tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46607721434864854642024-03-19T01:53:28.868-03:00Justice in the 21st Century<i>Is civilization a hoax?</i>Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-43745987301023361042015-06-12T07:39:00.000-03:002015-06-12T07:39:21.007-03:00The Good Ol' DaysNotwithstanding the propensity of mankind to exalt the past, and to depreciate the present, the tranquil and prosperous state of the empire was warmly felt, and honestly confessed, by the provincials as well as Romans. "They acknowledged that the true principles of social life, laws, agriculture, and science, which had been first invented by the wisdom of Athens, were now firmly established by the power of Rome, under whose auspicious influence the fiercest barbarians were united by an equal government and common language. They affirm, that with the improvement of arts, the human species were visibly multiplied. They celebrate the increasing splendor of the cities, the beautiful face of the country, cultivated and adorned like an immense garden; and the long festival of peace which was enjoyed by so many nations, forgetful of the ancient animosities, and delivered from the apprehension of future danger." Whatever suspicions may be suggested by the air of rhetoric and declamation, which seems to prevail in these passages, the substance of them is perfectly agreeable to historic truth.<br />
<br />
It was scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. The natives of Europe were brave and robust. Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Illyricum supplied the legions with excellent soldiers, and constituted the real strength of the monarchy. Their personal valor remained, but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independence, the sense of national honor, the presence of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defence to a mercenary army. The posterity of their boldest leaders was contented with the rank of citizens and subjects. The most aspiring spirits resorted to the court or standard of the emperors; and the deserted provinces, deprived of political strength or union, insensibly sunk into the languid indifference of private life.<br />
<br />
The love of letters, almost inseparable from peace and refinement, was fashionable among the subjects of Hadrian and the Antonines, who were themselves men of learning and curiosity. It was diffused over the whole extent of their empire; the most northern tribes of Britons had acquired a taste for rhetoric; Homer as well as Virgil were transcribed and studied on the banks of the Rhine and Danube; and the most liberal rewards sought out the faintest glimmerings of literary merit. The sciences of physic and astronomy were successfully cultivated by the Greeks; the observations of Ptolemy and the writings of Galen are studied by those who have improved their discoveries and corrected their errors; but if we except the inimitable Lucian, this age of indolence passed away without having produced a single writer of original genius, or who excelled in the arts of elegant composition. The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeno and Epicurus, still reigned in the schools; and their systems, transmitted with blind deference from one generation of disciples to another, precluded every generous attempt to exercise the powers, or enlarge the limits, of the human mind. The beauties of the poets and orators, instead of kindling a fire like their own, inspired only cold and servile mitations: or if any ventured to deviate from those models, they deviated at the same time from good sense and propriety. On the revival of letters, the youthful vigor of the imagination, after a long repose, national emulation, a new religion, new languages, and a new world, called forth the genius of Europe. But the provincials of Rome, trained by a uniform artificial foreign education, were engaged in a very unequal competition with those bold ancients, who, by expressing their genuine feelings in their native tongue, had already occupied every place of honor. The name of Poet was almost forgotten; that of Orator was usurped by the sophists. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste.<br />
<br />
The sublime Longinus, who, in somewhat a later period, and in the court of a Syrian queen, preserved the spirit of ancient Athens, observes and laments this degeneracy of his contemporaries, which debased their sentiments, enervated their courage, and depressed their talents. "In the same manner," says he, "as some children always remain pygmies, whose infant limbs have been too closely confined, thus our tender minds, fettered by the prejudices and habits of a just servitude, are unable to expand themselves, or to attain that well-proportioned greatness which we admire in the ancients; who, living under a popular government, wrote with the same freedom as they acted." This diminutive stature of mankind, if we pursue the metaphor, was daily sinking below the old standard, and the Roman world was indeed peopled by a race of pygmies; when the fierce giants of the north broke in, and mended the puny breed. They restored a manly spirit of freedom; and after the revolution of ten centuries, freedom became the happy parent of taste and science.<br />
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Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-61604595394514174942013-10-04T04:38:00.000-03:002013-10-04T04:38:05.067-03:00Illicit Acts of Government<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3,"tn":"K"}"><span class="userContent">Illicit Acts<br /> <br />
We’ve become so accustomed to the illicit acts of government that we
tolerate them. They are nonetheless illicit and as such lack the
legitimate authority of properly constituted and enacted law. Illicit
acts include lies and deception, concealment, propaganda, fraud,
bribery and undue influence, a toxic brew festering in the seats of
power in New Brunswick.<br /> <br /> The lure of shale gas has stirred up a
witches brew of the most outrageous illict acts we could ever imagine.
Police bullying, the outing of LaPierre, the outlandish statements of
Craig lLeonard, David Alward and the Irving papers, and now the
injunction: these are a few of my favourite things.<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /> <br />
Law school is 30 years away for me, but I do recall that an ex parte
injunction, one granted without notice to the other parties, is granted
only in cases of clear urgency and an unarguable legal claim. This is
neither. Among other things, the government is the transgressor here,
having ignored its constitutional duty to consult with the natives
before authorizing natural resource extraction. This injunction should
not have been issued without proper notice to the parties affected and
an opportunity to present evidence and defend their actions. This is
the foundation of our legal system, tossed in the dustbin.<br /> <br /> The
injunction should not be enforced since it was illicitly solicited from
and issued by the judge. They all know this and they also know that
efforts to enforce an injunction issued on a non-existent foundation are
in blatant bad faith.<br /> <br /> Governmental bad faith is the order of
the day, but when it becomes this blatant it becomes very difficult to
ignore or tolerate.<br /> <br /> The government cannot possibly win a debate
based on lies and brute force on one side and common sense and reason
on the other. The current rash of outrageously illicit behavior by a
broad slew of our once trusted and respected elite smacks of
desperation, shameful acts they have brought upon themselves since not
one of them can muster the courage to own up and do the decent thing.<br /> <br /> Tomorrow, let us all stand proudly behind Chief Sock and the warriors for their courageous acts.</span></span></span></h5>
Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-14374719841314241812013-06-21T22:24:00.000-03:002013-06-21T23:18:47.365-03:00Bad Day for David Alward<h5 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">What
a week. At the beginning, David Alward <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KGecW2_bE8" target="_blank">couldn't offer a single new word</a>
on how he would deal with the protests on highway 126. By week's end,
he had it down: he was planning to begin a consultation with the
natives.<br /> <br /> Between these two non-events other players, that
would have been better advised to stay out of the debate, weighed in
with such nonsense that they lost a big chunk of the people that were
trying to believe in them.<br /> <br /><span class="text_exposed_show">
Today, the growing coalition of people opposed to shale gas exposed the
futility of the political output for the week. Natives and non-natives
decided this afternoon to stop the trucks, again!<br /> <br /> Civil
disobedience has become rather mundane in the province of New Brunswick.
It is evident that quite a few are willing to defy whatever laws oppose
putting their bodies in the way of thumper trucks in the hope we can
prevent fracking from destroying our province as has happened elsewhere.<br /> <br />
It was a routine affair at first. The protestors were well
behaved, the cops so polite one wannabe arrestee (female, non-native)
was gently ushered to the far side of the road to await freedom, while
the rest were hauled into the paddy wagon.<br /> <br /> The party atmosphere
ended abruptly when the trucks began moving and three natives, two men
and one woman, threw themselves into the path of the thumpers. It seems
the police training wore off as they punched the woman, giving her a
bloody lip, and threw her and both men on the ground.<br /> <br /> David
Alward should get out more. Visit David! People do not want shale gas
here, there or anywhere. The time for useful discussion (consultation)
about exploiting shale gas in New Brunswick was two years ago. Any
possibility for you starting a positive dialogue with the native people
of this province may have ended today, and I recommend offering gifts.</span></span></h5>
Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-43225744242553494082013-06-16T01:30:00.000-03:002013-06-16T01:30:04.500-03:00David Alward's Dilemma<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">June 15, 2013</span></span></span></h5>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="usercontent"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Pyrrhus
of Epirus was one of the greatest generals of the ancient world. As a Greek, he
won many victories against the Romans, but finally concluded that "If we
are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly
ruined".</span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"> So
must Premier Alward be thinking today, after yesterday again scoring a
signal victory over peaceful protestors, freeing the thumper trucks to
continue their vile work. RCMP: 20, Protestors: 0. But today, the
thumper trucks were pulled of the road for a 4 day cooling off period,
and who can guess when day 5 will arrive?<br /> <br /> Trouble is, Alward's
shale gas policy has been a disastrous waste of money and integrity, the
strategy to evade any meaningful debate on the topic and insinuate
shale gas fracking on an unsuspecting population a dismal failure at all<span class="text_exposed_show">
points. But Alward, as failing tyrants do, has pushed a stupid strategy
way beyond limits of human endurance, and suddenly the entire world is
looking at this wholesale abrogation of democratic standards of decency.
Sorry David, you are just not as good at this game as your role model
Harper.<br /> <br /> Your government has no policy, no plan whatsoever to
elevate New Brunswick from its dismal economic situation, the result of
years of official refusal to face reality and effect any sort of
positive change. No, the Irving lure is too much for our mediocre
politicians, pre-eminent only in the race for the bottom among Canada’s
most uninspired leaders.<br /> <br /> Whither now David? You can perhaps
follow Sean Graham into slow oblivion, or do New Brunswick a favour ,
resign, and salvage what remains of your dignity.</span></span></span></span></h5>
Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-3511731283166053732013-05-24T11:59:00.000-03:002013-05-24T11:59:07.291-03:00Mansbridge on CynicismPeter Mansbridge had <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/petermansbridge/2013/05/breeding-cynicism.html" target="_blank">this</a> to say today:<br />
<br />
I confess. A political scandal is a juicy news story and it energizes a
newsroom. Chasing down new angles, uncovering more dirt, milking every
revelation. Who needs adrenaline when you have that for fuel every day?<br /><br />But
in my heart I know that political scandal is profoundly harmful to the
country. Scandal breeds cynicism about the basic fairness of our
democracy. And that is crippling.<br /><br />There's no science in talking
to cab drivers, but I always do it when I'm in a province having an
election. I ask them how they're going to vote. Way too often they tell
me they aren't going to vote. When I ask them why I usually get
something like, "It makes no difference. They're all crooks."<br /><br />I
try to persuade them that every vote counts. I tell them which party is
in power does make a difference. I argue that most politicians are
actually hard working women and men who really do want to make life
better for their community.<br /><br />They laugh at me. And more and more
Canadians have decided not to vote in elections. In B.C.'s election this
month the turnout was about 48%. Ontario's turnout in the last election
was also below 50%. Even in PEI, where the turnout was about 76% in
2011, that was down from 84% four years earlier.<br /><br />I find it depressing. But frankly it's getting harder to defend politicians.<br /><br />It's
still true, I think, that the overwhelming majority are honest and
faithful to the citizens who they serve. But what's with the rest? Is it
really that hard to conduct yourself with honour? I'm disappointed that
we need a mountain of rules and codes of conduct and ethical guidelines
for our politicians. Don't we know right from wrong without a forensic
audit?<br /><br />Can you really be confused about accepting an allowance for living away from home, when you don't live away from home?<br /><br />When
a construction company offers a bribe, how long should it take to say
no? Is that not a black and white issue? There's no shade of gray.<br /><br />When
you hire the advertising company that offers to kick back some of the
government money it gets to your political party, is there a moral
quandary about the propriety of that action?<br /><br />The Prime Minister
says, "Anyone who wants to use public office for their own benefit
should make other plans." Too bad he actually has to say that out loud.<br /><br />Look,
none of us is perfect. If we all drove at the speed limit, obeyed all
the traffic laws, drove sober, and parked legally, our police forces
could concentrate on more serious crimes.<br /><br />If every Canadian paid
all the taxes they're supposed to, the Canada Revenue Agency wouldn't be
saying it can't collect about $29 billion in taxes it is owed.<br /><br />Still, politicians engaging in unsavoury shenanigans are in a special category.<br /><br />Canada
spends billions of dollars every year to defend the country. The money
goes to the military, to border security, and to intelligence agencies.
The idea is to prevent physical attacks. But the larger purpose is to
defend what Canada stands for. We are a democracy. But if the average
citizen no longer believes that our system of government is worth
defending, we enter a very dangerous area, at least as dangerous as a
physical attack. Scandals contribute to just that kind of cynicism.
Which is why I have nothing but disdain for politicians who act with
greedy self-interest.<br />
<br />
<br />
My comment went against the grain of opinions on the CBC site:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">This article does not sit
well. Cynicism does not suddenly erupt with a major public scandal where a
bunch of miscreants, the usual suspects in fact, get caught red handed
monkeying with the public trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">Cynicism breeds over years
of governments that promise one thing and do something quite different. Cynicism permeates deeply within the public
psyche when governments blatantly lie, abuse the democratic process, oppress
the less fortunate, and serve private not public interests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">I admire the CBC greatly,
but the Peter Mansbridge daily half hour of pabulum, not so much. The mainstream media has an important role in
forming public opinion. If the public is
cynical about politics, the media has to carry a significant part of the
responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">It is good to learn that
Peter Mansbridge takes cab rides and has some contact with regular people, but
he must generally live in a bubble if he still believes of politicians that
" the overwhelming majority are honest and faithful to the citizens who
they serve". Is there any evidence
of integrity within the conservative caucus?
These individuals know they are despised by a majority of their constituents
for very good reasons. Robert Goguen in
my riding resolutely refuses to have any contact with his constituents except
for small private gatherings with those most likely to vote for him, such as
his annual Christmas tour of the seniors residences to present a
poinsettia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">If there was a shred of
integrity in the conservative caucus, there would be a revolt, at least one or
two defections, but as usual nada!
Business as usual as the great leader stonewalls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">If Peter Mansbridge is
concerned about cynicism, why doesn't he spend more time covering the very few politicians
who do have integrity? Politicians who
speak and act out of principle, and who stand down when it is in the public
interest to do so? How about more time
covering the historic genocidal injustice that has been perpetrated on Canada's
aboriginal population for centuries, now accelerated under Harper? Or the irreversible damage being done to the
globe, greatly exacerbated by Harper's policies? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">Major scandals are, if nothing else, at least cathartic. Journalists get to release their pent up rage
normally curtailed by their professional ethics, or by their beholden
editors. And Canadians of all stripes
get to learn what kind of government they have elected.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-58992751665923067932013-05-21T23:23:00.005-03:002013-05-21T23:23:51.056-03:00The Advancement of Knowledge<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been an incredible and taxing week, or month,
depending on how much scope you want to look at.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Personally, and I think many others had a similar experience,
the events beginning around the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 was my latest
mind flip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had just begun a survey of
conspiracy theories around 911, but this quickly led to learning about a long
series of such theories around wacko, Oklahoma bombing, the shoe bomb, the
underwear bomb, child prostitution rings leading right to the White House, Sandy
Hook, and Benghazi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sure I am
missing some because the literature spans a range that gradually extends beyond
one’s limit of even potential credulity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But humans are born to imagine and to seek to understand, and a great
deal has been left to the imagination for several decades.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I draw a limit at Israel controlling everything, and the
supposed technology transfer from outer space aliens. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The former is tied in with way too many
ideological currents that are very imperfectly understood and often
aggressively misconstrued and passed off as propaganda posing as truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Increasingly, everything to do with the
Middle East has been so lied about and distorted that the truth will take
decades to emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regarding UFO technology,
and amazingly advanced secret military technology, there is some interesting
testimony but a dearth of facts and concrete evidence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aside from some notable excesses, a careful examination of
recent extraordinary events gives rise to very real question that have not been
remotely answered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a clear
policy of evasion, misdirection and disinformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, each new incidence seems to involve an
increasing degree of brazenness, challenging credulity, but affirming that
something is amiss to a previously unfathomable degree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The extremely unsettling circumstances
surrounding Sandy Hook and Boston Marathon lend credibility to all the other
questions being raised about earlier extreme events.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is a bit about how I probe into a conspiracy that has
been suggested online.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was utterly
puzzled by the controversy over Benghazi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From the outset, the hullabaloo from the right seemed contrived, but who
knows?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not like minded and have to
struggle to see logic in their words at the best of times.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An article on infowars provided a shocking background to
that evening in Benghazi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In effect, the
Benghazi “consulate” was a CIA outpost for funneling Libyan weapons a d/or
personnel from the jihadists, essentially Al Qaeda affiliates, to Syria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An ongoing relationship of this nature shocks
but explains a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, regrettably,
not at all incredible and casts in stark relief the unalloyed cynicism of US foreign
policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to the Boston event, and
all the time I have spent digging into the facts of various conspiracy
theories, I resisted contemplating that idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In spite of all the evidence of America’s imperial intentions in the
Middle East, that was a turning point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
wanted to believe in Obama, I wanted Hillary to succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been disorienting – and frightening –
to learn that these two, along with nearly the entire US government have regard
only for power and corporate objectives without any regard for democracy or the
interests of the people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Democracy in
the US has been thoroughly usurped.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have realized how much farther down the road to fascist
state the US has gone than I believed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
nature, I cling to the principles of democratic government that I grew up with,
and I have difficulty accepting the Machiavellian approach to government that
are in fashion today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes a hard
shock, what I call a mental flip, to see things in a bigger context which explains
a much larger scope of the known facts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
Knowledge advances in leaps and bounds as like Kuhn’s paradigm of scientific
explanation on steroids.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The war of words over Benghazi has waged in Washington this
past week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point during the week I
did try to penetrate the conversation, much ado about a memo that was amended
12 times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I eventually gave up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing was coming clear, and I have seen no
reflection in these debates or in the mainstream media that the crisis in
Benghazi involves a CIA post working with Al Queda to funnel arms or jihadists to
Syria. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Such is the bizarre state of public discussion today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all the vehement public debate, coming
down to a 12 times changed memo, I left the matter at a draw as far as I could
determine, and that precisely the role of Washington (and other countries’)
politics: make real issues disappear down the memory hole through inane,
incomprehensible <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>argument about random
facts.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The denouement to this tale is of a type I am incurring more
and more frequently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today I read an <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/17/benghazi-petraeus-and-the-cia/">article
in Counterpoint</a> which matter-of-factly acknowledge that the Benghazi
station was precisely as had been reported by infowars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This does not clinch the matter, by any
means, but a second, somewhat more credible source gives credence to an
*explanation* that fits very well the facts of US involvement in the Middle
East.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The war on terror is obviously
bogus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a phony pretext for
invading other countries in quest of total worldwide dominance, and for
population control at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of the
US activities in the Middle East further a toxic, illegal policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As usual, this is a “theory” I have heard
many times in the past decades, but it did not come real to me until the events
of the Arab Spring were cast into context by a disastrous <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>aftermath, and then the cynical moves of the
United States, and the falsehoods of US leaders like Obama and Clinton become
all too obvious.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
***</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The enormity of the crimes and cover-ups being now routinely
committed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>indicate that the power of the
US government is about to be wielded ever more robustly against its own people
and those of the Middle East, all in the name of the nefarious ends of world
domination and control of the oil supply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The sense of panic and desperation which these events give rise to is
reflected in the lucidly argued articles and discussions in the alternative
media such as <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/rise_up_or_die_20130519/">this poignant
appeal to action by Chris Hedges</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although underfunded, we now routinely see progressive
issues being debated passionately and fruitfully in a flourishing alternative
mdedia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a refreshing and much
needed development where the press is reviving and issues are addressed civilly,
usefully leading to better understanding of the many progressive issues facing
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An example is the Greenwald-Maher <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/11/bill-maher-muslims-islam-benghazi">dustup
over Benghazi</a> and Islam (see also my post The Great Debate below.. This
ferment is one of the great engines of dissidence in the world today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In free speech, we have the beginnings of a
coherent and organized opposition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
long will it be before this historic democratic freedom comes under official
attack?</div>
Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-7634910308670190552013-05-21T21:28:00.003-03:002013-05-21T21:28:48.353-03:00The What, Why and IfI commenced this blog in response to a particular incident of glaring injustice. It was clearly wrong, a misuse of police power against a citizen for his exercise of free speech. I though I had something to say about it and I started this blog and published and tweeted my opinions.<br />
<br />
I stood up for Charles Leblanc as did others. An egregious wrong was diverted, repeated and diverted again, but Charles still waits for justice. Indeed, many wronged people, mostly the disadvantaged, are deprived of justice in this province.<br />
<br />
Other than the very infrequent post that I intend to publish, and post on twitter and facebook, my posts here are mainly for my own reference, and I welcome anyone who is interested in pursuing the same ideas and information as I am.<br />
<br />
When I publish something on here, I put some thought into the content with that in mind. I am prepared to stand behind my considered opinions. Otherwise, the content I post - links, videos, opinions, whole articles - are posted for own interest and may reflect mere passing thoughts. Either way, I am open to comments that are posted in a vein of moving a thought or discussion forward. Toxic comments, and any post that seeks to conceal ill intent behind an anonymous identity may be deleted.<br />
<br />
I identify with the progressive movement of individuals that seek to improve the world.<br />
The progressive movement is becoming more and more visible and prevalent in public spaces. On the other hand, the world is still awash with nasty people motivated by greed and power, and suffused with ill-intent, and they must be opposed in every peaceful way possible as they are destroying our civilization and harming the planet irreversibly. <br />
<br />
Such people are not welcome here and do not have permission or license to access my content. You are prohibited from continuing to access my site without express permission from me. Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-38265243121535218882013-05-21T20:54:00.000-03:002013-05-21T20:54:02.506-03:00JFK - Secrecy is Repugnant (1961 Speech)I grew up with these long lost ideas in mind.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gpmi7dBet0c" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-17035469252466470872013-05-19T11:02:00.000-03:002013-05-19T11:02:54.844-03:00A New Age of Reason<br />
<h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-transform: none; white-space: nowrap; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: normal;">
<span class="watch-title yt-uix-expander-head" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" style="-webkit-user-select: auto; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: black; cursor: auto; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="An Evening With Kevin Page">An Evening With Kevin Page</span></h1>
<h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-transform: none; white-space: nowrap; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; word-wrap: normal;">
<span class="watch-title yt-uix-expander-head" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" style="-webkit-user-select: auto; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: black; cursor: auto; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="An Evening With Kevin Page"> </span></h1>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZUgw5ETqw3s" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Alan Gregg: <br />
<h1 id="watch-headline-title">
<span class="watch-title long-title yt-uix-expander-head" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title=""1984 in 2013: The Assault on Reason" - Allan Gregg">"1984 in 2013: The Assault on Reason"</span><span class="watch-title long-title yt-uix-expander-head" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title=""1984 in 2013: The Assault on Reason" - Allan Gregg"> </span></h1>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YIg_VNUWqME?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-69261560315133561782013-05-18T14:10:00.002-03:002013-05-18T14:21:41.950-03:00Combat Groupthink, Regain RealityYou will be ejected from the best cocktail parties if you are suspected of harbouring thoughts like the following post:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Oklahoma City started a new phase in false flag events, where large-scale catastrophes, blamed on “terrorists,” could be used to justify totalitarian legislation. This phase also constituted a systematic tweaking of the use of media to shape the narrative and send the initial reporting down the memory hole. It strikes me that these events were largely tests to see how stupid the public had become, how willing to forget they now were to forget what was initially reported and seamlessly accept as a “given” a completely different set of “facts.” However contradictory the facts taken as a whole may be, they almost invariably replace the ones that were presented initially. Such events have become part of a broader process to shape the public to precisely to the mentality Orwell describes in 1984.<br />
<h1 class="entry-title">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/18/secret-government-deep-events-and-the-emerging-police-state/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">From Secret Government, Deep Events, and the Emerging Police State by Patrick Murphy</span></span></span></a></h1>
</blockquote>
The culture of groupthink, which prevails after decades of conditioning, deems it an outrage even to look at much less repeat any of the abundant and readily available evidence that renders official accounts laughable and impossible. I was reminded of this after I shared my concerns with some of my oldest and best friends, and received only one response:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<pre wrap="">Good to hear from you, but frankly I don't buy this stuff and am surprised you do!
I'm not sure she does either:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10018063/Boston-Marathon-bombings-victim-vows-to-dance-again.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10018063/Boston-Marathon-bombings-victim-vows-to-dance-again.html</a>
And yes, it is pap, but certainly far more credible than the pseudo-scientific gobbledygook you forwarded. Talk to a doctor. When such trauma occurs after a searing explosion, blood does not automatically spurt out, certainly not in the lower limbs.
Frankly, the guys who promote the stuff you've circulated would be in good company with Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber and the Waco whackos. They also likely oppose gun control to better protect themselves from "The Government". What's next, denial of the Holocaust? Not for me.
Would you mind using my personal email? Fondly,</pre>
</blockquote>
Ouch! <br />
<br />
A controlled and malleable press is essential to maintaining groupthink. It's almost ready with stalwarts CNN and Fox, but the risk of outliers who persistent in practicing journalism is being firmly quashed under the rubric of "national security". In an <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_the_terrifying_state_assault_on_press_freedom_20130515/?ln" target="_blank">interview with Democracy Now!</a>, Chris Hedges explains how this works:<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://www.democracynow.org/embed/story/2013/5/15/chris_hedges_monitoring_of_ap_phones" width="400"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
The tide of people who are attuned to credible thinkers like Chris Hedges and James Tracy is rising and I take heart from comments like this from a post reproduced <a href="http://justiceinthe21stcentury.blogspot.ca/2013/05/hearts-and-minds.html" target="_blank">below</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<cite class="fn">Lighthouse for the Bland</cite> <span class="says">says:</span>
<br />
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10801"><time datetime="2013-05-15T14:20:23+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 2:20 pm </time></a>
</div>
<div class="comment-content">
Thus it has always been. To expect the mass of humanity–whether
in the general population or in the groves of academia–to overcome the
inherent drive to be accepted as part of the crowd, to be held in high
esteem, to avoid subjecting oneself to intense scrutiny–has always been
the overriding motivation of most of our fellow human beings.<br />
It has been said there is no religion higher than truth. There is
also no political system, no academic luster, or personal distaste
higher than truth, either.<br />
I read recently that the tipping point for fundamental change in any
pool of humans was 10% of the population being whole-hearted believers.
At that level, the paradigm flips and we are in a new world.<br />
I believe we are approaching that level in our collective ability to
understand the massive deception, corruption and violence that has been
perpetrated on the common man around the world by the controllers.<br />
I would urge everyone who reads these words to understand we are ALL
Tom Paine now. We can–each of us–take the time to speak out, blog,
submit comments to news sources that make our points clearly and with as
little inflammatory tone as we can muster. WE ARE WINNING. Yes, we are
winning. Do not let the mass media convince you that most folks don’t
get it, are lazy and indifferent. There is a sense afoot that we are
seeing, waking up and now reacting.<br />
What James has done in a very high profile and courageous way, each
one of us must do in our own circle of friends, acquaintances and other
contacts.<br />
Do you have the courage of your convictions to stand up for the
Truth? We know James did and does. It’s our turn to at least take the
time and trouble to add our voices of reason to the conversation and
overwhelm the superstitious fear of STANDING UP when others cower.<br />
Today is the day to begin.</div>
</blockquote>
We trusted in our leaders and ignored Orwell's stark warning. If you value truth, freedom and justice, now is the time to join the fearless few who speak truth to power: James Tracy, Elizabeth Warren, Charlie Angus, Chris Hedges, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Glenn Greenwald to name a few.<br />
<br />
<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-21816252541113546762013-05-17T22:06:00.001-03:002013-05-17T22:06:09.380-03:00Lets get at that climate change thingUnfortunately, we live among a great many people who are unaware of the risks we face from climate change. It makes you wonder who invented the television and what was he thinking?? Perhaps if the government would prescribe that everyone listen to an hour or two of science and evidence based entertainment every night, we could get together to turn this sucker around.<br />
<br />
<div id="article-header">
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<h1 itemprop="name headline ">
Meteorite crater reveals future of a globally warmed world</h1>
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Lake sediments recorded the climate of the Arctic during the last period when CO2 levels were as high as today</div>
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<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name"><a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/damiancarrington" itemprop="url" rel="author">Damian Carrington</a></span></span> </div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/" itemprop="publisher">guardian.co.uk</a>,
<time datetime="2013-05-09T19:00BST" itemprop="datePublished" pubdate="">Thursday 9 May 2013 19.00 BST</time>
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<img alt="Lake El’gygytgyn located in central Chukotka , in north-east Siberia , Russia" height="276" itemprop="contentUrl representativeOfPage" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2013/5/9/1368109048971/Lake-El-gygytgyn-located--008.jpg" width="460" />
<div class="caption" itemprop="caption">
Satellite view of lake
El'gygytgyn the largest unglaciated deep lake in the Arctic, located in
central Chukotka, in north-east Siberia, Russia. Photograph: Landsat
7/NASA</div>
</div>
<div id="article-body-blocks">
The future of a globally warmed world has been revealed in a
remote meteorite crater in Siberia, where lake sediments recorded the
strikingly balmy climate of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/arctic" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Arctic">Arctic</a> during the last period when greenhouse gas levels were as high as today.<br />
Unchecked <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/25/governments-catastrophic-climate-change-iea" title="">burning of fossil fuels</a>
has driven carbon dioxide to levels not seen for 3m years when, the
sediments show, temperatures were 8C higher than today, lush forests
covered the tundra and sea levels were up to 40m higher than today.<br />
"It's
like deja vu," said Prof Julie Brigham-Grette, at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst, who led the new research analysing a core of
sediment to see what temperatures in the region were between 3.6 and
2.2m years ago. "We have seen these warm periods before. Many people now
agree this is where we are heading."<br />
"It shows a huge warming –
unprecedented in human history," said Prof Scott Elias, at Royal
Holloway University of London, and not involved in the work. "It is a
frightening experiment we are conducting with our climate."<br />
The
sediments have been slowly settling in Lake El'gygytgyn since it was
formed 3.6m years ago, when a kilometre-wide meteorite blasted a crater
100km north of the Arctic circle. Unlike most places so far north, the
region was never eroded by glaciers so a continuous record of the
climate has lain undisturbed ever since. "It's a phenomenal record,"
said Prof Peter Sammonds, at University College London. "It is also an
incredible achievement [the study's work], given the remoteness of the
lake." Sixteen shipping containers of equipment had to be hauled 90km
over snow by bulldozers from the nearest ice road, used by gold miners.<br />
Previous
research on land had revealed glimpses of the Arctic climate and ocean
sediments had recorded the marine climate, but the disparate data are
not consistent with one another. "Lake El'gygytgyn may be the only place
in the world that has this incredible unbroken record of sediments
going back millions of years," said Elias. "When you have a very long
record it is very different to argue with."<br />
The new research, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1233137" title="">published in the journal Science</a>,
also sheds light on a crucial question for climate scientists: how
sensitive is the Earth's climate to increases in carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere? The relative slowing of global temperature rises over the
past 15 years has led some researchers to suggest the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21574461-climate-may-be-heating-up-less-response-greenhouse-gas-emissions" title="">climate is less sensitive to CO2 rises</a>
than current climate models suggest. But the record from Lake
El'gygytgyn of a very warm Arctic when atmospheric CO2 levels were last
at about 400 parts per million (ppm) indicates the opposite, according
to Brigham-Grette. "My feeling is we have underestimated the
sensitivity, unless there are some feedbacks we don't yet understand or
we don't get right in the models."<br />
Prof Robert Spicer, at the Open
University and not part of the new study, agreed: "This is another
piece of evidence showing that climate models have a systematic problem
with polar amplification," ie the fact that global warming has its
greatest effects at the poles. "This has enormous implications and
suggests model are likely to underestimate the degree of future change."<br />
Brigham-Grette
said it would take time for today's CO2 levels to translate into the
warming seen in the lake records: "The Earth's climate system is a
sluggish beast." Most scientists predict it will take centuries to melt
the great ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica to the shrunken levels
seen 3m years ago, and so push up sea level far above the world's
coastal cities. But CO2 is increasing with unprecedented speed and the
Arctic plays a key role in the global climate.<br />
"I think we will feel the effects of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Climate change">climate change</a>
quickly – in years or decades – because changes in the Arctic sea ice
bring changes in the circulation of the atmosphere and the oceans," says
Elias. " Arctic sea ice keeps that entire region cool and when it
melts, the dark ocean revealed absorbs even more heat."<br />
Recent wet and cold summer weather in Europe, for example, has been <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/04/2012-year-british-weather-dangerous" title="">linked to changes in the high level jet stream winds</a>, which in turn have been linked to melting Arctic ice, which shrank to its <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/14/arctic-sea-ice-smallest-extent" title="">lowest recorded level in September</a>. Climate change has also already increased the likelihood of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/21/climate-change-russian-heatwave" title="">extreme heatwaves</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/16/climate-change-risk-uk-floods" title="">flooding</a> .<br />
"Clearly
the Arctic is warming very, very rapidly at the moment," said Sammonds.
"And if all the sea ice goes, there is no good reason why it might come
back again."<br />
</div>
</div>
</div>
Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-85001220715864902112013-05-17T01:27:00.003-03:002013-05-17T21:22:54.569-03:00The Mike Duffy Hour, Tonight: HubrisIt has been a big day for followers of Canadian politics. It feels like a day of reckoning is at hand. Our government is losing legitimacy by the hour.<br />
<br />
The mainstream media did a pretty good job of covering the story(ies). A couple of examples are below.<br />
<br />
Peter Mansbridge and three guests. I don't think this story is going away in a few days, as Mansbridge suggests, any more than #occupy #arabspring #idlenomore #tarsandsblockade have gone away. This has engaged the mainstream media like no other story in recent memory, and the seething masses online are not going to let this fade (not to mention angry insiders).<br />
<br />
I believe this year will bring our democratic deficiencies to a head for good or bad, and set us on a road to a more fully democratic state than we have had before, or we will head toward a much more authoritarian future than Canadians ever believed possible.<br />
<br />
But we need to heed Mansbridge's warning and make sure this fire burns.<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pkyDTzVfWZQ" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Rex Murphy is passionate, amusing and makes forceful points. He makes me think, I hope there is some bigger crime being covered up which would make this make sense, and not the tawdry penny ante sleaze it appears to be.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GdlShwb7UT0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
Duffy: The story that never stops giving.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/mike-duffy-tried-to-influence-crtc-decision-on-sun-media-source-1.1285555">http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/mike-duffy-tried-to-influence-crtc-decision-on-sun-media-source-1.1285555</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="s-data" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 0.7em; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
CTVNews.ca Staff<br />
<span class="date" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Published Thursday, May 16, 2013 10:02PM EDT </span><br />
<span class="date" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Last Updated Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:11PM EDT</span></div>
<div class="articleBody" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3; margin-top: 19px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
"Sen. Mike Duffy attempted to influence the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission’s upcoming decision involving the right-leaning Sun News Network, a source has told CTV News.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3; margin-top: 19px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
A well-placed source told CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife that Duffy approached a Conservative insider with connections to the CRTC three weeks ago to discuss Sun Media, which is asking the federal regulator to grant its news channel “mandatory carriage,” or guaranteed placement on basic cable and satellite packages."</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3; margin-top: 19px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
If you listen on through a couple of ads, you will finally hear the word "fraud" uttered.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.3; margin-top: 19px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-10163092774185358612013-05-15T23:34:00.000-03:002013-05-15T23:39:15.647-03:00Hearts and MindsUnremarked by mainstream culture, a global revolution seeks a new, more sustainable and more civilized world better suited to the challenges of our new century.<br />
<br />
This revolution is far vaster and more urgent than any that has gone on before. It is waged with arms in the more unfortunate corners of the earth in wars more vicious than ever imagined in our once apparently civilized world.. Otherwise, the revolution manifests itself more or less peacefully in opposition to Power everywhere.<br />
<br />
The revolution, like perhaps all modern revolutions, is primarily a battle for the hearts and minds of the people; hence, the importance to Power of maintaining a mainstream culture virtually ignorant of the issues at stake.<br />
<br />
A snapshot, a skirmish in the revolution, is illustrated by the exchanges below.<br />
<br />
From The Palm Beach Post:<br />
<h1 class="article-headline">
<a href="http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/opinion/letters-why-james-tracy-faus-conspiracy-theorist-s/nXZ85/" target="_blank">Letters: Why James Tracy, FAU’s conspiracy theorist, should resign.</a></h1>
<time class="time-stamp" pubdate="">Posted: 12:00 a.m. Monday, April 29, 2013<br />
</time><br />
<div class="article-related" id="article-related">
<span class="premium-auth-toggled"></span></div>
<div class="article-credit">
</div>
<div class="article-credit">
<br /></div>
Florida Atlantic University
associate professor of communications James Tracy infuriated the public
with his conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook massacre and is doing
the same with the Boston Marathon bombing.<br />
<br />
In each instance, he
claimed that the events as we know them may not have happened and were
perhaps staged using crisis actors. Despite the suffering that he has
caused to victims’ families, the poor example he has set for his
students and the damage that he has done to the university’s reputation,
Mr. Tracy continues to blog unabated.<br />
<br />
He and his supporters
quickly reference his First Amendment right to express his ideas. Ideas,
they proclaim, lie at the heart of the academic pursuit. What James
Tracy does not understand is that ideas represent the end product of the
intellectual process. Before they can be publicly espoused, ideas must
be subjected to rigorous and intensive examination. Academics test ideas
to prove their worth; commentators simply state them. Academics expose
their theories to other academics; conspiracy theorists blog them to
each other. Academics build on a rich intellectual tradition, people
like James Tracy spin tall tales out of nothing.<br />
<br />
James Tracy
should not resign from FAU because he has upset people or brought shame
to the university. He should resign because he is not an academic.<br />
<br />
JEFFREY S. MORTON<br />
PATRICIA KOLLANDER<br />
THOMAS WILSON<br />
Boca Raton<br />
<br />
Editor’s
note: Jeffrey S. Morton is a professor of political science at Florida
Atlantic University. Patricia Kollander is chairwoman and professor of
history at Florida Atlantic University. Thomas Wilson is a professor of
sociology at Florida Atlantic University.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
From the blog of Professor James Tracy:<br />
<br />
<hgroup>
<h1 id="site-title">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/" rel="home" title="Memory Hole">Memory Hole</a></h1>
<h2 id="site-description">
Reflections on Media and Politics | © James F. Tracy 2012-2013, Republication Under Fair Use Permitted</h2>
</hgroup><br />
<h1 class="entry-title">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/" target="_blank">Why James Tracy Should Resign</a>
<sup class="entry-comment-popup-link">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/#comments" title="Comment on Why James Tracy Should Resign">29</a> </sup>
</h1>
<div class="entry-meta">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/tag/censorship/" rel="tag"></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="" class="rg_i alignleft" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQOIDl3bs62zl-dgTTEXf1ro0uiPY_zVkEg8CpqOGfAFcDOMbQS" style="height: 136px; margin-left: 0; margin-top: 0; width: 136px;" />In a recent <b><a href="http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/opinion/letters-why-james-tracy-faus-conspiracy-theorist-s/nXZ85/">letter</a></b>
to local newspapers I have been publicly accused by colleagues of being
a “conspiracy theorist.” The statement’s authors are asking that I
resign my university post because my extracurricular commentary is
deemed offensive and allegedly interferes with my ability to properly
assess and articulate complex ideas in a scholarly manner.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span id="more-4206"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition to blithely accepting official
narratives they have not seriously interrogated, these would-be
thoughtful and meticulous academics carelessly adopt and wield the
“conspiracy theorist” pejorative without deeper consideration of its
etymological meaning and cultural significance. In this way they
awkwardly violate the exact professional code and etiquette to which
they claim an academic should adhere while contradictorily upholding a
popular perspective they might otherwise–following their own
criteria–see fit to reject.[1]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Disparaging labels draw on and reflect the cultural
and political beliefs of the given historical era. They may be used as
disciplinary devices that at once legitimate certain worldviews and
their attendant assumptions while designating others as dangerous and
verboten. As the histories of many religions and political regimes
suggest, concerted and vocal alarm directed toward unorthodox thought
has typically been the focus of the state-sanctioned intellectual,
reflecting the prevailing interests and beliefs of the given time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With this in mind, the text of the colleagues’
letter is presented with various discursive trappings of particular
periods in American history.</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><img alt="" class="rg_i alignleft" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcReCUiBGDBAOsQoj-jr9x4HFrpjDEQM4U8zrrsBz5LmymJF9uSG" style="height: 191px; margin-left: -3px; margin-top: 0; width: 195px;" />Revolutionary Era</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why James Tracy, FAU’s Yankee Doodle, Should Resign”</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Florida Atlantic University associate professor of
communications James Tracy infuriated the public with his diatribes
against the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain. </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In many instances, he claims that the King and
Parliament do not have the right to quarter royal troops in colonists’
homes, tax (“enslave”) their foreign subjects, or blockade colonial
ports. Despite the suffering that he has caused King George III and the
Ministry of Prime Minster Lord North, the poor example he has set for
his students and the damage that he has done to the university’s
reputation, Mr. Tracy continues his pamphleteering unabated.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He and his supporters quickly reference his
inalienable right as a sovereign being to express his ideas. Ideas, they
proclaim, lie at the heart of the human pursuit. What James Tracy does
not understand is that ideas represent the end product of an
intellectual process beholden to our glorious King and Parliament.
Before they can be publicly espoused, ideas must be considered in terms
of their value to His Majesty’s will and design. In this regard the
King’s ideologues test ideas to prove their merit; revolutionaries
simply state them. The King’s thinkers expose their theories to other
English noblemen and clergy; pamphleteers scribble them to each other
and thereby foment disloyalty. The King’s brain trust builds on the
royal intellectual tradition, people like James Tracy court misfortune
by speaking treason toward King George III.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
James Tracy should not resign from FAU because he
has upset people or brought shame to his fellows. He should resign
because of his odious predilection toward “freedom and liberty.”<br />
______________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><img alt="" class="rg_i alignleft" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBhS7D2Gkor5EyEK9Wq19f6G01PZ03om91Fz9vTET9GPdLa5MN" style="height: 186px; margin-left: 0; margin-top: 0; width: 172px;" />Antebellum Era</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why James Tracy, FAU’s Abolitionist, Should Resign”</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Florida Atlantic University associate professor of
communications James Tracy infuriated the public with his talk of why he
believes enslaved Negroes should be emancipated from their servitude
and enjoy equality with White folk. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
In almost every pronouncement he maintains that the
black savage is equal in his mental and emotional faculties to White
people and should therefore no longer be regarded as the rightful
property of his master and owner. Despite the suffering that he has
caused to self-respecting Whites and those whose wealth rightly springs
from Negro labor, the poor example he has set for his students and the
damage that he has done to the university’s reputation, Mr. Tracy
continues to keep company with Negroes and speak at “abolitionist”
meetings. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
He and his supporters quickly reference his First
Amendment right to express his ideas. Ideas, they proclaim, lie at the
heart of their pursuit of equality. What James Tracy does not understand
is that ideas represent the end product of God’s just and prevailing
will embodied in the peculiar institution. Before they can be publicly
espoused, ideas must defend the sanctity of White womanhood. The fairer
race tests ideas to prove their worth; agitators simply state them. The
properly-bred gentry expose their notions to other gentry; abolitionists
blurt them out to each other and put dangerous thoughts of freedom in
Negroes’ minds. Our race builds on a rich Anglo tradition, people like
James Tracy want to magically make men out of beasts. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
James Tracy should not resign from FAU because he
has upset people or brought shame to the Southern gentry. He should
resign because he seeks to unleash heathen hordes upon White Christendom
and upset the God-given harmony of the races.<br />
______________________________</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><img alt="" class="rg_i alignleft" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRZN-9lCwERwCTfKnvE9tlEEFqYdjB_IenipJHWZx-q-68E4224" style="height: 210px; margin-left: 0; margin-top: -3px; width: 140px;" />Cold War Era</b></div>
“Why James Tracy, FAU’s Socialist Agitator, Should Resign” </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Florida Atlantic University associate professor of
communications James Tracy infuriated the public with his denunciations
of free market capitalism and the noble American effort to thwart the
Red menace in Europe, Asia and elsewhere throughout the world. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
At every turn he claims that the Communist plot to
overthrow this great country is exaggerated. Despite the suffering that
he has caused all truly patriotic Americans, the poor example he has set
for his students and the damage that he has done to the university’s
reputation, Mr. Tracy proceeds to speak to industrial workers while
cavorting with New Deal intellectuals and other fellow travelers. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He and his supporters quickly reference the Wagner
Act and the workers’ right of free association to communicate their
ideas. Ideas, they proclaim, lie at the heart of their collective
interests. What James Tracy does not understand is that ideas are only
possible to the extent that they abet American free enterprise and do
not pose a national security risk. Before they can be publicly espoused,
ideas must overall recognize the genius of American ingenuity and
entrepreneurship. American-minded thinkers test concepts to prove their
worth; rabble rousers simply state them. True Americans remain cognizant
of the ideas they espouse in light of their loyalty oaths; subversives
perch themselves upon their soapboxes, yelling at passersby. The genuine
American reflects on and is enriched by his national heritage of
technological and industrial innovation, people like James Tracy seek to
kill the golden goose.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
James Tracy should not resign from FAU because he
has upset people or brought shame to the university. He should resign
because he is an enemy of progress.<br />
___________________________</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><img alt="" class="rg_i alignleft" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRxCqbCTt5zUmkTe8RlSFXkIhnD_5MGJ9LuEPEbHWqu9cXB3C-ZgQ" style="height: 176px; margin-left: 0; margin-top: 0; width: 176px;" />“War on Terror” Era</b></div>
“Why James Tracy, FAU’s Conspiracy Theorist, Should Resign” </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Florida Atlantic University associate professor of
communications James Tracy infuriated the public with his conspiracy
theories about the Sandy Hook massacre and is doing the same with the
Boston Marathon bombing. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
In each instance, he claimed that the events as we
know them may not have happened and were perhaps staged using crisis
actors. Despite the suffering that he has caused to victims’ families,
the poor example he has set for his students and the damage that he has
done to the university’s reputation, Mr. Tracy continues to blog
unabated. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
He and his supporters quickly reference his First
Amendment right to express his ideas. Ideas, they proclaim, lie at the
heart of the academic pursuit. What James Tracy does not understand is
that ideas represent the end product of the intellectual process. Before
they can be publicly espoused, ideas must be subjected to rigorous and
intensive examination. Academics test ideas to prove their worth;
commentators simply state them. Academics expose their theories to other
academics; conspiracy theorists blog them to each other. Academics
build on a rich intellectual tradition, people like James Tracy spin
tall tales out of nothing. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
James Tracy should not resign from FAU because he
has upset people or brought shame to the university. He should resign
because he is not an academic.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Notes</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
[1] The Western notion that knowledge should be the
province of a learned few has obvious political implications, for it
has been a principal claim over the [often divine or hereditary] power
to develop and impose customs and beliefs. “Since Plato’s day,”
political philosopher J. S. McClelland observes,</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
knowledge claims had also been claims to moral and
political power. Knowing, really knowing, had always in the past been
the privilege of the Few, and the claims that the true kn0wledge of the
Few was superior to the ordinary opinions of the Many had been the most
important part of the Few’s claim to rule the Many. J. S. McClelland, <i>A History of Western Political Thought</i>. New York: Routledge, 1996, 406.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The continuing phenomenon has impeded the
university from making more meaningful contributions to public
discourse. This is at least partially the result of an attitude among
scholars who steadfastly believe they are right–even on topics or
subjects of which they know very little. The social and cultural
insularity of the modern university tends to cultivate this condition.
As sociologist Diana C. Mutz has found, those with the highest degree of
education have the lowest exposure to those with opposing points of
view, while those with much less formal education have a far greater
variety of potential interlocutors. Diana C. Mutz, <i>Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative Versus Participatory Democracy,</i> New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This dynamic is reflected in a 2010 study by
American Association of Colleges and Universities, which discovered that
less than 20% of 9,000 faculty surveyed believe it is safe to hold
“unpopular views” on campus. Along these lines, the research also
suggested how the longer students are enrolled at university the less
open-minded they become. Of 25,000 students polled, only 40% of freshmen
feel safe expressing unpopular positions versus 31% of seniors. Eric L.
Dey, Molly C. Ott, Mary Antonaros, and Matthew A. Holsapple, <a href="http://www.aacu.org/core_commitments/documents/Engaging_Diverse_Viewpoints.pdf">Engaging Diverse Viewpoints: What is the Campus Climate for Perspective Taking?</a> (pdf), Washington DC: American Association of Colleges and Universities, 2010, 7.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No online discussion is complete without comments posted by partisans which offer revealing dispatches from the front lines:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2 id="comments-title">
29 Comments </h2>
<ol class="commentlist">
<li class="comment even thread-even depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10786">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10786">
<footer>
<div class="comment-author vcard">
<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/c2e18bd73462f19cf951e4ad9230ac24?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Stephen freer</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10786"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:22:00+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:22 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
Mr. Tracy, your efforts are most appreciated by truth-seekers!<br />
Ignore those despicable, venal trolls at FAU. Yours is the true academic<br />
Shining Light. The scientific evidence proves that “authorities” engage<br />
in false flag/ frame-up/inside job Atrocities habitually in their pursuit of<br />
Fascism, perpetual military slaughters, PoliceState repression.<br />
Of course, nazi-type stooges in academia want to silence voices of<br />
reason, just as their mentors did during the previous REICH!<br />
Continue your brave work, sir, we’ve got your back.</div>
<div class="reply">
<a class="comment-reply-link" href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/?replytocom=10786#respond">Reply</a> </div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/c1af3779da8221534d11b7990e3ed433?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Jeff</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10802"><time datetime="2013-05-15T14:22:37+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 2:22 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
“….Of course, nazi-type stooges in academia want to silence voices of<br />
reason, just as their mentors did during the previous REICH!……”<br />
Stephen Freer…………….you are on this site because you have taken the
Red Pill. But perhaps your Red Pill still had some blue in it because
your mind is still being held captive by the propaganda of the power
elite. <br />
Hitler and WW2 history is probably the most “tainted” and false history since time began. Please do more study! <br />
Read the works of Veronica Clark. Deanna Spingola has done remarkable work in this regard as well. Carolyn Yeager as well. <br />
Please……….stop helping the power elite.</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment byuser comment-author-ajmacdonaldjr even thread-odd thread-alt depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10787">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10787">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9eb4fa4306a123283ed28bc4b1dff9de?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn"><a class="url" href="http://ajmacdonaldjr.wordpress.com/" rel="external nofollow">ajmacdonaldjr</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10787"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:32:40+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:32 pm </time></a>
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<div class="comment-content">
Good one. Well said!!</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment odd alt thread-even depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10788">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10788">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/3680114ac98adcc22abfb7c0d284c8ca?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">IamWoman</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10788"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:38:49+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:38 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
They should all resign from FAU because they are all HUGE
P*%#&’s and are too scared to stand up for what is right. They would
rather comply than actually be human and admit that they too have
wondered about this government! Never stop James never stop if you
promise that i will promise to continue reading and following and
spreading the word!</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment even thread-odd thread-alt depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10790">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10790">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://i1.wp.com/graph.facebook.com/100005760336037/picture?q=type%3Dlarge%26_md5%3D9e5f827892523ff7a319a1687be4b4dd&resize=45%2C45" width="45" /> <cite class="fn"><a class="url" href="http://www.facebook.com/gil.favor.14" rel="external nofollow">Gil Favor</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10790"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:40:02+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:40 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
Jim Tracy has certainly aired his ideas. Have you ever tried to
convince somebody of some idea that is difficult, vexing, hard to
comprehend? Just the other day, I was trying to convey a complex idea to
a person and he blew up at me, called me names, and said I needed a
shrink fast.<br />
It’s real easy to call somebody nuts, to say they need to see a
mental health professional, preferably somebody who can kill them fast.<br />
Let’s go back and look at some events in American history. <br />
Woodrow Wilson was severely compromised by an extra marital affair
and this was used to influence our policy toward WW1. Wilson buckled
when the concept of the Federal Reserve came up, ditto the income tax.
Have these events proved out to be beneficial to this nation, especially
now?<br />
FDR wanted WW2, he got his war when he colluded to get the Japanese
to attack Pearl Harbor. His contact in Honolulu collaborated with FDR
and did not relay critical information about Japanese plans to invade.
What happened next?<br />
JFK was murdered, partially because he wanted to rid the nation of
the Federal Reserve. He wanted to go after organized crime. What
happened when he printed silver certificates? That’s right, he was
murdered.<br />
Waco? Oklahoma City? Ruby Ridge?<br />
James Tracy has ruffled feathers, why? Why has he whipped some people
into murderous rages? Do these people fight against the laws of
physics, mathematics, biology? Why not? Because experts in the field
have tested and cross-tested these theories and proven them solid. <br />
Have all people done due diligence and exhausted all evidence
regarding the Boston incident and Sandy Hook? Do people find it OK to
“feel” that the government is giving us the truth, whether or not these
theories are fully tested by all who have strong opinions?<br />
I was recently attacked by someone who insisted, vehemently, that
there was NO dust at the WTC site. Everybody was lying, even those 500
people interviewed by the NY Times as first responders, said this man.
It’s impossible to create dust from steel girders. All reporters are
liars. All firemen were liars. All medical personnel were liars. <br />
Are you aware that Dubya Bush stonewalled against having a thorough
investigation of the destruction site? Are you aware that Mayor
Bloomberg had to be coerced by the Federal Government to allow
information to be obtained from ground personnel by investigatory
people? Are you aware that firemen were strapped with gag orders? Are
you aware that thousands of engineers and architects ruled against the
government analysis of the event? Are you aware, and do you even care,
that nukes were used to destroy the buildings?<br />
I’m only aware that you want Tracy’s neck and it appears many of you
are total slackers who refuse to give good effort into studying this
event so we can all benefit. Tell us why, please.</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment byuser comment-author-fvpatterson odd alt thread-even depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10791">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10791">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/389481ffb7a73acd91713894de201987?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">fvpatterson</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10791"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:44:53+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:44 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
Seeking, demanding, scrutinizing and valuing truth in evidence
of a crime before passing judgment seems a logical pursuit and perhaps a
necessary one for our country to exist.</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment even thread-odd thread-alt depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10792">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10792">
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<div class="comment-author vcard">
<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/50694994807de1cce29a478f0f07c272?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn"><a class="url" href="http://earthmeasure.com/" rel="external nofollow">Spire</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10792"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:45:14+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:45 pm </time></a>
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</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
Noam Chomsky emphatically hates the term “conspiracy theorist”
which had its origins back in the day when the JFK Murder was being
reinvestigated. For the hearing, thinking and visually impaired I will
place in caps what he suggested was a more acceptable term. Ready?<br />
INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS.<br />
James Tracy analyzes institutions.</div>
<div class="reply">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/eddd38ee9348880b01479266004dc6c5?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">eman</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10808"><time datetime="2013-05-15T15:03:19+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 3:03 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
Needless to say, Noam Chomsky has failed to the extent that he
preforms institutional analysis. The term “conspiracy theorist” has
become a bad label but nothing in it is inherently bad. It could be that
a new term is needed which better describes what’s taking place as we
pick apart the official narrative. It could be that we need to use the
power of this label and re-apply it to Anderson Cooper, Karl Rove,
Sarkozy, etc. Just call them conspiracy theorists instead of assuming
for a second they are otherwise. That could be a big part of the problem
we have in debunking an official fairy tale—it still seems, and is
still called, official.<br />
Reading what Tracy shared here bought back bad memories of academia. Stomach turning stuff.</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment even thread-even depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10793">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10793">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f181a7e1bb4461535d968edc50def2ca?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">musings</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10793"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:45:38+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:45 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
You know the word “vetted” – I think it crept into the American
lexicon in the 1980′s. People and ideas were to be “vetted” like the
guests at a royal wedding. It’s not so much a test of reality as a test
of trustworthiness, based on criteria other than objective measures, and
having more to do with bloodlines (horses in a race), ownership
(politicians), and loyalty (sticking with someone even if they behave
abominably, simply because you belong to their tribe). A well-vetted
academic will not challenge certain people or things. If he does, he is
automatically placed in an out-group, along with some truly despicable
people. Therefore, to avoid being classed with such people (often the
only reason he refuses to examine reality in an objective way) he goes
along to survive.<br />
The late Michael Dertouzos, of MIT, wrote that something very bad
happened in the Renaissance while all the good stuff was happening: the
scientific mind (techne, he called it) split off from the humanities
mind. The scientific zoomed ahead, with minor setbacks, while the
humanities were regarded as the province of random thinking and a kind
of expensive diversion. You had people of talent and intelligence who
hid out in the technical fields and turned politics and humanities over
to the less capable minds.<br />
I think that being a Greek, he was looking at Europe (and all its
wars), but in America we were fortunate to have revolutionaries who
combined all the disciplines in people like Franklin and Jefferson. We
don’t have that kind of world anymore. It really is in a pair of
mutually exclusive boxes. <br />
The technical people are now dependent on a government which acts
arbitrarily and without integrity, claiming the field of human endeavor
for itself. They shrug and go back to the lab, hoping the axe won’t fall
on them. Meanwhile, the vetting of intellectuals goes on apace in the
humanities, always trying to please authority. <br />
But their minds are desperately needed in these recent crises.<br />
Michael thou shouldst be living in this time, America hath need of thee.</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment odd alt depth-2 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10804">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10804">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/80bbd2ef000c84ec2c6d1a963446b24d?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Ned Lud</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10804"><time datetime="2013-05-15T14:33:34+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 2:33 pm </time></a>
</div>
</footer>
<div class="comment-content">
The word, ‘vetted’ is exactly as you describe, musings.<br />
Basically we live in a closed money system where everything has to be
‘vetted’ by the top level technocrats (who make and decide the money,
the ‘worth’ of things, the goals, the agendas) or you lose your little
pile of money and your other personal precious items and/or
relationships and your overall human ‘worth’. Hardly anyone dares act
against this ‘vetting’ protocol, this receiving ‘permission’ from the
top of the technocrat and totalitarian evil pyramid. Most don’t even see
it.<br />
So it works like a charm. And it is. A spell, a life and death spell,
decided by evil and where a certain kind of currency only, applies,.
Jesus called it: mammon.<br />
Might want to think this over and decide for yourself how valuable
your life is and to whom it is valuable, and for what reason(s).<br />
Maybe getting out of here (this evil place), by dying, isn’t such a bad idea.<br />
And any gains you made through mammon are no gains at all–not in the next world–the very opposite in fact.<br />
Might want to think that through, too.<br />
Death has not the same result for everyone.<br />
Ned Lud</div>
<div class="reply">
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<li class="comment even depth-3 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10813">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f181a7e1bb4461535d968edc50def2ca?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">musings</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata">
<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10813"><time datetime="2013-05-15T15:29:28+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 3:29 pm </time></a>
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<div class="comment-content">
Nope. Not going there. I’ll make the other somabitch die for his country.</div>
<div class="reply">
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</article>
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<li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10794">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10794">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/c6f27e9e668215d05e030d1539213906?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Jamie</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10794"><time datetime="2013-05-15T12:57:09+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 12:57 pm </time></a>
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Couple this, “Along these lines, the research also suggested how
the longer students are enrolled at university the less open-minded they
become”, with this recent finding, “College Students Are Less Empathic
Than Generations Past ” (Referenced from this article —-> <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=college-students-are-less-empathic-10-05-29" rel="nofollow">http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=college-students-are-less-empathic-10-05-29</a>
), and you have yourself a recipe for a culture of future SS
Soldiers…….but then again, we do have the likes of Black Water, DynCorp
and those that give them their orders.<br />
I encourage everyone to read anything on Quantum Physics because it
is the lack of profoundly life altering information, such as this, that
has led us to this dark place again and again and again.</div>
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<li class="comment even thread-even depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10795">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10795">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/733d32bdea263c12a73a46085384d7a8?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Bill</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10795"><time datetime="2013-05-15T13:01:43+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 1:01 pm </time></a>
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I love the “They Live” cartoon. Didn’t have time to read the
whole article, but will come back. It simply amazes me how pliable the
human mind is. My background is Hi tech corporate sales….I was urged to
write a book about it, specifically about the company I worked for,
(many years) and it’s transformation into the multinational giant it is
today. I bled (not-IBM) blue. No more. I see things for what they
are. Conspiracy in Gov’t and the press(which simply is a CIA front
since its exposure in the 70′s and the Church Commission) is similar to
collusion in business (biz ethics is a yearly course requirement,
nothing more) The new user friendly term spun out of marketing and PR
(or the press) is Cooperation/Coopetition, But it all boils down to
‘The Ends Justify the Means’. And I’m afraid I have a reasonably good
idea what the ends are.</div>
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<li class="comment byuser comment-author-elonce odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10797">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10797">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/0cf966e59fe0ff41592fc266bb389ecd?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Señor El Once</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10797"><time datetime="2013-05-15T13:20:27+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 1:20 pm </time></a>
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2001-09-11 proved this statement, as well:<br />
<blockquote>
This dynamic is reflected in a 2010 study by American
Association of Colleges and Universities, which discovered that less
than 20% of 9,000 faculty surveyed believe it is safe to hold “unpopular
views” on campus. </blockquote>
</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/68a296962d3af01523ce3e7cb60de0a2?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">fifth column</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10800"><time datetime="2013-05-15T13:39:02+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 1:39 pm </time></a>
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To quote the youth of today: You’re over exaggerating! (sarcasm)</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/31e68a5cf16ced822058bb3ce48e718b?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Lighthouse for the Bland</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10801"><time datetime="2013-05-15T14:20:23+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 2:20 pm </time></a>
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Thus it has always been. To expect the mass of humanity–whether
in the general population or in the groves of academia–to overcome the
inherent drive to be accepted as part of the crowd, to be held in high
esteem, to avoid subjecting oneself to intense scrutiny–has always been
the overriding motivation of most of our fellow human beings.<br />
It has been said there is no religion higher than truth. There is
also no political system, no academic luster, or personal distaste
higher than truth, either.<br />
I read recently that the tipping point for fundamental change in any
pool of humans was 10% of the population being whole-hearted believers.
At that level, the paradigm flips and we are in a new world.<br />
I believe we are approaching that level in our collective ability to
understand the massive deception, corruption and violence that has been
perpetrated on the common man around the world by the controllers.<br />
I would urge everyone who reads these words to understand we are ALL
Tom Paine now. We can–each of us–take the time to speak out, blog,
submit comments to news sources that make our points clearly and with as
little inflammatory tone as we can muster. WE ARE WINNING. Yes, we are
winning. Do not let the mass media convince you that most folks don’t
get it, are lazy and indifferent. There is a sense afoot that we are
seeing, waking up and now reacting.<br />
What James has done in a very high profile and courageous way, each
one of us must do in our own circle of friends, acquaintances and other
contacts.<br />
Do you have the courage of your convictions to stand up for the
Truth? We know James did and does. It’s our turn to at least take the
time and trouble to add our voices of reason to the conversation and
overwhelm the superstitious fear of STANDING UP when others cower.<br />
Today is the day to begin.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/3c487743da7c3e75799b8d02d1e4bb47?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Kath..</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10803"><time datetime="2013-05-15T14:24:39+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 2:24 pm </time></a>
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Ironically, or not, it is at the university level one finds the
least amount of free speech or free thinking and too, if it even seems
to be a view a slight bit old fashioned or *traditional* it must also be
crushed post haste! Ivory towers indeed….remove the ladders and fill
the moat lest any stray random thoughts approach that are not approved.</div>
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<li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10805">
<article class="comment" id="comment-10805">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://i0.wp.com/a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2277596844/80c6fa41-474e-413d-bbbf-5d35e6f2a431_normal.png?resize=45%2C45" width="45" /> <cite class="fn"><a class="url" href="http://twitter.com/JusticeCentury" rel="external nofollow">Peter Dauphinee (@JusticeCentury)</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10805"><time datetime="2013-05-15T14:49:20+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 2:49 pm </time></a>
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We can read throughout history of courageous individuals who have
risked their safety to challenge orthodoxy. Today, history has come
alive with many thousands who seek to challenge the dangerous ” end
product(s) of the intellectual process” that threaten our freedom and
even our survival.<br />
Of course, those who feel most threatened by the challenge are the
guardians of the orthodoxy who make sumptuous livings supported by that
very orthodoxy. There is no surprise: the money is just too good to
countenance any other way of looking at things.<br />
Flushing them out in public is the only way to expose the fallacies
of their untenable position. Conspiracy theories are indeed theories,
theories purportedly based on fact. Most theories are, by nature, false
and rejected when tested against a growing body of fact. Things get
tense when those facts reveal that the orthodoxy itself is false.<br />
In short, the authorities charged with laws and law enforcement have
utterly failed to adequately explain what occurred at Sandy Hook and
Boston. They have not explained what has been observed regarding the
alleged crimes but worse, they have not explained their own actions.
This has given rise to serious questions that are unanswered except by
vilifying the questioners.<br />
It is not the theories that matter, it is the facts themselves and
the disturbing dereliction of authorities in explaining them. Those who
seek to vilify Professor Tracy are emperors with no clothes because
they avert their eyes from facts, thus undermining the academic precepts
on which they rely.<br />
Thank you James Tracy for your courage in challenging a dangerous orthodoxy.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/5798beef1430a1f5dd37d6bafe408e29?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Skeptical</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10809"><time datetime="2013-05-15T15:09:17+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 3:09 pm </time></a>
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James, bravo for your courage in standing your ground. You must
be under enormous pressure. But you have the consolation of knowing
that you are doing the right thing, and inspiring many others. You are
almost uniquely courageous in coming out publicly to ask these
questions. We are all in your debt.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/01ef1d877dec9b517f681dc91193edf0?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Pyrrho Elis</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10811"><time datetime="2013-05-15T15:15:09+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 3:15 pm </time></a>
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James Tracy equates himself with persons or movements in history.
Sort of “I can analogize or cut-and-paste myself into history,
therefore I am a truth seeker.” It’s not an argument. But it is an
example of his sloppy thinking and critical skills. Rather than
providing first-hand evidence or reports from these events (e.g. Boston
Bombing), Mr. Tracy shtick is a grammar platitudinous quotes and
pastiches of ideas from one skeptical thinker after another, which are
used to decorate his “analysis” of photos and press reports. I’m sure
Mr. Tracy is sincere in his efforts, but they are a poor reflection all
the same on his objectivity and respect for truth.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/80a6a1b8d48a10fdee5db378aa275b65?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn"><a class="url" href="http://theweblwowzers@yahoogroups/" rel="external nofollow">Marilyn Jay A.</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10812"><time datetime="2013-05-15T15:22:23+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 3:22 pm </time></a>
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I love this article and comments. I feel at home. Didn’t those
democratic Greeks of antiquity kill Sophocles for attitudes unbecoming?<br />
Today, many sip the Koolade of floridated water and flushed pharmaceuticals (just as corrosive as hemlock).<br />
They further ignore the signs of impending disaster, believing
government knows best. Other institutions mirror and mimic that tried,
tested system of heirarchical and vertical power. Universities are no
exception. But no human is infallible, no system free of corruption. <br />
Ah, there is the rub.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/f181a7e1bb4461535d968edc50def2ca?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">musings</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10818"><time datetime="2013-05-15T16:35:05+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 4:35 pm </time></a>
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You mean Socrates, don’t you?<br />
And unfortunately he accepted the rule of Athens, the popular will, and drank the hemlock.<br />
Sophocles (according to Wikipedia) lived to be 91. He wrote Antigone. I like that girl very much.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/414c076a19870224cb6121293615e658?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Kathy</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10814"><time datetime="2013-05-15T15:56:34+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 3:56 pm </time></a>
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Dr. Tracy was disciplined for ‘tarnishing’ the reputation of FAU.
Will the authors of this babble be disciplined for mentioning the
university no less than a dozen times? Wonder if the ranters are aware
there are 3 major government scandals acknowledged by the leaders of
this country currently? One made more incredibly sad when true American
whistle blowers came forward to testify against the wishes of their
bosses and have been subjected to demotion and intimidation. Another
where the IRS has admitted silencing Americans with different views from
the status quo with intimidation, multiple audits and flat out refusing
to give charitible status to organizations with opposing views. All
the while liberal charities are rushed through and how many of them are
pure fraud? We will continue to question, for we are the true patriots
that want to save America from the ruling elite who could care less
about the lowly or the truth.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/51b26912f70791ad8443e64f55932818?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn"><a class="url" href="http://twitter.com/WonderingAloud1" rel="external nofollow">Wondering Aloud (@WonderingAloud1)</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10815"><time datetime="2013-05-15T16:09:59+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 4:09 pm </time></a>
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A clever, creative and instructive response. Well done, Professor Tracy.<br />
Given the lack of serious investigation the authors of the letter
have given to the subjects about which Professor Tracy has written, I
can not comprehend how they could include the following statement with
any sense of honor, “…He should resign because he is not an academic.”<br />
As a human, and professional researcher, I can attest that it would
not require a serious academic any more than a few keystrokes in Google
to discover something is amiss in America.</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/58f24643925b04541e089ac6d4c2f074?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Courtney L</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10820"><time datetime="2013-05-15T16:48:25+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 4:48 pm </time></a>
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Amen</div>
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/fca7a2d42416e348342de4ca35d38c29?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Cindy</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-1/#comment-10817"><time datetime="2013-05-15T16:26:34+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 4:26 pm </time></a>
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It seems that FAU’s own statement of values is being disregarded by these colleagues…<br />
<a href="http://www.fau.edu/strategicplan/values.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.fau.edu/strategicplan/values.php</a> </div>
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<li class="comment even thread-even depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10819"><article class="comment" id="comment-10819"><footer><div class="comment-author vcard">
<cite class="fn">Marzi</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-2/#comment-10819"><time datetime="2013-05-15T16:47:05+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 4:47 pm </time></a>
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Very witty and truthful, Professor. FAU should applaud you for
putting them on the map. Without you no one outside of Florida would
have heard of them. What is happening in this society is that the media
are making anyone who investigates unpopular events and government
corruption a social outcast. That way the public feels uncomfortable
and also becomes ostracized from society if they follow said critic.</div>
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<a class="comment-reply-link" href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/?replytocom=10819#respond">Reply</a> </div>
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<li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10824">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/aa180ca5ce28be89c8507631c7b36717?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn">Lori</cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-2/#comment-10824"><time datetime="2013-05-15T17:31:07+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 5:31 pm </time></a>
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WHITE ROSE<br />
Source: Wikipedia<br />
The White Rose (German: die Weiße Rose) was a non-violent,
intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students
from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group
became known for an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign, lasting
from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to
dictator Adolf Hitler’s regime.<br />
The six most recognized members of the group were arrested by the
Gestapo and beheaded in 1943. The text of their sixth leaflet was
smuggled by Helmuth James Graf von Moltke out of Germany through
Scandinavia to the United Kingdom, and in July 1943 copies of it were
dropped over Germany by Allied planes, retitled “The Manifesto of the
Students of Munich.”[1]<br />
Another member, Hans Conrad Leipelt, who helped distribute Leaflet 6
in Hamburg, was executed on January 29, 1945, for his participation.<br />
Today, the members of the White Rose are honoured in Germany amongst
its greatest heroes, since they opposed the Third Reich in the face of
almost certain death.<br />
* * *<br />
Our freedoms are at stake here, people. Keep up the good work Tracy.<br />
Lori<br />
P.S. Again, there are no victims and no victims’ families in these
events (Sandy Hook and Boston) – do some research for heaven’s sake.</div>
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<a class="comment-reply-link" href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/?replytocom=10824#respond">Reply</a> </div>
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<li class="comment even thread-even depth-1 highlander-comment" id="li-comment-10825">
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<img alt="" class="avatar avatar-45" height="45" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/4d9f97153293a4865eff6acc19dfcbfc?s=45&d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D45&r=PG" width="45" /> <cite class="fn"><a class="url" href="http://n/A" rel="external nofollow">Harriet</a></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
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<a href="http://memoryholeblog.com/2013/05/15/why-james-tracy-should-resign/comment-page-2/#comment-10825"><time datetime="2013-05-15T17:53:48+00:00" pubdate="">
May 15, 2013 at 5:53 pm </time></a>
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“Mr. Tracy, your efforts are most appreciated by truth-seekers!<br />
Ignore those despicable, venal trolls at FAU. Yours is the true academic<br />
Shining Light. The scientific evidence proves that “authorities” engage<br />
in false flag/ frame-up/inside job Atrocities habitually in their pursuit of<br />
Fascism, perpetual military slaughters, PoliceState repression.”<br />
Stephen freer, I agree.<br />
However I respectfully disagree with the following you wrote: <br />
“Of course, nazi-type stooges in academia want to silence voices of<br />
reason, just as their mentors did during the previous REICH!”<br />
Statements like this only help to perpetuate lies of those who are
responsible for many past and present atrocities. It is important to
expose the truth about past events to prevent history from repeating
itself. <br />
“Hitler and WW2 history is probably the most “tainted” and false
history since time began. Please do more study! Read the works of
Veronica Clark. Deanna Spingola has done remarkable work in this regard
as well. Carolyn Yeager as well.”<br />
Jeff is correct here.<br />
Rick Adams, Brother Nathanael Kapner, David Erving, Ernst Zundel,
David Cole, M. T. Goodrich are just few others who have provided
valuable sources of information that tell the world the truth about
various aspects of Hitler and WW 11 <br />
Professor James Tracy is better off joining others who are exposing
Sandy hook and Boston Marathon by way of allowing them to post links
here to their sites as well as posting links on their sites to his
research.<br />
Professor Tracy has not done any wrong to lose his job.<br />
This is what people in the truth movement ought to do instead of trying to fight their battle alone.<br />
I applaud Professor Tracy for staying on the path of truth which is not easy but the right thing to do.</div>
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<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-47799855926272030582013-05-15T22:20:00.001-03:002013-05-17T21:23:34.691-03:00A Poem on Climate Change<br />
<h1 id="watch-headline-title">
<span class="watch-title long-title yt-uix-expander-head" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Bill McKibben's Sermon at The Riverside Church - "God's Taunt"">Bill McKibben's Sermon at The Riverside Church - "God's Taunt"</span></h1>
<br />
Here is a fine presentation you can share with the whole family. Seriously, everyone needs to hear this message.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/geIni_BwjGw?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<br />
<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-68405030161737269692013-05-15T11:14:00.000-03:002013-05-15T11:14:06.130-03:00The Great DebateThe great debate began with this (video below):<br />
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<div id="watch-uploader-info">
<strong>Published on <span class="watch-video-date" id="eow-date">May 10, 2013</span>
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<strong><span class="watch-video-date"><br /></span></strong></div>
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The World?<br />
<br />
On his Friday night
show, Bill Maher invited his panel to discuss this week's developments
about Benghazi — debating whether the story is as scandalous as
Republicans are making it out to be. Maher, for one, couldn't understand
exactly what the outrage is about. But some of his guests begged to
differ.<br />
"I still don't know what the scandal is," Maher lamented.</div>
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<br />
The
Guardian's Glenn Greenwald examined the media spectrum's initial take
on it — Fox News deeming it a major scandal and MSNBC arguing the White
House didn't err — and stated that neither extreme was accurate. It's
not a massive scandal the way the right has said, Greenwald argued, but
the administration did put forth information that was untrue, whether
intentionally or mistakenly. And that does merit investigation.<br />
It's
"a prototypical Washington scandal," Joy Reid chimed in. "It's a scandal
about a memo." The "bombshell" was an edited memo, she noted, asserting
that it demonstrates how "desperate" Republicans have become. Her
argument immediately drew disagreeing looks from National Review's
Charles Cooke, who contended that the "media sides with power."Obama's
supposed to micromanage everything that happens in the world?" an
incredulous Maher asked. Greenwald and Cooke pressed further, arguing
that there is a valid issue that should not be readily dismissed. Maher
was "bored" with the discussion.</div>
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<br />
...and thus moved on to the
religious aspect of it, citing the anti-Islamic video the attack was
initially blamed on. Every time we overthrow a Muslim government, he
observed, it seems like it's worked: "Theocracies are actually
dictatorships themselves, aren't they?"</div>
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<br />
To that point, Cooke pointed
to various revolutions, contrasting how the "great" American one was
different from the many others that are bloody and horrible.
Immediately, Reid questioned how the revolution was "great," citing
slavery — arguing that revolutions inherently are messy.</div>
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<br />
"We play a
significant role in what's been happening in the Middle East because
we've been interfering in and dominating that region," Greenwald
charged. It's not all our fault, he added (noting that other religions
are associated with violence as well), but we should take a lot of the
blame.<br />
<br /></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rvxpFrHUzso" width="640"></iframe><br /></div>
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<h3 style="background-color: #ffffcc; color: #cc3333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px;">
Saturday, May 11, 2013 - Round One</h3>
<b style="background-color: #ffffcc;"><a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2013/05/silly-liberals-wearing-crowns.html" target="_blank">Silly liberals wearing crowns</a></b><br style="background-color: #ffffcc;" /><br style="background-color: #ffffcc;" /><span style="background-color: #ffffcc;">by digby</span><br style="background-color: #ffffcc;" /><br style="background-color: #ffffcc;" /><span style="background-color: #ffffcc;">Watch </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/11/bill-maher-muslims-islam-benghazi" style="background-color: #ffffcc; color: #336600;">Glenn Greenwald irritate the hell out of Bill Maher</a><span style="background-color: #ffffcc;"> last night with his "silly liberal" opinion that Islam is not some kind of uniquely violent religion --- and that US foreign policy might just be partly to blame for its believers' hostility towards America.</span><br style="background-color: #ffffcc;" /><span style="background-color: #ffffcc;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #ffffcc;">I would love to know why Maher thinks that making this (to me, obvious) observation makes liberals "feel good." I can't speak for anyone but myself, but it makes me feel like shit.</span><span style="background-color: #ffffcc;"> </span><br /></div>
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<h3 style="background-color: #ffffcc; color: #cc3333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px;">
Sunday, May 12, 2013 - Round Two</h3>
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<a href="" name="3972532982221559630"> </a><br /><b><a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2013/05/greenwald-and-maher-are-both-wrong-by.html" target="_blank">Greenwald and Maher are both wrong</a></b><br /><br /><i>by David Atkins</i><br /><br />It has been interesting to me to watch the various reactions to the<a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/glenn-greenwald-fails-to-convince-a-mocking-bill-maher-that-afghanistan-should-try-u-s-soldier/" style="color: #336600;">dispute between Bill Maher and Glenn Greenwald</a>. People tend to see the winner of the debate as the one who confirmed their own prior views. Maher's argument is that Islam is a uniquely violent religion; Greenwald's is that there's no difference between Islam and any other religion, but that U.S. imperialism is to blame for any differential blowback.<br /><br />But the evidence would dictate that they're <i>both</i> wrong. Both of their arguments are too simplistic to be taken seriously, and both are easily assailable. We'll start with Greenwald's.<br /><br /><b>Falsehood #1: <i>"Imperialism is to blame for everything."</i></b> Yes, we all know: imperialism is <i>bad</i>. Imperialism begets <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blowback-Second-Edition-Consequences-American/dp/0805075593" style="color: #336600;">blowback</a>. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. All of this is true. But on the question Maher puts, those answers are sleight of hand. The debater in Greenwald's position would have to argue that predominantly Muslim nations have suffered imperialistic horrors so disproportionate to the experiences of other nations and cultures that their reactions must be equivalently disproportionate. On that front, Greenwald's argument totally falls apart.<br /><br />It would be hard to argue that the average citizen of Iran or Saudi Arabia has suffered more greatly from racism and violence than have the victims of U.S. backed military juntas and death squads in<a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-possible-to-hold-criminal-heads-of.html" style="color: #336600;">Guatemala</a>, Honduras, Argentina or El Salvador. Yes, the U.S. coup against Mossadegh in Iran and interposition of the corrupt Shah surely led to the rise of the Ayatollahs. But it's also true that the U.S. did <i>far worse</i> in Chile when we deposed Allende in favor of the brutally awful war criminal and genocidal maniac Augusto Pinochet. Few honest people would argue that Iran suffered more mightily under the Shah than Chile did under Pinochet. It's not as if the U.S. didn't covet Chile's copper just as surely it did Iran's oil. And yet, Chileans didn't take hostages at a U.S. embassy, nor are they threatening to use nuclear weapons against the rest of the world. Did the U.S. arm the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets, and then abandon them to their fate? Yes, and it led directly to the rise of Bin Laden. But we also did the same thing in Vietnam with far worse carnage. Somehow our far less atrocious involvement in Afghanistan led to the current predicament, while not even the horrors of My Lai set in motion a Vietnamese assault on the World Trade Center.<br /><br />It would be difficult to argue that Estonians or Latvians somehow suffered less imperial oppression at the hands of the Soviet Union than did the Chechens. And yet the result is dramatically different. It would be difficult to say that the Muslim Uighur people in Western China have suffered more greatly under Chinese rule than have the Tibetans. And yet, <a 04="" 2013="" 2108709="" 24="" china-terrorism="" href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a%20href%20=" http:="" news="" story="" style="color: #336600;" world="" www.usatoday.com="">the reaction has been markedly different</a>. Palestine is not the only place in the world to be occupied at length by an unfriendly power, but it does seem to be uniquely intractable in ways that, say, the oppression of African-Americans in the South or of black Africans under Apartheid was not. Despite having experienced arguably more horrific slaughter and oppression than any other group, Native peoples in the new world aren't constructing secret terror cells in retaliation. It would be difficult to argue that Indians were somehow less oppressed by the British in 1920 than Pakistanis are by Americans today. The Holocausted Jews and Armenians might also have something to say about reacting malevolent oppression in ways that don't involve the intentional, indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians (and no, Greenwald's argument that targeted bombings that accidentally kill civilians are in the same moral space as terroristic acts that <i>target</i> civilians isn't even worth addressing). One could go on and on here without even bringing up death threats against cartoonists or bombing schools that dare to educate girls, both of which are also unique to certain cultures. The evidence that something unique is going on in the Muslim world beyond simple reaction to imperial oppression is so plainly obvious that to deny it is to be embarrassingly and willfully defiant of logic, reason and perspective. Maher's mockery of Greenwald for failing to see the self-evident was wholly justified.<br /><br />Not that Maher wasn't deserving of ridicule himself. Which leads us to:<br /><br /><b>Falsehood #2: <i>"Islam is uniquely violent</i>."</b> Maher and every other person who believes this is true should probably take a history class and write a series of <i>mea culpae</i> on the blackboard. There is nothing more problematic about Islam as a religion more than any other when viewed in historical context. Even ignoring ancient times, the history of the Christian era alone should be enough to disabuse anyone of the notion that Islam is somehow more inherently violent than other religions.<br /><br />Islam has a long and proud history going back well over a millennium. Islamic scholars have been responsible for countless advances in the sciences and in philosophy, including at a time when most of Christian Europe was busy burning as much of its intellectual heritage as it could. That the same Christian world that perpetrated the Crusades and the Wars of Reformation would dare imply that Islam is somehow intrinsically belligerent is ludicrous. It was Christians who fought the American Civil War, Christians who perpetrated many of the awful evils of World Wars I and II. It was a born-again Christian President who lied an entire country into an illegal and immoral war against a majority Muslim country that had done nothing to us.<br /><br />Nor do non-Christians get off easy. The worst crimes against humanity in history were perpetrated by Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung, neither of them Christian or Muslim. Pol Pot deserves an honorable mention, as does Ataturk.<br /><br />If there is anything uniquely problematic about Islam versus other cultures and religions, it somehow didn't seem to manifest until the last century when the Middle East suddenly became hot property for imperialistic, oil-centered conquests. Which in turn means that the problem isn't Islam. It's something else. Imperialism is, of course, the easy target. But we've already covered why that explanation is wholly inadequate.<br /><br /><b>So what <i>is</i> going on?</b><br /><br />Well, it turns out that it's not that complicated. Maher and Greenwald are both right, and they're both wrong. Yes, the problem has much to do with oil, imperialism and oppression. But it's not quite as simple moral relativist academics might like it to be. And yes, the problem is religion--but not in the way that Maher thinks it is.<br /><br /><b>The problem, as it is <i>everywhere</i>, is fundamentalism</b>. The problem that causes anti-choice terrorists to bomb abortion clinics, Timothy McVeigh to blow up a federal building or Eric Rudolph to bomb innocents at the Olympics, is the <i>same</i> problem that causes so many Muslims to become entrapped in terrorism and anti-progressive movements. It's a struggle against modernity and against progressivism that occurs :<br /><br />1) whenever religion of any kind is allowed to be the sole driving force of organizational activity in resistance to oppression, and<br /><br />2) when people are free enough to congregate and resist without being enslaved or mass murdered, but not free enough to hope for true social advancement.<br /><br />This is true in many parts of conservative America, just as it is true in Sri Lanka where the Tamil Tigers emerged. It is also true in much of the oil-producing world, where vast oil wealth mingles with massive inequality and exploitation. The ease of financing a government with oil money tempts elites into creating an economy without a substantial middle-class tax base, and without a voice of the people in government. The people are free enough to be angry and act on that anger, but not free enough to succeed or create real change. This is when fundamentalist religion is most dangerous.<br /><br />This is true everywhere, regardless of whether the people in question are Christian or Muslim.<br /><br />And indeed, one of the more depressing dynamics in American politics is the immediate hope on both sides after any terrorist act that a member of the other tribe be implicated. Conservatives hope to see a Muslim terrorist implicated, while liberals hope it's a right-wing terrorist extremist. This is pointless and foolish. In fact, progressives should simply note that <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/05/04/863508/-There-is-Never-an-Excuse" style="color: #336600;">there's barely a breath of difference between the two</a>. As I said back in 2010:<br /><br /><blockquote>
there isn't much separation between the fundamentalist extremists on the far right in America, and the fundamentalist extremists in the Islamist movement worldwide. Both want to subjugate women under patriarchal authority, keep gays in the closet, elevate scriptural authority over secular law, and resolve problems foreign and domestic with harsh violence including the torture and killing of civilians. They are peas in a pod.<br /><br />Fundamentalism of any nature causes extraordinary harm. Fundamentalists believe that the ends justify the means, and that their ideology cannot fail--only people can fail their ideology. Christian and Islamist fundamentalists alike attribute any ills befalling the world as a sign of inadequate obeisance to their God, and do whatever it takes to remake the world more in keeping with their scriptural dogma. Market fundamentalists elevate the "free market" as a divinely infallible authority, attributing even the most obvious market and corporate failures to intrusions of "big government", and offer up only more deregulation, tax cuts and the occasional military coup as a solution. Even Marxist fundamentalists exist, looking at the failures of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot not as refutations of their dogma, but as inadequate implementations of their ideology. The end result of all of these fundamentalist beliefs is mindless tragedy, violence and death.<br /><br />The implication of a fundamentalist extremist in an act of violence should never be a cause for cheering by our political opponents. Rather, any such event should be a teaching moment for us to implicate extremists of all kinds, and to reinforce the universality of violence based on religious dogma.<br /><br />Any attempt to provide context or justification for these acts of terror is also misguided. Certainly, the U.S. and the West in general have a spotty record in the Middle East. Anyone familiar with the names Mohammed Mossadegh or Charlie Wilson would admit to that upfront. But no act of American foreign policy in that region or any other begins to provide even significant context, much less justification, for premeditated acts of violence designed expressly to kill and terrorize a civilian population. As well might we cite Thomas Frank and the slow implosion of the American middle class as context or justification for the terrorist acts of killers like Scott Roeder or Timothy McVeigh. No one should make any excuse for these abominable creatures; similarly, no excuses should be made for the likes of Richard Reid or (allegedly) Faisal Shahzad.<br /><br />Simply put, there is evil in this world that harbors no excuses for its actions: its name is fundamentalism. It's time for progressives to end the cycle of left-right tribalism over which fundamentalists are more dangerous or need more context. It's time to simply paint them with a single brush, and offer our alternative for a better, safer, more rational, more peaceful and more humane world.</blockquote>
Both Greenwald and Maher are wrong. This isn't about imperialism or about Islam. This is about fundamentalism, and the need to uproot it in favor of a more ecumenical, open-minded progressivism wherever it exists.<br /><br /><h3 style="color: #cc3333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px;">
Sunday, May 12, 2013 - Round Three</h3>
<blockquote>
<a href="" name="4764390237027708526"> </a><br /><b><a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2013/05/no-sorry-david-glenn-greenwald-is-not.html" target="_blank">No sorry David, Glenn Greenwald is not wrong</a></b><br /><b><br /></b>by digby<br /><br />It's interesting that <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/greenwald-and-maher-are-both-wrong-by.html" style="color: #336600;">David Atkins thinks </a>that both Greenwald and Maher are wrong since <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/silly-liberals-wearing-crowns.html" style="color: #336600;">I came down heavily on Greenwald's side just yesterday.</a> I suppose he was being polite. But obviously David's screed requires a response from me since he could just as easily have put my name in the title of his post.<br /><br />Let me first say right upfront that I don't dictate what anyone writes on this blog. It's a free forum and just because I might disagree with the thesis, in this case quite vehemently, I would never remove the piece simply on that basis. Free speech and clash of ideas and all that rot. But I do reserve the the right to respond when I think it's necessary. So.<br /><br />Unfortunately, David chose to represent Greenwald's views as being some sort of simplistic "blaming" of all the world's ills on imperialism. That's not what he said. Indeed he said several times, in response to Maher's repeated insistence, that he did <i>not </i>believe that. He was referring specifically to the perennial question of "why they hate us." He believes that the beef stems from American foreign policy of the past six decades and not out of some religious hatred for The Great Satan. In other words, he doesn't think they hate us for our freedoms or because Allah told them so, but rather for our insistence on interfering in the rest of the world's business both economically and militarily. (Yes, that's "imperialism" and we are an empire, which is indisputable.)<br /><br />I don't think it's surprising in the least that when people find themselves on the receiving end of massive technology and military might, they become angry and violent. Sure, they might turn to their God and religion for justification, but the truth is far more prosaic --- we dominate and kill them and they want revenge. <u>It's the oldest story in the book</u>.<br /><br />The birth of widespread Muslim fundamentalist hatred for America stemmed from covert and overt support for dictatorships in the middle east, military interference in Afghanistan, Israel, the corruption of the oil patch states and their relationship to the richest most profligate nation in the world (us) and a desire for independence and self-rule. God's edicts fall far down the list of reasons.<br /><br />Their fundamentalism gained power as much <i>because</i> of America's foreign policy actions as some desire for pre-modern society --- Islam was the only institution that provided power for the masses. Iran is the perfect example of how it happens: a dominant superpower decided to interfere in a nation's internal politics in order to control its resources, the church foments a revolution and the rest is history. There's a name for it and we all know it: <i><b>blow-back.</b> </i>And it's happened so often now that it's astonishing that anyone's arguing the point anymore. We've seen it manifest in the middle east over decades starting in in Iran and Afghanistan to devastating effect and we have no idea how catastrophic our little Iraq adventure is going to turn out to be. I'm not even going to mention the consequences of our relationship with Israel, which plays into everything that happens in the region.<br /><br />To me, it is simply indisputable that the United States' sometimes well-intentioned but often brutal and violent use of its global dominance as a military and economic power has resulted in the blow-back we call terrorism. Is it everything? Of course not and Greenwald was careful to say he didn't believe so either. It's economics, culture and yes, religion as well. All these factors play into this problem. But there's only one factor that Americans have any direct influence over --- the actions of their democratically elected government. So that's probably the smartest first step to try and correct, don't you think?<br /><br />Do I think Islam, fundamentalist or otherwise, is unusually lethal as religions go? No, frankly, I don't. I think the embrace of fundamentalist Islam --- and especially terrorism --- among a sub-set of Muslims is driven mostly by the <i>politics</i> of the era, probably at the hands of opportunistic leaders who use it to keep their followers on their path to power. I think we can all agree that religion has often served that purpose, can't we? I certainly don't think these fundamentalist/extremist Muslims don't truly believe what they believe --- and like David, I find those beliefs very noxious --- but I honestly don't think they are the most important source of the problem of terrorism either.<br /><br />Maher's facile assumption that Islam is the only religion that still embraces violence is very convenient, but I have a sneaking suspicion that if the shoes were on the other feet, Americans would have no problem adopting a religious justification for fighting back the Imperial Islamic Iranians. Christians haven't had the need to kill in the name of God for quite some time, but I'm sure they'd be able to find that old time religious mojo if the need arose.<br /><br />Not that it's likely to happen:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhEoseuSTl-IvvBthD-hUSI10fPk3MRTkrUyjtCD-l5_4FGfuX5eWSqugLw_P1mtxJ3MDDnq1OgD_HTzaZJ9Fi_KYTeKzqg1Ni8Jzt3LWfxlacNekqOa5wZxnV4jLCPIfJGC8V_Wo3W4W3/s1600/military+spending+pie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #336600; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhEoseuSTl-IvvBthD-hUSI10fPk3MRTkrUyjtCD-l5_4FGfuX5eWSqugLw_P1mtxJ3MDDnq1OgD_HTzaZJ9Fi_KYTeKzqg1Ni8Jzt3LWfxlacNekqOa5wZxnV4jLCPIfJGC8V_Wo3W4W3/s320/military+spending+pie.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
<br /><br /><br />If you think there are no consequences to taking on that dominant military role and then using your advanced weaponry to invade countries that didn't attack you, depose legitimately elected leaders, torture and indefinitely imprison innocent people etc, etc. then I think you're being naive. If it expects to be safe from any retribution, any nation that takes such power unto itself would be wise to go to great lengths to insure that none of those things happened in order to preserve moral authority and the goodwill of as many people on this globe as possible. And sadly, I don't think we've met that burden whether in Southeast Asia, Latin America or the middle east.<br /><br />Maybe we just aren't cut out for this empire thing. Certainly the founders of this nation didn't intend for us to be one. And that's a problem, not just for them, but for us.<br /><br />We are not to blame for all the world's ills and neither Greenwald or I are making that case. But we must acknowledge that this imperial project <i>at least</i> requires that we take our responsibility as citizens seriously enough to oversee our government's foreign policy with clear eyes and make our representatives and leadership project ideals and values that do not create more enemies than friends. We're a strong country, I guarantee we can take it.<br /></blockquote>
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Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-70074822289410752172013-01-12T17:18:00.001-04:002013-01-12T17:18:05.963-04:00The Harper Song (Steve It's Time to Leave) by John Roby<br />
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<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-71689726096918964232012-12-12T09:37:00.002-04:002012-12-12T09:37:25.236-04:00Alishia Fox says it all<br />
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<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-87146614687130930522012-09-07T15:55:00.002-03:002012-09-07T17:11:06.451-03:00Democratic National Convention 2012<br />
Bill Clinton<br />
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Barack Obama<br />
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September 6, 2012</div>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/opinion/mr-obamas-second-chance.html?_r=1&ref=opinion" target="_blank">President Obama’s Second Chance</a></h1>
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President Obama’s dilemma has always been that he has been far more
successful a president than his opponents claim, but far less successful
than he needs to be at making voters see that. Powerful speeches by
former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and others did a
lot to fix that impression during the convention. But it was up to Mr.
Obama to make the case for another term, with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/us/politics/president-obamas-full-remarks-from-the-democratic-national-convention.html" title="The full transcript">a speech</a> that was every bit as fraught with uncertainty and risk as his 2008 convention address. </div>
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Just as he did then, Mr. Obama rose to the occasion. </div>
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He could have sold some of his best lines with more passion, but gone
was the maddening coyness of recent years in which he has avoided
candidly talking about the mess that President George W. Bush dumped
into his lap and shied away from the rumble of politics. He didn’t
hesitate to go after Mitt Romney. “You might not be ready for diplomacy
with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our
closest ally,” he said. </div>
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And <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/us/politics/obama-in-democratic-convention-speech-asks-for-more-time.html" title="The Times’s report">he clearly laid out a vision for governing</a>
squarely at odds with the one that Mr. Romney has, but was hidden from
view at last week’s Republican convention in Tampa, Fla. He promised
deficit reduction “without sticking it to the middle class”; to enact a
reformed tax code that raises rates on income above $250,000 to where it
was under Mr. Clinton; to preserve middle-class deductions; to “never
turn Medicare into a voucher.” </div>
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Mr. Obama explicitly shifted from his 2008 appeal of hope and change to
talk of tough choices and tough paths. “You didn’t elect me to tell you
what you wanted to hear,” he said. “You elected me to tell you the
truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to
solve challenges that have built up over decades.” </div>
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Mr. Obama went into this convention with an actual record at governing —
not just the Republican posture of saying “No” to everything. He has
far better ideas about how to create jobs, make Americans’ tax burdens
more equitable and improve ordinary Americans’ economic prospects than
the tired, failed trickle-down fantasies served up by Mitt Romney and
the Republican Party. </div>
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He ended the war in Iraq, tried to rescue the Afghan war that Mr. Bush
bungled, stepped up the offensive on terrorists far beyond Mr. Bush’s
vision and rallied the world to ratchet up pressure on Iran. </div>
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He blunted the extreme message of the Tea Party by offering an
alternative vision of government’s obligation to help the neediest,
provide everyone with the basic structures of society and the economy
and end unconscionable discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans.
He has protected women’s constitutional rights and liberties, despite
his own misgivings about abortion. He ordered the killing of Osama bin
Laden — an act that was mentioned repeatedly on the last night of the
convention. </div>
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But, after he was elected, Mr. Obama allowed himself to believe in his
own legend, cheered on by the hundreds of thousands of adoring
supporters who thronged his inauguration, by the sheer magnificence of
the swearing-in of an African-American president. It was as though he
concluded that his election by itself changed the world and had
fulfilled his promise of a postpartisan era. </div>
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The president and his tight inner circle were oblivious to the
Republicans’ explicit warning that he would not get the slightest
cooperation from a party and a Congressional caucus driven by an
implacable hatred of Mr. Obama that is mostly ideological but also
fueled by his race. It took nearly three years for the Obama team to
recognize that central fact. </div>
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Mr. Obama won passage of an economic recovery bill that not only warded
off depression, but actually created jobs, and of a health care reform
law that is essential to the long-term economic health of the country.
But he ceded the details of lawmaking to Congress, where leaders of his
own party did not fully step up to the moment and Republicans stood in
stonewall opposition. </div>
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And he ceded the national debate on central issues to those same
Republicans, mired in his belief that the force of his intellect could
melt their obstructionism, that one eloquent speech could change his
political fortunes. Mr. Obama allowed his opponents to define the
argument and so define him. </div>
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Mr. Clinton showed Mr. Obama the antidote. On Wednesday night, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/us/politics/clinton-delivers-stirring-plea-for-obama-second-term.html" title="The Times’s report">Mr. Clinton fought back against the Republicans</a>
on Medicaid and Medicare, two areas where the Obama campaign has failed
to get real traction. He made the argument for health care reform,
financial re-regulation and fair taxation, all while firing up the
crowd. </div>
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Mr. Obama did not quite match that bravura performance on Thursday. But he met his challenge in Charlotte.<br />
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September 6, 2012</div>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/us/politics/obama-in-democratic-convention-speech-asks-for-more-time.html?_r=2&hp" target="_blank">Obama Makes Case for 2nd Term: ‘Harder’ Path to ‘Better Place’</a></h1>
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By
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<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/helene_cooper/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by HELENE COOPER"><span itemprop="name">HELENE COOPER</span></a></span> and <span itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/peter_baker/index.html" itemprop="creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/peter_baker/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by PETER BAKER"><span itemprop="name">PETER BAKER</span></a></span></h6>
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — <a class="meta-per" href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/candidates/barack-obama?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama">President Obama</a>
accepted the Democratic nomination for a second term on Thursday night,
making a forceful argument that he had rescued the economy from
disaster and ushered in a recovery that would be imperiled by a return
to Republican stewardship. </div>
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Describing himself as “mindful of my own failings,” Mr. Obama conceded
the country’s continuing difficulties while defending his record and
pleading for more time to carry out his agenda. He laid out a long-term
blueprint for revival in an era obsessed with short-term expectations. </div>
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“I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy; I never have,”
Mr. Obama told a packed arena of 20,000 party leaders and activists.
“You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me
to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few
years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades.” </div>
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He added: “But know this, America: Our problems can be solved. Our
challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a
better place. And I’m asking you to choose that future.” </div>
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The president’s appearance at the Time Warner Cable Arena underscored
the tumultuous journey he and the country have been on since his first
nomination in Denver. Four years after fireworks consecrated his
storybook campaign to become the nation’s first black president, Mr.
Obama took the stage on Thursday as a politician who had come down to
earth and was locked in the fight of his life against the Republican
nominee, Mitt Romney. </div>
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The stirring outsider’s message had become a policy-laden appeal for
continuity; the mantra of reform was now a vigorous defense of his
current course. The “Change” signs waved in the audience in 2008 had
been replaced with placards saying “Forward.” The word “promise,” which
he used 32 times in his acceptance speech in 2008, came up just 7 times
on Thursday night. Even the traditional balloon drop was missing since a
last-minute site change made it impossible. </div>
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Mr. Obama issued a string of promises, including one million new
manufacturing jobs and $4 trillion in deficit reductions. But he was
largely making the case that he had put in place the foundation for a
revived country if voters only give it enough time to work. If at times
it had the feel of a <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/state_of_the_union_message_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the State of the Union address.">State of the Union address</a>,
that was an intentional effort to jab at Mr. Romney to be more specific
about how he would carry out his promises, maximizing the gulf between
the parties. </div>
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“They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan,” Mr.
Obama said. “And that’s because all they have to offer is the same
prescription they’ve had for the last 30 years.” </div>
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Mr. Obama’s speech punctuated back-to-back political conventions in
which the two parties, if nothing else, delivered radically different
visions for how to end the economic malaise that has afflicted the
country since 2008, and framed the two-month spring to Election Day. </div>
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A week after Mr. Romney sought to appeal to American disappointment with
Mr. Obama, the president pressed his case that the Republican candidate
is so disconnected from the struggles of the middle class that he has
no idea how to address them. In sharp language, he linked Mr. Romney and
his running mate, Paul D. Ryan, to what he long described as failed
trickle-down economic policies that favor the wealthy, reflecting what
has become a central theme. </div>
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“On every issue, the choice you face won’t just be between two
candidates or two parties,” Mr. Obama said. “When all is said and done,
when you pick up that ballot to vote, you will face the clearest choice
of any time in a generation.” </div>
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The Romney campaign released a reaction to the president’s speech before
it was even delivered, assailing Mr. Obama as having failed to create
enough jobs, cut the deficit in half or increase incomes. “This is a
time not for him to start restating new promises, but to report on the
promises he made,” Mr. Romney said in the taped statement. “I think he
wants a promises reset. We want a report on the promises he made.” </div>
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Introducing Mr. Obama on Thursday night was Vice President Joseph R.
Biden Jr., who offered testimony to the president’s leadership on
everything from the economy to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
“Bravery resides in the heart of <a class="meta-per" href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/candidates/barack-obama?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama">Barack Obama</a>,” he said. “This man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart and steel in his spine.” </div>
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Mr. Biden was left to take the tougher shots at Mr. Romney, the former
head of the private equity firm Bain Capital and former governor of
Massachusetts. Noting that Mr. Romney had promised to take a jobs tour,
Mr. Biden said, “Well, with his support for outsourcing, it’s going to
have to be a foreign trip.” </div>
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He went on to note that Mr. Romney opposed the federal bailout of the
auto industry. “I think he saw it the Bain way,” Mr. Biden said, adding:
“The Bain way may bring your firm the highest profits. But it’s not the
way to lead our country from the highest office.” </div>
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Mr. Biden’s nomination for a second term as vice president was approved
by the convention by acclamation after his son Beau, the attorney
general of Delaware, put his name up for consideration in a speech that
left the vice president teary-eyed for the second consecutive night. </div>
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The emotion in the packed hall crested early, when former Representative
Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, her step faltering, walked tentatively
onto the stage in a surprise appearance to lead the pledge of
allegiance. Mrs. Giffords, who was shot in the head by a would-be
assassin in Tucson, is still recovering, and she stumbled over the word
“indivisible.” But she got through the pledge in her first real public
speaking since the shooting, and blew kisses to the crowd, which surged
to its feet in ovation, chanting “Gabby! Gabby!” </div>
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Given that Mr. Romney spent little time on foreign policy during his
acceptance speech, it was a foregone conclusion that Mr. Obama would
devote time to national security, an area where Democrats believe they
have carved out a surprising advantage. They paraded a host of war
veterans across the stage, some of whom chided the Republicans as taking
little notice of them in Tampa last week. </div>
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“Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off now than he was four years
ago,” Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said, turning a Republican
line critical of the president into an argument for his re-election. </div>
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Mr. Obama said Republicans “want to take us back to an era of blustering
and blundering that cost America so dearly,” and Mr. Biden appeared to
choke up reciting the numbers of war dead and wounded. </div>
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Still, the heart of the argument between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney is
about the role of government. “This is what the election comes down to,”
Mr. Obama said. “Over and over, we’ve been told by our opponents that
bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are the only way, that since
government can’t do everything, it should do almost nothing.” </div>
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Highlighting <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare.">Medicare</a>,
which Mr. Ryan has proposed overhauling, the president said, “No
American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of
insurance companies.” </div>
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The president’s speech culminated a three-day convention that included a
retinue of Hollywood celebrities and even a former Republican governor,
Charlie Crist of Florida, plus a strong focus on social issues like <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships.">same-sex marriage</a>. </div>
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But like its Republican equivalent last week, it did not always go
according to script, including an embarrassing floor fight over
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and a late decision to move the
president’s speech to the Time Warner Cable Arena from the Bank of
America Stadium because of inclement weather. </div>
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With thunder, lightning and rain forecast — convention goers huddled
under plastic sheets as they darted between sites — organizers were left
with some 65,000 supporters — many of them traveling from all over the
country — without the chance to see the president in person. </div>
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The president’s aides understood they could never re-create the power of
the past but hoped to convince voters that more has been done than
commonly recognized. The “promises kept” theme was intended to address
the same swing voters Mr. Romney sought last week to win over. </div>
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Mr. Obama directly acknowledged the disappointments. “While I’m proud of
what we’ve achieved together, I’m far more mindful of my own failings,”
he said. But he added, “I have never been more hopeful about America,
not because I think I have all the answers, not because I’m naïve about
the magnitude of our challenges. I’m hopeful because of you.” </div>
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The president appeared to become emotional toward the end of his speech
as he spoke of wounded veterans who somehow managed to walk and run and
bike on prosthetic legs. He said he did not know if they would vote for
him, but added that they nonetheless gave him hope that difficulties
could be overcome. </div>
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His voice started to break. “If you share that faith with me, if you
share that hope with me, I ask you tonight for your vote,” he said.<br />
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September 6, 2012</div>
<h1>
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/us/politics/president-obamas-full-remarks-from-the-democratic-national-convention.html" target="_blank">President Obama’s Full Remarks From the Democratic National Convention</a></h1>
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<em>The following is the full text of President Obama’s speech Thursday from the Democratic National Convention.</em></div>
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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you. (Sustained cheers, applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. </div>
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AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! </div>
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. </div>
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AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! </div>
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. (Cheers, applause.) Thank you. </div>
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Michelle, I love you so much. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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A few nights ago, everybody was reminded just what a lucky man I am. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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Malia and Sasha, we are so proud of you. (Cheers, applause.) And yes,
you do have to go to school in the morning. (Chuckles.) (Laughter,
applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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And Joe Biden, thank you for being the very best vice president I could
have ever hoped for — (cheers, applause) — and being a strong and loyal
friend. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Madam Chairwoman, delegates, I accept your nomination for president of the United States. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
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AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Chanting.) Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! </div>
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<br /></div>
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: Now, the first time I addressed this convention, in
2004, I was a younger man — (laughter) — a Senate candidate from
Illinois who spoke about hope, not blind optimism, not wishful thinking
but hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty,
that dogged faith in the future which has pushed this nation forward
even when the odds are great, even when the road is long. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Eight years later that hope has been tested by the cost of war, by one
of the worst economic crises in history and by political gridlock that’s
left us wondering whether it’s still even possible to tackle the
challenges of our time. I know campaigns can seem small, even silly
sometimes. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound
bites. The truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and
advertising. And if you’re sick of hearing me approve this message,
believe me, so am I. (Laughter, cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
But when all is said and done, when you pick up that ballot to vote, you
will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation. (Cheers.)
Over the next few years big decisions will be made in Washington on
jobs, the economy, taxes and deficits, energy, education, war and peace —
decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and on our
children’s lives for decades to come. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
And on every issue, the choice you face won’t just be between two
candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different
paths for America, a choice between two fundamentally different visions
for the future. Ours is a fight to restore the values that built the
largest middle class and the strongest economy the world has ever known —
(cheers, applause) — the values my grandfather defended as a soldier in
Patton’s army, the values that drove my grandmother to work on a bomber
assembly line while he was gone. They knew they were part of something
larger — a nation that triumphed over fascism and depression, a nation
where the most innovative businesses turn out the world’s best products,
and everyone shared in that pride and success from the corner office to
the factory floor. </div>
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<br /></div>
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My grandparents were given the chance to go to college and buy their
home — their own home and fulfill the basic bargain at the heart of
America’s story, the promise that hard work will pay off, that
responsibility will be rewarded, that everyone gets a fair shot and
everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules,
from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, D.C. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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And I ran for president because I saw that basic bargain slipping away. I
began my career helping people in the shadow of a shuttered steel mill
at a time when too many good jobs were starting to move overseas. And by
2008 we had seen nearly a decade in which families struggled with costs
that kept rising but paychecks that didn’t, folks racking up more and
more debt just to make the mortgage or pay tuition, put gas in the car
or food on the table. And when the house of cards collapsed in the Great
Recession, millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their homes,
their life savings, a tragedy from which we’re still fighting to
recover. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, our friends down in Tampa at the Republican convention were more
than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America.
But they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right.
(Cheers, applause.) They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know
their plan. And that’s because all they have to offer is the same
prescriptions they’ve had for the last 30 years. Have a surplus? Try a
tax cut. Deficit too high — try another. </div>
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Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, I’ve cut taxes for those who need it — (cheers, applause) —
middle-class families, small businesses. But I don’t believe that
another round of tax breaks for millionaires will bring good jobs to our
shores, or pay down our deficit. I don’t believe that firing teachers
or kicking students off financial aid will grow the economy — (cheers,
applause) — or help us compete with the scientists and engineers coming
out of China. After all we’ve been through, I don’t believe that rolling
back regulations on Wall Street will help the small-businesswoman
expand, or the laid-off construction worker keep his home. </div>
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<br /></div>
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We have been there, we’ve tried that, and we’re not going back. We are moving forward, America. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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Now, I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I never
have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You
elected me to tell you the truth. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve
challenges that have built up over decades. It’ll require common effort,
shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation
that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this
one. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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And by the way, those of us who carry on his party’s legacy should
remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government
program or dictate from Washington. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But know this, America: Our problems can be solved. (Cheers, applause.)
Our challenges can be met. (Applause.) The path we offer may be harder,
but it leads to a better place, and I’m asking you to choose that
future. (Applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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I’m asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country, goals in
manufacturing, energy, education, national security and the deficit,
real, achievable plans that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity and
rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation. That’s what we can do in
the next four years, and that is why I am running for a second term as
president of the United States. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer
jobs. After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed,
we’re getting back to basics and doing what America’s always done best.
We are making things again. (Applause.) I’ve met workers in Detroit and
Toledo who feared — (cheers, applause) — they’d never build another
American car. And today they can’t build them fast enough because we
reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back on the top of the world.
(Cheers, applause.) I worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs
back to America not because our workers make less pay, but because we
make better products — (cheers) — because we work harder and smarter
than anyone else. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Cheers, applause.) I’ve signed trade agreements that are helping our
companies sell more goods to millions of new customers, goods that are
stamped with three proud words: “Made in America.” (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Chanting.) USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! </div>
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<br /></div>
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: And after a decade of decline, this country created
over half a million manufacturing jobs in the last 2 1/2 years.
(Cheers.) And now you have a choice. We can give more tax breaks to
corporations that shift jobs overseas — </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
AUDIENCE MEMBER: No! </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
PRESIDENT OBAMA: — or we can start rewarding companies that open new
plants and train new workers and create new jobs here in the United
States of America. (Cheers, applause.) We can help big factories and
small businesses double their exports. And if we choose this path, we
can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years. You
can make that happen. (Cheers, applause.) You can choose that future. </div>
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<br /></div>
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You can choose the path where we control more of our own energy. After
30 years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the middle of
the next decade, cars and trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of
gas. (Cheers, applause.) We have doubled our use of renewable energy,
and thousands of Americans have jobs today building wind turbines and
long-lasting batteries. (Cheers, applause.) In the last year alone, we
cut oil imports by 1 million barrels a day, more than any administration
in recent history. (Cheers, applause.) And today the United States of
America is less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in the last
two decades. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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So now you have a choice between a strategy that reverses this progress or one that builds on it. </div>
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We’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration in the
last three years, and we’ll open more. But unlike my opponent, I will
not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan or endanger our
coastlines or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our
taxpayers. (Cheers, applause.) We’re offering a better path. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We’re offering a better path where we — a future where we keep investing
in wind and solar and clean coal, where farmers and scientists harness
new biofuels to power our cars and trucks, where construction workers
build homes and factories that waste less energy, where — where we
develop a hundred-year supply of natural gas that’s right beneath our
feet. If you choose this path, we can cut our oil imports in half by
2020 and support more than 600,000 new jobs in natural gas alone.
(Cheers, applause. </div>
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<br /></div>
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And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is
heating our planet, because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts
and floods and wildfires are not a joke. (Cheers, applause.) They are a
threat to our children’s future. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
And in this election, you can do something about it. (Cheers, applause.)
You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain
the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much
money they have. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. (Cheers.) It was the
gateway for Michelle. It was — it was the gateway for most of you. And
now more than ever it is the gateway to a middle-class life. </div>
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<br /></div>
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For the first time in a generation, nearly every state has answered our
call to raise their standards for teaching and learning. (Cheers,
applause.) Some of the worst schools in the country have made real gains
in math and reading. Millions of students are paying less for college
today because we finally took on a system that wasted billions of
taxpayer dollars on banks and lenders. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
And now you have a choice. We can gut education, or we can decide that
in the United States of America, no child should have her dreams
deferred because of a crowded classroom or a crumbling school. No family
should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don’t
have the money. (Cheers, applause.) No company should have to look for
workers overseas because they couldn’t find any with the right skills
here at home. (Cheers, applause.) That’s not our future. That is not our
future. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
A government has a role in this. But teachers must inspire. Principals
must lead. Parents must instill a thirst for learning. And students,
you’ve got to do the work. (Cheers, applause.) And together, I promise
you we can outeducate and outcompete any nation on earth. (Cheers,
applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
So help me. Help me recruit a hundred thousand math and science teachers
within 10 years and improve early childhood education. (Cheers,
applause.) Help give 2 million workers the chance to learn skills at
their community college that will lead directly to a job. Help us work
with colleges and universities to cut in half the growth of tuition
costs over the next 10 years. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We can meet that goal together. (Cheers, applause.) You can choose that
future for America. (Cheers, applause.) That’s our future. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
You know, in a world of new threats and new challenges, you can choose
leadership that has been tested and proven. Four years ago I promised to
end the war in Iraq. We did. (Cheers, applause.) I promised to refocus
on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and we have.
(Cheers, applause.) We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan
and in 2014, our longest war will be over. (Cheers, applause.) A new
tower rises above the New York skyline, al- Qaida is on the path to
defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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And tonight we pay tribute to the Americans who still serve in harm’s
way. We are forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made
this country safer and more respected. We will never forget you, and so
long as I’m commander in chief, we will sustain the strongest military
the world has ever known. (Cheers, applause.) When you take off the
uniform, we will serve you as well as you’ve served us, because no one
who fights for this country should have to fight for a job or a roof
over their head or the care that they need when they come home. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Around the world, we’ve strengthened old alliances and forged new
coalitions to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. We’ve reasserted our
power across the Pacific and stood up to China on behalf of our workers.
From Burma to Libya to South Sudan, we have advanced the rights and
dignity of all human beings — (cheers) — men and women; Christians and
Muslims and Jews. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
But for all the progress that we’ve made, challenges remain. Terrorist
plots must be disrupted. Europe’s crisis must be contained. Our
commitment to Israel’s security must not waver, and neither must our
pursuit of peace. (Cheers, applause.) The Iranian government must face a
world that stays united against its nuclear ambitions. The historic
change sweeping across the Arab world must be defined not by the iron
fist of a dictator or the hate of extremists, but by the hopes and
aspirations of ordinary people who are reaching for the same rights that
we celebrate here today. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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So now we have a choice. My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy. (Laughter, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
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But from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an
era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly. </div>
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After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy — not al- Qaida,
Russia — (laughter) — unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War mind warp.
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Laughter, cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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My opponent — my opponent said that it was tragic to end the war in
Iraq. And he won’t tell us how he’ll end the war in Afghanistan. Well, I
have, and I will. (Cheers, applause.) And while my opponent would spend
more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don’t even want, I
will use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt
and put more people back to work — (extended cheers, applause) —
rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways, because after two
wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars,
it’s time to do some nation building right here at home. (Cheers,
applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
You can choose a future where we reduce our deficit without sticking it
to the middle class. (Cheers, applause.) Independent experts say that my
plan would cut our deficit by $4 trillion. (Cheers.) And last summer I
worked with Republicans in Congress to cut a billion dollars in
spending, because those of us who believe government can be a force for
good should work harder than anyone to reform it so that it’s leaner and
more efficient and more responsive to the American people. (Cheers,
applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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I want to reform the tax code so that it’s simple, fair and asks the
wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 —
(cheers, applause) — the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was
president, the same rate we had when our economy created nearly 23
million new jobs, the biggest surplus in history and a whole lot of
millionaires to boot. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Now, I’m still eager to reach an agreement based on the principles of my
bipartisan debt commission. No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No
democracy works without compromise. I want to get this done, and we can
get it done. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
But when Governor Romney and his friends in Congress tell us we can
somehow lower our deficits by spending trillions more on new tax breaks
for the wealthy, well — (boos) — what’d Bill Clinton call it? You do the
arithmetic. (Laughter, cheers, applause.) You do the math. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
I refuse to go along with that, and as long as I’m president, I never
will. (Cheers, applause.) I refuse to ask middle-class families to give
up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay
for another millionaire’s tax cut. (Cheers, applause.) I refuse to ask
students to pay more for college or kick children out of Head Start
programs to eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans who are
poor and elderly or disabled all so those with the most can pay less.
I’m not going along with that. (Continued cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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And I will never — I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. (Cheers,
applause.) No American should ever have to spend their golden years at
the mercy of insurance companies. They should retire with the care and
the dignity that they have earned. Yes, we will reform and strengthen
Medicare for the long haul, but we’ll do it by reducing the cost of
health care, not by asking seniors to pay thousands of dollars more. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Cheers, applause.) And we will keep the promise of Social Security by
taking the responsible steps to strengthen it, not by turning it over to
Wall Street. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
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This is the choice we now face. This is what the election comes down to.
Over and over, we’ve been told by our opponents that bigger tax cuts
and fewer regulations are the only way, that since government can’t do
everything, it should do almost nothing. If you can’t afford health
insurance, hope that you don’t get sick. (Murmurs of disapproval.) If a
company releases toxic pollution into the air your children breathe,
well, that’s the price of progress. If you can’t afford to start a
business or go to college, take my opponent’s advice and borrow money
from your parents. (Laughter, mixed cheers and boos, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
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You know what, that’s not who we are. That’s not what this country is
about. As Americans, we believe we are endowed by our Creator with
certain inalienable rights, rights that no man or government can take
away. We insist on personal responsibility, and we celebrate individual
initiative. We’re not entitled to success. We have to earn it. We honor
the strivers, the dreamers, the risk- takers, the entrepreneurs who have
always been the driving force behind our free enterprise system, the
greatest engine of growth and prosperity that the world’s ever known. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
But we also believe in something called citizenship — (cheers, applause)
— citizenship, a word at the very heart of our founding, a word at the
very essence of our democracy, the idea that this country only works
when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future
generations. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We believe that when a CEO pays his autoworkers enough to buy the cars
that they build, the whole company does better. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We believe that when a family can no longer be tricked into signing a
mortgage they can’t afford, that family’s protected, but so is the value
of other people’s homes — (cheers, applause) — and so is the entire
economy. (Applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We believe the little girl who’s offered an escape from poverty by a
great teacher or a grant for college could become the next Steve Jobs or
the scientist who cures cancer or the president of the United States —
(cheers, applause) — and it is in our power to give her that chance.
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We know that churches and charities can often make more of a difference
than a poverty program alone. We don’t want handouts for people who
refuse to help themselves, and we certainly don’t want bailouts for
banks that break the rules. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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We don’t think the government can solve all of our problems, but we
don’t think the government is the source of all of our problems —
(cheers, applause) — any more than our welfare recipients or
corporations or unions or immigrants or gays or any other group we’re
told to blame for our troubles — (cheers, applause) — because — because
America, we understand that this democracy is ours. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We, the people — (cheers) — recognize that we have responsibilities as
well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom
which asks only, what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to
others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is
unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done
for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together — (cheers, applause)
— through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of
self-government. That’s what we believe. </div>
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<br /></div>
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So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about
you. (Cheers, applause.) My fellow citizens — you were the change.
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
You’re the reason there’s a little girl with a heart disorder in Phoenix
who’ll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can’t
limit her coverage. You did that. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
You’re the reason a young man in Colorado who never thought he’d be able
to afford his dream of earning a medical degree is about to get that
chance. You made that possible. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
You’re the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school
here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from
the only country she’s ever called home — (cheers, applause) — why
selfless soldiers won’t be kicked out of the military because of who
they are or who they love, why thousands of families have finally been
able to say to the loved ones who served us so bravely, welcome home.
(Cheers, applause.) Welcome home. You did that. You did that. (Cheers,
applause.) You did that. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
If you turn away now — if you turn away now, if you buy into the
cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible, well, change will
not happen. If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a
difference, then other voices will fill the void, the lobbyists and
special interests, the people with the $10 million checks who are trying
to buy this election and those who are trying to make it harder for you
to vote, Washington politicians who want to decide who you can marry or
control health care choices that women should be making for themselves.
(Cheers, applause.) Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. Only
you have the power to move us forward. </div>
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<br /></div>
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You know, I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to
this convention. Times have changed, and so have I. I’m no longer just a
candidate. I’m the president. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
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And — (applause) — and that’s — </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Four more years! Four more years! </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
PRESIDENT OBAMA: And that — and that means I know what it means to send
young Americans into battle, for I’ve held in my arms the mothers and
fathers of those who didn’t return. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
I’ve shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the
frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs. If the critics are right
that I’ve made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very
good at reading them. (Laughter.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
And while I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together — (cheers) — I’m far
more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what Lincoln meant
when he said, “I have been driven to my knees many times by the
overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.” , for I have
held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn’t return. I’ve
shared the pain of families who’ve lost their homes, and the
frustration of workers who’ve lost their jobs. If the critics are right
that I’ve made all my decisions based on polls, then I must not be very
good at reading them. And while I’m proud of what we’ve achieved
together, I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what
Lincoln meant when he said, “I have been driven to my knees many times
by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.” (Cheers,
applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
But as I stand here tonight, I have never been more hopeful about
America. (Cheers, applause.) Not because I think I have all the answers.
Not because I’m naive about the magnitude of our challenges. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
I’m hopeful because of you. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The young woman I met at a science fair who won national recognition for
her biology research while living with her family at a homeless shelter
— she gives me hope. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The auto worker who won the lottery after his plant almost closed, but
kept coming to work every day, and bought flags for his whole town and
one of the cars that he built to surprise his wife — he gives me hope. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
The family business in Warroad, Minnesota, that didn’t lay off a single
one of their 4,000 employees when the recession hit — (cheers, applause)
— even when their competitors shut down dozens of plants, even when it
meant the owner gave up some perks and some pay because they understood
that their biggest asset was the community and the workers who had
helped build that business — they give me hope. (Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
I think about the young sailor I met at Walter Reed Hospital still
recovering from a grenade attack that would cause him to have his leg
amputated above the knee. And six months ago we would watch him walk
into a White House dinner honoring those who served in Iran (sic; Iraq) —
tall and 20 pounds heavier, dashing in his uniform, with a big grin on
his face, sturdy on his new leg. And I remember how a few months after
that I would watch him on a bicycle, racing with his fellow wounded
warriors on a sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just
begun the hard path he had traveled. He gives me hope. (Cheers,
applause.) He gives me hope. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
I don’t know what party these men and women belong to. I don’t know if
they’ll vote for me. But I know that their spirit defines us. They
remind me, in the words of Scripture, that ours is a future filled with
hope. (Cheers.) And if you share that faith with me, if you share that
hope with me, I ask you tonight for your vote. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
If you reject the notion that this nation’s promise is reserved for the
few, your voice must be heard in this election. (Cheers, applause.)
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
If you reject the notion that our government is forever beholden to the
highest bidder, you need to stand up in this election. (Cheers,
applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
If you believe that new plants and factories can dot our landscape, that
new energy can power our future, that new schools can provide ladders
of opportunity to this nation of dreamers, if you believe in a country
where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share and
everyone plays by the same rules, then I need you to vote this November.
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I won’t promise
that now. Yes, our path is harder, but it leads to a better place.
(Cheers.) Yes, our road is longer, but we travel it together. (Cheers.) </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. (Cheers.) We pull each other
up. (Cheers, applause.) We draw strength from our victories. (Cheers,
applause.) And we learn from our mistakes. But we keep our eyes fixed on
that distant horizon knowing that providence is with us and that we are
surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on earth. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Thank you, God bless you and God bless these United States. </div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
(Cheers, applause.) </div>
<div class="articleCorrection">
</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-51053121448917225902012-08-25T09:44:00.001-03:002012-08-25T09:45:12.964-03:00Historical Perspective<h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="You can't be neutral on a moving train - Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn">You
can't be neutral on a moving train - Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn </span></span></h2>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O8eQ5U3TU4o" width="640"></iframe>Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-83668692189526651492012-08-15T21:56:00.006-03:002012-08-15T21:56:48.048-03:00A Dark Age<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">On the occasion of UK's threat to invade Ecuador's embassy, another sign
our once enlightened world is degenerating into another dark age:</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cX8szNPgrEs" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
<h1>
<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/15/158893808/ecuador-says-u-k-threatened-to-storm-embassy-if-assange-isnt-turned-over">Ecuador Says U.K. Threatened To Storm Embassy, If Assange Isn't Turned Over</a></h1>
Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-80889845630164595042012-07-06T18:03:00.002-03:002012-07-06T18:06:11.635-03:00Our Disgusting, Hypocritical Governments<span style="font-size: small;">Peter Russel talks about Canada's disgusting government</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ipqg_NViKM0?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
Full interview with Peter Russell <a href="http://www.ontarionewswatch.com/onw-news.html?id=357" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">RT/Wikileaks on USA's hypocritical government</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jeDYLW8noTg?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-22094304583347304602012-06-22T14:52:00.001-03:002012-06-22T14:52:31.601-03:00Beauty and the Beast<span style="font-size: small;">The utopia we thought we had...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JmiHR_Ll88U?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The dystopia we are heading for...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aAfuRSOr4p8?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We still may have some say in the matter. It's up to us.</span>Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-88146263988084478322012-06-19T22:08:00.002-03:002012-06-20T15:48:54.007-03:00Action Plan for C-38<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I am suggesting
some actions we can take this summer to (1) voice our disagreement with C-38,
(2) build on our past experience to prepare for Harper’s next onslaught on
democracy and (3) prepare for the elections required to defeat this government.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><i><u>Assumptions
</u></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">My
suggestion for action this summer is based on the following assumptions:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(1)
Protesting as we have been doing is limited in the pressure it can put on
Harper.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(2) Harper’s
self-confidence has not been seriously diminished by the C-38 experience so his
next initiative will be even more noxious to democracy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(3) Citizen
action (as opposed to partisan activities and legal challenges which remain
important) is the only means available to defeat Harper now or later. The Supreme Court of Canada, the Senate and
the Governor General have the power to reign in the Harper government but there
is no sign of an opening for them to do so.
Legal challenges remain a wild card over which we have no control.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(4) Citizen
engagement is not yet strong enough to defeat Harper now or at an election in
current conditions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><i><u>Objectives</u></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The opposition
parties did all they could in the fight over C-38 and could not stop it. This has raised public esteem for the
opposition parties and helped fuel opposition among citizens, but it shows the
limits of parliamentary opposition in the current system. This encourages Harper to repeat the exercise
and go even further in dismantling our institutional foundation, thus keeping
opposition off guard, disorganized and ineffective.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Objective 1 - engage Conservative Party (CPC) MPs:</b> Until the
next election or some other intervening event, the weakest link in the Harper
onslaught is his caucus MPs, especially those that come from the old Progressive Conservative (PC) ridings
as opposed to Reform ridings. The
hypothesis is that there may be a weak
link that could split the CPC. This
tactic was tried in the unsuccessful 13 heroes campaign, but there are
indications that there are cracks in the party. With more time and organization, we may be
able to exploit these cracks and divide the government support.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Objective 2 – citizen engagement: </b>Although
citizen opposition to C-38 was vocal and substantial, it was not enough. A large majority of voters seems to remain
unaware of the direction and character of the Harper government. The failure of citizen engagement in the
democratic system is probably the most significant cause of the crisis we are
facing. Since political parties have
effectively made a practice of avoiding this key ingredient of a democracy, it now
falls to citizens to find ways to re-engage our fellow citizens.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Objective 3 – planning to win the next
election:</b> Our main opposition
parties – NDP and Liberal – dropped the ball completely in opening the door to
a Harper victory in 2011. They must be
held accountable in providing a solution to the crisis of democracy they
allowed. Their failure to act in concert
to provide a single progressive alternative to the united forces of
conservatism suggests a preference of ego and self interest over the public
interest that should be their primary goal.
The nation has been seriously harmed by their excessive partisanship and
backroom dealing. Citizens must engage
these parties to(a) welcome citizen participation in events moving forward, (b)
devise an effective process to resoundingly defeat the Harper government at the
polls, (c) revoke the harmful legislation passed by the Harper government, and (d)
permanently revise our electoral laws to prevent an illegitimate <i>defacto</i> dictatorship from recurring.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><u>Actions</u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We must
become knowledgeable about C-38. This will
be a challenge since our parliamentary opposition has indicated there are still
parts f the legislation that are not fully understood. We must work with opposition MPs and other
groups to understand the legislation. Recently,
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page <a href="http://www.hilltimes.com/civil-circles/2012/06/18/pbo-gets-constitutional-lawyer-to-help-fight-for-details-on-feds%E2%80%99-%2452-billion/31144?page_requested=1">stated</a>
that “effectively, MPs will go back to their ridings for their summer without
any idea of how the budget bill affects their constituents, “and that’s just
not right.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We must
engage our CPC MPs and ask that they explain C-38 and how it benefits our
community and our country. We can do
this individually or in groups, but we must insist that our MPs make themselves
available in the riding for meetings on this important government initiative.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We must
engage our fellow citizens to think about C-38 and its consequences.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">With
organization and planning, we could be extremely effective in meeting all of
our objectives. I am proposing that we
hold community “town hall” meetings so that all citizens have an opportunity to
become informed by the process and to motivate them to become involved in what
our MPs are doing in Ottawa. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I believe
many citizens are now curious about the contents of C-38 having heard so much
in the news about it. They will also wish
to know how it affects the community. We
should involve as many stakeholders in the community as possible to organize
and carry out effective meetings. </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">These
meetings should be strictly non-partisan and unbiased, but we should ask all
political parties to assist in publicizing and organizing. We can also ask local organizations such as
Rotary clubs and church groups to spread the word. If we are effective, we will get media
coverage.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The meetings
should be informational , open and provide for questions and discussion I would suggest inviting local “experts” in
various subjects to form a panel and speak to the various topics affected by
C-38. In every case, the CPC should be
invited to participate on the panel, and it should be the MP if there is one.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In this way,
we could begin to establish a new paradigm for democracy that is not dominated
by political parties. Citizens are engaged and informed as they need
to be. We draw on community experts for information
and knowledge, and politicians are relegated to the role of participants,
welcome to share their views as equals but present more in the role of
apprentices to the will of the people.</span></div>Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-26715382734771015392012-05-24T18:22:00.002-03:002012-05-24T22:48:39.749-03:00Persecution of Charles Leblanc<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Persecution of
Charles Leblanc</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The latest attempt by a coalition of Fredericton’s security forces to
silence Charles Leblanc marks another milestone in his accidental mission as a
crusader for press freedom. This effort
will prove to be as ill-fated as the one recently concluded and for the same fundamental
reasons: it is ill-motivated, unsupportable in law, and essentially contrary to
democratic principles and the public interest.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">To recap:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">In June 2006, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2006/06/12/nb_protest20060609.html">Charles
was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice</a> by the Saint John
Police at a protest against the Atlantica conference where Irving Oil President
Kenneth Irving was speaking. CBC footage
showed that the arrest was in bad faith as Charles was merely taking pictures
with the other journalists as protestors tried to storm the conference. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2006/11/24/nb-bloggeracquitted.html">Charles
was acquitted</a> after a<a href="http://canlii.ca/t/1q3cd"> trial in November
2006</a>.</span> </li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A week after the
Atlantica conference, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/05/04/nb-legislature-ban.html">Charles
was banned</a> from the legislature buildings and grounds and served with an
unsigned “Barring Notice”. The exact grounds
for the ban have never been publicly disclosed.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">In April, 2009 <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2009/04/23/nb-leblanc-blogger-arrest.html">Charles
was arrested</a> for being on the legislature grounds while covering a protest and
given a court date to face charges. No
charges were ever laid. Before and after
the incident, Charles continued his journalistic coverage of events at the Legislature,
and has been on the Legislature grounds hundreds s of times since 2006 without
incident.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">In April, 2011
Charles <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/02/17/nb-cop-testifies-at-trial.html">testified
at the trial of Fredericton Const. Stephen Stafford</a> on a charge of
assault. In 2009, Charles had <a href="http://www.frederictonnewschannel.com/p/stephen-stafford-assault-trial.html">videotaped</a> 3 Fredericton Police officers subduing an intoxicated man outside a bar. Stafford was acquitted after an <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/04/01/nb-police-assault-soldier-trial.html">expert
from the Atlantic Police Academy testified</a> that the force used, which broke
vertebrae of the victim, was reasonable.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">During the <a href="http://charlesotherpersonality.blogspot.ca/2011/10/province-of-new-brunswick-to-push.html">summer
of 2011</a>, Charles was repeatedly accosted and ticketed by Fredericton Police
for minor by-law offenses which are routinely ignored by police and citizens. The incidents all originated from Daniel
Bussières, Sergeant-at-arms for the Legislature, and Const. Fred L’Oiseau of
the Fredericton Police Force, both of whom have been frequently vilified in
Charles’ blog.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">On January 16, 2012,
<a href="http://charlesotherpersonality.blogspot.com/2012/02/citizen-views-on-my-day-in-court-on.html">Charles
was persuaded by police officers to plead guilty</a> to a charge of disturbing
the peace in relation to his protest against earlier police harassment.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">On January 19, 2012
the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/01/20/nb-blogger-arrest-640.html?cmp=rss">Fredericton
police arrested Charles</a> and seized his computer on a search warrant based
on defamatory libel under section 301 of the <i>Criminal code</i>, an obsolete offence already deemed unconstitutional by
Courts in four other provinces as contrary to the right to free speech under
the <i>Canadian charter of Rights and Freedoms</i>.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">On May 4, 2012 after
almost four months of pondering the matter and just over a week before
municipal elections, the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/05/04/nb-charles-leblanc-charges-dropped.html">Crown
indicated</a> no charge would be laid due to the unconstitutionality of section
301. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/05/09/nb-leblanc-public-inquiry.html">Charles’
has requested a public inquiry</a> into his arrest on criminal libel, which <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/05/10/nb-foulds-leblanc-public-inquiry-927.html">Attorney
General Marie Claude Blais has indicated is possible</a>.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On May 16, 2012 <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/05/16/nb-blogger-leblanc-arrested.html">Charles
was arrested</a> on the grounds of the legislature by the Fredericton Police on
a complaint of assault, while waiting to take a picture of Energy Minister Margaret-Ann
Blaney as she left the legislature upon resigning for personal reasons.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Although there has been no official explanation of the event, the
arrest appears to be based on the 2006 Barring Notice which banned Charles from
the “legislative precinct” indefinitely, on pain of a charge of assault for
trespass. According to <a href="http://charlesotherpersonality.blogspot.ca/2012/05/ok.html">his blog</a>,
Charles received a tip that Blaney was resigning her position and seat, and went
to the Legislature early to photograph her.
While waiting outside the building, two security guards from the
Legislature, accompanied by a non-uniformed Fredericton police officer, grabbed
Charles by the shoulder and pushed him against the wall. Daniel Bussières approached and shouted that
Charles would be charged with assault.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The current campaign to put Charles behind bars is fraught with
constitutional, legal and political difficulties which render its chance of
success no greater than past efforts.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Legislative Ban</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Legislature “Barring Notice” was issued under an ancient
constitutional principle by which the Legislative Assembly has the power to
control its own processes free from Court oversight even under the <i>Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms</i>. This includes the right to exclude “strangers”
i.e. non-members from the legislative precinct:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Given that
legislatures are representative and deliberative institutions, those privileges
ultimately serve to protect the democratic nature of those bodies. (<a href="http://canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1997/1997canlii317/1997canlii317.html">Ref
re Remuneration of Judges of the Prov. Court of P.E.I. [1997] 3 SCR 3</a> at
para.101)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The legislative body
needs this legal protection or immunity to perform its function and to defend
and vindicate its authority and dignity. The Members of the legislative
body enjoy these rights and immunities because the legislature cannot act or
perform without the unimpeded use of the services of its Members. (Maingot,
Joseph. <i>Parliamentary Privilege in Canada</i>. 2d ed. (House of
Commons and McGill-Queens University Press, 1997) at 12)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In issuing the Barring Notice, the Legislature of New Brunswick has
taken an expansive view of its constitutional privilege. However, the exercise of a power as draconian
as excluding a voting citizen from the House of Assembly must be carefully
crafted to remain consistent with the authority granted by the unwritten
principles on which it is based. AS
stated by the Supreme Court of Canada in the <a href="http://canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1993/1993canlii153/1993canlii153.html">New
Brunswick Broadcasting Co. v. Nova Scotia (Speaker of the House of Assembly),
[1993] 1 SCR 319</a>):</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I conclude that the
exercise of their inherent privileges by members of the Nova Scotia House of
Assembly is not subject to <a href="http://canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/schedule-b-to-the-canada-act-1982-uk-1982-c-11/latest/schedule-b-to-the-canada-act-1982-uk-1982-c-11.html"><i>Charter</i></a>
review....It should be noted here that this does not mean that the members of
legislative assemblies can exercise parliamentary privileges with absolute
immunity. First, the courts can still
review the validity of claims of privilege to the same degree they have always
done. That is, they can pronounce upon
the existence or extent of a particular privilege. Second, even if the members are not
accountable to the judiciary with respect to the exercise of parliamentary
privileges, they are, obviously, still accountable to the electorate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The interpretation and adaptation to modern realities of unwritten
constitutional principles is a subtle task with many possible pitfalls. Without attempting to be exhaustive or
claiming to be learned in the matter, a few potential problems come to mind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The power resides in the Legislative Assembly, not in the Government. It is exercised by the Speaker on behalf of
the Legislature. It is my understanding
that the Speaker does not consult the Assembly, but follows the recommendation
of the Legislative Administration Committee.
On the surface, this seems to be a reasonable means by which the
Legislature can act through a representative, namely, the Speaker.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">However, the Speaker did not himself issue the Barring Notice. That was apparently done by Sergeant-at-Arms Dan
Bussières. This apparently minor act of delegation
or sub-delegation of authority may be excusable as merely administrative in
nature, although it would be far preferable from the point of view of a
concerned observer that the authority of the Speaker himself appeared on an
official act of the Legislature, particularly where an arcane and exceptional parliamentary
privilege is being exercised.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">A real problem presents itself where the Barring Notice goes beyond a
mere ban and invests wide discretion in the Sergeant-at-Arms in the invocation
and enforcement of the ban. Such
delegation of a constitutional power may itself invalidate the Barring Notice
and will certainly bring into question the particular events that led up to the
arrest of Charles on May 16.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The issue of delegation of such important discretion is coloured by
the many contextual aspects of the Barring Notice that have been
questioned. The Legislature claims the privilege
of secrecy in the issuance of the Barring Notice, yet has from time to time
issued various explanations none of which amounts to support for a clear
principle which would justify the permanent exclusion of a citizen from the
Legislature and the widest possible geographic territory. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The most commonly cited reason is that Charles is noisy and harasses
employees, absent any specific allegations to which Charles could respond. Is the Barring Notice merely a roundabout
means to control an alleged harasser by selectively invoking the criminal law
of trespass and assault? Unfortunately,
the Sergeant-at-arms himself has become personally and emotionally involved in
the allegations of harassment against Charles bringing into question his
impartiality in enforcing the Barring Notice on oddly timed and very infrequent
occasions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Trespass and Assault Charges</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The enforcement of the Legislative ban is contained in the closing
words of the document as follows:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">If you choose to
disregard the directives and authority of House officials, I will have no
alternative but to but to seek your removal by the police authorities from
Parliament Square grounds. Your refusal
to comply forthwith may be deemed to be an assault, contrary to and in
violation of <b>Subsection 41 (2) of the
Criminal Code of Canada</b>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Section 41 of the <i>Criminal Code</i>
reads as follows:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>41.</b>(1) Every
one who is in peaceable possession of a dwelling-house or real property, and
every one lawfully assisting him or acting under his authority, is justified in
using force to prevent any person from trespassing on the dwelling-house or
real property, or to remove a trespasser therefrom, if he uses no more force
than is necessary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(2) A trespasser who
resists an attempt by a person who is in peaceable possession of a
dwelling-house or real property, or a person lawfully assisting him or acting
under his authority to prevent his entry or to remove him, shall be deemed to
commit an assault without justification or provocation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The validity of the Barring Notice is a necessary element of
establishing that Charles is a trespasser at on the legislative precinct. Assuming that to be the case, the evidence
known to date is unlikely to support a conviction against Charles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Dan Bussières and his staff would have been well-advised to follow
scrupulously the procedure set out in the Barring Notice. Instead of giving Charles an opportunity to
leave, he was grabbed and manhandled and had to visit the hospital. That action cannot support a charge against
Charles of assault, nor could it be said that the security corps used no more
force than is necessary to remove Charles so there is a possibility that a
charge of assault could lie against them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">No evidence has or is likely to be disclosed of the Legislature
version of events. Of course, Dan
Bussières will likely have a different version of facts which will accord with
what is found to be captured on the Legislature’s video surveillance tapes. For his part, Charles’ camera was taken from
him along with any evidence it contained, a repeat of police misconduct in the
2006 Saint John arrest that was specifically disapproved by in the judicial decision
acquitting Charles:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">...from a personal
standpoint I can understand Sergeant Parks’ actions in deleting the
picture. From a legal standpoint however it is unacceptable. The
camera was never seized as evidence...legal access to the contents of the
camera would be permitted only through a search warrant. No warrant was
ever obtained by Sergeant Parks, so he had no legal right to erase a picture
from Mr. LeBlanc’s camera. <a href="http://canlii.ca/t/1q3cd">R. v.
LeBlanc, 2006 NBPC 37 (CanLII)</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Having violated Charles’ civil rights in taking his camera, assaulting
him without provocation, and arresting him without justification, it is
unlikely a Court would convict Charles for his actions at the Legislature on
May 16.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Conflicts of Interest ad Bad
Faith</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">A troubling aspect of the latest action against Charles Leblanc arises
from questions about the ability of all key figures to act impartially in
executing their constitutional responsibilities. Perceptions of conflict of interest and bad
faith are greatly exacerbated by circumstances: the timing of this action immediately after
the Attorney General concluded the ill-conceived
Fredericton Police action against Charles; the close relationship between the
Legislature security corps and the Fredericton Police together with evident
coordination of roles in accosting and arresting Charles; and the well-known
personal antagonism between Charles and Dan Bussières.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The actions of Dan Bussières in this matter place the Attorney General
and the Premier in an untenable position.
They have already issued lukewarm affirmations that the Fredericton
Police’s criminal libel actions require close, impartial scrutiny by a
provincially appointed inquiry. Can
members of the Legislature honestly pretend that this current action is
distinguishable in its malevolent intent?
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Hopefully, they will not attempt to emulate Mayor Brad Woodside who disingenuously
and inaccurately disclaimed any responsibility for the actions of his Chief of
Police. By a similar stratagem, Blais
and Alward could invoke the constitutional distinction between the Legislative
Assembly and the Government, and disclaim formal authority over The Legislative
ban and resulting fiasco on May 16. The
catch is that both are leading members of a majority government, and influential
members of the Legislative Assembly. The
proposition that political leaders who purport to effectively govern the Province
are incapable of crafting a more practical, flexible solution other than resort
to a criminal process fraught with constitutional difficulties challenges our
confidence in the delicate balance that characterizes our system of government.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">If they do not, Blais will have a more difficult decision as she is
responsible for the administration of justice in the Province while also being
a member of the Legislative Assembly. Can Blais in her role as Attorney General of
the Province impartially decide whether to lay and prosecute charges which have
been brought against Charles by a body of which she is a member? It is difficult to conceive how the
Attorney-General can escape this conflict of interest or resort to an available
alternative solution.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The practical reality is that constitutional principles which govern
the delicate internal balances of our form of government are ill-suited to
adjudicate disputes which import wholesale complexities of contested facts,
conflicting principles and questions of motive, all of which figure prominently
here. Adjudication of such matters in a
criminal court proceeding would become an absurdity, giving short shrift to
important matters of state in the interstices of adjudicating minute factual
issues relating to the liberty of a citizen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Political Considerations</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Concerted official actions against individuals who have not actually
committed a wrong seldom fuel the public respect for their public
officials. The most significant
consequence of the Legislature action, as was the case with the previous City
action, is the political fallout for New Brunswick politicians and officials.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Charles Leblanc is no saint. He
can be self-serving, loud, crude and pushy.
However, he has never during the time period in question been credibly
accused of any action that would merit legal sanction. This is the weak point in the Legislature’s
campaign since 2006. It has taken refuge
behind an obscure constitutional immunity to avoid stating a case. Instead of articulating clear, comprehensible
grounds for the ban, it has resorted to generalizations, innuendo and rumour,
hardly an approach calculated to reassure the public.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">On the other side of the equation, Charles is a capable and committed
amateur journalist. He has recorded
thousands of interviews with public officials, including most members of the
legislature over several years. All of
his interviews are readily available for public viewing and are widely
viewed. Charles’ interviews are
typically civil, relevant and revealing, often probing into controversial
issues. A great many citizens of
Fredericton and elsewhere watch Charles’ blog for breaking news not available
anywhere, including the police, politicians and mainstream media.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The persistent and obvious irony in all of Charles’ dealings with
enforcement officials is that he can only benefit from the attention. To lose face in the court of public opinion,
Charles would have to be seen to commit a wrong that substantially exceeded the
official wrongs perpetrated against him, an outcome he has avoided to date.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The big losers in this court are the well-paid staff including Sergeant-at-arms
Dan Bussières, Legislature Clerk Loredana Catalli Sonier, Constable Fred
L’Oiseau and Police Chief Barry MacKnight.
All are at risk of being perceived of one or more of the following: conspiring
on a bungled scheme to get rid of a troublesome pest once and for all; acting
in furtherance of a private interest rather than the public interest; failing
to discharge their duties to act impartially in the public interest; trying to
use black letter law for a purpose that was never intended; and consequently
being unfit for the important official positions they hold.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Charles’ role in as a vocal critic of successive government agendas leads
to an unsettling suspicion. Almost
universally MLAs and Ministers appear to embrace encounters with Charles and
even to like him, but do they? One may
wonder if it was the politicians who secretly wanted Charles permanently
silenced all along, accepting the ban in their name while the staff took the
heat. The continuation of the ban, and
the latest proceedings that have been put in motion, can only further lessen any
remaining fragments of public trust in our elected representatives.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">An appropriate political response to the legislative ban was
articulated by MLA Abel Leblanc who stated:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Specifically barring
someone from the legislature is totally, totally wrong as far as I am
concerned. I am here. I got elected by the people and you know he’s a person.
If he comes here and asks me for anything, I do it for him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Government of New Brunswick should realize that it is not in the
public interest, nor in keeping with modern reality, to ban from the
Legislature citizen journalists who serve a valid public need in reporting and
questioning the workings of the house of assembly where very few bother to
venture. The Legislature is not so solemn,
nor so riveting, that it cannot handle a greater range of normal human
behaviour than now seems to be tolerated in the ranks of visitors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Attorney General should put an immediate end to this destructive
cycle and revert to the plan to investigate the controversial issues
surrounding the activities of Charles Leblanc by a public inquiry. Such a body would be a far more appropriate
venue to delve into the thicket of issues brought about by modern technology
and a pressing need to revitalize our democratic institutions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">This issue has festered for six years.
The invocation of the Legislative privilege against a law-abiding
citizen, who exercises his constitutional right to participate in the
democratic process as fully and enthusiastically as does Charles Leblanc, is
repugnant to democracy. The constitution
is in place for the protection of the people against arbitrary actions of
government. The aggressive use of an
obscure constitutional provision to exclude Charles from the legislative
precinct taints rather than protects the dignity of the Legislative Assembly, a
result directly contrary to the rationale for the privilege.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">*******************************************************</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NL08de_Q81s?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The message here is politicians have to stop lying, and police have to stop lying and brutalizing the people.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /> </span></div>Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4660772143486485464.post-47518629700759590472012-05-23T10:09:00.003-03:002012-06-06T12:11:14.496-03:00Charest's Recipe for Revolution<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> If you aren't in Quebec, or following this on twitter, you probably aren't getting a balanced picture of what is going on there. This is from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/daniel-weinstock/an-open-letter-to-english-canadians-who-might-be-feeling-that-quebeckers-have-ta/10150823985187322" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<b>An open letter to my English-Canadian friends. Please circulate in your networks as you see fit.</b><br />
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You may have heard that there has been some turmoil in Quebec in recent
weeks. There have been demonstrations in the streets of Montreal every
night for almost a month now, and a massive demonstration will be
happening tomorrow, which I will be attending, along with my wife,
Elizabeth Elbourne, and my eldest daughter Emma.</b><br />
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<b>Reading
the Anglo-Canadian press, it strikes me that you have been getting a
very fragmented and biased picture of what is going on. Given the gulf
that has already emerged between Quebec and the rest of Canada in the
wake of the 2011 election, it is important that the issues under
discussion here at least be represented clearly. You may decide at the
end of the day that we are crazy, but at least you should reach that
decision on the basis of the facts, rather than of the distortions that
have been served up by the G&M and other outlets.</b></div>
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First,
the matter of the tuition hikes, which touched off this mess. The rest
of the country seems to have reached the conclusion that the students
are spoiled, selfish brats, who would still be paying the lowest tuition
fees even if the whole of the proposed increase went through.</b></div>
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The
first thing to say is that this is an odd conception of selfishness.
Students have been sticking with the strikes even knowing that they may
suffer deleterious consequences, both financial and academic. They have
been marching every night despite the threat of beatings, tear-gas,
rubber bullets, and arrests. It is, of course, easier for the right-wing
media to dismiss them if they can be portrayed as selfish kids to whom
no -one has ever said "no". But there is clearly an issue of principle
here.</b></div>
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OK, then. But maybe the principle is the wrong one. Free
tuition may just be a pie-in-the sky idea that mature people give up on
when they put away childish things. And besides, why should other
people pay for the students' "free" tuition? There is no such thing as
"free" education. Someone, somewhere, has to pay. And the students, the
criticism continues, are simply refusing to pay their "fair share".</b></div>
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Why
is that criticism simplistic? Because the students' claim has never
been that they should not pay for education. The question is whether
they should do so up front, before they have income, or later, as
taxpayers in a progressive taxation scheme. Another question has to do
with the degree to which Universities should be funded by everyone, or
primarily by those who attend them. So the issue of how to fund
Universities justly is complicated. We have to figure out at what point
in people's lives they should be paying for their education, and we
also have to figure out how much of the bill should be footed by those
who do not attend, but who benefit from a University-educated work
force of doctors, lawyers, etc. The students' answer to this question
may not be the best, but then it does not strike me that the
government's is all that thought out either.</b></div>
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And at least the
students have been trying to make ARGUMENTS and to engage the
government and the rest of society in debate, whereas the government's
attitude, other than to invoke the in-this-context-meaningless
"everyone pays their faire share" argument like a mantra, has been to
say "Shut up, and obey".</b></div>
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What strikes the balance in the
students' favour in the Quebec context is that the ideal of no up-front
financial hurdles to University access is enshrined in some of the
most foundational documents of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, in particular
the Parent Commission Report, which wrested control of schools from
the Church and created the modern Quebec education system, a
cornerstone of the kind of society that many Quebeckers see themselves
as aspiring to. Now, it could be that that ideal is no longer viable,
or that we may no longer want to subscribe to it. But moving away from
it, as Charest's measures have done, at least requires a debate,
analogous to the debate that would have to be had if the Feds proposed
to scrap the Canada Health Act. It is clearly not just an
administrative measure. It is political through and through. Indeed it
strikes at fundamental questions about the kind of society we want to
live in. If this isn't the sort of thing that requires democratic
debate, I don't know what is.</b></div>
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The government has met the very
reasonable request that this issue, and broader issues of University
governance, be at least addressed in some suitably open and democratic
manner with silence, then derision, then injunctions, and now, with the
most odious "law" that I have seen voted by the Quebec National
Assembly in my adult memory. It places the right of all Quebec citizens
to assemble, but also to talk and discuss about these issues, under
severe limitations. It includes that most odious of categories: crimes
of omission, as in, you can get fined for omitting to attempt to
prevent someone from taking part in an act judged illegal by the law.
In principle, the simple wearing of the by-now iconic red square can be
subject to a fine. The government has also made the student leaders
absurdly and ruinously responsible for any action that is ostensibly
carried out under the banners of their organizations. The students
groups can be fined $125000 whenever someone claiming to be "part" of
the movement throws a rock through a window. And so on. It is truly a
thing to behold.</b></div>
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The government is clearly aware that this "law"
would not withstand a millisecond of Charter scrutiny. It actually
expires in July 2013, well before challenges could actually wind their
way through the Courts. The intention is thus clearly just to bring down
the hammer on this particular movement by using methods that the
government knows to be contrary to basic liberal-democratic rule-of-law
principles. The cynicism is jaw-dropping. It is beneath contempt for
the government to play fast and loose with our civil rights and
liberties in order to deal with the results of its own abject failure
to govern.</b><b>So that is why tomorrow I
will be taking a walk in downtown Montreal with (hopefully!) hundreds
of thousands of my fellow citizens. Again, you are all free to
disagree, but at least don't let it be because of the completely
distorted picture of what is going on here that you have been getting
from media outlets, including some from which we might have expected
more.</b><br />
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<b>Daniel</b></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> It seems the practice of illegal government action is catching on. Obviously, there are some sharp lawyers advising these governments on ways to ignore the constitution by building in an escape hatch down the road so they end up never facing Court sanction. Sounds like a recipe for a revolution.</span></div>
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<br />Peter Dauphineehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10136745532002071705noreply@blogger.com0