PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: News_and

Guardian Editorials - The Guardian, PEI's largest daily "Covers the Island Like the Dew". This is the feed for their editorials.
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I told you so long ago - More op-ed pieces by Henry Srebrnik of UPEI.
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Articles you will find here:
What's Left of Trudeau? Everything, by Steven Albert and Henry Srebrnik
Confrontations (published by New Democratic Youth, Ottawa), August/September 1968
Israel and the Palestinians, by Sheldon Kirshner and Henry Srebrnik
Montreal Star, February 5, 1969
Rosemary's Baby: Old Wine, New Bottles
Hevra, March 15, 1972
Second-Class Status May Be in the Future for English Quebec
Canadian Jewish News, March 11, 1977
Star Wars ? Racism as Science Fiction?
Canadian Dimension (Vol. 13, No. 2), 1978

Why Most of the World Is Against Israel
Canadian Jewish News, April 14, 1978

Attempts to Tar Israel by Comparing It to S Africa Seen as Historically False
Canadian Jewish News, May 26, 1978

A Changing World Political Scene Causes a Drop in Jewish Communism
Canadian Jewish News, July 14, 1978

Anti-Semitism Derives Ideas from an Elaborate Construct
Canadian Jewish News, August 4, 1978
Torah vs. Trudeau: The Battle for Montreal Jewry
The [FPI] Eye, January, 1982
Signs of the Times, by Shloime Perel and Henry Srebrnik
The Jerusalem Post, January 22, 1982
Republished, with explanatory introduction, in The [FPI] Eye, January, 1982

Age-Old Religious Wars Overshadow Territorial Conflicts in Middle East
Ann Arbor News, November 3, 1983

Renewed Militancy of Shi'ite Arabs Set Off by Chain of Events in 1979
Ann Arbor News, December 8, 1983

Using the Holocaust Against the Jews
[Boston] Jewish Advocate, January 19, 1984

Iran's "Nationalist" Fervor
[Frederick, MD] News-Post, June 18, 1985

Denials of the Holocaust: A Monstrous Lie Continues
Washington Jewish Week, May 8, 1986

The Pogroms Come Later
[Baltimore] Sun, January 3, 1989

Jews Were the Traditional Victims of Marxist 'Proletariat' Hypocrisy
[Harrisburg, PA] Patriot, January 19, 1990

What Kind of Canada Is Expatriate Returning To?
[Penticton, BC] Herald, May 12, 1990

Is Multicultural English Canada in Peril of Disintegrating?
[Regina, SK] Leader-Post, August 20, 1990

Gulf War Reveals Cultural Battle Between Left, Right
Canadian Jewish News, February 14, 1991
"Two Nations" Scheme May Not Be Best for Jews
Canadian Jewish News, May 9, 1991
The Reform Party: A Rising Tide in Canada?
Viewpoints, September 3, 1992

Homophobia: The Ideological Hysteria of the 90s?
[Calgary] Jewish Free Press, March 15, 1993

Could we survive Quebec's exit? Yes!
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian, January 20, 1996

Diasporas Challenge Fragile Nation-States
Calgary Herald, September 26, 1996

Perspective on Kosovo
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian, March 30, 1999

Kosovo War Was Fought to Reassure Muslim World
Calgary Herald, August 20, 1999

Israel Could be Facing a Cold New World
Calgary Herald, November 12, 1999

Humanitarian Imperialism Possibly New Global Danger
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian, December 9, 1999

Have We Become a Value-Free Country?
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian, November 1, 2001
In the War Against Terrorism, Is Somalia Next?
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian, January 2, 2002
January 2, 2002: In the War Against Terrorism, Is Somalia Next?
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:

(click image to enlarge)
November 1, 2001: Have We Become a Value-Free Country?
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:

(click image to enlarge)
December 9, 1999: Humanitarian Imperialism Possibly New Global Danger
[Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:

(click image to enlarge)
November 12, 1999 : Israel Could be Facing a Cold New World
The Calgary Herald:

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In Memory of Canada - Commentary on the social, domestic and external components of Canada, by UPEI History and Political Science student Dan Aiken. From the perspective of Prince Edward Island.
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Banned!
Mr Heibein will not be joining us for some time.

It seems the authoritarian regime of the country he is currently residing in has blocked this website in its entirety.

Perhaps calling on information to become a Human Right put them over the edge?
Canada's Human Rights Violations

In Western civilization Human Rights are where we have an absolute trust and appreciation. As Canadians; we are unknowingly deficient while blissful in our ignorance. Through linguistics, a subject in which our country ought to reign supreme above all others, we have misrepresented our culture and our past achievements. Canada and Canadians collectively have stalled on the journey to prosperity and national self-acceptance. In the early 19th century Canada had a goal of achieving law and order. In the late 19th century, a goal of becoming a unified country.

With these goals achieved, we entered the industrial era.

In the early 20th century our goals were simple, to prove ourselves to our fellow countrymen in Britain. Immediately followed by desire to give aid, to prevail and to embrace freedom. With the close of World War II Canada became emboldened, her stride more pronounced upon her great journey and Canadians began to stand up and declare triumphantly "I am Canadian!"

Disaster appeared on the horizon in the late 1900's with the threat of economic, territorial and populous separation. It was here and now that Canada?s goals became apparent and realized as ? survival. Having defeated the separatists at such a narrow victory, the country and Canadians as a whole entered a post-climatic state of relaxation. A country that once charged to the finish line in Olympic track run fashion, has now taken to kicking the proverbial can with frayed-untied-shoe laces and steel toed work boots.

In our boredom, the country has become emphatically anti-American and profoundly self-righteous. Canadians in the 21st century aren?t able to name all ten provinces, their capitals or point themselves out in an international family portrait. Canada has lost its way. Canadians have lost their initiative. And, as recent evidence as shown, we?re smoking more pot than virtually everyone else. Canada has become the wayward student who graduated high school, took over the family basement and never gave university a second thought.

Canadians pride themselves on falsehoods of our identity. We are the peacekeepers who don?t go on peacekeeping missions. We are the worlds diplomats ? who prefer silence and neutrality for Terrorism v. Israel?s Right to Exist. We are compassionate care givers with universal health care ? so long as you?re willing to wait a year for the doctor. We proudly support our national public broadcaster in their endeavor to promote our culture ? the Little Mosque way. (We may not have associated ourselves with rampant Muslims but, hey, look on the bright side, the Americans always did).

It?s time to either practice what we preach, or just stop preaching it. The first step is telling the truth about ourselves.

Canada can become a world leader ? really, this time ? as a proponent of Human Rights if we so choose. Human Rights extend far beyond the basics of water, food, medical care and freedom. These are the first steps, however, not the be-all-and-end-all. What seems almost lost on Canadians is the right in which they have been so blatantly deprived ? the right to information. As water is the sustenance of the brain, information is the sustenance of the mind. Information is crucial to the academic world, the scientific world, the political world and for a parliamentary democracy, information should be a requirement prior to balloting.

The right to information has been partially recognized by the government through its Privacy Protection and Access to Information Act which enables citizens or entities to submit a direct request for specific government information. However, there is no current legislation that protects the integrity, authenticity or timely release of information. Further to that, there is no direct penalty under the Criminal Code for obstructing information or withholding its release.

Information is provided in various ways. Newspapers provide information on a daily basis. However, that information is not necessarily accurate. How many times have newspapers printed false stories on page 1, and retracted them days later on page 9? Surprisingly, more often than one would guess. Which presents the question: who penalizes newspapers for spreading false information? Currently, journalists are bound by nothing other than a ?golden rule? that asks them to behave?if they don?t, they?ll be subjected to strongly worded emails.

That would be enough to keep me on the straight and narrow. Perhaps I?ll run that one by my supervisor.

Newspapers and other media entities are self-governing with integrity and ethics being self-administered, self-monitored and self-penalized.

Canadian media are a walking, talking, publishing dictatorial empire with little or no boundaries. Recently, the prime minister appointed a new commissioner of the RCMP because the former commish was decidedly corrupt. Few would have expected corruption at the highest levels of our respected national police force, yet it happened. There are some in the political world who would say the Globe and Mail is a little too left-wing, and the National Post a little too right-wing. Many more would say the CBC is a little too.. uhh.. communist.

Remember the Reuters photo scandal of 2006? Yeah, neither does anyone else. If any other industry had committed such pervasion of the truth with obvious malicious intent, the media would have lined them up before a firing squad. Yet, when judging their own ethics, the media has displayed an uncharacteristic ability to forgive and forget. So who do we report them too? The RCMP? No. The CRTC? No. The Courts? Good luck with that.

When a media outlet is guilty of spreading false information, disinformation or is simply exercising its bias, the only avenue of pursuit is the outlet themselves ? directly or through an association of media outlets, that includes the offending party, that have created their own media oversight committee. If, of course, the offending outlet bothered to join up with any of its buddies for self review.

Canada has a deliberate system of separation of powers. The executive, legislative and judicial branches must all remain separate in order to provide ethical and accountable administration. Yet, our media composes itself like our very own sorority. Canadian journalism has evolved into its own society, its own government, its own police and its own judiciary. Collectively, this group remains ideological, activist and intertwined in the events they record. As a means of progression and development, Canada must champion a revolution in information delivery.

The only things we stand to lose are CBC reporters. It?s definitely worth it.
(no subject)

There is something wrong with Stephane Dion and his opposition party.

Here in Canada, we need to do more to protect the environment. Canada needs to protect its fresh water resources, prevent acid rain and provide clean energy for residential and industrial consumption. Surely the former Minister of the Environment would agree. Yet, surprisingly, he does not. Stephane Dion does not support environment initiatives. What's worse -- at every opportunity he attempts to prevent environment protection bills from being passed in parliament.
Stephane Dion, and his friends at CBC, have subscribed to the notion that the best way to take care of our environment, is to not take care of our environment at all, but to use our tax dollars to pay other countries to take care of their environment. A notion so philosophically obscure it truly takes a liberal to fully comprehend its design. In essence, Dion and his party desire not to protect the environment, not to provide a clean and healthy ecosystem for the next generation, but to provide social support for Russia.
That's right. Dion believes that Canada should engage in Kyoto Protocol green credit trading. Wherein, Canada would do nothing for the environment and subsequently spend billions of dollars on green credits -- from Russia. This fee, coupled with international fines imposed by the United Nations for failing to meet legal obligations. This plan is ludacris. Absolutely ludacris. Economists predict such a move would cripple the nations economy with thousands of Canadians losing their jobs, unprecedented increases in taxes and costs of living with record high unemployment across the country.
Why not just protect the environment at home?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the current US Administration have been cooperating to make a North American solution to climate change. An initiative that could see real environment policies, real action on the environment and real results. All without crippling taxes and job losses. How could anyone oppose this plan? How could any forward-thinking policy maker oppose real action, in favour of tax and grab measures?

If Canada agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, and did nothing for the environment at home as the opposition liberals have triumphed, what would Russia do with the billions of dollars we'd be giving them? Would they build more nuclear weapons? Would they transfer more weaponry to terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan? (Terrorists that regularly attack Canadian peace makers). Would the Russians use our money to make more AK 47 death rifles to be used against democracy-supporting Christians in Chechnya?

We just don't know what Russia would do with our money.
So why give it to them?
(no subject)

The prevailing belief system in Western culture leads one to believe that what appears in print or in a documentary is clearly a fact. A verifiable point. A clear message. The truth. A famed liberal failure perpetuates this belief system by instilling further comfort-driven attributes to his title An Inconvenient Truth. Ethically, one must ask the question, in order to call your opinion based film An Inconvenient Truth, shouldn't the content of the film actually be true?

This concept is lost on Al Gore.

Gore is the liberal candidate who was defeated by President George W Bush in the 2000 United States Presidential Election. He has since transformed his image to be an "environmentalist" rather than a failed politician. Protecting Gore is the left wing media who staunchly connect his opinions to the dangers of a global change in climatic conditions. Yet, the questions around Gore continue to mount.

Richard S. Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist and the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Gore was using a biased presentation to exploit the fears of the public for his own political gain. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the Earth System Science Center of the University of Alabama, wrote an open letter to Gore criticizing his presentation of climate science in the film, asserting that the Arctic had a similar temperature in the 1930s before the mass emissions of carbon dioxide began. Former University of Winnipeg geography professor Dr. Timothy F. Ball rejected Gore?s claim that there has been a sharp drop-off in the thickness of the Arctic ice cap since 1970, stating that the data was taken only from an isolated area of the Arctic and during a specific temperate period.

[Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia]

A March 13, 2007 article in The New York Times reported on concerns among some scientists about the tone and the accuracy of the film, noting that they "argue that some of Mr. Gore?s central points are exaggerated and erroneous". Gore's discussion of a rise in sea level of up to 20 feet is contrasted with a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which predicts a maximum rise of 23 inches excluding non-linear effects on ice sheets; although that too discusses the possibilities of higher rises if the ice sheets melt. The article also states that "a report last June by the National Academies seemed to contradict Mr. Gore?s portrayal of recent temperatures as the highest in the past millennium."

An April 19, 2007 article in The Daily Telegraph reported on concerns among parents who claim that the film is "inaccurate and politically motivated." The parents also challenge the legality of broadcasting this 'propoganda film' in British schools.

The documentary film The Great Global Warming Swindle brought together skeptical scientists who disagree with the media supported belief regarding human-caused global warming. The film claims that in An Inconvenient Truth, Gore has misrepresented the data, and that the actual relationship between carbon dioxide and the temperature is the other way round (that is, rise in temperature causes an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere). Climatologist Fred Singer argued that the documentary is "devastating" to Gore's movie: "...The Great Global Warming Swindle is based on sound science by recording the statements of real climate scientists. An Inconvenient Truth mainly records a politician."

[Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia]

An honest question: Why does Al Gore care so much about the environment, after serving two terms as Vice-President of the United States (and President of the United States Senate), and having done nothing to prevent climate change?

The answer: Don't get too caught up in his hype. Gore doesn't live by his own words.

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has obtained actual copies of Gore's utility bills for his personal mansion. The figures are startling. Gore -- in his home -- has 20 times more of a negative impact on our environment than the average American family. On top of that, Gore frequently travels the world in a private jet, and occasionally in giant gas guzzling tour buses. Gore's home is well lit with electric fixtures decorating the exterior and surrounding areas, reports the TCPR.

Gore has been pretending to care about climate change, but not taking any personal action whatsoever.

July 7, 2007 the National Post newspaper featured an article on the growing discontent with Gore and his false 'environmentalism.' By organizing the Live Earth music concerts, Gore claims to be raising awareness about climate change. But one must ask the question, Do we need to raise awareness about the number one issue in the 21st century? These concerts have lead to increased air travel -- with hundreds of extra flights around the world -- increased auto usage in several world cities -- massive usage of electricity for the concerts -- and, of course, an incalcuable amount of electricity being used by viewers watching the concerts on television.

Al Gore has just had an acute detrimental effect on the global climate crisis. And the liberal media paints him to be a saint. While climate change continues to worsen, Gore is riding a wave of multimedia falsehoods and intentional ambiguity. Vote Gore-Clinton in 2008, perhaps?

Climate change is something we should take seriously.

Al Gore is something we should lock up in Guantanomo.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_21b7mdJz2M
Thoughts for the Ideologically Fair

The best way to provide fairness, equality and accountability is to just do so. If only someone would inform the left-wingers, we?d be all set. In Canada there is a common belief system that states ?the best way to deal with discrimination, is reverse discrimination.? Perhaps that belief system has never been expressed so blatantly or in such words, but the truth remains. A common perception states that a certain gender, and a certain skin color, has an advantage of becoming employed. Liberal thought dictates that in order to level the playing field, we must discriminate against these young white men ? thereby providing fairness. Whatever happened to just being fair?

A bureaucracy of liberal fairness is about as useful to this country as a liberal bureaucracy can be.
Recent events in the United States should serve an important lesson for Canadian policy makers. In Canada, we pride ourselves on our fairness, our equality and the freedom our country shares with newcomers. This pride largely stems from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Pierre Trudeau?s endowment to Canadians. Often portrayed as the be all and end all of Canadian national identity, the Charter is many things to many people and has been used in various ways. It has been used to protect known terrorists from prison sentencing. And, of course, the Charter was used to protect Trudeau?s former wife from criminal charges ? when arrested for drunk driving.

In the constant struggle to provide a fair and open environment the approach our policy makers should take has been mapped by the US Supreme Court. Fairness should be fairness ? not holding down would-be leaders. By allowing employers to ask such questions based on skin color, sex, or physical impalements we are perpetuating discrimination and allowing it to not only prevail, but also to become profound and instigate tensions. A country at peace with itself would welcome the opportunity to institute a merit based civil architecture, wherein the people of Canada would succeed by their own character-attributes and not physical-attributes.

A country at peace with itself, perhaps, would go one step further. And ask the necessary questions to move forward. The questions that need to be answered are frequently blockaded by liberal thought and perceptions. Take highway 401 for example. Why was the highway temporarily closed this week? (Good question). The answer: because the Mohawk warriors blockaded Canada?s busiest highway in an effort to gain respect. Why don?t the Mohawk have our respect? (Good question). The answer: because of the civil failures within the confines of their communities and their dependancy on the taxpayers for income. Why are the Mohawk dependant on the taxpayers for income when everyone knows they?re drug dea.... uh, oh... liberal barriers approaching...

Perhaps one day Canada will be free to look in the mirror in an attempt to make self-improvements. Perhaps those improvements will include health care, schools and equal opportunities (real ones, not just holding down the white kids) for Canada?s First Nations. Perhaps one day Canada will move beyond the failed policies of its past. Perhaps, one day, liberalism will allow Canada to enter the 21st century. "Liberalism is a mental disorder." - Michael Savage.

IRAC - Current News - Latest news (gas prices, etc.) from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (no RSS).
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Island NDP News - Latest news from the PEI New Democratic Party
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1st Annual NDP Variety Show
June 7- Socializin' with Socialists!

Saturday June 7 The Island New Democrats are hosting their first annua...
Liberal caucus united against agriculture, Rodd
Charlottetown, April 24th, 2008. How can rural Prince Edward Island cast their vote for a Liberal candidate in the next election, is a question James ...
Participate P.E.I. requires greater transparency
Ghiz government requires greater transparency in hiring process.

Charlottetown, January 24th, 2008. Despite the rhetoric, political patronage...
Island New Democrat Interim Leader James Rodd to meet with provincial and federal NDP Premiers and Leaders.
Charlottetown, January 11th, 2008. Island New Democrat Interim Leader James Rodd will be in Ottawa Sunday, January 13th, until Monday, January ...
Premier Ghiz must push agriculture crisis at Friday’s meeting of Premiers and the Prime Minister.
Charlottetown, January 9th, 2008. The Island New Democrats are expecting positive and constructive action for the Island’s hog and beef crisis ...

ITYS - I Told You So-Essays on politics - Henry Srebrnik, a UPEI Political Studies professor, teaches comparative politics and ethnic relations. In his research he examines the impact of nationalism and ethnically-based political conflict, especially among diaspora peoples and in island societies.
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(no subject)
Opinion pieces by Henry Srebrnik, listed chronologically:

Note: These and other opinion pieces are also available at http://www.freewebs.com/itys/

Please visit as well: ?I Told You So Long Ago,? at http://i-told-you-so-long-ago.blogspot.com

March 27, 2003 ? Canadian Jewish News:
Canadian Jews should rethink alliances.

April 23, 2003 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Will the Kurds seize the day and attempt to create a sovereign state?

October 21, 2003 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Defining ourselves by government: Permanent Liberals: PC ? Alliance merger may provide serious opposition, but don?t bet on it.

December 11, 2003 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Canada faces problems of national identity, regionalism and legislative ineptitude.

January 3, 2004 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Living a life of Western guilt: Some professors, journalists seem embarrassed by their privileged status.

March 23, 2004 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Stephen Harper?s experience makes him the right person for the job: The new leader of the Conservative Party has served for many years in the political trenches.

April 17, 2004 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Just how far would the Liberals have gone to ?save? Canada?

May 20, 2004 ? [Calgary] Jewish Free Press:
Winning, and then losing, in Iraq.

May 27, 2004 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
What do the political contours of the federal election look like?

May 31, 2004 ? The Calgary Herald:
?Party of State? pegs its future on felling Harper.
September 30, 2004 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Taking a closer look at the selection of judges.
October 6, 2004 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
The state of politics and the new Parliamentary session.

November 1, 2004 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Why John Kerry will win the American Presidency.

November 5, 2004 - The Calgary Herald:
Lament from the Ivory Tower.

November 18, 2004 ? [Calgary] Jewish Free Press:
What does the Bush victory mean for Israel and the Mideast?

December 30, 2004 ? The Calgary Herald:
Is stronger Canada Chretien?s Legacy?

April 21, 2005 ? [Calgary] Jewish Free Press:
Jerusalem and the three Abrahamic faiths.

August 19, 2005 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Canada and Hans Island: Is it worth fighting for?

September 7, 2005 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Is it fair to criticize the new occupants of Rideau Hall?

September 24, 2005 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
No matter what, Canadians think Liberal rule is just fine.

October 18, 2005 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Defying laws of politics when it comes to Quebec and Alberta.

December 27, 2005 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Let's try changing our political architecture: Why not create a bicameral Parliament for PEI?

January 5, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Who is responsible for Canada?s slide towards national disintegration?

January 17, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
When did ?Canadian Values? become such an issue?

January 25, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
An analysis of why the Liberals lost.

February 10, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Conservatives should remove opposition to same-sex marriage from their agenda.

February 22, 2006 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
Different reasons why some approved, others condemned the Danish cartoons.

March 11, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Examining our role in Afghanistan: Should we be there?

March 22, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
The U.S. is on the verge of losing the war in Iraq.

March 23, 2006 - [Calgary] Fast Forward Weekly:
Nationalism persists as a mobilizing force; ethnic and religious conflict remains the primary cause of war in the world.
http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/2006/0323/view.htm

April 2006 - Newsletter of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS):
UPEI faculty opposes gag laws.
http://www.safs.ca/april2006/srebrink.html

April 20, 2006 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
The federal Liberals should choose Ignatieff as leader.

May 5, 2006 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
As Fijians go to the polls.

May 16, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
A few brickbats.

August 4, 2006 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Pondering what will happen next for Lebanon.

August 31, 2006 - [Calgary] Jewish Free Press:
Hezbollah's strength.

October 18, 2006 - [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
The Liberals, Israel and the issue of war crimes.

October 19, 2006 - [Calgary] Jewish Free Press:
Are Quebec's political elites too sensitive to criticism? A personal recollection.

November 2, 2006 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
A changing political landscape.

November 22, 2006 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Is Quebec really a nation?

December 20, 2006 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Harper?s motion poses the question: Who is a Québécois?

March 29, 2007 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
What of Quebec's Anglophones?

April 6, 2007 ? The Calgary Herald:
Greens must keep focused on cause.

April 28, 2007 ? The Calgary Herald:
Gov. Gen. has power to thwart an election.

August 3, 2007 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Barack Obama: Trailblazer for Black Americans.

August 4, 2007 - The Calgary Herald:
A strong dollar, and short memory.

August 16, 2007 - [Toronto] Jewish Tribune:
Does Israel have a right to exist?

August 25, 2007 - The Calgary Herald:
Israel only state to be singled out.

September 6, 2007 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
The endless American vote.

October 1, 2007 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
A strong dollar, but where are the savings?

November 1, 2007 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
The loonie versus the U.S. dollar.

December 17, 2007 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
The American Presidential race - so far.

December 27, 2007 ? [Toronto] Jewish Tribune:
Back to the future in a consociational Palestine?

February 6, 2008 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
?Banal? Nationalism: America, Canada and Quebec.

February 19, 2008 - [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Is Hillary Clinton a Democrat?

March 3, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
Clinton and Obama: Who's Been More Oppressed?

March 10, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Hillary Clinton?s mud sticks to Obama

March 15, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
A Caustic Look at the Never-Ending Primary War

March 25, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
John McCain: A Political Resurrection?

March 25, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
The year 1968: Where Did the Time Go?

April 3, 2008 ? [Toronto] Jewish Tribune:
Carville and the J-Word

April 4, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
The Democratic Party Race: The Beat Goes On...and On...and On

April 25, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
Has Running for the U.S. Presidency Become a Wrestling Match?

April 30, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Hillary wins Pennsylvania - but why?

May 6, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
Indiana and North Carolina Vote . . . What Next?

May 8, 2008 - [Toronto] Jewish Tribune:
The Delayed Reaction to the Holocaust

May 22, 2008 - [Halifax, Nova Scotia] Chronicle-Herald:
Clintons' shady dealings have taken the shine off Two-for-One-Deal, Part 2
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Letters/1057351.html

June 6, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Discourse and the end of the Clinton campaign

June 24, 2008 - [Toronto] Jewish Tribune:
Will gender rivalries impact institution of marriage?
http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/content/view/730/53/

June 25, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
How would Clinton fit on the Vice-Presidential ticket?

July 4, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
Barack and Bill: Not a Good Match

August 15, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
A Tale of Goose and Gander

September 4, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Obama and the Clintons: A Convention Hijacking

September 22, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Crisis in the American Financial System

September 29, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
The Economic Chickens Come Home to Roost

October 14, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
McCain Carrying a Load of Ethical Baggage

October 24, 2008 ? [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian:
Quebec Marches to Its Own Electoral Drummer

October 30, 2008 ? [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:
Just What Does it Take to Run the Office These Days?
(no subject)
Just What Does it Take to Run the Office These Days?

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer

Most people who have actual, real jobs would find it hard to abandon their work for a couple of months, unless given an official leave of absence and being replaced temporarily by someone else.

How many teachers, lawyers, garage mechanics, barbers, insurance salespeople, and, for that matter, professors, could just take time off from work, without their disappearance having an effect on others in their workplace?

But Sarah Palin has been on the road, running as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, since August. So who?s minding the store up in Alaska? She is, after all, the governor ? the chief executive officer, the CEO, of the state.

Barack Obama, John McCain and Joe Biden, are senators, members of the legislative branch, the Congress, so this question doesn?t apply to them. Indeed, Congress isn?t even in session right now.

Sure, Palin may be signing off on bills, but how different is this from Queen Elizabeth giving the royal assent to legislation passed by the British Parliament?

The fact that Palin?s absence in the state makes little difference tells us something about the dirty little secret of modern politics, especially as practiced in America today. Many political figures today are really just ?fronts,? people placed on their parties? tickets as a result of their ?electability? or ?persona,? and thus the recipients of large amounts of cash from donors, who in return hope for policy decisions that will favour them.

The elected officials don?t actually do the work. They are not all that different from British aristocrats who, until the practice was abolished in 1868, bought army commissions for their sons, and expected others in the military to do the actual thinking when it came to warfare.

At least Biden and Obama attended law school, while McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and an officer in the Navy. Palin barely managed to obtain a BA from the University of Idaho. She seems to use the word ?maverick? as a synonym for being unlettered.

It was not always this way. When Abraham Lincoln ran for president in 1860, the voters expected him to really do the job. Honest Abe didn?t have a whole staff around him for the heavy lifting.

He wrote the ?Gettysburg Address? himself, and didn?t use focus groups to see if it would be well received. Today, of course, presidents have speech writers, media consultants, analysts, strategists, and hundreds of other specialists at their side.

This is why the charges of ?plagiarism? levelled against a politician when someone discovers they have lifted parts of another official?s speech fall flat. After all, it?s just one ghost writer stealing from another! None of this stuff is actually written by the candidates.

Just imagine, using my own job as an example, if this were the case in other walks of life:

Competing with others for a university position, I am selected by (and only by) the ?electorate,? in other words the student body, for reasons best known only to themselves. And they have absolute control of the process; none of the faculty or administrators can veto their decision.

My specialty is comparative politics, and perhaps I?m not really up to speed in my field. But that doesn?t really matter. I?ll simply hire genuine political scientists to prepare my course syllabi, write my lectures, mark exams and term papers, and do all of my scholarly research and writing, up to and including the books that I will publish. And I get all the credit.

Not a bad gig, eh? Welcome to the world of 21st century democracy, where image is all and expertise comes a distant second.

That?s why the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 on new clothes for Sarah Palin, rather than on books. Too bad -- she might have learned what the position of vice-president of the United States really entails.
(no subject)
Quebec Marches to Its Own Electoral Drummer

Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

In his column published recently in the Guardian, Richard Gwyn remarked, in commenting on the federal election, that "Quebec acted as if completely disengaged from the national political process."

The Bloc Québécois won 50 of Quebec's 75 seats last week, leaving the three major federal parties (and the Greens) in the dust. The Liberals got 13 seats, mostly around Montreal, the Conservatives 10, the NDP one, plus a single independent.

Though Stephen Harper "showered money and favours and attention on the province," Quebec's response was "to yawn." Gwyn added that, when it comes to federal politics, "Quebecers, it now seems, look exclusively at themselves."

Globe and Mail writer Jeffrey Simpson analyzed the results in the same vein. "Bloc voters obviously feel comfortable with the party," he wrote. "Some are separatists; others are not. They apparently welcome a party that wants no part of governing Canada while continuing to demand more and more from it."

The party, he observed, wants more money and jurisdictional power, plus a larger international presence, for the province. These are all "way stations to the Bloc's eventual goal of an independent Quebec."

Canada, concluded Simpson, "is no longer a country they wish to participate in governing, but one from which they wish to withdraw cash, like an automated teller machine."

Remember, the Liberal Party, which in the past had a hammerlock on Quebec, has been unable to win a majority of Quebec's 75 seats since 1980, even when led by francophone Québécois such as Jean Chrétien and Stéphane Dion. And of course the Tories have been toast since the days of Brian Mulroney.

The Bloc's strength also weakens Canada's national parties. With Gilles Duceppe winning upwards of 50 seats per election, as he did on October 14, it becomes very difficult for any other party to reach the 154 seats needed to form a majority government.

We achieved our objective, Duceppe told supporters. Without the Bloc Harper would have formed a majority government.

And this suits the Bloc just fine. It gives the party, which is in effect a Quebec nationalist lobby, more power to extract money and other goodies from those who govern in Ottawa, lest the government fall.

So guess what, mes amis. While you've all been monitoring the state of the Quebec sovereignty movement, wondering whether it remains a viable option for francophones, the game is practically over.

This is the sixth election since 1993 where the majority of francophone votes and seats in Quebec have gone to the Bloc Québécois. This can't be written off as a series of "accidents" or "sour grapes," with the Bloc simply taking advantage of miscues by the leaders of the other parties.

Quebec is already a "nation within a state." Even the provincial government of Jean Charest, nominally Liberal, acts like a national government, making demands on Ottawa little different from those of the separatist Parti Québécois.

Becoming independent one day will for Quebec be little more than a formality. Most people, either there or in the rest of Canada, will hardly notice the difference.
(no subject)
McCain Carrying a Load of Ethical Baggage

Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

If Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin can spout silly nonsense about Barack Obama and Bill Ayers, it?s only fair that Obama in return should hammer away at another piece of history, the ?Keating Five? scandal of the late 1980s.

In recent campaign speeches, Palin has criticized Obama?s association with Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground, a 1960s radical offshoot of the New Left student movement that engaged in a number of bombings at the time.

Palin said that Obama sees America as so imperfect ?that he?s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.?

But Obama, who was all of eight years old when these crimes were committed, barely knows Ayers, who is today a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Both have been involved with school reform in Chicago and were members of the board of an anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund, between 1999 and 2002.

In fact, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has declared that he, too, has worked with Ayers. ?I don?t condone what he did 40 years ago but I remember that period well. It was a difficult time, but those days are long over.?

Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago Democratic Congressman, warned that ?If we are going to go down this road,? he would remind voters that, two decades ago, ?John McCain was associating with Charles Keating.?

During the 1980s, Senator McCain received $112,000, and free vacations for his family, from Charles Keating, the head of Lincoln Savings & Loan. Such savings and loan banks had been deregulated in the early 1980s, allowing them to make highly risky investments with their depositors? money. Keating took advantage of this change.

McCain, a personal friend of Keating?s, voted repeatedly against congressional efforts to tighten regulation of savings and loans, and in 1987, when he learned that Keating?s bank was the target of a federal investigation, McCain met with regulators in an effort to get them to back off.

Keating ended up defrauding his customers and when his bank collapsed in 1989, some 23,000 people were victimized and many lost their life savings, largely because they now held securities issued by another Keating-owned company, American Continental Corporation, which had declared bankruptcy, rather than federally insured bank deposits.

Keating went to prison, and the Senate Ethics Committee reprimanded McCain for ?poor judgment.? (Four other U.S. senators were also involved; they became known collectively as the ?Keating Five.?)

William Black, who was a deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation at the time, indicated that McCain?s chief error was in underestimating the importance of regulation and relying too heavily on slanted advice from bankers and lobbyists.

Black, now an associate professor of law and economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, added that McCain?s campaign still remains heavily influenced by lobbyists working in his campaign.

When it comes to the economy, the so-called maverick John McCain, who bragged until recently that he was fundamentally a deregulator, is part of the problem, not the solution.
(no subject)
The Economic Chickens Come Home to Roost

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer

U.S. President George Bush last week appealed to the nation to support a US$700 billion rescue for the nation?s financial system in order to avert a credit market collapse.

After much wrangling, Congress has acceded to his demand, lest the economy fail.

The bill authorizes government intervention to buy distressed debt ? mortgage-based securities and other assets ? from private firms currently stuck with them, with the tab picked up mainly by the taxpayers.

Legislators did put in place some safeguards, including close supervision of the program by an oversight board and the creation of a privately funded insurance program for mortgage-backed securities. They also limited compensation to executives of corporations that would be covered by the rescue plan and allowed for more help to homeowners facing foreclosure.

A part of me hoped the U.S. Congress would refuse to bail out the fat cats on Wall Street and let them go under. I realize that, unfortunately, many innocent victims of their greed would go down with them, but it?s the price Americans would have to pay for allowing their leaders to condone such legalized robbery.

To use an expression beloved by some, ?short term pain for long term gain.?

America has been living beyond its means for years. George Bush went to war and ? incredibly ? lowered taxes on the rich. He told Americans they could show their patriotism by ?going shopping.?

Don?t blame only Bush. The Clinton administration was just as culpable.

Since the late 1990s, the personal savings rate in the U.S. has plunged to almost zero from 3 per cent of income, according to research by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc. Credit card debt is up 80 per cent.

In 1999, mortgage giant Fannie Mae came under increasing pressure from Bill Clinton to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people, and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits. And so the so-called sub-prime mortgage market, now at the root of the financial crisis, grew until it became a giant house of cards.

The current crisis was not caused by greedy executives breaking laws.

What they did was perfectly legal. It resulted from increasingly lax government regulation.

In 2004, for instance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the agency with primary responsibility for regulating the securities industry and stock market, loosened the rules governing the amount of debt major investment banks could assume in their trading activities.

The Wall Street financiers have been allowed to in effect ?print? money at a pace counterfeiters can only dream of. Read this and weep:

*In 2007, the CEO of a Standard & Poor?s 500 company received, on average, $14.2 million in total compensation, according to the Corporate Library, a corporate governance research firm.

*Lehman Brothers chairman Richard Fuld Jr. made $34 million in 2007; the firm went bankrupt a few weeks ago.

*Insurance giant American International Group?s Martin Sullivan got a $14 million compensation package in 2007; the insolvent company has now received $85 billion in a federal bailout.

*Stock brokerage Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain was paid $17 million in salary, bonuses and stock options in 2007; his company too has ceased to exist.

*Washington Mutual, the country?s largest savings and loan bank, nearing collapse, was seized by federal regulators last week. Its new chief executive, Alan H. Fishman, who has been on the job for less than three weeks, is eligible for $11.6 million in cash severance and will get to keep his $7.5 million signing bonus, according to an analysis by James F. Reda and Associates.

There are many more such stories; these figures come from the filings made by these companies to the SEC. No one could possibly be worth the obscene amounts paid to these people ? even if they hadn?t run their companies into the ground.

Since there really is a finite national economic pie, this left less on the plate for others, including minimum wage workers who can?t afford a doctor for their sick children.

And more than a million people have lost their homes through foreclosure in the last two years, among the other consequences of this debacle.

A financial crash, like a lost war would have provided a salutary lesson, a form of ?tough love.? Now, within a few years we?ll just be back to business as usual as people forget the lessons learned from this mess.

Americans failed to elect the kind of politicians who might have prevented this. They will now have to learn to live with the consequences

Journal-Pioneer Blogs - Various Blogs from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer
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Journal-Pioneer Columns - Columns from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer.
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Journal-Pioneer Headlines - Headlines from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer.
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Kinny's Comments - The Odd Rant & Referral To Tory Blogs - Political commentary from the right by Paul MacPhail.
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North America's Other Election
From an October 20th dispatch in The Atlantic:

Canada has weathered the global economic crisis with noteworthy grace. Last month, its economy created over 100,000 new jobs, more than in any month in decades. Wages keep growing, and Canada's banking sector is, according to the World Economic Forum, "the soundest in the world." So it shouldn't be surprising that last week, Canadians returned Stephen Harper's Conservatives to power and granted them 19 new seats in Parliament.

Like Bush's Republican Party, the Conservatives have expanded their coalition by appealing to working class voters, but they've mainly done it by using targeted tax policies, like the Clinton-era Democrats.

Read the whole thing here.

A further opinion from Progressive Conservative: Guess I'm not the only one that feels like letting my car idle all night when I hear Elizabeth May speak.
Woman Charged For Crying Wolf Too Many Times
Even Chicken Little has nothing on her.

Dial a wrong number just once, and all hell breaks loose...but dial "911" 9,999 times and you could be the runner up.

A Montreal woman who logged 10,000 calls to 911 over a 15-month span because of her spite for police has been found guilty of public mischief.
Marie-Eve Dean, 23, was convicted today as a judge refused a joint recommendation by the Crown and defence that she get a suspended sentence to be served in the community.

Where, or where, is that ambulance? I guess now we know. (If she was fourteen, Gilles Duceppe would be giving her a phonecard and locking up cellphones.)

H/T Nationalnewswatch
St. John's mayor wants seat for Newfoundland at federal cabinet
They had their chance. It's what's known as a federal election.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. ? The mayor of St. John's is calling on the public to convince Ottawa to appoint somebody from Newfoundland and Labrador to be responsible for the province at the federal cabinet table.
The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't have an MP from the province after losing races for all of its seven seats during Tuesday's federal election.

It's time the mayor had a talk with Danny Williams about that little ABC thing.
Election Joke
I can actually picture this:

The election was too close to call. Neither the
Conservative Party nor the Liberal Party had enough
votes to win. There was much talk about ballot recounting,
court challenges, etc., but a week-long ice fishing competition
seemed the sportsmanlike way to settle things.
The candidate that caught the most fish at the end of the week
would win the election. Therefore, it was decided that there
should be an ice fishing contest between the two candidates to
determine the winner.
After much back and forth discussion, it was decided that the
contest take place on a remote frozen lake in northern Manitoba . There
were to be no observers present, and both men were to be sent out
separately on this isolated lake and return at 5 P.M. with their catch for
counting and verification by a team of neutral parties.
At the end of the first day, Steven Harper returned to the starting line
and he had ten fish. Soon, Dion returned and had no fish. Well, everyone
assumed he was just having another 'bad hair' day or something and
hopefully, he would catch up the next day. ( A do-over)
At the end of the 2nd day Harper came in with 20 fish and Dion came
in again with none. That evening, Jack Layton & Elizabeth May
got together secretly with Dion and said,
'Dion, I think Steven Harper is a low-life, cheatin' son-of-a-gun.
I want you to go out tomorrow and don't even bother with fishing.
Just spy on him and see just how he is cheating.'
The next night (after Steven Harper returns with 50 fish), Layton said to
Dion, 'Well, tell me, how is Steven Harper cheating?'
Dion replied, 'Jack, you're not going to believe this, but he's cutting
holes in the ice.'
Election Expense Question
Maybe it's all the turkey that I had for Thanksgiving supper, but I just don't have the gumption right now to find the answer to the question: If the candidates for the Green Party publicly call for their support to be given to another party, shouldn't that party then have to claim the Green Party's expenses as well as their own? Would that not be a violation of the election expense act (or whatever the heck it's called) if the total of the Green Party's candidate and the total of the candidates receiving the support exceed their campaign spending limits?

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Too much turkey talk.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Liberal Millionaires Club - Immigrant money program: 12,000 unhappy Liberals 133,000 unhappy Islanders. Guardian readers say “one of the biggest frauds in PEI history”
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Wed., November 19th, Justin Trudeau just another empty head with a pretty face?
It’s disheartening but 53% of people in a Guardian poll think Justin Trudeau would make a great leader. Please. I want him to. (10%) No. Too much baggage (25%) Yes, he certainly will, and he will be credible in his own right (53%) Gorgeous, but not national leadership material (11%) It’s really scary that 53% of the population want a [...]
Wed., November 19th, Richard Brown Big Lies
Poor Richard, defending the indefensible with one Big Lie after another. “PNP’s helped small business on PEI.” - one of his favourites. Our research says about 15% of the money went into legitimate business. The remainder went into numbered accounts set up just for the Immigrant Scam. Those numbered accounts have no real directors, no offices, factories, phone [...]
Thu., November 13th, Nov 11 - This Hour Has 5 & 1/2 Minutes
Stories - Remembrance Day - why they died, climate of reprisal Headlines - Ghiz back from China, hog plant, UPEI spies Doug Currie look a like, healthcare In Flanders Fields Tagged: Accessible Parking, Disability Support Program, Doug Currie, Five and 1/2 Minutes, Immigrant Scam, NJN Network, PEI, PEI Disability Alert, Premier Robert Ghiz, Stephen Pate, UPEI, Wes Sheridan [...]
Wed., November 12th, Wind power ruffles question period
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 | 5:24 PM AT CBC The government’s new wind energy plan dominated much of the first question period of the fall session of the P.E.I. legislature Wednesday. Opposition leader Olive Crane opened questioning in the fall session of the legislature, focusing on the government’s plan to triple wind power production on the [...]
Wed., November 12th, Immigrant money pays for bonuses
TERESA WRIGHT The Guardian Government employees who processed Provincial Nominee Program applications earlier this year were paid extras and bonuses for their work, but this money did not come from public funds, it was immigrants? money, says Innovation Minister Richard Brown. The bonuses were given due to the high volume of applications processed between April and September when [...]

MLA Search Engine - A Search Engine For Members Of the Legislative Assembly
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Wed., October 1st, Optics of nominee program did concern premier
Optics of nominee program did concern premier: "P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz says he was concerned how it would look for companies owned by MLAs to receive money from potential immigrants, but he d..."
Sun., September 7th, New

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Tue., July 8th, Google Earth Outreach - Home
Google Earth Outreach - Home: "Google Earth Outreach supports non-profit organizations that share our mission of community service in areas such as education & culture, environment & science, current affairs, global development, public health and social services. As a non-profit organization you can use Google Earth Free to view and create KML files. You can post those KML files on your site or email them to your partners, donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries. You may not use Google Earth Free in the course of providing a paid service to other companies or organizations."
Tue., July 8th, PEI Mussels - BUYPEI ToolBox swicki - powered by eurekster
PEI Mussels - BUYPEI ToolBox swicki - powered by eurekster: "Gortons Fresh Seafood carries PEI Mussels items including PEI Mussels, Live, 1.9 lbs, PEI mussels, Frozen, 2 lbs ... PEI mussels"
Thu., June 26th, LinkedIn: This Group Invitation
LinkedIn: This Group Invitation

Music PEI News-discrimination in the music biz - Stories about discrimination based on disability in the music biz. Our aim is to advocate on behalf of musicians with disabilities and anyone else who asks our assistance to ensure that Music PEI includes all capable Islanders in their support programs and that MPEI has pro-active programs that ensure equity under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Fri., November 21st, This Hour Has 5 & 1/2 Minutes
This weeks episode is hot on the trail of the Liberals. Some of the stories Dave Carver?s romance with Minister Docherty Bruce Howatt PEI?s top poker ace Secret $200 million slush fund, PEI?s new Price is Right, It ain?t heavy: it?s a government cheque Have you seen it?
Wed., November 19th, Too cool, you have to try this Boss pedal simulator
Too Cool, Boss VB-2
Wed., November 19th, Dear Recording Industry: Stop Whining, Start Making Money - Ian Rogers
Keynote address of Ian Rogers delivered at Topspin - Grammy MusiTech Summit 08 conference. Two Thursdays ago I had the privilege of delivering the keynote at the GRAMMY Northwest MusicTech Summit 2008 (introduced by the mayor of Seattle, no less!). Below is more or less what I said, or what I intended to say, since [...]
Tue., November 18th, Encouragement along the way
Hi Stephen, Don?t let music PEI get to you. They treat me the same way. Perhaps a few of them need to be voted out. They are not handling their new found money and power very well. Don?t let anyone stop you from playing. As far as I am concerned, their days are numbered. Snubbing and excluding people [...]
Tue., November 18th, They?ve gone potty, over the edge at Music PEI
By Stephen Pate, I just got an email from Rob Oakie which takes the cake. We’re not members, even musicians. We’re spam. Wow! perhaps we’re just amoeba. His reply to my email was “RE: ** SPAM (3.8) ** Project deadlines That is correct. Applicants are given 30 days after the completion date they have requested to submit their final [...]

Nissology PEI - A blog about the academic field of Island Studies (Nissology) and global island issues in a PEI context.
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Ghiz Wants Dependence for Islanders

Almost since Confederation, Prince Edward
Island?s development strategy has been to see how much it can get out of the
federal government. The experience of a number of miracle islands around the
world shows that a better way to pursue development is to use whatever
sovereignty a jurisdiction has in order to craft its own strategies for economic
success. A similar strategy for Prince Edward Island need not require a change
in the distribution of powers within the Canadian confederation: A number of the
most successful islands are also members of federations. But it would require a
change in Islanders? attitudes?.-- Tim Carroll, ?Economic Sovereignty for PEI,? Policy Options (December 2000).
Tim Carroll is a business professor at the University of PEI and a former cabinet minister in the Joe Ghiz government in PEI circa 1986-93. His statement above is based on work done by a number of Island scholars such as Baglole, Baldacchino, Bartmann, Carroll, Milne and Srebrenik which compares the political economies of of any number of small states and islands. By performing comparative analysis on such places the conclusion is that "a better way" to pursue economic development is to develop home-grown strategies INSTEAD OF trying to see how much PEI can get from the Federal Government of Canada. Not only would such an approach be a signal of self-reliant pride but it would have better chance of success. Moreover, there is an emerging line of argument in Nissology that dependence merely begets more dependence and relative insularity (a/k/a self-sufficiency) is a logically proven better strategy.
In the face of this research and contrary to such clear information, Robert Ghiz seems to think that he is achieving something significant by coming home from Ottawa with a bag full of goodies. In fact, there is much more to the role of Premier of Prince Edward Island than receiving hand-outs. A coherent vision for the future is needed followed by a planning and implementation strategy plus the political will to follow through. Ghiz has compared himself to to the iconic Island Premier Alec Campbell but other than youthfulness, he has exhibited no other similar forward-looking traits. Campbell's successor, Angus MacLean, was thought to be very conservative but he espoused an independent-minded view of PEI that was prescient of the some of the Island Studies research mentioned above; Ghiz has shown no interest or comprehension of such a principled approach to economic development. Campaign promises, throne speech bobbles and trinkets and flowery development documents languish on the vine of political inattention; many Islanders are ready willing and able to move forward with a number of initiatives but our political leaders won't take action. When Ghiz came to office this was his plan:

Prince Edward Island Liberal Leader Robert Ghiz... who used to work in the Prime Minister's Office in Ottawa when Jean Chretien was in power? said he will strive to make sure P.E.I., with a population of only 137,000 people, gets all it can from the federal government. ? Chris Morris, ?Triumphant PEI Liberals anxious to review province?s finances?, Canadian Press, Tuesday, May 29, 2007.

The policies of the Ghiz government have not advanced beyond this. One has to wonder what is preventing the pursuit of a better set of strategies. If anyone knows, please leave a comment as it is essential to our Island future. Right now, we are just standing in the line-up for hand-outs.
Good News for Island Heritage
The PEI government has committed to building a provincial museum in a central location. This is good news for Island culture as a whole. Kudos to Carolyn Bertram for making this firm commitment.
SNIJ of the Day: Futuna
Where esle but an island territory could have three kingdoms and only semi-sovereignty? For my friends Cyrile and Khadija, I give you Futuna which recently crowned one (of possibly three) new monarch.
Adapt: The Nexus Between Agriculture and Environment on Prince Edward Island
The PEI ADAPT Council is also hosting a conference on November 13, 2008. If you are interested in PEI's natural and human-cultivated environment, the you have a busy day ahead of you. If you're wondering what the PEI ADAPT Council is, here is a snippet from their website:

Background
The Adaptation Development Agricultural Production Technology (ADAPT) Council was established in 1997. The Board of Directors is comprised of representatives of agricultural value chain organizations including producers, food service, processing and youth; plus ex-officio provincial and federal government personnel.

Key Council Priorities
Fostering diversification on-farm and value chains networks with other sectors,
Providing human resource development through the upgrading of workplace skills,
Enhancing environmental practices and sustainable production systems,
Promoting collaborative on-farm adaptive research projects with scientists and producers,
Developing policy, and sharing information to assess the impact of policy changes.

I'm not sure what role ADAPT played in this recent report on PEI agriculture, but both initiatives seem to be on the same agricultural wavelength in terms of the need for innovation and sustainability. If agriculture on PEI doesn't "adapt" in these directions, it will perish.
What Is The Ghiz Government's Position on the Environment?
If you want to know the Ghiz Government's position on the Environment, simply go to this event and ask PEI Environment Minister Hon. George Webster who will be in attendance. Here are the details:

UPEI hosts public forum on P.E.I.?s environment on November 13
November 5, 2008
The Environmental Studies program at the University of Prince Edward Island is hosting a public forum called ?State of the Island Environment 2008: Looking Back, Looking Ahead? on Thursday, November 13, at 7 p.m. in Don and Marion McDougall Hall, Room 242. ?The aim of these forums is to bring together a diverse panel of knowledgeable and concerned people from environmental organizations and government agencies to discuss important local environmental issues that have included water quality, waste and GMOs,? says Dr. Don Mazer, the former coordinator of the Environmental Studies program. ?Public education is an important part of the mission of our program,? says Dr. Darren Bardati, the new Director of Environmental Studies at UPEI. ?UPEI is an ideal place to bring together members of the university community and the broader Island community to hear different perspectives on the critical issues that face the Island.?This is the fifth forum on environmental topics that has been hosted by the program; it revisits the theme of the first forum in 2000, which was called ?The State of the Island Environment.??Given the many significant developments in the past decade related to issues such as water quality, nitrates, fish kills and climate change, it seemed important to us to revisit this general theme in order to offer some historical perspectives on these issues, as well as to look at visions for a sustainable future,? says Bardati.The panel will include a number of participants from the early forums who will offer a variety of informed perspectives. They include Diane Griffin, Nature Conservancy of Canada; Daryl Guignion, a wildlife biologist and retired UPEI biology professor; Sharon Labchuk, Green Party of Canada; and Gary Schneider, Environmental Coalition of PEI and Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project. They will be joined by the Honourable George Webster, Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry. UPEI President Wade MacLauchlan will be the moderator for the forum. The panelists will offer their views on the current state of the Island environment, how things have changed in the eight years since the first forum, their analysis of the key factors that contribute to environmental issues on PEI, and their ideas about how to move toward a sustainable future. A question period will follow the presentations. Bardati has also emphasized the forum as an important part of students? course work in Environmental Studies, and encouraged their involvement in the discussion.?We look forward to an evening of informative presentations and lively exchange that will give us all a chance to reflect on how we can preserve and enhance the ecological well-being of the Island and of Islanders,? says Bardati. Admission to the forum is free, and everyone is welcome. For more information, please contact Darren Bardati at (902) 620-5066.

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Fri., November 21st, This Hour has 5 & 1/2 Minutes for November 18, 2008
This weeks episode is hot on the trail of the Liberals. Some of the stories Dave Carver?s romance with Minister Docherty Bruce Howatt PEI?s top poker ace Secret $200 million slush fund, PEI?s new Price is Right, It ain?t heavy: it?s a government cheque Have you seen it?
Tue., April 3rd, Telling them like it is
Archived video
Tue., April 3rd, NJN Network in On The Air!
NJN Network was formed in May of 2007 to assemble news vidcasts that were not published in the mainstream media. Our goal is to get the stories out that other sites don’t or won’t or can’t. Who cares why? This is pure social media and other than obscenity and other reasonable proprieties we will print the [...]
Mon., April 2nd, Piece of cake
Archived video He should have taken the cake.
Sat., March 31st, Anniverary of Million $ Cutback
Archived video. This was fun. Watch the next one which is our story.

PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: News and Views

Links:

Guardian Editorials - The Guardian, PEI's largest daily "Covers the Island Like the Dew". This is the feed for their editorials.
(Added: 28-Jan-2006 Hits: 226 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

I told you so long ago - More op-ed pieces by Henry Srebrnik of UPEI.
(Added: 25-Jul-2006 Hits: 174 Rating: 10.00 Votes: 6) Rate It

In Memory of Canada - Commentary on the social, domestic and external components of Canada, by UPEI History and Political Science student Dan Aiken. From the perspective of Prince Edward Island.
(Added: 8-Jul-2007 Hits: 76 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

IRAC - Current News - Latest news (gas prices, etc.) from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (no RSS).
(Added: 2-Sep-2005 Hits: 294 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Island NDP News - Latest news from the PEI New Democratic Party
(Added: 6-Apr-2007 Hits: 101 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Blogs - Various Blogs from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer
(Added: 18-May-2007 Hits: 74 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Columns - Columns from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer.
(Added: 3-Jun-2006 Hits: 168 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Headlines - Headlines from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer.
(Added: 3-Jun-2006 Hits: 154 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Kinny's Comments - The Odd Rant & Referral To Tory Blogs - Political commentary from the right by Paul MacPhail.
(Added: 24-Sep-2005 Hits: 249 Rating: 1.00 Votes: 1) Rate It

Liberal Millionaires Club - Immigrant money program: 12,000 unhappy Liberals 133,000 unhappy Islanders. Guardian readers say “one of the biggest frauds in PEI history”
(Added: 27-Sep-2008 Hits: 6 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

MLA Search Engine - A Search Engine For Members Of the Legislative Assembly
(Added: 20-Jun-2008 Hits: 10 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Nissology PEI - A blog about the academic field of Island Studies (Nissology) and global island issues in a PEI context.
(Added: 16-Feb-2008 Hits: 15 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Search, Recommend

Weather, Tides, Travel

PEI Gov't IslandCam

Blogstream of selected recently-updated blogs:

News

Photo of the day from Eastern Kings

PEIBlogs.com: the definitive Prince Edward Island blogroll since 2004.: News and Views

Links:

Guardian Editorials - The Guardian, PEI's largest daily "Covers the Island Like the Dew". This is the feed for their editorials. (Added: 28-Jan-2006 Hits: 226 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

I told you so long ago - More op-ed pieces by Henry Srebrnik of UPEI. (Added: 25-Jul-2006 Hits: 174 Rating: 10.00 Votes: 6) Rate It

In Memory of Canada - Commentary on the social, domestic and external components of Canada, by UPEI History and Political Science student Dan Aiken. From the perspective of Prince Edward Island. (Added: 8-Jul-2007 Hits: 76 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

IRAC - Current News - Latest news (gas prices, etc.) from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (no RSS). (Added: 2-Sep-2005 Hits: 294 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Island NDP News - Latest news from the PEI New Democratic Party (Added: 6-Apr-2007 Hits: 101 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Blogs - Various Blogs from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer (Added: 18-May-2007 Hits: 74 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Columns - Columns from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer. (Added: 3-Jun-2006 Hits: 168 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Headlines - Headlines from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer. (Added: 3-Jun-2006 Hits: 154 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Kinny's Comments - The Odd Rant & Referral To Tory Blogs - Political commentary from the right by Paul MacPhail. (Added: 24-Sep-2005 Hits: 249 Rating: 1.00 Votes: 1) Rate It

Liberal Millionaires Club - Immigrant money program: 12,000 unhappy Liberals 133,000 unhappy Islanders. Guardian readers say “one of the biggest frauds in PEI history” (Added: 27-Sep-2008 Hits: 6 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

MLA Search Engine - A Search Engine For Members Of the Legislative Assembly (Added: 20-Jun-2008 Hits: 10 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Nissology PEI - A blog about the academic field of Island Studies (Nissology) and global island issues in a PEI context. (Added: 16-Feb-2008 Hits: 15 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Search, Recommend

Weather, Tides, Travel

PEI Gov't IslandCam

Blogstream of selected recently-updated blogs:

News

Photo of the day from Eastern Kings

Guardian Editorials - The Guardian, PEI's largest daily "Covers the Island Like the Dew". This is the feed for their editorials.
(Added: 28-Jan-2006 Hits: 226 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

I told you so long ago - More op-ed pieces by Henry Srebrnik of UPEI.
(Added: 25-Jul-2006 Hits: 174 Rating: 10.00 Votes: 6) Rate It

In Memory of Canada - Commentary on the social, domestic and external components of Canada, by UPEI History and Political Science student Dan Aiken. From the perspective of Prince Edward Island.
(Added: 8-Jul-2007 Hits: 76 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

IRAC - Current News - Latest news (gas prices, etc.) from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (no RSS).
(Added: 2-Sep-2005 Hits: 294 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Island NDP News - Latest news from the PEI New Democratic Party
(Added: 6-Apr-2007 Hits: 101 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Blogs - Various Blogs from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer
(Added: 18-May-2007 Hits: 74 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Columns - Columns from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer.
(Added: 3-Jun-2006 Hits: 168 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Journal-Pioneer Headlines - Headlines from Summerside's Journal-Pioneer.
(Added: 3-Jun-2006 Hits: 154 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Kinny's Comments - The Odd Rant & Referral To Tory Blogs - Political commentary from the right by Paul MacPhail.
(Added: 24-Sep-2005 Hits: 249 Rating: 1.00 Votes: 1) Rate It

Liberal Millionaires Club - Immigrant money program: 12,000 unhappy Liberals 133,000 unhappy Islanders. Guardian readers say “one of the biggest frauds in PEI history”
(Added: 27-Sep-2008 Hits: 6 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

MLA Search Engine - A Search Engine For Members Of the Legislative Assembly
(Added: 20-Jun-2008 Hits: 10 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It

Nissology PEI - A blog about the academic field of Island Studies (Nissology) and global island issues in a PEI context.
(Added: 16-Feb-2008 Hits: 15 Rating: 0 Votes: 0) Rate It