Confirmed:National Post is written by idiots for idiots

So I decided today to check out what passes for “journalism” these days at the National Post Putz,and came across a real gem.

Indeed this one piece,by  one Charles Lewis touches on many of the standard talking points lunacies we have all come to expect from the Post & its stable of mostly hacks. In fact the article ties many of these talking points loony-tunes together in such a manner, that not only does it boggle the mind it defies all logic.

Even taking into account the lowly “standards” of the Post this particular article stands out.My first thoughts were is this satire or are these guys just nuts ? After reading the entire piece ,along with the comments, I have had to conclude  the  former,their nuts.

Well that and the fact that the hacks at the Post do not know what satire is,I guess that stick up their ass keeps them seeing red.

There are the inevitable references to political correctness (yawn) and how it supposedly taints everything,indeed its all the fault of those “liberals/leftist” ,code for anyone who is not conservative.

Actually I should qualify that…

What they mean by conservative is that peculiar brand of “conservative”  “thinking” that fuels the mean spirited,spiteful & simplistic mindset of big-daddy Harper et al.

I should  pointed out that to be conservative does not imply one is stupid , but there is conservative and then there’s “conservative” . When I think of conservative I am reminded of George Grant & of that  noble thinking tradition called ‘red-toryism’(the key concept being the thinking part),I definitly do not think of the National Post or Harper .

And of course no National Post writer worth his or her salt would/could ever pass up the opportunity to ridicule global warming or environmentalism,blah blah. No matter how absurd or how tenuous the link to the particular subject matter  at hand. So what the hell, a few references to Mao,comrades & the old Soviet Union can’t hurt,particularly when your targeted audience is just as cognitively challenged as one’s self.

Don’t get me wrong criticism(s) of certain aspects of environmental issues and or ,of some of the personalities involved is definitly warranted at time,this is not one of them,eyeball-roll.

So what’s this article about you ask,well shopping bag. Yep that’s right shopping bags,in particular the reusable kind,bags which are obviously part of  a Stalinist/socialist plan aimed at our indoctrination &  stifling.

My gawd the inhumanity of it all,imagine reusable bags and least I forget,recycling. Damn those P.C spouting liberals & leftists.

Seems Mr Lewis has had it with all those people that attempt to take responsibility for their actions and or do what they can to limit the negative impacts on the environment .

He writes…

The bag has become the equivalent of Mao’s Little Red Book. We are schlepping to the same beat and it is not pretty.

Wtf…”Mao’s little red book” ?

Anyway, I thought taking responsibility for one’s action was a good thing ?

Damn… the very idea that some media outfit would pay someone to write such tripe is just as unbelievable as them actually publishing it.

No wonder the  National Post is on the verge of going the way of the dodo bird,or is it the dum-dum bird

Don’t believe me read for yourself

Ignatieff is the best damn thing to have happened to the Liberals

Definitely not the star Liberals thought or hoped he would be. Sure he wrote some interesting books and is probably a darn good debater and smart to boot,albeit in a bookish way.

His poor performance since  becoming interim leader (Dec/08) and then leader (May/09) ,should come as no big surprise. After all  the academic world is a very different animal from that of the political,never mind the every-day-world of real people.

He’s  gonna have to do more,than just write a book, about how Canadian he supposedly is,lol.

But all’s good.

Iggy’s inability to find his footing,or a personality for that matter, illustrates just how irrelevant & out-of-touch the Liberals really are. Indeed the only real alternative to the Conservatives is and always has been the NDP.

All though I am not a big fan of polls as a very reliable indicator of the popular will over the long term,they do seem fairly reliable over the short term.

And on that front the NDP’s star,unlike some others, seems to be on the rise. Taken together with the NDP’s good showing in the last election & in the 4 recent by-elections things are definitly going the NDP’s way.

Slow and steady wins the race ,that,principles and an articulate leader like Jack Layton,not infallible for sure but of all the party leaders he is by far the better,who hammers away on the  issues that matter to ordinary/working folk & small/family run business.

The federal New Democratic Party has vaulted to levels of voter approval not seen since before the last federal election, as Canada’s two major parties struggle to hold support, suggest findings of a poll released Friday.

The NDP surged six percentage points to 19 per cent support nationally, according to results of an Ipsos Reid poll, commissioned by Canwest News Service and Global National.

Yeah baby…

O Canada;Suffer the Children

Children grow up much to fast, one day they are crawling the next day they’re  on their way to school.

Such was the gist of the conversation I was having with my ‘brother from another mother’ when he shared with me one of his fears .

That being,  how his son who is  now 5 will handle the  racism and intolerance that he is sure to bump up against as he beings to interact more and more with the big wide world outside his front door.

Will he internalize it,will it translate into feelings of doubt or a lesser sense of self-worth,indeed will he be able to handle it at all,will he come out (if one ever does) relatively unscathed ?

Damn… I can’t  imagine having to face such consequences,and for just being !  Knowing that the pain you faced growing up ,your child in all likelihood will  also face !

That on top of all the other stuff,  one inevitable deals with as one navigates that bumpy,sometimes confusing & lonely road that is childhood & adolescence.

The more I contemplate my bro’s fears the madder I get.

Indeed my sense of justice ,fair play,and ideas that Canada is supposedly different than all those “other” countries,  takes quite a battering every time  I think/hear about the bullshit that some of  my friends go through.

To think my favorite little-man might be hurt,that his sweet innocence and inherent curiosity could be shattered.

And for what,for being native ?

Pity the fool who feels the need to display his ignorance if I happen to be around.

Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council claim victory

Well there’s Victory and then there’s “victory”…

In a lengthy written decision, Justice Nicole Garson gave the aboriginal people of the west coast of Vancouver Island the right to harvest and sell fish and other seafood in their territory, although the right is not unrestricted and must be negotiated with B.C. and Canada over the next two years…@

It should be said though that the court’s decision is just one  of  similar past rulings,now sitting on  dusty shelf(s) , that have recognized First Nation rights. Rights, & laws, that are not only obvious & supported by International law & convention ,but also virtually impossible to deny no matter the criteria used,i.e  legally,ethically or morally .

No need to hire an overpriced lawyer(s) to tell you that !

Sure the Tribal Council got a judge to recognize what is in fact quite obvious. Again at least  to those people who understand  the undeniable facts , indigenous peoples are nations with  sovereign rights.

Not “inherent rights” but sovereign rights.

Implementation(when & if it even takes place) that respects the spirit and intent of   these legal rulings,the only thing that will makes these rulings worth more than the paper they are written on, rarely if ever come even close to meeting the raised expectations of First Nations peoples.

The only way Indigenous peoples are going to regain power and control over their lives and territories is by exerting pressure,i.e by practicing their sovereign rights rather than seeking permission through the use of   whitestream courts and laws.

A route that has proven to be  pretty much a dead end.

Brings to mind a statement,aimed at his fellow  Indian Act Chief’s, by former AFN National Chief David Ahenakew …”we lack the guts to implement the things we say we want”.

It should also not be forgotten that  these same  courts & laws are part and parcel of the same system that colonized & subjugated Indigenous peoples in the first place,infact still do. To believe that these same laws [and a native leadership working within & beholding to the Indian Act ] can now be used to liberate Indigenous peoples  is quite naive,an assertion  easily backed up by simply reviewing the historical & practical record.

Indeed ,when push comes to shove the government has and will always interpret such rulings in it’s favor,failing that the government  will just outright ignore ,including it’s own laws, and or play word games.

The courts are often used by the government to stall,frustrate and delay.I believe it was Joe Gosnell (Nisga’a) who once stated, “you grow old at the negotiating table”.

But only time will tell I suppose,although I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

The likelihood of this ruling  resulting in any  meaningful change,again judging by the record to-date,are slim indeed.

One need only look to Delgamuukw ,a battle that consumed many long years and the precious/limited financial resource of Indigenous Peoples,all to finally get the courts to admit(partially) that there is such a thing as aboriginal title,duh really how “generous” of “white folk”,heh.

Despite Delgamuukw not much has changed on the practical side. First Nations are still fighting to this day,many years later,for basic rights that should be a given,given Delgamuukw ?

How to make a non-issue into an issue,in support of ones political agenda

Step 1- come up with a grand sounding name,”The All-Party Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism” it definitly does not hurt  if one can give it the appearance of  being an official/government sponsored entity.

Step 2-Access to a major media outlet in order to help advertise ,in this case the Ottawa Citizen.

Step 3-Use words charged full of emotion and based in fear.

Statements such as “the beast of antisemitism is back” are nothing but exaggerations and fear mongering. This is standard fare for those with a pro-Israeli agenda,and those incapable of seeing the actual reality.

In the Canadian context antisemitism is definitly a non-issue.

Now if they had proposed  an “All-Party Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Racism Directed at Indigenous Peoples” ,they might have been on to something-i.e something that is in fact  real and  IS a major problem.

In fact when one looks at the scope of the problem one has to wonder about the silence around this issue, on part of so many politicians and people of influence.

Not to compare the suffering of others,but the problems faced by Canadian Jews,350 thousand, are hardly ones of duress or even minor discomfort for that matter.

Indeed when one looks at their numbers as a proportion of the overall population and juxtaposes that alongside their political and community influence they are hardly a  sidelined,under represented or suffering  minority at risk ,ongoing or otherwise.

Unlike Canada’s indigenous peoples,whose graves(but one example of many) are not only desecrated but wiped out of all existence …

Few people realize that one of the most historically documented Aboriginal gravesites in Canada is sitting under a golf course. The specifically described Kichesipirini gravesite, with their carved and painted totems and houses for the departed which Champlain described is invisble to the public. What should be an extremely important spiritual and sacred place to the Algonquins and an important cultural and historical site to the rest of Canada is unmarked and almost forgotten. Although my ancestors took the greatest pains to ensure their family members rested in dignity, situated to watch the beautiful sunsets in their final resting place…..golf is played on top of them….another poignant example of the Kichesipirini genocide…@