Friday, June 27, 2008 Vol 3 No 25 (139)
"True North is for opinion makers"
Mission Statement Archives Contact the Editor
By Ed Pilkington
The Guardian UK
Testimony to US Congress criticized lobbyists.
"Revolutionary" policies needed to tackle crisis. — 543 words.
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"News is what (certain) people want to keep hidden. Everything else is just publicity."
PBS journalist Bill Moyers.
Your support makes it possible for True North to clear the fog of "publicity" and keep you informed on what's really happening in the world today. Please send your donation to:
Carl Dow, True North, Station E, P.O. Box 4814, Ottawa ON Canada K1S 5H9.
Or quick and easy and perfectly safe, via Pay Pal. No donation is too small.
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Join True North No Gas Fridays and hit back at Big Oil price gouging. When enough drivers make the point that they're mad as hell and won't take it anymore Governments will act. You can count on it. Protect yourself with True North No Gas Fridays.
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Take care, beware, don't go near that thing on Friday . . . theres a gouger lurking, with a very greedy eye on your hard-earned money.
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More than a year ago while having lunch with a subscriber to True North Perspective the man sitting opposite me earnestly asked why I used copy from the office of Martin D. Weiss, a market analyst based in Jupiter, Florida. Well, I said, that group seems to have as sharp an eye on world markets as you can find anywhere. “But they’re so right wing.” I shrugged and said, “Are their facts accurate?” When he conceded that they were accurate, I said, “That’s good enough for me.” — 561 words.
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NEW YORK -- Scientists have identified a gene that may raise the risk of getting the most common kind of Alzheimer's disease by about 45 percent in people who inherit a certain form of it. That form of the gene appears to hamper a brain cell's ability to take in calcium, researchers said. If drugs can be found that reverse its effect, they may be useful in fighting Alzheimer's, researchers said. — 187 words
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By Micheline Maynard and Nick Bunkley
International Herald Tribune
DETROIT — General Motors is preparing to give a final salute to the hulking Hummer H1, the ultimate in sport-utility might and, to its many critics, the ultimate in environmental incorrectness. — 625 words.
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Senate says Harper must give higher priority
to securing our Arctic sovereignty and safety
and reinforce special role of the Coast Guard
— 700 words.
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Here's a few from my Selected Poems: Urban Affairs & Country Matters, and a couple more just for fun. — 461 words.
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Herewith the timeless poem by F.R. Scott about Canadian writing "groups" written in 1945. — Mike Heenan, Literary Editor
The Canadian Authors Meet — 189 words.
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O Canada … My Home and Native Land
By The Rev. Dr. Hanns F. Skoutajan
On Canada Day my mind wanders back a long way, to April 18, 1939. That day I got my first glimpse of Canadian terra firma. Mind you, after that stormy crossing of the north Atlantic when the sea often resembled mountains and valleys, any port was welcome. — 853 words.
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The Job Search Workshop is a division of a Toronto-based organization called INTERCEDE, which is exactly what it does on behalf of the Rights of Domestic Workers, Caregivers, and Newcomers. Following is an account of how the JSW helped a woman at her place of work. Name withheld on request. — 427 words.
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TORONTO -- The United Steelworkers (USW) and Migrante Ontario have launched the Independent Workers Association-Home Worker Section. — 173 words.
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‘ … instead of waiting, Cinderellalike, for supernatural aid, they are standing up for themselves and rescuing one another.’
Editorial
The New York Times
Sunday, 08 June 2008
Listening to domestic workers talk about their jobs can give a rude jolt to assumptions about social progress and the civility of the rich and upper middle class. — 492 words.
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For many Canadians, their home is their castle. It’s where they spend the greatest portion of their time relaxing with friends and family, entertaining, tackling odd jobs, or sleeping. They also spend a large chunk of their income on mortgage payments, property taxes, repairs and upgrades.
But how much do Canadians know about the homes they live in or are planning to buy? As you tour open houses in search of your dream home this spring, or plan renovations at your existing abode, we invite you to test your knowledge of housing with our trivia quiz.. We’ll pose one question each issue here. You can find the answer at the bottom of the page. Good luck
Which of the following companies was once owned by Molson’s Brewery?
a) Beaver Lumber b) Colour Your World c) Future Shop d) Home Hardware
Randy Ray of Ottawa and Mark Kearney of London, Ont. are the authors of seven books, including Pucks, Pablum & Pingos, a Canadian trivia book, published in April. Visit their Web site at: www.triviaguys.com
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A giant crater made by an asteroid or comet explains why Mars is so lopsided, with a basin on one hemisphere and high terrain on the other, three separate teams of scientists said on Wednesday. — 431 words.
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'President Obama (could) appoint Mr. McCain as a special envoy to Baghdad, where he can stay for as long as he needs to administer our withdrawal or 100 years, whichever comes first.’
By Frank Rich
The New York Times
The Iraq war's defenders like to bash the press for pushing the bad news and ignoring the good. Maybe they'll be happy to hear that the bad news doesn't rate anymore. When a bomb killed at least 51 Iraqis at a Baghdad market on Tuesday, ending an extended run of relative calm, only one of the three network newscasts (NBC's) even bothered to mention it. — 1,593 words.
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Bernier confesses to his constituents on girlfriend and all
ST-GEORGES-DE-BEAUCE, Que. — Former Foreign Affairs minister Maxime Bernier's ex-girlfriend says he told her that you can’t change girlfriends the way you change shirts. — 697 words.
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By Jorge Silva and Frank Jack Daniel
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's youth orchestras and choirs have helped thousands of children resist thug life in some of South America's most violent slums, and now wealthy countries are lining up to emulate the system. — 700 words.
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Impeachment proceedings would … “at least (show) that much encouragement to those courageous (senior Pentagon) officers who have stood up to Cheney in trying to prevent wider war and catastrophe in the Middle East?”
By Ray McGovern
Consortium News
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Unlike the attack on Iraq five years ago, to deal with Iran there need be no massing of troops. And, with the propaganda buildup already well under way, there need be little, if any, forewarning before shock and awe and pox -- in the form of air and missile attacks -- begin. — 2,421 words.
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‘… the Beijing Municipal Trade Union has received collective bargaining training sessions in Canada from Canadian unions.’
Following is an address by Anita Chan of the Australian National University delivered at the Labor Notes Conference on Rebuilding Labor’s Power held at Detroit Michigan, April 11-13, 2008. — 1,474 words.
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LHASA (China Daily/Xinhua) — Tibet welcomed its first batch of foreign tourists on Wednesday, after a hiatus of more than three months following the March 14 riots in Lhasa. — 435 words.
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"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." – Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin (1802)
— 2020 words.
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Catrina Stewart
The Moscow Times
MOSCOW — Summer has arrived in Moscow The sun shines while the clouds of gloom on global financial markets are just over the horizon Analysts from the Royal Bank of Scotland, or RBS, delivered perhaps the darkest news of all, predicting a global stock market crash in the next three months. — 605 words.
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By Patricia Launt
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Liberal Party is facing a possible lawsuit for launching its new carbon-tax plan under the banner Green Shift, the same name as a Toronto-based environmental consulting company. — 366 words.
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The Chinese army stands ready to step up military-to-military exchanges with the Asia-pacific nations and press ahead with cooperation in areas like counter-terrorism and disaster relief, a senior Chinese military officer told an Asian security conference recently. — 449 words.
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Long before I’d ever heard of Fidel Castro I found a book in a used bookstore published by two American doctors in 1938. There are three things about it that I recall: the first is that some casual friends (a couple) borrowed it (I don’t remember the title); the second is that I never saw the book or the couple again (I’ve forgotten their names); the third I remember clearly: the doctors reported that there was virus in Cuba that entered the body through the soles of bare feet and caused the legs to swell so that the patients were immobilized with pain. The doctors said that they had discovered a serum that when injected caused the swelling and its pain to disappear. The only problem was that most Cubans were too poor to buy shoes. So the obvious cycle developed among those lucky enough to receive the injection. — 896 words.
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It would seem there's no topic worthy of addressing that would not bore our patient readers, after the Round Table program of June 12, which dealt with the new edition of a book published in Bolivia 15 years ago, featuring now a prologue I wrote. — 1,610 words
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By Larry Edelson
Money and Markets
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No surprise from the Fed wednesday. Their feeble statements about inflation just prove what I've said all along: When considering deflation or inflation, the Federal Reserve will always opt for the lesser of the two evils, inflation!
Nevertheless, many of the so-called experts on Wall Street seem to think that oil and gas prices can't go any higher ... that China's raising its domestic energy prices will kill demand ... that the bull market in natural resources and the jumps in inflation are over.
I believe they are wrong. Dead wrong.
Why? All of my experience ... all of my indicators ... all of my proprietary cyclical and technical models tell me oil and gas prices are headed much higher ... natural resources are going to double ... triple and even quadruple ... and that inflation has just started to break out to the upside.
Today, I'll provide you with an update on inflation. — 1,452 words
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NEW YORK — Chinese interest in US commercial property is back, and this time Chinese investors may become significant players as the nation devises a vehicle to divert large amounts of funds for foreign investment, a Cushman & Wakefield executive has said. — 311 words.
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By Mike Heenan
Literary Editor
Here’s a rural legend from The Ottawa Valley told me as a wide-eyed, 10-year-old kid by “Peg-leg Pete”, an old Logger & Raftsman who worked the Bush and the River when they still had massive logging drives downriver to the E.B. Eddy Lumbermill in Hull, Quebec."
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Every Friday in this spot True North will feature a book by a Canadian writer. The presentation will not be a review. It will include a profile of the author written by him/herself and about the product of the author’s literary labours. If a reader wants to file a review we’ll publish it. Today we offer Why Are Gas Prices So High by William Bezanson, — Mike Heenan, Literary Editor. (For book cover, synopsis, and author profile please click here.)
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If you have any problems with accessing the newsletter or problems with your computer, send an email to Carl Hall chall2k5@gmail.com , and he will be more than happy to assist you.
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a) Beaver Lumber, which was purchased by Molson’s during a diversification binge between 1968 and 1972. Molson’s later sold the company, which sells lumber, building materials and other homes related products and services.
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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
Rosaleen Dickson
Tom Dow
Randy Ray
Harold Wright
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