Is CBC a nest of left-wing vipers?

[Update2: Oct 2 - CBC said it will meeting a reporter - Isabelle Guilbeault, who reports on arts for the morning radio show in Quebec City - for recorded a 30-second filmed spot for a campaign called "Unite our voices" to protest Conservative cuts in culture subsidies and prevent the party's re-election.]

I am beginning to think that anyone who works for the Federal Government should be dis-enfranchised (not permitted to vote in Federal elections) due to the the conflict of interest they find themselves. Honest! Liberals and NDP mostly all work for the Government. If they really has to earn an honest day's wage they couldn't cut it.

[Update1: Sept 30 - CBC accepts the blog has generated substantial criticism and has "pulled the piece". Head of News - John Cruickshank states the problem lies not with the piece but editorial control and lack of diversity in viewpoint. ]

This blog by CBC Journalist Heather MALLICK raised a stink at the National Post. Johnathon KAY also logged in on basically the same topic. When she was at the Globe & Mail I rarely gave Ms. MALLICK much attention.



I do think that such unadulterated smears demean any news organization that allows them, but that is for the to CBC to decide. Sometimes news organizations hear from their readers via letter campaigns, from subjects in defamation and libel lawsuits, customers "voting with their feet" and even shareholders.

However the CBC is a different news organization than Canwest Global, the CTV/Globe & Mail or Torstar in as much as it is taxpayer funded. So I think the point made is "should our tax dollars be used against us?".

The breadth and power of the state to abuse should not be overlooked, under-estimated or unappreciated. I merely point to the antic's of the many HRC's across the country - which have allowed an instrument of the state to trammel unhindered over many innocent lives with little or no recourse to stop any abuse of individuals rights. We can see the same circumstances in Education, Law Courts and Healthcare - where rights of the majority have been subjugated to attack by various vocal minorities.

• In B.C., "Gay lifestyle" is being "promoted" in grade school under the domain of HRC-threatened "sexual equality". 1

• In Ontario, pediatric forensic pathologist Dr. Charles SMITH has been the subject of an inquiry for convictions from misleading evidence he presented during 1991-2001 acknowledging his disorganization, arrogance and the dogmatic manner in which he often presented evidence as an expert witness resulted in a "wrongful conviction factory". 2

• Incorrect testing by a lab at a Newfoundland Healthcare Region for 6 years led to 386 cancer patients receiving an improper diagnosis of their cancer illness. Clearly, bureaucratic procedures and attitudes protected the bureaucrats and inhibited discovery of errors that led to many untimely deaths. (It is very difficult to conclusively untangle exactly how many premature deaths occured from mis-diagnosis - or how much it may have directly reduced their lifespan and ending quality of life - versus what may have happened if the cancers were properly treated.) 3, 4

These are examples of government departments using rules and regulation created by other government departments to abuse it's own citizen's. Intervention in any of these situations is a Kafkaesque experience and practically impossible to effect except through a Supreme Court challenge. Personal accountability is removed from bureaucrats as they are merely following "the law". If they zealously "over-interpret the law" it is not possible for mere individual citizens to easily correct them until they have destroyed a vast number of people with their injustice. Such is the power of the state.

How are these issue relevant to the CBC? Many will defend the CBC as a top tier news organization, and I would not disagree. I depend on it mightily and I can usually count on them getting the facts right and eventually they get the context or interpretation right as well. Still others - supporters from left and right - will defend the CBC as being representative of many left and right-wing viewpoints. That would at least be fair. Sort of like the deary "free time political broadcasts" that used to clutter the airwaves just before the signed-off for the night. The full spectrum of political viewpoints should be represented at the CBC because it is a state run organization. Canada should not emulate Russia 's media control.

Unfortunately I believe the ranks of the CBC are filled with nothing BUT left-wing and liberal supporters - much like many other federal government departments. If they could be trusted to bring even-handed and balanced viewpoints to the table they would not be accused of political bias, but they don't and they haven't. There is no pressure to advocate for right-wing, conservative viewpoints at the CBC, just the need to sing along with their comrade brothers and sisters. They are subject to group-think of the worst kind. This is because they are - like the examples above - organized as instruments of the state and lack the controls that govern private behaviour and organizations.

Therefore, surgery is required at the CBC.

reference - http://www.heathermallick.ca/home/

Footnotes:
1) National Post Sept 2, 2008 "When Jill wants to be a Jack". According to Statscan "Gay Pride: by the numbers" 1.5% of the adult population +18 self identify as Homosexual (Gay or Lesbian). How is it that 98.5% of the population must bow to the apparent wishes of 1.5%?

2) National Post Oct 1, 2008 "Charles Smith Inquiry" 20 of 45 criminally suspicious deaths he investigated between 1991 and 2001 were found to be in error in reviews by other pathologists. Among these cases lie the wreckage of families destroyed by convictions of "shaken baby syndrome" where parents were sent to jail.

3) It is unknowable how many succumbed to the cancer due to improper treatment at an early stage, but one can assume it was - eventually - all of them (or whatever the incidence of untreated cancer is). Nurse tells Inquiry of painful calls to widowers - CBC News Sept 23, 2008

4) There must be some kind of "secret bee dance" among bureaucratic organizations that drives them to "play nice" with each other and adopt common legal barriers amongst themselves. To wit how the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons were on the brink of changing their Standards of Practice to prohibit Doctors from exercising their right of personal conscience in advising treatment for client's to avoid potential HRC prosecutions this summer. Opposition from members and the national organization led to the amendment being withdrawn.

Canadiana "odd but true"

Canada's foundation - permafrost - may be more solid than previously thought, scientists say.

University of Alberta geologist Duane Froese, lead author of a report today in the journal Science describing the ancient permafrost found just south of Dawson City. Scientists speculate that their results may cast doubt on a number of assumptions about past temperature measurement that predict immediate catastrophic Climate Change.

A swath of frozen mud and ice, inadvertently exposed by miners in the Central Yukon, is proving to be scientific gold. The permafrost turns out to be about 740,000 years old and contains the oldest ice yet uncovered in North America, researchers say. It predates the arrival of long-extinct creatures such as the woolly mammoth, and has weathered some remarkable swings in the climate, including two notable warm spells 120,000 and 400,000 years ago when temperatures were higher than they are today.

The discovery suggests permafrost more than a few metres below the surface, and the huge store of carbon it contains, may be more stable than previously thought.

Ocean's 11 hits Orillia

This article was too good! One wonders how long after the movie came out that someone twigged to the problem. The National Post has done a good job on covering this story. It seems to simple to take the Casino's on from this story.

Russia market meltdown due to... KGB?

Diane Francis notes that the shutdown of the Russian Stock market has more to do with the Vlad (the impaler) PUTIN's nostalgia for the "good ole days" - than Lehman Bros & Wamu's financial meltdowns.

This flags the result of a "financial market referendum" on the Georgian Invasion - among other things. Military support provided to Hugo CHAVEZ in Venezuela. Declaration of aggressive boundary disputes in the Arctic - which will challenge Canadian Sovereignty. Continued agitation in Ukraine Parliament which just disolved and distribution of Russian "passports" to large native russians in Sebastopol - the Black Sea port city and home to Russian Fleet. Russia similarly distributed passports in South Ossetia in order to provide it with a justification for the invasion in August.

Francis also writes "Moscow actually thinks it's a super power, but economically size-wise it's about as important as Alberta, or Norway. It's a tiny economy with an attitude and lots of oil and nobody will help the Ruskies."

That is only partially true. At the time the wall fell in 1991 Russian oil production was struggling at 5-6 mb/d. It is now (2008) at 13.5 mb/d and domestic demand is at most 4.5 mb/d. That leaves excess supply of almost 9 mb/d or 3-4 times Alberta (3.5 mb/d) or Norway(2.5 mb/d). That said, it would not generate enough cash to run a Superpower of the size Putin clearly intends to resemble.

A primer by Justin Trudeau!

Is Justin taking a page from Obama's playbook? (or should that be bookplay?) One can just tell that he is a "chip off the old block". This group has a Quebecois comedy site (roughly translated "curb your dog").

Is Sarah Palin a Feminist?

Sarah Palin is Annie Oakley.

Camille Paglia - my long-time favourite feminist - correctly chastises Democrats for attempting to maliciously destroy their opponents like Palin. If democrats cease to stand for independent thought and speech, Paglia contends they will have committed political suicide.

What brought me to her was this discussion about Paglia's support for Plain's Pro-Life opinions under title "the uneasy conscience of feminism". Finally I believe I see the way clear on this debate.

Another thing I like about her is that she is practically Canadian - a "hockey mom" - how much more Canadian can you get! While Governor of Alaska she has been a proponent of getting a natural gas pipeline deal completed with TransCanada Pipelines - to the horror of the incumbents Exxon and Conoco who won/run the Valdez oil pipeline. This will a huge bonus for Alberta and makes alot of sense since it can hook up with the existing gas pipeline network.

Another thing is that Teck's Red Dog large lead-zinc mine (supplier of 5% of World Zinc concentrate) on the Bearing Straits, near Nome AK has been a model of "how to negotiate native land claim settlements". I recall learning all about them back in 1990 when I toured the state visiting mining operations in Nome, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Wrangell.

New element discovered

With the initiation of the new Large Hadron Collider (LHC) yesterday in Switzerland, a new element has been discovered:

Governmentium (Gv).

Governmentium has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of two to six years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

Experiments have taken place using the latest in Confusion Reactor technology.  When Governmentium is catalysed with money, it becomes Administratium (Ad.), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

[Much thanks to Dr. Donald Simanek for his assistance on atomic structure of these elements.]

Stephane DION: Hypocrite One

Lorne Gunter in this piece nicely dices Dion's hypocritical stance on The Green Shift, noting that his aircraft is the "dirtiest" of all the parties election air-transport. He paints a valid parallel to the revelation that Al GORE's home in Atlanta used 20 times the electricity of an average U.S household!

Gunter further "pulls back the curtain" on the hypocrisy of many in the Green movement with the disclosure that during last years Suzuki Foundation cross country campaign, they didn't want to risk the cost of invalidating their vehicles warranty by burning "bio-diesel".

Gunter was also on the money with this article - Dion Ex Machina - the day before.

[Sept 20 - Stephen TAYLOR logs in with this question about CarbonZero new sticker on Hypocrite One. ]

World War II - VJ day

In reading about the end of WWII, I was intrigued about the race to Berlin by the Russian Red Army leading upto "Victory in Europe" Day (VE Day was May 9, 1945). I wondered why the Allies had faced greater challenges in terms of terrain and perhaps resistance. I am not sure if this really even relevant, but I will investigate further in another post.

I was , however, drawn to review developments in the Pacific Theatre that led to VJ Day on Aug 15, 1945 - some 4 months later. After the Japanese rejected terms of surrender proposed at the Potsdam Conference on Jul 26, 1945, President Truman was faced with the worst outcome as described by his military intelligence - that the Japanese would defend every inch of their homeland according to what Emperor Hirohito called the "One Hundred Million" honour. This meant a "kamikaze defense" to be mounted by all citizens to repel invaders known as Operation Ketsu-Go.

General McArthur expected his men to face fierce resistance and be virtually guaranteed hand-to-hand combat until he reached Toyko. The combined invasion force required for the U.S plan (Operation Downfall 1) was 766,700. From May until late July 1945, intelligence estimates of Japanese troop strength rose steadily from 500,000 to 750,000 (8 battle divisions to 10) reinforcing concern about the outcome of invasion. In addition the Emperor and Japanese High Command were strongly influenced by the fateful experience of the 1905 Russian-Japanese War in which a last decisive battle set the stage for a more generous peace settlement.

General McArthur anticipated casualties (killed, missing and wounded) in the final invasion forces to mirror those of the hard-won, sea-land battle for Iwo Jima and Okinakwa (U.S casualties of 20,000 and 46,700 versus Japanese 25,000 and 119,000 - a ratio of U.S/Japanese of 1:1 and 1:2). Losses were placed around 200,000 - 250,000 (50,000+ dead and 150,000+ wounded) - and deemed unacceptable to the American public. These considerations played heavily in the decision to drop the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on Aug 6, and then Nagasaki on Aug 10.

Final Terms of Surrender were made on Aug 14, 1945.

Footnote:

1) Operation Downfall consisted of two plans - Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet - expected to begin in October 1945.

Map of 1) Completed Allied Operations in the Pacific Theatre - Jul 1945

2) Japanese Troops Dispositions + Plan for Operation Downfall

Liberal Campaign Theme?

Pink Shift, Green Panther or Hidden Tiger, Crouching Dragon?

I hear that the teleprompter helped M. Dion in the delivery of his Campaign Kickoff speech.

He must have been getting English lessons.