Paul S. Graham

Dale Cummings’ cartoon (above) in today’s Winnipeg Free Press illustrates the fear-mongering hypocrisy surrounding Iran’s nuclear enrichment program that is being propagated by news media and governments world-wide. If all you saw was this cartoon, you would conclude that Iran has nuclear weapons and we should all be very afraid of them.

Well, folks, Iran is not a nuclear power and the world leaders yelling loudest about Iran’s attempts to enrich uranium are more interested in taking down a country that refuses to bow to western imperialism. (And, oh, Iran has oil, lots of oil.)

While there are rogue states with nukes, Iran isn’t one of them. Those who do constitute a rogues gallery of international thugs, many of whose crimes dwarf anything Iran might be capable of.

Nuclear Rogues Gallery

According to Wikipedia, “there are now about 8,200 active nuclear warheads and about 23,300 total nuclear warheads in the world in 2009. Many of the “decommissioned” weapons were simply stored or partially dismantled, not destroyed.”

The above table is adapted from Wikipedia: List of States with Nuclear Weapons. The third column contains my shorthand rationale for why these countries are dangerous rogue states who shouldn’t be trusted with nukes.

Of course, no one should be trusted with nuclear weapons. They should be banned and destroyed. Anyone who contributes to their maintainance and/or development is a dangerous pyschopath who should be locked up.

And anyone in a position of political authority who contributes to the rising tide of hysteria, the only purpose of which is to build a case for war against Iran should be removed from office. This would lead to lots of vacancies, including in the office of our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, who recently promised that Canada would back “whatever actions are necessary to deal with what is a tremendous threat to international peace and security.”

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked thousands of pages of classified U.S. government documents to reveal the true nature of the U.S. war in Vietnam has begun a personal memoir of the nuclear era, entitled “The American Doomsday Machine.” It promises to be a goldmine of information and analysis. The first installment, U.S. Nuclear Planning for a Hundred Holocausts, is chilling. You want rogues? Ellsberg gives you rogues.

None of this should be considered an endorsement of the government of Iran or its policies. Iran is a theocratic police state where judicial torture and murder are commonplace, women are oppressed and unions are suppressed violently and regularly.

That said, Iran is not anywhere near being in a position to threaten anyone with nuclear weapons.

Let’s recognize Obama’s (and Brown’s and Harper’s and Sarkozy’s, etc., ad nauseam) posturing for what it is. Obama and the others need to set the stage for their ongoing attempts to secure increasingly scarce energy supplies. Obama and others need to divert attention from their failed war in Afghanistan. Obama, in particular, needs to shore up his plummeting approval ratings.

Be very afraid. But don’t fear Iran.

http://www.youtube.com/p/876F75A47CC82484&hl=en&fs=1

Joshua Key is an American war resister who fought in Iraq and who sought refuge in Canada because of his war experiences. Author of “The Deserter’s Tale,” Joshua told the story of his recruitment into the U.S. Army, the carnage he witnessed in Iraq and his subsequent flight to Canada to an audience in Winnipeg, the first stop on a 13-city tour of western Canada.

Like so many young people, Joshua joined the army to escape a life of poverty and support his family. The Army promised he would remain in the US and learn to build bridges, but the ink on his contract was barely dry when he learned he would be deployed  to Iraq. Basic training turned him into a killing machine, but the brutalities of war transformed him into a deserter, a refugee and a peace activist.

As you’ll see from the video I recorded Wednesday evening, Joshua speaks with authority, simplicity, warmth and honesty. He is a man traumatized by what he has seen and done who has bravely stepped forward to resist the monsters who prosecute this war.  He deserves and needs our support. If you can, get out to one of the meetings on his tour.

But don’t stop there. Contact the War Resisters Support Campaign and see what else you can do to support the courageous young men and women who have said no to America’s criminal wars.

American war resister Joshua Key begins a 13-city tour on September 16, 2009 to seek support for the cause of U.S. war resisters in western Canada.

Joshua is co-author of “The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier who Walked Away from the War in Iraq.”.

Itinerary (updated Sept. 20, 2009):

Winnipeg Sept 14-17
Mon, Sept 14, 7:00 pm, Canadian Mennonite University,
Laudamus Auditorium, North campus, 500 Shaftsbury

Wed, Sept 16, 12:30 pm, University of Manitoba,
Room 224 University Centre

Wed, Sept 16, 7:00 pm – Millennium Library
(Graham & Donald), 2nd floor

Thur, Sept 17, 12:30 pm, University of Winnipeg,
Eckhardte-Grammate Hall foyer, third fl.

Brandon Fri Sept 18
1:00, Brandon University, Clarke Hall room 104 – Info Brandon ad hoc Tour Committee 717-0228

7:00, City Hall, 410  9th St. – Info Brandon ad hoc Tour Committee 717-0228

Regina Sat Sept 19
7:00 pm, Unitarian Centre, corner of College & Angus.
Sponsor: Making Peace Vigil. Information 526-8993.

Saskatoon Sun, Sept 20
10:30 am service, 11:00 Joshua speaks, St. Thomas-Wesley
United Church, 808 20th St.W. (at corner of 20th and Ave. H South)

Edmonton Tues Sept 22
7:00 pm, HI (Hostelling International), Meeting Room,
10647 81st Ave. (One block off of Whyte Ave.)

Red Deer, Wed, Sept 23
4:00 pm, Red Deer College, North Nook in the Library, sponsor:
Student’s Association 403-356-4975

Calgary Thur, Sept 24
12:00-1:00 pm, University of Calgary, Science Theaters 131,
Consortium for Peace Studies, 220-2136

7:00 p.m., Carpenters Union Hall, 301 – 10 Street NW,
Sponsor – Ad hoc Committee

Kamloops Fri, Sept 25
7:00 pm, Clocktower Theatre, Thompson Rivers University

Kelowna Sun Sept 26
7:00 pm, Okanogan College Kelowna campus, Theatre. Presented
by Kelowna Peace Group kelownapeacegroup@shaw.ca

Vernon Mon Sept 27
7:00 pm, Okanagan College, Vernon Campus, Room D310. Information: David 250-832-6678

Grand Forks Tues, Sept 29
7:00 pm, USCC Community Centre. Sponsored by the USCC
Working Group on Peace and Justice and the Boundary Peace
Initiative. For more information call 250 442 8252

Castlegar Wednesday September 30
7:00 pm, Brilliant Cultural Centre. Sponsored by the USCC Working
Group on Peace and Justice and the Kootenay Region Branch
of the United Nations Association in Canada. Info: 250 365 3613 ext 21.

Lethbridge Thur, October 1
4:00 pm, University of Lethbridge, Students Union Ballroom B, SU Building 3rd fl. (room SU300B). Sponsored by the University of Lethbridge, Students’ Union 403-329-2770

7:00 pm, Lethbridge Public Library, Theatre Gallery, 810 5th Avenue South. Sponsored by the Lethbridge Network for Peace

Medicine Hat Fri, October 2
Tentative: Noon, Medicine Hat College
7:00 pm, Unisphere Global Resouce Centre Basmt. 102 – 6th St. S.E.

While most Canadians support war resisters and oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Canadian government hasn’t gotten the message. Josh Key needs and deserves our support. Get out to one of the meetings and tell/bring everyone you can.

More information: Contact the Joshua Key Ad Hoc Tour Committee at (204) 792-3371. Or send an email to manitobapeacecouncil@gmail.com.

Help promote this meeting: Download and distribute this poster.

For video of one of Joshua’s Winnipeg appearances, go here.

According to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, high flying economies such as Canada’s should be permitted more latitude in their obligations to reduce greenhouse emissions than more depressed areas of the globe. It’s not our fault that we didn’t meet our Kyoto targets – our superior economic performance made us act like the energy swilling fools we’ve become. If one accepts Frontier’s logic, we should be proud!

Writing in yesterday’s Winnipeg Free Press, Frontier’s Ben Eisen argues

Canada’s inability to meet its Kyoto commitment is not a source of national shame — it is the inevitable result of a flawed treaty which failed to recognize the relationship between population growth, economic growth and greenhouse-gas emissions.

As the Copenhagen conference approaches, Canada should learn from the failure of Kyoto, and participate in a new climate-change agreement only if the new pact does not punish growth. Predetermined emission caps make little sense in a dynamic country like Canada in which the rate of economic and population growth are unpredictable.

The new climate-change treaty should only be signed if emission targets are flexible and responsive to changing demographic and economic conditions.

Eisen is quite correct in stating that GDP, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and population have all increased while energy use per unit of GDP (“emission intensity”) has decreased.

According to Natural Resources Canada, energy use grew less rapidly than the economy, but more rapidly than the population. An NRC report states: “Between 1990 and 2005, energy use in Canada increased by 22 percent . . . [while] the Canadian population grew 17 percent . . . and GDP increased 51 percent . . . More generally, energy use per unit of GDP declined, while energy use on a per capita basis increased.”

If citing GDP growth is intended to help us feel good about destroying the planet, note that most of this growth went to the richest 20 per cent of Canadians. They saw their after tax incomes increase from $96,200 in 1990 to 116,500 in 2005, a 21% increase. This compares with 10% for the middle 60% and 2.3% for the bottom 20% of the population.

Canada’s “emission intensity” has decreased, somewhat like a heavy drinker switching from whiskey to beer, all the while drinking more beer to get high. Like this delusional drunkard, we will pay a heavy price for unsustainable energy consumption.

Alberta Tar Sands. Photo: Greenpeace / Eamon Mac Mahon

One reason for Canada’s growth in GDP is the Alberta tar sands development, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, projected to account for 3% of Canadian GDP by 2020, and to devastate a boreal forest the size of New Brunswick. Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil. By 2015, the tar sands are expected to emit more greenhouse gases than the nation of Denmark (pop. 5.4 million). (Another reason for GDP growth is increased military spending and our criminal war in Afghanistan – but I digress).

The mission of the Frontier Centre, it would seem, is to shill for the growth-at-any-cost crowd. As one of the highest per capita users of energy on earth, Canada must reject its flawed logic. The plain fact is the world cannot sustain uncontrolled growth any longer.

Every August 6, citizens in thousands of communities around the world commemorate the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and rededicate themselves to the cause of peace and disarmament. In Winnipeg, a Lanterns for Peace Ceremony is conducted annually by Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Project Peacemakers and the Manitoba Japanese Canadians Association. Here’s my video of this year’s ceremony.

Alanna Makinson is VP External, University of Manitoba Students Union. Following the June 13, 2009 Winnipeg Walk for Peace, she spoke on the negative impact of the war in Afghanistan and increased military spending on post-secondary education in Canada.

Makinson says that Canada is the fifth most expensive country in which to obtain a post secondary education. Inadequate public funding, rising tuition and increasing living costs are deterring working class, poor and aboriginal people from pursuing post-secondary education.

The cumulative education debt currently born by students and graduates is a staggering $13 billion. At the same time, governments are saying there is no money to relieve this burden.

“How,” asks Makinson, “does Canada justify spending $18.9 billion on the military last year alone?” She says that the federal government’s plan to increase military spending by $12 billion over the next five years is evidence of a misplaced priority. “One year of military spending,” says Makinson,” could eliminate all student debt in Canada.”

Makinson condemned increases in military research at the expense of funding for science and humanities research and term this trend a threat to human rights and academic freedom.

Yves Engler is the author of The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy. He spoke in Winnipeg, June 13, 2009, at the conclusion of the 28th annual Walk for Peace, on the need to reorient Canadian foreign policy. Engler’s proposals include:

• Abolition of Canada’s secretive Joint Task Force 2 commando unit
• Pulling out of NATO
• Reducing Canada’s burgeoning military expenditures by 10 per cent annually for up to 10 years
• Pulling out of Afghanistan immediately
• Reorienting Canadian foreign policy to serve the needs of the majority of Canadians rather than the interests of Canada’s business and military elites

Good stuff!

The spam that usually greets me with my morning coffee was enriched by a message from folks calling themselves Republicans for Ignatieff. The National Enquirer style, screaming ALL CAPS subject line REPUBLICANS FOR IGNATIEFF PRAISES MICHAEL IGNATIEFF FOR DEFENDING GEORGE W. BUSH IN RECENTLY-DISCOVERED AUDIO CLIP had me chuckling even before I opened the email.

The site creators deserve top marks for zeroing in on issues that would make a lot of Canadians nervous about supporting the Liberals in the next federal election, specifically Iggy’s (unconvincingly recanted) support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, acceptance of targeted assassinations, pre-emptive wars and torture, his (Iggy-as- outsider-meme) admiration of things American and his enthusiasm for Alberta oil sands development.

Breathlessly, the site proclaims:

Now more than ever America needs a Canadian Prime Minister we can count on. A Canadian Prime Minister who knows us. A Canadian Prime Minister who loves us. Michael Ignatieff is the best choice for Canadian Prime Minister.

The site creator’s attempt to contrast Ignatieff’s unabashedly pro-American posture with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s flimsy record of independence from U.S. foreign policy is unconvincing:

Although the current Canadian Prime Minister is a conservative, he has challenged the United States on the Arctic, he is charting Canada’s own course in the Americas, and he has failed to demonstrate a deep emotional connection to America like Michael Ignatieff.

But, the satire is quite rich.

My questions are:

1. Who is behind this site?

2. Who are they targetting?

A “whois” search gives the anonymous site creators a post box in Cocoa, Florida. Therefore, it could be anybody. I doubt the Republicans have anything to do with it, simply because I doubt they care whether we elect a Tory hawk or a Liberal hawk.

Are the New Dems behind it? It is in their interests to remind soft social democrats of what they would be getting if they permitted their disgust with Harper to drive them into the Liberal tent. Still, I doubt the New Dem spinsters are behind this: it’s too funny.

What about the Tories? Could this be their attempt to shore up the NDP vote and thereby weaken the Liberals at the polls?

Or is it just the work of goofy guys and gals with too much time on their hands?

I dunno. But I thank whoever is behind this for raising the spam bar.

Canadians are a death-denying lot. Perhaps because we are hardwired to avoid death for as long as possible, we spare no expense to make sure our corpses appear ready to leap out of the casket and we have no shortage of euphemisms to avoid saying someone is dead.

So what are we to make of Bill C-384 – “An Act to amend the Criminal Code (right to die with dignity)”? In one short page, it sets out amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada that will allow doctors to assist in the suicides of terminally ill patients who request it. With minimal safeguards against abuse, and no direction as to the means of dispatching the suicidal patient, it is chilling to think that this bill is even under consideration.

People with chronic disabilities are a growing sector of the Canadian population with a reason to be suspicious of the euthanasia crowd. The widespread sympathy expressed for Robert Latimer after he killed his severely disabled daughter, Tracy, in 1993 proves that too many able-bodied Canadians are willing to make lethal judgments about someone else’s quality of life.

Therefore, it is no surprise that the Council of Canadians with Disabilities opposes Bill C-384. While voluntary doctor-assisted suicide is not the same thing as murdering a disabled child without her consent, its passage would legitimize euthanasia and promote it as an acceptable response to illness and suffering. Over time, we can well imagine, euthanasia could come to be promoted by cash-strapped governments as a cost-efficient therapy.

Read the CCD’s news release, below. Read Bill C-384. Read the entrails of a chicken, if you must. But give it some thought and act accordingly.

While one may wish for the right to end one’s life, simply because “IT’S MY LIFE, DAMMIT!”, Bill C-384 should not be the legal vehicle for that last ride into the sunset.

Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) Opposes Bill C-384

Winnipeg—The COUNCIL OF CANADIANS WITH DISABILITIES (CCD) believes that everyone who supports disability rights should oppose Bill C-384 which would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide and put Canadians with disabilities at risk! CCD is a national human rights organization of persons with disabilities working for an accessible and inclusive Canada.

C-384, the private member’s bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada received its first reading last month. Bill C-384 was introduced by the Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament – Francine Lalonde. This is Lalonde’s third attempt to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada.

Bill C-384 legalizes euthanasia by amending section 222 of the Criminal Code and it legalizes assisted suicide by amending section 241 of the Criminal Code. “Called the “Right to Die with Dignity” Act, this bill threatens the lives of Canadians with disabilities. Its selling points are the notions of “dignity,” and “suffering.” However, the bill never explains what these terms mean. How do we measure dignity? What is suffering?” states Rhonda Wiebe, Co-Chair of CCD’s Ending of Life Ethics Committee. These terms are based more on social values than scientific ones, but this bill proposes that a “medical” and “legal” solution be the remedy for people whose lives are not “dignified” and who “suffer.”

“Living without dignity and suffering are common misperceptions that able-bodied Canadians have about the lives of their fellow citizens with disabilities. Bill C-384 does nothing to protect those who find themselves socially devalued in these ways,” states Dean Richert, Co-Chair of CCD’s Ending of Life Ethics Committee.

Social support and meaningful involvement in the community are more important for the well-being of people with disabilities than the severity of their disabilities. Assisted suicide is not a free choice as long as they are denied adequate healthcare, affordable personal assistance in their communities, and equal access to social structures and systems.