The Wild This Week

This fellow was hanging on the wall by the front door to my apartment yesterday. It was the first time I have seen a bat this close.

This shot gives you a better idea of how small the little guy was.

The War of Words is Heating Up

You have to give Iranian legislators credit -- they do seem to have a sense of humour.

Yesterday, the Iranian parliament approved a non-binding resolution that called the US Army and Central Intelligence Agency "terrorist organizations". The move was made in response to a US bill that seeks to impose a similar designation to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

I am sure that most Americans will take the Iranian parliament's move as an affront, but I am not entirely sure that they should. The move is a good indication of how many people view the US, and its a far cry from the approved vision of "land of the free and home of the brave that all good men wish to immigrate to". Just consider some of these events and actions undertaken by the United States:

• invading Iraq under questionable pretences;
• deciding to unilaterally create the new category of "unlawful combatant" as a means of side-stepping key provisions of the Geneva Conventions;
• willful use of torture of individuals captured in Iraq and Afghanistan;
• frequent attacks, including aerial bombardment, which kill an inordinate number of innocent Afghan and Iraqi civilians;
• a reconstruction program that sometimes seems designed more as corporate welfare for companies like Halliburton and Bechtel than as a means of helping improve the lives of the average Iraqi.

Historically, the record is not much better:

• using depleted uranium bullets in Kosovo and in the first Gulf War;
• attacks on Iraqi infrastructure that destroyed hospitals and utilities in the first Gulf War, causing the deaths of innocent civilians;
• support for violent coup against Allende in Chile that resulted in the establishment of one of the nastiest regimes in modern Latin American history;
• numerous attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro;
• creating some of the conditions that encouraged the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan, and then providing arms and money to anti-Soviet forces (including a certain Osama Bin Laden who would come back to haunt the United States);
• supporting the coup that overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader and replaced him with the Shah;
• and, making the world's first nuclear attacks on Japan.

Unfortunately, several of these points were mentioned by the Iranian parliament, so most Americans are likely to ignore them. After all, if a "terrorist" says it, it must be false, right?

We Have Met the Enemy

The fact that you are reading this blog on a personal computer is evidence of the fact that the information revolution has changed the way we live. Sometimes the technology works the way its inventors intended. Other times ... well, let's just say there are unintended results.




Take the case of the barracks at the US Navy's base at Coronado, California. Four L-shaped building were constructed back in the 60s to house sailors. They've stood for four decades without raising any controversy, but thanks to on-line satellite imagery technology, people have noticed something odd about the barracks:








That's right! The genius who designed the barracks facilities laid out the buildings in the form of a swastika. Now, I realize that it has become commonplace in the West to call anyone who disagrees with you politically a "Nazi". I've always felt that the folks who resort to using that particular N-word were resorting to cheap tactics. Now I am beginning to wonder if some of the US government's critics might know more than I've given them credit for.

Of course, the US Navy denies that the barracks were designed on purpose to resemble a swastika, and I have no doubts that they are telling the truth. Intentional or not, however, they exist and offend the sensibilities of many Jewish Americans and others who suffered at the hands of Nazi Germany.

The Navy, to its credit, plans on spending over half a million dollars on architectural changes and landscaping to obscure the obscenity from the air. Which brings me to the wildest part of this story -- a group called the San Diego Tax Fighters has decried the renovations as being "wasteful". While I understand their argument that the $600,000 could be used to purchase armoured Humvees for US forces in Iraq, I think they are missing the point: symbols matter.

Symbols, especially swastikas, mattered in Nazi Germany just as symbols matter in the United States. If you don't believe me, try to burn a flag at a protest. Or place an ad with a dreadful pun on a top general's last name in a major newspaper. That will show you how much symbols matter to Americans.

I know, I know -- the swastika has an honourable history as a positive symbol that goes back several millenia. I also know it was a traditional good luck symbol. And yes, I am aware that the pre-war cloth unit insignia for the 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma National Guard was a yellow swastika on a red diamond.

That is all true -- and its all irrelevant. Despite the positive images that other cultures have put on it, the swastika is not a neutral symbol. Not any more. It is a symbol of hatred and oppression and murder and imperialism.

I've complained in past posts that I fear for the America that I love. I've complained about American policies that seem arrogant and imperialistic. I worry because the American government's current world view seems to mirror the racist cultural bigotry that characterized the country's historical dealings with its native peoples (and the people of Cuba, the rest of Latin America, Hawaii, the Philippines, and so many other areas in the world). The fact that a group of "tax payers" begrudges spending money to assuage the sensibilities of people who lost millions to the legions that served the swastika seems to me to be an indication that the hubris is turning inward.

To paraphrase the cartoonist Walt Kelly, America has met the enemy -- and it is them.

Idiocy in Iraq

If you had any doubts as to America's descent into imperial hubris, a couple of recent stories in the Washington Post should help you change your mind.

It appears that the US Army is running a sniper operation in Iraq in which items that can be used to make IEDs (improvised explosive devices) are left lying around where people can find them. Then, as soon as someone picks up the material, they are shot by snipers. That's right -- picking up a piece of scrap metal is grounds for "termination with extreme prejudice", as they say in the movies.

You may be asking what the big deal is. Well, for one, how the fuck can they tell that the people picking up the materials are TERRORISTS? As the fine folks over at Orbat.com (http://orbat.com/site/news.html) pointed out on September 26th, "Poor people will pick up anything to check if it is useable (sic) or can be sold/exchanged." Since the American invasion gave the Iraqi economy a shit-kicking from which it has yet to recover, there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who might look upon wires and usable scrap as a windfall.

If this is how the US Army wins the hearts and minds of the Iraqis, we will be lucky if the entire nation does not become terrorists.

In Memorium: Nathan Hornburg

Canada lost its 71st soldier in Afghanistan this week. Corporal Nathan Hornburg, a reservist with the King's Own Calgary Regiment, died when he came under mortar fire while repairing a Leopard tank. The 24 year old had been in Afghanistan for less than two months.

More Shots from the Chinese Lantern Festival

Pandas Sighted In Toronto

A large troop of pandas has been spotted in Toronto, Ontario.

The pandas, pictured below dancing around a mushroom, are said to wear clothes and eat large glowing green bamboo plants.

They can be seen at Ontario Place every evening until October 4th. (They are part of the Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival.)

Election Time?

You wouldn't know there was a provincial election going on. At least, not if you go by lawn signs.



I went for a rather lengthy walk earlier in the day and all I saw was a measly six signs: three for the Liberals, two for the Progressive Conservatives, and one for the Green Party. Nobody, it appears, is supporting the NDP this time around. In fact, if volume of lawn signs were an accurate method of predicting the next Member of the Provincial Parliament, the winner would come from Sutton Realty.



The situation is quite different from the last federal election, when signs sprouted all over lawns like mushrooms. I am unsure if the dearth of signs indicates a lack of interest in the election or some sort of new "green" commitment to politics in which the parties are trying to reduce their contributions to landfills.

A History of Hamburgers

A team of construction workers is busy renovating a restaurant at the strip mall across from my apartment building. Although I am not exactly the kind of guy who gets his thrills watching construction sites, I am finding the renovations an interesting exercise in social archeology.

Up until just recently, the location was home to a Licks restaurant. For those of you outside of the Greater Toronto Area, Licks is a restaurant burgers and ice cream chain whose specialty is the "homeburger". Personally, I never cared much for eating at Licks -- if I wanted a burger that tasted like it was home cooked I would cook one at home -- but some people like it.

Prior to Licks moving into the location, it held a franchise of the Harveys hamburger chain. I discovered that when the outline of the Harveys sign appeared as the bright yellow of the Licks sign came down.

Interestingly enough, the South Street Burger Co. is destined to be the next burger joint to inhabit that particular piece of real estate. SSBC is a division of the New York Fries organization, so I suppose that the fries will be better than they were when it was a Licks franchise. All the same, I wonder if the third time will be the charm.

Home and Native Land - II

It took a while, but the federal government is finally doing the right thing. After decades, native students who suffered at residential schools are now officially eligible for financial compensation.

The government announced a $2 billion plan to compensate up to 80,000 members of the First Nations community. (Over 150,000 children attended the residential schools, but from what I can see the settlement is limited to those people who actually attended the schools and not to their survivors.) The terms of the payment would provide up to $10,000 for the first year they attended residential schools and a further $3,000 for each year after that. The average payout is expected to be $28,000.

Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, referred to the plan as a turning point in Canadian history because it is an admission of wrong-doing, but the plan is not without its critics. The Liberal Party demand that the federal government also apologize to those students who had been forced to attend the residential schools. Interestingly enough, the Liberals did not seem so gung ho about apologizing to residential school students in any of the decades in which they held power.

Others seem concerned that receiving a lump sum payment will lead to a spike in drug and alcohol abuse, and may lead to exploitation. These critics would prefer that funds be channeled to the community through other programs. But as Phil Fontaine says, "This money belongs to the survivors. What they do with it is their business." And frankly, thinking that we are better at deciding how to spend the money is just another version of the thought process that led to residential schools in the first place.

Home and Native Land - I

Last Thursday, Canada was one of only four countries to vote against a United Nations declaration on aboriginal rights. The non-binding declaration passed 143 to 4, with 11 countries abstaining. Interestingly enough, the four negative votes were Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States -- all countries with large land claim issues that are either under negotiation or the subject of court cases.

The government defended its decision to vote by citing concerns regarding the wording of the text. In particular, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, John McNee, mentioned concerns regarding provisions for land claims. Interestingly enough, the four countries that voted against the declaration -- Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia -- all include aboriginal populations who are either negotiating or litigating land claims.

I am not sure I buy the second argument against voting for the declaration -- that its wording is inconsistent with Canada's Constitution, the Charter, and other acts of Parliament. Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl is on record as saying that the portion of the declaration that says laws affecting aboriginals must only be passed with their prior consent would be unworkable because there are 650 First Nations in Canada.

As might be expected, opposition parties strongly criticized the government for voting against the resolution, in part because the declaration is non-binding on any government. According to Jean Crowder, the New Democratic Party's native affairs critic, "It is an aspirational document," New Democratic native affairs critic Jean Crowder is reported as saying. "It wouldn't contravene laws that are in place."

Similarly, a September 6th press release from United Nations officials emphasized that the declaration does not create new rights for aboriginal groups. Which makes one wonder why they spent twenty years coming up with the declaration.

And Today's High Loonie Is Valued At ...

... $.9864 US.

That's right, folks, the Canadian dollar finished the day off 1.36 cents higher than it started. (And at one point in the day, it had even hit the $.9874 mark.) It looks as if the dollar at par might come a little sooner than had been predicted.

I'm Tired of Seeing Dirty Laundry

You have to feel sorry for Britney Spears.

A few years ago, she was a top-selling recording artists with millions of fans who loved her. Today, she has become the queen of tabloid headlines. Just look at how she has been in the news in the past 10 days:

• Her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards show, supposedly a big "come back" event, degenerated into a catastrophic exercise in lethargic dance moves and out-of-time lip syncing.
• Supposedly, the cause of this melt down was a combination of too much partying, too little practice, and too many margaritas in the hours before the show.
• Her former bodyguard has been quoted as fearing for the safety of her children because of her frequent drug and alcohol abuse.
• Because of this drug and alcohol abuse, today a judge ordered that she attend mandatory counseling as a condition for retaining custody of her children.

Now, I am not a big fan of Ms. Spears' music. In fact, it irritates the hell out of me. However, I am getting really tired of seeing her life blasted out as if it were legitimate news. It is sad, no doubt. I would even go so far as to say it has the makings of a real tragedy, a la Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, or Anna Nicole Smith. It is not the sort of thing that people need to see.

I know it will not happen, but I think it would be a great thing for Spears, and a demonstration of true charity, if the media would place a three-month moratorium on any future news stories about her. Let her have 90 days outside of the limelight. If she is serious about getting her act together, it would present a stress-free time to begin the process.

Le peuple a parlé

That's right -- the people have spoken. At least, the people in three federal ridings in Québec have spoken.

The results from today's three by-election are in and the results are rather interesting. The NDP won in Outremont, a Montreal riding that has been held by the Liberals since 1935. The Conservatives won in Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, a rural riding in the Saguenay that had previously been held by the Bloc Québécois. And last, but not least, the Bloc held onto the riding of Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, just east of Montreal.

The fact that the NDP and Conservatives both won seats is not odd in and of itself. The NDP candidate in Outremont was a form provincial Liberal cabinet minister, and the Conservative candidate won in a riding that voted for the Action Democratique Party in the last provincial election. The results do, however, seem to indicate that the people of Quebec no longer automatically see the Liberal Party as their best option federally and that cannot bode well for party leader Stephan Dion.

A Vote Against

These are tough times for western civilization. In many ways, we in the west face choices similar to those faced by people living in Nazi Germany or the communist USSR. While we may not be in a situation to hide the persecuted or to save them from a savage death, we can fight against the dark forces that make it easy for "intelligence" operatives to torture people for information and that treat "warriors" who target innocent civilians with air strikes and missile attacks as heroes and not war criminals.

This evening I got an e-mail from someone who is very dear to me, a woman who goes to church and thinks of herself as a civilized Christian. She did not write the email herself -- she forwarded it having received it from someone else -- but she obviously agreed with the contents, which attempted to explain "why Muslim terrorists are so quick to kill themselves". This is not the first time I have received e-mails like this, but I have never said anything before.

This time I cannot remain silent -- to do so would be the moral equivalent of watching the smoke bellowing from the crematorium at Auschwitz and pretending nothing was happening. I want the world to know that I am fed up with the hate and the racism. I am fed up with the smug superiority that acts as if the west (especially the US) is in the right and everyone else is in the wrong. Lord knows, I support my country's troops in Afghanistan, but I do not and will not condone the sort of hateful, arrogant ignorance that fuels the fires of conflict.

The brilliant Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn once wrote, "You've got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight." In that spirit, I am going to give my comments to the content of the e-mail I received. I apologize in advance for quoting the content.

I bet you have been wondering!!!
Everyone seems to be wondering why Muslim terrorists are so quick to commit suicide.
Let's see now ...

• No Jesus (By Jesus, I guess they mean the man who commanded us to love our neighbours as ourselves. The same guy who said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.)
• No Christmas (That's right, no commercialized celebrations of consumer excess, because let's face it -- that's what Christmas has largely become.)
• No cheerleaders (Somehow, cheerleaders don't even make it on my list of 100 reasons to love life and to stay alive.)
• No baseball (If only they had professional athletes who regularly inject themselves with dangerous performance-enhancing drugs to admire. Then the terrorists would think twice about blowing themselves up.)
• No football (Just like baseball, except you can add athletes who commit violent crimes.)
• No hockey (As above, but add gratuitous violence during games and drunk driving in the off-season.)
• No Nascar (As above, but add liquor and a prodigal waste of limited resources and voila, another terrorist puts down the bomb.)
• (By the way, I notice basketball and soccer don't make the list. Is it because they aren't "white" enough for the author of the e-mail? Or does the author feel that they are, in fact, a reason to become a suicide bomber? Hmmm.)
• No tailgate parties (There's nothing like gluttony and public drinking to dispel thoughts of suicide.)
• No Costco or Sam's Club (It is hard to motivate yourself to kill yourself for your faith when you still have half a dozen jars of mustard to use up.)
• No Home Depot or Lowe's (Thank heavens for big box stores. Easy access to consumer goods has all but wiped out suicide in western economies. How can you think of leaving this old world when there are so many projects you can work on?)
• No pork BBQ (I am not sure if the emphasis is on the "pork" or the "barbecue" here. Hmmm, Jews can't eat pork. Does that mean they are tempted to become suicide bombers too?)
• No hot dogs (Come on -- if people knew what went into hot dogs, they would be more likely to kill themselves, not less.)
• No burgers (Yeah, lower cholesterol and lower risk of heart attack is enough to make me want to blow myself up, too.)
• No chocolate chip cookies (I get it -- why live if you can't get diabetes?)
• No lobster (No point in living if you can't eat something that you cook while it's alive.)

Hmmmm.....

• Rags for clothes and towels for hats (Perhaps if we (a) didn't bomb the shit out of people and (b) did advocate an economic system that benefited more than just a narrow elite, people would all be able to wear "decent clothes". Anyhow, turbans are a step up from Von Dutch baseball hats in my estimation, and "rags for clothes" is no worse than hip hugger jeans that show somebody's thong.)
• Constant wailing from the guy in the tower (Yeah, why can't those Muslims invest in a decent set of church bells like Christians?_
• More than one wife (At least, "more than one wife at the same time." Civilized people like us have our multiple wives sequentially, the way the good Lord intended us to do it.)
• You can't shave (Hmmm, if all those guys who currently shave their heads when they start to bald were forbidden from doing so, would they become suicide bombers?)
• Your wives can't shave (We all know how hairy them there Mooslim wimmen are, don't we? Apparently bikini waxing and laser hair removal has a moral dimension that has hitherto been hidden from me.)
• You can't shower to wash off the smell of donkey cooked over burning camel dung (Yes, we all know that Muslims eat donkey cooked over camel dung. And they live in the desert and don't know how to read and live in caves and tents instead of houses.)
• The women have to wear baggy dresses and veils at all times (Don't those Muslims understand that tight t-shirts, short skirts, and visible underwear are signs of a truly moral society?)
• Your bride is picked by someone else (As opposed to here, where you pick your bride ... and your second wife ... and your third wife ...)
• She smells just like your donkey (What is this person's obsession with donkeys?)
• But your donkey has a better disposition (Is the author of this piece just racist, or does he/she have a donkey fetish?)
• Then they tell you that when you die it all gets better! (Yeah, they need a religion like Christianity that doesn't offer a vision of a "better place" in the afterlife. Nope, no one has ever tried to buy the average Christian joe off by telling them the pains of this world are insignificant because things will be better in paradise.)

I mean, really, is there a mystery here? Hello!!!

George W. Bush famously said, "If you are not with us, you're against us." If e-mails like this are any indication of what being "with them" in the war on terror means, I guess I am against them. Don't get me wrong -- I opposed fundamentalism in all of its forms and I am a huge advocate of democracy. It's just that I don't believe that justice and democracy are served by spewing hateful racist and sexist garbage like this. And you shouldn't, either.

I'm Positively Fed Up

There is a provincial election under way in Ontario right now, and television is being swamped with ads from the main political parties. I have to say that the ad campaign run by the Conservatives is particularly negative. All they seem to do is criticize Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty for what he failed to do or for promises he failed to keep.

Call me an optomist or call me naive but I would much rather hear about what people want to do in the future. I don't need the Conservatives to tell me where the existing government has missed the boat -- I need to hear what alternatives the party is offering me.

The Great Ape of Savings

As I was driving home from Toronto this afternoon I saw a large inflatable gorilla on the roof of a car dealership. I suppose the intent of the gorilla was to draw attention to a sale, but I honestly do not understand the connection between King Kong and cars. I mean, I am probably less likely to visit a dealership that employs a cheap gimmick like an inflatable ape than I would be if the dealership resorted to more mainstream advertising. Then again, I am not exactly the sort of guy who likes going shopping for cars, and maybe giant apes do attract car buyers.

Musings

Autumn is coming.

The mornings are much cooler than they were two weeks ago, and the evenings cool down much quicker. The skies are cloudier and it rains a lot more.

I have had to switch from wearing shorts to wearing blue jeans when I walk to the library or to the mall. I still wear my sandals, though.

Today, I saw 17 robins gathered together on someone's front lawn. I suspect they are preparing to travel south.

Summer will soon be history. I wonder where it went.

Up, Up, and Away

The Canadian dollar reach a high of 96.58 cents (US) earlier today, marking a thirty-year high. To be sure, the loonie closed the day at 96.52 (US) but that was still more than half a cent higher than yesterday's close.

The strong dollar is attributed to a number of things: a robust Canadian economy buoyed by record commodity prices and a strong housing market, a widening interest rate gap between Canada and the US, and a sluggish US economy.

It looks like the people who predicted the dollar at par within 18 months may be onto something.

I Got Nothin' to Say

Sometimes words seem to explode out of me in torrents, like floodwaters bursting the walls of a levee. At the moment, though, words escape me.

Cleaning Up - II

I saw a web page the other day that talked about the firms that are profiting the most from the Iraq war. KBR Inc., a division of Halliburton, leads the list with over US $17 billion in war-related revenue in the period between 2003 and 2006. Most of KBR's revenue comes from repairing oil fields and participating in infrastructure projects.

The article limited itself to the top ten American companies, so I don't know how the top 10 Iraqi-owned companies compare, but I somehow suspect that their combined total does not beet KBR's revenue during this period.

To see the entire top ten list, click: http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/investing/stocks/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5399485

Thought for the Day

You can put a sow in a silk gown, but at the end of the day you still wind up with a pig in a dress.

Cleaning Up - I

For the past couple of days I have been doing a major clean up operation at home. I'm taking advantage of the fact that I have the place to myself while my wife is back home in British Columbia.

So far I have:

• cleaned up old work-related files on my computer;
• cleaned up music files on my computer;
• sorted through (and discarded many) articles I had collected in my previous life as a human resources executive;
• cleaned up my work-related books;
• cleaned up the storage room;
• sorted through (and discarded some) models, miniature soldiers, and hobby paints;
• sorted through my office supplies and discarded the garbage such as dried out pens;
• reorganized and reshelved my CD collection;
• reorganized and reshelved my movie collection.

I feel cleansed.

Cell Phone Killed the Video Star?

Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was still in high school, a new entertainment format burst onto the scene and transformed the popular music scene. I am sure that MTV executives had no idea how prophetic the video for The Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star would be.

Okay, maybe I exaggerate. Video didn't exactly kill the radio star, it just changed the emphasis on what was required to be a music star. In the new music world, good looks and fancy dance moves were just as important -- sometimes, more important -- than traditional musical talents. As had been the case with the original rock 'n' rollers, music videos also provided a convenient way of splitting the world into "us" and "them". We watched videos; our parents didn't.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, video seemed firmly entrenched in popular culture. Budgets were big, production values were high, and MTV was even able to justify holding an annual music video awards show a la the Oscars. According to a report on the CTV website, however, the times they are a-changin', thanks to three newer technological/cultural revolutions.

The first revolution is YouTube, the video sharing site where people can post short video clips. Sometimes people post clips of their favourite shows, but a number of bands have used YouTube as a means of publicizing their music. A video camera, an editing program, and a vision are all that is required to make your own music video. And the masses are lapping it up. Hell, even an old fart like me sometimes checks out YouTube, as you may remember from links in previous posts.

The second revolution is the changing way in which we watch television, movies, and videos. Gone are the days when you gather around the sacred box in the family room. Sure, TV screens are bigger than ever and surround sound makes the audio experience even better than in the past, but the television no longer monopolizes the medium. People watch broadcasts on their computers and on cell phones, both of which have smaller screens than the normal TV.

And of course, the third revolution is the widespread downloading of music files, a practice which has hit the music industry with all the force of a Mack truck rolling down a mountain road. While some artists still do well, gone are the days when an album could sell 50 million copies like Michael Jackson's Thriller. (To be fair, MJ does hold the record for most copies of an album sold, but given the new economy the only way his hold on the record will end is if some future dictator makes an album of his version of Mein Kampf and then "encourages" his followers to buy it.)

And therein lies the cause for the demise of big budget videos. It's a matter of common sense, really. Why both spending a million dollars to create a cinematic work of art when it is going to be watched on a screen the size of a large postage stamp? Why bother with set design and fancy costumes and ornate props when the person watching the video will only see a small amount of what was actually captured?

So perhaps we are returning to the status quo ante video. If production values and looks count for less, perhaps musical ability will count for more. One can hope.

To see the original news story, check out: /www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070907/music_videos_070907/20070907?hub=Entertainment

The High Price of Talent

There was a news article yesterday about the incredible (growing) gap in salaries between the CEOs of America's biggest companies and the workers. According to the report, top executives at Fortune 500 companies earned an average of US $10.8 million last year, while the average worker made just over $29,500. In other words, the executives made more in one day than the average worker did all year.

I know I sound like an unrepentant socialist who has troubles fitting into the "new world order", but this is just plain wrong. Call me old fashioned, but there is no place in a just or democratic world for inequities like this.

Shilling for Naomi Klein

Yesterday morning I was listening to CBC One and I heard an interview with Naomi Klein, who has just published her third book. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a look at how so-called "neo-liberal" economic policies such as privatization of government services, clear cut social spending, and free trade have been implemented in countries as diverse as Chile, Russia, and Iraq. It is also a look at how neo-liberal policies are tied to deliberate strategies to destabilize the cultures of the economies being transformed.

I have not read the book yet, but I can guess that the neo-liberal (i.e. radical right wing) apologists will complain that Klein's arguments are either too far fetched, too simplistic, or too reminiscent of the paranoid conspiracy theories that drove The X-Files into the ground. That doesn't mean she is necessarily wrong in her argument that proponents of bully capitalism (my phrase, not hers) manufacture and encourage the undermining of foreign social structures and the destruction of national economies.

These arguments are not, of course, entirely new ground for Klein. A few years ago she wrote a very interesting article in Harpers that examined some of the same ground. If you are interested, you can find that article by clicking on the following link: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/09/0080197.

Shilling for the Chemical Brothers

I just came across an interesting music video by the Chemical Brothers. The video for the song Salmon Dance provides a lesson on the life cycle of salmon and features singing fish and a beat boxing puffer. You can check out the video by clicking on the following link:

http://video.sympatico.msn.com/v/en-ca/v.htm?g=b4051f54-c248-40d3-98d4-b8629e9219b2,8e9924a3-4614-495f-b7d5-95286119765a,6838e9a8-2702-4a59-8873-14a0aec3a848,6a9f31f3-e30f-41d4-a4fb-6cbc1cf35433&t=c3874&f=37/81&p=ENCAmusic_ENCAmusicvideo_rock&fg=

Back to School

Today is the first day of the new school year, and boy are the kids looking sad. If only they knew how lucky they were.

An Odd Truth(iness)

Last week, the Bush administration had two people leave: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and White House press secretary Tony Snow. Gonzales has been under pressure to resign for months, while Snow is leaving because of a recurrence of cancer. Still, one has to wonder about the timing of these moves, since they occurred in the same week in which The Daily Show and The Colbert Report went on summer holiday.