Metaneos

Andrew Coyne: Problems behind aboriginal murders won’t be solved with a public inquiry Uh, thanks, Captain Fucking Obvious. Like we needed you to tell us that. A public inquiry is important, though. It's a needed ceremony. The world runs and operates on symbols and ceremonies. We First Nations understand this. We live and breath ceremony. The idea behind a public inquiry is for Canada to say, "We care." So long as Steven Harper and Andrew "Fucking Tool" Coyne are both ignoring and downplaying the need for a public inquiry, the longer Canada is showing there is no care from Canada for First Nations. It's a good first step, and Canada won't even take it.

Robin Williams didn't have depression. He had manic depression, which is entirely different. I have it. I'll share my own story. It's not really directed at any one person, but I hope people will take what I say to heart. It's the brain. Thoughts don't travel through it normally, not at all. They simply race through the brain, untethered. Looping, looping. Thoughts don't go from point a to point b . They go there, and come back, bearing gifts, and having pupped children, too, but only after having made numerous stops on the way. They might have even done some laps or two, like they were racing Nascar. But since these are manic thoughts, they kept turning right. Manic depression isn't at all sadness. It's closer to insanity. And when you're in the midst of an episode of manic, you might not even realize until after you've entered the circus tent, and then burned it all down to the ground that perhaps you're not quite right in th...

thestar.com How ridiculously stupid.Pointless, even. What has happened to Canada's foreign diplomacy? Canada used to be respected, with heavyweights as its ambassadors, but Harper's reduced the foreign service into a gods-be-damned laughing stock. Canada's praises and rebukes used to carry weight, and sting, but are now brushed aside and ridiculed. And also, NATO countries seem to be hellbent on bumbling their way into armed, nuclear confrontation with Russia. These provocations will result, for now, in nothing but a chill from Russia. However, that's because Russia doesn't threaten, it simply does. If Russia feels under attack, she will retaliate in a way the Western governments won't like. Russia already took back Crimea, in a competent and bloodless coup, which was in the exact opposite manner the West creates 'regime-change'. Fortunately, most of what the West has done so far has been toothless, aside from plunging Ukraine into a civil war. The ...

The initial feelings in the First Nations community are shock, and outrage. To put it bluntly, this disaster has the potential to set back provincial and First Nations relations by decades, and to badly damage trust within communities for and against resource extraction. Opposition to projects such as Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline will also likely further entrench and radicalize.

The Prince George Citizen A tailings pond that breached Monday, releasing a slurry of contaminated eater and mine waste into several central British Columbia waterways, was growing at an unsustainable rate, an environmental consultant says. This company,  Imperial Metals Corp., has been facing these problems since 2011. "More water's coming over the year than they could deal with," Olding said. "They just kept building the walls up higher and higher every year and it got to the point where that was untenable." Where was the regulation? Apparently, this is more of that 'self-regulation'. Bill Bennett: "They've been monitoring it and reporting to the ministry every (day) since then." Wonderful. Except the feeling I'm getting from all this is, this happened because a mining company didn't care enough to correct its problems, partnered with a ministry that didn't care enough to help it. Both are already subtly implicating eac...

thestar.com Water at a Toledo, Ohio, treatment plant has tested positive for microcystin, a toxin known to cause liver and kidney damage, leaving thousands of Ohio residents without water and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency Saturday. This was something predicted by the EPA , but this is the first I've really thought of this sort of situation happening. I guess I can credit the Canadian government's policy of muzzling its scientists on the effects of climate change. Are Canadian communities at risk to this sort of development? I know my community's local lake was subjected to a harmless algal bloom, recently, but was this something that can change over time? Questions, and no answers.

A horrifying thought. The First Nations Financial Transparency Act is demagoguery. Simply a racist and awful piece of legislation, but what if it's merely a step in a grand process? Consider the ramifications: this Act turns public opinion squarely against First Nations leadership, right or wrong. Using public opinion, the government begins new legislation which places power in the government's hands, which allows the government to unilaterally fire chiefs and councilors, nationally. Without recognized elected leadership, the government then places band responsibilities into the hands of third party managers.

There's a great uproar in the media about Chief and Councillor's salaries in the news, recently, due to disclosures brought about by the First Nations Financial Transparency Act. I've had numerous thoughts, lately, about the effects such an act will have on First Nations, but nothing concrete. Everything is nebulous, right now. I'll write about this, soon. But for now, I'll leave these thoughts out in the open. The First Nations Financial Transparency Act is demagogy. It is absolute demagogy, in form, and in function.

The Guardian Meh. The USA military had a counter-insurgency book before it invaded Iraq, too. Doesn't mean the USA followed it, despite it being written by the commander of the USA's armed forces at the time. What this seems like is a security company teasing money out of the USA's military complex, and slapping together a bunch of conjecture. The USA's government is gamed out of billions of dollars for worthless projects like this every day. Just meh.

Charles Foran: The Globe and Mail Instead, China’s rise to superpower status has proved a happy model for authoritarian governments hoping to pull their economies out of poverty without sacrificing control or conceding ground to notions of civil society. It has delinked prosperity from democracy. China hasn't done anything novel. Machiavelli sourly noted this in his satirical treatise, The Prince: “The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far safer to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.”

CTV News I'm not even a Liberal, and I find this disgraceful. It stinks of betrayal. Justin Trudeau made a hell of an announcement, and deserves to be commended for it. John McKay deserves the force of the Liberal Part discipline, and should accept whatever punishment is visited upon him, right up to being drummed out of the party. He should damn well resign because of how badly he embarrassed his party leadership.

Brookings Institute : Clifford G. Gaddy and Barry W. Ickes A good primer for those of us who are a bit lacking in our knowledge of world events. The US' moves have produced a whole lot of conflict with little to no reward.

thestar.com Well, hopefully this is resolved before it gets to court. All it would take is an apology from the Prime Minister. $100,000? Sounds like chump change for Harper and his office. I guess that's to pay for the lawyer fees. If I remember correctly, the connection this charity has to Hamas is innocuous at worst. Sadly, for any charity to do work in Palestine, the need to go through Hamas is absolute.

CTV News I can't imagine how much that is, in all honesty. 220 square kilometres, and 300 metres deep? That size is.... I actually can imagine that, now. That's a whole lot of ice. The loss is probably being understated, too. It's probably compounding rather then just being a straight five metres every year. Things are changing, and we're unprepared. The importance of climate change cannot be understated. If the governments of the world do nothing, then as individuals, we all need to ready our hearts and minds for what's going to happen. Try to imagine a worst case scenario. Mass drought. Entire nations starving. Mass migrations of populations moving to countries that aren't in drought. There's going to be conflict, unless it is organized. Things fall apart when people are brung low.

Indigenous Nationhood I get frustrated reading this sort of thing. I really, really do. Because I agree with most everything the author says. However, within, I feel it's close to ineffective, this sort of report. It's slapping on a piece of paper to the Canadian government saying, "See, even these people think you're treating us awfully!" The Canadian government, in response, would probably yawn at us and then have security to take us away. For over a hundred years, the Canadian government has had one policy when it comes to First Nations that it seriously pursues. One. Not two. Not three. Only one. It is simply, " Enough to keep them alive ". Anything more than that for the First Nations of Canada is absolutely contrary to what it, the Canadian government, has done over a century. Stephen Harper and his government will never accept First Nations rights. Never. Not one person in his government will ever accept First Nations to have any valid histor...

The Globe and Mail The NDP policy flip-flop on Kinder Morgan’s pipeline plans in the middle of the 2013 provincial election campaign has been written into the history books as a fatal miscalculation. This is wishful thinking. What killed the NDP was a weak election drive run by a poor campaigner. A lot of talent was washed out of the NDP by the scandal of Glen Clark and the weak leadership of  Ujjal Dosanjh. The election was the BC NDP's to lose, and they did. A bunch of losers. After an effort like that, they deserve to have lost.

rabble.ca , Pam Palmater Canada's relationship with First Nations has been pushed back by generations. I honestly don't know if Harper has any plan for First Nations, except for bleed them dry when it comes to funding, and ignore them whenever it's convenient, otherwise. Give them nothing, and take away what is left unguarded.

First Nations, cities say B.C. has known how to fix Highway of Tears for years The Canadian Press, James Keller Anton insists the highway is safe, pointing transportation options including a health shuttle for medical patients and Greyhound bus service, which was dramatically cut last year. I've been through the north of BC. It's remote. There are little towns throughout the north, but there's a great amount of space. Anything could happen. What Anton is insisting is beyond insufficient. It's also insulting. It's the words of a woman who lacks in empathy for the victims and the victims' families. May she be shamed for her callous disregard for the lost and murdered.

CBC There is much to discuss. What is needed is a culture change, to make these woman who've disappeared important to the government. First Nations are not important to the Canadian government, which is why there is silence from there. Please praise the RCMP for releasing this.

I'm returning to writing. I've been withdrawn and burned out for what seems like months or years. Anyway, I'll be blogging about whatever I read, and commenting on whatever moves me, whether to joy or anger. What I've read today: CBC: First Nations relations with Ottawa tested over 'economic shutdown' threat "I trust that the good, hard-working chiefs will speak up," Valcourt said. Nice way of avoiding the issue of why there is a bloc of First Nations chiefs opposed to Valcourt's Act. He, for one, slimes the chiefs who are opposed to the Act as being lazy. Are they? To me, it seems as though they're working hard to derail Valcourt's efforts, so perhaps they aren't. For another, Valcourt's suggesting the chiefs who are working with him are the only hard working chiefs in the AFN. Woof woof! We hear your dog whistling racial politics loud and clear, Mr Valcourt! It's a lazy, lazy way of deflecting attention away from the a...