@ SUMMER'S END

The end of August and the post Labour Day turnaround surely spell the end of summer. Perhaps this is a good time (as good as any) to clear-out the backlog from my blotter in anticipation of a new start to the fall season of political and economic folly...

TUG O' WAR: Although there is a $10-Million budget already earmarked by the National Capital Commission to upgrade that "handyman special" which now is Canada's Prime-Ministerial residence, the Harpers' aren't on-board with the renovations. Twenty-Four Sussex Drive is 143 years old,  the plumbing and wiring were last overhauled in 1950 when Louis St. Laurent lived in the place; there's no air conditioning and the house is said to be drafty and freezing cold in winter.  Maybe it's that Laureen thinks hangin' the family laundry on Margaret Trudeau's old clothes-line is just fine. Though you can bet Mila never did. But, times are tough...

WATERWORLD: If it's an issue of spending $10-Million of public funds during a time of austerity which bothers the Prime-Minister, a proposal from south of the border may have a solution to appeal both to the Harper's sense of thrift and the Prime Minister's philosophy of government. The founder of "Pay-Pal" is bankrolling the formation of a whole new floating ocean country in international waters on an oil rig (like) platform. Proponents of the plan, the San Francisco based "Seasteading Institute" say the idea is to start a country from scratch and promote policies of..."no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons." The first full time settlement is to be ready in about 8 years. Which could be about the time the Harper's move-out of 24 Sussex.

THE CLOCK OF THE LONG NOW: More anecdotal evidence why most middle-class Americans endorse proposals to raise income taxes on the nation's filthy rich. Never mind the illusion of creating an artificial floating libertarian world (see above). Another tech titan, the founder of Amazon (Jeff Bezos) announced this summer that he will be building a clock designed to keep ticking for 10,000 years. It will apparently be built inside a mountain in west Texas. Hopefully construction can be completed by the time followers of the "Odd Day" movement are ready to celebrate 11/13/15 in slightly more than four years. Heck it was just this spring that evangelist Harold Camping professed himself "flabbergasted" that the world had failed to end on May 21st. He's now "two-for-two" having previously predicted the 'Rapture" in 1994. Once this "Clock of the Long Now" is in place, at least he won't be running-out of time soon.

LEGO IN DEEPEST SPACE: On October 15, in Winter Haven just south of Disney World, the latest entry into the crowded central Florida "theme park" business will open its gates and unveil the attractions. The multi-million dollar  "Legoland Florida" may already have a promotional "leg up" on the nearby Disney Mouse, Universal's Harry Potter and the various creatures at Seaworld and Bush Gardens.
Just when you may have thought that NASA's clock was ticking-down (Lest I digress: See "clocks" above!) with the demise of the Shuttle Program, the good folks at that other central Florida attraction, Cape Canaveral, loaded-up three Lego figures on board a space probe named Juno for its blast-off earlier this month on a five year mission to the planet Jupiter. When the spacecraft arrives in 2016, the Lego likeness of the Roman God, Jupiter; his sister Juno; and the Italian astronomer Galileo will be there to take in all the sights of our solar system's largest planet. In the last three weeks they've already become the farthest flying toys ever...and children of all ages may track their progress at LegoSpace.com. Guaranteed; a promo campaign sure to keep on giving.

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.

TO THE VICTOR...THE SPOILS

Though mid twentieth century movies tried to romanticize America's civil war - "Gone With The Wind" (1939) / "Shenandoah" (1965) to name a couple of the more prominent - It comes as little surprise that events this year marking the sesquicentennial of the war between the States have been somewhat muted. So far just a few solemn events in Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia have noted the passing of the 150 years since the United States was ripped apart. It seems Americans are somewhat reluctant to scratch open the scabs over scars which in many respects remain fresh.

Not so here in Canada where before the defeat of the Government in April, Heritage Canada had earmarked a $100-Million budget for next year's events and celebrations marking the bi-centennial of the War of 1812. Fresh from this month's majority re-election in Parliament the Conservatives have indicated they will re-introduce the budget before the end of May; which this time will pass likely unamended.

A recent survey of American citizens commissioned by the Association For Canadian Studies(ACS); a group based in Montreal; has been measuring cross-border attitudes ahead of the government's kick-start of the War of 1812 celebrations. A spokesman for the Association claims the bicentennial will provide a good opportunity to explore the important "interconnectedness" of our histories and how we've evolved together.

It's clear that the Federal Government through Heritage Canada and many various other historical and parks organizations it will fund, wants to attract as many American tourists as possible north of the border to join in this momentous event 200 years in the making. War remembrances tend to emphasize patriotic fervour. Our American cousins and business partners, still smarting from the "draw" of the Korean Conflict; the loss of Vietnam; and their interminable War on Terror in all of its manifestations (Iraq; Afghanistan; Libya; Yemen - take your pick) may be dazed, shocked and confused to learn they LOST the War of 1812.

That's not just a result of America's general decline in educational standards; but it is also because of the nature of the self-centered cultural influence of the mass media of the United States in all of its own manifestations from news organizations; its print and new media; and of course the film and television industry.

Ironically Heritage Canada's plan to shovel-out as much as $100-Million tax dollars to springboard a renewed dialogue with the United-States using the War of 1812 as catalyst arrives in the very breath that our own cultural industry is threatened with potentially massive funding cuts.

Under the pretext of reining-in it's $50-Billion annual deficit Mr. Harper's government indicated last fall that it intends to institute a strategic review of spending in all departments, including the CBC, Telefilm Canada and the Canada Council. And the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, reiterated just this week that much of his deficit will be reduced by identifying departmental efficiencies. Before this month's Federal Election tensions between the industry's regulator; the CRTC; were already at a fever pitch all time high over "new media" regulations and funding, and the licensing of the right-wing "Sun News" channel to name just a couple of troubling issues.

Despite appearances singing Beatles' tunes during the most recent election campaign; Prime Minister Harper and for the most part the opposition politicians as well; steered clear of Canada's "cultural debate" in sharp contrast with Harper's infamous outburst of the 2008 campaign that ordinary people didn't care much about the rich artists who attend ritzy galas.

If in the upcoming "new" budget deliberations, it's a toss-up between spending $100-Million to promote the defeat of our American friends in the War of 1812 or saving Canada's beloved diverse culture and its supporting industry - I vote for the latter. The Federal Government can take solace in letting our iconic coffee giant "Tim Hortons" do the talking for us down south of the border. At no cost to the Canadian government our "Timmy's" has just recently re-branded itself in the United States as "Tim Hortons Cafe and Bake Shop(s)" and sales in the first 3 months of the year shot-up five percent. That is clearly a culture understood in America.

A PRETTY AMAZING DAY...

I suppose that given time and with enough research amazing things may be discovered about pretty much any date on the calendar. But there is a surprising convergence of events centered on April 12...

WAR IS HELL: In silence before the break of dawn they gathered by the hundreds at Charleston in South Carolina today to mark the solemn occasion of the naval attack on Fort Sumter and the start of the U.S. Civil War, 150 years ago. The confrontation between the Confederacy of southern states and the government of the United-States tore the country apart. Some wounds still fresh. The roll call of more than 800,000 dead echoes still from Gettysburg to Bentonville by way of Antietam, Shiloh, Manassas, Vicksburg, Fredericksburg, Richmond and so many other places.

THE MUSIC DIED: Ninety-nine years ago this day the venerable "RMS Titanic" sailed from Southampton on her faithful maiden voyage. A new book titled "The Band That Played On" is being published this week about the eight man band that played-on as the ship went down until the Atlantic eventually drowned their music into silence. The centennial of the sinking of the doomed ship is just a year away. It's only natural that a new round of stories, anecdotes and tales is beginning to emerge.

...BUT ROCK WAS BORN: Turns out it was also on April 12; in 1954, 57 years ago, that rock and roll was born. Bill Haley and the Comets travelled from Pennsylvania to New York city on their first contract with Decca Records: A rock-a-billy tune titled "Thirteen Women And Only One Man In Town" - But the recording needed a "B" side and the group was offered "Rock Around The Clock". Forty-five Minutes of rehearsal and two-takes later: Rock & Roll had been born. Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" remains the best selling rock single of all time.

MAN ENTERS THE SPACE AGE: It was 50 years ago today that Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted into, and became the first human to orbit the planet in space. Gagarin's April 12, 1961 blast-off and successful three orbit(s) mission just short of 200 miles above the planet prompted the administration of American President John F. Kennedy to commit his country to landing a man "on the moon" before the end of the decade. A mission accomplished in July 1969.