Common Ground April-May 2021 by Common Ground Magazine Canada

1st demonstrated by Georges Lakhovsky and Nikola Tesla. Adapted by Dr Dino Tomic.

POLARAID ®

Harness Powerful, Vital Energy Surrounding Us! “I am a retired naturopathic physician and chiropractor. I started my electromagnetic work in the mid-80s, ahead of almost everybody, and have evaluated hundreds and hundreds of homes, offices, automobiles, recreational vehicles, boats and other places where people live and stay. I studied the work of Dr. Lakhovsky way back in the 1970s, when I was first in practice. About three years ago, a client of mine gave me one PolarAid disc. I have tested hundreds of devices that are supposed to offer protection from electromagnetic radiation. I use muscle response testing to gauge whether a device works or not. I have been doing muscle response testing since the late 1970s and have done it on over a million people. I teach muscle testing and have taught thousands of people how to do it accurately and correctly. When I tested your PolarAid disc, it tested incredibly well. It transforms the ability of the organism to withstand the radiation. I was shocked, to say the least. I started using the device myself and noticed significant changes. I tested PolarAid disc on numerous other people and found that it worked on everybody. Needless to say, I started recommending people purchase one or two or five and get the whole family involved. FYI, I have tested hundreds of devices and many are fraudulent and do absolutely nothing. Some of them are ridiculously expensive and some of them actually make the situation worse. Your PolarAid disc falls into a totally different category and I applaud you.” – R.A.DC,ND, Kelowna, B.C. “On bioresonance devices, we examined the effect of the PolarAid® on the condition of our energy field and found a significant improvement in the appearance of the aura after only one treatment. The PolarAid® is aligned with the energy centers (chakras) of the human body, establishing in the energy field (aura) perfect harmony, which at the physical level also results in good health.

East is East 3035 West39Broadway Celebrating Years in Kitsilano

Weak, unhealthy aura

Strong, healthy aura

When your electromagnetic shell is well supported, you will be protected from external harmful effects. PolarAid® offers an easy and quick way to increase the flow of vital energy into the body, thereby enhancing cell vibration and strengthening and supporting the immune system. With all recommended hygiene and protection protocols in place, PolarAid® elevates your aura to a real protective shield!” – Dr. Tomic

Act Now! Get the PolarAid family pack available at 20% discount! Our 5+1 oﬀer is now 4+2 for a limited time! No radiation, No magnets, No electricity. No batteries, charging or maintenance. See Our Video and to Order visit our new website

www.polaraidhealth.com

450-486-7888

East is East 3035 West Broadway East is East in Kitsilano

3035 West Broadway in Kitsilano

Live Music www.eastiseast.ca Live Music

Live Music www.eastiseast.ca

in this issue 4

Pandemic: Oneness vs the 1% Vandana Shiva

Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption” and suppression of science Kamran Abbasi, MD

6 8 9

The hyper response to Covid-19 Dr. Karina Reiss and Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi The elusive definitions of pandemics Peter Doshi

Nature in your neighbourhood SCIENCE MATTERS David Suzuki PSYCHOLOGY

Self as mirror UNIVERSE WITHIN Gwen Randall-Young

Covid-19 vaccine concerns Ted Kuntz

Our right to dissent Robert Kennedy, Jr.

Vaccine immunity passports Ted Kuntz

Get the diagnosis right Joseph Roberts

31 reasons why I won’t take the vaccine Chananya Weissma

ENVIRONMENT

RESOURCE DIRECTORY

Publisher & Senior Editor - Joseph Roberts Accounting - Maggie Si Layout & Production - Two by Four Media Contributors: Kamran Abbasi, Sucharit Bhakdi, Ted Kuntz, Gwen Randall-Young, Karina Reiss, Vandana Shiva, David Suzuki, Eckhart Tolle, Chananya Weissman Resource Directory Suzan Law | Tel. 778-846-2175 Editorial & Distribution Inquiries Tel. 604-733-2215 Toll Free 1-800-365-8897 Fax 604-733-4415 joseph@commonground.ca Advertising & Management Joseph Roberts | Tel. 604-733-2215 joseph@commonground.ca Suzan Law | Tel. 778-846-2175 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40011171 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Dept., Head office ISSN No. 0824-0698 Head Office Common Ground Publishing Corp. 3152 West 8th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6K 2C3 Reach Common Ground’s great audience Over 200,000 readers per issue. Survey shows 3 - 4 readers/copy, plus online at www.commonground.ca and our Facebook link. 100% owned and operated by Canadians. Published 10 times a year in Canada.

Organic, Chemical-Free Lawn Care Garden Installation & Maintenance

Call for a Free Estimate

www.cycledrivengardening.biz Cover design: Kris Kozak

Annual subscription is $75 (US$75) for one year (12 issues). Single issues are $6 (specify issue #). Payable by cheque, Visa, MasterCard, Interac or money order.

CMCA AUDITED

with special thanks to Heritage Canada, Canada Periodical Fund, Special Measures for Journalism

www.commonground.ca

AAppr irli l/ /MMaay y 2 20 02 21 1

Printed on recycled paper with vegetable inks.All contents copyrighted. Written permission from the publisher is required to reproduce, quote, reprint, or copy any material from Common Ground. Opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers or advertisers. Common Ground Publishing Corp. neither endorses nor assumes any liability for any and all products or services advertised or within editorial content. Furthermore, healthrelated content is not intended as medical advice and in no way excludes the necessity of an opinion from a health professional. Advertisers are solely responsible for their claims.

Oneness vs the 1%

The pandemic a consequence of a war on life

by Vandana Shiva The following excerpt is from Vandana Shiva’s book Oneness vs. the 1%: Shattering Illusions, Seeding Freedom (Chelsea Green Publishing, August 2020) and is reprinted with permission from the publisher. Available wherever books are sold.

April / May 2 0 21

n March 2015, Bill Gates showed an image of the coronavirus during a TED Talk and told the audience that it was what the greatest catastrophe of our time would look like. The real threat to life, he said, is ‘not missiles, but microbes.’ When the coronavirus pandemic swept over the earth like a tsunami five years later, he revived the war language, describing the pandemic as ‘a world war’. ‘The coronavirus pandemic pits all of humanity against the virus,’ he said. In fact, the pandemic is not a war. The pandemic is a consequence of war. A war against life. The mechanical mind connected to the money machine of extraction has created the illusion of humans as separate from nature, and nature as dead, inert raw material to be exploited. But, in fact, we are part of the biome. And we are part of the virome. The biome and the virome are us. When we wage war on the biodiversity of our forests, our farms, and in our guts, we wage war on ourselves. The health emergency of the coronavirus is inseparable from the health emergency of extinction, the health emergency of biodiversity loss, and the health emergency of the climate crisis. All of these emergencies are rooted in a mechanistic, militaristic, anthropocentric worldview that considers humans separate from – and superior to – other beings. Beings we can own, manipulate, and control. All of these emergencies are rooted in an economic model based on the illusion of limitless growth and limitless greed, which violate planetary boundaries, and destroy the integrity of ecosystems and individual species. New diseases arise because a globalized, industrialized, inefficient agriculture invades habitats, destroys ecosystems, and manipulates animals, plants, and other organisms with no respect for their integrity or their health. We are linked worldwide through the spread of diseases like the coronavirus because we have invaded the homes of other species, manipulated plants and animals for commercial profits and greed, and cultivated monocultures. As we clear-cut

forests, as we turn farms into industrial monocultures that produce toxic, nutritionally empty commodities, as our diets become degraded through industrial processing with synthetic chemicals and genetic engineering, and as we perpetuate the illusion that earth and life are raw materials to be exploited for profits, we are indeed connecting. But instead of connecting on a continuum of health by protecting biodiversity, integrity, and self-organization of all living beings, including humans, we are connected through disease.

ɶɶ This linear, extractive logic is unable to see the intimate relations that sustain life in the natural world. According to the International Labour Organization, ‘1.6 billion informal economy workers (representing the most vulnerable in the labour market), out of a worldwide total of two billion and a global workforce of 3.3 billion, have suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living. This is due to lockdown measures and/or because they work in the hardest-hit sectors.’ According to the World Food Programme, a quarter of a billion additional people will be pushed to hunger and 300,000 could die every day. These, too, are pandemics that are killing people. Killing cannot be a prescription for saving lives. Health is about life and living systems. There is no ‘life’ in the paradigm of health that Bill Gates and his ilk are promoting and imposing on the entire world. Gates has created global alliances to impose top-down analysis and prescriptions for health problems. He gives money to define the problems, and then he uses his influence and money to impose the solutions. And in the process, he gets richer. His ‘funding’ results in

an erasure of democracy and biodiversity, of nature and culture. His ‘philanthropy’ is not just philanthrocapitalism. It is philanthroimperialism. The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have revealed even more clearly how we are being reduced to objects to be controlled, with our bodies and minds as the new colonies to be invaded. Empires create colonies, colonies enclose the commons of the indigenous living communities and turn them into sources of raw material to be extracted for profits. This linear, extractive logic is unable to see the intimate relations that sustain life in the natural world. It is blind to diversity, cycles of renewal, values of giving and sharing, and the power and potential of self-organising and mutuality. It is blind to the waste it creates and to the violence it unleashes. The extended coronavirus lockdown has been a lab experiment for a future without humanity. On March 26, 2020, at a peak of the coronavirus pandemic and in the midst of the lockdown, Microsoft was granted a patent by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Patent WO-2020-060606 declares that ‘Human Body Activity associated with a task provided to a user may be used in a mining process of a cryptocurrency system…’ The ‘body activity’ that Microsoft wants to mine includes radiation emitted from the human body, brain activities, body fluid flow, blood flow, organ activity, body movement such as eye movement, facial movement, and muscle movement, as well as any other activities that can be sensed and represented by images, waves, signals, texts, numbers, degrees, or any other information or data. The patent is an intellectual property claim over our bodies and minds. In colonialism, colonisers assign themselves the right to take the land and resources of indigenous people, extinguish their cultures and sovereignty, and in extreme cases exterminate them. Patent WO 060606 is a declaration by Microsoft that our bodies and minds are its new colonies. We are continued p.15…

Covid-19

by Kamran Abbasi

politicisation, “corruption”, and suppression of science When good science is suppressed by the medical-political complex, people die

ɶɶ How might science be safeguarded in these exceptional times? The first step is full disclosure of competing interests from government, politicians, scientific advisers, and appointees, such as the heads of test and trace, diagnostic test procurement, and vaccine delivery. Politicians often claim to follow the science, but that is a misleading oversimplification. Science is rarely absolute. It rarely applies to every setting or every population. It doesn’t make sense to slavishly follow science or evidence. A better approach is for politicians, the publicly appointed decision makers, to be informed and guided by science when they decide policy for their public. But even that approach retains public and professional trust only if science is available for scrutiny and free of political interference, and if the system is transparent and not compromised by conflicts of interest. Suppression of science and scientists is not new or a peculiarly British phenomenon. In the US, President Trump’s government manipulated the Food and Drug Administration to hastily approve unproved drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir. Globally, people, policies, and procurement are being corrupted by political and commercial agendas. The UK’s pandemic response relies too heavily on scientists and other government appointees with worrying competing interests, including shareholdings in companies that manufacture covid-19 diagnostic tests, treatments, and vaccines. Government appointees are able to ignore or cherry pick science—another form of misuse— and indulge in anti-competitive practices that favour their own products and those of friends and associates.

How might science be safeguarded in these exceptional times? The first step is full disclosure of competing interests from government, politicians, scientific advisers, and appointees, such as the heads of test and trace, diagnostic test procurement, and vaccine delivery. The next step is full transparency about decision making systems, processes, and knowing who is accountable for what. Once transparency and accountability are established as norms, individuals employed by government should ideally only work in areas unrelated to their competing interests. Expertise is possible without competing interests. If such a strict rule becomes impractical, minimum good practice is that people with competing interests must not be involved in decisions on products and policies in which they have a financial interest. Governments and industry must also stop announcing critical science policy by press release. Such ill judged moves leave science, the media, and stock markets vulnerable to manipulation. Clear, open, and advance publication of the scientific basis for policy, procurements, and wonder drugs is a fundamental requirement. The stakes are high for politicians, scientific advisers, and government appointees. Their careers and bank balances may hinge on the decisions that they make. But they have a higher responsibility and duty to the public. Science is a public good. It doesn’t need to be followed blindly, but it does need to be fairly considered. Importantly, suppressing science, whether by delaying publication, cherry picking favourable research, or gagging scientists, is a danger to public health, causing deaths by exposing people to unsafe or ineffective interventions and preventing them from benefiting from better ones. When entangled with commercial decisions it is also maladministration of taxpayers’ money. Politicisation of science was enthusiastically deployed by some of history’s worst autocrats and dictators, and it is now regrettably commonplace in democracies. The medical-political complex tends towards suppression of science to aggrandise and enrich those in power. And, as the powerful become more successful, richer, and further intoxicated with power, the inconvenient truths of science are suppressed. When good science is suppressed, people die.j Published in The BMJ, 13 November 2020. Reprinted by permission. References available in the online version of this article at commonground.ca Dr. Kamran Abbasi is the executive editor of the British Medical Journal, editor of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, and a consultant editor for PLOS Medicine. He is editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine and JRSM Open.

April / May 2 0 21

oliticians and governments are suppressing science. They do so in the public interest, they say, to accelerate availability of diagnostics and treatments. They do so to support innovation, to bring products to market at unprecedented speed. Both of these reasons are partly plausible; the greatest deceptions are founded in a grain of truth. But the underlying behaviour is troubling. Science is being suppressed for political and financial gain. Covid-19 has unleashed state corruption on a grand scale, and it is harmful to public health. Politicians and industry are responsible for this opportunistic embezzlement. So too are scientists and health experts. The pandemic has revealed how the medical-political complex can be manipulated in an emergency – a time when it is even more important to safeguard science. The UK’s pandemic response provides at least four examples of suppression of science or scientists. First, the membership, research, and deliberations of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) were initially secret until a press leak forced transparency. The leak revealed inappropriate involvement of government advisers in SAGE, while exposing under-representation from public health, clinical care, women, and ethnic minorities. Indeed, the government was also recently ordered to release a 2016 report on deficiencies in pandemic preparedness, Operation Cygnus, following a verdict from the Information Commissioner’s Office. Next, a Public Health England report on covid-19 and inequalities. The report’s publication was delayed by England’s Department of Health; a section on ethnic minorities was initially withheld and then, following a public outcry, was published as part of a follow-up report. Authors from Public Health England were instructed not to talk to the media. Third, on 15 October, the editor of the Lancet complained that an author of a research paper, a UK government scientist, was blocked by the government from speaking to media because of a “difficult political landscape.” Now, a new example concerns the controversy over point-of-care antibody testing for covid-19. The prime minister’s Operation Moonshot depends on immediate and wide availability of accurate rapid diagnostic tests. It also depends on the questionable logic of mass screening—currently being trialled in Liverpool with a suboptimal PCR test. The incident relates to research published this week by The BMJ, which finds that the government procured an antibody test that in real world tests falls well short of performance claims made by its manufacturers.Researchers from Public Health England and collaborating institutions sensibly pushed to publish their study findings

before the government committed to buying a million of these tests but were blocked by the health department and the prime minister’s office. Why was it important to procure this product without due scrutiny? Prior publication of research on a preprint server or a government website is compatible with The BMJ’s publication policy. As if to prove a point, Public Health England then unsuccessfully attempted to block The BMJ’s press release about the research paper.

by Karina Reiss and Sucharit Bhakdi

The hyper response to Covid-19 The following excerpt is from Dr. Karina Reiss and Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi’s new book Corona, False Alarm?: Facts and Figures (Chelsea Green Publishing, October 2020) and is reprinted with permission from the publisher. Available wherever books are sold.

The situation in Italy, Spain, England and the USA

April / May 2 0 21

ince the end of March, one sensation outdid the next: Italy had the most deaths, the fatality rate shocked us to the core; Spain surpassed Italy (in the number of infections); the United Kingdom broke the sad European record, exceeded only by the US. The press delighted in spreading as much terrifying news as humanly possible. But let us reflect a little. The impact of an epidemic is dependent not only on the intrinsic properties and deadliness of the pathogen but also to a very significant extent on how “fertile” the soil is on which it lands. All reliable figures tell us we are not dealing with a killer virus that will sweep away mankind. So what did happen in those countries from which these dreadful pictures emerged? Detailed answers to this question must be sought on the ground. Nevertheless, several facts are sufficiently known to warrant mention here. Problems surrounding coronavirus statistics went totally rampant in Italy and Spain. Elsewhere, testing for the virus was generally performed on people with flu-like symptoms and a certain risk of exposure to the virus. At the height of the epidemic in Italy, testing was restricted to severely ill patients upon their admission to the hospital. Illogically, testing was widely performed post-mortem on deceased patients. This resulted in falsely elevated case fatality rates combined with massive underestimates of actual infections (90). As early as mid-March, the Italian GIMBE (Gruppo Italiano per la Medicina Basata Sulle Evidenze / Italian Evidence-Based Medicine Group) foundation stated that the “degree of severity and lethality rate are largely overestimated, while the lethality rates in Lombardy and the Emilia-Romagna region were largely due to overwhelmed hospitals” (91). The fact that no distinction was made between “death by” and “death with” coronavirus rendered the situation hopeless. Almost 96 percent of “COVID-19 deaths” in Italian hospitals were patients with pre-existing illnesses. Three quarters suffered from hypertension, more than a third from diabetes. Every third person had a heart condition. As almost everywhere else, the average age was above 80 years. The few people under 50 who died also had severe underlying conditions (41).

The inaccurate method of reporting “coronavirus deaths” naturally spread fear and panic, rendering the general public willing to accept the irrational and excessive preventive measures installed by governments. These turned out to have a paradoxical effect. The number of regular deaths increased substantially over the number of “coronavirus deaths”. The Times reported on April 15: England and Wales have experienced a record number of deaths in a single week, with 6,000 more than average for this time of year. Only half of those extra numbers could perhaps be attributed to the coronavirus (92). There was a well-founded concern that the lockdown may have unintentional but serious consequences for the public’s health (93). It became increasingly clear that people avoided hospitals even when faced with life-threatening events such as heart attacks because they were afraid of catching the deadly virus. Patients with diabetes or hyper tension were no longer properly treated, tumour patients not adequately tended to. The UK has always had massive problems with its health care system, medical infrastructure and a shortage of medical personnel (94, 95). Due to Brexit, the UK also lacks urgently needed foreign specialists (96).

Many other countries have problems along the same lines. When the influenza epidemic swept over the world in the winter of 2017/2018, hospitals in the US were overwhelmed, triage tents were erected, operations were cancelled and patients were sent home. Alabama declared a state of emergency (97–99). The situation was little different in Spain, where hospitals just collapsed (100, 101), and in Italy, where intensive care units in large cities ground to a halt (102). The Italian health care system has been downsizing for years, the number of intensive care beds is much lower than in other European countries. Furthermore, Italy has the highest number of deaths from hospital- acquired infections and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in all of Europe (103). Also, Italian society is one of the oldest worldwide. Italy has the highest proportion of over 65 year-olds (22.8 percent) in the European Union (104). Add to that the fact that there is a large number of people with chronic lung and heart disease, and we have a much greater number in the “high risk groups” as compared to other countries. In sum, many independent factors come together to create a special case for Italy (105, 106). Since northern Italy was particularly affected, it would be interesting to ask if environmental factors had an influence on the way things developed there. Northern Italy has been dubbed the China of Europe with regard to its fine particulate pollution (107). According to a WHO estimate, this caused over 8,000 additional deaths (without a virus) in Italy’s 13 biggest cities in 2006 (108). Air pollution increases the risk of viral pulmonary disease in the very young and the elderly (109). Obviously, this factor could generally play a role in accentuating the severity of pulmonary infections (110). Suspicions have been voiced that vaccination against various pathogens such as flu, meningococci and pneumococci can worsen the course of COVID-19. Investigations into this possibility are called for because Italy indeed stands out with its officially imposed extensive vaccination programme for the entire population. Yet despite all these facts, the only pictures that remain imprinted on our minds are the shocking scenes of long convoys of military vehicles carting away endless numbers of coffins from the northern Italian town of Bergamo. Vice chairman of the Federal Association of German Undertakers, Ralf Michal, noted (111): in Italy, cremations are rather rare. That is why undertakers were overburdened when the government ordered cremations in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. The undertakers were not prepared for that. There were not enough crematoriums and the complete infrastructure was lack-

ing. That is why the military had to help out. And this explains the pictures from Bergamo. Not only was there no infrastructure, there was also a shortage of undertakers because so many were in quarantine. And finally, let us examine the United States, where only parts of the country were severely affected. In states like Wyoming, Montana or West Virginia, the number of “coronavirus deaths” was a two-digit figure (Worldometers, middle of May, 2020). The situation in New York was different. Here, doctors were overwhelmed and did not know which patients to treat first, while in other states, hospitals were eerily empty. New York was the centre of the epidemic, where more than half of the COVID-19 deaths nationwide occurred (date: May 2020). Most of the deceased lived in the Bronx. An emergency doctor reported (112): “These people come way too late, but their reasoning is understandable. They are afraid of being discovered. Most of them are illegal immigrants without residence permits, without jobs and without any health insurance. The highest mortality rate is recorded in this group of people”. It would be of interest to learn how they were treated. Were they given high doses of chloroquine as recommended by the WHO? About a third of the Hispanic population carries a gene defect (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) that causes chloroquine intolerance with effects that can be lethal (113, 114). More than half of the population in the Bronx is Hispanic. Countries and regions can differ so widely with respect to a myriad of factors that a true understanding of any epidemic situation cannot be obtained without critical analysis of these determinants.

Quo Vadis

ɶɶ You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. – Abraham Lincoln If that does not remind you of a dictatorship then you must have been sound asleep during your history lessons. The things that remain with us are deep concern and fear. Because so many intelligent and educated people became like lemmings within a short 3 months, willing to obey the demands and commands of the world elite. The renowned virologist Pablo Goldschmidt said (246): “We are all locked up. In Nice there are drones that impose fines on people. How far has this monitoring gotten? You have to read Hannah Arendt and look very closely at the origins of totalitarianism at that time. If you scare the population, you can do anything with it.” Apparently, he is right. One thing is clear: there are many things that should be worked through and we should all insist upon this happening. The coronaviruses have retreated for this season, the issue is disappearing from the headlines and from the public sphere – and soon it will be gone from peoples’ memories. If we, the people, do not demand that all transgressions of the coronavirus politics are addressed, then those in power will be able to cover it all with a cloak of concealment. There is always the chance of some other threat knocking on our door. The only positive thing that has come from this is that very many people in our country have woken up. Many have realised that the mainstream

media and politicians can agree to support each other on things that are not good–and even evil. One can only hope that the admonishing voices of reason will in future not be silenced by the dark forces on this earth. A farewell Respiratory viruses are a major cause of mortality worldwide, with an estimated 2 to 3 million annual deaths. Many viruses including influenza-A viruses, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), parainfluenza viruses, adenoviruses and coronaviruses are responsible. Now, a new member has joined the list. As with the others, the SARS-CoV-2 virus particularly endangers the elderly with serious pre-existing conditions. Depending on the country and region, 0.02 to 0.4 percent of these infections are fatal, which is comparable to a seasonal flu. SARS-CoV-2 therefore must not be assigned any special significance as a respiratory pathogen. The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak was never an epidemic of national concern. Implementing the exceptional regulations of the Infection Protection Act were and still are unfounded. In mid-April 2020, it was entirely evident that the epidemic was coming to an end and that the inappropriate preventive measures were causing irreparable collateral damage in all walks of life. Yet, the government continues its destructive crusade against the spook virus, thereby utterly disregarding the fundaments of true democracy. And as you read these lines, human experiments are underway with gene-based vaccines whose ominous dangers have never been revealed to the thousands of unknowing volunteers. We are bearing witness to the downfall and destruction of our heritage, to the end of the age of enlightenment. May this little book awaken homo sapiens of this earth to rise and live up to their name. And put an end to this senseless self-destruction.j Karina Reiss, PhD studied biology at the University of Kiel. She received her PhD there in 2001, and became an associate professor in 2008. She has published over sixty articles in the fields of cell biology, biochemistry, inflammation, and infection, which have gained international recognition and received honors and awards. Sucharit Bhakdi, MD served as chair of Medical Microbiology at the University of Mainz in Germany from 1990 to 2012. He has published over three hundred articles in the fields of immunobiology, bacteriology, virology, and parasitology, for which he has received numerous awards and the Order of Merit of Rhineland-Palatinate.

April / May 2 0 21

he relevant authorities, our politicians and their advisers played truly inglorious roles in the handling of new and supposedly dangerous infections of the last decades, from BSE, swine flu, EHEC to COVID-19. At no point did they learn from their mistakes, and this diminishes the hope that it will be any different in the future. On the contrary! While we “only” redistributed taxpayers’ money to the pharmaceutical industry during the swine flu, this time livelihoods were destroyed, the constitution was trampled on and the population basically deprived of their fundamental rights: freedom of speech and opinion, freedom of movement, freedom of relocation, freedom of assembly, freedom of actively practicing your religion, freedom to practice your occupation and make a living. Anchored in the constitution is the principle of proportionality: the State’s interference with basic rights must be appropriate to reach the aspired goal. And last but not least: the dignity of mankind must never be violated. This ceased to be the case, to the detriment of democracy and civilisation. It has been almost 90 years since the time when critical and free journalism was abolished and the media transformed into the extended arm of the state. It has been almost 90 years since the time when

freedom was abolished and opinions of the public were forced into the political line. It has been almost 90 years since the last media-driven mass hysteria. If we have learned just one thing from the darkest times of our German history, then surely this: We must never again be indifferent and look the other way. Especially not when the government suspends our fundamental democratic rights. This time, it was only a virus that knocked on our door, but look what we had to go through as a consequence: • Media-fuelled mass hysteria • Arbitrary political decisions • Massive restrictions of fundamental rights • Censorship of freedom of expression • Enforced conformity of the media • Defamation of dissidents (the differently minded) • Denunciation • Dangerous human experiments

References available in the online version of this article at commonground.ca

The elusive deﬁnition of pandemic inﬂuenza

April / May 2 0 21

n 2009, governments throughout the world mounted large and costly responses to the H1N1 influenza outbreak. These efforts were largely justified on the premise that H1N1 influenza and seasonal influenza required different management, a premise reinforced by the decision on the part of the World Health Organization (WHO) to label the H1N1 influenza outbreak a “pandemic”. However, the outbreak had far less serious consequences than experts had predicted, a fact that led many to wonder if the public health responses to H1N1 had not been disproportionately aggressive.

In addition, concern over ties between WHO advisers and industry fuelled suspicion about the independence and appropriateness of the decisions made at the national and international levels. Central to this debate has been the question of whether H1N1 influenza should have been labelled a “pandemic” at all. The Council of Europe voiced serious concerns that the declaration of a pandemic became possible only after WHO changed its definition of pandemic influenza. It also expressed misgivings over WHO’s decision to withhold publication of the names of its H1N1 advisory Emergency Committee. WHO, however,

denied having changed any definitions and defended the scientific validity of its decisions, citing “numerous safeguards” for handling potential conflicts of interest. At stake in this debate are the public trust in health officials and our collective capacity to respond effectively to future disease threats. Understanding this controversy entails acknowledging that both parties are partially correct, and to resolve it we must re-evaluate how emerging threats should be defined in a world where the simple act of labelling a disease has enormous social, economic and political implications. What sparked the controversy Since 2003, the top of the WHO Pandemic Preparedness homepage has contained the following statement: “An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity, resulting in several simultaneous epidemics worldwide with enormous numbers of deaths and illness.” However, on 4 May 2009, scarcely one month before the H1N1 pandemic was declared, the web page was altered in response to a query from a CNN reporter. The phrase “enormous numbers of deaths and illness” had been removed and the revised web page simply read as follows: “An influenza pandemic may occur when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity.” Months later, the Council of Europe would cite this alteration as evidence that WHO changed its definition of pandemic influenza to enable it to declare a pandemic without having to demonstrate the intensity of the disease caused by the H1N1 virus. A description versus a definition Harvey Fineberg, chairman of a WHO-appointed International Health Regulations (IHR) Review Committee that evaluated WHO’s response to H1N1 influenza, identified the definition of pandemic influenza as a “critical element of our review”. In a draft report released in March, the committee faulted WHO for “inadequately dispelling confusion about the definition of a pandemic” and noted WHO’s “reluctance to acknowl-

by Peter Doshi Program in History, Anthropology, Science, Technology and Society, MIT

edge its part in allowing misunderstanding” of the web page alteration, which WHO has characterized as a change in the “description” but not in the “definition” of pandemic influenza. “It’s not a definition, but we recognize that it could be taken as such … It was the fault of ours, confusing descriptions and definitions”, a WHO communications officer declared. Indeed, the Council of Europe was not alone in claiming that the “definition” had been changed. WHO argues that this phrase – which could be more neutrally referred to as a description–definition – had little bearing on policy responses; a WHO press release states that it was “never part of the formal definition of a pandemic” and was never sent to Member States, but simply appeared in “a document on WHO’s website for some months”. In actuality, the description–definition was displayed at the top of the WHO Pandemic Preparedness home page for over six years and is consistent with the descriptions of pandemic influenza put forth in various WHO policy documents over the years. However, while the original description–definition unambiguously describes disease severity and certainly reflects general assumptions about pandemic influenza before novel H1N1 emerged, it is unrelated to the criteria WHO applied to declare H1N1 influenza a pandemic. Definitions of pandemic phases, not pandemic inﬂuenza In a press conference, WHO explained that “the formal definitions of pandemics by WHO can be seen in the guidelines”. This was a reference to WHO’s pandemic influenza preparedness guidelines, first developed in 1999 and revised in 2005 and 2009. However, none of these documents contains what might reasonably be considered a formal definition of pandemic influenza, a fact that may explain why WHO has refrained from offering a quotable definition despite its repeated assurances that “the definition” was never changed. The startling and inevitable conclusion is that despite ten years of issuing guidelines for pandemic preparedness, WHO has never formulated a formal definition of pandemic influenza. j

Covid-19 vaccine concerns We are not being told the truth

anadians are not being told the truth about the COVID vaccine products which have only been given emergency use authorization. Those lining up to participate in this human experiment are not given sufficient information to make an informed decision.

Here are the facts

On November 20, 2020, Pfizer submitted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an investigational product intended to prevent COVID-19. 1 This information was the basis upon which the FDA permited emergency use authorization of their product in the general population. The Pfizer vaccine includes ingredients never before used in licenced vaccines, and functions unlike any previous vaccine to date. This treatment is more accurately a medical device and includes synthetic genetic technology based on a computer generated “spike glycoprotein antigen encoded by RNA and formulated in lipid nanoparticles”. The information below is taken directly from the Pfizer Emergency Use Authority request and a meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

Under Section 6.2 Unknown Benefits/Data Gaps Duration of protection It is not possible to assess sustained efficacy over a period longer than 2 months. Effectiveness in certain populations at high-risk of severe COVID-19 The subset of certain groups such as immunocompromised individuals is too small to evaluate efficacy outcomes. Effectiveness in individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 Available data are insufficient to make conclusions about benefit in individuals with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. Effectiveness in pediatric populations The representation of pediatric participants in the study population is too limited to adequately evaluate efficacy in pediatric age groups younger than 16 years. Future vaccine effectiveness as influenced by characteristics of the pandemic, changes in the virus, and/or potential effects of co-infections The evolution of the pandemic characteristics…as well as potential changes in the virus infectivity, antigenically significant mutations to the S protein, and/

or the effect of co-infections may potentially limit the generalizability of the efficacy conclusions over time. Vaccine effectiveness against asymptomatic infection Data are limited to assess the effect of the vaccine against asymptomatic infection. Vaccine effectiveness against long-term effects of COVID-19 disease At present it is not possible to assess whether the vaccine will have an impact on specific long-term sequelae of COVID-19 disease in individuals who are infected despite vaccination. Vaccine effectiveness against mortality A larger number of individuals at high risk of COVID-19 and higher attack rates would be needed to confirm efficacy of the vaccine against mortality. Vaccine effectiveness against transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Data are limited to assess the effect of the vaccine against transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from individuals who are infected despite vaccination.

Under Section 6. 3 Known Risks The vaccine has been shown to elicit increased local and systemic adverse reactions as compared to those in the placebo arm. Severe adverse reactions occurred in 0.0 - 4.6% of participants.

Under Section 6.4 Unknown Risks/Data Gaps Safety in certain subpopulations There are currently insufficient data to make conclusions about the safety of the vaccine in subpopulations such as children less than 16 years of age, pregnant and lactating individuals, and immunocompromised individuals. Adverse reactions that are very uncommon or that require longer follow-up to be detected Use in large numbers of individuals may reveal additional, potentially less frequent and/or more serious adverse events not detected in the trial safety population. Vaccine-enhanced disease Risk of vaccine-enhanced disease…remains unknown and needs to be evaluated further.

Under Section 7.0 VRBPAC Meeting Summary The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee convened on December 10, 2020 to discuss potential implications of authorization of

by Ted Kuntz

the Pfizer vaccine. The committee members acknowledged the following: • The importance of long-term safety data for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine as it is made using a technology not used in previously licensed vaccines. • The lack of data on how the vaccine impacts asymptomatic infection and viral shedding. • FDA noted that the vaccine should not be administered to individuals with known history of a severe allergic reaction to any component of the vaccine. (See ingredients list) 2. • Appropriate medical treatment used to manage immediate allergic reactions must be immediately available in the event an acute anaphylactic reaction (an extreme, often life-threatening allergic reaction) • FDA explained that there are insufficient data to inform vaccine-associated risks in pregnancy. • Committee members raised concerns about the limited conclusions about the prevention of severe disease based on the study endpoints. • Potential benefits that could be further evaluated but are not necessary to support an EUA include: prevention of COVID-19 in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, prevention of mortality and long-term complications of COVID-19, reduction in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and reduction of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. • Known risks include: common local and systemic adverse reactions, (notably injection site reactions, headache, fever, chills, myalgia, and fatigue, all of which are usually mild to moderate and lasting a few days, with higher frequency in younger vaccine recipients. • Potential risks that should be further evaluated include: uncommon to rare clinically significant adverse reactions that may become apparent with more widespread use of the vaccine. Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, the Advisory Committee concluded that it is reasonable to believe that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine may be effective in preventing such serious or life-threatening disease or condition that can be caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Limited, Inadequate, Insufficient Notice how often the following terms were used: limited, inadequate, too small, insufficient, lack of data, insufficient data, limited conclusions, may reveal, remains unknown, and other disclaimers and qualifiers. Also notice the use of vague terms such as “reasonable to believe” and continued next page… EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

“may be effective” to describe vaccine safety and efficacy. Now compare this information with that available on the Health BC website; information that reads more like marketing propaganda than science: “Vaccines are very safe. It is much safer to get the vaccine than to get COVID-19. Serious side effects due to the vaccines were not seen in the clinical trials.” 3 The BC Center for Disease Control website similarly reads like a paid PR announcement: “The vaccine will help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in B.C. Vaccines save lives by preventing disease, especially for people most likely to have severe illness or die. If enough people get vaccinated, it makes it difficult for the disease to spread.” 4

These statements are not supported by the data, nor the information provided by Pfizer and the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. This distortion of the facts raises concerns that our regulatory agencies are acting dishonestly.

Fully Informed Consent Every health professional administering a vaccine has a legal and ethical responsibility to ensure fully informed consent prior to treatment. The consent must be voluntary and free of any disadvantage or coercion. For consent to be informed, patients must be provided with the following: evidence of the benefits of the vaccine; the risks of the vaccine, both known and suspected; the benefits and risks of natural immunity; and alternative treatments to vaccination. Specifically, with regards to the COVID vaccines currently available to Canadians, it is imperative that those considering taking these medical devices be made fully aware of: • the experimental status of these products • Phase III safety trials have not been completed • Interim approval was granted based upon only two months of safety data • The Pfizer and Moderna products are utilizing synthetic genetic technology never before approved for use as a vaccine • The Pfizer and Moderna products include ingredients never before used in a vaccine, making these products highly experimental • The risk of vaccine enhanced disease • Effective prophylactic and treatment options • COVID vaccine manufacturers have been granted legal immunity for any injury or death caused by their products Rather than a health care system based on honesty and transparency, we have a system that has devolved into selling pharmaceutical products through marketing propaganda and coercion. It is imperative that health professionals take their code of ethics seriously. It is also paramount that Canadians take responsibility to educate themselves fully. The decision of whether or not to vaccinate is too important to rely on blind faith. Ted Kuntz, M.Ed. is a parent, grandparent, medical choice activist, educator, author, retired psychotherapist and president of Vaccine Choice Canada. www.vaccinechoicecanada.com

Endnotes 1) https://www.fda.gov/media/144416/download 2 ) https://covid-vaccine.canada.ca/info/pdf/pfizer-biontech-covid19-vaccine-pm1-en.pdf 3) https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthlinkbc-files/covid-19-vaccines 4) http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/ covid-19-vaccine/vaccines-for-covid-19

EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

The right to dissent by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

overnment technocrats, billionaire oligarchs, Big Pharma, Big Data, Big Media, the high-finance robber barons and the military industrial intelligence apparatus love pandemics for the same reasons they love wars and terrorist attacks. Catastrophic crises create opportunities of convenience to increase both power and wealth. In her seminal book, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” Naomi Klein chronicles how authoritarian demagogues, large corporations and wealthy plutocrats use mass disruptions to shift wealth upwards, obliterate the middle classes, abolish civil rights, privatize the commons and expand authoritarian controls. The methodology is, in fact, formulaic, as Hitler’s Luftwaffe commander, Hermann Göring, explained during the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremberg: “It is always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it is a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same in any country.” Now the medical cartel and its billionaire Big Tech accomplices have invoked the most potent, frightening and enduring enemy of all — the microbe.

And who can blame them? Increasing the wealth and power of the oligarchy is seldom a potent vessel for populism. Citizens accustomed to voting for their governments are unlikely to support policies that make the rich richer, increase political and social control by corporations, diminish democracy and reduce their civil rights. So demagogues must weaponize fear to justify their demands for blind obedience and to win public acquiescence for the demolition of civil and economic rights. Of course, the first casualty must always be freedom of speech. After stoking sufficient panic against the hobgoblin du jour, robber barons need to silence protest against their wealth and power-grabs. In including free speech in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, James Madison argued that all our other liberties depend on this right. Any government that can hide its mischief has license to commit atrocities. The free flow of information and selfexpression are oxygen and sunlight for representative democracy, which functions best with policies annealed in the boiling cauldron of public debate. It is axiomatic that without free speech, democracy withers. To consolidate and fortify their power, dictatorships aim to replace those vital ingredients of self-rule — debate, self-expression, dissent and skepticism — with rigid authoritarian orthodoxies that function as secular surrogates for religion. These orthodoxies

perform to abolish critical thinking and regiment populations in blind, unquestioning obedience to undeserving authorities. Instead of citing scientific studies to justify mandates for masks, lockdowns and vaccines, our medical rulers cite WHO, CDC, FDA and NIH — captive agencies that are groveling sock puppets to the industries they regulate. So it’s unsurprising that, instead of demanding blue-ribbon safety science and encouraging honest, open and responsible debate on the science, the badly compromised and newly empowered government health officials charged with managing the COVID19 pandemic response collaborated with mainstream and social media to shut down discussion on key public health and civil rights questions. The high priests of the modern Inquisition are Big Pharma’s network and cable news gasbags who preach rigid obedience to official diktats including lockdowns, social distancing and the moral rectitude of donning masks despite the absence of peer-reviewed science that convincingly shows that masks prevent COVID-19 transmission. The need for this sort of proof is gratuitous. They counsel us to, instead, “trust the experts.” Such advice is both anti-democratic and anti-science. Science is dynamic. “Experts” frequently differ on sci-

entific questions and their opinions can vary in accordance with the demands of politics, power and financial self-interest. Predictably our other constitutional guarantees lined up behind free speech at the gibbet. The imposition censorship has masked this systematic demolition of our Constitution, including attacks on our freedoms of assembly (through social distancing and lockdown rules), on freedom of worship (including abolishing religious exemptions and closing churches, while liquor stores remain open as “essential service”), private property (the right to operate a business), due process (including the imposition of far-reaching restrictions against freedom of movement, education and association without rule making, public hearings, or economic and environmental impact statements), the 7th Amendment right to jury trials (in cases of vaccine injuries caused by corporate negligence), our rights to privacy and against illegal searches and seizures (warrantless tracking and tracing), and our right to have governments that don’t spy on us or retain our information for mischievous purposes. It’s a bad omen for democracy when citizens can no longer conduct civil, informed debates about critical

policies that impact the vitality of our economy, public health, personal freedoms and constitutional rights. Censorship is violence, and this systematic muzzling of debate — which proponents justify as a measure to curtail dangerous polarization — is actually fueling the polarization and extremism that the autocrats use to clamp down evermore draconian controls. We might recall, at this strange time in our history, my father’s friend, Edward R. Murrow’s warning: “The right to dissent … is surely fundamental to the existence of a democratic society. That’s the right that went first in every nation that stumbled down the trail to totalitarianism.” Robert Kennedy Jr. is an American environmental attorney, author, and advocate for children’s health. He is the President of Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit environmental group that he helped found in 1999. Kennedy is also the Chairman of Children’s Health Defence. Kennedy is a son of Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former president John F. Kennedy. To learn more visit https://childrenshealthdefense.org/ The text of this article is from the foreword to the new book “The Truth About COVID-19 — Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal.” by Dr. Joseph Mercola.

Our freedom depends on us I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves. – Harriet Tubman, American Abolitionist (1822-1913)

s I witness the growing tyranny sweeping the planet, I am struck by the inability of the masses to recognize the real threat facing humanity today. It is not a viral infection that threatens our future. Rather, the greatest threat we face is the loss of the rights and freedoms that form the very foundation of our society. A Prison That Has No Walls Our challenge in waking up to this growing enslavement is that it is being marketed under the guise of “the greater good.” The pharmaceutical industry through patronage to government and the mainstream media has convinced an unsuspecting public that giving up our rights, freedoms and bodily autonomy, and, participating in an uncontrolled genetic experiment, are in the best interests of humanity. The idea being relentlessly promoted is that we should accept face coverings, physical distancing, lockdowns, and “stay at home” orders without question or scientific evidence. Further, that the only possible solution to end these severe and unprecedented measures is an experimental ‘vaccine’; a medical device that has

not been scientifically proven to prevent infection or transmission, nor has its safety been confirmed. This enslavement is difficult to discern because the prison has no walls. The method of capture uses no visible chains. The mandates, coercion and fearmongering are flogged by politicians, public health officials and the mainstream media, as if we have no other option but to obey. The impact of the loss of our fundamental rights and freedoms is never acknowledged or discussed. Enslavement has always been the manipulation and domination of human beings for profit. This current situation is no different. Imagine the profits if every human being on the planet is required to be injected with this experimental vaccine. Forced COVID measures and medical experimentation is spreading in hospitals, schools, daycares, workplaces, and airports. Soon there will be fewer and fewer places where those who do not comply can go freely. Those in support of personal choice are being pushed to the margins. Soon there will be nowhere left to go. Make no mistake about COVID mandates. We are not talking about quarantining individuals infected by a disease. We are talking about the segregation of healthy children and adults from participating in society. Our transgression is that we do not consent to handing over our bodies and our lives to the tyrannical

by Ted Kuntz

will of a technocracy and pharmaceutical cartel which is accountable to no one. When governments, corporations, and the media treat people like chattel and punish those who do not submit, we have slavery. If an institution is given the authority to do whatever it wants against our will, then we live in a slave system. We live in very challenging times. The forces against us are well-organized, well-financed, and the control they exercise over our politicians, regulatory agencies, and mainstream media is significant. The capture and enslavement of humanity is almost complete. And yet, we can’t allow ourselves to entertain resignation or despair. We have to persist in our efforts to remain free. Our future and freedom depend on us. Ted Kuntz, parent of a vaccine injured child.

First they came for the socializers and I did not speak out – because I was not social. Then they came for those not wearing masks, and I did not speak out – because I was not concerned about masks. Then they came for the people going outdoors, and I did not speak out – because I was not out-going. Then they came for me demanding I take their vaccine – and there was no one left to speak for me. – Inspired by Pastor Martin Niemoller

EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

Support our constitutional challenges

hat has become abundantly clear is that there is no medical justification for continuing a state of emergency. The government has provided no evidence to support masking, physical distancing, lockdowns, and the forced closure of businesses and churches. These measures are not sciencebased. They are political and ideological. The imposed measures are disproportionate to the risk. The collateral damage to our economy, communities and families is greater than the virus itself. We call for an immediate restoration of our civil liberties, livelihoods, and a return to normal democratic governance. Vaccine Choice Canada has initiated actions to address the following: • Forced masking, testing and social distancing of children in Ontario schools • Protection of Doctors, Nurses, Police and other professionals standing up for truth • Vaccine Compliance Passports • Vaccine Injury Accountability and Compensation Program • Protecting Employee Rights to Decline COVID Vaccination In British Columbia, Action4Canada has retained Rocco Galati to defend our Constitu-

tional rights and freedoms. This action will be filed shortly. To support these initiatives, please donate to: www.vaccinechoicecanada.com/donate www.action4canada.com/donate

To learn more Vaccine Choice Canada www.vaccinechoicecanada.com Constitutional Rights Centre www.constitutionalrightscentre.ca Action4Canada - www.action4canada.com Stand For Health Freedom www.standforhealthfreedom.com/shf-canada Librti - www.librti.com Ontario Civil Liberties Association - www.ocla.ca Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedom www.jccf.ca Police On Guard For Thee www.policeonguard.ca Canada Health Alliance www.canadahealthalliance.org Canadian Frontline Nurses www.canadianfrontlinenurses.ca

Vaccine immunity passports

Tell your Federal MP to protect our autonomy www.standforhealthfreedom.com/action/ protect-your-autonomy

VACCINE EST 1982

CHOICE

CANADA

Our Right Our Choice Our Future

EST 1982

Our Right Our Choice Our Future

VACCINE

CHOICE

CANADA

ny requirement that Canadians produce a ‘Vaccine Immunity Passport’ or similar documentation to pursue life, liberty and happiness is unconstitutional and deeply disturbing. Just as the various governments in Canada have failed to provide verifiable medical and scientific evidence to warrant the unprecedented lockdowns and other measures instated in response to COVID-19, any requirement to produce documentation of COVID vaccine compliance is unjustified and without medical or scientific merit. The justification to impose a system of control is that those who have received the product are assumed to be rendered immune from infection and therefore will not contribute to the spread of disease. The scientific evidence does not support such belief. COVID shot manufacturers openly acknowledge their products are

not designed to prevent COVID infection, nor have they been scientifically proven to prevent transmission of a SARS-CoV-2 virus. These shots cannot and do not contribute to the protection of the community. This failure to contribute to community benefit renders invalid any argument that the COVID shot ought to be mandated for ‘the greater good’. The intention of such a passport is to restrict access to travel and services of those individuals not partaking in this human experiment. Such arbitrary restrictions have no place in a free and democratic society. Vaccine passports clearly function as a mechanism of coercion rather than as a measure of health. Vaccine Choice Canada will leverage all of its resources to prevent this violation of individual rights, medical choice and bodily sovereignty. We will not allow the creation of a medical apartheid.

For more information: www.vaccinechoicecanada.com/in-the-news/position-paper-vaccine-immunity-passports EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

Science Matters David Suzuki

ENVIRONMENT

Nature in your neighbourhood

he late urban visionary Jane Jacobs wrote, “Perhaps it will be the city that reawakens our understanding and appreciation of nature, in all its teeming, unpredictable complexity.” While the built form of towns and cities is often disconnected from natural systems, urban ecosystems have much to offer for the more than 80 per cent of people in Canada who live in them. Since the pandemic began, tens of millions of us have been spending more time exploring our yards, parks and neighbourhoods, underscoring the immense value of green spaces for health and well-being. COVID-19 will long be remembered for upending lives worldwide, but one surprising legacy may be something more revelatory and, hopefully, lasting: a much-needed reconnection to nearby nature. In the pandemic’s early days, getting out of the house often meant wandering through quieted streets and parks, where wildlife began to emerge. Urban dwellers began to notice the sights and sounds of nature in their neighbourhoods – from a family of foxes under a Toronto boardwalk to the calls of birds of prey in cities like Vancouver. As the pace of life slowed, many people began to notice the return of migrating birds and the emergence of quirky local insects, like mourning cloak butterflies waking from their winter slumber. These gold-tipped, orange and black early risers are often the first butterflies to appear in Canadian cities because they spend colder months tucked into crevices fully grown, waiting for warmer weather. Spring inspired an unprecedented interest in tending to yards and balconies. Millions of people began plotting what plants they would grow in gardens and on patios and windowsills – many for the first time. It was clear we would be spending more time at home last summer, and the resulting surge in seed and plant sales was historic.

Sales Professional Wanted

The burgeoning interest included growing food – veggies and herbs, fruits and berries – and native plants to support local insects, like bees and butterflies. The David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway Project ballooned, from nine cities with volunteer “Rangers” in 2019 to more than 100 communities in 2020. Despite the uncertain times, these keen volunteers

Although we can’t predict what “normal” will look like once we emerge from the pandemic, a daily dose of nature is perhaps one of the best remedies for these trying times. doubled down on planting native wildflowers throughout their neighbourhoods. The project’s aim is to inspire people to create pollinator-friendly habitat to support local insects – what renowned naturalist E.O. Wilson called “the little things that run the world” – at the heart of our food webs and urban ecologies. Although urban conservation programs have long been viewed as mostly symbolic education exercises, researchers are finding that the value of creating habitat in our yards and communities can be immense. In January, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences highlighted that insects are facing “death by a thousand cuts” from pesticides, light pollution, habitat destruction, climate disruption and more. A series of 12 studies pointed out that insects are essential to ecosystems and human survival and that

Books ~ Gifts ~ Events for Love & Wisdom & Healing

“severe insect declines can potentially have global ecological and economic consequences.” Insects pollinate plants, provide food for other life and help naturally recycle waste. The scientists also stated that it “is vital that people learn how they can take action.” One report offered eight simple things people can do, including converting lawns to habitat, growing native plants, reducing use of harmful chemicals, limiting exterior lighting, increasing awareness and appreciation of insects and advocating for action. As author and plant ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer says in her essential book Braiding Sweetgrass, “Restoring land without restoring relationship is an empty exercise. It is relationship that will endure and relationship that will sustain the restored land. Therefore, reconnecting people and the landscape is as essential as re-establishing proper hydrology or cleaning up contaminants. It is medicine for the earth.” Although we can’t predict what “normal” will look like once we emerge from the pandemic, a daily dose of nature is perhaps one of the best remedies for these trying times. That’s the pitch behind the BC Parks Foundation’s new PaRx nature prescription program, which supports health-care professionals who want to improve their patients’ health by offering nature prescriptions. As the pandemic’s first anniversary passes, let’s get outside and connect with nature nearby. You could even connect with one of the over 1,000 newly recruited Butterflyway Rangers and help bring butterflies to your neighbourhood, one native wildflower at a time. j David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and cofounder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from Senior Strategist Jode Roberts. Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org

Stay healthy. Stay in touch.

Commmon Ground online

Motivated, skillful and honest? We are looking for the right person to earn good money by selling advertising in a magazine dedicated to awareness and real change. Email your resume and cover letter to joseph@commonground.ca

3608 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver 604-732-7912 or 1-800-663-8442 www.banyen.com

(see our Facebook link)

www.commonground.ca

April / May 2 0 21

es, we are passionate about natural health, environment, peace, personal growth, Y independent media, art, politics, music and culture!

View from Dionisio Point, Galiano island April 2021

April / May 2 0 21

reach 200,000 readers

Processing the Past Through the Present Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy A whole person approach to healing and reducing symptoms related to birth trauma, pre- and post-operative procedures, fibromyalgia, concussion syndrome, TMJ

NOW AVAILABLE: DISTANCE HEALING

604•314•9279

Elaine Hanson Loo

Wild Oil of Oregano

certified organic ingredients • 100% Oregano leaves picked in the • Mediterranean wilderness Carvacrol, High Life Force • High your immune system strong • Keeps with most conditions • Helps and external usage • Internal • Thousands of satisfied users

www.wildoiloforegano.com

…The Pandemic from pg. 4

mines of ‘raw material’ – the data extracted from our bodies. Rather than sovereign, spiritual, conscious, intelligent beings making decisions and choices with wisdom and ethical values about the impacts of our actions on the natural and social world of which we are a part, and to which we are inextricably related, we are ‘users.’ A ‘user’ is a consumer without choice in the digital empire. But that’s not the totality of Gates’ vision. In fact, it is even more sinister – to colonise the minds, bodies, and spirits of our children before they even have the opportunity to understand what freedom and sovereignty look and feel like, beginning with the most vulnerable. In May 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York announced a partnership with the Gates Foundation to ‘reinvent education.’ Cuomo called Gates a visionary and argued that the pandemic has created ‘a moment in history when we can actually incorporate and advance [Gates’] ideas...all these buildings, all these physical classrooms – why with all the technology you have?’ In fact, Gates has been trying to dismantle the public education system of the United States for two decades. For him students are mines for data. That is why the indicators he promotes are attendance, college enrollment, and scores on a math and reading test, because these can be easily quantified and mined. In reimagining education, children will be monitored through surveillance systems to check if they are attentive while they are forced to take classes remotely, alone at home. The dystopia is one where children never return to schools, do not have a chance to play, do not have friends. It is a world without society, without relationships, without love and friendship. As I look to the future in a world of Gates and Tech Barons, I see a humanity that is further polarized into large numbers of ‘throw away’ people who have no place in the new Empire. Those who are included in the new Empire will be little more than digital slaves. Or, we can resist. We can seed another future, deepen our democracies, reclaim our commons, regenerate the earth as living members of a One Earth Family, rich in our diversity and freedom, one in our unity and interconnectedness. It is a healthier future. It is one we must fight for. It is one we must claim. We stand at a precipice of extinction. Will we allow our humanity as living, conscious, intelligent, autonomous beings to be extinguished by a greed machine that does not know limits and is unable to put a break on its colonisation and destruction? Or will we stop the machine and defend our humanity, freedom, and autonomy to protect life on earth? j

References available in the online version of this article at commonground.ca

April / May 2 0 21

Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental thinker and activist, a leader in the International Forum on Globalisation, and of the Slow Food Movement. Director of Navdanya and of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and a tireless crusader for farmers’, peasants’, and women’s rights, she is the author and editor of a score of influential books, among them Making Peace with the Earth; Soil Not Oil; Globalisation’s New Wars; Seed Sovereignty, Food Security: Women in the Vanguard; and Who Really Feeds the World?. Her latest book is Oneness vs the 1% (Chelsea Green Publishing, August 2020).

resourcedirectory

the best place to be

We offer frequency bonuses three sizes of listings and a wide range of categories To book your listing email suzan@commonground.ca

• Art & Music • Business Services • Health & Healing • Intuitive Arts • Nutrition • Legal Notices • Psychology, Therapy & Counselling • Restaurants ART & music

YES YOU CAN

SING!

Lynn McGown singing teacher / vocal coaching

EAST IS EAST EXPERIENCE THE EAST WITH YOUR TASTE BUDS

604-734-5881 Now at our new location to 3035 West Broadway (Formerly Calhoun’s)

Do you love to sing in the shower only to clam up if you think other people are listening? Discover your own voice and full potential of your talent with Lynn McGown. We all have our own unique voice. Through breathing and body awareness techniques, vocal warm-ups and lots of singing, you are guided

to discover a powerful and authentic sound to build your confidence, energy level, wellbeing and health. All lessons are individually tailored: from shy beginners to professional performance coaching. Register for vocal workshops (last Sunday of each month) and/ or one-on-one vocal singing coaching.

LYNN MCGOWN Call to set up lesson tel. 604-222-4113 www.lynnmcgown.com www.celtictraditions.ca

RESTAURANTS “East Is East is a place where you are encouraged to talk to your neighbours. This is definitely not the Ritz, but it certainly is Kits. From plumbers to publishers, hippies to generation whatever, this place has special appeal.” - Owen Williams, Common Ground Visit our other location 4433 Main Street @ 28th 604-879-2020

T h e

Restaurant

Est. 1969

Now open for dine-in takeout & delivery!

The Naam Vegetarian Restaurant For years voted “Best Vegetarian” in the Georgia Straight and in Vancouver Magazine’s “Readers’ Choice”. Open seven days a week, licensed, wood fireplace, heated patio. 2724 West 4th Ave. 604-738-7151. thenaam.com

NUTRITION Consultation with dietitian/author Vesanto Melina. ($295 for 2-1/2 hours) includes personalized nutritional analysis; recipes; menu planning. For busy people; pregnancy; children, seniors. vesanto.melina@gmail.com 778-379-5377 nutrispeak.com becomingvegan.ca kickdiabetescookbook.com

Lead author of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ current vegetarian position paper; and of award books on plant-based nutrition Becoming Vegan: Comprehensive Edition; Becoming Vegan: Express Edition; plus the very new Kick Diabetes Cookbook, all with Brenda Davis. Online & at bookstores.

April / May 2 0 21

HEALTH & HEALING Wellspring Vision Improvement Program

Making a positive difference

Dr. Weidong Yu www.TCMRP.com

Wellspring Vision Improvement Program (WVIP) was developed in 1999 by Dr. Weidong Yu, a world renowned Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. WVIP is a comprehensive Holistic health program based on Chinese herbal medicine, Acupuncture, Acupressure, Qigong, Food and Nutrition. WVIP may be

INTUITIVE ARTS

DR. ANNE MCMURTRY Channelled Readings, Reiki & Crystal Healing ANNE’S ABILITY opens a line of communication between you and your spiritual guides allowing them to speak directly to you. Reiki and crystal healings and workshops are also available. 604-734-8219 VANCOUVER

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. – Albert Einstein

beneficial for patients with conditions such as: * Retinitis Pigmentosa * Red eyes, Dry eyes * Macular degeneration * Eye fatigue * Glaucoma * Far sightedness * Eye Bleeding * Blurry Vision

For appointment, please call 604-737-7876 Dr. Weidong Yu, Dr.TCM Wellspring Clinic 916 West King Edward Ave. (south east corner of King Edward Mall at Oak & King Edward) Vancouver, BC

BUSINESS SERVICES Gentle Choices for Eco-friendly Families: Cloth diapers, Baby Carriers, Baby Gifts, Cloth Diaper Trial Program, Gift Certificates, Workshops & much more. Shop Online. NEW LOCATION: Country Club Centre, 9-3200 North Island Highway, Nanaimo Cristi Lundman: 250-585-5552 www.huckleberrybabyshop.com

LEGAL NOTICES NOTICE & ANNOUNCEMENT British Columbia, a Free and Independent Nation-Province has established an open, public, de jure Council convened of We The Sovereigns due to the lack of moral and ethical actions pressed upon We The Sovereigns

of British Columbia by the PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. Full Document of which may be read at website: plancouncilbc.ca Notice to the Principal is Notice to the Agent. Notice to the Agent is Notice to the Principal.

The opinions and views stated herein are not the opinions and views of this publisher. This Notice expires 21 days after publication.

PSYCHOLOGY, THERAPY & COUNSELLING

ARE YOU READY FOR A CHANGE? Lorraine Milardo Bennington M.Ed. (Counselling) Reg. Psychologist #815

Therapy of the Whole Person John Arnold Ph.D. Therapist / Counselor since 1975

604.261.2788

You can overcome limiting beliefs and open up to your joy! Success Coaching Hypnotherapy - Weight Loss, Stop Smoking, Athletic Performance, Blocks to Success/Fear of Failure, Age Regression, Anxiety, Phobias. Couples Counselling

Lorraine Milardo Bennington, success coach, psychologist and hypnotherapist, has been practising hypnosis for over 30 years and skillfully integrates intuition and hypnotherapy into her coaching and counselling practice. Lorraine gently guides people in the process of transformation, assisting them to connect

with their higher selves and to reclaim joy and personal power in their lives. Lorraine has returned to Vancouver after 10 years living, studying and working on Kauai and Maui. Most Ext.Med. plans reimburse psychologists’ fees. 778-331-8860 | transformance@icloud.com www.creativetransformations.ca

Only by Working With the Whole Person Can You Achieve Truly Permanent and Effective Change.

is because you have not gotten to the root causes. Completion of any problem comes only when you have resolved your issues physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually and the underlying reasons for repetitive patterns of behavior are uncovered and

resolved. If you are fed up and want to do something radical about your predicament, give me a call at 604-261-2788 email: johnarnold@shaw.ca or visit my web page at www.johnarnoldphd--reichianandyogictherapist.com

If problems and issues keep popping up in your life and you are STILL STUCK, it

Editor’s note on this special edition

by Joseph Roberts

It’s personal

Before treatment, get the diagnosis right

natural immunity and you will never have the same disease again. But there was a catch. It would not be a quick fix and take twice as long to heal. Having a scratchy throat and feeling ill didn’t really appeal to me but I had reasoned I would be willing to suffer twice as long if it never came back. Hey, I would do two years in one, and then… I took the challenge at the age of twenty, suffered through it but took extra good care of myself and I was impressed. Tonsillitis never returned. I learned from observation and experimenting one myself. That was decades ago. I kept learning how to maintain good health which included changing my diet, eating well, keeping active and interested in life and others, stopped smoking and taking any kinds of drugs, hardly drinking, playing lots of piano and guitar, and became a life-long learner. This magazine is a testament to that. I decided to write this during this epidemic of panic and desperation. To stand up and say there is another way. The epi-pan-demic is over-hyped by the pharma elite who want us all to obey their mandates and consume their over-priced, poorly tested, questionable vaccines and have us join their cult of covid-faithful customers. I coined the term Medical Disaster Marketing for their kind of ruthless behaviour. They have already sucked in the politicians. Who are pimping their final

solution, which is not a solution at all given that it will not stop you from getting the disease nor, after having the vaccine, does guarantee you will not share it, but give you the weakest assurances that you may – yes, may – have lighter symptoms, except you are the onein-forty that has an Adverse Effect (AE) from the antifreeze or genetically modified particles of never-beforetested-on-humans mRNA injection. Oh, and they got our Health Canada to sign the purchase agreement (which the government refuses to allow the public to see) that the manufactures cannot be held responsible for any damage their vaccine or counter measures do to you or your family. Sketchy deal for recipients, great deal for pharma millionaires. So dive deep into whether “to be or not to be” a human guinea pig for big pharma profits. Remember politicians keep secrets, break promises, work for big business (rather than voters ...except come election time), lie to the public either boldface or by omission. Canada had Thalidomide fully licensed and approved for pregnant women. Now some unquestionably trust these rushed vaccine that do not even have a full official license, but rather just a temporary interim waver allowing it to be used on humans. Mark Twain said “History doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes.” Be careful of what is offered. j

April / May 2 0 21

y uncle, an MD, was the top Immunization Officer for the Port of Vancouver. He worked his way up through the ranks as a general physician who did house calls, then clinical director of the Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Centre for the provincial government, up to working at the Sinclair Centre downtown for Health Canada on a wide variety of research and prepared reports for the revolving door of Health Ministers, none of who were trained in the field of health nor were medical doctors. He had some frustrations about this, but that’s another story, not this one. He wanted me to be a doctor because he loved medicine. But I had an experience in 1969 that redirected me. I was travelling outside of Canada when annual bout of tonsillitis hit. Every year since I was 12 years old, I had this nasty recurring swelling in my throat diagnosed as tonsillitis, and freely treated by my uncle with all the free samples of various antibiotics the pharmacutical sales people left at his office. Being far away from home, he was not there to kill it off and “save” me. I looked to other sources and found a book on natural healing which had a completely different take on treating tonsillitis. The book said that if you let a throat infection run its full course your body will build up a

31 reasons why I won’t take the vaccine by Chananya Weissman

April / May 2 0 21

It’s not a vaccine. A vaccine by definition provides immunity to a disease. This does not provide immunity to anything. In a bestcase scenario, it merely reduces the chance of getting a severe case of a virus if one catches it. Hence, it is a medical treatment, not a vaccine. I do not want to take a medical treatment for an illness I do not have. 2. The drug companies, politicians, medical establishment, and media have joined forces to universally refer to this as a vaccine, when it is not one, with the intention of manipulating people into feeling safer about undergoing a medical treatment. Because they are being deceitful, I do not trust them, and want nothing to do with their medical treatment. 3. The presumed benefits of this medical treatment are minimal and would not last long in any case. The establishment acknowledges this, and is already talking about additional shots and ever-increasing numbers of new “vaccines” that would be required on a regular basis. I refuse to turn myself into a chronic patient who receives injections of new pharmaceutical products on a regular basis simply to reduce my chances of getting a severe case of a virus that these injections do not even prevent. 4. I can reduce my chances of getting a severe case of a virus by strengthening my immune system naturally. In the event I catch a virus, there are vitamins and well-established drugs that have had wonderful results in warding off the illness, without the risks and unknowns of this medical treatment. 5. The establishment insists that this medical treatment is safe. They cannot possibly know this because the long-term effects are entirely unknown, and will not be known for many years. They may speculate that it is safe, but it is disingenuous for them to make such a claim that cannot possibly be known. Because they are being disingenuous, I do not trust them, and I want no part of their treatment. 6. The drug companies have zero liability if anything goes wrong, and cannot be sued. Same for the politicians who are pushing this treatment. I will not inject myself with a new, experimental medical device when the people behind it accept no liability or responsibility if something goes wrong. I will not risk my health and my life when they refuse to risk anything. 7. Israel’s Prime Minister has openly admitted that the Israeli people are the world’s laboratory for this experimental treatment. I am not interested in being a guinea pig or donating my body to science. 8. Israel agreed to share medical data of its citizens with a foreign drug company as a fundamental part of their agreement to receive this treatment. I never consented for my personal medical data to be shared with any such entity, nor was I even asked. I will not contribute to this sleazy enterprise. 9. The executives and board members at Pfizer are on record that they have not taken their own

treatment, despite all the fanfare and assurances. They are claiming that they would consider it unfair to “cut the line”. This is a preposterous excuse, and it takes an unbelievable amount of chutzpah to even say such a thing. Such a “line” is a figment of their own imagination; if they hogged a couple of injections for themselves no one would cry foul. In addition, billionaires with private jets and private islands are not known for waiting in line until hundreds of millions of peasants all over the world go first to receive anything these billionaires want for themselves. 10. The establishment media have accepted this preposterous excuse without question or concern. Moreover, they laud Pfizer’s executives for their supposed self-sacrifice in not taking their own experimental treatment until we go first. Since they consider us such fools, I do not trust them, and do not want their new treatment. They can have my place in line. I’ll go to the very back of the line. 11. Three facts that must be put together: • Bill Gates is touting these vaccines as essential to the survival of the human race. • Bill Gates believes the world has too many people and needs to be “depopulated”. • Bill Gates, perhaps the richest man in the world, has also not been injected. No rush. Uh, no. I’ll pass on any medical treatments he wants me to take. 12. The establishment has been entirely onesided in celebrating this treatment. The politicians and media are urging people to take it as both a moral and civic duty. The benefits of the treatment are being greatly exaggerated, the risks are being ignored, and the unknowns are being brushed aside. Because they are being deceitful and manipulative, I will not gamble my personal wellbeing on their integrity. 13. There is an intense propaganda campaign for people to take this treatment. Politicians and celebrities are taking selfies of themselves getting injected (perhaps in some cases pretending to get injected), the media is hyping this as the coolest, smartest, most happy and fun thing to do. It is the most widespread marketing campaign in history. This is not at all appropriate for any medical treatment, let alone a brand new one, and it makes me recoil. 14. The masses are following in tow, posting pictures of themselves getting injected with a drug, feeding the mass peer pressure to do the same. There is something very alarming and sick about this, and I want no part of it. I never took drugs just because “everyone’s doing it” and it’s cool. I’m certainly not going to start now. 15. Those who raise concerns about this medical treatment are being bullied, slandered, mocked, censored, ostracized, threatened, and fired from their jobs. This includes medical professionals who have science-based concerns about the drug and caregivers who have witnessed people under their charge suffering

horrible reactions and death shortly after being injected. When the establishment is purging good people who risk everything simply to raise concerns about a new medical treatment — even if they don’t outright oppose it — I will trust these brave people over the establishment every time. I cannot think of a single similar case in history when truth and morality turned out to be on the side of the establishment. 16. This is the greatest medical experiment in the history of the human race. 17. It is purposely not being portrayed as the greatest medical experiment in the history of the human race, and the fact that it is a medical experiment at all is being severely downplayed. 18. Were they up front with the masses, very few would agree to participate in such an experiment. Manipulating the masses to participate in a medical experiment under false pretenses violates the foundations of medical ethics and democratic law. I will not allow unethical people who engage in such conduct to inject me with anything. 19. The medical establishment is not informing people about any of this. They have become marketing agents for an experimental drug, serving huge companies and politicians who have made deals with them. This is a direct conflict with their mandate to concern themselves exclusively with the wellbeing of the people under their care. Since the medical establishment has become corrupted, and has become nothing more than a corporate and political tool, I do not trust the experimental drug they want so badly to inject me with. 20. We are being pressured in various ways to get injected, which violates medical ethics and the foundations of democratic society. The best way to get me not to do something is to pressure me to do it. 21. The government has sealed their protocol related to the virus and treatments for thirty years. This is information that the public has a right to know, and the government has a responsibility to share. What are they covering up? Do they really expect me to believe that everything is kosher about all this, and that they are concerned first and foremost with my health? The last time they did this was with the Yemenite Children Affair. If you’re not familiar with it, look it up. Now they’re pulling the same shtick. They didn’t fool me the first time, and they’re definitely not fooling me now. 22. The government can share our personal medical data with foreign corporations, but they won’t share their own protocol on the matter with us? I’m out. 23. The establishment has recruited doctors, rabbis, the media, and the masses to harangue people who don’t want to get injected with a new drug. We are being called the worst sort of names. We are being told that we believe in crazy conspiracies, that we are against science, that we are selfish, that we are murderers, that we don’t care about the elderly, that it’s our fault that the government continues to impose draconian restrictions on the public. It’s all because we don’t

Chananya Weissman is the founder of EndTheMadness and the author of seven books, including Go Up Like a Wall and How to Not Get Married: Break these rules and you have a chance. He lives in Israel and has produced and directed two documentaries, Single Jewish Male, and The Shidduch Chronicles, available on YouTube.

Universe Within Gwen Randall-Young

PSYCHOLOGY

Self as mirror How will you become a clear mirror if you resent being polished? ~ Rumi

ife does have a way of revealing to us where we are tarnished. Situations will trigger energetic places within us that do not feel good. These places are generally associated with the ego aspect of our being. When we feel resentful, competitive, offended, or are being manipulative or dishonest, there is a gut feeling that is unpleasant at best – toxic at worst. Often our attention is focused on the people or situations that created this feeling in us, which only intensifies the toxicity. It does so because this response takes us into a place of polarity. An adversarial stance requires a judgement about rightness and wrongness. It appears to create winners and losers, but in reality, everyone likely loses. Often, we are aware of a lifetime pattern that seems to repeat itself. The same things keep happening again and again. People keep treating us in the same unsatisfactory way. Friendships or business deals turn bad. People let us down. We may not realize that the same things happen again and again because we are the same. Imagine we are mirrors. If we are tarnished, we cannot reflect clarity. Nothing beheld by our mirror will look clear, or as it really is. The world, as reflected by our mirror, will always be tainted. If only we could polish it up, restore it to its original purity, everything reflected in it would look so different. So, what is it that tarnishes our mirror? The simple answer would be to say anything that is not love tarnishes it. The worst offenders are attitudes of judgement, criticism, separateness, seeing things only from our own point of view, and a need to be right. If we have a problem in our lives, it is interesting to take a step back to see what is really causing our distress. We will find that it is not the external even that is distressing us, but rather our response to it. If someone lets us down, we can see it is not the event itself creating our pain. What creates the pain is our interpretation of what their behavior implies, or our belief that they should have acted differently. The distress originates within us, even though the trigger for it may be external. Sadly, for ego, nothing in life is ever all about us. Whenever we are involved with others, things become infinitely more complicated for ego. Polishing our mirror means clearing away the limited perspectives of ego, so there is room for compassion, understanding and acceptance. It is realizing all of life is a conversation, not a soliloquy. Imagine that each person’s life is a big jigsaw puzzle, and that each of us is a piece in the puzzle of all those in our life. Now imagine that the pieces are not fixed and rigid but can flow and adjust themselves infinitely. If there is an intention to maintain harmony, it is easy to see how things could fit together nicely in any circumstance. Alternatively, the more rigid the pieces, the less likelihood of a fit there will be. If one piece believes it has only one shape, and refuses to consider any alteration to that shape, then in order for it to fit, all the other pieces must reshape themselves. The chances of everyone reshaping themselves just so one piece can feel right are remote. Consequently, that one piece will not find any of the other puzzles to be particularly hospitable places. Polishing our mirrors removes those places of rigidity and allows for more fluidity in our perceptions. Whenever we experience conflict, tension or disharmony, it is likely that we need to look at ourselves as much as the other. Rather than resenting the suggestion from others or from our own higher wisdom that something needs polishing, we can learn to welcome those opportunities, knowing we have nothing to lose but a little tarnish—and a lot to gain in clarity. j

April / May 2 0 21

want to get injected with an experimental treatment, no questions asked. We are even being told that we have a religious obligation to do this, and that we are grave sinners if we do not. They say that if we do not agree to get injected, we should be forced to stay inside our homes forever and be ostracized from public life. This is horrific, disgusting, a perversion of common sense, morality, and the Torah. It makes me recoil, and only further cements my distrust of these people and my opposition to taking their experimental drug. How dare they? 24. I know of many people who got injected, but none of them studied the science in depth, carefully weighed the potential benefits against the risks, compared this option to other alternatives, was truly informed, and decided this medical treatment was the best option for them. On the contrary, they got injected because of the hype, the propaganda, the pressure, the fear, blind trust in what “the majority of experts” supposedly believed (assuming THEY all studied everything in depth and were completely objective, which is highly dubious), blind trust in what certain influential rabbis urged them to do (ditto the above), or hysterical fear that the only option was getting injected or getting seriously ill from the virus. When I see mass hysteria and cult-like behavior surrounding a medical treatment, I will be extremely suspicious and avoid it. 25. The drug companies have a long and glorious history of causing mass carnage with wonder drugs they thrust on unsuspecting populations, even after serious problems had already become known. Instead of pressing the pause button and halting the marketing of these drugs until these issues could be properly investigated, the drug companies did everything in their power to suppress the information and keep pushing their products. When companies and people have demonstrated such gross lack of concern for human life, I will not trust them when they hype a new wonder drug. This isn’t our first rodeo. 26. Indeed, the horror stories are already coming in at warp speed, but the politicians are not the least bit concerned, the medical establishment is brushing them aside as unrelated or negligible, the media is ignoring it, the drug companies are steaming ahead at full speed, and those who raise a red flag continue to be bullied, censored, and punished. Clearly my life and my wellbeing are not their primary concern. I will not be their next guinea pig in their laboratory. I will not risk being the next “coincidence”. 27. Although many people have died shortly after getting injected – including perfectly healthy young people – we are not allowed to imply that the injection had anything to do with it. Somehow this is anti-science and will cause more people to die. I believe that denying any possible link, abusing people who speculate that there might be a link, and demonstrating not the slightest curiosity to even explore if there might be a link is what is anti-science and could very well cause more people to die. These same people believe I am obligated to get injected as well. No freaking thanks. 28. I am repulsed by the religious, cult-like worship of a pharmaceutical product, and will not participate in this ritual. 29. My “healthcare” provider keeps badgering me to get injected, yet they have provided me no information on this treatment or any possible alternatives. Everything I know I learned from others outside the establishment. Informed consent has become conformed consent. I decline. 30. I see all the lies, corruption, propaganda, manipulation, censorship, bullying, and violation of medical ethics. I see a lack of integrity in the scientific process, suppression of inconvenient adverse reactions, dismissal of legitimate concerns, hysteria, cult-like behavior, ignorance, closed-mindedness, fear, medical and political tyranny, concealment of protocols, lack of true concern for human life, lack of respect for basic human rights and freedoms, perversion of the Torah and common sense, demonization of good people, the greatest medical experiment of all time being conducted by greedy, untrustworthy, godless people, the lack of liability for those who demand I risk everything… I see all this and I have decided they can all have my place in line. I will put my trust in God. I will use the mind He blessed me with and trust my natural instincts. Which leads to the final reason which sums up why I will not get “vaccinated.” 31. The Whole thing Stinks.j

Gwen Randall-Young is an author and psychotherapist in private practice. To read more articles, order books or listen to audio recordings, visit www.gwen.ca, or follow her on Facebook.

IT’S ALL

ISSU CON E NEC 100% 313 SEPT TED CAN EMB ADIA SINC ER 2017 E 1982 N

Bob

VIFF organi c Clim ate arson Pure wat er for Our hom life e ON nat William ive lan d BC’s Sha tner menta Turn l hea er, one lth ma coo ze l guy 1944-2 017

Common Ground April-May 2021

Articles inside

PSYCHOLOGY

RESOURCE DIRECTORY

31 reasons why I won’t take the vaccine

Get the diagnosis right

Our right to dissent

The elusive defi nitions of pandemics

Covid-19 vaccine concerns

Pandemic: Oneness vs the 1

Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption” and suppression of science