Tuesday, July 26, 2011

PUDGY AND THE DONUT DUDE

Just as the planet teeters perched at the abyss of "Debtpocalypse" - Pundits, critics, economists, political scientists and politicians are all adding their own perspectives and interpretations to the $14 + Trillion hell-hole the United States of America has dug itself into.

On the other hand, conspiracy theorists are slightly more pragmatic in their approach to our world's financial mess: They blame the "Bilderberg Group" and its alleged diabolical plot to impose the planned economy of a world government dominated by capitalism.

If one subscribes to the hype the "Bilderbergs" (Who met most recently in St. Moritz, Switzerland on June 9 to 12) are the modern day economic equivalent of the Knights Templar famous for protecting the pilgrim routes during the Crusades of the Middle Ages and the mythical guardians of Jesus' Holy-Grail. In 2001, Denis Healey a former British Chancellor of the Exchequer and a founding member of the Bilderberg Group fueled the controversy telling an interviewer: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting each other for nothing...so we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."

There are roughly 130 members in the secretive Bilderberg Group all of whom are people of influence drawn from western Governments, politics, finance, industry, labour, education and communications. If they were public, most names would be quite familiar including (Until just recently at least) I.M.F. Chair, Dominique Strauss-Kahn who has since become pre-occupied with more other personal matters...I digress!

The "Bilderbergs" have met at least once in Canada at the exclusive Brookstreet Hotel in Ottawa's deep west end in June of 2006. The Brookstreet and it's private golf-course are owned by Welsh born billionaire (and very private) Terry Mathews a mainstay of the high-tech world of Silicon Valley North located in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata. The presence of Henry Kissinger at the Brookstreet conclave sparked unprecedented attention from south of the Canadian border in the United States. Since that meeting proponents of the aforementioned Bilderberg Conspiracy have included the ultra-right wing John Birch Society, political activists Lyndon Larouche; and past heavy-weight wrestler,former Governor of Minnesota and TV host Jesse Ventura who devoted the entire episode of December 30, 2009 of the television series "Conspiracy Theories" to the Bilderbergs.

Three years after the 1954 founding of the Bilderberg Group, Canadian soil did however play host to the historic Pugwash Conference hosted by another billionaire, Cyrus Eaton, on the northeast coast of Nova Scotia. Shadowed by the unprecedented arms race of the Cold War, the "great-thinkers" at Pugwash promulgated a manifesto opposing nuclear weapons.

If Bilderberg is 20th Century "passe;" virtually a stone's throw from Pugwash, some wannabees and surely many others who are members of the exclusive Bilderberg Group have been meeting now for about a decade behind the gated doors of the exclusive Fox Harb'r Resort in Wallace, Nova Scotia. They are the guests of the former Premier of New Brunswick, Frank McKenna, now Deputy-Chair of TD Bank; and the resort's billionaire owner (yes, another one); Ron Joyce, the brains behind and co-founder of "Tim Hortons'"! What's known of the guest list there is that it has included former British PM, Tony Blair (on Friday last), and former American Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr., and George W. Bush. Other notables who have attended include British Prime-Minister John Major, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and hockey superstar Wayne Gretsky.

In addition to his current duties with the Toronto-Dominion Bank Group, Premier McKenna is also a former Canadian Ambassador to Washington. I note that this past weekend as he was hosting Tony Blair and all the other private guests behind the Fox Harb'r Gates, Malcolm Bricklin who played a significant larger than life role in the history of New Brunswick was nearby to see: "Bricklin - The Musical". McKenna succeeded Richard Hatfield as N.B. Premier in 1987. The musical on stage at Fredericton's Playhouse recounts the relationship and much of the myth between Hatfield and Mr. Bricklin. The late Premier was both bedazzled and befuddled by the fast talkin' American entrepreneur and the magic of his gull-winged sports car. The contrasts are striking: Mr. Hatfield, a bon vivant, partied hard with the likes of Andy Warhol and Truman Capote at Regine's and Club 54 through his premiership years. Along with the bright lights of those long forgotten Manhattan discos, the bright orange colours in the Fredericton musical's decor bear witness to significantly different times.

Sadly none of which leaves much of a glimmer of any significant world conspiracies being played-out. We'll just have to find our own way out of the morass.

No comments:

Post a Comment