Harper says Air India inquiry report a 'damning indictment'

article

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, talks Malcolm Edwards, Shipra Rana and Monique Castonguay, members of the Air India Victims Families Association, in his office on Parliament Hill Thursday following the release of the final inquiry report on the 1985 terrorist attack. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Four years and 200 witnesses later, Justice John Major concludes a long-sought federal inquiry into the 1985 terrorist attack with a massive report that finds systemic failures and errors by Canada’s police and intelligence agencies...



Thank you for stalling this matter for TWENTY FIVE YEARS so that we can see that the guys in charge of our police long long ago were incompetant twerps but it's too late to do anything about it because they're all retired and some of them have even died of old age by now.

The usefulness of a 25 year old inquiry cannot be understated, because there is no understatement that can describe "less than useless" or "total and complete waste of time".

The Canadian government appreciates you letting them jerk you around for decades and generally doing nothing about this.

Thank you and good night.

Torn Memories of Nanjing

Japanese vets admit on film to Nanjing atrocities


Activist Tamaki Matsuoka is challenging Japanese perceptions of the country's war record with a new documentary on the atrocities known as the Rape of Nanking.

Her film, Torn Memories of Nanjing, combines the memories of Japanese war veterans with accounts by Chinese survivors of the massacres of 1937-38, after Japan captured the former capital city of Nanking.


About 1950 a funny thing was invented. It was called The Pill , and it was a reliable form of birth control.

This had a significant impact on world history. Why ? Because before The Pill the only way to pare off the population and make sure they don't explode beyond their food supply and kill everyone , was to go to war with your neibour and get all your young men (and theirs) killed off.

It became a bit of a sport , european nations actually held "summer wars" on a schedule and everything. Regular paring off of the population was good for the nation.

Whenever I hear about the atrocities and evil things done in world war 2 and before , I can't help but think. We were a different race then. War was actually the only path to racial survival. It wasn't very nice, but it was a fact of life. Death was a fact of life.

But not anymore.

The varying atrocities of world war two and before are not on the germans hands or on the japanese hands. The blood is on all our hands. All nations did it. The only way to be a nation was to do it.

The past belongs in a history book. Interesting read, but the current generation wasn't even born when those events occured. And we certainly didn't live under the shadow of the choices those people faced, and the rather nasty reality they had to deal with every day of their lives.

Don't spit on the guys grave until you walk a mile in his shoes. That's all I'm saying.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2010/03/31/nanjing-documentary.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a16:g4:r2:c0:b0#ixzz0qHYMjVCg

New credit cards pose security problem

Article


Most newly issued credit cards pose major fraud and privacy concerns because of how they're designed to be scanned through the air, some cyber-security experts warn.

"Contactless" MasterCards and Visa cards have been available in Canada for several years, but they've only recently reached the bulk of consumers as the country's biggest banks adopt them.

The credit cards have an embedded computer chip called a radio frequency identification, or RFID, tag. When waved near a payment terminal in a store, the chip supplies the card's number and expiry date through radio waves, avoiding the need to swipe or insert the card or have a cashier handle it.

'It's not encrypted, which is not what we were expecting.'—IT security expert Pablos Holman

And that's the first problem, U.S. cyber-security expert Pablos Holman says.

Anyone can buy an RFID credit card reader online, where second-hand units sometimes sell for under $10, and start scanning cards in public — without cardholders knowing.


WHAT ????

You mean some turkey can just bump into me on a crowded bus with a back pack with a scanner hidden inside , scan my credit card, and next thing I know the dang thing has been racked up ?

One of the comments to the article suggests tin foil in the wallet.

Since you're not supposed to put tinfoil in the microwave because it messes the thing up , and microwave cooks by "micrwoaves" (radio waves) , seems a reasonable precaution.

quick ! Where's the tin foil !

No , not for my head ! For my wallet !





Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/05/31/f-rfid-credit-cards-security-concerns.html#socialcomments#ixzz0poLQk9zQ

Google dumps Windows. But can the rest of us?

Article

According to the Financial Times, Google is in the midst of replacing all of its Windows-based desktop PCs with ones that run Mac or Linux, citing security concerns since the company was a target of a hack originating in China back in January of 2010.

This may be something of a shock to everyone, but Google has never really been completely reliant on the Windows platform, so this is a pretty easy “fix” for the company.


Now why wouldn't you be using windows ?

Oh yes ! You're in competition with them (microsoft) ! ha ha ha !!

Or their search engine business.

So ..they have an operating business, a search engine business, a database business, a compiler business, a game business...umm..exactly what , when it comes to computers , do they not have ?

Hmm...

You know , I think that non windows platforms are going to be come really popular shortly , since you now have to get off of windows in order not to compete with microsoft, but simply to stay in business.

The capitalists realize the evil of monopolies. This is born by their actions. Monopolies are what you impose on someone else, not what you suffer.

:)

You Have just won .. "Click"

Ontario man bilked of $150,000 in email scam

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/01/14/email-scam.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a16:g4:r5:c0:b0#ixzz0piOzRctQ


A southern Ontario man says he now owes his friends and family $150,000 after international email scam artists bilked him of the funds by convincing him he was about to inherit a fortune.



Let me educate you on proper protocal when receiving corospondance from total strangers.

"You have just one ..." Click ! Hang up the phone.

"Dear Mr Uttawa Bud , I have found your Blug a Fascinating Read but I wood like to interest you in an issue of sum concearn to me. My Uncle who lives in Somalia has inherited a fotune but needs to move it out of the country quickly before ... " Delete !

Ring Ring ? "Mr Ottawa Boy ? My name is Joyce , please stand by while I transfer you to Marlene " Click ! (Joyce is a computer doing cold calls..the tip off is she doesn't let you get a word in edgewise so you usually don't catch on she's a recording..usually is good enough for a telemarketter)










Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/01/14/email-scam.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a16:g4:r5:c0:b0#ixzz0piOpWviE

Your conference is now my conference

Stronach aims to put girls, women on G20 agenda


A group of young women from G20 countries will meet in Toronto later this month, with the intent of putting the concerns of girls and women squarely in the spotlight.

A young group of woman have decided to crash a conference of bankers and financial leaders in order to make a publicity stunts o they can have ... what .. votes for women ? They already that. Treat all women in the world by western standards ? Umm..not gonna work. Most dictators would rather shoot them.

but the point is ... why are you bothering a bevy of bankers for this balderdash ?

I have decided I'm starting a new political party. It will be the Free Beer on Friday Political Party. And I"m going to raise awareness of it by bashing some conference or another. OH here's one... Plumbers Technical Standards Association ...thats a good one. Lets crash the plumbers conference so we can advertise a politicial party !

Dumb dumb dumb.

Even worse. The Plumbers won't be holding their conference in town anymore. It draws too much radical attention. In fact no one will hold a conference in this berg anyomre because hey , if you're gonna crash teir party , you're gonna crash anyones, right ?

Bad Propaganda

Witnesses cast doubt on Israel's convoy raid account


"Personally I saw two-and-a-half wooden batons that were used... There was really nothing else. We never saw any knives.

"This was an attack in international waters on a peaceful mission... This was a clear act of piracy," he added.
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The pictures, from Arabic TV, showed the campaigners in a jubilant mood. One said she was determined either to get to Gaza or to die a martyr.


You know what I hate worse than propaganda ?

Bad propaganda. Propaganda where people obviously believe they just have to go down this recipie and then they're golden, and no one will challenge them.

Propaganda like , say organizing a peaceful outing to bring food to the Gaza Strip , and starting all this peace and goodness with a rousing round of chanting "DEATH TO MY ENEMIES" and swearing you'll get there or die.

Propaganda like saying there's no weapons on these peaceful ships, just really big sticks. And oh yeah , the "unarmed" passengers , with a history of suicide bombing , rushed some armed guards in the vain hope that they'd all get shot up and it would make a nice embarrasing international incident.

Except the invaders were armed with paintball guns. Painful .. but for 680 people 9 casualties is pretty low.

And hten of course you get to accuse the invaders of being pirates, despte the fact that you started this whole "peaceful protest" with a bunch of chants about how you were going to kill them.

Yep. You managed to hit every point on the peaceful protest list.

And a few extra that make you look like a donkeys behind.

I have no sympathies for protesters that want to kill people. I really don't care how "peaceful" they think they are , they still want people dead, they aint peaceful.

Failure to understand the phrase "Peace Movement"

Gaza aid flotilla 'leaves Cyprus'


The Palestinian territory has been under an Israeli and Egyptian economic blockade for almost three years, with only limited humanitarian aid allowed.

The activists, from the Free Gaza Movement, want to break the blockade.

Israel imposed the measures after the Islamist movement Hamas took power in Gaza.

Hamas has fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past decade.
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For days, human rights activists aboard the flotilla of ships have been saying they are due in Gaza soon, but they are now running days late.

In the 60's , as I'm sure everyone knows, there were these peace protest. People didn't want war anymore. They wanted you to stop shooting at each other , stop fighting, etc etc. And they organized protests. They had sleep ins. They had love ins. they invented non-violent protests. This was where Green Peace was born.

In the new century, a new form of war has broken out.

Some people have noticed the tactics that the war protesters used in the sixties , and decided that must work on the western nations, so instead of bullets , they'll use non violent protest.

But they're not interested in stopping war. They've taken sides, and the definately want one side to win , and the other side to drop dead. Peace is just a tactic, world domination of Islam is their end goal. So all western non islamic nations will now be subject to "peaceful protests" until they all drop dead and die.

OH thats not what they say , that would be too violent. What they say is "they should go someplace else". Trouble is they want the whole dang planet , so there really isn't any "some place else" when you're out to take it all.

And the whole peace and harmony and love they neibour and brother hood of man thing ? Only if you're a muslim. Only if you're THEIR variety of muslim. And there's a bunch. And they fight each other constantly. With bullets and riots and using unarmed civilians as armies in wave attacks. And it's pretty obvious by their actions they don't give a dang about the welfare or lives of their true believers.

umm...yeah. Failed to understand the concept of "Peace Movement".

These people don't want peace. They want to conquer it all. Bullets didn't work , they'll try something else.

But peace is not what they're interested in.

And living under their system would incurr a breif hellish life and a nasty death.

I'll pass thanks.

Sink that flotilla. Those guys are soldiers , not civilians.

Privacy : Why do I care ?

Facebook changes are 'not enough,' say groups

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says that "more is needed" from Facebook to address privacy criticisms.

In a blog post, the civil liberties group praised Facebook for a "great first step" towards giving members of the site more control over their data.

However, it warned members against choosing the site's recommended privacy control setting.


So. Why do I care about privacy ? Why am I running a blog under an anonymous name instead of my real name ? Why the hassel ?

The truth is , I didn't care about privacy. No one cared.

Until I went to work one day , and my employer asked me if I played guitar, if I was in a band. Yes I played guitar , no I'm not in a band or thinking of starting one , why do you ask ?

He did a search on google. Some guy with the same name as me was starting a rock and roll band and he was worried I was going to leave him.

I went to a job interview at a personel agency. They asked for my Facebook page. I said I didn't have one. They demanded it , insisted, threatenned not to hire me if they found out I was lying to them.

And by the way , why don't you have a facebook page ?

It's too big a violation of my privacy. I'll get spammed by half the world. And can I have my resume back ? I don't want to work for you.

I used to post on the old usernet news groups. You always had to be careful not to leave an email address, because automatic programs sifted through all the usergroups looking for anything that even looked like an email address and put you on a mailing list to try and sell you viagra and gawd only knows what else.

I got drunk one time, and I stumbled across the email address of Sadam Hussain (dictator of Iraq at the time, he's been deposed by the americans since then). Did I send him hate mail ? No , I signed him up for every homosexual porn site I could find.

Why do I care about privacy ?

I didn't, until a hotmail email address got spammed out of existance. And hten hotmail actually shut it down because there was too much traffic but for 30$ / month they'd be happy to reactivate it.

I didn't, until people started calling my cell phone , from the USA , to sell me junk. On my dime.

I didn't, until a job interview gone wrong where they demanded my facebook page so they could check up on me.


I didn't , until I started looking for a job, and whenever I answered the phone, it wasn't for a job interview, it was a telemarketer trying to sell me stuff, and they had my name.

Now, I care.

Schizophrenic Windsor man gets life for murder

Article

Assistant Crown attorney Gary Nikota said the sentence was appropriate, since the beating of Kearley was not the first time Downs displayed violence.

"Five months before, he engaged in a vicious attack on a mother and a young child for no apparent reason," said Nikota.


So your first incident was when you , for schizophrenic reasons, decided to beat on some random woman and her kid passing by ? Because God told you to ?

Let me guess. before that you were completely non violent, never did a thing in your life , right ?

It's sad to watch people walk down this path. Especially when one of them is known to you. It's like watching one of those dumb zombie movies where your best friend is slowly turned into some kind of monster and then comes chasing after you trying to kill you.

I hate when that happens.

US cartoonist apologises over Facebook Muhammad row

Article

A cartoonist whose work inspired an internet campaign inviting people to draw images of the Prophet Muhammad has apologised for her role in the row.

Writing on her blog, Molly Norris said her satirical cartoon was "hijacked" and that the campaign was "offensive to Muslims".

The problem is that as is the case many times, her first instinct was the correct one. The religion of Islam is attempting to tell the entire world how they can live their lives, and attempt to control all commentary on Islam, and this is not acceptable.

I'm sorry if you don't like the things we say and think about your religion, but shooting people who say bad things doesn't help. It only makes it worse. Your religion, in fact any religion , isn't protected over here. People have a right to comment on these things and decide they don't much like them , or think they're silly or foolish or what not.

And running around saying "You have insulted our religion , you must die" is like a politician running around saying "I take insult to that , kill all those people."

Islam is a dominant religion , it is a political force. And it has entered the field of politics and that's life. It gets rotten tomatoes thrown at it just like every other politician , that's the price of power. That's what you have to put up with when you seek to rule any large group of people.

Deciding there can be no criticism allowed of a political force, be it a person or a religion , that is the real intolerance. That is what is truly unacceptable.

And that's why this whole cartoon thing is a flash point. You're stifling criticism of a ruling power.

Gnumeric Disapointment

Yeah, now they tell me I'm diabetic. And they gave me this thing to stab my finger with and take readings and I'm supposed to write down those readings and everything.

Hmm....a spread sheet can do that job easy.

So I got my free copy of Gnumeric, which |I recommend to all my friends, and I have to tell you , I've never really used it before. Oh I did quick demo's and tried one or two things, but I never actually used the dang thing on a daily basis to actually perform work.

So I stab myself, and I take readings, and I put them in the spreadsheet.

And a bunch of readings suddenly go missing.

Maybe I made a mistake. Enter the latest readings , save adn close , open , and make sure they're there. Perfect.

next day their gone.

Amn I losing my mind ?

There was one very high reading it stuck in my mind. It's gone.

Gnumeric ... doesn't work. All that effort. All that enthusasm I got a free spreadsheet I don't have to pay a few hundred dollars etc etc etc....

Dang thing just doesn't work. Your "saved" data has a habit of simply evaporating.

I hate crud like that.

Kick 'em to the curb

In Greek Debt Crisis, Some See Parallels to U.S.

What an interesting news article. They are seriously proposing that it's too expensive to treat sick people. What are you going to do with them ? Kick them to the curb like you're doing right now ?

Every other nation in the world can afford health care, why can't you ?

And yeah , Greek has a debt crisis, but Cuba doesn't , and it's got a great health care system doesn't it ? Ditto Canada.

It is interesting that such articles receive serious consideration in the american news media.

But when I talk with people online, in online games, I get a very different response from joe average down in america.

The Stream of Life

Ever just lie in the grass, when you were a kid , and just look up at the clouds, and think "That one looks like a rabbit" , or "that one looks like a face" ?

Of course we all know, there's no rabbit in the clouds. It's your mind playing tricks on you, trying constantly to organize everything around it into meaningful patterns. And it's funny when you set that automatic part of your mind onto something that has no pattern , that is totally random ... like clouds ... what does that cloud look like ?

Life is like that too. A stream of events. People interacting , talking , fighting , misunderstanding. Throw in government agencies and over eager bureaucrats that will actively lie to you (just met one the other day when I was applying for retraining) , and life might as well just be a random stream of events.

Like looking for rabbits in the clouds.

And it's a fun game to see what kind of patterns emerge from trying to impose order and meaning onto something that has neither. The most bizzare things pop out and you cannot help but laugh at them.

Until one day you realize that you may understand it's all a game your mind is playing on you , but not everyone around you does.

That would be when your friend, who's been a little off , a little too deep into the conspiracy theories for years, runs into a stream of bad luck. And then one day blythly informs you that you are a secret agent of some sort working for the goverment to interfere in his marriage.

Wow...what a pretty bunny rabbit you found. That is totally bizzare, and yes , it's perfectly defensible, the string of events could be interperted to mean that, with just a little imagination.

Except for the part where the mystery government agency has neglected to send me any paychecks.

And you realize he doesn't think it's all a game , or doesn't realize (or accept) it's just your mind playing tricks on you . It's a random stream of events, your mind is going to produce random results. It means nothing, there is no order to be deduced. There is no pattern there no matter what you see.

I wonder sometimes , if we're all doomed to go crazy. To see patterns where there are none , and come to believe in some vast conspiracy where powerful government agencies and other groups are for unspeciied reasons concearned with the comings and goings of unimportant no bodies such as ourselves.

The only pattern I see is randomness. Or perhaps a complexity so vast it is beyond prediction by anyone and thus is close enough to randomness that you might as well just call it that.

And I think it's a cool game to let your mind chew on this randomness and see what outragous results you can come out with. But other people are doing the same thing ... and they're not playing a game.

They seem to think it's for real.

Goodbye Rich Dude. I know why you do what you do , but you've locked the keys inside of you , and there's no way for anyone to let you out back into the sunshine. All we can do is not be there when you decide to take the next step and "defend" yourself against phantom attackers by becoming violent. As it seems is the fate of most people who wear your shoes.

Goodbye.

Paranoid schizophrenia

Positive symptoms
Positive symptoms are symptoms that indicate the presence of unusual thoughts and perceptions that often involve a loss of contact with reality. Delusions and hallucinations are considered positive symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.

* Delusions. In paranoid schizophrenia, delusions are often focused on the perception that you're being singled out for harm. Your brain misinterprets experiences and you hold on to these false beliefs despite evidence to the contrary. For instance, you may believe that the government is monitoring every move you make or that a co-worker is poisoning your lunch. You may also have delusions of grandeur — the belief that you can fly, that you're famous or that you have a relationship with a famous person, for example. Delusions can result in aggression or violence if you believe you must act in self-defense against those who want to harm you.

Goodbye Old Friend

Article = none, personal experiance.


I have a friend. Lets call him rich dude. He isn't much better educated or anything , he didn't inherit anything from his parents. But he made it. He got the nice job, the shiny car , the string of girl friends. And he got it with no help from anyone else.

I've always admired him for that.

Today I had to leave him.

Apparently , according to him , I"m a government agent of some agency or another , and this agency has stooped way down to interfere between him and his wife and their divorce. And he's been acting a little off for years. I'm pretty well convinced he's lost it , and his next step will be to kidnap me and try and beat a confession out of me.

He had it all , and he got it himself. But he was always ... a little off. He was always a conspiracy theory nut. When the store down the street from his home burned down , he decided organized crime meant it as a warning to him personally. Umm..sorry , if organized crime wants to give you a warning it will be your sister or your mother they put a hit on , not the store down the street.

But dont tell him that. He won't listen.

And don't get him started on the subject of government experiments and feeding LSD to test subjects, which apparently he was one of. Don't even go down that road.

Him and his father fought , for years , over a house. He lost it all , and went deeply in debt. Then his marriage went bad, and his job as well. He went from having it all to losing it all.

And it's all a big conspiracy to him , nothing you say will convince him otherwise.

This goes on for years.

Today he announced he was convinced I was a government agent acting on his wifes behalf to ... to do what ? I have no idea. He has no money, and no one will listen to him, but don't tell him that. To listen to him he's got dirt on everyone.

There's no way to argue with a paranoid, no argument you can present , no proof that you're not part of some vast conspiracy against him.

I bought him lunch , and then I took a taxi home.

I'm hoping I don't have to get a restraining order. He's now dangerous to be around. And I got a wife of my own to protect.

Anger at Belgian face veil ban

link

Muslims, academics and human rights groups have hit out at a looming public ban in Belgium on the full face veil, following a decision in the country's parliament to make the wearing of the article of clothing illegal.

This is a fascinating article in Al Jareera (English version) , a middle eastern newspaper. The subject matter itself, the pro's and con's of a face veil , are not the fascinating part thought.

The fascinating part is that the article is heavily biased. There is no stock at all given to the notion that veils are a means of enslaving women (the reason why Belgium is doing this in the first place) and a great deal of stock about human rights and freedoms.

It is interesting to see them "take a walk on the wild side" in this manner, totally supporting the Islamic point of view and not mentioning at all any counter view.

I suppose this is the fault of western media , since they also have disposed of the whole notion of balanced reporting (at least hear in Canada) so if the middle easterner's are using them as an example ...sheesh !


aid Belgium "now joins Iran and Saudi Arabia in that exclusive but unenviable rare club of countries to impose a dress code in the public domain".


You forgot Canada. (Complete Nudity is forbidden in public)

Think that might be the USA as well.

World Polled , dictators still hate USA, think democracy sucks

World warming to US under Obama, BBC poll suggests

Nearly 30,000 people in 28 countries were interviewed for the poll, between November 2009 and February 2010.

Fifteen of the countries have been surveyed every year since 2005, allowing long-term trends to be discerned.


what exactly do we mean polled ? And was there a state sponsored official with a gun escorting the state sponsored translater while this poll was being conducted, to insure that the respondant didn't accidently give the wrong answer ?

methodology section reports phone or face to face, by their "partners" in each country (in other words, in despotic regimes the state sponsored minder did all the work and no polster even bothered to show up)

So all the honest democracies gave their governments the middle finger and answered honestly , and all the despotic states gave their citizens the business end of a rifle and told them what they would be answering , assuming they didn't just take the poll out of their hands and fill it out themselves.

Yes...good methology.

Excuse me while I flush this down the toilet with all the other worthless advertising I receive every day.

N.S. newspaper ordered to identify online web posters

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/newspaper+ordered+identify+online+posters/2911779/story.html#ixzz0lH4c7gYS


HALIFAX — A Nova Scotia court has ordered a Halifax newspaper to release information about several people who posted anonymous online comments on a story about alleged racism in the city's fire department.

Michelle Awad, lawyer for Bill Mosher, the fire chief, and deputy chief Stephen Thurber, said the posters made defamatory comments about the two on the website of the weekly newspaper, The Coast, and they want to file a defamation suit against them.

"They're looking to secure a remedy for the damage they believe has been done," Awad said.

The judge ruled The Coast must release whatever details it has about the authors of the comments.


So. If you post any opinions online, you can be sued for them. Even anonymous sites, these lawyers have now decided to shut down freedom of speech.

Some of the people who post , they probably deserve it , I've seen a lot of outright lies and slander posted on the cbc news site for example. But still... everyone knows you take that chance in the comments section, and you get to refute it.

Now some lawyers want to get in on the act and start suing people left right and center.

This aint good.

30% Discount

I used to work in a call center.

We got a lot of strange calls. Apparently save team offered these guys 30% discount if they'd stay.

And they left no notes.

Sorry buddy you're obviously lying to me , but I'm not allowed to say that. And you're in a new contract you're sticking around for a couple of years or paying the early termination fee. Wait for him to quit yelling and either demand a supervisor or end the call.

Because I know , we don't do stuff like that.

I was surfing , doing a google search. pop up from my provider rogers. you're over 75% of you montly quota.

Phone them up. I was on unlimited internet. Then they changed that to 60 gigs. Then they changed that to 30 gigs. Then 25. At the same time my usage went from 5 gigs to 20 gigs to 40 gigs. And I'm not doing anything illegal , copying dvd's , nothing like that. Just normal perfectly legitimate usage.

And I call them up. And I get told I'm a bad boy I'm using too much data because I'm on an older plan I was automatically moved to a new one (so much for long term loyalty...take note how they claim they value you , but then try to sheer you like a sheep in the next breath)

And I wind up in retention. And they offer me a 30% discount.

And i'm thinking , you got a clause in your contract that says you can change your mind any time you like. And there's nothing I can do about it I gotta ride out the whole 3 years even if you decide to turn off the taps and give me nothing.

And I'm thinking ...why does 30% sound so familiar ?

Oh yes, I was on the other end of this conversation a few times. It didn't work out so well for the customer.

The scumminess of Rogers

Phoned rogers to cancel my internet.

Offered me a higher plan at a 30% discount.

Umm... 30% off 60$ a month is still more than primus costs. Plus I'm being billed 10$ / month as a penalty for not having television.

I think they're scummy because they only make such offers when you're calling them up to quit. What about making such offers in the normal course of business instead of ripping people off by charging them 2.50$ / gigabyte overage fee's when they're not paying attention ? Thats like charging extra because we can get away with it , and then when you catch us , we'll stop but we don't give any back. I feel robbed.

I don't like dealing with people who commit robbery.

Plus various other charges that the government doesn't charge that rogers does, so primus isn't going to charge that.

Apparently their "save attempt" was to hope I can't add up a couple of numbers.

Unlmited vs 25 gig / month limit ... technically the same price in the best possible case, assuming they don't exercise their right to change their mind and rewrite the contract any time they like in any way they like.

Bye Rogers.

While I was ending the call with Rogers the line beeped and I picked it up. Primus...wanted info so they could run the credit check.

Oops...I still might not get Primus ???

This could get interesting ...

gEt out the rogers bill ... where is that 10$ fee for not having TV ? Umm... it's not broken down. Just a flat 35$ / month fee plus tax for internet.

Well ... they still kill me on bandwith even if they dropped the 10$ fee for tv a long time ago.

Goodbye Rogers. Hello Primus

Article = None , personal Experience

I started out ten years ago working in rogers tech support. Internet was about 30$ / month and it was unlimited bandwith, about 1 megabyte download speed , all that I needed.

They advertise that you really need 5 or 10 meg download for games.

Unless your a game manufacturer , in which case you normally advertise that a 56k modem will work for normal play. :)

Interesting contrast there.

Then this whole kerfluffle about people downloading entire DVD's and overloading the network came along.

Then they lowered my limit to 60 gigabytes a month. No biggy , I was only using 5 gig at the time.

Then they lowered my limit to 30 gig's a month. But I never incurred any overage how bad could it be ?

Then they lowered my limit to 25 gigs a month. And they intercepted my google page (read that "hacked into my data stream to show results google would not approve of and probably had no idea of" to pop up a really nasty message saying I had reached 75% of my monthly quota.

Phone rogers. My monthly quota was no 25 gigabytes a month. And I had used 20 gigs in about 14 days.

Every application on my computer , it seemed was using more and more bandwidth , but rogers was giving you less and less. And now the two had met in the center.

"You're on a grandfathered plan. You have to upgrade to a new one. " And sign a three year contract. If you fart , rogers considers you to have signed a three year contract. See my blog entry about the bell non contract contract where they can change anything they like and you cna't do nothing about it , rogers has the same thing , needless to say I'm not signing a three year contract with these idiots.

My wifes old phone provider , Primus has internet , and she reports they're a real business ,they won't just take your money and run as she suspects some company I never heard of before might do. (looked them up on the internet ..I won't mention their name since I know nothing about them they might even be perfectly legitimate).

35$ a month. No contract. 30 days notice to cancel. Unlimited bandwidth. About 5 megabit download speed (I was using 1.5 megabyte from rogers).

Heck , even if they lower the bandwidth to 200 gigs eventually , I'm only using 40 gig a month right now.

Signed up immediately. They didn't even want my credit card number they'll bill me later. They're fed ex-ing the modem. 4-7 days.

When I get it working , I'm cancelling rogers.

Rogers wants 35$ / month for 25 gig bandwidth and they tack on a 10$ penalty because I don't actually have a TV with them. And they want a three year contract you sign every time you fart.

I am so out of there.

Ow my eye !

Article = none , personal experience.

So , I already mentioned I failed a GTT (Glucose Tolerance Test) and it's pretty certain I'm a diabetic now (type two).

So they sent me off to the eye doctor to see what kind of harm diabetes had done to my eyes. And I waited for a while , and I saw, a technician I guess. Some guy you see before you see the doctor.

And he did an eye test. And then he had to "measure" my eye.

Which involves putting in eye drops , which I hate , and then he takes this little hand probe thingy and very gently touches your eye with it.

Which of course, is the part where I freak out. Ow my eye ! I can't stand having anything in my eye or touching my eye. It doesn't hurt , he was very gentle, but he had to try a few times. When the probe was coming closer and closer I literally could not make myself stay still. It was awful.

And then I saw the doctor , and she did it again , in both eyes. Repetition didn't improve my reaction , I actually yelled as if in pain. More unpleasant surprise, there wasn't any pain , I just hated the very idea of anything touching my eye.

In Philosophy , there is a belief that you do not deal with the world. You deal with a projection onto your awareness, that your senses draw for you. Your eyes, your ears , etc etc. When I got poked in the eye, this suddenly became crystal clear that I was looking at some kind of natural movie screen and not actually experiancing the real world.

How is that you ask ?

Ever see those blooper reels in DVD's about making the particular movie your watching ? And sometimes someone bumps into the camera ,and it all flexes and the whole view gets distorted for just a moment , and you instantly say "He touched the Camera" ?

Yeah. They touched the camera. Only I wasn't watching any movie. And I wasn't wearing glasses. And the whole world went DING ! and got all distorted for just a second.

PS: She said I have cataracts , but they're not serious to operate on , she wants to see me in a year.

Vancouver Police At it Again

Yet another example of Police Brutality in Vancouver BC , Canada.

At least this time they left the Tasers behind and no one died.

Rise of the Robots

Article = none, personal opinion.

Lost my job a while back (well they announced it , still got a month left before they kick me to the curb). It got outsourced to the Philipines. The dollar a day guys , as I call them.

I phone tech support for my Dell Computer. I get India.

I talk to a guy at work , ask him how long he's been here. Tells me he's worked four call centers the last year. Why you quit so many jobs ? He didn't . They all outsourced to pakistan. Or china. Or in the case of the one we work at at the moment, the philipines.

Dollar a day guys taking over everything.

So I'm thinking maybe retraining, what is it I can retrain in that they cannot outsource to these dollar a day guys ?

I remember an old news article on the internet. It was very very hard to get doctors to move to small towns, so their solution was to build robots that the doctors could run by remote control. Nice color monitors, remote controled hands.. get a doctor on the line to sit in the control booth , great idea.

Now I'm thinking ... they outsourced all the brainy stuff. Book keeping , computer programming , even computer repair. When these robots get going ... they're going to outsource the manual labor to.

We're gonna have dollar a day guys running a robot cleaning shopping centers and stuff. No need for high end artificial intellgence when you can hire a philipino for a dollar a day to sit in a booth on the other side of the world and do it.

so what does that leave for us ?

Does it leave anything for us , any job we can do to earn a living ?

Because you aint selling me your stereo and your nice computer if I can't hold down a job. Or if I only make a dollar a day.

Booksellers take on Ottawa over Amazon's distribution plans

Article



Canada's booksellers are urging Ottawa to block Amazon.com from building a distribution network in Canada, raising the stakes in a showdown over government restrictions on foreign control of the cultural industry.


Thats nice. Why do I care ?


“A few years ago I was disadvantaged from having a partner. That's not to say I didn't succeed. I, as a competitor, was in a position to be able to invest for a long time – losing money – to get to where I got. Many people would not have had the deep pockets that I had and, as a result, may not have succeeded without ... a U.S. or a foreign partner.”


This is why I care. "Deep Pockets" is the relevant term.

Americans come in , open up shop , lose money for a couple of years to put the competition out of business , and then they own the place. Time to raise prices. Their pockets are deeper than any canadian ones because they come from a country ten times our size. And they don't hesitate to use that size advantage.

So unless you all want to be working minimum wage jobs for americans , this kind of thing needs to be stopped. And not just for books. But for everything.

Raising the minimum wage can only do so much. It looks like maybe one of those so called "trade wars" is the way to go , where we stop buying american and they stop buying canadian ...hmm..didn't they already stop buying canadian a long time ago ?

So what have we got to lose ?

Yahoo Issues Takedown Notice for Spying Price List

Yahoo Issues Takedown Notice for Spying Price List


Yahoo isn’t happy that a detailed menu of the spying services it provides law enforcement agencies has leaked onto the web.

Shortly after Threat Level reported this week that Yahoo had blocked the FOIA release of its law enforcement and intelligence price list, someone provided a copy of the company’s spying guide to the whistleblower site Cryptome.

The 17-page guide describes Yahoo’s data retention policies and the surveillance capabilities it can provide law enforcement, with a pricing list for these services. Cryptome also published lawful data-interception guides for Cox Communications, SBC, Cingular, Nextel, GTE and other telecoms and service providers.


Yep. You have no privacy online anymore. You really shouldn't be writing emails that have much more info in them than "meet you at the coffee shop as usual".

Only question is , now that it's open to the police, how long before your private emails are open to the spammers ?

So long and thanks for the Cash

A.I.G. Plan for $100 Million Bonus Payout Draws Fire


The American International Group has agreed to cut employee bonuses by $20 million and will distribute about $100 million on Wednesday, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations.

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A.I.G. first promised the retention bonuses to keep people working at its financial products unit, which traded in the derivatives that imploded in September 2008, leading to the biggest government bailout in history.


Ok. So. You dumped the world economy down the toilet. And you're walking way with millions. Do you have anything to say on your way to your early retirement party ? Other than "So long SUCKERS ! GAWD I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW STUPID YOU PEOPLE ARE !!!"

No ?

I didn't think so.

The American banker. Fail so badly you take the whole world down into a depression. And you still collect millions.

The Bell Non-Contract Contract

Not being too happy with Rogers since they pulled that stunt with cancelling everyones unlimited texting and charging them, and then telling them they're still under contract, I thought I'd see if Bell was any better.

Bell Online Service Agreement


Changes; Amendments. To the extent permitted by applicable law, Your Service Provider may modify the Service, this Service Agreement, including any other document that forms part thereof, at any time and from time to time, with or without your consent or authorization, including but not limited to modification or amendment of Service Fees or modification, amendment or termination of any Service feature. Your Service Provider will notify you of any material amendment to this Service Agreement or of any material change to the Service in advance by posting notice of such change at www.bell.ca/agreements, by sending you notice via email to your Bell Internet parent email address or to another email address provided by you to Your Service Provider (in which case it is your responsibility to ensure that such email address remains current at all times) or by using any other notice method that will likely come to your attention. You agree to go to www.bell.ca/agreements periodically and to review this Service Agreement to be aware of such modifications. Nothing in this Service Agreement shall be construed as obligating you to accept receipt of the Service after any change is made to the Service or this Service Agreement; however, to the extent permitted by applicable law, your sole remedy in the event that you do not wish to accept such change shall be cancellation of the Service (and termination of this Service Agreement) including the payment of any discounted or deferred Service Fees (as set out in Section 3) or other charges that may apply.


'Nother words. We can change our minds about anything we offer you , and your sole recourse is to cancel and pay up all cancellation fees.

Which is another way of saying "Nope...we're no different than rogers. We do as we please and you need to bend over and take it up the (ahem) you silly fool you dared to sign a contract with us now you gonna pay and pay and pay ..."

There seems to be a lot of non-contract contracts going on here. We are bound to pay , they are bound to do not a dang thing at all.

I aint signing. Not anything. Not ever.

The American Oligarchy

24 States’ Laws Open to Attack After Campaign Finance Ruling


A day after the United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government may not ban political spending by corporations or unions in candidate elections, officials across the country were rushing to cope with the fallout, as laws in 24 states were directly or indirectly called into question by the ruling.

Thus is born the American Oligarchy , or rule of the few. If you are a corperation, like Taser Corp , and your stun weapon is actualy killing people, you may now legally bribe politicians into going to bat for you , or create massive attack ad campaigns at election time to punish those who hurt your bottom line. (Which they have already threatenned).

Big business now rules the roost there, even more so than before. You can expect consumers to get the shaft on a frequent basis for everything. You can expect laws to be changed to become more lienient towards the indiscretions of large corperations. You can then expect those laws to be completely gutted in the name of profit. You thought the USA was a big polluter before ? You aint seen nothing yet.

In a society ruled by profit, you can now expect the USA to go to war for reasons of profit alone.

The whole world just got a little less safe.

Deactivate Facebook

Went to my old facebook account to get rid of it.

You cannot delete it. You can only deactivate it. And it specifically states people can still send messages to your account , look at photo's etc etc.

In my case there's nothing on facebook but a few rants about what a horrible violation of privacy it is. But other people who may have posted something... there's no removing it ..

(edit)
Delete Facebook

A google search turned this up. It doesn't show if you search facebook or look for an option , but google found it.

It seems facebook doesnt' want to get rid of those embaraassing photo's of you getting drunk and piddling on the cop car just before they arrested you. Isn't that just so irritating ?

Turn over Facebook history, judge orders

Article


Rosemary Carter is fighting Herbert Connors for damages after the two were involved in a collision in the northern New Brunswick community five years ago.

"Incidentally, it must not be forgotten that this legal action was commenced by the plaintiff and in launching it she has implicitly accepted certain intrusions into what otherwise might be private information, the disclosure of which would ordinarily be left to her own personal judgment."



So , you got into a car accident, you're sueing the guy who hit you , his lawyer demands you turn over your face book account, and it's legal.

Nice. Feel like sueing someone ? Hope you don't have a face book account. Feel like looking for a job ? Collecting insurance , anything at all almost with any large organization ? They want to look at your face book account.

Give me six sentences from an innocent man and I will hang him , as the Riechlieu quote goes. Give them your face book account and it wont stop there.

Assumed Sale Technique

Toronto telemarketing firm fined $15M for scam


DataCom telemarketers succeeded in the scam by using an "assumed sale" technique. They implied that the business had ordered a directory listing in the past and it had been authorized by someone in the company. Telemarketers would then use aggressive collection tactics to ensure payment. The targeted firms were usually duped out of $200 to $500.



This is actually how most collection agencies work.

You get in trouble with some company , usually because they're ripping you off, and they don't argue with you. They just send you to the collection agency. Now the collection agencie has no records to check anyones story so they just assume you're guilty as charged, and demand payment.

The really sleezy one is when my wife went through bankruptcy , and the collection agencies ignored that and still harrassed her about it and demanded payments.

And when she refused ? They sold her debt to another collection agency and it started all over again. Around and around and around.

Mom takes on Rogers policy

Mom takes on Rogers policy


A Coquitlam mother of three text-happy teenagers is angry with her cellphone provider for altering their contract, but Rogers Wireless said the customer was given advance warning that some terms of their agreement would change.
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"It’s wrong for Rogers to be able to change anything they want,” she said. “I want them to honour our original deal. I have no control over who texts my children.”

A spokesperson for Rogers said they notified customers in June 2009 that their contracts would be changing.

Edward Bukszar, a Simon Fraser University business professor, said the move is legal but risky for Rogers.

“You always risk alienating customers when you change things like this regardless of the strategy they put behind it,” Bukszar said. “Customers feel distanced from a company they’re expected to be loyal to.”


Welcome to the wonderful world of the Non-Contract Contract.

That would be the part where you're stuck with a two year contract and they can change the terms any time they like and there's nothing you can do about it. Giving notice that they're about to rip you off doesn't help if you don't get the opportunity to cancel , etc etc.

The day of signing contracts is over, if you ask me. Since you're bound by them and the other party is not , and you gotta know this has legs and is going to spread, there is no point to it. It's now become another form of advertising. Reel them in with a great deal then hit them hard with a fee hike afterwards.

I will sign nothing with Rogers anymore. Or bell, but thats another matter.

Rights groups Think Taliban just peachy, continue to Bash Westerners

Rights groups add to call for Afghan torture inquiry


OTTAWA – Canada has put at risk every Afghan prisoner it has transferred over the past eight years, the head of Amnesty International said today.


What about the all the people the Taliban were busy murdering , do they count for anything ?


At that time, prisoners were being handed over to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, despite the likelihood of further transfers on to Guantanamo Bay in addition to the "strong risk of torture and ill-treatment" at U.S. detention centres in Afghanistan, Amnesty states.


What about the Taliban throwing acid on school girls faces because they dared to attend school ? What about how they continue to this day to terrorize and close schools, murdering teachers and students alike ?


"We highlighted that given the prevalence and systematic nature of torture in Afghan prisons, such transfers were prohibited under international law," the open letter states.


Why is it Amnesty International only goes after western nations , never anyone else ? If I was a betting man , I'd say "follow the money" , who's benifiting this ? And that puts Amnesty in the pocket of every third world dictatorship on the planet.

Why don't you go after them for a change ?

The deafening silence of your response is answer enough , I think.

Insurers using Facebook to investigate claimants

Article

Canadian insurance firm Manulife has reportedly cut a depressed woman’s benefits because photos showing her happy were posted on Facebook.

The woman, Nathalie Blanchard, said she cannot understand how Manulife was able to access her account because she had adjusted her privacy settings so that only friends could see her posts, said CBC News.


Smile for the birdy ! Thank you. Kiss your insurance goodbye.


Manulife has confirmed to CBC News that it uses Facebook to investigate clients.
But it said, "We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook."

Facebook has already proved its use to human resource departments wanting to investigate potential new staff. Senior managers have also been found to use Facebook to check up on employees.

According to Facebook's current privacy policy, the social networking site will share information to prevent fraud or other illegal activity.

"This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities," says the policy.


We sell your facebook info to anyone and the dog. They get to see your pictures , your video's , anything marked private , anything at all !

So what can you do on face book ? You can talk shop. You cannot talk politics or religion, you can talk about a game you play. Thats about it.

Microsoft License

I had reason to go over the terms of the Win Xp license , which is on my computer. Had to hit the microsoft site for it.

Consent to Use of Data. You agree that MS and Microsoft Corporation and their affiliates may collect and use
technical information gathered in any manner as part of the product support services provided to you, if any, related to
the SOFTWARE. MS, Microsoft Corporation and their affiliates may use this information solely to improve their
products or to provide customized services or technologies to you. MS, Microsoft Corporation and their affiliates may
disclose this information to others, but not in a form that personally identifies you.


You agree to let Microsoft spy on you , and by the way the spyware is already there. Built right into the operating system. It will loot anything it feels like and send it back to Redmond where they will do whatever they like with it.

Security is Job One , indeed !


Internet-Based Services Components. The SOFTWARE contains components that enable and facilitate the
use of certain Internet-based services. You acknowledge and agree that MS, Microsoft Corporation or their
subsidiaries may automatically check the version of the SOFTWARE and/or its components that you are
utilizing and may provide upgrades or supplements to the SOFTWARE that may be automatically downloaded
to your COMPUTER


They're gonna change your operating system on you. Anytime they like. And they don't have to warn you of it.

The part I was looking for , the one where they claim to have the right to confiscate your computer, wasn't there. Thats an urban myth it seems.

But still. They can spy on you any time they like, and they can upgrade your "internet connectivity software" any time they like. That's enough that you should not use windows for any kind of in house stuff. Microsoft can legally steal your trade secrets you know.

How do you like them apples ?

What Happens When You Pay The Ransom

Spain calls for pirate blockade


She also called for the international community to track ransom payments made to Somali pirates by shipping firms through intermediaries.

Somali pirates are currently holding 36 Spanish fishermen hostage on a trawler.

The pirates say they will not release any of the fishermen until Spanish authorities release two of their colleagues from custody in Spain.


So what we have here is an entire ecology of pirates, and victims , and security personal trained to deliver ransoms , and the whole nine yards. And they're demanding the pirates you did catch get returned or they'll do nasties to the hostages they have at the moment. Which are many . Because they've been at this for a long , long time.

Now how did we ever arrive at this point , you wonder ?

It's simple.

They paid the ransom.

And the pirates found the money good. So they did it again , and again , and again. And more and more joined the pack, until it became a huge wealthy industry not only on the pirate side, but on the victim side as well, as all sorts of security experts had to be hired on because of it.

Very profitable all around.

Unless your the customer trying to buy the goods being shipped on those boats and wondering why the price is so high all of a sudden ?

Unless those goods are actually needed to save lives (weapons , medicine , food , you get the idea).

Unless your economy depends on trade and you have people starving on the street because you can't afford to feed them because all trade is blocked by pirates.

Thank you for demonstrating to us all why you should not pay the ransom. Now the only question is what will the toll in blood be to shut this place down. You've let it run for quite a while so I'm certain the body count will be rather high.

Just as I'm certain there isn't any choice in the matter.

Your X-Box is not Your X-Box

Microsoft disconnects Xbox gamers


Thousands of gamers may have been cut off from Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live for modifying their consoles to play pirated games.


Oohhh..you can only play microsoft games , not anyone elses.


Microsoft has not said how it was able to determine which gamers to disconnect.

"We do not reveal specifics, but can say that all consoles have been verified to have violated the terms of use," the firm said in a statement.



And how did you verify six hundred thousand x-boxes without the cops kicking in six hundred thousand doors ? I'll tell you how. The X-Box is running spyware , courtesy of microsoft, to see everything you're doing. And to make sure you only run microsoft products , not some other guys products.

This X-Box you bought , you didn't buy it. You just rented it. It's not really your property. And Big Brother Bill Gates is watching your every move.

Pirates get a taste of Microsoft COFEE

Article


Microsoft's Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE) has made it into the hands of pirates, and their virtual ships are distributing it quickly for everyone to get a taste. The COFEE application uses common digital forensics tools to help law enforcement officials at the scene of a crime gather volatile evidence of live computer activity that would otherwise be lost in a traditional offline forensic analysis. In other words, it lets officers grab data from password-protected or encrypted sources. That means you can now break the law twice over: download the software and then use it to steal information from other people's computers.


For those of you who think you're clever, encrypting your files , setting up passwords, things like that. I have news for you.

You've been back stabbed from day one.

The USA requires all encryption programs to have a back door so the cops can get in fast, and that tool has now been stolen and is available on the web at large.

Once they figure out how to put it in a virus , banking information will be the high priority target. Kiss your online shopping spree's good bye.

Now we must write our own encryption.

Or just don't keep anything on your computer at all . Programs on the computer, documents on the memory stick. Memory stick goes on your key chain and follows you around wherever you go.

Disturbing Caller

Article = none, personal experiance.

I was at work the other day , talking to an american customer, waiting for test results to come back on his phone, when the topic of american health care came up.

Apparently americans believe in "managed health care", which means that someone decides who lives and who dies, where to spend the money , etc etc.

Apparently , this is inferior to "paid health care" where the rich pay their own medical bills and the poor are kicked to the curb. Well , the guy had a pricy phone so I guess I know where he stands on the rich vs poor issue.

In order to keep my job , I just agreed with whatever silliness he said.

but still, I can't help but think how brainwashed these americans are. Their health care is making billions in profits, and people are getting kicked to the curb with no treatment at all , just abandonned to die. Why ? Because of some myth of "managed health care, just like canada".

I got news for you buddy , Canada doesn't dump anyone on the street. And you get health care until the point where you stop breathing. Hows that for Managed Healthcare ?

The lies big business tells down there. Unbelievable. In canada they'd be sued into the ground for neglect causing death. They're profiting and the people they pretend to protect are dying.

If that aint Evil , I don't know what is.

Ah the Medcon scam. They got the vaccine for free from the government and charged 2300$ for an exam before they would give you your "free" government provided vaccine.

(drawing taken from the CBC website, but judging by the signature it actually belongs to the Sun group of newspapers in Ontario)

In Death We Trust

Ont. will probe H1N1 doses given to private clinic



Ontario's health minister says the province will look into the decision to give doses of the H1N1 vaccine to a private clinic in Toronto, but not until after they have a grip on the pandemic.

Deb Matthews says she is not going to second guess the decision by Toronto's medical officer of health to give Medcan, described as a preventative health-care clinic, 3,000 doses of the vaccines for its high-paying members.

Medcan has said it may offer the vaccine to non-members who come equipped with a referral from public health officials.



CountryGirl wrote in comment to this ...
I have heard that the actual injection and dose of H1N1 vaccine was FREE at this expensive private clinic....and that the ASSESSMENT of the patient's NEED for the vaccine cost about $2300.00. And this was after the patient's car was parked by the valet parking staff.

Hmmmm......



So Whats the motto of this clinic ? In Death We Trust ?

Welcome to the Liberal Dream of Americanization of the Canadian Health Care system (Liberals are currently in power in ontario , and have been for several elections). If you're rich , you get want you want. If you're poor , they kick you to the curb and let you die.

This clinic needs to be shut down. This kind of profiteering is not just scandleous, it's a violation of our national belief in equality for all.

Shut the place down.

Yet Another Liberal Program

Liberals urge more internet, cellphone competition


The Liberals are calling for stronger competition and rules on internet and cellphone services.


This sounds wonderful. So whats the problem ?

The problem is the gun registry that the Liberals made. It was supposed to cost 2 million dollars, it's now 2 billion and it barely functions. It has in fact blocked the progress of a real gun registry.

And the Liberals defend it tooth and nail , you are wasting billions of tax dollars if you shut it down yadda yadda ... and the darn thing cost a fortune to run and will eventually die anyways. But the Liberal friends you can be certain are getting rich on this project.

This is what happens when the Liberals "vow" to fight the gun problem in Canada. Suddenly things balloon to a thousand times what they should cost, and they still don't work. And you can't afford them ,but they kick and scream and it's just a huge scam and we're all sick of it.

And now they want to do it again with the cell phones.


Another 2 billion will be wasted.

And nothing will be done to restrain the friends of the Liberals (any big business contributing to their election coffers) from doing any thing they please.

No wonder they're frequently called the Fiberals.

Windows 7 Advert

I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist.

Dziekanski's mother sues over airport Taser death

Article


Robert Dziekanski's mother is suing the federal and provincial governments, four RCMP officers and the Vancouver International Airport for the loss of her son.

Dziekanski died minutes after he was shocked up to five times with a Taser by the RCMP in the arrivals lounge of the airport two years ago.

The lawsuit names the four RCMP officers involved, Const. Kwesi Millington, Const. Bill Bentley, Const. Gerry Rundel and Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, but none of them have been charged with any offence in relation to Dziekanski's death.




This is like the OJ simpson trial, where everyone knows these jackles are guilty but they get off scott free with murder. Now she's gonna sue them for some silly reason like not reading hte instructions on their Taser manual or something.

Despite the fact they were caught on camera committing the murder.

It's a joke. A sick joke. Four murders wandering around free. And we the people of canada are their lawful prey , they can off us any time they like.

As long as they do it with a Taser.

New York Times Sick Humour

Ok. First some explanation.

They arrested a guy because they thought maybe he might be a terrorist.

They put him in jail (guantanama bay ) for 7 years with all the other
terrorists.

Now they know he's innocent , but they don't want to release him because
he's been exposed to terrorists (in their jail ) for seven years so
even if he was innocent to start, he's probably a die hard terrorist now.

So they want to keep him locked away forever.

Sick eh ?

Now read how the great and wonderful New York Times explains this self
same situation.

A Detainee’s Case Shows the Hurdles That a Release Poses

According to them, all the perpetrators of this horrible crime come up smelling of roses. Sick sick sick.

Why America is Losing the War

Report Cites Firefight as Lesson on Afghan War



A few days later, they were almost overrun by 200 insurgents.

That firefight, a debacle that cost nine American lives in July 2008, has become the new template for how not to win in Afghanistan


Ok. You were attacked by 200 insurgents. And you beat them off. And you took 9 casualties.

I would portray this as a victory.

But the New York Times has decided to portray this as a defeat. What went wrong. Almost overrun. Debacle. Who messed up ? Who's the blame ?

America is losing , because it has decided to lose. Every thing, even ridiculous victories like this , is now portrayed as if it had been a shattering defeat.

How badly where they out numbered ? And they only took 9 casualties, and it's pretty much a certainty that the insurgents took a lot more than 9. More like 90, but that isn't mentioned.

This is an astounding victory. The New York Times is mourning a debacle that cost the lives of 9 soldiers, and looking to blame everyone in sight.

This is why you lost. Because you choose to lose.

Rogers Raises it's Fees (and hides the "system access" fee )

Rogers Wireless drops system access fee


Rogers Wireless has announced that, effective October 5th, it will be ending its $6.95 System Access Fee for all new customers.

In its place Rogers will be increasing the base price of all plans by $5 a month and be introducing a new Government Regulatory fee which will vary based on government fees in the province customers live.


You're dropping one fee and raising the prices on everything to cover it.

So you didn't actually drop anything , you just shuffled it around.


The regulatory fee on Voice Plans will range from $2.58 per month in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec to $3.46 in Newfoundland and Labrador.


And at the same time you're introducing a new fee that is at least 2.58$. So 5$ +2.58 = 7.58 increase , minimum, to replace a 6.95$ fee that you're dropping.

So you're raising the fee's not dropping them.


Rogers says the price changes are expected to be revenue neutral which means the amount of money Rogers collects from all of its customers will be about the same. Individual customers signing up after October 5th may see slightly higher or slightly lower prices depending on which province they live.


Rogers obviously can't add up it's own numbers. Plus the government stopped charging companies for the system access fee ages ago so that's going straight into rogers pockets not the governments.

I'm such a special kind of guy

Article = none, personal experience.

Before we begin I need to clear up two points.

One. I'm a guy. What lies between my legs lies between every ordinary guys legs. This becomes important shortly.

Two , why do they call it "Little Timmy" ?

I had an itch down there. But I'm on anti-biotics, so it couldn't be much right ? Right ? So I put up with it and hopefully it would go away. Two or three weeks, probably way too long , and it didn't go away.
Finally went to the clinic across the street. It had just openned up and the wait wasn't very long, unlike the old clinic that had up and moved.

So I go in , do my time waiting , and then see the doc. He says to me two words.

Yeast Infection.

Which of course, is considered a womans only disease , though certain un circumscribed men can fall victem to it (I"m circumscribed).

And I say to him five words.

I'm gonna kill my wife.

She just had it. Guess where I got it from ? So he perscribes some medicine and admits yeah it was probably my wife, and yeah it is very very rare for a man to get it , and I head off to the pharmacy to get me some meds.

And the Pharmicist wants to talk to me about "my wifes" problem. And he wants to explain to me how to use the applicator to insert the medicine deep inside. And I cut to the chase and tell him it aint for my wife it's for me. And he says but men don't get this disease.

I know. I feel so special.

No really , there must be a mistake somewhere.

I know. The doctor told me. There's no mistake.

By then we were both laughing like idiots.

So I take it home and I look at this tube of gunk, this weird looking applicator , and these instructions with drawings of butt naked women all over them. "Wow...this is excellent pornography !"

My wife tells me to hush.

I go in the bathroom , do the deed (without the applicator) , and then come out. Tell my wife "Now I feel like a real woman. "

She has no sense of humor.

Back To School

http://icanhascheezburger.com

Obama Meeting Democrats to Plan Health Strategy

Article

With a sense of growing horror, I wonder if I'm reading some science fiction novel about some evil demented alternate universe, or if this really is our news and they really mean it.


Mr. Baucus’s plan would also expand Medicaid, starting in 2014, to cover millions of low-income people, including many childless adults who never qualified before.


You mean you don't know ? If you're poor , they just let you die ?


But Jocelyn A. Guyer, co-executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, expressed concern. “Low-income people without children tend to have extensive health care needs — higher rates of mental illness, physical disability and chronic conditions,” she said.


It's too expensive to treat them ! we should just let them die !


But remarks by the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, on the flight to Cincinnati reflected an effort by the White House to play down the importance of a public option to the larger overhaul. Mr. Gibbs said a public option would not affect most Americans — up to 180 million — because they already have insurance through employers.


180/300 is not "most" , its slightly more than half. Are you telling me that a hundred and twenty million people in america have no health insurance ?


“If House leadership presents a final bill that contains a government-run public option, I will oppose it,” Mr. Ross said in a statement issued Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.


So this whole "limited life time benifits paid out" and "Type One Uninsurables need not apply" that private insurance companies have should be the way it goes ? If you get truely sick they just punt you to the curb and thats a good thing ?


“I’ve got a question for all those folks who say we’re going to pull the plug on Grandma,”
you offered free health care and I still cant believe they accused you of that.


“What’s your answer? What’s your solution? And you know what? They don’t have one. Their answer is to do nothing.”


Actually , their answer is "we like it the way it is right now where we get to punt people to the curb when we've bled they dry of every penny and make room for the next victem"


I can't believe this is really happening.

But it is.

American Health Care.
Capitalism at it's finest.

Butt ban debate reignites

Article


You can’t do it at work. You can’t do it at school. You can’t do it at bars. You can’t do it in your car — at least not in front of the children!

In a few Ontario municipalities, including Arnprior, you can’t even do it on the beach or at the park.


I despise spoon fed pap. This article makes it look like the poor hard put upon smokers are so persecuted.

And the thing I despise the most ? There's no section for reader responses. There's no place to fire back and tell them you disagree with them.

There's no place to tell them about all the times before the smoking ban how people would sit down beside you , in the nonsmoking section , and lite up. And when you ask them to put it out this is the non smoking section , they refuse, And when you ask the staff to enforce the non smoking signs, they just shrug and walk away. Not once, but many many times. Personal experiance.

I really don't want to hear about how enforcing non smoking is bad for business , how most businesses are attempting to attract the business of groups of people , not individuals, and in any group of three or four there's bound to be a smoker , and you don't want them going across the street to some place that allows smoking while you do not.

"It's the way the business works, son. You have to accept it." is probably one of the most irritating phrases anyone has ever said to me by way of explanation as to WHY HE'S RIPPING ME OFF ! (or subjecting me to second hand smoke or unsafe products or other nonsense like that).

It is the business of the government to make rules like the smoking bans, and enforce them on all. Before that ban came into effect , every single place in ottawa , I mean EVERY single place in ottawa , allowed smoking.

Such rampant capitalism at the expense of peoples health cannot be permitted. It is the job of a government to put curbs on that kind of thing.

Dilbert and Microsoft

Article




Enough Said

Skeptical Shopper: The Pros and Cons of Buying E-Books

Article


When Amazon recently removed copies of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from customers' de­­vices and digital lockers,...



So you got this computer tablet which can display books. But the books are all in a computer format , and their locked to a fair thee well so you cannot transer it to your computer , and if you leave the device, the Kindle behind because you hate it , you lose everything. At 10$ a pop. you could lose hundreds of dollars for decided to ditch the kindle.

To this we now add that Amazon.com , who owns and makes the Kindle, reserves the right to go into your device , which apparently isn't really yours, and do anything they like. Starting with erasing entire books.

You can bet you "private" collection of books is public knowledge to their sales department.

Plus it's 400$ for a Kindle and only 200 or 300 for a real computer (netbook) that can do that job and much much more.

Plus Amazon dot com is a USA company. If some religious wackos (anti-evolutionary George W Bush comes to mind) gets into power , thats gonna be so tempting to order amazon to erase stuff they don't like. They'd never do it on paper books, thats unenforcable , but electronics, just order some company to run a program they already made ...tempting tempting tempting ....

This is classic Vender Lock. Buy from us and no one else, and we screw you and how. And you gotta pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars to get out (in this case you lose every 10$ book you bought from them) .

People have done wonders with a simple book shelf and real books, hard cover or paper back. This kind of Kindle scam , well, I think we should stick with the real stuff for a while longer.

Liberal election plans full steam ahead despite improving economic figures

article


Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff isn't taking his foot off the accelerator towards a federal election, despite more promising economic news Friday.

In fact, Ignatieff seemed even more determined to bring on a federal election this fall.

He said Parliament has become unworkable due to the Conservative government's my-way-or-the-highway approach.

"Finally you think ... take the highway," Ignatieff told reporters in Vancouver.

His comments came on the same day figures were released saying the Canadian economy created more than 27,000 new jobs, which helped boost the Canadian dollar 1.38 cents to 92.02 cents US.



Yep yep yep. More Liberal Libel.

First , blame the conservatives for the economy taking a dump even though the newspapers are full of stories pointing out it was the banks in the USA.

Second, the economy is starting to recover , so you blame the conservatives for ... umm..what is it you're blaming them for ? Not too clear on that point. Something about ignoring your ridiculous claims to let people work only one day in five and unemployment insurance will somehow magically pick up the tab for the rest.

King Iggy wouldn't know the truth if it bit him in the behind. There is only one rhyme or reason to his actions. And that is that he wants to be King of Canada at any price. Even if it means trashing the country. As long as he gets to be King, thats ok in his eyes.

Oh yes, and his latest promise about not raising taxes ? Every single politico who made that promise, no matter what party they're with , they've always broken it. The only exception would be some minority government who was toppled real quick and didn't have time to do anything but be a flash in the pan.

Taser International challenges Braidwood findings

Article



The manufacturer of Taser stun guns has launched a legal challenge to quash the recent recommendations of the Braidwood Inquiry to restrict police use of the conducted-energy weapons.


The police inquirey decides to restrict use of the Taser. And Taser Corperation is now going to sue them. They're now suing their customers.

This is how business is done in america.


Following the release of Braidwood's first report, the company said the inquiry based its recommendations largely on speculation and that they do not meet the realities of modern day law enforcement.


"realities of modern day law enforcment" ...and what has this got to do with the fact that your weapons are killing people ? Is one of the realities that it's ok to kill one person in a thousand with your product ? Is that a reality ?


Liberal MP Ujal Dosanjh, the party's former public safety critic who has been outspoken on the use of stun guns, said Taser's challenge is a tactic aimed to intimidate.

"I think it's a very flagrant attempt on its part to intimidate the critics of Taser and to discredit the inquiry report of a distinguished jurist," Dosanjh said from B.C.

"They are solely motivated by profit. Public safety can't be their priority," he said, adding the company has a battery of lawyers to "vigorously pursue" any critics.


Don't normally cotton to liberals , but this guy seems to have it right here. You can't sue your customers into buying your product. You cant sue me if I decide I don't want your cell phone. You can't sue me if I decide your car is a piece of junk saftey hazard ! Who the heck started this mess ?

Under Pressure on Health Care, White House Fights Back

Article



WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday started a new Web site to fight questionable but potentially damaging charges that President Obama’s proposed overhaul of the nation’s health care system would inevitably lead to “socialized medicine,” “rationed care” and even forced euthanasia for the elderly.


Only in america could you face the charge of murder (forced euthanasia) because you decided to give some stuff away for free. (Health Care). Really, it's pretty obvious who works for the people and who's just trying to reserve a peice of the pie for themselves.


“I think the combination of spending a trillion dollars that we don’t have and another rushed process really triggered this,” said Matt Kibbe, the president of the conservative group FreedomWorks. “People started paying attention.”


Yeah , well while you're shouting exagerated figures about how much it will cost 20% of the population is noticing they have the big butt kiss for health care.

Stay the course Obama. Congress will hate you but the people will love you.

An Argument for Gun Control

Was anyone wondering why I think the gun nuts in the states , the ones that protest against any control at all on guns, why I think they're crazy ?

could it be advertisments like this ?




It suggests an age range of 7 - 17

Wasn't there some kind of gun nut down in the states that responsibly taught his eight year old how to use a rifle ? And then the eight year old got made because daddy made him clean his room or do his homework or something so he got his gun and went and killed daddy with it ?

Very responsible. *snicker snicker*

Microsoft Psychic Scarring

Personal Experiance

So I'm sitting at my Linux computer working on my novel , and my thoughts wander in the direction of me getting a new computer. I've already ordered it and it's due in two weeks, and this all is possible because my wife gave me the money to pay out the year or so left on my old computer (for which she gets the old computer).

And am I gonna work on my novel on the new computer ?

Not a chance. New computer is windows. Windows just bit me and put me into a weeks long nightmare because that stupid windows defender thats supposed to scan for viruses actually let a virus in that trashed everything. And Dell didn't give me a back up disk.

I'm gonna work on the novel on the Linux machine, I"m just gonna move it to my room that's all. I don't trust the Windows machine to be in any way stable anymore. Not after burning my fingers like that. And not after learning the infamous and unsupported windows Defender is actually built right into Vista (my sister has a copy) .

Is it psychic scarring that i suddenly don't trust microsoft with anything important ? Anything I want to keep. Is "once burned twice shy" a form of damage ?

Or is it just good sense ?

Schreiber loses last-ditch fight against extradition

Article



German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber was being flown to Germany on Sunday evening after losing a last-ditch battle to avoid extradition earlier in the day.

Schreiber's lawyer, Eddie Greenspan, was granted permission for a special weekend court appearance to seek an injunction against the federal government's extradition order. He argued that his client should be allowed to stay in his adopted country — where he has been a citizen since 1982 — until at least Tuesday morning so he can file an appeal challenging Canada's extradition treaty with Germany.

But the lawyer for the government told the Ontario Court of Appeal that this was a frivolous challenge because the treaty was ratified 30 years ago.


And good riddence. It took them ten years to get rid of you ?


In the letter, addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Schreiber said he was concerned the visit was timed in a way to preempt any legal moves on his part duringt the holiday weekend.


You wrote a letter begging the prime minister not to give you the boot after you spent a freaking year slinging mud at him and trying to get him in as much trouble as you possibly could ? Even to the point of telling out right lies ?

You're an idiot.

And you're gone.


Extradition politically motivated: Schreiber

He also alleged in the letter that Germany's centre-left Social Democrats are using his case as an election issue in a bid to defeat their conservative opponents in next month's election


You spent a year slinging mud at the prime minister. No kidding it's politically motivated. You need to be more careful who you sling mud at.


"Now we have the election coming up in Germany in September, and the Social Democrats won three elections with my case in the past," Schreiber told reporters Sunday just before entering the detention centre. "If I would [return] now that would be the greatest thing. They would start another huge circus and huge investigation...


Lets not forget the part where you are GUILTY AS CHARGED OF ALL CRIMES , shall we ? No ones fabricating evidence and you've actually given up making such accusations.

Your a crook . You've beaten the system for ten long years, you have nothing new to say in your defence, and your only real argument is that you didn't mean for your words to be taken as a confession when you were slinging mud at the prime minister and admitting to all those crimes , you just wanted to dirty him up some , not get yourself in hot water.

Good bye.

Oh , and when I say he's slinging mud at the prime minister I mean this is a Liberal Political exercise, this guy is happy to tell any lie and cannot be used as a witness against Mulroony in court (former prime minister) due to all the crimes he's guilty of , but eh is good for manufacturing a nice long make believe scam against the conservatives and our current prime minister. Thus yes, technically he's throwing mud at Mulroony , but really , they're throwing mud at Harper.