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JULY-AUG 2012 VOL. 26 NO.1
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A word from the publisher and editor… Dear Reader, We hope that this edition of Dialogue will be as magical & inspiring in the reading, as it has been in its ‘coming together!’ Many exceptional and thought-provoking essays arrived in February and March, with a final “pièce de résistance” arriving on our cyberspace doorstep just moments before the issue was ready for the printer! Susan McCaslin’s Easter-themed essay, ‘Reversing The Last Supper,’ (p. 41) reminds us that any of us can reimagine our story, by adopting a different perspective on events. Actually we do this every day without realizing it, as we are affected by events reported from different sources. If we relied on just the TV news as our link with the world, we might well have to conclude that we are living in an insane asylum! Fortunately, today we have many varied sources of information through the Internet. Although this inevitably makes ‘understanding what’s going on’ much more complicated, it also allows us much more personal freedom to create a ‘working hypothesis’ about reality and our place in it. In this issue, you will find many perspectives that are at odds with televised reality! – on Canadian economic and political practices that MATTER!, global affairs (NATO, the Ukraine, Africa, the U.S.), health/religion/spirituality and cosmology (a paradigm-changing article from Richard Moore, p.32) and much more. A heartfelt thank you to Colin Knauf for his groundbreaking exploration of childbirth practices today (& his creative design on p.60 & article/story, pp.35/59). One area on which most all will agree is that we are delighted to welcome Spring! A special thank you to Susanne Hare for sharing her “Unfolding” image on the cover (and poem on p.19); and to Marion Urquhart Charkow from the Owen Sound Writers’ Group, for her story, Signs of Spring; and to Eileen Spencer for her poem about the vagaries of the season! Spring calls us forth to create the world we want to live in. Congratulations to Dolly Dennis on the launch of her book, “Loddy Dah” (More on p.14). Here's a chance for us to support a Canadian author ~ and one who “found her voice” writing in Dialogue in the 90s. Perhaps your local library or readers’ group might like to order Dolly’s book? Or invite her to come and speak?! Janet is now working on our new Dialogue website – temporarily located at www.dialogue2.ca/ ); please visit the site and try out some of the features, like submitting articles, quotes and comments through the website. [The site will eventually be moved back to www.dialogue.ca/ (once the archives – still at www.dialogue.ca – are integrated into the new site)].
Enjoy all the wonderful contributions in this Spring ‘C’ Edition! Your donations are much appreciated and are urgently needed to keep Dialogue in print! We hope you will consider Penny’s encouragement & Invitation (opposite, on p.2). Thank you for helping to keep the magazine alive ~ and we look forward to seeing you!
Maurice
, volunteer publisher www.dialogue.ca
Janet, volunteer editor/layout …& Penny &Lucky!
dialogue is... …an independent, volunteerproduced, not-for-profit Canadian magazine, written and supported by its readers - empowering their voices and the sharing of ideas. Now in its 27th year, dialogue provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and an antidote to political correctness. We encourage readers to share with others the ideas and insights gleaned from these pages. If this is your first issue, please let us know what you think of it. If you would like to share your ideas and become a writer in
dialogue magazine Consider this your personal invitation to participate! We also need your support as a subscriber, to help us continue (See P. 58 for details) We receive NO government funding and no advertising revenue. We rely totally on the generous support of our readers & subscribers.
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was founded in 1987 and is now published quarterly. Maurice J. King, Volunteer Publisher Janet K. Hicks, Volunteer Editor Date of Current Issue: Mar. 19, ‘14
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From Near and Far
Make Fair Elections Act actually fair OTTAWA, March 17, 2014: Democracy Watch reveals
the 10 really unfair measures in the so-called “Fair Elections Act” and the 10 priority measures that must be added to the Act make federal elections actually fair. We are launching a national letter-writing campaign to push all federal political parties to change Bill C-23 to make federal elections actually fair Bill C-23 not only unfairly increases voter ID requirements (making it more difficult for hundreds of thousands of
people to vote), it also: hikes already too high donation limits; increases the bias of election workers; keeps election watchdogs secretive and unaccountable; creates a secret hole for increased party campaign spending; restricts pre-election interest group ad spending; keeps penalties for violations too low; fails to make false election promises illegal, and; overall keeps the voting system undemocratic. READ IN FULL, LINK: http://tinyurl.com/DWatch650
The Dr. Day Case and the legal attack on Medicare Council of Canadians/BC-Yukon
Right now, there’s a legal challenge in motion that could erase the principle of Canadian Medicare as we know it – a health care system based on need, not ability to pay. We’d like to invite you to find out more about this critical battle for Medicare and join the fight to protect public health care in court. The BC Health Coalition (on Mar. 24th) held a conference call and update on the legal attack to Medicare. Adam Lynes-Ford, the campaigner with the BC Health Coaltion, (gave) a briefing on the current campaign. Background: Dr. Brian Day, owner of Vancouver’s for-profit Cambie Surgery Centre and the leading proponent of privatized health care, has launched a constitutional challenge to Medicare law in BC. This challenge aims to strike down provincial health legislation that limits the for-profit delivery of medically necessary services, claiming that these rules violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The trial date is now set for September 2014. Although this case is being heard in BC, it is very likely that the case will be appealed and end up in the
Supreme Court of Canada. This could produce the defining Charter interpretation that would apply across the country – and it could be one that destroys equal access to our health care system. The BC Health Coalition and Canadian Doctors for Medicare are interveners in this case. This means that we are able to fight for Medicare in this court case by calling on experts to provide evidence in support of our public health care system. But it is just as important to bring the battle to protect Medicare into our communities, not just in court. We know that court cases don't only get decided in the courtroom; the degree of public interest in a case and the public discourse around it will influence the outcome. In addition to defending Medicare in court, it is equally important that pro-public health care advocates across BC, and Canada, join together to make sure that the public understand the stakes in this case, and that we're speaking out together about the importance of upholding Medicare in court. - Leila Darwish, BC-Yukon Regional Organizer, COC Tel. (c) 778-679-2907
[Forwarded by Gerry Masuda, Duncan]
Decisions versus Democracy
Feedback from a new reader
Peter Whitebone, Saint John NB
Ralph Forshaw, Nanaimo: I have just read two of your recent magazines. I like the fact that it is run by volunteers, has variety – including humour – goes across Canada and is probably not ‘politically correct’ (which is the same thing as dishonesty!!) I have written letters to the editor for many years now – locally and around the world, so I hope you do not massacre these letters, as they do with our two local newspapers. I too resent the mega criticizing of Stephen Harper. After a while it transforms into bullying, which we are so dedicated to curtail.
Many local representatives have come out in favour of fracking. My question concerns democracy not fracking! Are they speaking for themselves or their constituents? Too often, elected representatives forget what they are supposed to do, i.e. represent their constituents! Did they, in any way, consult their constituents on this very important and controversial issue? Was their a referendum? A town hall meeting? Did they send out a questionnaire? If they say, as I often hear, that they made the decision based on facts their constituents don't have, then make the facts public! Too often in Canada voters are not consulted and decisions are made contrary to what voters want! 4 dialogue
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“Resurrecting Canadian democracy…”
Governance by Jury… Ed Goertzen, Oshawa ON
Many of us are caught up in the idea of democracy that we have forgotten (if we ever knew) to exercise the foundation upon which democracy rests. That Ed Goertzen idea is something that we can all practice and no government, believing in democracy can prevent it. The foundation was set at the very time that the idea of people participating in the making of laws was conceived. Sir Winston Churchill declared that, “in a Democracy, the law flows from the people.” Having been reminded of the flow, when I read an item in the Toronto Star by John Polanyi, the Nobel Prize winner for chemistry in 1986, I made a copy. However we have forgotten how that flow happens. [Jaques Ellul, in his book, Propaganda, (“Propagandes”- 1973) says that propaganda does not work on a person-to-person basis.] We need to talk to each other, not merely text. [The item is reproduced, right, without permission, but I sincerely believe that Mr. Polanyi would not mind. - E.G.] Jack Etkin recently proposed more media exposure. Is there anything to stop us from gathering a jury, presenting both sides of an argument and publicizing the results? The December 2013 series in the Toronto Star, sponsored by the Atkinson Foundation, on “ME-YOU-US” by U of Toronto Professor Michael Valpy describes how we seem to be entering into a narcissistic era.
Reprint from 2006 by John Polanyi:
The First Jury / The First Law: by John Polanyi, Toronto Star: Feb 19, 2006 Declarations of principal, when they resonate in many minds, can shape history. King John of England did not realize when he signed the Magna Carta in 1215 that he was doing anything different from earlier kings. Henry I, Stephen and Henry II - signed charters that made promises. [Promises that were only, in the minds of the rulers - interim] But the Magna Carta's time had come. Its promise of freedom from arbitrary arrest (and seizure of property) has been the battle cry of citizens ever since. There is no limit to how far we can go in building international law; it is within human capability to go as far as needed. This takes me back to where I began: to ancient Greece. The Greeks were well acquainted with killing and revenge. In their plays they symbolized the recourse to force as the arbiter of disagreement. It ran through play after play - the Greek tragedies - as it has run through human history. But there came a pivotal moment in a particular Greek Play, “The Oresteia” by Aeschylus, (525/524 B.C E. – c.456/455 B.C.E.) in which the cycle was definitely broken. The stage was awash with blood (think of the year 1945) and on it stood Orestes himself, now a murderer. Force served unending as an invitation to further force. At this point the goddess of wisdom, Athena, intervened. She did something without precedent: she appointed a court of citizens to make a decision that they would all abide by. In the play, that court was the audience. At this point the responsibility for what took place on the stage shifted dramatically to the audience; the collectivity in place of the individual. Athena speaks (as translated by Ted Hughes, the late British poet laureate): “Citizens of Athens; This is the first case of homicide; To be tried in the court I have established; This court is yours; From today every homicide; Shall be tried before this jury; Of twelve Athenians; Here my laws shall stand; Unchanged through the hours and days; And awe, that humbles the heart; Shall keep the pride of Athenians in check; Protect this court, which will protect you all; From the headstrong license of any man's will; This court you have as a fortress; Over the peace of men and their families,” With that, the audience ceased to be witnesses to a play, becoming instead the players. That is the most hopeful thing that we can do. It is this collectivity that gives force to law. It is this collectivity alone that can break the endless cycle of grievance and revenge, Individual will becomes subject to the collective will. War becomes subject to law.
[PLEASE READ BOXED REPRINT, RIGHT]
The ‘Court’ to which Polanyi refers could easily be compared to a modern jury. Dr. Henry Morgentaler is well known know for his classic and repetitive jury trials and visits to the Supreme Court of Canada to obtain the rights of women to obtain an abortion; his www.dialogue2.ca
convictions having being repeatedly overturned by a jury. The Order of Canada recipient should have been honoured for a much more important principal, that being the confirming of the jury as the final and last resort for the validation of any law. VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Why not extend the jurisdiction of the jury system to government policies? Also, can we not also have a jury to determine the validity of a government policy? We can be assured that the neglect of using a jury to decide and validate the laws concerning matters of property is not an accident. That idea of using a jury flowed from ancient Greece to the European Franks and from there to England, with William the Conqueror. When King William took over the administration of England he found there rudimentary functioning juries from a different and unknown source, the idea was been brought to England by the Saxons who had it originally from Denmark. He merely had to improve on their functioning. There is no reason why, using the democratic Freedom of Association, that we cannot find 12 respected persons in our neighborhood to sit and decide on the propriety and validity of any law passed by any legislative body, including that of Municipal and Regional.
Another item re the historical role of the Jury “Puritanism and the Period of the Great Persecution 1660– 1688” by Gerald R. Cragg (pub. 1957, reissued 2011) pp.49-50: [EXTRACT] A judge like Jeffreys [“The Hanging Judge”] might attempt to ignore the jury or intimidate it, but at least this period saw the first effective steps taken to establish the independent status of the jurors; and this unique development arose directly out of the persecution of the dissenters. It was still common practice for the bench to require a certain verdict, and to send the jurors back if they failed to find in the terms expected of them. If they stood by their verdict, an angry judge might commit them to answer for a misdemeanor, or he might fine them as much as a hundred marks apiece. No single incident did so much to settle the issue as the trial of William Penn and Matthew Mead. When the jury refused to find the prisoners guilty, the Recorder's anger knew no bounds, and he bluntly told the jurors that 'you shall not be dismissed till we have a verdict that the court will accept; and you shall be locked up, without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco; ... we will have a verdict by the help of God or you shall starve for it'.(3) The jurors refused to be intimidated; they were heavily fined and imprisoned. Before the matter ended, it had become apparent to everyone that the constitutional importance of their case far exceeded that of the Quakers whom they had acquitted. When at length the whole body of judges gave it as their ruling that no jury could be fined because of its verdict, their contemporaries realized at once that a great bastion had been erected in defense of English liberty. [END OF EXTRACT, “Puritanism” by G.R. Cragg]
Article & Extracts from Ed Goertzen, Oshawa, [egoert(at)interlinks.net]
THE BABYLONIAN WOE – 1975 book by David Astle Received from Ed Goertzen: The book was introduced on the front cover by Gordon Sinclair - thus:
"What is money? How did it get started? Who trusts it? Who has the right to print it or mint it? Is money here to stay and if not, what will take its place? Has there ever been, or will there ever be, equality in the possession of money or other assets? David Astle has given a good part of his life in a study of these questions and now puts the benefit of years of reading and research into this book, which is part history; part criticism and part prophesy. To get back to the first question. What IS money? Some intelligent and some surprising answers are here." - Gordon Sinclair (front cover) In this scholarly work, true-born Anglo-Saxon David Astle, stylist in the greatest traditions of his people, has presented to the world a history of the effects of monetary mechanics in very ancient times, with emphasis on Ethno-psychology. It illustrates how, even 6 dialogue
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in the earliest times of which written record remains, the days of Babylonia or before, a so-called monetary science undoubtedly existed; being then, as in today, never more than as instrument by which its secret and cynical controllers wittingly influenced the destinies of individuals, nations, and empires as to (temporary) glory or final disaster. I strongly recommend this important and welldocumented work as a most useful reference book; complementing any study of Economic or Monetary history. It will be a great asset to learned societies, top management, and self-teaching individuals in all parts of the world. The bibliography is a MUST for any who seek to understand the significance of monetary creation and emission in relation to human destiny and ultimate fate. Paul A Gwinner, PH.D. (front cover inside) BOOK: "THE BABYLONIAN WOE" Copyright © 1975 by David Astle. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. BOOK LINK: http://turmelpress.com/babyl01.htm
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“Prévoyance” Observations from Erik Andersen, Gabriola Island BC
How to Design a Failing Nation Erik Andersen, Gabriola BC
It is fair to say that the policies of governments can have a profound effect on the social well being of a Erik Andersen nation state otherwise why bother crafting policies in the first place. The outcome from embracing specific policies means that there is intention and there will be consequences. That means that some form of accountability should prevail. Unfortunately policies that are constructed using dogma most often only deliver failure, if the measures of general social well being of the whole population are the tests of success. Prior to the 1970’s, Canada seemed to be a country that cared that the well being of all regions was worth championing. Nationalism prevailed on many fronts until international interests began to intervene. One event was seen as a defining moment in the country’s history and that was the cancellation of the Avro Arrow air space program by the then Conservative Government of Mr. Diefenbaker. This remark was by the prominent economist, Kenneth Galbraith (now deceased), at a social occasion in Montreal and he was using it as a metaphor for the larger economy. He was featuring the fact that Canada was willingly and knowingly handicapping itself. Canada was in fact re-embracing its colonial past by giving others veto rights over its newly developed technological excellence, featured in the designs of both the aircraft and engine. Like all Prime Ministers since, Mr. Diefenbaker was willing to be directed by others into accepting a “producer of primary commodities only” economic role for Canada. Later in the 1990’s, the then newly appointed President of the Royal Bank of Canada, Mr. G. Nixon, gave a presentation in Toronto where he decried the inadequacy of Canadian research and development spending, the natural path for a colonial economy. Yes, the Federal government was championing R&D spending at the time; but by using appointed commissions that for the most part served as distributors of corporate welfare, not much of a Research & Development culture has materialized in Canada. Since the 1970’s, Canada’s national interests, or matwww.dialogue2.ca
ters of sovereignty, have been steadily eroded, put aside, particularly as is seen from the array of punitive terms embedded in the international agreements signed by our governments. Just like all intellectually bankrupt entities, our Governments have been income challenged concurrently, with the consequences of self-indulgent borrowing in large amounts. The obvious solutions have come to their minds: Install consumption taxes which are regressive; reduce budget support for investment in human capital; pretend that large and risky investments will be so successful in the long-term that all will be made whole and lucrative; use the motivators of fear and greed with abandon (and usually to serve narrow interests); pledge national assets, with financing guarantees; and, lastly, sell or allow the sale of productive assets to international interests. Canadians currently have the spectacle of both the Federal and BC governments doing most all of the above. Borne out of desperation, they are trying to turn the transportation and sale of petroleum assets into “hail Mary passes.” Just what you would expect from quarterbacks in a game they are almost certain of losing. Catherine Austin Fitts, a former senior executive with the Reagan administration has coined the descriptive phrase, “tapeworm economics,” for what prevails in North America now. This is where the parasites live long enough to consume their host – with both being dead at the end of it all. For those who enjoy historical references the following should give you a chuckle ~ if not, poor you! In 1774 a Mr. Anthony Henley, an independent M.P and owner of the estates of Northington and Swarraton in Hampshire, took to writing to his constituents (who had written to him for the purpose of opposing the excise bill* in the house of commons): “Gentlemen, I have received yours, and am surprised by your insolence in troubling me about the Excise. You know what I very well know, that I bought you; VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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and, by gad, I am determined to sell you. And I know, what perhaps you think I do not know, you are now selling yourselves to somebody else. And I know, what you do not know, that I am buying another borough. May G–d’s curse light on you all; may your houses be as open and as common to all Excise Officers as your houses were to me when I stood for your rascally corporation. Yours, &c. ANTHONY HENLY”**
The more things change the more they stay the same. Erik Andersen; Economist, Gabriola BC (*The bill attempted to introduce a reduction in land tax for the gentry, and an increase in salt tax; it was defeated as much by public opposition as parliamentary debate.) **Letter recorded at LINK: http://tinyurl.com/AHenly1774
“The Fifth Columnist”
Anger Management Michael Neilly, Dunrobin ON
I am sitting here. It’s 06:30 a.m. I haven’t shaved in days, and my muse, who will tell me what to write about in this column, is late. What gets me angry? What makes me sad? The other day I come across an article about a developer, the Islamic Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat, who proposes to develop 11-hectares around the Jaffari Centre mosque and build “two 17-storey residential towers, retail space and 61 townhouses” in a low-density Thornhill (north of Toronto) neighbourhood. Density and infrastructure issues aside, do we really believe that this development will be inclusive, that blacks, whites, Hindus and Jews will be tolerated in this neighbourhood? A Liberal would have you believe that this is all about multi-culturalism, that this is the same as a Little Italy, or a Chinatown. But you can move into Little Italy or Chinatown without being harassed. As for this development, I wonder. Is this development so different from Irish Orangemen building a church 150 years ago and building their houses around it? We’ll see. In any case, I fear the dopey goodwill that some Canadians have about the intentions of others will be our undoing. Our ‘official,’ government-created multiculturalism – not the natural one – stems directly from official bi-culturalism. What goes on in Quebec now, with its fascist language laws, is at the heart of the Liberal Party’s support for multiculturalism and its turning a blind eye to building ethnic ghettos. It squares nicely with Quebec’s odious charter of values. In other words, the Liberals are perfectly happy to defend ANY negative consequence of Official Multicultural8 dialogue
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ism, as long as it allows what is happening in Quebec to continue. How un-Canadian can you get and still be called a Canadian? “Tolerating intolerance” – is this Canada’s new motto? The political heat about the F-35 Lightning made me angry. There was a big to-do that maintenance and operating costs for these jets weren’t included in the initial estimate. The fact is that you can’t operate an air force with an operations and maintenance budget. Whether I operate and maintain 60 older Hornets or 60 new Lightnings, surely these costs to operate and maintain them are comparable. And you can’t predict what operations they will be asked to participate in, and how many patrols they will fly, some 20 years from now. Recalling the Arrow and F-18, what fighter hasn’t been made a political football? Some on the left proclaim that Canada has no enemies, but Russian bombers do probe our Northern borders. In the defence-ofCanada role, in an all out attack, these new planes, with some stealth capabilities, could face waves of stealthier cruise missiles. 60-some planes to defend against this kind of attack conjures images of France’s old Maginot line, a line of forts conceived to deter German aggression, rendered obsolete by new technology and new tactics. But come on, ‘unstated operations and maintenance costs’? Is this the best the opposition can come up with? The real issue is that this is a single-engined fighter tasked with potentially flying over thousands of miles of ocean and tundra. Redundancy is prized in aviation and in the military, but only an accountant would be comfortable with operating an F-35 Lightning, comforted by a theoretical Mean Time Between Failures prediction for its single engine. www.dialogue2.ca
Fighters are expensive, but are table stakes for any modern nation, the cost to police our borders. A military attack, costly and unlikely, is but one way to bring down a country. Better to de-stabilize a country from within by smearing and discrediting its institutions, by creating a malaise. Is this not where we are now, this once great nation? Speaking of smearing and de-stabilizing, I don’t know what to make of the NDP’s Tom Mulcair. Stephen Harper returns from Israel and the leader of the opposition rails about senate expenses and who knew what when. If this is the best that Mulcair can do, the NDP will be returned to 15 seats in the next federal election, thanks to a surly, bankrupt Quebec. Meanwhile, next door, what has happened to the great powerhouse of Ontario, once the engine of Canada, now a big, fat caboose, a have-not province? Factories that have been in Canada for over 100 years have closed due to the high costs of operating in Ontario. This country was built on cheap energy. Now we
subsidize inefficient energy producers, windmills and solar, and pass the exorbitant costs on to its customers. We can only hope that subsidizing this technology will some day result in prosperity, but Ontario, with a crippling $288 billion debt (according to Wikipedia), now has a debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of over 37%, the highest in its history; prosperity won’t come in our lifetime. The interest on 288 billion dollars goes to moneylenders, instead of building schools, infrastructure, or paying nurses and doctors. If cheap energy built this country, and made us prosperous, surely our efforts must be concentrated in this direction. Our political theatre diminishes us, distracts us. In an effort to conceal our drop in our standard of living, we revel in mud-slinging and identity politics, and pretend that we are still that once-great country. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. We became complacent. Mike Neilly, Dunrobin ON dialogue always welcome, contact me at:
fifth_columnist@magma.ca
Economists Against Austerity
74 Canadian economists speak out against austerity Larry Kazdan, Vancouver BC
A contingent of over 70 economists from over 31 universities has published a statement strongly urging the federal government to stop implementing fiscal austerity measures just to achieve its political goal of budgetary balance by 2015. The statement (below) points out that today's policies are similar to those of the 1930s when the economy was stagnant and unemployment high, but that federal deficits were not problematic during the war period following when unemployment dramatically declined and the economy rebounded. British politician Tony Benn once stated it very well: "If you can have full employment by killing Germans, why can't we have it by building hospitals, schools, recruiting nurses and teachers? If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people."
It's time for more Canadians to challenge tight-fisted Conservative fiscal policies which are leading us into economic quagmire. REFERENCES:
1. The Statement by 74 Canadian Economists Against Austerity STATEMENT BELOW and at: www.progressive-economics.ca/2014/02/11/economistsagainst-austerity/ 2. Carol Goar article: Worried economists tell Flaherty to stop starving the economy READ IN FULL AT LINK: http://tinyurl.com/TSgoar70econ P.S. Petition supporting Economists Against Austerity Recently a group of progressive economists spoke out against current federal government austerity policies. In order to support them, I have started an on-line public petition. You can view the petition at the link below: Would you take a minute to read it and if you agree, add your name? The LINK is http://chn.ge/1fJAraF From: lkazdan(at)gmail.com
Statement by Canadian Economists Against Austerity Ottawa, Feb. 11th, 2014 Since the mid-1990s, we have witnessed an era during We, the undersigned, strongly urge the federal which, under the influence of the same economists government to stop implementing fiscal austerity who had also advised the deregulation of the finanmeasures just to achieve its political goal of cial sector in the US, Canada, and other G20 countries, budgetary balance by 2015. government policies brought the international www.dialogue2.ca
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Statement by Canadian Economists Against Austerity, contd.
economy to the edge of economic meltdown in 2008. After initially implementing a series of necessary fiscal stimulus measures to prevent the Canadian economy from slumping into depression, the current government did a policy U-turn and, at the time of the G20 Summit in Toronto in 2010, decided to go back to the pre-2008 era of targeting balances and budgetary surpluses. This turnaround occurred despite the fact that employment rates remained, and continue to stagnate, below pre-recession levels. We believe that such austerity policy is terribly misguided. Not only are cuts in government spending completely inappropriate in the current context, but also the primary macroeconomic concern of the federal government ought to be the achievement of high levels of incomes and full employment for all Canadians, rather than the attainment of an elusive political target of budgetary balance that condemns the Canadian economy to remain stuck in a state of long-term stagnation. Unlike the countries of the Eurozone, as a sovereign country with its own national currency and a floating exchange rate, Canada faces none of the constraints on spending that prevent Eurozone governments from engaging in deficit-spending to stabilize their economies. At a time when growth rates remain low and unemployment high, and with a world economy facing mounting uncertainties not seen since the 1930s, the government must pursue deficit spending, at least for a
while, especially in the form of public investment, whose effect will be to repair private sector balance sheets and spur on private sector growth. A sustained and forceful investment effort on the part of the government would induce the private sector to follow suit. Cutbacks, by contrast, would create further uncertainty for many Canadian households and businesses and dampen economic activity. The prime minister gave a speech (in Nov. 2008) affirming that he was once studying to become an economics professor with interests in macroeconomic theory, political economy and economic history. It would seem unwise not to learn the lessons of history. Economic history teaches that the current fiscal behaviour, which characterized government policy of the 1930s, merely placed the Canadian and world economy on the path of stagnation throughout that era prior to the Second World War. During the war years, fiscal deficits no longer seemed to be a problem and the Canadian economy quickly restarted. It is time to pursue pro-growth policies and not fiscal austerity. Low interest rates by themselves were not enough to stimulate growth during the 1930s and they are not enough to guarantee strong growth today. What is needed is a rise, not cuts, in public spending and the abandonment of the ideology of austerity. Recd. from Larry Kazdan CGA, Vancouver Email: lkazdan(at)gmail.com
How to fix the Canadian economy From Sam Camilleri, Sault Ste. Marie ON
Somebody sent me this and, in my opinion, it should be shared with Dialogue Readers. Dear Mr. Harper, Please find below our suggestion for fixing Canada’s economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to the ‘Banksters’ that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan. There are about 10 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them 1 million dollars each: severance for early retirement, with the following stipulations. 1) They MUST retire:- Ten million job openings – unemployment solved. 2) They MUST buy a new car:- Ten million cars ordered – car industry fixed. 3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off 10 dialogue
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their mortgage:- Housing crisis fixed. 4) They MUST send their kids/grandkids to school/college/university:- Crime rate fixed. 5) They MUST buy $50/week of alcohol/tobacco:and there’s your money back in duty/taxes, etc. (A hand-written letter received from Sammy.)
“Laughter & ‘Lightenment” FUN FOR LEXOPHILES - From Don Parker: The batteries were given out free of charge. Did you hear about the fellow whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now. A will is a dead giveaway. A boiled egg is hard to beat. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is now fully recovered. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds. MORE HUMOUR ON pp. 43, 50, 53, 57
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Electoral Fraud and Electoral Reform
Electoral Fraud
And the (Un)Fair Election Act of 2014 Derek Skinner, Victoria BC
Pierre Poilievre, as Minister of State for Democratic Reform, is responsible for introducing "The (Un)Fair Election Act". He is just the last in a string of conservative hacks who have been quietly modifying the Elections Act since the 2006 Harper Minority Government took office. The In/Out scandal of the 2006 election showed the utter contempt the CPC (Conservative Party of Canada) and its backers had for Canadian law as enunciated in the Election Act. Elections Canada financial auditors, following standard procedures for reviewing election campaign spending for the General Election of 2006, determined that more than 60 CPC financial reports showed election spending violations. The audits showed that CPC 'apparatchics' like Doug Findly and Irving Gerstein sent party money into the campaign accounts of candidates. They instructed the candidates to direct their agents to use the money to buy advertising with the exact same message that the CPC had used and had spent the maximum allowable under law buying for the national media campaign. This was an obvious circumvention of the rules in the Act limiting advertising by political parties. The CPC knew this because they were advised by Elections Canada before they did it that it was illegal. Their own lawyers told them that it was illegal, others told them that is was illegal. They did it anyway. Four months after the General Election of 2006, the scheme would have been clear to the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada at the time, Jean Pierre Kingsley. The remedy prescribed in the Elections Act at the time called for anyone participating in such a scheme to be disqualified as a candidate for a period of two years and to be disqualified from taking a seat in the House for a period of two years, to be made to pay a fine of $2,000 and/or to spend up to two years in Jail. Jean Pierre Kingsley had a tough choice to make; he could declare the Election invalid or he could resign. He chose the latter. Harper was allowed by the Governor General to form an illegal minority government. That government appointed a new Chief Electoral Officer, Marc www.dialogue2.ca
Mayrand, and on Dec. 12th 2006 passed the Director of Public Prosecutions Act as Part 3 of the Federal Accountability Act which transferred the ability to prosecute Elections Act offences from Elections Canada to a newly created (appointed by Harper) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Marc Mayrand, as mandated by the Elections Act, dutifully proceeded with the investigation of the "In and Out" scheme and the DPP did, in the end, lay charges against several CPC members who pleaded guilty to lesser offences and paid fines. While all this was going on, the CPC attacked and vilified Marc Mayrand as if he was a stooge of the Liberal Party. The allegation was absurd, but the media toadied right along and the broader Canadian public was completely misled. Because of the many changes in Voter residences, in 1995 Elections Canada assigned a ten digit unique, permanent, stable ID number to every voter in an internal database. CPC changes to the Act externalized those numbers and they are now posted in the Voter Registration Lists which are supplied to every Party. The numbers make it easy for Parties to keep track of Voter's movements and views, functioning like a national ID card and they employ willing American corporations to do just that. Successive Bills have been passed by the Harper Government that severely restrict the ability of political parties other than the CPC to raise money. The 2003 regime that subsidized political parties on a pervote basis was dismantled. The CPC advocates for and defends the rich, who have money to spend on political parties, while those parties that advocate for the rest of us have to beg for money from people who already do not have enough. Other quiet changes to the Election Act resulted in the "Bingo Card" scheme and the resulting Robocalls. The so-called Bingo Cards are issued by Elections Canada every 30 minutes during Election Day, listing the voters who have voted so far during the day. This enables Party organizers to mobilize last minute efforts to get out the pro-Party vote if they see that the result will be close. It also enables Robocalls to be started to any remaining voters who may vote against the party. When the Bingo Card proposal was introduced to the Advisory Committee of Political Parties (ACPP) ďƒž VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Derek Skinner, Electoral Fraud and the (Un)Fair Election Act of 2014, contd.
in 2007, as part of Bill C31, many members of the ACPP spoke forcefully against the scheme. In particular, the Canadian Action Party member stated that with sophisticated pre-polling, the Bingo Card scheme not only allowed political parties to know who has voted and exactly when in an election but, to a very fine statistical probability, the Bingo Card would allow political parties to know how voters had voted. This would take us within a hair's breadth of a ballot that was no longer secret. Some 1400 complaints of misleading Robocalls, from ridings across Canada, were registered with Elections Canada. The Council of Canadians and others have identified at least 7 ridings where multiple Robocalls very likely resulted in a false election. Further an extraordinary number of ridings across the country were won or lost by razor-thin margins where Robocalls misdirecting voters other than CPC supporters were known to have occurred. Other parties made Robocalls too but none of those calls were made to misdirect voters. The CPC announced on a Friday afternoon in November of 2013 that they had dumped the database in question as the source of the voter suppression Robocalls. No doubt the Commissioner of Elections investigating the Robocalls had telegraphed that he would be seeking to acquire access to the database as part of his investigation, an investigation the CPC has fought tooth and nail every step of the way, all the while vilifying Elections Canada and requiring the Commissioner, Ives Cote, to seek court orders for release of every piece of the puzzle in the hands of the CPC. Now the "Fair Elections Act," as proposed, will shake 'undesirables' out of the voters lists by raising barriers for people not likely to vote for the CPC; i.e. young people unable to get a decent job and possibly progressive or even radical, poor people who cannot afford a car and so do not have a driver's license or
carry a passport for photo ID or other sanctioned documents that identify a current residential address, aboriginal people likely resentful of bad treatment and new Canadians and others who will not be able to have people vouch for them. All this is quite ridiculous in light of the unique permanent ID number. By Elections Canada's estimates the first rendition of the new voter rules in Bill C31 (2007) shook 2.2 million voters off the list. Taking away "vouching" as proposed in C23 will shake off another 100,000. The proposed 2014 Act goes on to increase the restrictions on Election Canada's power to inform voters on many issues other than "the date of the election and where is their polling station". It also moves the authority to investigate electoral irregularities away from Elections Canada to the office of the DPP, further slowing response time in investigations and prosecutions and confusing the public about who runs what in government. Essentially it will not matter what the law says, the enforcement will take so long the law will be moot. Now Poilievre has the effrontery to imply that the Chief Electoral Officer is showing bias because he has criticized some of the causes in the Act and is trying to do his job without bowing to the dictates of the CPC. All this sleaze & manipulation of the Elections Act is going on while the corporate media is largely silent. Is this how you want your democracy to be watered down for the benefit of one Party that is trying to ensure that it will maintain a majority control of Parliament for ever? If this bothers you, call your MP – particularly if he/she is a CPC member – and demand that they stop passage of the Fair Elections Act. Derek Skinner, Victoria BC P.S. Thanks to Will Arlow and Paul McMurray for their clarifications and corrections. ONLINE LINK: www.dialogue2.ca/submission-page.html
Letter from a conservative to Michael Chong re his Reform Act From: Kenneth T. Tellis, Mississauga ON To: Michael Chong, MP House of Commons, Ottawa, ON
Dear Mr. Chong, In the newspapers, I read this caption: “MP’s reform bill would be ‘blow for democracy’”* I was of course rather pleased as I do believe that any Prime minister should not have absolute power, because, while he is elected he must also be held 12 dialogue
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accountable for his actions. But, I would like to take this much further by proposing that there should be programmes on TV in which Canadian politicians can discuss the pros and cons of the role that government should play in the daily lives of the citizenry. I often watch CROSSFIRE on CNN and have come to understand better the role that any government should play while in office. www.dialogue2.ca
When a man gets too big for his shoes, like Stephen Harper, it is time to clip his wings; and your proposal falls into this category. I do not like the idea of a prime minister who spends more time on photo-opps and foreign visits rather than dealing with the issues that plague the country. In this area Stephen Harper has failed miserably, and that is worrisome to say the least. But Stephen Harper has avoided dealing with how the very basic rights of Canadian citizens are daily being voided; and yet he just does not act in upholding the Constitution. Maybe, there is much more here than meets the eye and what is happening behind our backs is setting a very dangerous precedent and one that must be dealt with whether he likes it or not. I propose that the OATH taken by MPs include in their wording “to abide and uphold the Canadian Constitution” – which should not include the Trudeau Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because it can nullify parts of the Constitution which includes the British North America Act of July 1, 1867, and thus defeats the very purpose of the Constitution, in which those guarantees are al-
ready included. Besides that, the Constitution is a document which belongs to the people and not the government, while the Trudeau Charter of Rights and Freedoms was cooked-up by the Liberal Party and not the people of Canada, and as such should be scrapped forthwith. Mr. Chong, I do hope that I am making myself abundantly clear on the inner workings of democracy, since I have been a REAL conservative for over 40 years. I am, Sincerely yours, Kenneth T. Tellis, Dec 6, 2013 *Article (Toronto Star, Dec. 4 ’13) – Conservative Michael Chong wants to tip balance of power from leaders back to MPs: “OTTAWA Conservative MP Michael Chong’s bid to take back parliamentary power from party leaders won initial support from official Opposition leader Tom Mulcair and at least seven Conservatives, who urged their colleagues to seriously consider the reforms…” [Toronto Star, Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa Bureau. READ ARTICLE AT LINK:
http://torontostar.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
Chong: “The Reform Act is an effort to strengthen Canada’s democracy by restoring the role of elected Members of Parliament in the House of Commons…” LINK: http://michaelchong.ca/2013/12/30/reform-act/
Advice from NB to PEI re legislated language duality Matthew Glenn, Minto NB
It was of great concern to hear a CBC report that Prince Edward Island politicians have chosen to follow New Brunswick’s example on official ‘FORCED’ bilingualism adopting a French Language Services Act. The report stated that 20 government departments must start providing province wide services in both English and French. Beyond a doubt, this means that many existing competent unilingual employees will be replaced and senior staff forced to retire or moved to a lower-paying position. For certain, like in New Brunswick, the next demand will be for bilingual supervisors, which really means bilingual French. From that point on, bilingual French will be favored for future positions, which again will lead to demands to work in their language of choice. We were warned by J.V. Andrew back in the 1970s in his book Bilingual today French Tomorrow as to what to expect from this official ‘FORCED’ bilingual policy. Whatever became of the Pierre Trudeau Liberal government’s promised policy of “where numbers warrant” that would avoid discrimination against the unilingual majority within the government job market? That was soon forgotten when there was little resistance from the majority. Obviously PEI politician haven’t considered the costs www.dialogue2.ca
associated with duality: “duplication” which has turned out to be a large part of why New Brunswick is presently on the brink of bankruptcy. According to our government’s own figures, 30,000 New Brunswickers are now employed outside the province, many due to the number of jobs having been gradually designated ‘bilingual essential.’ New Brunswick’s debt now exceeds $11 Billion, with a deficit of nearly $1 Billion. Prince Edward Island has a population of approximately 140,000 of which a small portion of 5,000 are French-speaking. Therefore we don’t have to guess where many of those “so called’ bilingual employees will come from. MOVE OVER, unilingual Islanders, make way for a wave of your future government employees fresh from Quebec’s Franco Bank. No doubt some are already packing! As in New Brunswick, it will be useless for unilingual Islanders to apply for employment in their own government. When will Canadians wake up to this discriminating policy? Let’s not forget, ‘A nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves.’* Matthew Glenn is President of the Anglo Society of New Brunswick; www.asnb.ca [* Quote: Judge Napolitano/Edward R. Murrow] VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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How much “protection” of a minority is too much? Kim Lian McConnell, Ottawa ON
Our battle in Eastern Ontario against Official Bilingualism has attracted the attention of a very active political activist [Sharon MacLise, www.sharonmaclise.com/ ] who wrote to me after a recent message she had received from us about what’s happening in New Brunswick, Quebec & Ontario. The power of the French is growing by leaps and bounds – first of all, in Quebec where the French language is paramount and the separatist government has been able to pass many very draconian anti-English laws (totally without any protest from the Office of the Official Languages Commissioner). In New Brunswick, the 30+% French speakers are calling all the shots because they have the support of: the provincial Official Languages Act, the very vocal & powerful Acadian lobby group, and the English-speaking politicians who dare not fight back. In Ontario, the 4+% French speakers have the power of the French Language Services Act (passed in 1986 under very nefarious conditions); and the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner (Francois Boileau) is asking for even more power to “protect” the French-speaking minority. Where jobs in the public sector are already in numbers that far exceed their numbers in population size and where it is also increasing in the private sector, I’m not sure what kind of ‘pro-
tection’ they are demanding. The protection of minorities is a very laudable principle but when laws elevate the rights of the minority against the rights of the majority, that principle can no longer be considered supportable or laudable. Canadians for Language Fairness Website: http://languagefairness.net/
Canadian Charter Comedy of Errors Ernest Semple, Dollard-des-Ormeaux QC
My only subject for serious writing is the Charter (‘of Rights & Freedoms’) and its history. The rest is of little interest to me. I think of the symptom ranting as un-useful, except for an immediate election. The comedy of errors that allows the Charter now to dominate the Supreme Court and all the lower ones, government hiring and firing - Federal, Provincial and Municipal proves it is a source of drama and comedy rather than a guide to a better society. Anybody who is willing to explore how this came about can get my ear. The symptoms we see every day have been boring for many years. That is true for many others, for at least since 1961 and the death of Maurice Duplessis. If not for the painful stupidity of all language laws, we all might be able to see what a big joke Canada has been living without the aid of psychiatric treatment.
Book soon to be published by one of dialogue’s pioneering columnists Dolly Dennis, Edmonton AB
Just an update on my book. Loddy-Dah will debut in Montreal, May 4, at the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, which will be held at the Hotel 10 (at Sherbrooke & the Main). I will be reading in the Jardin Room, some time between 2 and 3:30 pm, so if any Dialogue readers will be there at that time, please come and say hello. I haven't been to my hometown since 1998 and am told I wouldn't recognize the place. I know. That's why I wanted to write about Montreal in the late sixties before it is forgotten. The book seems timely considering the noise coming out of Quebec about separation and referendums. Again! There will be a second launch in Toronto on May 25 (haven't got the details yet) and an Edmonton launch at Audreys Bookstore (originally owned by Mel Hurtig), on June 12, from 7 to 9 pm. I will also be reading June 26th, at the Glass Door Coffeehouse Reading Series, here in Edmonton, from 7 to 9 pm. The book can now be pre-ordered on Amazon.ca, 14 dialogue
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Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. The book can also be ordered from the publisher, Guernica Editions: [LINK] www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781550718317 (and it will also be available at Barnes & Noble and Indigo). At the Amazon.ca site – http://tinyurl.com/AMZNloddy – you can read a summary and my bio. With the city as background, the book we follow Loddy and a theatrical troupe as their lives unfold against the backdrop of political events in Montreal starting with EXPO67 and ending in 1970 with the October Crisis. Here’s what Todd Babiak, author of Come Barbarians had to say: "Loddy-Dah is a lively and, at times, heartbreaking social history of Montreal in the late 1960s. Dolly Dennis' heroine is an outsider, a daughter of immigrants, a victim of violence, an artist, an obsessive, a sensualist. Loddy is unforgettable." (Please ask your bookstores/libraries to order the book; I get paid whenever anyone buys or borrows the book!) With fond memories of those early days when I wanted to write and found my voice writing for Dialogue. – Dolly www.dialogue2.caa
Why Grant matters
Intimate Details
George Grant & a few haunting sentences J. S. Porter, Hamilton, Ontario – www.spiritbookword.net
I didn’t know George Grant the way his nephew and former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff knew him -“As for my uncle George, my J. S. Porter mother’s brother, he was a huge presence in my childhood: gigantic, shambling, disheveled… We disagreed about everything, but I found him irresistible and magnetic. It was hard not to be entranced by someone who sang out loud to operas on the stereo and, after motioning for reverent silence whenever the quintet in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutti was sung, bent his head and listened in tears” (Michael Ignatieff, ‘True Patriot Love: Four Generations in Search of Canada’). I didn’t know him the way his student, friend and editor Art Davis knew him -“Every night we saw Dr. Grant leaving the library with armloads of books piled up to his nose covering a bewildering sweep of politics, religion, science and technology, economics and business, poetry and novels. This wide reading was driven by the same fire we saw in our classes.” Art’s fascination began while he was a philosophy student at Dalhousie University in the late 1950s. I don’t know Grant’s work with the balanced insight of poet-scholar George Elliott Clarke. In a review entitled “Vitriolic Quixote” in Canadian Literature (Autumn/Winter 2001), Clarke remarks on Grant’s love of “chivalric words like noble/nobility, excellence, virtue, and great.” Clarke compliments Grant’s “choice balanced sentences” in essays that “remain fresh, pungent interrogations of ‘our’ assumptions.” He also enucleates (a favourite Grantian word) Grant’s body of work: “to preserve the wisdom of ‘the ancients’ or ‘the great minds of the past’ (especially Plato) and the revelation of Christ against modernity’s terrific – and terrifying – mania for technique…” Grant’s great contribution to thought is to see, through Heidegger’s eyes, that technology not only www.dialogue2.ca
influences reality, it also determines it. It frames reality in such a way that it re-presents to us what is sayable, desirable and achievable. I “knew” Grant from three brief encounters – in a swimming pool, an office and a lecture hall. I knew him the way a voyeur, an eavesdropper and a casual listener might know someone. I once watched him tread water in the McMaster University swimming pool for 20 minutes. (He didn’t believe in lengths or working out.) I overheard him bellow out with gusto thoughts on bridge and Wyndham Lewis – the way I would imagine Orson Welles holding court. I listened to him lecture on the Vietnam War in 1969. I don’t remember the content, but the delivery was unforgettable, such was the breathlessness and urgency of his remarks. And, I know him, the way most of us know the writing dead – by his legacy of words. There are particular sentences in Grant’s writings that continue to resonate for me, continue to haunt me. They come from the Addendum to “Two Theological Languages,” written in 1988 the year of his death: “The great things of our existing are given us, not made by us and finally not to be understood as arbitrary accidents. Our making takes place within an ultimate givenness.” Since reading this, I’ve consciously thought of my own givens, both personal and collective – my family and friends, my dogs, the weather, light, dark, water, wind, etc. And I’ve continued to witness the power of the given in the lives of the next generation. My five year old grandson Kaizen, for instance, is at home in the technological world. That’s good. But my worry has been that he may become closed off from the natural world. My wife and I recently had occasion to walk with him in the woods in North Toronto. We came upon a horse farm. Kaizen ran to the fence to see the horses. He stared into one particular black horse’s eyes for a VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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long time and it looked as if the horse stared back at him. He was reluctant to leave the horse. I came away from this experience with the conviction that children are still open to the given, and one of the great givens in life is the animal, our fellow creatures on this sun-sustained planet. I thought of Grant’s magnificent sentences, and silently thanked him. ~~~ For more on Grant, please see Hamilton Arts and Letters for an issue (six.1 Spring/Summer 2013) devoted to his life and work [link below] The issue includes Dennis Lee’s brilliant essay, “Grant’s Impasse: Beholdenness and the Silence of Reason.” LINK TO THE “GRANT” ISSUE OF HA&L(Six.1) http://tinyurl.com/HALs-s2013
DIRECT LINK TO DENNIS LEE’S ARTICLE: http://tinyurl.com/HALgrant-lee Editor’s Note: J. S. Porter's next column will explore the relationship between Dennis Lee and George Grant. ~~~
Follow-up from Sarah Hall As a follow-up to the cover (and J. S. Porter’s article, p.10) of our last Dialogue edition (Winter 13-14)… If you are in need of an Interlude of inspiring beauty and relaxing music, take a few minutes to watch Sarah Hall’s studio/portfolio video, “Spring Into Light,” featuring Sarah's solar and architectural works – LINK: www.sarahhallstudio.com/waterglass-press-photos
“Jump start Spring!” Received from Sarah Hall Studio [sarah(at)sarahhallstudio.com]
From the Owen Sound Writers’ Group
A Sign of Spring?
By Marion Urquhart Charkow, Flesherton ON
A member of the Owen Sound Writers’ Group, to which I belong, stated you might be interested in publishing some of our work and I, therefore, enclose an essay of mine, entitled “A Sign of Spring?” which you might like to publish in your magazine. – Marion Urquhart Charkow ~ ~ ~
It was December 12th, 1944, three days before my tenth birthday, when all of Toronto awoke to a sea of white covering every side street and major artery. The city was at a standstill. Contrary to what the kids in Grey County enjoy today, it was the only day in my school life that I ever had a "snow day", and I'm not even sure if it was declared as thus, we just couldn't walk through three feet of snow, six long city blocks to Earlscourt Public School. The Catholic kids next door had even further to walk. So it was with brighteyed wonder we met in the alleyway with our sleds and toboggans and struggled to the top of the street and bumped our way down on these various apparatuses. There was absolutely no danger of cars; it would be a few days before the ploughs hit our neck of the woods. Dad, however, had struck out on foot at seven A.M. to get to the streetcars that were running sporadically on St. Clair Avenue. He was a typesetter at the Evening Telegram and World War II was in its final stages. The paper had to be published. War news was crucial. The paper went out, perhaps not right on schedule, but 16 dialogue
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it was delivered. Later in the week, all those who had made it in to work that day were given a crisp five dollar bill and a letter of thanks from the management. That type of bonus was unheard of. Three days later, nine giggling little girls invaded our living room and I did indeed have a very special tenth birthday. Fast forward over sixty-nine years later, and again all the roads are impassable, albeit in Grey County this time, not the metropolis of Toronto; and I sit watching a genuine blizzard rage for three days, massive amounts of snow, temperatures at minus 30 Celsius (while my friends in Melbourne cook in 43 above!). No tobogganing, sleigh riding, building forts or throwing snowballs this time, just a giant jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table. It would be six long days before we saw another human being. The two experiences were not unalike. They were winter in Canada and I wouldn't change that for the world because I know after the white stuff has run its course, spring is not far behind. My magnolia tree is loaded in buds just waiting to burst forth in bloom, despite the ravages of the storms; and I know just below the snow's surface there are tiny green sprouts of daffodils and snowdrops. Spring is on its way. I can feel it in my bones. Cobwebs are dangling, closets and drawers are spilling over, quilts need airing, it's the best sign of spring. It's spring cleaning time! Editor’s Note: We look forward to hearing from Marion again ~ and others in the Owen Sound Writers’ Group! www.dialogue2.ca
Soft & Hard Edges Column – Jim Taylor
If Trees Could Speak
By Jim Taylor, Okanagan Centre BC, Mar 5, 14
A friend sent me an article written by a tree. I know, trees can’t write. But students can. And the students at a historic school in southern India wrote what they thought a tree in their schoolyard might say, if it could speak. It’s an interesting and informative exercise to undertake, anytime. The tree described the sense of community among 100 trees of 16 species. The trees talked about the joy they felt as children scrambled over their roots and swung from their branches. About their fruit being used for children’s games, and for traditional medicines. About their flowers scenting the air with fragrance, providing splashes of colour amid the grime of a capital city. But that city wants two acres of school property for a bus loop and shopping mall. The story, credited only to an Anitha S., concluded with these thoughts (edited excerpts): “In the last few days, 48 of us -- who have for years released life-giving oxygen and inhaled toxic carbon dioxide -- have felt death come near. Men marked our barks with yellow paint and numbered us. “Some of us will have to be cut to make way for the buses. Others will have to inhale more and more noxious fumes. The humidity essential for us to carry on photosynthesis will be reduced with the heat and dust of the vehicles and concrete. We will be unable to effectively carry out our most significant ecological service -- producing life-supporting oxygen for all living beings.
“We know that in our presence, the temperature comes down by 5-6 degrees Celsius on a hot day. By the process of evapotranspiration, we reduce the Heat Island Effect caused by concrete, glass, and steel. “A team of men put price tags on us. Money seems to be the single largest factor driving the human world. For me it seems absurd to say that if I am cut, you will lose so many rupees worth of oxygen, so many rupees worth of bark and leaves and seeds that can heal the painful dog bite on your knee. But if this kind of valuation will help me live for one more day inhaling the poisonous gases, taking in the sunshine, absorbing moisture, and exhaling the cool and pure oxygen, then I am able to understand the calculation. “Now we hear that of the 48 trees marked, only 10 will be cut. Which 10? Who will decide? I am still a young tree and have many more years of life. I do not want to be chopped up so soon. But as I look around, I do not want any of our 16 species to be cut and moved away. “These are my thoughts after an evening when summer rains cooled the city. I stand in the fading light with my leaves cleansed of dust, ready to absorb and transform the energy of the sun next morning. “I know there are many people in the city who care. I hope they will stand for us, their tall green friends.” Copyright © 2014 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; all other rights reserved. Please encourage your friends to subscribe to these columns. To send comments or to subscribe, Write to: jimt(at)quixotic.ca
“Dream-catching” A Poem by B. W. Powe Now I’ll tell you the story the Ojibwa shaman told ~~~ me when she was following her vision quest I rose in the morning mist with the bear I slept with a brown bear in a cave of flowers her child now I was layered in green leaves under blueberries and a will-o-the-wisp ball and dark petals born of secrets and sighs and there were stones to ground and smooth I’d fallen with my lover into the primeval other her shudders and my hunger and my soul shaking ~~~ ~~~ Carrying my ancient mother on a new skin I made love to the bear in a warm cave and through on a heart made of branches and berries our embraces I felt the pangs of roots partly human over spelt-bread and cedar tea the taboo words charging into seething sap I nuzzle at night into her musky lettered fur all the immortal mysteries of my tribe www.dialogue2.ca
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A Warning and Call to Action from Herb Spencer The Future is coming & it's Hell. Herb Spencer, Surrey BC [spsi(at)shaw.ca]
The second industrial revolution is upon us and this one looks worse than the first. No unions, no worker rights and protections, mass unemployment, poverty wages for the "lucky" few and no help from government. Buckle your seat belts, it's a horrible, bumpy road ahead. Read the article by The Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr after a week working at the amazon.co.uk warehouse: LINK: http://tinyurl.com/Cadwalladr This is an appalling image of Future-Hell. It will shock you more than anything else you have read or seen in years. This is the logic of feudal-capitalism: low-paid peasants being ground down by clever, amoral, self-serving careerists, who can readily out-
smart dumb politicians. In the meantime, most people will keep their heads down, thank God they still have a decent job (for now) and keep ordering all this cheap stuff, online. Don't think this only applies to the UK. It is the future everywhere. Unless this direction changes, our civilization will go steaming over the cliff, onto the scrap heap of history. This is what happens when people stop co-operating to help each other through joint political action (& allow Christie Clark or Stephen Harper to win elections). READ THIS & GET VERY ANGRY – AS I AM!
Please share this with all your friends – more people need to know what's happening.
Salmon Farms - A Rapidly Deteriorating Situation Alexandra Morton, Sointula BC
The Harper Government of Canada gave the Norwegian salmon feedlot industry the green light to expand in BC. Days later on January 28, 2014, the biggest Norwegian company using British Columbia to grow "salmon" was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. They are talking big expansion, looking for US investors. Each fish farm is now issued a federal licence giving the companies the power to use fish infected with salmon viruses in their farms. I am in court fighting this. This is a death sentence to the wild salmon of British Columbia. Each salmon farm also needs a provincial licence – a rental agreement for the seafloor below the floating farm. I need your help to send a clear message to the Premier of British Columbia – do not rent the seafloor to the salmon farming industry. See my blog for details http://alexandramorton.typepad.com Please share this petition with your friends and family - for the wild salmon. Thank you
Going Global!
My personal fight to protect life in the waters around my home in a remote archipelago of the BC coast has stretched on for several decades. What began as a letter writing campaign on behalf of fishermen 18 dialogue
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neighbours (who lost their fishing grounds as a result of fish farm industry activity), became ten years of sea lice research, then a decade of activism, involvement in lawsuits, and virus tracking. Today, I am excited to be launching a website that brings together all that I have learned into one site. I hope to educate and inform people on what happens to their bodies, our children and our world, when they buy and consume a piece of farmed salmon. I also want to let you know what you can do to protect yourselves and our oceans. I am writing to ask for your help. Please click on site www.alexandramorton.ca . By doing so, you will help build a strong pathway to this website through the ether-world of the internet – to power the search engines that will take our experience global! The single greatest thing I have learned is that whether in BC, Chile, the UK, Norway or elsewhere no one can fight this aggressive Norwegian industry single-handedly. We can feed ourselves in a much better way, but first the dirty, wasteful ways have to be shown the door. I am humbled by your ongoing donations and support. Thank you all for sticking with me on this. I can see light at the end of this tunnel, but it continues a very tough fight. Website: www.alexandramorton.ca Blog: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com
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A poem dedicated to spring... Susanne Hare, May 2012 Wickaninnish Island BC
Pretty Girl Lake "SPRING" ing water lapping woodpecker tapping loon calling river falling sap rising eagle flying deer munching clouds bunching trout growing lillies showing robin singing trees ringing snow thawing raven cawing cones seeding birds feeding owls hooting bushes rooting frogs croaking fire smoking sun warming ants swarming bees buzzing grouse drumming gulls swooping branches drooping dragonfly flitting hummingbird zipping breezes sweeping salamander creeping lake glowing ALL knowing IT'S SPRING! Wishing you all well from Wickaninnish Island, off Tofino
“Silent Spring” in British Columbia The Columbia River Treaty From J. Molly Bell, with her note: This is part of the ongoing discussion around the Columbia River Treaty. Janet Spicer wrote it to inform Americans about the true cost of the dams for those of us in Canada. By Janet Spicer, Nakusp BC
The year 1964: heart attacks, death, two years for the smoke to clear as 2,300 of us were forced from our homes and farms. Tens of thousands of mammals drowned or starved to death. 266,518 acres of our very best valley bottoms submerged, extensive old growth forest drowned as it stood. That was half a century ago when the Columbia River Treaty dams were constructed to impound water in vast industrial reservoirs “on call” for the U.S. Today, the legacy behind these dams is a virtual dead zone within a local climate gone awry. With the riparian area destroyed and the river’s ability to seasonally charge and release its nutrient load denied, gone are the insects, birds, bats, mammals, amphibians, vegetation, freshwater phytoplankton, aquatic larvae and crustaceans. Chemical additives from Teck-Cominco (mine) boost aquatic “nutrients”; chromosome-modified (GM), sterile ‘triploid’ trout stock the reservoirs preying on remnant, ever-declining native fish; pests & disease proliferate (no birds plus reservoir’s artificial warming); no agriculture in a valley formerly the third most productive in B.C., no return of small industry that formerly sustained closely-connected human populations now gone – a dismembered river called upon to provide ever more water for US irrigation, industry, navigation, eco-system function, direct consumption, domestic use, hydropower, recreation and “flood control”. Unethical, immoral and ultimately ruinous to both countries. There is a solution: mid-pool(*) reservoirs in Canada. * The reservoirs are filled to capacity in the spring and kept high until the US demands the water. This is called “full pool”. We can’t go back to a pre-dam scenario but we can ask for "mid pool" so that some of the riparian zone can recover. Who knows what mother Nature can do if we give her a chance. – J. Molly Bell
Fickle Spring Eileen Spencer, Surrey BC Spring is a smiling maid one day. Gentle and warm she scatters fragrance And dressed in sprigs of May bends sensuously her merry dance. She will not stay, But loves to reappear disguised. She sheds the garb of youth and play, and shudders in a cloak of ice. Coquette She teases. Chameleon of changing hue. Wind blowing from the north Transposed by whispered breezes. How can we believe in you?
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VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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“From Down the 401”
Lou Israel, Toronto My fellow Canadians,
Is it Spring yet? I say that because for the first time I can remember, I have been wearing boots for three months straight! And, even into March, I am navigating sidewalks (that within a kilometer are perfectly clear) with puddles of water, snow banks, or ice blocks that are almost impossible to walk on. Add to that the fact that I am recovering from some significant injuries (an INDOOR slip and fall in a public bathroom, for which we are indeed suing the retailer), and have not tried to cycle in what seems like forever; and spring can’t come soon enough! This has truly been the winter of my discontent: it has now been a full year (nearly 18 months by the time you read this) of unemployment, and no auditions where I have actually landed a role. Rob Ford continues to make headlines for things he does that have little to do with his draconian, anti-pedestrian probusiness policies, Vlad the Impaler Putin has decided the time between the Olympics and Paralympic Games is the perfect time to invade Ukraine, and Conservative (I will not call him Honourable) Brad Butt (not the respected comedian) did NOT witness voter fraud committed and said he “misspoke.” (To those of us not in politics, this means the guy was caught in a bold-faced lie; WE would be facing charges whereas all he has to do is apologize); and thanks to the (un) fairness of a majority Parliament, closure was invoked (basically killing sufficient debate) and the accusation swept under the rug. What else has Harper done? Well, gutting and defunding the Canada Health Care Act ranks right up there. This year’s budget effectively eliminated nationalized standards, making it almost impossible for smaller provinces to deliver proper health care. This may not affect Ontario or Alberta and BC, but if I were in the Maritimes I would be worried. (In addition, in three years the healthcare transfer payments will be linked to economic growth. So if your province goes into an economic slump [when people tend to worry more and have more health issues], the health care in that province will suffer proportionately. Yikes. And it gets better: The Conservatives are invoking the “Fair Elections Act” to prevent people discovering Lou Israel
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election frauds in the future. The elections officer, who confirmed that the 2011 election was fraught with fraudulent activity (although apparently not sufficient to affect enough Tory seats to delegitimize that government), will have his powers curtailed in the future so that pesky things like robocalls and other democracy-subverting tactics will be kept from the eyes and ears of most Canadians. As it should be. After all, democracy is a messy business --- why should we be subject to its inner workings? In a surprising but not totally shocking move, Pauline Marois has called for a Quebec election for April, in which, no doubt, she expects to win a majority government. We approve this. After all, 150 years of belonging to Canada is enough, right? Who needs all those anglos and businesses and grants from the currently peaceful neighbouring provinces? Who needs minority rights when you have francophones who only want to protect their language at any cost? I suspect that she will win again, and slowly but determined to produce a third referendum. What she doesn’t realize is that this time, CANADA should be the one to write the question and count the votes. Personally, I am routing for partition, so that both sides can achieve their dreams. I am still recovering from the NHL trade deadline and getting used to Roberto Luongo in a Panthers uniform yet again, but feel badly for Vancouver and Tampa Bay fans, whose hockey teams are now without one of their biggest stars. (Sadly, the Leafs look solid to make the playoffs, as do my Habs, but the other five teams are either dead in the water or will be facing life and death battles to get in, so the next month will be once again a nail-biting time for us fans.) I must not forget to congratulate our Olympic athletes for a near-record 25 medals (10 gold), far beyond what I (& many Canadians) expected, and especially to the hockey teams who once again proved Canada’s supremacy in “our sport.” Next to Norway, that is a most impressive haul, considering the relatively small size of our population. Due to the time of the gold medal game, I was in bed and heard rather than saw most of it. But I still beamed with pride for days afterwards. (Now if only our government could take that same pride in, say, our health care professionals and the system that used to be the envy of the world.) www.dialogue2.ca
But despite all this (and some internet trolls harassing me lately), my mood has improved considerably. Not because of the auditions, which I am at least still landing, nor because or a part I landed in a TV pilot by reputation alone (we will know by summer if it gets picked up or funded), although they help. NO, the biggest source of my joy is the new lady in my life, whose privacy I have promised to guard, but whose smile, words, kisses and touch send jolts of electricity through me even when we are not together. This is a
brand new relationship but it gives me more hope and optimism for the future than I have had in years, and I thank her for that every day. The Lou Laurel goes to the Olympic Atheletes! And on that high note, Happy Passover/Easter season, everyone! - Your Fellow Canadian, Lou Israel Multilingual proofreader/editor/Actor/singer/writer/MC "Do not let the perfect become the enemy of the good." Email: angloo(at)rogers.com
“Have Computer Will Write”~ Jeremy Arney Canada sure has its priorities right!! Oil over food. Jeremy Arney, Victoria BC This was sent to the entire Harper Administration Caucus.
I wrote to both Minister Fast and Minster Ritz concerning the plight of the Canadian Prairie farmers and their inability to ship their grains to market… and here is something I received to day, which if I was a CPC member from the prairie provinces would make me sick to think what I had done to my constituents who believed and trusted in both my party and myself. There is a very real possibility that the only grain from last year’s bumper crop to be shipped to market will move through the small provincial wheat boards and the emasculated Canadian Wheat Board. The rest will probably just rot where it now sits. The cost to our prairie economy is far larger than just the farms that go broke to be purchased at rock bottom prices by the corporate farming sector, but also on the local towns and villages that depend upon the local farmers for their survival. A story from SK (recd. from Norm, Erik Andersen): Yesterday I had lunch with a fairly well to do farmer in southern Sask. He farms a bit over 6 square miles of land and until the last two years or so a Harper supporter. He is angry. Since last Sept he has been able to move a total of two truckloads of grain even though he has 20 times that much sitting in storage. The issue? In his town, there are more oil cars parked on the railway siding than grain cars (none). He says Harper's killing of the wheat board took away any muscle farmers had to get reasonable rail service from CN or CP. There is no large organization to push for better service and timely delivery. As a result hundreds of thousands of tons of grain sit there with no way to get to market. A large number of locomotives have been sent south for the winter to move US oil and in Canada containers and oil www.dialogue2.ca
are getting priority shipping. In the case of the guy I spoke with, he has grain sitting in fields stored in long plastic silage bags because there isn't room left in his grain bins. He is slowly going broke even though he has a wealth of product and it is not a product that has no demand; it is a product being choked by a corporatocracy that is restricting shipment of one product in favor of another.
The fear is that before long the individual farmer will be out of business and factory farmers of the corporate world will control that food supply even further than they already do. [EMAIL: iamjema(at)gmail.com] Jeremy’s blog: http://jeremyarneysblog.wordpress.com/
Political innovation in Spain The Partido X Citizen Network is a project conceived around the 15M Movement (May 2011); the people are putting together a new structure for political participation that seeks to channel the 99%’s thirst for meaningful action, while at the same time undermining the corrosive grip traditional political parties have had in Spain over the last decades. The idea is simple: create tools and methods for active citizen participation in the drafting of a party platform and the selection of candidates, that if elected must abide by the decisions of the network. “We want to open new ways for some of the victories the citizen movements have achieved to materialize, because the political parties in Spain are totally ignoring the population” says 15M veteran and Partido X organizer Miguel Aguilera. Partido X combines a variety of emerging practices from around the world - like Brazilian participatory budgeting, wiki-constitutions in Iceland, citizendriven public transparency efforts in Sweden, Denmark or Finland, or regular use of referendums in Switzerland. Partido X is also creating new methods like the “Federation of Competences,” an organizing principle that proposes mechanisms to implement effective distributed democratic participation in large-scale organizations. They are radically redrawing our expectations of how a political party ought to look like. […] LINK: http://occupywallst.org/article/who-is-partido-x/ VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Robin Mathews Uncut
Fascism and Contemporary Canada. Locating The Present Conservative Government Led By Stephen Harper. Part Eleven. Destroying National Services. Canada Post And The Grand Plan. “I believe the whole “Canada Post Crisis” is a fake construction created by the Conservative cabinet and the executive officers of Canada Post with the deliberate intention of destroying a unifying, historical, communitarian institution owned and operated by Canadians. What will Canadians do to save Canada Post? “Some serious commentators in Canada say Canadians are on the way to losing their democratic political structures because they don’t care and won’t act to preserve them. A better explanation may be that Canadians simply can’t believe the vengeful, brutal, corrosive, full-scale acts of dishonesty and criminality being practiced by the Conservative Government and The Conservative Party of Canada. It may be that Canadians simply can’t get their minds around an organization working to pervert every excellent and humane process and institution won for Canada and Canadians over the last two hundred years. Canadians need to wake up … and to act. Now.” – Robin Mathews
Destroying National Services. Canada Post And The Grand Plan by Robin Mathews, Vancouver
To begin, as the Canada Post union has pointed out, Canada Post has seriously misrepresented its present financial condition to suggest it is in much worse shape than it is ... in order to spark violent changes in operation. For the first time – in addition – Canada Post tried to levy a special $5.00 surcharge … on all parcels going to Fort McMurray, Alberta. Canada Post pulled back, on angry reaction to the levy. [The pullback may have been planned from the start – both the surcharge and pull-back planned as public relations “theatre” to mask other draconian changes, to divert attention from them, and to give the impression that Canadians are listened to in matters of public policy.] Canada Post has announced the elimination of all door-to-door mail deliveries in Canada– using dubious delivery numbers, according to the union. And it is raising stamp prices … absurdly. In addition it has announced a program of major labour cuts. Canadians may be sure that Canada Post has done those things under the direction of the Stephen Harper cabinet or in collusion with the cabinet. In fact, the CUPW (postal workers’ union) website states “it was all hatched in the backrooms of Conservative government offices”. [Go to the CUPW website www.cupw.ca - for information you won’t get from the mainstream press and media.]
Chief crystal-ball-gazer declaring Canada Post will lose One Billion Dollars annually until 2020 is the Conference Board of Canada, which also said Canada Post 22 dialogue
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would lose $250 million in 2012. Instead it made $98 million in that year. (FOOTNOTE: the president of Canada Post sits on the Board of Directors of The Conference Board of Canada which is, to put it modestly, an ardent supporter of neo-liberal, private corporate rule.) The great historical policy of the Canadian Postal System has been equality of cost and of service. A letter across town or from Victoria to St. Johns, Newfoundland cost one price. Timely delivery was assured everywhere in Canada. Parcel Post cost was governed carefully by distance. Why was Fort McMurray – now getting very bad service – targeted with the insult of a $5.00 surcharge on every parcel sent there? There is every reason why Fort McMurray – concentrating high wages and growing population – should have crackerjack mail efficiency and an active, effective body of postal employees. One may – without being outrageous or extreme – suggest the bad service is an intentional policy to make Fort McMurray residents angry with the Crown Corporation. One may suggest further that the proposed parcel surcharge, the raise in stamp prices, and the ending of home mail delivery are measures taken to force average Canadians to push for privatized mail service ... or to acquiesce when a Far Right organization like The Fraser Institute (or The Conference Board of Canada) suggests privatization. Fifteen years ago such a suggestion would have been lunatic. Times have changed… The present minister in charge of Canada Post is Lisa Raitt who has demonstrated animosity to unions and www.dialogue2.ca
Robin Mathews: Destroying National Services. Canada Post And The Grand Plan, contd.
to fair labour practices. Using Dirty Power Tactics, as then minister of labour, she attacked fair labour practices in strikes by Air Canada and Canada Post workers, giving patently stupid reasons for destroying fair collective bargaining. Canadians need to register clearly in their minds that the present Conservative government and the Conservative Party of Canada led by Stephen Harper are not above planning a fake parcel surcharge they can retreat from to make a pretense that they respond to public concern. The Conservative forces in Canada use falsehood, organized fraud, distortion of fact and the truth, and Dirty Power Tactics as matter-of-fact instruments of policy. They plan complicated operations to practice fraud on the Canadian people. They have, for instance, denied all accusations of Election Fraud in national electoral matters. But the Conservative Party of Canada has been found guilty of violation in two major cases … and is still being investigated regarding a third – about which the people of Canada have already rendered a judgement of guilty for massive cross-country election fraud. Mark the point carefully: The Conservative Party of Canada has repeatedly organized frauds on the Canadian people in attempts to violate fair elections and fair electoral practice. Stephen Harper, himself, is involved, visibly, in falsehood and misrepresentation. He supported the violations in electoral robocalling in Saskatchewan in January 2013. He accepted Nigel Wright’s (Senate Spending Scandal) resignation – which he called a resignation from the PMO, “with great regret”. Then, embarrassed by the Opposition, with facts, Harper declared he had fired Wright. One of the statements by Stephen Harper is a falsehood. Without question. But all was well in the Prime Minister’s Office because the only person who knew anything about the $90,000.00 payment made to ‘control’ Senator Mike Duffy was Nigel Wright himself … according to Stephen Harper. But days later, Harper was forced, by facts, to admit in Parliament that other people in the PMO knew about the payment, not only Nigel Wright. One of Stephen Harper’s statements on that matter is a falsehood. Without question. … and so it goes with Stephen Harper and with the Conservative Party of Canada … lies used whenever www.dialogue2.ca
possible, and even – as is plainly evident – when not at all possible. The avalanche of falsehoods, distortions, and misrepresentations that come from Stephen Harper and The Conservative Party of Canada are a part of a program to destroy the democratic electoral system in Canada and to reconstruct power in the country. The reconstruction is intended to place private corporate power in the actual position of government – resulting in a structure that is commonly described as “fascist”. The Senate Spending Scandal reveals some of the solidarity of the players in that reconstruction. Canadians have looked on wonderingly as the Bay Street Boy Scout Nigel Wright has submitted himself to attacks, vacillations, and false reports made about him by Stephen Harper. Why has Wright been so silent? Promises for the future? Hidden pay-offs? Possibly, since Wright’s severance agreement (for instance) has never been made public. But perhaps we are dealing with something very, very different. We may be dealing with what I choose to call “fascist loyalty” – a group determination to destroy Canadian democracy and replace it with corporate rule bludgeoned into place by lies, the destruction of national institutions, the erasure of citizen and environmental protections, and an endless attack on free and fair elections. Nigel Wright may simply be staying out of sight and remaining faithful to the vision. Painted frequently as a person of faultless honour and integrity, of selfless benefaction and public charity, Wright may appear somewhat different to careful examiners. Canadians are hardly aware that (long-time acquaintances) Stephen Harper and Nigel Wright share biographies revealing a worship of Margaret Thatcher and her programs to destroy community solidarity, community sharing, and communal social responsibility. Margaret Thatcher famously rejected the very idea of community, saying there is no such thing. Wright was, apparently, giddily attracted to her in his youth. Canadians are hardly aware, as well, that Nigel Wright is an early and long-time backer of Stephen Harper to become and remain leader of the Conservative Party. Nigel Wright is one of the founders, moreover, of what may be called the present Conservative Party of Canada. He “helped found [in 2003] and fundraised VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Robin Mathews: Destroying National Services. Canada Post And The Grand Plan, contd.
for the Conservative Fund of Canada, alongside Sen. Irving Gursten, the chief fundraiser, for years.” [Tonda MacCharles, The Star.com, Jan 13, 2014]. He was seven years on the Board of the Fund with Senator Irving Gurstein. What Canadians may forget is that Senator Gurstein was charged in the 2006 Conservative Party of Canada election fraud, called the in-and-out Scandal, involving the lawless disguising and relocation of a huge sum of money through 67 Conservative constituencies. Charges were later dropped against Gurstein when a plea bargain was reached and the Conservative Party of Canada admitted guilt. Linda McQuaig reports that “Wright is named in court documents” of the in-and-out Scandal. Very plainly, Nigel Wright didn’t arrive, brushing stardust from his glistering angel feathers, to the top position in the Prime Minister’s Office. He had “been around” Conservative ways of dealing (and helped create some of them) for a long time, and was close to one of the most dubious men in the Party: Senator Irving Gurstein who most recently, as Chair of a Senate Committee, ruled “out of order” a motion concerning his own activities. The picture is clear. The Canadian postal service – for the Conservative Party of Canada and the Conservative government – is not a public service devoted to fairness, service, and equality of treatment. It is nothing more nor less than an enterprise through which private corporate actors can exploit workers and abuse Canadians on the way to creating a gigantic profitmaking enterprise for a very few. As with the destruction of (Crown Corporation) BC Rail in British Columbia, the pattern of destruction of Canada Post is becoming clear. [Remember, when BC Rail-destroyer premier Gordon Campbell had to leave the premiership (and had an approval rating of about 9%), Stephen Harper stepped in, whisked him out of B.C. and appointed him to the position of Canadian High Commissioner in London. Friends.] The process of BC Rail destruction undertaken when Gordon Campbell was premier and Christy Clark was deputy premier of British Columbia slowly became clear during the later four-year long BC Rail Scandal pre-trial and trial. A program of destruction had been undertaken: (1) BC Rail profitability was falsified 24 dialogue
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and/or misrepresented; (2) BC Rail was made unpopular by cutting attractive services; (3) Profitable operations were carefully extinguished or sold off; (4) Consistent propaganda reported BC Rail a steadily failing operation; (5) Corporate forces and cabinet power united to work openly and covertly for its destruction. Few in Canada – even in British Columbia – know that one of the early advocates of BC Rail-wrecking was Paul Tellier, head of CNR, who privatized it and saw its headquarters move, in fact, to Texas from where it has (miraculously!!) become a very profitable railway. Doubtless a privatized Canada Post would soon prove highly profitable to its corporate owners – as postal workers would become pauperized and postal services would become a luxury except for those in Canada willing or forced to pay extravagantly for a (former) “public service”. Already Canada Post has presented highly dubious financial accounting. Already it has offended Canadians across the country by attempting a unilateral surcharge on parcels sent to Fort McMurray – on top of mounting an inadequate postal service in that city. Already it has threatened the employees of Canada Post by announcing a huge cut to employment. Already it has announced the end of door-to-door mail delivery and an outrageous rise in mailing costs …. I believe the whole “Canada Post Crisis” is a fake construction created by the Conservative cabinet and the executive officers of Canada Post with the deliberate intention of destroying a unifying, historical, communitarian institution owned and operated by Canadians. What will Canadians do to save Canada Post? Some serious commentators in Canada say Canadians are on the way to losing their democratic political structures because they don’t care and won’t act to preserve them. A better explanation may be that Canadians simply can’t believe the vengeful, brutal, corrosive, full-scale acts of dishonesty and criminality being practiced by the Conservative Government and the Conservative Party of Canada. It may be that Canadians simply can’t get their minds around an organization working to pervert every excellent and humane process and institution won for Canada and Canadians over the last two hundred years. Canadians need to wake up … and to act. Now. That may be difficult (though all the more necessary) www.dialogue2.ca
since no federal Opposition Party will, so far, face the truth of the new fascism in Canada. All – all of them go on pretending they are facing a “normal” ruling government and Party operating in a “normal” democracy and in an unchanged, democratic House of Commons. If the Opposition parties won’t wake up, Canadians will have to by-pass them with strong pub-
lic action to remove what they will more and more see as a band of criminals presently in power. Robin Mathews, Vancouver Send On. Share. Publish. Reply. CUPW website: www.cupw.ca (where you can send a Letter to Members of Parliament) ARTICLE ONLINE: http://www.dialogue2.ca/robin-mathews-fcc-part-eleven.html
PERSPECTIVES ON THE UKRAINE
The Bush-Obama's Neocon Foreign Policy of Isolating Russia and of Expanding NATO is a Dismal Failure by Rodrigue Tremblay, Montreal QC
The hazards associated with American foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 should appear obvious to all, because it is precisely this policy that has caused the crisis in Ukraine with all its negative consequences for the coming months and years. President Barack Obama was candid in admitting it on Monday March 3, 2014, when he said that "we are indicating to the Russians [that] if in fact they continue on the current trajectory they're on, then we are examining a whole series of steps – economic, diplomatic – that will isolate Russia." Well, it is precisely this desire to expand NATO and to isolate Russia by incorporating all the countries bordering Russia into NATO, i.e. a strategy of geopolitical and military encirclement of Russia, which has provoked that country when it felt threatened in its national security. This is easy to understand. For example, what would the United States do if a hypothetical Russian Empire were to incorporate Mexico or Canada into a military alliance? To ask the question is to answer it. Why is it so difficult to understand that the best way to start a war is to threaten a country's vital interests? The truth is that NATO should have been disbanded after the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, and especially after the Warsaw Pact was itself dismantled. Europe should have then moved to build an expanded Europe of nations, large, democratic and peaceful, within a framework of economic and political cooperation and peace. But no! The United States wanted to take advantage of the situation and demanded that everything fell into the military-financial U.S. empire. That is the source of many problems. In my book, The New American Empire, originally published in 2003, just before the onset of the Iraq www.dialogue2.ca
war, I pointed out the dangers of the American global imperial ambition and explained the reasons. The Middle East was the first to suffer under this global policy of interventionism. And now, Europe as a whole, most unfortunately, may have to pay the price for this unbridled American hubris, under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, although that policy goes back to George H. Bush and Bill Clinton. This is why I believe President Obama and his neocon advisers do not think beyond the end of their nose, as was the case for the not-too-bright George W. Bush, when they adopt such a global imperialist ideology. In 2008, it just happened that I published an article which has been translated into several languages, and in which I advanced the idea that Europe had a vital interest into disbanding that relic of another age that is NATO. Indeed, we must blame European leaders for not having understood that the fundamental interest of Europe was not to blend into the American Empire but rather to build an independent and united Europe. Because that reality has not been well understood, Europe is now running the risk of falling prey to a new Cold War with divisive and ruinous conflicts, while the United States will try to pull the chestnuts out of the fire, with the UK as its convenient ally from within. It may be not too late for European leaders to rectify the situation. This would, however, require wisdom and the courage to tell the American neocons, who have designed American foreign policy for a quarter of a century, that they are not masters of the world and that the European Union has no intention to pursue an aggressive policy of military encirclement of Russia. Point to the line. And rather, on the contrary, Russia should be invited to join an expanded Europe of nations, large, democratic and peaceful within a framework of economic cooperation and peace. VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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What would be needed of them, however, is a minimum of vision, of insight and a spirit of independence, which currently seems to be lacking badly in many current European governments. But carelessness and the current European abdication in letting Washington decide European foreign policy may serve the interests of the American empire, but this could lead Europe to disaster. N.B.: Now things get more muddy. Details of a leaked phone call between EU foreign affairs chief Catherine
Ashton and Estonian foreign affairs minister Urmas Paet suggest that the US-backed opposition was responsible for hiring snipers who gunned down protesters in Kiev and not the deposed government of Viktor Yanukovich, as the media widely claimed. LINK: www.prisonplanet.com/leaked-phone-call-kievsnipers-hired-by-us-backed-opposition ... Dr. Rodrigue Tremblay is an economist and author of The Code for Global Ethics (2010) and The New American Empire (2003). To read Dr. Tremblay's blog, please visit: LINK: www.thenewamericanempire.com/blog.htm
Ukraine: "Go West, Young Man" (or Dr. Strangelove's Revenge) by Michael Hudson and Jeffrey Sommers,* Truthout | Op-Ed, 28 Feb 2014 Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission. [EXTRACT & LINK] "Let them loot." That is the demand of
the West when its NGO subsidiaries firebomb government buildings, murder policemen and loot the arms depots of military forts. Kiev is the equivalent of Kosovo as a Slavic city-of-origin. Are we seeing a replay? What would Dick Cheney (or President Obama for that matter) have done if Russian NGOs sponsored separatist movements in Texas, California or New England? How would US police have reacted against armed revolutionaries seizing the armory and throwing Molotov cocktails and bombs at public buildings, killing police, painting swastikas on Jewish houses and claiming vigilante justice? While this does not characterize all of the Ukrainian protesters, it does reflect a fair number of them. If this is Obama's "reset" with Russia, he is resetting the Cold War by setting the neocons loose in the former Soviet republics. If there is one thing that the CIA has shown its competence in, it is in setting one ethnic group against the others – Sunni vs Shiite, Kurd against Arab, Persian against them all. When other countries seek to defend a multi-ethnic secular state, the US foreign office has backed the fundamentalists for nearly the past halfcentury in all cases. This should be the sub-text for reporting on the Ukrainian uprising that seems to have been carefully timed to coincide with Sochi. Events in Ukraine provided enough heat to overshadow the conclusion of the Sochi Olympics. Since the USSR's collapse, the "reset" has been changed many times during our long-running Ukrainian "play," but the underlying theme remains the same as it has been in the Near East: Play the ethnic card to break the country into pieces if you want to disable 26 dialogue
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government regulatory power and investment. Co-opt a client oligarchy whose opportunities for the West lie in privatizing public resources and selling shares in the rent-extracting companies on Western stock exchanges. Keep your proceeds in the West and fritter it away on trophy real estate, ownership of sports clubs and London or Swiss bank accounts. The alternative would be for a strong government to tax away their natural resource rents and use it to subsidize industrial revival. So the path to "peace" is to promote civil warfare, break up countries and concentrate wealth in as few hands as possible so as to channel it to London, New York and other financial centers rather than leaving it to be invested at home. This is how Russia is being turned into a "hewer of wood and drawer of oil and gas for the house of my bond," to paraphrase the Bible (Joshua: 9:23). "None of you will be freed from being bondservants." This is how American protectionists in the mid-19th century described British strategy for industrial and financial supremacy. And now the tables have been turned - not only against Britain (buckling under its own real estate bubble) but against the postCommunist economies that were utterly free of debt and privatized rent-yielding resources 20 years ago. Rotating oligarchs shift in and out of this scenario, replacing one another in the rolling sequence of "color revolutions." While Russian and Ukrainian nationalists spar in "Spy vs. Spy" fashion, Ukraine's economy unravels and its people continue their exodus on an Old Testament scale to the Promised Land of the EU. Following Horace Greeley's advice of "Go West, young man," Ukrainians have joined the multitudes of "Polish plumbers" in the UK. It didn't have to be this way (and it still doesn't). The stage was set in the closing stages of the Cold War. www.dialogue2.ca
George H.W. Bush (the Elder) promised Mikhail Gorbachev that if the Soviets let the Warsaw Pact go and agreed to German reunification, Russia would not have to worry about further expansion of NATO. The United States then reneged by taking the former Warsaw Pact into NATO then moved into the former Soviet territory by absorbing the Baltic states - which, in geopolitical terms, were practically suburbs of St. Petersburg. It is hard to blame the new entrants for wishing NATO entry, given their past Soviet occupation. This is the cross that Russia has had to bear for a generation, and it will continue to be a basis for the National Endowment for Democracy, the CIA and other "security" agencies to spur ethnic rivalry against Russians. To US neo-Cold Warriors, Stalinist oppression in the Soviet Union is what memories of the Holocaust are to Israel: In good Judeo-Christian tradition, it fans the flame of retaliation, resentment and revenge. One can hardly blame Russians for feeling betrayed by the United States and NATO for breaking their word. More importantly, they see neocon Eurasionists in the State Department wanting even more. For neoCold Warriors the goal is the further breakup of Russia and its Near Abroad to create a neo-liberalized periphery, Baltic-style. Breaking up countries into small units controlled by kleptocrats who see their path to wealth being to privatize public assets and sell ownership shares to the West is the most effective way of preventing government subsidy of industry - and without industry there can be little military threat. For Russia, this geopolitical game has an existential character. Ukraine looks like a dress rehearsal for separatist movements (much as the United States is sponsoring in China and already had achieved throughout the Near East). For Russia, NATO's moves into Georgia cut too close to the bone and were repelled. The threat of NATO taking Ukraine represented a thrust into Russia's geographic heart, the ancestral home where Russia was founded. (This should be read while turning up the volume on Prokofiev's "Alexander Nevsky.") Timing is everything. If there were any time for an opponent of Russia to try to provoke an intemperate move, this was it. The Olympics were supposed to show a positive Russian face to the world, helping heal the old Cold War tensions. So from Mr. Putin's vantage point, the worst thing that could happen would be a distraction to remind the world of old Soviet-era repression www.dialogue2.ca
such as arresting Pussy Riot singers. So of course, this was precisely what the Western press played up. To read The New York Times or The Washington Post, the real sporting event was whether the police would descend on Pussy Riot's sideshow and could provoke Cossack goons into beating them up on camera. While there certainly was legitimate protest against former President Viktor Yanukovych's corrupt government, there was what seems provocation to get policemen (under violent attack from protesters) to defend themselves when they were fired upon by demonstrators brought into Kiev specifically to create a public relations disturbance. Meanwhile, the EU seems bent on reprising its earlier eastward expansion of recent decades into the former Warsaw Pact to reap a windfall in exports of consumer goods. […] PLEASE CONTINUE READING ONLINE, LINK BELOW LINK: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/22131-ukraine-go-
west-young-man-or-dr-strangeloves-revenge Copyright, Truthout [May not be reprinted without permission] * Michael Hudson's books include: The Bubble and Beyond, and his latest, is Finance Capitalism and Its Discontents. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion. His website is: http://michael-hudson.com/ * Jeffrey Sommers is an associate professor of political economy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is visiting faculty at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. He is co-editor of the forthcoming book The Contradictions of Austerity.
The Spoils of War & Regime Change Ukraine’s Gold Reserves Secretely Flown Out and Confiscated by the New York Federal Reserve? By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research Mar. 14, 2014: A Russian Internet news site Iskra (“Spark”) based in Zaporozhye, eastern Ukraine, reported on March 7 that, “Ukraine’s gold reserves had been hastily airlifted to the United States from Borispol Airport east of Kiev.” This alleged airlift and confiscation of Ukraine’s gold reserves by the New York Federal Reserve has not been confirmed by the Western media. […] The Spoils of War and Regime Change Of significance in this interview with William Kaye is the analogy between Ukraine, Iraq and Libya. Lest we forget, both Iraq and Libya had their gold reserves confiscated by the US […] CONTINUE READING ONLINE: LINK: http://tinyurl.com/CRG5373446
Reckless endangerment BrasscheckTV: US plays the "destabilize Russia's borders" game again. Interview with Paul Craig Roberts, on the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI. (33 min.) VIDEO LINK: http://tinyurl.com/BTVpcr-Uk VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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THE PLIGHT OF AFRICA Understanding Western Involvement Adrian Swanston is a long-time resident of Vancouver, a social justice and antiwar activist, unionist, and a former member of the US armed forces. The following is the text of his speech, a few years ago, on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, calling attention to the recent intervention of the United States and NATO in Africa.
“I would like to raise awareness of the continent’s plight, as scant coverage is given for what takes place. As always the resources are key to any interest shown by colonial powers. France’s most recent show of concern for the sake of ‘humanity’ is the same tried and true means used to cover their true intent.” – Adrian
THE HISTORY OF AFRICA By Adrian Swanston, Vancouver BC
Africa covers not less than 11,668,545 mi(2), and is as big as western Europe, India, China and the United States combined. Africa has a land mass that is 1/5 the entire land surface of the earth. Africa rises out of the Atlantic, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Antarctic. With a population of 890,000,000 people, in 61 territories (as of 2005), it accounts for 14% of the world's human population. Africa is considered the oldest territory on earth. Anthropologists discovered fossils along with evidence of human occupation perhaps as early as 7 mil1ion years ago. Africa is important for its natural resources, it produces 98% of gold, 22% of the world's copper, large quantities of minerals such as manganese, chromium and uranium. Manganese is used in agriculture for animal feed, and plant fertilizers. Used in industry for making steel, used in medicine for health concerns. Chromium is used industrially to impart corrosion resistance, shiny finish to metals, used for dyes, and paints, as well as medicine. Uranium is used in dyes, and glass making, used to fuel nuclear power plants, and submarines. Uranium was used in the first atomic bomb. (Yellow cake is uranium in its purest form. You will remember, Powell presented this to the U.N. General Assembly as evidence in claims for the production of weapons of mass destruction.) These are just some of Africa's numerous natural resources. Africa's early civilization opens with the rise of literacy in Ancient Egypt, which had varying levels of influence in Europe as well. Prominent civilizations at different times included Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, the Nubian kingdoms and many others. 28 dialogue
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So what happened? Why is this continent experiencing such unstable conditions today? I will get to that in a moment. During research for this speech, someone suggested that I visit History is A Weapon,(1) website. I’d like to read to you from its home page: "History isn't what happened. History is a story of what happened. And there are always different versions, different stories, about the same events. One version might revolve mainly around a specific set of facts, while another version might minimize them or not include them at all. “Like stories, each of these different versions of history contains different lessons. Some histories tell us that our leaders, at least have always tried to do right for everyone. Others remark that the emperors don't have the slaves' best interests at heart. Some teach us that this is both what has always been and what always will be. Others counsel that we shouldn't mistake transient dominance for intrinsic superiority. Lastly, some histories paint a picture where only the elites have the power to change the world, while others point out that social change is rarely commended from the top down. In other words, it starts here, at the grassroots level. Regardless of the value of these many lessons, History isn't ‘what happened’ but the stories of what happened and the lessons these stories include. “The very selection of which histories to teach in a society shapes our view of how & what came to be and, in turn, what we understand as possible. This choice of which history to teach can never be "neutral" or "objective." Those who choose, either following a set agenda or guided by hidden prejudices, serve their interest. Their interest could be to continue this world as it now stands or to make a new world.” (1)
Now I can personally relate to this, having been born of African descent, raised in Harlem, New York. The system I grew up in, the education I was indoctrinated with, turn out to be very different from the actual facts. When you think of Africa, what immediately comes to mind for some is its poverty, corruption, and the inability to govern – all negative. When you seek out the alternative facts, you find a different story, a different truth. Many of you may have heard of Patrice Emery Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Congo. I watched a documentary concerning his time in office. Lumumba was elected democratically, wanting to www.dialogue2.ca
Adrian Swanston, Understanding Western Involvement in the Plight of Africa, contd.
serve his nation. Patrice implemented the means to nationalize the nation’s natural resources. This did not serve the interests of the colonial rulers; ten weeks later, his government was deposed during the Congo Crisis coup, Patrice was tortured and killed, his body hacked to pieces and consumed by fire. This took place during the early '60's. Thomas Sankara became the prime minister (1983-87) of Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta [a landlocked country in West Africa]. Thomas Sankara was a young soldier inspired by the Cuban and Ghanian revolutions. With a combination of personal charisma and Leninist social organization, his government undertook major initiatives to fight corruption, to improve education, agriculture and the status of women. Sankara’s program provoked strong opposition from tribal leaders, as well as the ruling elite (the colonizers). This led to his downfall; Sankara was assassinated in a bloody coup. These are a few examples of attempts to bring about change regarding poverty, corruption, and the ability to govern – initiatives that were thwarted and destroyed by Western powers. [The destruction of Libya in 2011 is another example: “Libya’s economic and social achievements over the last 30 years, have been brutally reversed.” (2)]
Getting back to the question, ‘Why have conditions in Africa not improved?’ Watching the documentary on Patrice Lumumba (mentioned earlier), the opening caption read: "At the Berlin Conference in 1885, Europe divided up Africa. The Congo became the property of King Leopold II.” This was a tremendous revelation to me, and circumstances began to have a fuller meaning. Most recently, I came across this excerpt from The Papal bull, ROMANUS PONTIFEX, written January 8th, 1455: “... weighing all and singular the premises with due meditation, and noting that since we had formerly by other letter of ours granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso – to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens [Muslims] and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apwww.dialogue2.ca
ply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit – by having secured the said faculty, the said King Alfonso, or, by his authority, the aforesaid infante, justly and lawfully has acquired and possessed, and doth possess, these islands, lands, harbors, and seas, and they do of right belong and pertain to the said King Alfonso and his successors." (3) [This was a sweeping endorsement/promotion of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.] After reading this, everything was made crystal clear. What I realized was that, today, this is not so much a religious principal, as it is a political doctrine, using the guise of “HUMANITARIANISM” to mask naked imperialist, aggression. Present and past events will attest to such. We cannot be passive. We must choose whose interests are best: - those who want to keep things going as they are or those who want to work to make a better world. If we choose the latter, we must seek out the tools we will need. History is just one tool to shape our understanding of our world. And every tool is a weapon if you hold it right. THE PAPAL INTER CAETERA, May 4th, 1493
Spain and Portugal were the two strongest of the Imperial Realm. Spain was granted all domains west of Spain, Portugal was granted all domains east of Spain; with one exception: Portugal having previously vanquished what we know as Brazil, was allowed to retain her colony (which is why Portugese is spoken in Brazil). Footnotes: (1) From the website: “History Is A Weapon” – www.historyisaweapon.com (2) “Destroying a Country’s Standard of Living: What Libya Had Achieved, What has been Destroyed,” by Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research 2011: http://tinyurl.com/CRG26686 (3) Website: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanus_Pontifex Additional references: (a) Remembering a coup d’état, by Roger Annis, coordinator of the Canada Haiti Action Network and its local affiliate, Haiti Solidarity BC. LINK: www.straight.com/news/remembering-coup-detat-haiti (b) The Elite, the ‘Great Game’ and World War III, by Prof. Mujahid Kamran, Global Research, June 7, 2011. LINK: www.globalresearch.ca/the-elite-the-great-gameand-world-war-iii/25160 From Adrian Swanston, Vancouver VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Canada and Its Neighbour
HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE TORTURE
plus the illegal invasions, the summary executions, and the surveillance state By John McNamer, Kamloops BC sibly, it’s already in use and safely beyond the reach Why has it ever even bothered me that many thouof our limited intelligence and security classificasands of people have been kidnapped and illegally tions.) rendered to CIA dark sites to be sometimes tortured to I realize now that it doesn’t matter; these things just death or held for many years without any legitimate have to be done. No particular reason, they just have legal process? to be done. So, in the spirit of true patriotism and selfThat the use of “intelligence” information obtained preservation, I hereby announce my complete surrenfrom torture, well known to be mostly unreliable and der to the new realities. useless, is now the norm for the supposedly civilized It’s actually for my own good. I need to be quiet now western nations of the world? and placidly carry on with daily routines. I’m a simThat the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Obama sits in ple-minded country boy who doesn’t understand the weekly high-level meetings to examine a kill list of complexities. It’s just the way it is. candidates to determine who will be the next “bug Remembering that God and the NSA do work in myssplat” on a video game screen, and then joke about terious ways, I accept that it’s all for the best, for the how drones make him “really good at killing people”? greater good. That the evolved and ongoing Bush/Cheney coalition And it's come quite clear that my resistance has of the killing has successfully established the right to mainly been a personal problem. I readily admit I was unilaterally invade and occupy any weaker sovereign once so confused, before the reprogramming. For exnation in the world – a scenario that Hitler could only ample, I used to think that when a strong elected have hoped for in his wildest dreams – slaughtering leader like der Fuhrer claimed the right to use mashundreds of thousands of civilians in the process sive military might to invade and occupy other counwithout any legal repercussions whatsoever? tries at will, to assassinate and summarily execute in That the omniscient, faceless spooks – ever ready to the name of national security, it was a bad thing which pounce – are monitoring my emails, my phone conmust be stopped by all the good people – even if it versations, my financial details, my personal life? took a world war to do this. That these very words may be implicating me even as That when the Nazis randomly kidnapped certain I type, in some yet-to-be-defined threat to the national kinds of people and rendered them to black-site consecurity agencies of Bigger Brother? centration camps to be tortured and killed or held inIt’s not that they are bad people – after all, they are the definitely without legal process, it was atrocious, illegal, immoral, crimes against humanity. good guys. They are Christian capitalists, men fully entitled to reach out and share some of the manyThat when the Chinese Communists in Korea and the splendored benefits of western democracy with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia used water torture as their unenlightened dark-skinned masses of the world. In primary warped way of dehumanizing, brainwashing my name, using my money. and destroying suspected opponents, this was the horrifying and depraved result of Godless authoritarian So what if they have dredged up and put into play alcommunist ideology. An ideology which absolutely most every reprehensible desecration of civilized humust be stopped at all costs, even if it were to take a man behavior known to the world, with crucifixion nuclear holocaust (yes, it was bad enough that we being a possible exception. (The crucifixion may be still coming, by the way, as it may be they have yet to found it necessary to step up and prepare to destroy the world in order to save it from this.) encounter a white bearded good Christian in obvious need of an attitude adjustment. Or, as the master plan That the Stalin-era Guantanamo-type gulags and continues to unfold, it could be revealed that the cross ridiculous show trials with fixed outcomes for peris set to be the next step up from the waterboard; posceived enemies of the state were despicable icons 30 dialogue
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of the worst form of governance possible. That the massive unrestrained surveillance states forced on their citizenry by the Soviet KGB and the East German Stasi were an intolerable assault on the dignity of “free” people everywhere. “Ich bin ein Berliner!” But that’s all in the past for me. I’m a changed man and I have seen the light. I get it now. The resistance is gone. What’s happening is what’s happening and it’s important to be part of the team play as we go forward: Torture and rendition, illegal invasion and occupation, summary executions from on high, mass surveillance of everything about everyone. They are all good. Period. At some very deep mystical level, it is apparently all about loving thy neighbor
as thyself, or it certainly wouldn’t be happening this way, would it? As proof that I’m serious, I even have a new mantra printed on a t-shirt carefully saved in the closet for those special events demanding the utmost in political correctness: “Kill for Peace, War Forever”. Hallelujah! John McNamer, Kamloops BC Editor’s Note: John McNamer was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for service with the U.S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. He recently filed a request to the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court asking for an investigation of Canada’s complicity in the torture of Afghan detainees; in extraordinary renditions, and in other possible war crimes as defined by the Rome Statute. His email is: jhnmcnamer(at)yahoo.ca
The "Deep State" – How Much Does It Explain? 26 February 2014 By Mike Lofgren, Moyers & Company | Op-Ed [EXTRACT & LINK] [EXTRACT] Everyone knows about the militaryindustrial complex, which, in his farewell address, President Eisenhower warned had the potential to “endanger our liberties or democratic process” but have you heard of the “Deep State?” Mike Lofgren, a former GOP congressional staff member with the powerful House and Senate Budget Committees, joins Bill to talk about what he calls the Deep State, a hybrid of corporate America and the na-
tional security state, which is “out of control” and “unconstrained.” In it, Lofgren says, elected and unelected figures collude to protect and serve powerful vested interests. “It is … the red thread that runs through the history of the last three decades. It is how we had deregulation, financialization of the economy, the Wall Street bust, the erosion or our civil liberties and perpetual war,” Lofgren tells Bill. VIEW & READ IN FULL: LINK: www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/22075-anatomy-ofthe-deep-state [Story suggested by M. J. King]
Goodbye to All That: Mike Lofgren Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult 03 Sept 2011 By Mike Lofgren, www.truth-out.org – by a former Republican Party insider [EXTRACT] 1. The GOP cares solely and exclusively about its rich Barbara Stanwyck: "We're both rotten!"
Fred MacMurray: "Yeah - only you're a little more rotten." – ‘Double Indemnity’ (1944) Those lines of dialogue from a classic film noir sum up the state of the two political parties in contemporary America. Both parties are rotten - how could they not be, given the complete infestation of the political system by corporate money on a scale that now requires a presidential candidate to raise upwards of a billion dollars to be competitive in the general election? Both parties are captives to corporate loot. […] As for what they really believe, the Republican Party of 2011 believes in three principal tenets I have laid out below. The rest of their platform one may safely dismiss as window dressing: www.dialogue2.ca
contributors. 2. They worship at the altar of Mars… sheer, libidinous enthusiasm for invading other countries. 3. Give me that old time religion. Pandering to fundamentalism is a full-time vocation in the GOP. Mike Lofgren is a former Congressional staff member who served on the House and Senate budget committees. His book about Congress, The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted, appeared in paperback on August 27, 2013.
READ IN FULL AT LINK: http://tinyurl.com/TOgoodbye [Suggested by Maurice King] VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Paradigm-Changing Cosmology
The Role of the cosmos in our Magnetic & Psychic Environment ~ A possible explanation for cycles of human consciousness Richard K. Moore [rkm(at)quaylargo.com]:
the forces acting on them depend very much on how you align them.
The Earth has a magnetic field, and so do the Moon, the Sun, the other planets, and the galaxy itself. The Sun’s magnetic field extends far out beyond the planets, creating a plasma shield around the solar system that protects it from external intrusions, like the membrane of a cell protecting the cell. So here on the Earth we are very much under the influence of the Sun’s magnetic field as well as the Earth’s.
As the Earth’s axis wobbles over a 24-hour cycle, the resonance between it’s own magnetic field and each of the three other fields is continually shifting. If we mapped the changing field lines, we’d see little waves of various frequencies and amplitudes promulgating among the field lines, as the interference patterns among the four fields shifts slightly. It would be something like the surf coming in on a beach, with quiet intervals, intense intervals, repetitive patterns, etc. And ‘beach conditions’ would the about the same each day, for any given time of day. The Earth wobbles through (almost) the same relative alignment patterns each second of a day, as it went through the previous day at the same second.
Our magnetic environment
Similarly, the magnetic field of the galaxy extends beyond the visible galaxy, creating a plasma shield around the galaxy. So we are very much under the influence of the galaxy’s magnetic field as well. The Moon’s magnetic field is not very strong, but because the Moon is so close, we are also influenced to some extent by its magnetic field.
Consider this image of the Earth’s magnetic field. In particular, notice that Earth's rotational axis is differ-
The Moon’s field is the exception. The Moon shifts its own axis slightly, relative to our axis, over a 24-hour period as it moves in its orbit around the Earth. The outcome is that each day we experience a shifting magnetic environment, and the pattern of that shifting varies only incrementally each day, giving us a daily repetitive cycle, and wrapped around that a monthly repetitive cycle. Repetitive as regards the magnetic energy patterns we are exposed to. The annual magnetic cycle – the Sun’s influence
ent than its magnetic axis... As the Earth rotates around its rotational axis, the axis of its magnetic field wobbles around in a circle. It wobbles with respect to the magnetic axis of the Moon, of the Sun, and of the galaxy. When two magnetic fields interact, the relative alignment of the axes is critical as regards how they interact. If you hold two bar magnets near one another,
At the Summer Solstice, our northern rotational axis – and magnetic axis – is pointing toward the Sun, and at the Winter Solstice both axes are pointing away from the Sun. Over the course of a year our magnetic environment goes
Thus, the magnetic fields of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and galaxy all influence the magnetic energy fields we are experiencing at any given time. As to why that’s important we will get to later. For now I just want to make it clear that all four influences are significant, as regards the magnetic field being experienced on Earth. The daily and monthly magnetic cycles – the Moon’s influence
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Consider next this image, showing how the tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis varies with respect to the Sun over the course of a year.
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through an annual cycle, based on the relative alignment of our magnetic axis with that of the Sun. This annual variation in alignment is much greater than the daily variation caused by wobbling. It is important not to think of the Sun as ‘far away’, when it comes to magnetism. The Sun’s magnetic field is right here right now, and it is very powerful. A relative shift in our axis could have a major local magnetic effect, given the amount of energy in the solar field. It’s like our axis alignment is a tuner on a radio, and a small shift in the tuner can suddenly bring in a station loud and clear.
The precessional magnetic cycle – the galaxy’s influence
The orbital axis of the Earth wobbles over a 26,000-year cycle, by precession, just like a wobbling top spinning on a table. These wobbles bring about the biggest variations in our magnetic alignment with the galactic magnetic field, and the effect the galaxy’s field will therefore lead to energy patterns that repeat on a 26,000-year cycle. And as with the Sun it is important not to think of the galaxy as ‘far away’. The galactic field is immensely powerful, and it extends out to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. We are right in the midst of that powerful field, and our ‘axis tuner’ can modulate how that energy affects us. Our relative alignment with the galactic axis could turn out to be the most significant term, in the equation that describes the energy dynamics of our magnetic environment. We are tuned in live to the cosmos In the standard model of cosmology, the only important connections we have with the rest of the cosmos are (1) radiation and particles that reach us, and (2) gravity that governs our orbit and the tides. In that model our solar system is an isolated island, with its own nuclear power station, and is for the most part unaffected by anything going on outside the island. In that model, the only ‘cosmic interactions’ that have any real meaning for us are the radiation we get from the Sun, and the effect of the Moon in causing tides. With magnetism we have an example of a mechanism that connects us to the cosmos in ways that the standard model could never imagine. Not only do we have a cyclic magnetic relationship with the Moon, Sun, and galaxy, these are www.dialogue2.ca
in addition real-time relationships. The standard model thinks of the galactic center as being far away, with us seeing its light from long, long ago. When we think instead of the galaxy’s magnetic field, rather than its center, then we are in touch with the galaxy right now, as it is now, interacting with its energy in real time. The Electric Model of the universe 99.999% of the matter in the universe, including all the matter in stars, is in plasma form – ionized particles that respond to electric and magnetic fields. Plasma has been studied in laboratory experiments for over a century, and a vast amount of experimental data and analysis is now available. It is relatively easy to create plasmas in the laboratory, and to study how they respond to electric and magnetic fields. A network of scientists from around the world has been cooperating on what they call the Thunderbolts Project. They have been using our knowledge of plasma behavior, looking at cosmology from a plasma perspective, and developing a very robust electric model of the universe. The project has a website - www.thunderbolts.info/wp/ - and a YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/ThunderboltsProject which explain the model and the latest developments in the field in clear, understandable terms. The Essential Guide to the Electric Universe provides a comprehensive overview of the model: www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2011/08/18/10609/ Electrical and magnetic forces are many billions of times stronger than gravity, as anyone can demonstrate with a toy magnet, which can overcome the gravity of the entire Earth, by lifting a piece of metal. In a universe that is mostly plasma, it is not surprising that magnetic and electrical forces would predominate. The gravitational model of the universe – the standard model – originated over two centuries ago, when nothing was known about plasmas, gravity was the only force thought to act at very long distances, and our astronomical knowledge didn’t extend much beyond the solar system. The model works well for the orbits of the planets, moons, and comets, and for a very long time there was no reason to question the model. As the sophistication of our telescopes and other tools increased, we began to gain a quantitative understanding of astronomical phenomena; we learned how to estimate the distances, masses, composition, energies, and motions of distant objects in the universe. Over the years new assumptions were required, so that the gravitational model could account for what was being learned and observed. It has gotten to the point now where the most creative activity in mainstream cosmology is inventing new assumptions, no matter how wild and implausible, to account for what’s being observed in the universe. The belief that gravity is the primary force at work is rooted so VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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deeply in the minds of cosmologists that almost any assumption will be entertained, rather than considering the possibility that other forces might be primary. Black holes, dark matter and energy, and the big bang itself are all invented assumptions, based on the need to find some explanation for what is being observed, an explanation that is compatible with gravity-as-cause. Every new space probe returns data that surprises and amazes mainstream cosmologists, sending them back to the drawing board, to elaborate still more bizarre assumptions. It has not been possible, however, for the assumptions to remain consistent with our understanding of physics. Some new kind of physics would need to be discovered, for the various assumptions, such as dark matter, to be realistic. In short, standard-model cosmology has become a fragile house of cards that is beginning to collapse under its own weight. Here is a video by David Talbott of the Thunderbolts Project, Exposing the Myths of "Settled Science" www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aLCWwLdelo#t=2435 - which discusses the failure of the gravitational model, and provides an excellent yet concise introduction to the electric model. Like the Bishop who refused to look through Galileo’s telescope, mainstream cosmologists refuse to look through the lens of the electric model. There is no reason why the rest of us need to follow their example of self-imposed blindness. The electric model has the weight of overwhelming evidence on its side, and that is the model the rest of this article will be based on. Our magnetic environment as an energy modulator The Aurora Borealis are plasma discharges in the ionosphere, caused by powerful electric currents coming into the Earth from the Sun. The currents come in at the poles because they follow the Earth’s magnetic field lines, and those lines go into the Earth at the poles. We are receiving electrical energy from the Sun; magnetic fields are not the source of that energy, and yet magnetic fields determine the pathways over which that energy flows. Thus the importance of our magnetic environment is not so much the direct effect of magnetism itself, rather it is the role of magnetism as a modulator, or traffic manager, of the electrical energy coming into the Earth. And that electrical energy comes in not just from the Sun, but also from the galaxy itself. The Sun is powered by electric currents coming in from the galaxy, and those currents then continue on from the Sun to the Earth, and to the 34 dialogue
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rest of the planets. This means that the Earth has not only a direct magnetic connection to the galaxy, but also a direct electrical connection – a connection that is modulated by our magnetic environment. Could there be more subtle forms of magnetic modulation?
With the incoming electric current, we are seeing a gross manifestation of magnetism as energy modulator. Those incoming polar field lines are always there. They are not significantly affected by the magnetic cycles we discussed earlier. The field lines shift in subtle ways, according to those cycles, but those subtle shifts do not affect the amount of current coming in, nor where it is coming in. Let us now enter the realm of speculation, and consider how there might be a more subtle form of magnetic modulation, one in which the magnetic cycles could play a role. The central galaxy is emitting electromagnetic energy on many frequencies all the time. Let us suppose that the Earth’s precessional wobbling could lead to a local magnetic configuration that acts as a receiver for one of those frequencies. If so, then the strength of the signal received on that frequency would vary, as the magnetic configuration varies in resonance with that frequency. By this mechanism we can easily imagine a more subtle role for magnetism-as-modulator than we see with gross electrical currents. It is in the realm of possibility that we receive electromagnetic energy from the central galaxy, on certain frequencies, with intensities that vary according to the precessional magnetic cycle. Similarly, the Sun also emits electromagnetic energy on many different frequencies, in addition to visible light itself. It is in the realm of possibility that we receive electromagnetic energy from the Sun, on certain frequencies, with intensities that vary according to the annual magnetic cycle. This is entirely speculative, and I’ve seen no evidence that we do in fact receive electromagnetic energy on any kind of cyclical basis, apart from variations in solar radiation, which is not related to the magnetic cycles. The point I’m trying to make here is that if evidence were found, of incoming electromagnetic radiation, whose intensity cycles matched our magnetic cycles, then magnetic modulation, in the form of resonances, could provide an explanatory mechanism for that electromagnetic variation. […] TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE
[Or read in full at:
LINK: www.dialogue2.ca/rkm-cosmology-electric-universe.html best wishes, Richard Moore, Wexford, Ireland WEBSITES:
http://cyberjournal.org / http://quaylargo.com/ http://escapingthematrix.org/ https://www.facebook.com/richardkellymoore
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Homeostasis, Harmony and Holistic Health
Why are we so unhealthy? Why are we inundated with fear, self loathing and lovelessness?
Perhaps the Answer lies in the Question: Is a HOSPITAL the only ‘sane and safe place’ to birth? Colin Knauf, Nanaimo BC Homeostasis, harmony and holistic health are what every living organism needs and works hard, 24 hours a day, to achieve. We disrupt this vital goal and counter it daily in any number of ways within our high-tech lifestyle. We suffer in ignorance from its many consequences, sustaining damage responsible for short, long term and lifelong health loss. Rampant technological changes, developments and creations are released daily without realistic checks and balances. To quote President Obama, “We must ask not only if it is profitable, but is it right?” We embrace the next new thing to come along with little care. We assume all offerings are benign, and if not, we would surely be warned. Wouldn’t we? Benign is, regretfully, not the realism of our current lives. Multinational Corporations, their ‘Doctors of spin’ and marketing mavens work much harder and smarter than the agencies tasked with responsibility to protect us from harm. These agencies are overwhelmed with the oversight and regulation of blossoming nascent technology and the biotech industry. Drugs, products, protocols, procedures, biogenetics1 and many other developments are rushed to market, with insidious consequence, dealt with by the public later. Remember cigarettes? Thalidomide? Vioxx? Cytotec? Beta blockers? Routine x-rays of pregnant women? Children taking x-rays of their own feet in shoe stores? Or the 100-year war waged to get doctors to wash their hands between the morgue and maternity? The list of malfeasance goes on and on. Lethalness – by ignorance or design – has been killing, maiming and crippling children and adults for centuries and continues more rapidly.
Colin Knauf is the father of two and counts as one of his greatest accomplishments the privilege of being the prime caregiver to his daughter from 3 months of age. It opened his eyes to the importance of the primal year and early developmental. He has been studying prenatal and perinatal life— both psychologically and physiologically for over a decade. An autodidactic in the arena of health and harmony, he has been learning to connect the dots and has realized there is a much larger picture. He continues to explore the connections to focus and expose this picture languishing in the dark. A strong advocate for children, he is determined to change the paradigm of western childbirth. He has made it his life’s work to advocate for optimal birth and resultant health of mother and baby— the harbingers of healthy and harmonious families, communities, nations and the planet. His goal is to see babies enjoy the greatest advantages nature has to offer. To insure the current culture of domination, denaturing and domestication of the species is curbed. He believes this can only happen when we honour women and empower them to take back their god given innate strength and power. To enjoy their potency as miracle makers and to own women’s purview of birth. To hearten women to take back the reins of childbirth, to bring their miracles into this world naturally, to assure optimal health, harmony and familial cohesion. He believes the only path to peace is through the power of women – which can only happen when we honour their sacred and natural strength and amazing powers starting at their most auspicious day – child birth. Knauf’s son was born with a scar above his eye—not a birth mark, but a scar. The result of a misguided hypodermic needle during amniocentesis. Infuriated to realize his son’s scar was nothing compared to the litany of horrific iatrogenic harm from botched high tech diagnostics, policies and procedures. His discoveries opened up a can of worms. He was determined to know more. It quickly became clear to him, optimal health was not to be found in a western hospital birth. Optimal wealth was assured— but not health. ‘Return customers’ create a perpetual income stream for medical professionals and their pharmasurgical cohort. Along with insane profits for patented medicine—which as it turns out is the number two profit centre of the globe. Pharmaceutical profit follows closely on the heels of the military complex the number one profit centre. "Colin, he is, the dot connector"–Janel Miranda Martin, host of NPR broadcast on ‘Birth and Disaster Capitalism.’
The motivation for new protocols has rarely been health, but wealth: from an attitude of profit before prudence. None of our high-tech ‘achievements’ could be worse from a long-term perspective than nosocomial2 dystocia.3 – excruciating, soul crushing labour resulting from birthing in a www.dialogue2.ca
high interventionist, high-tech hospital environment. Modern hospital biophysics is rife with depravation, intimidating procedures and protocols, creating insidious and pervasive physiological and psychological impairment. A hospital is the last place on earth, with few exceptions, we should be bringing children into the world. VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Colin Knauf, The ‘sane and safe place’ to birth is NOT a hospital! contd. their shareholders, lawyers, insurers, underwriters, lobbyists Fear and ensuing pain greet women and their babies in this high-tech world of unnecessary intervention. The first day of and complacency. This consortium has mastered intimidation of women implicitly and surreptitiously. Through fear the rest of our life and our very most important day – our mongering and creative cowing, bolstered by a masterfully birth – is, for many, a traumatic experience, embedded in the managed and complicit media, the idea that “the only safe body forever. It is a totally counterintuitive paradigm to and sane place to birth is a hospital” has been burnished separate mother and baby when they need each other most. into the brains of western minds and now further abroad. A time of our lives nature intends to be calm, joyful, empowering, life affirming, familial and savoured. For many, This agenda vastly undermines birth and health. It is guided this joy is lost to high-tech disruption of the vital mother and neither by patients’ needs nor the validity of health outbaby connection, at the most auspicious time of life. comes, such as rates of infant and maternal morbidity and This is a time normally enshrined by nature to create a mortality. If any of these concerns were part of decision thriving and loving partnership [symbiotic dyad] between making – birth with very few exceptions would never take mother and baby, insuring species survival. A time now place in a hospital. Especially when you factor in statistics controlled by doctors and corporations directly dominating which show: more money per capita is spent on American the birth of humanity. Control is usurped from women unhealth than any country in the world— and worse: with infeder a façade of safety precaution to ‘save’ mother and baby, rior results. Falling behind many nations, including developfrom eminent danger and ‘risk’. While the real danger and ing countries. risk is created by procedures dictated to doctors and foisted With the known damage and poor results, how do on them by a consortium of corporate interests with an they still hold on to this cash cow and manage to control birth? agenda of profit not prudence. This corporate cohort spearHow can any sense be made of this money grab we call heads medical education, hospital procedures and policy to ‘health care’ – which could be more accurately named insure ‘safety’ – of whom? Not Mothers and babies – ‘symptom suppression’ or by some as ‘whack a mole Shareholders? medicine’. More medical educational time is spent teaching how best Women birthing in what was war torn Bosnia and Herzeto deal with and dodge liability, lease a Lexus and how to govina are at less risk of compromised health and death choose malpractice insurance; than how to deliver a than women birthing in New Jersey (US). breech birth uneventfully and safely. Fear of litigation along with lack of experience, educational deficit, laced Most women of the world are honoured for their pivotal with counter intuitive protocols, meddling monitors and role in life, family, community and survival of the spemedical and mechanical machinations run rampant in a cies— not just their ability to pay taxes and and fill a shopmedical model of birth. Aggregated, they create tension, ping mall. Why have we gone to such extremes to take fear, panic and pain for mothers and bad medical decitheir natural mandate from them? Most damning is the fact sions. Leading to more depravations, tests, monitors, that the western birth paradigm is NOT guided by medical drugs, diagnostics and protocols creating an enormous doctors’ contract with humanity. Upon graduation from overhead of precautions, which create more problems medical school, Physicians swear to uphold the Hippocratic than they prevent and fertile ground for surgeries and opOath; the first and most important of its tenets states:– portunity to inflate profits. “FIRST DO NO HARM” This domination, domestication and control of women This simple and far reaching tenet is often coded in the continues to spread worldwide through western medioriginal Latin: “Primum non nocere.”4 Latin, the lancal and military hegemony. guage of the learned, has many uses. One of which is, it is Who should write the rules of birth? deftly used to confuse and obfuscate intent to the uninitiNature, naturally! As mother nature has done with excelated and garner uninformed consent. We also often see lence and immense success for eons. Latin used when practitioners wish to hide, confuse, or bury the mistakes of malpractice [iatrogenesis] and harm Birth is the domain of women. Birthing should never have caused by the hospital [nosocomial2] or ignoring obligation been taken away from those who know it best: women and of non-malfeasance.5 Whereas at other times, clear English midwives. Pregnancy is NOT a sickness. Hospital births is the language of choice when patients are coerced to feel were originally meant for emergency backup— not a responsible for outcomes and shoulder the blame of somecommercial enterprise. one else’s malfeasance. Birth has no BUSINESS in Hospitals —yet 98% of births in North America take place in a hospital! Birth cannot conNo where is this more efficiently used than at the beginning tinue be the BUSINESS of pharma-surgical corporations, of most women’s labouring in a hospital. The nosocomial2 36 dialogue
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Colin Knauf, The ‘sane and safe place’ to birth is NOT a hospital! contd. effect of a hospital on the primitive brain responsible for One out of every three babies in America – 33% are born our safety actively and sentiently shuts down labour. under the knife! These babies see their mothers for the However in a hospital setting when their labour stops, first time through eyes soaked and blurred by their many women, feeling totally wasted and without control; mother’s blood. They enter a disorienting, intimidating, and after their privacy is intimately breeched one more overly bright, noisy, acrid and foreign world. Babies are time by yet another cervical exam – hear the three soul often whisked away for a series of indignities and diagcrushing words: “FAILURE to progress”. nostics in the absence of their protector and womb mate Sadly, many women take this burden of noncompliance upon themselves at their most vulnerable time of life. At a time when they should be experiencing joy, elation and their amazing pinnacle of accomplishment. Birth is the time nature has created for women’s transformation and complete engagement with life. Instead they ‘beat themselves up’ as ‘failures’, to accomplish what women have done successfully for ever. Secretly they ask themselves: “Why am I so inept?” The answer never comes truthfully. At their lowest, feeling: great pain, exhausted, hungry, undermined and totally thwarted – they quickly capitulate control to the ‘gods in green’. Often leading to uninformed consent for artificial and painful induction to overcome cessation of labour. No one explains to these poor frightened women that stalling labour is a natural consequence of the brain’s survival mechanism3. A prehistoric, simple and powerful part of the mammalian brain intended to insure optimal birth and continuation of the species. When it detects risk or compromise to the safety of mother or baby it sends out chemical ‘stop’ codes. Instantaneously conveyed, these chemical signals curtail natural infusion of the birthing ‘cocktail’. This is the biochemical melange which previously had activated and induced cervical ripening and pelvic plasticity along with a large infusion of oxytocin to start contractions. Oxytocin the ‘love drug’, as named by some, is a feel good hormone responsible for love, mate selection, conception, serenity, bonding, triggering lactation readiness and controlled progressive contractions. Pivotal and essential for a safe and optimal birth are ‘gentle’ progressive contraction of the uterus. Thus preventing birth trauma to both mother and baby. Biofeedback safely regulates increasing pressure on baby and uterus. In our high interventionist world however, a call of: “Failure to Progress” promotes intravenous synthetic induction. Drugs are administered which create violent and aggressive contractions. These create fear, pain and high risk to mother and baby. In many cases the aggressive ‘squeeze’ distresses baby, setting off all the monitors beeping. Panic ensues triggering yet more procedures, drugs and wealth – not health. The result? A rush to the operating room for a C-section. www.dialogue2.ca
of nine months. Then later, left in a sensory depravation chamber until mom is re-upholstered and clear minded for the reunion. All this after their already arduous, frightening, painful and hellish experience leaves them at high risk of neural damage. Not a gracious welcome to the world. We know these compounded violations of safe and joyful birth trigger PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] of the highest magnitude, likely more devastating than the same disorder triggered by atrocities experienced by war veterans. PTSD is just one in many of the toppling ‘dominoes’ due to harm from physiological and psychological stress from hospital birth. Dominoes of harm cascade. This natural event should have been the foundation and building blocks of lifelong health. Instead, brain disorders often ensue. The dynamic partnership of mother and baby, vital to harmony, is put asunder because of the interruption at nature’s vital ‘window of opportunity’ offered to the birthing dyad to ‘latch, attach and bond.’ Biochemical interplay between mother and baby – intended to insure bonding, health and survival – doesn’t happen. Resulting in a path paved to the pharmacy, with toppling ‘dominoes’ from birth. Peace and people suffer under the thumb of our planet’s top two profit centres: War armaments and Patented medicine. The vital sustaining dyad responsible for health is never truly ‘born’ – and consequently: bonding, joy, harmony, health and peace are denied. That is, the peacefulness, which nature intends to transcend family, community, and nation to encompass and sustain the planet. The Peace that we need so badly, to heal ourselves and the planet, escapes many at our birth. The Western Medical Model of Industrialized Birth, systemic in America, has spread fast and far to many countries, by a multinational medical and military hegemony, which continues unabated. Usurping control, through domination and domestication, undermines human well-being while reaping incredible profits. It may look good for the economy and a wealthy few, but it is not sustainable and causes unfathomable harm for the bulk of humanity.
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Postpartum depression, most prominent in America; turns the world upside down for 14% of birthing women.
The medical profession still claims not to know what causes postpartum depression. The No. 1 Selling drug in America is ABILIFY® (aripiprazole) prescribed for depression – you have to ask why? I believe we know why but choose not to acknowledge that it is nosocomial2 – for fear of killing the ‘Golden Goose’. The loving touch, caresses and closeness of a warm compassionate body are vital to regulation of a newborn’s heart beat, breathing, warmth, development of organic systems, biorhythms and synchronizing and fortifying a dynamic symbiotic partnership. This vital loving relationship whose imprint shapes, bolsters and braces all personal interactions and relationships now, and in their future. A bond so strong, once in place, no one can pull it apart. It empowers a call to greatness and miraculous strength. Power7 so great, women have lifted cars off their trapped children. Often called ‘mother bear’ spirit, women imbued GLOSSARY 1 Biogenetics – Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products [i.e. clamping and cutting the umbilical cord quickly to capture cord blood from neonates, for commercial purposes – leaving neonates with less than optimum blood volume putting them at risk] Does this fall under iatrogenesis or nosocomial harm? Malfeasance, non-maleficence, malpractice, cupidity or possibly harvesting ‘organs’ without consent? 2 Nosocomial, that which results from a hospital environment ie. infection, error, etc. 3 Dystocia, very difficult labour 4 Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase meaning "first, do no harm." The phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocere. 5 Non-maleficence, which is derived from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts of bioethics that all healthcare students are taught in school and is a fundamental principle throughout the world. Another way to state it is that, "given an existing problem, it may be better not to do something, or even to do nothing, than to risk causing more harm than good." It reminds the health care provider that they must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do. It is invoked when debating the use of an intervention that carries an obvious risk of harm but a less certain chance of benefit. Non-maleficence is often contrasted with its corollary, beneficence. [From the Glossary of Health Insurance Terminology: Section N / Item 9] 6 Amygdala or primitive brain is a tiny but important portion of the brain that guards against damage to the continuation of the species. It monitors our surroundings and environment for potential threats and risk. It is sometimes called the ‘salamander brain’. It was the first brain from the begin-
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and empowered by natural birth come away vanquishing fear. They are transformed and exhilarated by awareness of their innate and amazing abilities: the miracle of creation and the fulfilment of optimal and joyful birth. This is a sacred strength and empowerment to be celebrated and honoured. A collaboration created out of maternal trust, faith in nature and women’s innate dynamism. Continually infused with love and life-giving oxytocin, mother, baby and family are destined to take a path less traveled… A worthy direction that bodes well for personal and global survival. The three hallmarks of peaceful cultures are: -natural birth; - mother’s milk of human kindness (rich with health fortifying antibodies and the best possible nutrition), the true elixir of life; - along with close bodily contact for the primal year. All three fall in place easily when women trust themselves, their amazing natural miracle-making ability and when they birth in a safe, quiet, private and comfortable place. Many of us call that place – HOME! Colin Knauf ning of time in our evolution and has not changed much. Its duty is simple and extremely important. Simple is good in many cases. It was designed to keep us safe from harm and gives the ability to fight or run by ramping up the body parts necessary for ‘fight or flight’ and shutting down all other non-essential activities to conserve energy for the ‘hyper-boost’ necessary for survival. It is especially vigilant when birthing to insure we are able to get back to the ‘cave’ and safely birth when we get wind of the ‘sabre tooth tiger’ or other nocuous threat. Such as loss of privacy and comfort. Both essential for our mental state – offering us the intended mental state and brain wave frequency best suited for a safe and simple birth. When in the ‘zone’ a women is alert and capable, but in a different ‘head space’ or brain wave frequency promoting a hormonal cocktail inducing a natural meditative state acting like a mild sedative and pain reliever while oxytocin does its work to deliver baby while filling the body and baby with an ambient feeling of well-being. 7 Power: ability or capacity to perform or act effectively; a specific capacity, faculty, or aptitude; Often used in the plural: ‘her powers of concentration’; Strength or force exerted or capable of being exerted; might; Ability or official capacity to exercise control; Authority: a person, group, or nation having great influence or control over others: the western powers. Might of a nation, political organization, or similar group; Forcefulness; effectiveness: a novel of unusual power.
Article by Colin Knauf, Nanaimo B.C., Email: NaturalNurture@Syncogent.com Phone: 250•327•9515 Please see the Graphic Design created by Colin – on the back cover of this issue; and the companion story (on p.59) “A Boy and his Butterfly” www.dialogue2.ca
“Ideas Whose Time Has Come” Intriguing Ideas from David Foster…
Look to The Higher Purpose (Part 1 of 2) Kevin Page in early 2013 went unquietly from his job as head of the Canadian Federal Parliamentary Budgetary Office. He had been appointed to tell the members of Parliament and the public what might be amiss in the financial affairs or the fading morality of the Government of Canada. That event was very close to the departure of Scott Vaughan of the Auditor General’s Office, both positions established to make Parliamentarians fairly accountable to the public (both now made untenable by the current régime). Page spoke of the need to balance conflicting views. His bedrock was to always look to the ‘higher purpose’ to clarify the path among conflicting demands. And that gets in to ranking ’values’. Values like ‘beliefs’ are constantly shifting shoals. Where we stand at the moment is largely a compromise on how we evaluate different information from different sources. To compare what is ‘right,’ take it back to the 16th century… what does ‘God’ want? Since that time we have created a maze of difficulty by ‘fixing’ decisions in ‘Law’. (A useful idea at some stages of life, but very dangerous when the ‘Law is an Ass,’ or the law violates common sense or ‘values held widely ‘in common’). So Dr. Henry Morgentaler deliberately challenged ‘the Law’ over abortion and was found overwhelmingly ‘guilty’ in our court system, (however the jury, subject to its own sense of ‘right’ acquitted him over and over and so forced changes in ‘the Law’). Lawyers are now the dangerous ones, the ones who bully others through fear of Lawsuit and pedantic ‘procedures’ rife with logic traps. Their Highest Purpose is to make money and maintain power through fear. Ignore Gaia. ‘Science’ is the rational method of taking repeatable experiences, and measuring every conceivable dimension about them so as to be able to replicate them enough times to allow a reliable degree of certainty to our conclusions. Then science becomes useful. Natuwww.dialogue2.ca
ral Laws are the unpublished Laws of Nature that we must painstakingly discover over time. And over time we have to revise what we think were ‘Laws’ but were only temporary tenets. In such a mix, many competing theories can co-exist (and will until one indisputable body of knowledge emerges. It is a body of ‘peers’ in their prime who debate the case). The rest of us wonder. In our history, it was the human problem of deciding when that point had been reached. Every King, Pope, Prophet, Potentate or Mathematical Philosopher was in competition to advance his own pet theory over others. Thus war and the competition for better weapons, ‘innovation’ to fight them that gave birth to our modern society, war even in commerce. War is what we could tolerate, even respect or Honour if we believed it was for the ‘highest good’. So Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus… or the symbols of any other inspirational leader. Who among us had knowledge of the Greatest Truth? The Hermit in a Himalayan cave? The scholar in a medieval cloister? The King at the head of his armies? And then in short order we invented the cannon, the machine gun, poison gas, armour, and miniature robots that can manipulate secrets. ‘Intel inside’… (Do you really know what your computer is doing?) What it is telling someone else, what electro magnetic energies are doing to your very genes? What is a cellphone doing mounted on a belt 4 inches from a developing fetus in a young woman’s body…? When I was born, there were no manmade electromagnetic energies. We invented them in order to ‘compete’ better. No one had wondered yet ‘what was the higher purpose?’ A lot of people began to ask that when we let atomic power loose, like the Geni from the bottle. 500 nuclear generating stations around the world and we still have no idea what to do with their spent fuel. We are poisoning ourselves to compete for ‘lower purpose’, commercial purpose. War. War is about debt and bankers making loans. In the Space Race, some of our best scientists asked the question of what characterizes ‘life’ that we might look for on other planets? How would we make VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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David Foster, Look to The Higher Purpose (Part 1), contd.
devices to recognize that? One team was lead by a Dr James Lovelock, a Brit. The members of his team together had initials ‘WACL’ (Lovelock being last). That seemed awkward, so they changed it to a real word ‘CLAW’, The Claw Team. But even that seemed without pizzaz. The team’s studies led to the realization that on Earth, both inanimate and animate processes interact with the energies from space to create an environment where blooms of life occur that butt up against each other and work out a sort of dynamic balance, the net effect being long periods of environmental stability. ‘Long’ meaning a hundred thousand or a million years or so. This can be seen across Space as variations in the light spectrum from a ‘dead planet’ compared to the spectrum of one with life. Lovelock as a Brit had studied the Greek Classics, and was struck by the duality of how human family behaviors were used by the Ancients to characterize natural phenomena. There were ‘mortals’ and ‘heroes’, and there were the ‘immortals,’ gods who had the inside track on everything from sex to the sea. Who could do magic and defy Nature. And the one in charge of the Earth itself was called ‘Gaia’. The life giver. The home. Mother Earth. Kill it and you all die. Of a sudden ‘the ‘higher purpose’ for all became obvious… You must understand what keeps the Earth within its healthy balance, animate and inanimate, or it will find a way to eliminate you as it changes itself. So I put away my other values, ambitions, service to the ‘gods of my fathers’, and realized they had never met Gaia. The members of the CLAW team had, and so CLAW became Gaia. I became a Gaian. If keeping Gaia’s health is the Highest purpose, then it becomes a series of puzzles as to how our day-to-day behavior should come together to make Gaia the best of all possible worlds. How should a family work? How a Bank? A farm? A river system filled with fish? Or is it still partially filled with acid wash from a pulp mill? There are no ‘externalized costs’ with Gaia… only unrecognized costs that we had better recognize pretty quickly and give names and values to, and remediation. ‘Gaia’ has both scientific and metaphorical appeal. The Earth as a whole is a blend of living organisms that tend to keep it relatively stable for the benefit of most existing organisms. Yet our whole earlier philosophy was built on a far different and less inclu40 dialogue
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sive basis. The corollary is that the phenomenon reinforcing that ability, can be seen as being of ‘higher’ value than those that detract from that ability. (That would include ‘consumerism’ and competitive Commerce in a single dimensioned accounting system… money). For me then, a wide knowledge of what makes Gaia ‘tick’ is needed, so-called ‘General Systems study’. Try to understand how it all fits together, and do much to enable it to keep its dynamic balance. Ensure there is little to disturb it out of balance. So ‘Gaia’ becomes my God. To ‘know what God wants’ is to study the effect of systems as they interact. Science. Intelligence. Disciplined Measurement. Peer Review. A growing library of what is known, made available to everyone who cares to learn. That then to me is the basis of all morality. The Higher Good. I am a new breed of creature, a ‘Gaian’. Then we have to break out of the Money straight jacket. Money is called ‘currency’ for a good reason… it is meant to ‘flow’ from place to place settling obligations, to keep it all in sustainable balance. There is a moment of trust each side of every money transaction. Even the money itself is only a token of trust. Money accumulating is not ‘treasure’… it is evidence of imbalance. Trouble will follow. Money can not be the measure of all things… a new vocabulary is required… Is a Maldive Island worth (say) $2 billion in tar sands still in the ground? Does it change ‘value’ if it is used to transform global climate systems? Warming? Environmental degradation needs its own vocabulary… One ‘Maldive’ might become a new measure of value (for unwelcome rise in sea levels). One Exxon ‘Valdez’ is another measure of value (for a polluted Arctic Bay). An extinct giant Dodo bird is another measure of value (a squandered genetic experiment). Each is really a measuring stick in its own environment… land in tropical climes, ocean water capable still of supporting life. A species of no particular ‘use’, equated with other extinct ‘ornamental’ creatures. […] TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Or read in full online at: LINK: www.dialogue2.ca/david-foster-higher-purpose.html
David Foster, Port Perry david.foster2(at)powergate.ca
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Easter and the Emergence of Christ-Consciousness
Reversing The Last Supper by Susan McCaslin, Langley BC
I have in my head an image of people gathered around a table to dine and converse about the state of the world. Plato’s Symposium (or The Banquet) is a classical Greek dialogue depicting philosophers gathered to discuss the nature of love. The big paradigm in the west for a small group of idealists joined around a table is The Last Supper. But wait. The subtext of that sacramental meal is sombre; a brooding darkness hovers. We all know the Romans are lurking just down the street to arrest the beloved leader of this grassroots group; the flock will be scattered, the leader tortured and crucified. Betrayal is being consumed along with the wine and matza, so who can be convivial, knowing the end of the story? This paradigm of the sombre Last Meal hangs over us today as the archetype of the apparent failure of activism, the apparent destruction of Jesus’ (and other spiritual leaders’) dream of a kingdom of justice and peace. Today we wouldn’t call his vision “a kingdom,” but perhaps a new order, a compassionate and just society. Yet in the Christian mythos there is a more joyful subtext: Easter, the resurrection. In one sense, the symbol of Jesus leaping from the tomb, as in William Blake’s powerful painting Glad Day, was the early Christian movement’s re-visioning of history. For the first Christian communities, the resurrection symbolized the birth of a new movement. It is also an image providing hope that nothing can suppress the emergence of the Christ-consciousness (now to be interpreted more universally) in the world. However, as Leonard Cohen sings, “the Christ has not yet risen from the chambers of the heart.” So this human potentiality has not been realized at the collective level. Yet it is true that the Christ arises and is arising in individuals, in the mystics, in the saints, in small sub-streams and movements of social justice. The risen Christ has been present even in the history of institutional Christianity through its mystics and reformers, but more often, betrayed again and again by corrupt institutions. After all, it has been 2000 years since Jesus offered www.dialogue2.ca
his vision of the kingdom and we don’t have anything like Jesus’ dream (the kingdom of heaven on earth) to show for it. In fact, the world looks a lot more like an apocalyptic nightmare on a global scale than the peaceable kingdom. Some think Jesus was speaking primarily of a kingdom within, or a future state in the life beyond death, but my hunch is that he was onto both, as he believed the seed of the kingdom in each heart could bloom into social transformation. I see him as a contemplative who was also a reformer, an activist. These two aspects of Jesus’ desire are tightly interwoven in the gospels and can’t be separated. So where are we now? The kingdom has not only not come, but the human world and the natural one (primarily because of our species’ impact) is being despoiled by our collective greed harnessed to a military industrial complex that acts on its demand for immediate gratification. More money, more oil, more development. This is truly a global crisis and we are seated individually and collectively at what seems the Last Supper. And as we know, much of the world isn’t feasting, but facing starvation, the impacts of war and social turmoil. If we look at Jesus’ second coming spiritually, symbolically, it represents the coming of the peaceful, committed activist to save the world. We can’t wait for Jesus to descend from the sky after 2000 years to do it for us. It’s about our empowerment, individually and collectively, to turn things around for the planet. We have to be the “Second Coming.” We have to make it happen by listening, being receptive, stepping out and acting. Whether or not it’s too late we can’t say, but we can know that we have to try. Giving up hope and letting our machinery crucify the earth that sustains us is not an option. So I have a proposal. This time around, let’s not look at our time together as another “last supper” but the first of many ongoing smaller meals. It’s interesting that important conversations and planning sessions often take place over food, the act of eating. Dining together ties us to the earth and to our common humanity. Sharing food is homely and VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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sacred at once, no matter what tradition we are from. Consider Hanukkah, Holy Communion, Mass, the Japanese tea ceremony, the Hindu sharing of food. Only this time, we’re wise to those who want to silence our leaders, crush out hopes, scatter us. Jesus’ big dream now needs to become our universal, collective dream, transcending religious ideologies and doctrine. Jesus isn’t the only one who has dreamed it, but Martin Luther King, Gandhi, etc. It’s a universal archetype of restoration and celebration. Right now dystopias are very popular. Big novels and blockbuster films tend to focus on the collapse of the world. I love dystopian literature, but the tradition of utopian literature is silent and thought to be naive. Where are our current Plato’s, Dante’s, Thomas More’s, William Morris’s? This time, I dream we can rewrite the mythos of the past and begin to re-vision and enact the utopian dreams at which people tend to scoff. It’s easy to poke holes in utopian thinking, but as science has demonstrated, vital new inventions are often first imagined and then later come into existence. As Ezra Pound noted, “The poets [or any
big dreamers] are ‘the antenna of the race.’” Utopia literally means “no where,” or “not a place in time and space,” but within the heart, as it has hasn’t existed except in small pockets on this planet by nature-honouring cultures. Our utopian dreams begin within in the heart, but they don’t end there. My dream is that we can make them manifest first in our lives, in small groups, in the public sphere, until they become a peaceful forcefield capable of transforming empires from within. ~~~~~~~
Susan McCaslin is a Canadian poet and Faculty Emeritus of Douglas College in Westminster, BC where she taught English and Creative Writing for twenty-three years. She is the author of ten volumes of poetry, including her most recent, Demeter Goes Skydiving (University of Alberta Press, 2011). The latter was a finalist in 2012 for the BC Book Prize (Dorothy Livesay Award) and the first-place winner of the Alberta Book Publishing Award (Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award). Susan has recently published a volume of essays, Arousing the Spirit: Provocative Writings (Wood Lake Books, 2011). She has edited two anthologies and is on the editorial board of Event: the Douglas College Review. She lives in Fort Langley, BC with her husband and an active Australian shepherd. WEBSITE: www.susanmccaslin.ca This piece by Susan McCaslin first appeared on Wood Lake Publishing’s blog: http://essential-spirituality.com/
God is the God of all human beings From: Stan Smith, Nanaimo To: Those of all belief systems (religious and atheist) Re: hospitals with Chapels. [Stan’s letter addressed the situation at his local hospital, the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital]
From the time of the arrival of Europeans in B.C., the powers that be have been mainly Trinitarian Christians, so it is not surprising that many hospitals have supported chaplains who are that kind of Christian. However, in this day and age, this situation is anachronistic, given that the residents in and visitors to our local hospitals adhere to a large variety of belief systems (religious and atheist)… For me, God is God of all human beings, all belief systems, and works for the cure of all conditions as well through the efforts of all scientists and all medical personnel. So, my objective is to further the well being of all human beings. Many hospitals have a room called a “Chapel” (a Christian term, from the Latin cappa, capella) for interdenominational use … More in line with the present times is having a Meditation Room, for contemplation by those of all belief systems… Nearly every day, babies are born in the hospital in full innocence without the symbol of any belief system (re42 dialogue
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ligious or atheist). We need to regain that innocence. The Red Cross (=Christian), the Red Crescent (=Muslim) and the Red Star of David (=Jewish) show how much we have lost our innocence, horribly divided. We need simply a Red Heart.
The Ancient Greeks' 6 Words for Love [ EXTRACT & LINK FROM YES! MAGAZINE ]
by Roman Krznaric posted Dec 27, 2013
The ancient Greeks found diverse kinds of love in relationships with a wide range of people—friends, family, spouses, strangers, and even themselves…. [Eros, or sexual passion, Philia, or deep friendship, Ludus, or playful love, Agape, or love for everyone, Pragma, or longstanding love, Philautia, or love of the self ] […]” READ ARTICLE IN FULL: At YES! magazine, LINK: http://tinyurl.com/YES6words At Sojourners (sojo.net) LINK: http://tinyurl.com/SOJOsix This article is based on Roman Krznaric’s 2013 book, How Should We Live? Great Ideas from the Past for Everyday Life. His new book (Feb. 2014) is Empathy: A Handbook for Revolution – in which he argues “our brains are wired for social connection: empathy is at the heart of who we are. It's an essential, transforming quality we must develop for the 21st Century.” www.dialogue2.ca
Links from Stephanie McDowall
The man who tried to warn us about sugar
Washington's Hysteria towards Russia hides US regime change
By Julia Llewellyn Smith, The Daily Telegraph Feb. 13, 14 [EXTRACT/LINK below] “A growing number of scientists
By Finian Cunningham (Dandelion Salad)
are convinced sugar is the cause of several chronic and very common illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes…; Pure, White and Deadly by John Yudkin, a book widely derided at the time of publication, was listed as one of the most coveted out-of-print works in the world. How exactly did a long-forgotten book suddenly become so prized? The cause was a ground-breaking lecture called Sugar: the Bitter Truth by Robert Lustig, professor of paediatric endocrinology at the University of California, in which Lustig hailed Yudkin’s work as "prophetic". Posted on YouTube in 2009, Lustig’s 90-minute talk has received 4.3 million hits and is credited with kickstarting the anti-sugar movement, a campaign that calls for sugar to be treated as a toxin, like alcohol and tobacco, and for sugar-laden foods to be taxed, labelled with health warnings and banned for anyone under 18. Lustig is one of a growing number of scientists who don’t just believe sugar makes you fat and rots teeth. They’re convinced it’s the cause of several chronic and very common illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes. It’s also addictive, since it interferes with our appetites and creates an irresistible urge to eat. […] CONTINUE ONLINE: LINK: http://tinyurl.com/ProvSugar Resources: Pure, White and Deadly, by John Yudkin (1972) Sugar: the Bitter Truth, Lecture by Robert Lustig (2009) LINK: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM Sweet Poison, by David Gillespie (Nov. 2009)
“Wavelet Whisper”
Wisdom worth sharing Denny Z. Petrik, BC
“It is impossible to prevent others from feeling hostile, but it is possible to avoid any reciprocal hostility on one’s own part, by Denny Petrik imaginative understanding and the sympathy that grows out of it.” - Bertrand Russell, Principle of Social Reconstruction www.dialogue2.ca
"The evidence for Western-sponsored subversion in Ukraine is so glaring – from the parade of American and European politicians over the past four months whipping up protesters in Kiev, to documented infiltration of civic organizations by the CIA, USAID, National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, the Adenauer Foundation, among others, to their own words of admission from the likes of State Department official Victoria Nuland on the desired formation of a new governing administration in Kiev – that in order to distract from this mountain of damning evidence, the Western governments and their servile media are trying to shift the terrain of discourse away from the panoramic obvious." LINK: http://tinyurl.com/DSwashys
Holy Triumvirate has subsidiaries: IMF, World Bank, WTO, ICC by William Blum | Dandelion Salad
"The Holy Triumvirate would love to rip Ukraine from the Moscow bosom, evict the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and establish a US military and/or NATO presence on Russia’s border. (In case you were wondering what prompted the Russian military action.) Kiev’s membership in the EU would then not be far off; after which the country could embrace the joys of neoconservatism, receiving the benefits of the standard privatization-deregulation-austerity package and join Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain as an impoverished orphan of the family; but no price is too great to pay to for being part of glorious Europe and the West!" […] LINK: http://tinyurl.com/DStrium
“Laughter & Light” From John McCullough, Ottawa:
Mr. Clark and the Divorce Court Judge
“Mr. Clark, I have reviewed this case very carefully,” the divorce court Judge said, “And I've decided to give your wife $775 a week.” “That's very fair, your honour,” the husband said. “And every now and then I’ll try to send her a few [MORE HUMOUR: 10, 50, 53, 57] bucks myself.” VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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From Citizens Demand Scientific, Academic & Political Integrity (CDSAPI)
The Hidden Enemy Documentary – the Destructiveness of Psychotropic Drugging Inge Hanle (CDSAPI), Vancouver Comment regarding The Hidden Enemy:
Collusion in callous criminality that has no equal claiming legitimacy by hiding under a fabricated “medical umbrella! The explosive epidemic of military suicides coincides with an epidemic of prescriptions of unbelievably toxic and dangerous psychotropic drugs. Under military control, soldiers continue to be the unwitting sacrificial guinea pigs in this travesty, but not the only ones. Under “Public Health” the Government is exerting ever more pressure to detect “early potential” of mental disease “– even mandating the “early mental health testing of infants” – and mandatory “early treatment” of potential “mental illness” – fabricated diagnoses that in reality serve only the vested financial interests of Big Pharma and the psychiatric profession - while sacrificing the lives of a multitude of innocent victims – including the neurological destruction of an entire generation of children - more realistically effecting the equivalence of chemical lobotomies.
For a well documented expose of this criminal assault on humanity, hiding under the umbrella of “public health medical intervention” to treat subjectively-labelled “mental illness,’ watch these two documentaries:(1) The Marketing of Madness: The Truth About Psychotropic Drugs - Are we all insane? and (2) Making a Killing (links below). They expose medical fraud of unequalled proportions. It is becoming obvious that there is an agenda aimed at an entire population under the control of mood-altering drugs. Discern the multiple motivations for such a policy!! Follow the Money - and - Follow the Appetite for – I.H. Control [LINKS]: (1) The Marketing of Madness: the Truth About Psychotropic Drugs - Full Movie LINK: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgCpa1RlSdQ (2) Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging - Full Movie LINK: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDlH9sV0lHU Comment by Citizens Demand Scientific, Academic, Political (and Media) Integrity; Inge Hanle, cdsapi [cdsapi@shaw.ca ] (CDSAPI) – Article on The Hidden Enemy follows.
The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry’s Covert Agenda From Citizens Commission on Human Rights the soaring rates of psychiatric drug prescribing (Watchdog Investigating & Exposing Psychiatric since 2003. Known medication side effects of these Human Rights Violations) [LINK AT THE END] drugs such as increased aggression and suicidal thinking In early 2013, the official website of the United are reflected in similar up-trends in the rates of military States Department of Defense announced the stardomestic violence, child abuse and sex crimes, as well tling statistic that the number of military suicides in as self-harm. 2012 had far exceeded the total of those killed in Pull the string further and you’ll find psychiatrists ever battle — an average of nearly one a day. A month widening the definitions of what it means to be “menlater came an even more sobering statistic from the tally ill,” especially when it comes to post traumatic U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: veteran suistress disorder in soldiers—and PTSD in veterans. And cide was running at 22 a day—about 8000 a year. in psychiatry, diagnoses of psychological disorders such The situation became so dire that the U.S. Secretary as PTSD, personality disorder and social anxiety disorder of Defense called suicide in the military an “epiare almost inevitably followed by the prescription of at demic.” Some have claimed that this spate of selfleast one psychiatric drug. harm is because of the stresses of war. But the facts Psychiatrists know that their drugs do not actually cure reveal that 85% of military suicides have not seen anything, but merely mask symptoms. They are well combat—and 52% never even deployed. aware of their many dangerous side effects, including So what unsuspected factor is causing military suipossible addiction. However, they claim that the risks cide rates to soar? According to the new documenof the medication side effects are exceeded by their tary The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry’s Covert benefits. And while the soldier’s real problem goes Agenda, all evidence points in one direction: unaddressed, his health deteriorates. 44 dialogue
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www.dialogue2.ca
In the face of these grim military suicide statistics, more and more money is being lavished on psychiatry: the U.S. Pentagon now spends $2 billion a year on mental health alone. The Veterans Administration’s mental health budget has skyrocketed from less than $3 billion in 2007 to nearly $7 billion in 2014 – all while conditions continue to worsen. The Hidden Enemy reveals the entire situation in stark relief, while urging that soldiers and vets become educated on the true dangers of psychiatry
and psychiatric drugs. The answer lies in their right to full and honest informed consent – as well as exercising their right to refuse treatment. Our service members need to know there are safe and effective nonpsychiatric solutions to the horrors of combat stress, and that these solutions will not subject them to dangerous and toxic treatments that will only send their health spiraling downward. LINK to this article & the full documentary (1 hr 45 min):
www.cchr.org/documentaries/the-hidden-enemy.html
“Your Health Matters”
A VACCINE DISASTER? Derrick Lonsdale, M.D., Strongsville OH
On the 8th of July 2013, I received an e-mail from a mother (SF) of an eighteen year old girl who had received two injections of the Gardasil vaccine 4 years earlier. This is the HPV vaccine that is designed to protect against cancer of the cervix and normally requires three separate injections. About a week after the second injection she experienced a febrile episode that was diagnosed as mononucleosis. At first this was considered to be coincidental and independent of the injection. However, she subsequently developed the symptoms of Postural Orthostatic Hypotension Syndrome (POTS) that have continued to the present. This falls into a group of diseases under the general heading of Dysautonomia, referring to dysfunctional changes in the autonomic (automatic) nervous system, controlled by the lower part of the brain. SF had done her own research and had come to the unusual conclusion that her daughter suffered from Beriberi, the ancient scourge now known to be due to vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency (TD). Beriberi, in its early stages, is the prototype model for Dysautonomia. She contacted me because of my published interest in this vitamin. I suggested that she should obtain a blood test known as erythrocyte (red blood cell) transketolase (Dialogue 2012,26-1: “What is Transketolase?”) This test involves activity of an enzyme that occurs in erythrocytes. It depends on thiamine for its normal function, so measuring its activity can be used in order to show thiamine deficiency (TD). This was done and it was strongly positive. Because of this, she persuaded the mother of another Gardasil affected girl to have the www.dialogue2.ca
same test done and this was also positive for TD. The next patient was a boy who had been ill for some years following the Gardasil vaccination. Since the virus can affect boys in another way, they are sometimes vaccinated before they go to college. His test was so strongly positive that I asked his mother whether there was a family history of alcoholism, since there is a well-known relationship between TD and this addiction. She wrote back that there was indeed a strong family history of alcoholism on the father’s side. The genetically determined background in this case was therefore obviously important. Many cases of POTS and cerebellar ataxia have been reported as a post Gardasil phenomenon on two web sites called “Hormones Matter” and “SaneVax” The cerebellum is part of the brain which deals with the coordination of balance; and ataxia means that this function is lost. To illustrate a thiamine connection, a six-year old boy was reported who suffered repeated self limiting attacks of cerebellar ataxia due to defective metabolism associated with this vitamin [1]. Although relatively stable between attacks, each ataxic episode in this child was an imitation of childhood beriberi and was always initiated by a “stress factor” in the form of a minor infection, a mild head injury on one occasion, and an inoculation on another occasion. We know from the history of Beriberi that ultraviolet light from the sun can act as a “stress factor” to initiate symptoms for the first time in a group of previously asymptomatic individuals (Dialogue 2013, 27-2: “What has Oxidation to do with Disease?)
Another puzzle noticed by the Gardasil-affected families known to SF is that the vaccine “seems to pick off the brightest and the best students/athletes”. VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Derrick Lonsdale, M.D., A Vaccine Disaster? contd.
SF then informed me that another girl had symptoms
similar to those of her daughter. Although this girl had not received the vaccine, her transketolase test was also positive for TD. The close association of thiamine metabolism with the processing of sugar in the body has been known since 1936, when vital new research by Sir Rudolph Peters was performed in England. He compared the metabolism of thiamine deficient pigeon brain cells with thiamine sufficient cells. There was no difference until glucose was added to the reaction. Thiamine sufficient cells reacted immediately, whereas there was no increased reaction from the thiamine deficient cells. It is important to note that all simple sugars are metabolized in the body as glucose, heavily dependent upon thiamine for normal cellular energy synthesis. Because of the hedonistic use of sweets and sweeteners in the social life of adolescents, it may well be that they are already at risk when they get the vaccine. An overload of sugar, consumed without the necessary thiamine, is exactly like choking the engine of a car. It reduces the efficiency of oxidation, particularly in brain and nervous system cells. The characteristic heart disease of beriberi was recently reported in 17 adolescents in Japan who were consuming carbonated drinks from the soda fountain and soft noodles. In 2007 I hypothesized a new model for disease in which I described the “Three Circles of Health.” This proposes Boolean Algebra, the use of interlocking circles, in statistical analysis. Genetics, Stress and Nutrition (energy) – the three circles – are the essential elements in impacting on health and its breakdown (Dialogue 2007,21-2: “A Proposed Revision of the Medical Model”) and the impact of sugar on health was emphasized (Dialogue 2008, 21-6: “Sugar is Dangerous”).
This suggests a provisional conclusion that demands further detailed research, since it may alter the present
concept of the potential danger of this vaccine and might even apply to vaccination in general. There is, however, an additional caveat in relationship to Gardasil. This is a yeast based vaccine and the particular yeast used is known to contain a naturally occurring enzyme by the name of thiaminase. This enzyme splits the thiamine molecule, rendering it biologically inert. Thiaminase disease has been reported in Japan in conjunction with dietary thiamine deficiency, thus “raising the bar”. Since cellular energy is required to adapt to any form of physical or mental stress, it may well be that the vaccine itself, or the needle used to inject it, was a “stress factor” superimposed on a metabolic situation which was marginal for TD (Thiamine Deficiency). If so, then this might possibly apply to other similar nutritional deficiencies. Perhaps these young people were more at risk when they received the vaccine since TD depletes the cell of energy. To explain the apparent selection of the high IQ students, I have suggested that a good brain requires more energy to meet the demands required of it and that a marginal nutritional status possibly put them at higher risk when the vaccine was administered. It would imply that the subject seeking vaccination has a personal health responsibility and that the vaccinator needs to seek at least a minimum diet history from his subject. A simple question about a family history of alcoholism might also indicate additional risk. [1] Lonsdale D, Faulkner W R, Price J W, and Smeby R R. Intermittent cerebellar ataxia associated with hyperpyruvic acidemia, hyperalaninemia, and hyperalaninuria. Pediatrics 1969;43:1025-34.
~ Derrick Lonsdale, M.D. “Everything is connected to everything else.” Derrick Lonsdale is a retired Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and a Certified Nutrition Specialist. www.prevmed.com/ Blog: http://o2thesparkoflife.blogspot.com/ [SEE LINKS TO REFERENCED Dialogues at: www.dialogue.ca ]
Studies Show Eating More Slowly Benefits Your Health & Waistline Dr. Mercola, articles.mercola.com – Mar. 14, 2014 "Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things will be yours." – Swedish Proverb [EXTRACT & LINK] Many scientific studies have ex-
plored the benefits of eating more slowly and chewing food longer. You may hear the distant echoes of your mother's admonishment to "slow down" as you plow through your lunch as quickly as possible—as though 46 dialogue
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eating is an inconvenience, an intrusion into your day that keeps you from getting on with "more important things." But maybe your mother was right. Perhaps you should slow down. After all, what is more important than nourishment? You can't accomplish anything of much importance without a well-nourished body and mind. LINK at Mercola.com: http://tinyurl.com/MEReatslow www.dialogue2.ca
MORE BOOKS & PHILOSOPHY
One Thing Changes All Else
Mike Nickerson, Lanark ON
From ancient times, right up to living memory, humans have been a small, insignificant presence on the Earth. Not so any more. Today, civilization's impacts are felt practically everywhere. This change affects everything – in our human experience the Earth has gone from offering endless new frontiers to where our activity is able to overwhelm it. It is critical that we acknowledge this change. Many of our customs and institutions, developed when the Earth seemed limitless, aggravate the serious problems arising as we bump into planetary limits. "The growth ideology is extremely attractive politically because it offers a solution to poverty without requiring the moral disciplines of sharing and population control." – Herman Daly, former economist with the World Bank and coauthor of: “For the Common Good; Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future”
As recently as the 1950s, humans consumed less than a third of what the Earth offers. Since then, economic activity has doubled and doubled again. Some say our present level of activity is only possible due to diminishing reserves of fossil fuels.* Others argue that we are doing fine; we just need to find ways to keep growing. How impressive would human impacts be if we continue with what is traditionally considered "healthy" economic growth? A growth rate of around 3% is considered healthy, though not great by pre-2008 standards. At 3% growth, activity doubles in 24 years. Think of any children you know. Within their anticipated lifetimes, conventional economics would require human activity to double, quadruple and grow on to nearly eight times its present size. Would those children thank us for leading them down such a path? If an adult grew like a four-year-old, they would be in grave danger. It made some sense for civilization to grow, as long as there seemed to be vast frontiers to grow into. Now that we are exploiting practically every frontier, do we not owe it to the children to usher in a mature stage for civilization? When we admit that humankind's relationship to the www.dialogue2.ca
Earth has changed and plan our actions accordingly, we can have a well-fed, comfortably-housed, educated and healthy population, all while reducing pollution and our consumption of natural resources. Even so, most of the world's leaders continue to promote childlike economic growth. What we need is to cut back on projects that consume energy and other natural resources and to spend into areas where knowledge and creativity are the primary inputs. The cut-backs would minimize confrontation with planetary limits while the spending would move society into realms that are truly limitless. If only today's economists could see this, instead of arguing about whether consumption would best be encouraged by cutting or increase government spending, as if the only possible goal is growth everlasting. Food provides a good example. When produced by human effort, rather than by machines and chemicals, more food can be grown per acre and the nutritional quality is better. Such production also provides employment and can improve the soil. Compared to industrial agriculture which requires ever more energy, mined fertilizer and manufactured chemicals, localized community-scale agriculture increases well-being while reducing resource consumption and pollution. Other examples can be found in education and health care. Education is practically free in terms of natural resources and waste. Teachers can share everything they know and will be no poorer. Indeed, they often learn more themselves as they teach. Similarly health care, when aiming to increase well-being and reduce disease, is mostly knowledge and good will. Add to this buildings designed and renovated with lots of insulation and south-facing windows, and we can have increased comfort with reduced energy consumption. Food, education, health care and housing can all be provided with greatly reduced environmental impacts, and that is before actually acting like grown-ups and doing our best to make things last, rather than to become garbage, or shifting from materialism to the appreciation of living. Having grown to fill our planet does not mean that humanity has run out of options. It means that, as a species, we have grown up. As in our individual lives, when we reach mature size, adult development is VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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in the realms of knowledge, skills, relationships and the enjoyment of life. By shifting from resourceintense activities to ones based on knowledge and skills, we can secure long-term well-being. We don't have to grow until we drop! Long-term well-being requires broad recognition of our changed relationship with the Earth. Tell someone about it; the children will thank you. * A sign to watch for: The fundamental change in our relationship with the Earth is clearly evident when one watches the role of fossil fuels. Up until the "Oil Shock" of early 1970s, whenever we needed more energy all we had to do was pump faster. The price increase from that initial shock increased the flow of money out of communities, and over the next decade deficits and debt became big problems. While ignoring accumulating debt, the path of Growth was followed with some success until 2008, when it became difficult to pump oil out of the ground as fast as the expanding global economy wanted to burn it. The price was bid up from under $30 a barrel at the beginning of the century to $147 in 2008, causing everything involving energy to become more expensive. Interest rates were increased to fight the resulting in-
flation - increased interest charges made many loans, sub-prime mortgages in particular, unpayable - widespread defaulting on mortgages flooded the housing market with foreclosed homes - housing prices dropped - vast amounts of the credit money that had been used to purchase those homes disappeared and down went the global economy. This basic lesson is repeated again and again. When economic activity slumps, the price of energy goes down and conventional activity is stimulated. As the economy improves, the underlying problem, of diminishing fossil energy supplies and the greater price of substitutes, drives the price back up. Communities everywhere, except those producing energy, are drained of cash causing the system to falter again. Watch for this cycle and you will see society bouncing against one of our planet's limits. When you see it, don't keep it to yourself. Mike Nickerson directs the 7th Generation Initiative www.sustainwellbeing.net/seventh_generation.html www.SustainWellBeing.net Sustainability Project - 7th Generation Initiative 2799 McDonalds Corners Rd., RR #3, Lanark, ON K0G 1K0; phone: (613) 482-1208; e-mail: sustain5@web.ca
“Reminiscence and Revelation”
When death is a blessing… Mike Harvey, Langley BC
Although most of us are frightened of death it can, in my opinion, be a blessing. To appreciate this fact you must be old or stricken with some incurable disease (or something equally debilitating). Being fortunate enough to having escaped the latter, which can strike at any age, I shall talk about becoming old. In the first phases of old age, you can thoroughly enjoy yourself if you are in reasonably good health. Now, some fortunate people remain in this state until the end. However, others of us witness a steady decline in both mental and physical abilities. This state can be examined, discussed and laughed about when in the company of cohorts of the same age. This is one of the delights of aging. It seems that matters once sacred concerning the function of the physical body can be openly discussed and indeed, laughed 48 dialogue
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about: (A subject that cannot be broached while young). Unfortunately, however, for many of us the deterioration of both bodily and mental functions decline appreciably, often leaving us in unbearable physical pain, often coupled with mental facilities that will not allow us to function without the dedicated care of others. At this point death is often a welcome caller although often a terrifying one to the selected candidate. What happens after death is debatable. Those with religious faiths have many theories at to what the journey will offer: peace, judgment, reunification with loved ones, rebirth or the total extinguishment into the darkness of nothing. One thing, however, is certain: the pain and suffering of the creaking old body has ended. Eternity waits and, in my unscientific belief, we are ushered into a sparkling new realm of light, love and understanding. I hope I am correct. – Mike Harvey [templetownharvey(at)shaw.ca] www.dialogue2.ca
LIFE IS A CABERNET
Ramblings
Randy Vancourt, Toronto ON
Life is too short to drink homemade wine; at least according to my lovely wife, who told me this when I suggested that we should finally sample the 5 gallon jug of cabernet that has been percolating in my brother’s basement for the past several years. For the record, I am not a novice winemaker. In fact for many years my brother and I spent a great deal of time together manufacturing homemade hooch. It all started, as these things usually do, one day when we visited our local government-run liquor store. Horrified by the outrageous cost of even the cheapest product, we decided that there must be some way around paying such extortionary prices. My initial suggestion of armed robbery didn’t seem such a wise an idea in the light of day, so we opted instead to purchase a beer making kit at the local grocery store. There are several steps involved in good beer production, all of which unfortunately require time, effort and cleanliness, the sworn enemies of the thirsty home brewer. Our initial results ran the gamut from skunky odour to exploding bottles, but with time and experience we finally managed to manufacture a passable beer. If your standards aren’t particularly high. The more we read and experimented, the clearer it became that brewing beer actually required more skill and focus than we were prone to. And as anyone who has ever walked past a real brewery can attest, the blending of barley, hops and yeast creates a very identifiable aroma that tends to linger – particularly in your kitchen. No matter the result though, we consumed every bottle we ever produced. This experience didn’t really help me develop a refined palate, but it certainly taught me to control my gag reflex. Eventually we came to the conclusion that there had to be a better, and by that I mean easier, way to make alcohol in one’s home. Ideally without going blind. We then discovered the glory of homemade wine. We simply poured juice into a bucket, tossed in some yeast and stuck on the lid. A couple of weeks later we poured it into bottles. A few more weeks of aging and www.dialogue2.ca
we had an excellent product, at least in comparison to our beer. When anyone asked its vintage I would proudly respond, “Tuesday.” The inherent problem was that it took over a month to manufacture. Clearly if you’re consuming say, a few bottles every day (which I believe is the recommended quantity for schoolchildren in France) you have to keep well ahead of schedule in order to ensure a steady supply. We were forced to set up a regular timetable to make sure we always had wine available, a process that involved using our entire kitchen and basement. When it came to assembly line manufacturing, the Ford plant had nothing on our house. Pretty soon we were producing cabernets, merlots, gamays...but for some reason our appreciation of these fine vintages was not shared by all. Admittedly, most of our wine did seem to taste the same, which is to say not particularly good. No matter the variety of grape, it all shared a certain pronounced flavour and bouquet which refused to dissipate regardless of the amount of time we let it “breath,” or as some more accurately put it, “air out.” On the positive side, after the first few sips your tongue usually turned pretty numb, making the rest of the bottle quite serviceable and subsequent bottles even better. Sadly my career as a vintner came to a crashing halt around the time I met my wife. My brother had discovered that we could buy fairly good wine-in-a-box for about the same price as we were paying to produce our plonk. Combined with my wife’s obvious bias against anything that wasn’t made – how shall I put this – hygienically, and I knew our home winery was doomed. I tried the Biblical approach (even Jesus made wine at someone’s house) but to no avail; she simply couldn’t overcome her irrational suspicion of booze made in a bucket in my basement. I had to begrudgingly return to the far more fiscally painful method of paying for alcohol, and we still haven’t got around to tasting that 5 gallons of well-aged “cellar sauvignon,” which is now approaching its 7th birthday. Life probably is too short to drink homemade wine, but I have a sneaking suspicion that if we drink what’s in that jug, it might be even shorter. www.randyvancourt.com VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Quebec Notebook From Peter Sauvé, Montreal Qc
“Word of the Year” A good opening line from a story running on The Gazette's website: “Like Toronto, Montreal’s word of the year was ‘crack.’ As in cracked sewer pipes, bridges and highway ramps...”
I intend to live forever... So far, so good. A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
Try to make sense of an interview with OQLF
What plane is flying over your house?
Posted By: Barry Morgan, CJAD, Montreal:
If you're a bit of an airplane nut like moi, this is THE coolest site of 2014 -- at least, so far.
Based on a report that a complaint was filed with the Office Québecois de la Langue Française (OQLF) because two workers at a local hospital were speaking Creole to one another, we called the OQLF to speak with an official there. And I did speak today with Jean-Pierre Le Blanc, a spokesman for the language police. He confirmed that, yes, Quebecers can communicate among themselves in the language of their choice at work. So why wasn't the complaint thrown in the garbage? See if you can make sense of how Mr Le Blanc explained the on-going investigation… VIEW AT LINK: http://shar.es/OEfvN
Steven Wright gems If you're not familiar with the work of Boston's Steven Wright, he's the famous dry, erudite, comic scientist who once said: "I woke up one morning, and all of my stuff had been stolen and replaced by exact duplicates." His mind isn't limited by conformist thinking. Here are some of his gems... 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name. 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory. If you want the rainbow, you have got to put up with the rain. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane. Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now. 50 dialogue
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LINK: www.flightradar24.com/
Find your desired area/city, then click on any plane icon to see who, what and where. I just spotted a Korean Air Lines 777 over Decarie and Monkland that had recently taken off from NY Kennedy on its way to Seoul.. Notes about/from the website: Every day you see planes in the sky, sometimes very high, with or without con-trails. We often ask ourselves these questions: What type of plane, Airbus A320, 330, Boeing 727, 747 or some other. Where did it come from, where is it going, what altitude, what speed, what airline, etc. Well, now you can see all this information instantly on your computer screen. I just watched, on my laptop, the plane whose vapor trail I could see overhead and was blown away by all the information and also the view. You are also going to be totally blown away when you see how many aircraft are flying in your area. I can now see why an air traffic controller is one very, very busy person. … Some additional tricks: Drag the map to take you to the area you want to view. To view your region or town, you can zoom in by tapping with your mouse. On the map you will see all the planes in the air. When you double Click on a airplane, on the left screen you will get all the information related to; airline, plane type, air speed, altitude in real time that is re-calculated every 10 seconds. On some, you can also Click on ‘view from the cockpit.’ This is absolutely real time [5-min. delay for FAA flights] IT WORKS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD! LINK: http://www.flightradar24.com/
–E-mail: psauve@hotmail.com
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MAWAGE
“Stirring The Soup”
accept.” she replied. Well, it was a bit more of an exciting proposal than You may be wondering what that, but knowing my daughter, that’s how she would “mawage” means. It sounds almost have seen it. alien, doesn’t it? In point of fact, it Initially, she probably had reservations. A fly on the is the word marriage, spoken with wall may have overheard her doubts. Rhotacism (difficulty in “We’ll never survive” and his calming reply, “Nonpronouncing r, which is then perceived as closer to w), as did actor Peter Cook as he sense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.” officiated Prince Humperdinck and Princess Buttercup’s forced wedding in the romantic-comedy-fantasy- As many of us know, the road to “mawage” is never easy… and then, the work begins! The relationship adventure film The Princess Bride… “Mawage is wot saw its ups and downs initially and both may have bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed wondered if they were truly meant for each other or if awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam.” they were dreaming in Technicolor. Or again if they The Princess Bride has been a long-time favorite with were simply typecasting each other into their own my family. We still get together and watch it every so dream roles. often and never tire of it. We actually prepared a dinSometimes, they were antagonists. ner and movie night for my sister when she was in “What can I do for you?” hospital battling cancer some years back, and the “You can die slowly, cut into a thousand pieces.” movie she requested was Princess Bride. When new additions to our family arrive, such as sons and daugh- At other times, allies. “You are wonderful.” ters-in-law, we are quick to induct them into the fan “Thank you; I’ve worked hard club. Sons and sons-in-law in to become so.” particular have needed ample persuasion to view something with such a Their future together was girly title… “Is this a kissing book?” deliberated often. “For the last time, It’s only been with abundant surrender!” extortions and manipulations that they “DEATH FIRST!” reluctantly agreed to watch the movie in the end. However, they have never Uncertainty is not a pleasant regretted it and indeed have gone feeling. And yet, this taught around bragging to their friends afthem to bolster each other. terwards about the impressive sword “But how can you be sure?” fights, the life-sucking machine and Cindy and Daniel, February 14th 2014 “This is true love - you think the ROU’s (rodents of unusual size). this happens every day?” My eldest daughter Cindy has always been acutely atPatience was the order of the day. They waited many tached to this movie, and consequently her wedding years to find each other and even when they did, they dreams merged with this movie at a very young age. took a further three years to be sure they had it right! Who wouldn’t want to marry the handsome and charm- Their patience paid off. As a wise man once said, ing Dread Pirate Roberts, after all? Maybe that’s why “You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.” it took her so long to meet her own swashbuckler, who So on Valentine’s Day 2014, the princess and the acknows? But last Christmas, at the tender age of I can’t tor, now without reservation, were married in a beautitell you, a young man who isn’t a pirate, but is an actor ful private back yard ceremony in California before (coincidentally) asked her to share her life with his. the friends and family who love them. And as they “Surrender”, he said. reached for each other… Ah, it’s kissing again. “You mean you wish to surrender to me? Very well, I You don’t want to hear that. Marie Gaudet, Edmonton AB
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“That’s My Take On It”
2010 article reported cannabis (hemp) electric car to be made in Canada… Where is it? John Shadbolt, Acton ON
In 2010, CBC News featured a report on the development of a car made of hemp. [EXTRACT & LINKS BELOW]. But it seems to have disappeared… What happened? [EXTRACT] By Emily Chung, CBC News, Aug 23, 2010
“An electric car made of hemp is being developed by a group of Canadian companies in collaboration with [the Alberta provincial government]. The Kestrel will be prototyped and tested later in August by Calgarybased Motive Industries Inc. The compact car, which will hold a driver and up to three passengers, will have a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour and a range of 40 to 160 kilometres before needing to be recharged, depending on the type of battery. The car's body will be made of an impact-resistant composite material produced from mats of hemp, a plant from the cannabis family. The material is being supplied by Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures, a provincial Crown corporation that provides technical services and funding to help commercialize new technologies. The Kestrel is one of five electric vehicles being developed by Project Eve, an automotive industry collaboration founded by Motive and Toronto Electric, an Ontario material handling and electric motor company, to boost the production of electric vehicles and electric vehicle components in Canada. The Kestrel cars will be built with the help of polytechnic schools in Alberta, Quebec and Toronto, and the first 20 cars are scheduled to be delivered next year to EnMax, a Calgary-based energy distribution, supply and service company that is taking part in Project Eve. Automotive pioneer Henry Ford first built a car made of hemp fibre and resin more than half a century ago. LINK: www.cbc.ca/news/technology/cannabis-electriccar-to-be-made-in-canada-1.903115 UPDATE, NOVEMBER 2013:
The World’s Most Eco-Friendly Car: It’s Made Entirely From HEMP LINK: www.collective-evolution.com/2013/11/01/theworlds-most-eco-friendly-car-its-made-entirely-fromhemp/ By Arjun Walia, Nov. 1, 2013: You would never think
that a single plant could solve most of the worlds problems, well it can. Hemp has over 50, 000 uses. 52 dialogue
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Why this plant remains illegal is causing confusion among many. Everything from clothes, medicine, fabrics, fuel and more, hemp is definitely a large threat to a variety of corporations that control energy, health and a number of other industries. Many corporations would see a decline in profit if hemp were to be legalized. One in particular this article will focus on is the automobile industry. The worlds most Eco-friendly car, the Kestrel, was designed in Canada by Calgary-based Motive Industries INC. Unlike the United States government, the Canadian government is open to hemp farming and actively supporting the industrial hemp industry and it’s potential benefit for us and our environment. [The Kestrel] has a top speed of 90 km per hour and a range of approximately 100 miles before needing to be recharged. It’s powered by a motor made by TM4 Electrodynamic Systems, a Quebec based company. Its weight is approximately 2,500 pounds, and has a very affordable price given the fact that hemp is very easy to grow and requires nothing but the sun. It fits 4 passengers and the production version of it was supposed to be available this year. Since the unveiling of it a couple of years ago, everything all of a sudden has become quiet. […] This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a hemp car making noise, did you know that Henry Ford spent more than a decade researching and building his Model T car? This was in the 1940s; it was completely made from hemp. This car was 10 times stronger than steel and was also designed to run off of hemp bio-fuel! Whatever happened to this idea? Read more about that at: LINK: www.collective-evolution.com/2013/02/25/henryford-hemp-plastic-car-stronger/ […] The suppression of this technology is largely due
to the fact that hemp was outlawed in the US in 1937 due to the potential damaging effect it would have on many powerful industries at that time. I highly recommend you check out the full story we wrote on how hemp became illegal. [LINK: www.collectiveevolution.com/2012/12/05/how-hemp-became-illegal-themarijuana-link/ ] […] SEE MORE at: www.collectiveevolution.com/2013/11/01/the-worlds-most-eco-friendlycar-its-made-entirely-from-hemp/ John Shadbolt [ cdr000(at)primus.ca] www.dialogue2.ca
A True Friend
“Hannah’s Hobbies”
people, who had done the same thing and hoped that if anyone read my story, they would come to my defense. The story got printed in a little local paper and, One night a few years ago, when I sure enough, several people admitted they had also was at my son Pat’s house for supper, we had ice cream with maple sinned. I sent a copy to my long time computer pen pal, Irene, in Sydney, Australia. She told me she did syrup on it for dessert. The syrup was in a can and, of the same thing; particularly, she admitted, when she course, after I had poured it there was one little drop left resting on the rim. Now, everyone knows that in a baked one of her husband’s favourite biscuits that used syrup. Her syrup was in a jar, and she always few minutes that drop would run down the side of the licked it when she finished. can and it would make it sticky. Being a tidy soul, All this happened a few years and living alone most of the time, I ago, but I have a special suppose I have developed some reason for bringing it up now. interesting habits. Anyway, without The other day I received this thinking, I stuck my tongue out and wonderful e-mail from Irene. licked that drop off that can, just as She said she had just made her neat as you please. husband’s special biscuits Well! You would think the world had and, once again, she had come to an end. Pat started yelling, licked the jar. She “She licked the can! Did you see remembered my story and as that? She licked the can!” I felt like her daughter, Marian, was Chicken Little would have felt if the My True Friend, computer pen pal Irene handy, she got her to take a sky had really fallen. Such an uproar! in Australia (Photo by Marian) picture of her doing just that. The whole family went on and on Licking the jar! I got the picture in the morning and I about my social sin. Now when we have ice cream swear I went around smiling all day. It made me feel and syrup at Pat’s house, I hold my breath, because so good and giggly, a wonderful feeling! everyone starts chanting, “You’re not allowed to lick Thinking about it, made me realize what a true blue the can” and they watch me like hawks. friend Irene is. Not many people would do that, but After I got over my humiliation, I found the whole Irene did. So I just had to write about it and show this episode rather funny and wrote a little story about it. picture of a True Friend. In the story I wrote that I was sure there were other Dorothy Hannah, Lacolle QC
Laughter & ‘Lightenment
Ageless Humour
– from Don Parker Pondering the problems of the world, I realized that at my age, everything is elementary. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water, but is still fat. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years, while a tortoise doesn’t run and does mostly nothing, yet it lives for 150 years. And doctors tell us we should exercise? I don't think so! Now that I'm older, here's what I've discovered. 1. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it. 2. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes & allbran. 4. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. 5. If all is not lost, then where the heck is it? www.dialogue2.ca
6. It is hard to make a come back when you haven’t been anywhere. 7. It was a whole lot easier to get older than it was to get wiser. 8. Some days, you're the top dog, some days you're the hydrant. 9. I wish the buck really did stop here; I sure could use a few of them. 10. Kids in the back seat cause accidents. 11. Accidents in the back seat cause kids. 12. Funny, I don’t remember being absent minded. 13. The world only beats a path to your door when you're in the bathroom. 14. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he'd have put them on my knees. [CONTINUED ON P.57] VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Personocratia’s Path Transhumanism and Beyond The word 'Transhumanism' was invented by biologist Julian Huxley in 1957, who defined it as "man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature." Transhumanists want to overcome human limits by extending their lifespan, augmenting their intelligence, perpetually increasing their knowledge, achieving complete control over their personality, and gaining the ability to leave the planet and even travel interdimensionally. They want to reach these goals through reason, science, and technology. Sounds good? Read on! Homo sapiens as we know it is indubitably becoming extinct. The ruling elite have noticed that human beings are becoming too difficult to control. Humanity’s exponential growth in both individuality and consciousness is threatening the whole hierarchy of the world of illusion. The solution is two-fold. Through eugenics, they are getting rid of the most difficult races to control (e.g. Blacks, Natives) and through transhumanism, they are creating a hybridised humanity (hubrids) linked to a common artificial mind. Just like ants, this new so-called Homo evolutis will be based on castes, each with its own physical attributes determined by a person’s social role. In fact, this corresponds to devolution. The contact with the soul (the Supreme Being within each individual) will be definitely excluded through the genetic modification of human cellular DNA. How can the elite and their demonic masters manage such a substantial transformation? They do so through a multi-faceted series of secret programs. We are superficially aware of some of these, but most of us do not realise the extent of this research and its long- term repercussions. Let us look at the most important of these programs. 1. Aerial Spraying – Chemtrails are chemicals sprayed in the sky by airplanes. Used since the fifties, they became popular in the nineties. Today, chembombs cover larger surfaces, to spread even farther various weapons of mass destruction. There are two kinds. Climatic/Geological Weapons – Chemtrails contain 26 toxic metals. Officially, they are used to put a damper on global warming. Unofficially, they become climatic weapons (droughts, hurricanes, torrential rains) and/or geological weapons (landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes), when used in conjunction with technologies such as HAARP (High Frequency Active Typical Chemtrails Auroral Program). Biological Weapons – Chemtrails contain 300 different GMOs (bacteria, yeasts, viruses), dried human blood, DNA-modifying enzymes, parasites (nematodes), living fibres (Morgellons), etc. Officially, they are used to immunize the masses covertly. Unofficially, they serve as physiological weapons (infertility, decreased immunity, cancer, DNA modification, etc.) and psychological weapons (depression, anxiety, hallucination, decreased concentration, etc.). Some chemtrails actually contain indestructible living fibres that crawl under the skin, reproduce themselves, and morph into crystal and genetically-modified (GM) insects and worms. When these parasites have totally invaded the body of a person, she is told that she suffers from Morgellons disease. Among a long list of symptoms, here are a few: abnormal blood cells, permanently open sores and bumps, luminous hair and skin, external growth of animated coloured fibres, brain and personality changes, and much more. In fact, any person who is exposed to chemtrails experiences such an invasion, even if her body shows no signs or symptoms. Invaded by microscopic inorganic, but conscious, GM fibres, our bodies have become living laboratories. We are being transformed into hybrids with unknown properties. It is impossible to avoid this, if chemtrails are sprayed in our area. These strange fibres have even been found inside paper currency! Morgellons Sores and Fibres 2. GM Food – GMOs have been proven to cause several problems – sterility, modification of organs, cancers, allergies, etc. (Persosonocratia’s Booklet 7) Once digested, they go into the blood and modify cellular DNA, thus accelerating the genetic transformation of humanity. The elite started with the genetic modification of corn and soy, two crucial types of human food. The next ones are alfalfa (main food for dairy cows), rice, and wheat. A scary prospect! 54 dialogue
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3. Vaccination – Vaccines have evolved tremendously during the last decade. For example, recombinant vector vaccines contain viruses that are used as carriers to introduce new genes in human cells. What perfect tool to permanently alter the human genome! Other vaccines are used to inject synthetic nano implants that are programmed to insert themselves inside the human brain and link it to the GIG – the elite’s Global Information Grid. Was this the reason for the false H1N1 pandemic in 2009? The OMS is already announcing the high probability of major pandemics in the coming years. How can such events be predicted if they are not purposely planned? When will we finally stop trusting official medical authorities? 4. Nanotechnology – It transforms matter at the atomic level, which allows scientists to invent new materials that are 11 times harder than diamond, to link living cells with electronic components, to modify DNA, and to produce mini robots that are smaller than a red blood cell and can clean body toxins and repair tissues. All great! However, the hidden face of nanotechnology is more disturbing. For example, a network of nanosatellites presently orbits the earth. Swarms of such ‘smart dust’ form a system of artificial intelligence called Skynet, which is linked to a huge brain called ‘Mother’. The latter can accumulate information and take independent decisions, such as ordering drones to destroy spaceships or meteorites - or humans? 5. EM (electromagnetic) Waves – Chemtrails and chembombs transform the air into plasma saturated with metallic nanoparticles that facilitate the transmission of scalar and electromagnetic (EM) waves. These are emitted by 18 HAARP installations around the world. EM waves can affect the health and behaviour of targeted populations. Human DNA corresponds to a special vibrational signature. By using carrier waves – scalar or EM – the elite can modify at a distance the DNA of targeted individuals, race, or genders. That is why it encourages the use of smart meters and, especially, cell phones, even in poor countries. Also, nanometals found in chemtrails are absorbed by the human body, which gets changed into a two-legged antenna that remains perpetually ‘plugged’ into the elite’s vibrational web. In this way, the human body is ready to receive instructions and go through genetic modifications. 6. Scalar Weapons – More powerful than EM waves, scalar waves travel through matter instantaneously. Both the aliens and the elite use them frequently for seemingly-impossible tasks: crashed airplanes, collapsed buildings (9/11), sudden deaths, strange climatic (Hurricane Katrina) or geological events (Haiti’s earthquake in 2010 and Japan’s tsunami in 2011), weird epidemics, strange behaviour, and holograms (real-looking 3D apparitions). Among other things, they can create the popular crop circles found in fields, destroy alien spacecraft, and disintegrate meteorite (Russia, 2013). 7. Synthetic Telepathy – Used during many recent wars to influence thoughts and emotions at a distance, synthetic telepathy or SSSS (Silent Sound Spread Spectrum, Booklet 7) is also utilised in super- stores such as Walmart or Tesco to increase sales. When combined with the Internet, HAARP, telecommunication towers, smart meters, and the 13,000 satellites now orbiting the planet, it forms an enormous and invisible prison for the human mind. Synthetic telepathy’s electromagnetic web has one single purpose: controlling humanity. And it works as long as individuals remain in the low vibrations of fear. 8. GRIN Cloning – The first human clone (identical genetic copy) was born in 1927. Since then, the elite has greatly improved its technique, thanks to GRIN technologies – Genetics, Robotics, artificial Intelligence, and Nanotechnology. These are used on a large scale in secret laboratories. The popular Avatar 2045 Project proposes to gradually replace human bodies by GM, immortal, perfect avatars with an unlimited artificial intelligence. That is what some call Singularity, the illusory equivalent of the idessic transformation, but with false avatars, false soul, and false immortality. Beneath the scientific lustre of such a project lies hidden the ugly face of hard-core eugenics and its true purpose: the reduction of humanity to two species, a small minority of superhumans (masters) and a large majority of halflings (slaves). So, transhumanism is taking place on a grand scale right now – and you and I are part of the experiment! It allows the elite and their demonic masters to wage a permanent war against humanity, 24/7. With such advanced technologies, it is easy to imagine that they will end up winning this multi-faceted battle. Wrong!
Two Distinct Species
The real solution is not technological, but vibrational. I must become aware that the highest frequency lies hidden inside each human being. It is called a “soul” (the Supreme Being within each individual). Human souls differ from those of other species. They are able to grow from life to life until they can unite with willing, fully conscious human bodies. Once I understand my soul’s potential, I can surrender my free will to it and let it guide me efficiently towards its long-standing plan: the union of body and soul. www.dialogue2.ca
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Since my soul, this individualized version of the Supreme Being, lies inside me, everything happening right now on the planet is my creation. This includes the world elite, good and bad aliens, demons and angels, and the appalling technologies now being deployed on Earth to destroy most of humanity and to genetically modify those who do not perish. As unbelievable as it may seem, that is exactly what I need to accomplish the next step. What if I can trust my soul, its long-term plan and its powerful action on my willing body? By letting it guide my actions at all times, I allow the highest vibrations of spirit to permeate my body and I become invincible! In 2008, Richard Seed, a physicist heavily involved in human cloning research admitted: “We are going to become gods, period. If you don’t like it, get off!” Well, I am getting off. I refuse to listen to my ego and its desire for an illusory, easy-to-get power. I will not sell my soul at any cost. I don’t want to become an improved caterpillar. I aim at becoming who I really am – an unlimited butterfly! Personocratia* Source: Personocratia’s booklet “ SOCIETY, towards… Paradise-on-Earth”, to be published very soon. Order your copy Information: www.personocratia.com Videos: www.dianedares.com in advance by contacting: info@personocratia.com/ * Personocratia: The person who knows that she is the Supreme Creatrix incarnated in a body and who acts as such in her daily life.
“Energy All Around”
What can we do during this time of threats to our health? Anna Christine Doehring, Nanaimo BC
I noticed during my monthly CHLY radio presence at 'Living for the Health of It' with Pamela Edgar (in Nanaimo) that people are so afraid that they even do not want to know what is happening in the world. All they want to know is what they can do to be safe. Obviously the media have been very successful with instilling fear in the population: Fear of criminals, fear of the flu, fear of terrorists, fear of all kinds of germs – to sum it up: the fear of dying. Most are riddled by the fear of dying. Those who have accepted that our bodies all have to die one day will be without fear. Additional to the above (actually not-so-scary) dangers we have Chemtrails, GMOs, Electro Magnetic Radiation, Smart-Meters, and now also the radiation from Fukushima. There is so much out there that endangers our health and well-being that the old ways of protection are obsolete. Not to mention the time and stress it takes finding the best protection. There has to be another solution to be safe. Louis Pasteur said at the end of his life that the danger is not the 'germ,' that it is the 'terrain' - and by terrain he meant the body - and the immune system of the body. When we take care of our health, the immune system will know what to do with the germ. Did you ever wonder why Albert Schweitzer and many nurses, doctors and mothers do not get sick while tending to those who are? I believe that they 56 dialogue
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stay(ed) healthy because they were/are full of love for others. And exactly this love is the solution to overcome all the dangers we have to face now. We cannot totally avoid getting GMO in our body; we can reduce the EMR/EMF exposure but not totally avoid it either; we cannot protect ourselves from the Chemtrails, nor from the radioactivity coming from Fukushima. What we can do – and have to do – is everything possible to reach a higher vibratory level. This is the level we reach when we are, for example, calm and at peace, loving, compassionate, joyful, and happy… an inner happiness and contentment. The higher our vibratory level, the safer we are, in my opinion. Stop watching TV, playing video games, reading the newspaper and looking for gruesome information on the Internet! Dr. Eric Pearl, whose Reconnective Healing® seminar I attended 2007 in Los Angeles, when talking about the high frequencies of this form of healing, said "and I am even committing the greatest sin of all" and took the cell phone from his belt. In My opinion this is the time of the survival of the ones who recognize the dangers we are exposed to and have the understanding and realization about what to do to be unaffected by them. It is all about reaching a higher consciousness and being at peace and filled with Joy - Love - Compassion. As long as we are in Fear, we cannot come from Love. Energy All Around Therapies and Healing, Nanaimo,BC Tel. 250-756-2235; Websites: www.energy-All-Around.com www.ReconnectionToTheCosmos.com
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“Observations from Lithuania”
Glory Be
by KR Slade, Lithuania
The little girl walked all the way into town on a hot-summer Saturday afternoon, to go to confession. “Bless me Father, for I have sinned.” “Bless you little child, for you are seeking the sacrament of reconciliation. How long has it been since your last confession?” “Every week since my First Communion, last Spring, Father.” “Bless you, child. Tell me, what sin have you committed?” “I cursed.” “Well, that is bad, to curse.” “Yes, Father.” “Tell me now, who did you curse?” “The devil, Father.” “Well, perhaps we all curse the devil, once in a while. God will forgive you.” “Yes, Father. I’ll try not to do it again.” “Very well, my child. Now, for your penitence, say the ‘Our Father’, three times.” “Yes, Father. But could I say one ‘Ow Fathers’ today at the altar, and two ‘Ow Fathers’ tomorrow, when I’m at church? My mother wants me home, soon.” “Yes, my child. You must mind your mother, also.” “Thank you, Father. But it really is getting late, could I say a ‘Gloria Be To the Father’ while I’m walking out now; and I’ll say the three ‘Ow Father’s’ tomorrow at church?” “That will be fine, child. Bless you. Now, you may go, to walk in the way of the Lord.”
Ageless Humor
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The foregoing article is ‘fiction’. Then again, maybe it is a ‘fiction’ to say that it was ‘fiction’; you can never really know with ‘fiction’ . . . Ken-Russell Slade, B.S., M.Ed., M.R.E., J.D.
Laughter & ‘Lightenment
Recd. from Don Parker, contd. From p.53: 15. When I'm finally holding all the right cards, everyone wants to play chess. 16. It is not hard to meet expenses... They're everywhere. 17. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth. 18. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter... I go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I'm "here after". 19. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. Have a Nice Day! [Recd. from Don Parker] www.dialogue2.ca
Once outside, the little girl said to her little brother, “Gloria Be To the Father; the priest agrees with me, you #@%&* little devil, Christian.” And her little brother came to say, “Ow,” six times, when he fell every time she kicked him. Two times for each of the ‘Ow Fathers’ his sister was going to say tomorrow. At home, she told her mother that she had taught her little brother how much is three, two times. And her little brother said, “six !” And so, she was rewarded with candy. But he did not get any candy, because he was all dirty, again. * * * * * “Was that Great-Aunt Gloria, Mother?” “Yes, Bea, that was Great-Aunt Gloria, who died as a child, just before her Confirmation ceremony. By a bolt of lightening. Right there on the steps to the church.” “And was the boy, Great-Uncle Christian?” “Oh, yes. Still-healthy Great-Uncle Christian.” “Healthy-Uncle-Christian, because he walks to town every day.” “Every day. His ‘Health Walk’. More than seventy years now.” “All the way into town, to pray at the graveyard.” “Well, to pray at the grave of the priest. And to cleanoff his boots on the tombstone of Aunt Gloria.”
Proofreading is a dying art…
‘Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers’ (Now that's taking things a bit far!) ‘Miners Refuse to Work after Death’ (No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's!) ‘Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant’ (See if that works any better than a fair trial!) ‘War Dims Hope for Peace (I can see where it might have that effect!) ‘Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges’ (You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?) MORE HUMOUR on pages 10, 43, 50, 53, VOL. 27 NO. 3, SPRING 2014
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Contributors in Andersen, Erik, BC……….. 07 Arney, Jeremy, BC……….... 21 BC Health Coalition……….. 04 Bell, J. Molly, BC…………… 19 Blum, William (extract/link)…. 43 BrasscheckTV, US………… 27 CDSAPI (BC)…………….43,44 Cdn. Economists/Austerity… 09 Cdns. for Lang. Fairness….. 14 Camilleri, Sam, ON………… 10 Chossudovsky, M. QC…….. 27 Council of Canadians, BC… 04 Cunningham, F. (extract/link) 43 Democracy Watch, ON……. 04 Dennis, Dolly, AB…………… 14 Doehring, Anna Christine, BC 56 Forshaw, Ralph, BC………. 04 Foster, David, ON…….…39-40 Gaudet, Marie, AB…………. 51 Glenn, Matthew, NB………. 13 Global Research, QC…....
dialogue, Vol. 27 No. 3
Goertzen, Ed, ON…………..5-6 Hall, Sarah (Studio) ON…… 16 Hanle, Inge, BC…………43, 44 Hannah, Dorothy, QC……… 53 Hare, Susanne, BC………… 19 Harvey, Mike, BC...………… 48 Hudson, Michael, US………. 26 Israel, Lou, ON………….…. 20 Kazdan, Larry, BC…………. 09 King, Maurice, BC (from)…... 31 Knauf, Colin, BC………...35, 60 Krznaric, Roman (extract/link) 41 Lian McConnell, Kim, ON…. 14 Lofgren, Mike,US (extract/link) 31 Lonsdale, Derrick, US…...45-46 Lustig, Robert (extract/link)…. 43 Masuda, Gerry, BC (from)…. 04 Mathews, Robin, BC…….22-25 McCaslin, Susan, BC……… 41 McConnell, Kim, ON………. 14 McCullough, John, ON (from) 43
Somers, Jeffrey, US………. 26 Spencer, Eileen, BC……… 19 Spencer, Herb, BC……….. 18 Spicer, Janet, BC…………. 19 Swanston, Adrian, BC….28-29 Taylor, Jim, BC……………. 17 Tellis, Kenneth, ON………. 12 Tremblay, Rodgigue, QC… 25 Urquhart Charkow, Marion...16 Vancourt, Randy, ON…….. 49 Whitebone, Peter, NB…….. 04 YES! Magazine (extract/link) 42
McDowall, S., BC (from)……. 43 McNamer, John, BC……….. 30 Mercola, Dr. (extract/link)……. 46 Moore, R.K, Ireland……...32-34 Morton, Alexandra, BC……. 18 Neilly, Michael, ON…….…. 08 Nickerson, Mike, ON…….. 47 Parker, D., ON (from) 10,53,57 Personocratia, QC…..…… 54 Petrik, Denny, BC…………. 43 Polanyi, John (reprint)…….. 05 Porter, J. S., ON…………... 15 Powe, B. W., ON………….. 17 Ross, June, BC (from)……. 42 Sauvé, Peter, QC (from)….. 50 Semple, Ernest, QC………. 14 Shadbolt, John, ON…….…. 52 Skinner, Derek, BC……..11-12 Slade, Ken, Lithuania…….. 57 Smith, J.L. (extract/link)….…. 43 Smith, Stan, BC…………… 42
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