h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That's something I seldom think about but well worth bringing to our attention, jwf - the fate of American and other western soldiers when the fun begins! Not going to be pretty... no, that sounds flippant, I don't mean to be at all...

Thanks, Peachy, that's the one (Netanyahu's nephew). Who'd have thought it of a member of *that* family, hey? Goes to show, people should be judged on what they do, not their name or nationality!
I'd just printed the story ? provided a link to, from zmag - excellent!
BTW - I sent the Observer story on, thanks for that too!

>> While it is true that many of these persons were undocumented residents did Canada behave well? <<

No of course we did not. But what choice do we have.

Firstly because American agents now stand looking over the shoulders of our 'incompetent, untrustworthy, bleeding heart immigration officers' and scowl knowingly whenever anyone does not have their papers in order.

Of course any true 'refugees', the ones running for their lives from ethnic cleansers and secret police forces, are travelling on forged and phony documents fi they have any documents at all! If they were using their own documents they wouldn't have gotten here! We know that, we used to let them in and give them refugee status until 'proven guilty'.

But ever Since Sept 11, 2001, we have been criticised and called 'lax' and even accused (quite publically and falsely on several occassions you may recall) of being-to-blame-for-it-all because we have a history of being soft, lenient, tolerant and understanding and let just any old shoes come and go as they please. Ours apparently is not the American way and we have been told to start acting more 'responsibly'.

And secondly... (I probably shouldn't be blowing this horn) do you remember those movies that present the moral dilema about not letting all the drowning people into the lifeboat because it will sink, resulting in no one being saved and everybody gets drowned?

Well before you say that's an unfair comparison or an exagerrated fear, let me point out that the latest (2001) Canadian census shows that fully 18%, that's almost 1 in 5 Canadians, was not born here.

That is to say, for every 4 native born Canadians we have accepted one immigrant or refugee. I doubt there is any another country in the world trying to absorb the 'huddled masses' at a four to one ratio.

Can you even begin to imagine what American's would do if they had to share their good life with one foreigner for every four 'real Americans'.

As of 2001:
Total population = 29,639,030
Canadian-born = 23,991,905
Foreign-born = 5,448,480
Immigrated before 1991 = 3,617,800
Immigrated between 1991 and 2001 = 1,830,680

You can see these figures at:
http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/Immigration/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&View=1&Table=1&StartRec=1&Sort=2&B1=Counts

peace
~jwf~

And, as we all know, anything that isnt the american way, isn't right...

I have not forgotten those guys at 'Gitmo'... I saw a story on CNN (?) that two of them have been *murdered* - no one's been charged, of course. Why did we not hear about *that* in the rest of the world? (Some NZers watch CNN or go to its site - mostly the business leaders, I gather).

Excellent summary, Afrabian! I like that Blair is starting to blench, and all good things to Clare Short! (I like your pun, Af)

When the war club stops hammering the war drum, when the detonations so heavy they don't need a place to stand to move mountains, are finally stifled, when the torn or shredded bodies are discarded on the smoldering heaps of garbage, when the silence would be deafening if we weren't all deaf already, America will be right by definition, but so what? How will it feel to be right after all the wrongs committed?

Hi Della Peachy here - forgot password therefore new persona !

I'm not a conspiracy theorist - not in the least - but I DO think that the GCHQ/NSA story is very important. It seems that Ari Scheisser was grilled on the bugging leak last week in the US; there was complete silence on the entire affair in the UK, save for The Observer, and maybe a small piece in The Times (?) - this is a small foretaste of what we can expect from the media once the War starts.

I've emailed BBC and Channel 4 several times to ask why there has been no coverage of the UN bugging story, but have got back diddly squat so far. What a surprise.

Here's another story which is causing the BBC to overheat:

http://www.counterpunch.org/james01292003.html

Mention Operation Ore and the two Labour MPs on any Beeb website, and your post is zapped within minutes.

Laters

Wait and see the blood pools in the gutters like dirty motor oil creeping both ways at once.

The gutters mind you, the great and true tangible symbols of civilization! Weren't both the Cretans and Romans known for their elegant plumbing?

That's all that will be left standing in the rubble. Modern Western Civilization in action.

Hello, Peachy - here's a thing, Keen is my real life surname! (Spelled Kean, but still)...
I'll have to check out that story tomorrow, as I'm at the library right now, where I can't follow links...
You're right, media can be shocking!

I heard Rumsfeld and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today in a press conference. When asked what would happen if Turkey didn't let American forces in, the Chairman responded that there would still be a "northern option". he said he couldn't get into what that would be, but there would still be a northern option. I said to myself, "what the hell does that mean? and why does that sound illegal?"


and

they've renamed french fries (freedom fries ?):
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/index.html


american weapon of mass destruction:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/11/sprj.irq.moab/index.html

and Guantanamo Bay isn't U. S. territory, so the U. S. can do what it wants there:

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/11/guantanamo030311

The days just keep getting nicer.

oh, I almost forgot. Stealth fighters deployed to South Korea:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/03/11/nkorea.stealth/index.html

oh absolutely ~jwf~

...we must not forget to remember the Titanic!!

and, yes if it isn't that, it's the big bad Americans who twist our arms and gost let's not forget we are holier than those big nasty brutes there!

For shame, ~jwf~, I did not expect such a weasel argument from you.

remember the Titanic, into the sea with the rest, why the very idea, ugh!!

indeed anhaga that is exactly why Guantanamo Bay was the chosen incarceration site and why the tortourous term 'enemy combatant' and why 'military tribunals' were all set in motion. CBC is not the only site with these stories though it is good of you to expose all this. more and more I get the feeling that we are singing away to the choir or to the agents who observe such discourse and not to the mass of people who need to learn what is behind all the machinations of their governments. so yes, the days just get nicer and nicer!!

"No lawyers, no contact with the outside world, no rights, the land of the free, the home of the constitutional guarantee."

On CNN, they mentioned that Ashcroft or somebody said this recent ruling about Jose Padilla (aka The Dirty Bomber) being able to consult with an attorney could make it more difficult to get information from him. That means the torture won't be as effective if he gets the notion that he still has rights.

Darn laws just block us from getting the job done!

I realize CBC isn't the only site with these stories; I spend a lot of time cross-checking with CNN to see what story is getting out to the world at large. When I find them on CNN, I post those ones. CBC is just where I normally get my ordinary everyday news.
I agree that it seems like we've all heard it already, but it's good to have reassurance that we are not alone.

CNN is making me crazy. Today, before the military set off the MOAB, Wolfe Blitzer rambled about how it stands for this, but could mean this, and then shocked me by saying "check out the old testament, it's right there in Isiah." I thought I heard wrong until my boss turned to me and said, "you're the religion expert... who's Moab?" I replied that it was a great place to mountain bike in Utah. Apparently, we can make anything having to do with Iraq, however tenuously, biblical.

Blair does seem to be back-pedalling a bit, though. He seemed rather, well, hunted, on TV this a.m. Does that perhaps have something to do with the lack of applause for him the other night? He was rather ripped into!

>> For shame, ~jwf~, I did not expect such a weasel argument from you. <<

And I did not expect to be called a weasel for trying to engage folks in a reasonable discussion of a classic ethics problem. The argument (and my analogy) is as old as Noah and the Ark! The planet itself is becoming a lifeboat and soon we will have to decide who gets in and who drowns.

For several minutes I wrestled with your specific reference to the Titanic, reading and re-reading my post to see how THAT had come into it. Then it finally hit me of course, my lifeboat analogy! Which I thought was particularly poignant in our world of diminishing resources and exploding populations.

But hey, Titanic Schmitanic! It is, as you have pointed out, also a tired old cinematic cliche, a device used by Hollywood to exploit and develop selfish hedonistic attitudes in the American public. Sorry you got the wrong end of my schtick, you rat.


~jwf~

If CNN is making you crazy, check out this link, because maybe, like Huey, you're not hearing the same news as a lot of people. Make sure you're on the March 11 strip. They're all good I think, but the pertinent one is for today, March 11.

http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/

Yeah, Kyaa, you wouldn't want to be 3rd Class or Steerage right? Nothing but the Promenade for you, eh?

God couldn't sink this President!!!