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Caledonia vs Ipperwash vs Oka
Article posted May 4, 2009 at 02:20 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 1082
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We all know what happened in Oka, Quebec. We know of the cruelty that was bestowed on the Mohawk people by the Canadian government. More recently, in Ipperwash Provincial Park and in the small town of Caledonia, more problems occurred. These are two more examples of the Canadian government mistreating native peoples.
In Ipperwash Provincial Park near London, since the beginnings of Canada there was tension. The natives that occupied Ipperwash Provincial Park were having a peaceful, unarmed protest. The OPP was brought in, and a man named Dudley George was shot and killed in September of 1995. This conflict goes way back between the Natives and the Government. All of the disputes were about land. In 2007 this was brought to justice with Mike Harris (former premier of Ontario) and the government taking the blame.
Unlike Ipperwash, Caledonia was not a peaceful standoff. When the native peoples of Caledonia were not being heard, they felt they must take a stand like other natives from around the country. Unlike other colonies, they were violent in their ways of protesting. The Provincial government headed By McGuinty was too afraid to take action. Finally, once Caledonia was in ruins (financially and physically) the natives stopped they’re violent protests.
The Mohawks of Oka is a different story then Ipperwash and Caledonia. All of the land and rights reasons aside, the Mohawks of Oka didn’t resort to violence until absolutely necessary. After they’re land was being violated and the government wouldn’t listen, they resorted to violence. This strategy proved to be affective.
All of these incidents were far from pleasant and we must learn from all of them. Violence should only be used as a last resort. Negotiating with words is a better way of trying to get what you want.
"CBC News In Depth: Ipperwash." CBC.ca - Canadian News Sports Entertainment Kids Docs Radio TV. 03 May 2009 <http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/ipperwash/>.
"Jonathan Kay on the scandal of Caledonia - Full Comment." CS Redir. 03 May 2009 <http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2007/09/16/jonathan-kay-on-the-scandal-of-caledonia.aspx>.
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Article posted May 4, 2009 at 02:20 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 1082
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Oka in Perception
Article posted April 27, 2009 at 12:40 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 137
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When the Mohawks of Oka, Quebec were confronted with the town wanting to expand their golf course onto Mohawk land, they made a stand for their land and participated in a standoff. At first, the provincial police and the Mohawks were trying to make an agreement so both parties could be satisfied. This never happened. Soon after there was little success in negotiations, the police raided the Mohawks land, there was gunshots fired and a police officer was killed.
Mohawks outraged with the intrusion, they fought back. The Mohawk Warriors created a barricade using flipped over police cars. This barricade was always heavily guarded by armed Mohawk Warriors. The police began to feel frightened, so they felt they had to do something back. They taunted the Mohawks in many ways, when this didn’t break their spirit; they called in for more help.
The Canadian army got involved. Soon enough each party (Mohawks, Canadian army) were staring each other down. The standoff lasted for several weeks. By now, the news of the standoff had travelled all over the world. There were news reporters on the scene and the Canadian government faced harsh criticism from the rest of the world.
Finally, on September the 26th the Mohawks stood down and released themselves to the army. They were roughed up, and then sent to jails (not for long). Although this was a terrible thing that happened in Canada, I think this was necessary. The Mohawks of Oka were a great model for all First Nation peoples around the world. Standing up for themselves and their land. The Mohawks stood up for their rights. In the end, the golf course was not expanded. The golfers had to settle for only 9 holes!
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Article posted April 27, 2009 at 12:40 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 137
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Debeers and the worlds lust for diamonds
Article posted April 21, 2009 at 12:30 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 158
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-Debeers has manipulated diamond trade all over the world
-They were the first to make diamonds known as a symbol of love
-First to make diamonds extremely valuable
-Pre 1900’s diamonds were only worn by royalty
-Debeers changes that
-They mined so many diamonds that the prices dropped considerably
-Debeers solves this problem by making an illusion that diamonds are rare and scarce
-They do this by selling diamonds to stores to sell to the public
-The key is to sell the diamonds to the store very slowly so the prices will be higher
-Debeers advertising campaigns are to make people think diamonds are a symbol of; wealth, power, prestige, true love and status
-Debeers’ technique to create the perception of diamond scarcity only works if they have no competition
-They get rid of their competition simply by buying out the company, or if that doesn’t work they manipulate things around them so eventually the company will go out of business
-By doing this they have a complete monopoly over the cruel industry of blood diamonds
As I have said before there are many keys to the company “Debeers’) extreme success. One thing for sure is that they are a manipulating smart, company!
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Article posted April 21, 2009 at 12:30 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 158
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Compare and Contrast: Blood Diamond-Chanda's Secrets
Article posted April 13, 2009 at 10:51 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 282
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Today, I will be comparing and contrasting the movie Blood Diamond, to the book Chanda’s Secrets. Blood Diamond is a major Hollywood film. In the movie, a man finds a large diamond, which sets of a long chain of events emphasizing the cruelty of the diamond trade as well as life in Africa. The book Chanda’s Secrets is a book about a family (particularly) a girl’s tough life in Africa. The book includes the harsh reality of AIDS and death as well as other treacherous hardships.
There are lots of similarities in these two sad stories. Both illustrate the tough life that Africans must endure, they both include poverty as well as very poor people. Although AIDS isn’t the biggest problem in the movie Blood Diamond, like it is in Chanda’s Secrets, it is still touched upon. In both stories the characters want to get out of Africa to leave a better life. This is the case for many, many people living in Africa. In both, there were different degrees of people’s wealth. As an example; Ms. Tafa in Chanda’s Secrets and the South African’s in Blood Diamond.
There are many similarities between Blood Diamond and Chanda’s secrets, there are also differences. In Blood Diamond, there is a much heavier spot-light on war and the cruelty of the diamond trade, whereas in Chanda’s secrets AIDS was the main problem. Blood Diamond was more of a broader view of African life, while Chanda’s Secrets was more focused on 1 family’s problems. Overall, there was more wealth shown in Blood Diamond, there was more people with cars in (what seemed like) more developed places.
Both stories were revealing to the cruel African way of life. No matter which way one looks at Africa there are many problems than meets the eye. People must continue to try and help this continent, so the 68 million people there can have a chance.
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Article posted April 13, 2009 at 10:51 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 282
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Symbolism
Article posted March 29, 2009 at 08:54 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 211
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Symbolism is a very useful way to convey messages or bring out a point. But it is mostly used to simplify things and let the reader (or looker) put their own spin on it, to nake it something in their own mind.
Symbolism is used in the book Chanda's Secrets. An example of it in the book is the rich white businessmen that stay at the hotel. To Chanda and the rest of the African villagers, they represent the outside world. The represent the better life in continentss like; Australia, North America and Europe.
Symbolism is also used affectively in our western society. A commonly used example is the nike check mark. When you see a black check mark your mind shifts to nike. Whether it's the actual products or the commercials or whatever...you still are giving them your attention, which they hope will translate to your money.
Symbolism can be used for many ways. Whether it is one person representing a whole race, or a little mark representing a muliti-billion dollar corporation, symoblism is used.
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Article posted March 29, 2009 at 08:54 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 211
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Editorial on Federer vs. Nadal original by: Sam Beckerman
Article posted March 1, 2009 at 05:02 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 279
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Editorial: The King of Spin vs. The Master of Precision
As Sam mentioned, the rivalry of Federer and Nadal is a rivalry like no other in sports today. These two guys are so utterly dominant at tennis that when they face each other it is always a match for the ages. Recently, the younger, faster Nadal has been winning a good percent of all their matches. I don’t think that this is a coincidence.
Roger Federer had about a year and a half of brutal dominance. Until the young Spaniard Raphael Nadal came into the picture. One thing is for sure, if either Nadal or Federer didn’t exist, the other one would completely dominate the sport of tennis. However, this is not the case.
In my opinion Federer still has a very small step-up on Nadal. Obviously, Federer has a tough time facing Nadal but I think he is not quite done with being the best. But Nadal is younger and has an extremely bright future ahead of him. For now though, Federer (in my eyes) remains the king of the court.
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Article posted March 1, 2009 at 05:02 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 279
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Damion Cox
Article posted February 16, 2009 at 10:52 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 156
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Damion Cox is a highly acclaimed sports-columist in the Toronto Star. Recently he has been linked with TSN, being on air during their pre/post game coverage of the Leafs. He has never been afraid to voice his opinion loud and clear, some people really don't agree with what he writes about, but then, some do.
Cox is always very descriptive with his writing, using a lot of adjectives to bring out his point. Using synonys for 'bad' over and over again to describe the Leafs team is something common for him to do.
Like mostly all journalists, he uses the H5W's when writing an article and he has the indroductory paragraph, facts etc... But what really makes him stands out are his strong well-thought out opinions which (even live on TSN) he never ever alters his point of view.
Many people like him, many don't but one thing for sure, he's a good journalist.
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Article posted February 16, 2009 at 10:52 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 156
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Review: NBA live 2009 for the XBox 360
Article posted February 1, 2009 at 06:48 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 193
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To start off by saying I do not have a x-box, or any system. So my review will be not biased because it is on the 360. I have played this game on the PS3, the Wii and the 360, and the XBox is the best for the game.
NBA live is by EA sports which is far less realistic than 2K9, but better. In this game you CAN do crazy dunks, you can hit outrageous three's (some of the time) and you can, to some extent, do it all with one player. But honestly, who would want a game were you're field goal percentage is something like 25%, that would just be so frustrating.
Usually the controls are the worst and most frustrating thing. These controls are not like that. With the exception of the "hot-spot" button being hard to press, the game is very easy and extremely fun.
The graphics are better than any other NBA live, but they get better every year so no surprise there. An interesting part of this game is it is very heavily sponsored by; Adidas, Sprite and ESPN. Which again is pretty obvious why they did that. I think a lot of people would mind that, but i think it's quite cool.
As you can probably understand by now i think this is a great game and i completely recommend it.
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Article posted February 1, 2009 at 06:48 PM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 193
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FHH select
Article posted January 26, 2009 at 12:30 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 199
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A major part of my life right now has been select hockey. This weekend i am in a tournament requiring me to play 7 games of hockey spread out of 2.5 days. That's a lot of hockey.
My team? Meh. We keep rising and falling and tieing and losing for years now. Frankly, I am sick of it. I know people would say that that is part of the game but i really feel that my team is really, really bad. The worst part is no one knows it.
Although we (simply put) suck, their are incredible guys on the team. Pretty decent coaches (discluding a bad manager) and reliable parents. But after a long time of being lower middle class, skillwise I am just a bit sick and tired of it all.
I hope 2 weeks from now in Detroit for a huge tournament we can turn things around. But realistically, I doubt it
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Article posted January 26, 2009 at 12:30 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 199
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Philadelphia Eagles - the fall
Article posted January 26, 2009 at 12:24 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 183
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As probably many of you know i love the Philadelphia Eagles. And as many of you may know they recently made it to the NFC champion ship game- and lost. I am sad. I think there is no other way to describe how i feel.
I am sad that we (the Eagles and I) didn't make it to the super-bowl. I am not dissapointed because i honestly think we were the worse team, Arizona Cardinals (John McCain's team as well as the team that beat us) deserved it. They went to one receiver, Lucas Fitzgerald, and he was good enough to win the game.
The Eagles had a great run and we have a great core of veterans (McNabb, Westbrook and Dawkins)
surrounded by good young players (Desean Jackson...and a lot more.) But what we have to take out of this experience is that we must spread out the ball to everyone and we have to adjust quicker on defense to their offence.
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Article posted January 26, 2009 at 12:24 AM GMT0 •
comment • Reads 183
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About the Blogger
Lets Go Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Eagles!!!
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