Control

Media and the freedom of media is something I think we take for granted in North America. What I mean by take for granted is that many North Americans believe that main stream media is giving them "real coverage" and fail to connect the dots of who owns and controls the media outlets and basically the message being put out by mainstream corporate media coverage. First and foremost is the fact that our mainstream media outlets are owned by large corporations who own many other businesses that we may not find the most environmental or customer friendly. This is dangerous because having corporate interests control the flow of what is being covered and how its being covered does not promote "Truth in media".
Every journalist will put their own spin on a story, that's why many of us follow journalist whom "style" we enjoy. This is great, writing style has alot to do with captivating an audience, I'm not talking about spins but what I am talking about is the gag orders put on press, the failure to show popular opinions in media and the tendency to use "fear mongering" in the stories that are covered. It is due to these tendencies in mainstream media , the untruths, that have brought about the "free press or open sourced media". The independent media coverage so many of us have found here on the Internet and the power it has brought back to the people is unmeasurable in my opinion. Not to say that you should believe everything you read on paper or on the internet, but if you can go to 4 or 5 independent media sources and see similar coverage you can start to put some weight into what they are covering. Always do your own research and don't take Wikipedia entries as the gods truth. The beauty in doing our own research is that it causes us to form our OWN opinions and not the ones being pushed into our minds by the 6 o'clock news. Sometimes you have to go to page 4 or 5 of google to get to the truth, don't be afraid to push past page one or two.

Egypt is erupting and their government is attempting to control press that is not under the control of corporate interests. I don't know how many of you out there read Al Jazeera but I find them to be a credible sources of news and often they offer a different opinion on world issues than the North American mainstream outlets. Egypt has revoked their licenses meaning coverage for millions of Arabs was disrupted (although still available on alternative feeds) China has blocked the ability to search the word Egypt from micro blogs similar to twitter. Facebook and twitter have both been blocked access from Egypt.
Does anyone else see the trend? Big business Governments don't want this political unrest to spill over to their countries. Egypt's unrest started because of Tunisia's unrest and Jordan followed because of Egypt's. Social networking sites give us the ability to become the press ourselves, to broadcast the real message of what is going on in the streets. This is a scary thing for the New World Order, or the Corporate interests that are represented in each of our governments (lobbyist in North America's case) Its a clog in the wheel.  They cannot continue to push their agenda when we are involved and actively stopping it by ousting them for the slime they really are. Its a beautiful thing! So next time you log onto facebook or twitter to tell the world the color of your underwear or what you are having for dinner, try bringing forward an issue that is going on in your community that isn't getting the coverage from the mainstream media. "The people united will never be defeated" is a true saying, and we need to unite, the "Open Internet " and social networking sites give us this power of unity.

Hopefully in the case of Egypt the people are successful in their fight. The U.S. has now cut ties with Mubarak (who they put into power back in the 80's) and are now threatening to pull the U.S. aid that basically funds the military. Mubarak is finding out much like Bin Laden and Noriega did, that when the U.S. is done with you they throw you to the wolves. Not that I think any of them don't deserve it, I just wish justice would extend to all those involved and not just the "Fall guy". I think we will see in the coming days the Military decide to back U.S. funding Corporate interests over backing Mubarak and the current government of Egypt will fall. I hope the people do not stop at that Victory, they must also be vigilant that another American Corporate backed criminal doesn't move into office.



POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!

Friday bloody Friday???

Lots of things going on today that I want to blog about. Egyptians are still protesting in the streets calling for the stepping down of their Dictator of the last 30 years. It is amazing to me that the USA is Egypt's biggest backer and yet Egypt has known nothing of real Democracy yet. What does this say to us about the US administrations, it hasn't mattered if they were Democratic or Republicans, they have still backed dictators around the world. It is comical that we North Americans get sucked into the Right vs. Left argument and actually think that a change of Government to the left or to the right will actually change things in our respective countries. Its such a sham, we have had both Parties in charge Conservative and Liberal, Republican and Democrat, it doesn't change the fact that big business and their lobbyist command our government officials and no real change is brought about. Minor changes, sometimes one or two major ones but its all used to take our attention away from the Billions and Billions of our tax dollars being syphoned to corporate business. We North Americans should take a slice from the people of Jordan who right now are in the streets demanding the fall of the current Regime due to, get this: RISING COSTS OF LIVING AND LACK OF JOBS. Wow Imagine. We just sit back and take the incremental increases in food and shelter and accept the loss of jobs and the low paying jobs. Alright I'm ranting but its hard not to when all I see is pathetic apathy in my home country. Alright Egypt keep the protests up. The people united will never be defeated. The economic state there has also brought about this tide of change. Millions of young Egyptians, almost 30 million under the age of 30 and 80% of those live on under 2$ a day and have no job. Lets open our eyes, just because it isn't that bad here yet doesn't mean we aren't headed down the same path. Cost of living are continually rising, food costs are rising, decent paying jobs for the majority are now run by private temporary agencies which offer us no benefits and make profits off of us working and breaking our backs. It is incremental loss, slowly but surely our Nation is being bankrupt by big business, who we extend tax breaks to. Banks that we bail out continue to pay fat salaries to CEO's. The world is not a pretty place, please don't sit back on your couch watching sitcom tv and think otherwise. I get very frustrated at the lie we have been sold, Most Canadians can tell you how many kids Brad and Angelina have but don't know what is going on in Ottawa or in their own community. This is exactly where big business wants us, being good drones. Turn off the tube that is distracting you from reality, stop wasting hours on social media sites, telling the world what you are eating today, if we stay distracted soon we won't be able to afford to eat.

Ranting again, I should probably just end it now, I have to learn to Live and let Live.

One last thing , here is Strombo on CBC (much respect) talking about a meter being put on your Internet. If we don't do something about this soon our freedom to open media will be gone too, because we won't be able to afford it....

I remember what my Father always said growing up. "Money doesn't grow on trees son". Our Government sure thinks we have money trees planted in our yards.

Egypt

SHIT has hit the Fan in Egypt. This all started as an online movement declaring January 25th a day of Day of Rage. Citizens of Egypt took to the streets in mass protest, this kind of protest is not allowed and typically any kind of protest is quickly shut down immediately by the state security forces. What they were not prepared for was the mass amount of people that took to the streets. The security forces have come in and arrested an estimated 830 protesters , there is an interesting phone journal located here in where journalist Jack Shenker depicts being picked up and beaten by security forces then being driven out to the desert for god knows what torture. Phone communication and Internet access from Egypt has been restricted by the Government. This shows how easy a Govt can and will hide the torture and human right violations that they choose to perpetrate on its citizens. I hope Egyptians do not back down, I hope they can bring about change. I will continue to watch this story. We can easily say "something like this would never happen in Canada" but really couldn't it? When was the last time the people took to the streets and demanded change in this country? I know the last attempt we had at taking it to our streets, I was there and experienced the revocation of our charter rights and freedoms. It could happen here too. We must continue to preserve our battle ground for the war against Fascism and Corporate Totalitarianism, we must hold onto our Charter rights and freedoms. We are bankrupted by Large corporations and just because we choose to ignore it does not mean it isn't going on. The proof is all around us, we have a choice to make. I hope in the coming years more Canadians choose to see our system for what it is, only then can we change it. We still have hope...... I think.. 

Whats really going on.

I am going to attempt to clear my head via this post, so strap in and I apologize in advance if this post makes no sense.

I think a story every Canadian should be concerned with is the story of inmate Ashley Smith (R.I.P.) If you do a quick google search for her name it will come up with numerous results that explain how the Justice system failed this troubled teen. I highly recommend watching the fifth estate special on her found here http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2009-2010/out_of_control/ I am not the biggest fan of the CBC but this coverage is decent. I would also recommend reading this report http://www.gnb.ca/0073/PDF/AshleySmith-e.pdf by the New Brunswick ombudsman. This girl spent 3 years give or take in solitary confinement. I have listened to some of the most hardened criminals I know talk about time in the "Hole" and its effects that it had on these grown men who had done multiple stints in the "hole" I can not imagine the mental anguish and state it put Ms. Smith thru. An inquest is set for April and I can only hope the Federal Government and the offices responsible for Ms. Smiths death are held responsible for their gross misconduct that caused Ms. Smiths Death. Ashley I hope you did not die in Vein and that changes are made to our Justice system that help other troubled teens in the same situation. Under the Harper administration we have seen closures of the 6 prison farms that were left always stating to the media "escaped prisoners" as the reasoning and never showing the overwhelming rehabilitation results of the farms. Furthermore the Harper Govt. has continued to adopt the U.S. system of Mega Jails at a cost of 10- 13 billion dollars to the Canadian tax payers. We need justice now, we need a new Government ASAP before Mr Harper and his cronies bankrupt and destroy this country any further.

The next topic that is on my hot list is the current passing of the CRTC. There are two specific areas I would like to bring to the attention of anyone reading this blog. First is usage based billing, the ISP's of this beautiful nation we call our own are attempting to pass a decision with the CRTC that will allow Internet Service Providers to charge per byte (like they do on a smartphone) This means we will be paying more for less Internet. This is clearly a move to gouge consumers put forward by the large ISP's in this country and will force small ISP's to charge the same rates. Please take the time to read more  Here and sign the petition, the CRTC is set to make a decision on this matter in the upcoming days.

Another Matter with the CRTC (Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission) quietly brought out proposed changes to the laws that prohibit Media outlets from reporting false news. The information can be found Here . Now It is my opinion that the mainstream media is already controlled by various corporate interests and I see the majority of the news in the mainstream media as "cheese for the mice" If the CRTC makes these changes it will take things to the next level. I am very grateful for open media sources like http://www.wikileaks.ch/ and Rabble. Wikileaks attempts to keep Democratic and "So Called" Democratic governments transparent by producing documents that show otherwise. Democracy without Transparency is simply NOTHING but EMPTY words. If you don't know the history of the Wikileaks movement take sometime and do a little research you will be amazed to see the accomplishments this group has achieved. The strongest enemy of Wikileaks has been the US government who likes to hide the death and destruction they perpetrate thru out the World. A true democratic society depends on the freedom of information and freedom of media. It was so important to the North American founding Fathers that it is protected both by the Charter here in Canada. Section 2b of the Charter states: Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms, freedom of thought, beliefs, opinion and expression, including freedom of press and other forms of media communication.

And it is protected in the USA by the First Amendment rights: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance. The Attacks on wikileaks and the rape allegations to discredit Julian Assange (if he is a rapist then so are most men in this world) are attacks on DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM OF SPEECH. This is old news for most but I feel that it must be discussed and not pushed to the back of our minds as its coverage in mainstream media has slowed to almost nil. New groups of Open media are arising and I encourage everyone to take the time and read thru them while we can. The government and ISP's which are owned by major Corporations are attempting to censor the Internet, it is already happening in many countries like China. A war is being waged on the free Internet which is the battle ground for today's fight against Corporate Fascism that attempts to control us today.

I have much more to say but I am going to leave it at that for today. I encourage you all to write your MP and MPP

Back Again

After a long break in blogging I am back. I have done much since my last post, many of my views have changed. I would like to say that I have evolved for the better but that is still questionable. Funny that last post: It mentions being a recovered addict and my respect for the 12 step program of AA. I find it ironic that it was my last post on here. I too like James Frey did not respect the program, for my own reasons and feeding into this sick ego that I have. I fell back into my alcoholism and my addict ways. In the 4 or 5 years since my last post here I lost many jobs, almost ruined some of the most important relationships in my lifetime and on a positive note I had another son. I allowed myself to forget the beast of a disease that I battle, it is powerful, cunning and baffling, but I have found the one who can help and I am 63 days sober thanks to the help of that one and the program of AA.


My political activism has also grown, my views on this corporate fascist society we live in offer little to no hope for the future. The only hope is that the Canadian people give up being apathetic and stand up for our rights that have been stripped from us. Many of us choose to live with blinders on, I have removed mine and see the system for what it is. I am fearful for the future of my Country and the world my 3 sons will continue to live in once my time is done.

|You can expect posts on both recovery from Alcohol and Drugs and Politics effecting North America and the World.

If this interests you I hope you follow, if not , as the group Kansas said "Carry on my wayward son"

Glad to be back




Jonny