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Disgraceful Behaviour In Toronto
The behaviour exhibited by Toronto's police in this video that comes to us via therealnews.com is beyond reprehensible. They are violent, thuggish and deserve no respect or quarter. The explanation given by the police chief about the so-called Black Block being nearby as an excuse for the brutal and despicable response to peaceful demonstrators is a proven to be a bald faced lie in the video. This is our country, we should not stand by and tolerate this massive abusive of our freedoms.
News Story Links - New Media and Politics
Today's 1st story link is what the title is about. The relationship the people of the Gulf have with BP is like that of an abused spouse. The beatings are hard on the system but the only thing worse would be if the spouse left or was forced to leave. Alternet asks, when will we end our abusive relationship with big oil? Abusive can hardly be viewed as hyperbolic when we are looking at a dead zone the size of Lake Ontario being created - and I actually think that's optimistic given yesterday's report of methane concentrations 100,000 times more than normal that have been detected in parts of the Gulf.
As has been well documented BP was in no way ready for a catastrophic occurrence - although they claimed that they were, but then neither are any of the oil companies currently drilling in the Gulf. Just to complicate the current clean-up efforts, Tropical Storm Alex is strengthening and moving towards the coast - it could turn onto a category 3 hurricane. here's a Q & A from the NOAA on what is likely to happen if a hurricane hits the area of the spill.
A reminder that 21 years after the Valdez spill many species there are still struggling to survive.
In non-gusher related news, Iraq still twirling towards... heaven knows what as Monday sees 7 killed and 19 wounded. This is not unusual and is the price Iraqis pay daily for US occupation.
The leaders at the G-20 took the decision to screw the poor around the world.
Concerns raised about carbon sequestration - how effective will it be?
Marijuana in a nasal spray? I've said it before, it's a miracle drug!
Q&A With Karyn A. Gray, author of Black Sheep: An Unconventional Look at Good Ol’ Family Values
When did you first get the idea for this book?
It’s hard to say exactly, but in retrospect I think I’ve wanted to do something on this subject matter ever since I first started getting involved in subcultures when I was 12 or 13. There really were no underground scenes in my hometown on the South Shore of Boston and not too many kids from there were into punk or skate or whatever else, so if you were, you really stuck out. And you weren’t just judged by other kids because you weren’t wearing Abercrombie; you were judged by other kids’ parents, teachers, local cops, everyone. It wasn’t necessarily because people thought you were bad, but they wondered about you. In the end, though, I think that just made me more dedicated to being involved in those scenes, because I loved proving people’s presumptions wrong. Yes, I looked different and went to punk shows in other towns on the weekend instead of going to football games and house parties, but I was an honor student, I was the editor of the school literary magazine, I wasn’t messed up on drugs, and I loved my family.
For a long time I think my parents had a hard time with me “being different.” Not because they thought I was a bad seed, but because they wanted me to have the best life possible, whether that be in terms of good friends, good career opportunities, or whatever else. They didn’t want other people to judge me, and in turn, I’m sure they also didn’t want to be judged. As a parent, I’m sure you don’t want other people in town thinking that because your kid is different you somehow failed in your parenting. Once I realized that, I became even more resolute in my desire to, on the one hand, positively promote and contribute to subcultures, but on the other hand, to make my parents proud.
It took a long time for me to come up with the concept for this book, because it took a long time to figure out what exactly I wanted to convey. In the end, though, I’m very happy with it. Not only were the contributors excited to participate in it, but also my parents were very excited about the final product, which was huge for me.
If there is one thing that you want people to take from this book, what is it?
The world would be a far better place if we would take the time to try to identify with others on some level before judging or dismissing them. Also, there are a lot of people out there who think that choosing to live life against the grain is the easy, cop-out way that involves zero responsibility and a lax work ethic. Nothing could be further from the truth.
What demographic do you want to read this book, the people who know the scene, or the people who don’t understand the scene?
Both. I wanted this book to be something that the contributors, or in other words the individuals involved in subcultures, could be really excited about. This was a chance for them to celebrate their families and talk about a part of their lives that they don’t usually get asked about. This was also put together with the people not familiar with the contributors or their subcultures in mind, so that they might identify with them in some way or see them in a different light. Family is what pretty much all of us have in common, so my aim with the book was to put all participants on the same level, whether they be my friends, my family, or the legends who I admired when I was growing up.
What question do you wish an interviewer would ask and why?
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night panicking that maybe you should have taken that stable, corporate job seven years ago when you graduated from university? More often than I’d like to admit, but life’s too short to not try your hardest to follow your heart, and I’m happy knowing that I won’t wake up when I’m 60, unfulfilled, wishing that I had given it a shot.
Read a review of Gray's book here.
Roundup of G-20 News - New Media and Politics
Trying to get back in a regular groove what with holidays and a weird sense of burning out on litany of lies crap and bad news. None of which would be half as bad were it not for the frustration I feel when it's not reported in on detail and with context by the MSM. Things have gotten far more wankerish here in Canada that I could have imagined - even with Harper at the helm.
That G-20 get-together that produced a record number of mass arrests, the most in Canadian history, drew this response from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association: "To us, it’s abhorrent that we would be arresting more than 900 people to find maybe 50 or 100 … vandals. This makes no sense. It’s a fundamental breach of Canadian law to have done that,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, the organization’s general counsel.
If this was the worst thing that came out of Harper's billion dollar vanity project I'd have moved on to other things, sadly it is not. Naomi Klein explains how we all got screwed at the summit, Faced with the effects of a crisis created by the world’s wealthiest and most privileged strata, they decided to stick the poorest and most vulnerable people in their countries with the bill. Paul Krugman of the NYT's thinks the deal signed on at the G-20 could lead to the 3rd great depression. One he believes will be, primarily a failure of policy. Around the world — most recently at last weekend’s deeply discouraging G-20 meeting — governments are obsessing about inflation when the real threat is deflation, preaching the need for belt-tightening when the real problem is inadequate spending. But our PM was busily advocating and cheering on these cuts. That may end up being his true legacy.
NGO's (Non-Governmental Organizations) gave the summit a failing grade and to top it all off Canada actually blocked taking action on poverty at the summit. How proud of our PM are you at this moment? But he doesn't deserve all the brickbats - keep some handy to fling at Ontario's Liberal(?) premier Dalton McGuinty who refuses to explain why his cabinet passed a secret law giving police more power to arrest people during the G20 summit in Toronto.
And one final note from the awesome summit of the wealthy on behalf of the rich, the PM signs a nuclear co-operation deal with India.
CJLO Live at the Caribbean Curry House
Join CJLO for a live broadcast and BBQ at the Caribbean Curry House this holiday long weekend! Beat the World, Caribbean Callaloo, More Fyah and the Lime Light will be hosting their shows and broadcasting live from the Curry House back garden.
There will be a BBQ and lots of great food and music so come on by and join us. If you can't make it or are from out of town be sure to listen in at 1690 AM, cjlo.com or on iTunes Radio.
It's all happening this Saturday, July 3rd from noon to 8pm. Curry House can be found at 6892 Avenue Victoria in Montreal.
If you're a business in the area and would like to get involved, feel free to email us at manager(at)cjlo(dot)com for sponsorship opportunities.
Don't miss it!
See the Facebook event here for RSVP and more info.
Gusher in the Gulf and Environmental News
The news about the gusher in the Gulf continues to be bad and strangely we find out something new and terrible every week that this goes on. Today I learned that, unknown to the majority of the public, this particular area that was chosen by the BP geologists has been described as unstable and even dangerous due to the possible super sized methane beds embedded deep in the earths crust. Scientists from the Texas A&M University who have been running tests in the area within a 5 mile radius of the drill site, have found levels of methane in the ocean that are through the roof. In some pockets of the ocean the concentrations of methane gas levels are up to 100,000 times the norm and even more incredibly up to 1 million times higher.
I have no idea of how to react to that except with fear. I'm all out of outrage for BP - there are no excuses for the numerous ways in which they screwed up and brought this disaster about.. They should be dismantled but sadly they have politicians and media to help disseminate their propaganda and lies and thus assure their survival. Obama's getting BP to pony up in advance was good politics which is why the Republicans and the corporate media freaked out
The oil in the Gulf, says my favourite blog on all things global warming, looms like disease for birds and turtles. Also over at Climate Progress there's a report about the so-called "Climategate," and MSM retractions of that lying meme, that noted of course, the damage has been done. That's what it's all about, creating narratives. Here's one that's undeniable except by the anti-science types who deny everything: the Arctic is experiencing record sea ice shrinkage.
Obama keeps his promise on whale conservation - the MSM tries to lie about it.
A beautiful and kinda' sad slide show of art made out of our consumptive excesses.
Weekends Get Longer - Canadian News Edition
This will be brief. There was more bad news from Afghanistan yesterday as two Canadians were amongst the six NATO soldiers that died during what has been the deadliest month for NATO forces since the nine year old war began. Master Corporal Kristal Giesebrecht, 34, and Private Andrew Miller, 21, were on their way to deal with a mine that had been found in the doorway of a home when the vehicle they were in detonated an IED killing them both.
From Truthout an essay on how the shift to General Petreus signals an Afghanistan war policy crisis. I'm not sure I agree entirely, but it does mean most certainly that there will be change of some sort in strategy and that will most definitely affect the mission and Canadians serving there. And from Think Progress a terrific backgrounder on the Afghanistan war and questions about changing course.
The vandals dressed in black are not to be confused with the peaceful protesters who attempted to let the leaders of the G-20 know how they felt about the never-ending war in Afghanistan, the same austerity measures they are always recommending for us but not for banks or corporations, Harper's stand on the maternal health care issue and a myriad of other issues. None of which will now get a hearing because a bunch of thugs claiming to be anarchists marched up and down Toronto streets breaking things for reasons that make little sense to me.
The idea is usually stated these acts are undertaken so as to show the face of the oppressor - the police state. Thing is, it doesn't work. Most people, when they see this stuff get angry and want to see the protests stopped. That includes legitimate ones along with the idiocy and violence.
And that's the thing. The only thing that works is non-violence. Civil disobedience is fine but it has to be civil. If you want to show the face of an oppressive state try a non-violent protest. If the police attack that then you'll achieve your goal of unmasking the state for what it is. Until a way can be found to dis-include the black balaclava wearing miscreants all protests will be seen as illegitimate and worse, their message will not be heard. This kind of behaviour gives the jack-booted types licence.
So Harper's $1.2 billion dollar vanity project gets a black eye but he gets to make the claim (more plausibly than he otherwise would) that the violence justifies the enormous bill Canadians are footing for it. - Ontario's McGuinty get a share of the blame too for pushing through a bill when no one was looking that takes Canadian's rights away.
Black Sheep: An Unconventional look at Good Ol’ Family Values
Karyn A. Gray recently published her first book, Black Sheep: An Unconventional Look at Good Ol’ Family Values. It is a compilation of photo’s and thoughts on family as seen by some of the underground elite. The book looks at family life as told by the artists, musicians and celebrities themselves, accompanied by photo’s of their family life, past and present. Black Sheep incorporates underground A-Listers including contributions by such prominent artists as Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, Sage Francis, Mr. Dibbs, Melissa Auf der Maur and Danny Diablo. The contributor’s show that looks and/or career choice do not define us as a hole, and too see the whole picture, one only has to ask, which is exactly what Karyn Gray did. The contributors all have varied stances on family, but for the most part it seems to be just as important to the tattooed roughneck as it is to their cardigan wearing counterparts.
Black Sheep is a throwback to my and many others childhoods. We can see ourselves in the reflections of the artists. Whether we don ourselves with a plethora of tattoos or listen to aggressive music, we still (for the most part) have a family that we care for. The underground music, tattoo, art and fashion scene are not “defined” in Black Sheep, as they can’t be defined in general. Every person is an individual and therefore holds individuals ideas on the underground scene. As the Generation X era moves into a dominant position in the world and takes the place of the baby boomers, the “underground” raises slowly to the surface. Black Sheep: An Unconventional look at Good Ol’ Family Values begs its readers to look beyond the surface and to not judge a book by its cover, you should however read this book from cover to cover.
News June 25th 2010
News produced by Drew Pascoe, read by Erica Fisher
Stories by Jonothan Moore, Alina Gotcherian and Erica Fisher
Shout out to Mr. Pascoe (senior) who's birthday is today. Happy Birthday from the News Team!
News June 23rd 2010
Read and produced by Lachlan Fletcher.
Stories written by Emily Brass and Gareth Sloan.
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