by Dr. Michael Salla [Excerpted]

	Ronald Reagan.

Soon after his election as U.S. President, Ronald Reagan demonstrated an apparent “rigid” belief of the nature of an Extraterrestrial (ET) threat, and laced many of his public statements referring to the ET presence and its threat to humanity. [1] According to Dixon Davis, one of the two CIA agents appointed to brief Reagan when he was President-elect: “The problem with Ronald Reagan was that all his ideas were all fixed. He thought that he knew about everything — he was an old dog.” [2]

Reagan’s anti-communist rhetoric and massive build-up of military forces was a cover for Reagan’s true desire to militarily confront ET races. [3] His first major public comment on an ET threat occurred at a 1985 US-Soviet Summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev at Geneva when he said:

I couldn’t help but – when you stop to think that we’re all God’s children, wherever we live in the world, I couldn’t help but say to him (Gorbachev) just how easy his task and mine might be if suddenly there was a threat to this world from some other species from another planet outside in the universe. We’d forget all the little local differences that we have between our countries and we would find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this Earth together. Well I guess we can wait for some alien race to come down and threaten us, but I think that between us we can bring about that realization. [4]

If his unscheduled comment at a U.S.-Soviet Summit were not itself a provocative enough expression of Reagan’s views on the possible threat of an ET presence, then his speech to the Forty-Second UN General Assembly of the United Nations on September 21, 1987, was even more provocative and disturbing in its implications:

In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside of this world. And yet I ask — is not an alien force already among us? [5]

For Colonel Phillip Corso, and other conservative military officers, Reagan was a hero who knew how to best respond to the ET presence — a global defensive shield that could shoot down ET craft anywhere around the planet. [6] The Strategic Defense Initiative had little to do with shooting down ballistic nuclear missiles, and really was part of a planetary shield desired by clandestine organizations in the military wanting to militarily confront the ET presence.

Reagan’s conservative political philosophy and public statements on the need for a massive military build up to the Soviet threat, were allusions to the perceived danger of an ET invasion.

Endnotes

[1] For a revealing insight into the rigidity he adopted in his thinking, see his response to a CIA briefing on the Palestinian issue when he was President-elect. “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January 20, 1981-January 20, 1989.” Online article at: LINK[ ]

[2] “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January 20, 1981-January 20, 1989.” Online article at: LINK

[3] See “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January 20, 1981-January 20, 1989.” Online article HERE.

[4] “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January 20, 1981-January 20, 1989.” Online article at: LINK

[5] “Ronald Reagan, 40th President, January 20, 1981-January 20, 1989.” Online article at: LINK

[6] Corso, The Day After Roswell, 291-93.

Reference:

Commentary excerpted from “The Political Management of the Extraterrestrial Presence: The Challenge of Democracy and Liberty in America”, Research Study # 5, LINK

About the writer:

Dr. Michael E. Salla has held academic appointments in the School of International Service, American University, Washington DC (1996-2001), and the Department of Political Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (1994-96). He taught as an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University, Washington DC., in 2002. He has researched methods of Transformational Peace as a Researcher in Residence in the Center for Global Peace (2001-2003) and and directed the Center’s Peace Ambassador Program which uses transformational peace techniques for individual self-empowerment.

He has a PhD in Government from the University of Queensland, Australia, and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of The Hero’s Journey Toward a Second American Century (Greenwood Press, 2002) and co-editor/author of three other books, and authored more than seventy articles, chapters, and book reviews on peace, ethnic conflict and conflict resolution. He has also conducted research and fieldwork in the ethnic conflicts in East Timor, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Sri Lanka. He has organized a number of international workshops involving mid to high level participants from these conflicts.

by Paul Chen

	Gary McKinnon.

In 2002, Gary McKinnon was arrested by the UK’s national high-tech crime unit, after being accused of hacking into Nasa and the US military computer networks.

He says he spent two years looking for photographic evidence of alien spacecraft and advanced power technology.

The U.S. Bush administration now wants to put him on trial, and if tried there he could face 60 years behind bars.

The search for proof of the existence of UFOs landed Gary McKinnon in a world of trouble.

After allegedly hacking into NASA websites — where he says he found images of what looked like extraterrestrial spaceships — the 40-year-old Briton faces extradition to the United States from his North London home. If convicted, McKinnon could receive a 70-year prison term and up to $2 million in fines.

“I knew that governments suppressed antigravity, UFO-related technologies, free energy or what they call zero-point energy. This should not be kept hidden from the public when pensioners can’t pay their fuel bills”, says McKinnon.

McKinnon told Wired Magazine that he found a “book with 400 testimonials from everyone from air traffic controllers to those responsible for launching nuclear missiles. Very credible witnesses. They talk about reverse-(engineered) technology taken from captured or destroyed alien craft.”

McKinnon also provided Wired Magazine with testimony from, “A NASA photographic expert said that there was a Building 8 at Johnson Space Center where they regularly airbrushed out images of UFOs from the high-resolution satellite imaging. I logged on to NASA and was able to access this department. They had huge, high-resolution images stored in their picture files. They had filtered and unfiltered, or processed and unprocessed, files.”

“My dialup 56K connection was very slow trying to download one of these picture files. As this was happening, I had remote control of their desktop, and by adjusting it to 4-bit color and low screen resolution, I was able to briefly see one of these pictures. It was a silvery, cigar-shaped object with geodesic spheres on either side. There were no visible seams or riveting. There was no reference to the size of the object and the picture was taken presumably by a satellite looking down on it. The object didn’t look manmade or anything like what we have created. Because I was using a Java application, I could only get a screenshot of the picture — it did not go into my temporary internet files. At my crowning moment, someone at NASA discovered what I was doing and I was disconnected.”

I also got access to Excel spreadsheets. One was titled “Non-Terrestrial Officers.” It contained names and ranks of U.S. Air Force personnel who are not registered anywhere else. It also contained information about ship-to-ship transfers, but I’ve never seen the names of these ships noted anywhere else.

Banned from using the internet, Gary also spoke to Spencer Kelly to tell his side of the story, ahead of his extradition hearing on Wednesday, 10 May. You can read what he had to say here.

Spencer Kelly: Here’s your list of charges: you hacked into the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Department of Defense, and Nasa, amongst other things. Why?

Gary McKinnon: I was in search of suppressed technology, laughingly referred to as UFO technology. I think it’s the biggest kept secret in the world because of its comic value, but it’s a very important thing.

Old-age pensioners can’t pay their fuel bills, countries are invaded to award oil contracts to the West, and meanwhile secretive parts of the secret government are sitting on suppressed technology for free energy.

SK: How did you go about trying to find the stuff you were looking for in Nasa, in the Department of Defense?

GM: Unlike the press would have you believe, it wasn’t very clever. I searched for blank passwords, I wrote a tiny Perl script that tied together other people’s programs that search for blank passwords, so you could scan 65,000 machines in just over eight minutes.

SK: So you’re saying that you found computers which had a high-ranking status, administrator status, which hadn’t had their passwords set – they were still set to default?

GM: Yes, precisely.

SK: Were you the only hacker to make it past the slightly lower-than-expected lines of defence?

GM: Yes, exactly, there were no lines of defence. There was a permanent tenancy of foreign hackers. You could run a command when you were on the machine that showed connections from all over the world, check the IP address to see if it was another military base or whatever, and it wasn’t…

SK: Over what kind of period were you hacking into these computers? Was it a one-time only, or for the course of a week?

GM: Oh no, it was a couple of years.

SK: And you went unnoticed for a couple of years?

GM: Oh yes. I used to be careful about the hours.

SK: So you would log on in the middle of the night, say?

GM: Yes, I’d always be juggling different time zones. Doing it at night time there’s hopefully not many people around. But there was one occasion when a network engineer saw me and actually questioned me and we actually talked to each other via WordPad, which was very, very strange.

SK: So what did he say? And what did you say?

GM: He said “What are you doing?” which was a bit shocking. I told him I was from Military Computer Security, which he fully believed.

SK: Did you find what you were looking for?

GM: Yes.

SK: Tell us about it.

GM: There was a group called the Disclosure Project. They published a book which had 400 expert witnesses ranging from civilian air traffic controllers, through military radar operators, right up to the chaps who were responsible for whether or not to launch nuclear missiles.

They are some very credible, relied upon people, all saying yes, there is UFO technology, there’s anti-gravity, there’s free energy, and it’s extra-terrestrial in origin, and we’ve captured spacecraft and reverse-engineered it.

SK: What did you find inside Nasa?

GM: One of these people was a Nasa photographic expert, and she said that in building eight of Johnson Space Centre they regularly airbrushed out images of UFOs from the high-resolution satellite imaging. What she said was there was there: there were folders called “filtered” and “unfiltered”, “processed” and “raw”, something like that.

I got one picture out of the folder, and bearing in mind this is a 56k dial-up, so a very slow internet connection, in dial-up days, using the remote control programme I turned the colour down to 4bit colour and the screen resolution really, really low, and even then the picture was still juddering as it came onto the screen.

But what came on to the screen was amazing. It was a culmination of all my efforts. It was a picture of something that definitely wasn’t man-made.

It was above the Earth’s hemisphere. It kind of looked like a satellite. It was cigar-shaped and had geodesic domes above, below, to the left, the right and both ends of it, and although it was a low-resolution picture it was very close up.

This thing was hanging in space, the earth’s hemisphere visible below it, and no rivets, no seams, none of the stuff associated with normal man-made manufacturing.

SK: Is it possible this is an artist’s impression?

GM: I don’t know… For me, it was more than a coincidence. This woman has said: “This is what happens, in this building, in this space centre”. I went into that building, that space centre, and saw exactly that.

SK: Do you have a copy of this? It came down to your machine.

GM: No, the graphical remote viewer works frame by frame. It’s a Java application, so there’s nothing to save on your hard drive, or at least if it is, only one frame at a time.

SK: So did you get the one frame?

GM: No.

SK: What happened?

GM: Once I was cut off, my picture just disappeared.

SK: You were actually cut off the time you were downloading the picture?

GM: Yes, I saw the guy’s hand move across.

SK: You acknowledge that what you did was against the law, it was wrong, don’t you?

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by Iain Mackenzie

	Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

During the 1960’s and into the late 1980’s during the “Free Trade Election“, Canadian nationalism pivoted on affirming Canada’s political economic independence from the United States. The other characteristic of that nationalism, was that it was anchored in a “English Canadian” identity, mindful of America’s historical imperial ambitions against Canada.

Former Pierre Elliot Trudeau sought to transform that “English Canadian nationalism” into a pan-Canadian context, inspired by bilingualism, and repatriating Canada’s constitution from colonial oversight, by Britain. Unfortunately, Mr. Trudeau was not successful in his national unity efforts, in relation to consolidating a pan-Canadian identity. Arguably, Mr. Trudeau while winning referendums against Quebec separatism in the relative short term, essentially in the long term, fanned the flames of Quebec separatism. Mr. Trudeau’s elite conception of politics, also undermined his abilities to help foster an enduring social consciousness in Canada, that could follow in his footsteps to defend Canada against the sell-outs that he battled against.

	Traitors among Us is a book for further reading on this subject.

In order to save Canada from a fascist agenda which is aimed at creating a Global Empire under the mantra of “Globalization”, Canadians need to champion a new nationalism.

This new nationalism, within the multicultural and officially “bilingual” context of Canada, needs to critically appreciate and affirm the cosmopolitan identity of Canada.

The new Canadian nationalism must operate independent from political elites, an must be unlike the former Canadian nationalism, which pivoted on championing by a small group of loyal elites that have since all sold out. Canadians need to therefore champion their own nationalism, in the context of defending their system of rights and privileges to be Canadians free of foreign control and exploitation. This includes, for example, defending Canada’s social fabric and programmes including universal public healthcare, and our cultural heritage.

The new nationalism needs to be inclusive, and must build on the dynamism of Canada as a multicultural and de facto multilingual society. The new Canadian nationalism must also confront the political deception that is associated with Quebec separatism, and which is based upon re-creating Canadian history in the image of elites that seek to rationalize the break-up of Canada.

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by Michael X [adapted]

Does anyone recall why the British Army or Canadian armed forces is even in Afghanistan? Is it because we are freeing that country from the grips of the Taliban? Both the US and UK Governments were quite happy to provide the Taliban with both arms and funds when Afghanistan was occupied by Russia, even that arch villain, Bin Laden, was on the American payroll. So why did this relationship break down, was it because of the terrorist attack on 9/11 on the world trade centre? Hardly both the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were actually planned before that event took place.

Was it because the USA could no longer stand by whilst the country was ruled by “Islamic extremists” and a lack of “democracy”? Not at all, the USA/UK were more than happy to have business relationships with the Taliban, the problems began when the business relationship broke down. The strategic location of Afghanistan can scarcely be overstated. The Caspian Basin contains up to $16 trillion worth of oil and gas resources, and the most direct pipeline route to the richest markets is through Afghanistan.

Almost as soon as the Russians had left the Bridas Corporation of Argentina acquired production leases and exploration contracts in the region, and by November of 1996 had signed an with the Taliban to build a pipeline across Afghanistan. However the American company Unocal had other ideas, even invited the Taliban to meetings in Washington, Berlin, and Islamabad, in an effort to persuade them to cancel the contract with Bridas in exchange for a tidy package of foreign aid. Unfortunately the negotiations between the Taliban, American Government officials and Unocal broke down. According to an article in the UK Guardian, State Department official Christina Rocca told the Taliban at their last pipeline negotiation in August of 2001, just five weeks before 9/11, “Accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs.”

So to conclude the occupation of Afghanistan doesn’t have any noble motives, it is based purely on greed-driven economics, and an US/UK attempt to control the Middle East oil reserves, which also explains the occupation of Iraq and the current threats against Iran over their non-existent nuclear weapons.

Our problem in the UK is that none of this appears likely to change in the short term as was confirmed recently by Brown standing next to George W. Bush, the world’s greatest terrorist, like an obedient puppy dog, promising to put at risk even more British lives, in the interests of American hegemony.

Original source: LINK

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by Susan Riley

What if the Harper government’s approach to the environment — rolling back previous safeguards, endlessly delaying regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, failing even to make serious efforts at conservation — doesn’t simply reflect indifference, neglect, or a single-minded attempt to shelter the lucrative and polluting tarsands?

What if the real, unstated, goal is to withdraw the federal government from environmental regulation altogether and hand full responsibility to the provinces? Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who has followed federal environmental policy for decades and over the course of several governments, is convinced that is the prime minister’s end game.

While the Constitution treats the environment as a shared responsibility, Conservatives want to rewrite the rules “so the federal government doesn’t have a role at all,” she says. That fits with Harper’s “libertarian” notion that government is largely an impediment to peoples’ lives, outside of providing a few basic services.

For evidence, she cites the recent budget, which announced that environmental reviews of major energy projects would now be undertaken by the National Energy Board and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission –both regarded as pro-industry — rather than the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, established in 1994.

This bombshell, mostly overlooked in an otherwise uneventful budget, was followed by a low-key announcement that the environment minister will now have wide-ranging powers to limit environmental assessments of contentious projects to specific elements — a road into the site, for instance, or a nearby waterway.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice insists his government remains committed to oversight and his goal is only to reduce needless delay and duplication.

May says this is a canard — that federal and provincial governments often run joint, rather than competing, reviews; that each level of government has different, if related, green mandates; and, that, without federal participation, there will be less scrutiny overall.

Quebec’s best-known environmentalist, Steven Guilbeault of Equiterre, agrees both levels of government have “complementary” interests that rarely overlap. “Are you going to suggest that Ottawa shouldn’t have a health ministry, because Quebec does?” he asks.

This latest tinkering follows another under-the-radar move in a previous budget that ended up “gutting,” in May’s words, the federal navigable waters protection act by redefining what is “navigable” and, therefore, entitled to protection.

These measures — together with the fact that billions in federal stimulus spending was dispensed without a thought to environmental gains — suggests to May a retreat in the face of inexorable pressure from industry for less “red tape,” and a reflection of Harper’s attitude that green regulation is a job-killing nuisance.

“If this government’s policy goals were ever stated clearly, Canadians would be up in arms,” says May. “So they talk about ‘realistic’ targets, and ‘duplication.’ They are very careful to disguise the most anti-environmental agenda of any government ever.”

Besides being an environmental lawyer and long-time activist, May, of course, is Harper’s political rival. But she isn’t the only one struck by the disconnect between the government’s more conciliatory tone since Prentice became minister and its retrograde, or contradictory, actions.

Four months ago, for instance, Prentice designated Nunavut’s Lancaster Sound, a playground for whales and polar bears, as a potential national marine park. This week, the Citizen reported another arm of government, the Geological Survey of Canada, will be surveying the seabed this summer for oil and gas deposits.

Then there was the recent retreat on climate change, promoted as an advance. After an under-whelming performance at Copenhagen in December, the Conservatives committed to reducing emissions by 17 per cent under 2005 levels to match U.S. targets — not acknowledging that this was a climb-down from the 20-per-cent reduction from 2006 levels they originally promised.

In any event, targets hardly matter since this government, like its Liberal predecessors, has yet to produce long-promised regulations restricting carbon emissions, industry by industry. They haven’t even done the easier things, such as regulating water use by the tarsands or protecting caribou and other habitat around Fort McMurray.

Instead, they’ve ended a popular home retrofit program, cut funding for climate science, championed the seal hunt, allowed the continued export of asbestos, insisted on our right to harvest endangered fish species and, essentially, turned us into an international disgrace.

Last week, the government did embrace tougher North American tailpipe standards for cars and light trucks starting in 2011. But this advance was driven by the Obama administration and resisted, for years, by both Liberal and Conservative governments.

Harper has promised to move in lockstep with our biggest trading partner on environmental regulation — a timid approach, perhaps, but the only hope for Canadians looking for a green future.

In fact, with the provinces taking over domestic policy and the U.S. determining our international standards, he can wash his hands of the environment entirely.  And is.

Susan Riley writes on national politics.

E-mail sriley.work@gmail.com

Edited by John Stokes

PHOTO:  Elizabeth May, Green Party of Canada leader

OTTAWA — The Green Party of Canada supports the call from the people of the communities of Abitibiwinni, Kicisakik, Las Simon, Wahgoshig, Eagle Village, Kitigan Zibi and Long Point for the Government of Canada to recognize their traditional territory and consult with them on matters related to land use.

The Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council held an event on Parliament Hill on April 21, 2010 and presented a map drawn on moose hide, depicting the area of their traditional territory along with a declaration to the Government of Canada. These items were presented to parliamentarians in order that the Government of Canada have a record of this decree.

“These people have a right to reaffirm their rights to their territory.  They are calling for an end to the exploitation of the resources on their land and they want their concerns addressed adequately,” said Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada.

“Consultation with Indigenous peoples has been ordered by the courts in several Supreme Court decisions.  It’s pure folly to ignore legal requirements,” said Lorraine Rekmans, Aboriginal Affairs Critic for the Green Party.

The Algonquin are seeking full recognition from the Government of Canada regarding title and rights to their traditional territories.  They are demanding that any development in their territory be done in full consultation with Algonquin leaders and their peoples.

“Land use in Canada must recognize the legal interests that original peoples hold.  Land allocation exercises must be fully inclusive of indigenous peoples,” said Rekmans.

According to the internationally adopted and recognized human rights standards outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) ; “Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired” (Article 26).

The Declaration also calls on States to establish and implement, in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned, a fair, independent, impartial, open and transparent process, giving due recognition to indigenous peoples’ laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems” (Article 27).

And finally in Article 32(1), the UNDRIP states that “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. (2) States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral water or other resources.”

“Many of the principles in UNDRIP are consistent with what Canadian courts are finding.  I am calling on the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs and the Prime Minister of Canada to give full attention to the issues brought forward by the Algonquin leadership.  After saying they are about to sign the declaration, they must demonstrate good faith and act accordingly,” said May.

“This has been going on too long.  Canada needs to begin working towards resolution and reconciliation of interests with the Algonquin people.  I hope this historic decree isn’t something that parliament ignores.  Too many issues are left unaddressed leading us to increased scenarios of conflict and continued marginalization of the people,” said Rekmans.

Edited by John Stokes

OTTAWA — The Green Party of Canada is urging Prime Minister Harper to not block negotiations at international meetings next week that would allow other countries to label genetically modified (GM) foods.

Governments will negotiate food labelling standards at the United Nations Codex meeting in Quebec City from May 3-7.  Developing countries are seeking support from Codex for their right to label GM foods as they see fit.  It’s widely speculated that Canada and the US will try to shut down negotiations on GM labelling so that developing countries will have no protection from challenges through the World Trade organization.

“Polls show that over 80% of Canadians want mandatory labelling of GM foods,” said Green party leader Elizabeth May.  “Harper must abandon his opposition to GM labelling and instruct his delegation to the Codex meeting to respect the will of Canadians and other countries.”

Harper justifies Canada’s position against GM labelling by claiming that genetically engineered plants are no different from plants created by conventional breeding, a position not supported by science and one that should not be used to block consensus at the Codex meeting.

“The Green party supports the right of other countries to label GM foods and would legislate mandatory labelling in Canada,” said Green party agriculture critic Sharon Labchuk. “We would transition the industrial food production system to organic agriculture where current organic certification standards prohibit planting GM crops.”

A group of anti-smoking Montreal teenagers wants Quebec to follow Australia’s lead and force tobacco companies to use plain, logo-free packaging on cigarettes.

Australia’s government introduced legislation on Thursday proposing a ban on cigarette logos and coloured packaging, as a measure to discourage smokers from lighting up.

Quebec should consider following Australia’s lead, said a group of Montreal youths who took their message public.

They staged a guerrilla fashion show at the Berri-UQÀM metro station to mock how cigarettes are marketed to young, fashion-conscious consumers.

Young models wearing bright, modern clothing strutted down a makeshift runway while an announcer – tongue firmly in cheek – described their outfits using cigarette slogans such as “sleek”, “classic,” “slim” and “innovative.”

Teens are vulnerable to the tobacco industry’s fashion-influenced pitch, said Ioana Capilnian, 16.

“A popular IPod colour is green, so … [companies] make a green package for cigarettes. And teenagers are really falling for this,” and other packaging gimmicks, said Capilnian, who helped organize Thursday’s event.

Esthetically pleasing packages distract from mandatory health warnings found on cigarette packs, explained anti-smoking activist Josée Daoust.

And teen smoking is still a major problem in Quebec, where “650 teenagers start smoking each week,” said Daoust, who works with the province’s Council on Tobacco and Health.

The council is helping Capilnian and her friends launch a petition calling for stricter cigarette packaging regulations.

For better or for worse?

by Amanda Wilson

PHOTO: Organic Underground, a Belleville, ON, co-operative cafe, is one of many Canadian co-ops facing the tension between keeping their mandate and meeting the expectations of funding agencies. Reference: Organic Underground.

OTTAWA — Securing financing is a challenge for any new business, but if you happen to be a co-operative it’s particularly difficult, says Lynne Markell, Government Affairs Policy Advisor with the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA). “Traditional lenders don’t understand co-ops and there is a large dependence on members to provide the initial capital.”

Faced with banks and agencies that expect profits to override other concerns, the co-operative movement is beginning to look within for solutions, but challenges remain.

Traditional lending institutions seek applicants that are low-risk, high return. Formally or informally, lenders impose a set of conditions upon those seeking financing to ensure they are a “desirable” investment. By requiring a particular kind of business plan, management structure, or certain profit margins, lenders can influence co-operatives seeking financing to conform with traditional notions of how businesses are run. What is desirable from the perspective of the lender may not be desirable for the co-operative members, or the values they are trying to maintain.

Co-operatives seeking to build an organization that redistributes resources and decision-making to their members or their community are faced with the awkward situation of seeking funds from institutions that will steer them towards values opposed to their own.

While co-operatives are eligible for many Federal Government financing programs, few co-operatives are successful in securing loans. In the past five years, the Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) has made only 65 loans worth a total of $5.5 million to co-operative businesses (on average the CSBFP disperses 10,000 loans worth $1 billion per year). In addition, the agriculture financing program, the Canadian Agricultural Loans Act (CALA), did not make a single loan to agriculture co-operatives in 2009.

Sometimes it’s a case of not understanding the co-operative model. In response to a question about eligibility for a loan, one private funding program responded that co-operatives were eligible, so long as the individual applying for the loan held at least 50 per cent ownership in the business. This effectively eliminates all co-operatives since the basis of their model is collective ownership amongst all members.

One member of a worker co-operative in Montreal compared the relationship between co-operatives and mainstream funders as “jamming a round peg into a square hole.”

Sandra Mark and Frank Moreland, organizers of the Vancouver Food Co-op, vent their frustrations at the financing options for new co-operatives, in the latest issue of Making Waves. They lament that co-ops face a myriad of catch-22s and barriers to accessing capital and conclude that “social enterprises themselves and our friends in the general public need to enter the capitalization arena. If we wish to scale-up community economies we need to be ready with our own dollars to start the flow of capital.”

These concerns have been voiced for years within the co-operative movement. In response, the CCA and the Conseil Canadien de la Cooperation et de la Mutualite are lobbying the Federal Government for the creation of a Co-operative Investment Strategy. The two-part proposal consists of a Co-operative Investment Plan and a Co-operative Development Fund, both of which aim to provide increased financing options for co-operatives in Canada. The idea behind the proposals is to generate investment from within the co-operative movement itself — from members, employers and supporters.

Under the CIP, members and employees of worker or agriculture co-operatives would receive a tax credit for investing in their co-operative. The CCA estimates the CIP could generate upwards of $125 million in new investment, while costing the government only $17 to $20 million in lost tax revenue.

The proposed Co-operative Development Fund would operate as a loan fund, providing a source of low-interest loans to co-operatives. After an initial cash injection of $70 million from the Federal Government, the Fund would be self-sustaining. A similar program in Quebec, the Regime d’Investissement Cooperatif (RIC) has generated nearly $500 million since its inception in 1985, according to the Canadian Co-operative Association.

Several smaller co-op-led financing programs are already in existence. One, the Tenacity Works Fund, created and managed by the Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation (CWCF), provides an investment of $15-50,000 to worker co-operatives.

According to Hazel Corcoran, Executive Director of CWCF, the Tenacity Works fund is too small to meet the full range of needs of worker co-operatives, which is why, she argues, the movement needs the Investment Strategy put forth by the CCA.

Despite widespread support for the program (including an endorsement from the House of Commons Finance Committee), the CIP was not included in the Federal Government’s latest budget, tabled March 4.

Even if the programs are adopted in the future, challenges remain. The CIP rests on the assumption that members and employees of co-operatives have money to invest in their co-op. In addition, for a Co-operative Development Fund to be successful, there needs to be buy-in not only from the Federal Government but also from the co-operative sector as a whole. So far, the co-operative movement has not been able to come together to form a national development fund, putting the principles of co-operatives supporting co-operatives into practice.

As co-operatives struggle to secure the necessary financing, are they falling into the trap of conforming to the capitalist business model and capitalist financial institutions? Even financing programs from within the co-operative movement bring a particular understanding of a “successful” co-operative, and tend to guide co-operatives towards conventional business standards and practices.

Some insight might be drawn from the experience of the non-profit sector. INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, the editorial collective behind The Revolution Will not be Funded (published 2007), sharply criticized the non-profit movement for having become obsessed with the financial sustainability of their organizations, arguing that it has fundamentally weakened the movements it supposedly supports. They book quotes Ella Baker who argues, “We’re getting praise from places that worry me,” meaning perhaps it should be a concern that NGOs are perfectly in line with the priorities of funders.

Samuel Kuhn, one of the founding members of the Organic Underground, a co-op cafe in downtown Belleville, Ontario, said the tension between needing money to run the cafe and not wanting to conform to the requirements of financing institutions is constant. “We’ve faced so many funding crises in our three years that it seems unbelievable that we are still around…but we are!”

Perhaps that’s one of the strengths of the co-operative model: Organic Underground’s progressive politics and commitment to sustaining a community-run space has resulted in a loyal membership base. The Cafe, said Kuhn, manages to stay afloat despite the odds, “…surviving on spontaneous community donations or latte sales.”

For more information, visit the Cooperative Investment Strategy, and the Principles of Cooperation, developed by the International Co-operative Alliance.

Amanda Wilson is a writer and researcher in Ottawa. She currently works within the co-operative sector.

internet site reference: LINK

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by Dr. John Singh

In the article “Mental Illness: Alzheimer’s, Dementia and Manipulative Extraterrestrials”, it was acknowledged that: “At this time, we do not yet know what causes Alzheimer’s disease or how to stop its progression.” Apparently researchers have at least discovered that “it is not a part of normal aging; and that it “affects both men and women”; and “is more common in people as they age”. Researchers have also apparently concluded that it is “not caused by hardening of the arteries”, and is also “not caused by stress.” LINK .

Researchers across disciplines have acknowledged that the collective memory of societies is vital to the affirmation of identities that become a basis of resisting elite-driven attempts to undermine those rights. For example, European colonizers sought to use the religion to destroy indigenous knowledge and spirituality. In so doing, European colonizers sought to re-shape aboriginal peoples into an image that would lead them to be subservient to European elites. In today’s modern society, elites seek to control as much of the mass media and educational system that they can use to dumb down targeted population groups.

This dumbing-down process has apparently included, denying the existence of Manipulative Extraterrestrial contacts with human elites. Notwithstanding, a substantial amount of evidence. This includes research documents by scholars like Dr. Michael Salla, numerous testimony by ‘whistleblowers’, and representations by victims of alien abductions.

The problem with conventional methods of destroying the collective memory of societies, is that it takes time, a lot of money, and it is by no means perfect. Many people might become indoctrinated; but many people might also be resistant to indoctrination.

But suppose a specific technology could be harnessed that could effectively destroy the memories of targeted populations? What if, the very same Manipulative Extraterrestrials that supposedly do not exist, could help in such a process? Sounds farfetched, but Dr. Salla specifically alleges in his book entitled Exopolitics the existence of such a Military-Industrial-Extraterrestrial [Manipulative] Complex. LINK

Indeed, Dr. John Lash refers to Gnostic accounts of the very same aliens documented by Dr. Salla as being psycho-spiritual parasites, that have sought to undermine human free will, that is associated with neurological processes. Indeed, George Orwell on Ignorance and Strength (1949) states:

.

The American Cognitive Civil Liberties Association (ACLA) documents:

Western Capitalism is spawning a societal context, where elites seek to purse ultimate forms of control and manipulations of targeted population groups toward the pursuit of insatiable greed and power. If the regressive aliens that have been identified in scholarly and other accounts, can help provide the technical coordination of such a collective agenda against human free will, then, based upon the capitalist mentality, these elites would cooperate with regressive aliens in an illicit, but “profitable” trade to acquire it.

If Dr. Salla, Dr. John Lash and other investigative researchers are correct, the dementia ‘epidemic’ could be only the early stages of an alien-inspired eugenics efforts to wipe the collective memory clean of “unfavourable attitudes” among targeted population groups. Dementia, may be symptomatic of this social psychological related “experiments” in the efforts of elites to pursue, in cooperation with the aliens, ultimate forms of capitalist power and social control.

However, then again, maybe dementia is just a “coincidence” of nature?

Recommended Readings:

Check out Agora Publishing Consortium titles. LINK