Friday, December 5, 2008, Vol. 4, No, 1 — 152
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Friday, December 5, 2008
True North Perspective
Vol. 4, No. 1 (152)
‘Canadians fail democratic literacy test’
The tumult and the shouting that developed in the past week should be considered a learning opportunity on how Canada works. — 605 words.
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Carl Dow, True North, Station E, P.O. Box 4814, Ottawa ON Canada K1S 5H9.
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First prize in the contest went to Barbara Florio Graham. Second to Rosaleen Dickson. The third prize was won by Sid Allcom but unfortunately the text of his poem was not available when we went to press. — 524 words.
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By Nicholas D. Kristof
The New York Times
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Travelers to Africa and Asia all have their favorite forms of foreign aid to "make a difference." One of mine is a miracle substance that is cheap and actually makes people smarter. — 745 words.
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From the Desk of Mike (The Hammer) Garvin
By Justin Pritchard
Auto123.com
You mightn't think there's much fun to be had in a new, twenty-thousand dollar vehicle- but Jeep is determined to continue changing that perception. — 827 words.
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By Natalya Krainova
The Moscow Times
An elderly Moscow woman and her daughter are facing up to 10 years in prison for allegedly using a stun gun to rob a company offering a knitting course in which the daughter had enrolled, city police said. — 262 words.
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By Abby Callard
Slate Magazine
Perhaps the best piece of campaign trail gossip to leak since Election Day is the report — by Fox News, of all places — that Sarah Palin couldn't name the countries involved in the North American Free Trade Agreement. But if the question is which countries constitute North America, the answer isn't so simple.Like the definition of the Bush Doctrine, it depends whom you ask. — 262 words.
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By Alex Binkley
Originally written for Ontario Farmer
Most Canadians probably hoped the results of the October election were a clear signal to our Parliamentarians to take the high road and act in our best interests. Instead they’ve reverted to playing their silly games and if you’re not disgusted by what’s happening in Ottawa, you should be because it will poison political and public life in Canada for years to come. — 459 words.
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International Herald Tribune
China urged the United States on Thursday to spare no effort to stabilize its economy and financial markets to help avert a global recession. — 869 words.
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By Alexis Rojas Aguilera
Granma
HOLGUIN, Cuba — The rate of 2.88 per 1,000 live births achieved up to the end of November is the lowest infant mortality for this eastern region and the country as a whole during the 50 years since the triumph of the Revolution. — 189 words.
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In a remarkable performance, Hugo Chavez Frias, President of Venezuela, challenged a report on CNN that Chavez had said that if the opposition had won the November 23 regional elections he would have called out the tanks. He spoke on the issue at a press conference attended by the world’s media, including CNN. A summary of his response may be found immediately below with a link to a video at the end. Although the video is in Spanish, it is a character study of Chavez that should be included in at least such disciplines as history, sociology, psychology, political science. The video enriches understanding as to why Chavez is able to play such a prominent role in the Western Hemisphere. — 1,375 words.
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And why we're so obsessed by the Führer's sex life
By Ron Rosenbaum
Slate Magazine
Isn't it obvious by now what this is about? Our need to prove that Hitler was not "normal," thus not like us, normal human nature thereby exculpated from producing a Hitler. It fills a need to reassure ourselves there is no Hitler potential in human potential. We're off the hook.
But despite the obviousness of it, it just doesn't stop. — 1,969 words.
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'There’s always room at the top . . .
especially if you blow the foam off’
By The Rev. Dr. Hanns F. Skoutajan
Every year about this time I struggle to produce a Christmas or year’s end letter, depending on my diligence. — 643 words.
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Mugabe’s Biggest Sin
By F. William Engdahl
Global Research
Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, presides over one of the world’s richest minerals treasures, the Great Dyke region, which cuts a geological swath across the entire land from northeast to southwest. The real background to the pious concerns of the Bush Administration for human rights in Zimbabwe in the past several years is not Mugabe’s possible election fraud or his expropriation of white settler farms. It is the fact that Mr. Mugabe has been quietly doing business, a lot of it, with the one country which has virtually unlimited need of strategic raw materials Zimbabwe can provide — China. — 2,482 words.
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Michael Moore says Washington should buy-out Big 3, fire leaders
Friends,
I drive an American car. It's a Chrysler. That's not an endorsement. It's more like a cry for pity. And now for a decades-old story, retold ad infinitum by tens of millions of Americans, a third of whom have had to desert their country to simply find a damn way to get to work in something that won't break down: — 1,422 words.
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Fascinating historical notes … by George Laidlaw
Recently a mystery dating back to the assassination of the last Czar of Russia 17 July 1918, Nicholas II and his family have been put to rest! Well perhaps. The Bolsheviks removed the Czar and his family but there was a mystery when the bodies of the family didn’t add up. Two bodies were missing: the heir Alexei and a daughter (perhaps Anastasia). — 283 words.
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By Mike Heenan, Literary Editor, True North Perspective
My Gawd, what's going on up there? — 129 words.
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Prolific best-selling Ottawa author and publicist Randy Ray has developed a new Web site to promote his publicity services, which he offers to authors, publishers and companies. Mr. Ray has helped many clients get their message out across Canada on CTV, CBC Radio, CH-TV, A-Channel and Global TV, and in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun, Halifax Herald and many Ottawa-area weekly newspapers. Mr. Ray's web site is: www.randyray.ca. He can be contacted at: (613) 731-3873 or rocket@intranet.ca.
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Archives
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Carl Dow, Editor and Publisher
Geoffrey Dow, Managing Editor
Yvette Pigeon, Associate Editor
Mike Heenan, Literary Editor
Benoit Jolicoeur, Art Director
Ian Covey, Director of Photography
Carl Hall, Technical Analyst and Web Editor
Contributing Editors
Anita Chan, Australia
Rosaleen Dickson
Tom Dow
Randy Ray
Harold Wright
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