Simian Farmer

Politics of 9/11

To begin with a quote:

The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'.

~Larry Hardiman

That being said, I stumbled upon a very interesting article pulished yesterday in an on-line magasine, Newtopia.  The author, David Ray Griffin, presents some very interesting arguments on the driving domestic forces behind the terrorist attack that took place in 2001.

This is only a brief snippet.  The full article is very much more interesting...

Four Interpretations

If “American empire” is understood in different ways, the same is all the more true of the term “9/11.” For those Americans who accept the official interpretation, 9/11 was a surprise attack on the US government and its people by Islamic terrorists.

For some Americans, “9/11” has a more complex meaning. This second group, while accepting the official interpretation of the attacks, thinks of 9/11 primarily as an event that was used opportunistically by the Bush administration to extend the American empire. This interpretation is effectively presented by writers such as Noam Chomsky, Rahul Mahajan, and Chalmers Johnson.

For a third group of Americans, the term “9/11” connotes an event with a more sinister dimension. These citizens believe that the Bush administration knew the attacks were coming and intentionally let them happen. Although no national poll has been taken to ascertain how many Americans hold this view, a Zogby poll surprisingly indicated that almost half of the residents of New York City do.

According to a fourth view of 9/11, the attacks were not merely foreknown by the Bush administration; they were orchestrated by it. Although thus far no poll has tried to find out how many Americans hold this view, polls in Canada and Germany some time back indicated that this view was then held by 15 to 20 percent of their people.

Eschewing religious dogma

I have stated in this space before that although I have very strong spiritual beliefs, I have developed a certain disdain for organised religion.  And to clarify, the Roman Catholic religion in particular; it is the only one with which I have any real familiarity.  Perhaps if I were to investigate joining a Unitarian Universalist congregation, I would change certain perceptions, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

The primary source of my ecclesiastical embargo stems from the propensity of organised religion to stand stiff-backed and stern on its pulpit and proclaim the Truth for all and sundry to hear.  And obey.  And repeat by rote.  And most definitely NOT to argue or question.  Again, this comes from my experiences with the Roman Catholic church, so I don't wish to paint with so broad a brush as to label all similar, or even not-so-similar, religious outfits with the same colour.

But now I have been reinforced in my precept from certain statements made by the Canadian cardinals that participated in electing Benedict XVI to the office of Supreme Chancellor, err, Pope of the Holy Roman Catholic church. 

In defence of Benedict's rather conservative, hard-line stance on issues such as contraception, women priests, divorce and homosexuality, two of the cardinals make the statements that:

The world needs to change, not the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, a Canadian cardinal said Wednesday in a spirited defence of the new Pope.

In his first public comments since taking part in the conclave that elected Joseph Ratzinger as Pope, Montreal's Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte said the new pontiff is misunderstood.

...

"If there needs to be change, it needs to be in the world, not in the doctrine," said Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec.

Yup.  That's right.  The whole world needs to change.  Because the world is wrong and the church is right.

Christ.

Full article here.

Pope Palpatine I

He's been the Grand Poobah of the Holy Roman Rollers for less than half a day, and already is being spoofed.

I don't envy Joseph Ratzinger, aka - Pope Benedict XVI, his new shoes.

Don't believe a word he says

For some reason I can't quite understand... or I guess I can understand it, but I can't fathom that they would reasonably expect any real support, China is protesting the Dalai Lama's visit to Japan.  They are urging Japan not to provide a stage for the Dalai Lama's political activities.

WTF!?

Isn't that sort of like the school-yard bully running over to his classmate and saying, "Hey!  When Jimmy comes over to your house to play on the weekend, and don't think that I like that idea in the first place but my hands are tied, don't give him the opportunity to say bad things about me."  Even though the entire school has borne witness to his bullying since Jimmy was in kindergarten.

The first thing that comes to mind is Scott Evil's frequent rebuttal to his father, Dr. Evil, in both the second and third Austin Powers movies:

"Ass."

That Zamboni come with a handbasket?

I quote here the opening paragraph from a front page article in today's local paper:

Canada is a "great white waste of time" whose "docile, Zamboni-driving," Molson-sucking citizens consume seal casseroles as they export terrorism, mad cow disease, "and even deadlier Gordon Lightfoot and Nickelback albums" to the United States, American media reports suggested last week.

This (somewhat satirical) information comes in light of recent allegations that Canada has a somewhat porous border that has been and is still used by terrorist cells for easy access to the United States.  It's nice to know that the Great White North is held in such high esteem by certain media outlets south of the 49th.

Given that 'journalistic integrity' and 'American media' are becoming rather mutually exclusive terms in this enlightened 21st century, I am more than certain that I will sleep soundly this evening.  After I finish my second helping of seal casserole, that is.  I like mine smothered in humpback whale blubber.

I believe you. Really.

The same week that finds Jetsgo going out of business also has Air Canada and Westjet raising their prices by a fairly significant margin.  Both airlines then make the preposterous claim that the price change has nothing at all to do with the demise of the competing economy carrier.

And now with the merger of Canadian beer brewer Molson with Adolf Coors from the US, we find the rapid retirement of the "I Am Canadian" slogan in favour of "It Starts Here".  The claim has also been made that this has nothing at all to do with the merger.  (Laughably called a merger of equals.  There's always one who seems to be just a little more 'equal' than the other.)  What starts here?  An increased level of gullibility in beer buyers?  Actually, let's not go there.  But I will be keeping a hold of the I Am Canadian baseball cap I got free in a two-four of Molson.  It'll be a collector's item one day.

The red mile

Today's memorial service for the four slain RCMP officers drew the single largest contingent of peace officers that Canada has ever seen to do homage to their fallen comrades.

There were, of course, many members of the RCMP.  There was also representation from Edmonton City Police, the U.S. Border Patrol and  Edmonton's Air Ambulance pilots; Ohio, New Jersey and New Hampshire State Police; Oregon, Minnesota and Alaska representation; the Ontario Provincial Police, Parks Canada Wardens, Calgary Firefighters and Canadian Pacific Railway police.

All told, there were close to 11,000 men and women that marched through the streets of Edmonton towards the memorial service at the university.  The line stretched over a kilometre and a half and the sidewalks were crowded two-deep with spectators, many of whom were surprised at the level of emotion that was palpable and in which they were quickly caught up.

It was unseasonably warm and sunny all day.  A very beautiful day.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Unfortunately, this is the view from my office window this afternoon:

Everywhere I've driven for the past several days, every single flag I see is flying at half-mast in tribute to the four Mounties that lost their lives on March 3rd in a drug raid gone bad.  They were based out of the Mayerthorpe detachment, less than an hour from where I live.  One of them had been on the force less than a month, fresh from training in Regina, Saskatchewan.  He had also just gotten engaged on Valentine's Day.  Though his loss is no more poignant than that of the other three officers, one of whom was off-duty and driving his co-worker to the scene and got caught up in the melee.

It has been 120 years since this sort of tragedy in the line of duty took place during the Metis Rebellion of 1885.

God Bless:
Const. Peter Schiemann
Const. Leo Johnston
Const. Anthony Gordon
Const. Brock Myrol

Scott Adams, you're my hero

Yet more proof to add to my pudding that Dilbert is one of the best comics ever.

The third panel is so delightfully understated that I just can't help but smile out loud.  The first two don't make much sense if you haven't been reading it this week, but that doesn't matter...

Mostly harmless

The link below shows a wide variety of world statistics that have been compiled since 1988.  Some are just neat, but in greater quantity are the ones that are at least a little disturbing.

World Processor