Billion Dollar Smoke Screen

For the low low price of 1.2 billion dollars (officially), Stephen Harper has built a fence high enough to hide all the G8 dirty dealings and hypocrisy. Media and the public are spending so much energy on that boondoggle that they're ignoring the bigger issues of what the leaders are talking about, let alone what the rest of have to say.

Yesterday's reproductive rights rally did make the local TV news. They reported the number of police (outnumbering us 3:1), the traffic blockages, and the fact that there was no violence. Not one interview with a marcher, not one mention of why we were out there, nothing but security.

The Toronto Sun's cover page proudly promised "10 Pages of Summit Coverage!", with an accompanying picture of police on motorcycles. Here's what was inside:
p.4 - bomb materials found in someone's house
p.5 - arrest of a potential agitator
p.6 - outrage about the cost of security
p.7 - editorial that police should not use the sound cannon
p.8 - security in Huntsville
p.9 - assassination threat on prime minister
p.10 - earthquake that happened during yesterday's rally
p.18 - letters to the editor about the cost of security
p.19 - risk of property damage to toronto buildings by protesters
p.63 - recipes for summit-themed drinks: "The Spiced Reform", "The Fiscal Freeze", "The Deal Maker" and "The Summit Shake-up

On the bottom of page 19 was the only article dealing with anything close to a summit issue - energy. The whole article was lamenting the rising cost of electricity, which will "add another $1800 to the bill of his 2,300 square-foot house", caused by "all of the massive so-called green energy contracts."

Is there really that little interest and respect for what the citizens and non-profit organizations have to say? Or has Harper created such an enormous distraction that he's diverted our attention away from why we all - the leaders and activists alike - are really here? This alleged boondoggle looks more like a billion dollar blindfold.