Dialogue magazine,vol 26,no 6

www.dialogue.ca

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 1

2 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca

A word from the publisher and editor…

Dear Reader, As the moon waxes and wanes before our eyes, so the events of our time unfold, often shrouded – or incompletely revealed – in the double-speak, myths and misspeak of mainstream media and political operatives who “interpret” reality for us. Even with all the dramas swirling around us, peoples’ lives are unfolding and each of us continues to fathom the world, as best we can.

However, the more technological and bizarre the world becomes, the more important it is to ground ourselves in Nature and to find our spiritual selves…

This issue has a great many treasures… and, again, many new writers.

Thank you to everyone for participating.

A new Quarterly format for the magazine!

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 26th 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.

This issue marks the end of our 26th year of volunteer, non-profit publication.

If this is your first issue, please Endings/beginnings always present a good opportunity to contemplate choices; let us know what you think of it. and we have been giving a lot of thought to dialogue’s future ~ and how to best If you would like to share your ensure its long-term viability. This is very much an on-going challenge. But it ideas and become a writer in seems this is a propitious time in dialogue’s evolution for the print magazine dialogue magazine to become a Quarterly rather than a bi-monthly publication.

Overall, this is a solution that will enable us to continue publishing the printed Consider this your personal magazine, while freeing a little time that we can devote to the website and other invitation to participate! initiatives suggested by readers – such as sending out monthly e-magazine We also need your support as a editions; or helping to start dialogue discussion groups where there is an subscriber, to help us continue interest among readers who live in proximity with each other.

(See P. 58 for details) With the pace of change in today’s world, a bi-monthly magazine often cannot We receive NO government funding provide timely commentary on fast-developing topics (such as events, protests, and no advertising revenue. petitions, government actions, elections, etc.). We believe that a combination of We rely totally on the generous more frequent digital editions with a quarterly print edition will better meet the support of our readers & subscribers. needs of both readers and writers. Let us know what you think! dialogue was founded in 1987 Although this will mean a few more weeks between print issues – and correand is published six times a year. spondingly lower printing/mailing costs – it will allow us to reduce the annual Maurice J. King, Volunteer Publisher subscription price to $20, though we will still be relying heavily on donations to Janet K. Hicks, Volunteer Editor make ends meet! [All current subscriptions will be extended, so you will receive Date of Current Issue: May 25, ‘13 the number of issues you have paid for!]

Annual subscription: $20.00 This solution has been inspired, in part, by exploring other alternative periodi[including G/HST [The price has been rounded cals – especially the quarterly YES! Magazine (www.yesmagazine.org); as well off to make our bookkeeping easier! Thank you. as the (digital) Annual Review of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression GST # 89355-1739] (CJFE - http://tinyurl.com/ARcjfe) and Adbusters, both of which use issuu.com Canada Post Agreement No. 40069647 as a platform for their online publications (which we are exploring for dialogue).

Registration No. 08915

Thank you for helping!

This issue of dialogue was made possible by the participation and support of its readers and friends; the magazine is an independent, volunteer-produced, notfor-profit publication that has always relied on the subscriptions and donations of its readers to survive. If you are in a position to help at this time, your donation is much appreciated and helps to keep the publication viable. Without your support and your voices, there would be no dialogue! Thank you.

Maurice,

volunteer publisher

Janet,

volunteer editor/layout …and Penny, of course!

DATES FOR QUARTERLY DIALOGUE ISSUES : VOL. 27, #1 – AUTUMN 2013 Sept./Oct./Nov. VOL. 27, #2 – WINTER 2013-14 Dec/Jan/Feb VOL. 27, #3 – SPRING 2014 March/April/May VOL. 27, #4 – SUMMER 2014 June/July/August www.dialogue.ca

ISSN: 1184-7042 Legal Deposit: National Library of Canada (409731)

The views expressed in this publication are those of their individual authors.

Reprints of published articles are included for their educational value.

6227 Groveland Drive Nanaimo, BC, Canada V9V 1B1

Issue Deadline:

Aug. 1, 2013 Nov. 1, 2013 Feb. 1, 2014 May 1, 2014 

Tel: 250-758-9877 Fax: 250-758-9855 E-mail: dialogue@dialogue.ca WEBSITE: www.dialogue.ca

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 3

From Near and Far…

Federal Court finds election fraud

Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians May 23, 2013: Just hours ago the long-awaited Federal Court ruling on election fraud was released, and as a valued supporter I want you to be among the first to hear it.

In a clear and bold statement, Judge Richard Mosley wrote: "I find that electoral fraud occurred during the 41st General Election."

While his ruling stopped short of annulling election results, this is a powerful victory for Kay Burkhart, Ken Ferance, Yvonne Kafka, Bill Kerr, Sandra McEwing, Tom Parlee, Jeff Reid & Peggy Walsh Craig – the eight brave Canadian voters who launched their legal challenges and the thousands of us who continue to stand behind them.

The judge raised grave concerns that the fraudulent calls "struck at the integrity of the electoral process by attempting to dissuade voters from casting ballots for their preferred candidates. This form of 'voter suppression,' was, until the 41st General Election, largely unknown in this country."

From the outset, the eight applicants argued that the fraudulent robocalls were widespread, targeted and centrally organized – which is precisely what Judge Mosley found. "I am satisfied that it has been established that misleading calls about the locations of polling stations were made to electors in ridings across the country, including the subject ridings, and that the purpose of those calls was to suppress the votes of electors who had indicated their voting preference in response to earlier voter identification calls," and that "the most likely source of the information used to make the misleading calls was the CIMS database maintained and controlled by the CPC [Conservative Party of Canada], accessed for that purpose by a person or persons currently unknown to this Court."

Of course the CPC will try to paint this as a victory, but they have nothing to celebrate. That is unless an attempt to steal the election using their database, to which only senior Conservative Party members have access, is a cause for rejoicing. This is a serious indictment of the CPC. Judge Mosley himself praised the eight applicants for their

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) COUNCIL OF CANADIANS MEDIA RELEASE World Fair Trade Day on May 11 launched the May Days of Action against the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). The month-long event, to connect fair trade products and purchasing with fair trade policy, included actions and public events on five continents, and was also timed to coincide with the 18th TPP negotiating round in Lima, Peru, May 15-24. “You only have to look at the list of chapters in the TPP to see that the deal is not about removing barriers to trade so much as putting barriers in front of the public good. The TPP is about making it more difficult or even illegal to get in the way of corporate profiteering,” says Stuart

4 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

virtue, while chastising the Conservative MPs. "It has seemed to me that the applicants sought to achieve and hold the high ground of promoting the integrity of the electoral process while the respondent MPs engaged in trench warfare in an effort to prevent this case from coming to a hearing on the merits."

And Mosley even made special note of their shameful obstructionist tactics, stating, "Despite the obvious public interest in getting to the bottom of the allegations, the CPC made little effort to assist with the investigation at the outset despite early requests. I note that counsel for the CPC was informed while the election was taking place that the calls about polling station changes were improper. While it was begrudgingly conceded during oral argument that what occurred was "absolutely outrageous", the record indicates that the stance taken by the respondent MPs from the outset was to block these proceedings by any means."

Now you and I need to step up to support Kay, Ken, Yvonne, Bill, Sandra, Tom, Jeff and Peggy once again. The Federal Court has found fraud and this isn't over.

The applicants have an automatic right to appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada – and the Council of Canadians is committed to standing with them every step of the way.

As of this very moment, we're launching an urgent public appeal to raise the $70,000 needed to cover the applicants' Supreme Court appeal. They only have eight days to file, so there's no time to waste. And the only thing standing in their way is legal costs. Can they count on your support?

Your contribution of $24, $52 – or as generous as you can be – will help them pursue this to the highest court in the country. Such an unprecedented attack on the most fundamental of our democratic rights demands nothing less.

With hope and resolve, Maude Barlow, National Chairperson The Council of Canadians 700-170 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON, K1P 5V5 | 1(800) 387-7177 inquiries@canadians.org | www.canadians.org 

Trew, trade campaigner with the Council of Canadians, who began a six-city trade justice tour on the TPP and other Canadian corporate rights pacts in British Columbia on May 22… Across the proposed TPP region, workers and community members are coming together to fight this latest corporate take-over of our public policy and public resources. The TPP has little to do with trade that will improve the lives of people most in need. It is another power grab by the world’s wealthiest multinational companies, to further deregulate their industries… […]

LINK: www.canadians.org/media/trade/2013/10-May-13.html For more information: Elizabeth Berman, ph. 613-410-2853 [SEE ALSO P.59 RE TPP & INTERNET FREEDOM]

www.dialogue.ca

CANADIAN JOURNALISTS FOR FREE EXPRESSION

Plague of government secrecy throttles Canadians’ freedom

Canada now ranks No. 55 among 93 nations when it comes to the law that allows journalists and others to get access to federal government documents.

By Arnold Amber, May 3, 2013 Arnold Amber is president of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression [Originally published in the Toronto Star]

We have all read, heard or seen them: stories that make our heads snap back about a problem in our food chain, a financial blooper by a government department, or a safety regulation that isn’t being enforced. It is our democratic and free expression right to receive such information. Unfortunately, on this, the annual celebration of World Press Freedom Day, Canadians may be dismayed to learn that we need an extensive overhaul to protect free expression across this country.

For starters, Canada now ranks No. 55 among 93 nations when it comes to the law that allows journalists and others to get access to federal government documents. The ranking by the Centre for Law and Democracy puts us just ahead of Angola and Thailand, but one place behind Slovakia. This is a huge drop from 31 years ago when Canada’s initial legislation on access to information (ATI) was hailed as world-leading.

What has happened since then? For one thing, despite many demands over the years for changes to make our law more effective, successive Liberal and Conservative governments did nothing. Then along came the Harper Tories who, amid the Liberals’ explosive sponsorship scandal, promoted open government in the 2006 election campaign.

But once elected, Stephen Harper went to the other extreme, imposing an iron curtain on nearly everything about his government. So much for transparency and the health of Canada’s democracy.

Meanwhile, in many other countries new ATI laws were passed that gave individuals the right to express their views and also enshrined the right guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for people to receive information about important things going on in their government and society.

Present Canadian law and processes concerning Access to Information are particularly bad and getting worse in how long it takes for government departments to reply. While 36.8 per cent of requests in 1999 were answered beyond the 30 days the law allows, by 2011-12 that rose to 44.7 per cent. According to a 2011 survey by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the average time for an answer was 395 days; on one request, the Department of Defence took an extension of 1,100 days.

The CJFE’s annual Review of Free Expression in Canada (published May 3) gave a grade of D-minus to the federal Access to Information system. [Link follows.] The lack of proper access to information means that when investigative journalists get no response, severely redacted information, or have to wait through lengthy delays, they often are forced to abandon stories the public should have known about. For inquisitive Canadians it makes it difficult to be www.dialogue.ca

well-informed about what the government is doing and to hold it accountable. Or, as CJFE puts it: “What you don’t know can hurt you.”

Another thing that can hurt Canadians is this country’s inability to protect whistleblowers — those brave people who step forward in the public interest to expose misdeeds, corruption or other wrongdoing in their workplaces.

The federal and six provincial governments have laws and regulations about protecting whistleblowers among their employees, but they are flawed in many ways. In the private sector things are even worse. There is no direct legislation at any level that protects the jobs of whistleblowers and they are almost always terminated by their employers.

Many never work again in their industry of choice.

Whistleblowers are fundamental to pointing out major problems that could affect all of us. There are not enough journalists, inspectors, prosecutors or auditors to know what’s going on in the thousands of government departments and private sector companies. Other western countries have much better protection laws than Canada.

Amid all these issues, the federal government continues to stop the free flow of information to the public. In successive moves it has stymied federal government scientists, other bureaucrats, even their own backbenchers in Parliament and, most recently, senior RCMP officers from speaking to members of Parliament without permission from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. In this era of news and views everywhere, the government tries to control its message, undermining democracy along the way.

On World Press Freedom Day, someone in the cabinet should read Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, where our freedom to “receive and impart information” is guaranteed.

ARTICLE AT: https://cjfe.org/resources/features/plaguegovernment-secrecy-throttles-canadians%E2%80%99-freedom CJFE's annual Review of Free Expression in Canada: LINK: https://cjfe.org/2013review ABOUT ARNOLD AMBER AND CJFE [From cjfe.org]: Arnold Amber is president of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression; he is a former executive producer at CBC and Director of CWASCA Canada, the parent body of the Canadian Media Guild and 25 other smaller union locals that represent employees in the newspaper industry. Arnold’s dedication to CJFE is based on his drive to protect the right to free expression both on the national and international stage. During Arnold's time as president of the board, he has witnessed CJFE grow from a handful of journalists passionate about the right to freedom of expression, to a rapidly expanding organization taking its rightful place alongside its international partners. […] CJFE is a Canadian non-governmental organization founded in 1981 that works to defend and protect the right to free expression in Canada and around the world. CJFE produces the Review of Free Expression in Canada; and hosts the annual fundraising event, the CJFE Gala: A Night to Honour Courageous Reporting. Website: https://cjfe.org  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 5

FREEDOM BEING CURTAILED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Canada’s federal librarians fear being muzzled

By Margaret Munro, Postmedia News March 16, 2013 [EXTRACT & LINK] The code [a new ‘code of conduct’] is having a “chilling” effect on federal archivists and librarians, some of whom work at the Archives Canada Preservation Building in Gatineau, Que., who used to be encouraged to interact with groups interested in everything from genealogy to preserving historical documents, says the head of the Association of Canadian Archivists.

Federal librarians and archivists who set foot in classrooms, attend conferences or speak up at public meetings on their own time are engaging in “high risk” activities, according to the new code of conduct at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Given the dangers, the code says the department’s staff must clear such “personal” activities with their managers in advance to ensure there are no conflicts or “other risks to LAC.” The code, which stresses federal employees’ “duty of loyalty” to the “duly elected government,” also spells out how offenders can be reported.

“It includes both a muzzle and a snitch line,” says James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents more than 68,000 teachers, librarians, researchers and academics across the country. He and others say the code is evidence the Harper government is silencing and undermining its professional staff.

“Once you start picking on librarians and archivists, it’s pretty sad,” says Toni Samek, a professor of library and information studies at the University of Alberta. She specializes in intellectual freedom and describes several clauses in the code as “severe” and “outrageous.” The code is already having a “chilling” effect on federal archivists and

librarians, who used to be encouraged to actively engage and interact with groups interested in everything from genealogy to preserving historical documents, says archivist Loryl MacDonald at the University of Toronto.

“It is very disturbing and disconcerting to have included speaking at conferences and teaching as so-called ‘high risk’ activities,” says MacDonald, who is president of the Association of Canadian Archivists, a non-profit group representing some 600 archivists across the country. […]

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE: www.canada.com/news/Canada+federal+librarians+fear+being +muzzled/8105500/story.html [Story suggested by M.J. King] SEE ALSO: STATEMENT ON FREEDOM AND INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM [from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, IFLA] From Concerned Librarians of British Columbia, An advocacy group of Canadian librarians formed in 2004 whose goal is to heighten awareness on current issues as they pertain to the profession. [http://concernedlibrarians.blogspot.ca/] IFLA supports, defends and promotes intellectual freedom

as defined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. … Read Statement in full at: www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-statement-on-libraries-andintellectual-freedom/ The IFLA is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 30 September 1927 at an international conference, we celebrated our 75th birthday at our conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2002. 

It's Time to Rein In the Prime Minister's Office

Walter Cavendish, Parksville BC If Stephen Harper wants to operate a quasi-criminal enterprise on the public dime then he has to take full responsibility for it.

The Prime Minister's Office is his and his alone. He decides who works there and he decides what they do or don't do. It is funded from the public purse but is accountable to no one save the prime minister.

The Harper PMO is not only unaccountable, it's opaque.

What goes on in there goes on behind closed doors.

There is no transparency whatsoever at least until something leaks out or erupts. In other words, it's perfectly designed for corruption. It is the ideal vehicle for someone like Stephen Harper to have done what he cannot risk being caught doing himself.

In the wake of the latest scandal there was utter shock in the media about the resignation of Harper chief of staff, Nigel Wright. The universal take on Wright was that he was the ultimate straight arrow, a great guy. That might have been true, at least before Wright became entangled with the Harper PMO but then everything changed.

Put it down to the culture of corruption that inevitably

6 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

emanates from the Grand Corrupter himself, the prime minister. Stephen Harper is the poster boy of sociopathy.

He is a ruthless and amoral character who refuses to accept restraint or responsibility. He showed us he was bent at the outset when he removed portraits of the prime ministers of Canada from the foyer of the House of Commons and replaced them with photographs of himself, the narcissistic hallmark of a sociopath. In his daily life he shows a cold, detached demeanour and an utter lack of conscience.

His two most frequently observed character traits are mean-spiritedness and vindictiveness. Stephen Harper does not play well with others nor does he play by the rules which is why an organization like the PMO will inevitably devolve into a criminal enterprise.

The current scandal is a three-part affair. The minor scandal deals with the Cavendish Cottager. The intermediate scandal lies in the Senate itself and the Conservative senators who control it and have allowed it to be corrupted. The major scandal lies in the Prime Minister's Office through which Stephen Harper has pulled the strings in all three scandals. Follow those strings back and you're sure to find them in Harper's very own hand, or at least you might but for his cut-out, his font of plausible deniability, his PMO.  www.dialogue.ca

Mike Duffy was Stephen Harper's pick to serve as a senator for Prince Edward Island. The statutes were clear enough. Duffy obviously wasn't "resident" in Prince Edward Island as stipulated – but rules, for Stephen Harper, are inconveniences to be circumvented or bent when necessary. In this way, a clear statutory requirement was treated as an irrelevant formality.

Duffy was a loyal and energetic servant of his Master. He was a fundraising machine. In his many appearances across the country, when Duffy spoke he usually did it with the venom of the man he served. He really dished out the ridicule. Harper must have loved it. Of Harper's many Senate appointments, Duffy was the highest-profile by far.

Then arose a controversy about certain senators and their expenses, particularly extra housing allowances claimed by senators who seemed to be resident in Ottawa, Duffy foremost among them. The rules, bent by Harper at the outset, were now to be examined, tested. This promised to be not only bad news for Duffy but a huge embarrassment for the prime minister. A little string pulling would be in order.

When the Senate appointed independent auditor, Deloitte, to review the suspect senators, their claims and status, the PMO brought Duffy in-house. As Duffy's unfortunate e-mails of the time indicate, he was given a 3-part deal. He would be given the cash to clear his Senate tab, to reimburse the expenses he had improperly claimed. He was ordered to stay silent and not cooperate with the auditors. "They," as in Stephen Harper, would intervene with the Senate committee and see to it that their report on Duffy "went easy" on him.

Three pieces, sublimely corrupt:- an under the table payment, subversion of an audit process, and manipulation of a Senate committee. Now tell me that was Nigel Wright's doing.

It all worked. Duffy dutifully handed the Senate someone else's cash. Duffy spurned the requests of the independent auditors for information and documents. The Senate committee, or at least the Tories in charge of it, laundered the report, removing in particular the damning finding that Duffy was not nor ever had been since childhood resident in Prince Edward Island.

And it all worked, right up until one or more dissidents, believed to be from the Senate, began feeding information and documents to a CTV parliamentary reporter.

The leaks seemed staged in such a way as to elicit denials or admissions that tied the principal actors to their stories.

Layer by layer, leaks were fed to the CTV reporter as the

cement hardened around the feet of Duffy and Nigel Wright. The final straw was the leak to the CBC of the original Senate report on Duffy that, read in the context of the official version, revealed how the Tories who controlled the committee had been compromised, corrupted. The story of just how that happened is still to come out and may be the most telling of all.

When Stephen Harper addressed the Conservative Parliamentary caucus on Tuesday morning, he displayed all the aplomb that might be expected of a sociopath in his circumstances. He took no responsibility whatsoever. He portrayed himself as the victim and blamed the whole mess on everyone else, right up to and including the top staff in his own PMO. Curiously, he didn't seem to single out Duffy. Why not?

After all, he was spreading the blame pretty thick on everyone and anyone else he could think of. Presumably because Duffy can't be scapegoated, lest people ask too many questions about his "special handling" throughout this affair. Duffy also probably knows too much, the sort of stuff that could dissolve Harper's plausible deniability of his role in all three scandals. For this is Harper's doing, front to back, start to finish, and it reveals him to be utterly corrupt, head to toe.

Harper isn't going to bring in fresh blood to the PMO, not at this point when so much is at stake. He can't trust new people. That's why he fell back on his principal secretary, Novak, his young but fiercely loyal confidante.

It is right that Harper doesn't have to account or report on the activities of the Prime Minister's Office. The PMO can't function without plenty of privacy. It is a partisan agency and every prime minister needs that to do the job. But a PMO that has no accountability is a PMO, just like Harper's, that is ripe for corruption. That's why Prime Minister Harper must be held personally responsible for everything that comes out of his PMO, good and bad alike. He doesn't get to play victim and point fingers. The skullduggery that goes on inside his personal enclave is his, in full.

Harper lost any benefit of the doubt after the Bruce Carson* scandal. From that point on he had a special obligation to stay on top of his PMO and ensure nothing like that happened again. Even if you're willing to accept his absurd claim that he knew nothing of the Wright-Duffy dealings, it doesn't matter. That's on Harper, squarely on him.

Why Disinformation Works

oppressed can fight back against imperialism.

“The patriotic rightwing likes the official story, because it proves America is attacked for its goodness or because terrorists were allowed in by immigration authorities and nurtured by welfare, or because the government, which can’t do anything right, ignored plentiful warnings.

“Whatever the government says, no matter how problematical, the official story gets its traction from its compatibility with existing predispositions and agendas.

“In such a country, truth has no relevance. Only agendas are important.” […] LINK: http://tinyurl.com/PCRdisin 

Paul Craig Roberts, May 23, 2013 [EXTRACT, LINK] “Have you ever wondered how the government’s misinformation gains traction? What I have noticed is that whenever a stunning episode occurs, such as 9/11 or the Boston Marathon bombing, most everyone whether on the right or left goes along with the government’s explanation, because they can hook their agenda to the government’s account.

“The leftwing likes the official stories of Muslims creating terrorist mayhem in America, because it proves their blowback theory and satisfies them that the dispossessed and www.dialogue.ca

Walter Cavendish  [*http://tinyurl.com/TYEEcar if you need reminding.]

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 7

Towards a new economy

Time to replace our official money system Keith C. Gilbert, Simcoe ON Official money is an instrument of control that is used to maintain political and economic power. It is not a benign medium of exchange and it is not our money.

The present monetary system keeps us in a collective state of perpetual debt, demands unsustainable economic growth, restrains legitimate economic activity and leads to involuntary unemployment.

The fruits of our labour are controlled, confiscated, redistributed and depleted through debt, interest, taxation, inflation and a systemic shortage of currency.

National currency is systemically scarce because it must be “borrowed” into existence as interest-bearing debt, with interest being charged for every dollar in circulation. Total aggregate debt, including principal and interest, is more than the total amount of money available.

Banks and governments collude to control the creation, allocation, collection, redistribution and price of official money. Banks and other financial institutions create money as credit, based on the debtor’s promise to repay, but more money is demanded than was even created. Government “borrows” this money and then passes its debt to taxpayers, but taxes are paid with money that was also “borrowed” into circulation as interest-bearing debt. Government is unproductive and can only give what it takes, and the money it takes through taxation is typically spent without taxpayers’ consent.

The central bank, in collusion with government and the financial institutions, manipulates the price of credit by influencing interest rates, which influences demand for goods and services by affecting decisions to “borrow” and spend.

This interferes with the exchange of products and services, and provides huge profits for chartered banks.

When new money is “borrowed” into circulation it adds more money to the economy without necessarily bringing more goods and services to the market. This can lead to currency inflation and price inflation, which reduces domestic purchasing power of the dollar and erodes the value of

savings.

A persistent shortage of currency leads to a shortage of paid employment, and the jobs that are available might be unrewarding or completely unproductive. We are forced to compete for an inherently insufficient amount of money, even though there is plenty of worthwhile work that can be done and there are plenty of people who are willing and able to work.

Why would we participate in any political or monetary system that is not serving our best interests?

We should be able to select the goods and services that we want from a variety of producers and providers, without being forced to pay for any goods or services that we do not want or do not use, and without forcing our individual choices on any other person or demanding anything from anyone else. All products and services, including government programs and financial services, should be able to compete in a free market based on quality, price and demand.

Money in the present system is basically credit, like an IOU. Our ability to exchange our goods and services should not be hampered by the price of credit or a manipulated shortage of money.

We can take control of our own labour for the production of goods and provision of services, and control the allocation of credit to facilitate reciprocal exchange of products and services for our mutual benefit. Imposed monetary systems and currency monopolies can be replaced by alternative trading methods, including mutual credit clearing associations, which simply keeps an ongoing record of transactions, with sales and purchases, credits and debits. Interest does not need to be charged when credit is extended for a specified period of time, based on a person’s willingness and ability to provide as much as he or she obtains. In essence, goods and services pay for other goods and services.

Money, like government, is a human invention that has changed over time and will continue to change, but the direction of this change will be determined by the way we think and the choices we make. 

Paul Hellyer’s Proposal to fix the Monetary System Derek Skinner, Victoria BC

RE: THE ARTICLE IN THE LAST ISSUE (P.5-6)

I think you all know my interest in monetary reform. A new and brilliant proposal by Paul Hellyer for reform of monetary policy is presented in the attached letter to Finance Minister Flaherty and the Social Contract that follows it. In the most basic terms it sets out how to provide Interest-Free money to the government for distribution into the Canadian economy by selling shares to the Bank of Canada rather than Bonds which entail interest payments. Deficits can become a thing of the past and balanced budgets will be easily attainable. Social programs can be fully funded and in time it should be possible to reduce the National Debt and the drain that Debt Charges make on tax revenues.

8 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

In order to counter the potentially inflationary effect of this influx of new money, the Banks will be required to hold deposits as a reserve which will take the new money out of circulation after the government has spent it once, and slightly reduce the Banks' ability to create Debt-Money.

In a carefully controlled progression over 7 years the government-held portion of the currency in circulation will be increased to one third of the total rather than the less than one twentieth it now holds.

This is a ground-breaking attempt to enable all levels of government to execute their basic responsibilities to all the people for stability, security and personal prosperity. It warrants support by all Canadians in letters and phone calls  www.dialogue.ca

to MPs and all holders of authority plus media articles to show the government that we know the monetary system is broken, we know how to fix it and they deny this initiative at their peril.

Please join Paul Hellyer in your own way in his campaign to correct monetary policy. Letters and phone calls to MPs. Letters and copies to media. Jump in on talk shows. These are all good although some may be ignored. The purpose

is to spread the idea and get a critical mass of interest that will have an effect at any election".

Derek Skinner, djlives@shaw.ca P.S. The Manifesto & Social Contract are online at: LINK: www.BankonCanada.ca  [SEE LINK ON P.59 TO “MONEY & LIFE” FILM ]

“Prévoyance”

Observations from Erik Andersen, Gabriola Island BC Comment re: Canada's Postal Service is Under Attack

[The Care2.com ] attempt (*below) to dissuade the government is commendable but a long-shot with this government.

Perhaps we need to throw them a hard ball in return that takes them off their message. In decades past the postal services of several countries like the ` and Japan included banking services as part of what they did for the public.

The Canadian post office has a magnificent array of small offices throughout Canada, unlike the system of service centres for the traditional large banks.

The Finance Minister recently announced that in the event of a bank insolvency issue the government would invoke a new process dubbed "bail in." By this method bank deposits would be partially or totally converted into some form of valueless paper. Canadians have not fully processed this concept but hopefully will and when they do they will look for safer alternatives for depositing their monies.

The Credit union system does exist but is not national in character and might be just as risky in the event of the troubles the Minister is contemplating because they appear to be want-a-be banks.

Besides the post office being custodian option for personal savings accounts, not checking accounts, it could be credentialed as a place to make registered accounts investments. There are computer models existing today that can profile investment risks in direct accord with what is acceptable to the individual. I have seen and worked with such models.

Unlike the government, I see the Post office in Canada as an unexploited system that could offer services currently provided by the large banks who can't seem to understand Erik Andersen

that they are constantly in conflict of interest because they conduct themselves concurrently as agents and principals.

We all know who will win the day in such circumstances and it won't be the small depositors.

– Erik

*Care2.com re Canada Post: The postal service has always been a staple of international connection. Yet with the expansion of the Internet and record-low levels of traditional communication, the Canadian postal service is at risk of being further gutted by the Harper government. … Instead of exploring other avenues to boost revenue, the Harper government proposed a series of cuts that would: cancel door deliveries, reduce mailing times by significant margins, and lower a host of service options. These cuts will not make the postal service any more relevant to the public, and may have an even worse impact on postal revenue. Canada Post is supposed to serve the community, including Canadians who cannot afford the Internet and seniors dependent on traditional mail. Tell the Harper government that these cuts will accomplish the opposite of their intended effect! [Sign a petition at Care2.com]

Erik’s Letter to the Editor regarding the "Bail-in" idea included in the recent federal budget

In my personal judgement, the media articles on the topic of a Cyprus type "bail-in" wrongly promote reader indifference and complacency. This new bank deposits idea is being spoken of in many places as the option of last resort for beleaguered banks. Our former Governor of the Bank of Canada is one of several prominent folks talking this way.

If our Finance Minister is to be taken at face value from the many times he has assured us that Canada's banks are sound and the envy of many western nations there should have been no need of his warning provision in his budget.

The very fact that he felt it necessary makes the risk for depositors much greater in my mind. – Erik Andersen 

CO-OPTING THE FRINGES?

Canada’s Right/Left Extremists

Lawrence McCurry, Scarborough ON With a far right neo-conservative government in Canada, which may have very well come into power in an illegitimate way, there is a phenomena taking place that concerns me even more. That’s the massive amount of people flocking to the extreme left as a result.

By ‘extreme left’ I’m not talking about the NDP of old under people like Jack Layton or Ed Broadbent. I’m referring to a www.dialogue.ca

very large and growing group of people flocking to groups that can only be defined by names like The International Socialists, The Socialist League, Trotskyites and international Bolshevik tendency, Canadian Marxists… and on & on; these communists go by many names and change them often.

The problem is not that people have these far-left political beliefs as much as it is the activist and anarchist groups they use to hide their beliefs behind. The names of these  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 9

groups they also change often, mostly to hide the political agenda behind them from the dupes they recruit to swell their ranks. They gain these recruits by forming groups that they use to infiltrate and take over legitimate causes.

These people think nothing of using violence as a means to their ends and are the very same people who wore masks and dressed in black at the G-20 and were used and controlled by police to be the excuse that was needed to justify that billion-dollar budget. These people call themselves the “Black Bloc Anarchists” but they go by many other names as well, like “No one is illegal,” Queers Against Israel Apartheid, The Ruckus Society, anti-racist action, just to name a few.

These groups of people are well organized, well-funded and national. Their influence spreads across this country from coast to coast. They are funded using money from U.S. foundations like the Tides and Rockefeller foundations and labor groups like CUPE and CAW, That’s not to say all members of unions in Canada are communist but by funding the red agenda they are buying ideological co-operation and the bodies of the dupes they recruit to support their union causes.

This became blatantly obvious with the failed Occupy movement in Canada. Occupy was billed as a movement to stop the corporate greed and banking fraud, but thanks to the people who took control, it was everything but that. Occupy was a coup d'état of grand proportion for these fake activists who, until that time, only had a limited success on the university campuses of Canada. By taking control of the Occupy movement in Canada, before it even got off the ground, they were able to expand their sphere (or is that ‘spear’) of influence and start recruiting the social under-class and ordinary Canadians who had social concerns – to be used as cannon fodder for their far-left agenda.

They now believe they control all protest and social justice activism. Any groups or activists who are not controlled by this group are slandered and lied about publicly and physically attacked and bullied privately. The group “We Are Change” in Victoria B.C. refused to be pushed around by this group of socialist anarchists. They held a rally called “Occupy Solutions” at the B.C. legislator. In response to We Are Change not falling into the controlled Occupy script, the group of masked, fake activists protested the rally, handing out flyers calling WAC ‘racists and bigots.’ On the net they outed one of the leaders of WAC as a homosexual and took over and “occupied” the coffee shop where WAC held their weekly meetings. Never mind that the claims of racism and bigotry were totally untrue and unfounded.

That’s just one example of how these people operate.

In another incident that I have written about, these Black Bloc anarchists attacked and beat writer Greg Renouf in Kensington Market in Toronto, because he has been persistent in the critical writing about the individuals that are part of this group in both Toronto and Vancouver. In that case, after months of enduring public lying about his character, he was attacked physically by a few of these masked social anarchists. Even though the police were provided with the names and unmasked photographs of the attack-

10 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

ers, to this date they still refuse to make an arrest!? (UPDATE: One of the assailants was arrested when Renouf spotted him at a recruiting table at Ryerson University, six months after the assault) During the ‘red badge’ student protests in Hamilton, Ontario, one of these communists pushed a student, citizen journalist into a police horse, in an attempt to silence his voice in the protest because he was not spewing their collectivist dogma with his bull horn.

All this brings us to their current pet project, the Idle No More protests. Anyone who believes that the INM movement is a grass roots movement by Native Canadians that just sprung up all on its own has not been paying attention. Idle No More is a well-organized campaign with lots of money and planned coordination and these same professional protesters behind it.

One of the ongoing targets of these fake political activists is the group that they and George Bush refer to as “conspiracy theorists;” but the truth of it is they have those amongst them that wish to also control the Truth Movement as well. Many of the people who speak the truth are weary of these people.

Publicly many in the Truth movement will not speak out against these people, although some have condemned the actions of the Black Bloc. These socialist anarchists tell those who follow them that the Black Bloc is a tactic and not a group. That it is just another tactic in the socialist activists’ tool box. But many in the Truth movement know the lies behind this. A good example of this was the G-20 in Toronto, First these people supported the Black Bloc that gave the police the excuse for violence then afterwards they took control of all the protest against the same police violence they co-operated in creating. At Occupy, they cried that they had a right to free speech and the right to protest and at the same time censored anybody in social media who spoke the truth about them and they publicly smear and slander anybody who speaks against them at protests.

The biggest enemy to these people is the truth. This is why they slander, beat and intimidate any people of the truth movement that they have not been able to co-opt.

Most of the alternative media not controlled by their faction know this. Well-funded outlets that they use to spread their propaganda like Media co-op and Rabble.ca masquerade as alternative media but are in fact socialist rags with a political agenda and not interested in the truth at all. They are no better than the mainstream media that spread the lies of the bankers and large corporations that own them.

In the last couple of years, protest has been manufactured behind the scenes by people with support and connections to groups like Lead Now, Move On and Common Cause.

Large money has been thrown into protests like the robocall, student red square, Occupy and Idle No More actions.

The people recruited though these protests used to beef up political actions and protests like OCAP (Ontario coalition against poverty) and protests at the Liberal leadership conventions. The occupy zombie horde has been used to protest city budget meetings and votes that impact public service unions and recently have even turned up as muscle in the Porter air lines strike.

In looking at these so called social justice anarchists we  www.dialogue.ca

must ask ourselves what is their real agenda? On the surface they seem to covertly support the agenda of the United Nations, Global warming and agenda 21. Which means in reality they support the agenda of the banks and large corporations in bringing Canada into a globalized world, while appearing to confront both the political right and left that also support a globalized Canada. Sounds crazy don’t it?

After watching these people closely over the course of a couple of years, I believe they are a cult; only a few at the top know what’s really going on and the rest have invested so much of their lives and energy into it, believe so in-

Left, right, left

Lawrence McCurry, Scarborough, April 26, 2013 LINK: http://canadaawakes.blogspot.ca/2013/04/canadasrightleft-extremists.html 

“The Fifth Columnist”

Michael Neilly, Dunrobin ON It’s amazing that when you get older, you hate noise. Even political noise becomes offensive. I know that men will turn down the car radio when they are lost, so maybe at some level we have become lost.

Over the years, I’ve gotten some very intelligent correspondence from readers. Not once have I received an ill-considered remark. Lately though I’ve become addicted to commenting on newspaper articles on-line. It’s anonymous if you like, so comments are generally uncensored. There is no diplomatic couching of indelicate terms; there is only the shrillness of left vs. right, Lib-left vs. CON. As such, people insult one another without a thought, and make remarks that surely would cause some to fight were they face-to-face. It's this "dialogue" that causes positions to harden.

Often times, the comments are tangential to the article.

Someone makes a comment about the CBC, and immediately the insults start to fly from the left about Fox or SUN news. Someone comments on the Boston bombing, and is immediately set upon by internet trolls looking for a summary execution when they mention root causes. A recent article suggested that when people don’t make eye contact, it is a licence to kill – verbally. When I get these kinds of comments, I try to take the high road and that usually either prompts an intelligent discussion or no response. Still, so-called reasoned debate inevitably succumbs to possibly hundreds of nasty, malicious comments about your religion, intelligence or parentage.

I conclude that Canadians are slow to anger, but are in fact very angry. People rant about democracy, but seem to confuse it with collectivism and social justice. They vilify Stephen Harper as a bully of some kind, but forget the autocratic ways of Trudeau or Chrétien, for instance.

Yes, the Sponsorship Scandal is long forgotten. I’m angry because we still don’t have reliable maritime helicopters, thanks to the Little Guy from Shawinigan. As far as I’m concerned, Canada’s lost years go to Jean Chrétien.

I’m angry about Trudeau’s legacy , the national debt, something that now consumes about 30% of Canada’s www.dialogue.ca

tensely, have such a fear of being ousted, that there’s no way out or any critical thought of why they continue to support their leaders. Those who have taken Ruckus society training even have secret matching tattoos. Again these people are well organized, national, well-funded and dangerous. They are also not being honest with the people who call them friends. Let us be more aware of who we all throw our support behind in these dangerous times.

revenues. Imagine what 30 billion dollars a year would buy. Alberta’s oil sands are now the target of the angry Tom Mulcair, but if the oil sands were in Quebec, would we hear the same opposition? Mais, non!

But deploring noise, maybe we should take the Left at their word and simply do nothing and revert to the pastoral, pre-industrial revolution where people died young.

The left, the irrational ones who think that we could deploy windmills and solar panels today, and expect every nuclear reactor to be shut down at the same time. The ones who think that global warming is caused by the humans burning fossil fuels and want us to sign an international protocol for just one gas, but are quite willing to ignore the thousands of toxic compounds that humanity generates.

Don’t get me wrong. I can see the conveyor belt that most of us are riding on, with the big flames and giant shredder at the end. I think that the puppet masters, the manipulators, want the left-right dialectic because it distracts us from what matters: the earth, water and air.

They bribe us with shiny smart phones, when we need a household reactor to generate our heat and electricity.

They extol the virtues of growth, but ignore the disappearing farmland, polluted oceans and stripped forests that feed it. In my book case at home, I have a beautifully bound book on the history of West Gwillimbury, a township north of Toronto. One hundred years ago, the streams ran with suckers and were fished from the ice every winter. White pine forests covered the land. Now the suckers are gone, all the white pine cut down for ships’ masts (which have gone by the wayside as well). At some point we, Con or Lib-left, have to ask, is this okay?

A co-worker gushed the other day that Canada was incredible because we fund dissident groups. Still, that makes a country more difficult to govern and increases the tribal noise, making it difficult to see what truly matters, what we require to survive, the earth, air and water. Leftright, left-right, we march along, to who knows where?

Pushing and shoving. What is reform? What is revolution?

It must look like a bar-room brawl from outer space. dialogue always welcome, contact me at: fifth_columnist@magma.ca  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 11

CPR Democracy: a series

~ Examining the deficits in the theory & practice of Canadian democracy…

Ed Goertzen, Oshawa ON I chose the title words "CPR Democracy" since our democracy is in trouble. Not only do we not know how to practice it, but also I have come to believe that the knowledge of 'how to do it' is being deliberately kept from us.

[Continued from the last issue] should be homelessness, privation and poverty in Canada.

Part Five Ed Goertzen This conclusion of the series will set out In addition to that are all the governmental departments the Organizational Structure and the generally called our social welfare system.

Organizational Functions that are needed to practice a A Columnist (Carol Goar: Toronto Star) has written that the meaningful and Representative Democracy. amount of revenue being diverted through charitable and Recently a University of Toronto Professor of Political Scinon-profit organizations could amount to over $100 billion ence has said that, “students arrive at university with open dollars annually. Those expenditures are fixed and no minds”. (University Toronto Professor of Political Science: elected member of parliament ever examines them to see if Toronto Star 2012012-11) and that should be extended to that are still doing what they were intended to do when they include senior high school students. were put in place.

Those are the open minds we need to tap into. It is imporThat should be enough help to assure that there are no tant that we begin to consider education as a social indead voters melting into beds or homeless voters freezing vestment, a future asset and a source of budgetary remuon the sidewalks, If only we knew where they were. neration, and not as a budgetary expense.

There are about seven elected members supposedly rep(The above proceeding is presently being pleaded at the resenting my poll; Municipal; Regional; Provincial; Federal, Federal Court of Canada, by Mr. Rocco Galati, Court File and to Board of Education. Some jurisdictions also elect No. T2010-11) on behalf of The Committee on Monetary representatives to a utilities commission. and Economic Reform (COMER), William Krehm and Ann Of course, reporters need editors, that is, non-partisan ediEmmett, Plaintiffs) tors/mentors who can suggest questions for petitions, or I suggest that, if we offer students an opportunity to get an focus on the important topics pertaining to the poll. An edieducation that is an investment by society, with future divitor, obtaining reports from several reporters would soon dends returned as income tax, they will see that it is a betsee what opinions voters have in common, then, by conter idea than banging in pots and pans, with even greater tacting the elected, they could help the reporters write anrewards. swers to the questions posed by the voters and communiIn a few short years this will be their country also. They cate them back to the voters. They would be doing what have a vested interest in it being something they will want used to be done by the local media, facilitating the <diato be part of. logue> between the elected and the voters. We might even get a dialogue going to see what the consequences of proThere are two things we need to put that in place: posed legislation will be. an Organizational Structure and a Functioning Process.

I would suggest that it would The Organizational Structure is already in place. It is in the riding and poll structure provided by the non-partisan Elec‘shift the vote’, and if any elected person tions Canada and is used to elect what should be persons would fail to provide a remedy for a problem representing us as our Federal Representatives. or fail to give an answer to a question, they would There are now 308 ridings in Canada. Included in those ridsurely not be elected in future. ings are just over 80,000 polls (the word poll is from the It would be elemental that the reporters not be a mouthGreek word polis. (Defining a political entity) The boundapiece for the elected. The purpose would be to determine ries of the polls rarely change, only reflecting population the appropriateness or consequences of the moral and changes, even if the riding boundaries are redrawn. Those statute laws by which we govern ourselves. polls are just sitting there waiting to be represented.

The clear advantage of the proposal is that it could start I suggest that we recruit high school students appoint them with one poll on one riding and the value to the voters paras non-partisan reporters, one for each poll, representing it ticipating could only increase as more stuas their beat. Even if they only start with a petition, it would dents/editor/mentors sign on. show that they care about their neighbourhood’s well being.

A national registry could reveal which polls were without They will need help. There is more help than will ever be representation. * used. Altogether there are about 82,000 charitable (taxWhat WILL we Do? deductible) organizations in Canada. That’s a lot of help. In There is no other way to obtain the representation addition, there are over 100,000 non-profit, non tax paying to which we are entitled in a Representative Democracy. organizations in Canada. * The poll boundaries are available from Elections Canada.  One would wonder why, with all those organizations there

12 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca

EMAIL LINKS TO OBTAIN POLL BOUNDARIES: Lavigne, Robert, < Robert.Lavigne@Elections.ca> INFO1, <INFO1@Elections.ca> geo.services, geo.services@elections.ca

From Ed Goertzen [egoert@netrover.com] This concludes Ed Goertzen’s five-part series. If you missed any of the segments and would like to read them,

please e-mail or phone dialogue (p.3) for copies: Thank you to Ed Goertzen for undertaking this evaluation of Canadian democracy and for his proposed solutions. We invite readers’ reflections on this thought-provoking series and we look forward to the next challenging essay from Ed. 

Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas A documentary directed, filmed and produced by Michael Fox and Sílvia Leindecker: a journey, which takes us from Venezuela's Communal Councils, to Brazil's Participatory Budgeting, from Constitutional Assemblies to grassroots movements, recuperated factories to cooperatives across the hemisphere, to attempt to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What is Democracy? It features interviews with Eduardo Galeano, Amy Goodman and many other activists, academics & elected representatives from Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, the United States, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and more.

The film opens with the following quote:

Venezuela’s bottom-up democracy Venezuelan Communal Councils

[FROM WIKIPEDIA] In April 2006 the Venezuelan govern-

ment passed The Law of Communal Councils (consejos comunales) which empowers local citizens to form neighbourhood-based elected councils that initiate and oversee local policies and projects towards community development. Communal councils convene and coordinate existing community organizations as well as promote the creation of new work committees, cooperatives and projects as needed in defence of collective interests and the integral development of the community.

The jurisdiction of each council is limited to a self-defined geography housing under 400 families, but unlimited in scope of activities within the community. All key council decisions are made via discussion and majority vote within a citizens' assembly with at least 30% of the adult community present. Councils are highly autonomous although they are often required to coordinate with municipal administrations and receive funds from various levels of government.

Communal councils are new models in a chain of experiments and parallel efforts towards participatory democracy and a new form of socialism under the banner of the Bolivarian Revolution led by popularly elected Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Over 19,500 councils have already been registered throughout the country and billions of dollars have been distributed to support their efforts. The law of Communal Councils was reaffirmed and updated in November 2009.

Structure Communal councils are a group of elected persons from a self-defined residential neighbourhood of about 150 to 400 families in urban areas, or closer to 20 families in rural areas, and potentially 10 in indigenous communities. The principal decision making body of a communal council is the citizens’ assembly. The formal functioning committee is www.dialogue.ca

“It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on among us, but all do not look at it in the same light.”

– Alexis de Tocqueville, ‘Democracy in America,’ 1835

The documentary can be viewed (or purchased) online at LINK: www.beyondelections.com/

Participatory Budgeting

One of the topics, Participatory Budgeting can be explored at upsidedownworld.org, LINK: http://tinyurl.com/ParticBud which includes a RealNews (TRNN) interview with Ben Dangl, author of “Dancing with Dynamite.” 

composed of the following five units: Citizens' Assembly, Executive Body, Financial Management Unit, Unit of Social Oversight, Community Coordination Collective All council persons are people within the community elected by the citizens' assembly for a period of 2 years. No person can occupy positions in more than one unit at time.

In the process of creating a communal council a Provisional Promotion Team from outside the community is often required to help organize the first citizens' assembly.

The first assembly elects a provisional Promotional Commission and Electoral Commission. These Commissions define the geographic boundaries of the community, conduct a census and organize the first elections for the formal functioning committees.

In practice, the high majority of assembly participants and elected spokespersons are women.

Citizens' Assembly All members within the defined community above the age of 15 can participate in the citizens' assemblies, which have the power to elect and revoke community spokespeople to the communal council, as well as approve projects and development plans for the community. Quorum for the first election is 20% of the community. Other assemblies require 10% of the community to achieve the required quorum.

Assembly elections are done directly (i.e. proxy votes are not accepted) and in secret. Other decisions are generally made by majority of raised hands. Meetings are 2-6 hour public events often held outdoors in the streets, basketball courts, empty lots or other available public spaces. Attendance varies from a typical 50 to 150 citizens. Frequency of assemblies vary from weekly to less than once a month depending on the preferences and needs of the executive body.

MORE INFORMATION AT LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_Communal_Councils  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 13

CONTEMPLATING OUR FUTURE

What will we provide for species' future?

Gunther Ostermann, Kelowna BC

[Printed in the Kelowna Daily Courrier, 1-7-1987]

The holidays are over and if all the well wishes and prayers for prosperity and peace would really bear fruit, we would have had it all a long time ago.

But I am afraid, unless we act, nothing will ever happen.

Unless we work for Heaven on Earth now, we can hardly lay claim for the hereafter, In fact, if we don't do many things now, we will leave one heck of a Hell for generations to come, I really don't want to bore you with silly statistics, but it's good not to forget: Our nuclear stockpile is as much as 7,000 Second World Wars. With this power, all of life can be destroyed, 45 times over (isn't once enough?) and only one per cent of all that energy is sufficient to produce a nuclear winter, which means cessation of the human species for sure. There exists good scientific argument that bacteria, insects, cockroaches and some rodents will inherit the earth.

Maybe, just maybe, some of our present generation might survive, but let's look back from some 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000 years from now, when the then living beings will reap the harvest from our nuclear age, since all decommissioned nuclear reactors and the ensuing waste material have to be stored for that length of time.

Where? In what? What cost? Nobody knows!! Our progeny will have to pay a terrible price for our folly and justifiably will they refer to our generation as inconsiderate, stupid, and the most destructive beings who ever lived on earth.

It is a monstrous crime to leave such a poisonous legacy to our descendants.

We may smile uncomfortably and apologetically at our heretic-hunting learned scholars who refused to look through Galileo's telescope.

In that time in history, only a few thousand heads were chopped off, or their owners burned at the stake. Other than that, they couldn't do too much environmental damage.

Today, homo sapiens have matured little to handle the awesome power that we have at our disposal and the responsibility that goes with it.

For our very survival and as custodians of planet earth we must make intelligent decisions and changes. [gco@shaw.ca – sent with letter by L. Hillman, right] 

We'll go extinct if we don’t change our ways

Laura Hillman, Westbank BC [In the KDC, May 2, 2013] I recently watched a documentary at the Paramount Theatre by a Canadian filmmaker about the damage we have done to our oceans and the imminent extinction of all species including ours, if we don't change and change now.

The documentary is called Revolution. I was one of only seven people in the theatre watching this.

Why? Because everyone would rather stick their head in the sand and watch a million-dollar fantasy movie full of special effects about the apocalyptic end of the world where someone like Tom Cruise saves the day and gets the girl in the end.

Art imitates reality and the reality is not a pretty picture. This is one film everyone needs to see, especially us Canadians, who are nearly the worst people, environmentally, on the planet.

Get your heads out of the sand, people. Knowledge is power and if we don’t come together for change, it is not a matter of IF we will be come extinct, it is a matter of when.

I have never been as ashamed as I am today to be a part of this community or this country. 

Revolution is a film about changing the world: www.therevolutionmovie.com/rob-stewart/

The true-life adventure of Rob Stewart, this follow-up to his acclaimed Sharkwater documentary continues his remarkable journey; one that will take him through 15 countries over four years, and where he'll discover that it's not only sharks that are in grave danger – it's humanity itself. In an effort to uncover the truth and find the secret to saving the ecosystems we depend on for survival, Stewart embarks on a life-threatening adventure. From the coral reefs in Papua New Guinea and deforestation in Madagascar to the largest and most destructive environmental project in history in Alberta, Canada, he reveals that all of our actions are interconnected and that environmental degradation, species loss, ocean acidification, pollution and food/water scarcity are reducing the Earth's ability to house humans. How did this happen, and what will it take to change the course that humanity has set itself on? Travelling the globe to meet with the dedicated individuals and organizations working on a solution, Stewart finds encouragement and hope, pointing to the revolutions of the past and how we've evolved and changed our course in times of necessity. If people were informed about what was really going on, they would fight for their future – and the future of other generations. From the evolution of our species to the revolution to save it, Stewart and his team take viewers on a groundbreaking mission that inspires audiences from across the globe to start a revolution and change the world forever. 

Google’s Vision Frighteningly Dystopian [Comment on the future according to Google, Apr. 27]

Alex Kofaric, Brampton ON There is no distinction, in terms of human consciousness, between physically and digitally constructed realities. Both realms are logically conceived and ultimately physical in nature. Both are the product of left-brained modes of cognition (the masculine principle).

14 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

They are tools and the manifestations of tools.

The difference, and there is a difference, relates to the imperceptibility of the origin of digital versus physical information in the human mind. Both a hammer and a cell phone are tools but only a few of us can describe the manner in which the latter technology operates. This can make complex devices appear to work as if by magic.  www.dialogue.ca

The two coexisting and mutually restraining principles that compromise our reality are the male-versus-the-female principle. Google is recasting this dichotomy in terms that reveal a frightening ambition. They seek to replace our naturally occurring feminine, intuitive, right-brained and emotionally derived understanding of the truth with a logically derived but imperceptible "truth" program of their own.

Understanding the difference is crucial if we are to avoid equating God with an algorithm. It is the difference between commanding and being commanded by our machines.

There is danger ahead. Perhaps you are an optimist. You may insist on assigning goodness as an essential quality of all human beings. In doing so you would be ignoring what

we already know about psychopathology. About 1 per cent of the population is biologically incapable of understanding complex emotions. These people are attracted to power and have a history of acquiring it. The rest of us are easily fooled. No great thing enters into the world without some attendant curse. I defy you to think of a single technology that has not been misused.

The future according to Google is one that is constructed according to the needs of a corporate psychopath with unlimited power. They will call it God and from the perspective of future generations, that’s exactly what it will appear to be.

LINK: http://preview.tinyurl.com/b4hhqkx Forwarded by Ed Goertzen [egoert@netrover.com] 

“Committing Sociology in Canada”

Harper’s Eleventh Commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Commit Sociology”

by John F. Conway, Regina SK

“I think, though, this is not the time to commit sociology, if I can use an expression. These things are serious threats, global terrorist attacks… I don’t think we want to convey any view to the Canadian public other than our utter condemnation of this kind of violence...”

– Stephen Harper, 25 April, 2013

“Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.”

– Thomas Gray, Ode to a Distant Prospect of Eton College, 1742 The usual suspects are delighted. Harper has put his foot in his mouth once again and looks completely ridiculous.

Just Google “commit sociology” and you’ll see the general condemnation he has elicited, from sarcastic hilarity to outraged condemnation. Prominent sociologists have jumped into the fray. Michael Adams of Environics published a witty slap in the face in The Globe and Mail (2 May 2013), “Confessions of a homegrown sociologist,” admitting to committing sociology since his early youth.

Prominent sociologists Robert Brym (University of Toronto) and Howard Ramos (Dalhousie) published a more somber reply on 28 April 2013, officially endorsed by the Canadian Sociological Association, concluding “Current comments by the Prime Minister suggest we are now on the path to policy-based evidence. Increasingly, facts are ignored, suppressed or distorted to suit government ideology. Doing otherwise has become an offence.”

In the May 5th edition of The Globe and Mail, incoming President of the Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Antonia Maioni, pandered to Harper’s obsession with the economy, insisting that “sociology pays off” and reminding the Prime Minister, “Given the pace at which our economic and political landscapes are changing, sociologists are more important than ever. And the work of those ‘committing sociology’ is integral to sound policy making and to analyzing and reacting to dramatic events.”

Not only does Harper not care about these responses, www.dialogue.ca

they are grist for his anti-intellectual mill. Doubtless he is delighted, since he has once again hit a key nerve to rile intellectuals, putting them on the defensive. For my part, as a sociologist at the University of Regina, I look forward to vastly increased enrolments in sociology courses in the coming academic year. Given the mood of young people across Canada, there couldn’t be any better campaign in favour of sociology than a public attack by our increasingly reviled Prime Minister.

Those who see this gaffe as a blow to Harper’s chances at re-election should think again. In fact, it is an early, calculated salvo in his campaign to win re-election. Harper is shrewd. He never says or does anything without calculated focus. Harper doesn’t care a fig about the opinions of scientists, experts and intellectuals. Don’t forget, here is the man who took a wrecking ball to the Census and a meat axe to Statistics Canada. He fired scientists from the public service, muzzled them, ridiculed them, and rolled over their recommendations repeatedly. He does all this to the delight of significant elements of his far right support core – the right-wing kooks, crackpots, and crazies.

They love beating up on intellectuals, social engineers, “nattering nabobs of negativism” (thanks Spiro Agnew), absent-minded professors – bleeding hearts all, wringing their hands about the poor and the criminals, always whining about “why?” Harper’s hard core base believes only in “who, what, when, and where?” on the issues of crime, poverty and terrorism. Evil and laziness abound among many of our untrustworthy citizens.

As Margaret Thatcher taught us, “There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.” The why questions – why do criminals commit crimes, why do people murder each other, why do young well-educated men and women become terrorists – these questions are not to be asked. Such questions reflect dangerous softness and woolly-headed thinking. The cause of crime is bad people doing bad things; the cause of terrorism is evil terrorists; the cause of poverty is laziness and a sense of welfare-induced entitlement. Solutions are clear and simple: catch criminals and lock them up; root  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 15

out terrorists and destroy them; force the poor onto the labour market to seek their individual fates.

As Harper teaches us, the world is really quite simple and can be understood in clear primary colours: white equals good; black equals evil; red equals effete commies; blue equals true Tory patriotism. So don’t commit sociology, or any of the other why sins. Such an approach borders on justifying the evil it pretends to study, and confuses the public about the correct policies to adopt. Embrace the slogan of the 19th century American Know Nothing movement: “I know nothing but my country, my whole county, and nothing but my country.” Just substitute the words “Harper’s version of my country,” and you have captured the essence of Harper’s deeply loyal right wing core.

These have to be kept on side and motivated, since they work hard, raise money, and can be counted on the do the grunt work to get the Tory vote out. For those elements of his Tory coalition uneasy about the company they keep, Harper has soft, soothing words about the economy, tax cuts, keeping the lid on government spending, and eliminating the deficit and debt. His calculated ponderous, understated air delivers reassurance that he really doesn’t necessarily believe everything he says in the bare-knuckled brawl of winning and holding power.

Tragic circumstances presented Harper with a perfect opportunity to go on the offensive to reverse his party’s fall in the polls over recent months. The April 15 Boston Marathon bombing was seized upon by Harper to fast-track an old, unpassed anti-terrorism bill, S-7, The Combating Terrorism Act. Then the next week the RCMP arrested a couple of alleged terrorists accused of plotting to de-rail a VIA passenger train. It could not have been more perfect had the Prime Minister’s Office ordered the RCMP to fasttrack action on an ongoing investigation. (Surely not!!)

Justin Trudeau provided an opening to Harper by expressing concern about the root causes motivating terrorist acts

like the Boston bombing. Harper went for the jugular.

The bill was rammed through in short order, constituting a major assault on civil liberties: preventative detention without charge for three days, up to one year in jail for refusing to answer questions during terrorist investigations, and outlawing foreign travel for “terrorist purposes.”* In answer to critics, Harper noted tough measures were necessary to fight the war on terror. Harper went after Trudeau, accusing him of being soft on terrorism by musing about motives and root causes.

It was a win/win/win political moment for Harper: the fear of terror once again dominated the public mind; he got a chance to appear strong and decisive; he was able to smear Justin Trudeau as soft on terrorism and “in over his head.” You can expect a whole series of attack ads in the coming months rooted in these events.

And all these continuing attacks about the “commit sociology” comment bring a smile to Harper’s lips. They serve to remind his base they can count on Stephen Harper.

J. F. (John) Conway, Professor and Chair Department of Sociology and Social Studies University of Regina, Wascana Parkway Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0A2 John.Conway@uregina.ca J. F. Conway is the author of The West: The History of a Region in Confederation and Debts to Pay: The Future of Federalism in Quebec. 

* Bill S-7 wording [extract]:

“83.201 Everyone who leaves or attempts to leave Canada, or goes or attempts to go on board a conveyance with the intent to leave Canada, for the purpose of committing an act or omission outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would be an indictable offence under this or any other Act of Parliament for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years.” 

Ontario’s Clean Energy Act cripples taxpayers Peter Goldring, MP, Edmonton AB, Independent Conservative

Taxpayers are facing economic calamity as a result of the Ontario Liberals’ 2009 Green Energy Act (GEA).

The incredible extra cost paid over Ontario’s traditional energy providers is mind boggling. The average price paid by Ontario Hydro for clean, truly green hydro power at the dam is 3¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh). The price paid for nuclear power at the station is 5¢ kWh. Comparatively, the price paid

by Ontario Hydro for solar power at the array is 80¢ kWh and the price paid for wind power at the farms is 13¢ kWh! Ontario Hydro then cross-subsidizes these outrageous costs, passing them on to the private power consumers of Ontario.

Ontario currently has a large surplus of power because of the Ontario Liberals’ guarantee to buy all solar and wind power products regardless of the need and despite their ridiculous cost. Ontario is forced to actually pay bordering

16 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

provinces/states an average of 139¢ per kWh – paying $800 million last year alone - to take their excess energy.

This is estimated to balloon ten times – to some $8 billion per year – when all planned solar and wind units under the Liberal GEA come on stream. Ontario stands to go bankrupt with this foolish plan. The municipalities don’t want wind farms so why are we doing this?

The GEA was expected to bring 40,000 jobs related to renewable energy but most are temporary jobs in construction, while tens of thousands of industrial jobs are fleeing the Ontario Liberal governance for the much more reasonable and competitive electric power rates of other provinces and states.

Ontario’s 2009 Green Energy Act is a monumental failure.

Converting to energy through the implementation of countless wind turbines and solar panels, manufactured with dirty coal energy in Asia, is not in anyone’s best interest – financially, economically, environmentally, or otherwise.

What do you think? [goldrp@parl.gc.ca / petergoldring.com] 

www.dialogue.ca

TROUBLED WATERS

From June Ross, Nanaimo BC Manly Media (Paul Manly) has produced a documentary entitled “Troubled Water” that examines the threat to public water systems and watersheds on Vancouver Island. Privatization, Public Private Partnerships (P3’s), privately owned community watersheds, vulnerable aquifers, ground water contamination and international trade agreements all threaten to further undermine the safety and security of public water systems, public ownership and the fundamental human right to access clean drinking water.

The types of water sources that are profiled in Troubled Water are representative of water systems across North America. Unfortunately the threats to these water sources are not uncommon across North America either. The film also highlights some good examples of protecting community drinking water systems and how people can work towards that goal in their communities.

towards that goal in their communities.

The general public… are generally unaware of the threats to the established system and the supply of clean, affordable drinking water. Troubled Water takes a comprehensive look at the threats to the public water systems on Vancouver Island and provides a source of material to draw on to help educate the public about these threats while also highlighting solutions to protecting this crucial resource for future generations.

The film was partially funded by Vancouver Island Water Watch and was shown widely across the Island during the month of March (International Water Month).

TROUBLED WATERS can be viewed on line [52 min]:

From GlobalResearch.ca, Montreal QC Nigella sativa -- more commonly known as fennel flower -has been used as a cure-all remedy for over a thousand years. It treats everything from vomiting to fevers to skin diseases, and has been widely available in impoverished communities across the Middle East and Asia.

summer. This just isn’t right, and Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians, and Ecojustice are fighting back, taking Nestlé and Ontario Ministry of the Environment to court. However, it shouldn’t take a lawsuit for Nestlé to do the right thing.

Tell Nestlé: stop draining Ontario’s water source during drought conditions to sell bottled water.

Petition: http://tinyurl.com/SOUneswat 

www.manlymedia.com and at http://tinyurl.com/YTtrouwa & at www.midislandcanadians.org/index.php?cID=1#troubled 

Tell Nestlé to stop trying to patent a natural cure – and taking water from Ontario town during drought conditions

But now Nestlé is claiming to own it, and filing patent claims around the world to try and take control over the natural cure of the fennel flower and turn it into a costly private drug. Tell Nestlé: Stop trying to patent a natural cure!

In a paper published last year, Nestlé scientists claimed to “discover” what much of the world has known for millennia: that nigella sativa extract could be used for “nutritional interventions in humans with food allergy”. … Nestlé is attempting to create a nigella sativa monopoly and gain the ability to sue anyone using it without Nestlé’s permission.

Nestlé has filed patent applications -- which are currently pending -- around the world. … This isn't surprising, considering Nestle has a long track record of not caring about ethics. After all, this is the corporation that poisoned its milk with melamine, purchases cocoa from plantations that use child slave labor, and launched a breast milk substitute campaign in the 1970s that contributed to the suffering and deaths of thousands of babies from poor communities.

But we also know that Nestlé is sensitive to public outcry, and that it's been beaten at the patent game before…[From Melanie, Claiborne and the team at SumOfUs.org]

Petition at action.sumofus.org: http://tinyurl.com/SOUnest LINK: www.globalresearch.ca/nestle-is-trying-to-patent-thefennel-flower/5332329 

Nestlé’s water bottling in Hillsburgh, ON:

SumOfUs.org: Nestlé is sucking a Canadian community dry during drought conditions -- to sell bottled water. Nestlé has won a permit to drain the local aquifer dry at any time, while the community of Hillsburgh, Ontario (NW of Brampton) has to restrict its water use during dry conditions every www.dialogue.ca

“Wavelet Whisper” ~ Denny Z. Petrik Ora Pro Nobis When evening stills And sun begins to paint the west When lark stops trills And trees fold arms across their breast I pray not sure to whom But certain why Pay thanks I try For birds and jasmine bloom For artful sun Its blazing sky my dreams festoon For unison Of mankind singing peaceful rune But most of all with humble heart I ask That in another sunset I may bask Denny Z. Petrik, ’88  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 17

“Salmon Are Sacred”

Alexandra Morton, Sointula BC

Wild salmon economy: Alextalks

This short talk compares the wild salmon economy with the salmon feedlot economy using numbers provided by the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) and the BC Liberal government. While the salmon feedlot industry has a powerful lobby, their contribution to the economy and jobs is much smaller than the small independent businesses that make up the wild salmon economy… The longer this industry is in the water, the less chance we have of sharing wild salmon with the unborn generations.

LINK: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSInVpM9-8A

Petition to Protect Wild Salmon

We the undersigned citizens of Canada stand against the biological and social threat and commerce of industrial marine net-cage feedlots using our global oceans. The science is clear: these operations risk wild salmon populations by intensifying disease and deplete world fishery resources to make the feed. They privatize ocean spaces and threaten our sovereign rights to food security.

We call on the Government of Canada to take the appropriate measures to get open-net aquaculture out of our federal waters. PETITION: http://salmonaresacred.org/petitionprotect-wild-salmon

Salmon Confidential

Touring BC with controversial new documentary Filmmaker, Twyla Roscovich, and biologist Dr. Alexandra Morton have been touring British Columbia since February, with screenings of their controversial new film Salmon Confidential, with each screening followed by a Q&A session.

Salmon Confidential filmmaker, Twyla Roscovich, follows biologist Dr. Alexandra Morton as she unravels the mysteries of BC's declining salmon stocks using some of the world's top fish labs. What she uncovers should shock anyone who cares about our fish and all that depend on them. This 70-minute film documents Morton's journey as she attempts to overcome roadblocks thrown up by government agencies and bring critical information to the public in time to save BC's wild salmon. Learn about our changing coastal ecology, grassroots science-based activism, and the inner workings of government agencies tasked with overseeing our fish and the safety of our food supply.

You can also watch Salmon Confidential online at LINK: http://salmonconfidential.ca.

Comment about the Tour from Alex

I have spent the past month touring the film Salmon Confidential throughout BC to packed rooms. People are deeply angered by what they hear from the bureaucrats and they want to know what they can do. The tour of Salmon Confidential has been very informative; I have spoken with hun-

dreds of people and learned so much. Over 130,000 people have viewed the film, over 30,000 have signed the petition. I am not sure what it takes for the people of BC to get wild salmon protected, but we are not there yet.

(As I said to many British Columbians, in the recent provincial election) I know many of you dislike politics, but whoever wins will be the driver of the bus you are sitting in and I suspect none of us want to drive over the cliff of wild salmon extinction. We need to restore democracy, smalltown economies and wild salmon. MLA candidates attended every showing and I heard far more concern from the NDP candidates than the NDP Party… I have provided analysis on my blog, because it is my observation that wild salmon are dying of politics. I don't think we have to lose them, but it is very, very clear that if you want wild salmon you need to speak up RIGHT now.

Taking Minister of Fisheries and Marine Harvest to court

On May 7, 2013, Ecojustice filed a lawsuit on my behalf against the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Harvest for the transfer of juvenile Atlantic salmon infected with the piscine reovirus (PRV) from their hatchery in Sayward into net pens on the Fraser sockeye migration route across from Port Hardy. Now we need your help. Scientists are making unusually strong and consistent warnings about this virus and the disease it is associated with. I think they should be heeded if we want wild salmon.

Will you consider helping Ecojustice with their legal bills to argue this case. If we win, the salmon farming industry could no longer use EU virus-infected fish, this would be extremely significant to the wild salmon of the eastern Pacific.

Most farm salmon are now infected with this virus. Reoviruses do infect humans, though it is unknown if piscine reovirus is capable of this.

If we don't act we can expect to be eating this virus in wild and farm salmon and we will learn first hand whether it stops wild Pacific salmon from reaching their rivers.

You can donate to Ecojustice: www.ecojustice.ca/support - please identify that your donation is for this lawsuit. Or you can donate directly to me & again identify that you want the funds to go to this. www.gofundme.com/FishFeedlotsOut I met and was inspired by many of you on the Salmon Confidential tour. We can do this. In closing, this quote is from a scientific paper on HSMI in farm salmon: “At a time when humans are being encouraged to eat fish to help combat … coronary disease, it seems somewhat ironic the heart disease seems to be such a problem in the fish themselves.”

(Ferguson et al 2005) Alexandra Morton, http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/ 

The Story of “The Salmon Recipes”

by Lyndsey Easton, Dogwood Initiative, Victoria BC On the last day of public hearings into Enbridge’s oil tanker and pipeline proposal in Prince Rupert, Metlakatla dancers started the meeting by drumming, dancing and singing.

18 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

Leslie Rowlands recalls that powerful moment. “First Nations leader Gerald Stewart stood up in the hearing room on the very last day and hour of the hearings and beat his drum, challenging us to aim higher, to push harder.  www.dialogue.ca

The Story of The Salmon Recipes, contd.

One of the greatest challenges Roth faced in creating The Salmon Recipes is something most of us take for granted We couldn’t let all of that passion and emotion just slip away,” Rowlands says. in our daily lives: the ability to instantly communicate with whomever we please in a variety of ways.

The young man stopped his “It’s really hard to get time from many of the coastal First drumming and then challenged the Nations people, especially the volunteers and leaders. room, “Is that it?”

They’re so busy. A little village has all the work of any The answer was a defiant no. community plus treaty negotiation, resource management, “We couldn’t just let all those stories environmental management, etcetera — things federal disappear, but we were feeling empty Lyndsey Easton governments usually do for communities.” and exhausted at that point. We needed Gerald’s spark to ignite us again,” Rowlands says.

Roth desperately wanted permissions from Fanny and Clarence Nelson from Metlakatla. She contacted Fanny Charged by a collective passion and unwillingness to have through about her tenth route – a friend of a friend of a their home compromised by an oil spill, about 80 local resifriend – but Chief Clarence was down the south coast dents began meeting at the Fisherman’s Hall, brainstormwaters gillnetting late in the season without his cellphone. ing the perfect way to continue their stories. Soon a cookbook, The Salmon Recipes, gave life to a heartfelt com“Someone turned me onto a fisheries officer who knew his munity experience. favorite nephew’s phone number and he in turn had a secret number for Clarence. I held my breath when he anThe book’s editor, Luanne Roth, says the idea of a Pacific Northwest cookbook sprang up rather naturally. “I knew the swered. He sighed a sigh I could hear over the waves and wind in the background… and then he said yes.” stories I had heard at the Joint Review Panel had the power to win Canadians over. We had zero money. The The recipes were tested and photographed at potluck dinonly books selling these days are cookbooks. . . bingo.” ners and barbecues around Prince Rupert and the book was launched at the Museum of Northern BC [Nov. 16, More than just a cookbook, The Salmon Recipes de2012]. They invited the whole community, and shared in a scribes life and culture on the north coast through stories, great feast. Chief Murray Smith gave a traditional welcome photography, and poetry. and Reverend Ha’eis Clare Hill “We were upfront with people, explaining from the Gitga’at Nation in Hartley that the purpose of the cookbook was to Bay blessed the book. celebrate our north coast culture and “More speeches followed and the introduce ourselves to the world. The ultiwine, smoked salmon and seafood mate goal was to oppose Enbridge’s plans dishes were wonderful. The to build pipelines and a marine export evening was well attended and a terminal here on the north coast,” Rowland huge success. It truly was the says. celebration we had envisioned,” The Salmon Recipes was put together Rowlands recalls. through the combined efforts of more The Salmon Recipes brought than 100 volunteers. Roth and Rowlands together a community that has its started contacting people during the Published by the Prince Rupert culture, history and future threatsummer of 2012 to ask them to contribute Environmental Society ened. their talents, recipes and photography.

Through word of mouth, the project quickly took off.

“The important thing is to help spread the word in our camPoet and children’s writer Susan Musgraves agreed to con- paign against Enbridge. I believe this cookbook became tribute a poem early on, which helped get more contributors our therapy,” Rowlands says. and volunteers on board. Next up, northwest photographer The Salmon Recipes has already sold its first 2,000 copMike Ambach joined the project. And then photographs ies and is into its second print. started pouring in from people in the community.

Hit recipes to look out for: Norwegian fishcakes, Icelandic Roth would spend long hours working on her laptop from pickled salmon and baked salmon with lemon sauce. Or try her fishing boat, reading, selecting and organizing the most one of these recipes! LINK: http://tinyurl.com/SRsampler http://dogwoodinitiative.org/blog powerful stories from the hearing transcripts. “I got the stoLINK, article online: http://tinyurl.com/csfgty2 ries from individuals who sweated for months to use their ten minutes of time in front of the judges in the best possiThe Salmon Recipes is available to order online for ble way,” she says. $19.99. at: www.saveourskeenasalmon.org/ Rowlands says the surprising and delightful part for her Lyndsey Easton is the Communications Coordinator for the was having the privilege of viewing so many beautiful phoDogwood Initiative, based in Victoria, P.O. Box 8701, Victoria, tos that local photographers shared. “It was a treasure box BC V8W 3S3; 250-370-9930 and very exciting, like kids in a candy store. The photos Another recent story by Lyndsey: Dogwood Initiative nominated for the Katerva Award: http://tinyurl.com/DWIkaterva  alone stand up for this coast,” she says.

www.dialogue.ca

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 19

“From Down the 401”

My fellow Canadians, I am tired. Not just because my sleeping patterns are off again, even with my new high-quality bed.

And not only because I have been out of work for five months (and counting) as of this writing. (Although it’s of cold comfort, half a dozen friends are in the same position.) My life keeps changing like the weather – winter? Spring?

Back to winter again? It’s depressing…

But mostly because I am finding that more and more individuals, corporations and governments seem increasingly unburdened by doing the wrong thing, as long as they think they won’t get caught.

As of this spring, I am still involved in FIVE legal actions, at least three of which would be unnecessary if the person/ group/company/government organization realized it/they were doing the wrong thing, owned up to it and made it right, instead of costing me time, aggravation, lawyers’/ accountants’ fees and quite frankly, mental and physical health.

And then I look around and it is happening everywhere.

The Harper gang (it’s getting harder to call them a government) gave Justin Trudeau ONE DAY as Liberal leader before launching the first attack ads, both on TV and online. Ads which, I presume, we taxpayers are paying for.

Really, Cons? I had no idea it was 2015. Hell, I had no idea the Liberals were the Official Opposition! Possibly because NEITHER IS TRUE?!?? It assumes, I guess, that Justin will get a ridiculously huge poll bump simply from the fresh change he brings to the table that French citizen Mulcair and his (QC) caucus does not. (As a reminder, in 2011 the Liberals won a whopping FOUR SEATS west of Ontario; the NDP [NOT including BC] won THREE.) And for that matter, perhaps in a massive one-finger salute to just this type of needless and over-the-top (not to mention ridiculously ill-timed) negative ad, Justin actually got a BOOST to his popularity, no doubt confounding the spinmeisters in the Harper machine. What to do now? Who to attack? What money to spend advertising programs [cough cough Canada Action Plan] that are no longer in existence?

How to bribe the electorate by wasting their money?

(Here’s a hint, Conservatives: maybe try some actual governing? Or listening to ALL your constituents, and not just your redneck base? Just a thought.)

Although I didn’t follow the original incident, I, like most North Americans, was keenly aware of the aftermath of the Boston marathon shooting, but noted it brought out the good AND the bad in American society. Evoking memories of the October Crisis in Quebec, the city was basically shut down and put under martial law for a manhunt for 24 hours (bad). Suspicions of the suspects’ identities ranged from Arab to Middle Eastern (bad, although understandable).

And when caught, many (mostly on the right) called for the heads of the SUSPECTS who, as of this writing had not been tried, let alone convicted, in a court of law –

20 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

Lou Israel, Toronto

remember them (very bad)?

However, the lockdown, perhaps through the realization that Americans would not take kindly to being in a police state situation for long (at least at this time) lasted only about 24 hours, and the suspects were caught due to – believe it or not – actual police and detective work. Take that, rightwing nutbars! (Now, as I am constrained to point out, these men-–one of whom is now dead---HAVE NOT been convicted of ANY crime, so the true suspects MAY still be out there, and even if it turns out they ARE the actual perpetrators, the American constitution DEMANDS they be given a fair trial and representation. And yes, they could also be found not guilty for any number of reasons [although not immediately being read their Miranda rights should, perhaps, not be the key]. If we are to practise what we preach about freedom and democracy, then we must let it take its course, as slow and painful as it might be, even if it ends in a result we don’t like. There are plenty of unjust laws in both our countries.)

[Speaking of unjust laws, one of which is (at least in Ontario) the absolutely ridiculous and asinine “mitigating damages” law where, if an employee is fired or otherwise terminated, and is forced to take an employer to court (which should not happen if the employer had any sense of fairmindedness), and in the ensuing weeks or months before his or her court date the ex-employee finds some temporary or lower-paying position, the court will then take whatever salary they make out of what the ex-employer owes them, which is a huge incentive for employers to do nothing and simply outwait the employee, essentially starving them into submission. When I was growing up, I was taught that if you were let go, the company owed you what the company owed you, regardless of whether you landed on your feet or your backside, and whether you were unemployed for days, weeks, or months, as in the case of me and most of my friends. Apparently that is no longer the case and in this union-hating, employer-favouring atmosphere, it is not likely to get better soon. Fine for the righties who believe unions are the embodiment of all things evil and communist or whatever the hell else they are supposed to represent, but I know a great deal more workers than CEOs. And none think this is fair. Is THIS what our society has become?]

Back to Boston for a moment. Although I have listed the bad, the good is that violent crime did not increase, no innocents were randomly rounded up, tased, arrested, beaten or otherwise deprived of their rights, Dunkin Donuts stayed open (ostensibly to serve the first responders, resulting in a litany of cop/donut jokes), and once the manhunt was over, the city breathed a collective sigh of relief.

And the interrupted Marathon itself also had some touching moments of compassion. The best was probably the Good Samaritan (from ALASKA no less) Brent Cunningham, who gave his “medal” (awarded to those actually finishing the race, period) to a runner half his age who was a mere HALF MILE from the finish line when the race was halted, denying her that medal. (Like zero tolerance, this rule  www.dialogue.ca

takes zero brains and makes zero sense.) He didn’t know her name, only her race number, and he and his family came up to her, put a blanket around her and he said “You’re a finisher in my eyes.” And left. No expectation of reward or congratulations or anything. (Of course, the runner searched all over for him and found him though---what else?---Facebook, to thank him.) No big deal, you say?

Cunningham barely qualified for the race this year, and his time was too slow to qualify him for next year. Don’t tell me he didn’t sacrifice. And not only was the runner, Laura Wellington, moved by this, at the time the only “witnesses” to his heroism were his wife and 17 year old daughter. If nothing else, his daughter will consider him a hero for the rest of his (and her) life. THAT is the best in people that tragedies bring out. And at this time, we are all Bostonians.

LINK: http://tinyurl.com/cb58edg

Now, when it comes to politics (and when doesn’t it?), there are apparently winners and losers in every news story.

Justin Trudeau could have chosen his words more carefully but he was questioning not just the acts, but the motive, of the Boston bombers. And whereas I do believe the acts themselves should be punished, regardless of cause, I also know that if we ignore the root cause, then an incident like this is infinitely more likely to happen again. What does he get for this insight? Lambasted by the right, by the Harper toadies---sorry, Tories---and labelled “not mature enough for the job”. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/aeud56h If anything, and believe me, I will blast Justin when he deserves to be---which is often---he spoke something many, if not most, of us were at least wondering about. To wait and simply react to a tragedy like this vs. getting at the root causes of poverty, isolation, and displacement, is to simply ignore the problem, stick your head in the sand and hope it goes away. This is no more an isolated incident than the London bombings or Sandy Hook. It can end in good (like the Arab Spring) or in another 9/11. Like global warming, we handle the problem or it will handle us.

Oh, and the worst of the bad: despite this senseless brutal violence, and despite 90% of American wanting background checks on gun owners, not ONE gun safety bill passed through Congress. NOT ONE. Not limiting assault weapons, not the size of magazine clips, not even a routine background check. Yep, we’ll shut a city down for 24 hours but a 5 minute background check? That’s too invasive!

Makes me SO glad to live in Canada. (And irony of ironies,

the state of Texas, which REFUSED to provide relief to other people when tragedy befell them, turned around and begged for federal aid when a fertilizer plant exploded and killed more people in THEIR backyard, due to faulty equipment and lax regulations. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?)

From the sublime to the ridiculous: Our other national embarrassment named Justin (Bieber) made some (I assume) tongue-in-cheek remarks about Anne Frank, that he hoped she’d be a fan of his. This is roughly equivalent to speaking at Margaret Thatcher’s funeral and saying she’d approve of Dennis Rodman being the American spokesman in North Korea. A bad tasteless joke, wildly inappropriate, but at least nobody died from his comments. Direct your hate at those who pollute our air, not our airwaves. (Sorry, Justin!)

You’d think that from my glowing tribute to Brent Cunningham above that he would be the recipient of this month’s Lou Laurel. And he is. But he must share it with a Canadian, a Montreal anglophone, who is bravely, courageously and determinedly standing his ground against the language police Nazis, even telling an inspector to leave HIS place of business. We need MORE Anglophones like Harry Schick, and he is a national hero for his courage. He and Cunningham, for demonstrating the best in all of us, and fighting for what’s right, share (appropriately) the Lou Laurel. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/abqmun5 Stephen Harper had yet to win three elections. Jack Layton was in third place in his caucus. Michael Ignatieff was on nobody’s mind (well, some things never change). There was no shootout (and hopefully one day that will happen again). And George Bush had just started his war with Iraq for those elusive WMDs he knew existed (even though he was told they did not). There was no Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Foursquare or Instagram. How on Earth did humanity survive? Worse, how WILL we survive if the Leafs (or Habs, sadly, with their rioting “fans”) go far in the playoffs this year?

By the time you read this, I will have finally returned to the world of stand-up comedy and maybe there WILL be something to laugh about! Happy Mother’s/Father’s Day, 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@rogers.com 

Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, Washington DC

From April 29, 2013 to May 3, 2013 researchers, activists, political leaders, and former members of military services and government agencies representing ten countries gave testimony in Washington, DC to six former members of the United States Congress. The Citizen Hearing on Disclosure will form the basis for a documentary to be produced by Just Cause Entertainment. “Ending the Truth Embargo” will have the necessary scope and production values to warrant theatrical distribution. Such distribution would be a first. Since 1951 over 300 fiction films with extraterrestrial themes of www.dialogue.ca

one type or another have been produced generating over 50 billion in 2013 dollars in revenues for the entertainment industry. LINK: http://www.citizenhearing.org [from Anna Christine Doehring, Nanaimo]

Paul Hellyer presentation at the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure

Economist and former Canadian Finance Minister Paul Hellyer was one of the presenters at the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure. You can watch his presentation online: LINK: http://vimeo.com/65430488  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 21

Corporate Executives Behaving Badly…

Corporate Apologies

Herbert J. Spencer, White Rock BC Our newspapers [in mid-April] included full page apologies from Mr Gordon Nixon, the President and CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

This 'apology' was typical of the self-serving responses when corporate executives behave badly. Mr. Nixon has the gall to try to misdirect the reader into thinking this was only about a few people in technology services being outsourced, although he does admit that "it's about doing what Canadians expect of RBC." This is exactly right; it's about doing what's right. He also writes that RBC will continue to "focus on Canadian jobs and prosperity". If that is so, why are RBC's bank tellers paid so poorly and forced to work less than 20 hours per week so that they are excluded from benefits?

Mr. Nixon was right to claim that RBC was "Compliant with the regulations". This is exactly how the corporatist state functions. Their well-paid lobbyists (including those employed at the 'stink-tanks') get their puppet politicians to set up the laws and regulations that work best for them, not their customers or employees. This is why Canada has open-door immigration and temporary foreign-worker programmes. When corporations cannot outsource our jobs, then they can flood our employment market with cheap labour to drive down payroll costs. This is the oldest trick in the capitalist game plan for maximizing profits, as payroll is often the largest cost for a company, especially ones in the service businesses, like banks.

These are the scams taught by economists at business schools to the ambitious young men, who are deficient in empathy but smart at mathematics, who are pursuing their careers via the iniquitous MBA. It would improve our modern world enormously if all people studying to be economists or seeking an MBA were forced, before they graduated, to work in a minimum wage job for 6 months after taking a mandatory course in ethics. But this is not what the owners of Canada want from their hired guns – it's profits, profits, profits – exactly what Mr. Nixon was rewarded for doing.

As Mr. Nixon wrote: "delivering returns to shareholders" is really what his job performance is about, all the rest is just corporate public relations. It was the directors of RBC that recently rewarded Mr. Nixon with a $11.1 million bonus (on top of his $1.5 million salary) along with $10 million-plus rewards to two other senior RBC executives for delivering a 22% return to the shareholders (that also includes Mr. Nixon himself, whose bonus included $6.6M in stock).

These executives are now at the 'compensation' levels they reached prior to the Great Financial Crash of 2008. These special people are being paid 500 times what tellers make per year. This is neither right nor fair, especially when RBC made $7.5 billion in profits.

Getting caught was the only 'mistake' in the eyes of RBC and the other supporters of the corporate world view, as illustrated by the recent drug-money-laundering conviction of another 'world-class bank,' HSBC. People have to realize

22 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

that we do not need a privately-owned set of casinos hiding behind the label "banks", when they earn most of their money through gambling, not banking. Credit unions do a much better job of banking.

In a few weeks [before you read this], the voters of BC can demonstrate that they do not agree with this selfish view of the greedy 1%. They will have a chance to terminally remove our own "wicked Witch of the West" and her corporate pals.

Sincerely, Herb Spencer Biographical note from Herb: I was born in Scotland in 1943 but I was ‘exported’ to Lancashire before the age of three. As the eldest son of a journeyman butcher, I won a scholarship to Bolton (Grammar) School (established 1516).

I was a science nerd in school and won a state scholarship to Imperial College of Science & Technology (UK’s response to MIT), London where I studied physics for 7 years, gaining a BSc (First Class) and then a PhD in Theoretical Physics (Solid State) in 1967. I had a successful but very short academic career, publishing 8 papers in 18 months in very reputable physics journals.

However, I became increasingly disenchanted with the narrowness of academic life and its remoteness from the real world - so I resigned in 1968 and fell into the world of computers, first as a systems analyst and then as a management consultant with Deloitte’s in London and then PeatMarwick in Vancouver, Canada, where we have lived since 1974. One year later, I joined a new firm of Canadian management consultants as their senior IT partner. This was enjoyable but hard work - everyone had to build up their own client base - no clients, no income: real capitalism! Between 1990 and 2000, I personally authored a very large software package for the general insurance industry that sold well enough for me to retire.

I now devote my remaining days to researching and developing an alternative foundational theory of electromagnetism and elementary particles – I am 50% through this project, which I believe continues to go well (over 2,000 unpublished pages so far). I have deferred publishing this work until it (or me) is finished as it is too radical for me to waste time now arguing with anonymous, orthodox referees.

I married Eileen Horrigan in 1965 and we soon had three children (spread around the world with triple Eileen & Herb citizenship). We had a small (10 acre) hobby farm and lived with both sets of parents after they retired and immigrated to Canada.

With only one parent still alive and an ‘empty nest’ we have down-sized to White Rock, BC which is on the 49th parallel and is a lovely, West Coast seaside retirement community.

We are both active in the Social Justice movement and I  www.dialogue.ca

write a lot of ‘letters to the editor’. This links back to my motivation for immigrating to Canada. Almost 50 years ago, I was disenchanted with the English class system and had realized that North America was a much more ‘open’ society. Canada is more socially oriented and is much less obsessed with money than the USA. Vancouver is a beautiful city situated between snow-covered mountains and the blue Pacific and is one of the rare places in Canada that doesn’t have ‘freeze-your-tail-off’ winters. The ‘Economist’

has rated Vancouver as “the most livable city in the world” for several years now. I decided long ago that where one spends one’s short life is one of my highest values. We have loved our life here and have never regretted moving.

In the next issue, Herb Spencer will begin a series exploring history and philosophy and how they impact our lives today… 

PSYCHOPATHS IN A PSYCHPATHIC SOCIETY Psychopathy, Politics and The New World Order

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society” - Jiddu Krishnamurti

By Colin Todhunter, Global Research, May 09, 2013 When attempting to analyse what is happening in the world, it is important to appreciate past economic, social and political processes that led us to where we are today.

Understanding the tectonic plates of history that led certain countries towards fascism, communism or capitalist liberal democracy, for example, is essential.(1) (2) At the same time, however, it can become easy for us to push aside the individual as we focus on theoretical perspectives that refer to the ‘underlying logic of capitalism’ or some other notion that draws heavily on theory. It can get to the point where individual motive or intent (agency) is airbrushed from the narrative because human action is deemed to have been shaped by the dead weight of history or forces beyond our control.

While not wishing to understate the role that such constraints have on human action, I wish to draw attention to researcher Stefan Verstappen who provides valuable insight into how individual agency has shaped and continues to shape society.(3) While Machiavellianism has long been associated with politics and public conduct, Verstappen shifts focus somewhat by arguing that people with psychopathic personalities have for thousands of years tended to grasp power and impose their views and deeds on the rest of us. In order to get power, he concludes that people cheat, kill or lie their way to the top. Whether it has been due to the butchery or lies of royalty, religious leaders, politicians or corporate oligarchs, nice guys have tended to finish last.

What leads him to conclude this?

Psychopathy is a personality disorder identified by characteristics such as a lack of empathy and remorse, criminality, anti-social behaviour, egocentricity, superficial charm, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity and a parasitic lifestyle (4).

With that definition in mind, look around: the criminal, parasitic activities by bankers that have plunged millions into poverty; the destruction, war and death brought to countries in order that corporations profit by stealing resources; the dropping of atom bombs on innocent civilians in 1945 or the use of depleted uranium which again impacts innocent civilians; and the many other acts, from the use of death www.dialogue.ca

squads to false flag terror, that have brought untold misery to countless others just because powerholders wanted to hold onto power or to gain more power, or the wealthy wanted to hold onto their wealth or gain even more.

Based on these terrible deeds, it becomes easy to argue that the people ultimately responsible for them do not adhere to the same values as ordinary people. It may be even easier to conclude that it’s not the cream that rises to the top, but, in many cases, the scum.

Now such a scenario might seem awful enough, but the people who tend to control the world, the ones responsible for these acts, try to impose their warped world view and twisted values on everyone else. Hollywood films, commercials and political ideology are all engaged in forwarding the belief that it’s a dog eat dog world, war and violence abroad is necessary, competition and not cooperative is what counts, aggression and not passivity is the key to ‘success’ and that success equates with amassing huge amounts of personal wealth and lavish displays of conspicuous consumption.

“A person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.” definition of a psychopath from Dictionary.com Again, bearing this definition in mind too, the acts mentioned above are not those of properly functioning social beings that contribute to a sense of communality, altruism, love or morality; quite the opposite in fact.

Yet this is the type of stuff that is rammed down our throats as constituting normality every day. Whether it’s the ‘Big Brother’ TV show or ‘The Apprentice’ show, these values are promoted day and night. The ‘Big Brother’ winner is the one who can survive and outdo the competition in terms of the duplicity and backstabbing involved along the way. The winner of ‘The Apprentice’ must be more aggressive, more duplicitous, more devious and cunning and more willing to trample over everyone else. And the winner is judged as such by a multi-millionaire who himself was cunning and ruthless enough to have made it to the top of the pile and has amassed millions for his own personal benefit. These are the role models to be admired and emulated!  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 23

These are the measures of success, of sanity, of normality.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti Apprentice competitors are highly driven individuals: not driven by a need to help humanity, but by egocentricity and greed. And, ultimately, these are the values that many mainstream opinion leaders, senior politicians and their corporate masters hold dear.

These values of egocentricity, aggression, competitiveness, duplicity and greed are not confined to some TV show. There are part of a much more sinister process.

They are inextricably linked to and underpin the actions that resulted in the killing of half a million children in Iraq for geo-political gain(5) and the sending in of military forces into the jungles of India to beat, rape and dispose of a nation’s poorest people because they stand in the way of profit and greed.(6) From Congo and Libya to Syria and beyond, we witness the outcome of a terrifying mindset that is nurtured and encouraged throughout society.

Too many people have become “well adjusted to the values of a profoundly sick society,” whether residing in middle England, middle America or the gated communities of south Delhi or Mumbai. Humanity is being beaten down to be neurotic, vicious and to regard these traits as constituting normal, acceptable behaviour. Thanks to the media, this becomes engrained from an early age as comprising ‘common sense’, and those who question it are merely sneered at or ridiculed by a system that promotes a mass mindset immune to its own lies.

Whether this is all due to psychopathy, narcissism or ‘Machiavellian personalities’ is open to debate. Moreover, as implied at the outset, historical and sociological factors often compel usually decent people to act in terrible ways.

The debate within academic sociology between structure

Psychopathy in Politics & Finance Video by Stefan Verstappen and James Corbett, Global Research, May 06, 2013 Themes: Culture, Society & History, Police State & Civil Rights, Poverty & Social Inequality

As more and more studies demonstrating the corrosive effect of psychopathy on government, finance, and business emerge, researchers have begun to explore how our society itself has been molded in the psychopaths’ image.

Now, one of those researchers, Stefan Verstappen, shares his insights on psychopathy in modern culture.

This is the Feature interview on Global Research TV: LINK: www.globalresearch.ca/psychopathy-in-politicsand-finance/5334161 [15 min.]

Articles by: James Corbett www.globalresearch.ca/author/james-corbett James Corbett has been living and working in Japan since 2004. He started The Corbett Report (www.corbettreport.com) website in 2007 as an outlet for independent critical analysis of politics, society, history, and economics. It operates on the principle of open source intelligence and provides podcasts, interviews, articles and videos about breaking

24 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

and human agency is after all a very long one.(7) Whatever the underlying reason, however, as a global community we are being force fed a diet of perverse values and destructive actions, all spuriously justified on the basis that ‘there is no alternative’ and ‘needs must’.

Corporate capitalism, consumerism, the new world order, a war on terror (or drugs or poverty, take your pick), neoliberalism – call it what you will, but it’s all based on the filthy lie that those in control have wider humanity’s interests at heart. They don’t. By any means possible – war, murder, torture or propaganda, they seek to convince people otherwise. What price human life? None whatsoever for such people.

Colin Todhunter, CRG Notes 1) Robert Brenner (1976), “Agrarian Class Structure & Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe.” Past and Present, 70 2) Barrington Moore (1993) [First published 1966]. Social origins of dictatorship and democracy: lord and peasant in the making of the modern world (with a new foreword by Edward Friedman and James C. Scott ed.). Boston: Beacon Press.

3) Defense Against the Psychopath (2013): www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQkDvO3hz1w 4) Polaschek, D. L. L., Patrick, C. J., Lilienfeld, S. O. (15 December 2011). “Psychopathic Personality: Bridging the Gap Between Scientific Evidence and Public Policy”. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 12 (3): 95–162.

5) Reuters report (2000), UN Says Sanctions Have Killed Some 500,000 Iraqi Children: www.commondreams.org/headlines/072100-03.htm 6) BBC Newsnight interview with Arundhati Roy (2011): www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrYQmRBdMPQ 7) Colin Hay (2001), What Place for Ideas in the StructureAgency Debate? Globalisation as a ‘Process Without a Subject’: www.criticalrealism.com/archive/cshay_wpisad.html LINK: www.globalresearch.ca/psychopathy-politics-and-the-newworld-order/5334458 // 

news and important issues from 9/11 Truth and false flag terror to the Big Brother police state, eugenics, geopolitics, the central banking fraud and more.

Stefan Verstappen is the author of “The Art of Urban Survival;” he divides his time between teaching people survival, martial arts, and most importantly, the dangers of psychopaths. He is currently working to crowd-source the production of a professional video of the method he has developed for teaching 5-9-year-old children to protect themselves against abduction. [More at LINK: https://plus.google.com/109201629157011303219/posts] ~~~

The divine and the demonic are very close together; only a thin line separates them. We who are indeed capable of divinity are also capable of the demonic.

And the deepest of all demonic activity is the use of our divine imaginations to invent destruction.

— Matthew Fox, ‘Original Blessing’

This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine...

— Prospero, in The Tempest www.dialogue.ca

Citizens Demand Scientific, Academic, Political & Media Integrity The Global Plan of Corporate Pillage and Plunder:

~ with a few at the top reaping $trillions and with the “useless eaters” increasingly facing extinction via disease and famine.

Inge Hanle, Vancouver BC Without realizing it, this (the above headline) is “the PLAN” that the voters of British Columbia cemented into place on May 14, 2013. Without realizing it, they have guaranteed that within very short years, most of the population will be “enjoying” the same “Third World” status now being experienced by every other “rich resource area” that has surrendered to the pillage and plunder of the very few dominant multinational mega-Corporations.

None of the profits ever come back to the country, or the province, or the municipalities, or the general population: – the profits flow into corporate coffers, with even lucrative “subsidies” added; – the Public coffers are continuously bled into bankruptcy (for which the solution is “austerity”) as they are milked and fleeced to pay for the infrastructure (always with the promise of future prosperity).

Always they are left with the devastating aftermath of destroyed health from toxic water, toxic soil, toxic air, toxic food and find themselves forced to live in poverty under the “political domination” of corporate and political corruption, manipulated into place by Trojan Horses who are either too ignorant to see what/who they are serving, or serve with complicit compliance as long as they, personally, are well rewarded.

(In British Columbia, the big momentum went into high gear with the “Privatization of Public Assets” Polices of Gordon Campbell. Meanwhile in Ottawa, we have the Stephen Harper oversight of the “Agenda Policies,” obediently cementing Corporate rule with the demolition of democratic infrastructure and jurisdiction – cemented into unchallengeable position with the passing of Bill after Bill and secret “Free Trade Agreements” that make any objection or protest against Corporate slavery literally “a felony.”

In other words, we now have cemented into place “traitors” who are able to misuse and betray their office, betraying their citizens while faithfully, and eagerly, serving the global Cabal masters who pull the strings and dictate their moves in the implementation of “the Agenda.”

Look at any “resource rich” country that has had “its economy” taken over by multinational mega-Corporations – and look at what happens to the standard of living of the population.

But then, who, between Facebook and their i-pod tweets and twitters looks up long enough to give any of these unfolding Realities even the slightest thought?

A population the allows itself to be dumbed-down and refuses to educate itself in the basic essentials, will get the governance that they have allowed – by default.

Sadly, with the election of May 14, British Columbians have www.dialogue.ca

guaranteed for themselves an unsavory dose of “AGENDA REALITY”

Read the articles (links below*) by Jon Rappoport to get a solid grasp of “the agenda” that is now being ruthlessly implemented GLOBALLY - and with Canada (especially B.C.) being a “Resource-rich” country, it is all the more relevant and important to understand its nature, its modus operandi and its eventual, inevitable consequences for the majority of the population. The FREE ENTERPRISE of CORPORATE CAPITALISM is FOR THEMSELVES ONLY! The game MONOPOLY became a household game in the 1930s – its purpose was to condition the mind to equate “getting ahead” with “striving and succeeding to OWN IT ALL.” The problem is that this brainwashed mindset became so endemically entrenched that it now dominates as more than just “a game.” That mindset is now our REALITY – accepted as long as one is one of the top benefactors (with a “too bad for the rest” attitude). They can be designated and discarded as those who were never ambitious enough to learn and succeed at securing the ropes of “monopoly ownership”.

For more than the past half-century, the teaching of history, geography, fundamental sciences; the interconnectedness between the protection of the environment and the welfare of humanity; analysis, debating and dot-connecting; the infrastructure of society: the infrastructure of politics; the function of the media; the development of individual character, real excellence and maturity have barely received a nod in our schools, media or entertainment – replaced by all manner of emotional and sociological gobbledygook like ‘finding oneself’, opportunism, assertiveness training, sexeducation, counselling on sexual ‘diversity’ and preferences, political correctness…. – all of which has produced a population that is so gullible that it wouldn’t recognize an assassin if one stared them in the face.

One liners, repeated ad infinitum, carefully selected graphic media images played over and over again to generate the “desired” emotional response, perverted entertainment that leads to the acceptance of the corrupt, the ugly, the criminal - leads the public over and over again to join the lemmings pack in droves, not knowing “who, what and how” is driving them or where they are headed – and never identifying and targeting the real culprits. The lure of the Pied Piper that takes the lemmings over the precipice. (The response to the latest marital law fiasco in Boston serves as a typical and sordid example.)

- Comment by Inge Hanle, CDSAPI: Citizens Demand Scientific, Academic, Political and Media Integrity *LINKS http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/ and www.nomorefakenews.com 

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 25

Robin Mathews Uncut

The B.C. Election, May 14, 2013. A National Tragedy.

Robin Mathews, Vancouver BC Begin at the beginning. The power figures at the centre of the B.C. New Democratic Party and the major, experienced MLAs in the legislature sold out the people of British Columbia, and Canada. That is the beginning and the end of the election story.

Other commentary may provide interesting footnotes. For instance: that the polls did it. The Green Party did it. The outside strategists did it. The propaganda, financing and organization of the neo-liberal campaign did it. Dix’s pipeline flip-flop in mid campaign did it. The big corporations did it. Christy Clark’s avid campaigning did it. Her endless willingness to lie did it. The Mainstream Press and Media’s flatout campaigning for the Liberals did it. The morally obese voters who wouldn’t go out and vote did it. No. The New Democratic Party leadership and powerful backroom dealers sold out the people of British Columbia and Canada, betraying (1) the principles of declared NDP political philosophy (2) the fundamentals of political opposition (3) and simple human decency. They turned their backs on British Columbians in order to collaborate with neo-liberalism, even criminal neo-liberalism.

Two distinguished women I am acquainted with, involved in public matters, were, earlier, approached to be NDP candidates. Both said they would have had to agree to have no independent ideas and to express no matter publicly that was not approved by the backroom dealers. As one put it not until she had undergone a complete prefrontal lobotomy would she be considered an acceptable NDP candidate. The two women graciously declined to be stuffed replicas of Moe Sihota, of Carol James, of Jim Sinclair – president of the B.C. Federation of Labour. That policy of ‘cookie-cutter candidates’ says much about the almost total failure of the NDP to grapple with the most important issues in British Columbia in the last 12 years.

Almost all the top and most important actors in the B.C. NDP have been (literally or figuratively) collaborating with the Campbellclark Liberals - even before the NDP lost power.

Ujjal Dosangh was rumoured to be negotiating to enter the Liberal Party even as he was the leader of the B.C. NDP. A perfect symbol ….

After the vicious, manufactured attacks on the Glen Clark NDP conducted by the RCMP, the Courts, the Media, and the Campbellclark forces, Joy MacPhail and Jenny Kwan did heroic and outstanding work as a matchless team in Opposition.

But the NDP intelligentsia and its core powerful didn’t launch a major, organized, sustained attack to expose the dirty, lawless actions of the RCMP, the Courts, the Media, and the Campbellclark Right against the Glen Clark NDP – and to assure that fraudulent behavior became history. The NDP core powerful and intelligentsia – and many British Columbians - accepted the Reactionary smear as history. As if it is something to have to apologize for.

Seven years passed in which B.C. was looted and shred-

26 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

ded and divided up by means that were often (I insist) criminal. The NDP spoke principally of wanting orderly and polite behavior in the Victoria parliament, refusing to go after the criminal Campbellclark behaviour. But the NDP did much, much worse things ... even after they changed leaders. They collaborated.

We are asked these days to think that maybe the wrong leader was chosen after Carol James, that maybe John Horgan – critic on Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources - should have been made leader. A nice guy, a straight shooter, an answerer of the public’s questions … we are told.

Think Water Energy. Think BC Hydro. Think a BC people’s gigantic enterprise guaranteeing reasonably priced power to the population and industry for the foreseeable future … absolutely guaranteed. Think a profit-maker anchoring other development in the province and contributing funds annually to general revenues for health, education, etcetera.

Think of it wrecked by design, its potential handed to cronies, its profitability destroyed, its structure chopped into shreds, its operation secretly divided - its debt disguised, faked, dissimulated, manufactured by the Campbellclark forces. Think that in the May Election John Horgan said almost nothing about those facts – nor did anyone else in the NDP. “Oh,” you say. “But who knew of those things? ”Everyone paying attention. Besides, the Auditor General of B.C. knew of those things, reported them formally, and went so far as to say the Auditor General’s Office has not been able to approve the insane accounting done in BC Hydro FOR TEN YEARS! The B.C. election could have been won by a determined exposure of the destruction of B.C. Hydro, its looting by the Campbellclark forces, its re-creation as a crippled, monstrous, debt-ridden political instrument in the hands of Campbell and Clark. In the election campaign the NDP almost completely avoided the subject, and so did John Horgan. If that isn’t collaboration with the Campbellclark forces, tell me what is.

The other enterprise owned by the people of British Columbia, a profit-maker for general revenues, a golden infrastructure asset for provincial development, and a facilitator of reasonable transportation for the people was BC Rail.

In brief – I insist BC Rail was purposefully crippled, fraudulently prevented from making profit – and destroyed in an organized way as a top level Campbellclark policy. I believe a huge, concerted, criminal action was undertaken to rob BC Rail from the people of B.C. and to transfer it to the CNR .

The statement by the RCMP at the close of the famous search warrant “raids” on legislative offices in December 28 of 2003 that no elected person was under investigation was – to me – a statement of RCMP collusion in the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to CNR. How could the RCMP, without full investigation, declare and hold to the claim that no elected official was involved in what was, visibly, a major, top-level, highly organized fraud, destruction and preparation for transfer of the railway? They couldn’t.  www.dialogue.ca

In 2003, a Special Prosecutor was appointed to work with RCMP to shape investigations, to formulate charges, and to conduct trials that might arise out of the BC Rail Scandal.

The legislation governing such appointments is rigid. The person must not have or ever have had connection with politicians, civil servants, police figures, etcetera that might suggest a possibility of bias. So strict is the legislation that the appointment must not even allow for the perception (by observers) of possible conflict of interest. Simple. Clear.

The appointee William Berardino– who conducted the trial against Dave Basi, Bobby Virk, and Aneal Basi - had been partner and colleague of the appointing Attorney General for seven years; and he had been partner and colleague of the appointing Deputy Attorney General for eleven years!!

Recently.

His illegitimacy for appointment was unquestionable. As a result – British Columbians need to be told again and again THIS FACT: no moment of the expensive four-year pre-trial and trial of the three accused men was legitimate.

What has this to do with the May 2013 election? The NDP knew of the illegitimate appointment. The Chief Justice and the Associate Chief Justice of the B.C Supreme Court supported the illegitimate appointment, as did the judge on the case, Madam Justice Anne MacKenzie, by refusing to act to correct the violation. That information was fully available to the NDP. Gary Bass, B.C.’s top Mountie refused a formal request to investigate Gordon Campbell and his associates in the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to the CNR. The chief RCMP investigator on the BC Rail Scandal file was the brother-in-law of Kelly Reichert, Liberal Party Executive Director, who was in frequent contact with Gordon Campbell, premier. The NDP knew all that.

Sitting in the Supreme Court gallery fairly often were the NDP critic of the Attorney General and the NDP critic of the Solicitor General (who is in charge of the RCMP in B.C.).

Neither lifted a finger to question formally the major illegitimacies I have listed or to call for the removal of the illegitimate Special Prosecutor.

The trial against Basi, Virk, and Basi could have been stopped, de-railed, blown sky high if the NDP had insisted that the trial could not continue with a tainted Special Prosecutor. The NDP could have dropped the Gordon Campbell government by aggressively refusing to accept the trial as legitimate – being conducted by an illegitimate Special Prosecutor – appointed by a Campbellclark Attorney General’s office.

Not only did the NDP not do that – but they collaborated actively. How? Things were getting so hot for the Campbell forces that in July of 2010, Michael de Jong, then Attorney General, decided to have Stephen Owen (a vice-president at UBC) do a review of the Special Prosecutor process in order, I believe, to take the heat off. He wanted, I believe, a “smelling-like-roses” report.

Two people who were interviewed and helped provide the “information” that let Stephen Owen fantasize and produce a “smelling like roses” report were Leonard Krog, NDP critic www.dialogue.ca

of the Attorney General and Mike Farnworth, NDP critic of the Solicitor General. I cannot think of another name for their participation in that whitewash than ‘collaboration’. It is a black mark, a disgrace, and a betrayal of the people of British Columbia.

At the end of the BC Rail Scandal trial - which I devoutly believe involved a corrupt RCMP, corrupt elements of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and a corrupt Special Prosecutor appointment – to say nothing of a shamelessly perverse Mainstream Press and Media – a final sleaze act occurred.

To protect high-level bad actors coming under intense cross-examination, the Gordon Campbell government, I am sure, turned on the heat, made deals with the accused, paid (in a highly dubious and perhaps unlawful fashion) the $6 million costs of the three accused men … and shut down the trial. Were they, in fact, bribed?

Who paid the money? Who permitted it? It was plainly a dirty deal to save the skins of powerful politicians and corporate actors. The Auditor General wanted to know where the money came from – taxpayers’ money. Christy Clark and Shirley Bond (now Premier and Attorney General) did everything they could to prevent the Auditor General from knowing. The Auditor General took them to court to get information they were denying him.

The NDP could have won the election solely on a full-scale review of the wrongs in the BC Rail Scandal, the gigantic waste of money, the planning to defraud British Columbians, the lies, the cover-ups, the theft of assets, the dirty RCMP, the dirty Supreme Court, the actions of Christy Clark and Shirley Bond to hide the truth of the $6 million.

Not Leonard Krog, not Mike Farnworth, not one of the candidates for the NDP did ANYTHING of significance on the subject in the election campaign. And when he was face to face with her in the Leaders’ Debate, Adrien Dix didn’t ask Christy Clark why she used her high office to prevent the Auditor General from gaining information B.C.’ers have a right to – and which may have led to charges against top government officers, even perhaps against Clark herself.

I can think of no other reason for the abandonment by the NDP of their primary duty to British Columbians than that they were collaborating with the Campbellclark forces ... for whatever insane reasons. (And I have only cited two examples … among many. British Columbians don’t know what they should about B.C. Ferries corruption, Sea to Sky Highway corruption, run-of-the-rivers corruption, Public Private Partnership corruption, etc. etc. etc. Why? Because of NDP “collaboration”.)

The top actors in the B.C. NDP shaped a campaign that was a betrayal of British Columbians, refusing to address the most important crimes of the Campbellclark forces against the province and the people of the province.

The outcome of the May 14 B.C. election is a national tragedy.

The NDP top officers and senior MLA’s carry the whole responsibility for the tragedy and must answer for their betrayal. What is to be done? Suggestions are already being made. I will add to them in the next column. R. Mathews  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 27

“Have Computer Will Write”

The BC Election… who’s to blame?

Jeremy Arney, Victoria BC We can blame whoever for running a poor election campaign or for telling lies prefaced with, "But you know what," or for personal attacks on all the NDP candidates al la Harper administration or the US style of doing elections, but to me the answer lies in the apathy of those who decided others would do their voting for them. As a province, we rose up and defended ourselves against the imposition of the HST, not because it was necessarily a bad tax but because of the way we were lied to and manipulated into it. We were told in this last election that Clark "but you know what" magnanimously gave us the referendum out of the kindness of her heart! And apparently some believed her!

We stood shoulder to shoulder to get rid of the HST on principle and swore the BC Liberals would answer for their treachery, for their attitude towards our coast, fish farms and dilbit tankers and indifference to our First Nations (in

their stubborn refusal to allow toxic bitumen pipe lines across their traditional lands).

Comes the hour of reckoning and where were we? Yes probably everyone on this list voted, but where were the rest of those righteous people of BC? To speak for myself, I will not talk politics to anyone who did not vote for sometime, as there is nothing they have the right to say, meanwhile we are stuck with another corpocracy within a corpocracy called Canada, and the question is how do we deal with that?

Yes my instinctive thought last night was to leave Canada for the Cook Islands or somewhere like that where I could hide, lie in the sun and quietly drink my last few years away, but I have a family here that I have been trying to defend and protect.

Oh well life goes on, but I have to wonder how to make the most of this mountain. [iamjema@gmail.com ] Jeremy’s blog: http://jeremyarneysblog.wordpress.com/ 

Hydraulic Fracturing [“Fracking”] Worldwide.

Robin Mathews, Vancouver

RE: Jessica Ernst of Rosebud, Alberta. Encana Corporation.

Market Manipulation. Derivative Bubbles and The Fracking Wars.

[EXTRACT] They merge. They interpenetrate. The thread of

one weaves into the fabric of the others. “Fracking” operations rush past law, past regulation, past health and environmental concerns. Supporters of ‘quick cash’, gas ‘futures’ pass corporate-written law to silence land-owners, elected councils, voters ... you and me.

Narrowly – “fracking” legislation and regulatory behaviour push aside, silence anyone questioning a dangerous procedure. Broadly – they strip away the Rule of Law, disenfranchise populations, ‘despotize’ governments.

In Alberta, Stephen Harper, Alison Redford, Encana Corporation, the newly appointed Alberta Regulator Gerard Protti (enforcing newly written law), and – so far – The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Neil Wittmann all merge … interpenetrate to hold off remedial action – to create toxic law, toxic wealth, toxic environment.

People waken worldwide and begin to battle corporations, “regulators”, police forces, legislatures, courts - the dominators determined to engage in “unconventional drilling” (hydraulic fracturing, ‘fracking’). Conflict on the subject continues. France (2011) Bulgaria (2012), and Tunisia have banned hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’). It continues in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, the U.S.A., and more.

Hydraulic Fracturing is the intensive assault on shale, and coal beds, through multiple well bores (often invading water tables) to release marketable gas. “Fracking” uses giant amounts of sand, water, toxic chemical-mixes near the surface or miles down to fracture strata – ‘fracking’ – for marketable gas. […] ARTICLE ONLINE at these sites:

28 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

 www.ernstversusencana.ca/hydraulic-fracturing-frackingworldwide-answers-not-forthcoming-questions-not-allowedyou-drank-your-water-dont-frack-mine  www.vivelecanada.ca/article/235931202-hydraulicfracturning-worldwide--jessica-ernst-of-rosebud-alberta  http://www.radicalpress.com/?p=2418 Jessica Ernst lawsuit, presented at UN:  http://www.ernstversusencana.ca 

Canadian farmers protest GMO alfafa approval

CBC, Apr 11, 2013 – Farmers across Canada were up in arms this week, protesting the possible introduction of genetically modified alfalfa into Canada, experts say that for the average Canadian consumer, the issue of bioengineered foods barely registers. "These concerns among farmers and informed groups of consumers does not translate to the average consumer,” says Andreas Boecker, an associate professor at the University of Guelph whose research includes studying consumer acceptance of GM foods. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, first hit the market in 1994... Since then, there has been ongoing debate over the safety and environmental sustainability of these socalled "frankenfoods." […] Ottawa has approved dozens of GM crops, but most are not actually grown or sold in Canada, except for corn, canola, soybeans and the sugar beets used to produce white sugar. Products that contain any of these items, including most processed and packaged foods, likely contain genetically modified ingredients.

Many meats are also affected, since animals are often fed GM crops. […] LINK: http://tinyurl.com/CBCnogmo 

Getting to the Root of How GMO Plants Harm Food Production and Your Health: Mercola: May 19, 2013 LINK: http://tinyurl.com/MERroot 

www.dialogue.ca

“Ideas Whose Time Has Come”

Who Will Clean the Filters?

David Foster, Port Perry ON Every kitchen has a problem with smoke from the stove coating surfaces with grease. Most stoves have a hood and a filter inside it. The filter captures the grease before it escapes to the rest of the house. Periodically someone has to wash or replace the filter. Outside the kitchen we don’t teach that the roadside ditches are in fact filters too… trapping crud from the road, salt, miniscule bits of rubber tire, oil, car junk that fell off on a trip. How long can we leave that uncleaned? And how would we clean it? A 500 year old road has a lot of crud in its ditches. We rely on spring rains and melt water to wash it away. But away to where? The local river and then to the sea. The sea doesn’t want it.

We don’t follow the trail of our poisons to their biochemical end. We should.

Your body is a filter. Some of it has a self cleaning system… urine and feces. Expectorants. But much of it is itself a giant single use filter, collecting crud until you die. Cigarette smoke. Fumes that pass through skin and lungs.

Chemicals that lodge in our glands where they were never meant to be. Some we pump out with our blood circulation, some with exercise, squeezing muscles where lymph fluids collect the crud. The crud is complex. Over 100,000 man made chemicals now loose in the environment, and people with Grade 10 Science trying to understand what it means, how to manage it. We are ingesting a lot of outright poisons in tiny amounts. Some poisons were deliberately put there so your vegetables will not have insect bites showing...

Flawless. The poison cleverly introduced so the plant itself poisons the insect before it does damage. But the poison doesn’t go away. It stays for Round Two. Poisoning you.

You can ingest a lot of it before you keel over. Perhaps 20% of the population has extraordinary sensitivities to these poisons, and they set up a lifelong hindrance… obesity, emphysema, asthma, oedema, pre-cancer conditions a long time showing they are even there. Immune system disorders. Hormone disruptors.

Bad enough when traditional foods are sprayed, but immensely worse when engineers using incomplete science ‘mix and match’ genes to create Genetically Modified Organizisms. GMO. Banned outright in Europe. Not even labelled here.

The food Industry has control of Labelling Standards (and you know how useful those are… the print too small to read, or the words unfamiliar (on purpose). The place of origin obscured. Was DDT used to control bugs on the pepper grown in India? The label will never tell you. What fertilized the garlic from China?

Clever chemists discovered the double helix of genetic coding. If you snip a piece from a lizard and stick in to a snake, will the snake grow legs? If you snip a bit from a plant that protects itself from ants with a special poison, can you www.dialogue.ca

make the next version of corn kill ants? And so that is what the Industry did… genetically altered all sorts of foods. They look so appetizing. But the science is imperfect. Not only does the poison kill the ants, it also damages a child’s immune system. The damage may not show up for decades, but we know it does turn up. So you see illnesses all around us that were unknown before the Agricultural Chemicals Revolution. That is why Europe banned GMO. They are bad on two levels: ‘captive markets for seeds’ and dangers that real Nature takes 1000 years to test and weed out Some companies have taken the idea further… Modify the crop so it won’t produce a seed for next year. That makes the farmer come back to the chemical company to buy more of that good looking stuff that has its own fertilizers, insecticides, built right in. Traditional crops look sick in comparison. Mom at the supermarket (knowing none of this) opts for GMO perfection every time. Pretty soon the natural crop is grown in such small amounts, it disappears.

That happened in India and some say over 50,000 peasant farmers killed themselves because they could no longer feed their families in the traditional way. Five giant companies now control most of the World’s food. They have made it so we all become dependent on them. Slick ads and perfect product makes us not ask the right questions… who is cleaning the filters?

So what can we do? We can seize control of local labelling… Act where the standard labels are unhelpful as to what danger the product poses to one or two children in every hundred. We don’t know whose child that will be… possibly yours. It is a cynical technology, putting more and more power in the hands of fewer and fewer corporations that have the power to smother dissent. And you don’t know enough first-hand biochemistry to spot the dangers yourself.

Government regulatory agencies simply do what Industry asks. Industry asks for secure profit. At our expense.

We can push back at the local level. Mothers of school age children do most of the grocery shopping. Form boycott sisterhoods that will target a particular chain in your city and refuse to buy anything not labelled adequately. The store will run the risk of being driven out of business if they don’t introduce local solutions. But it has to be 500 mothers acting consistently at each targeted store, for three months.

Then do the same at another chain. Very soon the stores will get the message. ‘I won’t Buy, and Here is Why…’ and a slip of paper is left on the product right in its bin. ‘I don’t know what is in this, and I won’t allow you to poison my child.’ Your kids will love helping, placing slips on everything suspect, week after week. 10 weeks should do it. Start an ‘I won’t buy’ Committee in your school. Sign up concerned parents. Inform the kids. It is their bodies that will be the ultimate filters, and none of us wants that. Tell your MPP, MP and local Councillors. The idea will leap from city to city to city.

Label. Boycott. NO GMO. David Foster, Port Perry ON david.foster2@powergate.ca [Tel. 905 985 1684]  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 29

“That’s My Take On It”

“Money” and “Health Care” are both con games John Shadbolt, Acton ON "Earth is an insane asylum, to which the other planets deport their lunatics." – Voltaire

That’s the way I see it. However most people have no idea about the gigantic fraud that is going on in the world today ~ and has been for a long time.

Do you know that there is no such thing as free money?

All money – and I mean ALL money (under the current system) has to be borrowed – plus interest, of course.

If you do not borrow it you do not get it.

What this means is that if everyone wanted to repay all of their debt there would not be enough money in the world to do so. You would still be in debt.

Where does money come from? It is created out of thin air – money that seems worth a lot is actually worthless, worth the paper it is printed on, because nothing backs it up.

These days it is a creation on your computer, not even printed anymore. It is only worth something because we all have been taught that money has value.

So you want a free island – Cyprus is a great example.

Lend them ‘free air’ money, and when they cannot repay the ‘loan,’ you take the island. So now you have an island that costs you virtually nothing. A great deal for the money printers, the banks.

So why does Canada borrow money when we could produce our own money through the Bank of Canada?

Just another scam against the people.

The other con game, “health” care is outlined (below) by Dr. Schnitzer.

Health – ‘right on the money’

Dandelions - THINK ABOUT THIS

(Memnon the Philosopher)

Money is a con game.

From Dr. Johann Georg Schnitzer, Germany [EDITED EXTRACT] I would like to comment on the so-called 'health' sector's activities. In truth, this sector is a huge “disease” economy comprised of pressure groups and Multinationals, the incomes and profits of which are based on 'treating' (and even in some cases, worsening) but not at all curing the chronic diseases and the serious degenerations of the population.

A recovery of the population from their widespread chronic ailments and degenerative handicaps would be biologically possible – among them cure of hypertension and diabetes II, prevention of physical and mental abnormities. But this would be the ultimate worst-case disaster for this booming disease sector…

One of the basic preconditions of a US and Western economic recovery would be the true biological health recovery of the US and Western population. After realizing that government* and media aren't able nor interested in managing the biological recovery, the people should: – wake up from their PR-induced hypnotic Matrix dreams; – collect the knowledge needed; and – manage their own and their children’s recovery and health by themselves, before its too late.

Best regards, sincerely yours Dr. Johann Georg Schnitzer Zeppelinstr. 88, D-88045 Friedrichshafen, Deutschland/Germany LINK: www.doc-schnitzer.com LINK: www.dr-schnitzer.de/intrasearch.html#International

* P.S. I wrote three times to Obama – JGS; LINK: www.dr-schnitzer.de/americas-second-chance.html

John Shadbolt: I have seen a book with the title something like “Everything I was told was a lie.” Well, here we go again.

I recently sent out information about how to kill dandelions without using a nasty pesticide. And I had a reply which bears thinking about: “Excepting the fact that dandelions have more nutrition than any vegetable you can buy in a store. 112% of vitamin A. 535% vitamin K. It has omega 3&6, which is like eating salmon. And dandelions are FREE!” So we are destroying good food, in fact better food than you can purchase in the store. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Hate to admit it, I have. Why? Because that’s the thinking of… Who? I do not know, but I would expect government involvement – they want the tax from pesticides. (and the corporations want the profits!)

So it’s just one more thing to think about. Perhaps we should be cultivating dandelions, instead of killing them. We need a rethink. Here are some links to dandelion recipes: 1. Dandelion Recipes: Old Farmers Almanac – LINK: www.almanac.com/content/dandelion-recipeswonderful-edible-weed 2. Dandelion Greens 101 - LA Times – LINK: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/05/news/la-dddandelion-greens-101-and-14-recipes-20130405 3. Dandelion Pesto, David Lebovitz – LINK: www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/03/dandelionpesto-recipe/ 4. Wild Foods, Dandelion Recipes and more!

Learning Herbs – LINK: www.learningherbs.com/dandelion_recipes.html 

My Big Fat Greek Minister by Greg Palast, in Vice Magazine Palast writes: "Greece is a crime scene. And its working people are not the perpetrators of the crime, they are the victims – scammed, defrauded, their national industries looted and their treasury drained by financial flim-flam… Just for the record, those Greeks who can get a job, work 619 more hours per year (see table) than the average German (and way, way more than Britons or Americans as well). READ ONLINE: http://tinyurl.com/RSNGPbfg [From S. McDowall]  30 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca

“Your Health Matters”

ATTACK AND DEFENSE

Derrick Lonsdale, M.D., Strongsville OH I was particularly struck by the article by Inge Hanle in the last issue of Dialogue, “Why are Pharmaceutical ‘psycho-drugs’ mandated- and Orthomolecular Remediation shunned and even outlawed?” Yea verily, ‘tis only too true.

She puts her finger on it by saying that “HEALTH is not the driving engine of ‘health care’ – MONEY is and MONEY talks.” I have failed in laboring against this ignominious fact for years after my eyes were opened to the truth. The fact is, however, that we cannot ever give up. I found the following proverb written somewhere but regret that I do not know who wrote it. It seemed so important to understand its message that I reproduce it here.

“The tragedy of life is what makes it worthwhile. Any life which merits living lies in the effort to realize some dream and the higher that dream is, the harder it is to realize. The only success is in failure. Any man who has a big enough dream must be a failure and must accept this as one of the conditions of being alive. If he ever thinks for a moment that he is a success, then he is finished”.* We live in an increasingly dangerous world. The further we move from our biological origins, the greater the risk to our ultimate survival. So, it is worth looking at the natural methods of defense with which we, as a species, are equipped.

Since we are at the top of the food chain, our only predators are organisms that we cannot see without a microscope. But we have created a highly artificial environment that causes two changes to our biology. Our ability to live in the open, as the rest of the animal kingdom does, is attenuated and our complex and often absurd civilization is causing huge amounts of mental stress. In Dialogue (AugSept, Vol. 21, #2, 2007, “A Proposed Revision of the Medical Model”), I proposed the “Three Circles of Health” and defined stress as the mental and physical input to the brain to which we have to adapt in order to survive. Obviously if it is overwhelming, we die. Otherwise we have to use our defense mechanisms. I pointed out that the brain contains a computer and it is this that must always go into action, whether the “stress” be physical or mental input. It computes our defense.

I will start by discussing how we meet an attack from a bacterial or viral infection. The current medical approach is always trying to find methods of “killing the enemy” (microorganism), rarely or never thinking of ways to assist the normal defense mechanisms. Although it is well known to all what happens when bacterial or viral attack occurs, our defense mechanisms are not always appreciated in their fullest sense.

If we examine the various components of our experiences from such an attack we can see the sheer genius of the design. The ancient Chinese had the wisdom to realize this www.dialogue.ca

and their philosophy was to assist the natural mechanisms that were covered under the term “Tao.” With our modern knowledge of brain/body function, we can easily see what they perceived as the truth. Everything that happens is initiated automatically by the brain computer. First, it has to be notified that such an attack is under way and it must dataprocess that information in order to respond in the most appropriate and efficient way. Its healthy activity depends on how well it consumes oxygen in the complex chemistry of oxidation. We often develop an initial sore throat that is like a warning bell “ringing in a complex system” or we may have a sudden feeling of fatigue. This is like the brain telling its owner to rest so that it can conserve all available cellular energy to organize defenses. Fever is a disadvantage to the bacterial foe since they operate at maximum efficiency at 37 degrees C. our normal body temperature. By increasing body temperature, bacterial efficiency is reduced and it is paradoxical that it has long been standard treatment to reduce this temperature with a drug. Aspirin, given to children with “flu” for this purpose, after many tragic and unnecessary deaths, was found to be the cause of a lethal disease called Reye’s Syndrome. For many years it had been thought to be the virus that was responsible. Thus fever is part of the defense program.

A message delivered to the appropriate source in the body results in a flood of white blood cells into circulation and these are the “soldiers going to war with the foe.” Inflammation is also used as a defensive process since it brings in blood supply to the affected region. Recent research has discovered that the healthy brain actually carefully controls this by a reflex conducted through the vagus, the tenth cranial nerve. It is now known as “the inflammatory reflex.” A genetic mechanism in the brain is normally silent but it is turned on by overeating and will lead to either obesity, excessive inflammation or both. The research was done in mice but if this can be extrapolated to humans it would explain why obesity and inflammatory disease tend to go together.

The cellular energy required for this is enormous, so resting in bed is merely energy conservation. When I was in practice in England, I attended an important patient in the small town where I lived. He had a probable viral infection and I ordered the obvious bed rest. Instead of resolving, it turned into a raging pneumonia that killed him. Later, when I was seen by the community to have been a bad doctor, I found that he had been seen downtown when he was in the viral phase. Also, he lived alone in a huge mausoleum of a typical English country house and his nutritional domestic skills were poor. This combination had weakened his defenses by the unwise and unnecessary use of energy, of which he was already deficient through poor nutrition. With my knowledge acquired since then, I would have wanted to give him a series of water soluble vitamins intravenously, my standard treatment for virtually any serious disease. I would be assisting the “Tao.”  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 31

We are obviously thinking in terms of the energy generated by each of our body and brain cells that enable them to perform their specialized functions. When a person takes coffee to overcome morning fatigue he believes that it is “giving him energy.” The truth is that caffeine causes cellular energy to be consumed to create physical and mental function. It is accelerating consumption of this energy and explains the “let down” feeling after the caffeine effect wears off. The person who uses caffeine in this manner can ill afford this energy consumption because the fatigue is a symptom caused by inefficient cellular energy production in the first place. The antioxidants in coffee can be outweighed by caffeine in a poorly nourished individual.

Food is the fuel that our cells must burn (oxidize) to provide the energy and each of our 70 to 100 trillion cells have their own energy budget.

Since 2006 I have submitted articles in Dialogue that focus on the methods by which we try to assist this remarkable and complex defense. We should certainly try to “kill the enemy,” but only if it is safe and does not complicate the disease process, for we all know that this has its own dangers. Appropriate nutrition, alas so unusual in our present era, is the staple of the teaching of Hippocrates, “Let food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.” Though he has been called the “Father of modern medicine,” his heirs have taken little notice of this profound wisdom. Perhaps Complementary Alternative Medicine will one day become standard practice because it is trying to implement

this wisdom and embrace the ancient Chinese philosophy of “Tao.”(Dialogue, V.21-2, Aug-Sept, 2007, “A Proposed Revision of the Medical Model.”)

It has been my goal for many years to support the important research that was published by John Yudkin in a book entitled “Sweet and Dangerous” (Dialogue, V.22-6, AprMay, 2008. “Sugar is Dangerous”). The credibility gap is enormous but I have found his carefully argued conclusions to be the truth. I have found it (sugar) to be the cause of a huge amount of illness that is written off by modern diagnoses that never even consider the impact of poor nutrition. It weakens our defense mechanisms by inducing vitamin B deficiency. This is precisely what happens in a car engine when there is an excess of gasoline, an inadequate spark plug, or insufficient oxygen in the cylinder. I have called it “The Choked Engine Syndrome (Dialogue, V.24-5, MarchApril, 2011 “A typical Case of “Choked Engine Syndrome”).

The Revision of the Medical Model to reflect this research is my dream ~ which I continue to pursue. ~ Derrick Lonsdale, M.D. (* Quote is perhaps from Eugene O'Neill, circa 1927) Everything is connected to everything else.

Derrick Lonsdale is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and a Certified Nutrition Specialist. www.prevmed.com / Blog: http://o2thesparkoflife.blogspot.com/ 

Might electron deficiency be an underlying factor in most chronic disease?

By Dr. Mercola, May 05, 2013 – EXTRACT & LINK For thousands of years, Eastern civilizations have used forms of energy medicine to unblock and regulate energy channels in the body. For example, acupuncture has a long history of success in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The West has been slow to embrace energy medicine, holding a more biochemical view of the human body, as opposed to “the body electric.” […] Your nervous system communicates using electricity (i.e., movement of electrons), receiving & transmitting electrical signals throughout your body. Most of your biological processes are electrical.

Most people in the medical world have no background whatsoever in the electrical world, which is why Clint Ober is so uniquely qualified to offer this fresh perspective, which is brilliantly simple and intuitive, given how our ancestors lived. Ober spent three decades working in the cable television industry prior to changing course to investigate how Earth’s electrical energy influences health. While struggling to recover from his own healing challenges, he received the following internal whisper: “Become an opposite charge.

Status quo is the enemy.”

This inspiration was the beginning of what could end up being a discovery as groundbreaking as germ theory. What he has discovered could be a major underlying thread in all chronic disease, a phenomenon he calls “electron deficiency syndrome.” The premise is simple. If you are defi-

32 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

cient in electrons, your body is unable to effectively combat inflammation.

When inflammation runs rampant, as you probably know, you are vulnerable to a plethora of chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and many other illnesses that are appearing at alarmingly high rates today.

The Earth is the natural antidote for electron deficiency and can provide you with an infinite flow of electrons through grounding, also known as “Earthing.” And I will spend a large part of this article explaining how this works. But here’s the rub. You can’t benefit from this electron flow unless you are directly connected to the Earth. And today, people in industrialized countries are anything BUT connected.

Humankind’s Disconnect from a Healing Source: Mother Earth

Industrialization and the introduction of plastics and other synthetic materials have disconnected us from the Earth and her energy. Whereas we once walked barefoot across the grass and slept on the cool dirt floors of a cave, we now live ABOVE the ground, separated from the Earth by raised wooden floors, rubber-soled shoes, and sometimes hundreds of feet of air, if you live (or work) in a high-rise building. We are ungrounded—literally! […]

READ IN FULL: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/05 /chronic-disease-are-we-missing-something.aspx  www.dialogue.ca

IN SEARCH OF ECOLOGICAL CIVILISATION

Basic features of ecological civilization

Mike Nickerson, Lanark ON People frequently ask me, ‘What about China? The essay (link below) provides some interesting thoughts for replying.

I wish we would hear such rhetoric from Harper or Obama! Yours, Mike N. These criteria are an extract from the January 2013 English-language edition of Qiushi Journal, a publication of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. The author, Jiang Chunyun, is former Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China.

First, human beings are a part of nature. The relationship between human beings and other creatures should be one of equality, friendship, and mutual reliance, as opposed to a relationship in which humans are supreme.

Second, since it is nature that has given us life, we should feel gratitude towards nature, repay nature, and treat nature well. We should not forget the debt that we owe to nature, or treat nature and other creatures violently.

Third, humans are entitled to exploit natural resources, but we must take the tolerance of ecosystems and the environment into account when doing so in order to avoid overexploitation.

Fourth, human beings must follow the moral principles of ensuring equity between people, between countries and between generations in resource exploitation. We should refrain from violating the rights and interests of other people, other countries, and future generations.

Fifth, we should advocate conservation, efficiency, and recycling in the utilization of resources so as to maximize efficiency whilst keeping consumption and the impact on nature to a minimum.

Sixth, we should view sustainable development as our highest goal, rejecting the overexploitation of resources and short-sighted acts aimed at gaining quick results.

Seventh, the fruits of development must be enjoyed by all members of society and not monopolized by a small minority.

If we are to reverse the trend of environmental degradation and save the biosphere, we must correctly assess the state of our living environment, face up to environmental problems instead of trying to conceal them, use scientific means to anticipate dangers that lurk ahead, and sincerely reflect on our maltreatment of nature. Once we have acknowledged our errors we must take action to correct them. […]

LINK TO THE FULL CHINESE ARTICLE:

http://climateandcapitalism.com/2013/03/31/chinese-leadercalls-for-ecological-civilization/

‘It is from the clash of differing opinions that the light of truth shines.’ – 19th Century Visionary * www.dialogue.ca

Naming the Question of Direction

Words are powerful. Names even more so, as they give life to things in a way that enables them to spread through a population and on, to the generations following. The 7th Generation Initiative seeks to name the critical decision: Should we continue to defy planetary limits and seek to grow forever, or should we acknowledge those limits and work to secure the future within them?

One would think the answer is obvious, but the goal of governments worldwide is to grow until we drop. You can help point out to the people you know, that the times have changed and so must our vision, locally, nationally and for the entire human project.

Naming the basic choice will bring us a big step closer to making the decision. The idea that Growth is not an absolute requirement for well-being is new to many people; that there are more viable alternatives is practically unknown.

The faster these realizations spread the smoother can be our adaptation.

Moving the Choice Forward

The more that each of us knows about this issue, the more effectively we can help. The 7th Generation Initiative has prepared a variety of tools for explaining and spreading the message. Please share them broadly.

The Question of Direction is explained in detail: www.sustainwellbeing.net/question.html. It can now be found on FaceBook […/pages/Question-of-Direction/…]

The materials [at: www.sustainwellbeing.net/seeds.html] make it easy to introduce the issue to people you meet. For a thorough look at how goals shift in societies, if you have not already, sign up for our mini-course. Recommend it to your friends. It costs nothing and provides insights into cultural evolution and how those insights can be applied to redirecting what our societies are trying to accomplish. It consists of eleven short articles or videos that are delivered one per week.

Sustainability Project - 7th Generation Initiative 2799 McDonald's Corners Rd., RR #3, Lanark, Ontario K0G 1K0; phone: (613) 482-1208 e-mail: sustain5@web.ca / www.SustainWellBeing.net 

*“The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions.” – Abdúl-Bahá (1844-1921), quoted from Selections from the Writings of Abdúl-Bahá, p.87; Paperback: 483 pages; Publisher: Bahai Publishing (May 1, 2010) ISBN-10: 1931847746. This is a compilation of correspondence and written works by one of the major figures of the Baha'i faith. Abdu'l-Baha (meaning "Servant of the Glory") is the title adopted by 'Abbas Effendi, the eldest son and designated successor of Baha'u'llah, the prophet and founder of the faith. It includes works about physical and spiritual health, death, the afterlife, spiritual reality, and how to combat and overcome prejudice; skilfully translated into English and presented in a pocket-sized paperback form… an indispensable resource… for anyone seeking to learn more about the Baha'i faith and its wisdom, from one of its most influential leaders.  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 33

On Uselessness

Fruits of the Vale…

Hugh Ector, Fruitvale BC If I were to advise someone young how to choose his/her career, I’d start by asking this person to first find something useless. Then devote his/her time and energy to becoming profoundly proficient at it. If one has chosen something as being remotely useful, then drop it like a hot brick. One can do better than designing a better mouse trap, or a glass that won’t reflect light, or a device that transmits energy with no loss. Leave it to the work enthusiast. Surely there are more useless things to do. With the possibility of extinction ahead, what else makes sense?

Man is a restless beast. Otherwise, I’d advise him to do almost nothing beyond providing for food, clothing, shelter and a certain degree of restrained companionship.

Mankind, however, insists on being a nervous animal, a ferret of energy, striving for things he cannot – or ought not – have. So be it, I guess. We certainly have enough of such “stout upstanders.” But we – at least many of us – must live within the range of our various natures. We can, however, alleviate some of the most nervous part of our afflictions. There are always useless things to do, a plethora of them.

So let’s get on with it. Find your useless niche and develop it to a fair-the-well. Unfortunately, usefulness has become important, but that should be of no concern to the reader. Take Einstein. On a higher level of useless activity, he concocted relativity while pushing a baby carriage, or some such useful activity. At first, he had no idea that his hypothesis might be useful – or even if he were correct. He spent the rest of his life proving its existence and veracity – and then its usefulness. He should have stopped long before, when the baby needed a diaper change.

On a purer level, a nobler level, suppose I dreamed up a harmless activity associated with botany. Suppose I wanted to develop a Spanish Moss to withstand our colder winters of Canada. Now, just because it has the quality of beauty does not make it useful. In fact, an endeavour’s specific utility is a property of its usefulness.

Moss, I maintain, cannot be eaten by humans or even goats. Being full of red bugs, moss makes an unsatisfactory bedding, a curse for the poor and the trees that support it. All in all, it seems a safe bet that, like Kudzu, it might become embarrassingly superfluous in a exotic environment with no competition. Now, if I should be successful and actually get the stuff surviving, and God forbid, should others begin snooping around wanting to know how I got the gray mass to grow. I'd tell them, “I don’t remember.” (At least, I hope I would,) and if I stayed true to my calling, I’d give him whatever I had, and try to find some other useless thing to do . . . like writing poetry. What a novel idea; I can then write poems for years with great satisfaction knowing that no one will

34 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

read them, and certainly not sell them. But I'm not alone.

A well-known poet was giving a reading at an Ivy League University. He started his talk by declaring how happy he was to be there at such a prestigious University. He related that the first thing that happened to him while waiting for time to pass under the spreading oaks, was he had to visit the wash room, so he left his notes and books of poetry under a tree and proceeded to accomplish his desires. When he returned he received an important lesson that he would never forget and which suggested that he was indeed, amongst, practical people. Both of his mostly blank notebooks were stolen, but not one of his books of poetry was touched.

What a resounding lesson on the importance of poetry as art! He was still evaluating what it meant. Surely its uselessness should be engraved in stone. That much alone is worth committing to posterity.

When I listen to the fabulous CBC program, Quirks and Quarks, I feel justified in my attitude, indeed. What a noteworthy endeavour it is for a scientist to discover that he could spent 15 years determining how a certain insect made varied noises (music, he called it – only in the dead of night) by the rubbing of its diaphanous wings.* I am impressed beyond words. It doesn't matter if this insect is seeking a mate or declaring its territory or whatever; the scientist has fulfilled his calling.

Let's consider Robert Frost's poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” When the poet was coming back from his errand in his horse-drawn sleigh, it was snowing. He then approached some woods, and on impulse turned his horse into them from the road, though he had miles to go. Even his horse mildly objected. One might say the traveler left, not only the road “less traveled,” but perhaps the normal one chosen by most travelers, to stop and enter the woods. He suspended his purpose of continuing home and favoured instead this limited interlude during the “longest evening of the year.” Even then he trespassed. Why? “To watch the woods fill up with snow.” That's it. Nothing more drew him there. ** Finally, there is a wakeful call of “promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep,” and the conflict between duty and beauty.

It's meditation. One can never be sure of the hidden results of being conscious of one's breathing. It's like listening to the “easy wind and downy flake.”

Hugh Ector, Fruitvale, BC

* I made this story up (almost apologetically). ** Apparently, Frost rejected other interpretations.

Poems by the author have been published in: Georgia Review, Canadian Forum, Quarry, The Fiddlehead, Southern Humanities Review, Epos, Root Cellar Press. Books available from Inter library Loan, etc., E-mail: onestop2@ector.ca 

www.dialogue.ca

Shakespeare

Intimate Details

J.S. Porter, Hamilton, Ontario – www.spiritbookword.net

When you meet a great poet, rush out to the garden and drive a stake into the ground.

Record on the stake the details of your first encounter, as the Polish poet Tadeusz Różewicz does in “Précis”. He proclaims the day and month and year of his son’s discovery of William Shakespeare: on 3 rd July 1962 yet another man on earth learns of the English dramatist’s existence Through Różewicz’s informing voice, his son awakens to the greatest body of linguistic vitality to ever fall from a human tongue.

I remember the details of my first encounters with Shakespeare because they came out of my relationship with my father. Shakespeare mattered to him, and because he mattered to him, he came to matter to me.

For my father there were two underground rivers that ran through the English language: Shakespeare and the King James Bible. Whenever surface conversation lapsed into drivel, these underground streams would gurgle up and transform staleness into vibrancy.

His prize possession was a green-covered (“green, with the flare of life in it”) one-volume Shakespeare that he underlined, starred and wrote marginalia on. I keep this volume near so as to have a record of my father’s engagement with the King of Speech. He had a small library of works about Shakespeare, and so do I. Dad offered me an early exposure to Shakespeare’s whoosh — like a suddenly lit fire. He played records of English actors speaking the parts, took me to see Douglas Campbell in Henry VIII at Stratford when I was eleven, then to see the acrobatic Olivier as Othello on the big screen when I was fifteen, and back to Stratford to see a randy Christopher Plummer and a seductive Zoe Caldwell in Antony and Cleopatra in 1967.

Recently I purchased Stratford Gold: 50 Years, 50 Stars, 50 Conversations with Richard Ouzounian and was thrilled to read Plummer and Caldwell waxing retrospectively on Antony and Cleopatra. Plummer describes the play as “about two magnificent failures” – as “the tragedy of ruined greatness.” And Caldwell encapsulates the essence this way: “You see I was always so stunned how so much of the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra could be enacted in anybody’s house. Their www.dialogue.ca

fights, their mistrust, their ‘forgive me, forgive me, forgive,’ the many many different aspects of man, woman, living together.”

That’s a central theme in Shakespeare: we’re all tethered together by bonds of blood and friendship, responsibility and interdependence. No man, contrary to Coriolanus, Stephen Harper and those who idolize the free market, is “author of himself.” …I’ll never Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand As if a man were author of himself And knew no other kin. (5.3.34-37) Coriolanus tries to free himself of all bonds – whether social or biological. His goal, like that of fellow narcissists Iago in Othello and Edmund in King Lear, Macbeth and even Hamlet, seems to be to live without connection and intimacy — not to feel, not to be an interdependent human being. Tragedy results in such self-delusion.

To be without intimacy is to be weightless.

Think of the George Clooney character in Up In The Air where his highest aspiration is an empty knapsack. Like Coriolanus, he seeks to untether himself from the burdens of friendship and family. He’s most fully alive in an airplane 30,000 feet above the human sweat lodge.

Having shunned intimacy throughout his adult life, he floats weightlessly, like a kite without strings. By the end of the film, he stands still, staring at an airport destination board, reflecting on his life for the first time, re-thinking his choices. Can you live without intimacy?

Of course. Many, inside and outside of Shakespeare, do.

But who in the yearning heart would want to?

If, as Shakespeare scholar A.D. Nuttall insists, playwright Christopher Marlowe asks, “What does it all come down to?,” Shakespeare asks, “What else could be going on?”. Plays within plays, plots crisscrossing plots, characters exchanging identities, there’s always more in Shakespeare— more levels, more intricacies, more life.

Superabundance and plenitude abound along with a bottomless depth.

Ron Rosenbaum in The Shakespeare Wars justly asserts: “The works will exhaust us, outlive us before we reach bottom. Not only are there too many ways we can read a line but too many ways we can speak it and too many ways we can act it…”

There’s a stage direction from Timon of Athens that I like to keep in mind as revelatory of how Shakespeare works: “Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant, and others, at several doors.” That’s what happens in  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 35

Shakespeare – people of mixed class and background enter from many different doors and say many different things in the same theatrical space. He imaginatively pours himself into each character, however humble, wicked or wise, giving each one voice and presence.

The words of Richard II, “a thousand harts are great within my bosom…” and Richard III, “I have a thousand spirits in one breast…” seem appropriate for a poet-playwright who “had a preternaturally sensitive imagination, which could clothe itself in the being of another” according to biographer Peter Ackroyd. “The

chameleon poet” (Keats’ defining phrase regarding Shakespeare) has the gift of taking on whatever colour he happens to immerse himself in.

Oh, to sit down over a cup of coffee (or a pint of ale), and do for real what Stanley Wells does in the imaginary dialogue Coffee with Shakespeare and ask at least two questions: How were you able to blow so much life into a page? And, how did that empathetic gift of becoming the other take root in your personality?

J. S. Porter

Thanksgiving, Remembering, Reflecting John Maskell, Mallorytown ON

[Written in October/November 2012, first published on Remembrance Day]

The idea for writing this came to me on Sunday, October 13, when I took my 101-year-old Mum up into the Gatineau Park to see the Fall colours. The colours were stupendous this year. We usually consider that the peak of the fall colours comes about Thanksgiving, which, in Canada, falls on the second Monday of October. This year the colours continued to become more colourful and vivid and the sunshine and warm weather hung around for a further three weeks after Thanksgiving: a whole kaleidoscope of reds, scarlets, pinks, crimsons, yellows, oranges, bronzes, coppers, greens, golds, silvers and browns. Often leaves on the same tree were coloured differently, and changed from day to day which, when viewed from a distance, gave individual trees and hillside vistas hues, shades and tinges that were beyond description … starkly vivid … soft and velvety …, sometimes they even seemed to be alive.

Day after day I was filled with gratitude. I have these kinds of feelings every year in the fall, but it was particularly noticeable this year. During this past year I have reaped an unpleasant harvest of adverse consequences from past choices … translation – it’s been a really tough year. Lots of things didn’t turn out the way I expected or hoped and there have been days when various negative and angry feelings have been trying inexorably to get into my Temple.

Therefore this extended period of feeling appreciation for everything around me was a treat. One day I made a list of all the names of people that sprung into my mind who have in one way or another been special over the years … hmmm … I guess, decades. It was a long list – and as time goes by it gets longer.

I don’t have a track record of being a good correspondent.

Usually after the Christmas/New Year’s Season I lament the fact that I let another year go by without sending many greetings – but the lamentation doesn’t characteristically make it through to the next fall. This year, relatively suddenly in my smorgasbord of gratitude I had a desire to connect with everyone and say, “I’ve had to let go of a lot of things and I don’t have much momentum right now, but I’m ridiculously healthy, my attitudes are good, my spirit is fine, my brains are working very well and … financially I’m dig-

36 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

ging out of a hole.” Translation: I have a whole new crop of challenges and opportunities to discover!

I live in Ivy Lea Village, which is actually a winding two kilometer residential lane along the North shore of the St Lawrence River in the most picturesque part of the Canadian 1000 Islands. It is the narrowest part of the river and because of the great depth and noticeable current, the water never freezes. From both my desk and my reading chair I look out over a most peaceful and pastoral scene; it’s richly conducive to quiet meditation and reflective thought. When the sun sparkles on the water it is totally peaceful. Usually at dawn the river is mirror smooth; when the water is warmer than the air above a whispy mist drifts lazily downstream with the current. When the sky is covered with a grey blanket, my mind wanders off across the endless water to places I’ve been and to family, friends and acquaintances near and far.

Many, many are the hours I have let my mind reach back over the years to cherish the memories of mentors, to treasure my successes and learn from non-successes. I have difficulty in thinking of things that didn’t seem to work out as ‘failures.’ I flunked out of University in Engineering School, and ended up with a PhD! I think of them as learning experiences and sometimes as a work in progress which is on hold (or pre-maturely terminated) for some reason but, … yeah, I guess sometimes I’ve failed, but that’s often because I’ve tried things that were bigger than me.

And I’m sure I’ll do that again. It’s part of me.

So many things fell apart in my life that I have been involuntarily thrust into a time of deep reflection and rethinking. “Enjoying it” would not be an apt description as some days are very low. But I am also having days of inspiration that are very satisfying. The “low” points come when I’m overwhelmed by the constraints and limitations that my situation or society at large has bound me up with.

The inspirations come when I realize and accept that I can, in a moment, choose not to be bound. It’s as if I’m learning to discard all the automatic opinions, stories, excuses and interpretations of the way life is and start each day, conversation and moment with a new sheet that’s just waiting to record the magic of what is happening in the now and with each new sheet “coloured” with the “watermark” of who and what I want to become in relation to the people  www.dialogue.ca

and world around me. A key learning for me is how to ask for what I need.

Remembrance Day is fast approaching and I will finish this before then. It is a day that has always been special for me. In my early years, Dad was still in the Army and I remember going with him to the Cenotaph in downtown Ottawa to be part of the scene that now-a-days is shown every year on national TV. I often think of him and the richness he and Mum and their friends were pouring into me when I was a boy.

I have almost never missed observing Remembrance Day; not because I’m a militarist; I’m not. Even though I started out in the Royal Canadian Navy, I have come to believe that military aggression and retaliation is a tragic failure of public policy. It’s the triumph of fear. It can also bring out the best – and the worst – in individual men and women.

Every year I am stirred deeply by the spiritual awareness that so many men and women cared so much for our coun-

try, our way of life, for our capacity and freedom to dream and hope that they made an unconditional commitment, even if it was to cost them their lives. It is the sense of gratitude and reverence for “unconditional commitment” that I find so overwhelmingly wonderful; physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual unconditional commitment. How many of us even understand “unconditional” anymore? I’m left wondering, how do I make “unconditional” relevant in my life?

This comes to you as a note of appreciation just for being you and for being, or having been, part of my life. Most of you will receive this by e-mail, but since I’m having to rebuild my address book after multiple computer crises it may be only the thought that gets out to you on Remembrance Day. May God Bless you and keep you in the palm of His hand and may you welcome His blessing.

– John Maskell, Mallorytown ON 

Poetic Offerings ~ B.W. Powe

Fractal Maxims

By B.W. Powe

* I have no conclusions, only beginnings. * I’m trying to see things in the ways that they could be. * Going behind the firewalls… This is part of our pilgrimage now.

You travel in danger of being misunderstood.

You should also travel in danger of being immediately understood. * Stress test for the divine in us: we exhale our breath in our words and images to make them live. This is inspiration. We utter to outer. Then God knows what comes out. * Know yourself? Can this ever completely happen? …Only the untraveled and inexperienced truly know themselves. * Whisper to your self and to your friends: don’t confuse us with too many facts… The light is on, and facts are shimmered with transient light. Light is the normal activity of everything.

This may be why transparency and candour are vital to us. The intensity of electronic effects must create new environments. Electricity is anonymous, unanimous: its users are individuals. www.dialogue.ca

* I know a lot of broke people with iPhones. * It’s important to get lost in the wilds once in a while…

Nowadays it’s a luxury to get lost, because so many people have a GPS. But remember when you travel you no longer need a passport, you just need a laptop. * The necessary rebellion: against a life without inspiration. * Whisper this into willing ears (courtesy of Richard Maurice Bucke and Walt Whitman, their convergence): you are a cosmos, you carry it in you and you are inside it. The medium is the metamorphosis. Today’s gnomic statement is tomorrow’s vital banner and indispensable cliché. * Expressing the inexpressible has surely become part of our goal… * New consciousness is our business.

Our time: now. Our location: the global membrane (formerly the global theatre). Our identity: unfinished. Our destination: unknown. *  Pass it on.

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 37

Soft & Hard Edges Column – Jim Taylor

Connections That Bind Us Together

By Jim Taylor, Okanagan Centre BC I don’t know where I saw it. It might have been a Harry potter movie. Perhaps I even dreamed it. But what I saw made visual the connections that unite us, one to the other.

In my vision, those connections turned into lines of light.

Some people had only thin lines linking them, in pale colours. Other people had great pulsing umbilical cords, throbbing with vitality, binding them together as if they shared a single bloodstream…

The fact that we can’t see these connections doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

There are lots of things we can’t see. Radio waves, for example. But with the right equipment, we can pick up those invisible signals and listen to music or watch television. We can’t see radioactivity, even though it can kill us. We can’t see, smell, or taste oxygen -- although we die without it.

We can’t see the gravity that keeps our planets from flying apart.

LOSING PART OF ONESELF

That notion of invisible connections between people helps me make sense of grief. Someone has died; part of me has died with them. If our connection is only a thin tendril of life, I won’t feel much loss. If our connection is one of those pulsing umbilical cords, I will feel that loss as I would an amputation -- the phantom limb still hurts, even though it’s no longer there. Those missing toes still itch; that arm still tries to reach for the doorknob.

We delude ourselves when we think that we stand alone.

We are not separate entities, ships that pass in the night.

We are a vast network of life and living.

Occasionally we glimpse this truth, through the metaphors of poetry. John Donne wrote, 400 years ago: “No man is an island entire onto itself… Each man's death diminishes me.”

A friend, Marjorie Gibson, composed this poem (right) as a lament for the death of her friend Elizabeth MacLeod: No one can read that lament without the sense of a connection broken, severed, gone.

Marjorie wrote “A Lament” for her own loss. But it also speaks to me, and to Ray and Muriel, to Frances, Suzanne, Arlene…

The invisible umbilical cords of love and friendship that nourished us, fed us, sustained us, have been severed. We will continue, but we will never be as whole again.

*** Copyright © 2012 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@quixotic.ca

“A Lament”

I lost my friend did I tell you?

She died.

An ache gnaws my heart, persistent, sadly reminds.

She walked early, loving morning light early walkers fresh crisp air.

Late afternoon for me light warm golden from the setting sun late walkers with dogs.

We spoke our minds bared our fears our joys our questions.

In the end, no world problems solved no personal stances altered, just two souls lovingly understanding one another.

For both, the end hovers in sight the final battle cannot be won in our hands only the skirmishes before the end our fight to make our last days good.

Our challenges?

Her failing heart my dementia trivial things like that.

Then we look into one another’s eyes laugh clasp hands sit close together and remember.

I lost a friend did I tell you?

She died. ~ Marjorie Gibson

38 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca



Reflections on an untenable existence…

On Dying Quietly...

Kimbell Vincent, Nanaimo BC Doomsday, for me, is only a couple of months away.

Do I want to die? I’ve been thinking about it a lot. The answer is an emphatic no. On the other hand, do I have a choice? Again, the answer is an emphatic no, at least not under the present circumstances. Like it or not, I may have to kill myself. But I’m not alone. There are 5 million Canadians just like me, all over the age of 65, of which about 1500 will commit suicide this year.

In the last 45 years, the suicide rate has increased by 60% worldwide. In B.C. in 2010 there were 530 elderly British Columbians who killed themselves. This number is increasing at the rate of 13% per year. By the end of 2015 B.C. seniors will be killing themselves at the rate of more than 1000 a year.

B.C. seniors are 14 times more likely to die from suicide than homicide. Putting it another way, during the time it takes 50 Canadians to die from AIDS, 3000 will have committed suicide. (Public Health Agency of Canada.)

Yet nobody hears about this tragedy. It’s something we prefer to ignore, even though some medical authorities are now describing the situation as pandemic.

But, one always has a choice, doesn’t he? I hope so, but you decide...

In 2003 I got a lump on my left ankle. During the next four years, while having three operations, I was in constant pain, night and day. It was like a bolt of lightening every 10 seconds. Then, in August of 2007, at age 69, my doctor told me I had Leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of virulent cancer. They cut my leg off just before Christmas.

But, because I was over age 65 I was not entitled to any kind of help for medical disability. I was on my own. Fortunately, I was self employed, owned my condo, and had about $70,000 in savings. It turned out, however, that my old muscles were not as resilient as younger ones. Try as I might I didn’t have the strength to get around with the help of a prosthetic, so I ended up full-time in a wheelchair. But, being of independent mind, I continued to live at home, alone, as I have done for the past twenty years. In the years that followed I became arthritic, diabetic and developed Crohn’s Disease as well – a bowel disorder with persistent diarrhea up to ten times a day (and night). Believe me, when you’ve got 20 seconds to make it to a specially equipped can, a wheelchair somewhat complicates things. Additionally, as I get older I get weaker, making transitioning in and out of the wheelchair somewhat perilous.

Anyway, life carries on, but not my business. Once the Cancer word got out my clients disappeared into the woodwork. Meantime my medical expenses continue at about $800 a month. Fourteen months ago my savings ran out. Suddenly desperate, I put my home up for sale at $20,000 below market value. But there have been no takers and I have had to use my credit cards to make up the monthly shortfall. As of two months ago, however, they’re maxed out. In short, I’m out of money and out of ideas too.

Ideally, I’d like to get into some form of subsidized, wheelchair accessible housing. But there’s nothing available. I’ve been on B.C. Housing’s lists for over five years and, as of a month ago, I’m told the wait is still an indefinite number of years into the future. But I simply can’t hold out that long. Complicating my application for assistance is the fact that, rather than be a pest to the home nurses, I try to look after myself as much as possible. Additionally, apparently having my own home is another strike against me. It seems that I don’t fit in anywhere.

So, when B.C. Hydro pulls the plug on me and my phone gets shut off what should I do? Everyone assumes that I could call 911 and throw myself on the mercy of the system. Except there isn’t any. During my last stay at the local hospital I discovered that none of the bathrooms are wheelchair accessible. Even if they had elevated toilets and grab bars for the disabled (which they don’t) I cannot even brush my teeth. So, that’s out. What’s next?

I have no family here, nor – it turns out – friends either.

What’s more, I’d make a lousy street person, what with being trapped in a wheelchair and crapping my pants every two hours.

From where I sit my options seem pretty bleak. Added to that I’m still in constant pain. My Tylenol Strong and Morphine is never far away. Still, I can carry on for a few months more. But what then? Have you got any ideas?

As I look at what’s coming, at least I have enough time to decide on the best way to do myself in. Like I said, it’s nice to have a choice.

Postscript from Kim, received May 2nd: The cavalry has arrived in the nick of time, in the form of Diana Livingston -- a very capable advocate with Seniors Outreach. She has made arrangements for me to move into subsidized housing in the middle of May. Now all I have to do is figure out how to put 1304 square feet of stuff into 550 sq. ft. and then sell my condo. I very much thank you for your assistance and interest. 

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.

– Albert Einstein, German-born physicist  www.dialogue.ca

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 39

“Stirring The Soup”

Our Shared Connection

Marie Gaudet, Edmonton AB My dearest grandson, The day you were born was one of the most thrilling of my life. I still remember the feel of you in my arms as you lay your sleepy little, blue-bonneted head on my chest, the intoxicating smell of you, the softness of your newborn skin and the sound of your breath as you tightened your grip around my finger in your sleep. I remember feeling indelibly connected to you, a feeling I remembered last from the birth of your Uncle Andy some 17 years earlier. I’d had no idea that such a powerful spiritual attachment could occur between two human beings unless they had shared the same body for a period, and I was so surprised that it took my breath away. Tears sprang to my eyes as this unexpected gift came over me and I fell utterly in love with my baby grandson. This joining of our two hearts on your birth day was immediate, potent and, I still believe, everlasting.

More than anything, I want you to know that you were loved by your grand-maman from the day you were born and that love will never cease.

But as you will one day know, life is not a picnic and there are abundant adversities to overcome on our life’s path. I have had my fair share of these, with by far the toughest one being losing you when you were still an infant. Had it been to something unforeseen, unexpected, accidental, logical even… heck had it even been death, I think I would have made my peace with it eventually, clutching our bond to me forever. But the heartbreaking truth is that our separation was caused by human error – mine and your mother’s unquestionably, with perhaps some contribution from outside forces. Suffice it to say that we were both weakened by heavy emotional burdens at the time and then, well, there’s that family stubbornness thing you will one day be aware of, maybe already are. And when an immovable object (me) runs into an unstoppable force (your mom), sparks are bound to fly. So she and I ran aground of each other at a time when we needed each other the most… and you needed us more. I apologize to you for that.

Six years later, hurt feelings, outside manipulations and yes, ongoing obstinacy on both sides have left your mother and I virtual strangers to each other… with you, my little love, stuck in the middle. When I look at the few photos of you that I have, I see all the firsts that I’ve missed out on: your first snow, a faceful of your first birthday cake, your first Halloween costume, your Spiderman pyjamas, school.

I’ve also been collecting gifts for you, one for every Christmas, birthday, Easter and also for just-because. I sometimes imagine you opening these up, but cannot really envisage your reactions. When I travel, I remember you and bring you back a souvenir. When I visit a museum or an art gallery, I will invariably find something that I think you might like. You are in my thoughts all the time, as though you were by my side on all these outings.

40 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

Can you feel me as I feel you? I am seized with the fear that you will grow up thinking that your grand-maman did not love you. I am guilt-ridden with thoughts that I should have done more to be in your life. I would have had to give up my identity to do it, my deep-down belief in and respect for myself; I would have had to become subservient, to close my eyes to deceits and lies, to live a life governed by others, to choose between defending one of my wounded loved ones so that I might be in the life of another… and I wasn’t strong enough to make that choice.

Recently, I bit the bullet and tried again to find a way to see you but met with no success. When I was refused, my heart broke just a little bit more. But if truth be told, a small part of me was relieved. Not because I didn’t want to see you, never that! But because I would’ve then had to deal with the various disputes that continue to cause this interruption to our relationship. Most of these are not even between your mom and I; if they were, we would have overcome them by now. There are so many convoluted issues from so many differing origins standing guard around you, that it is a mystery to me how I could ever unravel the threads of them all to get to you.

One option would be to use the legal system to help me access my grandparents’ rights. But it is unseemly, in my opinion, to fight your own flesh and blood in court. Your mother may never forgive me. Plus, you stand in front of a roomful of strangers who have no vested interest in your life but who hold your future in their hands, people who take ten minutes out of their busy schedule to scrutinize you as you sit in front of them consumed with terror at the thought of losing something as precious as life itself, people who can so easily misinterpret your fear for weakness and pass judgment on you on that basis. In the end, you could walk away not only having lost your treasured grandchild but having a goodly portion of your self-esteem stripped from you besides.

These strangers who have judged you and found you wanting in that short period of time may not realize that in this world of ours, their opinion can often be considered accurate by people who are emotionally compromised, as are many of the family members in that courtroom. Do they realize that as mother and daughter leave the courtroom, their relationship has suffered a further blow, crippling what little link remained between them? Do they know that the reverberations of their decision will be felt for years to come by each family member?

And there are others who would get involved, each seeking an acknowledgement of their own individual demons from these strangers who don’t matter. Do I want to put you through that? It can’t help but cause a stir in your life that would be detrimental to you. Or, in a worse-case scenario that frightens me enormously, maybe you would be moved away and I may never be able to track you down again.

So yes, I wonder if it may be best for you if I leave things alone. Many others love you too, maybe that will be  www.dialogue.ca

enough for you. Or maybe you will grow up and come looking for me one day. I dream of that day and hope with all my heart that together, we will be able to put to rest the feelings of inadequacy, of abandonment, of longing and of loneliness that were engendered in you by the failure of the adults in your environment to do what’s best for you… and we can renew our shared connection again.

In the meantime, as much as I can’t understand, or so far forgive, someone in their right mind keeping a grandma and grandchild away from each other and as much as I truly believe that there is no moral reason for that to ever happen except in dire exceptional circumstances, I will

work on trying to restore my badly-damaged faith in your mother and attempt to believe in her again, hard as that will be to do without her. And no matter what, I will continue to keep you in my heart and in my thoughts as though we are not separated. One day, you will get the gifts that I have lovingly bought for you, though it may be when you’re much older. Perhaps they can be handed down to your own child one day, who knows? But in my letters, you will see how deeply and truly you were loved by your grand-maman from your birth day on and forever.

Marie Gaudet, Edmonton 

BOOK REVIEW

“Lonely – Learning to Live with Solitude” book by Emily White

Madeline Bruce, Nanaimo BC Below is the book review I wrote on a really good book about loneliness that has a lot of research in it. It was written by a lawyer. My review was published in the newsletter of the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association, and so was read across Canada. I feel proud of that; I got a note from that lawyer thanking me for bringing it to the attention of mental health professionals, including lots of doctors…

In her ground breaking book Lonely – Learning to Live with Solitude, Emily White of St. John’s, Newfoundland, has revealed a stigmatized subject that nobody wants to talk about or take seriously, including, it seems, doctors and psychiatrists. Depression is out in the open now, and generally accepted as a legitimate condition that might require medical treatment, but real, prolonged loneliness is something people hide. When they do admit it, it changes the way people view them, and it’s not for the better.

When White began her serious exploration into this unpopular topic, people chided her because they saw the issue as somehow not important or even real, because temporary by definition, and something rather shameful. But being a former lawyer, she was after evidence, and she found it, in the form of scientific research in many countries, and by interviewing lonely people. She has included the UCLA Loneliness Scale at the beginning of her now best-selling book.

The author proceeds from her own childhood, which on the face of it might seem to preclude the danger of chronic loneliness. She was sociable, well-mannered, witty, and popular from her earliest years. A second look at her history reveals another layer that bruised her heart, and left her vulnerable to painfully lonely periods, probably for the rest of her life. Her father moved the family from the USA to Canada when White was small, and then deserted them and quickly remarried. Her mother was then disconnected from her own roots and connections in the South, and provided White with a model of loneliness that was a frosty warning. Her sisters were many years older than her, and she felt cut off from them for that reason.

A clear distinction is made between sociability and real connection. White goes to Law School, mainly, it seems, to attach herself and become one with a certain group of people. Instead, she realizes her lack of interest in Law, and www.dialogue.ca

fantasizes about becoming a writer. She experiences a crisis, and panic at this disconnection, and when she reaches out for help is told repeatedly that she is depressed, and then gets handed prescriptions.

White’s search for the latest research on loneliness led her to Dr. John Cacioppo, a University of Chicago neuroscientist, one of the world’s leading loneliness researchers. This research shows that “loneliness, in itself, can lead to dementia, early death, physical illness, and behavioral changes.” Studies are showing that close to 10 percent of North Americans struggle with persistent loneliness – that is, millions of people.

White found herself hiding the truth of her loneliness, because it made her feel so different from everyone else. She began to tell little white lies to give the impression that her life was fuller than it was. It might seem obvious that the way out of this dilemma would be to reach out to someone, but this is not so easy. The person one discloses their loneliness to can feel blamed, like it is their fault.

She tried other tactics, like merging with a crowd at a public swimming pool, and volunteering at a soup kitchen. She makes cross town visits to various friends in Toronto, which provides short term relief, but what she craves is the quiet, steady presence of a person that she feels connected to.

The connections she makes with others feel “scanty, and glancing.”

White creates a blog where she invites lonely people to communicate. Messages come streaming in from people who describe themselves as painfully lonely, often for years, or even decades at a time.

White describes her increasing fear as her lonely state progresses. Researcher John Cacioppo points to the danger of the lonely state – “being out there by yourself in a hostile world.” He describes how loneliness makes us feel “insufficient and unsafe” and he created a research project that showed that even when lonely people had the same weekly activities as the non-lonely, they felt more stressed and threatened.

Sociologist Robert Weiss of the University of Massachusetts found definite symptoms of the prolonged feeling of loneliness, a primary one being “a pressured restlessness … an inability to feel at ease with what one is doing.” This  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 41

discomfort translates into distractibility, a shorter attention span, and a searching for something. Human beings belong in groups, and if we think of the cavemen, we can picture just how dangerous it was to be out roaming the plains all by oneself. Clans, and animals, were all competing for resources. One of the first recorded uses of the word “lonely” was in Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus, Act 1V, Scene 1: “Though I go alone, like a lonely dragon….”

The increasing fear and inability to focus of the prolonged lonely state causes further withdrawal from the social scene. Another symptom is hypersensitivity to one’s own behavior in interactions, and also to how one is being perceived in those interactions.

For group therapy purposes, more awareness of this problem, as a condition distinct from depression, and more complicated than simple social withdrawal, is overdue.

Deeper exploration of the quality of relationships, and the quality of interactions both inside and outside the group is called for. Also, more awareness of our own quality of life, and that of our colleagues, would be beneficial. The place to start lifting the veil of secrecy is with ourselves.

Group therapy could prove to be the agent that raises awareness of this hidden problem and point the way to needed solutions. The difficulty would be getting funding for this kind of group activity and research, as it is not considered a disease entity. White discusses the possibility of

its inclusion in the DSM, but my fear would be that a drug would be found to “cure” it, and that would be that. It seems clear though, that certain populations could benefit greatly from targeted group therapy. The high rate of suicide among first year university students is but one example of the hidden suffering of disconnected souls. Prisons would be another population that could benefit from more awareness of social and emotional needs. I observed a weekly therapy group for prison inmates run by Psychologist Kathy Cairns, of the University of Calgary, and it was clear to me how much those men valued and appreciated it. For one thing, their grooming was spectacular – from shiny belt buckles and shoes, freshly laundered shirts and jeans, to slicked down hair.

Of the many groups that people can join – night classes, churches, volunteer groups, hobby groups, etc. – the awareness that some people in our midst might be lonely is generally at zero level. Loneliness is not considered a fit topic of conversation in our society. So let’s get brave, and say the word out loud this week, in front of others, each one of us, at least once – “loneliness.”

Book Review by Madeline Bruce, Nanaimo, B.C. ”Lonely – Learning to Live with Solitude” by Emily White.

McLelland & Stewart, 2010 [Paperback $14.49].

Available at libraries. 

BOOK: Spontaneous Evolution: Our positive future (and a way to get there from here) – by Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. and Steve Bhaerman [AN EXTRACT REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION]

SPONTANEOUS EVOLUTION, PART II FOUR MYTH-PERCEPTIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE “When you find yourself on a vicious cycle, for goodness sakes, stop peddling?”

– Swami Beyondananda [In Part I…] We have seen how perceptions impact our biology and, in turn, help create our reality. We have also seen that our story – the philosophical lens of perception through which we see and understand the world – largely determines the parameters of our collective reality. Our review of history reveals that civilizations continuously evolve as one basal paradigm story gives way to another in a dynamic, spiral dance.

Civilization is, indeed, in a spiral dance, but we seem to be spiraling out of control. Global crises and mounting chaos signal an impending evolutionary turning point, a sign that we are close to the next paradigmatic hand-off. […]

UNVEILING THE OLD, REVEALING THE NEW In Part II, we take a close-up view of the life-threatening consequences of scientific materialism, our current basal paradigm. We specifically focus on four cultural beliefs that form the cornerstones of our current reality even though contemporary science has found each of them to be flawed, if not downright false. We present these beliefs as the Four

42 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

MythPerceptions of the Apocalypse in reference to where we are likely headed if we keep going where we are going.

Modern society’s faith in or worship of the material realm has us hurtling down the track to a train wreck of Earthshattering proportions. Continued economic growth from accelerated extraction of natural wealth is not sustainable.

Treating the land as landfill and our air, water, and soil as final resting places for pollutants is suicidal. Warfare, as a method of problem solving, has actually taken us to the brink of the ultimate solution to the human problem: no humans, no problem.

Clearly, the current paradigm of scientific materialism is not up to the evolutionary task at hand. Nor can going back to religious monotheism, the prior paradigm, take us forward, either. We seem to be at a life-threatening impasse in the face of ominous apocalyptic predictions. The key to avoiding apocalyptic collapse, however, lies in appreciating the meaning of the word apocalypse – before it became a code word for “the end of the world.”

Originally, apocalypse meant a prophetic revelation, “a lifting of the veils.” It represented the exposure of something hidden and has, since the time of the Greeks, been associated with revelations that would occur at the end of time. A new – or, actually, old – interpretation of the word suggests that, by lifting the veil on our own invisible programming, we might yet avoid the inevitable train wreck that awaits us if we stay on the current track.  www.dialogue.ca

Scientific materialism has offered four tenets in the dominant basal paradigm that, until recently, have been accepted and regarded as indisputable scientific fact: 1. Only Matter Matters-the physical world we see is all there is.

2. Survival of the Fittest-Nature favors the strongest individuals, and the Law of the Jungle is the only real natural law.

3. It’s in Your Genes – we are victims of our biological inheritance and the best we can hope is that science finds ways to compensate for our inherent flaws and frailties.

4. Evolution Is Random – life is basically random and purposeless, and we got here pretty much the same way as an infinite number of monkeys pecking on an infinite number of typewriters over an infinite amount of time might produce the works of Shakespeare.

In the next four chapters, we trace the development of each of these tenets from their origins as myth-perceptions through the profound revisions offered by current science.

In Chapter 9, Dysfunction at the Junction, we will examine the consequences of taking each of these beliefs to its logical illogical conclusion.

The institutions we examine – economics, politics, health care, and communications – all suffer from the same fatal affliction: they have pursued scientific materialism to the point of distortion and (they have) made money, materialism, and machinery more important and more valuable than human life.

Then in Chapter 10, Going Sane, we explore how we can make sane choices that will transform us from our current role as children of God to adults of God. We’ll see how we can synergistically learn from where we’ve been on this evolutionary path and, thus, become willing participants in our reconnection with each other, with Nature, and with the divine in all. We’ll learn how to embrace our untapped power – and to do so with kind, benign humility.

This examination of current situations and future possibilities is necessary because, if we look at the world with clarity, loving compassion, and even humor, we stand a chance of breaking free from this trance and achieving spontaneous evolution. Perhaps the most appropriate lens to use when looking at where civilization now stands is an entertainment genre that wouldn’t exist were it not for our worship of all things scientific: science fiction. As an example, consider the movie The Matrix.

In a scenario set in the near future, a young computer hacker named Neo finds himself in two parallel worlds. One world, the Matrix, seems to be the reality-as-usual world of everyday life in the Cyber Age. The other world is the world-behind-the-world where he discovers machinelike humanoids that keep living and breathing humans happily distracted while exploiting them as power-sources for the humanoids’ machinery. The vast majority of humans in Neo’s world, knowingly or unknowingly, have taken the blue pill of blissful or, at least, passive ignorance. Neo and his compatriots, Morpheus and Trinity, have taken the red www.dialogue.ca

pill, which is the much more dangerous path of awakening through which they step outside the Matrix.

Awakening to what? As Morpheus told Neo, “The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.” And Morpheus shows him a copper-topped battery. Considering that science fiction is often a predecessor for science fact – think of submarines in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea – we might do well to step outside the matrix of life and be curious about the world that has been spun out before us.

As we will see in our discussion of “weapons of massdistraction,” most people have chosen the blue pill and have signed off on reality in favor of ‘reality TV.’ However, every day, increasing numbers are opting for the red pill and are awakening to a world of awesome wonder and overwhelming confusion.

The confusion is clarified the moment we realize that much of what we perceive as natural human behavior is actually the consequence of developmental programming. In Part II, we describe how we came to accept beliefs that made sense once upon a time but are now contributing to the destruction of our world. With nobody telling us what else to do in the face of these crises, our programming has us feeling helpless in a situation that seems hopeless.

The real issue we must come to terms with is that, for millennia, we have been programmed to be powerless and, consequently, dependent upon others for our survival, especially in the areas of spirituality and health. Of course, fees were involved, and this exchange has significantly contributed to our current global crises. Yet there is an easy way out of our self-imposed matrix: we can simply reprogram our lives. By acquiring and acting upon new awareness, we afford ourselves an opportunity to rewrite the programs of cultural limitations.

The first step in reprogramming is deprogramming. We do this by examining the program from outside the matrix.

How? In his book, “The Power of Now,” Eckhart Tolle describes a time in his life when he was going through such despair and torment that he considered suicide. Then, a wild thought came to him: “Exactly who is the ‘who’ who wants to do away with whom?” With this epiphany, Tolle realized that he was also the observer outside the matrix, beyond the world of circumstance; this liberated him from attachment to the who whom he thought he was. (1) Quantum physicists tell us that our observations change reality. If this is indeed the case, the insights we offer regarding the four apocalyptic myth-perceptions and the human and societal dysfunctions they spawn should help you, and all of us, change the way we observe the world. Hopefully, that will enable us to awaken our collective consciousness and change our collective reality, as well.

[END OF EXTRACT] Spontaneous Evolution: Our positive future (and a way to get there from here) – by Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. and Steve Bhaerman, 2009; ISBN: 978-1-4019-2. Extract reprinted with permission from Hay House Inc. (hayhouse.com)  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 43

A Parable

The Town That Almost Died ~ A Story by Ty Klassen Dialogue is pleased to present a story recommended by Linda and Bob Harrington. Here is a brief introduction to the author: Ty Klassen has always believed writing was his calling. But after reading the WAR of ART by Steven Pressfield and engaging in a short period of questioning and contemplation, Ty discovered his true purpose is to learn to love himself. Of course he's still writing (that is, after all, what a writer does, right?). Being a master of self-sabotage, he has, until now, hoarded his work; however, thanks to Linda and Bob Harrington's encouragement and Janet Hicks King's willingness to publish this story, Ty is thrilled to come out of the closet, so to speak. He is presently writing a full-length play.

The Town That Almost Died

Ty Klassen, Nakusp BC Once upon a time there was a town called Scarcity, British Columbia. Jewel of the Kootenays, it sat on the edge of a big lake with mountains all around. The beauty of the place was enough to impress anyone who stopped long enough to appreciate it. Some came to visit and never left because it was so incredibly beautiful.

But despite its scenic location, Scarcity was in trouble.

Deep trouble. Everywhere you looked there were “For Sale” signs. Many storefronts on Main Street were boarded up or had windows papered over with “Gone Out of Business” and “For Lease” signs.

Wherever locals gathered, be it Coffee Shop, Hotel or Legion bar, talk always centred on the sad state of town, poor economy, statistics proving things like how demographics were changing in such a way as to prevent an economic recovery. And how the town’s location (off the beaten path, as it were) was the main reason for its predicament. Even the local newspaper published stories suggesting Scarcity was dying while local radio broadcast the economic blues on the daily news.

And when friends and neighbours met at the Post Office, Library, Supermarket, Liquor Store, Thrift Shop, Farmer’s Market, Credit Union or on the sidewalk they invariably discussed unemployment and lack of opportunities and looked for something or someone to blame.

Some folks, the ones who’d lived there longest, remembered when the town was called Prosperity. Of course they compared the splendour of the past with the present situation, which only made it worse. To think their town had once been a thriving, bustling hub in an area bursting with commercial activity where anyone could make a good life for themselves and their families. And now this.

What a shame.

It was the last Mayor, Honest John, a man who held the post for decades – it was he who officially changed the

44 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

name in his last year of office. Disgusted by the downturn in fortunes, he convinced everyone their town didn’t deserve to be called Prosperity. No. Scarcity was more accurate. More truthful. And since he was a man who swore by the truth, he felt compelled, obliged even, to act.

Now there happened to be a young man named Bardo in town. He’d been travelling, discovered Scarcity and through a series of unusual events found himself living there, sharing his life with a local woman, Maddy, who’d once been the most beautiful girl in town but was disabled, confined to a wheelchair (though on a good day she was able to walk short distances).

While Maddy was no longer the most beautiful woman in town, she’d retained some of her former looks. But more importantly she glowed with an inner beauty that Bardo, because of his ability to see past appearances, found irresistible. Maddy was the most loving person he knew and had much to teach him and everyone she came in contact with about opening the heart, acceptance and gratitude.

They led a simple life. Bardo was a gardener and handyman, able to find jobs here and there. Maddy received a monthly cheque from the government and sold cards and framed prints featuring her stunningly unusual photos of flowers and nature. Bardo was also a writer and musician.

He’d helped her with text to accompany her photos in a book for sale, along with her cards and prints, at the Farmer’s Market where she sat smiling, patiently waiting for customers and listening to him playing guitar and singing for donations.

Maddy’s parents had a farm just out of town where they grew and harvested an abundance of food. They also raised animals for meat, eggs and milk, making their own cheese and butter. They shared generously with Maddy and Bardo and anyone else they knew needed help. In exchange, Bardo was happy to go to the farm whenever they needed an extra hand. And if Maddy was up to it she’d go too, taking her camera to capture the endless subjects to be found on and around the farm.

As the perceived economic crisis continued to spiral out of control, the present Mayor came under scrutiny. She felt the peoples’ despair and heard their tales of woe every time she went out in public. Doom and gloom was the pervading attitude and try as she might she couldn’t seem to change things. Even Council was at loose ends. They all felt the pressure and dreaded council meetings because they never knew who’d show up to hurl accusations or worse.

To help cope with the stress, the Mayor went home and played piano or picked up the guitar to strum and sing ‘til she felt better. She believed in the power of music to bring her back to the moment, to help her through when times were tough. She also went to church Sundays to share her love of music with others. And lately she’d been exploring the books of Eckhart Tolle and other modern spiritual teachers.  www.dialogue.ca

One day the Mayor came home to find a voice-mail message. It was Bardo, whom she knew as Maddy’s partner, calling to see if she’d consider being a special guest on “Spirit Song,” a new radio show he was doing. ‘A creative exploration of mind, body and spirit through personal reflection and music,’ he said. With themes like gratitude, Earth and Nature, being in the moment, peace and love. Yes, she thought. The Mayor called Bardo and a recording date was set. On the appointed day, Bardo and Kyle, the show’s producer, arrived at the Mayor’s home. They settled around the kitchen table and proceeded, Bardo following his script, playing a song, interviewing Her Worship with regard to the theme (being in the moment), listening to her play guitar and sing a couple of numbers, presenting a healing affirmation, singing another song and bringing the episode to a close, all in an enjoyable, thought provoking fashion. After the recording, Bardo happened to mention a book he and Maddy were reading: “Mind Power into the 21st Century” by John Kehoe. The Mayor expressed interest so Bardo told her about the chapter they’d been reading that morning. It was about “prosperity consciousness.” A lively discussion over tea ensued. Kyle joined in. The Mayor was so inspired she asked to borrow the book. Bardo agreed to lend it as soon as he and Maddy were done.

The Mayor saw Bardo and Kyle out and then went to her garden to work and let her mind wander. She recalled something Bardo said about the power of thought; about how thoughts are like seeds, good seeds and bad seeds; about how we get to choose which we sow in the inner garden of our subconscious mind. It was then that a germ of an idea took form in her mind though she was barely conscious of it.

Her Worship was a voracious reader. She breezed through Kehoe’s “Mind Power” in no time. When she came to the section on prosperity consciousness, a growing sense of excitement took hold and she knew she’d found the answer.

Yes, she’d discovered what she needed to help save her beloved town, the town she’d grown up in, the town she felt in her heart would become prosperous again.

Unsure whether she’d lost her mind, she shared her excitement with her loving and supportive husband. He assured her it wasn’t craziness. And besides, what did she and the town have to lose? Sure there’d be challenges but that never stopped her before, right? She agreed. One step at a time, he suggested. Yes. The first thing was to present the idea to Council. If she could win them over the rest would fall into place. She knew the people would support anything that could turn things around and save their town.

At first Council resisted the Mayor’s idea. In fact one or two threatened to resign right there and then. They quoted the stats and emphasised the reality of the situation. But the Mayor, despite feeling inwardly uncertain, simply smiled and outlined her plan of action. ‘What did they have to lose?’ she asked. In the end they all passed a resolution, the doubters reluctantly voting in favour.

The first thing they did was restore the town’s original

www.dialogue.ca

name. Amid cries of opposition from various factions and cliques, a restoration ceremony was promoted, with an invitation for all to attend. It turned into quite a party and some folks, naysayers mostly, got a little out of hand. But no serious harm was done and a general sense of optimism seemed to be generated and carried into the days and weeks ahead.

Next came a campaign to introduce Kehoe’s four prosperity beliefs: 1. It’s an abundant universe.

2. Life is fun and rewarding.

3. Oodles of opportunities exist in every aspect of life.

4. It is our responsibility to be successful.

The Mayor, determined to lead by example, made use of local media to broadcast her own commitment to imprinting these beliefs into her subconscious mind. And she used the monthly council meetings as an opportunity to encourage the public to do the same.

Bardo and Maddy immediately supported and joined the campaign to promote prosperity consciousness. Bardo used his radio show as a vehicle for change and Maddy introduced love and gratitude to the cause. And abundance.

She engaged in heart-felt conversation about these with all the care aides, volunteers and others who walked through the door. And through her photographs, she documented Nature’s abundance and focused on what the town had to offer in terms of beauty, as well as the abundance found on her parents’ farm and at the Farmer’s Market.

Well, it didn’t take long and the overall energy of Prosperity began to change. Visitors were struck by it and wanted to be part of whatever it was. Prosperity entered and won the “Best Town in BC” contest. Commerce picked up and new businesses were established.

Then one day the Mayor got a call from a man representing a group of investors looking for a place to create an Arts and Cultural Centre using all aspects of permaculture to design, develop and manage it. She suggested they attend a council meeting and present a proposal. The meeting was packed with locals and covered by reporters from the paper and radio station.

It quickly became clear that what the investors proposed was so far-fetched, unusual, alternative and, quite frankly, out of this world, it couldn’t help but succeed. The Mayor, along with Council, pledged full support. The townspeople cheered. Soon everyone became infected with enthusiasm and helped in whatever ways they could, volunteering time and energy to make the project a reality, whereby it created meaningful employment and spin-offs galore.

And thanks to modern technology, word spread far and wide. The town and its Arts and Cultural Complex set in one of the most unbelievably beautiful corners of the world with the most welcoming and warm hospitality anyone could want Needless to say, it thrived. Yes, Prosperity lived up to its name and became an inspiration for countless communities across the province and beyond.

Ty Klassen, Nakusp BC, 2013 

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 45

Survival of the ... Nicest? Check Out the Other Theory of Evolution A new (old) theory of human origins says cooperation—not competition—is instinctive.

Article by Eric Michael Johnson – UBC, Vancouver, posted by YES magazine, May 03, 2013 [EXTRACT] A century ago, industrialists like Andrew Carnegie believed that Darwin’s theories justified an economy of vicious competition and inequality. They left us with an ideological legacy that says the corporate economy, in which wealth concentrates in the hands of a few, produces the best for humanity. This was always a distortion of Darwin’s ideas. His 1871 book The Descent of Man argued that the human species had succeeded because of traits

like sharing and compassion. “Those communities,” he wrote, “which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.” Darwin was no economist, but wealth-sharing and cooperation have always looked more consistent with his observations about human survival than the elitism and hierarchy that dominates contemporary corporate life.

READ AT YES MAGAZINE: www.yesmagazine.org/issues/how-cooperatives-are-drivingthe-new-economy/survival-of-the-nicest-the-other-theory-ofevolution 

Column: Quebec Notebook

Honouring Montreal’s greatest musical gift to the world Juno’s ‘Artist of the Year’ responsible for U2’s creation: filmmaker

By Peter Sauvé, Montreal Qc MONTREAL -- Ah, spring in Montreal, and verily, we find our thoughts turning to beauty and art. And music.

The 2013 Juno Awards are past. Her nominated, triple-platinum Sans Attendre didn’t win Album Of The Year, but preparations proceed for Celine Dion’s onenight concert on the Plains of Abraham this July. And so the season impels us to escape the tedium of our daily politics to embrace the beauty and art of Quebec’s most distinguished and creative musical talent.

Namely, Leonard Cohen.

Yes, April brought him two Juno Awards -- one for Artist Of The Year, and a second for Songwriter Of The Year, the latter for two songs on his latest album, Old Ideas. But his many fans both inside and outside the music industry know awards are not the measure of this unique Canadian great. Beyond his humility (you’ll hear it in comments to his sold-out audience on Cohen’s phenomenal “Live In London” concert DVD) and legendary body of work, he singularly honours us Montrealers simply by sharing the accident of birth.

“Growing up in Montreal, the name ‘Leonard Cohen’ was said with reverence, and there was a definite aura around the area where he lived,” Montreal singer Rufus Wainwright told Lian Lunson, the Australian director of a film on a multi-performer tribute to Cohen at Sydney’s Opera House in 2005.

Born here in September 1934 to an engineering-trained father who successfully moved into Montreal’s clothing industry, Cohen’s early literary interests were Biblical liturgy and Marvel comics, quite likely in that order. Since then, this singer, songwriter, musician, artist, monk and gentleman has sold 20-million albums, written 12 books (“Beautiful Losers” was even translated into Chinese), and still paints. At 78, he played Montreal’s Bell Centre last November, 10 months after Sony released his latest album.

46 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

Despite international renown and recognition, “he pretty much stayed that young man from Montreal, just writing and singing and putting his books out,” Lunson notes in her film, Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man. In those happier days of his formative years, Cohen routinely honed his poetry-writing skills over refreshments with notable Montreal colleagues like McGill University constitutional expert Frank Scott, Louis Dudek and writer Irving Layton. (To understate the case, Dudek and Scott would be aghast at today’s French language laws.)

Yes, those were the days. Unlike the corruption, poverty and deleterious politics and language laws plaguing Montreal in recent decades, they were perhaps this city’s finest hour. We had scandals alright, but Montreal thrived.

Some say they were part of Montreal’s charm and sex appeal. Alas, such is not the stuff of Montreal’s modern morass.

After doing most of his 10,000 hours, Cohen then moved on. “When I came to New York, I thought, this is almost as good as Montreal,” he tells Lunson. “We’ve got these poets, we’ve got these musicians,” he said, adding Montreal was “a little cleaner, purer, and funnier and vital” than the Big Apple. His American contemporaries were much more marketplace-driven, he said. “In Canada, we were trained to think more modestly. We don’t think about changing the world in the same way.”

Many singers, including punk rockers, have adapted Cohen’s songs over the years. K.D. Lang sang “Hallelujah” at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic’s official ceremonies.

Perhaps most interesting is his indirect but decisive role in launching Ireland’s most successful musical group of all time, U2. “[Lead singer] Bono said there’d be no U2 without Leonard Cohen,” Lunson notes. “I hope U2 fans go and listen to him, and realize he’s the man responsible for U2, for inspiring them.”

Drop that fact on any younger people you know, and watch their jaws drop. Then watch Lunson’s camera  www.dialogue.ca

Quebec Notebook ~ Leonard Cohen, contd. slowly pan back as Cohen begins the third verse of Tower Of Song at New York’s intimate Slipper Room, only to see U2 backing him up. Watch the jaws again – that track is a keeper if ever there was one!

But Cohen’s appeal, particularly on “Live In London,” cannot help but win anyone over regardless of their age or musical preferences. Granted, he has help from stellar musicians and the three best background vocalists ( a necessary term that demeans their superb talents, akin to calling Sidney Crosby a skate enthusiast) in the business today.

Sharon Robinson, Cohen’s Grammy Award-winning collaborator, is as awe-inspiring as any female soloist anywhere, anytime. The sublime Webb Sisters, Charley and Hattie, are just stunning. Part of a 2008 world tour, Cohen’s London concert features these three throughout, thankfully, as their cocaine-for-the-ears performances rank them more supreme than The Supremes.

For Cohen, the writer’s art remains a cherished labour, not a God-given endowment. He also loves to see others do his songs, explaining they sometimes bring a completeness to them that he himself did not. (Note the humility here, Master Bieber). Lunson’s film includes Montrealer Rufus Wainwright’s marvelous version of Chelsea Hotel #2, of which Cohen highly approves, perhaps because of Wainwright’s Jackson Browne-like sound.

The obvious part of Cohen’s success is his ability to put the larger and deeper ideas and sentiments into melodious forms that defy the trendiness of an understandablyfickle business. Then again, that’s what true artists do.

“He has you at any stage in your life. He has your youthful idealism. He has you when your relationship is splitting up. He has you when you can’t face the world, and you look for something higher to get you through. He has you at all stages,” U2’s Bono tells Lunson. “As dark as he gets, you still sense that beauty is truth, and so he makes something beautiful out of the blackness. The rest of us would be humbled by the stuff he throws away.”

To which, Cohen might typically reply, “Well, the title ‘singer’ was kindly accorded me, even though I could barely carry a tune,” as he told Lunson in another context.

Uncritically, Bono describes Cohen’s pipes as “that rumble, that voice that seemed to come from the subway.”

Not that the gift of a golden voice matters, as fans of Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart will attest.

“There are very few people that occupy the grounds that Leonard Cohen walks on,” Bono adds. “This is a rare, rare talent.” And for Montrealers without much to boast about anymore, he’s our man, and always will be.

“This is an important man to celebrate now,” adds U2’s lead guitarist, who goes by the name, Edge, “because I think those days are gone. I don’t think there’s going to be another Leonard Cohen.”

The DVDs… As noted, Leonard Cohen Live In London is beyond remarkable. It’s the best of Leonard Cohen at his www.dialogue.ca

best, so to speak, and 180-degrees away from the 1960s poet-with-acoustic-guitar image that lingers from that scene’s dawning. For London, Cohen and musical director Roscoe Beck assembled five other uber-talented musicians, along with the top three female vocalists on the planet, stylishly framing Cohen’s works against a superbly-crafted and fitting backdrop of musical and vocal sensuality that keeps you coming back for more.

These 26 tracks are so good that one cannot believe they were recorded in just one night at the O2, the U.K.’s top music-venue arena. But they were. How can any group be this great? Sure, we live in a world of technical miracles, AutoTune, digital re-mastering and the like. Yet you’ve still got to deliver, and live at that. And even if such enhancements were part of this masterpiece – well, it’s really about 50 masterpieces in one – it still wouldn’t explain why this DVD is so much better than anything else out there.

The mini-duets between Cohen and each of the Webb sisters on Take This Waltz, or their If It Be Your Will duet, lend us regal, angelic voices tinged with the accent of their native Kent, England. Sharon Robinson’s solos on Boogie Street and I Tried To Leave You will make you guys melt like a 16-year-old girl watching Elvis. The latter track features each performer solo, and is alone worth the price of admission. Organist Neil Larsen owns the Hammond B3, and can play with anyone. Likewise Javier Mas on the laud and archilaud: you’ll go to someplace beautifully Spanish, then into another world when he takes up the banduria on My Gypsy Wife.

There’s not enough space to sing all of this full-screen DVD’s praises, and no, I don’t own shares in Sony. That said, Live In London is way too grand for YouTube. Spend a buck and you’ll thank me. And if you’re one of my personal friends, you pretty much know now what you’re getting for Christmas.

Australian director Lian Lunson’s tribute DVD, Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man, includes excellent performances by Montrealers Rufus Wainwright, his sister Martha, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle, among others including U2 and Cohen’s former back-up singers. Sadly, Kate, who earlier studied engineering at McGill University, died in 2010. Her version of Winter Lady here, joined by Anna and Martha, is beautiful.

Emanating from the original Canadian consulatesponsored concert(s) in New York celebrating the songs of Leonard Cohen, Lunson smartly adapted its 2005 Sydney, Australia stage event into this insightful film that chronicles Cohen’s life and times, about as best as one can in 100odd minutes. Her on-film interviews with Cohen, U2 and others, from which our quotes are taken, underscore the enduring strength of Leonard Cohen’s work.

– Peter Sauvé, Montreal: The Quebec Notebook welcomes your comments and questions.

E-mail me at: petersauve@yahoo.ca 

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 47

“Reminiscence & Revelation”

Facing the music…

Mike Harvey, Langley BC I obtained music from the 1940s on disk and played them as I tried to fall asleep. Instead of sleep I was whisked into the 40s by my memories of seventy years ago: the music I love bringing back events as fresh as those happening today.

School pals, most of whom are probably deceased, sprang to life in youthful vigour. Names long since forgotten came vividly alive, as did their young faces. Recollections of the Mike Harvey haunts that then surrounded me; my days in the Seaforth Cadets and the journey by streetcar and steam ferry to the armouries in Vancouver and witnessing Union steamships navigate for their numerous destinations, with the larger CPR steamers passing under the half constructed Lion’s Gate bridge.

Memory cells awakened to resurrect my early days in the wartime army. Many different training facilities with long hard days of shouted commands and then after training, yelling those same orders to new recruits who obeyed instantly.

Troop trains chugging across Canada and depositing their passengers at numerous facilities. The excitement of arriving back in Vancouver, anxious to show off the corporal’s stripes and parachutists wings on my tunic to my erstwhile pals, most of whom were still in school while others helped build Liberty ships at the Burrard Dry Dock.

The music played on, transporting me on the wings of memory across the sea to wartime Britain. Miraculously the long dead Andrew Sisters placed me in blacked-out London trying to find my uncle’s home. A singer of long ago, Dick Haymes, helped flood back memories of Ghent, Belgium, the frigid winter in Holland and the reward of wondrous Dutch hospitality and gratefulness at wars end.

Resurrected, as well by the other artists were the feeling of fear, passionate love of a young Dutch girl of my own 18 years that I just left without a word when I volunteered for the Pacific theatre and a return to Canada aboard the Queen Mary. A parting I still regret 68 years later.

‘I had the craziest dream’, another lovely song of that era, transported me back to the West Coast. The two buildings dominating Vancouver’s skyline then were the Marine Building and the Vancouver Sun tower.

North Vancouver boasted three streetcar lines; one stretching up Lonsdale Avenue from the ferry dock to just above Queens. The other two went east to serve Lynn Valley and the other transporting folk to the Capilano area. West Van was just a village sporting a wonderful golf course and trees clustering on the slopes that now house the British Properties.

I recalled some of the happier days of my boyhood such as

48 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

going to the movie matinee on a Saturday afternoon for a dime. Harbottle’s store was just down the street and hamburgers sold for 25 cents and hotdogs for 15. The only way up Grouse Mountain was by climbing it after a three-mile walk to the Grouse Grind. Most homes were still heated by coal and home entertainment was tuning the radio to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy followed by the Lux radio theatre.

The disk ended, as did the music of the war years and my aroused memories of that period. I doffed my uniform and became the grumpy old man who was attempting to sleep as he approaches his 88th year. But the recently aroused past lingers on. *** Early Easter Sunday morning… I walked my dog through a beautiful church yard close to our home. A woman parked her vehicle and entered the building long before the scheduled service. I noted that she appeared to be wearing a fur coat.

Hopefully, it could have been fake fur, but I doubt it. I could not equate the fact that before long the service would commence and would be full of platitudes of the sacrifice made

by Jesus, the love, kindness and devotion He gave to bring peace and the hope of salvation to his fellow beings.

I wondered how our animal brethren fitted into this sacrifice.

If it was real fur, did the woman consider the horrible, cruel and painful life and death of the animals whose fur was used in the making of her coat? Or did she perhaps contemplate the misery of the birds or animals that would satisfy her as she participated in her Easter dinner?

Personally I prefer those faiths that equate animals as being worthy of love as are we human beings. The deeper science probes, the more scientists are convinced that the animal world shares in the same feelings, fears, love and pain which we do. Which begs the question; why do we abuse and flaunt them without remorse? ***

In the face of facts…

The frightening facts one can access in print, on television, online and on radio if you wish to, are thought-provoking.

Although many simply shrug them off as left-wing propaganda, I don’t believe they are. (I’ve voted Conservative for most of my life).

The scientists I heard spoke of the doomsday all of us living on earth must face. And soon! Our globe cannot possibly provide for the 6+ billion humans that now inhabit the earth.

We in the industrial countries are gobbling up the resources of the planet in a manner that is unsustainable.

All one has to do is to think of our own lives. We can shop for anything our hearts or stomachs desire while much of the earth’s population starves. We rape the earth for food by adding chemicals to the land and the cattle feeding upon it. We are in the rapid process of denuding the ocean of  www.dialogue.ca

all species by over fishing and destroying the oceans by dragging nets across its life-giving sources.

What do we do when our appliances and electronics fail?

Can we get them repaired as we once did? The answer is no, which means throwing them away and buying new. We either shrug or deny the facts that we are speeding climate warming at our peril.

Cars are now an essential for our style of living. We urge others to buy our oil, coal and other resources that add to

the problem of rising temperatures. Scientists now report that the Antarctic’s temperature has risen by 4 degrees centigrade. Ice melt on that continent alone can raise the oceans of the world by more than 200 feet!

But, what the heck… it is not me who will suffer; it’s the younger generations who will have to face the bleak, nonsurvivable future. The only thing I must worry about is the possibility of reincarnation! Have a pleasant day.

– Mike Harvey, Langley BC 

Dialogue’s experience of Dynamic Facilitation, April 23-24

Janet Hicks King, Nanaimo [dialogue volunteer editor] On April 23-24, a dozen Dialogue readers gathered at our home in Nanaimo for discussion sessions, with Richard K. Moore – visiting the Westcoast from Ireland – acting as Dynamic Facilitator. Participating (for all or part of the session) were: Erik Andersen (Gabriola), Madeline Bruce (Nanaimo), John D. Conway (Nanaimo), Anna Christine Doehring (Nanaimo), Inge Hanle (Vancouver), Bob Hansen (Ladysmith), Janet Hicks (Nanaimo), Gerry Masuda (Duncan), Ken Palmer (Calgary), Karen Karateew (Lantzville), Derek Skinner (Victoria), Stephanie McDowall (Nanaimo).

Over the day-and-a-half, the conversation ranged widely, with many different perspectives being expressed. The Dynamic Facilitation (DF) process involves participants (one at a time) sharing their views, which are recorded by the facilitator on one of four flip charts: Challenges/Problems, Solutions, Concerns (about ideas raised), and Miscellaneous data (pertinent information).

Reflections on the discussions

From Ken Palmer, Calgary AB] Dear Janet & Maurice I wish to thank your for inviting me to your conference… I had no idea what to expect but thoroughly enjoyed Richard's excellent attempt to help us glean a few kernels of wisdom from a lot of chaff. He did a magnificent job of keeping us focused and listening respectfully to all the others.

Our approaches to problem definition varied from trying to define a national level problem/solution to being happy with a small social group approach at the community level.

Richard had a difficult time getting us to become focused in a meaningful way.

I would be interested in hearing how your follow-up meetings have been progressing? (*) In closing, I wish to tell you both how impressed I was with meeting you personally (and Penny, of course) and talking over many issues. You are a grand couple with a great sense of serving your fellow man… you would fit in well with the Christian community because you set such a fine example with your personal sacrifices in keeping Dialogue afloat, for example.

Maurice had such a fine vision for establishing a publication for idea exchange. It has been so needed in the 27 years since. Now, many observant Christians lament how we are losing up to 80 percent of our youth to the social engineering that has been inflicted upon them in our public school www.dialogue.ca

Seven challenges identified by the group were: 1. How can we recreate community?

2. How do we want society governed?

3. How can we bring single-causes together?

4. How can bottom-up governance work?

5. How can we create a thriving environment?

6. How can we become the agents of social design?

7. How can we unify the 99%?

In the discussions, during 6-7 hours, over 60 solution ideas were put forth. [Notes from the session are available on request by contacting dialogue – dialogue@dialogue.ca] A note from one of the participants, Ken Palmer, below, will add a little of the flavour of the experience.

And, on the following page, John D. Conway shares some of his thoughts after participating in the discussion session; and Gerry Masuda shares information about “Conversation Cafés” (forwarded from Vicky Robin).  systems. … It was a great trip and I thank you for your wondrous hospitality & enlightening discussions.

P.S. Thanks for letting me know that "War Against The Family" has arrived in less than two weeks… it's restored my faith in American free enterprise… I wish that I could say the same about Canada; the book is censored here by the big liberal booksellers such as Chapters-Indigo and is essentially unavailable!

Now, I will wait patiently to hear your & Maurice's assessment of William Gairdner's description of Secular Humanism as it has been irreversibly entrenched here in Canada. * An informal conversation “circle” is convening periodically in Nanaimo, as a follow-up to the April session. 

Nanaimo conversation circle

A small group of participants from the April 24th discussion session is continuing to get together periodically for conversation ~ and, inevitably, learning how small-group dynamics unfold over time!

Conversation circles elsewhere?

In recent months, a few other dialogue readers across Canada have indicated interest in exploring the possibility of getting together with other readers who live nearby ~ to discuss whatever topics interest them. If that is something that interests you, please get in touch. Janet, 250-7589877 – or email: dialogue@dialogue.ca  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 49

Conversation Cafés

Gerry Masuda, Duncan BC As a follow-up to our Nanaimo conservation circle (p.49) here is Vicky Robin’s article about Conservation Cafés…

Can We Talk?

Conversation Cafés Show Us How

By Vicky Robin, Seattle [Extract] I didn't ask anyone if I could start Conversation Cafés. There was no one to ask. No one is in charge of conversations in cafés or at bus stops or in grocery lines.

The potential for rich, meaningful, enlivening conversations in such locations was glaringly evident to me, so two Seattle friends and I set out to develop a way that diverse strangers and neighbors could gather in cafés to talk about things of common interest and concern – culture, politics, philosophy, and so on. We each stationed ourselves weekly at a café in our neighborhoods, inviting other café customers, friends, and the general public to talk. We built it – and they came. In six months, there were two dozen Seattle locations. In six years the method has spread around the world.

Conversation Cafés are intended to restore something missing from our culture; to nudge us towards the classic American values of generosity, safety, friendliness, creativity, pragmatic decision making – in short, democracy.

I envisioned intimate, reflective conversations that increased participants' capacity to engage in respectful and inquisitive conversations at home, work, and in social situations. Could a “culture of conversation” be built, or coaxed into being? To make this technique widely available, we asked ourselves: “What is the minimum structure that will allow strangers to shift from small talk to big talk – that is, talk about things that really matter?”

The resulting Conversation Café agreement sounds a bit like what one should have learned in kindergarten about getting along with other kids. They are guidelines for group settings that hold a space for freedom for all, not a free-for-all: Open-mindedness: Listen to and respect all points of view.

Acceptance: Suspend judgment as best you can.

Curiosity: Seek to understand rather than persuade.

Discovery: Question assumptions, look for new insights.

Sincerity: Speak what has personal heart and meaning.

Brevity: Go for honesty and depth, but don't go on and on.

I believe that there is a freedom that can come in community.

This freedom involves holding with tenderness your frightened, belligerent self while working with others, however difficult they might be, on something you care about. By staying with – neither closing up nor lashing out – you embrace the task of belonging. Such freedom-in-community comes as you act together to make your family, neighborhood, workplace, and world more harmonious and lively.

Conversation Café hosts are social liberators – and the function can go far beyond a small table in a coffee shop.

“If you want to change the world, throw a better party.”

That's my friend Rick Ingrasci's motto. Social freedom isn't a wild party. It's a better party, a way to gather with others that leaves everyone enlivened and inspired, and free to keep participating.

Vicki Robin wrote this article as part of Liberate Your Space, the Winter 2008 issue of YES! Magazine. Vicki co-wrote “Your Money Or Your Life.” Conversation Cafés host an annual Conversation Week, when circles convene worldwide to talk about the most important questions of our times. See www.conversationcafe.org 

DIALOGUE… AND TITANIC STORIES

J. D. Conway, Nanaimo BC The Christian Catechism says it best: all our plans founder on three invisible rocks – the effects of Original Sin: a darkening of the mind, a weakening of the will, and a strong inclination towards evil. I don't have to believe in Original Sin to agree that these rocks haunt all my days, whatever the origin.

Nineteen-twelve was a good year for character building.

Pride killed Scott of the Antarctic. Greed sank the Titanic.

Two of the Seven Deadly Sins made their point!

An agnostic, I nevertheless acknowledge the accumulated wisdom in 2000 years of Christendom. So when I hear speakers at a dialogue magazine gabfest(*) allowing no room for the perils of our fallen nature, I say to myself: "This is what happens when you shut religious education out of the schools!"

Then I think of George Santayana, sage of the USA, who reminded us that, “Those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them.”

Or as the Church puts it: pride comes before a fall. We are dumber than we know.

50 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

Witness the latest Hollywood film of the Titanic story. According to this 1997 James Cameron version, the Titanic loss was a mere backdrop to a love triangle. But aren't all historical events just triangle-backdrops? Hollywood thinks so. Nelson got a statue and a square for the Battle of Trafalgar, but according to Hollywood, this was just backdrop to a love for That Lady Hamilton [1941]. Waterloo [1991] stuck closer to its subject, but marquee posters gave equal space to Josephine, Napoleon's "love interest." It seems Hollywood has us figured out.

I can do without a Hollywood geometry of love triangles, without the Trudeau hair winning the 2015 election, without all the talk that replaces action.

In the absence of any party promising us bottom-up selfgovernment, we cannot talk our way out, nor vote our way out, of our discontents; we either fight our way out, or we die discontented. Not the Canadian way? Of course; then expect another decade of Trudeau-mania to add to 16 previous years of it. Can you stand the excitement? (*) See p.49 for more about this dialogue event



www.dialogue.ca

IN SEARCH OF TRUTHS…

Roman Christians and warlords joined forces many centuries ago and still support one another From: Genevieve A. Briggs, Windsor ON

[Sent to a select number of Canadian politicians]

We hear that Pope Francis has great compassion for the poor. Let me remind you that these Roman Christians and the warlords joined forces many centuries ago, and they still support one another. These religious wars created most of the poverty. The compassion lies with the willing workers who contribute billions if not trillions to these originations; while the leaders live a life of royalty. Adults should learn the history of the organization they were born into, because many have become victims of such.

Will Pope Francis claim infallibility or will he inform his followers that God – being infinite universal consciousness, pure love, and energy – holds sovereignty over the universe? God’s sovereignty supersedes religious and corporate regulations.

Could this be the reason why focus wasn’t placed on God the Father? Is this why they didn’t focus on God the Father and his commandments, the first three paying homage to God, and the following seven protecting his human family, the backbone and foundation of nations. When families fail nations follow shortly thereafter.

Many sayings are worth repeating, this one especially: “Truth and lies have a common denominator; they are like cream. They will both rise to the surface to be exposed.”

God so glorified in his human creation that he created them superior to his animal kingdom, by bestowing on them at birth his Holy Spirit of consciousness, human power, crea-

tive mind and a free will; most humans today are not aware that this is why we celebrate birthdays. With the help of our holy spirit we use our human power to develop our selfcontrol. Our creative mind is to learn skills to support our self and family, and free will is to choose our destiny. Humans who use these tools can earn everlasting life to enter the heavenly domain. Humans who fail to use these gifts and let others do their thinking for them, lose the opportunity to earn everlasting life.

Humans who willingly comply with God’s commandments receive God’s blessing of enlightenment, to better care for themselves and family.

The greatest security in life is a healthy body and a sound mind that can only be attained by the help of the Holy Spirit of consciousness within us. Humans who accept the fiction of the “Big Bang Theory,” with the promise of big bucks, enjoy and abuse everything that feels good. They have allowed their corporate government to destroy their country from within, with the ever-increasing technology and without the wisdom to control it.

It has been said that “money is the root of all evil.” I disagree; I believe the absence of self-control is the root of all evil.

Another important quote to remember, “Life has a way of changing us from peacocks to feather dusters.”

Something to think about…

Genevieve A. Briggs, [vieve@mnsi.net] 

WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE? … THE TWIG OR THE FOREST?

The David Icke Newsletter [Preview, May 17] David Icke: I was contacted this week by a resident of Iran to tell me that Davidicke.com is 'filtered' (blocked) in Iran and that I am seen as a 'persona non grata', or 'an unwelcome person'.

The term usually refers to 'a foreign person whose entering or remaining in a particular country is prohibited by that country's government' and is described as 'the most serious form of censure which one country can apply to foreign diplomats, who are otherwise protected by diplomatic immunity from arrest and other normal kinds of prosecution.'

Well, clearly the latter doesn't apply to me in the literal sense, but I take the point and I am deeply hurt. I have never been an unwelcome person before and I shall have to take to my bed.

I refer to what I call Twig People and Forest People and this is a case in point. The vast majority are currently Twig People and this is why we got into this mess. The few though gathering in number - are Forest People.

By that I mean this: Twig People are the victims of their own myopia and cannot see beyond their race, culture, rewww.dialogue.ca

ligion, job, political preference, sexuality and societorial programming. Forest People see all this as an irrelevant diversion from the big picture of global control and abuse of all races, cultures, religions, jobs, political preferences, sexualities and societorial programs.

They also see it as a diversion from the even greater truth that we are all ONE Awareness having different experiences for the Biblical threescore-years-and-ten - not that time really exists either except as a decoded program.

Ironically, I have been exposing for year after year the plan to bring death and destruction to Iran in an effort to subjugate the entire Arab world and steal its oil and gas reserves and other resources. But that is the forest, or part of it, and this is not enough when there are so many twigs to ponder and pore over.

I take it that I must be 'persona non grata' to the Iranian authorities because I challenge the right of men in frocks to dictate the lives of an entire nation. To the Twig People their twigs are the only truth and the forest is a heresy. […]

[Full David Icke Newsletters are available by subscription: LINK: www.davidicke.com ]  VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 51

“Hannah’s Hobbies”

Let Us Pray – Carefully

Dorothy Hannah, Lacolle QC One day I was using an old dictionary that belonged to my mother. It is a book that I hadn’t opened for years, and I don’t think anyone else had either. Much to my surprise, I found a little square piece of paper that my mother had kept.

When I read the clipping, I was astonished and I realized why my mother had cut it out. I’m sure she was as amazed as I was by what it says. This is what I read: Mrs. James Wyker, former President, United Church Women, quoted an 1811 Presbytery statement: “The women may meet to carry on their work, but if there is any praying to be done, they must call in a minister or elder for no one knows what these misguided females might pray for.”

“They were wise men,” said Mrs. Wyker. “It is dangerous business to tamper with prayer if one prays believing.”

Every time I read the above, two things strike me: 1. What a long way women have come; 2. Where the heck did my mother get that clipping?

When I first wrote this piece, I didn’t have my good friend,

52 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

Barend, to go to when church things baffled me. Now that he is my friend and always willing to help me out, I went straight to him and this is what he found for me.

“After a little searching on Google, I found that in the 1950s Mrs. James Wyker was President of the “United Church Women” organization which was part of the Disciples of Christ denomination in the United States. This should not be confused with the UCW as it exists in the United Church of Canada today. Of which Presbytery she spoke, it cannot be traced. It was written in 1811, long before the United Church came into existence. Maybe the Disciples of Christ had presbyteries in those days. Today the denomination is called The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It must have happened in the U.S., and I’m sure that already in the 1950s they were amazed at that statement.”

It was a relief to learn that our United Church Women were not involved. 

“Fran’s Kitchen”

Regretfully “Fran’s Kitchen” will not appear in this issue. We wish Fran Masseau Tyler a speedy recovery and a prompt return to her recipe column.

[Fran’s email: franskitchen74@gmail.com] 

www.dialogue.ca

Personocratia’s Path The Global Financial Crisis If you hate reading about money, start now, before the … hits the fan!

Human beings have been using money as an exchange tool for thousands of years. First made of metal, it gradually morphed into paper currency and, more recently, numbers on a computer screen. Many books, Internet sites, and movies explain the history of money, so we won’t go into the details of why we switched from gold or silver to virtual money.

However, we will go back a few decades to understand why 2013 seems to be the year when the whole financial system will finally crumble to dust.

Indeed, anyone studying finance with an honest mind quickly realizes that the whole world is on the brink of an economic crisis of unprecedented scale. Many economists have been warning about this possibility for several years. Here are quotes from 2012:

 “…a massive bubble that will burst in 2013 in what will be a financial collapse like nothing we’ve seen before.” (Gerald Celente) “…a financial disaster even worse than the Great Depression.” (Paul Craig Roberts) “It is going to be even worse [than 2008] because the debt is so staggeringly high now. So if you are not worried about 2013, please get worried!” (Jim Rogers) “We’re in a financial holocaust!” (Max Keiser) “100%!”(Marc Faber, when asked what were the odds of a global recession in 2013) “By 2014 is the outside timing I put on [hyperinflation] – very simply, a panic decline in the dollar.” (John Williams) “Market-crushing treasury collapse to hit around 2013.” (Peter Schiff) “2013 will see the streets of America beginning to look a lot like the streets of Spain and Greece.” (Michael Kreiger) Some accuse banksters of greedy excesses, negligence, even criminality. When historical events are examined, it becomes obvious that everything was planned long in advance and executed through collusion between the public and private sectors. The following events will help you understand the present US financial situation and, of course, that of Canada and the rest of the world, as the global economy is still based on the US dollar.

1910 – Private bankers met on Jekyll Island to organize a private central bank for the USA. 1913 – The Federal Reserve Act was passed illegally, just before Christmas.

1944 – The Fed accumulated 75 % of the world’s gold reserves by the end of WWII. The US dollar (USD) became the world currency, as the Fed was the only central bank able to print gold-backed notes. The Allied countries set the gold standard at 35 USD per ounce. This meant that for every 35 USD printed, there was an equivalent ounce of gold in the Fed vault, in Washington.

1971 – After the Vietnam War, some countries (e.g. France) became suspicious of the sums of money coming out of Washington and asked to be paid in gold instead of USD. Immediately, Nixon ended the gold standard. USD printing was no longer associated with what the Fed possessed in their vault. The USD value dropped and inflation soared.

1973 – Kissinger organized a deal between US and Saudi Arabia so that countries buying oil would have to pay in USDs. In exchange, Saudi Arabia and, later, other members of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) would have the protection of the US army. From then on, oil, the pillar of the world economy, was bought and sold in USDs. It was the birth of the “petrodollar”.

1973-2013 – Countries wanting to buy oil sold goods to the United States in order to get USDs, which flooded the world. There were more USDs outside than inside the US. The more USDs printed, the more diluted the soup. Consequently, the USD was slowly devalued. What you could buy for one USD in 1913 (just before the Fed was put in place) costs $23.45 in 2012, almost 100 years later. This represents a cumulative inflation rate of 2345%! (www.usinflationcalculator.com) 1980 – The Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act eliminated all limits on interest and facilitated subprime lending. Subprimes are high-interest loans made to people who may have difficulty making regular payments. This caused many poor US citizens to go in debt up to their ears. www.dialogue.ca

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 53

1988 – From 1980 to 1988, the US went from being the biggest lender to the biggest borrower on the planet and, consequently, the most easily manipulated by world bankers. Jobs became scarce as factories closed or gradually relocated to countries where labour was cheaper.

1999 – Congress abolished the Glass-Steagall Act, thus ending any separation between commercial banks (deposits and loans) and investment banks (stock exchange). This changed the whole picture of finance and allowed private banks complete control.

2004 – The Security and Exchange Commission authorized banks to increase their debt coefficient, which went from 12:1 to 100:1 for the five largest investment banks. What consequence did this have? Loans were approved to anyone for anything. Four years later, many banks became insolvent, and the world economy started to disintegrate.

2008 – The subprime mortgage crisis broke out and the Dow Jones Index fell by 777.7 points, a number indicating its orchestration by occult groups. The governments of the US and several other countries emptied all available pockets to bail out banks on the verge of bankruptcy and to stop the collapse of the global banking system. They even used pensions plans, social security funds, and enormous banking loans.

2008-2010 – US citizens discovered the Foreclosure-Gate. The banks had seized millions of houses for non-payment, mostly with false documents, false notarized acts, false court judgments, and false signatures. Also, those who approved them knew that many industries would soon be displaced to Asia and the borrowers would no longer have jobs. Roughly fifty millions US citizens are US Debt 1900-2020 now living in tents, begging for governmental food stamps. And the situation is (estimated at current rates) getting worse….

2009-2013 – Many countries are on the verge or in the middle of economic collapse – Iceland, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Latvia, Ireland, Ukraine, Rumania, Lithuania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Italy, France, and of course, USA. Oil-exporting countries and other states (China, Russia, Mexico, India) started to refuse USDs and asked for EUR (euros), GBP (pound sterling), or JPY (Japanese yen).

2013 – In Canada, one sure sign of a soon-to-be financial degradation is the fact that the Economic Action Plan 2013 includes a now-legal “bail-in regime”. This means that bank account confiscation like we saw in Cyprus this year is about to become legal in Canada. The European Union is in the process of passing a similar law. What does this mean? Let us take Cyprus as an example. Up to 80% of the deposits over 100,000 euros at the second largest bank in Cyprus (Laiki) has now been confiscated. These people will never see their money again.

Since the 2008 subprime crisis, there has been an obvious slowdown in the world economy, which drastically brought up the price of important commodities. By early 2011, oil had increased by 100 %, gold by 85 %, cotton by 80 %, copper by 170 %, and the stock exchange by 40 %. Money is becoming rare and everything is starting to cost more. As the economic crisis is spreading like the plague, the long-term collusion between governments and Big Money is becoming obvious. We should remember Roosevelt’s words, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” Why would Big Money want to bring us on our knees? Because human consciousness is rising exponentially and is about to discover its true omnipotent identity!

All this information is absolutely useless, unless it is accompanied by practical, concrete solutions. Personocratia has experimented a lot of avenues for the past 20 years. Here is what she recommends:

Understand first that we are not dealing with an economic crisis, but with an evolutionary crisis that we have created. Why would we do that? Simply, it is time to let go of our attachments to illusions in order to let our real identity emerge – that of divine beings incarnated in matter. Realize that the system will not get better. It has been set up to fail. It cannot heal and will collapse – very soon! By the time you read those lines, this might have already happened. If you have debts, pay them back, even if it means selling any valuables (house, cottage, expensive car). If you cannot pay it back in this way, file for bankruptcy. Get all your money out of the bank, the stock market, pension plans, insurance, etc. NOW! 54 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca

If you have large amounts of money, you can invest it locally (community-minded business, rentable house or apartment building, land, etc.) As paper currency might lose much of its value – some say as much as 90% - it is best to keep precious metals such as gold and silver coins. Use local currency or participate in a local exchange system such as a LETS or a GAME (see our article, Beyond Centralized Money Systems, Dialogue, March-April 2011). If there is none, start one! Buy food that can be easily stored and that requires little cooking. Get important survival items. If you live in the city, move to the country, as it is much easier to organize community life there.

You may think this is exaggerated. It is not. Never has the saying “better safe than sorry” proved more accurate than now.

At the same time, because of humanity’s present exponential raise in consciousness, never has it been easier for a human being to contact his soul, unite with it, and give it free rein. In the coming years, survival will become more difficult.

Many will despair and be tempted to accept illness, accident, or suicide as alluring solutions. Yet, the important thing is to last while we go through these chaotic times and to complete the transformation we have come here to do.

Personocratia* More information on solutions in Personocratia’s booklet: “MONEY, towards Unlimited Creation”.

Infos: www.personocratia.com Videos: www.dianedares.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. 

FEEDBACK From Rod Hancock, Nanaimo: My favourite thing about Dialogue is I can access information found nowhere else. 

From Mrs. Renna Tracy, Tracy, N.B. Hi Maurice and Janet. Please find enclosed my cheque…

I love that Magazine. I read a lot of it, but not all. I like the good thoughts; also the criticisms.

But I hate to see the bashing of PM Stephen Harper all the time. They never seem to have a good word for him. 

From Iris Yawney, Dauphin MB Dear Maurice, Janet, Penny & Lucky: Thank you for bearing with me. I apologize for this long oversight of my subscription…

May I give you some feedback? I like all the interesting and good, thoughtful items you put in by people who have a wonderful capacity for reasoning. Therefore, the article by Stan Smith pg. 40 on Love and "I love you because I love myself" is a very poor selection because it has wrong logic all throughout the writing, starting with Love. There are so many good things to read in the world that I do not like to waste time reading something weak or silly. In other words, that item did not merit publication.

I don't know how many stragglers there are in the world who still think in this enlightened age that it is all right to kill a pre-born baby. Animals have more sense, but there must still be some humans who are "stuck" in their minds. I hope they are broad minded enough to sincerely seek the truth.

I am enclosing a letter (right) regarding that issue if you wish to print it. ~ Iris Yawney www.dialogue.ca

On the Application of Logic

[Comment on a letter by Stan Smith, Jan.-Feb. ‘13 issue, p.40]

It is hard to be a prophet unless one has the true calling, and it is hard to be a philosopher unless one understands and lives logic, so it is difficult to ignore such a primary issue as abortion being felled by misapplied logic.

An example of misapplied logic is: Trees are living things.

People are living things. Therefore, people are trees.

In the Jan.-Feb. Issue of Dialogue, page 40, the quote was: “A child not conceived in love is a child not willed by God, hence all abortion is not against the Will of God.” How can the portion of the sentence “is a child not willed by God” fit into what one is trying to say?

If God created it, He DID will it. So what is He doing -- making some babies as fodder for the abortion industry?

Let's go back to the blueprint He gave all of us from the beginning: Commandment # 5 – THOU SHALT NOT KILL – will make it quite plain what God thinks of abortion.

So let's make the logic apply: A child not conceived in love is still a child willed by God. Hence, all abortion is against the Will of God. – Iris Yawney, Dauphin MB 

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 55

“Observations from Lithuania”

‘Coming Continental Cool’

‘Coming Continental Cool’, is about a young man from North America, in Europe, seeking to become ‘cool’ / ‘sophisticated’ / ‘Europeanised’, as a young actor … ‘scarf’, but the nice sales-lady at 'LeMinet de Paris' had

by KR Slade, Lithuania gently corrected me.

I was very content, in a confident, continental way: walking Gedimino Reach un-gloved hand into left, lower-pocket of blazerProspect, the main avenue adjacent to jacket. Caution: blazer MUST be buttoned, or this is imLithuania’s grand ‘Vilnius Old Town’. possible. Take cigarette silver-box, and lighter, from Spring’s 2004 seemingly-daily rain had pocket; open box; urge one cigarette forward, and place satisfied its obligation at noon; and by in right-side of mouth. Close box. Simultaneously raise Ken Slade now, was letting the sun glimpse through briefcase to block wind and to flick lighter, while blocking the clouds that were being swept by wind up-high, begetwind from other-side using cigarette box. Do not stop ting the breeze here, below. Cool enough to wear gloves; walking; do not change gait. Light cigarette with one potentially wet again – anytime, to require the elegant rainstrong sucking-breath. Throw-back shoulders; lift chin. coat with that strange name. It was the perfect moment to Remember not to cough since I do not smoke, except try the ‘Trench-coat Manoeuvre’, which I’d seen in an old when acting. Exhale smoke while in exact-middle of movie with some suave savoir-faire guy playing my futurestreet; take one quicker step to minimize stinking-smoke character, in what was yet to be the movie that I’d been on nice hair. Tilt head to allow sun to reflect maximally tentatively cast. Timing and confident sequence are the on blond hair. Smile. key elements in this charade of cool.

Replace cigarette box and lighter into same, left-lower It was okay that my portfolio was simulated-leather: pocket. Re-button trench-coat; quickly replace glove so brown vinyl from a New England yard-sale of twenty years as to be able to remove cigarette from mouth before ash ago visited by Mom. The ten-cents paid then, was paying falls onto dark-blue trench-coat. Smile. Walk towards dividends now; and no one on this side of the Atlantic sidewalk café; look in that direction, but do not focus on would see the name, and probably never heard of ‘Amanyone or anything. Take puff. Look across street at way’, anyway. The trick was to clench one bottom-corner nothing particular. Tilt head. Extinguish cigarette into of this thin briefcase, in the palm-of-the-hand: so that the ashtray at café entrance. Smile; casually glance around other bottom-end fit nicely between bent-elbow and ribs. for Director; ignore camera. Remove right-glove to leftMy Russian acting-coach had showed me how this prespalm. Walk to vacant table, while opening trench-coat. entation makes for a natural walk: stylish, yet masculine.

Place briefcase on table, under right-glove. Remove Thus, there was more panache than with my finger twirlleft-glove and insert, folded in-half, into left trench-coat ing the large key-ring in the zipper, like a cowboy’s pistol. pocket; and then right-glove into right-pocket, while alI had the portfolio-part down-pat; and, just in time, belowing foulard to flap in the breeze. Smile. cause it was 2:58pm, precisely at the place to cross the Glance around, casually, for Director. Sit down, and Prospect onto the sunny-side of the street, so that I stuff each end of foulard under armpits. Smile. Think of would be able to see my reflection in the awning-shaded something to say, not stupid, in any language other than glass of the expensive store with the extra-tall and wide English. Glance around for Director. Try to remember windows. The precise crossing point and time is tricky how to say ‘grapefruit juice’ in Lithuanian. Remember: because jaywalking in two-way traffic can be hazardous. never unintentionally touch your own face, scratch noAnd actors don’t have health or accident insurance when where, and 998 other Acting Rules. Prepare to smile, they’re not actually on-the-job. Just beyond the store is showing maximum teeth when you see Director. the sidewalk café where the Director would be waiting Reach into trench-coat upper-inner pocket for cellular for me. And, he has the reputation of always being actelephone and sunglasses. Hold mobile in right-hand; companied by that female photographer who everyone use left-hand to put-on sunglasses. Briefly tilt head -- dithinks should be on the other side of any camera. This rectly into sun. Smile. Activate phone keypad. Casually is where the ‘Trench-coat Manoeuvre’ becomes major review received messages. Note that meeting with Diwork for this writer and aspiring actor. rector was one hour ago, at 2 pm; not now, at 3 pm.

Be certain that both ends of the belt must be rolled to fit Close eyes. Smile. into each front slash-pocket. Of course, the button on All Rights Reserved: 2004kenmunications@gmail.com the rear vent is open so as to highlight the rear shape; The foregoing article is ‘fiction’. Then again, maybe it is hopefully just for the ladies. Switch briefcase from righta ‘fiction’ to say that it was ‘fiction’; you can never really hand to left-hand. Remove right brown-leather glove, and place into palm of left-hand. Open the top-three but- know with ‘fiction’ . . .

- Ken Slade, Vilnius (Lithuania) tons of the four. Do not open the upper, inside button All Rights Reserved [2012]: Ken-Russell Slade, B.S., M.Ed., M.R.E., J.D that holds the double-breast in-place. Allow the escape E-mail: kenmunications@gmail.com  of the two ends of the silk foulard. I used to call it a

56 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca

From John McCullough:

Laughter & ‘Lightenment

Australian Health Care

The Australian Medical Association has weighed in on PM Julia Gillard's new health care proposals.

The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had a sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve. The Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception.

Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted. Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Paediatricians said, "Oh, Grow up!"

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it. The Surgeons were fed up with the cuts and decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.

The ENT specialists didn't swallow it, and just wouldn’t hear of it. The Pharmacologists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter...."

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea. The Anaesthetists thought the whole idea was a gas, but the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no. In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the arseholes in Canberra.  From Don Parker:

Phyllis Dillerisms

These are all original quotes from our old friend Phyllis Diller ~ Practical tips and every one straight from the hip!!

1. Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?

2. Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.

3. A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.

4. Best way to get rid of kitchen odours: Eat out.

5. A bachelor is a guy who never made the same mistake once.

6. Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.

7. I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them.

8. My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration: set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes, cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell, simmer down and go about business as usual.

9. We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.  www.dialogue.ca

From Denny Petrik

Irish humour gotta luv it

Paddy says to Mick, "I found this pen, is it yours?"

Mick replies, "Don't know, give it here."

He then tries it and says, "Yes it is."

Paddy asks, "How do you know?"

Mick replies, "That's my handwriting."  From Ken Palmer:

Church Bulletin Bloopers!

1. The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

2. The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'

3. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.

4. Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

5. Miss Charlene Mason sang, 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

6. Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir.

They need all the help they can get.

7. Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

8. A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

9. At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.

10. Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

11. Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

12. The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

13. Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

14. The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

15. This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

16. Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop laughing!!” VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 57

Contributors in Amber, Arnold, ON……….. 05 Andersen, Erik, BC……….. 09 Arney, Jeremy, BC……….... 10 Barlow, Maude, (COC)……..4,17 Bhaerman, Steve (extract)…. 42 BeyondElections.com……… 16 Briggs, Genevieve, ON…….. 51 Bruce, Madeline, BC……….. 41 CBC (extract, ink)……………. 28 CDSAPI, BC………………. 25 CHLY radio (Ad) ………….. 52 CJFE (cjfe.org), ON…….… 05 Cavendish, Walter, BC……. 06 Citizen Hearing-Disclosure 21 Concerned Librarians of BC 05 Conway, J. D., BC………… 50 Conway, John F., SK ……… 15 Corbett, James, CRG (link)… 24 Council of Canadians……..4,17 David Icke.com (extract)……. 51 Doehring, A.C. (from)……… 21 Dogwood Initiative, BC….18-19 Easton, Lyndsey, BC……18-19 Ector, Hugh, BC…………... 34 ForbiddenKnowledgeTV..… 10

dialogue, Vol. 26 No. 6

Foster, David, ON………… 29 Gaudet, Marie, AB………... 40 Gibson, Marjorie, BC……… 38 Gilbert, Keith C., ON………. 08 GlobalResearch.ca…..17,23,24 Goertzen, Ed, ON……….12,15 Goldring, Peter, M.P., AB… 16 Hancock, Rod, BC………… 55 Hanle, Inge, BC……………. 25 Hannah, Dorothy, QC……… 52 Harvey, Mike, BC...………… 48 Hellyer, Paul (links)….….…8, 21 Hicks King, Janet (report)…. 49 Hillman, Laura, BC………... 14 Hutchinson Art Studio……… 55 IFLA (Librarians)…………… 06 Israel, Lou, ON………….…. 20 Johnson, Eric M., BC (link)… 46 Klassen, Ty, BC…………… 44 Kofaric, Alex, ON………….. 14 Lipton, Bruce (book extract)… 42 Lonsdale, Derrick, US….…. 31 Maskell, John, ON………… 36 Masuda, Gerry, BC..…….49,59 Mathews, Robin, BC…….26,28

McCullough, John, ON……. 57 McCurry, Lawrence, ON….. 09 McDowall, S., BC (from)…….. 30 Mercola.com (extract,links) .28,32 Morton, Alexandra, BC……. 17 Munro, Margaret (extract,link) 05 Neilly, Michael, ON…….…. 11 Nickerson, Mike, ON……… 33 Ostermann, Gunther, BC… 14 Palast, Greg, UK (extract,link) 30 Palmer, Ken, AB………..49,57 Parker, Don, ON………..57,59 Personocratia, QC…..…… 53 Petrik, Denny, BC………17,57 Porter, J. S., ON………….. 35 Powe, B. W., ON…………. 37 Rabble.ca (link)…………… 10 Revolution, the movie……. 14 Roberts, Paul Craig (link)… 07 Robin, Vicky, US (extract)… 50 Ross, June, BC (extract,link) 17 Salmon Are Sacred………. 18 Sauvé, Peter, QC……..…. 46 Schnitzer, J. G. (extract)….. 30 Shadbolt, John, ON…….…. 30

“Thank you to everyone for making this another inspiring issue!”

Please Subscribe to dialogue!

Read, write, have your say… in Canada’s unique, national volunteerproduced magazine, written by its readers. (prices include GST - NO. 89355-1739)

Thank you for your Encouragement, Referrals, Subscriptions, Gift Subscriptions & Donations!

All are vital to keeping our “dialogue” going.

Fax: 250-758-9855

6227 Groveland Dr. Nanaimo, BC V9V 1B1

Visa / MasterCard / Cheque / Invoice

Or by mail to: 6227 Groveland Dr., Nanaimo, BC V9V 1B1 E-mail: dialogue@dialogue.ca www.dialogue.ca YOU CAN REQUEST A FREE ISSUE TO BE SENT TO ANYONE IN CANADA!

Subscription: [

(or use a piece of paper!)

Name________________________________________________

GIFT SUBSCRIPTION: [

E-mail________________________________________________

dialogue@dialogue.ca Tel: 250-758-9877

You can order by phone: 250-758-9877

Subscription/ Free Issue/ Gift / Donation Form

Tel/Mobile( - - )_______________________________________

AUG. 1st, 2013

Please look at Your Address Label Your Renewal Date! $30/YR U.S. $40/YR $40/YR.OVERSEAS .OVERSEAS $30/YR(US (USororCDN) CDN) IN IN THE U.S.

6-MONTHS: $10 (2 ISSUES) / SINGLE ISSUE: $5

City _________________________Prov________P/C__________

NEXT DEADLINE:

Dialogue relies on your support and generosity, to continue as a viable volunteer-operated publication.

Thank you for your help!

Subscribe to dialogue magazine!

Anywhere in Canada $20 [includes GST]

Canadian Subscription: $20 per year (4 issues)

Address ______________________________________________

Skinner, Derek, BC………. 08 Slade, Ken, Lithuania…….. 56 Spencer, Herbert J., BC….. 22 Sum of Us.org (petitions)… 17 Synergy Magazine, BC(Ad) 52 Taylor, Jim, BC……………. 38 Todhunter, Colin (CRG)….. 23 Tracy, Renna, NB………… 55 Troubled Waters (film)……. 17 TRNN,TheReal News……. 17 Verstappen, Stefan (link)… 24 Vincent, Kimbell, BC……... 39 WeAreChangeVictoria.org 10 Wikipedia.org (extract,link)… 13 Yawney, Iris, MB………….. 55

]1 YR-$20 [ ]2 YR-$40 [ ]½ YR-$10 ]1 YR-$20 [ ]½ YR-$10 [ ]Single $5

Gifts to:_______________________________________________ _______________________________________ (please add details) [

] My Donation to help dialogue: $___________ Thank You!

Please use my donation for:_______________________________

Notes ________________________________________________

Total $___________ Payment: [ ]VISA/MC - [ ]Cheque - [ ]Invoice

_____________________________________________________

Credit card No__________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Card Expiry: ____/____ Signature __________________________

[

] I would like to receive e-mails from Dialogue: My E-mail:_______________________________________________________

[

] I am unable to subscribe/renew presently, but would like to continue receiving Dialogue, thanks to the Gil and Marg Brett Memorial.

58 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca

www.dialogue.ca

VOL. 26 NO. 6, MAY-JUNE 2013

dialogue 59

60 dialogue

MAY-JUNE 2013 VOL. 26 NO.6

www.dialogue.ca