Well written story Eric

My take on the story,not quite as classy, guess I should have went to school.

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-mans-terrorist-is-another-mans.html

Cheers

And for good measure

The above story I wrote two days ago, I wrote an updated story yeterday, don`t let the start of the story confuse you, it`s about Ludwig,the Ludwig shocking facts are in the second half.

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2010/01/john-les-icbc-kash-heed-nothing-to-see.html

Eyes Wide Open

Ethics ? Schmethics.

I've been following this saga via CBC Radio reports and have been PO'd re their unquestioning repetition of RCMP news releases which intimated it was only a matter of time before their charge of "extortion" could be proven. Now they say they don't have the evidence. Surprised?

In my opinion, the charge was laid solely to justify a massive fishing expedition on Weibo's farm in search of possible terrorist tools, which could include nylon combs for making plastic explosives.

In my opinion, the pipeline bombings, along with Weibo's bombings of wellhead installations, were fully justified in view of the actual occurrences - and not only the risks - of SO2 poisonings. If you and I did the same as the Gascos, we'd spend years in jail.

If you and I visited the same destruction on the local environment, as well as permanently destroying underground water supplies through coalbed methane extraction, we'd be shut down in an instant.

So, given our inadequate environental legislation, politicians on the bum for election funding and future directorships, Courts for the rich, and neighbours willing to sell their souls for jawbs, if gas extraction happened in my neighouhood, I'd be bombing too.

Encana

So if Encana has the RCMP protecting them, then who is protecting the citizens of BC? The mighty Corporation is a terrorist as well. Trading profits at the expense of people and the environment will bring this sort of response. In fact they have it quite easy, compared to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Brilliant Critique

It is such a pleasure to read Mr. Nikiforuk's work. His book Tar Sands, http://www.dmpibooks.com/author/andrew-nikiforuk, is a riveting page turner, and for anyone who hasn't yet read this volume, make sure you do.

Nikiforuk's book, like the above article, spells out in plain language how the loss of democracy comes with the rise of a 'petro state'. Canada is fast becoming, as Harper tells us, an energy superpower. And what, pray tell, is a superpower? Look south for all the answers. Less freedom, less democracy, more government enforcement, more corruption, more police, more military. Less taxes. Lower standards of living for the majority of citizens.

The rise of fascist VANOC policies and secret police spying on critics of the Olympics perfectly captures the authoritarian fear driving our elites. As does the reaction to the gas pipeline bombings.

A great, great article!

EnCana vs the People

Frankly, I am relieved somebody is prepared to take action when talking is not a solution. I wish all the folks adversely affected by the sour gas wells...or the threat of same...would mount a massive, very visible protest. This article was excellent in assisting me to understand the issues and any forthcoming demonstration will need to be educational in nature. I am quite sure a number of people would travel to Hythe to participate.

Who are the cops working for?

If this is not turning into a police state, then please define police state for me.

When It Really Begins to Get Dangerous I...

"I do not support bombing of property but trying to get some community control over raging, and often dangerous, development is impossible." wrote moodyguy.

But neiter will I condemn it either, for the same reasons: "...but trying to get some community control over raging, and often dangerous, development is impossible." Though I might counsel that it is ill advised, if asked.

An entirely new climate is emerging in this country (As increasingly amongst the US populace.), the likes of which I have not personally observed before..(At least not since Vietnam in the US.) And it is all a consequence, of which people are also increasingly becoming aware, out of control, greed driven Casino Capitalism, thieving to pay off its gambling debts, stealing from its own citizenry in addition to the impoverished of the Third World. And as a consequence creating the conditions in which resort to "terrorism" at home as well as abroad, or more accurately "resistance by other means", and a parallel War On Terrorism, makes all other "peaceful" options increasingly redundant, or risky. Even daring to raise your head and criticize the oil and gas industry, for example, it has been much complained by many persons in northern BC and Alberta, invites a visit from the RCMP, the ruling class's police, and scrutiny as can jeopardize your job. and invites being put on a terror watch list.

Corporate Capitalism has been afforded "person status", with rights and political clout that far, far exceed and over-ride those of ordinary small business and working class citizens. Casino Capitalism and its sham "democratic" parliamentary State is creating an increasingly dangerous and restive situation in our society, in its rush to become just like "Amerika".

They keep it up at their own self-created peril. As is provided for, at least formally, in the US Constitution, but no less a common law right here, when the mass of the citizenry decide they have no other recourse available to them, there is the risk of increasing resort to "politics by other means". Such as is already beginning to happen, still on a small scale, as an early warning of just what MAY be about to emerge.

Continued next post...

When It Really Begins to Get Dangerous 2...

Continuing from above...

The Neoconazi State that is more and more usurping "effective" democracy within Casino Capitalism, circumscribing all State largesse and assistance unto itself, and putting the people's lives and livelihoods at increasing risk, would be well advised to heed the gathering signs of the time they have created. (And I am not issuing any warnings or such, but observing what is and the risks it poses for our society and all of us, no less than that of the US Empire homeland.)

This is not the US. This is Canada. And any attempt to remake this country so, in Amerika's image, as they as well drift towards fascism, at an even faster pace, is near inevitably going to raise the spectre of this "politics by other means".

Anyone who can't hear the deep frustration in the voices of Ludwig and his family, and the other citizen voices in the North, many of whom have been interviewed on CBC around this struggle with Encana and its private police, the RCMP, is simply choosing not to hear. And this is when it really begins to get dangerous.

I worked in the oil patch in

I worked in the oil patch in the Fort St. John area back in the early 80's. While there were many well heads throughout the country side, what I saw when I returned in 2007 was truely shocking.

Partically every side road off the main highway between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson has warning signs about H2S gas. The 8hr exposure limit for H2S is less than 10ppm.

The oil industry has been given the right to infringe on property rights, pollute the environment and posion citizens all in the name of big money. Hell they even allowed them to drill a H2S spewing well next door to an elementary school.

Our governments are totally out of control, change can't come soon enough.

The judgement of others

One of the great difficulties with any system which concentrates power is that power makes those who wield it blind to all but their own local considerations.

Capitalism is a way of creating sufficient power puddles to enable a society to do larger things than would be possible without it. Democracy, on the other hand is the exact opposite thing. It diffuses power and makes people equals, so that big things can only be accomplished if enough people want them enough to dedicate their actions and energies to the effort.

One of the things power makes us blind to, is the judgement of those who disagree with us.

Canadians are above all a civilized people. Or maybe I mean a civil people. We are not cowboys by nature, nor are we natural lawbreakers or flaunters of the rules. If any Canadians are feeling so disregarded in their judgements of right and wrong as to take such uncharacteristic actions as to bomb, however carefully done, a legal enterprise, then it will be a grave error to dismiss them.

For this to have happened here at all, there must be a huge groundswell of democratic feelings, coupled with a conviction that their feelings will never otherwise be heard.

In any time since the French Revolution, if so many people believe that change must come, change always comes, regardless of the power structures arrayed against it.

So, who issued the order........

.....to de-industrialize Canada in favour of becoming "hewers of wood and drawers of water"?

Near as I can figure, it began in Diefenbaker's time, but kind of coasted through Pearson's & Trudeau's time, accelerated in Mulroney's tenure, and acheived warp speed with Chretien. Harper is merely (though eagerly) riding on the coattails of his immediate predecessor.........

This is "seigneurs' rights"

This is "seigneurs' rights" all over and the public is the recipient of the seigneurs' open fly attentions.

Canadian governments, on the advice of their miseducated and warped economists, have destroyed the country's economic infrastructure and manufacturing base with fraudulent "free trade" rackets, and now are forced to sell the country to be able to pay and maintain so called "service jobs" and city office skyscraper fortresses.

Rural areas are forcibly depopulated through the loss of opportunities and services, farm incomes and life are destroyed by the price fixings of the agribiz mafia, while our governments are rubbing their hands with glee and their economists report GDP and growth.

And all this is being taught in our fully owned and controlled universities as "good economics".

How stupid can people get to permit all these crimes?

Ed Deak.

Hypocritical ?

So how many of you "Bombing Gas Installations is OK" types are using natural gas? What happens when a bomb ruptures a gas line and that spews gas all over the place? I'll bet the rationale around here will be "They shouldn't have had a gas line there".

The Taliban

"Investigators won't succeed by treating rural citizens like Taliban suspects." True but then the RCMP may not have noticed that the worlds largest army has spend a few Trillion $$ fighting a rag-tag bunch of poorly armed guys, without success.
The RCMP also seems not to have noticed that their massive investigation has failed so far. Perhaps there is a better way to handle this situation?? I guess not, police departments rely on force.

Where and who are the

Where and who are the "Bombing Gas Installationsi OK " types ?

Just because people are opposing certain criminal activities doesn't mean that they're approving criminal actions directed against them.

In any case, there's enough gas to heat Canada forever, but what happens when this crazy economic theory depletes the wells? Because, according to NAFTA and the WTO, once a "commodity" starts crossing borders, it can not be stopped, even to save the lives of millions, until the last piece, or drop.

By the way we heat with wood and cook with Propane, the price of which has just gone up. Again.

Ed Deak.

In Unity There Is Power...

Much enjoyed and agree with your comments, Bailey. Always good to read you, brother. I have read you too little of late.

It impresses me to read the largely reasoned and careful voices here, on this very difficult subject. With the ususal rightist exceptions, of course. And we really must be careful in our rush to judgement and response here. And the pressure being put on us, especially when we can't know all the nuanced details, is great.

I am more inclined myself, to give the citizen voices I hear coming out of the North in this case, including Wiebo Ludwig, the benefit of the doubt. We are in those kind of times, unfortunately.

I am certainly not about to rush to agree with the corporatist voices of an Encarta and the RCMP. Too much has already gone on of recent years for me to do that.

I would but urge my fellow marginalized citizens to proceed resolutely, but at the same time cautiously here, and not to give The System immediate grounds to crush you, but instead to cast about for unity and a gathering of citizen forces here. And the fertile conditions for this gathering together of Resistance is growing in parallel with the magnitude of the oppression that is coming down.

It's still true the counsels of old that I still recall... in unity there is power. And a popular citizen,s power, over evey other action we could take, is what is most needed now. Indeed, we are in this position in the first place because that has not enough been appreciated since the disheartened collapse of Operation Solidarity, the last time out for a popular resistance in this province.

Wiebo Ludwig ...

Wiebo Ludwig is one of those far right-wing Christian fundamentalist extremist types cut from the same cloth as the American Posse Comitatus.

As for northeastern BC natural gas, Alberta accounts for roughly 75% of Canadian production and natural gas royalty revenue is the key cash generator for the Alberta treasury - NOT oil.

With the massive shale gas plays in the Montney (50 trillion cubic feet potential) and Horn River (500 trillion cubic feet potential) areas, production should be ramping up post-2010.

And then the BC treasury should be reaping windfalls heading toward 2020. BC could even potentially surpass Alberta as Canada's leading natural gas producer.

And that means funding for what everyone wants - poverty reduction, social services, health/education, infrastructure, and lower taxes.

Some of the key players in the Horn River/Montney areas include:

1. Nexen;
2. Encana;
3. Apache;
4. Exxon Mobil;
5. Quicksilver Resources;
6. Shell;

Looks like someone has a personal beef with Encana in this story matter.

cboo44

Maybe they shouldn't have had a gas line there. This was not discussed, however, with the people who now have the toxic vapors poured over them, as well as even more toxic garbage in their groundwater.

Whether we all use natural gas is beside the point. Maybe we would have opted for something else, had we known the cost. Allow for the fact that what some people will consider acceptable risk crosses into the realm of insanity for others, not to mention defies their imagination. Now that we know how ugly it gets, we want to call a halt and discuss those costs. Fair enough? Businesses do it all the time. For instance, years ago, you could see 'two for one, one offer per customer'. Realizing that some people would send each of their seven kids and themselves separately and get the deal nine times over, it was changed to 'one offer per family purchase'. So, we learn together. Ever heard "It seemed like a good idea at the time"? Those who will defend 'the idea' beyond all reason and in the face of it clearly being a dud have not traditionally survived in the endeavor of human progress, and neither will we, if we remain boneheaded and unable to think outside the box. Do us all the favor of learning the concept of cybernetics; this is where we are failing big right now.

RickW

I think the de-industrialization was unavoidable, given the difficulty some people have with ordinal numbers. You can have a competitive value-added industry based on two possible parameters: Either you can have an educated workforce, capable of maintaining high productivity and quality both, in keeping with European tradition. Or, you can have dirt-cheap labor, such as in China.

In Canada, we are neither fowl nor fish. We have never been willing to invest in education and training to the extent European standards would require. Rather, we have imported a quality workforce. Ever since the source countries in Europe and some other places dried up, since they learned not to overbreed, we have been in trouble. Then we tried dirt-cheap, but found that these willing hands had to be paid better, when people had spent a little time here and seen some better conditions given to our own sons and daughters for no better credentials. Latest in the development is the 'outsourcing', except that carries the ramification that we are bleeding money to overseas places, and purchasing power here suffers. Also known as 'recession'.

what has this got to do with ordinal numbers? Oh, yeah, it is symptomatic for the precise kind of deficit our work force suffers, that people struggle with the non-existence of the 'year 0', inasmuch as '0' is a point and not a quantity. If we knit a sweater, and it has two sleeves, the first one we knit is the 1st, not the 0th, but until we finish it, we don't yet have '1' but neither do we have '0'. We have '0', going on '1', in keeping with the Von Trapp offering we sit through every Yule, and it is my passionately held opinion, that if this inane discussion could not have arisen in our fair country, we would have had a work force that could build bridges that didn't fall down, and telescopes with lens curvatures that worked the first time, and maybe a competitive industry that could make not just one, but a whole selection of usable can-openers right here in our own land (I did buy one package of the Coghlan one, r'man, and it works, but you try to get through the traditional Scandinavian yule set of cans with that, and you'll need a padded fork to eat it all with).

I have this stupid green button-pin somewhere, with a stupid flop-eared grinning rabbit head, and the caption reads "If you think education is expensive, you ought to try ignorance". It is, of course, made in China...

What I find very interesting

What I find very interesting in this "property rights" game is that the big companies are most welcome to destroy the properties and lives of millions, but if somebody dares to question their actions, they're immediately protected by "laws".

Or is it bought and paid for politicians looking for directorships ?

Ed Deak.

white collar jobs

Quote: "In Canada, we are neither fowl nor fish."
Right on Dorothy!

A nation could survive if only the unskilled labour group is inept, but here we suffer from management types lacking proper education and who seem to have no initiative to get that education once they have landed a good job!

Most professionals have to keep updating their training, but not so in management circles!

Once they land in that cushy chair the only requirement is to get involved in civic affairs, (meaning: join the golf and country club. etc.)

Brad-Perseus-Al-LukeSkywalker-Luke

"And that means funding for what everyone wants - poverty reduction, social services, health/education, infrastructure, and lower taxes."

Nice try, but you don't want those things. Based on past history, if we use a finite resource the only people getting rich will be the corporate buddies of the government. And in return those same corps will give plum directorships to those politicians once they're out of office.

Royalties going to the government will be wasted on things like the Olympics and tax cuts for the rich. As our present situation demonstrates amply.

And then the finite resource will run out and all the people who didn't benefit from the use of it will be told times are bad and they'll have to tighten their belts.

Brad lukester

Hmmm...It seems my friend Vaughn Palmer doesn`t agree with your assessment of riches returning to the province any time soon...

http://www.vancouversun.com/columnists/Liberals+path+toward+fiscal+incredibility/2439774/story.html

Cheers

I don't think so...

"And then the BC treasury should be reaping windfalls heading toward 2020. BC could even potentially surpass Alberta as Canada's leading natural gas producer."

"And that means funding for what everyone wants - poverty reduction, social services, health/education, infrastructure, and lower taxes."

Not even close. With the drop in royalty rates to one tenth of what they were for deep wells, we're giving the gas away now supposedly just to keep the rigs in the province (as if they'd seriously go anywhere else that there isn't already a lot of competition) and not collecting a dime more than the minimum to pay for roads and nothing at all for services. The BC government is losing money on the new wells and will probably see fit to extend the royalty holiday as long as they see fit, their friends ask them to, or there's money to be stolen.

These resources are ours, and we ought not to be giving them away. We're not getting money NOW for the necessities, so why don't we keep it for when prices are better so that we CAN get money for necessities then?

This is the problem when you believe everything you hear and fail to think for yourself.

dorothy

Thanks! Makes sense to me. But this is a chicken-and-egg thing, is it not? Did government cut back on education because Canucks got lazy, or did Canucks become resigned because government cut back on education.........?

Luke

And all it takes is a few dead cows, a few disabled children and sick adults, and the general clearing out of the hinterland, so the O&G companies can run amok....

Myth of Rising Revenues

An above posting ties rising gas and oil revenues with "funding for what everyone wants - poverty reduction, social services, health/education, infrastructure, and lower taxes."

If only this were true. Lower taxes, yes. More funding for poverty reduction, social services, health, education and infrastructures, no. Just go to Alberta, Canada's wealthiest petrostate, and they have been busy slashing services as fast as possible.

But this message, carefully crafted by the oil industry, happily parroted by the Campbell regime, is used over and over again to dupe people into consenting to oil extraction.

The real message was better said by Sarah Palin's famous remark: drill, baby, drill.

Come now guys, how would our

Come now guys, how would our superannuated politicians expect to get lucrative directorships if not by cutting services and human rights to please their present and future employers ?

Have you no hearts ? Tony Blair helped to invade Iraq, killing a million, not counting his own soldiers, to spread "democracy" and now he's raking in, among other goodies, 1 million Pounds a year as an "adviser" to the oil industry.

And this is what we call real "prosperity and wealth creation", going on all over the world. Can you imagine the directorships Campbell and Harper will collect to ease their poverty levels ?

Ed Deak.

Of Internal Contradictions...

"Rather, we have imported a quality workforce. Ever since the source countries in Europe and some other places dried up, since they learned not to overbreed, we have been in trouble. Then we tried dirt-cheap, but found that these willing hands had to be paid better, when people had spent a little time here and seen some better conditions given to our own sons and daughters for no better credentials. Latest in the development is the 'outsourcing', except that carries the ramification that we are bleeding money to overseas places, and purchasing power here suffers. Also known as 'recession'. "

Every once in awhile Dorothy, you nail it pretty damned good. :-) I especially liked, and agree with, "...Ever since the source countries in Europe and some other places dried up, since they learned not to overbreed, we have been in trouble.." With which analysis there is much that I agree.

Which keeps bringing us back to that same "greed" element that drives the system to ever greater and greater "over-development heights", in pursuit of endless quantities of cheaper and cheaper labour, while at the same time, and in contradiction needing to constantly grow, what actually become ever diminishing markets... because of the emphasis on cheap labour as the solution. They keep forgetting, or simply choose not to see that those "cheap labour" folks they are stealing share from, are also their much prized consumer, needed to complete the production and consumption process. Until it all just siezes up, basically, and shuts down on itself.

The end result of it all being, which cyclically keeps reoccurring within capitalism, collapse of the system arising out of its own internal contradictions within the greed driven, rather than need driven system. It all becomes about money and not the real needs of real working/consuming people.

zalm...

It's obvious that you have absolutely no understanding of the BC natural gas sector.

Probably don't even know that the massive Montney and Horn River basins are still essentially in the development stage and would increase BC's portion of Canada's natural gas production from around 15% currently to a projected ~50% by 2020.

Kudos to the NDP in the late 1990's for at least getting something right:

And those "incentives" included summer drilling, deep wells, and marginal wells.

Those 3 incentive programs introduced by the New Democrats have generated an additional $900 million in natural gas royalties net of the $250 million in incentives/credits.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=0b79f09f-2ad9-4254-be9b-7312a13e2560

From the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum regarding the recent stimulus incentives:

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2009-2013/2009EMPR0008-000195.htm

And the cost of fractured wells in the new tight shale Montney/Horn River plays is much more economic than drilling wells in conventional areas.

Alberta's conventional natural gas industry is drying up and now turning its sights on BC. Food for thought.

Revisionist history

"Those 3 incentive programs introduced by the New Democrats have generated an additional $900 million in natural gas royalties net of the $250 million in incentives/credits."

And where did the money go? Campbell cut taxes for the rich by 25%. The poor got nothing except more cuts to services.

Outstanding article

Quote:

"The boom has industrialized rural communities with relentless traffic, noise, and sour gas pollution in the form of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) -- a potent neurotoxin as deadly as cyanide. Just one rotten breathe can kill workers, livestock and birds"

There is an old Pynchon quote that goes: "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."

Sometimes I think we are hopelessly mired in distracting fictions that do just that...but this article by Andrew Nikiforuk is truly exceptional in the way it boldly poses the right questions while keeping an unwavering critical focus on the disturbing deterioration of rule of law in Canada.

Fried egg sunny side up, or....?

"Did government cut back on education because Canucks got lazy, or did Canucks become resigned because government cut back on education.........?"

Neither. After WWII, the blue-collar people in GB, who had suffered in the war along with the upper crust, demanded some egalitarian measures. One thing they got was a hosed-down version of the educational standards the upper crust could afford to pay for. Not the real thang, of course. Won't do with too much actual competition. Canada as a child country (must be valid when GB was a mother country - maybe that's where the chicken comes in?) inherited this hosed-down system, not knowing it wasn't the real thang, and now happily thought it had a good school.

I grew up in the continental European situation and went to school mid-fifties to mid-sixties. It didn't get any better than then and there, so I can compare, and was apalled at what my own offspring were fed for mental nourishment. Don't get me started. Suffice to say that the energy level they were experiencing around them while trying to master things cerebral was lame compared to what I had been provided. I have never been so close to regretting my move here. My oldest child had to shame a teacher into going down to the school library with him and verify in the 'big dictionary' that a word he had used in his assignment existed, since the teacher claimed it didn't. My kid was right, and the word was commonly used in our household. At an open house, much touted by the parent committee, I saw a flag-garland made by students, including an israeli flag which, in place of the Star of David, had a pentagram with one point down. When I pointed it out to THE PRINCIPAL, he voiced the opinion that I was being 'kind of petty'.

I could go on and on, and maybe some day I will. But this is where I'm coming from. Can you wonder that we don't have a competitive anything, other than hewing and drawing? We can fix this, since this really quite possibly IS the best place on Earth, at least potentially. But there's a job to be done, and right now, we aren't getting to first base. We need a shift in priorities, and I don't know if we will be hurting enough to motivate this, before it becomes too late. Money is not the snswer, attitude is.

Any ideas?

Coyote

Yep, you are beautifully describing that cyclical thing. Every old culture uses this icon with the serpent that eats its own tail. The Volsungesaga even develops it into a full tragic story, where guarding your gold turns you into a dragon that must be slain by a hero. But see if we get it! I think it's that story with the talents, nobody understands that that is a parable, and not talking about money at all.

The greed thing is also denounced in many old writings and mores. Just look at the potlatch tradition, which I have mentioned before in this context. So much more healthy than overcapitalizing, or whatever it is these people do to keep it all under their own mattress.

I remember that Robbins guy that was so much in the center some years ago. I started reading 'awakening the giant within', until I came to that section about how, once you got wealthy, you had to devote energies to fight all those creeps that would glom on and rob you blind. I understood then, that 'giant' was to be taken in the same meaning it is in some understandings of Norse mythology, namely the old forces, the blind brutal instinct, the feeding frenzy and chaos, which will certainly keep those away who scheme to take anything from us, except those who are really clever schemers, which then rolls out to underline the futility of trying to hold on to things beyond our ongoing endeavours and their support anyway.

But will we learn? No. We do so relish the idea of 'sitting pretty' on a big heap of gold, not having to get up and at them every damn day, not having to prove ourselves all the time. Not having to bother with the nitty-gritty. Only 'doing life' when it suits us. When you think about it, a really pathetic notion...

Defend Nature

We owned 160 acres in Demmit in the 1970's. The pipeline company wanted to put a pipeline through our property. We saw that the fuckin pipeline was slated to go directly through OUR HAND BUILT LOG CABIN. 160 acres and the friggin pipeline had to go right THROUGH our house! They paid to move our cabin and then we sold the homestead in the 1980's. That was then, this is now. I wish more than ever that we still owned that quarter section of land and could stand tall with all those who still there to DEFEND NATURE.

In defence of the "third world"

I'm a fan of the Tyee and its independence. However, comments such as Mr. Nikiforuk's conclusion in his fantastic piece that "All in all it remains an ugly spectacle of uncommon corruption and uncivil conduct befitting a third world nation" display unacceptable ignorance.

While there's no dispute that much of the corruption and civil unrest can be seen in most so-called third world countries--the third world is not entitled to despair. Obviously, not all third world countries are corrupt and undergoing civil unrest!

Therefore, it doesn't matter whether you're from Canada or Africa, everybody deserves fair treatment, and no evil "befits" a particular part of the world more than others.

Heartland of the corruption...

" Obviously, not all third world countries are corrupt and undergoing civil unrest!"writes Agutmamer.

For sure, brother. It is certain that it is not only the Third World that have corrupt governments, and dare I say "economic systems", that are undergoing civil unrest ferment, especially in this time.

Despite appearances and the deceitful, manipulative manufacturing of consent efforts of a "compliant" Corporate media, it is increasingly clear that such "corruptions" are as well all closer to home than just the Third World. You'd have to go a long way to find a country more corrupt and with more of its citizens, and others, in jail, than in Amerika. (Disproportionately Black and Latino in the Land of The Bullshit Free, and Native in this country.) It is only through the filter of the compliant media, like drapery window dressing, that makes it all appear better then it really is.

Oh... and Canada. Let's not forget our little bootlick to "The Empire" State.(Such that it is an increasing embarassment. And abroad, we are more and more having to hide our identity, no less than "They" of Jarhead Mentality Land.)

And our joint economic system, even more important in many ways, Casino Capitalism, is the heartland and wellspring of the corruption for the entire World Order.

Andrew Nikiforuk

Usually I disagree with everything that Andrew Nikiforuk writes, mainly because he writes to cause controversy and cause problems for others through partial truths. However, he is partially correct about the natural gas drilling, the bombs and the poor reactions by the industry, the province and the RCMP. I blame the provincial agencies, the bureaucrats, for the majority of the problems, then the companies, then the RCMP and finally the locals. If the locals had any faith in the first three, the bomber would have been turned in because he may kill someone. But the distrust is deep, even by the locals that like the industry.

What to do? Replace the bureaucrats both in Victoria and in the Peace country, with people who are objective and will enforce provincial regulations, people that care. The rest will then resolve itself.

Wiebo Ludwig...Canadian hero

Maybe that`s abit of a stretch....But...As for the latest...

He gave DNA 10 days ago, 150 cops rampaged over his land and buildings, all the big time cop-talk about having the right man,about direct evidence...

DNA can be tested and results given in two days, forensic examining of jis computer,paper pens etc etc etc...Your talking results overnoight...

10 days later and another RCMP mirage slowly fades from peoples memory, just as I predicted,besides, the police already had his DNA from three months earlier when Wiebo Ludwig met with the police in a Dawson Creek motel.

Remember,you could be the next target of the RCMP for speaking up...Welcome to Gordoville, land of mirages!

Cheers