SCHOTT'S and FRIENDS

   The title relates to the series of books by Ben Schott, and the TV series Friends which you probably watched in the last years of the last century and have, most certainly, been reading about more recently. The Schott's volumes are small hardbacks, about the size of paperbacks, which are packed full of information, both bizarre and mundane. Three are pictured below and I have mentioned them before, in the post about the word "scissors" which can be spelled in hundreds of ways, (see: "Scissors and Spelling.")

There is a fourth volume, Schott's Quintessential Miscellany, which I also have and in which you will find on page 11, "The One With All The Friends Episodes" which I will paste below. It is highly likely that it is the one bit of information about Friends that you have not read. 

  "Chandler" is mentioned in many of the episodes listed, (e.g. "When Chandler Crosses the Line") and he was Matthew Perry. Even if you were not a fan of Friends, you will know about Perry who passed away on Oct. 28, 2023. About him much has been written and he wrote recently, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, so I need not offer more.

Post Script: "Several Degrees of Separation."
   In the summer of 1968 I was in Montreal and, in the evenings, took a course in "International Relations" at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia.) It was taught by John Langford who had just returned from Oxford. He went on to have a successful career as a Professor of Public Administration at the University of Victoria. Over that summer I got to know John outside of the classroom and many years later visited him in Victoria.
   This post script might seem like one long non sequitur, so I will mention here that John's sister, Suzanne is the mother of Matthew Perry. I won't pretend to remember conversations from over 50 years ago, but I do know that she was discussed, probably because even then she had attracted a lot of attention. She later became a press aide to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. She is now the wife of Keith Morrison.

Sources:
  I usually provide some, but cannot do so about my Montreal experiences and also do not usually write much about personal experiences, especially if they involve other people. I was curious, however, about Suzanne Langford back in the last century and found this interesting article from which the pictures and quotes are taken: "PM's Press Aide Isn't Just Another Pretty Face," Michael Prentice, The Citizen, Ottawa, March 8, 1980. It begins this way:
"From teen age beauty queen and New York Model to press aide to the prime minister of Canada, Suzanne Langford Perry has turned head wherever she goes..."
"Suzanne Langford was born into the "Rockcliffe Set." Her parents Warren and Lucille live on Ashbury Road, and her father is director-general of arts and culture in the Secretary of State department...."
"She has worked for some for some fairly demanding taskmasters, and they were more than satisfied....She is No.2 in the press office to Patrick Gossage, 40,  and Gossage says: "Some of the toughest, most hard-headed political people in Canada - like (Jim) Coutts and (Keith) Davey - trust her implicitly, and that's important."

LINE 5 AGAIN

 

STILL UNDER THE WATER AND UNDER THE RADAR

   Just over a couple of years ago I wrote about Line 5 and in the post you will see a picture of the the Sarnia-Lambton MP, Marilyn Gladu pointing toward a sign indicating that many in the area would lose jobs if Line 5 was shutdown. Background was provided along with some sources and you can read it here. 

  If you are like many others, you probably don't recognize Line 5 which is not as well known as Keystone or even the long ago Maginot. It carries fossil fuels from Alberta all the way to Sarnia and beyond. It helps keep things running and people warm. A couple of years ago, Governor Gretchen in Michigan ordered it shut down, which is why I wrote about it. Now a judge in Wisconsin again has ordered it shut off. Canada has objected again and the oil continues to flow. 

  I find it curious that the issue is not much discussed. The more recent Line 5 ruling involves Indigenous rights because the pipeline passes through land occupied by the Lake Superior Chippewa in Wisconsin. I can understand why many don't care about that and I realize that it is likely that you are about to stop reading.

  But, the earlier shut down ordered by Governor Whitmer was requested because of environmental concerns. The pipeline, you see, runs under the Straits of Mackinac and it is argued that a rupture of it would be devastating for not just one Great Lake. Line 5 turned 70 this year and perhaps, in 'pipeline years', it is older than both President Biden or aspirant Trump and age is a factor that should be considered. As well, pipelines can be treated just as roughly as presidential candidates.  Plus, there have been other spills involving Enbridge pipelines including one fairly close by in the Kalamazoo River.

  Even more curious is the fact that it is the Canadian government that opposes the shutdown. It would be less curious, perhaps, if the government was a Tory one. It is not surprising, however, that even Trudeau wants to keep things as is, since state, provincial, federal, international, Indigenous, labour and environmental actors are involved and most Canadians seem not to be worried about a pipe that may not burst.

Sunset on the Mackinac Straits

  Sources:

   This recent piece explains the situation well. It is found in a publication with a fine subtitle: "Michigan Pipeline Standoff Could Affect Indigenous Rights Across the US," Mike Shriberg, The Conversation: Academic Rigour, Journalistic Flair, August 16, 2023. It was republished in The Detroit Free Press on Sept.10, under this title: "Proxy Fight in Straits Could Decide Who Gets to Draw a Line in Sand." The text is presented here and parts of it are bolded by me for emphasis. It is followed by the more recent shutdown ruling.

As the author of the article says at the end, "Your Turn."

The article:

"Should states and Indigenous nations be able to influence energy projects they view as harmful or contrary to their laws and values? This question lies at the center of a heated debate over Enbridge Energy's Line 5 pipeline, which carries oil and natural gas across Michigan and Wisconsin.

Courts, regulatory agencies and political leaders are deciding whether Enbridge should be allowed to keep its pipeline in place, with upgrades, for another 99 years. The State of Michigan and the Bad River Tribe in Wisconsin want to close the pipeline down immediately.

My expertise is in Great Lakes water and energy policy, environmental protection and sustainability leadership. I have analyzed and taught these issues as a sustainability scholar, and I have worked on them as the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes regional executive director from 2015 until early 2023.

In my view, the future of Line 5 has become a defining issue for the future of the Great Lakes region. It also could set an important precedent for reconciling energy choices with state regulatory authority, and Native American rights.

A Canadian pipeline through the US Midwest

Line 5, built in 1953, runs 643 miles from Superior, Wis., to Sarnia, Ontario. It carries up to 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids daily, produced mainly from Canadian tar sands in Alberta.

Most of this oil and gas goes to refineries in Ontario and Quebec. Some remains in the U.S. for propane production or processing at refineries in Michigan and Ohio.

Controversy over Line 5 centers mainly on two locations: the Straits of Mackinac, and the Bad River Band Reservation in Wisconsin, where the pipeline crosses tribal land.

Line 5 crosses through the open water of the Straits of Mackinac in twin pipelines that rest on the lake bottom in some stretches, and are suspended above it in others. The route lies within an easement granted by the State of Michigan in 1953.

The Straits of Mackinac are one of the most iconic settings in the Great Lakes. They include hundreds of islands and miles of shorelines rimmed with forests and wetlands. Scenic Mackinac Island in Lake Huron, a popular resort area since the mid-1800s, is Michigan's top tourist destination.

The straits also have long been spiritually important for Great Lakes tribes. Michigan acknowledges that the Chippewa and Ottawa peoples hold treaty-protected fishing rights that center on the Mackinac region.

The Line 6b spill

In 2010, another Enbridge pipeline, Line 6b, ruptured near the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan, spilling over 1 million gallons of heavy crude. Line 6b is part of a parallel route to Line 5, and the cleanup continues more than a decade later.

The spill, and Enbridge's slow, bungled response and lack of transparency, led to scrutiny of other Enbridge pipelines, including Line 5.

In a 2014 analysis, University of Michigan oceanographer David J. Schwab concluded that the Straits of Mackinac were the "worst possible place" for a Great Lakes oil spill because of high-speed currents that were unpredictable, and reversed frequently. Within 20 days of a spill, Schwab estimated, oil could be carried up to 50 miles from the site into Lakes Michigan and Huron, fouling drinking water intakes, beaches and other critical areas.

This, and other research, intensified a burgeoning advocacy campaign by pipeline opponents, including regional and national environmental organizations, Indigenous leaders and advocates and a newly formed network of local and regional businesses.

Pipeline supporters include the American Petroleum Institute and others in the fossil fuel industry, many conservative lawmakers, several key labor unions and the government of Canada. They argue that the current pipeline is safe, violates no federal laws and is a key piece of infrastructure that helps keep energy costs low.

Michigan revokes its easement

After years of scrutiny, including the formation of the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board and two expert reports commissioned by the state, analyses showed that Enbridge was violating provisions of its easement. Most notably, the section of Line 5 that ran under the straits lacked proper anchors and coating, increasing the threat of a rupture. The state concluded that the easement violated the public trust doctrine — the idea that government should protect certain natural resources, including waterways, for public use.

State reports concluded that the highest risk for rupture was from anchor strikes. Environmental nongovernment organizations found that Line 5 had already leaked more than 1 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids. On April 1, 2018, a boat anchor struck the pipeline and nearly ruptured it, temporarily shutting Line 5 it down.

In 2019, Gov. Rick Snyder was succeeded by Gretchen Whitmer, who pledged in her campaign to close Line 5. Seeking to avert a shutdown, Enbridge proposed building a tunnel beneath the lake bed to protect the pipeline.

But after more analysis — and another anchor strike that temporarily shut down the pipeline again — Whitmer issued an order in November of 2020 revoking Enbridge's easement and giving the company six months to close Line 5. The state sought a court order to support its decision.

Instead of accepting state orders, Enbridge resisted. The company argued that Michigan lacked authority to tell it how to manage the pipeline, that the project had not required an easement in 1953, and that building the tunnel would mitigate any risks.

Enbridge sued Michigan in federal court, arguing that pipeline safety regulation was a federal issue, and that the state had no authority to intervene in what was essentially international commerce.

Challenging state and tribal authority

Enbridge also faced pressure from the Bad River Tribe in Wisconsin, where some 12 miles of the pipeline runs through the Bad River Band reservation and across the Bad River. Enbridge's easement on parts of the reservation expired in 2013, and in 2017 the tribal council voted to evict Enbridge from their land, calling the pipeline a threat to the river and their culture.

When Enbridge continued operating Line 5, the tribe sued the company in federal court in 2019, charging it with trespass, unjust enrichment and other offenses, and sought to get the pipeline closed.

Today, Michigan's case against Enbridge is bogged down in jurisdictional battles. But on June 16, 2023, the federal judge overseeing the Bad River case ruled largely in favor of the tribe and ordered Enbridge to stop operating the pipeline on tribal land within three years. Enbridge vowed to appeal the ruling, but is also seeking permits for a 41-mile reroute of Line 5 around the reservation.

A national precedent

Line 5 is more than a Michigan issue. It has become a focus for national activism and is a major diplomatic issue between Canada and President Joe Biden, who has worked to balance his ties with organized labor and his support for a clean energy transition, and has avoided taking a side to date.

To continue operating Line 5, Enbridge will have to convince the courts that its interests and legal arguments outweigh those of an Indigenous nation and the State of Michigan. But if the courts rule against Enbridge, it would be the first time an active fossil fuel pipeline has been closed due to potential environmental and cultural damage.

The outcome could set a precedent for other pipeline and fossil fuel infrastructure battles, from the mid-Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. Ultimately, in my view, Line 5 is an under-the-radar but critical proxy battle for how, when and under what authority the phasing out of fossil fuels will proceed.

Mike Shriberg is a professor in the School for Environment & Sustainability at the University of Michigan, a former Great Lakes Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, and a former gubernatorial appointee under Gov. Rick Snyder to the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.

Your Turn

Mike Shriberg

The New Shutdown Order

"Undo Line 5 Shutdown Order, Federal Government's Filing Urges U.S. appeals Court, The Canadian Press, Sept. 18, 2023

WASHINGTON — "Ottawa is urging a U.S. appeals court to reverse a Wisconsin judge's order that threatens to shut down the Line 5 cross-border pipeline by June 2026.

Forcing a shutdown would violate Canada's treaty rights, government lawyers argue in an amicus brief filed today with the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

A Wisconsin court ruling in June gave Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. an ultimatum: reroute the pipeline around an Indigenous reserve within three years or shut it down.

Enbridge plans a 66-kilometre detour to replace the 19-kilometre stretch that runs through the sovereign territory of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa.

Both sides are appealing the decision — Enbridge wants more time to finish the reroute, while lawyers for the band want the taps turned off for good.

The band and its environmental allies fear a spill inside an ecologically sensitive and flood-prone Lake Superior watershed on the Bad River reserve."

Politics and Gas

   If you glanced quickly at the photo above you probably assumed it was President Biden, particularly if you have relatives or friends who lean toward the right. Similar images of President Brandon or Prime Minister Justinflation are ubiquitous, contagious among conservatives and spread quickly over the Internet. 

   The image is of President Carter and it is displayed in the right-wing publication, American Opinion found in the June 1980 issue. An accompanying caption indicates that:

"No President who has boosted inflation over the 18 percent mark; allowed prime interest rates to reach 20 percent; doubled federal taxation; reduced productivity to minus figures; allowed the halving of our savings; and shrunk the value of the dollar as if it was a prune, deserves another chance to do worse."

   I suppose it is always the case that those who are not in power, blame those who are. The difference now is that the blame, deserved or not, can be spread more quickly and virulently. 

The Bonus:

   This actually is more of a warning. If you recently took on a large mortgage or are deeply in debt, but think that surely interest rates will never get to 5%, look at the one above. It is 20% and the Bank of Canada's key interest rate reached 21.2% in 1981.

Revelatory New Book About Prime Minister Trudeau

 

"April Fools!" 
   There is not a new book about Trudeau. The one above is neither new or revealing. It was published a couple of years ago and says nothing at all about either Trudeau's greatness or his skill at leading. The book consists only of pages which are completely blank. Dr. Henry Maple may not exist as such.

Of Nothing There Is No End
   The blank pages in this book were copied from many others that came before. Whether that constitutes plagiarism, I will let you decide. Before you do, you should read my post on this subject, where the issue is discussed and a brief history of books about nothing is presented. 
See: Much Ado About Nothing.

The Bonus: 
For more substance see my: The History of Everything. 

Apologizing Again

 It was announced last week that next month Prime Minister Trudeau will apologize again, this time to Italian-Canadians. In case you missed it and wondered what you  did (since I assume he is apologizing for all of us), here is the announcement from the Canadian Press on 15 April:

"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Will Issue a Formal Apology Next Month for the Treatment of Italian Canadians During the Second World War."
The government said in a news release that 600 Italian-Canadian men were interned in camps in Canada after Italy allied with Germany and joined the war in 1940.
Some 31,000 other Italian Canadians were declared enemy aliens.
Mr. Trudeau told the House of Commons Wednesday that his government "will right these wrongs" by issuing a formal apology in May.
In 1988, Canada formally apologized and offered $300-million in compensation to Japanese Canadians, 22,000 of whom were interned in camps during the Second World War.

Mr. Trudeau did not say whether there will be compensation for Italian Canadians.

   He has already apologized to the many Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers who were not allowed to come ashore in Canada over a 100 years ago. Former Prime Minister Harper apologized for the head tax used to restrict Chinese immigrants and for the residential schools program. Prime Minister Trudeau extended that apology to those in residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador and more recently he apologized to those public servants caught up in the "gay purge."

   I apologize for questioning what is accomplished by all of these apologies, but I do have some questions: How much should one apologize for things one didn't do? How guilty is one for acts committed by others and how responsible is one for things done long ago? What does it mean, when a nation apologizes? Should I feel ashamed to be a Canadian because of all the apologies we have had to offer? Are the wrongs righted? And, more crassly, should Italian-Canadians be compensated and for what exactly?

   I was going to title this post - Apologia Needed For Historical Apologies - since I feel that a defence of  all of this historical apologizing needs to be offered, at least to those of us who regret that bad things happened, but can't or don't feel guilty about them. It is the case, however, that there may be one in the form of the book: A Guilted Age: Apologies for the Past, by Ashraf H.A. Rushday.  There is a copy in the stacks up at King's College, ordered perhaps by someone feeling guilty about the Crusades. Unfortunately, the stacks are closed during the pandemic. If anyone reads this and selects this book for their book club, let me know what is decided about the necessity and effectiveness of all this apologizing for the behaviour of others done long ago.

   The publisher of the book is the Temple University Press, from which this synopsis is taken:

Public apologies have become increasingly common scenes and representative moments in what appears to be a global process of forgiveness. The apology-forgiveness dynamic is familiar to all of us, but what do these rituals of atonement mean when they are applied to political and historical events?

In his timely, topical, and incisive book A Guilted Age, Ashraf Rushdy argues that the proliferation of apologies by politicians, nations, and churches for past events—such as American slavery or the Holocaust—can be understood as a historical phenomenon. In our post–World War II world, Rushdy claims that we live in a “guilted age.”

A Guilted Age identifies the two major forms of apologies—political and historical—and Rushdy defines the dynamics and strategies of each, showing how the evolution of one led to the other. In doing so, he reveals what apology and forgiveness do to the past events they respectively apologize for and forgive—and what happens when they fail.

The Bonus:
Another book for book club consideration that I have mentioned before:
In Praise of Forgetting: Historical Memories and Its Ironies, David Rieff.

 “In Praise of Forgetting is about our collective memories: how we remember our national histories and argue about our shared past. Rieff contends that these collective remembrances are self-serving, often fraudulent and frequently dangerous. Sometimes, he thinks, we would be better off simply forgetting the grudge-filled chronicles and getting on with living our lives. He admires the suggestion of a Northern Irish writer that the next memorial to Irish history should be “raising a monument to Amnesia, and forgetting where we put it.”

The Delicate Subject of Cartoons

  

   A distinction should be made between the act of drawing a cartoon and the beheading of a person. Many seem to think that the decapitators are better citizens than the cartoonists. I tend to side with the cartoonists and the silent minority on this issue. I can’t imagine a cartoon as bad as a beheading. Although I strive to avoid current events, at least this post does not again mention still-President Trump. It does involve our Prime Minister.

   The issue concerns the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. Five years ago, twelve staff members at the publication were killed because they published cartoons of Muhammad. The killers are now going on trial, so the magazine decided to re-publish the images. A teacher chose to show the cartoons and discuss the issue of ‘freedom of the press” with his class. He was beheaded for doing so. I suppose the majority wonder how stupid the cartoonists and the teacher could be, while I think the beheaders deserve more criticism.

   President Macron apparently felt the same way and when he sought support, none was forthcoming from our Prime Minister. Trudeau had second thoughts, and just a few days ago the Leader of the Opposition had a few of his own, here are some of them:

“Regrettably, in the wake of the recent Islamist attacks in France, killings committed as acts of revenge for our freedoms, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted he did not believe in free speech if it could be used to offend someone. To be frank, these words are unworthy of a Canadian prime minister. They once again show Trudeau bowing to ideological Twitter mobs rather than standing up for a founding principle of our country.

Let’s be clear: no dogma, whether political or religious, is immune from criticism. As my colleague Gerard Deltell put it so well in the House of Commons, “Freedom of expression does not exist only when it suits us … It must exist especially when it does not suit our business.” And I will go further: tolerance, which truly defines our country, should not be a one-way street.”

   It does definitely seem like we are on a one-way street. If you are heading the wrong way, you are labelled  an 'Islamophobe' and criticism of Islamists can be classified as a hate crime or deemed 'blasphemous'. If you are among the politically correct and heading in the right direction you perhaps secretly admire those who are really good at cancelling culture, or at least the Western version of it.

   A few brave people spoke up about the issue of freedom of speech, but fewer still were willing to go much beyond that. I fear a fatwa myself for this rather mild critique, but will take the slight risk and go a step further and present a few jokes - but, certainly no images. The jokes are not mine, but I will give no source since the author of them may wish to avoid the fate of Salman Rushdie.

   These jokes were offered after the writer of them noticed that a major American newspaper was providing advice for the increasingly Muslim audience of readers, Here they are, but there are no pictures:

“Which way is Mecca? Ten Timely Tips for Budget Hajj Travel”

“Modern Romance: How Many Wives is Too Many?”

“Healthy New York: Maintaining Vitamin D Sufficiency Under the Burka”

“Food: Top 100 Kebob Houses in Lower Manhattan”

“Sunday Styles: Goat Tending for City Dwellers”

“Five Times A Day: Suing Employers Who Don’t Provide Prayer Rugs”

“Best of New York: Local’s Guide to Men-Only Tea Houses”

“Know Your Tenant’s Rights: Halal Animal Slaughter on the Balcony”

“Summer in the City: Cool Lightweight Burkas that Beat the Heat”

“Taxing Matters: Time for a Municipally Collected Jizya?”

“Healthy New York: Female Genital Mutilation Without Tears”

“CityScape: The 100 Most Beautiful Mosques on the Upper East Side”

“Modern Romance: How Young Is Too Young for Child Marriage? 14? 12?”

“Mosque and State: Time to Rethink the Founding Fathers?”

“The Feminist Muslim’s Guide to Politically Correct Wife Discipline”

   Some of the advice offered involves women and I was reminded of a curious incident that took place in Massachusetts. It concerned signs that were posted around the town of Winchester. The signs were plain and rather innocuous, but still perplexing as this headline indicates: "'Islam Is Right About Women': Odd Signs Spark Confusion in Local Town," Boston 25 News, Sept. 18, 2019. Was the sign poster being sarcastic? Is Islam right about women? Or Wrong? Here is the clever sign that is likely just a bit of troll bait.

Sources:

"Freedom of Expression a Founding Principle of Canada,"Erin O'Toole, Toronto Sun, Nov. 13, 2020.

See also: "Trudeau Shamed Into Supporting France, Freedom of Expression," Brian Lilley, Toronto Sun, Nov. 6, 2020.  These quotations are from this article:

"It’s a sad statement when leaders from around the world stand with France but Canada doesn’t.

The central question is whether it is ever acceptable to insult religious figures, specifically by showing images of Mohammed.

Islam forbids showing images of Mohammed, but I’m not a Muslim and shouldn’t have to live by that rule any more than their rule against eating bacon.

What he should have said is that while he may find the cartoons of Mohammed offensive and understands why Muslims do, it is a fundamental freedom to show them, publish them or discuss them."

Post Script:

I am too cowardly to use the image of you-know-who and hope the cartoon of Erdogan is not overly offensive. I am not the only coward. In 2009, Yale University Press published THE CARTOONS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD, by Jytte Klausen. Oddly enough, there is not one cartoon in it.

If you are interested in the debate over this issue, go back to the spring of 2005. At that time PEN awarded Charlie Hebdo a freedom of speech award. You will think that PEN members would be automatically in favour of presenting such an honour, but the event was boycotted by some. Of course Salman Rushdie, a former PEN president agreed since he had to go into hiding for several years, after the publication of Satanic Verses. Canadian author Michael Ondaatje, among others, protested.