Friday 24 September 2010
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Brandy Young stands with her daughter after they were evicted from their apartment in Miami. (Photo detail from Getty Images/Joe Raedle.)
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17 September 2010 — The maddening thing about Beltway political culture is not its oft-maligned partisan divide, but rather its ever-present consensus that tomorrow will be better, when all evidence points to the contrary. American families have been spiraling in a steady and quickening economic decline for years, a devolution that did not begin with this recession and will not soon end without massive and sustained intervention. That hard truth is as plain as the troubling reality that few in Washington are prepared to face it.
Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau released data showing record-breaking poverty in 2009: Nearly 44 million Americans lived below the poverty line; that’s more than the Census Bureau has logged in the 51 years it has kept track. This may have been the year’s least surprising headline—such numbers grow from our political choices just as surely as night follows day.
Marching boldly into the 1990s
Mounties to recruit women and minorities
These benchmarks amount to a near doubling, tripling and quintupling of the respective categories of cadets recruited last year. Figures show that, under less ambitious employment-equity goals then, the RCMP graduated classes that were 17 per cent women, 7 per cent visible minorities and 2 per cent aboriginal.
— Read the full story at The Globe and Mail, 608 words.| Our readers write |
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Alberte did it!
"I can do it!", she said. And she did it! Another fine article by Alberte Villeneuve-Sinclair, inviting parents to take the time to really observe and see their children as unique individuals, with their own talents and their own limits. Well done, Grandma! Of course, children don't come with an instruction manual. Raising children is a challenge. But if parents communicate and understand each child's unique temperament, special strengths and weaknesses... and if the parents have had similar-minded parents ... usually the children turn out well and are well equipped to put their talents and special aptitudes to good use in ways that make their grandparents real proud. A University of Ottawa psychologist used to say, "It's often the parents who create problems; it's not the children themselves." As a father of four and grandfather of eight, I must say my children have done well and my grandchildren are on the right path to success. We're proud of them and it's really fun, Alberte! |
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Dismissing the MPs as a bunch of ill mannered school children is way too easy
From my first days reporting from Parliament back in 1975, QP, as it’s known on the Hill, has never lived up to the hype. At some point, I began calling it Questionable Period.
— Read more inside, 729 words.
"To me this is home, I feel I belong here. There is no words for saying what I feel inside about this place. I just don't want to see it disturbed," says Johnny.
Galileo's dream takes flight
23 September 2010, TORONTO — Humanity spent centuries trying to fly like birds with flapping wings before finally developing the technologies needed to soar with balloons and then taking to the air with gas-powered, fixed-wing aircraft.
Now, as if flying full circle, a human-powered aircraft that flies using flapping wings has been invented.
On Sept. 21, the hotel dispute escalated as the union called for a customer boycott against the Vancouver Hyatt Regency.
Spirit Quest
'Go into the world with a daring and tender love.
The world is waiting for you'
The smoking gun on the Athabasca River: deformed fish
At the University of Alberta in a room packed with nearly 100 reporters and onlookers, David Schindler, one of the world's most celebrated water ecologists, explained that he had never seen so many deformed fish from one region in his long career as a freshwater scientist except on polluted rivers feeding the Great Lakes nearly 30 years ago.
24 September 2010 — This was on the list of places the hotel provided and after seeking some reviews it seemed like a good bet.
Arriving about 7:20 pm I was greeted/accosted by a server by the door. After perusing the posted menu outside I entered and was the first patron of the evening with all of the staff waiting. I chose a seat facing the door by a wall in the middle of the room. There were no fish dishes that appealed to me so I chose a hot appetizer and the Salade Perigourdine, imagining that I might try one of the desserts that reviewers had raved about. — Read the full story inside, 805 words.
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In case you missed it ... and always worth repeating Let's say that news throughout human time has been free. Take that time when Ugh Wayne went over to the cave of Mugh Payne with news that the chief of his group had broken a leg while chasing his laughing wife around the fire. That news was given freely and received as such with much knowing smiles and smirks to say nothing of grunts of approval or disapproval. — 688 words. |
22 September 2010 — As students in Canada’s post-secondary institutions settle into the new academic year, a new report from the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) shows that many of them are taking on higher debt-loads than in the past.
“Tallying the Costs of Post-secondary Education: The Challenge of Managing Student Debt and Loan Repayment in Canada” delves into the current state of the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) and examines the impact it is having on the present and future lives of Canadian students. Between 1990 and 2000, the average debt for a university graduate more than doubled. By 2009, the average debt for university graduates was $26,680, while the average for college graduates was $13,600.
This rise in debt-loads coincides with recent news that the CSLP had for the first time reached its maximum level of $15 billion, requiring further allocation of funds. — Read the full story at the Canadian Council on Learning, 449 words.
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If you have any problems with accessing True North Perspective or problems with your computer, send an email to Carl Hall, chall2k5@gmail.com. He will be more than happy to assist you. |
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By Stephen Zunes
TruthOut.org
September 24, 2010 — The Pentagon has announced a $60 billion arms package to the repressive family dictatorship in Saudi Arabia, the largest arms sale of its kind in history. Rejecting the broad consensus of arms control advocates that the Middle East is too militarized already and that the Saudis already possess military capabilities well in excess of their legitimate security needs, the Obama administration is effectively insisting that this volatile region does not yet have enough armaments and that the United States must send even more. According to reports, Washington is planning to sell 84 new F-15 fighters and three types of helicopters: 72 Black Hawks, 70 Apaches and 36 Little Birds. There are also reports of naval missile-defense upgrades in the works. — Read the full story at TruthOut.org, 1,419 words. |
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By T. Christian Miller
ProPublica.org
September 23, 2010 — More private contractors than soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent months, the first time in history that corporate casualties have outweighed military losses on America’s battlefields.
More than 250 civilians working under U.S. contracts died in the war zones between January and June 2010, according to a ProPublica analysis of the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Labor, which tracks contractor deaths. In the same period, 235 soldiers died, according to Pentagon figures. This milestone in the privatization of modern U.S. warfare reflects both the drawdown in military forces in Iraq and the central role of contractors in providing logistics support to local armies and police forces, contracting and military experts said. — Read the full story at ProPublica.org, 765 words. |
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By Robert Reich
RobertReich.org
September 24, 2010 — The super-rich got even wealthier this year, and yet most of them are paying even fewer taxes to support the eduction, job training, and job creation of the rest of us. According to Forbes magazine’s annual survey, just released, the combined net worth of the 400 richest Americans climbed 8% this year, to $1.37 trillion. Wealth rose for 217 members of the list, while 85 saw a decline. For example, Charles and David Koch, the energy magnates who are pouring vast sums of money into Republican coffers and sponsoring tea partiers all over America, each gained $5.5 billion of wealth over the past year. Each is now worth $21.5 billion. Wall Street continued to dominate the list; 109 of the richest 400 are in finance or investments. — Read the full story at Robert Reich's Blog, 353 words. |
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By
— Venezuelans once again go to the polls Sunday 26 September.
Venezuelans vote on Sunday for the South American nation's 165-seat National Assembly – its national parliament. This is the 16th national election or referenda since Chávez was first elected President in 1998. Venezuela’s last election was a referendum on the right of the President to stand again on 15 February 2009. This was endorsed by 54% of the electorate, against 46% opposing the measure. Sunday’s election is the first to take place against the backdrop of a recession in Venezuela, which has been hit hard by the world recession as have many other countries. — Read the full story at Venezuelanalysis.com, 2,222 words. |
17 September 2010 — As election day approaches in Venezuela (Sunday, 26 September), the international media have increased negative coverage of the South American nation. CNN applauds terrorism against Venezuela, while Fox News accuses the Chavez government of terrorism
The bombardment of negative, false, distorted and manipulated news about Venezuela in U.S. media has increased in volume and intensity during the last few days. Venezuela is subjected to this phenomenon every time an electoral process nears. This international media campaign against the government of Hugo Chavez appears to have a clear and coordinated objective: removing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez from power.
During the last eight years, those pursuing this same objective have promoted, and attempted to justify, coup d’etats, economic sabotages, terrorist acts, assassination attempts, electoral interventions, psychological warfare and a disproportionate increase in U.S. military presence in the region – all with the goal of ousting President Chavez. And to achieve this objective – which every year seems attainable to the powers that be – millions and millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are channeled by U.S. agencies into political parties, campaigns, candidates and organizations that oppose Chavez.
Northumbria Police said that they had detained two men on September 15 and four more on Wednesday, adding that all of them had been bailed pending further inquiries.
"The arrests followed the burning of what are believed to have been two Korans in Gateshead on September 11," a spokesman said, referring to a town in the Newcastle conurbation.
"The incident was recorded and a video placed on the Internet."
The YouTube video shows a group of masked men shouting "September 11, International Burn a Koran Day" and "This is for the boys in Afghanistan" before pouring petrol on what they claim are two copies of Islam's holy book. — Read the full article at RawStory.org, 306 words.
Agence France-Presse
A few hours after the September 11 attacks in 2001, then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld spoke of attacking Iraq as well as Osama bin Laden, according to notes of a meeting on that day, newly declassified papers show.
Rumsfeld told a Pentagon lawyer to go to his deputy to get "support" showing a supposed link between the Iraqi regime and Al-Qaeda's founder, according to the papers posted by the Washington-based National Security Archive, an independent research institute.
The US government has since acknowledged that Saddam's regime had no role in the 9/11 attacks. — Read the full article at RawStory.com, 558 words.
Yet, despite the danger, the nation can’t seem to move in a positive direction, as if the suctioning effect of endless spin, half-truths and lies holds the populace in place, a force that grows ever more powerful like quicksand sucking the country deeper into the muck – to waist deep, then neck deep.
Trapped in the mud, millions of Americans are complaining about their loss of economic status, their sense of powerlessness, their nation’s decline. But instead of examining how the country stumbled into this morass, many still choose not to face reality.
Instead of seeking paths to the firmer ground of a reality-based world, people from different parts of the political spectrum have decided to embrace unreality even more, either cynically as a way to delegitimize a political opponent or because they’ve simply become addicted to the crazy.
'The spectacle of high-income Americans, the world’s luckiest people, wallowing in self-pity and self-righteousness would be funny, except for one thing: they may well get their way.'
No, I’m not talking about the Tea Partiers. I’m talking about the rich.
These are terrible times for many people in this country. Poverty, especially acute poverty, has soared in the economic slump; millions of people have lost their homes. Young people can’t find jobs; laid-off 50-somethings fear that they’ll never work again.
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Experts urge caution for pregnant women and young children
Despite claims from President Barack Obama and federal officials that Gulf seafood is safe and poses no long-term health risks, no testing for heavy metals is occurring in fish or shellfish in areas that have been reopened to commercial and recreational fishing. Both National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials told Raw Story that fish and shellfish being tested for the purpose of reopening waters to commercial and recreational fishing are not being tested for heavy metals. — Read the full story, 710 words. |
By Brad Jacobson
23 September 2010 — Three out of four Americans will be overweight or obese by 2020, and disease rates and health care spending will balloon, unless governments, individuals and industry cooperate on a comprehensive strategy to combat the epidemic, the study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.
The Paris-based organization, which brings together 33 of the world's leading economies, is better known for forecasting deficit and employment levels than for measuring waistlines. But the economic cost of excess weight — in health care, and in lives cut short and resources wasted — is a growing concern for many governments.
Franco Sassi, the OECD senior health economist who authored the report, blamed the usual suspects for the increase.
— Read the full article at RawStory.com, 490 words.|
TerraDaily.com
19 September 2010, BEIJING — When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett visit Beijing this month in a drive to promote philanthropy among China's super-rich, one person they won't need to convince is Chen Guangbiao.
The demolition company tycoon pledged this month to give his fortune — estimated at more than 700 million dollars — to charity after he dies and says more than 100 other rich Chinese had since contacted him to promise the same. — Read the full article at Terra Daily, 657 words. |
October 2010 edition — From its source high in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River channels water south nearly 1,500 miles, over falls, through deserts and canyons, to the lush wetlands of a vast delta in Mexico and into the Gulf of California.
Then, beginning in the 1920s, Western states began divvying up the Colorado’s water, building dams and diverting the flow hundreds of miles, to Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and other fast-growing cities. The river now serves 30 million people in seven U.S. states and Mexico, with 70 percent or more of its water siphoned off to irrigate 3.5 million acres of cropland.
— Read the full story at the Smithsonian, words.______
21 September 2010, BONN, Germany — During the collision of India with the Eurasian continent, the Indian plate is pushed about 500 kilometers under Tibet, reaching a depth of 250 kilometers. The result of this largest collision in the world is the world's highest mountain range, but the tsunami in the Indian Ocean from 2004 was also created by earthquakes generated by this collision.
The clash of the two continents is very complex, the Indian plate, for example, is compressed where it collides with the very rigid plate of the Tarim Basin at the north-western edge of Tibet. On the eastern edge of Tibet, the Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008 claimed over 70,000 deaths.
The researchers examined data from a previous clinical trial that followed 200 women over a 12-week period. Fifty of those women, ages 35-55, were randomly chosen to receive a placebo instead of a drug treatment for low sexual arousal.
— Read the full article at the University of Texas, Austin's website, 351 words.
24 September 2010 — Cuba's communist leaders began laying out the details of their drive to create more free enterprise on the island on Friday, mapping out a brave new world of bosses and employees, personal accountants and a dizzying number of small-time businesses.
The plans — laid out in a three-page spread in the Communist Party-daily Granma — follow last week's announcement that the government will lay off 500,000 workers by the end of March, the biggest change in this country's economic system since the early 1990s.
For the first time, Cubans in 83 private activities will be allowed to employ people other than their relatives. The Central Bank is even studying ways to get small loans into the hands of the country's new entrepreneurs, according to the newspaper, which cited Economy Minister Marino Murillo Jorge and a vice-minister of labor and social security, Admi Valhuerdi Cepero.
— Read the full article at RawStory.com, 818 words.
21 September 2010 — The year before England won the 1966 World Cup, I interviewed its captain, Bobby Moore. Having not long arrived from the antipodes, where "soccer" was a minority sport beloved by Italians and Croats, I did not have a clue about the game. Nevertheless I had been assigned to write a "human interest" piece on the West Ham star by the same convivial assistant editor who had hired me believing I could play cricket, because I was Australian, and so assist the Daily Mirror team in its grudge match against the Express. I could swim and row and had done time in a rugby scrum, but cricket, no. (He forgave me).
I met Moore outside West Ham tube station, and we walked round the corner to a greasy spoon that was filled with Woodbine fug. People beamed and shook his hand, reinforcing my impression of a gracious, modest man. Here was a star in every sense - talent, looks, fame - and yet he seemed genuinely surprised by the fuss. In the queue for tea and coffee, he patiently engaged an elderly fan who was hard of hearing. When I unwisely feigned knowledge of the game, he let me down gently. As we parted, he said, "Look, this is a bit embarrassing, but I've got this agent and he's asked me to ask for 50 quid for the interview." I said I would pass it on to my editor; I don't know if he was paid, and I doubt if he cared.— Read the full story inside, 990 words.
In case you missed it ...
The Old Man's Last Sauna
A collection of short stories by Carl Dow
An eclectic collection of short stories that will stir your sense of humour, warm your heart, outrage your sense of justice, and chill your extra sensory faculties in the spirit of Stephen King. The final short story, the collection's namesake, The Old Man's Last Sauna is a ground-breaking love story.
The series begins with Deo Volente (God Willing). Followed by The Quintessence of Mr. Flynn, Sharing Lies, Flying High, The Richest Bitch in the Country or Ginny I Hardly Knows Ya, One Lift Too Many, The Model A Ford, the out-of-body chiller, Room For One Only and O Ernie! ... What Have They Done To You! The series closes with the collection's namesake, The Old Man's Last Sauna, a groundbreaking love story. All stories may also be found in the True North Perspective Archives.
