By Steve Rowan
(The following commentary flows from a note Steve Rowan, an ol’ Yankee innkeeper on ol’ Cape Cod, sent to Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper. It is a slice of some of the conservations we have around the innkeeper’s fireplace.)
ar Doug, I owe you much gratitude. 
Through your tireless coverage of the Niagara region, the threats in your towns caused by excessive and destructive commercial building, the corruption of the educational system through manipulations by the leaders of the university systems-whose strikes and actions literally cost and threaten students with tremendous financial costs and excessive time to achieve their degrees, these are issues on a local level that the average reader somehow has to hear about.
You’ve done a fine job, tirelessly telling the story, presenting the readers with information that will enable change both in the operation of your society, but information that will enable the readers to see a balance perspective. This perspective is about the rights of man and the rights of people in a fair society.
To that spirit I’ve been drawn and have taken time to reflect some of my concerns about the frustrations this little Innkeeper in Brewster faces … and you, poor chap, have somehow become my sounding board. Can you imagine the stress facing Bradley Manning and also Julia Assange??
Now I see the cover up tactics by the US Gov, scrambling furiously to protect themselves from reality. Reality is coming into focus for the average citizen. It is recognizing corruption and illegal military actions against sovereign states…oops that wasn’t an illegal war it was a ‘pre-emptive strike’…. but honestly, didn’t we label that as a ‘Blitzkrieg’ when Nazi Germany did it?
Is this the beginning of a new world? WikiLeaks represents the source of inspiration for democratic freedoms, for a universal bill of rights, for the separation of the rights of people from the structures and power of businesses and corrupt government, for the right to speak freely and call elected officials almost immediately to task for crimes against the liberties of the average citizens of the world. This would probably give credence to liberation movements around the world, but also invigorate the peoples suffering from despotism, fanaticism, royalty and military regimes. What times we face. Ireland seems to be leading the charge. I heard one fellow state that the people shouldn’t be held fiscally liable for unscrupulous exploitative profiteers in the business world and also corrupt governmental practices.
Time to stop the lobbyists’ and the ‘baksheesh’ from their agents in search of special governmental favors and deals so that they can increase their profits. It would be one thing if we all got some sort of fair share, but the system is not built for the average citizen-its built for more and more profit for the management and investment forces. Got to keep our society under control to keep the profit going to the right people. Wouldn’t it be cool if the average guy began to understand that the interests of a big business might not be in agreement with the needs of the citizens of a country?
That might lead to an understanding what life is really about- living a good life, working and earning a living, taking responsibility for others in your community. To me the most bizarre law is the one created in California back in the 19th Century that awarded Business Corporations the same rights as a person. I think that the rights of people were then reduced to serve the rights of the more important corporations.
You have to watch the internet program: Democracynow.org. On the program, Noam Chomsky reported a great portion of the current North American economy is based upon the financial market’s manipulations that generate no product, but generates additional wealth for the already rich wealth management class. In other words the productivity of our society has been ruined by the investment managers seeking profitable manufacturing locations such as China and Indonesia.
The average citizen is not important in comparison to the achievement of wealth and profit. Chomsky also spoke about the ‘bitter hatred of Democracy’ that the US Government and the Dictators around the world share. Chomsky indicated that WikiLeaks is showing that the US and its allies are “Not Honest brokers” of ‘peace and freedoms’.
I also think that WikiLeaks enables citizens of the affected countries to protect themselves from the duplicity and manipulations of their own leaders who are actually not working for freedom and democracy. In contrast the leaders are manipulating to keep the Kings, Dictators, ruling management and investment classes etc in power…even though they speak of their interpretation of ‘freedom and democracy’. But in reality it’s a power play to prevent real democracy from gaining a foothold. Chomsky cited a recent poll among the Arab peoples on the issue of Nuclear Threats and threats to life in the Midddle East and apparently 80% of the people cited Israel as the #1 threat, 77% said that the U.S. was the second most dangerous threat, and Iran was seen as a 10% threat. I wonder if we could find such reporting in the U.S. and for that measure in the Canadian press? The dream of freedom and democracy can’t be contained and prosecuted out of existence.
It’s time for the new world government to arise. Let the world speak together on the internet, let communication begin to isolate the corruption and militarism of the liars and similar folks calling themselves ‘diplomats’. It’s time to proclaim that our values have to concern the citizens first. Wikileaks can’t be stopped. It’s like a Pandora’s Box, like the gift of fire from Prometheus, he dared the wrath of Zeus to help mankind. Sort of similar to the threatened prosecutorial wrath of the American Government and Hillary, the Stout Defender of Truth.
It’s just too much to deal with.
Steve Rowan is a resident of Brewster Massachusetts who also owns a residence on Wolfe Island, Ontario
(Visit Niagara At Large at http://www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to our greater binational Niagara region.)
Niagara At Large 
I can agree with most of what is written. One point that should be made is that we as Canadian people, not citizens, need to correct our political system and restore the Bank of Canada to its rightful position of creating the money needed to run the country interest and debt free. After that step is taken it is then that we can again have control of the destiny of Canada. For its people!
Glenn Hutton
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Dear Doug, Your blogs create an area of discussion that needs to take place how else will we find a consensus of opinion? .The Town Crier of the past announced news after the fact, we can start the discussion before we are dictated too, by the movers and shakers of this world,we the people had no imput on NAFTA the brainchild of the Chamber of Commerce of USA and Canada ,so we paid a huge loss of jobs in the transition, we the people were frozen out, and paid the price. Doug, keep up the good work.
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