Greetings from beautiful McAdam, New Brunswick, where we're hosting this week's edition of News from the North. This week, we have more on Abu Gonzales, Patrick Leahy and the continuing coverup of Maher Arar's unlawful torture. We've got global warming and the campaign to cover it up. There's your usual cute kitties and darling doggies, as well as a brand new feature: Northern Blogosphere brings you posts of interest to Kossacks, painstakingly hunted-n-gathered from Canadian blogs. (This week, for example, you can learn something about Gitmo salvaged from the Friday afternoon press releases by an intrepid Canadian news-dumpster-diver!) It's all in a week's work and play here at News from the North, so come on down below the fold for the outrage, the fun, and of course...the world's largest violin!
Cross-posted at The Next Agenda.
Human Rights: Maher Arar
So, whatever happened to Maher Arar? Last we heard, Patrick Leahy was blasting "Abu" Gonzales for the continued ill-treatment of this Canadian citizen and demanding some accountability from the Attorney General. Ca 48 Steve Young kept on the story. In this post he kept up the pressure. Did Abu respond to Senator Leahy's questions?Well...Gonzales has answered, but not really. In his great diary, Ca 48 Steve Young explains that our beloved Outlaw General is still stonewalling Patrick Leahy on Arar's no-fly status. Thanks for staying with the story, Steve Young!
Environmental Issues
In NRSP: Lobbying Without Accountability, Desmogblog reveals a PR campaign to convince Canadians that C02 reduction isn't necessary. Canada has its own conservative propaganda machines like the Fraser Institute that are in the business of professionally denying global warming. In another offering from Desmogblog called DeSmog Leaks Advance Copy of Think Tank's IPCC Attack, you can learn the whole, ugly story.
In Memoriam - Eighteen Whooping Cranes, Rainy Day both memorializes the birds and honors the co-operative efforts of Americans and Canadians who work to save these birds that migrate between our countries. Lovely, sad, and very motivating.
Pointless Pootie Pic
Aww.....!
Healthcare
This one's mine. InWhat is universal healthcare really like? Personal stories I share my experiences with the Canadian healthcare system. A lot of other folks kindly shared in the comments. You can, use these stories to help fight the Republcian strawmen who claim that Canadians hate their healthcare. To quote that great Canadian Mike Myers: "As if!"
It's a very brief diary, but it has a great link: to a speech by Tommy Douglas, father of Canada's healthcare, known as the famous "Mouseland" speech. It's one that every Progressive should have ready for the next time you're accused of being Stalin's henchman! Tarquin is a new diarist. Welcome!
The Northern Blogosphere
Bush & Harper: Luke-Green Crusaders is a thought-provoking post at the Daily Canuck about the less-than-enthusiastic commitment George Bush and Stephen Harper are giving to environmental issues. A great look at how they talk the talk while studiously avoiding the walk from Eric Hogan, a PR professional who can smell spin a mile away.
And didja know that Political bloggers are akin to terrorists??? Me neither. Read Scott's DiaTribe for more, served up with snark and style from Kossack tribe34.
The funniest take you'll ever see on the Boston panic comes from kidkawartha at The Next Agenda, with Major US City Pwned By Lite-Brite The pictures alone are worth the click, but the text is guffaw-inducing too. I'm surprised the Sheik Urmon Emakr hasn't shown up on the no-fly list yet!
In a more serious post from The Next Agenda, catnip makes a post with a MAJOR catch from the Friday news dump.3 Gitmo Detainees Charged Including Canada's Khadr reveals that the US is finally moving on some potentially explosive trials, including that of a Canadian citizen picked up and detained at the age of only 15.
Featured Community: McAdam, New Brunswick
Campers and Railway fans, this one's for you! McAdam, New Brunswick (pop. 1,513) was once a thriving center of the Eastern railway. Now this quiet hamlet, only seven minutes from the U.S. border, houses a great railway museum and spectacular access to New Brunswick, Canada's "picture province."
History from Wikipedia:
McAdam was founded as City Camp in the 1850s as a small hamlet in the upper St. Croix River watershed supported by the lumber industry. Its name is derived from the numerous lumber camps in the area.The community's destiny was changed in the 1860s when its geographic location made it into a regional railway hub for southwestern New Brunswick....
In 1889, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed its International Railway of Maine across northern Maine for a direct eastern extension of its transcontinental mainline from Montreal to Saint John, purchasing the entire NBR and making McAdam a major CPR junction and division point. A large roundhouse and yard were built and expanded, and a major passenger station built of granite was constructed to serve passengers changing trains to head to CPR's The Algonquin resort in St. Andrews. A 30-room hotel above the station served to house guests requiring overnight waits for train connections..... The station saw its last passenger train on December 17, 1994 when VIA Rail's Atlantic was discontinued.
Historic McAdam
Today, the McAdam Railway Station has been designated both a National and Provincial Historic Site. You can visit this national treasure as it is now a museum. Other historic sites of interest in McAdam include the World War One Commemorative Tablet Park across from the Railway Station. It commemorates CPR who served in the First World War. It includes lists of battles and an interesting panorama of troops marching. It is believed the plaque originally was located in the railway station.
Also nearby is a plaque memorializing the crewmen of a Ventura III aircraft that crashed into a water tank in the CPR rail-yard December 18, 1943. All four Canadian crew members were killed in the crash. You can also see an interesting mural commemorating World War II troop trains stopping at McAdam Station at Lakeland Motel, in McAdam. It depicts the many troop trains that passed through McAdam over 60 years ago.
Community Resources
Looking for a quiet place to settle? Want to commute to Federicton but live in a cozy small town? Check out the elementary school for your kids. And perhaps you'll want to make a virtual visit to the public library. Naturally you'll want to investigate the healthcare at River valley health. . And look for jobs at Westroc Industries (gyproc plant), Seleno (plastic pipe manufacturer), Glassville Logging, and Georgia Pacific (forestry)–those are the area's major employers.
One in McAdam, you can enjoy regular entertainment of bingo at the Lions on Wednesday and darts at the Legion on Friday. Other community events are supposed to be posted here, although I notice that it's a little out of date. You can listen to CBC radio from nearby Fredericton online. (Tune in 600AM CBAX while you're actually in McAdam, of course.)
Lodging and Dining Eating
Perhaps you're more in the mood to visit rather than pick up stakes. McAdam isn't a fancy place, so don't expect fine dining and fancy hotels (I hear the sandwiches are good at Terry's Footlong, though. But the camping is great at Wauklehegan Lake Spend the whole season at a serviced campsite and it will only set you back $800 CDN (weekly and daily rates are available too).
You can also stay at Klinker's Motel or Kathey's Bed and Breakfast. Nearby paltrey lake Lodge also offers beautiful accommodations in a rustic setting.
What to Do
Now that you're settled in (for good or for a visit), what else do you want to do? Snowmobile? Hike the many trails? ATVs are popular. Or you can always get out your canoes and head on up the St. Croix River while you're camping in McAdam.
Among its geological wonders are:
- rock formations with readily visible signs of uplifting, folding, and faulting and of the ffects of glaciation on re-shaping the landscape;
• provincially significant fossil deposits at Sand Point;
• thirteen plant species known to be rare in this area, such as the cardinal flower, high bush blueberry and viburnum;
• the endangered bald eagle and more abundant osprey which can be frequently sighted; and
• a beautiful maritime river landscape with thick wooded areas, open lakes, narrow river corridors and a large tidal estuary.
Nearby Harvey is home to Canada's oldest Woolen Mill. Briggs and Little still offer some of the best woolen fibre you'll find anywhere in the world. Harvey is also home to what sems to be the World's Largest Fiddle, at 14 metres high and weighing 500 pounds.
You might also take an hour's drive or so to visit King's Landing., the best fake history out there. (It's not really fake, of course!) Rather, it is a village-museum of 70 different buildings that represent New Brunswick's history from 1780 to 1910. You can travel through time in one village, enjoying food, exhibits, and demonstrations of crafts and employments from days gone by, all by costumed animators.
The village was created in the 1960, when the provincial government built a dam across the St. John River at Mactaquac; since this disrupted many historic settlements, whole buildings were moved to the new location in order to preserve historically and architecturally significant buildings. Restored and furnished by time period, this is a treasure trove of resources.
That's it for this week's News from the North. Tune in next week, or stop by The Next Agenda for a daily dose of progressive politics, Northern style!
Photo credits:
Canadian dog by ??peppersmom??. Used under creative commons. May not be altered in any way.
Patrick Leahy photo by Quinnum and used under Creative Commons license.
Funny cat photo by SeaOat and used under creative commons license. May not be altered in any way.
McAdam Boulder picture taken by Anita Gould. Used under creative commons license.
St.. Croix at sunset photo taken by j0sh and used under Creative Commons license.
King's Landing black and white photo by Number Six (biLL) and used under Creative Commons license.
King's Landing foliage by VickyTh and used under Creative Commons license.
Luggage at McAdam Station photo made byProduct of newfoundland and used under Creative Commons. May not be altered in any way.
Flag photo by Mark Surmanand used under Creative Commons.
All other images in the public domain.