Letters & responses.

Letters & responses. To the Editor: On rereading my review of Margaret MacMillan's book onPresident Nixon's visit to China in your last issue ("AFascinating Snapshot," January/ February 2007), I find thatalthough I expressed my liking and admiration for the author and forthis book, the tenor of part of my review was one of inadvertentcondescension con��de��scen��sion?n.1. The act of condescending or an instance of it.2. Patronizingly superior behavior or attitude.[Late Latin cond . That is entirely inappropriate and was unintentional, butI apologize to Margaret MacMillan Margaret MacMillan may refer to: Margaret MacMillan (historian) (born 1943), Canadian historian Margaret McMillan (1860–1931), nursery education pioneer for the slightly patronizing tone ofseveral sentences in my review. Of course, I have no standing to takeany such stance with her, and it is an unbecoming attitude at any time.If I had reread Verb 1. reread - read anew; read again; "He re-read her letters to him"read - interpret something that is written or printed; "read the advertisement"; "Have you read Salman Rushdie?" sooner and more carefully what I had written, I wouldhave altered the tone to indicate more clearly the very high opinion Ihad of the book, despite certain minor concerns. I emphasize that it isan excellent and interesting book, as this author always produces. Ihave apologized to Margaret MacMillan in person, but wished to do sobefore all your readers as well. Yours sincerely, Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, PC, OC, KCSG (born 25 August, 1944, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a former financier, newspaper magnate, and biographer. Toronto, Ontario To the Editor: More than a dozen substantial books published since 2002 underminethe official 9/11 story: that 19 crazed Arabs caught the whole of theU.S. intelligence, military and civil aviation establishments completelyoff guard. Yet no major media outlet in North America North America,third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , to my knowledge, haspublished a substantial review of any of these titles, including myTowers of Deception: The Media Cover-Up of 9/11 ("Who ReallyDestroyed the Twin Towers?" December 2006). And apart from theLRC's review of Towers, no literary journal in North America has tomy knowledge reviewed any of these titles. The LRC (Longitudinal Redundancy Check) An error checking method that generates a parity bit from a specified string of bits on a longitudinal track. In a row and column format, such as on magnetic tape, LRC is often used with VRC, which creates a parity bit for each is to be warmlycongratulated for taking the topic of 9/11 skepticism seriously--andmaking publishing history. I agree with several criticisms Peter Desbarats Peter Desbarats is a Montreal, Quebec-born Canadian author, playwright and journalist. He is the former dean of journalism at the University of Western Ontario (1981-1997), a former commissioner in the Somalia Inquiry and a former Maclean-Hunter chair of Communications Ethics at makes of Towers.His claim that the book's organization is confusing has merit. Myintention was to break out of the mould and add variety. Hence the"Diary of 9/11 and the Media" entries (I'm a media criticafter all), sidebars ("What is a False Flag Operation?") andprofiles of heroes of "9/11 Truth" activism (I fear no oneelse will recognize them). Point taken, however. My next book will bemore conventional in organization. Desbarats's take on my 15,000-word chapter "The Shame ofNoam Chomsky Noun 1. Noam Chomsky - United States linguist whose theory of generative grammar redefined the field of linguistics (born 1928)A. Noam Chomsky, Chomsky and the Gatekeepers of the Left" is mistaken on twocounts. First, it isn't true I wrote this chapter because Chomskyand the other 20 individuals and "alternative" media outlets Idefine as left gatekeepers "do not agree with or pay attentionto" my analysis. My ego is not nearly that large. Desbarats'scertainty that most readers will find this chapter "embarrassingand largely irrelevant" is contradicted by the fact this chapter isthe most discussed, most popular and most agreed-with chapter in thebook, now in its second printing. I take issue with Desbarats's central thesis, which I think hehimself undermines. It is that there is a breed of cats called"conspiracy theorists" who just can't think straight.This overlooks the fact that the aforementioned dozen-plus titlesprovide reams of hard evidence. And it is cumulative. Desbarats'sreview is completely typical: to sustain his thesis that I am atheoretical conspiracist con��spir��a��cist?n.One holding a conspiracy theory. , he glosses over my evidence-rich chapters,including Chapter 2, with its numerous footnotes and photographs.Example: WTC WTCWorld Trade Center, see there Building 7, a 47-story steel-reinforced skyscraper,suddenly collapsed into its own footprint at near freefall speed at 5:20p.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. It had not been seriously damaged by the earlierevents of that day. It was a controlled demolition. Desbarats's typical over-psychologization of an imaginedcategory of people lumped together as "conspiracy theorists"is beside the point unless and until he and his fellow armchairpsychologists first look at evidence. Forensic evidence, for instance,stands hermetically her��met��ic? also her��met��i��caladj.1. Completely sealed, especially against the escape or entry of air.2. Impervious to outside interference or influence: sealed from the emotional or mental state ofindividuals presenting it. I fervently hope the LRC will choose to review more of this almostcompletely blacked-out genre of non-fiction titles. It is the failure ofthe media to investigate evidence that 9/11 was an inside job, or evenquestion the official story, that impelled im��pel?tr.v. im��pelled, im��pel��ling, im��pels1. To urge to action through moral pressure; drive: I was impelled by events to take a stand.2. To drive forward; propel. me to write Towers ofDeception. To learn the true story of 9/11 is crucial: the official 9/11fiction is the linchpin linch��pinor lynch��pin ?n.1. A locking pin inserted in the end of a shaft, as in an axle, to prevent a wheel from slipping off.2. for the so-called "war on terror This article is about U.S. actions, and those of other states, after September 11, 2001. For other conflicts, see Terrorism. The War on Terror (also known as the War on Terrorism ,"which in turn is being used to justify full-scale wars, diminution ofancient civil liberties and obscene expansions of surveillance andmilitarism MilitarismSee also Soldiering.Adrastusleader of the Seven against Thebes. [Gk. Myth.: Iliad]Siegfriedkilled many enemies; led many troops to victory. [Ger. Lit. Nibelungenlied] , at the expense of worldwide human needs ranging from savingthe environment to reducing poverty. Barrie Zwicker This article or section needs sourcesorreferences that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. Toronto, Ontario To the Editor: Fred Langan's review of Wayne Lilley's biography of FrankStronach Frank Stronach, CM (born September 6, 1932 as Franz Strohsack) is an Austrian and Canadian businessman. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, and Magna Entertainment Corp. ("The Entrepreneur from Central Casting central castingn.A movie studio department responsible for hiring actors, especially for nonstarring roles. ,"January/February 2007) is almost as misleading in the discussion ofmultiple voting shares as the book itself. While the author and reviewermake it clear that dual voting shares Voting SharesShares that give the stockholder the right to vote on matters of corporate policy making as well as who will compose the members of the board of directors.Notes:Different classes of shares, such as preferred stock, sometimes don't allow for voting rights. are legal, the entire tone of thediscussion is that there is something unsavoury about them--that whilethey are not illegal, they are certainly immoral, primarily because theyallow the owners of the multiple shares to control companies withownership of a very small proportion of the equity. They don't seemto know that the concept dates back to the happy days when policy makersin Canada were concerned with keeping control of Canadian firms in thehands of Canadians. Dual shares were introduced so that Canadianentrepreneurs could raise capital without selling control of theircompanies to foreign investors. The staff of the Royal Commission onCorporate Concentration, 1976-1978, reviewed the concept in detail andits value to Canada as a part of Canadian public policy Canadian Public Policy is Canada's leading journal examining economic and social policy. The aim of the journal is to stimulate research and discussion of public policy problems in Canada. was reaffirmedat that time. The reason that they are not common in other westernindustrialized in��dus��tri��al��ize?v. in��dus��tri��al��ized, in��dus��tri��al��iz��ing, in��dus��tri��al��iz��esv.tr.1. To develop industry in (a country or society, for example).2. societies is that no other major developed country hassuch a high degree of foreign control of its economy--a proportion thatwould undoubtedly be even higher in Canada if there were no shares withmultiple voting rights. As to the specious spe��cious?adj.1. Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious: a specious argument.2. Deceptively attractive. comment that those who bought Magna A sharesthat have only one vote were suckers--all one can say is "somesuckers." At the end of 2005, as an easy check of the record shows,Magna had a total three-year Class A shareholder return of 16 percentand a five-year return of 17 percent. Magna's 15-year return forshareholders is over 20 percent. And, of course, to imply because theywere suckers that those who bought the shares--pension funds and soon--did not know that Stronach controlled Magna through multiple voteshares is ludicrous. They were not "suckers"--they were verysmart investors. While the Stronach system may be far from perfect, do Lilley andLangan really believe that executive compensation in companies where theshares are widely held leads to more equitable compensation? Are theyunaware of the compensation of John Roth, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Nortel the year beforethe company's value collapsed? Do they really believe that theshareholders in companies where there are no multiple voting shares haveanything to say about levels of compensation? Do they really believethat the vast majority of owners of shares in public companies areanything other than investors? The bottom line is that they (the author and the reviewer)don't like Stronach. Rather than admiring him they mock him forhaving the courage and the commitment to run for public office to fightfor what he believes. How many other chief executive officers ofCanadian firms can they name who have been willing to do the same? Theyreport he is difficult to work with. How many other seniorowner-executives did they compare him with? Rather than characterizeStronach's rise from an almost destitute immigrant to pre-eminencein one of the major industries in Canada as a great Canadian businesssuccess story, they explain it as almost a fluke based on a flaw in theCanadian financial system. There are some who believe that Frank Stronach, with all hisidiosyncrasies, is an engineering and business genius. How unfortunatethat the writer and reviewer of this unauthorized biography are sowarped by their prejudices and their distaste for the characteristicsand success of the person they are writing about that they cannotrecognize his brilliant achievements. James Gillies Toronto, Ontario To the Editor: Barbara MacDougall's review of Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State("Our Poorest Neighbour," January/ February 2007) displayed agiant lacuna lacuna/la��cu��na/ (lah-ku��nah) pl. lacu��nae ? [L.]1. a small pit or hollow cavity.2. a defect or gap, as in the field of vision (scotoma). on the role of the United States in Haiti. Let's begin with her commentary on the presidency of theformer leader of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was Haiti'sfirst democratically elected leader, by the people of Haiti, on twooccasions. Before he had finished his first term of office he was ousted bythe first George Bush, which resulted in sufficient anarchy and chaos inHaiti that refugees began making it to the shores of the United States.This prompted Bill Clinton to facilitate the return of Aristide toHaiti. After Aristide was elected a second time, the second George Bush,like his father, arranged a coup to remove him from office. You willrecall the sorry pictures in the media of Colin Powell attending at theairport in Haiti to oversee Aristide's removal to Africa. What ismost embarrassing for Canada is that under the Paul Martin government weparticipated in that coup. Our motives were to mend fences with a U.S.still angry over our non-participation in Iraq and it represents thefirst time in our history that we have engaged in colonialism. MacDougall characterizes it this way: Aristide was a strong-man whowas "finally ousted in 2004 after two kicks at the presidentialcan." She displays in this comment a sad mixture of paternalism paternalism (p·terˑ·n andcontempt for the democratic process. MacDougall also fails to mention that the U.S. under Woodrow Wilsonoccupied Haiti in 1915 and ruled by military government until 1934. TheAmericans took complete control of the economy and drafted aconstitution allowing foreign land-ownership. They made sure Haiti metits foreign debt payments--mainly to U.S. banks. When the U.S. left, theonly cohesive institution in Haiti was the military--with predictableresults. Toward the end of her commentary, MacDougall asserts that U.S.friendship is essential in Haiti's future. There was a time whenHaiti was self-sufficient in rice production, its staple food. Now allof its rice comes from the United States. This is no accident. Usingpolitics and military might to steal markets is not friendship. The newly elected president of Haiti The President of Haiti is the head of state of the Republic of Haiti. Presidents are elected by popular vote to five-year terms and may serve no more than two terms. Each term begins and ends on the first February 7 after presidential elections are held. is Rene Preval. Preval was astaunch and loyal supporter of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He won theelection even though the small wealthy elite in Haiti supported by theU.S. did everything it could to prevent Preval supporters from gettingto the ballot boxes on election day. The U.S., for now, has acquiescedin the result, preoccupied as it is with affairs in Iraq. Many years ago James Laxer said that the U.S. has a history oftreating Central and South America as its own private preserve. Littlehas changed, except that some countries are managing to struggle ontotheir own feet while America's attention is diverted elsewhere. Ifthe U.S. stays diverted and leaves these countries on their own, thenperhaps there will be reason to hope for a better future even for Haiti. Robert A. Konduros Cambridge, Ontario To the Editor: In his letter to the editor (January/February 2007), Michael Walkertakes a swipe at reviewer Tony Penikett and also at contributors to thebook under review. Ironically, Mr. Walker attacks with a charge ofideological rigidity while displaying a similar trait himself. Mr.Penikett had critiqued the book for ignoring the plight ofsociety's most disadvantaged and the political forces drivinginequality; he had also provoked Mr. Walker by citing the FraserInstitute as an agent of those forces. As co-editors of the volumeDimensions of Inequality in Canada, and on behalf of its 25 contributingauthors, we feel caught in the crossfire A multi-GPU interface from ATI for connecting two ATI display adapters together for faster graphics rendering on one monitor. CrossFire machines require PCI Express slots, a CrossFire-enabled motherboard and, depending on which models are used, either a pair of ATI Radeon adapters or one and obliged to respond. Both Messrs. Walker and Penikett describe the volume'schapters as "essays" or its researchers as"essayists The following is an abbreviated list of essayists, arranged alphabetically by last name (years of birth and death, if applicable, and country of birth, are noted in parentheses).Note: An individual's country of birth is not always indicative of his or her nationality. ." However, only one or perhaps two of the dozensubstantive chapters could properly be described as essays; the balanceare all hardcore social science research. They undertake original andsecondary analyses of Canadian data to sculpt sculpt?v. sculpt��ed, sculpt��ing, sculptsv.tr.1. To sculpture (an object).2. To shape, mold, or fashion especially with artistry or precision: the most complete andnuanced portrait to date of the trends, patterns and causes ofinequality in Canada. Where appropriate, the authors suggestimplications for public policy in their respective areas, but that isnot the primary thrust of their analyses. Mr. Penikett's principal critique appears to be thevolume's failure to focus on Canada's most unfortunate, thebottom 1 or 2 percent. In contrast, Mr. Walker's complaint is thatthe volume and Mr. Penikett fail to attribute the causes of inequalityto the "corrosive effect attempts to legislate equality have onhuman behaviour." From his lifelong research and his recitation rec��i��ta��tion?n.1. a. The act of reciting memorized materials in a public performance.b. The material so presented.2. a. Oral delivery of prepared lessons by a pupil.b. ofa Kurt Vonnegut fable, Mr. Walker appears most concerned aboutincentives for the topmost tail of the distribution. Presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. , withunfettered markets the Invisible Hand Invisible HandA term coined by economist Adam Smith in his 1776 book "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". In his book he states:"Every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. would ensure that greater wealthgeneration at the top were widely dispersed across all income groups.Yet worldwide evidence shows that growing inequality is rooted in deepercauses than interventionist public policies. In fact, inequality hasbeen rising most starkly in China's increasingly laissez-faireeconomy and has been contained best in Nordic countries with the mostactivist policies. In one sense, both Messrs. Penikett and Walker are correct; thestudies in our volume do not focus on the extreme tails of thedistribution. However, one study finds that commonly used Canadianstatistical sources have significantly undercounted those at the verylowest incomes. Other studies produce new insights in areas such asincome mobility, gender inequality, inter-cohort wage profiles, ethnicand linguistic impacts, tax incidence, consumption inequality and theeffects of education. While the volume concentrates on inequality ratherthan incentives, many of its studies do engage incentive issues. And thevolume's contributors include Canada's most seasoned analystsof the incentive effects of diverse public programs, such as one whoseearlier research yielded highly critical findings on Ontario's payequity legislation and others who have mapped the disincentive effectsof employment insurance. Yet understanding the biases of existingprograms is a prerequisite for formulating better policies to mitigatepoverty and inequality, not a reason to give up on the problems. A warning to those who possess a preternatural knowledge of thecomplex socioeconomic processes that underlie inequality--and those whopossess ready-made solutions to the associated policy problems:Don't waste your time on this volume! Jonathan R. Kesselman Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University,main campus at Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; provincially supported; coeducational; chartered 1963, opened 1965. The Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver opened in 1989. Vancouver, British Columbia David A. Green University of British Columbia LocationsVancouverThe Vancouver campus is located at Point Grey, a twenty-minute drive from downtown Vancouver. It is near several beaches and has views of the North Shore mountains. The 7. Vancouver, British Columbia