Time to Unite the Left and Center in Canadian Politics by Louis Evan Palmer

The NDP can change their name a hundred times and it won't mean any more than a few points in the polls either way. Even if they dramatically re-align their policies to forge a new Labour type of transformation a la the UK's BLIAR, it won't work as they've never had the critical mass. If they think they can accomplish the same feat nation-wide that the Nova Scotia NDP achieved, they are dreaming.

In the old days before the Bloc and the Alliance, which was no more than a regional Western party, there was no hope of the PCs or the Alliance coming even close to power. The Liberals and NDP if they have leadership who can actually see the situation as it is, and want power to effect change, know that they must either destroy each other (and the Greens) or merge. The alternative is an endless series of minority governments.

Then they can assume power and turn their attention to withering Bloc support to the point where it re-submerges with the PQ, disappearing at the federal level, and leaving one separatist entity to deal with.

Do the Liberals have the gumption and grits to vigorously pursue a merger with the NDP? Not a word has passed Ignatief's lips. Layton keeps babbling about becoming PM. And the Green, one can only think of a conspiracy to split the left and center vote, as it can't even win a seat but can siphon off enough votes to make the NDP and Liberal lose ridings.

Can Layton shake off his ideological fetters long enough to agree on a merger with the Liberals? Like the Alliance and Progressive Conservative, they should maintain the name of the stronger entity. The unions have to accept a lesser, more informal, role as is right in a democratic society. Canadians rebel at the thought of a small group lording it over the rest be it union bosses or corporate CEOs.

Do the Liberals and the NDP want to effect change for the better? Then they need to be given power by the people. To get that power, they must merge and appeal to more people and lessen the wasted votes that are getting split. A merger is the logical next step. Otherwise, the Liberals and NDP are wasting Canadians time and money.

Time to Unite the Left and Center in Canadian Politics, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

The Mysterious Moon is Vital to Earth (2) by Louis Evan Palmer

The realization of the Moon's enormous effect on Earth, to the point where it can rightly be considered a two-body system, is followed by amazement at the web of enigma that surrounds its origins and makeup.

The space missions that went to the Moon brought back rocks and dust to analyse. In addition, unmanned landings analysed rocks and dust in situ. The Moon rocks were more than a billion years older than Earth rocks. The Moon dust which should have come from the rocks and thus been younger were, in fact, a billion years older than the Moon rocks.

These findings discredited the theory that the Moon came from the Earth - say, ripped out through an impact. It also made the theory where the Moon and the Earth formed from the same cosmic dust less likely. This left the theory that the Moon was captured by the Earth. However, this runs into difficulties given the large relative size of the Moon, about 1/4 the diameter of the Earth, and its uniquely circular orbit around the Earth. Apparently, it would have been quite difficult for the Earth to have captured the Moon in that way. Coincidently, the Moon is almost exactly the right size and distance from the Earth to allow for eclipses.

The most intriguing assertions regarding the moon deal with its origins and the myths of a time when there was no moon. Ancient Greeks state that the inhabitants of Arcadia recall a time when there was no moon as do the natives of the Bogota highlands. Is it possible that the moon was captured relatively recently?


The Mysterious Moon is Vital to Earth (2), Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

A Little Bias Goes a Long Way by Louis Evan Palmer

We've all seen charts and articles on the miracle of compound interest. That's where a small amount of interest on your principal accumulates over time into a fair bit of cash.

Well, that same principle works in a host of social situations both in favour of a given group or against them. That is not suprising and most people would state that they already know this, but what is surprising is how small that bias can be and still effect significant change over time.

In the book "Gender, Nature and Nurture" by Richard A. Lippa, a study is examined where a computer simulation was defined and run to measure the effect of a small bias (0.2) in favour of men over a 20 year period. From 50-50 at all job levels at the start of the simulation, after 20 years we see 53% of the lowest level workers are female and only 35% of the highest level workers. A slightly larger bias (0.45) yields 58% of the lowest level workers and 29% of the highest level workers being women.

We can quibble about the simulation parameters and modeling but if anything, a more accurate version would likely make the discrepancies larger.

In real-life, this translates into skewed decisions, favouritism and disadvantage. Advantaged groups, however defined, can incrementally assume control of functions within an organization, society and country. On the other hand, disadvantage can be institutionalized at a level where it's automatic and unnoticed. However, at a certain point, cries of superiority or oppression will be heard. How often, we see ourselves making claims, and asserting rights and privileges based on those claims, when in fact, what we're claiming is not rooted in our worthiness but a small monotonous systemic bias. As for the disadvantaged, hard work and talent seem to be the only credible ticket for the masses but a break-through success and model (like Obama) would help to open things up in a more dramatic fashion.

A Little Bias Goes a Long Way, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

Is it Time to Breakup the RCMP? by Louis Evan Palmer

Has the time arrived when part of the solution to the problems at the RCMP is to breakup the monolith into more manageable pieces? Is the RCMP in its present form merely going to continue its siege mentality and its bouts of incompetence and dishonesty? Is the RCMP viewed by a sizeable segment of the population as a threat as much as a protection?

We have to first disabuse ourselves of the ludicrous idea that failure should be rewarded with increased powers and funding. Where we allow ourselves to be browbeaten into accepting the argument that a given failure is the result of insufficient power and authority. In the case of the RCMP and all such similar cases, sufficient authority and funding and resources were available.

Often, in fact, the best solution to continuing deep-rooted cultural problems is to reduce an organization, to break it up into smaller logical components and allow them to become finely tuned to their individual mission and excel at it.

If that approach were taken with the RCMP, the CSIS piece has already been done for many of the reasons mentioned above. CSIS still has problems but most would agree, it is better than before with a good upward outlook. Whereas, the RCMP is worse off with a downward trend.

The RCMP can be split up as follows:
(1) Its original mission as frontier police; it would police the NorthWest Territories, Nunavut & the Yukon.
(2) Canadian Border Police - land, water & air.
(3) Political & Diplomatic Protection
(4) National Police Intelligence Services
(5) Provincial Police in serviced Provinces (e.g. BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba)

The new smaller organizations can better focus on their missions, develop and maintain expertise, and work towards excellence and service. The current dysfunctional culture can improve and right itself in these new units and missions.

Is it time?

Yes.

Is it Time to Breakup the RCMP?, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

Isotopes, Isotopes, Avro Arrow Redux - Harper's Conservatives Failure of Vision by Louis Evan Palmer

Given a choice, Harper will usually side with the mediocre and limiting. Canada has over 40 years of expertise in nuclear technology and medical isotopes, in particular, and Harper is content to throw it away.

Like Diefenbaker did with the Avro Arrow program, Harper will toss out the investment & the expertise and watch highly skilled Canadians leave Canada for other climes, mainly the USA. Like Diefenbaker, Harper cites cost and yet he's willing to spend many times those amounts on an illegal war in Afghanistan or paying into carmakers' pilfered pension funds.

Other jurisdictions are not so blind or pound-foolish. Australia is ramping up its ability to generate medical isotopes. Saskatchewan's premier has declared that Saskatchewan will have this ability within 3 years.

This is a serious peaceful use of nuclear technology for which demand will only increase. Of course, Harper sees that as a reason to exit the field.

It's a point to ponder as to how much of Harper can Canada take before it devolves into oblivion.

Isotopes, Isotopes, Avro Arrow Redux - Harper's Conservatives Failure of Vision, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

What Happened to the RCMP? by Louis Evan Palmer

We have always had problems with policing in democratic societies. Mainly because policing is a process that strips democratic rights from people and people don't like that. In fact, they strongly react to it.

Part of the malaise is perception. We didn't know about a lot of police corruption or brutality until fairly recently. (Other people did but kept their mouths shut) We wrongly thought it was a problem in other countries but not ours.

So-called conservatives heap blame on the media because if it wasn't reported the way it is then it wouldn't be a problem; and, by the way, criminals deserve less protection and respect. They will say that anyone the police suspect is probably a criminal and should be treated roughly.

Police services have generally made themselves more insular as they ensconce themselves in quasi-unions and nurture a siege mentality. Outreach and community store fronts are an attempt to deal with this issue but they often seem to wither away under relatively small pressures. The first loyalty of many police officers is to their fellow officers not society at large or the people that they claim to "serve and protect".

In addition, the corrupting effect of power cannot be discounted. Police can use force. They have guns, tasers, clubs, sprays, handcuffs and fists, elbows and boots. They're the biggest gang in town. Some officers get accustomed to using force first and discussion second.

Today, would we ever see the spectacle of two North West Mounted Police (NWMP) officers entering a Sioux camp filled with thousands of warriors? It has been reported that the NWMP had great respect for the Aboriginal tribes (deriving in no small part from the influence of the Metis) which was reciprocated. Nowadays, there is typically an air of grievance and menace emanating from the police.

If there had been no video of the taser assault on Robert Dziekanski, the RCMP would have lied it away as they continued to do even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Their conduct & testimony was embarrassing. It's hard to pinpoint when the unraveling of the RCMP became clear to even their staunchest supporters but the plot to burn down a barn in Quebec is as good a point in time as any. Then there was a plan to incriminate the FLQ, a violent Quebec-based separatist group. Familiar false flag propositions. This resulted in the creation of a new national intelligence service called CSIS. And now, even with an intimidating obstructionist complaint process, there have been several serious cases in the last few years.

For more on this, see wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandals_surrounding_the_RCMP RCMP scandals: Early controversies, killing of Inuit sled dogs, Theft of dynamite, break-ins, Barn-burning scandal, Theft of PQ members list, Excessive use of force at the 1997 APEC Summit, Killing of Darren Varley, Torture Scandal: The stories of Ahmad El Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Maher Arar, Pension fund scandal, Const. Justin Harris and the Prince George RCMP, Ian Bush Incident, Robert Dziekański Taser incident, Royal Inland Hospital Taser Incident, Allegation of political bias against Insite, Impaired driving causing death, Non-consensual cranial implants - Wiretapping the human brain.

Toronto Police Services have recently had a trial restarted that is poised to be one of the biggest police corruption exposes ever. Stonewalling and foot-dragging were the order of the day previously. Is it any wonder that respect for and cooperation with the police is shrivelling?

The OPP. The FBI. Scotland Yard. Etc. Etc. Other forces, other issues.

What is to be done? Well, one thing is certain, there's a problem and it won't go away by itself. There has to be more community involvement in policing and with the police. It has to be adequately and reliably funded and supported. There has to be better training and more emphasis on non-violent approaches and skills; and when force is required, on quick and effective physical techniques and tools that mark a return to hands-on policing. There also has to be a way for the voice of the ordinary officer to be heard in the community outside of a round of bargaining. There has to be strong fair civilian oversight over all key police functions. Less political correctness on all sides would be helpful.

Perhaps the most important requirement is being good at your job; that is, overwhelming competence including honesty, integrity, professionalism, demeanour, and comportment. This alone would solve almost all the problems and issues. Reasonable leeway and autonomy is given to this type of person by all concerned. This speeds things up; justice is still done but without undue delays and cost. And, it wouldn't hurt if we could find a modern day Sam Steele?

What Happened to the RCMP?, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogpost.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

Ibbitson & the Wild-Eyed by Louis Evan Palmer

The sad decline of John Ibbitson continues unabated as his stay in the United States seems to have dulled his sense of right and wrong while sharpening his desire to poke virtual sticks into the eyes of his perceived enemies.

In his April 20, 2009 article titled "Clinton, Bush booked for joint Toronto appearance", he betrays any sense of impartiality or clear-headedness when he states ".. and the wild-eyed are still trying to get Mr. Bush and his vice-president, Dick Cheney, tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity for their handling of the war on terror."

So that there is no doubt, "wild-eyed" is as good as saying "crazy" or "nuts". Yet, there are very many who must belong to Ibbitson's cadre of the deranged. For starters, the FBI, a former high profile Washington chief of staff, and a well-respected Law professor.

There was such an abundance of evidence of criminality that the FBI opened a war crimes file against Bush & Cheney after witnessing the goings-on at Guantánamo Bay.

Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005 asserted that there were grounds for prosecution.

And Law Professor Jonathan Turley stated "It's the indictment of all of us if we walk away from a clear war crime."

Serious mock trials were held in several places.

One was held at “Camp Democracy,” on Washington's National Mall. On Sept. 13, 2006, Ann Wright, an ex-U.S. diplomat, read the “mock” verdicts. She was also one of the five jurists who heard the evidence compiled by the Bush Crimes Commission.“Guilty” verdicts were returned. As they were in a large mock trial run in Europe.

Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish judge who sought to prosecute Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, has also called for US President George W. Bush and his confederates to be tried for war crimes over Iraq.

Bush & Company may also get tried for other crimes like illegal wire-tapping in the US itself and illegal killings (i.e. assassinations) at home and abroad.

While we're at it, maybe all the wild-eyed people can petition for Ibbitson not to return to Canada. That's something George would do.

Ibbitson & the Wild-Eyed, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

ARA (2) - Guiding Principles by Louis Evan Palmer

ARA is the refuge, the new utopia. It may still be in the design phase. It may be on the water or under the water or under the earth or in the middle of a desert or arctic tundra. There may be more than one refuge - this one is called ARA.

In ARA, people avoid generalizations - especially about other people. They still study culture and sociology but they do not allow themselves to slip into easy prejudgments about any single person. Every person and thing is unique.

There are no broad rules or religions in ARA. There are principles and guidelines. Action will be taken against persons who are harming or injuring other people or property but it will be defensive only and measured and fair and just.

ARA embraces harmony and beneficial action. It encourages living with an open heart and generosity. ARA believes and follows Hippocrates' first directive - "Do no harm." And it applies to everything. (This also covers financial transactions)

ARA tries to balance its society and actions between a maximizing of good and potential for the most people while maximizing personal freedom. There is no collective in ARA. There are groups and communities but they are voluntary and flexible. There is no forced membership.

In ARA, defense is one of the foundations of its foreign relations. It maintains no strictly offensive weapons or systems. It specializes in non-lethal defense which would include every kind of non-military means and ways. It does allow for defensive systems or weapons that will persist or pollute.

ARA does not allow for the death penalty but it does allow for life imprisonment and exile.

You may think or say that ARA is an impossibility. That maximizing freedom inevitably leads to imbalance and every kind of strife. It could but not in ARA. It is a place where the only Rule is that there are no Rules. Every thing is faced as if for the first time. It would need adjudicators. It would need a council of the wise. It would need methodologies and techniques. But it is possible.

It may even exist now.. somewhere.

ARA (2) - Guiding Principles, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

Anatomy of a Bubble by Louis Evan Palmer

Since no-one seems to know the mechanics of a bubble to the extent that it can be prevented or even agrees that bubbles exist and should be prevented, this article is not trespassing into an experts-only credentialed speech zone (another of the myriad ways to shut people up).

The initial insight in naming this type of phenomenon a "bubble" shows that it's regarded as a temporary unsustainable thing, something that's attractive but under pressure. No-one expects it to last, only long enough to make money.

Thus, it is clear that there is a psychological element to it - untempered optimism and greed. It is future-oriented and faith-based - my tomorrow is ensured, yours not so much. It discourages critical thought. It censors and self-censors. Nay-sayers come under hostile feedback attacks - who is willing to stand in front of the steam-roller?

Another essential ingredient is a lack of effective oversight and control. People will plead ignorance or benign neglect. Innovation will obfuscate the ritualistically diligent - those who don't really want to dig and pursue and explain, only to appear so in a court at a later date. For innovation, read racket, gimmick. Most of it a dressed-up Con 101.

Bubbles also need fuel and their fuel is personal riches. Fee-based transactions, outrageous compensation formulas, profits rule and overrule. Regimes where churn itself is the engine, the trade is the asset.

They also require capital. But not normal capital flows, they need excess capital to survive. It is their oxygen. As always, excess capital leads to over-investment and asset inflation. Typically, a reservoir of value feeds the early stages of the bubble. This generates the early winners and, as every casino knows, you need them to rope in the hordes of suckers to follow.

Another aspect of bubbles is the creation of unreal capital which is usually part of the innovation. These are sold as "instruments" or "packages" or other similarly-named products. But if you examine them carefully they are not tied to anything directly.

Like other rackets, bubbles always have a time-pressure element to them and only pay out to the few. They have much in common with a shell game - the movement, the lack of knowledge, the misdirection. But this is malevolent game which uses leglisation and policy and enjoins others in the mesh. It deliberately entwines itself across sectors and countries and currencies - partly to hid its dealings, partly to spread the culpability and increase the gain. Getting 100 people to pay for the same thing is more profitable than having only 1 person paying for it.

We can nip these destructive criminal enterprises in the bud. There are telltale marks. The postulate is that every bubble has a precursor, close to it in time and technique, displaced in location and industry. The precursor is smaller but it provides evidence of the susceptibility of the environment to this phenomenon. Also, look for people making a lot of money - that's the easiest method. We can tax certain types of speculative transactions. We can strictly control or outlaw certain classes of financial instruments or transactions. How was an entire shadow banking system allowed to exist? We must pay attention to the laws & policies being enacted from the perspective of beating the system. We should always be within one remove of an asset, ideally a tangible asset.

Bubbles are destructive and to be prevented. We know how to do it. Their existence proves massive corruption in the system. So we have two problems here.

Anatomy of a Bubble, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

Seeing Trees by Louis Evan Palmer

In this article, the trees are virtues and the forest is the whole from which they emerge.

Generally, a virtue is good, and a vice, which is opposed to a virtue, is bad. We, typically, don't see them existing on their own without relationships or connections or contexts. For example, seeing courage and loyalty as ideal independent virtues similar to Plato's ideal solids.

Because virtues are personal attributes, the sire of any virtue is the sense of self. A person, or personhood, manifests a virtue.

Sense of self, in turn, needs memory. The traditional memory but also tendencies, instinct & other innateness, each with their own memories possibly connected to the main traditional memory or other memories, possibly isolated. All enmeshed in a reality, an enormous web of relationships and laws transfixed by time and cravings.

This idea of memory is anchored in an uncharted ocean of speculation and ambiguous experimental results. There are persons with almost no physical brains yet they are smart and have an ability to remember indistinguishable from others with whole brains. One theory being that memories are not actually resident in our brain but rather are deciphered by our brain. It's not known exactly how memories are encoded or even if they're encoded. We typically think of them as constructed out of bits of concepts & images & words & sensations which is somehow captured in some kind of chemical & electrical soup but it's still mostly a mystery. If there is no self or no memory, there are no virtues - virtues being dependent emergent qualities.

It is something we deduce, conjured out of reflections, in actions & words & in our life-facing stance. But within the virtues themselves, at times, we wonder if there an order of precedence to them or if it matters? In living, it may not matter, but in trying to live better, it does. Say, in trying to nurture a virtue that, in fact, depends on other virtues.

Do our primal virtues simply proceed from our urge for self-preservation? Which are the finer virtues - the original primal ones or the ones farthest away on the tree of differentiation? The ones that issue forth from two or more virtues?

Many virtues like courage are defined in terms of a threat or a vice, in courage's case, fear. It's worth elaborating on the triggering threat. Fear, for example, springs from a threat to our sense of self and memory, our being. A vice like greed (or gluttony) engenders a fear of scarcity which drives a need for acquisition and a fear of loss. Again, this is a threat to being, where an aggrandized sense of self exists to which even a surfeit seems inadequate.

What does fear engender? More Fear, panic, hatred, anger. Fear can also generate Obedience. We can see more than one cause for a given virtue or state. While Fear can generate Obedience, Loyalty can also produce it. It is clear that obedience caused by loyalty would be of a different timbre and durability than that caused by fear.

So some states, like fear (causing more fear), can self-sustain themselves but like atomic fission, these states would need a critical mass. Direct threats to the self generate fear; normal fear generates the urge to flight or fight but a greater fear, will generate more fear and at a certain level will this newly augmented fear incapacitate.

The level at which incapacitation occurs will vary according to the person. Thus, virtue gets tied to a person's capacity - here, for endurance or perseverance which in turn are considered virtues - the ability to endure or persevere. And, where does that power come from? The power to endure? The power to persevere? Or, at the primal level, the power to live or to love.

It is again a question of the whole and the part where the part is a fiction created by partitioning. Yet, we see obedience or courage or loyalty. We clearly see the parts but not the whole from which it issues.

Seeing Tress, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book

How to Hide Anything by Louis Evan Palmer

Hiding, covering, and obscuring comes easily to us. We do it constantly, consciously & unconsciously, for greater and lesser ends. It becomes a cause for serious concern when it gets elevated in its scope and takes on the mantle of the state. Then it jumps itself up and assumes dangerous forms like militarism and propaganda. What does militarism hide? Theft. What does propaganda hide? Truth.

But it's more than just a person hiding some thing. It's also about choice - choosing to perform actions in a way and at a time and involving things that will not attract notice. One can more easily hide when involving one self with persons or things that have no voice or when attacks are made on someone or something that has no voice or has been muted. And we in turn mute own voices. How can it be wrong if no-one objects? Paradoxically, the worst offenses engender a debilitating silence that envelopes and chokes those who come into contact with it.

It also involves a choice when interacting with persons or things that have no power or much less power than you. They can be overridden in a twinkling. We hide ourselves and our actions when we dominate or attack something that has no power. We trump their free will and dignity and if we do it fast enough no-one will know.

We can hide our actions and their consequences when we involve ourselves with people & processes that are not even visible to most people. They are technically, philosophically or intellectually wrapped in a way that most persons cannot decipher. If these things are not explained they remain hidden. This allows for impunity when people support or attack someone or something that has no visibility.

Hide it by suppressing knowledge of it - suppress witnesses, suppress reporting, suppress recording of it. You can't oppose that of which you have no knowledge. You can suppress yourself as well. It can become a reflexive society-wide action. Self-censor. Self-suppress.

Demean & demonize what you want to hide. Its real nature is covered by the hate & dirt you heap on it. You can't see it because it has been coated with venom. We don't want to know. Is that Adam's real sin? Was it knowledge or a refusal to know, a refusal to accept the truth. We only embrace self-tailored partial truths.

Hide it among other things, magnify them, minimize what is to hidden. Misdirect our attention. We can't see it for we have deliberately crowded a hundred other unimportant things around it. We would rather spend time and energy placing these distractions than looking deeply at the original thing we had.

Delay, delay delay. Spread it out over so much time that it becomes blurred and harmless, forgettable and best left alone. How to rage when all the players, both oppressors and oppressed, are dead? If it was reported and absolutely confirmed that a terrible conspiracy came to fruition some 40 years ago, what would come of it? Some huffing and puffing and then an embarrassed silence. Maybe increased vigilance today for something similar. But for how long? Truth (of this world) delayed is truth denied.

Express & publicize doubt about the information, the messengers and its importance. Impugn their reputations, threaten them, if necessary harm them, even kill them. Delay will make this less necessary. Selective removal is preferred over anything crass and obvious. We need things that can be denied and explained away. That's a here & there versus an everywhere. If it's an everywhere then we're at war and then, well, war is war.

And of course, lies, lies, and more lies and bribes and threats. This is the old stand-by. Deny, lie, delay. How obvious and yet vastly effective.

Do it more quietly. What noise? Make it look like something else. You say crime, I say accident.

We are experts at hiding things from each other and from ourselves. How else can we explain all the death and cruelty and poverty we don't see or talk about? The reasons don't matter. They are part of the hiding process. We cover something with reasons and then stand aside, or worse, we can be the ones who kill or steal.

Millions die every year as a result of things we do and don't do and we've hidden them away. We've buried them quietly under a cover of darkness and platitudes.

How to Hide Anything, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.

BUY BOOKS BY LOUIS EVAN PALMER

• OAKLANE WOODS - Amazon Kindle Book
• TALES TOLD TO A TREE - Amazon Kindle Book
• 40 POEM FRAGMENTS - Amazon Kindle Book