Editor’s Notes

Something to think about.

More hypocrisy among the minority in power is revealed in the story about how the Conservatives are looking the other way in the face of evidence that Brian Mulroney not only accepted at least $300,000 in bribes but also perjured himself to boot. By reading you’ll be brought up to speed and will be able to keep up as the gold hits the fan.

Gloria Steinem, feminist renowned, shows her distaste in The New York Times, for the repeatedly media-posed question as to whom she would support for president, Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama. Is America ready for a president who is a white woman or who is a black male? She thinks this is a dumb question and she ably tells us why.

Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retail company, that has no trouble making nice with the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese unions, continues to fight the largest sex discrimination case in U.S. history. In a split 2-1 verdict, the appeals court in San Francisco upheld a bid by seven women to confer class-action status to their action against Wal-Mart, which stands accused of gender bias in pay and promotions. The case is estimated to cover more than 1,5 million women, including current and former employees at Wal-Mart.

Yulia Latynina is Russia’s Maureen Dowd. Or, to be fair, Maureen Dowd is America’s Yulia Latynina. Latynina hosts a political talk show on Moscow’s Ekho Moskvy radio and from time to time appears as a guest columnist in The Moscow Times, a division of The New York Times. Dowd is a regular columnist in The New York Times. Both are a pleasure to read because of their ability to penetrate political smokescreens and to deliver it to us in a way that encourages our faith in humanity. In this issue we have a piece by Latynina advising us that her President Vladimir Putin and the West have different concepts of democracy.

The United States of America has much of which to be proud. I’ve never taken to Yankee bashing. I think of myself as a militant Canadian, not a Canadian nationalist. I don’t take kindly to making nasty about my next-door neighbour. And so it is with critical despair I watch that spoiled brat who stole the conch drag my neighbour deeper and deeper into his stupid war. While George W. has pushed his country into the proverbial quagmire of Iraq, the Chinese are making hay in Africa (not to mention South America and elsewhere). In this issue we have a brief report about Chinese President Hu on an eight-nation tour of Africa, building economic, political, and cultural ties, while a second account provides background on China posturing as the protector of the repressed citizens of Africa. What an embarrassment for Americans who for so long considered themselves as the leading light of progress. The stubborn little boy with his real life toys has brought shame upon his country from which it will take a long time to recover

See you tomorrow. Meanwhile, take it easy, but take it.

Looking forward

Carl Dow

Editor and Publisher.