The Way It Can Be

Saturday, November 05, 2011

The Way Out of Shadow Banks by Louis Evan Palmer

Various individuals in various financial institutions decided they wanted to make a lot of money and that the traditional means of doing that in banking, for example by taking deposits and making loans, was not good enough. So they stepped out of the normal regulated banking system and setup their own unregulated shadow banking system. This presented society with a rigged system in that we have ineffective governance over an increasingly large segment of financial transactions and the associated dollar value.

It seems that the biggest thing going on was selling an asset (like a house) a number of times. It might have looked different but it was the same house, or fraction of that house, being sold and resold. Some of the purchasers might have thought their piece of paper or electronic entry in a broker's system was an asset but they found out differently when the house of cards started to collapse. It was revealed to be nothing more than a chain of liens where only the lien that had an actual claim on the asset was worth anything and that value held up only as long as the asset held up. If you sold the same house ten times to ten different people you would be charged with fraud. If you package it up in obscure financial jargon and do the same thing, you're a genius and you get very rich.

Off-book shadow banking should be taxed as speculation. The funds should be strictly segregated from normal banking monies. A hit in the shadow bank should not affect normal banking. It must be easy and transparent to see the shadow bank transactions and to highlight the demarcation between it and normal banking. The place in the queue for the shadow banks must be at the rear. Everyone else gets paid before the shadow bank does. Their claims can be nullified and repudiated within the regular bankruptcy process. Things like an ABS, CDO, MBS or SLO are last in line and likely to have no payout if there are problems.

Trying to bring the shadow banks into the fold of normal banking is a mistake. The main function of shadow banks is facilitate excessive leverage and casino captialism. They are a sophisticated fraud that has to be stamped out through taxation, regulation and no payouts during any bankruptcy process.

The Way Out of Shadow Banks, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Diefenbaker Sanction by Louis Evan Palmer

The federal Conservative Party of Canada displays a dangerously dogmatic, even zealous, streak in dealing with people and programs with which it does not agree. Its tack is not only to deal with it in the here and now but to eliminate it from any potential future as well. Let's call it the Diefenbaker Sanction after the notorious 1958 cancellation of the Avro Arrow project. Not only was the project cancelled but the prototypes, production plane and line were destroyed along with the blueprints and technical data. There was such a rush to destroy the program that some workers almost risked injury or death applying acetylene torches to the planes. They quickly reassessed their approach and the planes were sawn apart. However, the production lines were cut apart with the acetylene torches. The Conservatives of the day denied it later but here we are again in 2011 with the Long Gun Registry and they are not only stopping the program but destroying all the data. Doesn't it smack of the Avro Arrow. Canada must keep the Conservatives away from substantive power because they will end up destroying anything they ideologically determine is the enemy.

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Support his art, ideas and worldview, Order books by Louis Evan Palmer: the novel "Oaklane Woods"; short stories "Tales Told to a Tree"; poems "40 Poem Fragments". Order via Kindle link below or at right of screen

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Saturday, October 15, 2011

OCCUPY - This is only the beginning! by Louis Evan Palmer

Pendulums swing and injustice occurs at each extreme of those swings. The OCCUPY crescendo that is building around the world is the result of everything evil that's happened and is still in the world over the last few decades. The evil deeds and the cover ups; the lies and the deliberate obfuscation; the thefts and killings and wars. People have been getting sicker of it every year and now the vast financial boondoggles in the guise of unrelenting crises has set it afire. People are burning with indignation and rage. We are facing a society and world where the practice and furtherance of fundamental liberties and freedoms is under threat when anything substantial is involved - anything beyond fluff and celebrity gossip or the party line. People don't want change, they want justice in all spheres and regions. Where justice is doing the right thing: Social justice. Financial & Fiscal justice. Criminal & Corporate justice. Environmental justice.

People are sick of it all: sick of the misguided prohibition-like war on drugs (especially where it's clear governments are involved and profiting); sick of illegitimate wars around the world by all sides; sick of government assassinations, torturing and show trials; sick of the bought-and-sold mass media that trumpets this and then that propaganda to further corporatist and government goals of enormous profits for the few; sick of stealing from the poor to give to the rich; sick of the wars on dissent.

The vile frankenstein fascist-lite capitalism we have now serves only its government and corporate masters and their lackeys. It was never free or open. It is only now when a few more larcenous greedsters were trying to crash the 1%'s gluttonous party that it finally and irrevocably woke up the 99% to the ongoing theft. But the malaise was already there and it was deep and widespread. It will not be a flash in the pan; this is only the beginning; expect us.

OCCUPY - This is only the beginning!, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

Support his art, ideas and worldview, Order books by Louis Evan Palmer:

the novel "Oaklane Woods"; short stories "Tales Told to a Tree";

poems "40 Poem Fragments" Order via Kindle link below or at right of screen

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Monday, August 01, 2011

Corporate Welfare Bums, Fascism and Public Indebtedness by Louis Evan Palmer

Fascism gets its legitimacy from the few corporations that are well-run for a period of time. These shining examples of competence and societal benefit are used to bolster arguments that companies should be allowed to run everything; that everything would be better if only.

Corporations demand loyalty yet give none in return. They are permitted, and typically assisted, in growing and hiring up to a point when they are considered successful and then greed and so-called competition "forces" them to outsource. Mainly, they are "forced" into outsourcing by a government of ex-and-wannabee-CEOs and confederates where if you allow one then you force the rest. The public shares the blame in indescrimately buying cheaper even if it hurts your own country, state and neighbourhood. Once you board the roller-coaster, you can't get off until it's over. The truth, however, learned over and over again, seemingly lost to memory each time: you can't feed your face while chopping off your limbs.

The US debt ceiling crisis has illustrated many things - that the world is hostage to American economics and politics is one lesson (we already knew). An observation - people really don't like being held hostage - there will be a huge backlash against the USA over the next few years. The Tea Party's intransigence has & will significantly harm America - as it loses its reserve status, for example - of course, they will bray that it's someone else's fault.

America's deeply flawed tax & money system is at the heart of the problem. A large percentage of US debt is owed internally - some to Americans themselves, some to banks (including foreign) as interest regarding the issuance of money. The Tea Party (and most of the Republican Party) is against tax increases but is it also against corporate welfare? Is it also against ending supposedly temporary tax breaks that rob the treasury of needed funds. Huge tax breaks. Ending a break is not an increase except in the incestuous world of American business and politics where these Orwellian logic bombs are commonplace. See Matt Taibbi's article for more: "Corporate Tax Holiday in Debt Ceiling Deal: Where's the Uproar?" http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/holiday-in-scambodia-20110720

What if outsourcing were re-classified as foreign aid? How would that alter the debate? What if selling foreign goods in a given region required jobs and facilties in that region? It would make sense economically (for that region) and environmentally - that would also stop the bidding wars for large facilities - you'd have to build there to sell there.

Another huge reason for the debt which was hardly mentioned in the recent budget debates are the various wars the US is engaged in. Immensely expensive wars that are illegitimate and unsuccessful. And the huge military outlay for numerous bases and apparatus. Are the military & intelligence branches of government even under control?

Not to mention the enormous cost of numerous covert and overt forms of economic warfare. Global supremacy doesn't come cheap and its fruits are lavish for the few and brutal for the many. The lines for conflict of interest are so blurred that straight-thinking is almost impossible. The world makes a plea that America retreats and retrenches for its own sake and the world's.

Corporate Welfare Bums, Fascism and Public Indebtedness, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Royals - Much Ado about Nothing by Louis Evan Palmer

There was a time long ago when a royal was a royal for a reason - some achievement requiring courage and guile, some extraordinary skill ... something other than being born to so-and-so. And even for those who were just born into it, there was an expectation that they would be contributing and leading as soon as practical. They would be performing important government functions (qualified or not) or missions or leading actual armies or navies into battle. And it was a vastly different world. Nowadays, royalty is merely ceremonial and a ceremonial position that depends solely on birth is nothing but a parasitic position.

The latest "Will & Kate" wedding and recent trip to Canada highlight this empty

charade. Neither of them has achieved anything of note. Nor has the Queen or any of

the so-called royal family. "Being" a so-called royal is the sole criteria and

then for Kate being selected to join this high-profile social and occasional

short-term "work" club.

This is leadership distilled down to a thin-shelled facade - form, finery and

social frippery. And for this, the United Kingdom and its Commonweath pay huge sums

on a continuing basis. People look up to these shells in gratitude and respect?

For what? For dressing up as if in another bygone era? For drivelling on about

"we're this" and "we're that"?

People will eventually wake up from this medieval trance and oust the monarchy

and return the people's assets back to them. Ceremonial positions based on merit

and limited in duration are acceptable and understandable and supportable. However,

positions and wealth and undue respect and deferrence due solely to birth have

no place in an equitable modern world.

The Royals - Much Ado about Nothing, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Thursday, June 30, 2011

What Chemistry can teach us about Relationships by Louis Evan Palmer

People crave analogies and like magic, they find them everywhere. Most adequate or even instructive; however, some analogies are so compelling that we base our life on them.Our tireless search for answers never stops, whether the questions are valid or not, because we have convinced ourselves that we are on a search for illumination. We turn here and there, this way and that. And now, let us turn to chemistry for guidance - turning to our understanding of the physical world as manifested in its chemistry.

The key underlying principle of these bonds, both personal and chemical - is that they are powerful over short distances but weak or non-existent over longer distances. In the personal realm, various technologies can be employed to reduce the perceived or effective distance. Communication technologies are one of the important ways of reducing the perceived distance between people.

Memory is another means of diminishing distance by increasing presence. This seems to show that the perception of presence can be a solitary experience. Or possible, that its true nature is solitary but because the perception is simultanaeous and similar, we take it as common and shared. Thus, in personal relationships, anything that increases distance decreases the strength of the relationship.

In chemistry, there are three main types of bonds with one type having two subtypes: ionic, covalent (non-polar, polar) and hydrogen bonds. To equate these to people relationships, we will look for aspects that analagous to the chemical bonds.

First, ionic: this would be a relationship that involves a person (or persons) with a low "something" bonding with a person (or persons) with a high "something". This "something" can be almost anything - money, charisma, knowledge, skill, energy, connections. In chemistry these are weak bonds. By analogy then, we would expect these type of relationships to be weak. For example, a rich man befriending a poor man; a smart woman befriending an unintelligent woman.

Next are covalent bonds which involve sharing something important - in chemistry, electrons; in relationships, something important to both partners in the bond. One type of covalent bond is non-polar while the other bond type is called polar.

In a non-polar bond, we have equal sharing. In personal relationships, this would manifest as two parties sharing something that is equivalent in value or importance (not necessarily the same). For example, two people putting in significant and equal shares of capital into a venture.

In a polar bond, we have unequal sharing. In personal relationships, this would manifest as two parties sharing something that to them is significant but is not equal in value. For example, the partner with experience and contacts and the silent partner with a large investment. This highlights the time aspect of investments in a relationship - some of the value of the bond only comes into play later but is needed from the start.

In chemistry, covalent bonds are the strongest. In relationships then, the strength of the relationship is highest where each party gives and receives something significant with the other party. This would be true whether the sharing is equal or unequal as long as its significant and needed.

The last chemical bond to consider is the hydrogen bond. Like the ionic bond, it is relatively weak. It contributes to the polarity of the bond which affects its ability to bond.

In personal relationships, this would manifest itself in the person who plays a supporting role. The person who provides necessary but peripheral bonds that enable larger bonds that could not have formed on their own. For example, the introduction or recommendation that establishes one person's bona fides with another.

If the overarching and specific analogies are valid then the strongest personal relationships involve giving and receiving something significant from another. Weaker but still important relationships consist of the bonds formed between "haves" and "have nots" and "supporting" relationships. Some of these types of relationships will occur on their own but others will require an effort and, in some cases, a conscious exchange of "something" to cement and strengthen the bonds. And, the more bonds the better for those relationships one values most.

A bond that is typically considered separately is the metallic bond. This bond is not a single bond but rather a lattice of bonds. It is collective bonding - commonly thought of chemically as a matrix of positive ions held together by an ocean of negative electrons. By analogy, in personal relationships, this would be the crowd bond - for example, cheering for a sports team, or a large crowd of political or social protesters or supporters, or a rioting mob. This collective bond can range from weak to very strong.

What Chemistry can teach us about Relationships, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright 2011 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Nortel all over again! Economic Warfare now directed at RIM by Louis Evan Palmer

Objectivity and independence are incidental bystanders in this war while deliberate campaigns of espionage, propaganda and financial maneuvering are the constant companions. Canada had better wake up to the fact that warfare, especially economic, is being waged against it and its companies.

There is no way that what happened to Nortel was natural just as there's no way that what's happening to RIM is natural. RIM was sued by an American filing cabinet company known as NTP. This tied RIM up in expensive litigation for years and resulted in an assessment of $450 million dollars in damages. This was pure out-and-out piracy and economic harassment. Then Dolby decided to try it as well. These were patent infringement suits. A so-called investors suit went public in May of this year, Who started it? Who really started it?

Anyone who has a smidgen of awareness of how intelligence agencies work will recognize the mark of the economic hit men. The CIA, NSA and other of the Amercian alphabet agencies spy full-time on their economic competitors. So do the British, French, Russian, Chinese, Israeli and others.

These operations run the gamut from simple data collection all the way to murder and huge market manipulation. CSIS should be used to investigate these type of economic actions against Canadian companies. And the results should be published and malefactors punished if possible!

For example, who are the owners and managers of NTP? What is their relationship to other high-tech communications companies, the US government, or American agencies? What about the alleged impartial analysts who are perpetually disappointed in such-and-such economic numbers? Who plays the journalists and business writers to start campaigns against this company or that. You can make money when the stock goes up and when it goes down. You can orchestrate a campaign to drive the stock price down so you can steal the company later. And its patents, its technology and staff. Or just cannibalize it and run.

RIM's numbers this quarter were good. RIM's year over year numbers could be better but then again, the whole sector is down. RIM is moving from a growth company to a legacy company. Analysts know this but are joining the feeding frenzy initiated by the few. Who's analysing which business writers are leading the charge against key companies every now and then. The ones the CIA boasted about having on every major newspaper and media outlet. Some of them are part of the ongoing economic war that's devouring entire sectors and countries. There's nothing free about the markets at the macro scale. It's out-and-out war on every front.

Where's our investigative journalists and our intelligence service? Identify and root out these attackers. Or, let the nation be picked apart for the benefit of the few and the foreign. In the meantime, hands off RIM!

Nortel all over again! Economic Warfare now directed at RIM, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http:/twicb.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright 2011 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

Sunday, June 12, 2011

The Coming Radicalism by Louis Evan Palmer

The coming radicalism will issue from the approximately half-billion baby boomers globally but especially from those in the so-called advanced world - Western Europe, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The counter-culture will re-emerge and a new disengagement philosophy will take hold based on an eco self-realization approach and new and emerging technologies that will support a vast decentralization and "groupization" - the creation, destruction, and modification of groupings for specific or broad purposes - which will start to replace parlimentary democracy with direct democracy and the allegedly free markets with truly voluntary currency and economic and exchange systems.

Although police and intelligence agencies like to define radicalism as associated with violence, it is not necessarily so, and in the early phases, definitely not. In addition, the progression, if there is one, varies among peoples, subgroups and cultures. In most instances, there is no progression.

The coming radicalism in the "First World" countries will feature a sustained drive for getting "more for less", being content with less and the formation of technology-enabled groupings based on compatible goals and approaches.

One of the key points of conflict is in the differing tangents from the status quo to a radical state or violence. If the forces of the status quo progress more quickly to violence versus the counterculture forces, then avoidable unjustifiable state violence will occur. All violence will serve to radicalize the parties involved. For some groups, this is the objective. For others, avoiding this is the objective. Of course, objectives can change over time.

The coming radicalism will studiously avoid violent confrontation and seek revolutionary change via technology-enablers and through the conscious acquisition and control of the required assets like internet networks and delivery companies.

Violence against property, which does not in turn endanger people, should not trigger a violent response. But, often, especially when other agendas are in play, they do engender violent responses from the police or other state forces. When violence against property occurs that does not, or cannot, harm people or living creatures, the state response must be non-violent. If it is not, it points to other objectives and agendas.

The coming radicalism will see massive and successful campaigns against corporations that oppose or impede the new emerging boomer world. GMOs and Nuclear Power stand prominently in the sights of the coming radicalism. Sophisticated non-violent techniques will develop to re-shape the economy and the media and the means of production.

It is beginning and my prediction is that it will be in full-view by 2020.

The Coming Radicalism, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

War as Theft by Louis Evan Palmer

It is instructive and eye-opening to view war as theft. That is, to consider that theft is its main purpose. War being more than a few armed skirmishes but not necessarily on a massive scale. As Gwyn Dyer pointed out in his book "War", long-duration low-intensity attacks can tally up to substantial losses over long spans of time like 10-20+ years. In some cases, almost permanent war.

The acquisitive side of war manifests itself in things done to avoid it like the paying of tribute or taxes or the giving of gifts or hostages or slaves or goods. It can appear as the right of passage through territory or across a river or over a mountain pass. It might seem like less than what a war victory might deliver but it would be quicker and cheaper than war and given the potential destruction of goods and people in a serious war, it's likely that there would be more wealth and property to apportion as well.

So, if we see or pursue policies that impoverish our neighbours, we should also see that this is laying the foundation for future conflict. On the other hand, we can definitely see instances where one side will deliberately engineer a confrontation with the express purpose of appropriating wealth and property and people to itself. This is why the winner in a war should not take land and people from the losing side as it denies potential aggressors a primary motive for the war.

We can thus look at a conflict like the American War for Independence as a means for colonial leaders and ambitious followers to seize British land and houses and goods. The land in turn was seized from natives who themselves over time may have dislocated others. This highlights a risk in claiming a given stretch of lands - your claim has to be reasonable and enforceable. A small band of people can't claim a vast tract of land and expect to maintain that claim uncontested. A small band of people may not be able to even hold onto a small tract of land but that leads us into the arena of jurisprudence and our attempts throughout history to substitute means other than war is settling disputes. Especially, but least successfully, regarding territory and people.

Using theft as our barometer, the wars in Iraq and Libya are attempts to steal oil. The war in Afghanistan's purpose is to steal rare elements and a right-of-way. And there are also wars to neutalize those who might stand in the way of our thefts and planned thefts. "Thou shall not steal", "Thou shall not lie" and "Thou shall not kill" are straight-forward commandments but we can't seem to follow them for any length of time.

War as Theft, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http:/twicb.blogspot.com

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Friday, April 22, 2011

Harper Lies Because He Must by Louis Evan Palmer

Harper lies because he must. If he told the truth, the unvarnished reform-national-citizens-coalition truth, he wouldn't get elected to anything. The websites below enumerate the many falsehoods uttered by Stephen Harper and his associated Harperites and useful idiots.

www.100reasons.ca

harperlies.blogspot.com

http://www.bloggingcanadians.ca/NewDemocratBlogs/LIES_THAT_STEPHEN_HARPER_TOLD_US-1/

www.harperlied.com

Does anyone care? Has it come down to fluff and puff, kissing-up to the powerful, and making examples and scapegoats of the unfortunate? Does it exhaust all our focus and intellect just to deal with miscreants? Is dealing with miscreants the sum total of our action plan? Tough on bad guys.

Stephen Harper - He lies because he must, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http:/twicb.blogspot.com

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Sunday, April 03, 2011

COALITION GOVERNMENT WOULD SAVE MONEY & BETTER REPRESENT CANADIANS by Louis Evan Palmer

Harper Government is lying again. In 2004, Stephen Harper clearly asked for a chance at a coalition government led by himself. The letter he and his coalition sent is shown below and is on the public record.

"As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program. We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority. Your attention to this matter is appreciated."

-From a letter to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson signed by all three opposition leaders: Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Stephen Harper (September 9, 2004)

Everyone knows what the letter is asking for, why it was sent to the Governor General, why all three opposition parties signed it. During that period, Harper repeated this offer in interviews with the CBC and other outlets. It was acceptable for Harper to ask for a chance to form a coalition government but not for anyone else. Harper actually shutdown parliament when someone tried to do the exact same thing he tried in 2004. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with a coalition government and in attacking it, Stephen Harper is not only being hypocritical but is attacking our democratic foundation as well.

In a parliamentary government, unless you have a majority, your government is a coalition. It's only the degree of formality and extent that's up for debate. A minority government is a coalition government. If we had had a solid formal coalition then we wouldn't have needed four elections in the last seven years. We could have saved at least five hundred million dollars (low end cost for two elections), Furthermore, we would have had better representation if two or three parties were actively involved in developing and implementing government policy.

The Liberal Party and NDP should not let Harper Government re-write history or undermine our democratic options. Coalitions are legitimate and it should be explored if Canadians return another minority government because Canadians would then have clearly stated that they do not trust any party with a majority.

COALITION GOVERNMENT WOULD SAVE MONEY & BETTER REPRESENT CANADIANS, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, twicb.blogspot.com

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Saturday, March 26, 2011

HARPER GOVERNMENT - Fascism Lite by Louis Evan Palmer

"Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy." - wikipedia

The relentless Harper-led assault on democratic values continues. It is both a drip-drip torture in things like election funding illegalities and a full-bore frontal attack with outright lying, forgery and illegal secrecy. Appropriately, the Harper government is a one-man show with its select stable of designated hitters and spitters and attack-dog yes-men. John Baird leaps to mind.

It is a government that while appearing puritanical seems to have a suppressed attraction for corruptibles either as senators like Patrick Brazeau, former chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples or as advisors like Mr-Fixit Bruce Carson, a former bankrupt and disbarred lawyer. Harper Government has accumulated enough mini-scandals and ethical affronts that one would assume that we were looking at the decaying malodorous carcass of a 15 or 20 year run in power and not the five years worth of minority that we actually have. One can only shudder at what would happen if Harper gets a majority.

Lamentable firsts for Harper Government - first government to prorogue parliament to avoid a vote of confidence; first government in any commonweath country to be found in contempt of parliament (with a second contempt citation in the wings).

Among the many lapses in competency, Harper was supposed to fix the RCMP but chose as its leader probably the worst possible person in William Elliot. But while Harper is content is appointing ill-suited candidates to important positions, he does not shy away from removing competent but independent leaders like the AEC's regulator head Linda Keen who was fired for upholding AEC's safety protocols. On the verge of radioactive catastrophe in Japan, Harper doesn't look very prudent or intelligent on that count.

Harper Government also attacks other independent agencies like StatsCan in its war on credible public information which would enable democracy to function better but, inexplicably, not registering long guns helps and advances society. It's not coincidental that the lowest voter turnouts in Canadian electoral history have occurred during these five lost Harper Government years. The attacks also range over our top-notch diplomats as Richard Colvin found out to his dismay, first being muzzled, and then maligned and denigrated by the Harperites.

Harper and his cohorts really don't seem to like democracy. For example, Harper launches constant attacks against "coalitions" which are a perfectly legitimate expression of an election. But Harper Government doesn't want the Canadian electorate to get a government that reflects their vote. If we get another minority government, it is a strong message that Canadians want a coalition government. Attacks at specific components of a democracy are also attacks on the entire edifice. Make no mistake, Harper does not like or trust democracy. He wants a majority because that the closest thing to a dictatorship you can currently get in Canada.

It is typical of this mindset to conflate the Government of Canada with the Conservative Party - also known as Harper Government. It follows that we would see inappropriate secrecy and partisan sniping at MPs asking legitimate questions.

On top of everything, Harper Government's economic management has not been that good - they signed on for a Software Lumber deal that sees significant amounts of Canadian dollars and jobs flow south or disappear; they made the largest procurement in Canadian history for F35 fighter jets without tender and, as a result, Canada is taking planes that even the US Marine Corp says are too expensive and not what their mission needs; they took Paul Martin surpluses and turned them into enormous deficits. Harper Government's Finance Minister's budget numbers were, and are, not believeable - he was predicting a surplus when every other major foreign government forecast a deficit and then he disingenuously claimed that the surplus had suddenly and uncontrollably veered into a string of deficits. It's called lying and it's all through Harper Government.

This is a call to Canadians to vote against Harper Government and work to defeat Tory candidates in all ridings. A free Canadian society depends on it!

HARPER GOVERNMENT - Fascism Lite, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Support his art, ideas and worldview, Order books by Louis Evan Palmer

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Sunday, February 20, 2011

North, South, East, West: What's in a Name? by Louis Evan Palmer

There are descriptors added to place names or country names that function like the tip of an iceberg in alerting individuals to a substantial submerged, typically negative, situation. These exist at the national level with such nations as North Korea and South Korea or the former West Timor and East Timor while others appear within a given country or region like Virginia and West Virginia or North and South Dakota within the United States. They is usually one evil twin in these twosomes.

We can argue that most instances of North/South East/West land segments – the names of jurisdictions that clearly represent an area (region, state, country); that is, in an explicit relationship with another area (region, state, country) - are frought with unresolved tensions and potential future discord. This would apply to areas where people live in both of the direction-named land areas versus purely geographic entities like the North and South Atlantic oceans. Yet even then it denotes a closer relationship than the two large continents might otherwise generate.

Secession, or other types of political splits, is a common source of North/South East/West jurisdictions. For example, West Virginia came about as a result of the US Civil War and the split of the Union state of West Virginia from the Confederate state of Virgina. At a national level, the nation of South Ossetia emerged recently (and is disputed) from Georgia with the support and assistance of North Ossetia, or actually Russia. Active, long-standing disputes often lurk behind the North/South East/West monikers. Presently, a new nation may emerge from Sudan which has been in a state of civil war for decades – its currently proposed name? South Sudan. Prognosis based on the proposed name alone – very negative.

Some decades ago, there was a North and South Rhodesia. North Rhodesia became Zambia while South Rhodesia became Zimbabwe after a long armed conflict. The country named South Africa does not stand in opposition, or as a reflection of, a country called North Africa but rather it contrasts to, and contends with, the entire African continent landmass – South Africa versus Africa.

Northern Ireland versus Ireland, Upper Yemen versus Yemen, East Germany versus West Germany (now just Germany), Inner Mongolia versus Outer Mongolia – all these national names create tension and expectation and relationship usually towards a bad end.

East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) versus West Pakistan (now Pakistan) is an example of where dropping the East/West designation might have helped end the connection and prevented the short but deadly civil war which drew in a third country (India) to end it.

Would Germany have re-integrated if the West and East Germany had different names. What if Austria was called South Germany and Switzerland North Germany? Would that not have created pressure to come together? (The National Socialists did annex them anyway on the basis of their shared German heritage) Might that have in turn drawn counter-pressure?

Names have a dynamic of their own whether it's a boy named Sue or a country with a name that implies it's part of, or associated with, another country.

Fortunately, if you get away from the North/South East/West type of names, there currently appears to be either little or no tension between countries with similar names like Niger and Nigeria or Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo although they are side-by-side and share long borders and have many potential things to disagree about. The thought here is is that it would be much better if their countries' names were not so similar.

If Britain had named East Pakistan Bangladesh right away or perhaps not split the countries at all. If North or South Ossetia had a different separate name? If there hadn't been an Upper Yemen and a South Yemen? Let's think long and hard about naming any country (or internal regions or states) as the North/South, East/West, Upper/Lower, Inner/Outer of something – name it something different and separate and you may have prevented a war.

North, South, East, West: What's in a Name?, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Copyright 2011 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Harper's Tories battle against "Longism" by Louis Evan Palmer

It's often difficult to decipher the Tories, mainly because they have so many secrets to keep track of and explain away - they get mixed up on their storylines, on what's to be revealed or kept quiet, on the undulating mix of fact, fiction and ideology. One of their seeming themes lately are various puzzling fights against the numerous manifestations of what we can refer to as "Longism". (No, it has nothing to do with Huey Long, one of the distressingly many heroic martryed figures from America's past)

In the case of Harper's Tories, longism is any relatively minor, but potentially emotional, issue that involves the word "long". Thus, for now, the long gun registry and the census long form and any number of long-winded, inane defenses of this or that aspect of these issues. The Tories portraying themselves as defenders of freedom. Not real freedom like protest or expression at the G8 or G20 summits but a carefully constricted freedom to answer mostly inocuous questions whose confidentiality is protected by law or to not get registered specifically for long guns.

I expect to see Tories getting excited very soon about something to do with Long Term Health Care: we shouldn't force people into it, we shouldn't mandate it or support it with tax dollars. There is also fertile anti-longism ground in taking away any favourable tax treatments for long positions in stocks, commodities or currencies: most of the Tories' wealthy donors make money on short positions and market volatility. Thus, we would have the Tories continue with strong positions against the long gun registry and the long form census but also stake out equally principled stands against long term health care and long positions in the markets.

Lastly, we ask the Tories to tackle the disturbing athletic event known as the "long jump". Athletes should not be risking injury and humiliation trying to conform to the requirements of this contrived "sport". Quick short jumps are fine but not this hernia-inducing long jump.

Down with Longism! Up with the Tories fight against it!

Harper's Tories battle against "Longism", Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright 2010 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Much Phony Ado over the Long Gun Registry by Louis Evan Palmer

You might have been thinking that the Harper government did have some good instincts or was pursuing a couple of not-bad policies, but then they went and showed their true Reform-Republican colours by making a big deal of the long gun registry.

Yes, the cost was eye-popping and unfathomable but less so than the much shorter duration G8/G20 fiasco. The Tories, formerly anxious to portray themselves as the ally of the police, aligned against them this time because they had a more important target to set up – that is, the Toronto elites and their malign supporters; and, their victims – the poor rural citizen being treated like criminals.

There was always an implication in the Tory stance that their rural victims weren't that good at readin' and writin' and therefore making them fill out a form was a malicious imposition. And, of course, the country folk spend so much time shooting and loading and cleaning and tuning their guns, they can barely buy their ammo let alone stand in line and get and pay for a license for the dang thing.

It's never been clear from the Tory blather, if the other licenses our society requires are also to be gotten rid of. Doctors and lawyers need licenses. You need a license for your car. Do the Tory rural supporters want to get rid of that too? If they're willing to get a license for their car, why the big kerffufle over a rifle – a thing that is designed to kill?

What about the licenses for boats and planes and trains? Why do the rural folk get their hunting and fishing licenses without a squabble but balk at registering the long gun they use for hunting?

If it's okay to require a license for marriage, for liquor, for business and selling real estate and import/export and gambling, why is it a problem or an infringement of some kind to ask to register rifles and other long guns? The simple answer is “it isn't” and the real question is why they weren't being registered a long time ago. And all the so-called "fixing", both actual and proposed, of the registry has made it a hodge-podge shadow of its intended self - fix it by making it uniform and efficient.

Oh yeah, come next election, don't forget that the Tories were willing to play politics with public safety and social cohesion.

Much Phony Ado over the Long Gun Registry, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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