, and it’s already opened my eyes a lot about a lot of stuff - Love ya Mom and say HI to Dad - and tell him to think about you all coming down for a visit this summer - I don’t know where he’s been getting all his stories about commies and terrorists and all that, but it ain’t the way it is here at all!!!! Love ya lots - and BIG HUGS!!!!!!!!! Virgil RM (PS - don't get your hopes too high though - way too early to predict a trend HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - have a beer and think about it first HAHAHAHAHAHAHA) I have two great enemies, the southern army in front of me and the financial institutions in the rear. Of the two, the one in my rear is the greatest foe. The Government should create, issue and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. Democracy will rise superior to the money power. - Abraham Lincoln Whasalthatmeanmomma??? I was so much older then I’m younger than that now... Bobby D Richard Moore, GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION: WHY WE NEED IT AND HOW WE CAN ACHIEVE IT: Chapter 3: ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMATIONAL MOVEMENT |
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