G20 Summit

[Johann]

BLACK BLOC NOT SURPRISING (letter to the editor by Dennis Ryan)

Re: anatomy of the G20: what went wrong


Any analysis of the G20 summit seems to paint the Black Bloc somewhere between anarchists and thugs.
But, in reality, it's much worse:
these are young people who have lost faith in present day government and economy. AND WHO CAN BLAME THEM?

Remember the sub-prime fiasco, the greed that prompted it, the financial institutions that fell with too many innocent victims, the massive bailout by taxpayers, further insulted by the bonuses that were paid out?

ARE WE SURPRISED THAT A GROUP LIKE THE BLACK BLOC EXISTS?
I'm not.


****ME, JOHANN****:

AMEN, DENNIS!
Fucking A-MEN..

[Johann]

POLLS ARE JUST TOO DEPRESSING (letter to the editor by Peter Anastas)


It is said that a country gets the government it deserves.
Ours promised us clarity and gave us obfuscation.
They promised open debate but have continued the concentration of power in the PMO's office to the detriment of parliamentary democracy.
They have progressively circumvented parliamentary procedures.

In addition thay have shown an inclination to shoot the messenger when the message is incongruent with their philosophy, for example, the isotope reactor, Afghan prisoners, the census debacle and Veteran Affairs, to name a few.

Yet, THEY GAIN IN THE POLLS!
It is just too depressing.


****ME, JOHANN****:

AMEN Peter.
A-Fucking-Men.

Stephen Harper is FUCKING FIRED.
Fired for lying.
Fired for thinking Canadians are stupid and ignorant.
Fired for shameless power grabbing.
Fired for his smug smile that hides the truth.
Fired for making me waste my time typing this shit- I should be praising my Government, not criticising it.

HARPER is FUCKING FIRED.
He's up in the Arctic today, trying to show he gives a shit about Arctic rights.
Leave him up there alone on a huge ice flow.
And since he has no problem with the seal hunt, give him a club so he can kill some seals to fucking eat.

[Johann]

Back to the bigger fallout: to the global economy, poverty and jobs --


In an ideal world, countries would pair more short-term spending and tax cuts with long-term spending cuts and tax increases. But not a single big country has figured out, politically, how to do that.

In other words, they're improvising, hoping that copying from the past and hoping this time it'll work better. They don't really know what they're doing. And they've got the economic future of the world by the balls.

Leonhardt begins:

The world’s rich countries are now conducting a dangerous experiment. They are repeating an economic policy out of the 1930s — starting to cut spending and raise taxes before a recovery is assured — and hoping today’s situation is different enough to assure a different outcome.

In effect, policy makers are betting that the private sector can make up for the withdrawal of stimulus over the next couple of years. If they’re right, they will have made a head start on closing their enormous budget deficits. If they’re wrong, they may set off a vicious new cycle, in which public spending cuts weaken the world economy and beget new private spending cuts.

On Tuesday, pessimism seemed the better bet. Stocks fell around the world, over worries about economic growth.

He goes on:

[b]As is often the case after a financial crisis, this recovery is turning out to be a choppy one. Companies kept increasing pay and hours last month, for example, but did little new hiring. On Tuesday, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence fell sharply this month.

And just as households and businesses are becoming skittish, governments are getting ready to let stimulus programs expire, the equivalent of cutting spending and raising taxes. The Senate has so far refused to pass a bill that would extend unemployment insurance or send aid to ailing state governments. Goldman Sachs economists this week described the Senate’s inaction as “an increasingly important risk to growth.”

I highly recommend reading this article, as well as scanning Paul Krugman's op-ed pieces over the past year and half, which can be accessed starting here.

I re-read this and it may be the most important post in this thread Chris.

Everybody should read this & contemplate it. Thank you VERY much for these quotes and links.
I wish we could put a Filmleaf memo out to all world leaders to read it. It's that important and it's that DIRE.

But no one listens. And then when the shit hits the fan, they make excuses and point fingers and squabble and quibble and piss and moan and groan and roll over like sacks of shit.

This is REAL. The G20 was a COLOSSAL failure on so many levels.
If it takes outsiders and internet writers to point out the obvious to those who should be in the know, then you bet your fucking ballsack a Depression is looming. And looming larger than anyone imagines.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for supporting my points, which rely on Krugman and other liberal economists who don't think "deficit cuts" will resolve the economic problems. They say a holding-back policy was what made Japan's recession last a decade instead of a couple of years.

Apropos of politics, here is my list of items to consider when evaluating the new US administration. New note: today I heard it cost John McCain $21 million to buy his reelection in Arizona, and he preached elimination of "Obamacare" among other joys to his cheering supporters.

I posted this on Facebook yesterday:

Here are some of the main things that need to be done (by "Obama," or Washington under a strong leadership (does it have one?):

1--Most urgent economic steps: A- create jobs to stimulate the economy from the bottom up, B- Regulate the financial industry forcefully so another recession/crash is prevented, C- provide aid to local governments to deal with their debts so essential infrastructure and services don’t' crumble away all over the country

2-Provide a public option in health care so the people have an alternative to the insurance companeies -- which was the most important thing (and would reduce costs for everyone)

3-Close Guantanamo, and not have military tribunals, especially not of prisoners who were 15 when they committed their alleged crime, a violatioin of international law

4-Get rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell ASAP (how much longer do we have to wait?)

5-Set an example in combating global warming, instead of being behind China and other world powers, committing to only a 3% reduction when a 13% or 30% one is essential

6-Take substantial action to resolve the Israel-Palsstine conflict, and back up those nice words in Cairo early in the year so they don't sound so hollow as they do now

7-Get out of Afghanistan instead of getting deeper into it (though escalating the war there was one of Obama's promises he has definitely kept)

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for supporting my points, which rely on Krugman and other liberal economists who don't think "deficit cuts" will resolve the economic problems. They say a holding-back policy was what made Japan's recession last a decade instead of a couple of years.

Apropos of politics, here is my list of items to consider when evaluating the new US administration. New note: today I heard it cost John McCain $21 million to buy his reelection in Arizona, and he preached elimination of "Obamacare" among other joys to his cheering supporters.

I posted this on Facebook yesterday:

Here are some of the main things that need to be done (by "Obama," or Washington under a strong leadership (does it have one?):

1--Most urgent economic steps: A- create jobs to stimulate the economy from the bottom up, B- Regulate the financial industry forcefully so another recession/crash is prevented, C- provide aid to local governments to deal with their debts so essential infrastructure and services don’t' crumble away all over the country

2-Provide a public option in health care so the people have an alternative to the insurance companies -- which was the most important thing (and would reduce costs for everyone)

3-Close Guantanamo, and not have military tribunals, especially not of prisoners who were 15 when they committed their alleged crime, a violation of international law

4-Get rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell ASAP (how much longer do we have to wait?)

5-Set an example in combating global warming, instead of being behind China and other world powers, committing to only a 3% reduction when a 13% or 30% one is essential

6-Take substantial action to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, and back up those nice words in Cairo early in the year so they don't sound so hollow as they do now

7-Get out of Afghanistan instead of getting deeper into it (though escalating the war there is, in fact one of Obama's promises he has definitely kept: it would be one of the best ones for him to renig on)

[Johann]

It's pretty scary that "they really don't know what they're doing. And they've got the economic future of the world by the balls". Amen to that.

What's worse, digging in deep to fix known problems (LEGITIMATELY, without haste) or keep doing what you've been doing until the whole house goes up in flames and everybody's quality of life goes bye-bye?

John McCain is a sad, rich, walking corpse. He's about as "maverick" as a pony with rickets.

On your points:

1. How do you create jobs when corporations are the ones who control washington? They're the very folks who can keep that job statistic wherever they want it, no? and what jobs are they? and who would get them? These are huge questions with seemingly easy answers...
It seems like it's like attacking a mountain with nothing but a plastic fork..

2. YES. Absolutely, 100% without question GET IT DONE. It's a no-brainer. It's so painfully obviously right that I have nothing but hatred and contempt for those who don't want it. Ship those fuckers off to Mars. Those heartless *GREEDY* (yes GREEDY) idiots don't realize the common decency of such a thing.

3. I thought it was closed. What's the hold up?

4. Amen. Is this the 21st Century? Coulda fooled me...

5. Amen. But let's make that percentage 50 or 60. Taking care of the Earth should'nt even be a question.

6. Another no-brainer.

7. Another no-brainer. what is the point in throwing billions at a permanent war zone? For an ungrateful people? THERE IS NONE.
GET THE FUCK OUT OF AFGHANISTAN.

[Chris Knipp]

Glad you agree on the importance and feasibility of moving on most of these points I've listed. Back to #1, creating jobs to stimulate the economy: you asked:

How do you create jobs when corporations are the ones who control Washington? They're the very folks who can keep that job statistic wherever they want it, no? and what jobs are they? and who would get them?

Yes, corporate power in Washington is an obstacle. But this is where the executive branch can exert power, if it chooses. I'm sure you know the FDR story. Most assert that the Depression was not ended by the New Deal but by World War II, but the New Deal, though FDR did not jump into it right away and it met with much opposition, eventually helped millions make it through, and left a legacy of public works. An article by Emily Badger on Miller-McCune, "Why Job Creation Agencies Stay Off the Table," reviews the history, and pros and cons, of government job creation to stimulate the economy. It's complicated, and of course the right is against it, but it can be done. There is plenty of money. A fraction of what is spent in Iraq and Afghanistan could provide millions of domestic jobs. Online links between "Obama" and "New Deal" you will find mostly from 2008 and 2009, not this year. Sad that a Democrat president is afraid of being linked to FDR! But spending money to create jobs and stimulate the economy was something even FDR was afraid of at first.

But the point is: Why isn't more being done, whether through local communities rather than camps, broadband network building instead of roads, something to stimulate the economy through government-initiated work programs? Getting anything through Congress is an uphill battle. This is why public action is needed. Too bad the Democrats didn't come up with an LBJ-style President, with serious clout in Congress. But the public has clout, if it just chooses to exercise it, and even if the poverty and unemployment levels are not as high as during the Great Depression.

#3 You thought Guantanamo was closed? No way. That project is on hold, and since it was announced, the abuses of prisoners have risen. A NY Times article of two months ago: "In Congress, resistance to closing the prison has grown, and some senators have seen few efforts by the Obama administration to overcome it." They still think the prisoners are terribly dangerous (including the then 15-year-old), and don't know where to send them. British ones were released a long time ago.

Of the 779 people who have been detained at the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 597 have been transferred and 176 remain, according to an ongoing analysis by The New York Times. In addition, six detainees died while in custody.

#6 I would hardly call resolving the Israel-Palestine problem a "no-brainer." It's a thorny problem.

#7 (and related issues) In some ways it seems harder to see the difference between the Bush II and Obama administrations vis-à-vis the US global war machine. It seems the new administration has moved pieces around on the board and changed some of their functions rather than removing them. The very far from left wing site "Global Security" lists a recent entry summarized thus:

The effort in Afghanistan is in danger of losing touch with reality. It is stuck in a deepening rut, rushing towards a receding objective. The effort requires that the United States find an answer to the challenge, and find it NOW, so that next year troops can be drawn down and the effort brought to some kind of conclusion. Somehow everything may turn out OK.

Interesting, this comes from the opposite place but winds up talking a lot like Nir Rosen! Only he concludes we should be patient and stay the course, and Nir says its' useless, get out. A recent speaker I heard on Democracy Now said that the US perpetual war system of today is aided by the fact that this idea of "winning" any "conflict" (not war, notice) has for some time been withdrawn from use. Hardliners who still believe in the idea of "winning" want to get out when they see that "winning" is not possible. And Afghanistan, like Vietnam, is a classic case of that. Did the US "win" in Iraq? Well, the US succeeded in destroying the country's infrastructure, killing hundreds of thousands and creating a million refugees, and killing Saddam Hussein. That's an accomplishment. Results seem less dramatic in the gnarly terrain of Afghanistan.

[Johann]

The Israel-Palestine "problem" is a no brainer that it shouldn't even exist.
This is human folly through and through.

I don't know about you, but my hatred for the ignorance and stupidity of the human race is quite large.
Henry Rollins says it is healthy to have a healthy level of hate for things that deserve it.
Far too many people don't know how to employ hate properly.
Henry taught me that most people have no idea how to deal with someone directing pure hatred at them.
They freeze up. Their first reaction is "That dude's a wacko! He's unhinged". AU CONTRAIRE.

Gore Vidal was 100% correct in his assertion that no one remembers anything on Monday morning.
Clean slate. Blank brains.
I'm so fuckin' tired of stupidity. And I'm bombarded with it every waking moment it seems.
How does one simply "live with" such fucked up people?
99.9% of the people on this planet don't know what the fuck they're doing from one moment to the next.
And the futility of solving this dilemma is so fucking gargantuan that one just surrenders.
I actually long ago gave up trying to understand why the human race always chooses the fucked up road.
Leaders and huge corporations get paid big fuckin' bucks to erode the planets' eco-system, destroy belief in faith, honesty and decency and make giant strides to keep wars going at full tilt (all for money)

If a man like Hunter Thompson eats his own bullet in the name of American disgrace, then everybody needs to wake the fuck up.
So far this century has been quite horrifically repulsive to live in.

Most "culture" today is imaginary. Any real culture is deep underground and personal, far from the madding crowd.

Justin Bieber making millions for selling steaming turds of CD's is enough to put a revolver in your mouth.
Reality TV makes me want to puke.
Movies are getting worse every year (with a scant few exceptions).
The internet, for all it's positives, is actually another bonanza for exploiting weakness in the human condition.
If they can make money off you, they will. And they do.

The great crime of the human race is creating "invisiblity" with regards to money.
Nobody knows what everybody else is doing. (Sometimes we do know, but then what? The damage is done and Bernie Madoff eats and sleeps in prison until he expires...Yay.) But maybe Madoff's a Hero- when asked about his victims he said "FUCK MY VICTIMS. THEY WERE GREEDY".

[Chris Knipp]

Sounds like you''re having a bad day. Don't know what you're getting at in that last post.

Back to #1: The administration may be making more significant action to create jobs than I acknowledged. Figures are disputed though.

A Wall Street Journal article shows other president's record. Bush was the worst; Clinton the best.

[Johann]

What was in that coffee?

Ken Russell's THE DEVILS sunday night!
UNCUT awesome.

[Chris Knipp]

I'll stay tuned.

[Johann]

I watched the Chief of Police for the City of Toronto last night on a local channel LIE THROUGH HIS TEETH.

Bill Blair was confronted with hard facts and memos from the OPP about the "inconsistencies" that the Toronto Police deluged the G20 with by an unrelenting host (whose name escapes me) and the Chief just did not know what to do. So he lied. He spun it.
SPUN IT HARD.

The fallout on the G20 is finally getting some serious notice. The Chief said a few weeks ago that officers on his force who acted out of line could not be identified (they had no name tags??) so the Toronto Star decided to post front-page close-ups of said officers with the headline "DOES THIS HELP, CHIEF?" When asked about the headlines, Blair just dismissed it and said that the important issue is that Toronto police acted "in honesty" during the G20.

Blair's resignation has been demanded for weeks now and he refuses to step down.
I'm still royally pissed off about that fuckin' "SUMMIT"
It was one of the most sickening things I've ever witnessed.
Stephen Harper should be fired for it, Chief Bill Blair should be fired for it, and Premier Dalton (Fuckhead) McGuinty should be fired for it.
All three.
McGuinty won't comment on the G20, except to say that all was well.
Harper won't comment on it either, except to say that all was well.
He was rockin' the house at the NAC this week, singing shitty songs to his base of Conservative Clowns for a Christmas party.
How much more embarrassing can this Prime Minister be?
It's so revolting my liver hurts...

The civil liberties that were STOMPED ON last June need swift punishment meted out for the ignorant and oblivious "leaders" who organized this travesty.

"If the civil liberties of everyone are not safe, then the civil liberties of NO ONE are safe"- that's something I'd like to tattoo on Stephen Harper's forehead. But for a power-grabber like him, that quote might as well be from a martian.

The Ontario Ombudsman said this week that The G20 is an event in Toronto that will LIVE IN INFAMY

Indeed.
Let's proscecute.
Put some stank on it.

[Chris Knipp]

Kind of a lot like the US up there, isn't it?

And like where the US is, such as the UN climate conference in Cancun, just over, where it seems US cops hassled demonstrators and journalists who covered demonstrations found their passes re revoked.