Ye Olde, Inquisitive, Scribe

WAR DRUMS

2012-02-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

Instead of promoting European-Union-style integration for our mutual benefit we are, all of us, playing a highly dangerous game in the Middle East. The major players are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, and the outsider with the big guns, the United States. The old truth about ‘Power Corrupts’ is in full play with all parties guilty of lying in a game of one-upmanship for dominance. People who are no threat to us are being cast as villains and military might is at an explosive level making it probable that some poor soldier, believing all this rhetoric, will ignite a spark that will result in politicians shedding crocodile tears over the deaths of thousands of more kids. On 03 July 1988 the USS Vincennes while in Iranian waters shot down an Iranian Airbus en route to Dubai killing all 290 aboard. The US has never apologized for this goof but the International Court of Justice in 1996 had it pay $61 million in compensation, letting it off lightly. There are no Iranian warships in either the Saint Lawrence or Mexican Gulfs so are not those carriers now off the Iranian coast an act of aggression? Tensions are so much higher today that a similar mistake could be catastrophic.

Rhetoric begets rhetoric; force begets force; wars beget wars - and the common folk pay. We all need to retrench. How much of the behaviour we dislike in Iran is a reaction to our behaviour?

The US snub of its 2003 baring of its soul in a plea to the US for Middle East accommodation has left it angrier and believing its isolation dictates it must go it alone.

The age-old sequence continues from the ancient oriental trade routes to Rome and Carthage, to European and US empire building. First commercial interests intrude into the lands of others, become wealthy, usurp their influence, and call in the military power of their home governments.

A ray of hope is shining from the motives of some, not all, who have given, or are still risking, their lives in the Arab Spring’s surge for a better tomorrow. This is causing a major, but devious, shift in US policies toward it basic values rather than its commercial interests.

The Sunni House of Saud, having shared much of its oil wealth with its people, retains a firm grip of control, denying dissent and human rights especially to women, and relies heavily on US military might to ensure it, and not its Shia rival Iran, is the area’s dominant power.

Iran, with the proudest historical record of all, had its oil exploited by the West, endured the West’s support of Sunni Saddam’s invasion that took a million lives and used poison gas with ingredients supplied by the West, is surrounded by nuclear-armed nations, and now suffers painful sanctions. As in Saudi Arabia the ruling Ayatollahs deny human rights and democracy to the people.

Israel, resurrected by the West and by its own talents but on land that saw the killing and evacuation of millions, shows little gratitude in its treatment of the Palestinians who, contrary to the utterances of some US politicians, have inhabited the area longer than the original Jewish tribes. Paranoid that its survival demands uncompromising vigilance it uses assured US backing in its own interests even when it harms its benefactor. Never harmed are 50 Jewish synagogues, schools, and hospital in Iran and the 200,000 Iranian Jews who live in Israel. Why destroy this happy fact?

All of this has caused changing alliances, rhetoric the opposite of action, deep distrusts, and dangerous fear. Like Global Warming, Environmental Disasters, and Human Suffering, where so much is man made. We do not need to build yet another tinder box in the Middle East.

The military power of the US has mainly failed since Korea. Its carelessness with economic power gave us a recession mainly restricted to Europe and the US. Its humanitarian power, used unobtrusively in the spirit of the Arab Spring, may work wonders.

US political infighting must give way to global safety. Trying to outflank Republican hawks by keeping all options, including military strikes, to prevent Iran from acquiring the ability, if not the will, to built a nuclear weapon when nothing is said of Israel’s 200, or the larger arsenals of other countries, is self defeating. Iran is less of an aggressor nation than all the others.

Firm actions for a stable peace, coupled with human rights, are imperative. Let us all accept our share of the blame and proceed with mutual respect.

SHARIA LAW

2012-01-29T13:09:00.000-08:00

With Muslim communities growing in Western countries and with a world-wide Gallup poll telling us that 59% of radical Muslims and 32% of the moderates want Sharia as the only law, how much of a threat is it to us?

Sharia Law was first established to safeguard the populace from the excesses of sultan and caliph rulers. It was God’s law that could not be manipulated to benefit the privileged. Lawyers proliferate because, like every other law, it has different interpretations:

Hanbali: the most conservative version,

Hanifi: the most liberal and open to modern ideas,

Maliki: an extension of the laws in effect during Muhammad’s lifetime, and

Hafi’i: the conservative opinions of the companions of Muhammad.

Much of what we cherish today originated in the Islamic Sharia laws. Because of French conquests of Muslim lands and the subsequent 1066 Norman conquest of England, plus revelations brought home by crusaders, much of English Common Law is Sharia and Islamic, having replaced Anglo-Saxon law, and the earlier and harsher Roman law that had supplanted the egalitarian Celtic laws. These new Islamic laws included jury trial, impartial judges, free speech, the rights of the poor to a lawyer, women rights, animal rights, and much more. The vaunted British "fair play" has Sharia roots (but also Persian roots from Cyrus the Great, 559-530 BC, with his human rights edict). Under Islamic (and Persian) laws, warfare was to avoid harm to civilians, their property, and their lands. Captured crusaders were amazed, and grateful, at being treated kindly even though they had previously massacred entire Muslim communities. Slavery was tolerated only in wartime as an alternate to the previous slaughter of a defeated enemy. Multiple wives were permitted only after wars that caused a shortage of men.

All this seems so enlightened, so why do we fear Sharia?

With the Enlightenment, European laws went on to further enhance human rights while Sharia stagnated, still clinging to its old punishment codes. And, there have been many deviations. Those who, by means fair or foul, achieve power are prone to alter laws and practices, and use religion, or secularism, to suit their own ends. The devout may consider such actions as aberrations but their existence stresses the vital need of a law of the land based on human rights and devoid of the controls of priests, shamen, ayatollahs, politicians, or privileged groups.

We can see in those countries where Sharia is entrenched, like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, and N. Nigeria, not only an eye-for-an-eye mentality but cruel punishments such as lashes for gambling or drinking, beating a wife for being too uppity, stoning to death for adultery or sodomy, cutting off hands for stealing, plus beheadings, crucifixions, and honour killings (only 31% of which are by practicing Muslims). Tolerating Sharia, it is argued, could open the door for Muslim anti-blasphemy laws and their associated violent passions. It took Christians 400 years of bloody struggle to earn the right to criticize Christianity. Muslims have yet to start this struggle. This is our main aversion to Sharia. Yes, Muslims can point to Western faults such as the cruel treatment of POWs by the US, or the chaining in groups of 10, hundreds of illegal Guatemalan and Mexican male and female workers in Iowa. We do have our warts.

Quebec has officially banned Sharia Law. The Archbishop of Canterbury claims it should be acceptable in Muslim communities in the UK minus its penal code. It is creeping into the USA. Somali taxi drivers in Minneapolis, now 80% of drivers, defy US law by refusing to accept passengers carrying the duty-free alcohol they bought at the airport. Since 1991, due to a backlogged court system, Ontario has allowed Catholic and Jewish tribunals to resolve family disputes provided both parties agree. A move to include Sharia Law in this arrangement was vetoed by the premier. We have been prone to permitting ethnic groups taking over sections of our culture. The Jews took banking, the Irish took policing, Pakistanis have monopolized transportation. Much of this has been transient but we do need to pay more attention to integration. We live today in a global community so cannot tolerate any religion, and we can include secularism and atheism as religions, to impose laws at variance with the laws of the land, especially when human rights are at stake.

The current wave of hostility towards Islam causes reactions not conducive to lessening the frictions that have been so common and so ruinous in human history. Muslim beliefs need softening, but Respect is a great catalyst. We opened our doors to entice cheap labour most of which was Muslim and poorly educated.

We created the problem. It is ours to fix.

FACEBOOK ET AL

2012-01-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

I am bewildered, and somewhat frightened, because it is obvious that I have, at 92, entered the senility stage of Life.

Thirty good friends have asked me to join them on Facebook. Some years ago I did establish a Facebook account but, seeing no advantage to it, never used it. Now, when I try to acknowledge these requests, they tell me my Password is invalid and the source they give me to change it contains everything except a means of doing so. I may yet stumble on how to do this, but no promises.

Stability and Life do not relate well. I had a good collection of 33, 45, and 78 rpm records, now gathering dust. I advanced to reel to reel tapes and recorded over 200 of them, also now sharing the dust because I went on to build a library of over 300 eight-hour VHS recordings of documentaries, NOVAs, news, and music (the good old stuff not the current noise that pretends to be music). Then they forced me to go to digital, a step backwards as I have difficulty playing my VHS tapes with the now-required 3 remotes and I find 2-hour DVDs are awkward, slow, and limiting. Then I still have stacks of floppy discs, Zip 100 and 250 mb discs that have given way to multi-gigabyte backup drives. I also have over 30 reels of 8mm movie film. I just had 3 converted to DVD with 6 copies for the family, somewhat shocked at the cost. I worry that soon they will tell me I have to abandon DVDs for some newer, more confusing, medium.

Now, I have kept quite busy churning out bimonthly 8-page newsletters since 1986 with many on the internet. (www.971WingAFAC.com). I also established this blog site.

My senile mind thinks that this is enough for my declining energy. Joan endorses this view arguing I neglect the numerous chores required by this big house and yard which was just right when our five girls were all home.

I remain delighted to get e-mails from any or all of you (georgesweanor@comcast.net). I was once proficient communicating with semaphore and morse flag codes which did not confuse me as much as the computer world. Admittedly, I did need binoculars to read the signaller on the distant hill. You are welcome to educate me on the advantages of Facebook, Linked-In, and similar means of modern communicating - but remember that I still accept Snail Mail as my stamp collection is hurting because countries issue scads of commemoratives that no one uses these days.

My only old reliable source of knowledge remains books that I started out with in Grade 1. That book was known as "The Four-Cent Reader". I have been collecting books ever since and now have 2,300. I ran out of shelf space some years ago, but have yet to find, and understand, an e-reader as good and as easy to use.

When I take my discards to the recycling centre I cannot find a bin where I can recycle myself. Pity.

Ye Olde, past-his-prime, Scribe

SPACESHIP EARTH

2012-01-11T11:57:00.000-08:00

The 75,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms that comprise each of us have yet to explain how or why we embarked on this ship, or why we had to start as an amoeba to end up as a human. And every one of our billions of ancestors had to survive long enough to reproduce in order for us to be us. As the odds against this are so astronomical, are we not saddled with sobering responsibility?

We know this trip can, and does, provide pleasure and excitement, but it includes no end of certain and fatal risks. Much of this is our own fault. We have not been the best of passengers, but the ship also has flaws of its own and the territory it traverses leaves much to be desired. Millions of missiles have been fired at us, not only the hard, rocky, and icy stuff, but also continuous streams of invisible particles that challenge our defending cells and limit individual life spans. We and our ship are far from perfect.

The specifications for this ship are weird, haphazard, and lack consistent reliability. It is locked into a long but repetitive route by the source of its energy, a nuclear furnace that burns 3 million tons of hydrogen per second and has an 11-year cycle in the nature of its output that can be damaging to us and to our devices. We must circle or ellipse this fiery ball, going from one extreme to the other every 105,000 years. We travel at a tilt that varies from 22 to 25 degrees every 41,000 years. And we wobble in a 26,000 year cycle with Polaris now our north star while brighter Vega was 12000 BC and will be again in 14000AD.

This ship also has internal problems with a magnetic core that flip flops every 500,000 years and is now overdue for a flip. The last 3 flips coincided with extreme cold. Then there is continental drift and techtonic plates that generate earthquakes and that change climate as they change land-sea configurations. All of this, along with human complacency not to disturb valued life styles, is quite sufficient to convince the Deniers that Humans are so puny they cannot compete with Mother Nature in climatic upheavals, so continue to enjoy the status quo, oblivious to the future and the restraints they must accept if continuance is a goal.

Deniers need to ponder lowly Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that thrived in an oxygen-free atmosphere some 3.5 billion years ago (bya) that produced the methane that warmed the planet when the sun was weaker. They also freed oxygen and hydrogen. It took a while but the build up of oxygen some 540 mya (million years ago) permitted the explosion of new, more advanced, life forms as exhibited in the Burgess Shales of Alberta, and that led to us. Life forms much smaller than Humans did all this.

Species extinction is a regular event averaging 3 per day, and sudden mass extinctions of over 50% of species, while rare, did occur 445, 365, 250, 205, and 65 mya. In fact only 1% of the species that evolved are alive today. That should tell us that we all evolve to fill delicately-balanced niches that we tamper with at our peril. Biologists warn that 50% of current species will go extinct within 100 years due to activities of Humans who, at 7 billion strong, while not yet as numerous as bacteria, are ever so much more prolific at destroying ecosystems and pumping harmful gases into an atmosphere that barely tolerates us.

Many of us are smart enough to know what we are doing and what we must do, so we conduct periodic conferences around the world at which our representatives do a lot of talking but reflect our reluctance to make the sacrifices our survival demands, so now it is too late to appoint a new pilot for Spaceship Earth. It is also too late for a navigator or engineer. There just might be one last option - all human passengers on this ship would have to decide that they want a world fit for a few more generations of grandchildren and agree that something closer to an European life style with its population restraints will have to be quite sufficient for their highest aspirations. Perhaps our Earth Spirit, Gaia, determined to save itself, is injecting a dimly-understood will into all our Occupiers and the rebels in places like Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. With the guidance of those who have toiled to understand the nature, and limits of, this ship and its life forms we might prolong and better our voyage. Happiness does not require an excess of material goods.

In the past we have had mass conversions to religious beliefs. Now we need mass conversions to a Warren Buffet modest life style - a big step up for most of humanity but a reluctant downgrade for the entrenched greedy. This scribe sees no alternative and Time, whatever that is, is running out.

CHRISTMAS EVE 1944 and AFTERTHOUGHTS

2011-12-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

It was a universe, not of our making, nor of our choosing. Yet it was beautiful and deceptively peaceful in German Silesia that Christmas Eve. For a brief moment the moon was alone and silent in the night sky. It softly and kindly illuminated the blanket of snow that hugged our barbed wire and the guard towers as we few survivors of aerial battles, some as long ago as five years ago, remembered distant homes and better times.

Suddenly, the quiet night was shattered by the foreboding wail of surens, soon followed by the ugly sounds of exploding flak and bombs as Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe were taking, and losing, young lives as hundreds of families were being killed or maimed in their own homes thus sickening us with a revulsion against all who claimed to worship the same god yet saw fit to continue the slaughter even on his birthday.

We all longed to be home with the war a receding memory, yet there was little or no animosity towards the Luftwaffe flak gunners or night fighters who were up there killing our comrades while defending their homeland. We were all victims of man's insanity. In a way we pitied them. We in Bomber Command were excused further operations on the completion of 60, a fond hope when the life expectancy was only 5, but they had to go on until they found 'The Heroes' Death'. Numerous were the obituaries of those who did.

Helmut Lent, in his Messerschmitt 110, destroyed 110 of our bombers over several years before he found The Heroes' Death in October 1944. Heinz Wolfgang Schnauder fought 164 night battles in an ME 110, destroying 121 of our bombers, survived the war, only to be killed in a car accident. These two men killed some 1,500 of us.

Men, boys really, like these caused us grievous losses, like the night of 30/31 March 1944 when, during a Nurnberg raid, destroyed 94 of 705 bombers, killing 658 of 4,935 aircrew.

In the end we prevailed, at enormous cost to us and even greater cost to them, but what did we learn? This Christmas our highly-flawed species remains at war.

For me, it all seemed so sad when in 1957 I met, and became friends with, the German who shot me down in March 1943. I felt that both of us were flanked by the ghosts of lost comrades, created by the inability of our victorious veterans of WWI to prevent inept politicians from setting the stage for WWII and robbing the world of the promise of the war-to-end-all-wars.

In wars it is the Military that creates, and endures, the greatest sufferings. So, in those countries where individual rights are cherished and where civil authorities control the military, is it not the responsibility of the less-restricted veterans associations to speak for the concerns of the Military that has such an enormous stake in world peace, and to ensure they get as much attention as commercial and political interests?

SPECIES SIMILARITIES

2011-08-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

From my comfortable sofa I can simultaneously watch TV and my plant-filled sun deck that is glassed in with sliding doors and a high ceiling.

Both views reveal lack of intelligence. On the television I can watch in disbelieve our elected representatives wasting endless hours in bickerings that evade what must be done to get us out of the mess they got us into. Sad, because some exhibit common sense plus responsibility for the welfare of the people, the nation, and the world while enough, who are beholden to interests from whom they rely on for financial aid, can block universally-beneficial remedies. With the sun deck I can watch similar actions.

When the glass sliding doors are closed, feral cats, raccoons, and squirrels find the cat door and shove open the curtains to enjoy the cat food and water left there, then leave the way they came.

In the warmer months the glass doors remain open. The flowers attract flying visitors. Some have no difficulty leaving the way they entered, but humming birds and bees often, after obtaining enough nectar, want to leave, they fly up to the glass ceiling where they can spend the rest of their lives seeking a higher ceiling - just like those forever raising our debt ceiling, never realizing salvation lies in coming down.

Fortunately for the humming birds and bees, I have a net on the end of a long pole and am adept at snagging and releasing them.

I am open to suggestions on how to modify the net to snag errant politicians.

TAXES and RESPONSIBILITY

2011-07-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

What a difficult and thankless task it is to govern this country! It elects an energetic, capable individual with long-range vision of what the country, and the world, needs, then allows the opposition, with vision limited to bringing him down, to place in his path formidable obstacles that have prevented him from enacting many of his promises to the dismay of his supporters who accuse him of compromising too much.

Successful and enduring democracies, especially those linked to a capitalist economic system, require a human population whose majority is responsible, honest, and willing to share in the burdens of contributing to the welfare of the environment it temporarily holds in trust from Nature for future generations. How, then, does the United States rate? By force, theft, and purchase, it has taken over from others a vast stretch of forested, fertile, resource-rich land blessed with a varied climate, most in the best range for humans. It has cemented over much of this land to accommodate a bulging population, but it has kept 50 states united to contribute to the world some of its best scientists, engineers, builders, thinkers, writers, musicians, athletes, and benefactors. Militarily, it has been top dog at least from the Cold War, but the use of this power has produced few benefits for the world while exacting huge costs in lives and resources. Because of its size it ranks #1 in the amount of foreign aid donated, but 11th as a percentage of GDP.

It leads the world in flag waving and heart-clenched emotion over the national anthem, giving the impression of solidarity in love of country, yet . . . . .

105,000 familis, earning from $211,000 to $2 million annually avoid paying any income tax, but efforts to close their loopholes as well as those for major corporations that pay little or no taxes on huge profits are strenuously opposed. There is widespread distrust of government, its taxes and regulations that curtail individual rights to live free and unfettered. This, of course, allows Greed to run rampant. Greed does provide incentive to work, to invent, and to provide services, but it also enhances the exploitation of man by man. We do need regulations, safety nets, and the police to enforce them. We then need police to police the police.

Numerous armed, anti-government militias flourish among far-right extremists who seem to know only frontier individualism while embracing racism and religious bigotry.

Over 5 million citizens, addicted to drugs to the tune of $65 billion annually, create a $40 billion profit for 6 major and many minor Mexican cartels that purchase from US dealers 70% of their weapons that have taken over 50,000 lives including 17 journalists.

While Canada ranks the 8th most peaceful country, the US ranks 82nd. Mexico is #121.

Of the ships that use US ports, 88% fly 'flags of convenience' to avoid US taxes, safety regulations, and pay scales.

The legal use of off-shore tax havens costs the IRS up to $70 billion annually. And then there are 1,485 in 2010 who made their fortunes in the US, only to renounce their citizenship, and take their wealth to a lower-tax country.

Unregulated US financial institutions created a world economic meltdown resulting in the foreclosure of millions of US homes, high unemployment, and increased poverty, but enhanced profits for the already-rich. Jobs have not been lost - they were just moved to low-cost countries for increased profits.

The dangerous, and frightening, distrust of government is understandable as understanding the maze of appendices that have grown in and around 3 branches of government is most confusing. The Judical Branch has 5 agencies, the Legislative 11, and the Executive 17. That is just the beginning. In the Executive Branch, the Agricultural Department has 19 sub agencies, the Department of Defense has 28 plus 8 in Homeland Security which has 27 sub offices. This leads to redundancy, duplication, bureaucracy, lack of transparency, empire building, inefficiency, confusion, delays, and extravagance.

Income tax specialists thrive because so many of us are unable to retain a modicum of sanity when preparing a tax return then mailing the forms to one address and the remittance to another, doubling postage and creating the straw that breaks the camel's sanity.

As a percentage of GDP, the United States, that lives highest on the hog, has the lowest tax burden of industrialized countries. Yes, we can save by streamlining government but refusing to raise taxes, or at least close the loopholes, is irresponsible, unpatriotic, and disastrous.

WHITHER THE ECONOMY?

2011-07-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

I was composing a blog along similar lines when my friend, Tom Kupecz of Trenton, Ontario, sent me this and is allowing me to share it with you:

It is difficult these days to figure out what is up with the economy. The world over, capitalists seem to have borrowed way more than they can repay, banks have lent way more than their clients can handle, the soup lines are getting longer, and the authors of our misfortunes are getting even more obscenely wealthy. It might do to look at how we got into this mess in the first place. It may have to do with human nature, not a happy idea, since it would be close to impossible to counter.

People are competitive beasts. When we cooperate it is mainly to make it easier to win in whatever we do, be it work or play. It is only the artsy folk who do not need to get that promotion or win that game. The rest of us are fulfilled by doing better than, well, everyone around us. Studies have shown that to be content all we need is to be as well off as our friends and neighbours; do better than them and we are perfectly happy. If we had twice as much, but they had twice as much plus a little more, we would be in despair. It is very relative.

Now these studies are conducted by social scientists, a set of researchers who seem to be able to prove anything they set out to, but this particular finding feels right. Jealously is very powerful. One of the assumptions here is that having more stuff is better. We measure well being by how much we possess. Watch TV and you see the ads, and most programs, reinforce this idea. The path to happines is paved with shiny new stuff!

We live in a Democracy, the best form of government ever, in a Capitalist economy, the most successful system ever devised. We know this because we have been told so for years. And over time we have defeated all the other systems of government and of economy. At least up to now. As the foreclosures continue and the bread lines persist it may become harder to keep the faith.

A few questions: Why is the US congress locked in ideological squabbling. fiddling while the economy burns? Why are the authors of the economic meltdown more wealthy than ever? Why is the totalitarian Chinese economy succeeding so stunningly? Could it be that we have got something fundamentally wrong?

The basis of Capitalism is the accumulation of money to be able to create business, whatever it may be. Raising the funds can take many forms, but in the end it is the ability to persuade and convince others to lend money that marks the successful Capitalist. Wall Street financiers are very good at gathering together large amounts of money, but they have proven pretty mediocre at applying it sensibly. When the profits from simply selling stocks and bonds became merely huge, the Wizards of Wall Street invented a panoply of "derivatives". The Heart of Capitalism has become a casino where investors gamble on the rise or fall of an index of selected stocks, or bet on the market value of a stock rising or falling in a certain period. And other weird ways of increasing a portfolio's value. This has no relationship with creating business.

Something else that everyone knows is that the Economy must grow, or we face Stagnation, Recession, and Depression. But why? To accommodate the increasing world population? To pay interest on all that Capital borrowed to create business? Or so wealthy Capitaists can become wealthier? Probably all of the above - the first two are driven by the laws of Nature or Finance but the last one is most likely the main driver.

When you can afford to live well, life is good. But what is really good? Once you get beyond poverty and its resultant malnutrition and illness, what makes you happy? It seems that we are fulfilled by our relationships with other people, humans developed as tribal creatures, and are desperately unhappy when unable to interact at the personal level with family and friends. In our frenetic lifestyles we seem to have forgotten that.

Once upon a time we were going to live in a futue Utopia, served by all manner of machines while we fulfilled ourselves, freed from drudgery. Well, the future is here, and the machines are taking over the drudgery (read: jobs) and the machine owners are getting wealthy, while mankind is sinking into poverty. Governments, which rely on taxes for income, are finding that personal income tax revenues are falling with increasing unemployment, while the wealthy Capitalists are able to have corporate taxes reduced in the name of creating jobs. Since the jobs they create are increasingly performed by machines, more people have leisure time with no money to enjoy it.

The problem is not so much how to put the economy back on track but how to adapt to an economy that will never again offer ever-increasing salaries. Since the people in charge are the competitive ones who are succeeding in the present environment, this will be difficult.

The explosion of technologies from information management to robotics to genetics may be able to provide means to adapt. We need to give some thought to our political system that appears not to possess the will to adapt.

THOSE PRE-1967 UN-GRANTED-ISRAELI BORDERS

2011-05-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

It is gratifying that, unlike Harper and Netanyahu, Obama and European leaders agree with my long-time stance that Israel will only know peace if it withdraws to its original borders or gives up equally-valuable land to keep a few of its West Bank illegal settlements. And Jerusalem, sacred to 3 religions, must be an international city. Failure to do this will repeat what the Middle East has known for 5,000 years and, by association, destroy US interests in the area. Netanyahu's militarily-defensible borders do not exist short of the English Channel and the Urals.

Just since WWII, we have endured much bloodshed and suffering with borders in Germany, Poland, the USSR, Jugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Georgia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Eritrea, Kashmir, Pakistan, India, etc. Enough already!

To understand, if that is possible, the current problems in Palestine, we need some history. As most N&S Americans are Caucasians, most outside of Egypt, Turkey, and Iran in the Middle East are Semites who emigrated with female gods in groups over centuries from Arabia. By 2000 BC the first were in firm control in the Babylon of the older Sumerian culture. Hebrews were one of the later groups and the Israelis an offshoot.

Now, there is much myth and the deliberate creation of altered Hebrew history for political purposes mixed in here and archaeologists have yet to confirm all that is written. Israeli archaeaologists are also digging for the truth. The many discrepancies in the stories of Abraham, Sarah, David, and Solomon now indicate that at least Abraham was fabricated about 600BC in order to justify Jewish claims and the forceful introduction of the Aryan male god Yahweh who ordered the destruction of all other gods including the goddess Ashtoreth (she had many names). This was not without strong opposition just as in 632AD when Islam moved in.

Over the centuries, scores of villages and city states took turns in prospering, attaining dominance, and grabbing more land from neighbours which eventually led to all of their downfalls, some to rise again only to fall again. During all this, the Jews, who were just as quarrelsome as all the rest, faced expulsions and captivity from Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, Turks, and Crusaders, not to mention the plagues of the 14th and 15th centuries BC. But page room dictates we jump to 1831 when the Ottoman Palestine ruler opened the area to Western interests permitting Baron Edmond de Rothschild, a Jew who made a fortune financing the British victory over Napoleon, to buy up housing complexes from landlords, evict the Palestinians, and import Jews who had a big advantage as they had western skills, money, and backing while the Palestinians were emerging from 400 years of Ottoman-Turk rule with little outside help.

For considerble Arab and some Jewish assistance in defeating the Ottoman Empire in WWI, the UK promised both a homeland. The UK did try to allot land fairly. As Jewish refugees multiplied with the rise of Hitler so did frictions which really erupted in 1937 when 5,000 Palestinians, 1,200 Jews, and 500 British were killed. Jewish terrorists, led by Menachem Begin, massacred some 91 more in 1946 at the British headquarters in the King David Hotel, then their Irgun and Stern Gang went on to massacre 250 Palestinians in Deir Yassim in 1948.

Due to this terror, increasing streams of Jewish refugees, and sympathy over the holocaust, we kept our promise only to the Jews. With more Jews in North America than Palestine, and with far more room, we declined to offer them Nova Scotia or California for a Jewish state but placed the entire burden on tiny Palestine, ousting 800,000 to make room, resulting in enormous problems for Jordan and Lebanon. Yes, the Jews have done an amazingly good job in creating modern Israel, albeit with much help in money, weapons, and people from other nations. Understandably, they wanted, and took, more, all at the expense of Palestine whose protests went unheeded, forcing the creation of Hamas and Hezbollah whose terror tactics we deplore while tolerating Israeli crimes. The delayed, feeble, and ineffective rocket attacks by Hamas brought massive and bloody retaliations that the Jews learned from the Nazis.

Fair play has been in short supply in the Middle East. The Arab Spring is long overdue and we do need to support it with all the help and guidance we can give.

Had the Germans entered the Ukraine as liberators rather than oppressors they might have won WWII. The Israelis have the talent, wealth, and backing to be the spark that can change their area, starting with Palestine and Lebanon, into a bastion of tolerance, equality, and dignity for all - and an economic common market.

Please, Israel, do not blow it again. And insulting, boorish behaviour towards your benefactor, the President of the United States, in his home is no way to ensure your future, let alone any respect.

OUR GRACIOUS QUEEN

2011-05-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

On her recent visit to Eire our Queen apologized for all the wrongs Britain had committed in Ireland. She did the same when she visited the USA. Great! Apologies are needed.

But I am still waiting for the other sides to own up to the fact that they have just as many, if not more, sins to repent.

While the Irish may be a likeable lot (I am one of them), they are a quarrelsome bunch and have never been united. They had a habit of raiding Britain and it was an Irish king (one of many) who invited England's Norman conquerors in to help him defeat a rival Irish king. The Normans, then English, stayed just as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who came to help the Britons oust the Romans, stayed. And, many Irish prospered by siding with their occupiers who were often oppressive. Irish were a big help in building the British Empire. The Sullivan family alone contributed 4 admirals. Droves enlisted in the British Forces in two world wars and Britain did contribute considerable help during the potato famines.

The revolt of 13 of Britain's 29 American colonies was due more to outrage over Britain's kindness to the defeated French Canadians in safeguarding for them their lands and culture than it was to such issues as taxes that amounted to sixpence per household to help pay for the regiments Britain could ill afford to guard the colonists from the anger of the Natives.

Confessions are good for the soul, and do help to dilute retained grievances.

TRAINS AND FRIENDLY FIRE

2011-05-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

Emotions, never far below the surface, erupted when my friend, Larry Best, told me this tale. In the 1960s Larry was a Sabre pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force. When he, his wife Debbie, and daughter Denise, were transferred to the RCAF base at Baden Soellingen that housed 3 of Canada's 12 NATO fighter squadrons, they used their first leave to look up Debbie's relatives, including cousin Irvin Zellmer. Here is a brief extract from Larry's account:

"Over local Schnapps and the V.O. Seagrams I brought, Irvin and I developed a warm rapport with him attempting English and me German.

Irvin grew up in Neuburg am Donau near Munchen (Munich). Before the war he was a railway engineer. In 1939 he was pressed into service to drive troop trains throughout Europe. As the tides of war turned against Germany in 1944 it was a daily occurrence for Allied fighter bombers to sweep across the European countryside seeking targets of opportunity. Troop trains were especially sought. Initially, RAF/RCAF fighters would make a pass which gave Irvin time to stop the train while all raced for cover. On the second pass they would blow up the train. Irvin would make his way back to Munchen, pick up another train, only to repeat the experience. He escaped serious injury until late 1944 when a section of fighters strafed the troops racing from the train. Irvin took hits in his back which passed through lungs, blew his left leg off above the knee, and took most of his right hand - a miracle he survived.

Irvin dug up a mememto he had buried and gave it to me for safekeeping as such objects were now verboten in Germany - a bronze and silver swastika, 12 by 15 inches."

POSTSCRIPT: I may have known Irvin. In fleeing the Soviet advance I had tramped many miles in snow but I was also transported by box car, getting to talk on 3 different trains to 3 drivers, all tired, cold, hungry, despondent, and facing a bleak future. One had lost his entire family to our bombs in Dresden, but all remained civil to us "Luftgangsters".

About 03 April 1945 I was among hundreds of Allied POWs being transported by crowded box car from Nurnberg to Moosburg. We had painted Red Crosses on the roofs. Near Regensburg a swarm of Liberators, Italy-based, escorted by Thunderbolts, appeared. Our driver stopped the train by some trees adjacent to farmland. As we raced across the field seeking ditches, nine Thunderbolts peeled off in groups of three to swoop on us, all guns firing. The passes they made lasted an eternity as 50-calibre slugs ploughed the ground on both sides of my prone body, hitting the Australian next to me. Not a pretty sight! We survivors catered to the dead and dying, then were herded back and locked into the box cars. The holed engine was patched up, as was the driver, and we struggled on to Moosburg across the Danube on the sole remaining railway bridge. One USAAF survivor had been a Thunderbolt pilot and recognized the squadron letters. He was furious at them ignoring our Red Crosses and the non-military clothing we long-time prisoners were wearing. He kept repeating "I know those bastards and I will have them all crucified."

There are a few wars that do have to be fought, but all wars leave participants with life-long pain and a sense of shame at belonging to the human species.

ELECTIONEERING

2011-05-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Barack Obana:

While we know that you will never read this letter, I must address it to the person whose signature appears on this 3-page request for electioneering funds an alarming 18 months before the election. We continue to place you among the best presidents this country has had but we do feel insulted being asked to contribute to what, at this early stage, can be those endless TV sound bites so meaningless and that engender accusations that are half truths as well as outright lies. They imply to the world that we are a nation lacking in intelligence.

As you well know, governing this nation, and contributing to the welfare of our world, is a colossal task that is greatly hindered by the time and money spent on fund raising - funds that are mostly wasted.

It is high time we adopted a much-more-sensible and economically-sound approach and, like Canada and the U.K., limit electioneering to a maximum of 8 weeks, thus allowing the past four years to judge whether or not incumbents earned their pay and perks and deserve re-election, not to mention the elimination of the waste of time, money, and electorate patience, all badly needed for worthier pursuits. So, if you need a few dollars for the 2012 election, get back to us in September 2012. In the meantime conserve your energies for governing.

And, while I am at this keyboard, let me emphasize that we admire your energy, intelligence, devotion, principles, and promise, yet we do have many concerns:

1. Compromise, as you argue, is what makes the world work, but we do feel that you are too quick to sacrifice principles to satisfy opponents who are more dedicated to your downfall than to the welfare of our world.

2. Good government is needed and we the people must fund it, each according to his/her ability through avenues such as income, property, and sales taxes which are made overly painful by a jungle of collection agencies. Highly frustrating and annoying. Could not all those high-priced economists you employ devise a single simplified agency? - and that goes for health care as well. While greed, self interest, and crime have been dominant among humans we have had, over 10,000 years, a number of good and just rulers with equitable solutions. We believe you are up to the challenge.

3. We, like every other nation, achieved our current form through means fair and foul. Let us strive for honesty in our use of history and strive for a future devoid of the foul.

4. We can bask in the fact that we have contributed much humanitarian aid to less fortunate people, but must admit that self interest has been too dominant in our support of unsavory regimes. Our largesse must be contingent upon it being used in accordance with our principles. One example is Israel. We can sympathize with them and admire their accomplishments but must deplore, and cannot fund, their continued expansion at the expense of others. Our lack of firmness here continues to create justified anger among all of the many versions of the Muslim world, thus adding to our problems.

5. Although a veteran of Bomber Command, 800 days as a POW, and the Korean airlift, I believe this country is overburdened with military might designed for an aggressive empire and not the current world. Why does it need 11 carrier groups, 50 attack submarines, the F35, over 900 bases and over 900 generals?

Yes, we have a daunting array of other major concerns like over-population, climate change, environmental damages, the rich-poor gap, the ruinous debt, drug addiction, crime, and so on - concerns that are heaped on your plate.

And yes, we expect too much of you, but to paraphrase King Abdullah, you may be our last best chance. Good performance, of which you are capable, precludes the need for electioneering funds.

UNIONS, AND ALL THAT

2011-04-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

No one has said it better than Mikhail Gorbachev: "Communism is man exploiting man. Capitalism is the reverse." Exploitation has been rampant throughout history and remains today entrenched even in the so-called Lands of the Free. Unions, built to lessen inequality, became powerful but, as Lord John Acton in 1887 warned, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Sadly, unions like Canada Post, the railroads, and automotive have abused power. An ideal society is a two-way street: employees loyal to, and working hard for, employers who, in turn, appreciate and reward them commensurate with their accomplishments and the employer's ability to do so. So, what did I encounter with 3 major and 6 minor employers?

After various summer jobs that paid up to 20 cents an hour, I found in 1938, on graduating from high school with senior matriculation plus a year of commerce courses, a job with the Royal Bank of Canada with a starting salary of $400 a year in a town of 4,000 with 3 competing banks, each with a staff of about 7 men and one woman (the secretary). Room and board in private homes cost $7 per week. Pay raises averages $100 per year and you had to be making $1400 before allowed to marry so you would be about 28. Bank managers were paid about $3,000 per year. Their responsibilities included monitoting the staff for efficient performance of banking duties plus dress, deportment, and affiliation with local sports and social clubs to promote the bank as an important community asset. It was a safe and efficient banking system. No depositor lost a cent during the Great Depression. But, when employees in one large-city branch tried to form a union to achieve higher wages, bank officials moved in, locked out and fired the entire staff and moved in replacements.

I was making $850 a year when I enlisted in the RCAF is the summer of 1941. In an all-out war discipline was not as strict as feared and most of us were quite happy in the Service. The only mutiny I witnessed (crews refusing to bomb Germany in antiquated training aircraft) was settled amicably. By the time I was bombing Germany as an officer I was making $6.25 a day! This was double RAF pay so a wise government, to avoid friction, withheld half our pay for a nice post-war nest egg (for survivors). Our greatest pain was the nightly loss of so many cherished friends. A post-war RCAF career was most interesting but we found we were married to the Service. Families were secondary and wives endured a lot. Every two years we were expected to be proficient within days in a new job in a new location with no extra time allowed to hunt for family housing in a very tight market with no building during six war years while the population doubled. Twice we had to buy holes in the ground and wait two months for a house to be built. With provincial school systems that were superior to, and disdainful of all others, it was often a fight to get children accepted without dropping a grade. All five of our girls were born on the move. Numerous advanced courses and secondary (unpaid) duties also took time away from families. Today, this has been corrected with generous financial and time allowances.

Reaching the compulsory retirement age of 47 in 1966, I retired on a pension that was to remain at $5,000 for 14 years before indexing for inflation set in. My desire to be a teacher required anothe 4 years of university courses. I crammed 9 hours of classes into Mondays and the rest into evenings so that I could be available for part-time employment by a moving company. Unions disliked part-time non-union employees so dictated to the company when they could hire me for $2 an hour. Winning a teaching job in 1970 the pay was $5,000 annually from which a painful slice was taken by the union with which I became disillusioned. I objected to their considering as the enemy the unpaid school board that had to balance taxpayers with teacher demands for higher pay and reduced class size. I also disliked seniority rules that caused us to lose excellent teachers every time we had to downsize while keeping entrenched low-performing ones. Public relations were all-important, so pass rates remained high by lowering standards which some of us refused to do. Too many students came from broken homes, needing much more care than a school curriculum provides. I found teaching a full-time job, getting to know parents and home problems and being always available. I worked students hard, giving no multiple-choice tests (graded by machine) but all essays which kept me up late at night grading, yet I had no shortage of students seeking my classes. I quit the union when they went on strike in 1975 in the middle of a school year. Those of us who refused to desert our students made enemies of friends by crossing picket lines. Substantial pay raises, plus increased taxes, were later achieved but I loathed the methods used. Unions do serve good purposes but dues are too high, political ties too strong, and too many members serve the union rather than the employer and the public. Like climate change and over-population, the increasing gap between rich and poor is an explosive danger. We need the common sense to realize we are all in this together and that rewards and sacrifices need to be shared.

LETTER FROM JAPAN

2011-04-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

My neighbour, Marilyn Fife, has spent many years living in Japan, studying and teaching. She married Pepe from Ecuador who was running a business there. Both are now teaching here in Colorado Springs. Pepe flew back to Japan 23 March to assist in recovery efforts there. This letter is from Etsuko, a Japanese friend of theirs.

"Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is now even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food, and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone one has water running in their home, they put out a sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets. Utterly amazing, where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, 'Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.'

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often. We got water in our homes for a few hours last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time. Other unexpected touches of beauty are, first, the silence of night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I can usually see only two but now the whole sky is filled.

The mountains near Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhoueted against the sky magnificently. And the people themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day. Now to send this e-mail as the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no. They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend's husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occuring all over the world at this moment. And somehow, as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide.

My brother asked me if I felt so small because all this is happening. I do not. Rather I feel as if I am part of something happening that is much larger than myself. This wave of birthing, worldwide, is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and love of me.

OBSOLESCENT OR OBSOLETE

2011-04-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

It would be kinder if you thought of me only as obsolescent rather than obsolete, even though the facts point otherwise. When 8 years of age I started a world-wide stamp collection. For over 80 years I worked diligently at it while most other collectors faded away. Now, I have a fantastic collection with over a score of albums and countless duplicates. Who cares anymore?

I also enjoyed music so I built up a good collection of records, 33, 45, and 78 rpm. When they went out of fashion, I built a nice library of reel-to-reel tapes. Progress dictated that I convert these to VHS tapes, but just as soon as I had a respectable collection of a few hundred 8-hour tapes of music and documentaries that I taped from TV, they discarded all that and championed DVDs. They also ditched analog TV that was quite good enough for me and in my opinion superior to digital.

Now, instead of one remote, I need three to give me 2 hours of DVD recording when my VHS tapes would accommodate 8 hours in a much-easier-to-use format. Not only have I had to buy a new digital TV but also a converter to allow the VCR to record.

No, DVD and Digital, you cannot relax. The guillotine is waiting for you too.

And, to aggravate my wounds, they have not composed any music for half a century. They do have some loud noises they mislabel music that, like Merlin engines, have contributed to my deafness.

I am grateful for Lawrence Welk on Saturday-night PBS and Walter Chronkite from Vienna every New Year's Eve.

And, I can still find solace in the paper-printed word. It was with me when I started first grade with the 4-cent reader and my current 2,200 books remain excellent. They do demand a lot of room but who can trust any electronic reader to hang around for more than a year or two?

THE IRISH AND SCOTS AS EGYPTIANS AND SCYTHIANS

2011-03-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

Seeking truth over myth in Human affairs is a difficult task. The written word is predated by oral accounts, sometimes amazingly accurate over millenia, but that are also embellished by bards who were influenced by sponsors who benefitted from doctored versions of the truth. Archaeologists and anthropologist have been helpful, but bones and ruins can tell only part of the story.

The search over 59 years for my Irish and French roots has amassed a bewildering array of myths and facts, wound together and from which I can infer and weave various tales. Here is one which I hope will tempt you to do your own research.

Some 3,600 to 3,300 year ago, areas from the Danube to the Urals were suffering from climate change, some of it induced by human activites that included producing more humans than resources and technology could nurture. One evening in this environment, dust swirled around them as Miles (Miletus) and his band of Scythian archers rode their horses homeward, carrying a stag, the only food they could find during a long day of roaming the parched plains.

Pleased that, tonight, they would feed their families, Miles knew that only a long migration could save them. He had heard that an Egyptian emissary had arrived in the Crimea, seeking mercenaries. Egypt, with annual flooding of the Nile, could still provide adequate food, but Libyans and waves of Sea People, refugees from Europe, were encroaching on lands the pharaoh considered his. His armies were hard pressed to oppose them. Historians disagree on which pharaoh it was. However . . . .

After days of cautious questioning and negotiations, Miles agreed to lead a score of families and horses to board a fleet of ships to sail for Egypt where their encampment grew as more Scythians joined them and Miles organized and executed lightning raids behind enemy lines from Gaza in the east to Libya in the west. His strategy was to destroy supply bases. The pharaoh was so pleased with the successes Miles achieved that he gave him one of his daughters, Scota, as a second wife. She became primary wife when his Scythian wife died in childbirth.

The transformation of Scota from a pampered daughter to a Scythian warrior was amazing. She learned quickly and relished being a fighting member of the marauding teams. She became a driving force, all the while bearing sons for Miles. After Egypt was saved she learned from traders of a "Green Island" far to the west. Intrigued, she persuaded Miles to lead an expedition there. She converted her wealth into easily-carried silver and gold trinkets. She bought a Phoenician ship and crew and set out. En route they soon discovered that the world was over populated with every bit of desirable land occupied by people who welcomed traders but who would become quite hostile in they remained for more than a few days.

Realizing that establishing a homeland in Ireland would require more force than they now had, they found an isolated peninsula on the south coast of Spain that they were able to seal off and build a base where they could attract more Celts to join them, breed their horses, build ships, and become a formidable force. Here, Scota had four more sons: Heber, Ir, Heremon, and Erannan, but disaster struck when Miles was killed in a skirmish. Scota, her sons, and two from Miles' previous wife were determined to carry on with their vision. On completing their 30th sea-worthy vessel, they set out.

The long journey necessitated numerous stops where the natives were happy to sell supplies and to provide a night or two of rest on dry land. Scota gradually learned more about her Green Island. It had been inhabited for 5,000 years and was now controlled by the Tuatha da Danaan (People of the Goddess Danu) who had defeated the Fir Bolg. Most of this data was obtained during a stop in what is now Plymouth.

Approaching Ireland, Erannan, climbed the mast for a better view, fell into the sea, and was drowned. Then Ir died in a rowing accident. There were acouple of disastrous attempts to land in eastern Ireland, forcing the fleet westwards, eventually making a successful landing in what is now Kenmare Bay, Kerry, but bloody battles soon ensued. The newcomers, horsemen and archers, were at a disadvantage in the heavily wooded land. Scota was killed, but her sons prevailed, establishing a kingdom that grew to encompass all of Ireland, calling themselves Scots after Scota. Heremon and Heber divided the land between then with Heber taking the north and Heber the south. After a year or so of this they fell out and Heber was killed. But the numerous sons of both carried on with intermittent warfare. Ireland was never united.

Centuries passed and, in the 400s AD, the Scots invaded the land of the Picts, also Celts, established their dominance and gave the name, Scotland, to the land. They also brought the bagpipe, of Scythian origin.

Today, Many Irish and Scots are proud to trace their their ancestry through Heber and Heremon to Miles and Scota.

You will find many versions of this tale. Take your pick.

REVOLT

2011-02-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

The tsunami sweeping the Arab world, while welcomed and long overdue, is nothing new. Greed, that has been part of the human psyche, has controlled far too many human organizations, creating Haves and Have-Nots. Greed even invades egalitarian-minded people like monastics, socialists, and communists. To retain their privileges, the Haves must share their wealth with sufficient knights, nobles, generals, and executives to monoploze the weapons of force. All of this can go awry as Lesser Haves vie to become Major Haves.

Periodically, the Have-Nots become Have-Had-Enoughs and revolt, often peacefully, but the fearful Haves use bloody force, torture, and murders, to maintain the status quo. Revolts that are eventually successful, like the French Revolution, require the Army, drawn from the ranks of the Have-Nots, to switch sides. Knowing this, the Haves build into their armies harsh punishments for deviations from the rules. They also use large quantities of Brain Wash. And, they often forget reform promises they make while the Have-Nots are assembled.

We, in the Western World (and China) pride ourselves that we have, albeit with slow and painful steps, opened the doors for ever more Have-Nots to become, at least, Partial-Haves. And, we have established procedures for the peaceful transfer of power.

A few minds, blessed by geography and resources, created the necessary cultural, commercial, and industrial revolutions that slowly gave rise to the current notions of Fair Play and the Dignity of Man (while we forget that the nomadic Celts had this 3,500 years ago). Too often our high ideals have been restricted to utterances rather than actions. We have become too satisfied with our comfortable lives and in order to enhance them we have supported dictatorial regimes, creating enemies among their Have-Nots, giving rise to al Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other groups that run the gamit from freedom fighters to terrorists. Middle East oil and the Suez Canal are important to us so we pay dictatorial regimes to do our bidding. Much of the $70 billion that Mubarak has pocketed comes from our taxpayers. The courage, dedication, and stamina of the protestors is admirable. Continuing to support Mubarak can lose us their future co-operation. The revolt against the abusive Shah we supported led to a regime not to our liking and one that also can subdue popular uprisings. We have allowed our interests to relegate our principles to second place. Israel also accepts our money, but declines our advice, not endearing us to Palestinians or Lebanese.

At home we allow the gap between the Haves and Have-Nots to become a chasm. Is a CEO, a banker, a sport or entertainment star worth that much more than the essential farmer who toils in the hot sun to feed us? There was good reason for the rise of Communism. Why and how did it go off the rails?

This latest Arab tsunami demands our immediate support, guidance, and sacrifices that can be interpreted as genuine help devoid of self commercial interests.

And, we cannot shrug off the world-wide disatisfaction with governments and multi-nationals. There are no easy answers, but as we press on we must keep in the driver's seat Human Rights who also respects the rights of all living things.

THE SEARCH CONTINUES

2011-02-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

I have just finished Robert Lanza's excellent book "Biocentrism". He weaves in interesting life experiences as he explains the 7 principles of Biocentrism and the fact that we need to search Biology rather than Physics for answers. He argues that Space and Time, the realm of Physics, require a conscious observer to become reality.

I can vouch for this in my dreams which I can sometimes control. In them I can effortlessly jump among scenes and people long gone, some for centuries. It seems so natural, and almost all are pleasurable. Why, then, can I not do the same in my waking moments? Robert provides much appreciated food for thought but, like me, he still seeks answers that remain elusive. This spark of energy we call Consciousness may be immortal even if it is arrogant to assume that the trillions of cells that have supported it in this life may not be. Are not cells also Conscious Observers?

I also relate to Robert's "All life is one" (Solipsism). During my lone period of aggression - my 17 bombing operations over Germany - I could never escape the feeling that what I was doing to others I was, in fact, doing to myself as were the flak gunners and night-fighter crews thinking that I, and those like me, were their only victims.

Immortality is great if it means continuance of what we enjoy, but there are far too many frightening scenarios that we could stumble into while we struggle to learn how to pilot Consciousness.

For now, the thrill remains in the chase.

MY SEARCH FOR ANSWERS

2011-01-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

I am disappointed

As I stumble into my 92nd year, the hope that, by now, I would have some vital answers is fading fastly. Oh, sure, I have accumulated zillions of facts since I first started asking questions long before I embarked on my formal education in kindergarten. Although these facts include tempting clues, they fail to give me the answers I crave. Yes, I now know a little about quarks, photons, quantum, the human and other species, but my most worrisome questions remain unanswered. I feel answers are there - just out of reach.

Biologists tell me that this facility, called a Brain; or is it a Mind?; or is it Me?; is identical to all those 6 or 7 billion owned by other humans and, for that matter, similar to those in many other species. Then, why do we have so many conflicting emotions towards each other? And do I really understand what an emotion is?

I have read thousands of books and even more magazines and newspapers. I have attended no end of lectures. I have studied the utterances of great minds over thousands of years - but nothing and no one tells me what I crave to know. What am I? Where am I? How am I? Why am I? I have no memory of volunteering so why, and by whom, was I drafted into this existence , and is there any meaning or follow-up?

Over the years, many have told me that they have the answers - but every one is based on Faith with a lot of Hope. Worse, they disagree with each other - often violently.

I long to move towards the Light, but, if I get there, what can I do with a bunch of photons? Can I ever understand the basics? Everything, it seems, is nothing but a mess of vibrations, the speed of which determines which are Energy and which are Matter, but they both get quite entangled, creating all sorts of entities that, in turn, combine to form what we see as suns, planets, universes, and you and me. We know that on at least one of these planets, the speed at which things vibrate, called Temperature, was just right for Life to evolve. But, what is Life?

The interplay of Energy and Matter created a huge broth of elements that just milled about until a few of them collided to create Intelligence who realized that a Command Centre was a must to give it a home in which it could thrive. So, it decided to build a Mind. To do this it needed Food in the form of mobile Electrons that coulde be found in Oxygen, Nitrates, Sulphates, and Iron. Many were needed because Mind had to be housed in a Brain that in turn needed a protecive shield. Not realizing what it was getting into, Intelligence plodded on, finding and recruiting suitable entities with which to construct such a centre that also required Communications and the allocation of Responsibilities . Then there were sights, sounds, and smells out there so Sensors had to be formed from cells that needed Incentives. As the Present was all that Intelligence knew, it neglected to include Longevity, so by trial and error learned how to reproduce itself and its creation so that a form of survival could be ensured through its progeny.

Soon, Intelligence and all it had produced was divided among numerous similar life forms that used inorganic sources of Food like sunlight, water, and soil with their vast stores of chemicals. They continue to be, by far, the most numerous and successful life forms today, and they evolved into millions of species such as Shewanella that, when deprived of its preferred food, will grow hairs that can seek and snatch electrons from iron flakes in rock, and continue to survive and reproduce without harm to other species. Some bacteria can, when the environment becomes hostile, lie dormant for centuries until conditions improve.

But, things went wrong. Intelligence was so pleased with its its creation, Mind, that it nelected to build in Gratitude, so Mind grew dominant, took over, and relegated Intelligence to a minor role. Intelligence became pregnant, giving birth to Wisdom who, throughout its long childhood, was largely ignored.

With hordes of bacteria milling about, all needing Food, some found it easier to invade other species without bringing Symbiosis, thus killing their hosts. Other renegades found it better just to use their neighbours as food, but they first had to devlope mobility and weapons for the chase and capture - and, of course, advanced methods of ingesting, digesting, and excreting.

We, unfortunately, have evolved from this last group. In our race to multiply and diversify we became addicted to different sources of Food so, when it became scarce, we invented Greed which had no tolerance for Compassion. Also, as we grew, the vast lines of Communication that Mind had set up among all these components sent back electrical impulses that could be interpreted as Pain or Pleasure. They also told us that Environment could turn hostile so offered us Fear and Curiosity as safeguards. Minds, here and there, realized they could profit from creating explanatory Myths that could give them power over others. A few Minds, that had taken a liking to young Wisdom, quesioned this practice, but they were so far in the minority that they could not prevail against the hordes that seized upon a particular Myth and used it to justify the exploitation of those addicted to different Myths. Eternal conflict spells Failure of Mind to organize itself successfully.

The story does not end there. The human species has created sub species called Computers and Robots with superior circuitry that will soon permit another take over.

Even if Intelligence is given a more influential role in future species it must be under the control of Wisdom if they are to find the answers that elude us.

As some say PER ARDUA AD ASTRA.

GUN-HAPPY US HERITAGE

2011-01-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

The January Tucson massacre is one more statistic among the 98,000 annual gunshot wounds that cause 30,000 deaths. Amid all the rhetoric and tears, there is little heard about the obvious need to outlaw today's easy access to guns. From its founding, guns have been considered a cherished personal right. in the US. Being born in violence, both Mexico and the US remain with problems not known in Canada with its relatively peaceful evolution. The settlement of the Canadian West came after that in the US. To avoid the legacy of gun-slinging cowboys and massacres of the Natives, Canada established law and order first, but this was prompted by US whiskey traders causing enormous harm to Natives who drank their "Fire-Water". In the Cypress Hills, 20 Assiniboine, including entire families were slaughtered by drunken traders in 1873 and other traders had set up posts like fortified Fort Whoop-up (near Lethbridge) trading bad whiskey for furs. Chiefs wanted the return of British troops but the problem was now Canada's, so in 1874 PM John A. MacDonald organized a force of 300 North West Mounted Police to capture the whiskey traders and establish law and order in 300,000 square miles. These "Mounties" made a show with an 800-mile parade westwards from Fort Dufferin, Manitoba, to Fort MacLeod, Alberta, with each troop having horses of a different colour. They were followed by a supply train of 114 carts, 73 freight wagons, and 93 head of cattle. The message was broadcast to the tribes that the red uniform of the Mounties meant a friend as opposed to the enemy that the blue uniforms of the US cavalry implied. Leaving detachments at selected points, the last remaining troop reached Fort Whoop-up to find that the whiskey traders had fled to Montana, so the fort was taken intact without firing a shot.

It is an amazing and successful story of scattered detachments of 2 or 3 Mounties maintaining the law in a vast territory. Sitting Bull and his group, fleeing the US Cavalry, were surprised to be met by only 2 Mounties who welcomed them into Canada provided they adhered to the Queen's law. The NWMP grew into The Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Different gun philosophies were also apparent in WWII. US airmen carried pistols. Commonwealth aircrew did not, arguing it was suicidal for a downed airman to be seen with a gun as he would be more likely to be shot than captured. A lone airman with a pistol was unlikely to shoot his way home through 90 million enemy.

Today in the US 70% of murders are by firearms, in Canada 30% usually by shotguns or rifles as handguns are strictly controlled. In 2004 the homicide rate in Canada per 100,000 people was 1.8. In the US it was 6.3. Canada has 1 policeman per 529 people. The US has 1 per 412.

Today, Canada maintains strict gun laws so suffers much less from gun crimes although drug-related violence is seeping across the border. It is a criminal offense to carry a gun into Canada.

Restricting the availability of arms has not prevented Canada from contributing some of the world's best airmen, sailors, and soldiers to world conflicts.

AIRPORT PAT-DOWNS

2010-11-27T14:19:00.000-08:00

Pat-Downs at airports bother me only because it broadcasts the fact that, for the expenditure of a few thousand dollars, terrorists force us to expend billions in counter measures.

When I go through so-called extensive pat-downs at airports I tell the examiners that they are rank amateurs. When I was captured after being shot down in Germany I was searched at every change of location. The Luftwaffe searchers were quite polite and respectful asking me to strip completely so they could thoroughly search my clothing and every body opening. This included me bending over to have a long finger rammed up my anus to ensure I was hiding nothing there.

Airport searchers would invariably tell me that Uncle Sam did not pay them enough to do that.

The long suffering German “soldats” assigned this task were paid very little and were never issued with plastic gloves. Service to one’s country does come in many forms.

MEDALS and REMEMBRANCE

2010-11-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Another Armistice/Remembrance/Veterans' Day is here.

It is a chore anymore to polish all these medals and are they really necessary to wear on special days to make me contemplate not only the 125 cherished friends I lost but also the billions of innocents who have perished over the centuries because of man’s inhumanity to man?

I continue to attend these ceremonies honouring our dead and I continue to wear my medals even though few now recognize their meaning. But, more and more I feel like James Wolfe who had been deeply touched by Thomas Gray’s 1751 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. In 1759 from his flagship in the St. Lawrence River he surveyed Quebec City with a sadness for what he was about to do. He admitted to his associates that he would much rather be the author of that poem than the general to take Quebec. Both he and the French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm died in the battle, emphasizing in Gray’s poem the line "The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

During WWI and for two years after WWII Canada authorized a golden wound stripe to be worn on the left sleeve of those who had been wounded in action, a similar recognition to the Purple Heart of the United States. As 17 small pieces of German shrapnel in March 1943 found a permanent home in the bones of a leg that happened to be mine, I wore this stripe for two years until the award was abolished so, today, I remain seated when they ask those with Purple Hearts to stand.

My satisfaction with myself for the small part I played in stopping aggression is tempered by the despicable means I had to use and the knowledge that those whom I was assigned to bomb into oblivion were not the perpetrators but also victims. The path to the perpetrators lay through decent people also caught up in a conflict not of their choosing. Circumstances delivered my penance. Shot down I was to meet hundreds of them and to be among them on over a score of occasions when we all, hungry, cold, and lousy, were bombed and strafed by Allied aircraft and artillery from a dozen nations.

So, I attend these remembrance ceremonies as a visible token of the stupidity of wars and in the hopes that we all learn to so conduct ourselves that our grandchildren will have no need to design ceremonies to honour the dead of recent wars.

WE HATTI

2010-10-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

May I share with you a small fraction of my 70-year-long hunt for my roots and take you back some 4,500 years? Genealogy is a time-consuming, frustrating, full-of-blind-alleys, expensive hobby, but it has great rewards. Knowing very little when I started I now have 45 different surnames in 14 villages in 5 counties in England back to 1515 for Joan and 35 different surnames in Ireland, New France, France, and Germany for myself. Many fascinating stories have been uncovered but, for now, I will just relate how I found the Hatti and their influence especially on Germany:

In 1876, George, a great uncle, anglicized his Chouinard name to Sweanor on getting patents for his fog horn and farm implements inventions in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and my grandfather also changed to Sweanor and moved to Ontario, but this is a recent find. Earlier I had stumbled across the Chouinard connection and was, over the years, able to trace it back, without a break, to 1650 in New France, and to 1570 in the Tours area of France. There I discovered the Chouinard name originated with a family of Schweinhardts who had fled Lutheran persecution in Hesse, originally called Hatti. Searching for the Hatti took me to Anatolia (Turkey) some 4,500 years ago. My ancestral certainty ends in 1570. The rest is the highest probability I can deduce at the moment.

We Hatti (Hessians), or Chatti, had female gods and spoke a local language unrelated to others. We were a peaceful agricultural society living on a dry plateau surrounded by mountains. We had no alphabet of our own but used the Sumerian cuneiform for trade. About 4,300 years ago, groups of Aryan Indo-European stock started to arrive, then Semites. Initially we helped them but they grew in numbers becoming Assyrians, Hittites, Mitanni and Hebrews. In turn they absorbed us, stole our name and our cities, especially Hattusa which became one of their major cities They fought among themselves and with Egyptians. Hittite kings lived and perished by the sword, usually wielded by their own sons impatient for power. They left many cities burning ruins. The Hittites and Assyrians built great empires and we contributed towards the success of such places as Ashur, Nineveh, Babylon, Memphis, Jerusalem, Damascus, and Tyre. Somehow we retained our identity but to others were often indistinguishable from particularly the Hittites and Assyrians. Yes, our King Sargon II (722-705 BC) did uproot our former rulers, the tribes of Israel, resettling them on our outskirts. But, like the Hebrews and so many others, Assyrians have roots to Abraham through Keturah, one of his wives. Our troubles never ended. As the Assyrian empire waned, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (605-562 BC) exacted heavy tribute from us.

As peaceful agriculturalists we had suffered persecution which hardened us into warriors, resulting in the Hebrews calling us Chatti (Men of War) while the Romans knew us a Kermans (also Men of War). We then called ourselves “The Master Race”, had kings known as Kaisers, and invented the double-eagle symbol. We supported the Trojans in their wars with Greece. After 323 BC, when the heirs of Alexander the Great fought among themselves, we Hatti thought it time to leave. We were still Hatti but our genes were now all mixed up with those of all our occupiers. Migrating westward we settled in Silesia (eastern Germany) then a large group of us went further west to found the city of Trier in Pfalz and to settle throughout Pfalz and Hesse which we originally named Hatti. Peace eluded us. The Gauls opposed us, but in 83 AD we joined them to defeat Emperor Domitian’s 9th Legion that had been recalled from Britain in a vain attempt to pacify us. Successful pacifiers were St. Boniface and his Irish monks who started in 755 to convert us to Christianity. Objecting to losing our female gods, Boniface was murdered, in Fulda, Hesse, but his stubborn monks carried on. The Hebrews had forced Yaweh on us and the Hittites and Assyrians their male gods, but loyalty to our female gods lingered until the Irish completed our conversion. In the 1100s surnames were introduced and my family was assigned the name Schweinhardt. In 1526 Philip, Count of Hesse, adopted Lutheranism, so we fled to Feilbingert, Pfalz, but in 1563 Frederick III embraced Calvanism, so we fled again, this time to Catholic Tours where we took the French name Chouinard.

As for the fellow Hatti or Hessians we had left behind: In the 1600s and 1700s Trier was burned a dozen times by the French and Prussians, while Karl Marx was born there in 1818. Their troubles were far from over. Many in Hesse became farmers and craftsmen but were conscripted by their magistrates to serve as mercenaries. The British hired a lot of them but their pay was funnelled through their magistrates who kept most of it. Of the so-called Hessians in the American Revolution and the defence of Canada only 12,992 were Hessian while 17,000 were Russian. Of the Hessians 2,400 remained in Canada and 2,500 in the US. Of the 7,500 killed, 6,354 were from disease. Also, through long years of religious wars, many Hessians were persecuted by Lutherans and Calvinists. From Bismark to Hitler, Germany assumed our Master Race concept, our double eagle, our Kaiser terminology, and our warlike stance. During WWII our cities of Mainz, Koblenz, Worms, Kassel, and Frankfurt all suffered enormous damage.

As a POW, I was interrogated in Oberursel, Hesse., in 1943. Had I come home? Hesse and Pfalz are now part of a peaceful and prosperous Germany. May it remain that way. Like us, the Assyrians, with large infusions of Hatti genes, have a world-wide diaspora which today numbers 3,447,000 in 14 countries including 70,000 in Germany, 400,000 in the USA, and 23,000 in Canada.

ELECTION AND BASHING TIME IN THE USA

2010-10-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

It is election time again in the USA, but, then, when is it not? They tell us that is the price of democracy. China, with as much internal dissent, is leaping ahead, but they suffer an authoritarian regime. Europe is ahead in many respects, but they are a bunch of socialists. The UK is improving economically by biting the bullet as it did in WWII, Malaya, and the Falklands, but they thrive on adversity. Canada is doing well but it does not rate mention, good or bad, as it never does anything exciting. Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, and North Korea are all more interesting. Chile is doing amazingly well, but it had a horrendous earthquake that united it, whereas Katrina was used to sew conflict.

Sanctioned by voters to go to Washington, are hundreds of talented people, full of vim and vigour, to create the paradise the electorate knows it deserves. These dedicated politicians soon discover that survival demands little governing but much fund raising, making them beholden to those with the heavy purses. It remains, then, a democracy of the rich and powerful but, please, do not call it a dictatorship. We can still complain openly and, after all, there are mid-term elections that can toss out the poor performers if you can tell who is and who is not amid all that hate literature. In fact, since 1934, 127 House and 99 Senate seats have changed occupants mid term, providing even more obstacles to long-term good governance.

Both parties send me numerous request for funds. Having endured their wasteful spending on attacking each other with accusations of doubtful validity in endless TV sound bites that, this time, will cost $3.7 billion, I consider it much better to contribute to 35 organizations like Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, International Red Cross, World Environmental and Wildlife groups, PBS, and so on. This spreads my donation funds rather thinly but they are selected from among the hundreds who seek my money, but even they annoy me wasting money by sending requests for more money after I have just donated.

Are 50 states too many to govern? Larger Canada can find enough problems with 12 divisions. But then the tiny UK has 101 counties. Smaller Switzerland has 26 cantons and 4 languages.

Daily, my computer screen is polluted with vicious attacks on Muslims and Obama. Mostly, they are lies or warped half truths, proving the senders are bereft of any sound solutions to world problems. Recently a dedicated, talented, and hard-working individual was elected president to change things. Then a divided nation erected obstacle after obstacle, attempting to bring him down. It is amazing he has accomplished as much as he has. Politicians are rewarded with high salaries and enormous perks the rest of us can only dream of, yet their main reason for going to Washington, job satisfaction, is denied them. But, Obama is not alone. Angela Merkel who also has done much to improve her country is slipping in the polls. Human gratitude leaves much to be desired. Bring civility to our democracy or authoritarian regimes will swamp us.

Besides Obama-bashing there is Muslim-bashing. Deluded senders provide me with scores of accounts of Muslim atrocities. Yes, they should be exposed and condemned but I look in vain for balance. I see no praise for the Muslim General Congress urging the Canadian government to ban the burka and niqab, nor do I get continued condemnations of US Christian terrorists like the Oklahoma City bombing, the Arizona “Sons of the Gestapo” derailing trains, 230 killed by a bomb on TWA flight 800 in 1996, using Blacks and Guatemalans for medical experiments, Pastor John Hagee promoting “Christians United for Israel” and urging military strikes on Iran? Then we have the IRA murdering people in Ulster, London, and Manchester. There are all those terrorist activities in former Soviet Republics, Darfur, Sri Lanka, Philippines, occupied Palestine, Colombia, Kurdistan, Somalia, Tibet, and, if I may add, sexual misconduct due to the celibacy forced on priests. As for Muslim-bashing this scribe is suspicious of all organized religions. For at least 10,000 years basic beliefs have been corralled by self-promoting groups we can generically call priests who inject dogmas, rituals, and fees to cement their dominance and control. They do provide some good services and promote peaceful co-existence but are too often corrupted by extremists. This universe and life are so complex that great minds, at least from the Ionian Greeks to the present day, remain far from understanding. Agnostics argue, that in our ignorance, the only sensible approach is to maintain an open mind with tolerance to all beliefs that refrain from hostility to others, and with a thirst to join those who are making progress in ferreting out answers to How, When, and, above all, WHY.

LAST FLIGHT by HARRY CREASE

2010-09-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, at the Battle of Britain 70th anniversary ceremonies here, I recited Harry’s poem. Harry was an RCAF Hurricane pilot who was shot down by flak in October 1941 while escorting 18 Blenheim bombers on a daylight raid. He was captured and taken to the nearest Luftwaffe base.
Harry was their first prisoner so was treated like royalty. There was a dance in the mess that night so they found an English-speaking girl to be his companion. Harry was enjoying being a kriegsgefangennen (POW) until the station Gestapo officer came in, saw what was going on, blew a fuse, and ordered the Luftwaffe to pack him off to a POW camp where I was to meet up with him 17 months later.
Harry had taken up writing good poetry and, when I published my book on my RCAF career in 1982, he let me include 3 of his poems. Here is one of them:

Like migratory birds they soared aloft,
Making geometric plan in flight;
And though the flesh within was warm and soft,
The eyes that searched the sky were hard and bright.

But Hate with hellish speed and guns that reek
Can fool the quickest eye; and burning steel
Soften the hardest heart, and make it weak -
Warm flesh alone can know the pain to feel.

The eager youth, curling beneath the lash
Of hailing lead, borne on the breath of Hell,
Watched his bright dream become a blinding flash;
And lifted up his head to say Farewell.

Granted one glance before a flaming death,
He traced the brilliant outline of the cloud;
A knew then, as he vainly fought for breath,
The darkening pall of night would be his shroud.

ARE THERE GODS?

2010-08-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Of course there are - but I cannot identify them for the entire cosmos. My limited knowledge must leave that to better-trained minds that continue to probe at the perimeters of human intelligence. My curiosity is aroused when I realize that our current Gods, scattered about the globe but with concentrations here and there, and who bear watching, are using the same old techniques our ancient Gods used on us, but instead of needing an entire universe they are content with small boxes called computers.

Some 13.6 billion years ago, this time around, you and I were in that minute speck of compressed energy into which our Gods inserted a few laws of physics, including the one about changing-yet-indestructible Energy, before exploding the speck, and creating Time, so that we could fly off to find endless new destinies.

It was quite a show for 9 billion years or so. You and I, alternating between energy and matter, inhabited numerous stars, exhilarating as we went super nova, settling down to form planets only to keep repeating the process. Finally we found ourselves on the surface of a new planet later known as Earth. Many of our friends were also here but in the form of numerous elements some making up various depths of the planet. Our only laws were those of physics, but we had no clues about them. Blind trial and error was all we had. One day a couple of us bumped into each other. That was fun! We got a few others to join us, eventually discovering we could entice even more in to permit us to reproduce. This was so much fun we reproduced in great numbers - but there was a catch. We had changed from energy to matter but we needed energy to permit us to remain in our new formats which we rather liked but we were surrounded by masses of matter in their own formats so we had to find, again by trial and error, what we could safely consume to convert to energy. There were now so many of us that we were forced to compete, finding it was often easier to eat each other than to find new sources of food.

This cruel competition grew, forcing us to mutate into better-adapted formats. A few made good choices and went on to continue the mutations. Those that made poor choices were discarded to try again. Mercy was unknown. For 2.3 billion years we kept mutating into innumerable one-celled living beings. Then a couple of us merged and were successful in assigning duties. Did that ever spawn a myriad of new life forms, all competing for food and homes! Survival meant developing a rude form of memory then intelligence. But we found that we could no longer reproduce at random. We had to find mates among those designed like us. So we tended to protect those like us and to prey on those who were not. Greed was paramount. Compassion, mercy, respect, and such values had yet to evolve.

Multi-celled life came with an Achilles’ Heel. As Life had evolved in specific environments, Death was sure with major changes in this environment - land, sea, or air. The interruption of the flow-in and the excretion-out for mere minutes was fatal. Now, most of our current Gods are creating, supposedly with safeguards, new life forms out of current life forms by manipulating genes and DNA instructions.

More intriguing are groups like the Gods at the University of Michigan who are starting from scratch and copying our old Gods by first using a source of energy called electricity and designing DNA laws to insert as computer codes into a matrix concealing cells of energy where they would have to be found. And sat back to watch.

Lo and behold! Just like our ancestors, electronic elements fused, finding they could duplicate themselves, but also were in a highly competitive environment to reach the cells of highest energy. They were then left alone to go where Destiny is taking them.

With hands off, our Michigan Gods can observe these new creatures, called Avidians, evolving just like we did. For thousands of generations now, Avidians have been testing their surroundings and mutating, discarding most mutations as useless but occasionally making dramatic advances towards intelligence. At the Odense, Denmark, August 2010 meeting on artificial life, evidence will show that Avidians have achieved memory, one of the steps needed for intelligence. It took us over 13 billion years to achieve the rudimentary intelligence we now have. It appears our new Gods, in human format, may reach this level faster.

Yet, it can all be ended by pulling the plug - unless these new critters evolve the intelligence to circumvent our life-support systems. We fear the inevitable day when the plug is pulled on us and our trillions of parts return to their separate lives at least for a time. In this universe they cannot be killed. But can our Consciousness? It took so long to build might it not be preserved on some cosmic tape or disc? We can hope that our motto, Per Ardua ad Astra, may contain a truth we never imagined. We do need the help of Gods, but are they us?

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

2010-08-12T21:05:00.001-07:00

Approaching the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain a few words are warranted. Of all of the aerial battles that have been fought since the formation of the Royal Flying Corps in May 1912, our Wing of the Air Force Association of Canada here in Colorado Springs has selected the Battle of Britain as the crucial one to remember and commemorate each 15 September which was its climax in 1940. Having produced Wing newsletters, now for 24 years, that included comments on 4 successful invasions of Britain: Celtic, Roman, Saxon-Angle-Jute, and Norman, plus 3 unsuccessful ones: Spanish, French, and German, there is bound to be repetition as I dare to comment again.

Yes, we can justifiably bask in Churchill’s words: “Never in the history of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” But, we also need to heed the critics who argue it was the Royal Navy that was the main obstacle to an invasion and that the frightening invasion preparations were just huge bluffs because Hitler never intended an actual land invasion as he needed his manpower and resources for his drang nach osten obsession.

However, had the Luftwaffe been able to establish and maintain air superiority over the UK, no land invasion would have been needed. The immense buildup, including Commonwealth, Polish, Free French, Czech, Norwegian, and US forces in the UK would not have been possible; the factories that turned out the 4-engine bombers, tanks, and so on that played such a decisive role would have been flattened; British harbours would be the graveyards of the ships needed to sustain the country.

While the UK did not stand alone as is too-often stated, for the 1940 Battle of Britain it provided 79% (1,878) of the pilots who flew the Hurricanes, Spitfires, Defiants, Blenheims, and Beaufighters and almost 100% of the ground crew. Other pilots were from: Poland 141, Canada 88, Czechoslovakia 88, New Zealand 73, Belgium 26, Australia 21, South Africa 21, Ireland 8, United States 7, Rhodesia 2, and Palestine 1. Of the 446 killed, the majority were 348 British, 29 Polish, and 20 Canadian.

Before I leave, let me explode a myth: “Chamberlain the Appeaser”. With an electorate still traumatized by the bloody losses of WW1, Chamberlain had to tread cautiously even though he knew the threat the dictators posed. He estimated that things would come to a head with Hitler in 1939-40 and re-armed accordingly, but had to do it quietly as the joke goes: As a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, he knew how to manipulate account books so it went unnoticed as he changed Hangers, coat, into Hangars, aircraft. But Hitler’s demands at Munich came in 1938. Chamberlain had no recourse but to capitulate. However, by September 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland, Spitfires were coming off the line and new squadrons were being formed in substantial numbers. He now had some muscle. He went to war.

While Britain, France, and the USA must accept the major blame for paving the way for Hitler by vindictive handling of Germany and Austro-Hungary after WWI, there is no denying that WWII was thrust upon us and few now remember just how close we came to losing that war and plunging into a long dark age of human cruelties. This surely would have happened had not Chamberlain started his rearmament in time.

We can never thank enough those millions of people from so many countries who suffered, sacrificed, and died in all corners of the world to avert that fate.

While the Battle of Britain was one small, short, intense battle in a 6-year struggle, it was the first to give us hope and it was vital in retaining the UK as an aircraft carrier and as a launch pad for ultimate victory.

We, now basking in the wealth and comfort of a free society, should turn out in droves to remember, honour, and thank all those whose lives were torn so violently from them. Those who can retain dry cheeks have no inkling of the intensity and horrors of that struggle. Many try but collectively we are not doing enough to eradicate the root causes of wars.

NATIONAL DAYS

2010-07-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

In July, we celebrate several of these days. I cannot get too enthused as most commemorate certain, often contentious, events that involved blood letting thus satisfying only those who are descendants of the winning group. They have become embellished with myths that cloud an honest insight into history.

I do applaud the United Kingdom which gets by with no national day, although its four parts do indulge:
01 March: Wales Saint David’s Day
17 March: N. Ireland Saint Patrick’s Day
23 April England Saint George’s Day
30 November Scotland Saint Andrew’s Day

But, are not all these Christian saints? What about the Celts and others contributors?

July National Days include:

01 July: Canada celebrates Dominion Day, that revisionists call Canada Day. At least this is one of the few national days not steeped in blood. It commemorates the 1867 confederation of 5 loyal British colonies: Ontario, Quebec (Upper and Lower Canada), Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, done largely for unified strength to deter further invasions from the United States. The name “Dominion” was taken from the Bible for the ‘Dominion of Canada’ name. That most important province, Newfoundland, did not join the family until 1949. Inuit Nunavut was not formed until 1999 and Haida Gwaii has just now regained its original name. And, what about Cabot, Champlain, Frobisher, Madeleine de Verchères, Mackenzie, Wolfe, Montcalm, the Habitants, the Acadians, Tecumseh, the United Empire Loyalists, the Algonquins, Hurons, Kwakiutl, Inuit, and so many others like my ancestors who were highly successful in producing progeny in Canada since 1669?

04 July: United States of America, Independence Day, 1776. This ignores all the great pre-colonial and colonial days, and commemorates a civil war between Britain and 13 of her 29 American colonies which the vast majority on both sides did not want. It did not give independence to all. It did lead to a great nation, but Californians had little to do with Boston rebels and Sam Adam’s preference for Dutch tea. The Texans had their own rebels but against Mexico, not Britain.

14 July: France, Bastille Day, 1789, exchanged one tyranny for another. It killed many great philosophers and scientists. It did give us fine words like équalité, liberté, and fraternité, which had to wait 50 years before beginning to be implemented. It gave us a national anthem dripping in blood and Napoleon.

20 July: Colombia Independence Day, 1830. Separation too often leads to further separation. On independence from Spain in 1819 Gran Colombia was made up of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. This broke up in 1830 and Colombia became Nueva Granada. In 1886 it adopted a new constitution and the name Colombia. Panama remained a part of Colombia until the US supported a revolt in order to build the Panama Canal. Of all of Spain’s former American colonies, Colombia retains Spanish customs the most.

21 July: Belgium: With support from France and Britain, Belgium revolted against being part of Holland. On 21 July 1831 the newly-formed Kingdom of Belgium elected Léopold I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as their first king. International recognition came in 1839. However, French and Dutch-speaking tensions persist.

28 July: Peru Independence Day: In 1821 Peru became independent of Spain. The Creole (Spanish born in America) were not unhappy with Spanish rule, but 60,000 Inca led a 1780 revolt which failed but sparked subsequent Inca and Creole revolts culminating in José de San Martin from Argentina landing with an army, followed by Simón Bolivar who defeated the Spanish at Junin and Ayacucho.

Countries evolve and boundaries change. Yesterday’s are seldom today’s and today’s are unlikely to be tomorrow’s. When we draw artificial lines around segments of this world it may be good for those living within such boundaries to build an earned pride of nationhood but one that needs to include appreciation of all earlier inhabitants. This dictates choosing a national day, preferably in the warmer months of the year, that has nothing to do with a specific event, religion, or person.

In 1919 the Commission Internationale de Navigation Aerienne chose one or two letters of the alphabet to recognize aircraft registration by country (G for the British Empire, F for France, D for Deutschland, N for the US, and so on with Canada later being assigned CF then C). Perhaps national days should be assigned in a similar manner.

DREAMS

2010-07-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

Some of us have partial control over how we direct our waking lives. Dreams can add new dimensions that, with practice, add pleasure, variety, excitement, and knowledge. But, untrained, they can be far more frustrating and with greater frightening dangers than our awake life. The two worlds are one, but the current awake world dismisses the dream world which actually is more amenable to behaving in accordance with our desires. It may be our most under-exploited resource.

I believe that I had, and have, the same range of dreams as you. I still remember a few, pre-kindergarten and scary, dreams that caused me to seek protection in my parent's bed - just as our children have done to us. I had the normal range of dreams during my school years, my 3-year banking career during which I trained with the Militia (Infantry and Artillery), and my training time in the RCAF.

My dreams changed after I started my nightly forays of flying through the greatest fireworks displays of all times and grieving the ever-mounting loss of valued friends. I experienced my first nightmares and even a bed-whetting experience. After I found myself in POW camps with time on my hands and amid many great minds from a score of countries, I would lay back on my straw mattress at night, analysing various discussions I had lost and being annoyed that my arguments had lacked effectiveness because I invariably thought of good points long after the topic had changed. Also, constantly in my thoughts were longings for my home in Canada and for my second home in England. Before falling asleep I would spend an hour or more mulling over all this , seeking improvements and escape.

In Stalag Luft III, Sagan, it took many weeks of this until I found that I could set up a situation in which I would like to be and spend what seemed to be the entire night there to the point that I dreaded waking up. Most of these dreams were with my wife and family but many had me giving detailed talks, writing skilled essays, and solving intricate mathematical problems.

Others also seemed to have developed this skill. In Nurnberg my hut had no beds but hundreds of bed bugs. One cold March 1945 night over a hundred of us were huddled together on the floor when I awoke to scratch my numerous bites. Beside me was Harry Wardle of Liverpool with a look of utter bliss on his face. Soon, I watched his eyes opening and seeing in disbelief stars shining through broken windows and holes in the roof, courtesy of Bomber Command. "God damn it!" he muttered. I laughed, "Yes, Harry, you are still in Deutschland. Go back to sleep."

After the euphoria of being freed and back with my families had worn off due to the harsh reality of creating a post-war career, I lost the ability to control my dreams although some vestiges remain. In 1960 I began recording my dreams. It has been intermittent. I may go months without bothering, then record for many consecutive nights. It does necessitate maintaining a pad of paper and a pen within reach to scrawl key words while still sleepy to aid memory when fully awake. I still have numerous recurring dreams.

They include: It is easy for me to fly. A special hop, that I tell myself I must remember when I awake, gets me airborne over people and endless landscapes. I am in the homes of friends, past and present, but they are larger with more rooms and objects than in "real" life. I am often with friends who died decades ago and they are still young, free of any blemishes they may have had. I tell them I can return to the land of the living and I ask them if they have any messages for me to take back. Always they answer, "No, it does not matter." Today, I have to write a final exam for a course I forgot I enrolled in, never having attended a class. I badly need to urinate but I am in a muti-storey building with no toilets. I am often in crowded public places in the nude, but no one notices. I often return to previous occupations, knowing that I have retired from them and can no longer perform as I used to. For many of these I have been recalled and posted to command remote military units. I still in my dreams write beautiful essays, give sparkling talks, and solve problems in mathematics and physics. Many such dreams have permitted me to improve my waking essays and talks.

One dream during my Sagan nights remains vividly with me. I was questioning life. Answers were coming in with lucid, logical steps. Suddenly a huge wall with a tiny door sprang up before me, and a voice said: "You may go on, but if you do there is no turning back. The choice is yours." I was curious to go on but I knew I could not desert my families so I forced myself to wake up - in a cold sweat. I often feel that that dream is still waiting for me. So far I have lacked the courage to return to it.

I would be grateful for some insight into your dreams. They conceal a beguiling mystery.

GRIPES

2010-06-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Over the centuries military organizations have been renowned for their gripes: low pay, poor food, endless polishing, cleaning, and parading, harsh discipline, and years at sea or in distant lands without contact with families at home. Today’s military with high pay, undreamed of perks, instant communication home still finds much to gripe about. So, what do we old veterans have left to gripe about?

Well, we can feel forgotten. We RCAF, who were part of a huge Royal family that encompassed not only the Commonwealth but men and women from all occupied European countries and the United States, were thanked for our major role in settling the unpleasantries of WWII and Korea, then they retired our name, our flag, our ranks, and even much of our terminology. With high casualties we endured operations that they now call missions - a name that conjures up forcing our religion on others in far-off lands whereas we uncouth warriors used bombs instead of bibles. Our highest ranking officers wear maple leafs which they incorrectly call stars. We RCAF, along with the RCN, have been relegated to the seldom-read history books. ‘Twas ever thus. Reminds me of Danton, on his way to be guillotined, yelling at watching Robespierre who sentenced him, “You’ll be next, Robespierre!” He was right.
Having sympathized with so many having to learn English I long ago revolted at us having two languages - one we speak and one we write and too often we allow the same word to have different meanings. If we spell it Gloucestershire we should pronounce it that way, not Glostersheer. And Newfoundland should not be pronounced Noofunlan. I refuse to misuse gay and lesbian to describe homosexuals. I shy away from using “America” to describe only the United States as it implies arrogance at ignoring all the others in two continents who share the name, just as does the use of “England” when the United Kingdom is meant, thus insulting the Irish, Scots, and Welsh. And then it appears this is a highly unsanitary country. No one uses toilets. Instead they use bathrooms and restrooms. How distasteful to clean those bathtubs and sofas! There is widespread use of loos, johns, the poddy, and, in WWII Germany, Winston Churchills (His initials, WC, also stood for Water Closet). When Thomas Crapper invented the flush toilet, he called it toilet. Others call it a crapper.

The misuse of history is also a gripe of mine. I enjoy a cup of tea so object to the recently formed Tea Party movement as a protest against government, misusing the Boston Tea party of 1773 which only later became an anti-British slogan. At the time it was simply a move by Sam Adams to protect his profitable dealership of smuggled Dutch tea which was threatened when an East India Company ship arrived laden with tea from Ceylon which the authorities were allowing in without the additional charge of custom duties as Ceylon was another part of the Empire. Sam got a bunch of cronies to dress as natives, board the ship, and throw the cheaper tea overboard. And then there is Hollywood with major distortions in scores of historical films from Egypt and Rome, to the Alamo and the Great Escape, far too many to enumerate here. Truth is usually stranger than fiction so why teach a gullible public false history? The Texas School Board has now joined Hollywood.

Admittedly, in a democracy, opposition and the facts of life prevent politicians from living up to their promises, but this old Arctic veteran who considers the area and the Inuit very important worries that he does not have the time to wait for contracts to be awarded for the ships, research centre, and bases promised so emphatically over three years ago.

On the other hand I should admit immense progress has been made since my first introduction to the Arctic in 1946 - and I should broadcast that governments sometimes do the right thing. A couple of examples:

In WWII Canadian pay was double UK pay so, for those of us overseas, the government withheld half our pay for a post-war nest egg. This prevented the friction that arose when US troops, with still-higher pay, arrived with full pay thus attracting the girls and forcing up prices in the pubs, leading to the UK complaint “The Yanks are overpaid, oversexed, and over here.” My RCAF pay for bombing Germany was $6.25 a day, reduced to $3.20 in the UK.

The Canadian government over the last decade has paid for 2,000 Research Chairs spread among all universities. Recently 19 of the world’s top scientists have moved to Canadian universities with sufficient funding to head up departments, select staff, and pursue their specialties. It is a tonic to see millions of dollars spent hiring scientists rather than baseball, football, basketball, or hockey stars. This brain influx is in addition to all those chairs for the likes of Stephen Hawking in the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo.

WHO DESERVES THE BLAME?

2010-06-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Root causes are seldom mentioned when finger-pointing the blame for the Gulf Oil Spill, the slaughter of thousands in Mexican Drug Wars, and the like - problems that would not exist if we were to curtail our addiction to oil, drugs, guns, and money. The endless accumulation of wealth in a few hands is a human failure but provides us with villains. Drug cartels have filled rooms with billions of dollars and created lavish life styles that invite others to muscle in to the tune of thousands of bodies, bullet-ridden by weapons eagerly provided by unrestricted gun dealers. The hundreds of US factories operating in the Cuidad Juarez area pay a maximum of $75 per week so it is much more lucrative to get into the drug trade.
BP (40% British and 39% US owned) has amassed billions in profits by satisfying our craving for oil so is a natural target for blame when something goes wrong which is certain to happen when we go to the extremes of technology to extract the last drop of a finite resource instead of pursuing the logical course of mass transit, putting truck traffic back on the rails, and increasing the price of fossil energy to encourage more investment in green sources. Our oil addiction has blinded us. We forget the almost-identical Trans-Ocean spill of June 1979 in the Gulf when the same blowout preventer failed and only 2 relief wells stopped the escape 9 months later. That was in 200 feet of water, now it is 5,000 feet, and in the interim there has been no insistence or regulations that rescue techniques be improved.
Also, we are selfish. No one here seems to care about the plight of Nigerians who, since 1958, have endured 23 million gallons of oil spills that are increasing annually, mainly from Shell wells. Destitute Nigerians lack a president who cares enough to force restitution and reimbursement from oil companies.
For the foreseeable future we are restricted to one world that is heavily burdened with too many humans, creating an unsustainable consumption of finite resources and an unsustainable gap between rich and poor. Progress at closing this gap has occurred in places like Brazil and China, but much, much more is essential - and this will, at least for the time being, demand sacrifices from us who have been hogging more than our share of world resources.

OH, ISRAEL

2010-06-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

OH, ISRAEL! It is sad that Israel, with so much to offer, is so paranoid about security that it is now considered a bully. But first a little, very sketchy history: Faith or fact? No historical account of Abraham exists other than what is found in scriptures that claim, about 1900 BC, Abraham, Sarah, family, and relatives left Ur, Iraq, for Canaan where they infiltrated and eventually controlled a nomadic group to be known as Hebrews, persuading them to renounce their female gods to embrace Yahweh. Abraham fathered children by 3 wives and died at age 175. Sarah gave birth to Isaac at age 90. Years passed and, during a famine, descendants of this group, following David’s lead, found refuge in Egypt where, over the next 645 years, they multiplied to the extent that a new pharaoh persecuted them leading to the exodus led by Moses. About 1250 they ended up back in Canaan where they smote the Philistines (Palestinians) to acquire the land promised them by Yahweh. Ownership was hotly contested by at least 11 distinct groups until Romans ousted most of the Jews in 135 AD. Significant return of Jews to Palestine began after 1831 when Mohammed Ali, an Ottoman provincial ruler, opened the area to the West and Edmond de Rothschild financed the move.

The current state of Israel was a dicey plan in the first place, as Winston Churchill warned in 1937. To create a new Jewish state, westernized, wealthy, and technologically-advanced in a small plot of land, much of it not arable, in an Arab and Muslim area that would necessitate the eviction (and killing) of thousands of Palestinians who were slowly emerging from 400 years of rural, seldom harsh, life as part of the Ottoman Empire, could lead to trouble requiring the best of minds and the best of behaviour to contain. At least the area was kept intact under Ottoman rule. Then came the vultures, many well-meaning, to share the spoils of their WWI victory. They divided the area into countries and gave League of Nation mandates to the UK and France to assist the emergence of a modern, Western-controlled, Middle East. The US refused an offered mandate but got involved economically. Russia, Italy, and Germany also developed interests. Immense sympathy for the Jews after the Holocaust led the WWII victors, hesitant to open their own borders to displaced survivors, to allow a Palestine homeland for them which, after all, was theirs historically, but this return of the Jews would be somewhat akin to us Caucasians reclaiming the Caucasus. Generations of Palestinians have now languished in refugee camps, helpless to resist but creating a simmering hatred of the occupiers. The newcomers, with considerable aid, especially from the USA and Germany, after defeating an attempt to oust them, did create a vibrant industrial nation that did benefit the world with contributions in science, medicine, literature, and so on. It also built up the area’s most powerful military. Growth required more land which led to large settlements throughout occupied Palestine so the locals, denied a military of their own, were pushed aside as were the locals in all countries of America not all that long ago. Worldwide support for Israel started to slip when Lebanon then Gaza acquired ineffective missiles that killed less than a dozen Israelis only to have the Israelis attack with massive force that killed thousands and destroyed infrastructure that remains rubble. This includes a 3-year blockade of Gaza after it voted in Hamas a new organization understandably hostile to Israel. This land, sea, and air blockade has created great poverty, precluding any progress. Lately, six Turkish and one Irish ships attempting to run the blockade and bring in humanitarian aid have been seized in international waters and towed to an Israeli port with 9 Turkish and no Israeli deaths. It is gratifying that much of the criticism of the Israeli siege mentality comes from many Israelis who argue that Israel is much more of a threat to Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah than they are to Israel. It will be hard and difficult but Israel must now return to its original borders and employ its expertise in creating a common market of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria - 5 countries in an area barely big enough for one. To continue current Israeli policies will only lead to its demise which will benefit only new vultures.

If Catholics, worldwide, can be content with the Vatican, much tinier than Israel, as their headquarters, could we not persuade the Jews to accept the smaller, original, Israel as their HQ and continue to live in, and benefit, nations everywhere? Jerusalem, sacred to 3 religions, cannot be monopolized by one of them. Even Hamas should accept this solution.

.

MILITARY SPENDING

2010-06-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

In spite of a severe worldwide recession, military spending surged in 2009 and is now 49% higher than in 2000 as 153 countries spent $1,531,000,000 000. The US leads this insane race spending $661 billion or 43% of the world total. China is next but well back spending $100 billion followed by France, the UK, and Russia spending $64, $58, and $53 billion. Canada is #13, spending $19 billion while Israel #16 spent $12 billion, double #24 Iran’s $6 billion. All this against no credible threat except for North Korea and a bunch of jihadists who can do us harm on the cheap. It succeeds in taking the “sapiens” out of Homo sapiens and it does hasten our death wish to follow the dinosaurs into extinction. There are still 7,500 nuclear warheads in 8 countries, 2,000 of them on instant alert. It seems we lack the intelligence to divert this spending into curbing unsustainable population growth, affordable health and legal care, global warming, education, closing the rich-poor gap, enhancing green energy, curing addictions to finite resources, drugs, guns, money, and the like. To our credit there were 54 UN Peacekeeping operations in 2009 that cost $9.1 billion.

How come that all those who decry our horrendous and fatal debts are mute about decreasing unnecessary and wasteful military spending with its inflated ranks and far too much brass? Corporals and sergeants are quite capable of doing what is now reserved for higher officer ranks. Against whom do we need 11 carrier groups or over 1200 F-35s?

EVOLUTION - FINALLY A PURPOSE?

2010-06-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Devoid of compassion in an ever-changing universe, Evolution has plunged ahead on a trial-and-error basis with immense cruelty and waste. It is the most guilty of all for war crimes, but is has produced a creature that is beginning to understand it and to fight back. We humans now know that galaxies are fuelled by massive Black Holes but that, ever since the Big Bang, the frightening eat-or-be eaten principle persists to the detriment of both the eaters and the eaten but, without which, we would not exist. We now know that big galaxies eat smaller galaxies, that Andromeda, is racing towards us at 700,000 mph and is only 2 million light years away, to engage our Milky Way in a dance of death - and rebirth as Hinduism predicts? You do the math and tell me how much time to I have for more blogs and newsletters (186,000 x 60 x 60 x 24, x 365 x 2,000,000 ÷ 700,000).

All living things, that we know of, have short, finite lives that are made possible only by the daily killing and eating of other living life forms. But, you may ask, what about the more peaceful plant kingdom? It has learned to convert inorganic material into organic without the need to eat other species. Alas, even here there is warfare. Plants fight for territory. Some secrete poisons to kill off rivals. Succession is a well-known phenomenon where, over time, one species succeeds another in the same plot of land. Change is the only thing that has any permanence. And yet, a warm glimmer of hope has been seeded. Some of us have introduced ethics, and have started a long, slow process of directing a more humane, if still brief, existence for all life forms.

Hopefully soon, we will be able to take a glass of water, a lump of coal, and a handful of soil and convert them into nourishing foods to retire our need to prey on other species. Then, we can turn our attention to taming the universe. A hopeless dream? . . . . . . . . Perhaps - if we fail to accept the challenge!

CRY WOLF (IRAN)

2010-06-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

We flawed humans have always had enemies, some real, some manufactured (as Eisenhower argued) to suit our questionable motives. Diverting us from a series of less-than-successful policies, it seems that we are grooming Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Enemy #2 after #1 from North Korea, not only because we choke on his name, but the indisputable fact that he may, within the next decade, build a nuclear bomb to threaten the 31,000 nuclear warheads that surround him in bunkers in peaceful farmlands, on a score of peace-seeking aircraft carriers, on 26 sleek submarines, and in aircraft fleets, all manned by the flower of our youth who have enlisted not as a bunch of religious fanatics bent on jihad - Heavens NO! - but in the noble quest of university degrees and in appreciation of the generous pay and perks.

Mahmoud claims he loves us. Why not? We do have lots of lovable people. Yes, we also have many not-so-lovable. We have, just in the US alone, over two million in jails. We have 6 million illicit drug users in the USA, 720,000 in China, 1 million in Afghanistan, and even 186,000 in Kazakhstan. Instead of curing their addictions, we persecute growers, dealers, and users of the stuff. During the last election in the USA, private prison companies donated $3.3 million to politicians who would fill their jails with addicts. We have many thousands more who prey on the elderly and naive. Then there are those of us who delight in fouling up computers with viruses, or steal identities. Can Mahmoud be a real lover for all of us - or is he just another enemy we manufacture to suit our purposes?

Actually, Mahmoud, with a PhD in transportation, is a veteran of the 1980-88 war that fought invading Iraq to a stalemate. Iraq, with 98% of its arms supplied by the USSR, France, China, Brazil, Egypt, and the USA, invaded Iran inflicting 1 million casualties, 100,000 of them by chemical weapons built in Iraq from materials and technology supplied by the US, UK, Germany, France, and China and sprayed by US-made Bell helicopters. Iran also suffered $350 billion in damages including much to its oil industry that still lingers.

Area problems can be traced back to King Enmebaragesi of Kish who thought military force was a great idea. He conquered Elam in 2650 BC. Elam got even in 2004 BC by sacking Ur. What we call Iraq was part of the Persian Empire until the Ottoman Turks intruded in 1638 and some 18 treaties ensued to delineate Iraq’s borders, the current one drawn by the British in 1920. In 1959, Abd al-Karîm Qâsim, who had seized control of Iraq, declared that the oil-rich Iranian province of Khuzestan was rightfully part of Iraq. In 1971, when the British withdrew, Iraq took over and expelled 70,000 Iranians from 3 islands in the Persian Gulf. Iran retaliated by supporting Kurdish unrest. In 1975 Kissinger sanctioned Persia’s (Iran’s) Shah Pahlavi’s attack on Iraq over the waterway at the head of the Gulf. With the death of Nasser in Egypt and the rise of the Ba’ath Party in Iraq, Iraq coveted the role of leader of the Arab world.

With Iran weakened by the fall of the Shah and the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (whom the Shah had exiled to Iraq and whom Iraq expelled to France), Saddam Hussein believed the Sunni of Iran would welcome his invasion to free them from the Shias. Besides, his 4,500 tanks and 7,330 artillery pieces would overwhelm Iran’s 1,000 tanks and 3,000 artillery pieces, not to mention his aircraft superiority. Iran’s arms were mainly US, left over from the Shah’s reign.

Iraq did not use biological weapons even though the US had made 70 shipments of these weapons over a 3-year period to Iraq. Both sides attacked neutral oil tankers, damaging 546 and killing 430 sailors. An Iraqi aircraft attacked the USS Stark killing 37 and wounding 21. However the US was backing Iraq at this time, so down-played the incident, and in 1987 the US attacked Iranian oil platforms. When the USS Samuel B. Roberts was damaged by an Iranian mine, the US sank 2 Iranian ships, and in 1988 shot down, from inside Iranian waters, an Iranian commercial aircraft with the loss of 290 passengers and crew. Eventually the US paid compensation. Compounding the scene was the US-approved sale by Israel to Iran of $1 billion in weaponry. POWs were not exchanged until 10 years after the war.

Mahmoud has many problems. Afghan drug runners have killed 3,000 Iranian police. The oil industry, worth $50 billion a year, is deteriorating with ageing infrastructure. Nuclear energy is a safeguard for the future. Mahmoud has helped the poor, but moderates pose a threat to his apparent hard line towards the West and Israel. Although India, Pakistan, and Israel have broken their pledge not to join the non-proliferation club, we shudder at the thoughts that Iran may copy them. To impose sanctions and to threaten aerial attacks on nuclear sites will only unite all Iranians against us.

Napoleon advised: ”Never interfere with an enemy while he is in the process of destroying himself.” But, is Mahmoud an enemy? His stealing of an election and persecution of peaceful demonstrators is infuriating, but he did write us a long letter indicating how we could co-operate, but we lacked the courage and courtesy to reply, so just ignored it. He then continued the nice-guy approach by granting pleasant interviews to Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes and to Charlie Rose on PBS. His show of tolerance revealed his Zoroastrian roots. Of all the conquerors in the Middle East the Persians were the most tolerant of other cultures. Persians freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity, But, Mahmoud shows little tolerance towards Israel as he claims Israel shows no tolerance towards Palestinians.

Big sticks only provoke a multitude of little sticks to unite to combat them as Mussolini believed and misused.

Humans, a flawed species, but with recurring promises of greatness, need sufficient weapons of deterrence, but overdoing it, as we have, simply spurs others to follow suit and to bankrupt ourselves. Someday, soon, we must divert military expenditures to the onerous and widespread task of correcting our misbehaviour. Can we not see we are very close to losing our planet - at the moment our only home? We must accept Mahmoud’s offer of dialogue, but include all members of that volatile region of our planet!

THE MAKING OF THIS SCRIBE

2010-06-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

It all started when, as a happy schoolboy, I was hurt and disillusioned on discovering there was no Santa Claus. I began to question other things my parents, church, and school had told me. My parents encouraged me to read books and newspapers, and were among the first to get a radio that brought news into the house. Among others, they would listen to Father Coughlin but his strident attacks, especially on the British Empire, left me highly critical. I bought many 5¢ Boy's magazines that arrived faithfully on time every week via sea mail from London, UK, filled with stories from all parts of the world that gave me a child-like faith in the British Empire but, as I talked to many Boer War and WWI veterans, I began to realize that even it had flaws. From these magazine I got the names and addresses of pen pals and was soon corresponding with girls and boys in the Gold Coast (Ghana), South Africa. Germany, the UK, and Malaysia. I soon learned that there were many ways of looking at the same situation, but only the Malaysian survived WWII to re-establish our correspondence.

Until age 11, I was fascinated by things military. In Toronto there were many parades of soldiers in smart uniforms with flashing bayonets and good marching bands. I took pride in the many stories of Canadian victories in WWI which led me to talk to veterans of the Boer War and WWI , including 2 uncles, who gave me a disturbing insight into the true nature of wars. That, and watching boys cruelly killing a skunk and shooting crows and squirrels made me a pacifist. We then moved to Port Hope a town of under 5,000 people where everyone knew everyone else. It amazed me that there were so many Churches of different slants on the Christian religion and then there were my Jewish and Islamic friends. As teenagers we would discuss religion but it was never a barrier.

I began collecting newspaper clippings and amassing books. Today I have 2,300, not counting stacks of magazines I hate to throw out.

During WWII the cosmopolitan nature of Allied Forces and especially my POW camps revealed good, bad, and indifferent people in every group, friend or foe, and emphasized the fact that the majority simply longed to live out lives in harmony with their neighbours.

Following retirement in 1966 from the RCAF at age 47 I toiled for a degree in history from the University of Colorado, a branch of which was starting in Colorado Springs where NORAD was my final RCAF transfer.

We had small classes and good professors, but two of them were strongly opposed to US foreign policy. They were right in many instances but one went, I thought, much too far, and I found myself, as the only Canadian in the class, the only one who continued to argue with him in favour of the US. Friends told me to shut up and go along or my grades would suffer. They did but only in his class.

As I now lack the energy and money to travel the world I rely on the 23 magazines to which I subscribe and a wide variety of books that are so prolific in espousing different points of view, making it most difficult to extract only the truth, so this scribe, like everyone else, is far from infallible. Yet, having shed blood in a horrible war I felt had to be fought, I remain convinced it is my responsibility to strive for a peaceful world that is fair to all who are thrust into it. I do not expect you all to agree with all of my interpretations but, if I manage to keep you thinking and questioning and retaining a respect for all living things, then I have served my purpose. I do regret, however, that so few of you, armed with facts, debate my views. The bravest thing a person can do is to think. The majority of you out there remain silent. A few of my far-right friends have engaged me in verbal battle which I enjoy as it does not transcend our friendships. My views have evolved over the years and I hope theirs will too. A million years from now will anyone care?
Ye Olde Scribe, georgesweanor@comcast.net

MAKING VS CONVERTING ENEMIES

2010-04-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at photos of former Guantanamo inmates who are now Al Qaida leaders determined to make us suffer. Shave off the beards and they do not look all that fearsome. Has Guantanamo failed us by creating uncompromising enemies?

Back in 1939-1943 I had no reason to respect the Luftwaffe. I knew of Guernica, Warsaw, Rotterdam, Bath, Coventry et al and endured being bombed by them. I dug dead friends out of rubble they created, and I lost hundreds of good friends to them. Then I was shot down, not at all a pleasant experience. However . . . .

The score of civilians, mostly women, who captured me were all friendly, curious, and puzzled that Canada would want to attack them. They walked me some distance to the police who were polite and respectful as they searched me then walked me several blocks to a Luftwaffe station, giving me a conducted tour en route. Four Luftwaffe officers were polite in questioning me and the two soldats who guarded me all night on wooden benches were curious and full of questions about Canada. In the morning a Luftwaffe officer gave me a conducted tour en route from Hamburg to Frankfurt for interrogation. I was never handcuffed or hooded. A hungry week of uncomfortable solitary confinement included polite questioning by a succession of 4 officers before I was shipped off to POW camps that would become four in number.

I was to have a few run-ins with Gestapo and SS but in each instance was protected by the Luftwaffe who seemed to have the same opinion of them as we did.

In those horrible final months of the war when we had to make our way from one end of Germany to the other I was mixed in with many German military and civilians. We were all cold, hungry, exhausted, and strafed and bombed by Allied aircraft. No German showed any animosity towards us with the sole exception of SS in the Munich rail yard.

I ended the war with high respect for the Luftwaffe and sympathy for the common German people.

After the war I met in Canada former Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine officers who had been POWs in Canada where the respectful treatment they had received persuaded them to return years later to Canada as valued immigrants.

It all makes me wonder about the inhumane interrogation and imprisonment techniques used in such places as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. If the Luftwaffe example was followed might not a few converts be made rather than increasing the hatred of enemies and creating more enemies among those who learn of such inhumanity?

I am also sure that those thousands of soldiers from a score of countries who take pains, and risks, to intermingle with and help civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan are doing immense good both for them and for us. Ways must be found to give this temporary help and goodwill some permanence. Respect is the vital ingredient in altering enemy mindsets.

OUR PROBLEM WITH SEX

2010-04-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

OUR PROBLEM WITH SEX is summed up in the old joke: Two veterans in their 90s were reminiscing. One asked, “Do you remember that stuff they used to put in our food to lessen our sex drive? Well, it is starting to work.”

To the steady stream of prominent men engaging in extra-marital sex has been added one of our own, a capable and respected pilot in a responsible position who has left a trail of rapes and even murders. The only things new about this is that men now wreck their marriages and careers and receive public condemnation. The history of our species is one long horror story of the cruelty of men and women to each other and to children, quite extensive even today. But there is also, from ancient times, so many tender stories of caring, sharing, and love, of men improving the lot of women and vice versa. It is a tale too vast for this single page which will concentrate on male aggression.

Biologists explain that the male of the species is designed to go about the world, impregnating as many females as he can catch. Anthropologists argue that, early on, males discovered they could get steady and reliable satisfaction in a family setting and that co-operation was more rewarding than force. Sadly, the biology of the sexes too often lacks male contentment in the family situation as the average female, who has to bear the consequences, lacks the constant enthusiasm of the average male for sex and too many men, when the opportunity arises, quickly give in to their biological side. Over the years I have listened to many men complain that they love their wives far more than they are loved in return. But, to a man, “Love” has a much greater component of sex than in a woman’s interpretation.

Even Moses condoned his men raping conquered women. Napoleon, when he needed more men to invade Italy, got them with his “You want women? The Italians have women. They can be all yours.” Practically every army has permitted male and female rape, often as a means of demoralizing the enemy, but more often as a means of recruitment. Few women escaped being raped repeatedly by occupying Soviets. Chinese and Koreans were “comfort” women to the Japanese, and many were simply transferred to US occupiers. Christians raped Muslims in the Middle East and recently in Bosnia; thousands of Vietnamese were raped by US soldiers. African women still suffer rape in huge numbers. Numerous leaders, like Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan, had captured women stationed throughout their empires for immediate satisfaction wherever they went. At the numerous conferences of bishops defining the rules of Christianity numerous women were collected to attend sexually to the attendees. Muslim sultans were renowned for their harems.

God help us men if women get the power to seek revenge for their billions who have been wronged.

Is there a cure other than the one used by various women who severed the penis that was raping them? Thousands of male prisoners lost sexual desire when castrated to become eunuchs to guard such collections as harems.

Practically all religions and governments have imposed laws and beliefs for the masses to follow, often with cruel punishments for transgressors like stoning and hanging. Some Muslims, to save their women for themselves, confine them to the home or cover them from head to toe, considering them property not companions. For good reason some women feel safer hidden in all that clothing. Societies have permitted polygamy and brothels with various degrees of control.

We do need more women in government. Today, Belgium leads the world with 55% but the UK, US, and Canada are shamefully far behind with 14, 7, and 6 per cent. And 14 countries have no women at all in government.

Perhaps the most powerful weapon is mindset - it is not easy to change ingrained or encouraged mind sets as so few of us think, but it has been done over the years. My generation in my society of males was brought up to put women on pedestals. Foul language was never used near them. Whereas necking was permitted, few of us thought of going further. Then came WWII with entire populations caught up in war zones with death a constant companion resulting in a desire to taste life’s pleasures before death. Still, most of our boys killed died as virgins. Most of the sex was consensual causing thousands of pregnancies in an ill-educated and unprepared population. Canada can boast of having the highest percentage of warriors who married the girls they impregnated.

The easy sex of WWII, followed by the widespread introduction of condoms and pills promoted more mindset changes. Homosexuality, common in antiquity, was a source of jokes and something no true man would ever entertain. For 800 days I was locked up with up to 11,000 sex-starved men (all aircrew) in compounds that allowed no privacy or secrecy. I know of no case of any homosexual act. It was just not part of our mindset, so its resurgence is puzzling.

Another society mindset that needs softening is that towards adultery. Acceptance runs from a high in Africa, and the cause of their HIV epidemic, to a low in Muslim countries. In the West acceptance is higher among the ruling classes. While rape should never go unpunished, the odd dalliance of a husband or wife who have a record of marital responsibility should not be reason to be cast out and to lose it all. And the media should be censored for its lurid accounts. The most critical voices are undoubtedly those who are covering up their own guilt.

From insects to mammals there is tremendous variety in the conduct of sex. With humans it can become an abusive addiction as hard to cure as smoking or drug use. It is rarely a means to exert dominance as so often explained but rather a strong desire for perceived pleasure. We seem to have adopted the aggressive characteristics of our Chimpanzee relatives rather than those of our Bonobo relatives who solve conflicts peacefully with frequent sex. In many societies we are much better than we once were but large-scale cruelties persist. Care to give us your solution to the problem?

THE DISUNITED STATES OF CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA

2010-04-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

To influence the world Rome needed its provinces; Spain had to wait until Aragon and Castille united; England needed Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Dominions; Germany needed Bismark to unite it. Now, the world needs that part of America that calls itself the United States to be sufficiently united and wealthy to give us NASA and other such noble enterprises as well as accepting the role of honest broker in so many of the world’s immense problems.

In all those nations we call “Western”, societies are relatively free so achieving unity on any particular issue is not easy. China has had amazing success in leaping to the forefront of nations. It has improved living standards for millions but with no hesitation in using brute force to accomplish this. India, on the other hand, has also come a long way in a more relaxed and open society but, unlike clean, prosperous, and modern China, it is a huge mixture of opulence and dire poverty. Relaxing its strong hand, the USSR fell apart, and modern Russia has deemed it necessary to reinstate some harsh measures to reinstate its role in the world. The much-needed European Union still has teething problems but it has given us expensive great projects like CERN and it does provide considerable wisdom in the conduct of local and world affairs.

The United States has created immense problems for itself. Armed Militia Units, wary of government, have increased 200% to 127; its financial foundation is greatly weakened with huge debts to other nations due to living beyond its means for a decade; its political unity has evaporated. After a century of trying, the government, led by Barack and Nancy, has finally brought the USA into the family of nations with universal health care, a process that was started in modern times by Bismark in 1889 with his Old Age and Accident Insurance. Disunity prevented the US from getting the desired single payer, public option, and other goals, but it was a huge step in the right direction, although it does give for-profit insurance companies 32 million new customers. Hopefully this victory will embolden the government into taking bold steps not only to face up to internal problems but to use its strong influence to bring fair and just settlements to many of the world’s problems that beg for remedies that need outside help with no sinister strings attached. This scribe has faith that, in spite of much unfair criticism, the current US leaders can do just that.

STAMPS AS EDUCATION

2010-04-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Eighty years ago my Dad started me on the hobby of stamp collecting. This led to me haunting the town’s Chinese laundries for stamps from China and Hong Kong, and to find pen pals in seven countries in Europe, Asia, and Australasia. Worldwide, postage was cheap and countries issued fewer than five new stamps per year so, over time, good worldwide collections could be built. I remember well the anger caused when Canada raised its rates from 2 to 3 cents to mail a letter anywhere in the British Commonwealth and Empire. A big boost to my collection came when I started working in a bank. Money parcels were sent via registered post that needed 50-cent and $1 stamps. We were supposed to send all these back to bank headquarters so they could be sold to dealers, but somehow a few got stuck in my collection.
Soon I was to know every country in the world, its currency, rulers, history, geography, and culture. Many friends were made among other collectors and we all rejoiced on possessing a stamp or two from Tristan da Cunha, Rarotonga, Pitcairn Islands and other such tiny places. By selling stamps to collectors, the Pitcairn Islands raised enough to build a school so they promptly issued another stamp to sell that depicted the school.
Today countries are killing the hobby by flooding the market with hundreds of new issues per year, by high prices, and now the US and Australia to save money have gone to cheaper paper that tends to disintegrate when you try to soak off stamps. And, of course, e-mails and meter post have robbed us of stamped mail.
Nevertheless countries still issue far too many stamps. But, as many are interesting, let me describe a few:

THE FOUR KINGS: On 19 April Canada Post issued four 57-Cent stamps to honour the four “Indian” kings who met with Queen Anne in London 19 Apr 1710. The stamps reproduce the full-length paintings that were made of them at the time when Queen Anne was not a very happy monarch. At 45 she was widowed with no heir in spite of 18 pregnancies. The 3 Mohawks and 1 Mahigan kings were Tee Yee Neen Hu Ga Row, Emperor of the Six Nations and leader of the group, was given the English name of Hendrick. Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row, King of the Generethgarich, was named John; Sa Ga Neath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas, was named Brant (grandfather of Joseph Brant); and Etow Oh Koam, King of the River Nations, was called Nicholas. All four were in excellent physical condition and towered over their European hosts. They had been recruited by Peter Schulyer, Governor at Albany, to help persuade the Queen to grant more resources to the fight against the Hurons and French. The colonies were a drain on the treasury but the queen, who was to be dead in 4 years, was impressed, particularly when they also asked for help in understanding the Protestant version of Christianity. She showered them with gifts, had them attend theatrical productions and banquets over 45 days and took steps to organize an invasion of Quebec. They were granted audiences with the famed painter John Verelst who was charged with the task of depicting them as envoys of respected powers. The four kings escaped the diseases rampant in London. Their speeches were reprinted many times. They were quoted as describing European clothing as stifling and barbarous and romantic stories were written of a supposed contact between one of them and a woman he met on the streets of London.
Hendrick was to return to London in 1740 for a meeting with George II. Joseph Brant became a famed Canadian leader when he fled the US after the revolution. The city of Brantford, Ontario, is named for him.
These 4 portraits were purchased in 1977 by the Public Archives of Canada. More details can be found in Canada’s History Magazine, Apr-May 2010, and the Canada Post brochure, Apr-Jun 2010, as well as for the RCN.

THE RCN AT 100: On 04 May Canada Post will issue two 57-cent stamps commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Canadian Navy. One stamp depicts HMCS Niobe, the other HMCS Halifax. In WWII the RCH was the 3rd largest of the Allied Navies. It had 100,000 personnel including 7,122 women and 110 of its ships took part in the D-Day operations. Today it has 9,000 personnel and 33 warships.
In 1910 the Royal Navy gave Canada the cruiser HMS Niobe and HMS Rainbow as founding ships for the RCN. Niobe, built in 1897, saw service in the Boer War and WWI and was damaged in the explosion in Halifax harbour in 1917.

STAMP WARS have been numerous. Here are a few: In 1947 a Chilean stamp showed Graham Land, Antarctica, claimed by Britain, to be part of Chile. In 1951 Argentina countered with a stamp showing it to be Argentinian. In 1954 the UK issued 15 stamps depicting 13 different ships each of which had spent over 2 years doing research in the area. In 1958 and 1965 Chile and Argentina continued the stamp war while the UK continued its work. Anticipating the conquest of India, Nazi Germany had stamps ready for Azahind (Free India). In 1959 Greece issued 2 stamps featuring Imre Nagy, Hungarian premier executed by the Soviets. The USSR refused to accept mail using these stamps and countered with a stamp for Glezos, a communist executed by Greece. During the Cold War the USSR re-published its stamp catalogues, removing the wartime stamps that showed Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin together. Egypt continued to use its King Farouk stamps after he was deposed in 1953, but obliterated his portrait.

WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS

2010-03-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS: Physicists entertain us by revealing that our little universe is in the midst of innumerable universes each with its own laws and where anything that can happen will happen. Exciting! But there is still so much to learn about our own, unique, universe.

Frequently strangers will quietly move into our lush, moist valleys, remaining inoffensive until they multiply and set up listening posts to monitor our activities. When we order our police to remove them they detect our coming and send out requests for help from other immigrants in the region. Some agree to unite with them and working together they produce weapons that can cause our police to actually explode.

In Copenhagen the team of Thomas Bjarnsholt has been studying this battle that rages in many human lungs, learning that bacteria are much more intelligent and sophisticated than we had realized. They communicate with the chemical “quorum’ sensing like plants and fungi. Our research into this may have started 50 years ago but we are only just beginning to appreciate bacterial sophistication and to look for means to manipulate it. Bacteria can influence and change the actions of other bacteria or our own white blood cells.

Take the friendly bacteria that are ten times more numerous than our own body cells in our guts. It is now known they communicate with each other for the betterment of both. We need each other. The mass of these friendlies, consisting of thousands of species, weighs some 1.3 kg (3 pounds), far outnumbering the terrorists. Does this not seem all too familiar to our macroscopic world?

Our species continues to find ‘final’ frontiers, currently bragging of our exploits in space and the deep seas. They are impressive and we do exhibit astounding intelligence, at least some of us do. Yet, we do need a strong dose of humility. We have been comparing ourselves to chimpanzees, dolphins, mice, crows, and the like and have actually made progress in understanding their languages while remaining comfortable in our own superiority.

But, there are frontiers out there that are numerous and formidable, challenging our puny intelligence to awake to the fact that we have not yet reached the plateau where we can retire and rest in safety.

Without understanding it, we have harnessed the quantum world to dominate a third of our industry. We can manipulate DNA to do our bidding without understanding it. We have made electricity one of our slaves without knowing if it has a will of its own. We know that plants have their own language but we have produced no dictionary.

To many we are on the verge of creating intelligence and consciousness in computers without even knowing what actually creates consciousness, or for that matter what it is. We have never been granted irrefutable proof as to what and why we are.

In many respects we are no further ahead than those Ionian Greeks who, some 2400 years ago, started us on this quest.

When we humans have so many challenges why do we continue to waste our energies in harming and killing each other? Too many budding Newtons and Einsteins have perished on the battlefield.

I am so often reminded of the story told of the Prince of Wales visiting Canada and observing a workman walking along a parked train and tapping each iron wheel with a hammer. When the Prince asked him what was the purpose in him doing that, he replied. “I don’t know - the boss ordered me to do it so I am.”

TAXES

2010-03-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

TAXES: I have just emptied my piggy bank to pay my taxes. Relying on me are two governments and hundreds of politicians all of whom claim they are working hard for my interests. It is good of them to tell me as I would not recognize this on my own. Congress is in gridlock and Harper sent Parliament packing for two months, implying politicians are redundant as the Civil Service runs the show anyway. To really serve my interests they are not spending wisely or belt tightening or taxing me nearly enough to fund what I consider important for our one world and all its inhabitants.

Canada is in much better financial shape perhaps because it ranks 33rd highest while the US is 48th among world countries in taxes levied. Also it lacks a huge military believed necessary to control a huge empire. While Canada takes most of my taxes, it is still not enough to avoid a current deficit, like it was for a dozen recent years.

Debt? The US is #1 in owing $13.6 trillion to other countries while Canada ranks #15 owing $762 billion. The US is so much more in need of my money that they tax some of what Canada has already taxed!

I am told I should be grateful they do not demand more of my money - but, my peace of mind is shattered by that howl of anguish coming from future generations and I wonder how much of that is my fault and am I doing enough to lessen their burden? I would happily pay taxes if I could feel they were solving our problems and not just paying interest on what is owed to the rest of the world.

As government is non-profit, if we exclude salaries and perks, it should provide the most economical means of accomplishing our goals from health care to space exploration. They do have good and dedicated people. Why does private enterprise often surpass them? Competition? Or is it the fact that, in the USA, expensive elections never end and politicians must devote far too much time, energy, and money in politicking rather than governing. Would you call this a democracy, flawed more than it need be?

TAXES

2010-02-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

This is a copy of the final paragraph on page 8 of my March 2010 Wing newsletter:

TAXES: Sorry, Got to leave you to empty my piggy bank to pay my taxes. Relying on me are two governments and hundreds of politicians all of whom claim they are working hard for my interests. Good of them to tell me as I would not recognize this on my own. Congress is in gridlock and Harper has sent Parliament packing for two months, implying politicians are redundant as the Civil Service runs the show anyway. If my interests are being served then they are not belt tightening or taxing me nearly enough. Canada is in much better financial shape perhaps because it ranks 33rd highest while the US is 48th among world countries in taxes levied. While Canada takes most of my taxes, it is still not enough to avoid deficits. The US is #1 in owing $13.6 trillion to other countries while Canada ranks #15 owing $762 billion. US politicians are so much more in need of my money that they tax some of my Canadian income that Canada has already taxed. I have expressed remedies in these newsletter pages but, as the newsletter falls somewhat short of being a media conglomeration, it lacks the power to influence. Pity!

I suppose I should be grateful they do not demand more of my money - but, my peace of mind is shattered by that howl of anguish coming from future generations and I wonder how much of that is my fault? My vision is inadequate to see how we can avoid belt tightening and higher taxes. It does tell me that the US Empire is not sustainable - as all empires before it discovered.

IMMIGRATION

2010-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

There are a factories out there spitting out Hate and Anti-Everything essays, often laced with foul language, using half truths and outright lies to weave plausible-sounding (to some) warnings, and an obnoxious number of them pollute my computer screen. I find them scary and am often compelled to answer them. To me they backfire. So many ill-informed vicious attacks on Obama make me consider him Saint Obama. Many decry the erosion of our culture due to the influx of Muslims, Sikhs, Latinos, and what-have-you, even though we, who brutally took over America with its two continents have little legality on which to stand. Let me concentrate for now on immigration.

. My Tribal friends cite their fatal error of not recognizing the threat and settling their squabbles to unite against a common foe. My Inuit friends have mixed feelings. They decry the initial wave of missionaries with a barbaric religion based on nailing someone to a cross, the division of this creed into several groups competing for converts, their taking children away for a southern education, then on graduation dumping them back to their families, fit for neither world. They then admit there are recent benefits. The Qallunaat (Whites) are now wiser, bringing relief from feast or famine, providing housing and opportunities that permit village rather than nomadic life, substituting snowmobiles for dog teams, and actually promoting independence and jobs in the White world. The Inuit now increase their worldly belongings even though they do not always increase happiness. Canada now boasts of being one of the world’s most culturally-diverse countries. In fact SE Ontario is the world’s most diverse, so take a look.

The American Revolution rapidly turned Canada from a French to a bi-cultural country with the influx of United Empire Loyalists (English, Irish, Scots, Welsh, Germans, and Africans) fleeing persecution in the new US. Then, starting about 1845, there was great fear that the Pope was about to take over America from Canada to Patagonia. Potato famines caused a huge influx of Catholic Irish to add to the French/Latin Catholics. The US got the wealthier Irish, accepting only those who could pay their own passage. Canada got the steerage Irish in crowded, disease-laden ships. Toronto jails were full of quarrelsome, drunken Irish unable to find employment. Worse, they brought their religious quarrels with them and there were barn-burnings and bloodshed. Then efforts to populate the prairies brought waves of eastern Europeans. Railroad building brought Chinese labourers. Escaping slaves from the US added to the mix. With bountiful raw resources Canada prospered, attracting refugees from new sources: Africa, Asia, and the Muslim world. As a boy growing up in Ontario with friends from 7 different faiths I was continuously amazed at the ignorance and fears many had of other faiths. To me, much of this was due to insecurity. Also, people who are not considered equals will in defiance cling all the more strongly to their family religious beliefs.

U.S. MELTING POT vs Canadian MOSAIC: In many respects, after 3 generations, it makes no difference. In both countries the use of the native language by grandchildren is down to 1%. Mosaic Canada bans immigrants from continuing homeland customs such as female circumcision, sharia law, honour killings, cockfighting, polygamy, or getting a driver’s-license photo while veiled. The host country, however, adopts many of the immigrant food customs and, in some cases like Miami, there are major changes. Here a wave of Spanish speakers and the egress of former inhabitants have made Spanish the majority language. The key, it seems, to retaining original cultural values, is to ensure that immigration comes from a variety of origins and is not allowed to concentrate in ghettos nor to dominate professions as the Irish have with police, Italians with construction, Jews with commerce and entertainment, Pakistanis with transportation and accommodation, Ukrainians with farming and so on. Then you can rely on intercourse to result in integration. Other forces help. My maternal grandparents lived in a section of Toronto that was all Irish. It then became Italian and is now Portugese. Multi-national corporations and the Military are excellent institutions for integration. While in Personnel I deliberately posted people from French to English Canada and vice versa. When I ran NATO aircrew training schools I paired each Canadian with a member from one of the other NATO countries and my wife and I organized weekly dances. I know of 6 marriages (3 English-French, Canada-Denmark, Canada-France, and Canada - UK) that resulted from this and I am sure there must have been more. Socially, our innate shyness leads us to separate into groups, necessitating a few extroverts who promote inter-mingling. Fortunately, among young people, there is a sexual attraction to those from other countries or races. On the whole we are getting better but Hate Groups still disgrace us. Only part of the old ignorance, intolerance, and superiority complexes towards other groups has faded. In my experience it included opposition to the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Agnostic, and Muslim religions, to the French, English, and Spanish languages, and to English, Irish, Italian, Portugese, Polish, Icelandic, Turk, Pakistani, and Ukrainian immigrants. Today, it is also safer for Homosexuals and Agnostics to come out of the woodwork - and, surprise, their numbers are growing.

All countries benefit from the diversity and skills brought by immigrants. But, it is vital for us to protect, and to insist on immigrants accepting, the human rights we have achieved over centuries of struggle. The Netherlands is leading the parade in doing this. This is made much easier when we divide immigrant groups among many country-wide localities and avoid them congregating in selected cities. The recent example of dispersing 5,000 Nepalese refugees to communities all across Canada speeds integration. The Military also could do a better job by promoting families to live in the local economy, domestic or foreign, rather than on base housing.

So many of our Problems are self-induced. With its manpower decimated in WWII and its cities,infrastructure, and businesses destroyed, Europe opened it doors to greatly-needed cheap labour, much of it Muslim. Immigrants did a good, too-often-unappreciated, job permitting a remarkable recovery but, instead of going home when no longer needed, they stayed and multiplied. Today they number 5 million in France, 3 in Germany, 1.6 in the UK, 1 in Spain, and 900,000 in the Netherlands and Italy, a mere 5% of all of Western Europe, yet there are many dire warnings of this Islamatizing of Europe as a springboard for Islam to take over the world. Mosques are multiplying while Christian churches are increasingly empty and hundreds in the UK have converted to Islam. We should examine Why? In 1987 retired Luftwaffe General Rod and Otti Cescotti drove Joan and me to my old POW camp in Moosburg, Bavaria. The town had expanded to the gates of the camp with attractive brick homes. The barbed wire and guard towers had gone but the old barrack blocks were still there. Each long wooden hut had been divided into small homes for Turkish immigrants with a neat flower and vegetable garden in front of each residence. No rubble anywhere but a world apart from the more spacious nearby German homes, yet the whole area seemed quiet and peaceful.

Muslims have no Pope, and no unifying force other than religion for which there are half a dozen major sects, often intolerant of each other. Like us, they do have extremists who nurture real and imagined persecutions. We tend to ignore signs that integration still works. In Europe the birthrate in the last 15 years of foreign-born Muslim women has fallen in the Netherlands among Moroccan-born from 4.9 to 2.9. In most of Europe it is down from 3.2 to 1.9 for Turkish-born. A sure sign they are fitting in to local cultures: Muslims in Paris are more tolerant of adultery than those in London or Berlin. We do need to prevent ghettos, the concentration of groups into occupations, cities, or schools, and our home-grown youth from deserting our core values for drugs and jihadism. Admittedly, this is difficult in a free society, but freedom, if it is to remain free, must accept some very-carefully-chosen regulations to prevent anarchy or civil strife, or suicide bombers. Nature ensures that life will remain a struggle, so human barriers are redundant. Avenues to improve one’s lot must be available to all.

We humans, like all animate objects, are made of the same ingredients and all are living on a revolving and rotating ball that needs considerable shielding from the nuclear furnace that sustains it. We have come a long way but we still need to overcome our predatory instincts. We also need to defend the advances we have made. Accept the challenge - firmly, thoughtfully, peacefully, and with compassion!

UP THE JOLLY ROGER!

2010-01-18T09:55:00.000-08:00

UP THE JOLLY ROGER! Once more we ignorant Westerners are spending scarce resources going after symptoms while ignoring root causes. European and North American navies are now hunting Somali pirates, known to Somalis as their Coast Guard. This desperately poor nation of 9 million relied heavily on its fisheries. When the country collapsed in 1991 European trawlers moved in to steal some $300 million per year in tuna, having denuded their own seas. Then elements of the Italian Mafia, hired by European hospitals and factories to dispose of hazardous wastes cheaply, dumped this dangerous waste into the unguarded Somali seas. When a tsunami hit, hundreds of barrels of nuclear waste washed ashore killing over 300 Somalis with radiation. With no strong government to speak for them, the pleas of Somalis went unheeded.

This scribe has long argued that force begets force and injustice begets injustice. In the heyday of piracy in the 1600s and 1700s pirates had glamour and sympathy from the common folk and some pirates were actually saved from the gallows by throngs of supporters. Pirates were boys who had been seized by press gangs to serve for long years at sea on naval and merchant ships. Treatment varied with captains but too often it was long and arduous work on poor food, little shore time, and the frequent painful persuasion of the cat o’ nine tails and keel hauling. When mutinies succeeded the liberated crews resorted to piracy to survive. Usually they elected their own captains and shared the spoils equally. They also welcomed and treated as equals escaped slaves.

With their fish vanishing, young Somali fishermen started seizing, and holding for ransom, foreign fishing boats. As ransoms mounted they were able to afford better boats and weapons. It was not until they began seizing oil tankers and ships carrying relief supplies that Western navies got involved. Ransoms, now in the million of dollars, also were a factor.

Piracy, of course, must be stopped, but is in not a crime for us to be selective? We can never justify hunting Somali pirates without hunting those who started it all by stealing fish and dumping wastes.

Someday, Hollywood will make movies glorifying young Somali pirates.

IT WAS A UNIVERSE NOT OF OUR MAKING

2009-12-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

Nor of our choosing. Yet is was beautiful and deceptively peaceful that Christmas eve. For a brief moment the moon was peaceful and alone in the night sky. It softly and kindly illuminated the blanket of snow that hugged the barbed wire and the guard towers as we few survivors of aerial battles, some as long as five years ago, remembered distant homes and better times.

Suddenly the quiet night was shattered by the foreboding wail of sirens, soon followed by the ugly sounds of exploding flak and bombs as Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe were taking, and losing, young lives and killing or maiming hundreds in their homes while engulfing us in a sickening revulsion against the human species that worshipped the same God yet saw fit to continue the slaughter even on his birthday.

We all wanted to be home with the war a receding memory, yet there was little or no animosity towards the Luftwaffe flak gunners or fighters who were up there killing our comrades while defending their homeland. We were all victims of man’s insanity. In a way we pitied them. We all wanted to believe they were fighting a losing battle. And they had it so much worse than we. We, in Bomber Command, were excused further operations on the completion of 60, a fond hope when the life expectancy was only five, but they had to go on until they found “the Hero’s Death”.

There are so many examples, but a few will have to suffice.

Helmut Lent, in his Messerschmitt 110 destroyed 110 of our bombers over several years before he foundthe Hero’s Death in October 1944. Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer fought 164 night battles in an Me 110, destroyed 121 of our bombers, survived the war, only to be killed in a car accident. These two men killed some 1,500 of us.

Men, boys really, like these caused us grievous losses, like the night of 30/31 Mar 1944 when, on a Nürnberg raid, they destroyed 94 of 705 bombers, with 658 of 4,935 aircrew. The Me 110 was one of the few aircraft that served for all of the 6-year war. Some 6,000 were built.

In the end we prevailed, at enormous cost to us and even greater cost to them, but what did we learn? This Christmas our highly-flawed species remains at war.

For me, it all seemed so sad when in 1956 I met, and became friends with, the German who shot me down in 1943. I felt that both of us were flanked by the ghosts of comrades.

IT SEEMS TO ME

2009-12-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

It Seems to Me - That this part of America - the 50 states that call themselves “The United States” is actually in great disarray and in considerable trouble. It has a brave new president charged with rebuilding yet they expect him to do it, leaving in place fractured foundations while ignoring the root causes of the current rot.

It is not that this country lacks its fair share of world thinkers. At this moment I have 33 recently-purchased, in-depth books ranging through topics economic, environmental, historical, military, political, religious, and social. Only 6 of these 33 books are by foreign authors due, in large measure, to a reluctance to import foreign-published books thus robbing us of the wisdom of so many others.

If anyone out there is listening - or interested - here are some personal views:

ECONOMICS: This country has a $14.3 trillion economy built, it is said, by rugged (often heartless) individualism and capitalism. Like all addictions, Wealth craves more wealth so we endure the dictatorship of the wealthy. Now, 10% of families hog 50% of the income - always grounds for bloody revolution. There is a debt and a deficit growing rapidly . Now $12 trillion, increasing $1 million a minute. The 2009 deficit was $1.5 trillion, and the interest paid $359 billion. Solutions? The hated IRS must become more hated until we return to a pay-as-you-go economy. Allied with this must be drastic reductions in wasteful expenditures such as political fund raising that robs us of a democracy by confining us to the whims of the wealthy. Years of sound-bite electioneering implies we are a bunch of ignorant slobs easily influenced by repeated half truths or lies. Brave and concerned individuals, willing to endure the thankless (but remunerative) chore of governing, are grossly hampered by the paramount need to raise vast sums to squander on propaganda. Much cheaper and rewarding would be limited federal grants to candidates for media publicity. One good TV debate, for instance, is more revealing than thousands of sound bites that benefit only the media. We can expect good government only when we relieve politicians of the fund-raising burden. Ever since coinage was invented by the Lydians (Turkey) 2,620 years ago (or was It the Chinese 2,900 years ago?) it has been misused for dominance. Something is horribly wrong when we require $50,000 a year for the life style we got for $5,000 only 50 years ago.

HEALTH CARE: What a farce! Politicians and the Military get good taxpayer-financed care, so too often forget about the rest of us who must examine the small print of numerous for-profit insurance companies that add over 20% to costs. Also adding to costs are outrageous malpractice payments, expensive procedures for the terminally ill that add only a few days of painful existence, billions of dollars in fraudulent claims that lack an efficient policing system, and too many vested interests that spend $millions fighting change.

ENVIRONMENT: Those enjoying a cozy life style, short-lived as it might be, continue to erect obstacles to remedial actions that could save us from catastrophe. For at least the past 30 years there have been increasing warnings of impending disasters yet, even as they occur, reluctance to change remains. Polar and mountain ice and snow disappears, water sheds are dying, greenhouse gases are increasing as are droughts, fires, beetle infestations of forests, while ocean levels have risen 1.5 inches. Yet many plead human innocence.

MILITARY: Ever since Sumerian times we have known that force begets force. As too many humans remain savages, defensive forces that make aggression too costly are still required, but there is no need for our current super power with almost a dozen carrier groups, squadrons of supersonic jets, fleets of submarines, and thousands of nuclear warheads, not to mention close to a thousand military bases. As we have gone beyond the $1.20 a day pay this has become somewhat expensive and has created more generals than we can count or need. If we insist on expanding our military presence in other countries then we must bring back the draft with no exceptions that limit the sacrifice to the less affluent - and we must increase taxes to pay as we go.

ANNOYING RESTRICTIVE REGULATIONS: Annoying Restrictive Regulations: Yet, until all learn that each is a tiny element in a crowded world and has responsibilities to the whole, we need benevolent, firm, and enforced rules. Police remain needed as well as additional police to police the police and more to police the police who police the police.

EDUCATION: Education: Humans are remarkably alike, all with pliable brains and billions of neurons firing aimlessly until educated. This country is no different to countless groups over the ages who have evolved styles of living and then attempt to convince others of their superiority by warfare or proselytizing, but much more common and effective has been one group developing a useful technique and surrounding groups recognizing it as such and adopting it resulting in it diffusing around the world. Sadly, millions of superior minds have evolved only to lock themselves away in monasteries or universities, fearing they cannot prevail against those who wield the sword.

FANATICISM: We all exist, for a brief moment of time, in a violent, fearful universe, armed with feeble and inadequate intelligence. We all need something to cling to be it a spouse, family, flag, religion, or cause. We all know that we are all doomed to exit this world alone, so too many can be led to believe they can serve a useful purpose by fanatic allegiance to a cause, even to sacrificing one’s life to it. The first step in educating any human is to ensure that he or she has, or can acquire, the means to produce a living free of hunger, cold, preventable diseases, oppression, or subjugation. Only then can we direct mind sets for the benefit of all.

DOMESTIC ENEMIES: With 5% of the world’s human but 25% of its prison population (affluence also breeds crooks), Al Qaida and the Taliban seem minor irritants. Scam and con artists, drug addicts, drunk drivers, hate groups, thieves, rapists, corrupt executives in the economic and political fields, all cause us excessive grief.

Anyone brave enough to lead us out of this mess deserves our backing, co-operation, and gratitude.

OUR MONARCHY - WHAT A BLESSING! - WHAT A BARGAIN!

2009-11-19T11:24:00.000-08:00

Like the flag above politics and a symbol of Commonwealth unity

When Europeans conquered America, the Monarchs of Britain, France, The Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain were the acknowledged rulers. Of these the ones with the least power were the British who were subject to Parliament. This monarchy still flourishes in every continent.

Canada has now been blessed with 65 Governor Generals, 16 French, one of whom was Canadian-born, 39 British, and 10 Canadian including 3 women. Practically all of these have been dedicated public servants who have contributed greatly to the welfare of the country and were chosen because of proven service.

Like all governments, monarchies include duds, especially hereditary ones as we humans do not breed or develop consistently well. Even the good ones are not always appreciated. Of our first 4 Georges by far the best was George III who took a genuine and unselfish interest in the colonies, an interest that interfered with a minority and their vested interests so a civil war ensued in 13 of Britain’s 29 American colonies, a war that resulted in Canada becoming a bi-cultural country, with a change of monarchies. Out of his own pocket, George III financed the re-settlement of thousand of United Empire Loyalists in Canada and the West Indies.

Our current Royals officiate at some 4,000 functions annually, relieving the prime minister of this heavy chore and allowing him or her much more time to attend to affairs of state. For $1.28 each we get a capable, hard-working monarch. For 25 cents more we get a governor general - and Charles and Camilla are thrown in for another 6 cents. Much cheaper than our senate that costs each of us $2.45 annually.

Charles, a Canadian citizen, is much more accomplished than his press has acknowledged. He was considered eccentric and laughed at when he was one of the first to warn us on global warming, to venture into large–scale organic farming, and to criticize modern glass-and-steel architecture that were eyesores and robbed us of the charm of older buildings. He is a paratrooper, has flown fighter jets and helicopters, and has commanded a minesweeper. His 20 charitable organizations raise $260 million annually for health, environmental, and educational causes world wide. He is an author of children’s books, and a water-colour artist. Those who have met and talked with him are impressed with his wide-ranging knowledge and interests. He has made major improvements in relations with the non-Christian world. Camilla may be new to Canada but her ancestry has deep Canadian roots. Her long and interrupted romance with Charles is now flourishing and she has, like most wives, contributed greatly to her husband’s stature. Both were admired on their November 12-day tour of Canada.

There are those who, like rebellious children divorcing their parents, call our founding nations “foreign counties”. There are enough divisions in this world without creating more. For simplicity we lump scores of founding associations under the term “First Nations” . This makes France the second and the United Kingdom and Ireland the third. All deserve a special place in our hearts as well as gratitude for the blood and treasure they have sacrificed on our behalf. These bonds should never be broken.

MIKHAIL and RAISA GORBACHEV - ANOTHER COUPLE INSUFFICIENTLY APPRECIATED

My appreciation of this couple commenced when in Ottawa in 1982, Mikhail took a liking to Alexander Yakovlev who had been a thorn in the side of the Politburo and had been sent off as the 1973-83 ambassador to Canada to get him out of Moscow. When Mikhail became the leader of the USSR in 1985 he selected Alexander for key positions that were to include freeing the media, exposing the dark side of the Stalin era, rehabilitating political prisoners and generally infuriating hard liners. Part of Mikhail and Raisa’s charm were their strong interests in world publications and philosophies. Lasting impressions have been made by Mikhail’s remarks, such as:

“Communism is man exploiting man - Capitalism is the reverse,”

“We must view the world with eyes open, bypassing personal interests.”

Mikhail and Ronald Reagan disliked each other on their first meeting. Mikhail described Ronald as locked in the Past and Ronald thought Mikhail a Bolshevik. Mikhail, believing the Cold War could result in nuclear annihilation, pressed on and was the spark plug for the nuclear disarmament agreement with the US.

In March 1985 he told the Warsaw Pact: “You are responsible for your policies and we will not interfere.” Mar 89 saw the first democratic election in Russia. Some 35 Communists were defeated but over 80% were re-elected. In June 89 Gorby met with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Erick Hornecker in East Germany but both insisted on gradual reunification. Gorbchev saw that most Germans wanted it now and he sided with them. 300,000 elite USSR troops were in East Germany, yet change began there. When in October 1989 he was back in E. Germany, groups from 28 regions urged him to stay. The dam burst and the walls came tumbling down.

In an interview in Moscow, 23 Sep 09, with Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of the Nation Magazine and herhusband, Stephen F. Cohen, Gorbachev argued that The US is wrong in believing it won the Cold War. Perestroika did it. Then, the US, believing it won, decided it did not need to change as the USSR had capitulated and was now history. Yeltsin became a US vassal. The US decided it did not need Russia whose industries fell into disrepair. Russian plans for a new Europe disappeared. NATO started to take over the world. Higher oil prices saved Russia. When Russia needed aid it got none. Now US needs Russian help in Afghanistan. He added:

“Russia needed its perestroika, the US now needs its own perestroika.”

2009-10-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

WORLD WAR II MEMORIES

I try, but cannot stem the tears, so some may drip onto this page. The crimes humanity heaps upon itself are just too much. Memories never leave me, but are sadder as yet another Armistice Day rolls by with no world peace. I grew up among too many badly-wounded veterans of that unnecessary war that was to end all wars so that all that came afterwards must have been only skirmishes. I have been part of two of these ‘skirmishes’. Korea, for me, was relatively painless. My 426 Squadron completed 600 round trips between Dorval, Quebec, and Japan and Korea without loss except for my hearing due to those raw Merlin engines on the otherwise-efficient Canadair North Stars. WWII was different. Much different.

My WWII experience was limited to 2 years in the infantry and artillery militia in Canada, 8 months of training at 4 RCAF bases in Canada, 6 months at 3 RAF Bomber Command training bases in the UK, and 7 months at 2 UK operational bases, topped off by 800 days as a POW in 5 locations in Germany. See accompanying Bomber Command statistics.

Squadrons were not good places to make friends, the turnover being too rapid with life expectancy averaging 5 operations. The prior training schools saw us divided into groups of 70 for the first and last and 35 for the other 5. Here, lasting friendships were forged. Surmounting the odds, I managed to survive 7 months on 419 Squadron, making many lasting friends, but losing far too many. Then, being locked up with from 2 to 11 thousand men in POW camps I made many more as POW casualties were light and mainly from friendly fire that exceeded the 50 friends executed by the SS after the Great Escape. Today, I can recall the names of a mere 125 friends who perished. Room permits me to select only eleven:

06 June 1942: JACOB EPP, 25, of Manitou, Manitoba. Soon after arriving in Bournemouth, Jim and I met two lovely girls from Southampton and made dates for that evening. That afternoon I was finishing a game of chess with him when Owen Smith came by asking us to join him for tea in Bobby’s by the sea front. I went but Jim elected to stay. As we were enjoying tea and cakes, 3 Me109s raced by our large window to drop bombs on hotels requisitioned for Canadian aircrew. Owen and I left on the run only to help dig out 3 dead Canadians from the ruins of the Anglo-Swiss Hotel including Jim Epp. Owen substituted for Jim on the Southampton date, starting our belief that war allowed no time to mourn.

02 Oct 42: ARTHUR MORLIDGE, 20, of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, was my first friend to die after I joined 419 Sqn in Croft, Yorkshire. He occupied the room across from me in a cold tin Nissen hut. Before leaving to bomb Krefeld, he beckoned me over, pointing to a letter he had written to his parents, saying, “If I fail to return, would you post that letter for me?” In the morning I awoke to the noise of the Padre cleaning out his room. I slipped over to grab the letter and mail it off base avoiding censors. In 10 days only two of us were alive in a hut that had held 12 officers. New faces soon filled the empty rooms.

15 Oct 42: LESLIE SCOURFIELD, 21, of London, Ont. Our two crews of 7 RCAF, 2 RAF, and 1 RAAF were all close friends. On boarding our Wellingtons to attack Cologne, Leslie seemed agitated so I tried to calm him. He said, “George, I have the strangest feeling. I know I will get over there but that I will not come back.” His entire crew perished.

22 Jan 43: KEN JOHNS, 23, of Montreal posted to 487 NZ Ventura Sqn doing daylight raids on France and Belgium. I had met his lovely wife, Beatrice, on the train to Halifax and, in the UK, I marvelled at the long letters he would write and receive daily and how much in love they were. When our paths parted his letters to me revealed a fear that his life would be short as Venturas were easy prey for the Luftwaffe. Shot up one day they had to ditch in the North Sea. Ken made it to the dingy, then left it to rescue his drowning pilot, dragging him and lifting him into the dingy, only to drown himself from sheer exhaustion. The pilot survived. Ken’s son was born the day he died.

12 Mar 43: GORDON CORY, 20, of Vancouver, a true gentleman whose boyish charm and wit we so enjoyed, ended up on 424 Wellington Squadron. He spent one of his leaves visiting me and I was shocked at how he had aged, convinced he was not long for this world. I managed to cheer him only a little. Days later he perished over Holland.

23 Mar 43: OWEN SMITH, 23, of Elmvale, Ontario, was my first RCAF best friend. When we were posted to Quebec my French was better than his but his blond hair and good looks had the girls by-passing me to flock around him. He ended up on Mark V Blenheims (Bisleys) and ordered to the Middle East. Returning in a Liberator from delivering a Bisley he was shot down, and is now at the bottom of the Bay of Biscay along with the other 19 in the aircraft. I felt guilty at being alive and happily married when we visited his parents after the war as he was their greatly-missed only child.

27/28 Mar 43: CHARLES “PAT” PORTER, 23, of Manson Creek, BC, my pilot on Wellingtons and Halifaxes and best man at our wedding, was the only one who had a chance to get out of our blazing and plunging Halifax through the hatch above his head as our two escape hatches were jammed by cannon fire. He sacrificed his young life to remain at the controls to keep the aircraft airborne long enough to permit us to cut our way out with an axe. All six of us survived but, today, I am the only one still breathing. I remain in contact with Pat’s brother, John, a WWII fighter pilot, now on Vancouver Island.

14 July 43: DENZELL WOLFE, 25, Regina, ROY MORRISON, 23, Vancouver, and GEORGE McGLADREY, 21, Chemainus, BC, all with DFCs, killed attacking Aachen with 405 Sqn - 2nd tour. Denzell, a most considerate and likable 419 and OTU commander used every excuse to get us days off. He would say: “Scram, get lost. I don’t want to see your ugly faces around here for 3 days.” Roy and George had been two of my good 419 friends, joining Denzell for their second tours.

30 Mar 44: GEORGE McGILL, 25, of Toronto. George and I had attended the same elementary school in Toronto. The next time we met we were in adjacent rooms in Stalag Luft III. That fateful night, 24 Mar 44, I embraced him, wishing him good luck, as he departed for the tunnel to be one of the 76 chosen to get out. His ashes came back to us as he was one of the 50 executed by the SS. For many years I corresponded with his widow.

Pardon my tears as many more long-dead friends flash by.

2009-10-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

BOMBER COMMAND ET AL

These statistics are meant to be read with the article “World War II Memories”

The 15 RCAF Bomber Squadrons in 6 Group, Yorkshire and Durham:
405, 408, 415. 419. 420, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 431, 432, 433, 434

Other Bomber Command Squadrons:
UK 100, Australia 8, Poland 4, Free French 3, NZ 2, Rhodesia 1, Czech 1, Netherlands 1

Bomber Command fought the longest, continuous battle of WWII, suffering 73,741 casualties (59% of its air crews), and lost 12,317 aircraft. Average life expectancy was 5 operations. Of those shot down, only 17% survived to total 9,838. More Canadians flew with RAF, RAAF, and RNZAF Squadrons than with RCAF. 9,919 RCAF were killed in Bomber Command. Of the 7,000 US citizens who flew with the RAF/RCAF, 763 were killed. USAAF 8th AF lost 4,145 aircraft and 12% of its crews. Bomber Command sacrifices were exceeded only by the Kriegsmarine U-Boat fleet that lost 75% of its crews (30,000 of its 40,000 sailors). Our pre-occupation with these losses ignores those of the Soviets, Chinese, Japanese and others.

REFLECTION: These losses, while grievous to the families involved, still left most of the world free of the devastation suffered by Europe and eastern Asia. Too many grew wealthy from the sufferings of others so remained ignorant of the horrors of war. Rebuilding has been truly astounding. Aid from countries that escaped homeland damage was helpful and appreciated but overblown. Most of the reconstruction arose slowly over many years from acute sufferings and sheer hard work of the locals, leaving them with a strong reluctance to engage in further military adventures. Those who escaped all this can never fully appreciate the limits of military power, the underlying resentment of the oppressed and under-privileged, the feeling of utter hopelessness, or the ever-present threat of bloody revolt. We can be grateful to our numerous-but-too-few philanthropists, to Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Greenpeace, Peace Corps, loans to women to start small businesses, and the like. The task is immense and root causes too often overlooked.

BRIAN WALLEY, RAF

2009-09-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

The death in Germany in May 2009 of Karl Tubbessing prompts me to re-tell the story of my friend, Brian Walley, with whom I still correspond.

On the night of 09/10 November 1941, Brian was on his 5th operation with 51 RAF Squadron, piloting a Whitley, one of 350 bombers headed for Berlin. The crew consisted of 3 RAF and 2 RCAF. The weather was atrocious and, near Kiel, they were hit by flak, so bombed Kiel, and turned for a long glide home but severe icing forced them below the cloud base at 1500 feet. They lightened the plane by throwing out all they could. They did contact base and locked the radio key. One hundred miles from land they pancaked on the crest of a wave, slid down the trough, crashed through the next wave and came to a stop. The aircraft disintegrated leaving Brian trapped with much of the wreckage wrapped around his legs. He managed to break free and was pulled into the dingy already reached by the other four, but then had difficulty severing the dingy's umbilical cord that was attached to the rapidly-sinking aircraft. Soon, with stomachs full of ice-cold salt water, they all brought up.

Dawn brought 20-foot-high grey, ugly waves, one of which flung all of them into the sea and only 3 made it back to the dinghy. Sgts Carpenter, RAF, and Chambers, RCAF, of Rouleau, Saskatchewan, drowned. The wave had swept the dingy clean and they had to rely on lung power to work the pump. The next night the navigator, Dave Simpson, RCAF, of Edmonton, froze to death. The next afternoon the other pilot died, leaving Brian all alone. Just before dark, after they had drifted 100 miles to the Frisian Islands, the crew of a Heinkel 59 seaplane saw the dingy, and plucked Brian out of the sea. Five German doctors patched him up and the Squadron commander, Karl Born, commiserated with him, trying to soothe him with “For you the war is over.” (Fur sie, der krieg ist aus)

After 3½ years of POW life, Brian returned to farming in Wales, then spent a few years back in the RAF, before emigrating to the Perth area of Australia. Still wanting to thank those who saved him, Brian used contacts to find Karl Tubbessing, the Norderney Search & Rescue navigator who still remembered him and who invited Brian, and his wife, Mair, to spend a couple of weeks with them at Idar-Oberstein in 1995. They then met Karl Born, who was in a wheel chair, and two ex members of the Air-Sea Rescue Squadron, Fritz Becket and Werner Schultz and their wives. They remarked that, of all the people they had saved, only Brian had returned to thank them. Squadron Leader Dickerson and Flying Officer Simpson had been buried with full military honours.

Joan and I joined Brian and Mair in the 5-day POW reunions in Southampton in 1991 and in London in 1995. Over the years Brian has been quite active in the Western Australia branch of the Royal Air Forces ex-POW Association. As its last president he had the sad task this year of closing the branch as so few members are now left.

THE QUANTUM ENIGMA

2009-09-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

BOOK REVIEWS

Over the years I have reviewed over 50 books for our 971 Wing Newsletter. Since some have had a deep impression on me, perhaps I should include a few in this blog site. I will start with:

QUANTUM ENIGMA

By Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner, Oxford U. Press, 2006, 217 pages

Presented in language that you and I can understand, this book, a monumental shift in understanding our world, should be compulsory reading. The first 50 pages are devoted to reminding us of the many changing human mind sets from Aristotle through Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, the Inquisition, Newton, Einstein, Bohr, Planck, Schrödinger, Compton, Broglie, Bell, and many others to emphasize that there has been a skeleton in the closet that Quantum scientists have hid for a hundred years.

Quantum mechanics has never had a prediction proven wrong. A third of our economy depends on it (Lasers, MRIs, Transistors, and so on). It works, but nobody knows why so physicists have been told to “just shut up and calculate”.

We have learned that, at the microscopic level, wave functions can be everywhere at once in every state to be condensed into reality by observation (consciousness). Paired particles affect each other regardless of distance. To date this has been proven to a distance of 100 kilometres. Any two objects that have ever interacted are forever entwined.

As none of us knows what Consciousness is, this is spooky. The macroscopic world, that works with Newtonian physics, appears real enough to us but, as it is made up of the microscopic, should not the same apply? In the book, frequent reference is made to Schrödinger’s cat, of the macroscopic world, that may be both alive and dead until observed to allow it to collapse into one of those states. It was the subject of a life-long friendly debate between Harald Bohr and Albert Einstein. Einstein would argue he preferred to believe the moon was there even when he did not look.

I can be sure of my free will but I cannot be sure that you are not in a superposition state to be condensed to reality only when I observe you. The authors go to great length, perhaps too much, to show how observation dictates reality, but they do advise which chapters can be skipped by those anxious for the summation. As John Bell (Belfast, deceased) predicted: “The new way of seeing things will involve an imaginative leap that will astound us.”

Francis Crick tells us: “ You, your joys and sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity, and your free will are no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.”

Consciousness and Quantum Enigma are not just two mysteries, they are the two mysteries. Only a conscious observation can collapse a wave function. Only a conscious observer can make a conscious observation.

Our universe is made up of 70% dark energy, 25% dark matter, and 5% of what we can see. There is speculation that dark energy = Consciousness. At the instant of the Big Bang this universe had to be so finely tuned against odds of 10 with 123 zeros after it to create a world permitting life that it can be argued that Consciousness created the Big Bang some 15 billion years after it happened! Ridiculous? Of course, but can you explain Consciousness and why we are here? At the moment I cannot. Neither can the authors of this book, but they give us well-presented food for deep thought.

But really, what is so novel about creating people and places? Young children do it continually. So do we in dreams.

LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNSS

2009-08-15T20:21:00.000-07:00

LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Many of you out there rest serene in your knowledge of life’s mysteries, and of the blessings that await you when you serve out your stint here, so it pains me that I am so ignorant. Quantum physicists tell me it has been proven that, in the microscopic world, any two particles that have ever interacted are forever entwined no matter how far they have drifted apart. But, our macroscopic world is made up of the microscopic so are we all one? That might explain the nagging fear I have had for much of my life, especially when I was dropping bombs, that what I do to others I do to myself.

With frequent cell replacement except, perhaps, for the cerebral cortex, why can I remember back through so many of Me to age 4? Decades of research allow me to name 136 of my ancestors back to 1570, but I only remember 5 of them even though parts of all 136, and many more, have made Me what I am. I do not remember volunteering, so why was I drafted to join this human species? Also drafted, with staggered reporting dates, were the hundreds of trillions of quarks, atoms, molecules, and the like, born in the furnaces of suns, and forced to submit to a strict DNA code to fashion for a brief segment of Time, the edifice for what I call Me? And it took about 4 years of building this edifice before I knew Me was Me. But, where in this immense conglomeration does the essence of Me reside? Why am I so clumsy learning to use these neural pathways? Now, when I feel that Me is a working unit, why does Decay insert its ugly presence? Why do I not know whom I really am and why? If I am immortal, what is my format - pleasant or unpleasant? Why, when I look in a mirror, do I refuse to admit that the apparition staring back at me is really me. Is there any Free Will in all this? Has the limited knowledge I have acquired helped at all?

Trillions of trillions of other molecules had to assemble to make the rest of my world. Some of these assemblages I like very much and are spread among many species. Some, especially humans, I find revolting because of their cruelties to others. All, however, are condemned to a brief existence - unless, of course, we have the concept of Time all wrong.

Gaia, a delightful hypothesis evolved in the 1960s to argue that our world is a living entity that continually reacts against adversities to protect life. I found comfort in that. Alas, digging deeper, I learn that Life is, strangely, very anti-life. For starters, consider our own species. Factors, including greed, a sense of glory, sex, and over-population have resulted in humans killing other humans, along with huge quantities of other life forms, and making survivors suffer terribly. In the 20th century alone, some 190 million humans were killed by other humans. Yet, group violence goes back only 7,000 years, most humans abhor violence, and 74 peaceful cultures existed for long periods. Nature, composed of similar atoms, appears completely indifferent to living things, even though it often suffers from them.

For billions of years this planet has had a chemical imbalance, enhanced by volcanic activity, that promotes life but heartlessly discards species. Our planet, some 4 billion years ago (bya) was sterile and will return to that state in another billion years. Life here commenced 3.8 bya and has less than a billion years left. Life had a mere 100 million years before microbes became so numerous that they nearly destroyed all life with the methane they blindly belched.

Then, about 2.5 bya, photosynthesis evolved permitting plants to convert CO2 into sugars. But, over 200 million years, well-meaning-but-ignorant plants sucked up so much CO2 that the earth was plunged into a deep freeze where even the oceans froze for 100 million years. Recovery was gradual but 700 mya the same mistake was repeated. Once more it was a slow recovery but 360 mya the process started all over again, giving us a 50-million-year ice age. Ignorant Life continued on a very treacherous road. Plants, in absorbing CO2, gave off Oxygen that was deadly to most living things at the time. Had it not been for microbes evolving to tolerate oxygen we would not be here.

Since animals evolved 560 mya, there have been five major and a dozen minor mass extinctions. A few have been caused by non-life culprits such as asteroids and volcanoes but the majority were due to life itself such as blooms of bacteria giving off poisonous H2S. These bacteria thrive during periods of stagnant seas due to global warming.

Not to be outdone by bacteria, humans entered the equation some time ago by multiplying to the extent that their combined interference with vital balances are causing a growing list of mass exterminations. Intelligence still lacking.

Fortunately, if it is not already too late, some humans have evolved an understanding of causes and of the overall picture. They have given us plenty of explanations and warnings which, to date, the majority of humans, happy with their bloated life styles, have either ignored or passed on to the next generation.

While humans, by taking actions, could prolong a life-tolerant environment, Nature is moving relentlessly against us. Our sun has increased 30% in brightness over 4.5 billion years and this will continue, thus accelerating the weathering of silicates removing ever more CO2 so that, 500 million years from now, photosynthesis will be impossible, curtailing the production of oxygen. The loss of plants will increase CO2 so much so that our surface temperature will exceed the boiling point of water. Life, it appears, like so many of us, is now in its old age. In spite of aches and pains, Life is still considered precious by those of us who long to understand and prolong it. Giant strides have been, and are being made, but at a pace too slow for my generation to benefit. A sense of humour does help in mitigating qualms

So, what is left for us? We have observed, in various animal, insect, and plant species, tolerance, and even compassion, for other life forms as well as for members of the same species. Should not Tolerance and Compassion be our companions? So many, like Siddharta Gautama, have tried to enlighten us. We should listen to such thinkers as well as to those Quantum physicists who suggest human consciousness can dictate reality. They do not have all the answers. Maybe we can help. Any suggestions on how to channel my consciousness for a better world? We are all in this together.

HAIDA GWAII

2009-07-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

HAIDA GWAII - THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS

My decades-long interest in the Haida struggle to preserve these 150 islands (10,180 sqkm) from gold seekers and loggers has been enhanced by my niece, Lisa, and her husband taking up residence there, building and renting cottages, and advertising their activities on the web site www.allthebeachyoucaneat.com

These islands escaped the last glaciation and are known as the Galapagos of the North. The Haida, Vikings of the Pacific, sailed and rowed from there as far south as Oregon (see the back of the Canadian $20 bill). Haida Gwaii was home to some 10,000 Haida in dozens of villages. We say that Haida have been there for 12,000 years, but the Haida know that long before that, Wise, but Mischievous, Raven cracked open a large clam shell from which the Haida emerged to give rise to the human species.

The first European to visit was Spain’s Juan Pérez in 1774, followed by James Cook in 1778, and George Dixon who surveyed the islands in 1787, naming them after his ship that was named for the wife of George III. In 1853 the islands became a colony of Britain who gave them to British Columbia in 1863. The two main islands are Graham (north) and Moresby (south).

European diseases, such as small pox, typhoid, measles, and syphilis crashed the Haida population to 350 by 1900. The current mixed population is 5,000, about half Haida. Initially the Haida discouraged White greed by capturing and sinking their vessels and holding the crews for ransom that had to be paid in blankets. Since the gold rush days of 1851 it has been a continual struggle against loggers of the unique rain forest, half of which has now been clear cut, causing erosion, aggravated by the importation of deer that eat all new sprouts. With the help of environmentalists the Haida succeeded in 1988 in having the federal government dedicate the lower half of Moresby Island to Gwaii Haanas National Park (1,470 sqkm). In 2006 Anthony Island and the historic, but abandoned, village of Ninstints with its totems was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site (one of 15 in Canada). The other large protected area in Haida Gwaii is the 180,000-acre (726 sqkm) Naikoon Provincial Park on the NE corner of Graham Island. Three smaller areas total 112 sqkm.

Lisa’s cottages are 16 km east of Masset (population 965), just inside Naikoon Park on the coast. A roving, free spirit, Lisa, at age 19, flew from Toronto to London to work in a pub to earn enough to tour the UK and western Europe, then worked in Switzerland to finance eastern Europe tours, then it was a kibbutz in Israel before touring SE Asia and living in Australia. She returned to Port Hope, Ontario, worked in her Dad's appliance and furniture store, took university courses in Toronto, then drove to Vancouver for work and more courses, including slipping down to Seattle to add another degree to her collection. She married a kindred soul, Rich, and they have been building, renting, and selling homes in Prince Rupert and the Charlottes. Some 20 years ago it was Rich who led scientists to the site where they could prove Haida Gwaii had escaped the last glaciation.

2009-07-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

ENEMIES TO FRIENDS

Often a strong bond of friendship grows between former enemies. Each realizes the other was caught up in the least noble of human activities through no fault of his own - and each knows only too well the horrors of war. It is so with Rod and Otti and Joan and me. We entertained their family in our home in Centralia and we spent a delightful week in their home in Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, in August 1987. Otti had lost family members to our bombs in Hamburg, a city I had bombed.

RODERICK CESCOTTI

I first met Rod in 1957 when, as a major in the new Luftwaffe, he led the first group of 300 German cadets to London and Centralia, Ontario, to commence pilot training. Later I was to find among this group one who, as a high school student in March 1943, was manning the flak battery that initiated the train of events that led to the destruction of my Halifax and 800 days of internment. We also became friends.

As a Squadron Leader in charge of the ground courses for the cadets, I seized the opportunity to greet all new arrivals, Canadian and European, and to integrate them as NATO trainees, believing that the political aspects would eventually outweigh the military. From the start I found Rod to be a conscientious, hard-working, and likable officer. I recognized in him a man with immense air experience that he had to hide. The military was not popular in post-war Germany and uniforms were restricted to military bases. In Canada there was residual resentment towards rebuilding the German military and, although he genuinely believed the right side won the war, Rod had to tread cautiously. For him there were no reunions or war stories that the rest of us enjoyed. It has taken me years to gradually piece together Rod’s amazing, varied, and most dangerous career to come up with this very brief summary:

Roderich Cescotti was born in Bad Herrenalb, SW Germany, 4 May1919. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1937, earning his wings and commission in 1939. He was sent to Norway, after the invasion, to fly bombers against the Rolls Royce plant near Glasgow, shipping off Scotland, and Murmansk convoys. The climax of the Battle of Britain, 15 September 1940, was the date of Rod’s 12th raid on England. Near London, a Spitfire put 30 holes in his Heinkel 111. Staggering home to his Belgian base, he crash-landed. Göring was making a surprise visit , and all personnel had to assemble quickly, including bruised and battered Rod. Göring’s scowl at seeing this unkempt officer in the ranks turned to smiles when his queries revealed Rod’s career. He summoned his aide, the Chief of Luftwaffe Personnel, and pinned an iron cross on Rod’s flying jacket.

Rod was again wounded in 1941 by naval flak while attacking shipping, but he went on to fly Dornier 217s and Focke Wulf 200s, and he survived an amazing 129 bombing operations over Britain, the Russian front including Stalingrad, Tunisia, Italy, and southern France. In January 1944 he crash-landed his Heinkel 177 bomber to save his crew, but dislocated his shoulder when thrown out of his harness. It required a 12-cm pin, and still bothers him. We of the Royal Air Forces could retire from combat after 60 operations. Only death or capture could retire Luftwaffe crews.

In October 1944 Rod was based at Celle, NE of Hannover, after Kampfgeschwader 100 with its He177s and Dornier 217s, equipped with remote-controlled glide and buzz bombs and armour-piercing anti-shipping bombs, had been disbanded because German priorities were now shifting to home defence and Major Aufhammer, Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 301, (JG 301), flying FW190s and Me109s, needed a wing technical officer responsible for 278 fighters, and chose Rod. Aufhammer, a former bomber pilot, had destroyed, with his bomber formation, the USAAF plan to use Soviet bases for “shuttle bombing” by knocking out 42 B-17s, 15 P-51s and Soviet aircraft on the ground at Poltawa.

New wings were being formed to combat Allied air attacks and Rod discovered it was easier to get new FW190s than experienced pilots as most were now dead. Pilots were being posted in with very little flying experience so casualties were high. One day in bad weather a decorated commander of the neighbouring JG 300 refused to scramble his young pilots against an incoming Berlin raid. Göring ordered the entire station to assemble. He called them cowards and tore the Knight’s Cross from the neck of the commander, then demoted him. In protest all the pilots in wings 300 and 301 would not wear their medals for the rest of the war. The life expectancy of pilots and their FW190s was 10 flying hours. Fuel was another major problem. It was now taking a week to refuel all aircraft after a major attack. Units of JG301 were based at Welzow from where they buzzed my POW camp in Sagan. We inferred the pilots were young and inexperienced as one barely survived when he hit the top of a tree on the compound perimeter. We imagined the questions that awaited his return to base.

Rod also flew the Tank, named for Kurt Tank, the FW190 designer. This high-altitude fighter was designed to combat the B-29. In April 1945 Rod took command, in the rank of Hauptmann (captain), of II./JG 301 with its 4 squadrons, but knowing the war was about over he sought to safeguard the lives of his air and ground crews. His last operational flight was on 25 April 1945 against Soviet artillery bombing Berlin. He then took his men on a hazardous trek to a safe area to await the inevitable surrender. During the war, Rod had sustained flak damage to his personal aircraft on 14 occasions.

Rod, on 8 June 45, feeling that death was no longer imminent, married Otti Hemmerling who had worked in the Operations Section of JG 301. They were to have two sons and one daughter. One son now lives in Brussels, the other in Moscow with his Russian wife. The daughter lives in Munich.

On 1 July the British disbanded JG 301, moving its personnel to POW camps. As a POW, Rod worked on the now-RAF bases of Münster-Handorf and Gütersloh, and as an interpreter. He then attended language college and became an export executive for a steel company. In 1952 he joined the new Luftwaffe in the Air Planning Group where he remained until going to Canada in 1957. In 1959 he went to Luftwaffe Training Command, then spent 5 years as commanding officer of a tactical reconnaissance wing in Schleswig-Holstein flying RF-84Fs and RF-104Gs. He then attended the NATO Staff College in Paris. From 1965 to 1969 he served in Washington and Brussels. In 1969 he was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed Air Attaché in London. In 1973 he went to Lisbon as Chief of the German Military Mission. In 1974 he assumed command of Allied Sector Two at Uedem. In 1975 he was promoted to Major General to be Chief of Staff at TWOATAF, and, in 1977, he was appointed Commander, Allied Air Forces Baltic Approaches in Denmark. He retired in 1980, after 4,000 flying hours and qualifying on 34 different types of aircraft.

Never idle, Rod went on to publish a 312-page, illustrated book on Luftwaffe bomber and reconnaissance aircraft as well as several editions of a German-English aeronautical dictionary. I am the proud possessor of copies of all.

We continue to correspond.

.

Those Incredible Poles

2009-05-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

THOSE INCREDIBLE POLES - AND THEIR LOTNICTWO WOJSKOWE

On 1 September 1939, WLADYSLAW GNYS was a 28-year-old lieutenant with 121 Sqn at Balice, west of Krakow. Hearing bombing on Krakow, he and his CO, Captain Medwecki, took off in their PZL P.11 high gull-wing, fixed-undercarriage, fighters. Stukas shot down Medwecki, but Gnys evaded, climbed to 2,000 metres, saw 2 Dornier Do-17E bombers, and shot down both. They crashed near Zurada, the first Allied victories of the war. Polish fighters shot down 25 Luftwaffe aircraft that day (Flak and fighters destroyed 228 German and 4 Soviet aircraft in the 30-day war). Gyns escaped Poland and flew with the RAF. In 1948 he emigrated to Canada, settling in Beamsville, Ontario. In 1999 he was awarded The Order of Poland (Poland’s highest award) at the Polish Embassy. He died of pneumonia at age 89 in March 2000.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Canadians, who are justifiably incensed at UK and US historians and commentators ignoring massive and vital Canadian contributions, are themselves guilty of forgetting vital contributions of other nationals. The Poles are a prime example. We went to war in September 1939 to help Poland. We failed. It was not until 1989 that Poland was again independent. Immense Polish sacrifices helped us, but not Poland. In a country suddenly torn asunder by German and Soviet invaders, who left little time or room for escape, what the Poles accomplished is nothing short of astounding.

First we owe them Enigma which was originally developed in the UK for business. The Germans saw its potential, bought it, and improved it. Later a German clerk smuggled out a copy which he tried to sell to France and Britain. They declined, so he turned to the Poles who bought it. Two weeks before the invasion the Poles had British intelligence study it in Poland. It still took the unsung geniuses at Bletchley Park years to decode it. When they did, it shortened the war by two years, and saved countless lives.

Some 75,000 Poles managed to slip out of the narrowing corridor through Romania and Greece to Beirut and thence to France. When France fell only 19,000, including 5,000 airmen, made it to Britain.

To destroy the Polish elite the Soviets massacred 25,000 officers at Katyn and Winitza. Many thousands more were held in prisoner-of-war camps under appalling conditions. Churchill persuaded Stalin to release them to him and they were shipped out via Odessa. Six million Poles, half of them Jews, were to be killed by Germans. Poles in the Soviet zone, known to be sympathetic to London, were eradicated.

The refugee Polish Army, of 250,000 men, then fought with Commonwealth units in Iran, North Africa and Italy, their taking of Monte Cassino being just one of their accomplishments. In Normandy the 1st Canadian Army had 4 divisions, one of which was Polish. The WAAF included 1,436 Polish women. The British Post Office allowed the Poles to design their own stamps, depicting Polish ground and air forces.

In the air the Poles flew Tiger Moths, Miles Masters and Magisters, Austers, Battles, Defiants, Hurricanes, Spitfires, Warwicks, Beaufighters, Lysanders, Wellingtons, Halifaxes, Lancasters, Mosquitoes, Mitchells, Tomahawks, Thunderbolts, Mustangs, Dakotas, and Liberators. They had the world’s 5th largest air force. Squadrons included 10 fighter, 4 heavy bomber, 1 balloon, and 1 army co-op (Italy). Ground crews were mainly Polish. Poles flew Halifaxes from Britain and Dakotas from Italy into Poland on supply and espionage operations. Their 14-hour Halifax flights (57 of them) needed long winter nights.

In the Battle of Britain, 144 Polish pilots (the largest non-British contingent) shot down 203 Luftwaffe aircraft for a loss of 29 Polish pilots. 303 (PAF) Squadron, flying Hurricanes, had 126 kills, the highest score of all RAF squadrons. In the first 1,000-bomber raid, 101 of the aircraft were Polish. Polish bomber squadrons flew 11,706 operations, dropped 13,205 tons of bombs, and laid 1,502 mines. Off the Spanish coast a Polish Wellington of Coastal Command was attacked by 4 JU88s. For 59 minutes the pilot, Emil Ladro, outmanoeuvred the JU88s until they all ran out of ammunition, saluted the Wellington, and flew off.

The Poles, who handled bombers like fighters, suffered heavy losses and hundreds were taken prisoner. Hitler decreed that such Europeans be shot because they had no right to carry on the fight as their countries had surrendered. Göring, who still had a vestige of WWI gallantry left, lied to Hitler that these men were now British citizens as Churchill would not allow them to fly British aircraft until they became British citizens. Hitler bought it, saving thousands of lives. I had 200 of these Poles with me in the North Compound in Sagan, Silesia. Five of them were shot and cremated for taking part in the Great Escape.

Only a few of the 19,500 still in the Polish Air Force (PAF) in 1945 returned to Soviet-controlled Poland and they were badly treated. In September 1992, after independence, the Polish Air Force standard was returned to Poland from the U.K., and 800 PAF/RAF veterans attended the ceremonies.

ENGLISH - AS SHE IS SPOKE, WROTE ,AND ABUSED

2009-05-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

English, some argue, is today’s world language. It dominates the commercial, the political, and the computer world. But, what and whose English are we talking about? English may be a precious vehicle for communication, but who is guarding it? Can it survive the barbarians who continue to assault it?

Homo sapiens cannot boast about his ability, or willingness, to communicate with his neighbours. The Tower-of-Babel curse remains an insidious part of our being. There is something cozy and aloof in formulating a language that only the chosen few can understand. Even children love to manipulate the spoken word so that only their small group can interpret the code. Tribes and countries do try to standardize language within their own boundaries, but associations create their own slang to exclude others. A bizarre sense of superiority is felt by lawyers, doctors, the military, sports enthusiasts, and others when they use their linguistic codes to the consternation of outsiders.

The creation of many thousands of languages for one species on one small globe could be excused during periods of low mobility and when rivers, oceans, and mountain ranges separated us. Such obstacles have been overcome if only for brief periods of time. For a few hundred years people could travel from Hadrian’s Wall to Asia Minor with one language and one currency. Roman might and organizational ability brought Latin to all of Europe and much of North Africa. The Church then carried it around the world. We let that blessing evaporate. The destruction of Roman power led to the resurgence of local languages. There were pockets of resistance, but even the Catholic Church succumbed in the 20th century by replacing Latin in its Mass with the vernacular, thus losing a sense of oneness among Catholics.

Our world needs one standardized means of communication. Latin, once so popular and compulsory, with Greek optional, when I went to school, have gone except in the roots of many of our modern words. The French remain nostalgic for the status they once held as having the world’s language of politics. Quebec takes strong measures to safeguard French and exclude English. Esperanto was a great hope for a universal language we could all accept, but that, too, has given way to the steady march of English. Even India, when granted independence, chose English as rivalries among their language groups could not tolerate one of their languages becoming the dominant one. When Indonesia became independent it selected what it considered the best from other languages to create a distinct Indonesian dialect. We, who were born into an English-speaking environment cannot feel smug about our good fortune because, like all languages that went before it, English is doomed unless we guard it.

This computer (using Word Perfect) actually asks me what English I want to use: Canadian, UK, or US. The rot is well established. It is ominous when people argue that language is an evolving medium and that we should keep up with the times - but whose times and in what places? If others have the right to change words, spellings, pronunciations, and meaning then we all do and a world language is a hopeless goal. Incidentally, I choose UK English because that is where it all started. When the United Kingdom, a union of about ten million people, by accident and design, acquired control over twenty five per cent of the globe they brought to many millions their language which was a mixture of Gaelic, Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon, Norwegian, Danish, and Norman-French. When its colonies grew and prospered the world-influence of English grew, but each colony or dominion added its own flavour. With its huge and dominant media the United States led the parade to diversify.

Spelling and Pronunciation: The British may be their own worst enemies. England is pronounced Inglun, Britain is Briten, Warwickshire is Wariksheer, Gloucestershire is Gloster. They use, and spoil, good French names such as beauchamp which they call beechum. They have enriched the language by adopting words from other languages, but often spoil them, like karky for khaki. Then there is the long list of mispronunciations which have grown over the years like knife, sword, mountain, and genuine.

The United Kingdom, with its long history, has retained numerous dialects from Cockney to Geordie and some Welsh, Scots, and Irish are unintelligible to someone steeped in BBC English.

Multiply this by colonial abuse of words. Who has not had difficulty interpreting Waltzing Matilda? We may understand “After we get some tucker we will pick up a few sheilas.” and we might even guess at the meaning of “G’Dye”, but are Australians so insecure that they must retreat into an isolationist language? The United States has been flagrant in developing its own language out of English and tries to force it on the rest of the world. First they dropped the ‘u’ in words like honour, then the second ‘l’ in words like travelling. Some publisher who wanted to save time and space shortened words and the new spellings took over. They are also afraid of French words. Cheque becomes check, centre becomes center, and Pierre becomes Peer. The latest trend is to admit they do not know the difference between adverbs and adjectives so they drop the ‘ly’. Many were never able to distinguish good from well, who from whom, shall from will, or between from among, so why bother? It is frightening how many pronunciations have changed in the U.S. and seeped into other countries since my high school days:

bin for been agen for again missal for missile hostil for hostile
agil for agile aging for ageing viril for virile mobil for mobile
changen for changing Merilin for Maryland Noofunlan for Newfoundland ta for to

When they talk of “missal” defence I wonder why they are afraid of prayer books. Hostel is somewhere to sleep. Hostile means something quite different. What is so difficult in pronouncing words the way the are spelled? Arkansas, Spokane, and solder helped in persuading our educators to drop phonetic teaching in favour of sight recognition of words. This has been a disaster. We have a generation of people who cannot spell, even incorrectly.

The United Nations adopted English as the universal language for air traffic control. This has led to many misunderstandings when pilots on international flights try to raise control centres by using phonetic pronunciations. We have no right to demand the use of English when we refuse to standardize its use.

Abbreviations: Some say this is a natural trend towards simplifying a language, but does “MP” mean Member of Parliament or Military Police? Does the postal code “MI” belong to Missouri, Mississippi, Michigan, or Minnesota? Does “CO” mean Commanding Officer or company? Does “USA” mean United States of America or Union of South Africa? Thoughtful authors give the meaning with the first use.

How many of these commonly-used abbreviations can you explain: Spad, Lanc, Flak, UNICEF, MSDOS, ROM, RAM, Eg, Viz, etc, VC, VD, CAA, RAAF, DcinC, ECG, PhD, SEATO, MB, MG, GDP, TGIF, BCE, CC or CB, UNMOGIP, PNG, AU, DOA, DUI, CU, ATC. And this is just a small sample.

Changed Meanings: Wartime slang is a prime example with its explicit new sexual meanings for innocent common words, like screw and suck. Unfortunately, these two words, with altered meanings, have become part of the language in place of “taken advantage of” and “highly undesirable”. The original meanings remain but are now shared, making the language less precise, and somewhat vulgar. Other wartime expressions, like “pukka gen” (accurate information) have faded. The word “Cool” originally referring to temperature now encompasses “good”, “fine”, “acceptable”. The word “wog” once meant “Wily Oriental Gentleman”. “Wop” meant strong, robust, handsome, and was a compliment to Italians. The word “gay” described a buoyant spirit and many girls were named Gay. Now we have permitted homosexuals to take and monopolize the word to the extent that many Gays have changed their names to Elizabeth which is yet to be corrupted. Considerable shame is shared by writers, speakers, and publications who blatantly misuse this word, apparently to appease the homosexual community, or to save seven letters on the printed page. The same is true with the misuse of Lesbian, an inhabitant of Lesbos.

The use of words can be misleading or insulting. Too many say “England” when they mean the United Kingdom, thus insulting the Northern Irish, Scots, and Welsh. America has a score of countries but one of them is arrogant enough to use it to describe only one, unable to find a polite, unique name for itself. It is obvious that the French have never forgiven Julius Caesar for conquering their Gaul when they insist on Nouvelle Ecosse instead of the Latin, Nova Scotia.

Some languages use additives to letters to clarify pronunciation. These are awkward and a nuisance. Cannot vowel and consonant combinations serve the same purpose as á, â, ä, à, ç, è, ñ, ü, ğ, ė, ŗ, and others? The letter ‘c’ is pronounced ‘s’ or ‘k’, so is surplus and could be used as a vowel. The Germans spell Kanada correctly.

Spelling and speaking this sentence give us two distinct languages:

Could enough agile swords protect the eight charming women on the mountain from genuine hostile missiles?
Kud enuf agil sords protek thu ate charmen wimin on thu mountin frum genuin hostel missals?

Survival: The entire world uses English, so all need to contribute to standardizing at least a core portion of the language for universal use so that spelling dictates pronunciation. And, let us not have the same word meaning different things. We could also be honest. We dread to admit we use toilets so we call them washrooms, restrooms, loos, johns, or WCs. (In WWII the Germans called them Winston Churchills) The media and educators must conform. Either that or lose universal use and let some other, more disciplined, language take over. Computer language, with its penchant for brevity and abbreviations, is, in its present form, not the answer.

English and German take two years longer than Italian or French to learn. Finnish words are pronounced phonetically. Should we adopt Finnish? The US came very close to adopting German after 1776
.

Numerals? This scribe still prefers 0123456789 and objects to the German one and seven which can be confused with a seven and four. The computer zero can be mistaken for an eight.

This lazy scribe, who wants English as a world language, will keep using UK spellings and phonetic pronunciations. He will accept changes only if approved by the entire English-speaking community and endorsed by the United Nations. I do not mean to excuse the superior-than-thou attitude of Anglo-Saxons in declining, as unnecessary, the learning of other languages. Diversity adds lustre to life, but who can learn 2,000 languages? To communicate with our fellow humans we desperately need one language that is shared by all. You may have as many others as you wish.

DEATH BY SEVENS

2009-04-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

DEATH BY SEVENS

(Written in 2003 on the loss of 7 astronauts)

Today, we have the luxury of mourning the loss of seven brave astronauts and eulogizing them. Permit me to take you back to the days when each squadron would lose 7or 14 or 21 or 28 on a nightly basis so there was no time to mourn or to eulogize. Young men, with great potential and promise, would vanish from the crew lists and be forgotten except for family and a few friends. Let me pick at random one of these crews and bring them back for a moment of remembrance and thanks.

The weather on 9 January 1943 was foul, too foul for high level bombing. The cold was piercing and it was raining heavily this Saturday night, yet 419 RCAF Squadron, based at Middleton St. George, near Darlington, Durham, was ordered to load up five Halifaxes each with two 1500-pound mines and send them off to mine German shipping lanes off Spiekeroog in the eastern Frisian Islands. To avoid breaking up on impact these mines had to be dropped below 500 feet and at a speed just above stalling. They had to be deposited exactly where the Royal Navy wanted them which, as we had no precise navigational aids, meant flying at low level over defended islands that were continually changing their shapes with the tides, finding a positive pinpoint, then doing a timed run out to the dropping point. This was an occupation much more hazardous than high-level bombing. As we had just converted from Wellingtons to Halifaxes, each crew had two new members, a flight engineer and a mid-upper gunner who averaged about 10 hour in the air when they met their baptism of fire.

It was only three nights since my wedding and I had better plans. However, my pilot, Pat Porter, keen and prompt as ever, pushed us to marshal our Halifax, “K” Kitty, first in line. The crew behind us, in “O” Orange, was made up of: WO2 Frank Barker, pilot, age 22 of Carbon, Alberta, Sgt Bill Cameron, air gunner, age 20, also of Carbon, F/Sgt Harvey Dunn, navigator, 21, of Fordwich, Ontario, F/Sgt Vincent Hugli, bomb aimer, 26, of Georgetown, Ontario, F/Sgt Bill Murphy, air gunner, 20, of Ardenville, Alberta, WO2 Don Watson, wireless air gunner, 21, of Carp, Ontario, and Bob Sackville-Green of the RAF, engineer. We had raced with them to be first in line, a mere game among friends, but with fatal consequences.

The cloud deck, with dangerous icing, was at 1,000 feet, the waves were high, and we had to remain between the two all the way across the threatening North Sea. I alternated from the front turret to the bomb aimer’s position trying to spot the numerous flak ships in the inky darkness, and to keep Pat from flying into the sea as our altimeters were untrustworthy. Continued rain added to our problems and decreased visibility. Shadows on the sea looked like islands. Flak from flak ships missed us by millimetres. We stooged over the islands, greeted by more flak. Luckily, I made a good pinpoint and we flew out on a timed run to deposit our mines amid intermittent flak. As we turned for home, we surprised two flak ships as we flew between them at mast-top level. Their streams of fire were just above us and we were soon out of range. But, there was a terrific explosion behind us and we feared that one of our five had met its doom. Back at base, it was still cold and raining, but I was so grateful to be alive that I actually enjoyed getting thoroughly soaked cycling the mile home to Joan and a warm bed.

“O” Orange failed to return.

Much later we learned that Dunn and Hugli washed ashore on Spiekeroog, were buried locally, and later moved to the military cemetery in Oldenburg, Germany. Watson’s body floated 900 kilometres around the coast of Denmark and into the Skagerrak to wash ashore near Grebbtad, Sweden. He is buried in Gamlestaden. Barker, Cameron, Murphy, and Sackville-Green were never found. The cold and indifferent North Sea owns them.

We had no time to mourn; there were more mining and bombing trips to make with more losses. New crews continued to be posted in to take the places of those we lost and had to be trained on squadron techniques.. The adjutant prepared the usual form letters to the next-of-kin and the CO signed them.

So, please say a prayer and take a moment to think of these seven, the futures they sacrificed, and the emptiness forced upon their families. But, remember, we did not allow this loss, nor the loss of all the 73,741 Bomber Command casualties, to deter us from fighting a war we knew had to be fought. Neither should we let the loss of astronauts deter us from our role in space. PER ARDUA AD ASTRA!

IN MARCH THE WORLD IS IRISH

2009-04-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

SURE AND BEGORRAH (by God), IN MARCH THE WORLD IS IRISH

and, as my ancestry is 75% Irish, I am free to both praise and criticize the Irish, and they deserve great gobs of both. The Irish gene mixture is Scythian, Egyptian, Spanish, Celtic, Scandinavian, Norman, and Anglo-Saxon, so it is misleading to generalize.

Allow me first a little praise to, and selfish reminiscence of, my own family. My Mother, Alice McGirr, had an immense repertoire of Irish songs and a beautiful singing voice, the memory of which can still lull me to pleasant dreams. Her writing skills cleverly concealed information from Canadian, British, and German censors to keep me well informed while I was in the UK and in POW camps in WWII. My grandmother, Maude Brodie, taught me that “we will never know how much we have to know in order to know how little we know”. Her table was never empty of tasty morsels that had grandchildren and their friends inventing all sorts of excuses to visit her after school. When my uncle, Carl, a great story teller, cut off his finger tip accidentally, Maude rushed to the shed, grabbed a handful of cobwebs, replaced the finger, wrapped it in cobwebs, and it healed! On 2 occasions she brushed aside doctors who had given up hope and priests who were administering the last rites to return to health dying children. My aunt, Mames, was renowned in Toronto for her care of the sick and needy. My uncle, Norm, lost a leg in WWI, but remained full of energy, humour, and the ability to attract numerous women. My grandfather, Ned McGirr, taught me when to ignore the rule book. He was one of Northern Ontario’s best railroaders. When his supervisor was wasting precious time following the rules, Ned threw his lantern at him, got the call boys to round up rescue crews, and sped to the scene of a bad wreck north of North Bay where his generalship saved lives. Demoted for insubordination, he was later reinstated for results. Perpetuating Irish oral traditions, four of the above could recite with feeling numerous lengthy poems including my favourite - all 32 verses of Thomas Gray’s "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", a poem that General Wolfe read again before the 1759 battle, remarking that he would much rather have been its author than the general to take Quebec. ("The paths of glory lead but to the grave.")

All this is fine from a family point of view, but what about the Irish nation? Ireland has never been united and they blame others, especially the English, when the basic truth is the Irish do not get along with themselves. With so many kings in Ireland, many Irish today can trace their ancestry back to a king. One of many tales from the battle of Moytura in 2000 BC: an Irish king was losing until his wife plunged into the battle, killed the enemy king, and won the day. They named the city of Enniskillen after her. The Irish were guilty of plundering Wales and England and returning with slaves including, in 401, Saint Patrick, who escaped after 6 years, only to return as a bishop, set up his see in Armagh, and convert the Irish to Christianity. Irish monks then went on to convert England and much of Europe. Instead of uniting against Viking incursions that started in 795, various Irish factions united at times with the Vikings against other Irish factions. When Brian Boru was making great strides in uniting Ireland, rivals joined the Vikings to defeat, then kill him, in 1014 near Dublin, a Viking stronghold. It was an Irish warlord, Dermot MacMurrough, who, in 1166, invited the English (actually the Normans) in to help him regain his crown as king of Leinster. Irish, such as Patrick Sarsfield and thousands of his followers, defeated in wars in Ireland fled to France in 1691 where they formed regiments that were of considerable help to the French in their European wars. Then, while criticizing Britain, the Irish built the British Empire. Sullivans alone provided 4 admirals for the Royal Navy. Irish clergy invented the traverse for Royal Navy guns and the use of limes to prevent scurvy. Irishmen fought on both sides during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Generals Sir Guy Carleton and Richard Montgomery were born a few kilometres apart in county Donegal. Montgomery led the U.S. attack on Quebec City defended by Carleton (1775-76). Montgomery was killed and Carleton lectured the U.S. prisoners on the crime of molesting an honest man in his home. He then sent them all home with only sufficient weapons to safeguard against attacks from natives. Irish Fenians from the United States raided Irish settlers in Canada, 1865-1871. While beneficial in the rest of the world, British imperialism in Ireland was harsh although, during the potato famines, the British did more than others in providing help like importing large quantities of corn from North America. Early English settlers in Ireland became more Irish than the Irish and fought subsequent English settlers.

Ireland and England had the same population in 1700. Ireland had peat, England had coal and iron which permitted the Industrial Revolution. During the mass exodus in the 1840s, 17,000 Irish died en route, mainly of typhus. The U.S. enforced higher restrictions, so got the wealthier portion of the refugees. Canada got the disease-laden ships that killed many Canadians who tried to help in Quebec. Genealogy is made difficult because no records were necessary as the Irish were simply going from one part of the Empire to another.

The current problems in Northern Ireland have deep roots. The Celtic Scots lived in Ireland while the Celtic Picts, lived in Scotland, both escaping Roman rule. In the 400s quarrels in Ireland prompted a group from northeast Ireland to invade southwest Scotland in an area known as Dalriada, gradually expanding to give Scotland their name as well as the Scythian bagpipe they brought with them. Over a thousand years passed and the London government thought it a good idea to return many of them to plantations in Ireland as they were now Presbyterian Britons who could control the quarrelsome Catholic Irish.

The name the Irish prefer today, Éire, is Norse not Irish.

The Irish brought their quarrels with them to the New World. Every 12th of July the Orangemen would commemorate the 1690 Battle of the Boyne victory over the Catholics (King William III of Orange vs King James II). As their parade passed the Catholic church in my home town, Port Hope, the parish priest would toll the funeral bell. Humorous but sad. This practice did not fade out until after World War II.

Nevertheless, we forget all that to remember the wealth of Irish wit, literature, song, dance, humour, and pretty, vivacious colleens.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!

2009-04-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY

The bravest thing a person can do is to think. Knowing so little of what, where, when, how, and why we are, a wide variety of beliefs can be a good thing provided it sparks discussion and research and refrains from using such differences as an excuse to persecute. Diversity permits us to put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes if only briefly.

ANIMISM: This earliest religion is still embraced by 40% of the world’s people. Like all other religions it has been corrupted by dogma, bureaucracy, and self-aggrandizement. Basic animists are in tune with Nature. Every living thing has a spirit. So do many inanimate objects like streams, rock formations, clouds. In the morning you greet the spirit of the sun, of the forest, and of your canoe. You ask permission of the river spirit before launching your canoe, then, as you paddle along, you greet the spirits of rock formations, river bends, and so on. You ask forgiveness of the spirits of any animals you kill in order to survive. If you are an Inuit and kill a seal, you open its mouth to give it the treat of a drink of fresh water. Shamans, witch doctors, priests, and the like had to invent themselves to exploit these innate beliefs. Abuses led to animal and human sacrifices and the role of women from exaltation to exploitation.

ATHEISM: Disgust with religious differences and increasing doubts over their teachings are causing a marked increase in the number of world atheists. A leading guru, Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, is quite eloquent in arguing there is no god, no heaven, no hell, only science. To this scribe, Atheism is a dead end, unlike

AGNOSTICISM whose motto is “I do not know and you do not know either.”, has embraced many great thinkers. In this universe our lilliputian minds can grasp only a minute portion of reality, so an open mind is essential. Science belongs here, not with Atheists.

PAGANISM: I did know of the Druids, a few Witch Associations, and one Pagan magazine when I thought, for the sake of this article, I should do a little more research. After one full day of research I am amazed to be able to list 70 Pagan publications in Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the United States. I have yet to explore the rest of the world. There are far more Pagans about than I had realized.

BUDDHISM: A contemporary of Zoroaster and the Hebrew prophets 2,500 years ago, Siddartha Gautama gave 84,000 sermons dwelling on the paths to Enlightenment. Two major divisions developed: Mahayana and Theravada plus various sects as Buddhism spread from India to Tibet, Persia, China, and Japan. Worldwide there are 164 different Buddhists sects. It died out in India but left its mark on Hinduism. Another great teacher, Vardhamana Mahavira, developed Jainism but it did not spread beyond India. Both embraced karma, reincarnation, and Nirvana (eventual escape from reincarnations) and both opposed the caste system, introduced by Aryan invaders, blood sacrifices, and the importance of priests. The Canadian magazine, with the greatest circulation in the United States, is Shambhala Sun, a Halifax voice of Buddhist wisdom.

CHRISTIANITY: There are 3,400 distinct Christian Associations, each one of which is the correct version, the others are all flawed. The majority of these are small congregations independent of any of the major sub-divisions. Adherents have run the gamut from bigotry and persecution to performing great acts of kindness. Very complex.

JUDAISM: For a small territorial religion, Judaism has enjoyed, through Christianity and Islam, immense world influence. The only religion tied to a specific piece of real estate, Israel, it still has deep divisions, the main ones being Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. They range in groups that believe in peace, tolerance, justice, democracy, sustainable development, and care for the environment to those that see humanity divided by a clash of civilizations, competing for power, territory, and resources. Compromise is impossible so maximizing Jewish power is a supreme good wherever Jews settle. The largest concentration of Jews today is in the United States. There are 14 million Jews in today’s world while 3.5 billion follow religions directly influenced by Judaism.

ISLAM: While Christianity is in decline, Islam is enjoying a period of resurgence and is infiltrating Christian countries. It has 3 major branches: Sunni, Shi’a, and Sufi. Sunnis have 4 distinct schools of thought, Shi’as 6, Sufi 2. Then there are an additional 26 different schools, orders, movements, faiths, and what-have-you. Islam is not a centralized world threat as many fear but a widespread belief with many variants.

HINDUISM: Is, with a billion followers, a baffling array of spiritual traditions, with 4 main denominations: Saivism (at over 8,000 years the oldest of all religions after Animism), Shaktism, Smartism, and Vaishnavism. Within Saivism there are 6 main schools. Shaktism has 4, Smartism has 6, and Vaishnavism 5. All have more similarities than differences. All believe in karma, reincarnation, and in a Supreme Being who creates and destroys the universe in regular cycles - an early version of the Big Bang. Cremation is practiced to free the soul quickly to allow it to begin a new life.

ZOROASTRIANISM: An early monotheistic religion that grew and declined from 549 to 330 BC, it has many adherents in Persia (Iran) and India. It has survived many assaults that caused sects to develop. It did emerge healthy from long periods of Muslim occupation. A hereditary priesthood is causing a current decline. Life style changes in a modern world are today more threatening than past persecutions.

Considering all this, would you say it is a wee mite naive to expect any human association: family, team, town, or nation, to speak with a unified voice? Even in happy marriages, there are many differences of opinions. Our task is to embrace diversity, to outlaw the use of violence by any of these associations, to promote tolerance, to encourage discussions, and to value our own values with the flexibility to change them as our knowledge improves.

How World Decisions Are Made

2009-04-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

HOW WORLD DECISIONS ARE MADE

Jim Cross of Victoria, BC, who earned a DFC in Bomber Command with 425 Squadron and who worked for the federal government after the war, sent this on receipt of our November newsletter:

“Your reference to the Aga Khan brought back memories of the 1972 expulsion by Idi Amin of Asians who had lived in Uganda for years, I was the acting Assistant Deputy Minister for Immigration, and chaired the inter-agency committee set up for the crisis. I felt that, if our vaunted policy of non-discrimination was to be followed, we had to do something about the refugees. We obtained the OK of the minister. The Aga Khan came to offer his support. We entertained him at a luncheon which took place during that famous USSR-Canada hockey series which some of us were watching in the anteroom prior to going into the dining room. Alan McGill, a friend of mine from External Affairs, wondered how we could keep current with the game. I told him that I would ask the steward to keep me posted and that I would relay the score by hand signal, the left for the Soviets and the right for Canada. His Highness was part way through his speech when the steward told me that it was a 2-2 tie. Up went both my hands. The Aga Khan caught this and said "Then you agree with me Mr. Cross?"

I like to say that at that point we agreed to take 6,000 refugees from Uganda. They turned out to be among the best qualified immigrants we ever had. 25 years later the Aga Khan sponsored a reunion in Ottawa. Many of the attending Ugandans were now successful lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. I choked up when two of their daughters sang “O Canada" in both official languages.”

Heaven, Purgatory, Hell

2009-04-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

HEAVEN, HELL, PURGATORY - ALL IN ONE PLACE

Investigators have discovered a weird universe containing a weird planet on which there are weird creatures. It appears to be a strange laboratory that doubles as a huge prison, but we are just in our initial stages of investigation. It is an unique place, hidden in a relatively quiet zone of a violent universe on a tiny ball that is part solid, part liquid, and covered in a gas of many components. This tiny ball circles a nuclear furnace that showers it with a relentless stream of dangerous particles from which it is partially shielded.

Originally it was seeded with unique acids that learned on their own to replicate and to produce the most bizarre forms, all from one common ancestor. These structures are everywhere on the planet and in a bewildering variety of shapes. We are not sure yet why or how it is done but, at a very early stage in the growth of these forms, spirits are injected, even into the flawed ones, to grow with them and to serve out sentences. Some for a brief reward, others for chastisement, but most for sheer torture. It seems that economy is served by having all of these conditions on the one ball. Provision is made for the condemned to find ways of changing their lot during their tenure. But, no instruction are provided. It is all trial and error. A cruel sense of humour hid means of sustenance here and there, but these had to be found, understood, and modified.

All spirits condemned to this prison are stripped of any past memory and are saddled with receptors for pain and pleasure but, again, no instructions are allowed, so they experiment. An even stranger burden is the need to ingest other life forms in order to extract the energy required to perpetuate this existence which they deem desirable only because knowledge of any other existence is denied. To a certain extent inmates can learn from forebears and from each other. This often eases their existence.

Gradually these beings learned that co-operation was beneficial yet tempered by the cruel necessity to eat and the fact that scarce resources could be monopolized by the strongest and most ruthless. Members of the apparent dominant species keep getting together to build only to destroy, then to rebuild. It is a meaningless cycle, full of hardships.

From afar it presents a fascinating spectacle. An endless stream of spirits are forced into it and they interact in such diverse ways. All must endure pain in varying degrees and pleasurable sensations are rationed and temporary. All sentences are soon terminated and by a wide variety of means, many accompanied by intense and extended pain. Millions of those sentenced to this jail are goaded into terminating each other, but replacements are more than adequate to continue the show. In fact, all of these creatures have the ability, and an insatiable desire, to manufacture new frames in their own image for yet more spirits. None of these spirits is ever given a fixed sentence. They can be terminated early or late, rapidly or slowly, peacefully or violently.

Actually, there is much to admire about many of these spirits. With primitive means they are trying so hard to understand where, when, why, and how. They do make progress but, alas, they have such a long way yet to go. Under such circumstances their only recourse to retain a sense of humour, recognizing the joke is on them while they wonder if all of these spirits are actually only one with a multitude of expressions concealing the ironic twist that what they appear to be doing to others they are simply doing to themselves. Perhaps, that is why so many care for others.

This jail, or laboratory, is but a passing phenomenon. It will end in spectacular violence. Peace and quiet will not ensue. For a long time Violence is scheduled to reign supreme, but will eventually die itself only to be reborn in new violence. It is definitely not a stage for the purpose-oriented, or for those who desire tranquility.

Applying a large enough magnifier, the whole scene is nothing but an immense conglomeration of endless vibrations, each in itself quite innocent, and subject to temperature. Most of these vibrations have been harnessed by Nature who controls this universe, but these fascinating and clever spirits are learning to control an increasing number for themselves. Nature appears quite ruthless, uncaring, and indifferent, yet it tolerates those who adapt to its whims.

We will continue to monitor this phenomenon to determine if it serves any purpose, but really, can all that violence be in any way desirable? Yet, somehow, these poor, imprisoned mortals attract our interest.

Pax Vobiscum!

Intelligence

2009-04-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

INTELLIGENCE

We need to pause, more often than we do, to ponder the state of human intelligence. Too often we think we know more than we do and we all love a good discussion to display our knowledge, so tag along while I pretend to know what I am talking about. First, remember that life exists only within a tiny 12-mile air and water depth on this globe and that naked humans can survive in about half of 1% of this - immeasurably less than our constituent atoms.

Now, consider the Evolution vs Intelligent-Design argument. Evolutionists have the facts but cannot explain why. Intelligent-Design people have few facts but believe they know why. But, have they been looking for a Supreme Being in the wrong place? Perhaps, instead of the skies, they should look inside ourselves into the world of the very small, even though the human brain is not yet wired to understand the fuzzy, cloud-like atom where real power lurks. We have found strong and weak forces there, but even the weak force is trillions of times stronger than gravity. This is power that not even a hydrogen bomb can fully exploit. Can we even begin to understand it, even with computer intelligence?

There are 45 billion billion molecules in every cubic centimetre and at least double that for atoms which are extremely durable for billions of years and recycle after our deaths. Every atom has been through several suns and through millions of organisms, so it is quite probable that millions of your atoms once made up a sun, a leaf, a slug, a dinosaur, Cleopatra, Attila the Hun, or Eric the Red. It does take atoms time to recycle so do not look for any recent celebrities in you.

Increasingly, we are finding that the tiniest forms of life exhibit what can be interpreted as intelligence. They match our intelligence in nullifying our defences. Human intelligence saved millions from starvation by developing wheat strains resistant to rust, but now rust has re-designed itself (with intelligence?) into a new fungus strain, Ug99, that surfaced in Uganda in 1999 and has now spread via Kenya, Ethiopia, and Yemen to Egypt and Iran, threatening wheat crops so vital to millions. Teeming bacteria, that need to disperse, will launch themselves (with intelligence?) into the atmosphere where they latch onto dust particles and assist in the condensation of water vapour to form water droplets or snow flakes that will deposit them back to earth in far-off locations. Our bodies house 3 million bacteria per square inch. What does our behaviour and intelligence owe to them? We do have 100 billion brain cells and 100 billion nerve cells that do communicate with our livers and toes but neglect to give us any summaries of the conversations. Yet, if they are part of us, why do they not inform us? Their few pain or pleasure messages are insufficient for our curiosity. But, then, we do not even know what "us" is.

We have done wonders to reach into the vastness of space, travelling back in time for over 13 billion years, discovering in the process that we are aware of only 4% of what actually exists. We are capable of theorizing on “dark matter” that could be composed of WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), trillions of which must pass through the earth every second. And, we are capable of building instruments such as the French-Swiss Large Hadron Collider which, later this year, may detect them. While looking deeply into the vastness of space we can also look deeply into the vastness of atoms, finding over 150 different particles with 100 more suspected, divided among quarks, leptons, and bosons. Then there are DUNNOS - Dark Unknown Non-reflective Non-detectible Objects Somewhere.

All this ability reveals our inadequate intelligence. We do have a huge repertoire of beliefs that we call religions which demand faith which is why we have so many of them. Humans have a longing to know why but too many of us are so mentally lazy that we accept the arguments, gods, and customs of selected others with insufficient questioning. This laziness, or selfishness, is not restricted to the least intelligent among us but flourishes among the highest intellects. Scientists, economists, politicians, and the like are noted for holding in disdain the arguments of fellow “intellectuals”.

If, within each of us, human or otherwise, liver cells, kidney cells, blood cells, nerve cells, and so many other cells can co-operate with each other and with all those bacteria and atomic particles to function together while maintaining a defensive immune system, to deny their innate intelligence is folly in the extreme. To go along with E = MC2 we need other formula: Intelligence needs to be linked with consciousness and also with neurons, synapses, and surroundings. If a cell can take, or borrow, bits of DNA from different cells and if they can evolve to flourish in formerly-deadly environments then there has to be an intelligence of which we are totally ignorant.

Would you mind looking into all this, then explain it to me? PER ARDUA AD ASTRA ET ATOMUS.

Armistice, Remembrance, Veterans' Day

2009-04-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

ARMISTICE, REMEMBRANCE, VETERANS’ DAY

(A talk given as guest speaker in Memorial Park, Colorado Springs, 11 November 2005)

It is a pleasure and, indeed, an honour to address such a large group of caring people.

This hour is one of the very few in the year when we pause to remember, and to honour, all of our countrymen - and women - who have sacrificed their lives for us.

I find it painful to realize that there are no words that I can use that have not been said over and over again at least ever since Pericles, almost 2,500 years ago, so eloquently praised those who had died in the defence of Athens. In all that time our species has failed to really honour our dead, and our living veterans, by eradicating the root causes of war.

I remain haunted by memories, not only of the 125 friends of mine who lost their young lives in wars, and whom I can still name, but also of the people I have killed and the destruction that I have caused. Correcting this gross human failure is a subject too vast for my few minutes at this podium, so forgive me if I digress to just toss a few facts and figures at you.

Canada and the United States have exchanged over 150,000 warriors, mainly during periods when one has been at war while the other was neutral. During two world wars Canada was fighting for 5 years longer than the U.S. During these years, tens of thousands of US citizens joined Canadian forces. We were together in Korea and the first Gulf War. We thought it unwise to go into Vietnam, nevertheless over 35,000 Canadians joined US forces to fight in Vietnam, and many died. We are together in Afghanistan. In Iraq, Canadians were with the British who freed it from Ottoman rule in WWI, but the UK lost 10,000 men trying to make it a united, modern, and democratic country after WWI, so we thought military force was still questionable this time. However, some Canadians are also serving with US forces in Iraq.

In the Second Civil War in the United States - you will recall the first one was fought in the 1770s - 19-year-old Calixa Lavalee was one of 40,000 Canadians fighting for the North. His platoon had suffered many casualties in bloody battles, and were weary and ragged as they advanced towards yet another skirmish. With his cornet Calixa played a 1750 British tune "To Anacreon in Heaven". It was not known as such to the U.S. troops as someone had taken the tune and changed the words to make it a US tune called "The Star Spangled Banner." Calixa's performance rejuvenated his platoon and they pressed on. Later, in 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote new words for it as the British burned government buildings in Washington in retaliation for the US burning such buildings during their invasion of York (Toronto). Surviving the war, Calixa went on to write a musical comedy and worked with Broadway before returning to Canada where he composed what was to become Canada's national anthem, "0 Canada".

For you from the Southern States, Canada also looked after Confederate wounded ignoring a warning that the North would launch yet another invasion of Canada because of this. Actually, there are many lessons on the futility of starting wars. King Zaggesi of Umma, in Iraq’s Fertile Crescent, learned it almost 5,000 years ago. He built a military, looted nearby cities, but was eventually defeated to end his days in a neck stock. Napoleon learned it in 1815; Hitler, Mussolini, and Japan in 1945. Today Canada honours and puts on postage stamps Louis Riel whom they hanged in 1885, now realizing that the military force used to quell his so-called uprising was unnecessary; and the US when its military, in spite of numerous invasions, was unable to conquer Canada, now sees its businesses and its media being successful in conquering large segments of the Canadian economy. The Germans, Italians, and Japanese have all conquered more economically than militarily.

Because Canada has been a major exporter of fighting men, its military contributions have not had their deserved publicity. We have contributed over a million men to British forces, over 80,000 to U.S. Forces, and the highest number of any country to the UN, although we have slipped recently. During WWII we had 78 RCAF squadrons, 46 of them overseas, yet 60 % of Canadian aircrew (17,111) flew on RAF squadrons. In addition to the 15 Canadian squadrons in Bomber Command, Canadians manned 25% of RAF bomber squadrons. We just did not have enough of our own squadrons to accommodate all those who flocked to the colours. In WWI Canada had more air aces, with 35 or more victories, than any other country except Germany yet this is largely unknown as they flew with RFC/RAF squadrons (Germany 17, Canada 8, UK 7, France 5, Australia, Ireland, and South Africa 2 each, Austria-Hungary and Belgium 1 each). In WWII, Canada trained 308,000 aircrew for the UK, Australia, New Zealand, itself, and 14,000 for the U.S. We also trained several thousands in ground trades for the United States.

The training schools in the UK, Canada, Rhodesia, and South Africa were not enough in the early years of the war, so the RAF sent the overflow as civilians to train in the neutral US. On 7 December 1941, people here were surprised to see the sudden appearance of RAF uniforms on their streets as these trainees were now allowed to extract their uniforms from their duffle bags and wear them.

It has been a 2-way street. Over 60,000 US citizens have served in Canadian forces. In fact, so many from the southern states joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in WWII that they called it the Royal Confederate Air Force.

Canadians have won 57 Medals of Honor while serving in US forces. Canada is not as generous in issuing medals, but 6 US citizens have won the Victoria Cross, Canada's highest award for valour.

Some of you will remember Bill Dunn. When Canada went to war in 1939, he rushed to Canada and joined the Black Watch, but soon transferred to the RCAF. Flying Hurricanes and Spitfires he became the first U.S. ace in WWII and, much later, flew 378 combat missions in Vietnam. Retiring in Colorado Springs, Bill rebuilt a WWI RAF SE5 biplane which he flew. He was an active member of our RCAF wing here and we referred to his SE5 as our Air Force. While it was operational, North America was never invaded! Unfortunately, Bill died in 1995 at age 78.

Also, during this time of US neutrality, there were numerous questionable US activities. In both WWI and WWII the first Canadian convoys left Halifax a few days after our declaration of war in 1914 and 1939. U-Boats were a serious threat. We never lost a troopship, but we did lose 1,146 merchant seamen while the UK lost 25,000. The Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Navy were hard pressed to protect these convoys. The neutral USN would leave Norfolk on peacetime manoeuvres. Belonging to a neutral nation they would have to stay well clear of our convoys. Their navigation was so terrible that they would blunder into our convoys then, for days, could not figure out how to get out, and kept going around in circles. This was most frustrating to U-boat commanders who would get fat merchant ships in their sights only to have a US destroyer cross the viewing scope, preventing torpedo launches for fear of provoking the US into the war. This saved many of our ships and men - so, thank you.

Another problem was aircraft. For the most part, Canada used British aircraft, built either in the UK or Canada, but we did need thousands of such aircraft as Harvards, Dakotas, Hudsons, and Catalinas. US law dictated that combatants could purchase war equipment in the US by paying cash on the barrel head, but, with aircraft, could not fly them out of the US. US manufacturers would fly these purchased aircraft to the flat prairies and park them along the border with brakes off while taking a coffee break. Canadians then lassoed them and pulled them across the border.

During the Korean War, we made use of US bases in Tacoma, Anchorage, and the Aleutians. The squadron I flew with, 426, made 600 round trips from Montreal without a fatality - a far cry from my Bomber Command that suffered 73,741 casualties.

There were low points in Canadian - US relations. The lowest point came while I was serving in the NORAD underground site in Cheyenne mountain.

One month, when the PLAYBOY magazine arrived, one of you stamped it NOFORN - No Foreign Eyes. However, we forgave you - - eventually - - and when KATRINA came along:

The first Search and Rescue team to reach St. Bernard's Parish where 30,000 homes were under water was from Vancouver, Canada. Air Canada used an Airbus to ferry, 166 at a time, refugees (politically incorrect - evacuees preferred) to San Antonio, Texas. It was a first flight for 90% of them. Canadian Forces aircraft ferried 24 Canadian Red Cross officials to stricken areas. One destroyer, two frigates, and 1 Coast Guard ship left Halifax loaded with supplies and 3 helicopters to ferry them to shore. One thousand military personnel were offered to help where needed; a navy diving team from Esquimalt was sent; Alberta increased oil shipments to the US to make up for what was lost. Two Canadian helicopter squadrons donated a helicopter each. And, to top it all off, politicians of all parties organized a BBQ in Ottawa and raised $thousands to give to the US ambassador for hurricane relief.

We have had, and will continue to have, differences of opinion - but these are minor compared to the depths of friendship between our two countries. Let us work together so that our grandchildren will have no need to set aside special days to remember the dead of recent wars.

Beyond the Call

2009-04-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

BEYOND THE CALL

What prompts humans to act the way they do? In the spring of 1945, I was sympathizing with sardines while I was packed into a box car being taken to we-knew-not-where, but feared it was to a fortress where we could be held as hostages for a negotiated peace. We stopped in a huge marshalling yard which we inferred could only be Munich. We were not overjoyed at learning we would park there overnight because, sure enough, Bomber Command made another of its frequent visits just to increase my tally of terrifying friendly-fire encounters. In the morning our guards unlocked the box car doors to give us fresh air as we would have to wait for an engine replacement because an RAF Mosquito had disassembled ours into its component parts. An amazing and dangerous low-level surgical strike at night and a nightmare for us. Somehow our string of box cars was undamaged. On the next track was a similar string of box cars. We could hear moans and groans, so six of us (2 Britons, 2 Canadians, 1 Australian, and 1 Rhodesian) slipped over to unbar their door. We recoiled in horror as we saw a pile of creatures that had once been human. Their bony hands begged for food. We had very little, but gave what we had. Their sunken eyes screamed for revenge.

Several cars away a young SS guard was supervising a group of women slave labourers filling in bomb craters and replacing track damaged in last night’s raid. When he saw what we were doing, he came racing towards us, shouting and raising his weapon to fire. Never experiencing such an urge to kill, the six of us held our ground determined to rush him if he opened fire. Our Australian, who spoke good German, stunned him with a volley of choice German words to describe what we thought of him and warning him to start treating his prisoners like his best friends to escape the hangman’s noose that was waiting for such as he. He yelled back that they were Jewish criminals who had no right to live and that we would now join them. By this time SS guards were racing up from the opposite direction. We had good reason to fear we were about to die. Three of our Luftwaffe guards, common soldiers, emerged from our box cars. One was well into his 70s, another was a frail youth, the third was middle-aged with war wounds. They dreaded the SS and had more to fear from them than we, yet they positioned themselves, unarmed, around us and argued with the furious SS louts that we were high-ranking prisoners of Reichmarschall Göring and were, under no circumstances, to be harmed. Very grudgingly, after a long harangue with them by our guards and our voluble Australian, the SS louts agreed to let the Luftwaffe herd us back into our box cars. Our guards were trembling as they leaped into the box cars with us. They knew they had risked death in what could have been a futile attempt to save us.

This was only one of many occasions where the Luftwaffe saved us aircrew prisoners from the SS and Gestapo and is another reason why I can never condemn a whole nation for the sins of its leaders.

About Me

2009-04-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

During WWII I served in the UK with Bomber Command in 419 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1942 I met and married Joan Saunders of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, but we had only a few weeks together when I was shot down on my 17th operation, spending 800 days as a POW. After 67 years we remain happily married and we have five wonderful daughters. Staying in the RCAF after the war, my numerous assignments included 3 years, 1946-49, with a USAF/RCAF crew flying B-29s all over northern Canada including the Pole and Alaska, the Korean airlift from Dorval, Quebec, the DEW Line, and NORAD in Colorado Springs. After retirement I taught World History, US History, Physical and Political Geography, International Relations, and Algebra in Colorado Springs. Since 1986 I have been the editor of the bimonthly 971 RCAF Air Marshal Slemon Wing of the Air Force Association of Canada newsletter (www.971WingAFAC.com).

2009-04-18T10:11:00.001-07:00

THE GREAT ESCAPE - 24 March 1944

*** Having watched yet another re-run of this MGM movie, I am compelled to voice a few comments: ***

FACT: What transpired in the North, one of 5 compounds of Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Silesia, Germany, is a reminder of human courage, ability, ingenuity, endurance, and several other attributes. It is a story that has been told accurately in several books, but the film has flaws. For 22 months our Sagan commandant was Oberst Fredrich-Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau, a WWI pilot wounded 3 times while earning 2 Iron Crosses. He married a Dutch baroness, remaining a staunch German but very anti-Nazi. He was a gentleman who treated all prisoners, including Soviets and Jews, well. He had coped with 262 escape attempts, including 100 by tunnels, a severe challenge to his small Luftwaffe staff, and he had to resist Gestapo/SS pressure to wrest command of aircrew POWs from the “incompetent” Luftwaffe.

FICTION:

(1) NATIONALITIES were introduced by MGM. We considered ourselves family, all speaking English. Two of the main characters, played by James Garner and Steve McQueen are made out to be US whereas they were, in large measure, Shag Rees from Anglesey, Wales, and Red Noble from Penetangueshene, Ontario, but also with bits borrowed from Keith Ogilvie of Ottawa who stole a guard’s wallet with vital documents and Barry Davidson of Calgary, the scrounger. So, it is difficult to estimate that, in March 1944, of the 2,000 aircrew in the North Compound, there were 1,000 Britons, 300 Canadians, 200 Australians and New Zealanders, 200 Poles, and 300 made up of Dutch, Norwegians, Belgians, French, Danes, Greeks, South Africans, Rhodesians, Czechs, and Lithuanians, Jews included. All had flown with Commonwealth Air Forces. Our USAAF had been moved to the new South Compound in Sep 43. Some had contributed to North Compound escape activities and were moved much against our ‘family’ wishes.

(2) SUCCESSFUL ESCAPERS: We had planned for 250 but only 76 got out. All were recaptured except for two Norwegians who made it back via Sweden and one Dutchman who made it back via Holland, France, and Spain. All three spoke excellent German. In the film, the Dutchman, Bram Van der Stok, is depicted as an Australian.

(3) TOOLS: Most were home made, many from the large Klim (powdered milk) cans from Canadian Red Cross parcels, and from stolen pieces of iron. Some of the yellow tunnel soil was mixed in with the darker soil gardeners were digging, here and there, but there was no mass raking as the film depicts. Items like rakes and ice skates were distributed at times by the guards but on a very controlled basis. As they could be used as weapons, they were carefully collected after each loan of a few hours. The Germans did provide a few tomato plants and each room of 6 to 9 men could request about four. Sand was effectively dispersed in the scrimmages of rugger games and under the theatre we built.

(4) MOTORCYCLE CHASE: While there were many astounding, but undepicted, escape attempts, there was no such motorcycle chase. Steve McQueen wanted this included and MGM ignored the advice of Wally Floody, our Canadian chief tunneller, who, as advisor, wanted accurate scenes, sticking to Paul Brickhill’s (RAAF) account. He clashed with McQueen over several depictions. McQueen won. Movie goers, and Steve, liked chases.

(5) BLIND ESCAPER: We did have a few men go blind, both naturally and from wounds, but they endured the slow process of repatriation. Two RAF pilots did make an earlier escape, did get to a Luftwaffe aerodrome, and did get into an aircraft, but were caught when the engine would not start. The shooting of the forger was phony. I have had Canadian and British friends shot and killed by approaching troops after crash landing, but they were in RAF/RCAF aircraft. This was a Luftwaffe aircraft so those rushing to the scene would have expected German survivors.

(6) CAFÉ SHOOTING: The bartenders would not have remained at the scene to celebrate with a toast as the knownGerman reaction was to quickly round up those nearby and to shoot at least 50 for each German murdered.

(7) NIGHT TRAFFIC: Leaving our huts at night was rare and dangerous as dogs prowled the night compound. One night, when we were slow to lock shut our room wooden blackout shutters, a dog leaped at our windows. I can still see his fangs. After the last roll call on the day of the escape, still in daylight, many normal residents of hut 104 ambled into the vacated bunks of the escapers who slowly and casually crowded into tunnel-hut 104. A few made it after dark.

(8) GERMAN ACCOMMODATION was not in, or adjacent to, our compound. Their compound was out of sight behind numerous trees. Luftwaffe soldiers, usually rifle-armed, would take several minutes to reach and assemble in our compound and never in the numbers depicted in the film. Except for searches or roll calls, when all 15 huts, each with 17 rooms, had to be proven empty, and the number in each block on parade counted, the average number of Germans in the compound was about four. My job was to keep track of them. For many hours there would be no German in the compound. The guards in the perimeter towers, of course, had us under constant surveillance.

(9) FOURTH OF JULY: Only the USAAF celebrated their national day, but this was in 1943 when some of them did make a limited amount of booze from potatoes and raisins. Two, made up as one horse with a rider, did gallop to the parade ground during roll call to urinate (the man making up the rear of the horse had a concealed can of water), with the rider shouting “The British are Coming!” Luftwaffe Hauptmann Hans Pieber, usually the only officer we would see, went along with the prank and, in counting the assembled block, shouted to the recorder, “Zwei und achtig und ein pferd.” (82 men and one horse). The booze was then distributed to a selected few after which the top-ranking Commonwealth and USAAF officers were thrown into the large pool of water that was designed for fire-fighting.

REFLECTION: It averaged about 2 weeks from the time of the very traumatic experience of being shot down until we found ourselves in a room with 6 to 9 bunks, double or triple stacked, in a permanent camp. We all had endured evasion, capture, many searches, a week’s solitary confinement during interrogation, transport to a permanent camp, and more interrogation, this time by established prisoners who needed to know we were also bone fide prisoners.

It was not until then that we fully realized our amazing good fortune: we were among the 17% who survived being shot down (we had known the odds); most had been well treated by the curious civilians who captured us; the police and Luftwaffe to whom we were handed were also courteous and respectful (we had feared rough treatment); we were in a large camp that, although primitive, was much better than expected; and there was some Red Cross food, but we were always hungry. Freed from operations we could cease contemplating how few hours we had yet to live. The war still had years to go and we were safe for at least a few months. Our taught nerves could relax.

Several weeks passed before we were gradually informed of all the escape activities that were in progress. Of course we all wanted to get home. Barbed wire is so confining to the human spirit. Having been loose for 2 days in March cold and rain with blood still trickling from wounds, I had learned how difficult it was to travel any distance in a country of 90 million enemies who guarded every road, bridge, rail yard, and waterway. Nevertheless, I joined X (the escape committee). I was assigned to Security, responsible for keeping track of, and recording, every German in the compound during my shifts. It was soon evident we were doing much more harm to ourselves than to the German war effort. This was a new camp in the midst of a pine forest. We cleared the stumps after Polish and Russian prisoners had cut down enough trees to make a large clearing for roll calls and for sports. Our guards soon learned that the remaining trees were concealing our escape activities, so those trees were also removed, making our ‘resort’ camp turn quite dreary and dusty.

We had a good library, ever increasing with books sent by next-of-kin. While most of us were high school boys many of the British and Europeans were older professionals and many conducted classes in a wide variety of subjects. I took several of these courses and I was able to enrol in a political science course with books provided by the University of Saskatchewan. We got daily BBC news via a radio we built with smuggled parts and we had a variety of German newspapers and magazines. We knew much more about the war than the people who were still fighting it.

Winter months were cold so I was grateful when RAF airmen’s greatcoats, captured in France, were distributed and my parents sent me a blanket to supplement the 2 provided by the Germans and made from the hair of murdered women.

As the war progressed, differences in philosophies increased. We all wanted to get home. We all knew that escaping and harassing the enemy war effort was a duty, even if increasingly risky. Many remained adamant in their desire to get outside the wire if only for a few hours of freedom. I had growing doubts about the wisdom of escaping.

German newspapers were displaying increasing anger over the destruction of civilian lives and property our bombers were causing. When a USAAF crew was shot down wearing jackets labelled “Murder Inc.” (After the Dick Tracy comic characters) pictures were published all over Germany as proof that we were Luftgangsters revelling in the slaughter of women and children. Hitler then ordered troops not to interfere to save downed airmen being beaten to death by irate civilians. Our worried German Commandant kept warning us that the climate for escaping had changed.

In the relative comfort of our Luftwaffe camps, few of us gave the Luftwaffe deserved credit for risking their lives in putting a shield around us to protect us from the Gestapo and SS. While we recognized our plight if the Luftwaffe lost control, we failed to understand how precarious Göring’s husbandry of aircrew POWs was. He saved thousands of us by convincing Hitler that RAF aircrew who came from occupied Europe should not be shot as he wanted because Churchill had made them all British citizens (which Göring knew was not true). Most of us, however, did feel that escapes should be low key and small scale in an environment that could promise little success, but would not explode in bloody reprisals. I argued we should work to enlarge the gulf between the SS and Luftwaffe as we would need them in a post-war Germany.

BIG X (Sqn Ldr Roger Bushell, a South African barrister and Spitfire pilot, shot down May 1940), retained an intense hatred of Germans of all stripes and was able to command a following who worked for an escape of hundreds that would involve millions of Germans neglecting war work to hunt us down. I, with most of the camp, believed that March 1944 was too early in the year to steal farm food and too late in the war for a mass escape that was sure to bring harsh reprisals. Survival was our main goal. We knew the Soviets would reach us before British, Canadian, and US forces and whether they would treat us as friend or foe was unknown, but there was still safety in numbers. I joined the group studying commando tactics around our remaining useable tunnel should the Soviets consider us undesirables.

Our mass escape did harm the German war effort in that 5 million people spent weeks hunting for those who were ranging far and wide across Germany. Three got back to Britain, but in reprisal the Gestapo shot Van der Stok’s brother in Holland and tortured his father to death. I remember shaking the hands of young friends as they left for the tunnel and seeing their ashes returned to us. Hitler ordered all 76 to be shot but Göring, who wanted none shot, persuaded him to limit it to 50. I also feel for our commandant. Our escape left him disgraced and impoverished. His family also suffered heavily with loss of homes and lives. He received rough treatment as a prisoner of the Allies, not allowed to see his destitute wife for 2 years. He had never handcuffed a prisoner but was handcuffed himself. Göring lost control of us to Himmler who gave the job to Gottlob Berger who, along with Eva Braun, failed to carry out Hitler’s harshest orders. I owe my life to them, but that is another story.