LETTERS | 4

UPFRONT

Muppets and Middle East Peace | by Naomi Wolf 5Water, water, everywhere. . . | by Kevin P. Miller 6Cancer Research and the Terry Fox Run | by Michael Brine 7Monsanto Roundup Linked to Birth Defects in New Study | by Aaron Turpen 4BPA Found on Cash Register and ATM Receipts | by M.Thornley 8Deflate this | by Garth Turner 8

COVERMiss Landmine 9

THE WORLDTime Magazine: Prospect Of Civil War In US “Doesn’t Seem That Far Fetched” | by Paul Joseph Watson 11Model describes Web page popularity | by Lisa Zyga 12Why Permaculture Design? | by Michelle Avis 13Argentina's Roundup Human Tragedy | by Claire Robinson 19

NATIONAL

Ineffective Flu Shots | by Sherri Tenpenny 15An Open Rant to Stephen “I make the rules” Harper | by Dee Nicholson 17

LOCAL

Grandview Park: Fights at the Monkey Bars | by Garth Mullins 18Incentive and Motivation | by Matthew C. Berkowitz 21

HEALTH

Pharmacies vs. Health Food Stores | by Mike Adams 22

SCIENCE

The Amazing Light Bulb | by Mike Adams 23

NEWS BLITZ | World Headlines Of The Month 24

HISTORYVancouver in the 1870s | by Bruce Macdonald 27

EVENTS | 29

NOVEMBER 2010 WWW.THEAGORANATIONAL.CA

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YOUR PAPER

Hello Agorians, I found your newspa-per a strange and fascinatingchange to my Skytrain ride today. Iam Scientologist so I've experiencedenough misunderstanding, appre-hension and intolerance to last me alifetime. We all need to just lookbehind the curtain or the mask andconclude for ourselves what is truth'.There are many things in this worldthat are not as they are made toseem. I toast your courage to get outthere, draw people to examine alter-nate truths and let them think forthemselves. Best of luck to you inthis endeavour. I will support youradvertisers wherever possible.

Peter B

THE REAL THREAT

The real threat isn't big business andtrade agreements, the real threat isthe impeding destructive power ofnon-profits/societies which are notpowered by greed but rather bypower of those that control them. Thelegal process is flawed and will con-tinue to be flawed because thesesocieties are under the radar. Therehas to be a movement to make themtransparent and accountable withchecks and balances. Presently thereare 26,000 non-profits in BC whichare run like personal serfdoms.

You speak of Co-op radioand the management being turfed bythe members. Forget it. Let a mem-ber try to get a copy of the member-ship list and I assure you he will betold that he can't get it which isagainst the the legislation and whatcan you do to get it. Everyone sholdhave access to membership lists sothat a members view can be com-municated to all members.

I doubt that if you ask coopradio to give you the names of thedirectors and management and theircontact addresses you won't getthem either. Nor the name of all thefunders. How can you change a cor-rupt non-profit unless you haveaccess to all this information.CoRadio will keep it so tight that you

won't even know when the next AGMwill happen.

If you are serious Agora hasto take over Co-op radio. You willneed this media in addition to yourprint. The first thing you do is for youto become a member of Co-op radioand demand what legally you areentitled to and write about it not onlyto educate yourself but also to edu-cate all your readers as to the defi-ciencies of the Society Act.

There is talk of a new Actwhich will sanction that societiesonly have one director and oenmember. These societies are 26,000strong in BC alone and they are inline to take over all social servicefunctions. It is scary.

Societies should be viewedas an education level for citizens; astep before running for political office.Not a disappointing experience forthose that care when they soon real-ize what a joke being a director is.

I will help you as much as Ican. I have been a director of threesocieties and all of them were unde-mocratic and mean and I hear overand over from other past directorsthat they never want to be part of anygoverning body ever again. So theregoes are democracy. If the goodpeople do not get involved only thesociopaths are left.

Look at the Vancouver FoodBank. They have a list of directorswho are only names names that mightnot even exist and they have no mem-bers which you would think the mem-bers are those that use the food bank.

In addition to the global thinglook at the local thing. You can't justgo after big business or big govern-ment you have to look at how theylearned to be corrupt and it is due toparticipation in societies.

Audrey L

UN CONTROL

I feel compelled to communicatewith you after reading A QUESTIONOF SOVEREIGNTY by Kevin Millerwhich describes what's happening inCanada. Don't feel left out folksexactly the same is, or, has hap-

pened here in Australia! Our Nationonce very strong and basically selfsufficient with a very strong econo-my.Now we have reached the stagewhere our country is nothing morethan a Shuddering Debt Ridden Hulka mere shadow of its former self.Thanks to a procession of FederalGovernments over past decadeswho have lied,deceived and connedthe Australian people into believingthe great "Globalisation" was just amatter of opening our country up to"Free Trade" nothing could be furtherfrom the truth.

With the signing of the LimaAgreement in 1972 which was theAgenda for our country to be dis-mantled,deregulated, rationalised,restructured, taken over, sold off,destroyed by red tape to a pointwhere today the Australian peopleown very little.

All our major Business organ-isations, Financial industry, PrimaryIndustries, Secondary Industries, lostto takeovers by multinationalCorporations. Our Manufacturingindustries moved to third world Asia,the working class taxed to the eye-balls carrying the load.

Or Federal Governmentshave been complicit in destroying ourNation running on a "Hidden Agenda"lying to the people destroying ourcountry as we knew it with the signingof a multitude of UN MultilateralTreaties and Agreements e.g. Treatyof Biological Diversity 1993,Millennium Declaration 2000, whichresulted in our Government surren-dering our Nations Sovereignty.Agenda 21 = Control of Human con-sumption, control of all types of devel-opment such as, oceans, agriculture,water, Public Utilities!!

Convention on the Eliminationof all forms of Discrimination againstWomen 1983! Hidden in this Agreementwas the UN requirement that the Civilianpopulation be disarmed Nationally!Disarmament of the Australian peopleoccurred after the Port Arthur Massacreseveral years later???

Our Governments havehanded over Governance of the peo-ple to the UN, all done "on the quiet"The Media is complicit as well!!!!

Now the latest UN Shock Horror dia-tribe surfaced this month and IQuote "Globalists representing 60nations will meet at the UN this com-ing week in New York, September2010 to push a tax on world financialtransactions “Spearheaded byEuropean Union countries, the so-called “innovative financing” propos-al envisages a tax of 0.005 percent(five cents per $1,000), whichexperts estimate could producemore than $30 billion a year world-wide for priority causes,” reportsCNS News,The call for a globaltransaction tax arrives in the after-math of a leaked UN blueprint whichoutlined how elitists plan to re-brandglobal warming in an effort to dis-mantle the middle class by institutinga “global redistribution of wealth” viacarbon taxes". Unquote!

We are being progressive-ly herded into a New World Ordercum One World Government whilebeing deceived by our ownGovernments and Politicians whoare pilloried by the Media as beinggreat Leaders? Statesmen? Whenthe have been deceiving the peo-ple for decades being nothingmore than absolute Traitors to theNation. Regards, one of manyDisillusioned Australians

Ray Cullen

WHY IS COLONEL RUSSELLWILLIAMS IN JAIL?

I’m a bit confused why serial killerColonel Russell Williams is in jail, con-sidering the established Canadiancustom of allowing torturers and mur-derers to avoid prosecution simply byissuing an “apology” and a bit ofmoney to their victims.

Our government andchurches got away with that quiterecently, and they caused the deathof a lot more people than did ColonelRuss in their “Indian residentialschools”. But of course, their victimswere not white women.

Oh, Canada.

Kevin A

LETTERS| To the Editor

The Agora | 4

without requiring the recipients to make friend-ly gestures to Israel?

Many civil-society elements in theMuslim world have turned their backs on possiblepartnerships with Israeli counterparts. OneEgyptian actor was boycotted at home for mere-ly appearing in Cannes with an Israeli actress.But I am certain that the more intently outsidersinvest in Palestinian civil society on its ownterms, the less exasperated the Palestinian intel-ligentsia – and the Muslim world – will becomewith the often-coerced terms of Palestine's cre-ativity. A vibrant Palestinian civil society couldbecome more flexible and open toward possiblepartnerships – including more natural, holistic

Israeli-Palestinian joint ventures – thus benefitingthe region as a whole.

The Muppets have taught generationsof kids worldwide how to count to ten and sharecookies. In the 1970’s in the United States, theytaught us about an interracial couple onSesame Street. In South Africa, the creatorsasked for – and got – a puppet that was an HIV-positive child, since acceptance of such kidswas a lesson that local educators told the NewYork team they needed to teach.

In the Sesame Street of Palestine andIsrael, the failure of the joint venture was really asuccess: the Muppets and their creators have givenus another valuable lesson, this time in how – andhow not – to help others.

Naomi Wolf is a political activist and social criticwhose most recent book is Give Me Liberty: A

Handbook for American Revolutionaries.

The Muppet empire is now worldwide. Thosewho grew up with the children’s educational TVshow Sesame Street know that it gives five-year-olds easy-to-take lessons in literacy, numeracy,and social skills. But Sesame Street has a loftieragenda, finding partners in the developing world –including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Pakistan– to bring the fuzzy little creatures, with their mes-sage of peace and tolerance, to local audiences.

A new documentary, “When MuppetsDream of Peace,” tracks the harrowing joint pro-duction of Sesame Street in Israel and Palestine,with a Jordanian production team brought in tohelp facilitate. This program, like so many educa-tional or cultural Israeli-Palestinian partnerships,began in starry-eyed idealism. But, based on thefilm – and on a recent panel discussion with thefilmmakers and a Muppets spokesman in NewYork City – it was undermined by a common flawin such partnerships.

The original plan – like with so many ofthese programs – was based on a notion of pari-ty: Israeli and Palestinian production teamswould work together. But the Palestinian partnersvetoed that idea – “We aren’t there yet,” theyexplained. Could they have a stand-alonePalestinian Sesame Street? No funding for that,came the reply.

The Palestinian team finally agreed toparallel productions with a major “culturalexchange” element – rather than creating seg-ments together, they would produce a series withPalestinian Muppets and adults that also incor-porated cartoons and mini-documentaries pro-duced by the Israelis and Jordanians. The othertwo teams would do likewise. Some unifyingcharacters – such as an Arab- Israeli girl whoexplains each “side” to the other – would createa measure of continuity.

The New York-based management want-ed the Palestinians and Israelis to portray eachother in a humanizing way. Again, thePalestinians resisted. Rather than focus on cre-ating scenarios that showed Israelis – evenIsraeli kids – in a positive light, they wanted tofocus on showing Palestinian culture in a positivelight, portraying Palestinian youths as role mod-els, and providing images to kids that offeredalternatives to violence.

But then reality intervened again. A sui-cide bomber attacked in Israel, and, in retaliation,the Israel Defense Forces took over Ramallah,where the tiny Palestinian Sesame Street studiowas located. Day after day, the talentedPalestinian team of animators, puppeteers,designers, cameramen, and producers could notget to work – even as the Israeli team was churn-ing out their own material in a brightly lit, well-fund-ed studio in Tel Aviv.

Then the IDF occupied the TV stationitself and destroyed it, along with the team’s com-puters and cameras. The documentary’s footageof shot-out computer screens and piles ofsmashed printers and cameras – under graffitireading “Palestine Never” – makes one despair.

Meanwhile, New York was growing impa-tient, letting the Palestinian team know that theirsegments were late – and, under what was

essentially a military occupation, the Palestiniansbegan to rethink whether this was the right kindof project to which to devote their energies. TheNew York producer overseeing the project, a sin-gle mother, was reluctant initially to visitRamallah – so the Palestinian team’s inability toproduce their segments on time was, like somany aspects of the Palestinian experience, hid-den behind a barrier of fear, not fully witnessed,and thus not fully comprehended.

The co-production has ended. But thereis a Palestinian Sesame Street and an IsraeliSesame Street, and there are positive Arab-Israeli characters in the Israeli version. And thecreators of these programs, together with the

filmmakers behind “When Muppets Dream ofPeace,” offer important lessons for all of us.

One quote from a Palestinian TV produc-tion team member stayed with me: “This is a shot-gun wedding,” he explained when he was advo-cating for a Palestine-only Sesame Street. “Andwe want a divorce.”

The Palestinian team is utterly indistin-guishable, superficially, from their European orIsraeli counterparts: they are hip, young, talented,sophisticated, and more than anything they wantto work to create a positive environment for theirkids – or at least a psychological respite from thereality of occupation, violence, and war.

But how often does the outside world –even the best-intentioned donors and programcreators – reach out to Palestinian civil societyon its own terms, without insisting on that “shot-gun wedding?” How often are resources invest-ed in Palestinian films, books, newspapers,high schools, dance troupes, teachers, etc.

Muppets and Middle East Peace| by Naomi Wolf

upfront

The Muppets and their creators have given us another

valuable lesson, this time in how – and how not – to help

others.

Can furry puppets in Day-Glo colors provide the lessons we need tocalm the fires of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

The Agora | 5

Water, water, everywhere. . .| by Kevin P. Miller

IT'S ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS LINES EVERWRITTEN, but when Samuel Taylor Coleridge pub-lished 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' he could nothave envisioned the nightmarish truth to the words"water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink."

When I was filming my documentaryGENERATION RX, I met a British psychiatrist andwe talked about the revelation that Prozac hadbeen discovered in the River Thames . . .hadentered the water supply and was literally beingconsumed by millions of Brits.

"Are people in London really THATdepressed?" I asked him, somewhat sheepishly.

"No, no. . .no," was his response whilechortling.

As it turns out, however, our conversationwas no laughing matter.

Over the past few years, events haveproven that the concern over drugs in public riversand streams are not limited to the UK. In America,the Associated Press (AP) uncovered that “at least

271 millions of pounds” of unused pharmaceuti-cals are being released by the drug companies inour public waterways annually. Millions more areflushed down the toilet and down the drain,according to environmental watchdogs, includingthe painkillers ibuprofen and naproxen as well asgemifibrozil, a cholesterol-lowering medication,and further research has shown that drugs con-taining hormones such as estrogen are causingchanges and deformities in fish and other aquaticcreatures..and endangering human health.

Make no mistake: we are also the victimsof industry, hospitals and nursing homes which arepumping powerful contaminants and intoxicantslike lithium into the world's drinking water every sin-gle day, which is being mixed in a cesspool ofantibiotics, nitroglycerin (a heart drug that is alsoused in explosives), and dozens of different activepharmaceutical ingredients used for treatment ofhypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments,depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments.

It's not only bad news for the fish, but fortens of millions of us.

If one refuses to take this threat seriously,they need only look to India, where a growingenvironmental and public health disaster is loom-ing. When researchers analyzed vials of treatedwastewater from a plant where about 90 Indiandrug factories dump their residues, they werestunned to discover that a powerful antibiotic,ciprofloxacin, was "being spewed into one stream

each day." Enough antibiotics were being releaseddaily "to treat every person in a city of 90,000."

And it’s not just ciprofloxacin. The water— supposedly cleaned by a wastewater filtrationplant — was "a floating soup of 21 different activepharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics fortreatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronicliver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers andother ailments," according to the AP.

Researchers in India said, "It is the high-est levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in theenvironment," but then again, this level of testinghas yet to arrive in North America, where the APhas confirmed that this nightmare is coming to anocean, stream, lake, or landfill near you.

"One thing is clear,” the AP reportwarned, “the massive amount of pharmaceuti-cals being flushed by the health servicesindustry is aggravating an emerging problem:the commonplace presence of. . .pharmaceuti-cals in the nation's drinking water supplies,

affecting at least 46 million Americans."The AP series follows one by the New

York Times last Spring, the BBC last year, the UK'sGuardian newspaper and probably countless oth-ers. Millions of tons of narcotics, antipsychotics,antidepressants, stimulant drugs and more arebeing ingested by children, the elderly, and well,ALL of us who do not use some kind of sophisti-cated water purification system.

Now, that the AP has confirmed thatcodeine, lithium (used in bipolar drugs), bloodthinners, chemotherapy agents like fluorouracil,epilepsy drugs and sedatives are being releasedinto the environment by the ton, North Americaand the rest of the world had better take notice —and take action to protect themselves. Anyonewho does not have access to a powerful water fil-tration system is playing Russian roulette everytime they drink water from the tap.

Indeed, the situation gets darker and farmore dangerous every single day. As tons of drugstaint the world's water supply, this issue onlyunderscores the horrors we must confront aspetrochemical and other multinationals vie forwater privatization — and more power over ourhealth — and our lives.

Kevin P. Miller is an award-winning writer/director.This article was submitted as part of BLOG

ACTION DAY 2010

Make no mistake: we are also the victims of industry, hospitals and

nursing homes which are pumping powerful contaminants and intoxicants

like lithium into the world's drinking water every single day,

The Agora | 6

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HOT LINKS

A

I find it very frustrating and sadwhen I see the efforts of well meaningpeople trying to support this effort.Why? Because all efforts are centredon curing cancer rather than focusingon the CAUSE of cancer! Find theCAUSE and you'll find the CURE!

If we don't focus on what causes adisease it will just keep coming!The causes of this disease for meare fairly basic but no one wantsto hear it, it seems. We are soconditioned to not question evenwhen it doesn't make common

sense. For what it is worth here ismy insight on some on some ofthe causes of cancer along withsome of the factors for our overallill health here in North Americaand very likely also in our broth-er/sister countries as in Australiaand New Zealand. You decide foryourself. I'm not an 'authority' -just an observer but it makescommon sense to me.

1 - DIET - A - Far too much meat -especially to-days meat from cattlewho are raised in buildings andnever see daylight, and extensivelydrugged to keep them 'healthy'. Youthen absorb this into your systemwhen you eat it. North Americans

consume the most meat in the world,and we have the most cancer per-vading our populations.

DIET - B - Eat Organic. These foodscarry the necessary nutrition to feedyour cells. Basically, cancer is theresult of cells dying. Think about it. Ifyour cells don't get the nutritionneeded to maintain a healthy bodyand a strong immune system thestage is being set for disaster. Mostfoods eaten to-day by the popula-tions at large are not organic.

2 - Vaccination. Yes I know - a verycontroversial statement! As I havesaid many times I almost died twiceand got very sick on a third occasionbecause of vaccination. What - tellme- is the sense of injecting a poisoninto your system to prevent you fromgetting the disease?! A healthyimmune system in a healthy body isall you need. Works for me and I am75. I can counter every argument putforward by doctors who push vacci-nation. None so deaf as those whodon't want to hear! The only benefi-ciaries are the drug companies.

3 - Attitude. Having a healthy attitudeto life affects your overall heath overtime. Don't think negatively - develop

a sense of humour. Laughing is agreat medicine - and infectious!

4 - Smoking - Need I say more!

5 - Spend time outdoors in the natu-ral world. No need to overly exercise- just enjoy the silence - and NO -Take those bloody things off yourears! I said SILINCE!

6 Water. I never drink tap waterbecause of the chlorine. I go tocreeks for mine. Natural water hasthe nutrition needed by your cells.

Chlorine kills it. If you have a healthyimmune system no worries. Oldergenerations never had chlorine intheir water. Think about it. Here inYukon we are especially blessedwith clean natural creeks. It's workedfor me for 40 years!

Finally, consider Indigenous peo-ples around the world who havenot been corrupted by Western lifestyles and who live close to thenatural world using herbs and dietfor cures when a malady hitsthem. We could learn much fromthem if we weren't so arrogant!Our biggest curse is just that - wethink we are so advanced and yetwe have betrayed our common

sense for big Pharma who knowsbest and who profits best, andwho 'owns' our Western medicalfraternity - sadly, at our expense,and ultimately theirs.

Most of this I have written onbefore in my past articles but it bearsrepeating and I do so with no apolo-gies! To me it is basic commonsense. So, consider these commonsense causes I've listed above andask yourself do they make sense? Ifthey do for you, then act on them,and live and have a long healthy life- with laughter! Be young at heart -

"And a little child shall lead them".So, go and play!

PS - The Cancer Society has beenasking for contributions for manyyears but no one has seen any realvisible results on a cure. Where doesthe money go? It ultimately ends upin the hands of the Rockefeller fami-ly in New York City - One of thewealthiest families in the world - taxfree of course! One assumes it isused for the donator's intended pur-pose. Where is the accountability?

Other articles by this writer can beaccessed at:www.missionignition.net/btb

"In a time of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

George Orwell.

Cancer Research and the Terry Fox Run | by Michael Brine

Everybody's favorite geneticallymodified seed and biotech company,Monsanto, has yet again proven theirlovability. The world's poster child for cor-porate manipulation and deceit 1 was thefocus of a new study looking at their top-selling product, Roundup herbicides.

The study was conducted byProfessor Andres Carrasco and an

international team of scientists andresearchers at the Laboratorio deEmbriolagia Molecular at theUniversity of Buenos Aires and waspublished by the American ChemicalSociety in August. 2 It focused onglyphosate, the prime ingredient ofRoundup and the most widely-usedbroad spectrum herbicide in useworldwide. Glyphosate-based herbi-cides (GBH) are also the focus ofmost of Monsanto's herbicide-toler-ant (HT-ready) genetically modifiedseeds (GM or GMO).

The Argentinian study lookedat how GBH affects vertebrateembryos in development. Treatedduring incubation with a dilute 1/5,000GBH, the embryos showed severalabnormalities in bone development,particularly in the skull and vertebrae.

The animal embryos used were frogsand chickens.

For comparison, a 1/5,000concentration (2.03mg/kg) is about1/10th of the amount used on mostagricultural plants. The maximum levelfor GBH allowed in soybeans in theEuropean Union is 20mg/kg (estab-lished in 1997 when GMO soy was

commercialized in Europe). Soybeansafter harvest can typically contain up to17mg/kg of GBH residue.

The research done byCarrasco and his team wasprompted by the high rate of birthdefects in rural areas of Argentinawhere Monsanto's GMO soy-beans are often grown in largemonocultures and sprayed withRoundup from aircraft.

At a press conference dur-ing the 6th European Conference ofGMO-Free Regions in the EuropeanParliament in Brussels, ProfessorCarrasco said, "The findings in thelab are compatible with malforma-tions observed in humans exposedto glyphosate during pregnancy.” 3

Here in the U.S., we areundergoing a 3-pronged attack

against our agricultural and foodsystem. Over 90% of our soy-beans, 70% of our corn, and manyother common crops are nowgenetically modified. The plant-patenting and manipulation indus-try, led by Monsanto, has been tak-ing over both the USDA and theFDA while systematically eliminat-

ing family and independent farm-ers who resist using GM seeds. 4

Meanwhile, the evidenceagainst the safety of GM foods con-tinues to mount. This study fromProfessor Carrasco and his team isjust the latest in a long line ofresearch showing the extremelynegative effects of the geneticmanipulation of our food supply.

The best way to combat thisproblem individually? Buy from local,non-GMO farmers and growers, eathealthy, non-processed foods, and con-tinue to spread the word about the evilsof Big Agra. Things will only changewhen people begin voting en massewith their wallets and forks, walkingaway from the Big Agra-Industrial-Pharma-Government complex that isattempting to destroy our lives.

RESOURCES

1 - Monsanto: The world's posterchild for corporate manipulation anddeceit by Jeffrey M. Smith,NaturalNews2 - Glyphosate-Based HerbicidesProduce Teratogenic Effects onVertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid

Signaling by Alejandra Paganelli,Andres Carrasco, et al, AmericanChemical Society, August 9, 20103 - Groundbreaking study showsRoundup link to birth defects, PressRelease, GMO-Free RegionsConference 20104 - Three-Pronged System EnablesGMO Takeover of AmericanAgriculture by Aaron Turpen,NaturalNews

About the author, Aaron Turpen isa professional writer living inWyoming in the USA. His blogscover organic/sustainable livingand environmental considerations(AaronsEnvironMental.com) andthe science debunking mainstreammedical and proving alternatives(HiddenHealthScience.com).

Monsanto Roundup Linked to Birth Defects in New Study| by Aaron Turpen

The Agora | 7

BPA Found on Cash Register and ATM Receipts| by M.Thornley NaturalNews.com

Chemist John Warner learned about thermal-and pressure-sensitive papers while workingfor Polaroid years ago. A powdery coating thatcontains BPA, a dye and a solvent is laid ontoone side of the paper. Then heat or pressure isapplied causing the substances to merge, andthe ink's color is released. Remembering hiswork with thermal paper at Polaroid, Warnerwondered if BPA coating was still used on ther-mal paper. He assigned his university studentsto collect shopping receipts in the Boston areaand to test them for BPA. And they found it.

The federal government warned that 93percent of Americans have BPA contamination.Parents were warned to protect their children fromexposure. But no mention was made of cashmachine or retail receipts.

Warner and his colleagues at the WarnerBabcock Institute for Green Chemistry inWilmington, Mass., published data based on thesubstantial amounts of BPA on 10 receipts collect-ed in the Boston area.

Not all store receipts use ink that containsBPA. The safe receipts look the same as theunsafe ones.

BPA, or bisphenol A, an estrogen-mim-icking pollutant, has been tied to many poten-tial health risks. It has been associated withplastics, in particular, baby bottles. It isbelieved to cause behavior problems in chil-dren, as well as obesity and heart ailments.Among adults it has been linked to breast can-

cer, diabetes, and other health problems. Itaffects reproductive patterns, causes earlypuberty and diminishes intellectual capacity. It

causes diseases among animals.Another researcher found that the BPA

would rub off onto fingers. Dry fingers collectedplenty of BPA, but wet ones collected ten times asmuch. And the longer the paper was held, thegreater the BPA transfer.

The University of Missouri analyzed 36

receipts gathered from automated teller machinesand popular fast food, grocery and drug retailers.The amount of BPA was 250 to 1,000 times thatcommonly found on food cans or plastic bottles. Infact, the amount of BPA found on one popular fastfood receipt was equal to that found in 126 cans ofa popular grocery store item.

BPA on sales receipts can enter the bodyin two ways. It can leach through skin or beingested when someone touches their fingers totheir mouths or to food.

People who handle receipts frequently arebelieved to be more at risk. A cashier who usedhand cream (which would enhance the permeabil-ity of the chemical) might sustain exposuresapproaching 50 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight. People working in retail have 30 percentmore BPA than other Americans.

Bisphenol sulfonate is a possible safe sub-stitute for the bisphenol A for receipts. Until wide-spread use of a safe ink is instituted, people shouldavoid holding receipts or touching them. Retailerswho do not use bisphenol A ink may begin toadvertise the safety of their receipts by adding theline "BPA-free" to their cash receipts.

The US Environmental Protection Agencyhas begun to evaluate the safety of BPA and alter-natives but it is uncertain how long this will take orwhat will happen after.

About the author M. Thornley enjoys walking, writ-ing and pursuing a raw vegan diet and lifestyle.

It's a concern that retail workers

who are handling receipts all day

long would be exposed to higher

amounts.Dave Andrews Environmental Working Group

One thing I can count on after finishing a talk is apissy guy who wants to wrestle with me. I hate tostereotype, but why not? Thirties, sunglasses onhis head, Berry on his belt and a Durango outside.Votes Conservative, convinced climate change isa crock and Sarah Pallin’s hot. Barely married,anti-tax, anti-government and hugely leveraged.Dependent on the tenants he utterly disdains (“los-ers…”). He’s sure I’m full of crap. Came to argue.

Such guys think they’re astute but get talked intoanything. After all, when a core belief’s that growthis natural and relentless, why not borrow a messof money and buy a pack of houses or condos?How can you lose in the long run when God wantsa higher gross domestic product?

Actually, losing will be easy. When infla-tion and growth finally get here, they’ll be too lateto save real estate values. The cowboys will havehigher payments and lower rents. Worse, we haveto get through this first: deflation.

In case you missed the latest news, here’sa flash recap.

In America: Teetering on the edge ofdeflation, the US is about to spend $1 trillion itdoesn’t have. So said Fed boss Ben Bernanke onthe weekend. The money will be created digitallythen used to buy government bonds held bybanks. The hope is the trillion will encouragebanks to lend money to businesses which will thencreate jobs. Another goal is to screw up the bondmarket by dropping yields with the onslaught ofcash, which will make those loans cheaper.

But it probably won’t work. Interest rates arealready dirt-cheap, with no lineups to borrow.

Business won’t hire new help until sales pick up, andover-indebted consumers are in no buying mood.Meanwhile US mortgage rates are at the lowestlevel ever, and yet the housing market crashes.

In Japan: In its tenth year of deflation,property values remain 60% lower than they werein the late 1990s. In fact, the Bank of Japandropped its interest rates to zero back in 1999 in abid to revive real estate. It bombed. Days ago the

bank said money would remain at 0% for as longas necessary. Fail.

In Britain: With the housing market goinginto a double dip, the currency spongy and theeconomy a swamp, the coalition UK government’sabout to go extreme.

The Bank of England will spend 100 billionincestuous pounds to also buy its own bonds. Atthe same time, interest rates will be kept at arecord low of just one half of one per cent until atleast late 2012. That’s the stimulus part. The otheraction seems just about certain to cancel it out –massive spending cuts. The deepest, in fact, sinceWW2 bankrupted the country.

The latest forecast for economic growth inearly 2011 is 0.1%, which implies a 50% chance ofrecession and a 100% chance of deflation. Britonshear how the government will be slashing spend-ing, come Wednesday.

In Canada: “Fresh and quite positive realestate information, from Canada, is here!,” saysthe blog of Toronto super-agent Elli Davis – whodevotes a lot of time convincing rich Iranians tobuy $5 million townhouses for their kids.“September housing starts, in Canada, did not fall

as significantly as they were predicted too. Theyonly fell by 1.5 per cent…” Poor Elli. If she onlyknew that 1.5% in a month is the same as 18% ayear she might not be so effervescent.

In fact, as I try to tell people in my mes-sianic cross-country proselytizing, groupie-infest-ed romp, Canadians are getting a heroic amountof sunshine pumped up their rears while otherstaste reality. Facing a significant market decline,

the housing industry does things like point todeclining five-year mortgage rates as blessednews, when cheaper rates are a death rattle forthe economy. The federal government, inannouncing a record deficit, announces newhealth care funding. Look! A shiny thing! InOntario, facing the worst red ink in history, the pre-mier spends $1.2 billion on all-day kindergarten,which is actually just vote-sucking day care.

The truth is we’re losing altitude fast. Allthat stands between us and a US-style housingevent is a lack of listings. Come the Spring, well,stand back.

No doubt a dose of asset deflation is onthe way. This comes after we lost a ton of jobs,many of which will never be replaced, after house-holds have run up the biggest, steamiest pile ofdebt in history and amid total stagnation forsalaries and wages. The inevitable result will bedeflationary – when everybody expects prices tokeep falling, so they put off buying until prices fall,which means they fall.

Deflation’s what keeps politicians tossingat night. And it should terrify the Durango guy. Buthe’s lucky. He knows everything.

| by Garth Turner

Deflate thisThe truth is we’re losing altitude fast. All that stands between us and a US-style housing event is a lack of listings. Come the Spring, well, stand back.

The Agora | 8

Director Stan Feingold and cinematographer Brian Johnson followedTraavik’s travels throughout Cambodia over a one-year period, as herecruited participants from each of the Kingdom’s twenty provinces. Butjust he was about to publicly launch a Miss Landmine photo exhibition inPhnom Penh, the government outlawed Traavik’s project for “causingshame to the Cambodian people”.

The Miss Landmine competition continued both online and over-seas, as Traavik orchestrated a “pageant in exile” among a group of polit-ical refugees and expatriates in Norway. In the end, Traavik (and the film-makers) were faced with a risky journey to crown the winner back inCambodia and present her with the grand prize...a titanium prosthetic leg.

Miss Landmine was directed and produced by Emmy-awardwinning director Stan Feingold (Prisoners of Age, Heroines). Musicby John Korsud.

Morton, how did it all start? My point of departure you could say is that of just another middle-classwhiteboy from a privileged society with an itch to do something to savethe world a little and feel better about myself. Being a director and actorto start with, I've grown increasingly bored with my often a bit too self-satisfied work environment and wanted to apply my skills to a more chal-lenging reality outside the self-imposed inner exile of the arts scene. Therest is chance meeting preparation: My then-girlfriend has an Angolanfather, who lives in the capital Luanda and whom we visited over Xmasand New Year in 2003.

The civil war had ended just the year before and we still could-n't move around much because of all the landmines still littering thecountryside. Some street kids were staging a homemade beauty pag-eant in the back alley behind the father's house and they asked me to sitin on the jury. So at some point those two impressions gave birth to oneidea. Since I figured I was probably the only one in the world with that

particular idea at that time, that gave me a moral obligation to at least tryto put it into action.

Manifesto

EVERYBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO BE BEAUTIFUL!• Female pride and empowerment. • Disabled pride and empowerment. • Global and local landmine awareness and information. • Challenge inferiority and/or guilt complexes that hinder creativity.• Historical, cultural, social, personal, Asian, European. • Question established concepts of physical perfection. • Challenge old and ingrown concepts of cultural cooperation. • Celebrate true beauty. • Replace the passive term 'Victim' with the active term 'Survivor' • And have a good time for all involved while doing so!

After Angola, why Cambodia? Several reasons - because I wanted to show that the landmine problem isglobal, and also the situation of landmine survivors is global, and that thewish to be seen and noticed as a beautiful and resourceful human being issomething that everybody can recognize. Also, I wanted to try the projectin a country with a different cultural setting than the Angolan one, but onethat still had many similarities in its recent history.

What was the 1st prize for the winner in Cambodia? As in Angola, the first prize was a specially-designed and customized prosthe-sis from Norway's leading orthopedic clinic, worth around $15,000 US Dollars.

How many candidates took part? In Cambodia there were 20 candidates aged 18-48, each representing herhome province.

As waves gently lap against the sandy shoreline,

the woman smiles awkwardly and poses for a series of

glamour shots taken by a professional photographer.

documentary

MISS LANDMINE chronicles Norwegian artist Morten Traavik’s attempts to stage a beauty pageant forlandmine survivors in Cambodia. Traavik’s art project is intended to raise awareness around issuespertaining to landmines and disabled people. Unlike Angola, where the government enthusiasticallysupported the controversial project, Traavik encountered a more hostile environment in Cambodia,where he was faced with cries of sexism and exploitation.

Miss Landmine

The Agora | 9

remove the pictures from it. Then Prime MinisterHun Sen said in public that dissenters have "thickfaces" and spoke about "chopping them one hun-dred times with a meat cleaver". As mentioned,the government forbade me even to meet with thewomen to say a decent goodbye to them. It alladds up to what I perceive as a relatively unpleas-ant athmosphere and my Cambodian friends andcollaborators were very worried about me andadvised me to leave the country. Also, I did notwant my continued presence in the country to leadto any further trouble for my Cambodian associ-ates and least of all the candidates themselves.

Did you get any explanation for the Government’ssudden cancellation?The exact reasons are known only to them. Theirone and only public statement so far is that theproject "offends the honor and dignity" of theCambodian candidates. However, already in 2007I had the stated support of the Cambodian MineAction Autority (CMAA) signed by their SecretaryGeneral. CMAA is the Cambodian government'scentral coordinating organ for all things landmine-related, including victims assistance and rehabili-tation. Since then, I have been keeping in closecontact with the CMAA, and the Canadian docu-mentary film team who followed the wholeprocess of Miss Landmine Cambodia from thestart , even have extensive footage of meetingswith top officials of the CMAA expressing their

support for the project as late as March/09 . Also,I have had meetings with the Ministry of SocialAffairs (MOSVY), represented by Secretary ofState H.E. Sem Sokha who has given his supportto the project. In an article in the Phnom PenhPost as late as July 27/09, slightly more than oneweek before the exhibition opening, Sokha wasquoted as saying that MOSVY had "no objection"to the Miss Landmine Cambodia project. Also, inMarch/09 I had a meeting with H E Sivann Botum,the State Secretary of the Ministry of Women'sAffairs, who expressed her appreciation and sup-port of the project. Both Sokha and Botum werealready in March shown the pictures of the candi-dates that are now appearing on our website. Notat any point before the P.M.s ban on MissLandmine, after an initiative by Minister of SocialAffairs Ith Samheng, have any of these organiza-tions retracted or otherwise changed their stanceof support for the project. That these representa-tives are going back on their statements after theP.M.s ban is not to wonder about.

Can you guess what is behind the government'sdecision? Is there any inconvenience for thegovernment involved?A good question, which you should really ask theCambodian government, given that MissLandmine had the government’s full and officialsupport for almost two years before this sudden U-turn on their behalf. Officially, their reason was thatthey feared the project would “offend the honorand dignity” of the candidates and of disabled peo-ple in Cambodia. Again, without asking a single

How were the contestants chosen?In both Angola and Cambodia I collaborated closelywith local and national authorities. Initially a matter ofnecessity as no foreign NGO would have anythingto do with us, and still don't, but now I'm really happyit turned out that way because working within thelocal culture with a minimum of outside assistancegives us a far more grounded moral legitimacy thenif this would just have been another "here's yourmoney/goat/new village well, good luck with it" aidproject. In Cambodia, the identification of prospec-tive participants is handled by the CambodianDisabled People's Organization (CDPO) and itsdynamic director Ngin Saorath, himself disabled.CDPO has a countrywide network of offices inalmost all Cambodian provinces, and the wordabout our project was put out to its local field officerswho then approached the landmine survivorsalready taking part in their rehabilitation programs.As in Angola, we had many more applicants than wecould possibly take on board, so I made the finalselection in close dialogue with Saorath.

What kind of criteria do the judges considerwhen picking finalists? Part of the point is not to impose too strict criteriaon the judges, or on any other spectator whodecides to get involved by voting for his/hers can-didate. On the contrary, we encourage the voter totake a moment before voting to get to knowhis/hers own criteria for choosing a certain candi-

date. Is it because I find her the most convention-ally beautiful one? The one I feel the most sorryfor? Or the one whose prosthesis looks in the worstshape? Etcetera. The final events are staged alongthe lines of your regular Miss America-style pag-eant. No reason to alter a winning formula...Andthere can, of course, be only one winner. However,the ladies participating are fully aware that this ismore than a mere beauty pageant, that they areemployed as my fellow artists in a campaign wherea main aim is to influence some attitudes, both out-side and within themselves.

What kind of social nuances do you have toconsider when suggesting that women get upon stage for a beauty pageant?How does the attitude of the Angolans andKhmers differ from Western attitudes? In my workin general, I try not to worry too much about socialnuances. I think a main problem with us whitieswhen dealing with perceived "exotic" cultures arethat we are either totally disrespectful or far toorespectful. Both stem from exoticism and a fear ofdealing with people as just that: people, on anequal basis. There are, of course, obvious culturaldifferences between countries thousands of milesapart and on different continents.

For instance, Khmer women would be veryreluctant to pose in a bikini, something that most ofthe Angolan participants would have no problemwith. In Cambodia, women swim fully dressed. Butthis is not what I regard as an essential difference.So far, within the context of the Miss Landminework process there have been more similarities

than differences. Which kind of supports my theorythat the need for and joy of being seen, appreciat-ed, taken seriously and - something so simple - notbeing patronized by neither bigoted neighbors noraid workers; those feelings are universal anddeeply human. And again I would say that from myown experience there are far more, and moreimportant, similarities than differences. However,the most obvious difference so far is not betweenCambodia and Angola, but between those coun-tries and our part of the world: Very few Angolansor Khmer understand at all why there are Western"feminists" being outraged and concerned on theirbehalf for taking part in Miss Landmine!

As an artist, was this first and foremost an artproject? With raising awareness about landmines being agreat added bonus? I don't think that making “art”– whatever that is - must exclude a vision thattranscends genres . Which is precisely the point ofstaging Miss Landmine in real life and not in an artgallery or on a theater stage.

Are there any statistics to illustrate the severi-ty of the landmine problem in Cambodia?None very accurate, and that’s exactly the prob-lem. Guerrilla forces tend not to keep mine gridplans, statistics are often sketchy and contradicto-ry and the infrastructure roads etc, particularly inAngola, are still so damaged by the war that it is

difficult to get to the different parts of the countries.What we do know is that there are an estimated40.000 landmine survivors living in Cambodiatoday, and that figure does not include all thosewho died from their mine injuries. Even after 10-15years of active mine clearance, there are stillbelieved to be millions of landmines left in theground in Cambodia. Both Angola and Cambodiaare regarded as in top 5 of the world's most land-mine-contaminated countries.

Have you ever had chance to talk withCambodian officials involved with this event afterit was canceled? According to the Ministry of Social Affairs,Veterans and Youth Affairs (MOSVY), theprakas(decree) signed by Prime Minister Hun Senwas made public on Friday July 31/09, however Iwas not made familiar with it until Sunday August2/09. MOSVY have explicitly also stated that theywould not allow any of the candidates to travel toPhnom Penh to meet me, even for a privatefarewell dinner. I have heard nothing from themsince our last-ditch negotiation meetings onMonday August 3/09, the day after I was madeaware of the ban. During two 3-hours long meet-ings between me and the Cabinet of the Ministryof Social Affairs, the Ministry's chief representa-tive, Chief of Staff Samheng Boros (the son of theMinister of Social Affairs) stated repeatedly thatthe government would take "any possible step" toprevent Miss Landmine from going ahead inCambodia, then threatened legal action againstme for refusing to close down our website and

“Miss Landmine”is a voyage in the

lives of women who saw their existences and hopes shattered in an instant.

More importantly, it is an ode to peace and to the profound beauty that

resides in each and every one of us.

The Agora | 10

vivor’s network through a CBR (CommunityBased Rehabilitation) -program with practicalguidance and support from national authoritiesand international NGOs.

Depending on the level of commitmentfrom local authorities, each participant may beassigned as a Miss Landmine representative inher own province, with responsibilities of coordi-nating and providing information and assistance toother women in the same situation and monitoringways of empowerment, such as education andspecialized health care.

“ Some people may find such a project tobe yet another disdainful, objectifying schemeagainst women. The Cambodian government sureseems to agree, barring the project from furtheradvances. Yet, the essence of this expedition isquite the opposite and strives to push people toredefine their perception of beauty. MortenTraavik, the creator of the project, simply summa-rizes the dominant beauty standards that the MissLandmine Project tries to dispel by paraphrasingGeorge Orwell: “Two legs, good. One leg, bad.”

“Miss Landmine” is a voyage in the lives ofwomen who saw their existences and hopes shat-tered in an instant. More importantly, it is an ode topeace and to the profound beauty that resides ineach and every one of us. It is an optimistic cry tothe world, which transcends the boundaries ofconventional beauty and denounces the barbarityof humankind. Feingold’s reportage combineshumor and compassion to uncover a controversialyet laudable mission and to usher collective actionin the hope that, one day, as one of the pageant’sparticipants says, we will collaborate with oneanother to “make peace grow like a flower.”Cambodia Mirror, Oct. 14th 2010,

Miss Landmine comes to Canadian televisionon November 22 when it has its broadcast pre-miere on documentary CBC. World Premieretook place Oct 16th at the San FranciscoDocumentary Festival.

and dictatorial decision.I am also still waiting forthe myriad of international NGOs long estab-lished in Cambodia to raise their voices in sup-port of human rights.

MISS LANDMINE CAMBODIA 2009: MISSIONACCOMPLISHED

For reasons of security we have been waiting awhile with sharing this information, but we nowregard it as safe enough for all parties involved tohappily announce that on December 4/09, DosSopheap (19) was crowned Miss Landmine 2009in a secret ceremony inside Cambodia.

Her half-finished 1st prize titanium leg wasfitted and personalized, and will be taken back toNorway for building its exterior before she receivesthe finished prosthesis later this spring. Sopheapsays the new prosthesis feels like having a new legagain. She also received a cash prize of 1000 USDearmarked for her future education as an economist.

On the same trip, director Morten Traaviktraveled around Cambodia and managed to meetup with 10 of the Miss Landmine candidates intheir home villages. Due to the governmental banon Miss Landmine and the deteriorating humanrights situation in Cambodia, the candidates werenot told about our visit in advance and were natu-rally both surprised and delighted to see us againand to hear about the global attention their storiesand pictures have received since we saw eachother the last time. They also received a presspack with selected newspaper clippings from theinternational coverage, and were shown videofootage from the Cambodian final-in-exile inNorway on November 14. All candidates alsoreceived a cash prize of 300 USD each for theirbrave and beautiful contributions to the MissLandmine project, enabling them to invest inhousehold goods or set up a small business intheir home villages.

The Miss Landmine project is a possiblenucleus for a national female landmine sur-

one of the candidates what they themselves feltabout Miss Landmine! However, in my view thewhole incident is connected to a regime that hasgrown more and more authoritarian over the lastfew years, who allows less and less freedom ofexpression in Cambodia, beating up and some-times killing opposition politicians, intimidating thefree press, and who want to stay in power at anyprice. The day after the ban on Miss Landminewas made public, there was a peaceful oppositionrally in Phnom Penh where protesters were beat-en up by riot police. Naturally, the Governmentthen are afraid of controversial art projects,because controversy breeds discussion anddebate, and free expression, free discussion anddebate is what the Cambodian government wantsleast of all at the moment.

What do the candidates themselves thinkabout the cancellation? The candidates were naturally very disappointed,after having looked forward to and prepared them-selves for the official launch of Miss LandmineCambodia for almost one year. Also, they do notunderstand why the Cambodian government, whosays it cares about disabled people, doesn't wantto let them show themselves in a positive way.One of our candidates, Song Kosal who is also anambassador for the International Campaign toBan Landmines, says that "I feel unhappybecause when the party was canceled it meantthat I, a disabled person, lost my right of expres-sion." I think that she speaks for all the candidatesand sums up their feelings quite precisely.

Do you think you can convince Cambodiangovernment to accept the event after all?I don't think once Big Brother has made up hismind that there is really any way back. Our onlyhope is - with the help of public opinion inCambodia and the continued attention of theworld media - hopefully over time to pressure theGovernment to reconsider this most ill-judged

Time Magazine: Prospect Of Civil War In U.S.

“Doesn’t Seem That Far Fetched”

With protesters in France entering a seventhday of strikes and demonstrations against dracon-ian austerity measures, many political observersin the U.S. are now wondering how long it will bebefore similar scenes unfold on American streets,with even Time Magazine now conceding that theprospect of a civil war in the States “doesn’t seemthat far fetched”.

To be clear, Stephen Gandel’s article enti-tled Will the Federal Reserve Cause a Civil War?largely dismisses the possibility that the Fed’supcoming November 3rd meeting, during whichBen Bernanke is expected to announce a freshround of money printing, will prompt nationaluproar, but it doesn’t exactly debunk the notion oflonger term social dislocation as a backlash to thecrumbling economy, as many are now forecasting.

As we highlighted yesterday in a piece thatwas later picked up by the Drudge Report, it’s only amatter of time before Americans are hit with almostidentical austerity measures to those that havecaused the French to set up fuel blockades, stagerunning battles with riot police, halt air and rail travel,and virtually shut down some areas of the country.

The question remains – how willAmericans react if the Obama administration push-es ahead with its plan to seize all private 401(k)pensions, which will be swallowed up by the SocialSecurity Administration under the banner ofmandatory Guaranteed Retirement Accounts?How will Americans react to the upcomingannouncement that the Federal Reserve will fur-ther eviscerate the value of the dollar by purchas-

| by Paul Joseph Watson

ing junk assets from big banks at exorbitant priceswith money printed out of thin air?

Time Magazine, which as a guardian of theestablishment would normally be expected to dis-

parage the potential of mass civil disobedience,actually lends the notion some spotlight by linking toa Zero Hedge story which paraphrased economicforecaster David Rosenberg, who warns that theFed’s plan for more quantitative easing, “positionsUS society one step closer to civil war if not worse.”

The article also features a quote from aWashington’s Blog piece which warns that the Fed’s poli-cies could lead to the very destruction of the republic.

“In a very real sense, Bernanke is throwing Granny

and Grandpa down the stairs – on purpose. He is

literally threatening those at the lower end of the

economic strata, along with all who are retired, with

starvation and death, and in a just nation where the

rule of law controlled instead of being abused by

the kleptocrats he would be facing charges of

Seditious Conspiracy, as his policies will inevitably

lead to the destruction of our republic.”

Lending the notion credence, Gandel writes, “Withthe Tea Party gaining followers, the idea of civilwar over economic issues doesn’t seem that far-fetched these days.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Even TimeMagazine is now conceding that the current eco-nomic course of the nation could lead to outrightcivil war and revolution.

Gandel finishes the article by leavingthe prospect of widespread civil unrest as anopen question.

“So it seems clear what the Fed is likely todo,” he writes. “How the economy, the militias andthe rest of us react is up in the air. The count downis on. T minus 15 days to Fedamageddon. Seeyou there, hopefully.”

Of course, people like Gerald Celente anda host of other economic forecasters have beenpredicting civil unrest, food riots and tax rebellionsfor the past two years, but to have Time Magazineseriously entertain the notion of civil war in theUnited States is a shocking reminder of just howclose to the precipice we now stand.

Numerous forecasters, governments,spy agencies, and international bodies are pre-dicting mass riots and unrest in response to aworsening economic picture.

THE WORLD

The Agora | 11

In November 2008, right as the economic implosion was unraveling,the U.S. Army War College released a white paper called Known Unknowns:Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development. Thereport warned that the military must be prepared for a “violent, strategic dis-location inside the United States,” which could be provoked by “unforeseeneconomic collapse,” “purposeful domestic resistance,” “pervasive publichealth emergencies” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.” The“widespread civil violence,” the document said, “would force the defenseestablishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic orderand human security.”

A British Ministry of Defence report struck a similar tone when it pre-dicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and themiddle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order wouldmean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge,resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own classinterest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

How Americans will react to what many see as a make or breakmoment for the US economy, the Fed’s announcement on November 3rd,largely depends on how well they understand the fact that their financialfuture and that of their children now hangs in the balance like never before.

As the Economic Collapse Blog points out, QE2 represents thebiggest bank robbery in history, and is nothing less than another huge trans-fer of wealth from American taxpayers to big banks. The money Bernankeprints out of thin air, which will further devalue the greenback and every dol-lar earned or saved by American citizens, will be used to purchase largequantities of “troubled assets” from U.S. banks at well above market price.Small banks will be allowed to wither and die, whereas the huge megaliths willcollect mountains of free money at the expense of hard working Americans.The long term impact of the Fed buying these toxic junk assets with moneyprinted out of thin air will be an inflationary holocaust that does nothing to res-cue the US economy but everything to depreciate the very real assets of theAmerican taxpayer.

We are already on the road to serious inflation and the FederalReserve has not even fired up the money hoses yet. So what is going to hap-pen after they pump trillions more into the economy?

Printing more money and giving it to the banks is not going to solveour economic problems. It is just going to make them worse.

But unfortunately, American voters get no say about any of this. Ournational monetary policy is in the hands of an unelected central bank thatdoes pretty much whatever it wants.

continued....

They observed that online popularity is characterized not by a gradualaccumulation process, but by "bursts" that display many of the samefeatures of critical systems, such as stock market crashes and naturalphenomena. They also developed a model that captures these criticalfeatures of online popularity.

“We see that Internet popularity behaves in unpredictable ways, withbig shifts in attention causing changes which have statistical signatureslike those seen in earthquakes and avalanches,” says JacobRatkiewicz from Indiana University.

Ratkiewicz and his coauthors from Indiana University and theInstitute for Scientific Interchange in Torino, Italy, have published their studyon online popularity in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters. As theyexplain, online information that becomes popular has formidable power toimpact opinions, culture, and policy, as well as earn higher advertising profits.Achieving online popularity is obviouslyhighly desired for these reasons, but asprevious studies have found, very few sitesbecome tremendously popular.

In the researchers' analysis, thepopularity of a Wikipedia article or Webpage is expressed by the number ofclicks to that page and the number ofexternal links to that page. While previ-ous studies have found that the popular-ity distribution of Web pages followspower-law behavior, it has been difficultto observe the growth in popularity ofindividual pages due to the lack of datawith temporal information. Here, theresearchers gathered the traffic data ofmillions of pages (3 million Wikipediaarticles with a one-second time resolu-tion during 2001-2007; 3 millionWikipedia articles with a one-hour timeresolution during 2008-2010; and 3 mil-lion Web pages from Chile's .cl domainwith a one-year time resolution during2002-2006). They obtained theWikipedia data by mining the full edit history of every article and theChilean Web page data using the country's TODOCL search engine.

Among their results, the researchers found that almost all pagesexperience a burst of popularity near the beginning of their lives. Then, somepages maintain a constant exponential growth, while many other pages expe-rience intermittent bursts. Looking at these bursts more closely, theresearchers found that their distribution follows a “heavy-tail” behavior, which

is a common feature of critical systems. In a heavy-tail distribution, most ofthe items exhibit small values, but a few items exhibit very large values thatdominate the overall volume of traffic. As the researchers noted, these burstsare different from those observed in news-driven events, where attentionfades rapidly; instead, sequences of bursts occur for certain Web pages andthese pages accumulate popularity.

The researchers developed a ranking model that could reproducesome of the features of the popularity burst distribution, but they had toadd a “reranking mechanism” to reproduce the heavy tail. The rerankingmechanism randomly boosts the popularity value of a Web page, andenables the model to more closely represent the features in the actualdata. Although the model is mostly descriptive, its ability to reproduce thedynamics of online popularity could lead to a better understanding of howonline information becomes popular.

“We hope that deeper understanding of how popularity evolves couldlead to methods for predicting things thatwill become popular before they actuallydo,” Ratkiewicz said.

“I'm not sure that this understandingcould be used to legitimately improve thepopularity of specific Web pages,” headded. “However, recent experience inanother project of ours suggests that peo-ple are trying to exploit social media togenerate bursts of attention toward specif-ic Web sites. It's been shown that these'twitter-bombs' can catapult a page to thetop of Google search results.”

More information: Jacob Ratkiewicz,Characterizing and Modeling the

Dynamics of Online Popularity.

Model describes Web page popularity

How do some Web pages become popular? In a recent study, researchers have analyzed Wikipedia articles and a collection of all the Web pages of Chile to better understandthe dynamics of online popularity.

THE WORLD

...its ability to reproduce the dynamics of

online popularity could lead to a better

understanding of how online information

becomes popular

become popular

| by Lisa Zyga

The Agora | 12

THE WORLD

PEAK OIL, loss of diversity, species extinction,conspiracy, oil spills, food insecurity .... theproblems that we face seem to increase both insize and complexity every day. However we cansimplify all of these global issues and empha-size three primary concerns. In order of increas-ing priority, the three biggest issues are:

• Pollution• Deforestation• Soil destruction and erosion

Biology is remarkable in its ability to breakdown and lock up pollutants. Mushrooms havebeen shown to be effective in breaking downhydrocarbons and even nuclear waste.However, without soil and without forests, weare unable to support the biology required todeal with pollution.

We continue deforestation at recordrates, which further emphasizes soil loss. Inaddition, removal of our forests is removing theplanets most important energy transducer andclimate stabilizer. Without forests we will nothave a stable climate.

Books like David Montgomery's Dirt:The Erosion of Civilizations, and JaredDiamond's Collapse, draw the connectionbetween how historic societies treated theirsoil and the success or demise of their civi-lizations. As Montgomery points out that lastyear the world lost 83 billion tons of topsoil wemust recognize that we have a big problem.Healthy topsoil is the most biodiverse ecosys-tem we know of. Without it, life could not besustained on this planet.

I like this simplification because manyof the other issues are second generationissues to these primary factors. What thisexposes is that unfortunately, recycling, biofu-els, CO2 sequestration, wind turbines and solarpanels aren’t going to cut it unless we deal withsoil loss. In the end it really all comes backdown to healthy soil.

The good news is that teachers,designers and grass-roots activists around theworld are spreading the word that all our prob-lems: pollution, deforestation and soil loss, can

be solved in a garden. This is such an empow-ering message as we can forget about beingparalyzed by fear and focusing energy intonegative issues we have no control over (i.e.peak oil, climate change, etc) and we realizethat each and everyone of us has the opportu-

nity to profoundly shift the course of humanitywith the simple act of stewarding soil.

And now that I've laid out what theproblems are, why do these problems persist?Why do we drive big trucks that only use 1% ofthe energy consumed to transport passengers?Why do we design our cities to concentrate anddispose of water? Why are we drawing downfresh water aquifers to irrigate crops that won'tgrow with the annual rainwater budget? Why isthe average North American house size andenergy demands continuing to climb? An mypersonal favourite - why do we defecate intodrinking water then wipe with toilet paper madefrom old growth forests.

The answer is sentiment. I'm making ageneralization here, and I'm referring the senti-ment held in common in overdeveloped coun-tries. We believe that “it's better that way”,“there's no other way”, or “we like it that way”but there is no fundamental reason or underly-ing logical explanation. In fact, many of thedesign decisions make no sense whatsoever.Sentiment leads to poor design and we pay theprice in extra energy usage and pollution.

Here's the interesting thing. Sentiment isdissolved with a common ethic. In permaculture,our common ethic is: Care of Earth, Care ofPeople and Return of Surplus. Our decisions arenot based on frivolous beliefs, but based on prac-tical and natural constraints, ultimately allowing us

to live in harmony with the ecology. And this is howwe create permanent cultures.

And so, tackling cultural sentiment is themost important thing we can do and would havethe largest positive impact on the above men-tioned problems.

Here's why.

• Currently, approximately 30-40% of the energyconsumed by society is invested into the deliv-ery of potable water and the removal of sewage.Pumping fluids is extremely energy intensive. Ifcities adopted rain water catchment, greywater,composting toilets and landscape water har-vesting we could stop this monumental misallo-cation of finite energy resources.

• If consumers started demanding that architects,engineers and city planners face homes to thesun, rather than to the direction of the best view,we could eliminate 30% of a households heatingenergy. Add in super insulation and efficientdesign and we further reduce heating and electri-cal needs by up to 90%.

Why PermacultureDesign?

| by Michelle Avis

last year the world lost 83 billion tons of topsoil we mustrecognize that we have a big problem. Healthy topsoil isthe most biodiverse ecosystem we know of. Without it,life could not be sustained on this planet.

The Agora | 13

• I t has been es t imated tha t10 un i ts o f hydrocarbon ener-gy are used to produce 1 un i to f food energy ( i .e . ca lor ie ) .Th is prob lem cou ld la rge ly bea l lev ia ted i f we conver ted themost energy waste fu l i con ont h e p l a n e t ( t h e l a w n ) i n t ofood product ion .

I'm not saying it is goingto be easy, but we must dis-solve sentiment so that we caninstall composting toilets, catchrainwater, use smart homedesign, and start growing foodin our yards.

And we must tackle thisfirst, before going out to seek“solutions” to energy supply orpollution, such as biofuels orusing CO2 sequestration. Thereason: technological solutionsdriven by sentimentality willnever work because they perpet-uate a broken system, whereastechnological solutions driven bydesign and ethics yield appropri-ate technology and lead us in asustainable direction.

know that changing thesentiment of a culture seems near-ly impossible, insurmountable andunbelievable. But this has notbeen our experience. There is anexponentially increasing numberof people who are keenly aware ofa need for change and care deeplyabout the planet and their commu-nities. While they initially may feelpowerless to do anything to makea difference, people becomeinspired and empowered change-makers in their communities wheninformed about a diverse anddeepening scope of positive, prac-tical & effective solutions. Whenexposed to the facts, and empow-ered through simple design con-cepts and strategies, the movepast sentiment is almost instanta-neous. This is the power of aPermaculture Design course. Weknow that it is so effective that wehave made teaching permacultureour life mission! Get the word out,educate, inform and most impor-tantly, teach more teachers.

Rob Avis and his wife Michelle runthe Calgary-based consulting & edu-cation company, Verge Permaculture(www.vergepermaculture.ca) whichspecializes in creating sustainablehuman environments using whole-systems philosophies and workingwith nature. Offering a wealth ofknowledge and experience fromaround the world and bringingtogether mechanical engineering,renewable energy and permaculturesystems, their portfolio includes athree month volunteer position at thePermaculture Research Institute inAustralia, a six month sabbaticallearning about renewable energysystems in Denmark and off-the-beaten track travels throughoutMexico examining sustainable agri-culture practices.

continued....

The Agora | 14

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, the Centers forDisease Control (CDC) is recommending universalinfluenza vaccination. Instead of confusing lists basedon age and health status, now it's simple. Everyone,6 months of age and older, is advised to get a shot.Public health officials have been moving in this direc-tion for several years. It is disturbing how doctors,agencies, and government officials can ignore thedata and get away with advocating - even mandating- potentially harmful, ineffective products with a trackrecord of failure on an unsuspecting public.

Founded in 1993, the CochraneCollaboration is an independent, not-for-profit,non-local organization. Funding comes from avariety of sources including governments, univer-sities, hospital trusts, charities and personal dona-tions but no funds are accepted from commercialsources that could represent a conflict of interest.This allows researchers and writers to work freely,unconstrained by those who have a financial inter-est in the outcome of their work. According to itswebsite, the Cochrane group is an internationalnetwork of volunteers and paid staff who are con-cerned with effectiveness of medical care. Worldleaders in medicine, health policy, scientificresearch and consumer advocacy join forces toanalyze complicated data to advance evidence-based medicine, an approach to decision-makingwhere clinicians use the best available evidencefor all elements of patient care.

Researchers pick a topic - such as hyper-tension or mammograms - and then tackle a com-plete review of all world research published onthat silo subject. When finalized, the reviews areconsidered to be the best and the most currentevidence for making medical and policy decisions.

Cochrane Reviews address effectiveness of atreatment or intervention, defined as, "the extentto which a specific intervention, when used underordinary circumstances, does what it is intended todo." In 2006, the Cochrane group investigated theeffectiveness of the influenza vaccine.

The research data was divided into threegroups: children, middle aged adults and seniorcitizens. For children, 51 studies were reviewed,including 17 papers translated from Russian. Atotal of 260,000 children were collectively involvedin research studies. The Cochrane analysis con-

cluded that, "there was no evidence that injectingchildren 6 to 23 months of age with flu shots is anymore effective than a placebo."

Adults from 19 to 60 years are encouragedto be vaccinated each flu season to avoid missingwork. After studying 25 reports involving more than60,000 adults, the bottom line was that,"Vaccinationof healthy adults only reduced risk of influenza by 6percent and reduced the number of missed workdays by less than one day (0.16 days)… Universalimmunization of healthy adults was not supportedby the results of this review."

The group that is pestered the most strin-gently about flu shots is the elderly. In fact, the U.S.Public Health Service has been recommendinginfluenza vaccination of seniors since 1964, consid-

ering them to be the population most at risk for con-tracting influenza and its complication, pneumonia.Many methods are used to remind older persons toget their flu shots include personalized postcards,letters, phone calls, facilitators at the doctor's officeand even house calls. All this persistence, andmoney, is used to inject the elderly with a solutionthat simply doesn't keep them from getting the flu.

In a 2006 study of 103,162 elderly, wherea representative sample had an overall vaccina-tion rate of 66.2 percent, only 7 patients were hos-pitalized for influenza and 135 for pneumonia. It

was concluded that vaccination did not significant-ly reduce the risk of in-hospital death, influenza orpneumonia admission. A more recent study ofseniors concluded that the benefit of flu vaccina-tion, initially reported as a 50 percent reduction inall-cause mortality, was considered to be a "statis-tical artifact" upon additional analysis of the data.The researchers further argued that "the mortalitybenefits of influenza vaccination may have beenlargely overestimated."

In 2010, the Cochrane group reviewed 75research studies over the past 40 years and con-cluded that, "Due to the poor quality of the availableevidence, any conclusions regarding the effective-ness of influenza vaccines for people 65 years orolder cannot be drawn." As far back as September,

NATIONAL

Ineffective Flu ShotsJust as busy parents scramble to get back into regular school routines, medical organizations and government agencies are urging them to add onemore thing to their packed "to do" list: Get a flu shot.

| by Sherri Tenpenny

All this persistence, and money, is used to inject the elderly with a solution that simply doesn't keepthem from getting the flu.

The Agora | 15

2005, Dr. Thomas Jefferson, the lead influenza vaccine investigator forthe Cochrane group, was quoted as saying, "The runaway 100 percenteffectiveness that's touted by proponents [of flu shots] was nowhere tobe seen…What you see is that marketing rules the response to influen-za, and scientific evidence comes fourth or fifth."

Mandates for Healthcare Workers

Even though flu shots don't seem to be effective for any age group,conventional hospital systems have crossed the line. They havegone from suggesting flu shots as a matter of "health" to requiringflu shots as a condition of employment. In a new policy statement,released October, 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) recommended that all health care personnel should berequired to receive an annual influenza vaccine. The policy statesthat "despite the efforts of many organizations to improve influenzaimmunization rates with the use of voluntary campaigns, influenzacoverage among health care personnel remains unacceptably low."The statement went on to say that mandatory influenza immuniza-tion for all health care personnel is "ethically justified, necessaryand long overdue to ensure patient safety. "

Other groups are following the lead of the AAP. The Societyfor Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Infectious DiseaseSociety of America and the National Patient Safety Foundationhave all called for mandatory vaccination of healthcare workers.Hospital systems across the U.S. are quickly jumping on the band-wagon. On September 9, 2010, the Poudre Valley Health System,based in Fort Collins, Colorado, and provides healthcare servicesfor northern Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska,detailed its new policy that requires all hospital employees to get aflu shot as a condition of employment.

In fact, flu shot mandates for healthcare workers have beenaround for several years. Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattlepioneered mandatory vaccination in 2005. So far, it has fired only twoemployees, although seven more left voluntarily. About 50 hospitalsor health systems now require employees to get flu shots, accordingto the Immunization Action Coalition. But it has not always gonesmoothly. Last year, New York issued an edict requiring health-careworkers to be vaccinated against flu. The decision was later aban-doned in the face of legal challenges. The health commissioner hasnot announced plans for the 2010 flu season.

Flu Shot Production: What Is In That Needle?

After the influenza viruses are separated from the eggs they aregrown in, they are inactivated (killed) with formaldehyde, a knowncarcinogen. The surface antigens of the virus, (H) and (N) are "split"by a detergent called TritonX-100. The process spreads the surfaceantigens apart, increasing the probability of developing an antibodyresponse after the flu shot is injected. Traces of Triton X-100 remainin the vaccine solution. The chemical can alter metabolic activity,damage membranes, and cause a rapid decline in cell function.

The suspension of viruses and chemicals is further concentrat-ed in a centrifuge using a sucrose (table sugar) solution and then sus-pended in sodium phosphate-buffered salt solution. In the final steps,gelatin is added as a stabilizer and thimerosal, the mercury-based pre-servative, is still added to the multi-dose vials of the flu vaccine.

The fact that the flu shots are ineffective in every age group andcontain measurable amounts of chemicals that can be harmful to healthhardly seems to matter to doctors and officials who promote their use.People across the country are becoming informed, taking a stand andrefusing to be injected. It is past time for the medical industry to becomeaware of industry research and stop forcing flu shots on the generalpublic. In fact, it is time for flu shots to not be used at all.

i "Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children." TheCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 1 (2006). (Lastassessed as up-to-date: September 30. 2007)11 "Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults." TheCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 1 (2006).iii Manzoli L, et al. "Influenza vaccine effectiveness for the elderly:a cohort study involving general practitioners from Abruzzo, Italy."Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene. 2009 Jun;50 (2):109-12.iv Eurich DT, et al "Mortality Reduction with Influenza Vaccine inPatients with Pneumonia Outside "Flu" Season: PleiotropicBenefits or Residual Confounding?" American Journal ofRespiratory and Critical Care Medicine; 2008; 178: 527-533.v Jefferson, T., et al. "Vaccines for preventing influenza in the eld-erly."Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2010, Issue 2. vi Rosenthal, Elisabeth. "Two Studies Question the Effectiveness ofFlu Vaccines." New York Times. September 21, 2005.vii Press release from the American Academy of Pediatrics.viii Fluzone, influenza virus vaccine package insert.

continued....

The Agora | 16

NATIONAL

Last week, Mr. Prime Minister, you stated that yourgovernment takes its positions based on the promo-tion of "our values — freedom, democracy, humanrights and the rule of law, justice, development,humanitarian assistance for those who need it.”

You also said these are the principles wehold dear. You’re right, we do. Too bad youhauled them out in a spate of childish petulance,because, after having arrived late to the feast atthe Security Council, your non-bid for appoint-ment was upended by little old Portugal, a worldpower if ever there was one. Under the circum-stances, those words about our principles didn’teven ring hollow: they landed with a dull thud.

To me, it was a cheap piece of doubles-peak, all that puffery about freedom and democra-cy; these are two words for which you show anadmirable contempt. And I have serious concernsas to whether or not you even have a passingfamiliarity with the “rule of law”, for you to take itsname in vain as you did on this occasion.

Those of us who actually hear what yousay, and compare it to what you do, are experienc-ing repeated jaw-dropping moments at the auda-cious crap that comes out of your mouth, stuff like “Iwill protect Canada’s sovereignty”. What hogwash!You can’t sign international trade agreements,which are enforceable contracts superseding ourlaws, and protect sovereignty, at the same time!

You, and Brian Mulroney, and a few otheradherents to the idea of “enlightened sovereignty”,have outsourced our democracy to offshore inter-ests, none of whom give a fig for anything but whatwe’re worth to them. Thanks to you, with eachagreement, our vote is worth less and less, ourdemocracy swirls more inexorably in the bowl, andParliament is made more irrelevant than we evendreamed it could be!

Take Bill C-36, for example, the CanadaConsumer Product Safety Act. If it weren’t such adeliberate assault on our cherished (you said it, Ididn’t) rule of law, and our democracy, our freedom,and our sovereignty, as well as a downright insult toany lawyer’s intelligence, it’d almost be funny.

You give Health Canada, in this ridicu-lously unnecessary “update” to the HazardousProducts Act, extraordinary powers of enforce-ment, judgment, and punishment, on the opinionof unknown-quantity “inspectors” and using elec-tronic warrants presented by SWAT teams withguns drawn ---- in fact legitimizing what HealthCanada has already done on multiple occasions,raiding sellers of vitamins while pointing pistols attheir families, ripping the heads off children’s dolls,as though these simple purveyors of natural healthproducts were dealing heroin!

How would you like it if a bunch of guyslooking like Darth Vader busted down your doorand pointed pistols at your kids, huh? How wouldyou feel about that rule of law then? How discon-nected can you be, that you don’t see howCanadians might have an objection to that sort oftreatment in a (dare I say it?) democracy?

You respect the rule of law, do you, Mr.Prime Minister? Don’t make me laugh. This leg-islation flies in the face of the rule of law, and isreally nothing but a sham, because HealthCanada can use Criminal Code provisions to forcea recall, if (and it could, theoretically, actually hap-pen, maybe) an offending manufacturer were torefuse to comply voluntarily. If someone’s childwere actually being strangled to death by a

marauding baby crib, the police could be called.Bill C-36, for the purposes of public safety, is acomplete and total waste of time, and reinvents aperfectly good wheel that suffers from nothingmore than having a few loose nuts at its hub.

Leona Aglukkaq says that the HazardousProducts Act is outdated, and isn’t efficient, yetthere has been a 235% increase in recalls overthe past three years. That’s not a bad record forsuch an outdated law. In fact, there is nothing inBill C-36 that is a necessary update to anything.Have you been taking lessons in annoying, cum-bersome and unnecessary updates from BillGates? That’s how Microsoft took over the world!

Ah, but there is one twist in Bill-36 thatreally is an update, though in actuality it’s morelike a Trojan: Section 37(2)(c), (4). That’s thepuppy that really ticks me off; it’s the one thatmakes me want to put a fire under a bucket of tarand open up a few feather pillows, just for you.And for this clause alone, Mr. Prime Minister, thatwould be small punishment indeed.

When was it, exactly, that our governmentwas given the mandate to give away, by stealth, theright to make our laws, to unnamed “foreign authori-ties” that the Legislative Summary of the billdescribes in part as “organizations of nations, suchas the UN” ? Trade groups are “organizations ofnations” too. And they are not based on the welfareof citizens, but on profit margins for the multinationalcorporations whose laps you snuggle into so nicely.And allowing a trade group to determine Canadianlaw literally amputates a chunk of our democracy, byremoving our right to self-governance.

I’ll ask you again: when did the Canadianpeople give you that mandate?

Bill C-36 is a cancer poised to eat democ-racy in this country, the same democracy you say(and I presume you would include yourself here)we all hold dear. So, I have to ask: were you lying

when you said you would protect our sovereignty,

or were you lying when you said giving up sover-

eignty was a “simple reality of life”?

You can’t have it both ways, now, canyou? So which is it?

A very wise Canadian I know wrote the following toMP Kirsty Duncan (L-Etobicoke North):

“You say this Bill has backing right across

Canada, and I suppose it does, if you go by the

title, as everyone wants the things they buy to be

safe… however, how many people have you told

in your riding that they could be guilty until they

can prove themselves innocent, or that ignorance

or best intentions are no defense, or that the reg-

ulations for this Bill will not come through you in

Parliament but through foreign governments and

bodies of foreign states? Section 37 (2) (c), (4)

Section 38 specifically states that only a

regulation made under 37(1)(a)(b)(c) has to be

laid before parliament. Section 37 (2) regulations

(see above) DO NOT. Bye-bye sovereignty.

According to the Black’s Law Dictionary

the word ‘may’ in legislation means ‘must’ or ‘

shall’, so when you see this word ‘may’ in con-

junction with the regulations in this act (37 (2) (c),

know that it means that regulations “must’ or ‘shall’

be made by foreign governments or bodies of for-

eign state and not by our parliament.

This Bill is a can opener to global control of

the Canadian Parliament, not to consumer safety.”

Jeremy Arney, the author of those words,is far more polite than I am. I don’t happen to givea good gosh-darn whether you like my syntax ornot, so I’ll tell you straight out: I think any electedrepresentative who would literally make his ownjob irrelevant by destroying the democraticprocess has got to be the dumbest yokel on theplanet, as well as the worst Benedict Arnold to hisown compatriots. And if you are so short-sightedas to think that, after what you’ve done sinks in onCanadians, you and all the other dumb yokelssupporting this assault on our nation will not be ina heap of holy hell, there is something seriouslydefective about your thought processes.

It may take a few pokes with a sharp stickto piss off a Canadian, but you’d better look out onthat last poke.

George H. W. Bush said it best: “If thepeople knew what we have done, they’d be chas-ing us through the streets to lynch us.” You canborrow it, if you wish, the sentiments haven’tchanged much, and I’m sure the ex-prez wouldn’tmind. Besides, we all know how you like to mimicother guys’ speeches, like you did with JohnHoward. Did you two plan that in advance? It wasone of your better Homer Simpson moments.

We see you, Mr. Prime Minister. The emperor isnaked, and it’s not a pretty sight.

An Open Rant to Stephen “I make the rules” Harper| by Dee Nicholson

The Agora | 17

GRANDVIEW PARK is a desolate wasteland, afenced-in building site, depopulated for eightmonths. The city’s most well used, diverse park wasshuttered in mid August. The previous day, as usual,hundreds were in the park: families with childrenrunning amok on the playground; street-involvedentrepreneurs selling used and recycled articles onthe park’s perimeter, a choir singing near the oftendry water park; pot-smoking hippies locked ininternecine struggles with acoustic guitars; Christianyouth giving away hugs; a predominantly Aboriginalhomeless population sleeping on the grass or seek-ing shelter under the trees, groups of friends sittingin the sun; activists plotting or gathering for anaction; various organizations feeding the hungry;cyclists playing bike polo in the tennis courts.

A last hurrah before fences were erectedsaw hundreds of people dancing in the street lateinto the night – a celebration of the freedom

engendered by the community who’s public centeris Grandview park. Just after work began, a com-munity meeting on the sidewalk of Charles Streetattracted 40. After only a few days of construction,the high, yellow, metal fence was knocked down.Redevelopment was not universally appreciated.

Now, heavy equipment seems to sit idle forweeks then screams into action early on a weekendmorning. Tree stumps appear. Leaves, branches andtrunks make way, revealing more and more of the bat-tleship grey autumn sky. Better sight lines for policesurveillance. The debate rages: safety or socialcleansing? Park expatriates roam the streets, set upimpromptu stalls in the three feet of dirt between thefencing and sidewalk. Or reconvene spontaneously,three blocks away in Victoria Park, where the rede-velopment cycle was completed last year. Mostly theyare atomized, scattered to endlessly migrate betweenthe few public spaces in the neighborhood.

The PlanIn early 2009, a slosh of federal economic stimu-lus dollars began burning a hole in parks boardpockets. It needed to be spent before the reces-sion ends. Piecemeal upgrade gave way to whole-sale makeover. While the Olympic spectacle gal-loped toward us, planners hatched redevelopmentplans in earnest. The Big Reveal was made before

sparsely attended consultation sessions.After the circus left town and another

one came and went in Toronto, many activistswere focused on the aftermath of the G-20. On awarm July night, the parks board ratified theplan. Though many spoke out, activists feltambushed by plans to close the park for eightmonths and to totally change what was so closeto the hearts of many. Miles to the east, the parkwas full of its usual occupants.

Many welcome the remaking ofCommercial drive in the image of a wealthier, con-sumer driven enclave. New neighbours and newwine bars need a new, shinier Grandview Park.

Angry evictees and earnest businessowners exchanged barbs on-line. “Gentrifyingyuppies” against “spoiled anarchist kids.” Debatesechoed from over a decade ago, when theCommunity Police station was moved into the park

house. A packed Britannia auditorium heard that apark house cop shop was an invasion, an occupa-tion. As Spice Girls announced pregnancies, theBIA argued that more police means safer streets.Feeling unwelcome, the community police stationeventually moved several blocks north.

City blueprints(http://vancouver.ca/parks/info/planning/grandview-park/index.htm) do not reveal a yuppie-designeddreamland of Lululemon outlets and Starbucks, whereonce a Proudhonist utopia prospered. It looks to melike a park. Some trees gone, some new ones added.More open, less private. Police have been slashing atthe shrubbery to improve their sight lines for years.

The conflict is much more about the socialthan it is the physical character of Grandview Park.It is one of many flashpoints of struggle over whatkind of community Commercial Drive is becoming.And while more seating around the cenotaph maynot be a harbinger of gentrification, the surroundingneighborhood is deep in its throws.

Charles Demers says in VancouverSpecial: “Every now and again, shifting plates fromthe various, sedimentary layers of CommercialDrive’s social geology bump up against each other.”But class is the fault line and this debate representsthe Big One of neighbourhood political seismology.

Grandview Park: Fights at the Monkey Bars| by Garth Mullins

This community is the historic sanctuary ofan embattled Left; home of communists, tradeunionists, anarchists and radicals of all kinds fromaround the world. La Quena was a collective locat-ed at 1111 Commercial Drive. After more than 10years of lively debate, vegan burritos and CSIS infil-tration, it closed, giving way to an upscale yoga stu-dio. The Pofi bar, a longstanding tradition whereone could get a proper drink at almost any hour andplay chess all day with no minimum charge shuffledoff (with a little help from bylaw enforcement) to bereplaced by a tasteful toyshop – no guns or Barbie,just educational toys. Local colour attracts a certaindemographic which then remakes the new worldover in the colourless palette it originally fled.

Some time in the ‘90s, the Drive became self-aware – conscious of its own caché. It may have beenUtne Reader’s “Most Hip Neighbourhood” list.Businesses started to go up market. Rent and property

values soared. Those who grew up in the area could notafford to stay. And its working class and leftist denizensstarted to feel less comfortable and more marginal.Traditional, pluralist community groups began to hem-orrhage influence to the Business ImprovementAssociation agenda. Many now feel as if there is a bat-tle for the soul of Commercial Drive. It is becoming morea site of consumption than of cultural, artistic and politi-cal production. Such forces coexist uneasily at the bestof times, but once understood as a target market ratherthan a neighbourhood, the balance begins to shift.Fortunately, the Drive is well equipped to resist.

People tell me that Kitsilano used to bereally cool in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Anger about thepark is also fear that the Kits of today will be theCommercial Drive of tomorrow.

The end product is not so much a problem asthe process. Closing the park for eight months displacesa marginalized community that has little in the way ofresources or space. This is like me deciding to redeco-rate your living room (and kitchen and bedroom) andkicking you out until the spring. You complain, but I tellyou that you should have been at the meeting where Ichose the wallpaper last year. The end result might notbe so bad, except that I will remove your curtains for bet-ter “sight lines,” but that doesn’t help you now.

How we make decisions and treat marginalizedpeoples go to the heart of what this community is about.

LOCAL

Many welcome the remaking of Commercial drive in the image of a wealthier, consumer driven enclave. New neighbours and new wine bars need a new, shinierGrandview Park.

The Agora | 18

Argentina has become a giant experiment in farm-ing genetically modified (GM) Roundup Ready(RR) soy, engineered to be tolerant to Roundup,Monsanto’s formulation of the herbicideglyphosate. The Argentine government, eager topull the country out of a deep economic recessionin the 1990s, restructured its economy around GMsoy grown for export, most of which goes to feedlivestock in Europe. In 2009, GM soy was plantedon 19 million hectares - over half of Argentina’scultivated land - and sprayed with 200 million litresof glyphosate herbicide [1]. Spraying is often car-ried out from the air, causing problems of drift.

In 2002, two years after the first big har-vests of RR soy in the country, residents and doc-tors in soy producing areas began reporting seri-ous health effects from glyphosate spraying,including high rates of birth defects as well asinfertility, stillbirths, miscarriages, and cancers [2].Environmental effects include killed food crops andlivestock and streams strewn with dead fish [2, 3].

One of the first medical doctors to reportproblems from glyphosate spraying of GM soywas Dr Darío Gianfelici, from Cerrito, Entre Ríos,Argentina. According to Gianfelici, there are twolevels of toxic effects from glyphosate: acuteeffects, such as vomiting, diarrhoea, respiratory

problems, and skin rashes; and chronic effects,which take 10–20 years to show up. Theseinclude infertility and cancer [4].

Gianfelici said [4]: “Our town experienceddrastic changes before and after soy. I’ve seenpeople die from cancer at age 30. I have wit-nessed pregnancy problems and a significantincrease in fertility problems. I have seen anincrease in respiratory diseases, as has neverbeen seen before.

“GM soy has been a death sentence forhumans and for the environment. No money cancompensate for the damage that has beencaused – the contamination, the deaths, thecases of cancer and malformations.”

Reports of birth defects in glyphosate-sprayed areasof Argentina gained scientific credibility in 2009, whensenior Argentine government scientist Prof. AndrésCarrasco went public with his research findings, fullypublished a year later [1], that glyphosate causesmalformations in frog and chicken embryos at dosesfar lower than those used in agricultural spraying (see[5] Lab Study Establishes Glyphosate Link to BirthDefects, SiS 48). “The findings in the lab are compati-

ble with malformations observed in humans exposedto glyphosate during pregnancy,” said Carrasco [6], “Isuspect the toxicity classification of glyphosate is toolow ... in some cases this can be a powerful poison.”

At a recent conference, Carrasco, professorand director of the Laboratory of MolecularEmbryology, University of Buenos Aires MedicalSchool and lead researcher of the National Councilof Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET),said a frequent result of malformations in humanembryos is miscarriage. He said that it was now notunusual for women in GM soy producing regions ofArgentina to have up to five miscarriages in a row [7].

The research findings of Carrasco andhis colleagues were not welcomed by some sec-

tors of government and industry. After heannounced them, four people from Argentina’scrop protection trade association CASAFE weresent to try to search his laboratory and he was“seriously told off” by Lino Barrañao, Argentina’sscience and technology minister [6].

Things took a violent turn in 2010, when anorganized mob of thugs attacked people who gath-ered to hear Carrasco talk in La Leonesa, an agri-

Argentina'sRoundup Human Tragedy

Ten years of GM soy and glyphosate poisoning

have escalated the rates of cancer and birth defects.

| by Claire Robinson

| GM soy a death sentence for humans and the environment

| Scientists corroborate birth defects & threatened by organised mob

The Agora | 19

cultural town that has become a centre for activismagainst agrochemical spraying of soy and ricecrops. Three people were seriously injured.Carrasco and a colleague shut themselves in a carand were surrounded by people making violentthreats and beating the car for two hours [8].Witnesses said the attack was organized by localofficials and a local rice producer to protect the eco-nomic interests behind local agro-industry. AmnestyInternational has called for an investigation.

Based on Carrasco’s findings and other reportsof health problems from spraying, theEnvironmental Lawyers Association of Argentinapetitioned the Supreme Court of Argentina to banthe use of glyphosate (see [9] GlyphosateHerbicide Could Cause Birth Defects, SiS 43).But such is Argentina’s dependence on the GMsoy farming model that Guillermo Cal, executivedirector of CASAFE, said [6] a ban would mean“we couldn’t do agriculture in Argentina”. In addi-tion, the cash-strapped Argentine governmentrelies heavily on tariffs levied on soy exports andis protective of the industry.

No national ban on glyphosate has yetbeen implemented. But in March 2010, justmonths after the release of Carrasco’s findings, alawsuit brought by sprayed residents resulted ina regional court banning the spraying of agro-chemicals near populated areas of Santa Feprovince [10]. The ruling was revolutionary in thatit implemented the precautionary principle andreversed the burden of proof [11]. No longer doresidents have to prove that agrochemical spray-ing causes harm, but the government and soyproducers have to prove it is safe.

Viviana Peralta, a housewife, instigatedthe lawsuit. She and her family were hospitalizedfollowing aerial spraying near her home. Hernewborn baby had turned blue and Peralta her-self suffered respiratory problems. Peralta said,“When I saw my baby like that, I said [11],“Enough. This cannot go on.” ”

Shortly after the residents’ court victory, a com-mission of the provincial government of Chacostate reported that between 2000 and 2009,the rate of childhood cancers tripled in LaLeonesa and the birth defects increased nearlyfourfold over the entire province [12]. Thesestaggering rises in disease coincided with theexpansion of the agricultural frontier intoChaco province and the resulting rise in agro-chemical use. The commission identified themain problem as glyphosate and other agro-chemicals applied to “transgenic crops, whichrequire aerial and ground spraying (dusting)with agrochemicals”. A member of the Chacocommission, who did not want to be identifieddue to the “tremendous pressures” they wereunder, said [13], “all those who signed the reportare very experienced in the subject under study,but rice and soy planters are strongly pressuringthe government. We don’t know how this will end,as there are many interests involved.”

Speaking at a conference, Carrasco noted theirony that Argentina’s people are suffering fromthe production of a commodity (GM soy) destinedfor Europe, which European consumers do notwant [7]. Europe imports around 38 milliontonnes of soy per year [14], much of which is GMsoy sprayed with glyphosate. Because of con-sumer resistance to GM, most of it ends up hid-den in animal feed.

Carrasco found malformations in frogand chicken embryos injected with 2.03 mg/kgglyphosate – nearly ten times lower than themaximum residue limit (MRL) for glyphosateallowed in soy in the EU (20 mg/kg) [15].Soybeans have been found to contain glyphosateresidues at levels up to 17mg/kg [16].

Defenders of glyphosate may say thatthese figures do not show a risk to consumers,because embryos are designed to keep toxinsout. However, studies show that the added ingre-dients (adjuvants) in Roundup make cell mem-branes more permeable to glyphosate, increasingits toxicity to cells [17, 18].

Even without soy, glyphosate is allaround us. Apart from its use in agriculture,Roundup is marketed to home gardeners as safe

to use around children and pets. It is sprayed onschoolyards and verges by local authorities. Themyth of Roundup’s safety persists despite twocourt rulings forcing Monsanto to withdraw adver-tising claims that Roundup is biodegradable andenvironmentally friendly [19, 20].

In reality, the research of Carrasco’s team is thelatest in a long list of peer-reviewed studiesshowing dangers to health and the environmentfrom glyphosate. Many of these studies are col-lected in a new report co-authored by nine inter-national scientists [21], “GM Soy: Sustainable?Responsible”. The report challenges claims ofsustainability for GM soy and the glyphosate her-bicide on which it relies. Published by GLS Bank,Germany and ARGE Gentechnik-frei, Austria’sGM-free industry association, the report hasbeen released together with the powerful testi-monies of Argentine people affected byglyphosate spraying on GM soy [22].

Carrasco remains humble about hisstudy, saying [11], “The origin of my work is mycontact with the communities victimized by agro-chemical use. They are the irrefutable proof ofmy research.” So the final word on the claimedsafety of glyphosate and other agrochemicalssprayed on GM soy must go to Peralta. She said[11]: “I do not know about chemistry, I did not goto university, but I know what my whole family

has suffered. To people who are not familiar withthis model of agriculture, I say: Do not trust thesecompanies. Reject agrochemicals. Do it for thelife of your children.”

1. Paganelli A, Gnazzo V, Acosta H, Lopez SLand Carrasco AD. Glyphosate-based herbicidesproduce teratogenic effects on vertebrates byimpairing retinoic acid signalling. Chem ResToxicol, August 9.

2. Gianfelici, D.R. 2009. La Soja, La Salud y LaGente.

3. Branford, S. 2004. Argentina’s Bitter Harvest.New Scientist, April 17, 40-43. id=95

4. Dr Darío Gianfelici, Interview by Darío Aranda,August 2010.

5. Ho MW. Lab study establishes link to birthdefects. Science in Society 48 (to appear).

6. Webber, J., Weitzman, H. 2009. Argentinapressed to ban crop chemical after health con-cerns. Financial Times, May 29.

7. Prof. Andrés Carrasco, speaking at the GMO-Free Regions Conference at the EuropeanParliament, Brussels (September 16–18, 2010)

8. Amnesty International. 2010. Argentina:Threats deny community access to research. 12August 2010. http://bit.ly/cJsqUR

9. Ho MW. Glyphosate herbicide could cause

birth defects. Science in Society 43, 36, 2009.

10. Romig, S. 2010. Argentina court blocks agro-chemical spraying near rural town. Dow JonesNewswires, March 17. http://bit.ly/cg2AgG

11. Dario Aranda, Interview with Viviana Peralta,instigator of the lawsuit, August 2010.

12. Comision Provincial de Investigación deContaminantes del Agua. 2010. Primer informe.Resistencia, Chaco. April. Report available inoriginal Spanish:http://www.gmwatch.eu/files/Chaco_Government_Report_Spanish.pdf or in English translation:http://www.gmwatch.eu/files/Chaco_Government_Report_English.pdf

13. Aranda, D. 2010. La salud no es lo primero

en el modelo agroindustrial. Pagina12, June 14.http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-147561-2010-06-14.html

14. Cert ID. Cert ID Certified ‘Non-GMO’ Soy Mealand Other Soy Products: Volumes Available fromSouth America. Porto Alegre, Brazil, July 14, 2008.

15. Pesticide residues in food – 1997: Report.Report of the Joint Meeting of the FAO Panel ofExperts on Pesticide Residues in Food and theEnvironment and the WHO Core AssessmentGroup on Pesticide Residues. Lyons, France, 22September – 1 October 1997.http://www.fao.org/docrep/w8141e/w8141e0u.htm

16. Pesticide residues in food – 2005. Report of theJoint Meeting of the FAO Panel of Experts onPesticide Residues in Food and the Environmentand the WHO Core Assessment Group on PesticideResidues, Geneva, Switzerland, 20–29 September.FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper 183, 7.

17. Haefs R, Schmitz-Eiberger M, Mainx HG,Mittelstaedt W, Noga G. Studies on a new groupof biodegradable surfactants for glyphosate. PestManag. Sci. 2002. 58, 825–33.

18. Marc J, Mulner-Lorillon O, Boulben S, HureauD, Durand G, Bellé R. Pesticide Roundup pro-vokes cell division dysfunction at the level ofCDK1/cyclin B activation. Chem Res Toxicol.2002, 15, 326–31.

19. Attorney General of the State of New York,Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau,Environmental Protection Bureau. 1996. In thematter of Monsanto Company, respondent.Assurance of discontinuance pursuant to execu-tive law §63(15). New York, NY, Nov. Falseadvertising by Monsanto regarding the safety ofRoundup herbicide (glyphosate).http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Monsanto-v-AGNYnov96.htm

20. Monsanto fined in France for “false” herbicideads. Agence France Presse, 26 Jan 2007.http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/arti-cle_4114.cfm

21. Antoniou M., Brack P, Carrasco, A., Fagan,J., Habib, M., Kageyama, P., Leifert, C.,Nodari, R., Pengue, W. 2010. GM Soy:Sustainable? Responsible? GLSGemeinschaftsbank and ARGE Gentechnik-frei. Download full report and summary from:http://bit.ly/9D9J2k. At the time of writing, thefull report is available in English orPortuguese, but will soon be available inFrench, German, and Spanish translations.

22. Interviews with Argentine people affected byglyphosate spraying, conducted in August 2010by journalist Dario Aranda, are available here:http://www.gmwatch.eu/component/content/arti-cle/12479-reports-reports

| Revolutionary ruling ban agrochemical sprays

| State commission reports birth defects up fourfold in ten years

| Embryonic defects at well below legal exposure levels

| Long list of peer-reviewed studies document glyphosate toxicities

| References

continued....

The Agora | 20

IN PREVIOUS ARTICLES I wrote for The AgoraNational, I described various tenets of TheZeitgeist Movement, a less-than-two-year oldsocial movement in avocation of broad socialchanges that entail the redesign of our culture. Ineffect, we are an educational campaign of anotherorganization called The Venus Project dedicatedto establishing the scientific and technologicalunderstandings and sociological imperativesneeded for implementation of this new social sys-tem. The new social direction transcends the needfor the traditional institutions most people assumeto be necessary for 'civilization', while it insteadfocuses on a scientific-based understanding ofhow we align with nature, of which we are inti-mately tied to. If you are unfamiliar with theseorganizations, I invite you to visit: www.thezeit-geistmovement.com and/or www.thevenuspro-ject.com; or watch the groundbreaking documen-tary, Zeitgeist: Addendum, which can be viewedonline in various places (one of which is www.zeit-geistmovie.com).

The Venus Project could be summed upas the application of the scientific method forsocial and environmental concern. Today, we stilloperate in archaic social and economic structuresthat were developed centuries ago. Our techno-logical advancements have not been met with asufficiently equal progression in our social evolu-tion. The Venus Project aims to bring this tofruition. We have the technological capability tomove into a completely new system where ourbroadest social problems of war, poverty, environ-mental destruction, strategic corruption, crime,etc. are viewed not only as avoidable, but com-pletely unacceptable.

In this new social arrangement, termed aresource-based economy, the Earth's resourcesare declared as the common heritage of all theworld's people?eventually outgrowing the need forthe artificial boundaries that separate people.Anything less will result in the same catalogue ofproblems over and over again. It appears the realwealth of the planet is measured in the availableresources we have at hand, not money. Therefore,our most important focus should be on the intelli-gent management of the Earth's resources. Thebest method at our disposal to make objective,unbiased decisions, and thus to manage theseresources, is termed the scientific method. Natureoperates under strict laws and does not have thecapacity to recognize or care about what humanswish to believe is true. Thus, it is in our best inter-est to learn from and align with nature as best aswe can. This means reexamining our values andadjusting them accordingly.

One of the most common reactions bythose new to the resource-based economy con-cept is to assert that without the monetary system,

people will lack the necessary incentive that drivespeople to persevere in our current socioeconomicmodel. This article will examine the relevant evi-dence about what truly motivates human beings.

"Do this and you'll get that." These sixwords summarize our society's doctrine for raisingchildren, teaching students and managing work-ers. The monetary system has engraved this ideainto society so deeply that an inordinate portion ofthe population believes that the monetary incen-tive is an effective mechanism. Many claim that ifthere is no money, humans will just lie around andbe lazy. This is just sad.

First of all, the most powerful contributionsto society came from those who were truly inter-

ested in social progress, not detached monetarygain. Einstein, Galileo, Newton, The WrightBrothers and Tesla were individuals genuinelyconcerned with solving problems and improvingsociety rather than simply detached monetarygain. "The idea that everybody wants money ispropaganda circulated by wealth addicts to makethemselves feel better about their addiction." Inactuality, there is often mistrust for individuals whoare entirely motivated by the profit incentive,

whether it be salesman, stock brokers, business-men or those in almost any other field. It is saidthat money produces incentive; this may be true toa limited extent, but it also produced a propensityfor greed, embezzlement, violent crime, stress,economic hardship, and insecurity (just to name afew). To be fair, it is simple to understand whysome may claim that the absence of money woulderase motivation, for in this society, most peopledislike or contemptibly abhor their jobs - which is,again, simple to understand since this society con-demns many of us to monotonous, arbitrary,meaningless, rote professions that do not exercisepeople's minds, nor contribute to social well-beingin any tangible way other than to serve thedetached-from-nature economic paradigm. If suchoccupations were not required and human beingswere free to pursue their genuine interests, wouldnot incentive shift from being externally manipulat-ed to internally motivated?

In the mid-1990s, a Gallop poll was con-ducted which found that over 50% of Americanadults (94 million) volunteered time for socialcauses, at an average of 4.2 hours per week, for20.5 billion hours per year! Even with the corrup-tion generating, detachment promoting, and blind-ly self-serving sickness generated by the mone-tary system, human beings still strive to help one

another. The logical deduction from this finding isthat a social system that inherently supports andreinforces acts of reciprocation would drasticallyincrease these statistics. In a social system whichfrees people from arbitrary and socially meaning-less occupations; which provides goods and serv-ices to everyone without a price a tag; and wheremental development is the highest priority, theincentives would change. In a resource-basedeconomy, everyone is raised to his or her highestpotential in order to become a contributor, greatlyenhancing our social evolution and raising every-one's standard of living.

Such an environment would allow intrinsicmotivation (liking what you do) to flourish. The use of

rewards, whether it is money, grades, praise or otherbribes, to control people's behaviour is a practicethat is widely accepted and exercised, but rarelychallenged. Extrinsic motivators, controlling sourcesthat come from outside the individual, are the pre-ferred way to manipulate behaviour in the class-room, at home when raising children, in the work-place, and in society at large as the dominating workethic. Similar to the use of punishment and threat (which I

will discuss later) to elicit mindless obedience, offer-ing rewards may provoke temporary compliance.However, the longer-term effectiveness of extrinsicmotivation does not hold up under close scrutiny.

To better understand the effectiveness of(or lack thereof) rewards, we must first pose a fewpreliminary questions.

Firstly, for whom or what are rewardseffective? It is easy to see the attractiveness ofrewards and punishment, as it requires very little effortfor the person, group or institution seeking a particu-lar behaviour. Such a disposition ignores understand-ing the environment that affects motivation. It opts foran approach that precludes working with people,while instead focuses on doing things to people.

For how long are rewards effective,and at what are rewards effective? As sociolo-gist Alfie Kohn explains in an article entitled TheRisk of Rewards, "Studies over many years havefound that behavior modification programs arerarely successful at producing lasting changes inattitudes or even behavior. When the rewardsstop, people usually return to the way they actedbefore the program began." For example, TheCandle Problem, a cognitive performance testoriginally devised in 1945 by psychologist KarlDuncker, challenged participants on how to fix alighted candle on a wall in a way that the candle

wax was prevented from dripping onto the table.To do so, the only materials allowed were the can-dle, a book of matches and a box of thumbtacks.The solution is simply to empty the box of thumb-tacks, place the candle in the box, secure the boxto the wall with the thumbtacks, and light the can-dle with a match. Sam Glucksberg, professor ofpsychology at Princeton University, originally con-ducted an experiment where he divided partici-pants into two groups, assigning both to solve TheCandle Problem. One of the groups was offered acash incentive if they solved the problem fasterthan the average person who took the test. Theother group received no reward. The group whoreceived the reward took, on average, three and a

Incentive and Motivation

Today, we still operate in archaic social

and economic structures that were developed centuries ago.

Our technological advancments have not been met with a sufficiently

equal progression in our social evolution.

The most powerful contributions to society came from those who were truly interested in socialprogress, not detached monetary gain.

| by Matthew C. Berkowitz

Many claim that if there is no money, humans will just lie around and be lazy. This is just sad.

The Agora | 21

half minutes longer to solve the problem. This ismerely one example amongst an overwhelmingbody of research that has been replicated overand over, demonstrating the futility and harm ofrewards (and extrinsic motivation in general).

Kohn further elaborates, "Indeed, extrinsicmotivators do not alter the emotional or cognitivecommitments that underlie behavior--at least notin a desirable direction. A child promised a treat forlearning or acting responsibly has been givenevery reason to stop doing so when there is nolonger a reward to be gained."4 It is simple tounderstand why-rewarding shifts people's focusfrom the behaviour to the reward itself. It is result-oriented rather than process-oriented, a recipethat ensures disinterest, lowered creativity andsuboptimal efficiency.

So, do rewards motivate people? Certainly.They motivate people to obtain the rewards.However, this extrinsic motivation usually comes atthe price of deteriorating interest and excellence atwhatever is being done. Here are a few more cen-tral reasons why rewards ultimately fail:

• 1 Rewards Punish: The underlying assumptions about conventional par-enting, teaching and workplace management are thatthere are two dispositions: positive reinforcement viarewards, and punitive responses. However, theresearch clearly demonstrates that rewards and pun-ishments are not opposites-as Kohn denotes, "theyare two sides of the same coin, and it is a coin thatdoes not buy very much." Kurt Lewin, founder ofmodern social psychology, explains that rewards andpunishment are used when we wish to elicit "a type ofbehaviour which the natural field forces of the

moment will not produce." In fact, research showsthat positive relationships exist between the use ofrewards and punishments amongst both elementaryschool teachers and parents. Furthermore, the ces-sation of rewards that were required to induce abehaviour in the first place can appear to have anidentical effect as punishment.

• 2 Rewards Destroy Relationships:Rewards connote, by their very definition, the dis-ruption of cooperative learning, and they are mostdestructive when made artificially scarce. Whenonly a few children in a class are awarded goldstars, everyone is turned into a competitor-anobstacle to others' success. (I will be doing a sub-sequent article on the colossal detriments of com-petition.) The same logic can be applied to class-es where students are graded on a bell curve.Similarly, when collective rewards are offered-thatis, the issuance of a reward is made dependent oneveryone's performance-a person or group ismuch more likely to be blamed as the partyresponsible for the failure to obtain the reward inquestion, thus rupturing relationships. Distrust andstress tend to flourish in such a system.

• 3 Rewards Ignore Reasons:A child is "misbehaving"; a worker is performing poorquality work; a student is unmotivated to learn-theseare many of the situations in which we are inclinedto offer rewards, in an attempt to correct what isgoing wrong. The problem is that the rewards donothing to address the true underlying causes aboutwhy the trouble has occurred in the first place (simi-lar to the way in which laws do not address the rootcauses of criminal behaviour). It is simple to recog-

nize why this approach is used-it requires little efforton behalf of the intervener. (The exact same line ofreasoning can be applied to punishment.)

The implications of all this research is that ourschools, our workplaces and in fact, our entireeconomic system are predicated on a motivation-al structure that is backward. It is a structure thatis ineffective at best, and socially crippling atworst. It is a structure that, as far as this authorcan contemplate, cannot disconnect from themonetary system. Instead, it necessitates themonetary incentive's removal, and is simply anoth-er reason for why the monetary system must beremoved holistically.

In a resource-based economy, people'smotivation will not be corrupted by an artificialmonetary mechanism; instead, the social envi-ronment will encourage an overwhelmingly pos-itive value system, one that we probably cannoteven fathom in our society today. Furthermore,in such an economic system, technology will beharnessed to its full potential, emancipatinghuman labour from the laborious, mindlesstasks that we are presently forced to endure. Iwill not go into detail about this aspect here;however, let me emphasize that an environmentwhere arduous, demeaning toil is absent, intrin-sic motivation flourishes.

It is mankind's responsibility to system-atically question every part of tradition we havebeen inculcated with since birth, lest we fall vic-tim to deleterious practices that cripple ourpotential as a species. Our archaic beliefsabout what effectively and healthily motivatespeople are no exception.

continued....

1 Philip Slater, Wealth Addiction. New York: Dutton, 1980, p. 252 U.S. Workers Hate Their Jobs More Than Ever: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257345,00.html3 Hodgkinson & Weitzman, Giving and Volunteering in the United States: Findings from a National Survey, 1992, p24 Kohn, Alfie. The Risk of Rewards, 1994. http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/ror.htm5 Daniel Biella and Wolfram Luther. "A Synthesis Model for the Replication of Historical Experiments in Virtual Environments". 5th European Conference on e-Learning.Academic Conferences Limited. pp. 23. ISBN 97819053053086 Kohn, Alfie. Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's , Praise, and Other Bribes. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993, p.507 Lewin, 1935, p. 153.8 Newby, 1991, p. 1979 Sears et al., 1957, p. 324

The drug industry is constantly trying to con-vince you that drugs are good for your healthwhile nutritional supplements and healthy foodsare somehow bad for you. This same line ofnonsense is also repeated by the FDA, whichgoes out of its way to censor the truth about thehealing properties of natural foods like walnuts,cherries and berries.

The drug industry and the FDA are, ofcourse, just plain wrong about all this. Althoughtheir advertisements show happy, healthy peo-ple taking pharmaceuticals, in the real world,

people who take theirdrugs are extremelyunhealthy, depressedand highly toxic.

But don't take myword for it: Check out thepeople walking in and outof pharmacies versus thepeople who visit healthfood stores:

• People who visit phar-macies tend to havetoxic livers, poor kidneyfunction (because drugsdamage the kidneys),wild mood swings, terri-ble digestion and elimi-nation capabilities, poor

skin health, poor posture, low energy, sleep dis-orders and sexual dysfunction. They tend to besuicidal while living in chronic pain. They havehuge medical expenses that often send theminto bankruptcy.

• People who visit health food stores tend to havehealthy skin, happier outlooks, better energy, bet-ter sex lives, healthy sleep, healthy hearts, healthyliver function and greatly improved brain function.They are more creative, adaptable and optimistic,and they tend to enjoy their lives. They spend rel-

atively little on health care expenses while invest-ing their money in organic foods, green products,medicinal herbs and nutritional supplements.

Keeping you ignorantWhat the drug industry and the FDA absolutely doNOT want you to learn is that healing foods, herbsand supplements make virtually all pharmaceuti-cals obsolete. If you really knew the truth aboutwhat these items can do to protect your health andcure degenerative disease, you'd probably nevertake another chemical pill in your life. That's whythe FDA works so hard to censor nutritional sup-plements and make sure they can't make truthful,scientifically-validated claims on their labels.

Change your decisions and you'll change your lifeIt's up to you to determine how the rest of your

life will be experienced. If you continue to findyourself standing in line at the local pharmacy,or if you look in your medicine cabinet andnotice a half-dozen prescriptions, let that be awake-up call. These drugs will never give youhealth or happiness. They will never create thelife you're truly looking for.

Instead, take a walk to the other side ofthe street. Walk into a health food store. Ask thefriendly staff how to get started with healthy living.These people are incredibly helpful, by the way, sodon't be afraid to ask questions.

Pharmacies vs. Health Food Stores| by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com

The Agora | 22

THE INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB was down-right amazing when it was invented in 1809 byHumphry Davy. Nope, it wasn't invented byThomas Edison -- that's just another American his-tory lie, much like the stories about ChristopherColumbus "discovering" America and being somesort of upstanding hero. In truth, he and his menwere butchers who committed numerous atrocitiesagainst the Native Americans (see The People'sHistory of the United States by Howard Zinn). Notethat the U.S. government continues to celebrateColumbus Day every year -- a fitting holiday forthe only nation in the world to have ever droppednuclear bombs on a civilian population. Twice.

U.S. history is largely a collection of polit-ically convenient lies, and the story of the inven-tion of the light bulb by Thomas Edison is just oneof many such distortions. Read the timeline of thehistory of the incandescent light bulb here:http://inventors.about.com/library/...

Unfortunately, very little has changed aboutthe light bulb since the turn of the 20th century. Thedevice still wastes 95 percent of the electricity itconsumes. And thanks to a deliberate design bymanufacturers to encourage repeat sales (i.e. theyare deliberately engineered to burn out), light bulbsstill burn out after about 1,000 hours, requiring con-sumers to toss them into the garbage and buy newones. (It's true: Light bulbs were invented in 1991that last 60,000 hours, but companies refuse tomass produce them, since repeat sales of lightbulbs would plummet. The bulbs sold to consumerstoday are designed to self-destruct.)

Incandescent lights are a safety hazard(glass shards, anyone?) and an environmentalhazard, since they produce massive carbon diox-ide emissions from the coal power plants used topower these bulbs. They're incredibly cheap topurchase up front, but astonishingly expensive touse over time. A typical incandescent light bulb isten times more expensive to operate than an LEDlight bulb. It also produces ten times as much car-bon dioxide that contributes to global warming.Want to warm the climate? Turn on the lights!

So why, then, are so many people still usingincandescent light bulbs? Primarily because theyhave no idea what it costs to actually operate them.The fact that these light bulbs are secretly slippingdollars out of your pocket every time they're usedseems to go unnoticed by most consumers. All theysee is the price tag at the store. And there, incan-descent lights look really cheap.

The $500 incandescent light bulbBut what if the price of the light bulb at the store

included the entire cost of the electricity needed toactually power the light bulb? If that incandescentlight bulb actually lasted 50,000 hours like LED lightsdo, the cost of buying the bulb together with all theelectricity needed to power it would be a whopping$500!. Would you pay $500 for a light bulb?

Of course, incandescent lights don't last50,000 hours. They last only about 1,000. Whichmeans you have to buy fifty bulbs, replace themfifty times and throw fifty burned out bulbs in thegarbage, all while still paying nearly $500 in elec-tricity anyway. In other words, paying for 50,000worth of light from an incandescent light bulb actu-ally costs MORE than $500!

That's no bargain. Not by a long shot.Especially when a $100 ten-watt LED light bulb canoperate for 50,000 hours using only about $54 in elec-tricity. (We're assuming 10 cents per kilowatt-hour forthese calculations. Folks in California are paying a lotmore than that, but in some states, it's less...)

Would you rather pay $500 for light, or$154? If you love overpaying for stuff, and destroy-ing the environment, and piling more garbage ontolandfill, then keep buying incandescent light bulbs!They will raise your electricity bills, fill your trashwith shards of glass, use up natural resources andaccelerate global warming faster than any otherlight source on the planet today.

Are Compact Fluorescent Lights the answer?But what about CFLs? Everybody's crazy aboutCFLs all of a sudden, it seems. People know thatCFLs use only about 1/3rd the electricity of incan-descent lights. Of course, they flicker and hum,and they take a long time to warm up, but they dosave on electricity compared to the extremely inef-ficient incandescent light bulb. So what's not tolike about CFLs? Mercury, for one thing.

All fluorescent lights contain mercury,period. It's the dirty little secret of the CFL indus-try. This is mercury brought into your home, and ifyou break a fluorescent light in your home, you arereleasing a powerful neurotoxic heavy metal inyour home! Birth defects, neurodegenerative dis-eases, developmental disorders, dementia...these have all been linked to mercury exposure.It's not even debated in the scientific literature.Even doctors readily admit that mercury isextremely toxic to the human body. (Dentists, ofcourse, remain in bewildering denial and continueto place mercury fillings into the mouths of chil-dren, seemingly oblivious to the neurotoxicity ofthis extremely dangerous heavy metal...)

There's enough mercury in a single fluorescentlight bulb to contaminate 7,000 gallons of fresh water.

I cringe to think about how much water couldbe contaminated by the recent fluorescent light give-away programs hosted by big box retailers like TheHome Depot, which gave away an astonishing 1 mil-lion fluorescent lights containing approximately 3 mil-lion mg of mercury (that's a whopping 3 kilograms ofmercury!). And on what day did they choose to dis-tribute these toxic light bulbs all across the country?Earth Day, of course! (It would all be rolling-on-the-floor hilarious if not for all the deformed babies thatwill probably result from widespread mercury con-tamination of our environment...)

So why are people rushing out to buy mer-cury light bulbs and place them in their homes?Because no one told them about the mercury,that's why! Of the hundreds of consumers I'vetalked to about this issue, very few (less than 4%)were aware of the mercury in fluorescent lightbulbs. Sure, it's printed in microscopic text on thepackaging of CFLs, but nobody reads that.

So most consumers keep on buying mer-cury light bulbs and bringing them right into theirhomes and communities, oblivious to the extreme-ly hazardous materials found inside each light. Ilaunched www.EcoLEDs.com because I wanted toprovide an eco-friendly alternative to toxic CFLsand wasteful incandescent lights. My aim is toeducate consumers about the advantages of LEDlights and make them so popular that even Wal-Mart starts selling them, putting my own companyout of business.

I will only consider EcoLEDs.com a mean-ingful success when LED lights are sold at massmerchandisers and incandescent lights become athing of the past. I hope The Home Depot stopsgiving away toxic fluorescent lights and starts sell-ing LED lights instead.

Isn't it interesting how the U.S. govern-ment requires Energy Saver statistics to beprinted on washing machines, dryers and otherhousehold appliances, but NOT on incandes-cent light bulbs (which are, by any measure, theleast efficient household appliances of all)? Ithink we should start with mandated labelingthat shows the lifetime cost of each bulb sold atretail so that consumers can start to see the dif-ferent in the total cost of ownership right thereat the point of purchase.

That would, for the first time, make con-sumers acutely aware of what it costs them tooperate a light bulb, not to even mention the costto the planet.

But can people do math anymore?Of course, all this requires that consumers canactually follow basic math... or even read labels,for that matter. And given the fact that even manyhigh school graduates today are functionality illit-erate (and mathematically inept), there will alwaysbe a few stragglers left behind, buying incandes-cent light bulbs along with Kraft Macaroni andCheese, Doritos and Diet Coke. These are theignorant masses that can't read labels, don'tunderstand math, and are primarily interested insurviving to their next paycheck. Ultimately, if weare going to save our planet and human civiliza-tion from self-induced climate change chaos, weare going to have to do something about our pub-lic education system, too.

Why are we teaching high school studentsuseless geometry theorems while neglecting toteach them how to read labels while shopping atthe grocery store? Why are we teaching algebrabut not how to estimate a 10 percent waiter's tip inyour head? Our public education system is a mas-sive failure, and if it weren't for the courageoussacrifices of the front-line teachers, counselors andschool workers trying to make a difference, wewould have no functional education system at all.It's time for massive reforms in this country; both inpublic education and energy usage. Changing lightbulbs to LED lights is one of many ways to startmaking a different right now, but accomplishing itrequires that the population can grasp conceptssuch as total cost of ownership.

Here's a joke for ya: How many lawmakers does it

take to change a light bulb?

Answer: Only one, but there has to be a corporate

sponsor to pay for it first.

The Amazing Light Bulb| by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com

The Agora | 23

Asteroid to skim past Earthwww.telegraph.co.uk Reported:

“The giant rock, which is 20ft (6m)wide, will come its closest shortlybefore midday, though astronomersare not sure what its exactpath will be.”

“But experts, who namedthe asteroid 2010TD54, said thatdespite passing very close to theplanet it would not enter the atmos-phere, and that even if it did it wouldburn up before reaching the ground.”

“Nasa’s Asteroid Watch said onTwitter: “Small space rocks this sizewould burn up in our atmosphere &pose no ground danger.”

“The group added that a“moderate telescope” would berequired to make out the rock, whichwill at times be closer to Earth thansome satellites, and significantlynearer than the moon.”

“Emily Baldwin, of AstronomyNow, told The Times: “Fortunately itseems this one will miss us. But it is areminder that the Earth is still in themiddle of a cosmic shooting galleryand we need to keep constant watchfor incoming asteroids”.”

Beck Aides Try To Debunk Diet Coke Dangers

rense.com Reported:

“It’s hard to believe after threedecades of controversy on aspartameanyone would even question the factthat aspartame is a chemical poison.”

“In reality, it is an addictive,excitoneurotoxic, carcinogenic, genet-ically-engineered drug and adjuvantthat damages the mitochondria andinteracts with drugs and vaccines.”

“The medical text, AspartameDisease: An Ignored Epidemic, www.sun-sentpress.com by H. J. Roberts, M.D., isover 1000 pages of symptoms, cancers,neurodegenerative diseases and otherhorrors triggered or precipitated by thispoison. It has a chapter on the eyes andhow it triggers eye diseases and blind-ness. In 1986 James Turner, Washington,D.C. attorney and the CommunityNutrition Institute petitioned the FDA toban aspartame because so many weregoing blind and having seizures.”

“The movie being mentionedbelow is “Sweet Misery: A PoisonedWorld”, www.soundandfury. tv and tellsthe whole story of how a product was sopoisonous the FDAtried to have the man-ufacturer indicted for fraud and revokedthe petition for approval. That is untilDonald Rumsfeld stepped in, “called in hismarkers” and using political chicanery gota deadly poison on the market.

“Beck’s sidekicks need to dosome homework and be more con-cerned about the health of Glenn Beck.In 1999 I was on the Debra Duncanshow in Texas along with victims likeMary Reiff who was declared legallyblind on aspartame, Dr. Sandra Cabot,and Attorney Ed Johnson who workedin the Justice Department before he suf-fered two aspartame brain tumors.Former FDA Investigator ArthurEvangelista also was on the programand Ermelle Martinez who would be aphysician today if she hadn’t gotten onaspartame and was diagnosed with MS.She is fine today off the poison.”

Google invests in $5 billionwind farm project

www.telegraph.co.uk Reported:

“The transmission lines, which could costup to $5 billion over the next 10 years,would run as far as 20 miles offshore fromVirginia to New Jersey. The initial phase ofthe project would be capable of delivering2,000 megawatts of wind energy –enough to power about 500,000 homes.”

“Google, which will own morethan a third of the project, has teamedup with other technologycompaniesand investment firms.”

Butterflies Cure Themselves with Plants

news.discovery.com Reported:

Monarch butterflies can cure themselvesand their offspring of disease by usingmedicinal plants, according to a newpaper in the journal Ecology Letters.

The disease is caused by aprotozoan parasite called Ophryocystiselektroscirrha. The parasite invadesthe gut of the caterpillars and then per-sists when the caterpillars becomeadult monarchs.

Project leader Jaap de Roodein eScience Commons today said,“We have shown that some species ofmilkweed, the larva’s food plants, canreduce parasite infection in the mon-archs. And we have also found thatinfected female butterflies prefer to laytheir eggs on plants that will make theiroffspring less sick, suggesting thatmonarchs have evolved the ability tomedicate their offspring.”

News BlitzWorld Headlines Of The Month

Are We Giving Our SoldiersDrugs That May Make Them

KillThemselves?www.alternet.org reported:

In 2009 there were 160 active duty sui-cides, 239 suicides within the total Armyincluding the Reserves, 146 active dutydeaths from drug overdoses and highrisk behavior and 1,713 suicide attempts.In addition to suicide, other out-of-char-acter behavior like domestic violence isknown to erupt from the drugs.

More troops are dying by theirown hand than in combat, according toan Army report titled "Health Promotion,Risk Reduction, Suicide Prevention." Notonly that, but 36 percent of the suicideswere troops who were never deployed.

The unprecedented suiciderates are accompanied by an unprece-dented rise in psychoactive drug rateamong active duty-aged troops, 18 to34, which is up 85 percent since 2003,according to the military health planTricare. Since 2001, 73,103 prescrip-tions for Zoloft have been dispensed,38,199 for Prozac, 17,830 for Paxil and12,047 for Cymbalta says Tricare 2009data, which includes family prescrip-tions. All of the drugs carry a suicidewarning label.

In addition to the leap in SSRIantidepressants, prescriptions for theanticonvulsants Topamax and Neurontinrose 56 percent in the same group since2005, says Navy Times -- drugs the FDAwarned last year double suicidal thinkingin patients.

In fact, 4,994 troops at FortBragg are on antidepressants rightnow, says the Fayetteville Observer.Six-hundred-sixty-four are on anantipsychotics and "many soldiers takemore than one type of medication."

Chilean miners rescued after69 days underground

www.reuters.com Reported:

One by one, the miners climbed intoa specially designed steel capsulebarely wider than a man's shouldersand took a 15-minute journey through2,050 feet of rock to the surface.

With 29 of the 33 miners freedin a rescue operation that advancedrapidly without hitches, officials expect-ed to have the remaining men out bythe end of the day instead of in 48 hoursas originally estimated.

Scenes of jubilation eruptedeach time a miner arrived to a hero'swelcome above the San Jose goldand copper mine in Chile's northernAtacama desert.

"It's dangerous to say but thingsare going extraordinarily well," ChileanHealth Minister Jaime Manalich said.

Antidepressant ineffective and potentially harmful

www.telegraph.co.uk

They discovered that reboxetine,marketed as Edronax by Pfizer, wasno more effective at counteringmajor depression than a placebosugar pill, after studying all availabledata on the drug.

In the study, published in theBritish Medical Journal today (WED),the German researchers found thatsome trials which failed to show rebox-etine worked well were not submittedfor publication by academic journals.

This, they said, was "a strik-ing example of publication bias" -where academics or drug companies

An 'Unprecedented' Bat Die-Off Could Devastate U.S.

Agriculturewww.dailyfinance.com Reported:

Most people don't love bats, but likegood health, you'll realize that you missthem after they're gone. Experts believemany species of bats may vanish prettysoon, and their disappearance couldbring profound and long-term changesnot only to the environment but also toagriculture, landscaping and gardeningacross North America.

For several years now, scientistshave been sounding alarms about a dev-astating fungus, White-Nose Syndrome(WNS), that has literally decimated batpopulations in the Northeastern U.S. Thefungus leaves a white substance on thebat's nose, wings and body, and disrupts

the bat's hibernation patterns, forcing it toburn through its fat reserves, which quick-ly leads to starvation. Earlier this year, asurvey of the bat population in NewJersey estimated that 90% of that state'sbats had been killed off.

"This is on a level unprece-dented, certainly in mammals," saysRick Adams, a biology professor at theUniversity of Northern Colorado and arenowned bat expert. "Amass extinctionevent, a thousand times higher thananything we've seen. It's going through[bat colonies] like wildfire, with 80% to100% mortality."

"The disease is absolutely dev-astating, it's unprecedented," says MyleaBayless, a biologist with Austin, Texas-based Bat Conservation International."It's causing population declines inwildlife that we haven't seen since thepassenger pigeon."

Bayless notes that bats haveslow reproductive rates, usually givingbirth to just one pup a year. So bat popu-lations, she says, are going to be veryslow to recover, "if they ever do recover."

The Agora | 24

decide not to publish unfavourableresults in peer-reviewed journals.

Overall, data on nearly threein four patients who took the drug wentunpublished, claimed the researchers,working for the German Institute forQuality and Efficiency in Health Care.

"Data on 74 per cent of thepatients included in our analysis wasunpublished, indicating that the pub-lished evidence on reboxetine so farhas been severely affected by publica-tion bias," they wrote.

If all the studies were takeninto account - both published andunpublished - then the evidenceshowed that the risks of taking the drugoutweighed the benefits.

Their analysis found thatthose who took reboxetine were morelikely to have "at least one adverseevent" than those given a placebo.However, there was no significant dif-ference in the rate of suicide attemptsbetween the two groups.

They noted that guidanceissued by Britain's National Institute forClinical Excellence (Nice), that "reboxe-tine is superior to placebo and as effec-tive as other antidepressants" was intheir opinion, a conclusion that "can nolonger be upheld".

Danube in danger: toxic timebombs from Soviet years

put region at riskwww.guardian.co.uk Reported:

From the Black Forest to the Black Sea,the Danube meanders for almost 1,800miles through 10 countries, its coursepunctuated by areas of great beauty andindustrial disasters waiting to happen.

The torrent of toxic sludgedevastating tracts of western Hungaryand the risk of heavy metals leachinginto the great waterway have high-lighted the dangers posed by the rust-ing heavy industrial plants lining theriver's banks.

In the past decade alone, ithas been accosted by Nato bombs, oilspills and cyanide poisoning. The neg-lect that appears to have been thesource of the problem at the Ajka tail-ings dam has environmentalists wor-ried that there are dozens of other "tick-ing toxic timebombs" primed toexplode and wreak havoc withEurope's biggest river basin.

"There are a string of disasterswaiting to happen at sites across theDanube basin," said a spokesman forthe World Wide Fund for Nature.

The organisation has used EUdata and studies to compile lists andmaps of pollution hot spots in theDanube area. Hungary has many vul-nerable industrial sites but so do Serbia,Romania and Bulgaria.

In Hungary, anxiety is focusedon another red sludge reservoir on thebanks of the Danube at Almasfuzito, 50miles north of Budapest. The wastehere is similarly produced by turningbauxite into aluminium. Seven poolshold 12m tonnes of hazardous waste,including an estimated 120,000 tonnesof heavy metals.

Merck Sponsored Study ReturnsDubious Gardasil Autoimmune

Safety ResultsTony Isaacs for NaturalNews.com:

Anew Merck funded study has concludedthat Merck's controversial Gardasil HPVvaccine poses no risk for developingautoimmune conditions. The conclusionscome as no surprise to those who haveseen self-serving results from previousMerck funded studies, many of which werelater proven false or misleading. Ironically,shortly after Merck announced the studyresults the FDAapproved the addition of anautoimmune related disease to the sideeffects listed for another HPV vaccine.

An article posted on September3 in Infectious Disease News reportedthat study data was presented at the50th Interscience Conference onAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapywhich showed that Merck's quadrivalenthuman papillomavirus vaccine(Gardasil) did not raise the risk for devel-oping autoimmune conditions. The studywas sponsored by Merck and conductedon behalf of the Gardasil Safety Team.

Ironically, only a day earlier onSeptember 2, a letter was issued by theFDA Department of Health and HumanServices to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals onSeptember 2, 2010, granting their requestto "add lymphadenopathy to the AdverseReactions" in the full prescribing informa-tion for their HPV vaccine Cervarix.

In Wikipedia lymphadenopathy isdescribed as "a term meaning 'disease ofthe lymph nodes.' It is, however, almostsynonymously used with 'swollen/enlargedlymph nodes'. It could be due to infection,auto-immune disease, or malignancy.Autoimmune etiology includes sarcoidosis,systemic lupus erythematosus, andrheumatoid arthritis all giving a generalizedlymphadenopathy."

Further casting doubt on theMerck study is the fact that thus far over300 events have been reported to theVaccine Adverse Event ReportingSystem (VAERS) where the vaccine isHPV or HPV4 (Gardasil) and the symp-tom is lymphadenopathy. NormaErickson, President of S.A.N.E Vax, Inc.,referred to the Merck funded study as"an outrageous excuse for a scientificstudy. There are over 60 autoimmunedisorders reported to VAERS and the 16least likely to exhibit (even with Gardasil)were chosen with percentages com-piled on only 11 of those - and they wereprobably randomly sampled."

The new study is hardly the firstMerck funded study that has vouched forthe safety of its pharmaceutical productswhich was later proven false. The mostblatant examples were the Merck fundedstudies on what came to be known as"the Vioxx Scandal". Besides self-serv-ing studies, Merck was found to also beguilty of hiding proof of harm, especiallyincreased risks of heart attack. Merckwas also found to have paid doctors andresearchers to put their names onpapers Merck wrote. Before Vioxx wasfinally pulled from the shelves over60,000 deaths were attributed to Vioxx.

Merck has invested hugeamounts of money and efforts to lobby gov-ernments in the U.S. and in other countriesto make HPV vaccinations mandatory foryoung school girls, and it has vigorouslymaintained that Gardasil is safe. Criticshave noted that the figures do not supportMerck's claims of safety.

For example, Gardasil caus-es 400% more deaths than othercommon vaccines.

G20 ‘Officer Bubbles’ suesYouTube and users over cartoons

The Toronto Star reported:

“When he first saw a video of a Torontoconstable threatening to arrest a G20protester for blowing bubbles, oneYouTube user was so livid, he couldn’tstop writing comments.” “In fact, theman, who uses the alias “theforcebe-withme,” can’t even remember writingthe specific comment that now has himdefending a $1.2 million defamationlawsuit launched by Toronto’s nownotorious ‘Officer Bubbles.’”

“Const. Adam Josephs seeksto compel the Google-owned YouTubeto reveal the identity of the person whocreated and posted the videos as wellas any information it has on the 24other users who made allegedlydefamatory remarks.”

Cancer ‘is purely man-made’say scientists after finding almost

no trace of disease in Egyptianmummies

dailymail.co.uk reported:

“Cancer is a man-made disease fuelledby the excesses of modern life, a studyof ancient remains has found.”“Tumours were rare until recent timeswhen pollution and poor diet becameissues, the review of mummies, fossilsand classical literature found.”

“A greater understanding of itsorigins could lead to treatments for thedisease, which claims more than150,000 lives a year in the UK.”

Queen Elizabeth cancelsChristmas party in tough times

Reuters reported:

Queen Elizabeth has canceled a plannedChristmas party at Buckingham Palaceafter deciding it would be inappropriate tocelebrate as ordinary Britons feel thepinch from tough economic times.

The royal household thoughtthe event, paid for by the Queen herselfand usually staged every two years,would be unseemly as Britons cope withdeep public spending cuts to bring downa record peacetime budget deficit.

"The queen is acutely awareof the difficult economic circumstancesfacing the country," a palace spokes-woman said on Thursday.

The Sun newspaper said theChristmas shindig, planned forDecember 13, cost 50,000 pounds($79,000) and was to have beenenjoyed by 1,200 guests.

Bill O’Reilly's Misguided$10,000 Bet with John StosselAgainst California's Chances

of Legalizing Potalternet.org reported:

On Oct 19 on the O’Reilly Factor, hostBill O’Reilly bet guest John Stossel$10,000 (to a charity of the winner’schoice) that Proposition 19, theCalifornia ballot measure that wouldmake marijuana legal for all adults, willfail. Stossel, who supports Prop 19, saidthat it’s time to end marijuana prohibitionbecause “it’s a war on our own people.”

“A war on our own people?”asked a bewildered and defiant O’Reilly.“What does that mean? They’re break-ing people’s doors down?”

In another poor and puzzlingattempt to defend our failed statusquo, O’Reilly tried to compare marijua-na to tobacco, by saying “marijuana isexactly as addictive as tobacco.”

Once again, he’s wrong. FromTIME magazine: “Estimates vary, butcompared with tobacco, which hooksabout 20% to 30% of smokers, marijua-na is much less addictive, coming in at9% to 10%.”

And according to the mostrecent poll, it looks very likely that Mr.O’Reilly could soon be out $10,000.SurveyUSA shows Prop 19 leadingamong California voters 48 to 44.

German "heatball" wheezeoutwits EU light bulb ban

news.yahoo.com reported:

A German entrepreneur is bypassinga European Union ban on light bulbsof more than 60 watts by marketinghis own brand as mini heaters.

Siegfried Rotthaeuser andhis brother-in-law have come up witha legal way of importing and distrib-uting 75 and 100 watt light bulbs --by producing them in China, import-ing them as "small heating devices"and selling them as "heatballs."

To improve energy efficien-cy, the EU has banned the sale ofbulbs of over 60 watts -- to theannoyance of the mechanical engi-neer from the western city of Essen.

Rotthaeuser studied EU leg-islation and realized that because theinefficient old bulbs produce morewarmth than light -- he calculated heatmakes up 95 percent of their output,and light just 5 percent -- they couldbe sold legally as heaters.

On their website (http://heat-ball.de/), the two engineers describe theheatballs as "action art" and as "resist-ance against legislation which is imple-mented without recourse to democraticand parliamentary processes."

The Agora | 25

India will take up its place onthe 15 member council as a regionalrepresentative of Asia following a vote atthe United Nations General Assembly. Itwill join its ally South Africa, Colombiaand two countries out of Germany,Canada and Portugal.

Should Germany win the elec-tion, three members of the Group of Fouralliance pushing for an expandedSecurity Council – Germany, Brazil, Indiaand Japan – will form an influential pro-

reform caucus. Brazil is currently servingthe second of its two year term as aregional representative.

In any case, all four of the 'BRIC'countries – Brazil, Russia, India andChina, the world's fastest growingeconomies – will sit together on theCouncil for the first time, strengtheningthe hand of the world's growing powers.

Pranab Mukherjee, India'sfinance minister and second most pow-erful figure in Indfia after the prime min-ister, last week intensified New Delhi'scampaign for a permanent seat at theSecurity Council and a shake-up of theglobal power structure which emergedfollowing the second world war.

During a visit to Washingtonlast week, he said:"I do hope that asand when the expanded SecurityCouncil along with the general reformsof the United Nations take place,India's claim for being a permanentmember of the Security Council will beconsidered and accepted."

India's former foreign secretaryand High Commissioner to London LalitMan Singh said his country will now useits influence, along with its allies, tointensify the pressure for reform.

"The Security Council needsreform. Permanent membership wentto the victors of the Second World Warbut so much has changed since then. Itshould reflect the reality of 2010 not thereality of 1945.

"India joining the SecurityCouncil takes us a step closer to per-manent membership, things are look-ing hopeful," he said.

NEWS BLITZ continued....

Surge Training is a PowerfulAnti-Oxidant

Dr. David Jockers reported for

Natural-News.com:

Oxidative stress represents an imbal-ance between the production of reac-tive oxygen species (free radicals) andthe body's ability to detoxify the reac-tive intermediates and repair the result-

ing damage. High levels of unmanagedoxidative stress accelerate aging anddisease formation. Anti-oxidants are aprimary defense against the damagingeffects of oxidative stress. The latestresearch in the fitness world indicatesthat high intensity exercise acts toenhance the body's anti-oxidantdefense systems.

Our body is designed to adaptto the ever-changing demands ofnature. Exercise enhances our metabol-ic rate and dramatically increases oxida-tive stress levels in our body. Inresponse, the body builds up its anti-oxi-dant reserves in order to successfullyadapt to the greater level of stress.

Two particularly dangerousmetabolic byproducts include thehydroxyl free radical and malondialde-hyde (MDA). The hydroxyl free radicalis highly reactive and is produced inabundant amounts when the body isunder stress. When hydroxyl free radi-cals interact with cell membranes theycause lipid peroxidation. This pro-duces highly reactive cross-linkingagents such as MDA that further dam-age cellular components leading toaccelerated aging.

The end product of the dam-age MDAproduces in the body is a pig-ment called ceroid lipofuscin. This is aproduct of oxidized cell membranesand mitochondrial membranes. Thesepigments appear as "age spots," or"liver spots," on the skin of our handsand face. They are a sign of excessiveoxidative stress and internal damagewithin the body.

A recent study in rejuvenationresearch demonstrated the effects ofhigh intensity exercise training. Thestudy looked at 6 individuals exercisingat several different intensities. Whenthe subjects exercised at a higher inten-sity level they had a greater anti-oxidanteffect. Additionally, the study showedthat each participant produced lesshydroxyl free radicals at a higher inten-sity than at a lower intensity.

Another recent study publishedin the Journal of Strength & Conditioningshowed that high intensity resistancetraining decreased MDA and increasedglutathione content. Glutathione is themajor antioxidant that our cells produce.Higher levels of glutathione are associ-ated with great health and anti-agingeffects on the body.

Higher intensity exercisemaximizes the body's anaerobic exer-cise system. The anaerobic systemproduces lactic acid due to the low-ered oxygen state. Most people asso-ciate lactic acid with the burn they feel

when they exercise. The greater theintensity of exercise = the greater thelactic acid secretion. Researchers nowbelieve that lactic acid may actually actas a free radical scavenger.

High intensity exercise alsoenhances certain critical enzymes thatproduce glutathione. This is a naturaladaptation the body makes due to thehigher free radical load. The combinationof increased glutathione and lactate giveshigh intensity exercise an incredibly pow-erful anti-oxidant and anti-aging effect.

Surge training utilizes the princi-ples of very high intensity anaerobic exer-cise for short spurts of time. This style ofexercise produces large amounts of lacticacid. A consistent training program chal-lenges the body to become more effectiveat buffering acidity and free radicals in thesystem. This bodily adaptation lessensthe burden of oxidative stress and allowsus to age with grace and beauty.

Surge Training Tips:

1. Warm-up for 5 minutes ata lower intensity

2. Do speed drills where yourun (or cycle/elliptical/etc.) for 30 sec-onds and walk for 30 seconds for 5-10minutes and then cool down for 5 mins.

3.Perform high intensity resist-ance training exercises

4.Aim to surge train 2-3x eachweek and do resistance training 2-3xeach week.

The Agora | 26

Russia’s International ReservesAdvance to Two-Year High as

Euro SurgesBloomberg reported:

Russia’s international reserves rose tothe highest in two years last week as thestrengthening euro bolstered the world’sthird-largest foreign currency stockpile.

Reserves jumped $6.7 billion to$501.1 billion, Russia’s central bank saidin a statement on its web site today. It’sthe first time the reserves have broken$500 billion since mid- October 2008, amonth after the collapse of U.S. broker-age Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. trig-gered the global credit crisis.

“This is only because the euromoved so much,” Alexey Moiseev, chiefeconomist and head of research at VTBCapital, the investment banking arm ofRussia’s second-largest bank, said byphone in Moscow today. “Russia willgive up the 500 level as soon as theeuro starts to pare back its gains.”

Know what’s important:Having a Healthy Food Supply likeeFoodsDirect is Essential (AD)

The euro climbed 1.1 percentagainst the dollar last week, its fourthstraight week of gains, as investorsshunned U.S. assets amid concern theeconomic recovery will slow and theFederal Reserve may ease monetary pol-icy further. Euros account for 41 percent ofRussia’s reserves, while dollars constitute47 percent, British pounds 10 percent,Japanese yen 2 percent, along with asmall amount of Swiss francs, First DeputyChairman Alexei Ulyukayev said in June.

India 'to be given place at UN top table'

London Telegraph reported:

According to Indian diplomatic sources,New Delhi will use its place at the hightable of the world's leading powers to pushfor UN reform to reflect the rise of growingpowers like itself, Brazil and South Africa.

Study finds trees not so largecarbon sinks

physorg.com reported:

The capacity of trees to counter risingcarbon dioxide levels in the atmos-phere may not be as great as previ-ously thought, according to a newstudy with significant implications forpredicting future climate change.

While trees initially seem to

grow faster or larger as carbon diox-ide (CO2) levels increase, the highergrowth rates cannot be sustainedbecause the availability of soil nutri-ents remains finite, suggests the studyby US and Australian scientists pub-lished in the journal Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences.

The study, led by Dr.Richard Norby of the Oak RidgeNational Laboratory, Tennessee,included Professor Ross McMurtrieof the UNSW School of Biological,Earth and Environmental Sciences.

It updates a long-runningexperiment in a deciduous forest standin Tennessee that has been exposed toelevated CO2 levels about 25% abovethe current atmospheric concentration– effectively exposing the trees to whatthat ambient CO2 concentration isexpected to be in about 2050.

It had been widely thoughtthat increasing CO2 concentrationswould stimulate plant growth, whichin turn would absorb enough carbonfrom the atmosphere to slow the rateof CO2 increase.

That belief appeared to beconfirmed by the first six years of theexperiment, during which the netproductivity of the forest was signifi-cantly increased. But the new reporthas revealed that in the subsequentfive years the net productivity of theforest has declined, a fall attributedby the researchers to the limitedavailability of nitrogen in the soil.

The researchers say theexperiment provides strong rationaleand process understanding for incor-porating nitrogen limitation and nitro-gen feedback effects in ecosystemand global models used in climatechange assessments. In short, thestudy suggests that terrestrial vegeta-tion will not be as large a carbon sinkas previously thought.

"We're going to have to learnnot to trust in trees to remove as muchcarbon from theatmosphere as we hadhoped," says Professor McMurtrie.

He has also been part of asimilar study, the Hawkesbury ForestExperiment, near Sydney, in whichthe responses of Australian eucalypttrees are being followed.

The new findings may beespecially pertinent for trees growingin low-nutrient soils, as occurs inmuch of Australia

NATO commander expressesconcern over potential security

issues caused by meltingArctic ice

Stripes.com reported:

On the eve of meetings betweenRussia and NATO, the alliance’s topmilitary commander expressed con-cern about potential security problemscaused by melting Arctic ice sheets.

Adm. James G. Stavridis,NATO’s supreme allied commander,said rising temperatures in comingyears will open the region to naturalresource exploration and could createa “zone of conflict,” according to theBritish newspaper, The Guardian.

Stavridis urged “global lead-ers to take stock, and unify theirefforts to ensure the Arctic remains azone of co-operation – rather thanproceed down the icy slope towardsa zone of competition, or worse azone of conflict,” according to TheGuardian report.

In 1870 the Hastings Sawmill had been operatingfor 3 years. This mill was the first large industrialbuilding constructed in what is now Vancouver.Next to the sawmill site a few squatters had beguna tiny settlement nicknamed Gastown. Thiscaused the colonial government in Victoria to senda surveyor to mark off a small townsite and put uplots for sale. The official name Granville was givento the subdivision that was centred on the site ofVancouver’s first small business, Gassy Jack’ssaloon. Although only 3 lots were sold at the firstgovernment auction, this site was the locationfrom which the City of Vancouver began its explo-sive growth after it was established in 1886.

John Robson was editor of the New WestminsterGuardian newspaper, a future MLA and premier ofBC who is remembered today by Vancouver’sRobson Street and Robson Square. In his NewWestminster newspaper the British ColumbianRobson observed, "On Burrard Inlet grows thefinest stand of easily accessible timber in BritishColumbia." Some considered Burrard Inlet to havethe finest timber in the world, and GreaterVancouver at the time contained some of thetallest and largest trees in the world. The HastingsSawmill timber lease covered most of Vancouver,19,000 acres of forest at the rate of 1 cent per acreper year, for 20 years (7,700 hectares for 2 centsper hectare per year).

Throughout the 1870s the focal point of‘Vancouver’ remained the Hastings Sawmill. Justacross Burrard Inlet was the larger MoodyvilleSawmill. These were the two largest sawmills inBritish Columbia. At the Hastings Sawmill and atMoodyville the sawmill companies providedbunkhouses with board for their single employees,and lumber for the married workers to build theirown shacks. At Moodyville the different residentialareas went by colourful names such as BrighamTerrace, the Rookeries, Frenchtown, Kanaka Row,Knob Hill and Maiden Lane. The centre of social lifewas the Big House on Knob Hill, built by one of themill owners, future senator and lieutenant-governorHugh Nelson after whom Nelson, BC is named. In

both company towns alcohol was prohibited, mak-ing the 4 saloons in Granville popular places for themillworkers and loggers to drink and play cards.One manager of the Hastings Sawmill recounted, “Ihave known our mill to shut down for a couple ofdays because so many were engaged in a particu-larly interesting game that was going on.”

In 1873 Henry Alexander became the first offi-cial White child born in ‘Vancouver.’ He was theson of Richard Alexander, the manager of theHastings Sawmill.

Throughout the 1870s, Burrard Inlet soci-ety was a combination of Native and non-Nativecultures. Many First Nations people worked at thesawmills or supplied food to the logging campsand mill workers.

This article is the third of a series excerpted from the large atlas-sized bookVancouver: A Visual History. It is a decade-based history of the city that employs arigid format for each ten years of the city's modern development. It begins with the1850s, when ‘Vancouver’ was still completely First Nations territory and there wereno non-Native immigrants or settlers. Each decade is presented with a large anddetailed colour map of the city with text describing events over the decade. These areaccompanied by coloured graphs and small maps, as well as portrait photographsshowing representative people and new buildings from the decade. All the photos,graphs and text are keyed to the maps.

VANCOUVER IN THE 1870S

| by Bruce Macdonald

The First Nations village of Khwaykhway in today’sStanley Park was the home of Lumtinat, a grand-daughter of Chief Keyaplanough (Capilano).Vancouver’s first modern settler John Morton hadobserved 2,000 Natives camped at Khwaykhway in1862, while another source reported a populationthere of 700 people at some point in the near past.About 1870 Lumtinat was the honoured woman at apotlatch held at Khwaykhway in the 1,100 squaremetre (12,000 square foot) old plankhouse calledTayhay. This event was attended by thousands ofFirst Nations peoples from all over the LowerMainland and Vancouver Island.

In Granville almost everyone spokeChinook, the Native trade language, and most ofthe non-Native men married or lived with FirstNations women. Although there were many non-Natives of English, Scottish and Irish origins,many others were sailors of other nationalitieswho had quit the crews of sailing ships taking onlumber at the mills. Most of the lumber producedin Burrard Inlet was exported to distant places. Asa result, the millhands included people with originsfrom all over the world. The workers hadPortuguese, Spanish, Chilean, Russian, Finnish,French, Austrian, German, Belgian, Kanakan(Native Hawaiian), Dutch, American and Swedishbackgrounds. A list of 11 general merchants andhotel proprietors in Granville in 1882 included 2Chinese, 2 Irishmen, 2 Scotsmen, a Black, aPolish Jew, a Frenchman and an Englishman.

The British Colony of British Columbiaagreed to become part of Canada in 1871. SinceBC was isolated and for the most part only acces-sible by ship, BC joined Canada on the conditiona railway would be built across North America link-ing Ontario and the rest of Canada to the BCcoast. Although Granville was not designated therailway’s terminal until 1884, H.V. Edmonds ofNew Westminster appears to be the first to specu-late that a transcontinental railway would mostlikely end in the fine harbour at Burrard Inlet. In1869 and 1870 Edmonds acquired hundreds ofacres of wilderness for $1 an acre on the southshore of False Creek. In 1888 he named the areaMount Pleasant and made a fortune selling hisreal estate in Vancouver’s first suburb.

With the official announcement of the rail-way route to Burrard Inlet in 1877, people such asVictoria’s Israel Powell (Powell Street and PowellRiver) and David and Isaac Oppenheimer acquiredland large tracts of land. All of the available landaround the government town reserve that laterbecame Vancouver Central Business District wassoon taken up. To avoid interference with theDominion policy of concentrating First Nations peo-ples on reserves, the provincial government specif-ically prevented them from pre-empting land.

In 1872 the first bridge over False Creekwas built, completing land access betweenGranville, through the future Burnaby to NewWestminster. This stimulated the construction of afew stagecoach inns spaced along the unsettledtrail, including Joseph Mannion’s Gladstone Inn,now 2201 Kingsway at Gladstone, and the JunctionInn at Vancouver’s first junction at Kingsway andFraser. In 1875 Vancouver’s first straight road hadbeen built south from Kingsway along what is nowFraser Street, then called the North Arm ‘Waggon’Road. Its purpose was to connect Granville to thefine farmland along the Fraser River’s North Arm.This route permitted easier access by farmers totheir customers on Burrard Inlet, the sawmills andlogging camps. The success of these farms led tothe rapid settlement of this land and the establish-ment of the Municipality of Richmond in 1879.

Despite a new road in 1876 from Granvilleeast to the settlement of Hastings at New Brightonbeach, and the improved road (now Kingsway),between Granville and New Westminster most peo-ple and goods continued to be transported by water.The early logging was done close to tidewater andalmost all the movement of logs and logging supplieswas by water. Boats would move workers to andfrom the small service centres such as Granville,Hastings and Moodyville on the North Shore.

The only government building on BurrardInlet was a small cottage in Granville that servedas a customs house, courthouse and home toConstable Jonathan Miller. In 1886 this tiny build-ing served as Vancouver’s first city hall.

HISTORY

Granville, British Columbia, Canada

Gassy Jack’s saloon – Vancouver’s Central

Business District c. 1870

The Hastings Mill Store was built in 1868, one of

the first modern buildings in Vancouver. Today it

is the oldest building by far.

(City of Vancouver Archives Bu P368)

Lumtinat of Khwaykhway village, today part of

Stanley Park.

(City of Vancouver Archives P Port 392)

The Agora | 27

Miller worked for 5 years logging what laterbecame Stanley Park, up to the time he wasappointed the Constable of Granville in 1871. He

once sat down to a potlatch feast at Khwaykhwaywith 2,000 Natives. He lived in the only govern-ment building in Granville, a small cottage with atiny wooden jail in the back yard, next to GassyJack’s saloon. In 1886 he served as returning offi-cer for the first civic election and afterwards wasappointed the City of Vancouver’s first postmaster.

The few so-called roads in the Lower Mainlandwere often impassable in the wet climate, since theywere “innocent of gravel and made up in depth whatthey lacked in width.” The steam-powered tractors intro-duced to the Cariboo Road by Francis Barnard were afailure, but at Jericho beach Jerry Rogers adapted theengines in the first use of mechanized logging in BC’sforest industry. The innovative Rogers had also triedusing camels for logging. The steam-powered shipBeaver would occasionally dock at the pier in Granville,but in 1888 this famous Northwest Coast pioneer waswrecked at the First Narrows. The Beaver had beenbrought from England in 1835 by the Hudson’s BayCompany to replace 4 sailing ships. It was the firstmotor-driven ship in the Pacific Ocean.

METRO VANCOUVER The Fraser deltaregion comprised potentially productive farmland in

the lowland areas where the yearly flooding of theFraser River renewed the soil. In the 1870s theseareas were organized into municipalities—Langleyin 1873, Maple Ridge in 1874, and Richmond Deltaand Surrey in 1879. The heavily timbered forestsoccurring in the hilly and upland areas of the futureVancouver and Burnaby, along the North Shore, andin the uplands of Surrey, were located on sandy soilsdeposited by glaciers. Unsuitable for farming anddifficult to clear, these areas tended to be developedlater. By the end of the 1870s the most populatedrural area continued to be the farming region aroundold Fort Langley, particularly the Maple Ridge areawith about 300 people. In the 1870s most of thefarming in BC was being done in the lower FraserValley and southern Vancouver Island. Farming inBC employed about 2,800 in 1871, compared to just2,300 remaining in mining. More roads were builtconnecting New Westminster to the local farmingregions and the Yale Road linked it by a sleigh roadthrough the Lower Mainland to the BC interior for thefirst time in 1874. This trail was built to Yale to linkwith the beginning of the older Cariboo Road toBarkerville. The only road to the interior, it was trav-elled by a few dozen wagon trains drawn by oxen,mules or horses, numerous stagecoaches and hun-dreds of pack horses and mules.

BC ECONOMY Gold mining continued to bean important part of the BC economy, but by the endof the decade coal mining and fishing had becomeimportant as well. The demand for coal was increas-ing as steam-powered ships replaced sailing shipsand other steam-powered machinery came into use.In 1871 Captain Stamp had quit the Hastings Sawmilland started one of BC’s first fish canneries in NewWestminster. He used tin cans fabricated by JohnSullivan Deas, a Black tinsmith from South Carolina.By 1873, Deas operated his own substantial canneryon an island near the mouth of the south arm of theFraser River, eventually the site of the entrance tothe Deas Island Tunnel.

The 1881 census listed approximately800 Natives as living on Burrard Inlet, and therewere an estimated 800 non-Natives, almost all atGranville and Moodyville. The 288 Musqueams

included in the census were mostly living atMusqueam.

By 1881 the total population of BC hadgrown to over 49,000. This was only about one-tenth the population of Nova Scotia and less thanhalf the population of Prince Edward Island. In BC

the First Nations peoples continued to outnumberthe newcomers, but this situation was about tochange dramatically in the next decade with thearrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Bruce Macdonald is a Vancouver-born writer anda historical consultant specializing in Vancouver'spast. A $100,000 university research grantenabled him to spend 10,000 hours producingthis colourful award-winning history of the city onhis home computer.

continued....

Jonathon Miller’s home, also the government

office in Granville.

Jonathon Miller, the City of Vancouver’s first postmaster.

VA N C O U V E R J A N U A R Y 2 0 11w w w. z e i t g e i s t v a n c o u v e r . c o m

The Agora | 28

ANZA CLUB - BLUEGRASS JAMNovember 1st, 3 W 8th Ave, VanBC - 604- 876-7128

The Infamous ANZA Club BluegrassJam, hosted by the Pacific BluegrassHeritage Society and Friends. If youthink you can play, or just want to hearsome smokin' roots music. All welcome!

Based in Vancouver, BritishColumbia, the Pacific Bluegrass andHeritage Society (PBHS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to thepromotion of Bluegrass and Old Timemusic through regular jams, work-shops, concerts, and other specialevents. Composed of over 200 indi-viduals and operated on a volunteerbasis, the PBHS always welcomesnew members, as well as peoplewho are just curious or just want tolisten. If you play an instrument andare interested in Bluegrass, OldTime, or derivative forms of these tra-ditions, there are always plenty ofpeople to jam with on all levels.http://www.pacificbluegrass.bc.ca/

STORIES OF MUSIC, MUSIC OFSTORIESWednesday November 3, 7pm-10pm- FREE!Carnegie Community CentreTheatre 401 Main

Share an intimate and dynamic triplebill with musicians who tell storieswith their music and storytellers whoplay music about stories.

The evening opens with aspecial opportunity to hear a solo per-formance with composer, arranger,and multi-instrumentalist, Joseph'Pepe' Danza, one of Vancouver's toppercussionists. He mastered the tra-ditional musical techniques of hishomeland Uruguay, before travelingthe world studying the sitar, the suling(ring flute), and the shakuhachi. Sincemoving to Canada in 1988 Pepe hasestablished himself as one of theforemost drummers and bandleaderson the West Coast.

Second on the bill is DavePaterson, a Vancouver based musi-cian who grew up in Montreal. Forthe last twenty years Dave has beenplaying guitar, singing and accompa-nying himself on harmonica. Playinga variety of roots and blues, Daveshares his rich knowledge of the loreand history of this amazing 20th cen-tury American music form.

Ending the evening is writer,storyteller and musician Wong Wing-Siu, joined by Jim Sands and MichelVles as The Deaf Dogs, a trio of con-temporary and traditional folk bal-ladeers. In addition to telling stories,Wing-Siu sings and plays percussion.Michel sings and plays a multitude ofwind instruments some of which he'splayed for upwards of thirty-five yearssince first falling in love with the flute.Jim, everyone's favourite tourist fromGermany, is an East Vancouver musi-cian, actor, and songwriter who singsand plays guitar. Special guest thisevening is The Deaf Pup, Andy LangWong, who plays fiddle with The DeafDogs whenever they can get him toplay along. Free

The artists this evening(Danza, Paterson, Wong) offeredworkshops and performances atCarnegie Centre this past yearthrough a grant from the Face theWorld Foundation.

IN OUR BACKYARD IS YOURBACKYARD - opening nightparade! FREE!Friday November 5, 5pm-6pm Oppenheimer Park, 488 Powell

At 5pm join Oppenheimer Park artists,community members and neighboursfor the Art Show Opening NightParade, led by Brad Muirhead and thenewly formed Carnegie Street Band.Gather at the new Oppenheimer ParkField House and join the sidewalk pro-cession to Gallery Gachet!

IN OUR BACKYARD IS YOURBACKYARD - Opening ReceptionFriday November 5, 6pm-9pmFREE!Gallery Gachet, 88 E. CordovaExhibition November 5 to 28

When the Oppenheimer Park ArtShow began in 2008 it helped tobridge the community through thechallenging transformations of apre-Olympic city. Today, on theother side of redevelopment,Oppenheimer Park remains a res-olute community of people uphold-ing the Park's vision as a place forart, education, recreation, healthand healing. This art show features

THE FIRST INTERNATIONALFILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL OFSOUND DESIGNCINESONIKA will run from November12th - 21st at the Westminster SavingsCredit Union Theater, Simon FraserUniversity Surrey Theater

The theme of this international film andvideo festival is to celebrate the sound-track. Usually in cinema festivals thereis a fixation on movie stars, or capti-vating imagery, or the literary qualitiesof screenplays. Sound tends to be rel-atively unvalorized in moving-imagemaking. The intent of the festival is togive attention to innovative work in thecreation of film and video soundtracks,and to give due credit to the impor-tance of audio in audiovisual media.

This first annual festival willshowcase international works of film andvideo with fascinating soundtracks, idio-syncratic sound design, eclectic scoringand innovative approaches to the sound-image relationship. These works will bescreened in a two weekend festival atthe Westminster Savings Credit Union -Simon Fraser University Surrey Theater,which feature's one of the mostadvanced digital theaters in Canada,with 4K HD 3D capable digital projectionutilizing a Lightyear Digital system.info@cinesonika.comwww.cinesonika.com

HARD RUBBER ORCHESTRA20TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERTNovember 13, 2010, 8pm, NewWoodwards Theatre

work by new, emerging and estab-lished artists that reflects the vibrantand creative community in andaround the Park and offers a uniqueperspective into the heart and homeof the Downtown Eastside commu-nity. For information: 604-687-2468or www.gachet.org.

MEDIA DEMOCRACY DAYSaturday Nov, 6th, Promenadeand Alice Mckay Room, CentralLibrary, 350 West Georgia- FREE!

Since 2001, Media Democracy Dayhas brought together citizens, aca-demics, artists, media makers, andlearners in a dynamic dialogue onthe state of the Canadian and glob-al media systems.

HOW THE ARTS SUPPORTSOCIETIES IN CIVIL CONFLICTMon., November 8, 2010 at 7:30pm, Royal Bank Cinema - FREE!

Chan Connects Series - Arts asActivism Panel discussion - "Howthe arts support societies in civilconflict" Facilitated by Rena Sharon(UBC School of Music) Featuring:Lila Downs ,Dr. Erin Baines (LiuInstitute for Global Issues) MichelleLeBaron (UBC Program on DisputeResolution) Reena Lazar (Peace itTogether)

http://www.chancentre.com/whats-on/how-arts-support-societies-civil-conflict

EVENTS| by nakedcty

The Agora | 29

"Hard Rubber is, no question, con-

sistently the best Vancouver band

event you can see"

Discorder Magazine

Special guests: Veda Hille, JoeKeithley, Hugh Fraser. Music byVeda Hille John Korsrud Bill RungeBrad Turner Tony Wilson RonSamworth, Chris Gestrin, moog/piano, Ron Samworth, guitar, AndreLachance, bass, Kerry Galloway,bass, Dave Robbins, drums, JackDuncan, percussion, CameronWilson, violin, Bill Runge, sopranosax, Saul Berson, alto sax, SteveKaldestad, tenor sax, Chad Makela,bari sax, Derry Byrne, trumpet, KentWallace, trumpet, Tom Shorthouse,trumpet, Rod Murray, trombone,Dennis Esson, trombone, JeremyBerkman, trombone, Brad Muirhead,bass trombone, John Korsrud-Director www.johnkorsrud.com

REEL 2 REAL FAMILY FILMSCREENINGSaturday November 13, 2:00 pmFREE! Alma VanDusen & PeterKaye Rooms, Lower Level, CentralLibrary, 350 West Georgia Street

Enjoy the greatest hits from the Reel2 Real Festival's archive, includingthe Youth Jury picks for animatedand live action short film

HOP SCOTCH FESTIVALVancouver's Premium Scotch,Whiskey and Beer FestivalNovember 15th 21

Experience Vancouver's HopscotchFestival and the more than 200 prod-ucts available to taste, sample anddiscover. Don't miss this uniqueoccasion of being able to truly expe-rience some of your favorite brandsand their world renowned brandambassadors.

After yet another completelysold out festival in 2009,Foodconnect.com's HopscotchFestival is ready in 2010 to impressWhisky, Premium Beer, and Spiritenthusiasts alike. Hopscotch contin-ues to prove itself as the superiorpremium Scotch, Whisky and Beerfestival on the west coast and thebiggest combined Whisky and Beerfestival across all of Canada. Eachyear the festival improves its educa-tional component by giving enthusi-asts the opportunity to learn, sip, andtaste only the highest quality ofliquors and premium beers. 2010 willbe no different. Get Ready.

Due to immense populardemand and yearly consecutivesell outs, The Grand Tasting Hallwill take place over three nights,instead of two. As well, for the firsttime ever, The Grand Tasting Hallwill be held on a Saturday Night.With the event selling out weeksbefore the actual event, it was aneasy decision to open up the tast-ing hall, for a 3rd night.

Hopscotch's Annual GrandTasting Hall is awesome in everysense of the word. One can notimagine the experience of the GrandTasting until they do just that, experi-ence it. In 2009 there was more than60 exhibitors and 200 products.2010 will match those numbers andinclude many new and exciting prod-ucts to sample and learn about.

Enjoy the 3rd year of the premiumspirits section that includes premiumVodkas, Rums, Tequilas, Gins, etc...Go booth to booth and sample yourway around the world.http://www.hopscotchfestival.com/welcome

IMAGINATION! PARKS CANADASPEAKER SERIESWednesday November 17, 7:00pm, FREE! Alice MacKay Room,Lower Level, Central Library, 350West Georgia Street

Celebrate 125 years of National Parksin Canada with IMAGINaNATION!Parks Canada's award-winning the-ater troupe, Mountain WIT, animatesthis family-friendly 40 minute journeythrough the mosaic of our country'smost treasured places.

MAKELA PERFORMSMEDITATIONS PERFORMINGJOHN COLTRANES, MEDITATIONSNov 20th -$5 ADMISSIONemail for time and locationnakedcty@gmail.com

Now based in Vancouver, BritishColumbia, baritone saxophonistChad Makela attended theUniversity of North Texas on a schol-arship as well as Capilano College.Chad studied with Roy Reynolds,formerly of Stan Kenton's big band,Dr. Eric Nestler and James Riggsand played in the renowned OneO'Clock Lab Band for three years,working with Randy Brecker, JoeLovano, David Liebman, SlideHampton, Dr. Billy Taylor and PeterErskine. Chad has also performedwith Ernie Watts, Conte Condoli,Snooky Young, Arturo Sandoval,Ross Tompkins and Chris Vadala.

HITCHHIKER'S INNOVATION EXPOSaturday November 20, 12:00 pm-3:30 pm, FREE!Promenade, Central Library, 350West Georgia Street

So much of Douglas Adams' visionfor the future has come to pass.Come and see what the future holdsfor us! Check out the latest gear,eco-gadgets and technology at theexpo and electronic petting zoo.

SPECIAL EVENT WORLD PREMIEREOF SCENES 1 & 5 OF ENIGMA, THELIFE AND DEATH OF ALAN TURINGBARRY TRUAX - A PORTRAITNovember 19, 2010 -8PM, ScotiabankDance Centre, 677 Davie Street Freeartist chat @ 7PM Tickets: $30 regu-lar, $20 students & seniors. Tickets at Tickets Tonight (ticket-stonight.ca/604.684.2787), and will beavailable at the door.

Vancouver New Music looks backover Barry Truax's impressive 40-year career in music. The eveningwill feature a retrospective ofTruax's works, beginning withRiverrun (1986), a now classicwork that introduced the techniqueof granular synthesis to the world.The audience will also be treated tothe world premiere of excerpts fromTruax's forthcoming music theatrework Enigma, The Life and Deathof Alan Turing. Featuring WillGeorge, Catherine Laub, MichaelMori and Josh Beamish.

Vancouver New Music looksback over Barry Truax's impressive40-year career in music. Truax is acomposer of national and interna-tional acclaim, and has pioneeredsome of the most groundbreakingwork in electroacoustic composition.Vancouver New Music is pleased topresent the first Vancouver eventdedicated entirely to the work of thiscity's most celebrated composer.

Enigma, The Life and Deathof Alan Turing is a music theatre piecein five scenes, written for three singers,a dancer, and six-channel electroa-coustic soundscape. Vancouver NewMusic has commissioned the first andlast of these scenes which will be pre-miered this evening, and will featureperformances by Will George (tenor)and Catherine Laub (soprano) of theVancouver art-song chamber collec-tive, Erato Ensemble. The perform-ance will also feature a newly commis-sioned solo dance work from up-and-coming choreographer and dancerJosh Beamish. Enigma takes its storyfrom the facts and words of Turing'slife, as well as poetry from Alfred LordTennyson and others.

Alan Turing (1912-1954) wasa British mathematician who has beenwidely recognized as the father of themodern computer. After his death

Turing became famous once his role indeciphering the German "Enigma"code during World War II finallybecame publicly known; this work waskey to the British war effort in theAtlantic. In 1951 Turing had an affairwith a 19-year old working class youthin Manchester that eventually led to hisconviction under the charge of "grossindecency", the same crime that OscarWilde had been convicted of morethan fifty years earlier. To avoid aprison sentence, Turing agreed to theinjection of female hormones. A yearafter his probation ended he wasfound dead, presumably from eatingan apple laced with cyanide. Hisdeath was declared a suicide.

Enigma's first scene takes asits subject a 16-year-old Turing, a pre-cocious youth given to scientific exper-iment and idiosyncratic behaviour. Thescene revolves around Turing and hisinfatuation with another brilliant youth,Christopher Morcom. The final sceneleaps forward in time to Turing at age40 and takes the audience through hisrelationship with Arnold Murray, andTuring's final tragic days.

The evening will also feature athe Vancouver premiere of Androgyne,Mon Amour (1996-97), a music theatrepiece originally commissioned by theAmerican virtuoso performer RobertBlack, performed here by Arraymusicbassist Peter Pavlovsky (Toronto).

The program includes as well

some of Truax's recent works, includingThe Shaman Ascending (2004-05), apiece inspired by Inuit throat singing thatinvolves a high energy display of vocalmaterial simulating a shaman chantingto achieve spiritual ecstasy, as well asChalice Well (2009), a soundscape com-position for 8-channel tape. Chalice Welltakes the listener on an imaginary jour-ney down into this holy well in SouthwestEngland, passing through several cav-ernous chambers on its descent, filledwith rushing and trickling water. ChaliceWell was premiered at the Sonic ArtsResearch Centre in Belfast.

Barry Truax is a Professor inboth the School of Communication andthe School for the Contemporary Arts atSimon Fraser University where he teach-es courses in acoustic communicationand electroacoustic music. He hasworked with the World SoundscapeProject, editing its Handbook for AcousticEcology, and has published a bookAcoustic Communication dealing with allaspects of sound and technology. As acomposer, Truax is best known for hiswork with the PODX computer music sys-tem which he has used for tape soloworks and those which combine tape withlive performers or computer graphics. In1991 his work, Riverrun, was awardedthe Magisterium at the InternationalCompetition of Electroacoustic Music inBourges, France, a category open only toelectroacoustic composers of 20 or moreyears experience. He is also the recipientof one of the 1999 Awards for TeachingExcellence at Simon Fraser University.

Barry is an Associate Composerof the Canadian Music Centre and afounding member of the CanadianElectroacoustic Community and theWorld Forum for Acoustic Ecology. http://www.sfu.ca/~truax/

MISS LANDMINENov. 22nd 6pm pacific time, CBCWorld TV Premiere, a documentaryoriginal

Award-winning director Stan Feingoldexplores the people, events, ideas andsociopolitical context of the MissLandmine project - an initiative started byNorwegian theatre director and philan-thropist Morten Traavick. The MissLandmine project celebrates Cambodianwomen maimed in land mine accidents.Along the way, Traavik encounters hisown landmines: cultural sensitivities andunsympathetic governments in his questto empower the women of Cambodia.With Traavik as narrative guide, Feingoldweaves a dramatic and compelling arc.

SONIC PLAYGROUND - PAINTEDSOUNDSGraphic Scores- notations andvisual representationsSunday November 28th, 11am-5pm FREE!- email info@newmu-sic.org by Nov 22nd to register!

Painted Sounds is a workshop ongraphic notation, where signs andsymbols are used to representsounds, Using graphic notation, nei-ther composers, nor performers needto know how to read or write tradition-al musical notation. All participants willbe encouraged to engage in largescale abstract drawings that will formthe basis for one collective or multiplegraphic scores that will then be inter-preted and performed by the group. Atthe end of the workshop participantswill give a live music performance of

continued....

BARRY TRUAX - A PORTRAITScotiabank Dance Centre

November 19, 2010

The Agora | 30

the pieces they've created. This workshop isfor ages 14 and up- bring your own instru-ments and your voice!http://newmusic.org/sonicplayground2010.htm

THE COCA-COLA CASETuesday November 30, 7:00 pm-9:00 pm,FREE! Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level,Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street

You'll never look at a can of Coke the sameway after seeing this documentary film.Directors German Gutierrez and CarmenGarcia present a searing indictment of theCoca-Cola empire.

HOW TO START YOUR OWN COUNTRY-THE FILMhttp://www.howtostartyourowncountry.com/Country/The_Film.html

What makes a country a country? Whatmakes a state a state? A nation a nation? Andwhat's to stop you from starting your own?

In a globe-hopping search for ananswer to these fundamental but little under-stood questions of sovereignty, How To StartYour Own Country visits six micronations -unrecognized self-declared sovereign enti-

ties that you will not find on a political map.Meet Prince Leonard and Princess

Shirley of the Hutt River ProvincePrincipality, the second -largest nation onthe continent of Australia; Salute PresidentKevin Baugh, the absolute ruler of theRepublic of Molossia, entirely surroundedby the state of Nevada; say "buon giorno"to good folk of Seborga, a 1200-year-oldprincipality which claims to have beenincluded in Italy by mistake.

Through the lives and experiencesof these micronational pioneers - whetherfarmer, artist, pirate or inventor -- the filmlays bare the ephemeral nature of statehoodwhile interviews with diplomats and expertsin international law expose a revelation:there is no legal definition of a country ininternational jurisprudence. You are a coun-try if you say you are. But declaration doesnot guarantee recognition.

Along the way we learn of the exclu-sionary membership terms of the UnitedNations, the ultimate country club. We realizethat the maps that shape our self-image ascitizens are mere representations, the bound-aries they delineate relative. Wherever youlook in the world - from the high seas to for-saken desert -- there is someone with a dif-ferent idea of what constitutes home. And anurge to put themselves literally on the map.

From the outback soil of the HuttRiver Principality to the futuristic ocean citiesof The Seasteading Institute, these visionar-ies are challenging the status quo, settingtheir own course and creating nations thatyou will not find in an atlas… at least not yet.How To Start Your Own Country explores aconcept most of us take for granted: thecountries we call home.

nakedcty@gmail.com

HOW TO START YOUR OWN COUNTRYDirected by Jody Shapiro

Sacred Space Studio3574 W 4th Ave.Vancouver

babylonyoga.comvisit our website

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