Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Margaret Wente: "What Dick Pound said was really dumb – and also true".

LLetter to the Editor:

Controversy is healthy but I can only see very shallow sourcing by Ms. Wente. She needs to clarify her assertions and position in another column to salvage her intelligence (and the Globe's), other than her apparent ignorant, biased, Eurocentric attitude. I hope this is soon forthcoming as I would rather read the leave the Globe off my daily read. Until I hear from the Globe & Mail with reference to this article I sadly not visit the site and if nothing by mid-November I will remove you from my bookmarks.

John Warren

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Jay Silverheels (Tonto) to The Lone Ranger - "What? We Whiteman?"

I am debating some of the opinions of the Globe & Mails', Margaret Wente in her article "What Dick Pound said was really dumb – and also true".

"The kinship groups in which they lived were very small, simply organized and not very productive."

Wente's rantings are still stuck in a recently discredited and imploded economic system - GDP. Western 'Civilization' is about to hit the wall, possibly not neolithic, of being not very productive as a result of the savagery of the Global Mergers and Acquisition mentality, privatization, de-regulation, willing white governmental blindness.


"in a world where native spirituality and "traditional knowledge" are held to be just as valid as Western science."

Has Wente not heard of "Western Science's" progress in search of the "God Particle"? Quantum and Particle physics have many parallels to Eastern Philosophy and Buddhism. Einstein is quoted from Wikipedia as "In his book "The World as I See It", he wrote: "A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms—it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man."

I don't think I would be far wrong by seeing Native Spirituality in this.

"Did the Iroquois Confederacy really influence the Declaration of Independence? Sorry, no"

From Wikipedia one reads that to one degree or another the Confederacy did have some influence not as Wente says "no". Here is an interesting and suggestive quote, "In 2004 the U.S. Government acknowledged the influence of the Iroquois Constitution on the U.S. Framers.The Smithsonian Institution also noted the similarities between the two documents, as well as the differences. One significant difference noted was the inclusion of women in the Iroquois Constitution, one group among many that the framers of the U.S. Constitution did not include."

Strikes me as more democratic.


"They deserve to interact with the modern world like everyone else."

The Modern World is going to Hell in a handbasket and it will be inevitable that if we don't make a massive cutback in our lifestyles we will be worse than neolithic.


Oh Canada
Our home on native land
We lost our way
For India was our plan

With fire sticks
And quill pens
The treaties we did make.
As the years passed by
We changed our minds
The treaties we did break.

Don’t whine to me.
The ride is never free.
Just keep in mind
We’ve done this thing before.
Just keep in mind
We’ll do this once more.

Happy Halloween

Interview with Greener Toronto & RCO Awards!!

Alter Eco (darthcricket's alter ego) has much to celebrate this past week! And many to thank for your interest and support throughout the year. So we are going to treat you, finally, to the long-awaited video interview we did, Episode one of season two of A GREENER TORONTO, host Candice Batista, , where we reveal the secret of our success!

And as much as we like to be modest and humble, the past week was highlighted by the Recycling Council of Ontario’s 2008 Ontario Waste Minimization Awards. Just a little bragging here as we were again honoured in front of the Industry and Minister with the Gold award in the Arts category.



Fortunately our bragging was tolerable as it was slightly offset with a little humility in that the Platinum award went to an amazing group of sculptors who have been contributing to Canada’s International image for 40 years, Hosleton Aluminum Sculptures. It was our pleasure to have spent a very interesting evening with them.

I would like to take this opportunity to especially thank Diane Blackburn of the RCO for all her encouragement and Rhonda Nolan for connecting Alter Eco with the RCO several years ago and Marie Van Schie for her jewellery and display help And Candace Batista producer of A Greener Toronto, for bringing out the best in me.

Future Events

CBC Craft Sale-2008:
Please join us at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre (Front & John Streets) for this year’s sale on Wed December 3rd 2008 10am-5pm
Christmas in the Heart of the Entertainment District
Hope to see you there!
http://cbccraftsale.googlepages.com

Happy Halloween to you all!
John

Sunday, October 19, 2008

A Green Star is Hatched

Oct 13 - 17/08: A wonderful episode of A Greener Toronto on Rogers Toronto TV!:
- Behind the scenes with Planet in Focus. Toronto premiere environmental film festival.
Candice talks to Tonya Surman about the Centre for Social Innovation.
- We're cooking up organic pizza at Magic Oven
- Greenpeace answer questions on: The arctic ice melt.
- In ECO TIPS, picking the right wrap, whats the better option, Plastic or paper? Tune in to find out.
- And finally, a look at Alter-Eco environmental folk art.

This episode is a piece of art in itself. Well thought out and presented, amazing resources of clips to illuminate the subject. I was extremely happy with the take on Alter Eco. It is a strange experience to see one's self from the outside, old home movies and near-death experiences excepted. As much as it was pretty intense the editor managed to catch one smile! lol. Just kidding it was a trip. Soon as we getan online link I will post it.