False Rumours OK: Canada's PM Harper says

WOW. What else can you say? After all, if our fearless leader says it's OK to prevaricate, where are the limits to falsehood? Indeed Peter Kent slammed an opposition MP for not being in Durbin, when he knew full well that he himself had outlawed opposition MPs from attending. Kent also said it is OK for Canadians to be among the worst individual carbon emitters on the planet because there are not very many of us, and also the US does it too so it must be OK.

Justin Trudeau's outburst might be considered excessive. but it did catch the attention of the house.

Planetary Society

Have you ever thought about the number of rules required to keep a large flock of wheeling birds together, not crashing into each other and moving at high speed to go somewhere? For many years it was thought to be a complex process dependent on one or more birds assuming a leadership role either permanently or temporarily. Recently, however, research suggests that 4 or 5 simple rules that everyone knows and obeys keeps the flock synchronized without a leader. Simple rules like "Don't bump into the other guys", "Keep moving forward", and so on. Each bird also knows that some rules trump other rules. So you veer slightly if somebody is in the way of moving forward.

I began to wonder if people in a society are also governed by only a few relatively simple rules. The concept of rules however, didn't seem to fit very well with humans because it is hard to imagine everyone obeying the rules even if they knew what they were. So instead, I thought one could imagine society responding along dimensions. When one considers how many dimensions this would need to be it is quite a small number. My first guess is four.

In a multidimensional model, no dimension is first or last, they just all interact. The four that seem reasonable each have extremes and can be considered continuous within the dimension. And they are simple.

In no particular order, here they are:

Resources: Of any type but ranging from finite to recyclable to renewable or "infinite". Infinite is only available within in a societal model of limited time length, of course.
Human Behaviour: Of any type that emphasizes self or others or the group, from selfish, greedy,avaricious to sharing, altruistic, empathetic.
Governance: Of any type but ranging in emphasis from preserving the nation at all costs to preserving the citizenry at all costs.
Economy: Of any type or level from subsistence to world-wide, but the variable in this dimension is the degree to which the economy is governed by internally imposed rules or externally imposed rules as well as how well or badly those rules are imposed and followed.

Torn Labrum (hip) and Torn Meniscus (knee)

In August, I was in the Toronto Western Hospital for an operation to repair a torn labrum in my right hip. This is the cartilage lip on the acetablulum (the socket)that keeps the head of the femur (upper leg bone) in the socket. I had been hobbling around on this for nearly two years before I was finally able to find someone who could handle the operation -- he was great. Instead of having a general anaesthetic, I opted for a spinal block only. This meant I was able to watch the monitor as the arthroscopic operation was carried out. Fascinating. I could see the cutting tool burn its way into the socket. Immediately on entering the area, I could see a large piece of cartilage (Dr. Syed described it as a huge tear) hanging into the socket in three lobes. The tool used to cut the cartilage away was a hollow tube cut at a sharp angle to create a knife blade. As each piece came off the chunk was sucked up into the tube. Simple but amazing.

Then a couple of days ago I was in the same hospital with the same surgeon, this time to repair the torn meniscus in my knee (same accident as the hip, but a different damaged part). The meniscus is a cartilage pad that cushions the femur and tibia (upper and lower leg bones) in the knee. Once again I was able to watch the monitor. This time I was surprised to see so much junk in my knee. "Torn cartilage." remarked Dr. Syed. He must have sucked out 15 chunks of cartilage before he even got to the meniscus. On the way, it was obvious that the top of the tibia was completely exposed, a result of the accident and also the torn meniscus scraping away at the cartilage. Then we could see the tear on the meniscus. He clipped that off, and then it was over.

Each operation took about 3-4 hours from the time I arrived at the hospital, went through the admission, pre-op, and spinal block and ultimately had the operation and finished recovery. Very efficient, very comfortable hospital culture, and very effective.

However the lead up to the final solution was not fun. The first doc was our GP who sent me for xrays. Xrays can not diagnose either a labral tear or a meniscus tear. Instead the diagnosis of the radiologist was arthritis. I told our GP I didn't think arthritis started in one day. She sent me to a specialist who misdiagnosed the knee and didn't know you could repair a torn labrum. I kept insisting that I didn't believe the diagnoses. Finally I was sent to still another surgeon, who understood the problems but could not do the operation in our local hospital. He recommended Dr. Syed, a very good recommendation indeed.

Attawapiskat Long Term

My perspective of the situation:

Canada's failure to meet the obligations of treaties agreed to in good faith, the segregation of the native population into small isolated "reserves" on unproductive ground, the removal of the automatic right to hunt and fish other than for subsistence, denial of use of the timber, and denial of right to mine or benefit directly from the the minerals, the removal of the right to make what most would think of as normal everyday financial decisions, the past history of forcible removal of children from families, continued attempts to extinguish cultural norms and language, entrenched dismissal of the value of traditional knowledge in decision-making capacities, the imposition of a foreign form of internal government (formerly decisions by Elders and hereditary Chiefs in consensual gatherings), the continued failure to meet the Canadian constitutional guarantees of fiduciary care by the federal government, and the imposition of the Indian Act which effectively makes Native People wards of the state unless they agree to assimilation.

Canadians in general and Canadian politicians in particular owe the Native People more than just an apology. Diverting the equivalent of the cost of the G20 directly to addressing the backlog of housing issues for the next 2 years would effectively end the housing "crisis", but would not solve all of the problems.

The most pressing needs I have personally seen are in rebuilding the capacity of the Native People to move into the future using their own initiatives and decisions within the modern contexts of their own cultures, languages, and knowledge systems, including the ownership rights to the land they still have under treaty and the ability to directly control, manage, and if appropriate to use the natural resources on and in the land for commerce. A transition away from the Indian Act needs to be negotiated in good faith by the nations of the Native Peoples and the Canadian government.

I am sure there are many other pressing needs the Native People want to have addressed, and Canada and Canadians should hear those statements by the Native Peoples.

How likely is this? Not very. But it is ultimately important that our original peoples be able to live in a way we can all be proud of.

Attiwapiskat Finances

The financial statements for the Attawapiskat Nation are available on line for anyone to see http://www.attawapiskat.org/financial-statements/. If Stephen Harper wanted to see what happened to the money he could have looked there or asked his staff (who were co-managing the finances) what happened to the money. A quick check of salaries showed the chief at less than $70,000 per year, and councillors ranging from just over $73,000 to about $12,000 in 2011. The education board members were paid between $12,100 and $6,800 in 2011. Nothing out of line there.

Looking at the consolidated program schedule, it looks like the majority of the funding when to education, community development, and health, with a little less than 10% going to administration. Chronic debt load is an issue.

The statements include a very helpful management letter indicating where improvements could be made, especially in budget planning and collection of accounts payable, but nothing was outrageous.

Australia notebook

I also published another one using Australia as the theme. These are neat little books as they have a grid-lined page on every second page and a picture from Australia on the facing page.

Buy it at my Blurb Bookstore

My Notebook on a Vienna Theme

I just finished a book in the form of a notebook in which you can write notes. Have a peek!