Kittoh's Archives 2003

Sep17, 2003
This year's International Plowing Match or Rural Expo near Carleton Place reminds me of pow wows and rock concerts. It's the same thing with the porta toilets and no place to wash your hands after going to the bathroom. So you have all these people walking around with fecal matter on their hands, think of it, thousands of people who didn't wash their hands after handling their privates and bodily fluids, walking around at a huge fair grounds touching things and snacking on finger foods. Some people will be offended at my mentioning it but it is the truth, is it not? I get in trouble all the time for mentioning the truths that many people choose to ignore.

Like the causes of this war on Iraq. Do you really believe that it is about liberating the Iraqi people? Does it seem to you that the Afghani people have been liberated? It's all bullshit, ie war propaganda to pacify the masses and keep them that is YOU in line. Remember that picture of Uncle Sam pointing his finger at YOU. He wants you, your blood and your mind to be sacrificed for his cause.

This bloody war, and it is bloody and getting bloodier by the minute - is about stealing other people's resources. The Americans and their lackey dogs want to get the oil out of Iraq to make it cheap for themselves and to sell it to others. Their arguments with France and Russia are really about who gets what, nothing to do again with the Iraqi people, their great and unnecessary suffering and the hatred that is building among them against the West. That means the US and Britain in particular but also includes Canada who is guarding the henhouse, ie probably the opium trade now flourishing again after the Taliban largely stopped it, in Afghanistan.

So Afghani hatred is building against Canadians and where is Osama Bin Laden and where is Saddam Hussein? I'd bet sitting pretty somewhere since cashing their most recent paycheques for their part in this big charade. You see Saddam is playing the role of the villain. He'll go down in history as a really bad guy like Hitler and Mussolini for being a cruel dictator whereas guys like G.W. will go down in history as lying bastards and morons.

But the tomatoes are quickly ripening and you can't eat words so I should really be out picking tomatoes and getting some more canning done. Just too tired after seeing all those faces at the IPM and all that stuff, scads of stuff, just TOO MUCH of everything for my sensibilities.

I overheard a conversation about the deer problem last year and the bear problem this year. To me it's a people problem. All these people moving out from the city with their dreams and fears onto the territory of the bears and cats and deer and thinking since they bought the land, they should dictate every living being on their "property".

I find that term so obnoxious. People cannot own the land. The land owns us and all the rest of the creatures that survive on the skin of the earth without whom we cannot survive at all. These creeps are going in space searching for other life forms, places where humans can flee after they destroy here and in the meantime also water.

Look at all the fires burning all over the globe. In B.C. it has been a disaster area for the entire summer and now that we have fall here and the other side of the globe is going into spring, the fire alerts are already happening in Australia. Cutting down all the trees messes up the water cycles of the planet and the whole thing is getting worse. Yet some say that is being afraid for no good reason.

I saw a 4 horned sheep, one of Jacob's sheep when I was leaving the IPM. It was in the row where all the Christian booths were set up. They were using this poor sheep to try to get converts to Jesus. They were referring to a biblical story when Jacob loves God so much he is willing to sacrifice his own son on the altar. But then he finds a sheep with its horns stuck in some brambles and God instructs him to sacrifice the sheep instead. I asked the guy if there was a specific reference to a 4 horned sheep and he said no but it would be the most likely one to get its horns caught. To be sure. But using the sheep in this way was as cheap and tacky as people can get nowadays. So what next?

Sep18, 2003
I was in at the Sew Crafty store the other day looking for some decent quality thread for my weaving projects. It doesn't make sense to use cheap thread on hand woven items that are worth something. Now I am told those 3 for $1 threads are good only for basting and should never be used on a finished product.

Anyhow, there was this guy in the store. I had noticed him in the parking lot because he was looking at me so hard, straining his neck even. Then he walked into the store in front of me. He was looking for some good scissors, he said. I felt like saying something about good scissors for cutting raw fibre, lots of it but I didn't bother. I don't know if the shop proprietor knew what the mission was about but he was going on about these are the best for cutting fabric. I was amused. The guy buying the scissors was my tribe but much younger. Maybe he was thinking I looked like his mother or some such. Sigh. See, I'm still thinking about him today sitting somewhere in Lanark clipping his bud.

Orchils: I did a search on that one and got only 4 hits. I like that when I search something so obscure that on the web where there are billions of web sites, only a few hits turn up.

Orchils, my dear are a very special lichen, the ones that produce a purple dye. We have lichen growing around here but now I find out (after emailing an expert at a university in Hawaii) that the orchils only grow in the tropics. But I also read that any lichen will make some kind of a dye. So I'll do some experimenting with the ones I see on a rock near home. The only problem is that with lichen you need to use ammonia to extract the dye. Better hurry up before the weather turns cold and do this one outside meantime.

Next spring we will do some dyeing with the weaving group but I want to do it NOW. I also read that September is the best time to gather the sumac for dyeing. You use the stalks to make a yellow, I think and the leaves make a black color.

Since I am so bothered about world affairs I find it relaxes my brain to weave. Weaving is a meditation. You have to focus on certain words, in this case, numbers for the treadling and go into it like a trance, or a dance until the repetition of the motions come unconsciously. This is called muscle memory. Even so, you have to keep your mind on your work cause if you have a negative thought you are bound to snap a thread and that is such a drag.

Now I hear a neighbour's maple syrup operation got shut down by the authorities. They were using an old evaporator and the inspectors came in and took samples. When they found high levels of lead they came and seized the whole entire stock from the people. They also ordered them to concretize their cow yard, an expense that will probably drive them right out of the dairy business too.

My mechanic asked, how did we ever manage in the old days when cows were near the wells and the water never got polluted so what gives now? It seems to me and many others, that it is part of the overall effort to destroy the small family farm and put all of agriculture into the (few) hands of big business, agribusiness. Some say I am a conspiracy theorist and I take that as a compliment even though it is not intended as such. The best schemes work because they are secret and underhanded. That is the point but thick skins just don't feel it.

Consider the National Security Memorandum #200 written by Henry Kissinger in 1974. It was a top secret classified document at the time, not declassified until 1989. See also this article, "New Book Links HIV/AIDS to African American Genocide: Compelling National Security Documents Target Black Groups". It relates the NSSM 200 to the HIV/AIDS epidemic which has left half of sub Saharan children orphans.

October 8
Here's a dandy quote from George Soros, one of the rich movers and shakers of the world. But don't bash him too hard, anything's possible. I was going on about Izzy Asper's power and wealth the other day and then I heard he was dead. A lot of good his power and wealth are to him now. Hey, I'm better off than Izzy Asper. Fuck you, Izzy. See, I can say anything I want and he can't talk back no more. Death is the master.

GEORGE SOROS: Since the United States is the unparalleled power that far outdistances even the closest challengers, we must use that power to manage the emergent global system -- particularly the financial system -- so it doesn't break down. The U.S. must use the power it has to lead the world -- not withdraw from it -- by creating a global open society.

Blah, blah, blah. All these people do is yap away to hear themselves talk.

Now I'm taking these classes in this technique called Awareness through Movement. It was first introduced by a man named Moshe Feldenkrais who was also a Zionist. Now scientists who study movement study his technique. Technique, system, whatever you want to call it, it's even hard to categorize. Its use is widespread in Israel.

The first class was one entire hour of mostly sitting on the edge of our chairs and moving one knee forward and observing how the rest of the body follows. Then doing it again and again, one side then the other, observing closely how you feel with each move, etc. Seems like nothing much at all but it is relaxing and not tiring. Interesting. I think I will continue next week.

The instructor is a very congenial woman who I first met at a weaving class of all things. Anyhow, Christine Graves is her name. She is also a musician and singer.

October 9, 2003
Here is a link to an amazing article analyzing the situation in Iraq: Petras.

The bodies of two Canadian soldiers returned this week from Afghanistan to Petawawa, Ontario the army base not far from here.

My niece's husband used to be up there but he left the military after injuries he sustained in Bosnia a few years back. I'm so glad he isn't in the military anymore, especially now that they have a baby but I wish I could get to talk to other Canadian soldiers. As if they would listen to me for one minute.

I thought of going to Pembroke for the public memorial for the two slain soldiers but that seemed in poor taste. I wanted to carry a placard saying, "You are being used" which is my message to Canada's soldiers. This is the message I want to convey to them. Now I just read about US soldiers calling a "hotline" and begging to be brought back from Iraq: Desperate Soldiers.

October 14
I was just surfing like a hound dog sniffing for something and finally I found it. Check out this blog. I can't get over how much some people can write and the piles of links they assemble. You can get lost in a single web site sometimes. But then that depends on how your mind works. Have you ever noticed when you spend a lot of time in cyberspace you get kind of disconnected from your body, maybe a little awkward??

It's raining like hell here. We've been warned to expect this phenomenal amount of rain. Why is it that the weather reports nowadays are so extreme? Granted there is some extreme weather going on but a lot of it is also quite normal. Like this summer we just had. Besides being too short, it was pretty typical for summers as I remember them when I was growing up decades ago. Seems like ancient history now. There was even awhile there for at least a decade, the 90's when we seldom had a thunderstorm. When they started up again some of the kids were saying how weird it was. I didn't think it was weird at all, just some normal weather again.

October 16
All Roads Lead to Rome or is that Home?
Last week I finally received a much anticipated manuscript in the mail. I am now editing a book for a prisoner on Death Row USA. Some people would say that as a citizen of Canada, I have no business in the practise of capital punishment in the USA. OF course, I disagree with that but that is another discussion...

The topic of this book is not likely what most people would expect at first mention of it. This man condemned to die by the courts of the State of California, writes, not about his own plight and circumstances but about what he sees from his unique position as one of about 5,000 people on Death Row somewhere in the USA. My job is to correct the spelling mistakes, rearrange the text and also to make certain that facts and data he presents are correct. He doesn't have the same access to libraries in prison that I do in the so-called free world.

One of my favorite research libraries is the internet. You have to know how to use it and after several years at it, I think I have a bit of a handle on how to find relevant information.

So anyhow, at one point in the book, the author makes a reference to copycat killers and the Columbine massacre in which 2 youths killed 12 other students and a teacher and then themselves. Finding articles about the school shootings was not hard. I did a search on "columbine copycat killers" and was amazed at some of the stuff I found.

Not only were there numerous incidents throughout the USA right after the slayings at the Littleton High School in Columbine, which we heard of on the news but there was a serious incident at a small town in Alberta, Canada which is way out west from where I am in Ontario. The internet research led to an article about the impending release of this young man whose identity remains a secret because he was underage at the time he killed student, Jason Lang and seriously injured another youth.

Since he is originally from near Trenton, Ontario, he is now in a youth centre in Ontario near Belleville and will be released to the community of Trenton in November. This is just down the road from here, not walking distance but about half way between here and Toronto. So this whole thing has come round to my neighbourhood so to speak.

That is what I mean about we are all connected. See how I started out on something so obscure and remote from the lives of people in rural Canada as capital punishment in California and a path led right to my doorstep and yours if you happen to be a neighbour of mine.

The matter of violence in society and particularly, youth violence is one that must concern all of us. There is an emerging picture that often the perpetrators of school shootings, threats, etc., the predators are themselves victims in the school milieu where much bullying and ostracism go on. Many parents do recognize that bullying is a serious problem in the schools but do they understand the wide reaching causes like wars escalating all over the world??

It is an oversimplification to blame tv. We live in a world filled with violence. The leading nation in the world is itself a bully. It sets an example for everyone else on earth.

There is a question that I would like to leave you with today. In the article here, I especially noted that this young man was brought into the courtroom in shackles, that means hands and feet in iron. Picture it, you are being brought into the courtroom with someone holding each elbow. Your wrists are tightly held in handcuffs and the legirons clink against the floor. Anyone who is not already looking at you will be when they hear this sound. Do you think this boy/man's experience in a youth prison has helped him to overcome his confusion and rage which led to his shooting two people he did not even know in a school shooting spree days after the Columbine killings??

Here's a link to an article that looks at who is really to blame for these school killings. Here's another one, "I understand the TrenchCoat Mafia".

October 17, 2003
We live in a world where you have to be careful what you say especially when it comes to the media publishing your comments. That goes for this country Canaduh too or maybe especially this country.

If the name of David Ahenakew doesn't ring a bell right now for you, then that in itself is a signal to me of how serious things are. Because you don't even know who he is. Then again maybe some of you do know who David Ahenakew is or you think you do. You think you know he said something so-called "anti semitic" when you probably never heard exactly what he said. Did you?

It's the hush hush subject of Israel and Zionism that we must not talk about, that we must tread very carefully if we mention Israel. Well, have you heard about the wall they're building in the golden state of Israel, the Jewish State?

Before I get labeled, I've made sure I have contacts in Israel and so here is a link to a group of Israelis in Israel, Gush Shalom who are as appalled as I am about what the State of Israel and the misnamed IDF are doing. The IDF is misnamed because it is not a defense force but an offense force, an occupation army in Palestine.

There are other Israelis who also object from within the state of Israel where they have the vantage point of seeing daily what is going on. Uri Avnery is one. Israel Shamir is one of them. Or is he in the U.S. now?

It's so weird how so many of these people, dissenters from all over the world end up in the US which is the cause of many of the problems in their countries. The regimes put in with US backing are the very ones persecuting these good people who flee to America for safety. Some of them are actual refugees, some are not. Some are petitioners and advocates seeking an audience for their grievances. But Justice is nowhere to be found in the courts of America. And further, how can the UN be a non partisan body when it resides in NYC in a building donated by the Rockefellers not to mention the ridiculous structure of the entire organization. Duh!

Here's a message from Gush Shalom:
Please, sign the international petition being organized by the Stop the Wall movement at the following link: Stop the Wall.
Do it if it makes you feel good. I'm not sure how much use online petitions really are myself...Otherwise Gush Shalom does some excellent reporting.

Here's an excerpt from the article, "GM crops giant Monsanto pulls out of Europe" in the Daily Telegraph 15 October 2003. Full text at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml

Monsanto, the American pioneer of genetically modified crops, said Wednesday it was pulling out of its European cereal seed business. The move was widely seen as a sign that it has given up hopes of introducing GM cereals in Europe.

This week Margot Wallstrom, the European Union's environment commissioner, accused American biotechnology firms of lying about the benefits of GM technology and ``trying to force it on people''.

October 21
Back to the book I am editing for a Death Row USA prisoner, if you are interested in reading some chapters from the book, they are already posted on the internet by some people in England at HumanWrites.

One woman actually asked me, "Isn't that illegal?" I didn't know what she was talking about until I thought about it for a moment. You see, she thought I was working on a book about the horrible crimes that some murderer has committed and that we were capitalizing on his crimes in creating a kind of sensationalistic piece of literature.

She didn't realize that the greatest horrors are not on the side of the criminals and the condemned but on the side of the state, the governments which make use of the death penalty, aka capital punishment. The United States ranks third on a list of retentionists that grows shorter every year as more and more nations in the world abolish this barbaric practise. See the Death Penalty Information Center.

Ask yourself this, what individual holds someone captive for years, even decades before killing them?? If you think lethal injection is a quick and painless way to die, think again. But that is another subject...

Not only is the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment against international law but the justice system that people pass through before being sentenced to die, is anything but just. From attorneys sleeping in the courtroom to the use of jailhouse snitches, many people are not getting anything resembling fair trials. New DNA evidence has irrefutably exonerated dozens of people, so much so that the governor of one state, Illinois has placed a moratorium on executions.

In the context of a world where most countries have abolished capital punishment, there is growing pressure on the retentionists to do likewise. Nations wishing to join the EU must abolish as was recently done by Turkey. China leads the world in numbers of executions, keeping company with regimes like Iran and the US. Now might be a good time to write a letter to the appropriate politicians in your own country about this. And by the way, there is always someone in Canada's House of Commons with a Private Member's Bill trying to bring back Capital Punishment.

Someone asked me if this were my web site. Yes, it is completely. I will be adding more pages when I have time.

Here are a couple of shocker questions to wake you up if you are a bit sluggish with the cold weather moving in. Who do you think is running things in the Middle East, the US or Israel? Impertinent question, you say? Tending toward anti-semitism to even suggest that possibly a little nation like Israel is running things?

Well, here's the other question then: Did you know that JFK wanted to inspect Israel for wmd's and the Israelis refused to allow it. You know what happened to him, don't you and he was the president of the United States which means that no one is really safe if CERTAIN people want to get you. I'm not about to say who those CERTAIN people are for who am I to know? Keep in mind that Israel is the only country in the Middle East possessing nuclear weapons. They have at least 200, if not 400, nuclear missiles now pointed at the large urban centres of the Arab world.

October 23, 2003
Yesterday I received a message on the Israel Shamir list entitled, "Traces of Poison". It chronicles the use of biological weapons by the state of Israel. It is a shocking but important read if you want to get things into perspective on the World Front, in particular the Middle East.

The article is written by Abu-Sitta and can be found at Traces of Poison. Israel, not Iraq, holds that distinction of being the first country in the region to use weapons of mass destruction with genocidal intent. Salman Abu-Sitta digs into a dark history.

To subscribe to the Israel Shamir list, send an email to: shamireaders-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

October 24
Anti semitism feeds the Zionist agenda.

Here are two new links: The Bible and The Quran.

Someone asked me today, what is Zionism. How do you discuss world politics when you don't know what Zionism is??? How do you define Zionism? If you do a search, I'll bet you'll come up with some links on rastafarians or even reggae. When Black people call themselves the Children of Israel, they are comparing the plight of African people with the Israelites being in captivity for 400 years in ancient Babylon. They're not talking about the modern state of Israel; in fact, they have to ignore the modern state of Israel because it is in no way comparable to the plight of African people in the diaspora.

But now the modern day Zionists who created the state of Israel have a most interesting history, filled with intrigue and conspiracies. Let's see if we can find a definition about Zionism by Zionists. Let them speak for themselves...

Zionists claim to speak for most of Jewry and they have lots of money to promote their claims. Consider some of the basic Jewish organizations in North America alone, most of which have web sites and you will start to see another picture developing. The question remains: do these organizations really speak for Jewish people? An even more fundamental question: who really ARE the Jewish people? How does the word Jew relate to Judaism. Is Judaism a religion or a philosophy or an ideology? Many questions but do be careful attempting to answer these questions...

Here's a good one, Campus Watch. Their mission is to prevent undue criticism of Israel in Middle East Studies on campus. By the by, Concordia University in Montreal is said to be the hotbed of Palestinian activity in North America. An article on the Campus Watch web site is revealing when it states that Black students staged a protest, throwing computers out of the window over "alleged racism". Here's the exact wording in the article with the inflammatory title, "Jihad at 'Gaza U'" by Sheli Teitelbaum:
Concordia lays claim to an almost singular history of protest-inspired pandemonium. Montrealers still recall the notorious "computer riot" of 1969, when 97 mostly black students, one of whom went on to become a member of the Canadian Senate, tossed more than $ 2 million in hardware from the ninth story of the main Hall Building into the street below as a protest against alleged anti-black racism by faculty... [emphasis added]

How is it that Blacks always "allege racism", as when Police kill innocent Black folks like Vincent Gardner in Ottawa and Albert Johnson in Toronto while Jews are the victims of hate crimes and racism when a synagogue is vandalized or someone says "kike". Even the United Nations was forced to include the special word, "anti semitism" as if the sentiment couldn't be covered under "racism". Maybe Africans and Native Americans should demand their own special words but hey, they don't have the money to make people listen.

In another incident at York University where Yom Kippur is a school holiday, a religious object placed in a field on campus was destroyed. We read in the Canadian Jewish News online:
Although there was no anti-Semitic message in the form of graffiti or literature, Bernie Farber, executive director, Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario region, told The CJN there was no doubt in his mind that the vandalism was a hate crime.

How handy to have a spokesperson from a well financed organization on hand, so to speak, to express his certainty for the media. The same article informs us that someone wrote on the wall at the U of Toronto: Stop Israeli Apartheid.

Now about that wall...You don't know what wall I'm talking about, eh? That wall is the wall that is being built right across Israel to wall out the Palestinians. A real wall. You know, a wall. A wall of Hate.

October 25
Here's a quote for the day:
"As each day goes by, we learn that this government knew a whole lot more about these terrorists before Sept. 11 than it has ever admitted."
- Max Cleland, former Democratic senator from Georgia, panel member on the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, formally know as the "National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States".

October 27
I'm reviving my quotations page from the old site. Would you believe, I forgot all about it! You can get part2 here.

October 28, 2003
It's just amazing the little tidbits you can learn on the internet. Here's an excerpt from the Middle East Data Base, on a page called War in Lebanon:
The UN General Assembly in 1975 branded Zionism a form of racism. This resolution was repealed at the insistence of Israel and the United States in 1991. However, in 2001, during the al-Aqsa intifada ("uprising") some Arab states attempted to put the question back on the agenda of a U.N. conference on racism set to begin on August 31, 2001 in Durban, South Africa.

This information ties in with an article which was actually a paper prepared for the same conference, officially named the "United Nations Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance", 31st August-7th September, 2001 in Durban, South Africa from which Israeli delegates walked out. The paper was presented to an NGO forum. It's written by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed who also wrote "The War on Freedom: How and Why America Was Attacked on September 11, 2001". Interesting that tragedy occurred just a few days later.

Apartheid In the Holy Land: Racism in the Zionist State of Israel.
The Israeli human rights organisation, B'Tselem (The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), has thus come to describe Israeli policies in occupied Palestine as a form of apartheid. Executive Director of B'Tselem Eitan Felner wrote in an article titled 'Apartheid By Any Other Name: Creeping Annexation in the West Bank' for the French journal Le Monde diplomatique based on an extensive B'Tselem report, that Israeli settlement policies have been systematically "reinforcing the system of discrimination in the West Bank". Describing what he labels "Apartheid in the Holy Land", Felner records that:
 
"The massive network of roads and highways in the West Bank that connect the major settlements to Israel represents the most overt aspect of Israel's relentless efforts to incorporate the settlements and settlers into Israel. It makes it possible for settlers to commute to Israel each day… Another aspect of the integration of the settlements into Israel - less conspicuous but no less important - is the application of virtually the whole Israeli legal system to the settlements. Throughout the years Israel's civil and military authorities have enacted a myriad of laws, regulations, and orders relating to settlers in the Occupied Territories to ensure that in almost every respect the lives of settlers are like those of Israelis living in Israel itself…"

The result, he writes, is the establishment of a system of institutional racism against the indigenous Palestinians under the alien regime of Israeli military occupation:
 
"Israel has established a system of segregation and discrimination, in which two populations living in the same area are subject to different systems of law. While Palestinians are subject to military law and usually tried in military courts, Israelis who commit the same offence in the same place are subject to Israeli law and tried in civil courts inside Israel. Jewish settlers enjoy all the rights of Jews in Israel, including complete freedom of movement, speech and organisation, participation in local and national (Israeli) elections, social security and health benefits, etc. For Palestinians, on the other hand, even those living a few hundred metres from Jewish settlements, freedom of movement is limited. They cannot, obviously, vote to curtail the powers of the IDF and they do not enjoy Israel's social security or health benefits. In Africaans they call it apartheid… [T]his institutionalised discrimination is spelled out in the government's basic guidelines."[83]

November 1
After reading this informative article Mizrahim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of its Jewish Victims, I then searched the term "Mizrahim" and found this incredible piece of racist crap published in the National Post in January of this year. (Remember that the National Post is owned by the Ashkenazi Zionist media conglomerate of Canwest, Izzy Asper's estate.)

There are, however, some sensible heads out there like Michael Ruppert who writes, "The point is not to jump to conclusions about where the power actually resides, but to understand that Presidents can be, and have been, sabotaged by power that does not present itself for a vote. The key question is Qui bono? - Who benefits? As far as Israel is concerned, perhaps one of the great unresolved questions is whether Israel controls the US, the US controls Israel, or whether there is something that controls both. It is a virtual certainty however, that Israel will continue to benefit - as it has consistently since 9/11 - when a new administration takes office. In the last year, both John Kerry and Wesley Clark (see below) have "discovered" and made public their Jewish ancestry." - from an article by Michael Ruppert at From the Wilderness.

Everything David Ahenakew said is true. Go and listen to his comments in context instead of going by hearsay: CBC audio.

November 2, 2003
Ariel Sharon is in Moscow today meeting with Putin. Here's a quote from a UK Guardian article:
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that Israel considered the United Nations a hostile forum and deepening its involvement would hinder, rather than help, peace efforts.

I am often leery of those "officials speaking on condition of anonymity". I understand why it is sometimes necessary but it also detracts from credibility. The comment of the official is ominous.

November 12
I can't believe it's 10 days since I last wrote in this blog. Some blog, eh? But here in the real world there are sometimes things needing to be done that take us away from this pursuit. Like going out to work, getting the damn car fixed again, cooking and cleaning and worrying about my kid.

I'm not in some city center either reporting on the mouse eye view of things like all the stuff going on in Toronto with homeless people, refugees and immigrants under constant assault from the police and other authorities. It grieves me to no end yet I think it has to get even worse before people here will be activated out of their/our lethargy. It's not apathy, it's a sense of utter helplessness, part of the brainwashing that makes us think we SHOULDN'T do anything, just wait and let the experts do it. The fact of the matter is that complete idiots are running things and we are idiots for letting it happen.

Look at all the fuss the last few weeks with provincial elections, here in Ontario and in Saskatchewan as well and all the municipal elections in Ontario. Here in my community, "friendly acquaintances" have run in both elections. Did I vote for them? No, I did not. I defend my right not to vote against all the Pollyana people who still think voting is going to make a difference and who attack me for not voting.

As I have noticed before, I belong to the largest and growing voting group in this country, the people who do NOT vote. There is a reason for this and it is not lack of interest for the most part. For myself, and I can really only speak for myself, it is a matter of not wanting to participate in a sham. I turn my back on the voting process and hope that others will do the same.

I mean what would you think of someone who has a house for sale and the foundation beams are all rotten and they go and paint the walls covering the rottenness. The buyer doesn't find out the truth til he's paid for the house and moved in. The house probably will have to be leveled and replaced.

Of course, when you talk like this about changing government, a lot of people get scared about chaos and confusion, they say will occur if we don't REFORM what we have. Well, I say, we are living with overwhelming chaos and confusion right now in the world and it won't get better until we stop letting fools run our lives. But how do we stop them when they got all these big guns and bombs and surveillance satellites and oh, the wonderful media where one hell of a war is being waged on our minds??

Here are links to two more blogs I found, one is now famous, Salam Pax, the Baghdad blogger and Baghdad Burning, a blog by a woman in Baghdad. Lots more links from there too.

November 15, 2003
I wove three shawls/scarves this week and tied the fringes yesterday. With each scarf having 600 ends (as we say in weaving vernacular), that makes (600 x 2 sides),1200 ends to tie in groups of 8 so that each scarf requires 150 knots, a total of 450 knots I tied for the three scarves. Now the scarves are 23" wide and 80" long (not counting the fringe). They are made with a cotton warp and woven with two strands of fine Berga wool or one strand of fine Berga wool and one strand of cotton.

My question to you is: How much do you think I should ask for one of these scarves. How much would you pay for a beautiful hand woven scarf made by a person living a modest life style on the North American scale which is still pretty lavish on a world scale??

I found some military bloggers and I'm learning more about blogging itself. Seems to be a way for a serious writer to get exposure in the print or other media. I did a search at blogspot using words, women and Iraq, and got onto this blogger writing about Jessica Lynch, that pathetic young American hero. Now I understand why she went down on her knees to pray! The poor girl is one of many in the U.S. military who really don't know a damn thing about guns. Can you believe this? Her gun was jammed, ie not usable. She was not a soldier. She was just a military personnel who got caught in an ambush. She wasn't alone. Lori Piestawa, a Hopi woman, paid the ultimate price, losing her life while Shawna Johnson, a black woman was shot in both her legs and given $500/month pension for her travails. I read a statistic somewhere that over 30% of U.S. military personnel are black women. The implications of all this are horrendous when you stop and think about it.

The question in the air is, "Will the U.S. bring back the draft?" If they do, does that mean they may draft women now that women have gained so many rights over the last 30 years. I mean women on welfare now have the right to subsidized daycare so they can fulfil their workfare obligations instead of staying at home with their small children.

November 17
I did one dumb thing today. I based a travel decision on the weather forecast. It called for 60% probability of freezing rain this afternoon. Instead we got sunny skies this afternoon. I don't know why I listen to those technological wizards who are wrong half the time and lying the other half of the time. Grrrr.

Here's a quote for today:
...Once colonialism has realized where its tactics of social reform are leading, we see it falling back on its old reflexes, reinforcing police effectives, bringing up troops, and setting a reign of terror which is better adapted to its interests and its psychology.
Frantz Fanon in "The Wretched of the Earth", 1963; first published in the original French 1961.

Oh, Hell, Fanon is so eloquent and you're not likely to find this stuff written just anywhere, so here's another bit:
...Colonialism is not satisfied merely with holding a people in its grip and emptying the native's brain of all form and content. By a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past of the oppressed people, and distorts, disfigures and destroys it. This work of devaluing pre-colonial history takes on a dialectical significance today.

A little known psychiatrist and a black man who worked with traumatized people in Africa, Dr. Fanon died suddenly from cancer in 1965.

People who call themselves "stockholders" are a bunch of clowns who are greedy but generally just not as bold and ruthless as the likes of Black. Face it folks, Capitalism has got to go! Not only is it cruel, it is also inefficient and a very stupid form of economy. Come on people, use your imagination. But oh, imagination is not enough, we need some courage and that is a very scarce commodity today.

Take my community here where the local police just shot two bears in town. The police are being criticized for not calling in the Ministry of Natural Resources but the two bears are already dead. You might wonder at my leap of logic but, you see, to Native people, the bear represents courage. A lot of bears have been entering human settlements and the people are just freaking out. These people are full of fear and the message of the bear is to be brave. Lost entirely on the cops and the residents.

Now it is not all the residents but mostly those affluent arrogant city dwellers who recently moved to the country and do not understand animals. Their mentality is that animals are to be controlled. These people want to kill every bear in sight and cull the deer herds. The concept of living WITH animals and moving over some for the creatures is beyond their mentality which is not all that different from Conrad Black's except on a slightly smaller scale.

As a person who took part in a letter writing campaign in regard to Maher Arar, I am pleased to see this story getting a lot of attention. I hope that Mr. Arar can feel vindicated after he somehow overcomes the trauma he has been subjected to. But whether the Canadian authorities ever uncover the facts of the injustice to this man (and others) is something likely to require a small miracle of virtue. Is there even one single person in a position of authority in this country who has any real values??

Then there's that other villain, the media, manipulators of our minds who challenge the truth with oft repeated lies and carefully orchestrated reports. Take for example, the recent horrible bombings in Istanbul. Yesterday on CBC, I watched the news clip which showed young women with bleeding faces. Young defenceless women with blood on their faces is something that will get an emotional response from most of us. But how many faces of Iraqi women are we seeing? I'm sure there are plenty of them with blood and anguish writ clearly that would evoke our compassion too. Many many more, in fact and currently as the US has stepped up its "strategic" bombings for the last 10 days. What about the Iraqi children who have cancer because of DU painted bombs. Ah, and what about the American soldiers who will go home with DU related illnesses whose sad stories will be suppressed in the American media for as long as possible?

In Israel, there is a growing number of Israeli military who are not comfortable with the actions of the IDF. Here's an article about it in the Washington Post which is interesting in itself, that being such an establishment rag. I guess they are trying to prove they are not biased with this one article.

Here's one from today's Washington Post called "Israel Misinformed Journalists". Unfortunately and as usual, sources wish to remain anonymous.

Here's a link if you want to look up Canadian postal codes.

You can read Israel Shamir's amazing book online at Galilee Flowers. It was recently banned in France but has now found a publisher in the USA at Dandelion. Don't be surprised if it is banned in Canada.

November 22, 2003
On this day, 40th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, let us remember him. Many people today believe that he was killed by the Mafia and the CIA. One thing is for certain, Kennedy was concerned about Israeli development of nuclear weapons and he wanted to look into it. His father, Joseph was a known critic of Jews (I will not use the anti S word as it has no meaning but is only intended to inflame).

I'm reading on in Shamir's "Galilee Flowers". It is an exceptional read which I highly recommend. Here's an interesting excerpt:
Take an ant and he will build an anthill. Take a Jew and he will create a ghetto. Take a Palestinian… Well, my friend Musa invited his old father from a Samarian village to his new home in Vermont, and his old father began to build terraces to plant olives.

The Palestinians can't imagine themselves without the land and its unique way of life. Thousands of years ago, after the Great Mycenaean Drought was over, their ancestors formed a symbiosis with the olive, and the vine, and the donkey, and the small mountain springs, and their shrines on the hilltops. This single complex of the landscape, the people and the Divine spirit was the great achievement of Palestinians, and they carried it through centuries and preserved to this very day. If they will be undermined, mankind will lose its anchors and crash on the rocks of history. We were much privileged that they accepted our small help.

I wish David Ahenakew would read this and also that traitor, Matthew Cooncomb. The Native leadership of this country has been duped and silenced by the Jewish elite who dare to compare themselves to Native people. According to statistics, Native people and Jewish people each represent about 2% of the total population of Canada. However, the similarities end there. Whereas First Nations people are among the poorest in Canada, often living in "3rd world" conditions, Jews are among the wealthiest people, numbering significantly in professions such as teaching, law and medicine.

I never cease to remind people that Christopher Columbus came sailing on behalf of the Spanish throne (financed by Jewish bankers of the day) at the same time that Spain was expelling Jews. Jews played a very prominent though not well known part in the exploration and plunder of the Americas.

According to the Bible to which many people still give great credence, the Jews are the most stubborn people on Earth and they will be the last to see the Light. What Light, you ask? To put it in broad terminology, the Light is the Love that makes us know we are all ONE HUMANITY, ONE CREATION. That is to be christed, to be anointed with the knowledge of Love.

My blog. My knowledge of the Divine.

Native people have a concept known as the Quickening. I have spoken of this to educated people who at first denied what I was saying. Well, take it to the physicists and you will find otherwise. I mean, right now we have an ad on CBC TV warning about asteroids hitting the Earth, as if we don't already have enough to worry about.

With the Quickening, the earth will rotate faster as well as tilt on its axis. Two results of this will be: the dysfunction of machines whose engines function on so many cycles per minute which is relative to the earth's rotation AND the dysfunction of hearts which will burst with the changes if not purified by spiritual practise.

I know this is all deep and far fetched for people stuck on the political level, but there it is. That is what I am preparing for. Think about it is all I can ask of you.

November 24, 2003
It seems like everything the girl blogger in Baghdad writes is to be expected. In the past, you would only read such a diary AFTER the war/occupation was over. And it is still a war and it is going to escalate. It is sickening to imagine the hatred and rage that would result in people beating dead bodies with concrete blocks as reported in the news yesterday. What UNseen atrocities by US soldiers have caused it?? Time will tell...

I've been reading up on some of the private security companies, otherwise known as mercenaries, numbering in the thousands now in Iraq to protect oil factories,etc and visiting dignitaries. Many of these well paid individuals are former military, often from the British SAS, a mysterious branch of the British military. You can read about it in a special report at the UK Guardian online.

Quite often, a business rag will have as much important information as the dailies. Here's one called Nigeria Business Daily Online.

November 27
Now my doctor tells me: AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR IN BUSINESS.

According to my physician who is a maverick in the medical profession in that he often prescribes herbal or homeopathic remedies, apples contribute to acidity which leads to things like arthritis. He has advised me to stop eating apples completely.

December 3
My daughter is getting married and I don't have time to write now.

December 10
My daughter just got married and I don't feel like writing now.

This is where I left off in December, 2003 just before the collossal havoc wrought to my tower by a vengeful virus stopped my meanderings in cyberspace. Then one thing and another, time passed...

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