Budget should help most vulnerable, says Ignatieff

Article

And who are these "most vulnerable" ? It doesn't say. He just drops the phrase in and walks away from it , like it was a dead fish or something.


Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says the Conservative budget expected at the end of next month should include help for "the most vulnerable," as well as tax breaks for entrepreneurs, to pull the country out of a recession.


But he's really quite enthusiastic about the whole GIVE BIG BUSINESS MONEY thing. He just bowls us over with it.


He also called for more investment in infrastructure, as well as new funds for affordable housing and job training. The government will unveil the federal budget near the end of January, and Conservatives have met with opposition officials to discuss the fiscal document.


And who's going to be building those roads and sewers ? Some big business.
And who's going to be building those affordable housing ? Some big business.
And who's going to be providing that job training ? Some big business.


When questioned on whether he would opt to vote down the Harper government after the budget is tabled, Ignatieff reaffirmed his earlier commitment to wait until he knows the contents of the document before making a decision


You just admitted you met with the Conservatives to discuss the document. Now you're saying you don't know whats in it. Make up your mind.


He would only say that a Liberal-NDP coalition, supported by the Bloc Quebecois, is a viable alternative for Canadians, "if the Harper government continues its record of failure on economic leadership."


Loosely translated "If they continue to do things their way and not ours". Economic Leadership my left (ahem) ! What the heck does that mean? A made up phrase to make you think the Conservatives are doing something naughty. They got an Economist for Prime Minister , for petes sake, what more do you want ?

Oh , you want to be in power. The fact that he's an economist and you're a historian doesn't matter. You think a historian can do a better job, I see that now.

(Wikipedia link for Michael Ignatieff here)

So , who do you want to lead the country during this time of economic crisis ? An Economist (Conservatives) , a Historian (Liberals) , or a career politician ..er...holder of a degree in political science (the now absent Stephen Dion aka "The Carbon Tax Man"). Or perhaps the Bloc who would like to break the country apart ?

Drop me a line and let me know.

------- ( edit ) -----------

Hmm... pro human rights but not too far in the human rights camp he has his disagreements with them , in favor of the war in Iraq / Afghanistan but thinks the Americans got it wrong (too much corruption not enough fighting) , it's a pity he's a liberal because I think I agree with the rest of whats listed in his bio.

One Down , 11 to go

Liberals oust Ontario MP for supporting budget


Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has expelled former cabinet minister Joe Comuzzi from the party’s caucus because he plans to support the Conservative government’s budget. “He’s not anymore part of the caucus,” Dion said Wednesday after a caucus meeting. He said he had spoken with the Thunder Bay, Ont., MP who confirmed he would vote for the budget.


Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has expelled former cabinet minister Joe Comuzzi from the party’s caucus because he plans to support the Conservative government’s budget. “He’s not anymore part of the caucus,” Dion said Wednesday after a caucus meeting. He said he had spoken with the Thunder Bay, Ont., MP who confirmed he would vote for the budget.


Only 11 people need join the Conservatives and they have a majority. Well...10 now. *grins*


leaving the Liberals with 100 MPs, the Conservatives with 125, the Bloc Québécois with 50 and the New Democrats with 29

(also 2 independents 2 empty seats)

Hmm...those arn't the numbers I remember. That would indicate the Conservatives need 27 seats , not 11 . Google search time.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/partystandings/standings-E.htm

143 Conservative
77 Liberal
49 Bloc
37 NDP
02 Independant
00 Vacencies

wow...how old are those numbers from that blog ?
308 seats = 155 needed for majority. Conservatives need 12. Close enough , assuming an election occured somewhere along the line I didn't know about.

It is amusing though. Thank you Dion ! You took the Liberals from 100 seats to 77. Very impressive ! Oh , and the NDP were the second place winners , picking up 8 seats while everyone else but the conservatives lost (conservatives picked up a whopping huge 43 seats ... assuming those blog numbers are pre-election)

Please stay on Dion ! We love you ! *laughter* we love you sinking the opposition , that is ! Go Dion Go !!!

NR: City requests federal Labour minister to order ATU Local 279 vote

Article


Ottawa – Today, the City has written to the Minister of Labour, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, to order the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279 to put the City’s latest contract offer to a vote of the union’s membership.

Under the Canada Labour Code, section 108.1 the Minister may call and monitor a vote by the union’s members of the City’s last offer.


This is a blow to unions everywhere. Not because of the Cities actions in forcing a vote, but because if the vote actually succeeds, then it means the Union which purports to represent it's members , in fact does not. They have failed to do their jobs, and they should hang their heads in shame and resign.

But they won't. Of course not.

INDIANA JONES 4 FIRST REVIEW

One of the more interesting things you can do on the net is to find a review of a movie you already own. What is the point of doing that , you may ask ? Well , if you think the movie was hot stuff and can't imagine anyone saying anything bad about it , but the reviewers piddle all over it , it tells you something about the reviewing process , doesn't it ? And how much you should pay attention to them.

I loved Indiana Jones 4. The reviewers hated it.

Just like I loved the first two mummies movies and now I'm finding out there's a third one out but the reviewers hate it. Well ... if this is the kind of thing they hate .. I guess I better go get myself a copy.

Enough said.

Users report 30GB Zunes seizing up

Article


Some users reported the problem happened at exactly midnight PST, at the very beginning of the last day of the year. That timing led some wags to call the problem Z2K after the Y2K problem that was widely feared to cripple the computing industry when computer clocks moved from 1999 to 2000.
.
.
.
I just want to get up and go listen to my music. Listening to music is about the last thing I do with my Zune. I always have to reinstall, download new firmware, or wait for the slow software to catch up. Now this? I want to throw it away and never look back."


The wonderful Microsoft Zune , going to rule the world of MP3 Players.

I have a zen stone. It was under 50$ brand new, it doesn't do updates from the web, it doesn't have Digital Rights Management that shut you down if you don't pay your subscription fee, it doesn't get new software from the web to do the same old job as always.

This is my main gripe with "automatic updates". If it works , why are you updating anything ? It's just control, thats all. Some big corperation has reserved the right to shut you down if they think they can make a buck over it. And if they mess up , that shuts you down too.

Give me a generic mp3 player anytime , and forget this "automatic update" stuff. I neither need it nor want it. Not for my mp3 player, not for my windows box, and not even for my Linux box. I always turn that stuff off.

Palestinians in Canada condemn Israeli attacks in Gaza

Article


Palestinian-Canadians and their supporters held demonstrations in several cities Sunday in protest against Israeli air strikes aimed at security compounds in the Gaza Strip.

They rallied in downtown Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.

Carrying flags and signs reading "Save Gaza," protesters gathered outside Ottawa City Hall, calling for an end to the violence.


But not a single word against the Hamas for killing Israeli's with rocket attacks. Not a hint that they even think those rocket attacks are bad ? and this etho's the Hamas have to wipe the Israeli's out , no protest against that either ?

Send these protesters to Palistine where they belong , and revoke their Canadian Citizen ship. You wanna take sides and say "sc..w you" to one side and not the other ? Go fight that war, and leave us alone. We don't need your lopsided murderous propaganda in this country.

If you can't live in peace, then go home, Radical Islamics. Go home.

Chrome Sucks

7 Top Tips and Resources for Google Chrome


Google introduced the beta version of its open source Chrome browser nearly two months ago, and issued its third update to the beta yesterday. (The update pushes to you automatically if you're running Chrome.)


In an age where windows updates (and anti-virus updates, it's happened a few times) routinely break your computer and send you off to the repair shop for big bucks , and they don't reimburse you for this , in an age where windows updates do more to enforce their vender lock and strangle the competition than to improve their product or plug security holes (most "security holes" are infact an excuse to make some competitors package stop running on windows, duel booting linux comes to mind) ...

You have the gall to start another product with "automatic updates" on it that goes berserk and does whatever the heck it likes and the average user is simply stuck with whatever you , the big business , thinks is best for *YOUR* profit line and you don't give a rats behind about the actual user ?

And make no mistake about it , that is EXACTLY what this big business called Google is thinking.

Dump the thing in the trash can and move on.

------------ 0 ---------------

I know of a couple of programs that can download arbitrary code, a catch phrase meaning they download any program they like and do anything they like to your system, always to their benifit and your detriment. Most virus scanners flag these programs as hostile and neutrilize them , but they always seem to miss a few.

Specifically ....
Windows with live update on
Any anti-virus program with automatic updates turned on
Google Chrome
Any program at all with automatic updates turned on

I run my system, not your turkeys ! And it runs just fine with automatic updates turned off. I have no virii , no trojens , no slow downs, and I monitor things with netstat every now and then and there are no weird connections apearing at random.

You guys are just not trustworthy. Period.

Gaza near to collapse as Israel tightens grip, says bank

Article


Israel's blockade of Gaza is pushing the territory to the brink of collapse and fuelling the growth of a black money market controlled by Hamas, the World Bank warned yesterday.

.
.
.
There is also a worry that Hamas, with its dominant militant and bureaucratic control of Gaza, will begin to replace the shekel with US dollars, which are more easily obtained, to smuggle through the tunnels from Egypt in the south.


A capitalistic endeavor concearned greatly with money and not much else (a bank) is worried that Gaza might slip the hook and use USA money directly and cut them out of the loop. And ...so what ?

. Since the end of the truce, daily clashes have resumed, with Israel launching air strikes on Palestinian rocket-launching teams and Palestinian fighters firing makeshift rockets and mortars at neighbouring Israeli towns.


Thank you for telling us you're a corrupt and dishonest newspaper by implying that the Gaza strip actually stopped firing at Israel during the truce. Truth is they were firing makeshift rockets the whole time. Some truce. Ok , now we know your word is mud. You may proceed.


Israel has been unable to find a lasting military solution to years of rocket fire from Gaza, and a series of reports from the World Bank suggests its policy of blockading the coastal area to break Hamas's control has not only failed but is now jeopardising the US-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.


The US-backed Palestinian Authority has not brought true peace to Israel. Through out it's entire reign , the rockets on Israel kept falling. This organization has squandered a lot of dough and brought nothing for it. Let it die.

There can be no lasting peace for Israel. Why ? Because the Islamics openly declare they want the whole world and they're just starting with Israel. And the whole world (or at least the west) has decided, "yeah , we'll just check mate them right here and keep the conflict contained instead of spreading it".

And so the west milks out those hostile to it's very existance before they can reach their shores. Good job people. It's working great so far.

I'm a doctor so my religion is worth more than yours

Rule aims to protect health providers' right of conscience


Christiansen, an obstetrician and gynecologist, is opposed to abortion. A medical consultant for a pregnancy resource center in Frederick, Maryland, she has never performed an abortion and has never referred a patient to an abortion clinic.

Yep yep yep. Doctor knows best. And when youre a doctor and a religious fruit cake , its OK to push your religion on people who don't believe in it and simply not give them certain options that they would happily take that you are against on religious principles.


A new federal regulation is aimed at protecting the rights of health-care providers like Christiansen who refuse to participate in a procedure such as abortion because of their moral or religious beliefs.
.
.
.
"Doctors and other health-care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience," said Mike Leavitt, head of the Department of Health and Human Services.


Yes. They should be able to impose their religious beliefs on others. What a cool idea.

How about this for a rule ? Pick one. Doctor or Priest. Not both. They are opposites.

CAW says it won't budge on compensation

Article


TORONTO/OTTAWA — The Canadian Auto Workers is saying no to any concessions on compensation as their employers await a rescue package in lockstep with the $17.4-billion (U.S.) lifeline extended in the United States to the Detroit Three car makers.


Union workers make about 28$ an hour. I know , you heard 70$ an hour , but thats what they cost including pension , health , and a wack of other stuff. They only actually receive 28$ / hour.

Which is 28x40x52 = $58 240 / year

For unskilled labor.

In comparison most unskilled labour pays 8$ / hour , or 8x40x52 = $16 640 / year

The union has decided it's refusing to take a pay cut. It wants it's 28$ / hour. For tightening a few screws and doing a job they train you to do in a few hours or a day or two.

My job requires at least a certificate , if not a diploma , in computers , and three weeks training, and pays less than half that.

And by the way , I don't drive a car because I can't afford a years salary for a hunk of junk I'll have to replace every third year because these ass wipes feel they need to be paid double the average canadians wages for making rolling pieces of garbage that pollute the heck out of everyone , when smaller lighter electic cars that go no faster than 30 mph would do most people just fine.

But the big three has bribed everyone to insure that doesn't happen. No such car is permitted to pass the "safety standards" , and if they do , those standards are changed. They must maintain their monopoly and drown out any competition before they can even get started, it's just Good Business.

I vote we let them all go belly up.

Oh , I dont' get a vote. The big three have bribed our politicians into forking over my hard earned cash for something I don't want. I have been disenfranchised.

And I resent it.

Expert Village

Test Video : Sword Play

Expert Village. free online video's to learn ..almost anything.

I'm trying to write a novel , main charactar knows swordcraft. Would help if I knew just a little , don't you think ? Cool.

Blocking With a Broad Sword -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Yeah , does a lot more than swords. I saw pottery tutorials and tarot cards as well. Looks like tons of them on many many catagories.

Big Business Does a Poll

Ignatieff, Harper virtually tied in poll


OTTAWA–Newly appointed Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is in a virtual tie with Prime Minister Stephen Harper as the person Canadians think would be the best to lead the country, a new poll exclusive to the Star reveals.


Yeah , we paid these pollsters to do a poll for us , we're a Big Business. And it said something we like, so we're gonna write a news article about it. But ...it's our poll .. we don't let no one else look too close at it, we only publish it if we like it , we threaten these guys never to go to them again if they don't give us a poll we like ... not that we're corrupting them or anything. But if we dont' like what we see we're never giving them a dime again, you do understand that don't you ?

And wow... this poll says the pro business liberals are saints, they're going to win win win ...

What a surprise.

Maybe not.

Too Late for Liberal Propaganda

Can we police Canadian content on the Internet?


"For us at the CRTC, the guiding principle in our approach to new media will be exactly the same one that we have followed in our approach to the traditional media: to regulate as effectively as we can to further the two primary goals of the Broadcasting Act – Canadian content and full access to the system for all Canadians," he said.


We wanna control the internet like we control TV !!!

Well , what are the major attributes of TV ?

One. It's full of commercials.

Two. It's a big business. Little guys are forced out.

Three. The Liberal Party is the pro-big business party. When every news show pillers liberals as saints and anyone else as devils, this cannot be ignored.

Four . User provided content does not exist. This is interesting because private individuals are the primary support base of the Conservatives, and they generally do not like the Liberals.

Five . Currently , the young do not watch TV. They're on the internet. This is important because the young are the primary support base of the Liberals.

Six. Older folk are the ones watching TV , and the majority of them are pro-conservative and have long memories of the pro business liberals breaking promises and lying frequently. (Trudeau and Crentian and the Little Red Book of liberal promises are still fresh in their minds)



All of this adds up to a very interesting picture. A picture where TV sends propaganda to the wrong demographic, it's lying to the people who don't believe them and have heard all of this before. But the people they do want to reach ... are on the internet.

Lets control the internet and make it like TV , make it a big business , so we can now send our propaganda to the target demographic that supports us and ram it down their throats and shut down all that conservative crud that we hate , yeah yeah , lets do that !!!

And so our toothless tiger of a CRTC that can't stop big business from doing anything (CRTC says if you ask to have internet blocked on your cell phone the provider has to comply , but when I ask bell to turn off the internet on my phone they totally and completely refuse) will now be given teeth by the Liberals to get rid of non canadian content and spam canadians with their propaganda , again. And go back to where they were in charge of the situation.

I personally think they are too late. The Winds of Change have already blown , and they are already left behind. You need to get into power to pull this stunt, but they are out and have no way to get back. Another election is very very risky , they lost seats on the last one and if they lose 11 more seats they face a conservative majority , they are SHUT DOWN .

And sooner or later, an election is inevitable.

Take the Money And Run

June 3 2008 : GM to close Oshawa plant

Canadian Feds Discuss GM Bailout

Federal government, Ontario agree on $3.3B auto bailout package





General Motors Corp. said on Tuesday it will shut down its pickup truck factory in Oshawa, Ont., and review whether to sell its Hummer brand as part of a sweeping strategic shift into cars as climbing gasoline prices kills demand for big passenger vehicles in North America.


That was june 3. They closed the plants.

Flaherty opened the newsday by announcing a $250m bailout of GM Canada. Except he didn`t call it a bailout. CBC reports the Flaherty will make money– set aside under an "environmental investment fund"– available to GM to help it pursue green technology.(june 5)


After they got a quarter BILLION dollars.

And now they're back for seven times that amount. 3.3 BILLION from Canada. Total is 3.5 billion this year only.

In exchange for which ... the plants are closed. Permanently. They're not coming back. GM itself issued a statement saying such.


But it acknowledged its overall footprint in Canada may shrink. GM said it may eventually be forced to repay some of the $435-million in financial assistance it has received from the Ontario and federal governments over the past several years if it breaches conditions on maintaining employment required by those agreements. Dalton McGuinty, the Ontario premier, said an initial reading of GM's position by his officials suggest some payback will be required. (jun 3)


ok. We'll give you some of that back , as little as we can , and we'll take 3.3 billion more.

This is what happens under a liberal government, a government that happily accepts donations from big business. Big Business rules the rooste, takes all your tax paying money , and plicks off and you never get a dime back.

Thats what the liberals are all about.

Bush announces auto rescue

Article


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Bush announced a rescue plan for General Motors and Chrysler LLC Friday morning that will make $13.4 billion in federal loans available almost immediately.

A senior administration official briefing reporters said he expects that GM (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler LLC will be signing the loan papers to access the cash later Friday morning.

The money will come from the $700 billion fund set aside to bailout Wall Street firms and banks in October.



Yeah , you know that money that Congress put aside to help banks and banks only ? The one thats costing every american man woman and child 23 000$ ? Yeah , the Big Three are getting a piece of the action. And they're not banks. And thats not what Congress voted for.


The terms of the loan are similar to those set in the auto bailout legislation that was passed by the House last week but was shot down in the Senate.


In fact, Congress voted against doing this. So good old Bush decided to do it anyways , and misappropriated some money that he was in charge of. Some BILLIONS of money that he was in charge of , to do something Congress said no to.

It's the american way.

And now those canadian dorks will kick in an extra few BILLION dollars that was contingent on the Americans giving the big three money , so we're out of pocket as well as the americans.

Ok , you got your money. Check should clear in a few days, then you can close all the factories and run for the border. Be seeing you , have fun, don't spend it all in one place. And remember , Buy Canadian ....thats where a few billion of the cash came from , after all.

Shoe-thrower sorry for 'ugly act'

Article


An Iraqi journalist arrested after throwing his shoes at George Bush, the US president, has reportedly sent a letter to the Iraqi prime minister to apologise for the incident and seek a pardon.


Yeah , much as I think the shoe thrower is getting what he deserves , there is little doubt he got the (ahem) beaten out of him , and any letter written by him ranks right down there with a signed confession by someone covered in bruises with the caste on his arm and bandage on his head and everything. Obviously it was coerced and should be ignored.

And just as obviously any western nation would have at most picked him up on some flimsy charge for a few days until the president left and then released him , but now I'm reading in this article somethign about a possible 15 year sentence.

Gimme a break. He threw some shoes, not a grenade.

I think Iraq has a way to go yet before democracy takes hold there.

Giving a Darn

Umm , ok. Found this funny pic thought I'd share it with you. What does it have to do with ottawa , politics , or anything like that ? Not a dang thing. But I like it none the less.

582,000 Canadian jobs would be lost with collapse of Big Three: report

Article


Canada would lose 582,000 jobs within five years if the Big Three automakers completely shut down, according to a report prepared for the Ontario Manufacturing Council, an advisory panel of industry and labour representatives.


Half a million jobs will be lost , says the mouthpiece of the Big Three , which is paid to convince the government to GIVE THEM MONEY !!!! and is just about as biased a source of information as can possibly exist given that Pravda was finally shut down over in russia a while back.


Effects on employment would be felt right away, the report states, with Canada losing 323,000 jobs if production ceased immediately, and 281,800 in Ontario alone, the report forecasts. Those figures would climb in five years to 582,000 jobs nationally in 2014, 517,000 of those in Ontario.


And these people will be out of work forever ! According to this report it is impossible that they will find jobs elsewhere when their current employment dries up ! That is not part of the equation !

Nor is it mentioned the typical Big Three policy of taking the money and running. Meaning that these jobs are lost ANYWAYS , we just want to take you for one more ride for as much as we can before we clear out of here and dump those useless workers producing cars no one wants on you anyways !


The depreciation of the Canadian dollar, lower interest rates and lower production costs would eventually help the economy to partially recover, but the loss of the Detroit Three would leave a permanent dent in Canada's economy in terms of jobs and output, the document says.


No "dent" in any economy is permanent. People find other jobs, other places to buy cars, new factories producing cheaper, smaller stuff opens up, stuff like that. I know I know, mentioning such things is contrary to the whole GIVE US MONEY !!! philosophy of the big three, but it's true though. Trust me.


"This report says that Canada is better off providing life-support to GM and Chrysler, because the demise of auto in Canada is the economic equivalent of a nuclear freeze, with catastrophic effects that would knock us into a deep recession," said Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant.


Of course it says that. The Big Three would not have published it had it not said so, they would have kept it really , really quite, and started looking around for other reports.



And of course Michael Bryant is a liberal , one of the pro-business give them whatever they want keep the money flowing to us kind of guy. I knew that before I even googled it. (Link provided). You just had to listen to the "give big business money" attitude to know that. Google merely confirmed it.

GM slashing car, truck production

Article


General Motors will suspend much of its North American production in January as it cuts 250,000 vehicles from its first-quarter output.

The company's car plants in Oshawa, Ont., will close for January, plus the first week of February.

Stew Low, a GM Canada spokesman, said the company's Oshawa truck plant will be down beginning the first week of January and not go back into production until the middle of March.

A total of 20 GM plants across the continent will be shut down for all or part of January. A GM spokesperson said normal production for the quarter would be about 750,000 cars and trucks.


Now why were we going to give these guys a few billion dollars ?

Oh yeah ! So they wouldn't fire everyone and shut all that plants down , thats why !


The Big Three automakers have been seeking $6.8 billion in loans and credit lines from Ottawa and Ontario.

Ken Lewenza, the president of the CAW, called on governments in Canada to go ahead with a support package for the Canadian auto industry, conditional on a U.S. bailout getting done.


We're gonna fire all those people, and we STILL want a wack of money from you anyways !!!!

Put the money into unemployment insurance and let these guys dangle, if you want my opinion.

Mounties will not be charged in B.C. taser death

Article


VANCOUVER/TORONTO — Four Mounties who used a taser to subdue Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski moments before he died of undisclosed injuries at Vancouver International Airport last year will not face criminal charges for their conduct, B.C.'s criminal justice branch announced Friday.
.
.
.
Mr. Lowe says experts found the taser contributed to Mr. Dziekanski's stress, but was not the cause of death. Cardiac arrest was also found to have played a role.


Everyone remember that TV show Station 51 , pulling out the electro shock machine , putting the grease and the paddles to someone , shouting "CLEAR !" and zapping him , and the heart starts , and you save his life !

Yeah. Electricity obviously affects the heart. And equilly obviously this is well known or such machines woudln't exist.

"Cardiac arrest was also found to play a role" my left ass cheek ! You zapped him and gave him a heart attack is what happened, and you know it !

But the money is rolling in , and it's easier to sue everyone in sight and keep that money coming , they even sued an independent coroner and had him change his story on how someone died because it was bad for business !

These ass wipes need to be Tasered. Bad.

Just like this polish immigrant shown below. Hopefully with the same results.

Harper to fill Senate vacancies before Christmas

Article


"This is quite shocking to fly in the face of the confidence motion on the table, that he would think that he could do any of these kinds of things," Ontario Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett said Thursday in Ottawa.

"He pulled the plug on his own government.… And this government has no money to spend now and yet he's going to appoint Senate seats. I mean, it's appalling. He has no moral authority to do anything."


Liberals do this all the time when they were in power.

"no Moral Authority" is the catch phrase for "I don't like what you're doing , but yes it's perfectly legal" by the way.


Harper has called for senators to be elected rather than appointed by the prime minister as is the current practice, or for the body to be abolished if changes can't be made.

"Now they say they need to have some people in the Senate, but what they're saying is that the people that they are going to appoint should support the idea of Senate reform," CBC's Margo McDiarmid reported from Ottawa.


So why is it the notion that "We're not a majority , we can't change the system , so we gotta live with the hand we're dealt" not occuring to anyone ? Because they're all big business. These TV stations, these news networks, they're all massive country spanning BIG BUSINESS, and the Liberals are the pro big business party and can do no wrong , and the Conservatives are the anti-big business party and can do no right and thats the way all these biased obviously self centered propaganda types that call themselves newsies that long ago stopped being newsies work the system.

Did you see that circus when the prime minister made his address a few days ago and Dion was an hour late with his presentation ? They spent half an hour running the prime minister into the ground and nit picking his every little action , while pillering Dion as a saint.

It was barely mentioned that it was inconvenient to them for Dion to be so late like this and waste their network time.

But they did mention some conspiracy theory that Harper was doing this on purpose because he wanted to get turfed from power because now was such a bad time with the bad economy and all , let someone else take the fall for it all ...

Neutrality and even handed reporting, checking with both sides on an issue. That gone now. It's not coming back. There's money on the table and these news corporations stand to gain or lose a metric tonne of it depending on who gets in power and who gets turfed. And so truth ... becomes disposable. And disposed of.

This is why I don't watch TV or read papers anymore.

RCMP to test some Tasers after CBC investigation

Article





In a series of CBC-commissioned tests on 41 stun guns, four of the units delivered significantly more current than Taser International says is possible. In some cases, the current was up to 50 per cent stronger than specified on the devices.


Thats just SHOCKING !

He he , ok ,it had to be said.

So I'm guessing that that polish immigrant in Vancouver got hit with a bad taser and it shut his heart down ?

Thats it. I'm starting a new billboard. How many Canadian Taser casualties vs how many people arrest for murder.

Sisters Visit

My sister faithfully promised (herself more than anyone else) that she'd be down to ottawa before the snow flew to visit. And yeah , that little thing in october didn't count because it would melt soon anyways.

I think she's too late.

Illinois governor backs workers, will halt business with lender

Article


Bank of America says the company has walked away and ignored its obligation to the workers. But union leaders say that since the bank received $25 billion in taxpayer funds as part of the U.S. Treasury's efforts to stabilize the financial markets, it should step in where the company has failed.

"These people would be out on the street three weeks before Christmas with nothing," national union representative Mark Meinster said. "But what's happened here is workers have decided to stand up and say no, enough is enough. You got that big bailout -- you can make sure we get the money we're owed and say, 'No, enough is enough.' "


They did the same thing in Oshawa just this past summer, one of the big three car plants I forgot which. Threaten to close the plant, government coughs up some dough to keep it open , cash the check , then close the plant anyways.

It's just good business.

Well , it's bad government. This is the problem with bailing out private companies. you get diddly squat for your money. They take it and they run. The banks are taking that 700 billion and then they're laying off workers anyways, and ripping them for their severence pay on top of it. The automakers are closing plants and running. It's all so predictable.

Throw that money into unemployment insurance. At least you'll be guarenteed some fat cat isn't dipping into it to the tune of a million dollars A MONTH , which some of them do.

Don't bail out anyone. Throw it all on pogey and extend benifits to outlast the recession. Maybe ease the rules a little on part time work so you can hold down a one or two day a week job while you're on pogey and extend it that way too.

Why do I care about whats going on in america with the big three car deal ?

Because they want a few billion from ottawa as well. Same deal. Same companies. Same take the money and run attitude.

Auto Bailout Deal Appears to Be Likely by End of the Day

Article

So. every american tax payer and voter is saying DON'T BAIL THESE GUYS OUT ! LET THEM SINK LET THE BANKS SINK DON'T TAKE TWENTY THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS FROM EACH AND EVERY SINGLE MAN WOMAN AND CHILD AND GIVE IT TO SOME BIG CORPORATIONS WHO'S EXECUTIVES MAKE A MILLION DOLLARS A *MONTH* !!!

But they're getting it anyways. They're all getting the cash anyways.

We're you still wondering who runs america ? The voter , or big business ?

Now you know.

PM dares Dion to face voters with coalition plan

Article


Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion of betraying Canadian voters with the proposed Liberal-NDP coalition to replace the Conservative minority government, saying Dion is "turning his back" on the results of the recent federal election.


Dion Reloaded !

Mr Tax And Spend gets ANOTHER shot at being prime minister.

Mr Tax and Spend gets ANOTHER shot at taxing Alberta's oil to death and spending the "green" money mostly on stuff that has nothing to do with polluting green house taxes and everything to do with giving companies that back the Liberal party more business.

So what do we have here ?

The Liberals , who are funded by and deeply support Big Business of all stripes.

The Do Gooder NDP'ers who actually didn't do such a bad job when they got to rule Ontario a few years back, maybe we won't pick on them too much, at least they were honest dealers.

And The Bloc Quebecois who want to break up the country and send quebec on it's way.

Umm... lots of people say breaking up the country is bad ... but how can getting rid of six million welfare bums that do nothing but suck the life out of the rest of the country be bad ? Maybe we should consider letting them go ? And locking the door behind them so they don't come back ?

Just an idea, just an idea.

Actually , this coalition isn't looking too bad.

Except for the part where such coalitions are highly unstable and we are seriously unlikely to see the 18 months the Bloc promised them. If the smallest member of the coalition , the Bloc , throws in the towel and allies itself with the conservatives .. guess what ?

Bloc or NDP rolls with the conservatives, Liberals are toast. Coalition falls apart and no one rolls with the conservatives , time for another election.

This is going to be , as the americans say , a Lame Duck of a parliment , and I seriously doubt much will get done.

So you gotta wonder ,what brought this on anyways ?

Last parlimentary session the Conservatives ran a fast one over the Liberals. They allowed funding donations by private individuals only. The conservatives get all of their funding from private individuals, and the Liberals get all of their funding from big business. So they basically gutted the Liberal funding.

This parlimentary session the Conservatives went for the throat. The government itself was giving funding to the parties based on how many seats they won. And they tried to cut that off for everyone , which would have hurt themselves too , it is true , but would have hurt their arch enemies the Liberals even more.

'Nother words, they decided to try and put a bullet through the head of the Liberals and finish them off.

Thus the current life and death struggle.

personally , I don't blame them. I work for a big business, and I know the dirty tricks that goes on inside of them. I'm not allowed to talk about the details since that will cost me my job , but hey ! Everyone's got a job right ? Everyone works for a big business somewhere , right ? Guess everyone knows already and I really don't have to say how dishonest big business is after all. Everyone already knows.

Do You Think You Can Dance ?

Do you think you can dance ?

Or can these little guys beat you ?

Tip : It's a little slow at first , but a couple of minutes in they get pretty wild, be patient.

So is my dick gonna fall off ?

Article = none , personal experience.

As you might know if you've been reading this blog for a while, I'm a sick little boy.
Chrones Disease. And I was on steroids for two years (Prednisone).

And I've heard of atheletes using steroids to get really big honking muscles.

and I've heard that as a result of this misuse of steroids their dicks get really really tiny.

Needless to say , I'm a bit worried.

Catabolic, Anabolic Steroids

Atheletes don't use steroids to enhance muscle mass. They use Anabolic Steroids, an important distinction.

The major side effects of anabolic steroids include various rather nasty effects on both male and female sexual organs (up to and including outright impotence in the male) and of course, really big muscles.

And yes, the damage to the male sexual organ is PERMANENT. You're playing with fire , you body builders out there. You could be impotent for ever and ever.

doesn't sound like a good deal to me. You get big muscles and all the girls swoon to you ... but you can't do anything about it !

Catabolic Steroids, like Prednisone , which they put me on for two years BREAK DOWN muscle tissue, not build it up. There are no listed side effects on either sexes sexual organs.

Good news ! No ones going to break into the pharmacy computer , find my address , and come hunting for my stash of prednisone. It's the wrong kind of steroids.

Bad news. I now understand why I've been weak as a kitten over the last couple of years since I got sick (and they put me on prednisone). The dang drug was wreaking havoc on my muscles. There's not much I could have done about it even if I had known , it is true. When you got this tube stuck in your belly and a bag on your hip going jogging is a really bad idea, but it would have been nice to know. For a while there I was seriously contemplating a wheel chair.

I suppose from the doctors point of view it's an easy decision to make. We saved your life ! Yes, you'll be weak for a year or two , but you're alive ! You wouldn't have been if we hadn't have done this !

Still..would have been nice to know.

PM must 'cut the jargon' on recession talk: opposition

Article


"We'd like to know what the difference is in the prime minister's mind between a 'technical' recession and a regular recession, and in particular, whether that makes any difference to the hard-working families and middle-class Canadians who are trying to get by in the real economy," Layton said.


I can help you with that.

A "Technical Recession" is where you say "Don't worry. Yes, we are facing some difficult times ahead, but we're well positioned, we can get through it. We just have to do a little belt tightening and yes, they'll be a rough two or three years , but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There really is no reason to panic."

A "Regular Recession" is where you say "THE SKY IS FALLING THE SKY IS FALLING EVERYONE START PANICKING RUN FOR YOUR LIVES LOCK YOUR DOORS BAR THE GATES THE SKY IS FALLING THE SKY IS FALLING !!!!"

Simple , really.

Sadly , the opposition parties are so intent on making the government look bad that they are happy to cause a panic in any way they can. They simply just don't care, as they demonstrated during the election and as they continue to do so now.

Al Queda Incompetance

U.S. Muslim leaders denounce al Qaeda's slur toward Obama

It's no longer funny to make fun of al Qaeda. It's just too easy. Instead maybe I'll just point out a few obvious errors.

Like having this obviously white as snow Islamic Cleric dissing a black guy. Sorry, Mr Ayman al-Zawahiri,but you come off as a Klu Klux Klan wannabe rather than a serious commenter for a major religion.

I think it has to do with the fact that the Islamic Imans are totally out of touch with their flock. I mean , how in touch can you be when you give a speach , and no one is allowed to ask questions after wards ? When you demand absolute obedience, read that slavery, of your people, and if they object you shoot them.

It's almost as if Emancipation has yet to reach the old world, and blacks are still slaves there.

They're just chattle to you , arn't they Mr Ayman ? And we can't let these chattle run off and escape , now can we ?

Maybe we can.




NEW YORK (CNN) -- Spiritual leaders of New York's African-American Muslim communities lashed out Friday at a purported al Qaeda message attacking President-elect Barack Obama and, using racist language, comparing him unfavorably to the late Malcolm X.

The imams called the recorded comments from al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, "an insult" from people who have "historically been disconnected from the African-American community generally and Muslim African-Americans in particular."

"We find it insulting when anyone speaks for our community instead of giving us the dignity and the honor of speaking for ourselves," they said in a statement read during a news conference at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center.

Criminals 'may overwhelm the web'

Article


Up to a quarter of computers on the net may be used by cyber criminals in so-called botnets, said Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet.

Technology writer John Markoff said: "It's as bad as you can imagine, it puts the whole internet at risk."
.
.
.
Operating systems like Microsoft Windows, meanwhile, still made it too easy for criminals to infiltrate them, the experts said.


It's about time.

Why am I cheering this kind of malfeasance on , you ask ?

Because no one makes any changes until they have to. No one stops raking in the money until the money stops pouring in. No one gives a rats behind about the consumer. Give us money. We have Vender Lock. You *MUST* buy our product , you have no choice , we copyrighted everything so our product is the only thing that works. And those other things that make good alternatives ? We launched a very expensive advertising campaign to smear their name and hide the fact that they're actually working and our junk is not. (Linux, Apple)

So hand over the dough and I don't give a dang about your problems.

Well... my computer doesn't work. And I hear the new models have the same problem as the old one , it was never fixed. And I'm not getting to use the thing anyways , why would I shell out 1500$ to 3000$ for something that aint going to do anything but annoy me and waste my time and cost a fortune in computer repairs and still be broken when all is said and done ?

Oops... YOU HAVE NO CHOICE GIMME YOUR MONEY ITS WINDOWS OR NOTHING !

Well, I'll go with nothing. It's cheaper and just about as effective as a computer thats always filled with infection and trojens anyways.

Oops...hmm... maybe we might have to do something about that...

too late now. You got a reputation now Micro$oft. Not trusting you anymore. yeah , I never heard of the competition (apple , Linux) or you smeared their names so I don't trust them either I've been tricked into thinking they're no better. But that just means I get out of computers entirely. Bye bye

Wait ..come back ...

*silence*

Dang..

Is General Motors Worth Saving?

Article


The company is burning through more than $2 billion each month. It has $16 billion left. As if they were aboard a dirigible losing altitude, GM's bosses have been frantically throwing all manner of stuff overboard — retiree health-care benefits, people, assets, new car design — to conserve $5 billion. That will get it through the year.


Survey says ...No ! GM needs to die.

You cost a years salary , maybe two years depending on who's doing the counting, for one car. The car lasts three years tops and then dies without significant repairs. Ford Motors knows this and doesn't even bother producing spare parts because they know no one buys a car from them twice anyways, their market is the first time buyer (read that "Ignorant sucker who hasn't been burned yet") and no one else.

You pollute the heck out of everyone in any major city and cause enourmous health problems. You cause wars overseas because everyone needs cheap gas and the government now has to declare it a "strategic material" and go to war to get it when the price goes up.

You can build a vehical for a third the size. A two seater motorcycle with cargo space for grocieries, maximum 30 mph, use buses and trains for long distance travel. Why does every idiot in the world need a tonne of steel that goes 90 mph but spends 90% of it's time idlying in rush hour traffic ? Who decided that was sane ?

The Auto manufacturers decided that was sane ,thats who.

And it isn't.

GIVE ME MONEY !

GM failure: The shockwave

If General Motors declares bankruptcy, industry watchers say, the entire domestic auto industry could be badly hurt.



Yeah yeah . People are tightening their belts, they're not buying cars, so it's hurting your business. GIVE ME MONEY !

Guess what ? People are tightening their belts and not going to restaurants so often anymore. Why don't we give money to them ? Or to Clothing stores ? Or to gas stations since they're not driving as much and not buying as much gas ? How about video game manufacturers ? Now that everyones living out of their cars they don't have any place to plug in their nintendo's anymore ! That industry could use some help too ! Or maybe computers ... microsoft is likely to start hurting too , have pity on the third richest man in the world and throw him a few billion too ...

Yep yep yep. 700 billion on the table , and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Capitalisim at it's finest.

Hmm... giving money away... didn't all this whole mess start because the government gave everyone and the dog a hundred thousand dollar loan with no credit check at all and thus badly inflated the housing market ? Didn't this all start with the government giving money away for free ?

Are they making things better , or worse ?

Mis-Caution on Security

Open source software proves affordable, flexible for NIH, DoD



But just because open source software has a better track record than proprietary software doesn’t mean it’s 100 percent safe, said Ellen Libenson, vice president of marketing for Symark Software, which sells security management software for users of UNIX, Linux and Windows operating systems. Linux is a popular open source operating system.
While products like Linux are considered highly secure and backed by companies that can support users in need, some open source software programs are simply created by the community, meaning there is no support out there and nobody dedicated to ensuring the source code is not vulnerable to attack, Libenson said.
Before selecting open source software, users should do as much homework as they would with proprietary software, she said.
“Is there in fact a bona fide organization behind the product or is it just the wild, wild West of an open community of individuals of various skill sets?” Libenson said.


It's a wide wide west of programmers who let you see the code.

As opposed to a bona fide organization that HIDES EVERYTHING , doesn't tell you their programs have ten thousand errors in them, buggie to a fair the well (Vista comes to mind, XP too before the first few service packs came out) , uses crappy security encryption because it's copy righted so critics arn't allowed to look at it and see their blunders , only the hackers get that privilege, things like that.

The Bona Fide Organizations have a liteny of blunders and out right lies that leaves them in no position what so ever to criticize open source. It isn't even the pot calling the kettle black here since this very article already indicates open source has fewer errors in it than "professional" coding.

This isn't a caution on security. It's a mis-caution by someone trying to throw mud at the cheif competition who'll babble any meaningless words and hope people think his product is superior than the free stuff when in fact the opposite is the case.

Close Encounters of the Vehicular Kind

Article = None , personal experience

Was walking home from the grocery store a day or two ago with my hands full , staring mostly at the ground but I was paying attention to traffic , even though it was a parking lot.

And as I'm walking behind this brown mini van ? Pick up truck with the back turned into a cab ? Whatever it was , it started backing up towards me. And it obviously didn't see me ,and the back window was pretty dirty or tinted or something you couldn't see in and I have no doubt the driver couldn't see it and didn't realize HE WAS ABOUT TO RUN ME DOWN !!!!

Skipped to the side some what faster than I'd ever moved in the last two years, and he started turning in that direction , still backing up , still keeping me firmly in his blind spot in the center of that dirty window that no one could see anything through.

Skipped to the side even faster. I swear , it's been almost a decade since I moved that fast. I didn't even know I could do that anymore.

The truck pulls up RIGHT beside me , so I'm staring in the passenger window inches from the glass, which is tinted , but I'm so close I can see in anyways, and theres this old lady drawing back in fear and shouting. And the truck took off like a bat out of hell.

Tip to you drivers.

Next time you're backing up , and this scary old man with his hands full of grocereies suddenly apears out of nowhere inches from your car and he lookes totally pissed at you and he's swearing his head off ? It's because YOU ALMOST RAN HIM OVER YOU STUPID TWIT !!!!

Just a subtle reminder. Be careful out there.

ANALYSIS-Why John McCain lost the White House

Article


McCain's attempts to portray Barack Obama as a tax-raising socialist with friends who were terrorists drove away moderate voters, who handed the Democrat a decisive victory on Tuesday.


Didn't lie convincingely when he portrayed this 20 year vetran of a christian church as a muslim terrorist.


But the Arizona senator's response fell flat. He did not distance himself early or forcefully enough from President George W. Bush, party strategists said, and his lack of a coherent economic message loomed large as the issue trumped the Iraq war in voters' minds.


Stood loyal to his party that was butt ..fugging ... the nation. And indirectly the world. No idea about the economey except to keep on butt fugging the people who's votes you're trying to win , oh we can't say that can we ? maybe I just won't have an economic platform ...


He championed himself as someone who largely opposed regulation in the financial industry but reversed course when banks started failing and the Wall Street crisis spread.


Got caught lying.

Feehery faulted McCain for abiding by campaign finance laws and not making more of Obama's association with his controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright


No go. Painting him as a friend of a christian would have interfered with the smear campaign of painting him as a muslim terrorist.


"McCain spent the entire summer drawing a contrast with Obama over experience and the Palin decision threw that out the window," said Reed. ""(But) you can't blame Palin for the loss. She energized the party and the base ..."


Said Obama had no experience, then hired a rookie for vice president. Caught lying again.

My opinion why mcain lost.

The Economey went to pot during the election. You were forced to actually *DO* something, vote for or against that 700 billion dollar bail out. And everyone got to see you in action *BEFORE* the election. And they were not impressed.

Thats what happened.

Business's Get Away With Murder

Man dies in hospital after Calgary police use Taser during arrest on weekend


More than 20 people have died in Canada after being stunned by Tasers, but the U.S. company that makes the devices points out they have never been directly blamed for a death. The company cites a long list of independent research that has verified the safety of the devices.


Cop blasts criminal with Taser. Criminal dies two minutes later.
Turns and looks at you. "You see son. Taser didn't kill him, it took him two whole minutes to die, therefore ... " insert long technical babble. "... therefore I didn't murder him.

And Taser Corperation is a good corporate citizen , and not a bumbling murdering company that refuses to stop killing people. "

Look down at body. "Ok, why did he die ? He was alive and kicking before you shot him."
"Thats just random chance. His death had nothing to do with me tasering him. And you'll get sued if you say otherwise."

Microsoft Spam

Microsoft to unveil test version of Windows 7


"The real hurdle is to get Vista's reputation behind them," he said.

Windows 7 keeps some of the significant design changes that debuted in Vista, but tosses out others.


But you said Vista was the greatest operating system since sliced bread ! You said it broke all sales records ! You said it was the stabelist operating system ever since all the changes you made under the hood (then it crashed crashed crashed ...)

Now you have a different story.

Told by the same people.

For the same reasons. To sell something and make money.

Why should we believe you now ? You already foisted a dud off on the world, and vender locked the hell out of it to force people to use what turns out to not actually be usable.

This is a monopoly, and this is how they work. They FORCE you into their junk by putting up walls everywhere. The free market system is SHUT DOWN and competiters are kicked out. This was not the plan I heard of when they told me about the free market system when I was young.

But it is the microsoft way.

On the way home from work : Oct 28/2008

Enough Said.

Microsoft to battle in the clouds

Article

Cloud computing.
In the beginning there were these big huge "Servers" , and these little tiny "Terminals". The terminals contacted the servers , which ran all the applications and the terminal just displayed the results.

This was called standard Client-Server architecture.

Later we moved to cheap powerful computers and have everything run on the "terminal" which had more processing power than the old servers.

And now we have cloud computing , which isn't a new thing, it's the old Client-Server thing given new cloths.


Microsoft has unveiled a cloud computing service, in which data and applications will not be stored on individuals' computers.


Cloud computing is such a bad idea. The reason you moved your data and programs offline to your private computer was to keep your stuff private. In this day and age of beg/borrow/steal customer information and use it to spam spam spam, the idea is worse and worse.

You no longer keep your privacy because you're an evil do-er. You're keeping it because you don't want your in box stuffed with viagra ad's.

You're doing it because you don't want to change your email address every thirty days because you keep getting spammed to death.

You're doing it because you don't want criminals opening five credit cards in your name , racking up the balance's , and vanishing, leaving you with a trashed credit rating and creditors barking at your heels for stuff you didn't even buy.

They already have programs that sift through the old user groups looking for email addresses to add to their lists so they can spam the heck out of anyone who dares post on them. I can imagine them doing the same with every single document you store on their servers. Now not only do you get spammed, but all your friends and family and customers (if you're running a business) get spammed too. And it all starts when they sent that letter to you ... are you selling my email address ? Is that how your business makes a living , you sell all your customers email addresses and spam them ? I can see the accusations now.

We wont even discuss the idiocy of using microsoft products to compete with microsoft itself (why do you think google search engines run on an array of Linux machines ?).

Keep your data on your own machines. There's enough free word processors and spread sheets out there (abi word , and Gnumeric) that you don't need cloud computing for nothing, they're just not widely advertised. An old clunker, a free copy of Linux and a free copy of a mail server program (apache come to mind) and your company has cheap internal mail , and you don't even need virus protection (Linux box..immune) especially if you decline to connect to the outside world and use the box for "internal only , no internet support" use. Why does a lowly clerk need internet access anyways ? That should be limited to a small handful of people and not everyone and the dog for most companies anyways (computer tech support companies where the techies are constantly getting drivers and googling new problems in new hardware come to mind as the obvious exception)

Listeria fear prompts food recalls in Ontario, Maritimes

Article


The recalled products include:

* Brown and white roast beef sandwiches, best before Oct. 24.
* Roast beef on a Kaiser with any of hot peppers, cheese, gravy, bacinator, or bacon and cheese, best before Oct. 30
* Eight-inch subs, assorted, beef and cheese or hoagie, best before Oct. 30.



wow, thats kind of a lot to remember. maybe I just won't buy any deli sandwiches at all from now on ? Or any packaged maple leaf meats of any kind. Thats much easier to remember.

See , this is the way it works. People arn't impressed by stories of how hard you're working to clean up your factories and how we should trust you. We don't trust you. We think you're two faced liars , and we're ticked that there are what , 20 or more bodies lying on the ground and no one going to court over this ? You're getting away with murder. And we might not be able to do much about it, except make sure we aint the next victem.
You just created a boycott of your own industry. Not because of any environmental protests or anything like that. But because ordinary folk just living out their lives ...would like to continue living out their lives instead of eating your poisoned junk and then dying and no one getting the blame for it.
And the Liberals trying to reward you with money for "retraining", as opposed to punishing the wicked.
The backlash is as predictable as it is inevitable. Any products with the Maple Leaf brand name on it are toast. And now that they're giving out dozens of brand names instead of just one , all Deli Meats are toast too. No one is going to remember a list of company names as long as their arm. They're just going to stop buying them all.

Saturday Paper

Article = none, personal experience

Ah , the Liberal press, so predictable.
(Liberal party is pro-big business here in canada)

I turn to the editorials in todays Ottawa Sun and what do I see ? One article detailing how evil our conservative Prime Minister is for actually LOWERING TAXES ! And he should raise taxes again immediately or terrible things will happen ! For which it goes into great detail. (He knocked 2% of the GST)

Another article details how Fee's of some kind should be introduced so that the infrastructure can be fixed up so more and more people can live downtown . And give construction companies work to fix up that infrastructure. And contribute to the traffic jams and breath the car exhaust fumes , well, maybe they didn't mention that part but I feel it's an important consideration. This is called "Tax and Spend" by the way. And of course, it's businesses (constrution companies who do the work) who benifit by this , not the general population. Only an idiot wants to breath exhaust fumes 24 hrs a day 7 days a week for years without end.

A third praises Bob Rae, now that he's defected from the NDP and joined the pro-business Liberals, and proffers tactical advice on how the liberals can win the next election. Notions such as "Do good to the general public" and "Quit taxing the heck out of people you're already taking more than half of every dollar they make" are not part of the discussion. The notion that there might be something wrong with giving money strictly to businesses and taxing the heck out of the common man is given no credence.

I remember when I was young, there would be two articles in the editorial page. One in favor of whatever issue was hot this week, and one against. People would read them both and make up their own minds. A nice, balanced approach.

Thats all gone now.

It's all Liberal pro-business the public is an idiot if you disagree with us Horrible Things Will Happen If You Don't Do As We Say !! Nonsense ! Neutrality is gone. The press has stopped reporting the news and has firmly allied itself with one political group. The one representing big business, because, lets face it , the press *IS* big business. They're all newspaper chains now there are no independant papers.

I don't buy newspapers anymore I get my news online. Let them go fish , I have no use for people who demand money for me , in exchange for which they will give me unwanted advice and scare mongering and insinuations that I'm an idiot if I don't believe their every word.

Thats just arrogance.

And thats ... not news.

My Old Dell

Article = none , personal experiance


I suppose I should put in something about my old clunker from dell.

Hmm.... it runs well.
Well... I stripped out , sabataged ,and disabled the pre-installed anti-virus anti spam software (which wanted lots of money) and installed the free windows defender anti virus , and I use the built in windows fire wall (again , free of charge)

I pretty much never (very rarely) use Internet Explorer, its either Firefox or Opera (I have both).

Dell sold my personal info to Sympatico who kindly signed me up for their internet service and then told me about it after the fact, thanks Dell. Two hours on the phone to cancel a service I never wanted and never asked for in the first place. But ... thats not the machine, thats the people behind the machine.

My one and only call to tech support left them floundering thinking there was a problem with the speakers, and generally totally clueless (turned out the usb mouse was in the middle of dying, 10$ replacement fixed it right up , but that was *ME* figuring it out , not them). But it did keep some people in India employed. I even got to speak to a supervisor and everything. Why I got transfered to a super I have no idea , I can't remember asking for it , and in the middle of her telling me everything was hunky dory now when it turned out it was not she transfered me right back to the techie to keep on trying, but hey , I kept two people on the other side of the world employed. (Notice I didn't use the word "gainfully" there ... )

I voided the warrenty by upgrading the video card so it could play my games. Plays them well.

It's never caught a virus. Or a Trojen. But I stay off the Internet Explorer. And I don't download files , screen savers , cool not so "free free free ! how can you go wrong it's free !!!" programs, things like that.

I have a word processor and a spread sheet program. They're both from the free software foundation (Abi Word , and Gnumeric) which kindly put out windows versions
of the things and gave them away free of charge.

Sometimes I run the netstat command in a dos window and monitor it for a while while I'm doing other things, just to see whats on my machine that's reaching out to the net. Usually all I see are the Local Host entries , meaning my machine is chatting with itself and no one else. (the 1394 network connection you see is for internal use, not for connecting to the internet) So I know there's nothing sneaking around behind my back. (dos prompt , netstat 30 , will run it every 30 seconds automatically and let you watch ..hopefully , a lot of quietness. If it's a hot bed of activity on your machine , you're probably in trouble)

So what do I think of my dell ? Well... It can be coaxed into being a good machine. If you spend time , and effort , and you have technical knowledge.

Dell Dimension DE051
Celeron CPU 2.53 GHz
1GB Ram
NVidia GeForce FX5500
(256mb video card)

My Sister's Vista Laptop Nightmare

Article = none, personal experiance

My sister bought a laptop with Vista on it.
Price tag, 600$ , not including recovery disk. Did she want a recovery disk ? She passed on it. Typically they start at 400$ for the disk, though I understand the price has recently been dropping.

Running a lap top, or any computer , without a recovery cd is a bad idea. They aways crash. So the true price of her computer is 1000$, so far.

Guess what ?

Vista crashes. A lot. And it wont run her old office 2003 , it wants her to upgrade to the latest and greatest office suite. Saw a copy for sale for 500$ , but it was used, but what the hey , we'll take that as a "brand new" price just for arguments sake.

Thats 1500$ so far for the lap top.

She wasn't running Vista though , because it wouldn't run her office software. She'd fallen back to WinXP. And needed drivers for the video card to watch DVD's , and the two network cards (one ethernet , one wireless)

Using a memory stick , the new modern Sneaker Net , I downloaded files and we transfered them over. Only to discover Operating System Not Supported or No Compatible Hardware Found , depending on which drivers we tried. And we tried a bunch.

It would seem Microsoft has perfected the art of Vender Lock In , we now have a simple trivial network card that only has drivers in Vista , you load any other operating system on it , you lose that card. And the other two devices as well.

She ghosted her copy of Vista before removing it (nice try) but when she tried to put it back it didn't work out (didn't have a copy of the ghost image to try restoring it, but she complained bitterly about it so I thought I'd include that too)

I've learned a lot about all those lap tops you see advertised from my sister. I've learned that the real price is double what they're quoting , or more. I've learned you're stuck with Vista whether you like it or not. I've learned Vista is a nightmare of vender lock in and crashity crash crash crashedness.

Get a Linux machine. Run your old software under Wine. All the old stuff works fine under wine it's only the new stuff and the games that have problems. And don't even think about a "lap top gaming machine" , thats a 2000$ toy (who's price tag will read $1000, but its double just the same) that will spend more time broken than functional.

If you really want a Vista machine, get one from Dell ,or Compaq , or whoever, with the warrenty and the tech support and the three year financial plan where they fix everything at their expense and you just pay your 20$ / month. This 600$ up front for a machine that comes both brand new and pre-broken is just insane.

don't throw away your old computer. It may be the only thing that runs your old software :)

Europe and US wrestle for control of global markets

Article


President Bush will host an emergency summit of leaders from the major economies to chart a new course for world finance amid signs that Europe and America appear intent on heading in different directions.


Oh my goodness they didn't like us screwing the whole world economy and they want to run off in their own direction ! We can't allow that !!!


Mr Bush said: “As we make the regulatory institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism - commitment to free markets, free enterprise and free trade.


We solemnly promise not to do it again , and we plan on staying in charge.


“We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world.”


You need to keep buying our trash that we mass produce to the point were we drown out any local competition, thus stealing your jobs.


“We must reform capitalism so that the most efficient system ever created doesn’t destroy its own foundations,” he said. Although agreeing with Mr Bush that it would be “wrong – catastrophic – to challenge the foundations of market economics”, he added: “We cannot continue along the same lines, because the same problems will trigger the same disasters.”


yeah , you guys royally screwed the pooch on this one and we aint gonna let you do it again. That's *OUR* backside that's sore thanks to you and we're gonna make sure it stops whether you like it or not.

Sarkozy's Quebec comments being twisted, French diplomat says

Article


There was no doubt in former Parti Québécois premier Jacques Parizeau mind as to what Mr. Sarkozy truly meant. Mr. Parizeau slammed the French President's comments, saying it was “an outrageous remark” and a clear expression of “anti-Quebec sovereignty”


The reality is that a foreign leader does not ferment revolt in an allied nation.
The reality is that Quebecers had their chance to vote for independance, and despite a heck of a lot of cheating (and law suits, they sued people who voted against it for petes sake !) they lost. Quebecer's voted to stay canadian and not become independant.

The reality is , sovereignty is an unpopular cause in a small province of a democratic nation , and despite all your whining and caterwauling about it , the majority don't want it.

The reality is the only reason why the Bloc Quebequois party holds even a few seats is because they put sovereignty on the back burner and started dealing with real world problems instead.

The reality is , you sir , are an ass , if you think some foreign government is going to start a diplomatic conflict with canada just to please your private , unpopular agenda.

More sabotage feared after 2nd pipeline bombed in northern B.C.

Article


"There is getting to be growing frustration and growing concern among the agricultural community about the number of pipelines that are criss-crossing the area, the ability that the oil and gas companies have ... accessing their property, the kinds of claims or compensation that the farmers and ranchers are getting," Przybylski said.


This is actually the crux of the issue.
In the western provinces of Canada the oil companies can move into your land , dig anywhere , and make a gawd awful mess, and then just walk away. And it seems from this report they can run pipelines everywhere on anyones property and the farmers get diddly for them doing it.

My land is not my land ? Some rich company just comes in and does as he pleases and messes the place up and walks away to leave me with the mess ? If I'm lucky he doesn't find oil. If he does I don't get a nickle, just a big oil rig on my property rendering it useless and I'm locked out of my own place.

This is what happens when you step on the little people, and the government is bought off and does nothing to stop it.

It's gonna be some rancher starving to death because you took away his prime grazing ground because you found oil on it and didn't give him a dime. You watch and see.

The Worm Turns

Liberals: Dion ready to support Harper on economy


"We Liberals will do our part, responsibly to ensure that this parliament works," Mr. Dion said. "As the Official Opposition we will make sure that we protect Canadians from the economic storm that the world is facing."


wow... you flip flopped from Harper having no vision of the economy and having his head burried in the sand to We Can Work With This Guy. So all that stuff you said about him before ... you were just lying ? Just electorial campagning ?

Politicians. Hmph ! They don't even care if they get caught showing their forked tongues.

Run this bum out of town.

Thank you for your involintairy donation

Bush calls for confidence in 'anxious time'

"Here's what the American people need to know: that the United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets," he said. "Anxiety can feed anxiety, and that can make it hard to see all that is being done to solve the problem."


Here's what the American people need to know: Thank you for your 23 000$ , each, the rich millionaire bankers that robbed you of your homes deeply appreciate it , and no you're not getting your homes back. sorry you have to live in your cars, but we're losing money on a stock market that poor people like you can't even afford to play on, so we're going to make your little tiny lives just a bit more miserable so we can afford that fourth car we always wanted to by and park it on the drive way of the house I bought for my mistress, since my wife won't let me keep her in the same house as her.
Beyond that , if you get sick , we're gonna let you die. No healthcare for you. If you get mugged and it's too expensive to prosecute the mugger , we're going to drop the case because we're poor. And don't even think of squatting in all those empty houses now , the government is going to buy them and sell them TO YOU !! again , and see if they can sucker you into paying twice for the same house.
Thank you for your time, you stupid idiots.
Capitalism Rules.

The Grand Dion Economic Plan

Dion hits back over tape flap



Dion has said that if elected he would launch an urgent national effort, with input from premiers, the Bank of Canada and federal regulators, to develop a strategy to deal with the economic crisis.


The position that "I'm gonna go ask those guys over there what I should do about this mess *AFTER* I get elected" is not a position at all. It's a dumb faced mug with a shrug of your shoulders while saying , in your stupidest immitation of the village idiot "Gee , I don't know what to do."

That degree in political science is really coming in handy I see. You get to transform a simple "I have no idea what to do about anything" into a really long nifty sounding plan , while complaining all the while that your competition , who has a degree in economics and is already on the job , is an idiot with no vision at all.

Clarification. It's a beautiful thing.

Lets help Dion to the door , since he's so lost.

Harper is offering ‘too little, too late': Dion

Article



SIDNEY, B.C. — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion today accused Stephen Harper of being the only world leader who fails to see the urgency of government intervention in the growing economic credit crisis.

During a campaign stop in Sydney, B.C., Mr. Dion boasted that he was right to call last week for a short term plan to address the situation.

He noted that Mr. Harper and his Conservative Party accused Mr. Dion of panicking about the economy, yet Mr. Harper now appears poised to announce a new plan of his own.

“It's too little too late. For the last week we told him that he needs to wake up and say to Canadians that indeed we are in tough times and indeed the government will help you,” said Mr. Dion.


What a fascinating article.

No where in it does it mention that Stephen Harper in fact has a masters degree in economics (Stephan Harper) , while Mr Dion is a master of lies...urrr..political science. (Stephan Dion) Interestingly enough , it shows Dion as an avid seperatist in his early years , though he later claims to be a federalist. Judging by his TAX EVERYONE WHO AINT A QUEBECER attitude , I wonder if much has changed, despite his claims to be a "born again canadian".

So the master of politics is very effectively making the guy who knows what he's talking about look like an idiot.

Hmmm... who you gonna believe. The guy with the masters degree in lying ... oops ... politics... or the guy with the masters degree in economics ... in this time of economic crisis ?

Ding ! Times up ! Your answer please.

A Dion Supporter Spews Hot Air

Article


The derogatory descriptions of Stéphane Dion are telling. He is "a geek." He is "professorial." He needs new glasses – better still, contact lenses.

This is teen talk. Shallow.


Can't remember anyone saying that about him. Do remember him saying that Harper was "Hoover in a blue sweater" , is that teen talk as well ? Or is it ok because THE MIGHTY DION said so ?


These are the obsessions of the age of slick marketing and the TV clip. Shouldn't we rather be asking if the leader of the Liberal party has integrity? Intelligence? Knowledge? Experience? Judgment? Courage? Vision?


All I saw from him was TAX TAX TAX ...give money to quebec corperations for killing 20 people with Listerosis...


Does he have anything useful to say about the economy? The environment? Medicare? Child care? Poverty? National unity? Urban Canada? Relations with the United States? Our Afghan quagmire?


In order, I believe his position is TAX , Tax the polluters, no comment , no comment , QUEBEC IS POOR GIVE US MORE MONEY , Break the Country apart, urban Canada aint quebec let them suffer, USA is to be emulated , and Let the Terrorists win - lets go home until they follow us here.


The real rap against Dion is that he does not inspire people. Harper inspires fear. Take your pick.


But it's Dion I fear , not Harper. You sure you're not getting that mixed up ?

Quebec cheese retailers get $8.4M in provincial aid

Article


The Quebec government will spend $8.4 million to revive its cheese industry, which has been hit hard by the recent listeriosis crisis.

The Liberal government's aid plan unveiled Friday includes interest-free loans for artisanal cheese producers in financial difficulty.


Yeah , we messed up. Whole wack of people got sick. Maybe one or two died. Bad for our bottom line. Give us money.

This is why people don't like the Liberals. This is why we accuse them of being in bed with big business. Some company can't be bothered to clean equipment properly and poisons a bunch of little guys ... give them money.

Some mom and pop store does the same thing with their home made ice cream ... you gotta know they aint getting 8 million dollars. They're going to jail and you know it.

The liberals are literally rewarding people for poisoning and getting members of the general public sick ! How can you vote for such a thing ? I know I can't.


A publicity campaign is also in the works to promote Quebec cheeses.

The three-year plan will go a long way towards restoring public trust in cheese safety, Lessard said.


but finding out who's responsible for the sickness's and arresting them... thats not part of the plan is it ? 20 people died from that disease , but no one is being punished for CRIMINAL NEGLECT , no , we just give them millions of dollars instead.

20th death linked to listeriosis outbreak

Phtt ! Damb liberals.

So am I gonna lose my job ?

So am I gonna lose my job if america goes all to pot ? I mean , I work in the cell phone industry for an american company right ?

Survey Says : I don't know.

so , ask an economist ?

Thats my biggest beef. An economist wont' tell you. They don't want to cause a panic. So they'll let you the little guy get screwed over big time and won't even warn you it's coming because that might cause a panic ! You might actually try to save yourself or something and make a big mess !

So I got to figure it out for myself, because these modern financial prophets ARE AS USELESS AS TEATS ON A BULL ! What good is knowing the truth if you always have to lie about it ? Doesn't help me a wit.

My guess is that everyone needs cell phones. Even guys living out of cars. People even abandon their home phones and have a cell phone only and nothing else.

My second guess is that if the american dollar goes to pot BY PRINTING 700 BILLION US DOLLARS then Canadian outsourcing may become too much for them to afford. Then again it may crap out our economy and drag our dollar down too.

My third guess is ... I don't know whats gonna happen. But the economists probably do. But they aint telling anything but comforting fairy tales right now in this time of crisis and you should ignore them.

Psi Wheel Fraud

How to make a psi wheel to demonstrate your psionic powers ..it reads.

Umm... this is the standard light sail demo. Nice light yellow post it sheet of paper , works when the hand isn't blocking the light, maybe a bit of heat coming off the hand to help it along.

Just because you're not touching it ... doesn't mean you're not touching it *grins*. There is still light , heat , and the ever favorite of all tricksters , gently blowing on it when no one is looking !

Enjoy this party trick , but don't take it seriously.

What will happen ?

What will happen if the bail out doesn't pass ?

that 23 THOUSAND dollars that they want to charge every man woman and child in the USA ? you get to keep it.

Your personal line of credit , your credit cards ? Dumped. Don't pay them off , just pay the minimum amount... if you pay them off now they'll just take them away from you. And there are better things to do than to dump your money down a credit card drain and watch them slurp it up and then say "thanks..but we don't have enough cash to cover this card for you , so we're cancelling it"

Pay your rent. If its possible. If it isn't one of those exploding mortgages that this month is only 750$ a month but next month it's 2000$ / month. If thats the case, pour money into getting your car fixed because you'll be living in it real soon.

Work. Drink some beer. Play some computer games. Wait. wait. Wait.

The houses are overpriced by a factor of five. That is to say 80% of the value of a house is phantom value , created by a huge demand powered by idiot politicians, and now the time has come to evapourate. They're saying 30% this year, 10% next ... So total of six years to bring it down to 20% of it's current mark , which is "normal" in an uninterfered market.

Dig in. Stock up. Food, not stocks. Examine your job critically. Is it likely to weather a storm ? Are you selling junk that isn't going to sell real soon ? It may be time to consider switching to one of the basic's. Food. Gas. Cell phones (no house no land line ..get a cell and live in a camper or car).

I predict campers are going to become big. For some reason. :)

Probably not a good time to be in the siding or window business. If you sell anything to home owners ... you're probably half way out the door. Sorry.

If you're in another country like I am (Canada) we didn't go insane ! We didn't give people with no credit check a hundred grand loan so they could buy a house ! Don't depend on anything that sells stuff to americans unless it's the bare necessities. Sorry , people living out of a car arn't interested in the finest quality canadian hockey skates.

But they are interested in cell phones. But not land lines.

Six years for the recovery. Twenty years for the people who got burned to quit telling the next kids in line to become adults soon how terrible and awful it all was don't even think about buying a house.

And then maybe they hit us again.

*sigh*

Stop buying chinese

Milk lawyers told to back off


Milk lawyers told to back off 2:10
China tells lawyers helping parents of sickened babies to stop helping. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.

((it's a video so I can't quote it...suffice to say a chinese lawyer is interviewed by chinese authorities who tell him stop helping the victems of milk poisoning OR ELSE , in a country where jail , involintary organ donation , and the death sentence for even trivial matters are common ))

There are very serious consequences for getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

There are even worse consequences for doing everything in your power to cover it up , while protecting those who committed the crimes in the first place, thus effectively announcing to the world "We'll do what ever the heck we please, poison whatever the heck we please , and there's nothing you can do to stop it !"

Consequence number one is I'm not buying anything chinese every again. They're deliberately poisoning us. And then laughing at us when they get caught.

Consequence number two is that I'm writing my prime minister and demanding that anything from china , especially food , anything that has any kind of chinsese food additive of any sort , be labled accordingly. So that I can properly avoid these hateful buggers that think they can just poison who they like without a car
e in the world.

The cookies in that cookie jar make you sick. We don't want them, anymore. So , feel free to put your grubby disease ridden hand in that cookie jar all you want now, mainland china. I'm tossing my chinese cookies out. And I aint buying anymore.