Things you won't read in The Telegram

I like reading the people’s paper. It keeps me up to date on the comings and goings of my home province.

I find Russell Wangersky to be an extremely gifted writer. His dissection of nationalist pride and the after affects here and the best descriptive of the Danny Williams bubble/let down, lost opportunity, that I have read which articulated exactly how I have felt in regards to the Williams' administration failures and miss hits. His other recent column on the death of his mother, sifting through the memories, from cancer was also very moving, honest and heartfelt.

Geoff Meeker is also a very entertaining read with his blog Meeker on Media and pulls very few punches. He is also very quick to acknowledge times when he made errors and gives equal space and time for rebuttal.

The one part of me though has noticed a preference on the news items it presents to its readership. That preference is to bring to light any news or insinuation which shows a negative slant to PM Stephen Harper and the CPC, industry, capitalism, businesses, America (up until Obama was elected), big oil and anything which agrees with the position on the environment whereby AGW exists. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for pinning the tail on the donkey, but there's enough on both sides that deserve our attention, not just the one side. There also seems to exist a reluctance in the attempt to bring to light, in the same negative or even objective manner, those things which would hinder the more progressive agenda or refute the pre-determined views or preferred outcomes.


Thusly, I shall present over the course of this blog a thread dedicated to those things that one would expect to read in the Tely, if it wanted to be truly equal and fair, but won`t because it doesn`t support a marketplace for all ideas and views. So today I give you the premiere of `Things you won`t read in the Telelgram`.

I frequently find the tone and language projected towards the Alberta Oilsands to be negative and unbalanced in the Tely. I will point out henceforth but I have had a few gaskets blown over the outright biased shown toward that part of the country. You see the oilsands are an easy target. You have a lot of the things located there that are like a huge bullseye for a "progressive." Harper is from AB and conservatism in Canada is rooted there and because of that conservatives are mostly red necked-bible thumpin-shotgun totin-women hatin-dirt farmin simpletons who are slaves to big oil. Ah yes Big oil. You see big oil is in the oilsands, therefore we must hate it because we are forced fed to hate big oil from an early age in NL. All the lefty environmental hypocrites love the target practice they get from attacking the oilsands. Ignore the fact that thousands of Newfoundlanders work in the oilsands of Fort Mac, or at least use to, and bring their money home to spend in the local communities in NL. Not to mention the billions in federal taxes collected which supports and pays for many of the social programs that employ mostly those who practice progressiveness. So, here we go,

Mutated fish caught downstream of Oilsands, er I mean TARSANDS!!!!!!.

Now, all the Tely did was reprint the CP article. In it the article said...

"The two-mouthed fish created a stir at the Keepers of the Water conference on the weekend at Fort Chipewyan, about 600 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

Aboriginal communities downstream from the oilsands have expressed concerns about how industrial development is affecting the animals that they eat and their drinking water. Elders believe pollution is responsible for high cancer rates and other health problems in the region.

George Poitras of the Mikesew Cree said he quickly froze the fish and later put it on display for 20 minutes at the conference on a bucket of ice.

"It was important for the fish to be displayed at the conference to show people what we have been claiming all along," Poitras said.

"People were in disbelief. Here they saw a fish that we suspect is very much linked to tarsands development and contamination of the Athabasca River. Our elders tell us that what happens to the animals and the fish is just a sign of what is going to happen to human life."

(Did you notice the first comment by Tim? That mentality is the target audience for the Tely and in NL it sells!)



Truth be damned!!

Joe Nelson, a professor emeritus in the biological sciences department, said his examination determined that what was thought to be an extra jaw was in fact the tongue. Ligament contraction after death pulled the tongue out and down, he said.

“This is a known and not unusual phenomenon in dead goldeye,” said Nelson, who added he has no reason to believe the fish was deformed in any way.

Did you know that the fish was already dead and washed up on shore and wasn't actually caught? I heard Joe Nelson on the Dave Rutherford show today talking about this.


Now, the Tely is not the only news reporting outfit to miss this update. All of the MSM in Canada, especially eastern Canada, found and ran with the first report back in AUGUST 2008, but can`t seem to find the latest press release on the subject. And why should they, it disproves their belief that the oilsands are polluting and killing the environment all around them now that they are being mined and recovered but posed no threat just sitting there under the muskeg, naturally seeping into the Athabasca. What you ask? When did that happen?


In 1788, Alexander MacKenzie wrote in his journal:


“At about 24 miles from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet long may be inserted without the least resistance.

The bitumen is in a fluid state and when mixed with gum, the resinous substance collected from the spruce fir, it serves to gum the Indians' canoes. In its heated state it emits a smell like that of sea coal.”