Military Contractor's Bribes to Bureancrats and Elected Officials are the Major Cause of Greece's Debt Problems

"Germany became Germany partly because for 62 years it did not have to think about military expenditure," said Angelos Philippides, a prominent economist. "For a long time Greece spent 7% of its GDP on defence when other European countries spent an average 2.2%. If you were to add up that compound 5% from 1946 to today, there would be no debt at all."- the Gaurdian.

I am 100% certain that in absolute terms its defence expenditure is much greater than official documents would show due to the so-called secret funds the state has access to," said Katerina Tsoukala, a Brussels-based security expert. "Greece has never had a transparent and democratic defence procurement strategy. Instead, everything is veiled in secrecy which inevitably leads to bribery."

Greece's generals, bureaucrats and politicians live like kings on the bribes they routinely accept from the military contractors who court them. Yet the 'market' continues to spin the story of Greek debt as one of a slovenly coddled underclass who has demanded a free lunch and now refuses to pay their taxes. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is the elites in Greece, as they continue to do everywhere, are the bloodsuckers who've drained the Greek treasury dry. Now, because the 'markets' have used Greek debt as an insurance swindle, the banksters are in fear of losing some of their ill-gotten gains because [load willin] Greece is going to default on the swindlers and dump the military pimps who've stolen their country.

There's a lesson here for us in Canuckistan too. Remember all the cash Mulroney was caught with in the hotel room? Remember Hans Schreiber, Air Canada and the Areobus? Remember the helicopter deal the last Conservative government tried pushing through? Now what about the $25 billion the lying Harperites want to spend on the needless jet fighters? How much baksheesh do you think the various Harper cronies are in line for from McDonald-Douglas?

German 'hypocrisy' over Greek military spending has critics up in arms - Athens' fondness for weaponry, and willingness of Germany and France to feed it, under fire as Greece struggles with debt crisis

Learning About 'Sheep to Shawl' and More From Fran and Simon at Periwinkle Farm

Just down the road here in Black Point south of Powell River is the wonderful little Periwinkle Farm. Stopped by there for a visit a few days ago and learned tons about their beautiful flock of Babydoll sheep and about Fran and Simon's hard work and dedication to their passion about fibre and their larger vision.

Fran and Simon breed Olde English Babydoll Miniature Southdown sheep on their small acreage. The little sheep are extremely cute and very friendly. They sell sheep to folks starting their own flocks of course but most interesting to a know nothing like me is their 'sheep to shawl' production. Once a year the Babydolls are sheared, then their wool is washed, carded, spun, and woven or knitted into a finished product. Fran showed me various samples of the angora and wool fibres at their different stages, a visit to her blog shows the process in pictures and words.

Fran and Simon also mill organic flours which they sell at the local farmers' markets. They also make fresh multigrain pasta with the organic grains that they sell locally.

During my tour of Periwinkle Farm i also learned about their greater vision of expanding their business horizontally along the lines of the Fibershed Project's model. Their plan is to bring other local folks, weavers-knitters-spinners-farmers-clothing designers-etc. into a local community collective that produces clothes and goods from local fibres, made with local labor and sold to local folks. This small scale, local, hands on business model is the future for all types agriculture, all types of production really, be it now-because of the carbon footprint issue and the value gained by keeping the money circulating in your own community-or out of necessity in a post-economically collapsed future. Small is beautiful at Periwinkle Farm

Ernest Callenbach's [Author of Ecotopia] Last Words to an America in Decline

Just finished reading a fantastic unpublished article found on the computer of Ecotopia author Ernest Callenbach after his death, it's titled 'Epistle to the Ecotopians: Last Words to an America in Decline'. Callenbach's novel Ecotopia, published in '75, changed the paradigm of millions. In his last few months, knowing his ultimate fate awaited ,as it does for all of us, he wrote another excellent visionary treatise full of truth but less optimistic than his famous novel which was so influential on the counterculture, and the green movement then and now.

The last 3 paragraphs of this article, quoted below, encourage us to "embrace decay, for it is the source of all new life and growth":

Humans tend to try to manage things: land, structures, even rivers. We spend enormous amounts of time, energy, and treasure in imposing our will on nature, on preexisting or inherited structures, dreaming of permanent solutions, monuments to our ambitions and dreams. But in periods of slack, decline, or collapse, our abilities no longer suffice for all this management. We have to let things go.


All things “go” somewhere: they evolve, with or without us, into new forms. So as the decades pass, we should try not always to futilely fight these transformations. As the Japanese know, there is much unnoticed beauty in wabi-sabi -- the old, the worn, the tumble-down, those things beginning their transformation into something else. We can embrace this process of devolution: embellish it when strength avails, learn to love it.


There is beauty in weathered and unpainted wood, in orchards overgrown, even in abandoned cars being incorporated into the earth. Let us learn, like the Forest Service sometimes does, to put unwise or unneeded roads “to bed,” help a little in the healing of the natural contours, the re-vegetation by native plants. Let us embrace decay, for it is the source of all new life and growth. - Ernest Callenbach (1929-2012)

Epistle to the Ecotopians: Last Words to an America in Decline by Ernest Callenbach - Let us embrace decay, for it is the source of all new life and growth.

Greek Voters Sending a Message That Scares the Elites Worldwide

Today is election day in Greece and France and citizens of both countries are throwing the bums out. But it's in Greece where the real cutting edge of anti-capitalist, anti-elite, anti-banker induced austerity is cutting the deepest. "The 'crisis' has revealed a creative potential among a large part of the population in Greece. There is no doubt that Greece is today at the forefront of global resistance against capitalism. Creativity and steadfastness of the resistance movement to inspire people's fights across the continent. But it also scares the elites - worldwide." - AlJazeera.com

The far-right in Greece is being used as a scare tactic against the radical left and the prospects of a popular rebellion by the elites. The war of the elites is not against fascism - or racism, for that matter. The existential threat to their regime comes principally from the prospect of a popular uprising which should have been underway already.

As The Mud Report has said before the solution for Greece to its elite induced debt is to gallop out of the Euro, to re-establish the Drachma so its value can be allowed to be cut. An article, 'Argentina's Model, an Alternative to Austerity', two days ago by Mark Weisbrot gives great voice to the same argument and shows clearly that Argentina's record levels of employment and massive reductions in poverty have little to do with exports. All the beleaguered Euro-zone economies now suffering under the policies currently being imposed – especially the weaker ones – are similar to what Argentina went through during the depression that led to its default and devaluation.

Argentina's population stood up to their elites and threw them out of power despite exactly the same 'chicken little' type scare mongering by the IMF and World Bank. Now a decade later Argentina is leading the western world in growth, not simply economic growth, but growth in pride, growth in achievement and is a shining example for all of us everywhere that scares the 1% who sees that it's nearing the end of its reign of terror everywhere.

Why Climate Science and Environmental Studies are Always Open to Attack by Skeptics

There were two excellent large scale studies released this week, one on the disaster of biodiversity loss, the other on the rapid changes in the temperature of the deep ocean beneath Antarctica. Both studies are done by large multi-national teams of highly respected researchers. Both are peer reviewed and published in the most respected scientific journals in their fields.

First out was the study 'Deep Ocean Beneath Antarctic Responding Rapidly to Climate Change'. The researchers in this case said, "The causes of the observed changes in the Southern Ocean are not yet fully understood. Changes in winds, sea ice, precipitation, or melt of floating glacial ice around the edge of Antarctica may be responsible. Further that, "The Southern Ocean is particularly important because it stores more heat and carbon dioxide released by human activities than any other region, and so helps to slow the rate of climate change," Dr Rintoul said. "A key goal of our work is to determine if the Southern Ocean will continue to play this role in the future."

Second is the study 'Biodiversity Loss Impacts as Great as Climate Change Impacts' The researchers found in their experiments that high levels of extinction had effects that were as great as ozone, acidification, elevated CO2 and nutrient pollution. "These extinctions may well rank as one of the top five drivers of global change." said ecologist Bradley Cardinale of the University of Michigan, one of the paper's co-authors. As a result, there has been growing concern that the very high rates of modern extinctions--due to habitat loss, over-harvesting and other human-caused environmental changes--could reduce nature's ability to provide goods and services such as food, clean water and a stable climate.

There are two types of science. One type is where operations are performed on consistant/controlled substances and whose results are repeatable, where there are controls and where the variables in each test can be changed so the various results can be compared. Of course, there we have only one earth so there can never be an unaltered control to test hypothesises against. Which brings us to the second type of science, that where the testing of hypothesises is done by running as many variables as possible on a computer model.

This modeling is always a rough [sometimes very rough] estimate of all the countless variables the real earth- the real environment has. Consequently all scientific experimentation done through modeling has some margin of error, no modeling type science can or will ever turn out an absolutely certain result. So all environmental science, all climate science, uses terms like may or could when stating their results. Here then is the door the skeptics always enter the conversation through. Nothing in climate science or environmental science can ever to certain to 100% because we only have one earth. Consequently scientists in those fields invoke the Precautionary Principle.

BC's NDP Deserves Credit for Formally Registering its Opposition to the Enbridge's Northern Gateway Project...Finally

BC's official opposition, and heir in waiting, finally came out a few days ago and registered its position to the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel into the Enbridge's Northern Gateway Project, good on 'em. Mostly good anyway. They do start off with a whining economic preamble designed to mimic Queen Christy's about how BC is taking the risks and Alberta is getting the dough. This hedging argument leaves the NDP open to changing their position in the future when Alberta's bribes start rolling in. But that said, their bullet points about why they object are all environmental. So they get a B+ on this one i guess.

All across Canada critics are slamming the Harper government both for their outright one-sided pro oil cabal changes to the Environment Act and for the underhanded process they are using to avoid any real debate about the wide range of harmful effects their oil industry uber-alles agenda will create.

Among the many effects of the Conservative governments agenda is the question that came from Tzeporah Berman's son the day after the news media reported that the federal government was contemplating changing the definition of domestic terrorism to include environmentalism. Her son asked, “Mommy, why does the government think you are a terrorist?” Branding good hearted people who oppose them as terrorists and child molesters is Harper's divide and conquer strategy. Hopefully it will backfire on him and his cronies across the country. Here in BC it looks like the NDP is headed for a huge majority win in the next election and this issue will probably be the one that unites the province on that upcoming election day.

If though BC's united general public opinion combined with the near unanimous agreement among First Nations doesn't work to stop the Harper government and his pipelines, if he and his cabinet decide to go ahead anyway it could lead to civil war at the BC-Alberta border. If it does, they can count on one grey haired old man and his best friend Pancho the wonder dog to be dug into the mud willing to fight to the end to protect the wild. So will many others.

May Day Event in Powell River was the Best of Times and...

Millions took to the streets around the globe yesterday making, and as Chief Dan George once famously said, "my heart soar like and eagle". At first glance there appeared to be as many issues around the world as there were participants and languages. A busy day for sign makers for sure. But were the specific issues of all the folks near and far really so different or just different symptoms of the same disease?

In Asia many carried signs demanding equal rights and social justice. In Europe many signs decried austerity programs. In N. America it was the banks and corporations that most focused on. These general issues, of course, were intermingled with the outcries of the more specific injuries that folks are suffering because of the inequities in resource allocation and class discrimination in their various locales and cultures.

Though our little gathering of occupiers in Powell River BC was at best symbolic it was fun. Mostly, like PR's demographics generally, our little gang was made up of retirees who, by virtue of our age, are survivors of the 60's protest movements. 'It was the best of times' in that we had many a passerby who honked their horns, waved, raised the peace sign and smiled broadly. 'It was the worst of times' in that it was discouraging to see none of the young people who so adamantly share their feelings on the OPR Facebook page actually showed up to show them on the street.

The few people who did stop to talk with some of our sign wielding grey haired group asked the same basic questions that seem to be being asked by folks both in the media and in general. "What do you want, what are your demands?", they asked. For many folks this lack of one or two key demands and non-existent organizational structure make the Occupy movement incoherent at best. But for me and others the Occupy movement has never been about specific demands. It's been about the issues of class awareness and inequality. It's about how the 1%  have bought our governments and, IMO, the Occupy movement has already won a huge victory by instilling into the worldview of folks everywhere the 99% vs. the 1% meme. We are the 99%, that is the issue the unites our seemingly disparate worldwide causes from every Wall St. to every Main St. around the world.

May Day Protests Circling the Globe

Marchers in Istanbul, Turkey

May Day moved beyond its roots as an international workers’ holiday to a day of international protest today. Banging drums and waving flags, tens of thousands of workers marked May Day in European cities with a mix of anger and gloom over austerity measures. Taking the baton from Asia, where unions demanded wage increases as they transformed the day from one celebrating workers' rights to one of international protest, workers turned out in droves in Greece, France and Spain.

In Macau, about 500 people marched for workers’ rights and full democracy - in Hong Kong, more than 1,000 joined a protest march - in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, some 500 people rallied-In Taiwan, several thousand anti-government protesters marched through downtown Taipei - in Indonesia, thousands of protesters demanding higher wages paraded through traffic-clogged streets in the capital, Jakarta - in the Philippine capital, Manila, more than 8,000 marched - around 100,000 people in Moscow took part in the main May Day march through the city centre - in debt-crippled Greece, more than 2,000 people marched through central Athens - in France, tens of thousands of workers, leftists and union leaders were marking May Day with marches and rallies- tens of thousands filled the streets of Spain's cities and towns [Barcelona pictured above]. in the United States and Canada, demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience are planned in hundreds of cities and towns.

There's also marches in Turkey - in Kathmandu - in Mexico City - the  complete list is impossibly long. By tomorrow we'll know how big today's uprising has been, including our Occupy Powell River protest march later this afternoon. It will be interesting to see if today's worldwide protests will inspire the 99% to rise up to the global cabal of banksters and corporations that that now control our governments and our futures. If nothing else-there's always hope.

Harper Government's Covered-up of Secret Bank Bailouts in 2008-9 Another Multi-Billion Dollar LIe

Canada's banking system, often lauded by government spokespersons and experts alike for being one of the world's safest, actually accepted tens of billions in government funds during the recession, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. During the peak of the financial crisis, support for Canadian banks reached $114 billion—$3,400 for every man, woman, and child in Canada.

Details uncovered in this report contradict repeated government assurances that Canadian banks did not need extraordinary support. Nothing could be further from the truth. Three of Canada’s banks drew support that was worth more than the total value of their company. "It would have been cheaper to buy every single share in these companies," David MacDonald, author of the report said.

At its peak, CIBC received $21 billion in support — almost 1.5 times the value of the company at the time. BMO maxed out at $17 billion or 118 per cent, Scotiabank peaked at $25 billion or 100 per cent of its value, while TD and RBC maxed out at $26 billion and $25 billion — good enough for 69 and 63 per cent, respectively, of the total value of those companies at the time. During the same period the banks themselves reported a profit of 27 billion dollars and their managers helped themselves to huge bonuses on the taxpayers dime.

While the details around the American bank bailouts are fully available to the public (due to a legal challenge forcing this information into the open), the Canadian federal government and Bank of Canada have refused to answer any questions about the bailouts. "Despite Access to Information requests for the data, the Bank of Canada refuses to release it," the CCPA report states.

The refusal to answer questions is the really troubling part of this story. Is Canada a democracy or not? Are we now so numb to the continuous lies told by our government for our own good that it doesn't even matter any more? This specific story is a Canadian one but the general story is the same in the US, the EU, everywhere in the 'developed' world.. A cabal of bankers and corporations owns our governments. They do what they want when they want and answer to no-one.


The Big Banks' Big Secret by David MacDonald - Estimating government support for Canadian banks during the financial crisis.

Workers at Lakeland Mill Complained of Pine Beetle Killed Wood Dust Before Explosion but Management and Union Did Nothing

Blasts linked to dry sawdust are nothing new in BC's forest industry, Worksafe BC issued an explosion warning to sawmills and wood product manufacturers on April 27, 2010. "A layer of dust as thin as a dime dispersed throughout a room can create an explosion hazard. If combustible dust collects in a building or structure or on machinery or equipment, it must be safely removed before accumulation of the dust could cause a fire or explosion.” read the WorkSafeBC warning. Despite that warning, however, WorkSafeBC has never specifically established what constitutes an unsafe level of combustible dust.

The difference between a 'warning' and a 'regulation' is huge in lawyer speak. Who is liable and what constitutes a crime both turn on these two little words as is clearly spelled out in Bill C-45. Bill C-45 is federal legislation that amended the Canadian Criminal Code and became law on March 31, 2004. The Bill established new legal duties for workplace health and safety, Basically, as long as an employer follows Worksafe BC's regulations they can't be sued or held criminally responsible for their actions [or in-actions] regarding workplace/worker safety.

Worksafe BC, being a government agency, can't be sued for liability or held criminally responsible either. It's a setup even the mafia would love. As one employee of the Lakeland Mill said after the explosion, "Who runs WCB? Who runs RCMP? Who runs BC safety authority? Who runs BC coroners service? Politicians. Who runs the politicians? Businessmen." His statement and that of many others can be found in the comments here. That's why the RCMP came out within 48 of the Lakeland blast saying there was no criminal intent.

There have been a series of meetings, both public and private, where employees of the Lakeland and Burns Lake mills have blasted BC government safety regulators, namely Worksafe BC and the WCB, along with the RCMP and the mills owners. Very little of this has made the mainstream media because they, the media could be sued for liable. But the employees of the mills know what's going on, the employees everywhere in the forest industry know what's going on, and it's capitalist greed. The owners of the mills will collect millions of dollars in insurance and won't be liable for the death or injury or loss of wages or loss to the local economy or anything else because the law and Worksafe BC protects them. Who protects the workers? Apparently not their unions.

Perhaps coincidentally in the last few weeks a number of reports concerning the projected shortage of timber in the northern BC region is being cited as the reason the Burns Lake mill may not be rebuilt and why there will be huge closures and job losses throughout the region. Perhaps not.

Harper Government Deserves Credit For Supporting the Dalai Lama

Yesterday Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told the international conference being held in Ottawa that the Canadian government supports the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Laureate on which Canada conferred honorary citizenship in 2006. Prime Minister Stephen Harper later met with the Dalai Lama on Friday afternoon. Official Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair also met with the Dalai Lama Friday afternoon, a spokesman confirmed, with a small group of MPs from all parties.

Harper met with the Dalai Lama on one of the spiritual leader's previous visits to Canada, in October, 2007, drawing a rebuke from the Chinese Embassy. The Conservatives have huge trade ambitions with China, which considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist. But several Tory caucus members were on hand to lend support to the Tibetan cause, including Sen. Consiglio Di Nino, who heads the Canadian parliament’s Friends of Tibet group.

The Dalai Lama is one of the most beloved people of our era. His beaming smile, his honesty, his self-deprecating humour, his giggles as well as his simple life and philosophy are a blessing to all who are ever in his presence. Once, many years ago, i was lucky enough to attend one of his lectures at UBC in Vancouver. His talk that night centered on kindness. His words and his grace changed my life for the better and live within me to this day.

The Mud Report has been very critical of Harper and his Conservative government's policies on many occasions, but in this case mr. mud wants to give credit where credit is due. The Harper government is, in this case, not acting solely in the best interests of his corporate, banking and oil interst friends. In fact this move will surely draw the ire of China's leadership and could well lead a cooling of relations, including trade relations, between Beijing and Ottawa. My congratulations to Stephen Harper and his government, on this issue he and they have stood for the greater good, stood for principle and stood against totalitarianism.

Occupy Powell River to Join May 1st Worldwide Day of Solidarity Demanding Economic Justice

At last night's General Assembly the members of Occupy Powell River voted unanimously to participate on May 1st in International Workers Day, with a demonstration and march starting at 3:30 PM in front of the Federal Government offices on Duncan Street.

A call has come, from OWS, from Occupy Canada, and from the people of the world. This call out is to stop working, stop school, stop shopping, stop driving, stop consuming from this corporate machine and take to the streets. OPR is answering the call to this worldwide day of protest in solidarity with the 99% and all those around the world demanding economic justice. JOIN US, stand up and take back our common resources, our common wealth and our futures.

To learn more about The May 1st day of action here are a few very informative links:

May Day Directory: Occupy General Strike In Over 125 Cities

The May 2012 Insurrection

Occupy Powell River - Decolonize Everywhere

Canadian Fisheries Act Changes to Eliminate Protection of Fish Habitat a Boon to Oil and Mining Interests

Fish habitat will no longer be protected in Canada under a new law from the federal government.  Fish habitat had been defined as spawning grounds and nursery, rearing, food supply and migration areas on which fish depend directly or indirectly in order to carry out their life processes. The new bill will remove references to fish habitat altogether.

"This is about the fast-tracking of the Conservatives' agenda for pipeline projects,” Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said, "shifting protection only to fish of economic value ignores that many fish key to an ecosystem actually do spawn in ditches or flooded fields." She pointed out that many important waterways contain fish eaten by seabirds, bears and other animals that don't directly benefit the recreational, commercial or aboriginal fisheries.

Environmental lawyers at the West Coast Environmental Law Association said the effect of the new Fisheries Act changes would be to exempt many major developments from fisheries review. "We know from experience whose interests are favoured when the federal government uses legislation to pick and choose what fish habitat gets protection - the legalized use of fish lakes as tailings ponds, and new rules that will recklessly fast track megaprojects that could result in devastation of fish habitat," Jessica Clogg, the group's senior counsel, said in a statement. "Today's announcements are peppered with new loopholes and exemptions that come at the expense of fish and those whose livelihoods and cultures rely on healthy fish habitat."

Why would they do it? Why, in the face of nearly unanimous opposition by native groups, environmental experts, legal advisers and the general public would Harpo's Conservative government jump into another PR quagmire? Money honey. These, and all their brethren, folks are deluded fundamentalist neo-cons. They believe, they have the "God" given right to dominion over everything. Everything, from the insane respective of a christian fundamentalist, has been created to serve the true believers.

An Honest Day's Work for an Honest Day's Pay

The New York Times today published a great article by Mark Bittman about his recent visit with Wendell Berry titled 'Finding Patience in an Era of Emergency'. Wendell Berry is one of the truly great men of our time and a mudite hero. Naturally then, he's been nearly totally ignored by the larger culture, especially corporate media. Wendall Berry personifies leadership from the bottom. He is the author of more than forty books of essays, poetry and novels. He has worked a farm in Henry County, Kentucky since 1965.

Bittman's article led me to the one of the greatest pieces i've read, perhaps ever. It's a transcript of the 2012 Jefferson Lecture titled 'It All Turns On Affection' delivered two days ago by Wendell Berry at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts In Washington D.C. Please read it, it's very moving, very powerful and shows why many, including myself, call Berry the prophetic American voice of our day.

Berry walks the talk. He has practiced and preached the virtue of  jobs based on hard work, on an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Having worked hard all my life i understand the value of sweat, the feeling of accomplishment earned by hard work, the feeling of pride in the product created by one's own hard work, and how much better the beer tastes after having earned it.

Berry understands well that inappropriate technology has displaced the honest work that once made Americans [and Canadians] truly wealthy and has wrong-headedly attempted to replace that weal of the many with riches for the few. Wendell Berry understands how capitalism is squandering the earth's natural bounty and poisoning it's inhabitants all in a short-sighted, short-term quest. Berry knows that one day this too shall pass.

“Because a thing is going strong now, it need not go strong for ever. This craze for motion has only set in during the last hundred years. It may be followed by a civilization that won’t be a movement, because it will rest upon the earth." - E. M. Forster

Preppers are Preparing for the Collapse of the World Economy and Becoming Self-Sufficient

Started thinking about today's research topic - 'Preppers' - a few days ago after watching a documentary on The National Geographic Channel. Being an old fogey i thought the term prepper meant the same thing as survivalist did back then. But as the show unfolded it became clear that many of today's preppers have coping with economic collapse as their motivation which fits in nicely with my general doomer type 'collapse is our only hope thesis'.

One of the first places Google.ca suggested was The Canadian Prepper Network. It's a very neat place, full of fantastic ideas for self sufficient living in the here and now. It's gardening, food processing, storage and preparation entries alone are fantastic. This site is a wonderful resource for everyone trying to live simply, trying to feed their family healthy foods, trying to escape the rat race, etc. and has almost zero weirdo conspiracy theories.

Then, after about a half hour of great fun, next stop was The American Prepper Network, also very interesting but after just feeling the totally good vibes of the Canadian version it was instantly apparent that their are two different cultures in our two countries. The American version also has some very cool self-sufficiency pieces but they are kinda mixed in with gun culture security stuff, American exceptional-ism and seasoned with more than a dash of Jesus. Next up, culture shock #2 at The End of the American Dream where a person quickly learns that in America today, there are millions of "preppers" that are working feverishly to get prepared for what they fear is going to happen to America.

The whole thing was very interesting, learned lots. Sure glad i moved to Canada 43 years ago.

Was it Earth Day Yesterday or Ostrich Day?

Yesterday and last night after working in the veggie garden i channel surfed and clicked my way around checking out the coverage of Earth Day. Almost every bit was meant to be uplifting or emotionally moving. Almost all focused on how each of us in our own little way, doing our own little bit can, when all the bits are added together, change the world. It made me wanna puke.

There they were, dozens of well meaning folks planting a couple hundred trees, all the bright smiling faces, the parents and the kids. Then, as the camera pulled back, there was a momentary glimpse of the parking lot full of SUVs they'd arrived there in directly behind them. There were folks learning which dish detergent to buy, which window washing fluid, which bathroom cleanser was the best 'green' product. But, and watching the TV muted is great for this, as the camera panned around it showed these dedicated folks living in huge houses, with elegant furnishings, with expensive appliances, wearing trendy new clothes and...well you get the picture.

Meanwhile as hundreds of Canadians rode their bikes to demonstrate their love of mother earth thousands of others lined up in their idling gas guzzlers at the border crossings to go shopping at the American malls. Our species is catapulting toward disaster and, as Naomi Klein points out, even the tiny minority who are trying to make a difference are being led by professional environmentalists into believing they can avert catastrophe by consuming "green" products .

As William Rees, the inventor of the Environmental Footprint concept, points out, "Even if every person on the planet made every change possible in their lifestyle the effect would be marginal at best." The green movement attacks their opponents as 'deniers' but in fact those skeptics may be in considerably less denial than environmentalists who paint a picture of global warming Armageddon then tell people it can be avoided by buying 'green' products, recycling and creating clever markets in pollution. To be sure life itself will go on with us or without us, but only the total collapse of our gluttonous culture can save us, the rogue primate, from self destruction.

Consumers are Lined Up to Buy Green Products on Earth Day

The fact is we can't consume our way out of over-consumption. Earth Day is 42 years old today and the best thing i can think of to do to participate is to work in my little garden. Gardening, touching the earth, remembering that there's no there there, are my meditations on Earth Day.

We, the flora, fauna, microbes, minerals, forces and faeries are all in this together. We embrace the self-serving delusion that we are separate from 'the environment' in order to allow ourselves to live as we do without going insane.

Live simply, want less, everyday is Earth Day.

Redistributing Wealth 'The Motaleros Way'

All the 'democratic' countries of the west now suffer under governments who are so corrupted by whatever special interest groups support their stranglehold on power that we've ended up with regressive sales taxes instead of income and asset taxes, with the abandonment of the notion of a commons and the corporate right to person-hood. Inevitably, in such a scenario, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Seldom does a scenario come along that reverses the flow of wealth. But one does, it’s The Motaleros Way. In short it’s the story of Canada's less and less underground 'green economy'. It's routinely stated in the mainstream media that the motaleros bring $6 billion annually into the BC economy. Estimates are that over 100,000 work in BC’s underground green economy.

Where does all this money come from? Lots of it comes north from the US. Why? Well a combination of millions of American pot lovers and a government down there that is all to willing to throw out its Bill of Rights and the democratic will of its own citizens in numerous state referendums, creates 'that huge sucking sound' we hear up in BC.

Where does all that loot go? When little guys spend their loonies it's at the grocery market not the stock market. It's on bills and stuff in their home town. Law enforcement research has shown repeatedly that the majority of BC bud is grown by small mom and pop operations. But whoever grows them every plant takes huge amounts of labour to grow and process. Even the criminal types with the warehouses are employing tens if not hundreds of people each somewhere in the production/distribution lines. All those people have families just like you and I. Without all those thousands of motaleros spending all those $6 billion bucks to create other jobs in their communities we’d be seeing an even faster growing disparity between rich urban and poor rural lifestyles here in BC.

To conclude, The Motaleros Way is huge, it's everywhere and it's supporting many of our communities all across Canada.

April 20th, 420, is the World-Wide Day to Celebrate the Cannabis Culture

Today, April 20th is the world-recognized international day of celebration for the planet's estimated 250,000,000 members of the cannabis culture. The festival is especially notable for the fact it is the largest in North America. People across North America will light up joints to celebrate getting high and advocate, for the 41st year, for the legalization of marijuana.

In Vancouver BC 10,000 to 15,000 people gather on April 20th every year on the north side of the Vancouver Art Gallery to celebrate all things marijuana. 420Vancouver.com has a great website with a map of how to get to the celebration to help folks get to the Art Gallery on time. The website also has a number of great videos of the celebration from past years. The VPD has publicly stated that their lowest priority is arresting folks for simple possession of pot and that they will not be arresting anybody again this year at the celebration for smoking or possessing the herb. Coincidentally [at least in official reports], April 20 is a “noninstructional day” of the Vancouver School Board.

This world-wide day of celebration clearly shows how stupid the US and Canadian 'War on Drugs' is. Instead of educating folks about the real issues of use and abuse, about the dangers of and differences between various drugs, of honestly addressing the fact that people of all cultures at all times in history have enjoyed getting high on some substance or methodology. Instead we allow the insanity of the minority of the 'Just Say No' puritan holy-roller mentality types to dominate our laws and punish countless, otherwise non-criminal, citizens.

As Albert Einstein said about alcohol prohibition in 1921,"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law, for nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

How Corruption and Kickbacks Convinced Union Leaders to Accept Defined Contribution Pension Plans

Back through the 70's and early 80's being a union organizer was my calling in life. Marx's historic quote, "Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains." rang my bell back then. Those were still heady times for the union movement here in Canuckistan. But the times they were a changin and the union movement was too.

It was dismaying to watch as one membership after another made the short-term selfish choices, usually supported by the union executives, like wage increases instead of job security which inevitably led to the layoff of some of its least senior members [those with young families who needed their jobs the most] and their being replaced by inappropriate technology like robotics of some other 'labour saving' devices. Another short sighted choice touted by union bosses was the refusal to take equity shares in the companies employing them instead of, or as part of, their compensation packages.

But the dumbest move, from a workers perspective anyway, was when the union memberships started accepting the argument, again from their unions leaders, that they should change their pension plans away from the 'gold standard' of a defined benefit plan and become involved in the defined contribution carnival. With a defined benefit plan, the employer bears all the investment risk and commits to a fixed payout of money, typically based on a salary, inflation adjustment and years-of-service formula. In sharp contrast, a defined contribution plan puts all the risk upon employees.

It's easy to see why the employers liked the cheaper defined contribution scheme better. It's easy to see why the investment hustlers liked it - they'd have endless inexperienced rubes to council and collect fees and bonuses from. But why would the union leaders be so unanimously in love with this scheme? Then, by the early 80's, the stories of kickbacks and corruption started to roll in. Turned out the union bosses foresaw that they'd be in the powerful and pivotal position of choosing which investment maggot's firm they'd pick to handle their union's sizable pension funds. Turned out the various hedge fund managers were quite willing to grease the various union's decision making wheels. Turned out lottsa union executives got lottsa fancy goodies and plenty of loot too. Turned out the union members had a lot more to lose than their chains and they did, at least what was left of them after all the layoffs.