she was so brave

triumph of the indoctrination system #12 to the nth power

sprawl-mart has those commercials in which the actors/characters are completely stupefied/amazed for hours by the low prices on their sprawl-mart receipts, staring at them, their mouths agape. only in a society in which labour's creation of wealth is made completely invisible/mystified beyond recognition would/could an advertiser dare to raise the issue of why stuff's so cheap. the characters are amazed because they don't know that sprawl-mart's prices (and zeller's, k-mart's and most other stores') are so low because the products are made in sweat shops and unloaded, unpacked, stocked and sold by low-paid, non-union north american retail workers. here's to the united food and commercial workers (UFCW) and others trying to change that.

bogus corporate whining about "intellectual property"

if you've ever noticed that corporations are always sure to protect what they call their "intellectual property," i hope you've also noticed how their concern goes out the window when it comes to the intellectual property (inventions) of others, like canadians norman breakey, who invented the paint roller, and woodward and evans, who patented a glass bulb with a carbon filament in 1875. none of these guys had the cash it took to mass produce their inventions, so they had to sell them to those who did, in the latter case, to edison. "intellectual property" is a concept like "freedom of the press," something guaranteed to those who own the means of production, including the printing presses.

Marx: "Don't you know the emancipation of the working classes can only be achieved by the working classes themselves?"

Lenin: "No, but if you hum a few bars, I'll try to fake it."

white poppies for peace/letter to Royal Canadian Legion

hshevali@telusplanet.net

Mr. Shevalier,

I wear a white poppy for peace and hand them out to interested people at my own expense, although I can understand why someone would want some money for them because they cost money to make and ship, etc. We sure aren’t making any profit from them. Can you say the same about yours? I’m sure you are in favour of capitalism, which I am not, so perhaps you mention filthy lucre changing hands to buttress your thinly disguised attempt to silence those who disagree with you—so much for that “freedom” for which soldiers are supposedly sacrificing themselves.

Our white poppies are not designed like the red ones at all and were created in 1933 by some women in England, many of whom who were the mothers, sisters, widows and sweethearts of soldiers killed in WWI, the “war to end all wars.”

Howard Zinn, decorated US Air Force WWII bombardier and historian, has said that if people want to honour vets, they’ll work to ensure there are no more wars that maim and kill civilians and soldiers. Just as every day is a day for you to remember veterans in your way, so is every day a day for many of us to promote non-violence. I assume you are not implying that only those who agree with you that war is an acceptable solution to conflict are free to express their opinions. That would be ironic, considering your claims about why soldiers die, i.e., to protect “freedom.”

Ian Harvey

Ottawa

“WAR is a racket. It always has been.”

Major General Smedley Butler, USMC

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

the "objectivity" of the corporate media

also from global tv, winner of awards for journalistic excellence: after some people died in house/apartment fires recently, anchor says that most building contractors in canada do not agree that making sprinkler systems standard is a good idea, despite all the research to the contrary, because it is "not cost-effective."

how anchors read stuff like that aloud with a blithe face (let alone without being compelled to shout what bastards they are!) is more proof that "circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip" (orwell). i suppose some would say that the anchor is just reporting the contractors' cruel logic verbatim, and that it is up to viewers to figure out if they agree or not, but that ignores the fact that we have to interpret terms like "not cost-effective" into words we immediately understand before the sound bite has gone, words like "too expensive" in this case. that would be a start at least, if they stopped using purr words for the powerful and all those demonizing words for the rest of us. only a start though. better yet, in this case, would be something like "building contractors don't want to put sprinkler systems in housing because that would cut into their profits."

more cutting edge journalism from global tv

gotta love global tv (canada) for staying on top of things for us regular dopes: a "groundbreaking new study indicates that people could still be intoxicated in the morning after a hard night of drinking" go figger!