The butcher keeps pounding with no relief

Sadly Bashar and his ilk have not stopped pounding Hama and other restive towns in Syria on this first day of Ramadan. I've wanted to blog something this morning, but all I can think about is that 142 people were killed by the Syrian Government forces yesterday and that is Extremely disturbing. 

Finally today the Harper Government is condemning the Syrian Government. What it took 142 deaths in one day? What 100 deaths isn't enough? Fact that more then 1600 died so far just a fluke? Or does Harper believe the Syrian line of "Armed groups". Yeah the armed group is the Syrian Regime.

Bracelet picked up in Homs at The Church of the Girdle

I never wear bracelets to work as with the work I do, bracelets end up broken or I get hurt caught in a PC. But today I will wear the bracelet I picked up in Homs at The Church of the Lady of the Girdle. I generally don't pick up religious items, but the blue bracelet with blue cross reminded me a bit of a blue medal of the virgin Mary my grandma gave to me as a child which I still miss.  I will wear the bracelet in solidarity with the people of Homs and the Syrian people in general. 

I have an aversion to worshipping in Churches since my childhood, however when we went downtown Saturday for the rally, I wanted to stop at the Marie-Reine du Monde basilica, to light a candle for all those who died in Syria so far. I also wanted to sit in front of the beautiful wooden Statue of the Virgin in silent meditation. Sadly when we arrived downtown it was 5pm, one of the time for mass, and since I did not want to sit through mass, we did not go in. We figured we'd go after the restaurant but it was locked. I guess they have had issues with revellers going nuts on Saturday nights, so they lock the doors. Will have to go back in the near future to light that candle.  

Edit: Harper's statement in full from government website. 

Rally downtown Montreal this evening in Solidarity with the Syrian people

Cut and Paste from message I received on Facebook

URGENT ACTION


SOLIDARITY WITH THE SYRIAN PEOPLE AND THE UPRISING FOR DIGNITY AND FREEDOM

31 July 2011

Today, the Syrian regime is mobilizing its army against its own people on a scale not yet seen over the past five months of the people’s uprising for dignity, freedom, justice and democracy. This represents an escalation of significant proportions in the regime’s brutal suppression of the people’s will for meaningful change in Syria.

Today, Syrian military troops and artillery are being used against the people in numerous cities and towns—most strikingly in the cities of Hama and Deir Ezzor. Hundreds have been reported killed already.

Today, a public rally will be held in Montreal to show solidarity with the Syrian people’s principled, just and peaceful struggle for rights, dignity and freedom.

Join us at:

Carré Phillip/Phillips Square ( Ste-Catherine and Union; across from The Bay)

Time 19:30/7:30 PM



No to Intervention! No to Indifference!

Yes to the Syrian people’s just and principled struggle.



The Collective for Syria in Montreal

Syria, Syria don't you cry, we will never let you die.....

Marching down St Catherine for the children of Syria.

One of the many chants recited last night at the vigil/march held downtown Montreal. Another chant from last night, recited in Arabic, was God, Syria, and Freedom, as well as Come on Bashar, leave! There were other slogans, but my Arabic being limited, I did not understand them. Though to be sure, when the name Bashar was in the slogan, it was all about what an ass hole he is being and how he should leave already. RDI suggests there were 150-250 people... I think there was closer to 400 people. The numbers RDI had were probably from the organizers, as the group from Facebook indicated there would be around 200 people. It doesn't take into account that sometimes only 1 family member wrote he was attending and then brought half a dozen people with him.

I was very pleased with the fact there was no counter protesters. Rumours through the crowd though implied there was people from the Syrian Embassy in attendance. I know I stuck out like a sore thumb, I don't look Syrian, I was asked at least twice if I was from news media, I suppose because of my big camera. I explained to one woman I was there since my mom-in-law was born in Homs, Syria, and I feel solidarity with the Syrian people.

The march went from Norman Bethune Square to Philips Square. The police arrived around 8:30ish to escort the protesters marching down St Catherine.  I will give credit to Montreal police, they do a great job escorting protests. That's  what police forces are for, to protect the people! [HINT HINT BASHAR!!!] They were there, but stayed out of the way as people were just peacefully walking and shouting slogans.

 Katherine Lalancette of the Gazette interviewing Afra Jalabi

One woman I noticed out of the crowd. Turns out she is on Syria's most wanted list. I saw her being interviewed by a young female journalist for what seemed to be quite some time. She was also interviewed on CTV news briefly as well last night.

One of the organizers asking people to get their candles for the march

I noticed also reporters from RDI - they had one of the longest reports on the protest march of any TV news outlet. It is available on the RDI website - tele-journal  for July 30th. It's about 5 minutes into the 1st part of the broadcast.  I did not see CTV on site, but I caught the news. It was obvious they only came to Bethune square briefly and not later, as they say only several dozen people were there.  When we marched we were surely about 400.  I noticed a truck from Global TV but did not see their reporters, and have no idea if they had a report.

10 placards giving history and current details of uprising in Syria

I have to say the event was well organized.  They had T-shirts for sale, and free candles to all those who wanted to walk with them.  They had printed up leaflets to hand out on the street as others marched on St Catherine. They had highly graphic placards of images taken from footage that has come out of Syria. They had a sound system they used to encourage the crowd to cheer or chant and to make Montrealers aware of the plight of the Syrian people and how the Syrian children have the right to freedom too.

We left Philips Square at 10 to make sure we caught the 10:30 train back to the West Island. By then hubby had had enough of the crowds and noise.  They were shouting slogans when we left, and were going to have an audio visual presentation. I suspect the slogan shouting was also done to attract people from downtown Montreal to make them aware of the Syrian situation.

Candlelight vigil for Syria's dead Children St Catherine Street

Because it is the last day before Ramadan, it has been one of the worst days for the Syrian people, especially those in Hama, and other restive towns.  Tanks where there in force in Hama, and I haven't found a news report that knows how many dead. The numbers indicate there have been more then 100 dead this Sunday alone. The Hamza page I follow suggests 136, the Syrian days of rage say 120, and ffnSyria says 121. Aljazeera was far more conservative in it's estimates an hour ago, but now they also say 121 people are dead.

Edit 1:15pm : AlJazeera now says 136 dead
Edit 5:00pm : AlJazeera now says 142 dead

Norman Bethune square

Today we're taking the train downtown, I haven't decided if we're going to take the 3 o clock train or the 4 o clock train, but we will be downtown for dinner time. I'm thinking of trying out Buffet Marahaja. I've heard good things about it and seen the ads, so why not?

After which hubby and I are going to make our way to Norman Bethune Square, a tiny piece of land not occupied by a high rise building on the corner of Guy and de Maisoneuve West, across the street from one of the entrances/exits to Guy-Concordia Metro station.

Of course I was curious to know who is Norman Bethune so I had to wiki it.  Considering the type of man Norman Bethune was, he'd be proud that the group for the Global Syrian Day have chosen this square for their demonstration.

Let there be light.....

Cool invention from MIT, made out of plastic bottle, water and bleach. Cheap light bulb requiring no electricity, and from what I can tell, they can use recycled bottles. Will be especially useful in places where large shanty towns get built outside cities that aren't connected to any grid.

Unrelated but also very positive, researchers in the UK may have found a better way to treat cancer patients which is showing remarkable results. Considering all of us has known someone who has died of a cancer or another, this is great news.

Your Silence is Deadly

Today was the day Syrian protesters hoped more of their compatriots would take to the streets and be heard.  This phrase has multiple meanings. It is meant to encourage more Syrians to take to the streets, it is meant also to have people in other countries see what is happening.

It is not just the silence of some Syrians but also the silence of their immediate neighbours, the Arab League as well as the countries, like the US who got involved in Libya but so far is afraid to say or do much about what is going on in Syria.

Good feature article on AlJazeera, telling the stories of 6 men randomly plucked from Syrian streets and into Assad's jails.

Also tomorrow is Global Syrian Day - candlelit vigil in Montreal to remember all the children who have died thus far in the past 4 months of brutality in Syria.

Syrians want no association with terrorists.

I guess with all that is happening in the middle east, Al Qaeda isn't getting enough attention so their new leader al-Zawahiri decided to speak about Syria.  The Syrian protesters however want no association with al-Zawahiri or his group for that matter.  If you were to talk to the average Syrian protester on the street, they would tell you that it's not about religion, that it's all about reforms and freedom.  I was reading earlier today that the people in Hama were showing both the Qoran and the Bible in their protests, to re-iterate that the protests are not sectarian.   The last thing the protesters need is al-Zawahiri support so Bashar can say "See foreign agitators and Islamists threaten Syria".

Earlier in the week Bashar announced a new law in effect, allowing multiple political parties but it's still too little too late. On the one hand he announces this new law and at the same time, is sending tanks to crush protesters in various parts of Syria, in hopes to keep the protests to a minimum during Ramadan. Mark my words, the more he tries to crush via violence the more people go out on the streets to protest and the less control he has. People will take to the street in much larger numbers during Ramadan.

Avaaz said 1,634 people have died in the crackdown, 26,000 have been arrested, of whom 12,617 are still in detention in Syria. Avaaz has revealed the identities of 2,918 Syrians who have been arrested by Syrian security forces and whose whereabouts are now unknown.

Nice article from the "Last tourist in Syria"  Emma Sky who is travelling exploring the Arab Spring.

On another note, earlier this week some French soldiers part of UNIFIL in Southern Lebanon were injured by a road side bomb. It turns out it the attack was carried out by a pro-Syrian Lebanese group, in retaliation for France's stance on Syria. There's also Hezbollah that denies it's helping the Syrian regime, but then you have Bashar that says he's not killing his own people!!! Who to believe?  Hezbollah has been in bed with Syria and Iran for a long time. Saying this isn't so isn't convincing too many people.

This morning seeing that it's Friday I've been looking for news of the protests after Friday prayers and haven't found out much yet. There's been a blast on the oil pipeline near Homs which the government said was done of course by terrorists. They have dispatched troops to Homs  to lay siege to the Military Academy where a Brigadier General and his officers have barricaded themselves. They say that the 7th armoured division in Deir Ez Zor have defected, after trying to protect citizens there from the regime's thugs. An article I was reading this morning says that the Syrian revolution is pure revolution because it has no real leaders, it's mostly spontaneous.

From what I'm reading in the facebook group "The Syrian Days of Rage" today, so far there has been protests today in Aleppo,  Hama & Qatana. The information will start trickling out of Syria in a couple of hours, but I bet it will be the day of the biggest demonstrations yet! Here's what AlJazeera has to say for today so far.

Discrimination rears it's ugly head

Article in the New York times had me shaking my head. Apparently most employers only want to hire people who are already employed. Which will leave those unemployed looking for work still unemployed. Sure some of the unemployed were poor employees and that's why they were laid off, but some were downsized because the company was downsizing and it has nothing to do with their performance.  To me it's a form of discrimination. You can't discriminate over gender, and race but you can discriminate over whether the person you're interviewing is employed or not?

Speaking of discrimination, this article I came across yesterday had me pretty mad. This kind of racism should not exist anymore but it does. I was pretty unimpressed. What does race have to do with anything?  It used to be people were racist to your face, now it's more hidden because of political correctness. It doesn't mean it's not there anymore. You'd think we were still in the 50's!

Some terrorists are blonde and blue eyed!

I'm still amazed at how if there is a bomb, people in the West assume the terrorists are Arabs or Muslims. This mindset already existed before 9/11 but it was cemented after the attacks on the World Trade Center that somehow only Muslims can do this kind of damage.

It's actually quite amusing in some ways. Al Queda writes a rant about something they are against and the West shakes in their boots, fearing 9/11 or worse. No wonder Bin Laden spent the last couple of years comfortable in a house in Pakistan, all he had to do to make others fear him was write the odd text.

The sad part is, while we're all busy looking for the bad Arabs under our beds, we're going to completely miss local grown terrorism. The Norwegian [I'm purposefully not saying his name not to give him more glory], was anti-Muslim and pro-Israel. He was also blonde and blue-eyed, and as an article said, a poster boy for the Olympics, not for a terrorist! The guy responsible for the Oklahoma bombings, was a home grown terrorist as well. They aren't  the first or the last.

An opinion piece on AlJazeera goes more into detail and shares my sentiments.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, no one group has only bad guys and no one group has only good guys. You can find some bad Christians and good Christians, same with Muslims, Jews, Hindus and any other religion you can name.  Each group has their fundamentalists, conservatives, extremists as well as the more tolerant, middle of the road more liberal types.

Bad joke seen on facebook

Someone showed me a similar status yesterday and a friend said more or less the same thing this morning:

Brian Jones - dead at 27

Jim Morrison - dead at 27

Jimi Hendrix -  dead at 27

Janis Joplin - dead at 27

Kurt Cobain - dead at 27

and now Amy Winehouse dead at 27.

Only 10 more years of Justin Bieber. 

Ripped from this morning's headlines.

I was up late last night in a pensive mood and didn't get to sleep enough so I'm really brain dead this morning. About the only thing coherent I can do is comment on a few headlines!

Well written article about the causes of the famine in the Horn of Africa.

Canada puts out a new guide to help it's doctors help it's immigrant population with their health woes, I wonder if the guide covers PTSD. Most people who come from a region that lived through some form of war end up with PTSD, especially after arriving in a country that's as calm as Canada.


The Norwegian who was behind the attacks in Norway has referenced Canada many times in it's manifesto. Personally I think  multiculturalism works well. If you've never travelled to Montreal, try it sometimes. I love the fact we have people of just about every ethnic group and it makes Montreal one of the most vibrant cities in the world! I'm proud to be both a Quebecois and a Canadian.

As a last comment, I often wonder how come my blog ends up formatted all wrong even when it looks fine before I hid PUBLISH POST. 

5 year old prevents sister from drowning

Isn't that a positive headline? I think it's great! Here's a link to the story. What a wonderful little boy! He couldn't get his sister out of the pool alone, but he was able to keep her head above water until mom showed up to help.

One of the first things you can do as a parent in Quebec is take your little one to swimming lessons at a very young age. Children LOVE to play in water. The more swimming lessons they attend, the more they become aware of water safety and the least likely you are to have one of your precious offspring drown. Also my reasoning is that there aren't tons of activities you can do with a very young child, but taking them to swimming lessons and swimming with them is something fun for both.

I took mine to swimming lessons around 8 months old to a mom-tot swimming lesson. I used to enjoy it. You teach your baby how to hold his breath to go under water!  The only scare I had was when the youngest was  2 1/2. We were at the company pool and I had the presence of mind to keep her swimming belt on her around the pool at all times, even when she wasn't in the water.  Originally the belt had 4 floaters, and I would remove them as the child swam more and more on her own.  It gave the children a sense of swimming alone without risking of drowning, of course under adult supervision.

Well one fine summer day, with a belt with just one floater left she ran, tripped and fell into the pool. I was just a few feet away and by the time I reached her, barely 1 minute later,  she was pulling herself out of the pool a little shaken.  Because she had her floater and knew how to swim well with it,  she took her head out of the water, caught her breath and proceeded to reach the side to climb out.

Of course the same daughter now is a lifeguard at the DDO civic centre and has already taught a whole slew of kids water safety, and trained all the current staff!

Global Syrian Day - Save the Syrian Children!

Cut & paste from Facebook
--------------------------------------------------

Save our children!

Global Syria Day

For more than four months, Syrians have been protesting in the streets and squares of their cities and towns demanding their basic rights: Freedom, Dignity and Democracy.

They have faced brutal repression from the Syrian regime, and many have lost their lives: More than 1600 civilians have been killed including at least 80 children. More than 14,000 citizens have been arrested and jailed, and over 15,000 people have become refugees. The regime persists in its killing and repression, but the people continue to resist in the name of freedom, unity and dignity.

We are calling on Montrealers to show solidarity with the Syrian people at a silent candlelight march in downtown Montreal to Save the Children in Syria.

From Morocco to Egypt, from Bahrain to Palestine to Syria, self-determination, justice and dignity will prevail!

Date: July 30th, 2011.
Time: 8:00 PM
Checkpoint: Normand Bethune Sq. Guy corner de Maisonneuve O. Metro Guy-Concordia.

Collective pour la Syrie à Montréal
Blog: cfsmtl.wordpress.com
Courriel: syrian.collective.mtl@gmai​l.com
Facebook: Journée mondiale pour la Syrie| Syria Global Day

Don't read the news, it's too depressing!

Yesterday no matter which way you looked at the news, there was very little positive. 

The biggest headline was the death of singer Amy Winehouse.  The comments here were mostly, that she should have gone back to rehab. It's sad, she was but 27, an age that seems particularly dangerous for musicians who like to abuse drugs and alcohol.  The sad part is, she is just one person, she shouldn't have been on the top of the headlines.

The 2nd headline was the nearly 100 dead in Oslo, Norway. I believe 7 died from a bomb attack and about 90 died from being shot by a madman. The saddest part of this incident after the fact so many died and about an equal amount of people got injured, was the fact that the first speculation was that it was done by Muslim terrorists.  Goes to show how anti-Muslim the west has become, especially when manifestos come out like this.  You'd think both the 'Christian world' and the "Muslim world" would have both lightened up  in the centuries between now and the crusades. You'd think we'd have learned something, you know? Sadly, the views of the few extremists are now starting to colour everyone else  view.

Then there's the continuing wave of protests in Syria, they say more then 1.2 million marched last Friday mostly in Hama and Deir Ez Zor, but smaller protests happened throughout Syria.  The death toll continues to climb  in Syria[depending who you read it's between 1500-2000] and so do the number who have been arrested, detained and tortured [Anywhere from 12000 to 15000].  Sadly this week they were pounding on Homs again. It didn't prevent some folks from Homs from having mini demonstrations, where people gather, shout slogans and disperse before the Security forces arrive. 

So far the Syrian security forces are not giving up. They continue to target and shoot unarmed civilians.  There is now rumour that some of the snipers are from Iran. There was a train derailed and the Syrian media blames it on the protesters, but as far as we know it could be any number of the Syrian forces and/or Iranians who are behind it, to make the protesters look bad. Much like the Syrian regime is trying to say that it's the protesters that were behind sectarian violence in Homs last week. There is no proof of that.  But again it's hard to get proof when the media is tightly controlled and the ambassadors of France and the US were told they could NOT leave Damascus.

There's still fighting going on in Libya, there's massive protests going on in Egypt as well as violent clashes, there's been a bomb near a military building in Aden, Yemen the 2nd in this city in 2 months, there's been a train derailment in China which caused deaths.

Then there's the situation in the horn of Africa. Things have been bad in Somalia for over 20 years and instead of getting better, now there's drought again, thousands are already believed to have died of famine and thousands of women and children of fleeing in hopes to survive the drought.The men are afraid to travel fearing to be recruited in one armed group or another.

The protests that started in the Arab world now forever known as Arab spring was just the beginning. The wave is spreading, there's been protests in Spain, and Greece, there's been protests in Israel. The theme is similar, people want to be able to make a living. People want reforms.  The reasons behind the protests in Greece and Spain may not include personal freedoms like they do in Syria, but in the end, the needs of people are the same world wide.

That's the thing. Whether we're white or black or red or yellow, whether we're Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans or other, whether we're straight, gay, bi or transgender, whether we're male or female, we're all HUMANS, and it would be nice if we started treating each other with respect instead of being suspicious of anything that isn't familiar.  

Edit 25/07/11: Norwegian death toll was 73 people.   
Edit 26/07/11: Norwegian death toll was 76 people, but I couldn't retain number long enough to re-post it correctly!

Funny bumper sticker

This photo I took in 2008 in the parking lot of the EcoMuseum.  I noticed it in my screen saver today and had to hunt it down to share :)

Storm that followed the oppressing heat

Link to cool video of the thunderstorm over Montreal last night, which followed the oppressive heat. Apparently we had a record heat of 35.2C recorded yesterday. So July 21st 2011, was the hottest July 21st on record in Montreal.

The hottest day ever in Montreal was on August 1, 1975 with a temperature of 37.6 °C (100 °F) .

Oppressive heat

When I got home from work yesterday it was 35C [95F] in the shade outside my dining room window. I can't imagine how warm it was in the sun, and it doesn't take into account the 50% humidity. I think we beat some records for heat yesterday in Montreal and elsewhere around eastern Canada.

We did our morning walk around the building around 11ish and that wasn't too bad, it takes us 10-15 minutes. We decided not to do an afternoon walk  because of the oppressive heat.  I was going to go swimming after work yesterday, but when I came to leave around 5ish I was feeling nauseous and the one thing I know from all my swimming lessons is never go in a pool when you're not feeling well. So instead I left to go home. I met a co-worker walking out and we ended up talking 15 minutes in the parking lot.

I spent a grand total of 30 minutes outside yesterday. The UV rating was so bad that my back and shoulders, and nose were a bit burned. Because of the heat I had to ask hubby to put some aloe on my back and shoulders. I could feel the sunburn.  Normally I don't burn in 30 minutes this late in the summer from so little exposure. It's not like it was the first day I wore a dress with little straps that expose all my back. I've been wearing dresses like that since early June, since it's so hot in the office. It got to  31C [88F] at my gf's desk yesterday.

It's sad I'm realizing that the UV is far worse in Montreal then it is anywhere in the Middle East. Sure the sun is strong and hot there, but I never got a burn in the Middle East, and I didn't wear sunblock if I didn't think I was going to be hours in the sun.  Sure I covered myself more in the Middle East then I do at home, but in my family we can burn even with clothes on!  It's happened to me before in Montreal and it used to happen to my aunt in Florida.

Admittedly my aunt is a pale blonde with translucent skin. I remember the first winter she spent in Florida, she came home with a brown face. I'd never seen my aunt with a tan so I asked her about it. She wore #30 sunblock and would go to beach with friends, wearing long sleeved white shirt and pants as well as a big hat. She would sit under a beach umbrella that was under the shade of palm trees and still come home burned!

Famine in the Horn of Africa

As a story I was reading this morning says, that we have been warned of the upcoming famine situation for months. Heck, considering how much food first world nations have, there's never an excuse for people in any part of the world to die from starvation.

It's always bugged me when governments encourage farmers to destroy a crop that could feed thousands because there is too much of that crop this particular year and it would cause the price of item x to plummet because of the surplus.  I always figure if the government is going to pay the farmer to destroy his crop, why not pay him for the crop and use it to help out others in places where food crops were not so abundant.

The earth doesn't always bring the same disasters to the same areas year after year.  We should take advantage of exceptional crops to help feed our poor neighbours.

You know it's always bugged me that when we were little, and I didn't have much appetite, I'd always be told, that I had plenty to eat and those poor starving children in Africa would love my lima beans. Well if we know there are starving children in Africa why are we doing nothing about it. Just because it's not our children, does it make it any less of a tragedy if they die of starvation?

Right to walk around bare chested

Women in parts of Canada have had the right to walk around bare chested for 20 years.  I know they have the right in Ontario and in BC, and in Ontario it has been 20 years.

It's not something I'm ever going to do, being a prude who's easily cold and with extremely white skin. I think my fear of sun burnt breasts is worse then having people stare at them :P

While I never plan on doing it, I strongly feel women should have the same rights as men in this regard.  I know plenty of men who have larger breasts then I do. Why should they be allowed to expose them and I can't? Mine are probably nicer to look at then those of men who's are bigger then mine :)

Along the same lines I'm also for the right of women to be able to breastfeed anywhere they see fit. Anyone who gets offended by this should go back and think long and hard about baby's health. It's fine in our society to eat in public, babies should have the same rights. Those who say women should breastfeed in bathrooms, should be sent to eat their lunch in the bathroom!

As far as I can tell only Ontario and BC allow the right for both men and women to be topless in public. This doesn't change the fact that there is a nudist beach at Oka Park and another near Meech Lake in Gatineau park, both in Quebec.

Scandals and the media

Ever since  large newspaper has been buying other large paper and you realize that in North America there are only a handful of different news outlets, I've had a distrust of the news.  You only get to hear what this particular news outlet has decided you will hear.  Getting two sides of a story is harder to find unless you dig really deep. In some ways the internet is good for that because it gives you access to all different news media.

I had a Facebook friend recently comment that he tends to learn things when he reads the BBC or even AlJazeerah English, but he doesn't learn so much when he reads North American media. I'm not in complete agreement, I still find some Canadian news sources acceptable, but overall I am in agreement as I've been staying away from American news outlets for a while. It's all the same rehashed views.

When you look at some countries in the Middle East like Libya, Syria, just to name a few, the news outlets of those countries are even more tightly controlled. People in some countries are hard pressed to find anything else to read other then the party line. We've seen in the west how Syrian SANA stamped news stories differ greatly from what people on the ground have to say.  The middle east isn't the only place where the news is tightly controlled. I'm sure if the Chinese government doesn't want us to know things, we never find out about them either.

It's kind of ironic in this day and age of globalization, the internet and Facebook, where in theory we should be more aware of what goes on elsewhere in the world and in some ways we're just as backward because the news we get to read isn't always the only news but it's the only one "those in power" think we should be reading. 

Here's hoping that the scandal involving phone hacking of victims by Rupert Murdock employees changes some of the way news media operates and perhaps puts back a bit of honesty in the game. At the moment this scandal is like a runaway train. No one knows how much damage it will do or where it will stop, as this article demonstrates.  Right now it's having a catastrophic effect in Britain.