Why Congo Matters

You can recognize a Congolese expatriate quite easily: ask them to count to a hundred in French.

Being a former Belgian colony, they will not say “soixante, soixante-dix, quatre-vingt, quatre-vingt-dix” as they do elsewhere in Francophone Africa, but “soixante, septante, octante et nonante”. Trivial you may think, but knowledge of Congo matters and that starts with history and its relationship with Belgium.

The horrors of Leopold’s personal rule

Congo’s history is a long litany of wars, imperial jostling and misery, and the situation has not improved of late. Once the personal property of the King of Belgium, Leopold the 2nd, the country’s colonists brutalized the local population and exploited its resources from rubber to ivory and minerals.

Ten years before World War I, the government of Belgium, under international pressure, wrestled away the stewardship of Congo from their own genocidal king. It is estimated 3 million Congolese died under his rule.

“I have seen photographs of the natives with their hands cut off because the did not bring in the requited amount of rubber. If Leopold had only killed them outright it would not be so bad; but to cut off their hands and leave them helpless to die in misery–that is not forgivable.” - Mark Twain

Political Independence and Neocolonialism

In May of 1960, after a near century of colonial rule, Congo achieved a quick and badly prepared independence. Belgium abandoned political rule but maintained military control of the Congolese army, Belgian and other foreign interests remained in control of the economy (diamonds, copper) and entire regions of the country threatened the new government with secessionism (Katanga). Fear of a rapprochement with the Soviet Union put an end to the leadership of a charismatic and brilliant political leader; Katangan and Belgian paratroopers with the support of Belgium and the United States executed Patrice Lumumba in January of 1961. [I strongly suggest viewing Lumumba, 2000 with Eriq Ebouaney]

Following years of unrest, the country came under the firm grip of a pro-American dictator, Joseph-Désiré Mobutu who not only renamed the country Zaire (1971–1997) but also renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga. Mobutu was overthrown during the First Congo War (1996-1997) with the support of neighboring countries, a spill over crisis from the Rwandan genocide. Shortly thereafter, the Second Congo War, also known as Africa’s World War engulfed the nation until 2008. By then, 5.4 million people died from direct or indirect consequences of this conflict that involved the nations of Uganda, Rwanda, Burindu, Angola, Chad and Namibia.

Conflict Minerals: from the Congo to your iPhone - Plus ça change, plus c’est pareil

Today, the country remains fragile and the country’s incredible mineral riches continue to fuel a number of simmering conflicts, some of which can be linked all the way to our Computers, iPods, iPads and iPhones: “Greed for Congo’s mineral wealth has been a prime cause of the atrocities and conflict, and multiple armed groups use mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and control communities as they profit from the illicit trade in Congo’s conflict minerals – tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold. Many of these same conflict minerals end up in our own electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, and digital cameras.” - raisehopeforcongo.org

Is Coltan, columbite–tantalite, today’s blood diamond? Even if Congo’s world production is somewhat anecdotal in world wide economic terms, the increasing demand for this mineral means there is growing pressure on Africa’s most mineral rich country and its people.

Read more :

1. Act !
   1. Raise Hope for Congo
   2. Congo NGOs
2. History
   1. Congo State Blog - Historical content
   2. King Leopold’s legacy of DR Congo violence
3. Congo in the news
   1. ABC News, The Conversation: Congo and Your Computer
   2. Conflict minerals: The new blood diamonds?
   3. Hello, I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC — Here’s How I Help Fuel the World’s Deadliest Conflict

Note: there are two countries named Congo. We’re interested in the latter of the two.

1. The former French colony is called the Republic of Congo or Congo-Brazzaville, the smaller of the two countries. Brazzaville being the capital of the Republic of Congo.
2. The former Belgian colony is called the Democratic Republic of Congo or Congo-Kinshasa, the larger of two countries who was once called Zaire.

À mes amis congolais.

When was this BELL taken?

It was taken by British troops from Halifax under Wentworth, Olgivie and King when they attacked Saint-Pierre in May of 1793. The islands were subsequently occupied and the entire population deported by 1794. “The island of St Peter’s with that of Miquelon was taken from the French Republic the beginning of this War by the Alligator, Frigate, and a detachment of three hundred men under the command of General Olgivie, from Halifax. … A number of the Inhabitants, Prisoners of War, have been sent to Nova Scotia.” - Aaron Thomas 1794.

Why was this BELL taken?

It was a war prize. Before deporting the population most possessions were destroyed. “The whole of the Inhabitans are to be sent away in a month’s time, and then the Town is to be burtn down and everything destroy’d, after which the English Soldiers will evacuate the place. ” - Aaron Thomas.

In fact the English did not destroy the town as they had initially planned. It was French Rear Admiral Richery who destroyed the Town in 1796 so the English could not use Saint-Pierre as a fishing base as they did between 1713 and 1763. “The domestic Scences of distress amongst the poor French were many and afflicting. Grown old on the Island they got a comfortable living Fishing - and thus aged and infirm, numbers were forc’d to go God knows where to spend the remainder of their days in a strange Land. ” - Aaron Thomas 1794.

Why was Britain attacking Saint-Pierre?

Aware of the importance of the fishery on these islands, the British Government dispatched orders to attack Saint-Pierre a few days after the declaration of War between Britain and France. The Governor of Nova-Scotia , John Wentworth, was also very alarmed at the presence of Revolutionaries and Republicans elements within the Saint-Pierre population.

What else is known about this bell?

“There was a bell at Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, which was taken to Halifax at the time of the conflicts between France and England, although there is nothing which is given either of its origin or of its fate. All that we know is that, around the end of the 19th century, this bell was brought to Halifax as a booty of war. It was bought for the new Catholic church of Halifax (the future cathedral) which received its steeple in 1793-94. It is not said anywhere when this bell arrived in Halifax. But according to the date just mentioned, it could have been during the war which the Revolutionary Government of France declared on England in February of 1793. In the spring, an expedition had left Halifax for Saint Pierre-et-Miquelon and seized the island without firing a single shot.” From The Story of Acadian Bells

How you can help

Please comment below this message or email me [mac @ spm dot org] with any information that might lead to the locating of this bell.

Photgraph of Bell from TravelPod.com

Astrology FAQ
First release, September 1994

1) What is astrology?
2) How does it work?
3) Why do people believe in it?
4) Astrology as stereotyping
5) The dangers of astrology, the case of Chinese astrology
6) Dr. Suzel Fuzeau-Braesch and her pseudo-studies
7) Why do astrologers act so violently towards skeptics?

1) What is astrology?

“Astrology, a pseudo-science which attempts to make predictions about worldly events and people’s lives by describing supposed influences of celestial bodies, principally the Sun, Moon, and planets. Developed in Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC, it interpreted astronomical and meteorological phenomena as astral omens, the phenomena being indications of the gods’ intentions for kings and kingdoms. In time the nature of astrology changed and in the Hellenistic times the horoscope was devised, which gives the fortune of an individual from the position of celestial bodies at the moment of birth. The ancient division of the ecliptic into the twelve signs of the zodiac is basic to astrology and it is claimed that the configurations of Sun, Moon and planets within those signs are crucial in forecasting influences and trends occurring at any moment in the individual’s life. With our increased understanding of the size of the universe and it’s nature, and of human psychology, the non-scientific claims of astrology have been recognized as baseless though many today still remain devoted to it, even to the complete nonsense of daily newspaper astrology.” Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Universe, 1992.

” The relationship between astronomy and astrology was in many respects similar to that which existed between chemistry and alchemy, and like that relationship, was swept away in the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.” Astronomy, Robert B. Culver.

2) How does it work?

Heck, no two astrologers can agree on this one! There are two main directions astrologers are running towards. Some argue for celestial influences by stars, constellations the Moon, the Sun, the planets. Others have retreated to some fuzzy concept of “cosmic conciousness” whose deliberate lack of definition and un-knowable nature suits the
survival of their endeavor quite well. The two main directions astrologers have gone towards can be summed up as:

a) the incorporationists, these try to accommodate new data, giving new meaning to
newly or recently discovered celestial bodies constantly complexifying astrology. This need for building new and complex theories may partly stem from a “structural jealousy” since complexification is the natural evolution of true sciences.

b) the secessionists, these cut all ties with previous attempts at linking their predictions
psychological portraits and horoscopes with any forms of astronomy. This is the preferred route for skeptic-weary astrologers. It follows the route that many systems of belief have followed where the need to survive in the face of skepticism leads to placing the “majors holdings” of the belief system in an unattainable place or space. Similar to
the displacement deities, or the human soul have had to endure over the centuries [from the god behind the hill, to the god beyond the skys, to the god beyond the visible universe, or the displacement of the human soul from the heart, to the brain to the pineal gland (Descartes), to some non-physical space/time.

3) Why do people believe in it?

Humans prefer to believe in anything rather than nothing. “The hope of predicting the future by magical or mystical means, and perhaps of transferring one’s responsibilities
and the blame for one’s faliures and misfortunes to an omnipotent power, continues to be a strong attraction,” Exploration of the Universe, Abell, Morrison, Wolff

“Men will cease to commit atrocities only when they cease to believe absurdities.” - Voltaire

4) Astrology as stereotyping

“What is more, many of these doctrines, if false, are pernicious. In simplistic popular astrology we judge people by one of twelve character types depending on their month of birth. But if the typing is false, we do an injustice to the people we are typing. We place
them in previously collected pigeonholes and do not judge them for themselves, a typing familiar in sexism and racism.” Broca’s Brain. Carl Sagan.

5) The dangers of astrology, the case of Chinese astrology

A study conducted in 1993 by Todd E. Ruth and Lisa M. Wagner, published under the title “Psychology and Survival” in The Lancet reveals the plausible dangers of astrological beliefs. The study was conducted by studying the death rates of 28 000 Chinese-Americans. Here are some of the results. It tries to link the correlation between higher death rates and the fact one is in “phase” with the yearly Chinese astrological sign. It is a common belief of Chinese astrology that one’s death is more likely during a year attributed to a specific astrological sign. Yet these kind of discrepancies have not been noticed in non Asian populations, thus invalidating the claim Chinese astrology indeed works.

The interesting thing is, these kinds of discrepancies (up to 3-4 years) are not at all found in not Chinese-American populations. It can therefore be safely deducted that belief in Chinese astrology is detrimental to one’s health.

6) Dr. Suzel Fuzeau-Braesch and her pseudo-studies

The following is a resume of information Monsieur Henri Broch published in the french science journal Science et Vie in January 1994. The article is titled “L’extravagante “manip” des jumeaux”. It is the refutation of SFB’s study on twins.

It was originally printed in her book “l’Astrologie, la preuve par deux” (Editions Robert Laffont, Paris). in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 13, No. 10, 1992, pp. 1135-1144. An attempt at replication is currently being carried out by Michael O’Neill.

After reading this study, the French journal Science et Vie noticed many details were missing regarding the methods used to gather the information, and many parameters were not reported. Upon written solicitation for more detailed information (such as the exact times of birth, the procedures and the statistical methods used), SFB sent a “very short list” giving short astrological profiles, the conditions of birth, and whether or not the twins were identical or not. As far as statistical methods are concerned she only replied that “it is so simple that I have nothing more to add about it, it’s a comparison test of classic proportions”. So given the lack of information, Science et Vie decided to determine where the information for the 135 twins obtained from an “association” really came from. SFB claimed they came from the ANEPNM (association nationale d’entraide aux parents de naissance multiples). Yet no such organism could be found, only a ADEPMP (association départementale d’entraide aux parents de naissances multiples de Paris). Upon being contacted the association admitted they had no information regarding this study. The person who was supposed to have put this information together (only known as Mme G.), was impossible to contact.

So the information concerning 135 twins is therefore unverifiable. The information presented in her book was also quite unreliable. She gave erroneous information about four couples of twins, according to their longitude and latitude: they weren’t born in Nice as she claimed but some 25 miles off shore in the Mediterranean. (SFB gave 7′14″ East,
43′27″ North for the birth place of these four couples of twins)

All this after claiming ” Quitte à paraitre pour certains un peu fastidieux ou enclyclopédique, j’ai fait le choix de la précision et du détail”.
Was this a typo? Well no, since she also printed charts, that gave that precise position. More troubling is the case of the twins named “Florence and Carole” “born” on november 10th 1965. There is simply no record of their births in Nice. The municipal archivists searched a TEN year period in vain to find these twins. Other troubling information surfaces over the claimed times of birth of the 476 twins. Most of the times, strangely are “rounded” out to 5, 15 or 30 minutes past each hour. Either SFB manipulated
the times, or else these babies have perfect timing.

7) Why do astrologers act so violently towards skeptics?

Like all believers of a system under attack, the obvious route to follow is that of violence (mostly verbal). As can be observed in fundamentalists who feel threatened by science, fascists who feel threatened by the legacy of the holocaust, or simply drug addicts who cannot detach themselves from their poison, the use of verbal violence, denial and ultimately contempt is also common place among the adepts of obscurantism, may this be tarot, numerology, homeopathy, ufology, crystal powers, pyramidology, auriculotherapy, iridology, psychic healing, bermuda triangle theories, plant sensations, biorythms, telekinesis, vedic astrology, alchemy chinese astrology, to name a few. The vitriolic sarcasm, the ad-hominems, the patronizing preaching, the derision they use are an indication of their current defensive and threatened nature.

So here are a few pointers.

First of all, yes there were a lot of French Kings named Louis [Wikipedia: List of French Monarchs]. Most famous were Saint-Louis (actually Louis IX [Wikipedia]), Louis XIV the sun king and Louis XVI who was guillotined during the French Revolution. Louis XV for his part is better known for having reigned between Louis XIV and Louis XVI and losing Québec.

Louis XIV [Wikipedia], the sun king, ruled France for a very long time. He was the son of Louis XIII, but at his father’s death he was too young to rule since he was only 4 years old. Louis XIV managed to take over the Spanish crown for some time, found a brilliant way to keep all the Nobles of his kingdom very busy through warfare and an opulent court. Louis XIV also added new territories to continental France and promoted classical culture throughout Europe. However 90 % of the population remained poor and uneducated, he also failed at defending English Catholicism. Louis XIV is best known for having built Versailles Palace. In 1685 he revoked the Edict of Nantes, a document protecting the rights of French Protestants. The move was very popular at the time but proved in the long run to be his biggest political mistake. He reigned for so long that his son, Louis the grand dauphin, his grandson Louis Duke of Bourgogne both died before he did.

Louis XV [Wikipedia], the great-grandson of Louis XIV, born in 1710 and died in 1774. He became King at the age of 13 in 1723. His most famous achievement was his secret “black cabinet”, a mysterious secret service and shadow government. His was involved in many wars from Poland to Austria, but the seven-year war against Britain proved to be the most costly. By 1763, at the signing of the treaty of Paris, Louis XV had lost of all France’s colonies in North America. His son, Louis dauphin never reigned.

In 1774, Louis XVI [Wikipedia] was crowned King of France. The grandson of Louis XV, he was considered by many as being mentally challenged. According to members of his own family, he should never have been king and should have been removed through the appointment of special regency. However his powerful wife, Marie-Antoinette, daughter of the Empress of Austria, managed to keep her husband on the throne. His reign was disastrous, not only was his country bankrupt, he financed the American War of Independence. His disregard for parliament and the belief he was King by divine right made any reconciliation with the growing forces of dissent impossible. By 1789 a full-blown revolution had broken out, and by 1792, he was executed by guillotine.

Royalists crowned Louis XVII [Wikipedia], son of Louis XVI, in 1793 during the height of the revolution. He died soon after in 1795 from neglect and sickness. His shrivelled heart is on exhibit at the Basilique Saint-Denis and recent DNA tests were used to confirm he had indeed died young and had not escaped to America, become a German clock-maker nor run away to Russia or led a secret life fathering countless new claimants to the throne. There is no such thing as Louis XVIIth furniture for instance …

Louis XVIII [Wikipedia], brother of Louis XVI reigned after the defeat of Napoleon from 1814 to 1815 and from 1815 to 1824. His reign was interrupted by the return of Napoleon Bonaparte who only managed to cling to power for less than 100 days. His reign was that of an authoritarian king. His brother, Charles X, reigned until his abdication in 1830. His son, Louis XIX [Wikipedia] never reigned and abdicated in 1830. Louis-Philippe, duke of Orleans, from the Orleans family became king until the revolution of 1848. Louis-Philippe was the last King of France.

Many websites contain a wealth of information on French Kings, and there are many people who claim to have a right to the non-existent throne of France.

• WHEREAS, Irish reunification would address the root causes of conflict in Ireland and establish the basis for a permanent peace settlement;
• AND WHEREAS, the Good Friday Agreement created a political framework in which Irish reunification can occur;
• AND WHEREAS the Good Friday Agreement has already facilitated the establishment of all-Ireland governing institutions;
• WE THE UNDERSIGNED pledge our support for the peaceful and democratic reunification of Ireland.

I encourage all those who believe in a United Ireland to sign this pledge. Please join the Facebook Group dedicated to this cause.

Located between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, Hagan is accessible by a dirt road that begins at the very back of the San Felipe Hollywood Casino parking lot. Although the site is only a few miles from Interstate 25, the trek will take about a half hour. Do not attempt this drive if it is raining, the many arroyos will flash flood and cause serious grief for you and your vehicle.

The history of Hagan is intertwined with the history of coal and the rail road. First settled by coal miners in the first years of the 20th century, the town had under a hundred inhabitants. Named for mining investor William Hagan, by 1910, the coal mine and settlement were abandoned as transporting the coal by wagon to the nearby San Felipe Pueblo was too costly.

In 1919, a Louisiana investor re-opened the mines and connected the town with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in San Felipe. By then, the town had over 500 inhabitants and its own power plant, running water, post office, a general store and a hotel but before long the coal ran out in 1931 and the town died out by the 1940s.

Today various buildings are still partially standing; they are the power plant and the mercantile. Others, built with adobe brick, are dissolving away with time. Take your time when visiting Hagan and don’t forget your camera! The colourful landscape offers tones that go from golden to ochre, a stark contrast to the crisp blue skies that are so frequent in the land of enchantment.

Photos: S. Kelly

I have often wondered why people when planting trees or shrubs rely for seedlings almost exclusively on the commercial nurseries when we have so many varieties of lovely wild trees in Cape Breton that can be had for only a little trouble of digging them up and transplanting. Then, too, they possess the advantage of being acclimated and will withstand the rigors of our winters much better than most imported trees and will bloom for generations, whereas many nursery shrubs and trees have a very ephemeral life, more especially if the plantation happens to be near the sea and is exposed to the cold, salty winds of the spring and fall.
As for beauty, we have trees growing wild in our woods than which none can be lovelier. Our wild pear and cherry for instance, which bloom long about knee deep in June, are breathtaking in the loveliness when they appear all in white. ‘June brides’ of our native woods.

Then there is the dogwood, which is not the true dogwood, but mountain ash. This tree is lovely in spring with its close-packed clusters of yellowish white blooms, and perhaps even lovelier in the autumn when it’s laden with its grape-like bunches of scarlet berries. I have mentioned only three, but there are many kinds of wild trees and shrubs that are easily grown and lend themselves readily to transplanting either in early spring on in the fall after the heat of the summer has passed.

What I have said of trees also applies to flowers which are native to Cape Breton or have become native through long acclimatization. Many of them and our wild ferns also make lovely transplantings, especially for rock gardens. One hardly ever sees old-fashioned gardens today, gardens of perennials such as heliotrope, penny royal, foxglove and phlox. I think these are among the most beautiful of all perennials flowers and they will bloom practically untended for ages. The heliotrope has one of the loveliest of all flower perfumes, indescribably sweet and penetrating, though not strong. It will scent a whole garden or a room if it used as a cut flower.

The penny royal is perhaps the most old-fashioned flower of all. I think it was originally brought to Cape Breton from England and I believe it has the longest continued period of bloom of any of the perennials, about a month, from late June in this part of the country, to late July. Its foliage is very soft in texture, a deep green in color and its pale yellow blossoms cover the whole stem from the ground right to its tip. It too, has a delicate perfume and is lovely for a vase flower.

The foxglove or digitalis has no scent but makes a brave showing in any garden of perennials with its beautiful bell-shaped blue flowers and tall, graceful stem.
Phlox, sometimes called late lilac, blooms long and profusely through August and September. It is very sweet-scented and one of our lovelies fall flowers.

I have named only four old-time perennials here but there are many more equally as hardy and long-lived. I have seen penny royal blooming in full vigor in a country garden that had been abandoned for more than twenty years. So for the gardener who has not too much time to spend in digging and weeding these perennial are ideal.

But perhaps those old-fashioned flowers are not for the city garden. They belong in the country where many of the still bloom in untended gardens, mute but beautiful reminders of the vanished hands that set them there so long ago.

Some flowers will leave the garden and go wild in the fields if long neglected. A few summers ago I came across some Irish shamrocks which had evidently done this, for I never heard of shamrocks being native to Cape Breton. The nearest garden, our own, contained no shamrocks, and these were the true variety and not clovers, as so many flower-shop shamrocks are. The true shamrock has a tiny yellow flower, star-shaped, with give petals, and according to a Dublin gardener who told me so, no other is the real shamrock. Those were in full bloom when I found them and I successfully transplanted some to our garden, but I couldn’t get them to grow indoors.

Nature seems to have no set pattern with regard to flowers or trees. I can remember a splendid black ash tree that grew on our old homestead, one of the most perfect specimens of that tree I have ever seen and I never had a seedling or a shoot, although we were anxious to get some for planting elsewhere. One winter a very destructive storm occurred and the tree was completely broken down and we regretfully cut it up for fire-wood. What was our astonishment next spring to see literally dozens of young ash seedlings coming up around the stump within a radius of twenty feed or more. Why was this? I don’t know, but I believe it to be an inanimate instinct of preservation – the species must go on.

Speaking of native trees, I never knew untill some few years ago that we have a native holly. I had always thought of holly as being purely English, but when our walking in Ingonish one morning in early winter after a recent fall of snow, I came abreast of a little valley or lowland and there I saw two trees if full bloom or red blossoms and surrounded by snow that sparkled in the sunshine. I stopped still in wonder, scarcely crediting my sense of sight, or thinking I had come upon a fairy ring, but when I approached nearer – they were about a hundred yards from the highway – I discovered that the trees were not in blossom but were covered from trunk to branch end with tiny coral red berries so think and uniform as to give the trees from a little distance the appearance of being in full bloom. It was one of the loveliest sights I have ever beheld, and live Wordsworth’s daffodils, they still “flash upon that inward eye which is the bliss of solitude.”

I did not know until long after that they were Nova Scotia holly and I have never seen them growing anywhere else.

After that I found many other specimens, but in more remote places in the woods. The ones I first saw were, I imagine, fully mature, some twelve of fifteen feel tall, shaped somewhat in the spreading form of a crabapple or peach tree, and of perfect symmetry. I succeeded later in finding a smaller one to dig up and transplant but with the greatest difficulty, as their roots are deeply embedded and spread to a great distance. I have never send these trees in blossom and no one I have spoken to seems to know much about them.

I think it was very natural for the ancient Druids to worship oak trees, for the love of trees seems to be inherent in most men. Poets have sung of them, painters have painted them, and great prose writers have described them – all extolling their beauty. Any of us can plant them, but too few of us do. A man who plants an accord in not thinking of himself alone but of future generations, for it takes many, many years for an accord to grow into a great oak.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his delightful little volume of essays, Travels in England, tells of being entertained by an old English landed squire whose family roots went back for hundreds of years, and he was bemoaning the fact that the nouveaux riche were trying to usurp the place in society of the old landed gentry.

“Their guineas” said he, “can mould stone and mortar into a great mansion in a very short time, but thank God they can’t build an avenue of stately oaks overnight”.
No one can have a better monument to his memory than a tree he planted. It will not bear his name, but while it sends forth a green leaf in summer or poses its leafless silhouette against a winter sunset, it will contain a little portion of that man’s heart and soul. A cemetery full of tombstones is an ugly and depressing sight, but a stately grove is a thing of beauty. “Where the tall company of trees look down on the green fields below, they are truly ‘ambassadors from earth to heaven’.”

Note: this article was written by my great-uncle, John Francis Daly, in August of 1953 for the Cape Breton Mirror, a Monthly Magazine.

The picture above was taken over ninety-one years ago in Nîmes, France. My grandfather, Charles Cormier (centre born 25/09/1884) was recovering from several injuries suffered at the front when he wrote this postcard on February 8th 1918 to his uncle living in Miquelon Island.

Charles Cormier went to war in February of 1915 with 348 of his compatriots from Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. These men boarded the ocean liner Chicago on route to France from New York when moored in Saint-Pierre harbor.

Once in France, Charles Cormier and many of his compatriots from Saint-Pierre and Miquelon was sent to the Front as a soldier of the 33rd colonial regiment (Battle of Champagne 1915, Battle of the Somme 1916). Promoted corporal, he was severely wounded to the leg by a shell, suffered from poison gas attacks and contracted malaria while part of the Allied expeditionary force landed at Thessaloniki, a base of operations against Bulgaria. I never knew him: he lived to age 64,  some 21 years before my birth year.

PBS: Bill Moyers’ Journal remains the most serious of the progressive voices on the air, however some of his interviews wallow in the obtuse world of academic liberalism. The show makes for a great podcast with its though provoking analysis and commentary. The week’s journalistic post-mortem remains in the able hands of Howard Kurtz and his Reliable Sources. Real Time with Bill Maher was once reason enough to get HBO and his show is still well worth considering despite the terrible opening monologues that make Jay Leno sound like Richard Feynman.

Drama. Mad Men. Disturbing, deep, dark and the greatest opening credits ever. Mad Men is back on AMC and will remain one of this season’s best shows. That is until season 3 of Breaking Bad …

Science and debunking. Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Debunking pseudoscience and paranormal claims is a welcome respite from the deluge of junk science and gobbledegook that is now so prevalent it is even embraced by Oprah. Mythbusters is in the same vein, but more polite and in many ways much more effective: the scientific method always trumps sarcastic commentary. Penn & Teller remains the guilty pleasure.

Classic movies? AMC & TCM …

What are your picks?

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