Friday, December 24, 2010

Media activist Stephen Lendman on Obama-care, Palestine, US-crimes, START treaty and more


On December 23, 2010, The Train (CHUO 89.1 FM Ottawa, Canada) interviewed Stephen Lendman in a wide-ranging discussion about Obama being worst than Bush, Israeli crimes in Palestine, the START arms treaty, and more.


Lendman makes a strong case that the Obama administration is much worst than was the Bush administration, "without a doubt!"

Lendman's impassioned description of Israeli crimes in Palestine is the most engaging we have heard in a long time from any continent.

Stephen's recommended links on Palestine:
Palestine Chronicle
Electronic Intifada
Palestine Telegraph

Friday, December 17, 2010

Nancy Banks on medical sanity... AIDS, profit, world finance and geopolitics


On December 16, 2010, The Train (CHUO 89.1 FM Ottawa, Canada) interviewed Dr. Nancy Turner Banks author of the book "AIDS, Opium, Diamonds, and Empire - The Deadly Virus of International Greed".

A wide-ranging exploration touching on the questionable science of HIV and AIDS, the true causal factors of failures in public health, the toxic influence of pharmaceutical corporations, the world economic dominance of illegal drugs, and optimistic prospects for a new medicine...


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Chemtrails, geoengineering and climate change from Cancun and everywhere


On December 9, 2010, The Train welcomed Ottawa organizer and social justice activist Sylvain Henry, US independent filmmaker and chemtrails activist Michael Murphy, and climate sanity champion Lord Christopher Monckton.

Rancourt challenged Murphy on the toxicity of nanoparticulate Al2O3 and on measurable environmental and human health impacts of chemtrails but all agreed to fight the undemocratic tyrants that run our lives and that global-scale geoengineering should be stopped.

Then Lord Monckton owned the last half like only he can. Twas a riot.



POST-SHOW FALLOUT:
Several listeners called the CHUO 89.1 FM radio station to complain and to ask that Rancourt's statements that aluminum oxide is not a highly toxic substance be retracted on air. Thank you for your interest in the show. The host of The Train has a responsibility to question claims of significant risk to public health when he has reason to believe the information to be in doubt. Please feel free to send all criticisms and feedback directly to Denis Rancourt at chuotrain@gmail.com. A selection of these statements will be read on air. In addition, more air time is planned for this topic.

FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Aluminium oxide is the family of inorganic compounds with the chemical formula Al2O3. It is an amphoteric oxide and is commonly referred to as alumina, corundum as well as many other names, reflecting its widespread occurrence in nature and industry. Its most significant use is in the production of aluminium metal, although it is also used as an abrasive due to its hardness and as a refractory material due to its high melting point.
Application--As a filler: Being fairly chemically inert, relatively non-toxic, and white, alumina is a favored filler for plastics. Alumina is a common ingredient in sunscreen.

Train host Rancourt goes it alone on world to local to campus topics

Palestine justice... Wikileaks calls for murder of Assange... Ottawa police chief Vern White against transparency... U of O president Allan Rock against due process...

On December 2, 2010, Train host Denis Rancourt went it alone. (After a last minute cancellation for very good reason...!)


Friday, November 26, 2010

An interview with CAF natiuonal president Khaled Mouammar

On November 25, 2010, The Train's Denis Rancourt interviewed Canadian Arab Federation president Khaled Mouammar.

Zionism, Islamophobia, government-fabricated anti-Semitism, Harper's elected dictatorship, absence of a parliamentary opposition (Bloc excepted), cowardly media, and all such things that make Canada great...


BREAKING NEWS: The Canadian military base in the Arab Emirates was not turfed for the reasons claimed by the Harper government. The true reason relates to Canada protecting a suspected Mossad assassin and terrorist alleged to have been part of the high profile execution earlier this year of a Palestinian leader in the Arab Emirates.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Part-1: Liberation radio 700 AM El Salvador - Part-2: Moe Harkat secret trial update with Sophie

The November 18, 2010, Train was in two parts.

In Part-1 the Train was helped by Miriam Mendez of Ottawa in interviewing Brother William Osmar Chamagua director and founder of Radio Cadena Mi Gente 700 AM El Salvador. The associated media network site is HERE.

We learned about a true people's media project with national impact in El Salvador and the brave liberation work of Brother William and his people (mi gente).

In Part-2 the Train welcomed Sophie Harkat to provide us with an update since her last CHUO visit when Moe Harkat and her lived under disturbing house arrest conditions. Canada continues to behave like a police state, with secret trials, hidden evidence, torture, inhuman detainments, and unfair hearings, but at least the bail conditions have largely been lifted.

Organizing for Justice annual conference, Ottawa, Canada


On November 11, 2010, CHUO Train host Denis Rancourt interviewed Organizing for Justice (O4J) co-organizers Ryan Lasalle, Jessica Menard, and Greg MacDougall.



The interview showcased the O4J keynote panel lecture "G20-Toronto Debrief" and the Saturday of workshops.

The Saturday workshops included: Climate Justice, Radical Peer Support, Algonquins of Barriere Lake, Burmese classroom in a conflict zone, Money politics, Islamophobia, Raising yaks and media responsibility...

We started with how and why to get involved in such a project as O4J and ended up on yaks!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Dan Dicks filmmaker, musician, journalist, societal agent



On November 4, 2010, The Train interviewed well known documentary film activist Dan Dicks of PressForTruth.ca by phone from Toronto.


It was an interview that examined Dan Dicks work, motivation, and philosophy. It took us through Dan's trail from chemtrails to international banking to Bilderberg watching to his recent feature length documentary United We Fall to G20-Toronto revelations to Officer Bubbles interviews and so on.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Labour union support for democracy in the Philippines

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On October 28, 2010, The Train interviewed Carleton University graduate student and TA union organizer Precillia Lefebvre and Ottawa activist and Staff Representative for CUPE 4600 (TAs and Contract Instructors at Carleton) Stuart Ryan about their activisms, their union battles, their solidarity trips to the Philippines, and the brutal situation in the Philippines.


We started with the campus-wide labour battle at Carleton University where four unions are poised to strike... and we moved into labour and human rights in the Philippines.
The Philippines is clearly a police state and a brutal regime in the corporate fascism project of the US and Canada.

The killing, torturing, raping, and disappearing of civil and labour organizers is widespread and systemic; to support corporate exploitation interests, not the least of which are the foreign labour mill and Canadian mining interests.
Philippine resistance is diverse and resourceful. It has lessons for Canadian social justice activists and has deeply and personally inspired Precillia and Stuart.

Friday, October 22, 2010

The STIMULATOR tells it all -- An interview with Franklin Lopez


On October 21, 2010, The Train interviewed Franklin Lopez, aka The Stimulator of submedia.tv fame.


Yup, it was "another sedition" of "it's the end of the world as we know it and i feel fine" about activism, direct action, the Black Bloc, revolution, diversity of tactics, alternative media, film making, our enemies in blue, and so on...

Mr. Lopez put aside his stage voice in order to be down and real about his understanding of resistance in Canada.

In particular, hear a unique testimony of the Black Bloc violence at G20 Toronto and hear Mr. Lopez challenge the dominant view among progressives that the state used and manipulated the Black Bloc...

We await the release of submedia.tv's new feature film entitled endciv (as in "end of cvilization").

Friday, October 15, 2010

Renowned activist Ken O'Keefe on Palestine liberation and life


On October 14, 2010, The Train's Denis Rancourt interviewed Ken O'Keefe by phone from London, UK.


Human shield program in Irak, depleted uranium as war crime, fighting off corporate fishing boats on the high seas, surviving Israel's flotilla attack in international waters, the energy of life, Palestine as family, pacifism as cowardice or as heroism, and the need for a one-state solution in Palestine...

The phone connection took 20 minutes to establish so Allan Rock and Utah Phillips helped us through...
Ken's official web site:
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Thursday, October 7, 2010

Six candidates for mayor of Ottawa interviewed on Train


On October 7, 2010, The Train interviewed six of the twenty mayoral candidates in the upcoming municipal elections for the City of Ottawa, Canada's capital city, home of "Canada's university" (aka U of O).


The six mayoral candidates interviewed live in studio were (in order of appearance):
  • Michael St. Arnaud
  • Jane Scharf
  • Joseph Furtenbacher
  • Idris Ben-Tahir
  • Robert G. Gauthier
  • Fraser Liscumb
The debates were lively, far-reaching, and informative...

The candidates were brought in by community organizer Sylvain Henry who is hosting an all-candidates debate at the Ottawa Public Library (Metcalf and Laurier branch) on October 10, 2010, at 1pm. See:

Friday, October 1, 2010

Dissent in Canada - A pre-panel discussion


On September 30, 2010, the Train welcomed indy media journalist (The Real News) Lia Tarachansky, prominent human rights and constitutional law lawyer Yavar Hameed, and Ottawa peace activist and trade unionist Larry Rousseau for a discussion about the state of dissent in Canada, in light of G20-Toronto.


The on-air show was in preparation for a panel discussion (including Train host Denis Rancourt) organized by NoWar-Paix as part of the 4th Ottawa Peace Festival.

Ms. Tarachansky also discussed her new film project about Israel's occupation of Palestine, Seven Deadly Myths, and noted that Canada had in recent years significantly moved towards a police state such as she has experienced in Israel.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Blast from the Past::: Sex on the Train


Given the recent major court victory for sex trade workers in Canada (LINK), we thought we would feature these past Five O'Clock Train shows about the sex trade - interviews with past and present sex trade workers and sex trade justice activists.

On December 27, 2007, the Train interviewed Suzan Davis - sex trade worker, sex trade worker justice activist, organizer - who was attempting to get a co-operative going to help sex trade workers in the Vancouver area, in preparation for the Vancouver Olympics.



The following week, on January 3, 2008, a way-overly talkative (!) host Denis Rancourt interviewed Samantha Smyth, ex-exotic dancer (and former Carleton University student) and Liaison Officer for the Canadian National Coalition of Experiential Women.



Ms. Smyth made the music selection, including songs that she performed on. In scheduling the show we decided on three music breaks, to which Ms. Smyth replied "Oh nice, that's just like a set."

The Train again offers this double blast in the hope of helping to push back moralistic barriers.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Wind justice in Ontario, Canada: Green energy impositions

Expropriation without compensation under the green banner...


On September 23, 2010, The Train interviewed Jane Wilson, Chair of the North Gower Wind Action Group (NGWAG), Christiane Bollinger, member of the Board of the NGWAG, and Dr. John Harrison, physicist and wind power expert.


We discussed the corporate cronyism and lack of democracy in industrial wind power projects being imposed on residents in Canada and the process to date regarding an industrial wind power project slated for the community of North Gower (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).

We learned that industrial wind comprises many significant health and safety issues that are not being properly addressed by governments, environmental regulations, or the industry. The human and animal health and safety problems are nothing short of unacceptable...

CHECK OUT THIS BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Video about the shadow flicker hazard and its impacts
Wind Concerns Ontario
North Gower Wind Action Group
Independent Electricity System Operator in Ontario
(has a cool little wind turbine graphic to show how much power wind is producing at the moment---not much!)

ALSO, READING:
  • Hydro: the decline and fall of Ontario's electric empire, by Jamie Swift and Ketih Stewart
  • The War in the Country, by Thomas F. Pawlick
  • Wind Turbine Syndrome, By Nina Pierpont, MD

Friday, September 17, 2010

Surviving student food 101


On September 16, 2010, The Train interviewed food expert Jean-Pierre Maheu on the question of surviving the student lifestyle regarding food.


This was a wide ranging discussion about the practice, sociology, economics and politics of food; geared toward expanding possibilities for students subjected to harsh institutional pressures.

Our expert says if he could only have one food ingredient it would be an onion! Find out why.

Mr. Maheu recommends that students avoid all prepared foods and cook for themselves but not alone. He gave the simplest recipes possible and explained how these simple creations will work every time if you just stick to some basic rules like don't burn it.

Avoid energy drinks! It's not food energy. It's pure chemical stimulus. The associated addiction will make you strung out.

Mr. Maheu and his co-director Catherine offer their collaboration to any student group wanting to do practical activism and communal projects around cooking. They can be reached at jpm [at] services-alc.com.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Police State Canada - as per G20-Toronto pigs mess


On September 9, 2010, The Train went solo with host Denis Rancourt.

The planned guest was G20-arrestee and First Peoples rights activist and author/reporter Alex Hundert, to be interviewed from house arrest by phone. Hundert had been warned by Provincial Police that he could be arrested if he spoke to the media (HERE).

See mainstream media articles: HERE, HERE.

The day of our scheduled CHUO radio interview, there was an "emergency" and Mr. Hundert had to appear in court. He could not be reached for the interview at the scheduled time and he was not able to communicate with CHUO to give an update of his situation.


Therefore, Train host Denis Rancourt reported what he could and provided an analysis of Police State Canada in relation to both University of Ottawa campus police and G20-Toronto, the insanity of it all...

The show is peppered with the political history music of iconic Wobbly Utah Phillips from his CD album Fellow Workers. The show ends with Utah's line "... I'm a pacifist but I admire her spunk..." from his song "shoot or stab them".

Activist Teacher blog articles cited during show:
G20-Toronto and Lost Sovereignty (societal analysis)
They're Not Just Pigs (para-military police operation at G20-Toronto)

Some truth about chemtrails


On September 2, 2010, The Train interviewed Ottawa-based chemtrails information activist Sylvain Henry. Mr. Henry has a science degree, is part of the "Skies of Blue" network, and authored the Facebook group "Mass Action Demand: Chemtrails".


The Facebook group asks that members ask their national leaders for answers about chemtrails. After dozens of email over several months, the Canadian Prime Minister's Office has not even acknowledged Mr. Henry's inquiries.

The discussion was informed by Train host Dr. Denis Rancourt who is a physicist, an environmental scientist, and a recognized expert in environmental nanoparticles.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Kevin Annett vs Vancouver Co-operative Radio


On August 26, 2010, The Train interviewed renowned aboriginal rights activist Rev. Kevin Annett by phone in Vancouver.


We reviewed Kevin's activism but mostly we described a recent and ongoing conflict between Kevin and Vancouver Co-op Radio in which the radio executives have use a harsh legalistic approach to trespass Kevin off the premises while publicly stating that his radio show is not being canceled.

The situation has been summarized by Kevin Annett HERE.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Australian train driver on global warming


On August 19, 2010, The Train interviewed train driver (in North America read "train engineer") Peter Laux by phone from Melbourne, Australia. It was 7am the next day for Peter and there were still no measurable effects of anthropogenic CO2-driven global warming.


The dynamic and wide ranging conversation covered Australian working class skepticism of global warming, green psychology, Richard Nixon's "war on cancer", environmental protection as government ploy, Australian regional climate changes, trade unionism, energy technology, energy politics, DDT criminalization as racism, and much more...

Related web posts: Peter Laux to Climate Guy.
General background perspective: Some big lies of science.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Kingston prison farm blockade


On August 12, 2010, The Train phone interviewed two Kingston-based organizers of the resistance against the Harper government's closures of all six Canadian prison farms. These farms have been providing food and meaningful work to prisoners for 100 years.


Both our guests, biochemistry technologist Patrick Thompson and RMC university professor Michael Hurley, were arrested on Monday along with dozens of others practicing a weekend blockade to stop the sale of the Kingston (Ontario) prison farm dairy cows. Also arrested were a grandmother in her eighties and a youth in her early teens.

After his arrest, Professor Hurley (aged 60) refused to sign an undertaking that would have removed his constitutional right to protest and was therefore forced to spend a sleepless night in holding conditions that can only be described as inhuman.

Both activists were upbeat and felt empowered by their recent discovery of solidarity via direct action dissent, following a long road of all the usual government subversions of democracy.

OC-Transpo bus riders' union is on schedule


On August 5, 2010, we interviewed two members of the Ottawa-based OCTranspo Transit Riders' Union: New member and University of Ottawa student Nate (in-studio) and founding member and Carleton University student Ashton (by phone from Winnipeg).



It's all about access. The bus riders' union wants to work with both transit clients and the drivers' union to eliminate all exclusion based on class, income, neighbourhood, disability, race, gender... The union is based on the principle that transportation is an essential service to which all users must have no barriers to access.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Gerard O'Donovan, CEO, Noble Manhattan Coaching - Life coach trainer

On July 29, 2010, The Train interviewed Gerard O'Donovan to get an inside view of the world of life and corporate coaching. Noble Manhattan Coaching is a leading training company of coaches in Europe and Gerard shared some of the how-to and why-for of his profession.



The live interview was by phone to the UK. We looked at the method of life coaching and explored the types of life challenges that clients bring to the coaching bench. We examined the conflicts of values that can occur between the executive and the corporation and the psychology and practice of resolving such conflict and of creating a sense of meaning.

A main organizational theme was the contrast between the classic command and control hierarchy and a team-based model where individuals are valued and given a high degree of responsibility. Resource extraction corporations with questionable local practices tend to prefer strict command and control of employees and of information.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ottawa activist Jane Scharf on G20


On July 22, 2010, The Train interviewed renown Ottawa activist and second-term candidate for mayor Jane Scharf. After describing her mayor-race platform, Jane had a lot to share about how she interprets the police mass violations at G20-Toronto and the relationships to the Ottawa RBC fire incident.



Ms. Scharf has been very direct in her attempts to ensure that the RBC defendants receive fair and due treatment by the courts, their lawyers, and their supporters. She also expressed concern over the now media-stated fact that there was police infiltration related to the RBC arrests.

In addition Ms. Scharf has been writing to authorities and the government and receiving answers about her concerns, which were communicated on-air.

MD and psychiatrist Dr. Rima on health sanity and health insanity


On July 15, 2010, The Train interviewed Dr. Rima (Rima E. Laibow, MD), Medical Director, Natural Solutions Foundation, by phone from the foundation's head office in Panama.



This intense and informative session presented a radical (at the root) criticism of mainstream medicine and of mainstream medical training. Dr. Rima also provided insight into the essential conditions for personal health and stressed the importance of the agri-food and pharmaceutical corporate threats to public health.

In her own practice Dr. Rima avoids all drugs and was able to prioritized the top three tools of the natural medicine practitioner: Nano-silver as a universal antibiotic, vitamine C as a most common/detrimental nutrient deficiency, and essential fatty acids as a major overlooked essential nutrient group.

(See all related Train interviews under the the label MEDICINE.)