| Perfil de RobertBlast Furnace Canada Blo...BlogListas |  Herramientas  Ayuda |
|
30/04/2006 Priory of Sion never existed: 60 MinutesIn a previous entry, I noted I read The Da Vinci Code and said it was crap but that it was fine as a novel and presentation of some long-held conspiracy theories.
However, it now turns out that one of those theories, which underpins Dan Brown's story, was a 20th century fraud. The Priory of Sion, which allegedly was founded in 1099, actually wasn't incorporated until 1956. This has been well known for quite some time, including Catholics like myself; although Brown repeatedly has denied the possibility he could have been duped. And it gets worse. The motivation of what prompted the fraud, and how it was financed, is shocking.
The 60 Minutes story which airs tonight is a great example of what investigative journalists should do; and what they should have done in the first place when the book came out.
Incidentally, Ed Bradley asked Dan Brown to comment. He refused.
Moron. Dubya's contempt for Congress -- by the numbersArticle II, Section 3, Clause 4 of the US Constitution says that the President of the United States "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." The US Basic Law also makes clear, under Article I, section 8, that it's Congress that makes the laws.
But according to today's Boston Globe (free reg. may be req.) Dubya has willfully ignored at least 750 new laws Congress has passed during his first five years in office, because he thinks they impinge on his "executive power." Not that he's issued a single veto during that time -- not one. The anti-torture provisions passed after the Abu Gharib scandal and restrictions on US drug policy in Colombia are just two examples. He signed them, then said he'd ignore them.
Other laws GWB signed but says will not obey are requiring background checks on civilian contractors helping to rebuild Iraq; banning those contractors from doing intelligence or security work; and reaffirming America's support for the Geneva Conventions.
Compare that with 232 challenges made by Bush Sr during his four years in office (he vetoed 29 of those bills, one of which was overriden by the required 2/3 majority in both Houses of Congress); and just 140 by Clinton during his eight years at 1600 (36 vetoes, 2 were overriden). While some of those challenges were petty and others quite legitimate, the impunity involved here is quite without parallel.
I thought the United States -- or at least a third of the population who lived in the Colonies in 1776 -- went to war because they got fed up with another King named George. (For what it's worth, Mad George Hanover should have been tougher with his Prime Minister during the Revolution, Lord Frederick North, who let the situation get out of hand -- the last British monarch to issue a veto was Queen Anne I, in 1708.) David Peterson to lead Ontario's side at Battle of Douglas CreekI found it interesting when a couple of weeks ago the Six Nations Elected Chief, David General, decided to defer to the Haudenosaunee in leading the Iroquois side in negotiations over the Battle of Douglas Creek -- maybe the first time in eighty years the Ohsweken council admitted the hereditary chiefs and clan mothers even existed. Now personally, I would much prefer a democratically elected chief to deal with as long as he or she consulted with as many members of his or her band as possible to get a consensus; but in this case I think General realized this one has gotten way over his head.
The elected council, meanwhile, has a FAQ about some of the issues involved. I find it astonishing that only one out of twenty-nine legitimate land claims have been dealt with. Two are currently in the exploratory process -- the Jarvis and Port Maitland districts of Haldimand County. The other twenty-six, including the Plank Road (Highway 6) tract at issue here, have been put on ice while the Six Nations and the Governments of Canada and Ontario try to figure out what the basis of compensation talks will be.
Little wonder why some of the traditional band members have gotten fed up and taken the stand they have.
The Government of Ontario, maybe thinking they're going to get humiliated, is trying to save face. So they've retained a new negotiator: Former Ontario Premier David Peterson.
What is this guy famous for during his five years in office, besides ending extra billing by doctors and his infamous 112% income tax hike? Oh yeah, he helped Mikhail Baryshnikov and Belinda Stronach with their respective defections; and offered to give away six of Ontario's Senate seats in a vain attempt to save the Meech Lake Accord. He also said "no deal" on the Free Trade Agreement but realized after the provincial election in 1987 that he had no say on ratification.
Why him? He has at least as many negatives going for him as positives.
Wouldn't it be better to get someone who has experience dealing with arbitration cases, especially land claims and can look at the big picture for both sides? How about someone who lives locally, maybe has family ties on both the native and non-native sides and has no vested commercial interest in how it's resolved? I don't know too many people who could fit the bill, but David Peterson wouldn't be my choice. 29/04/2006 Contempt of Parliament: If this was elementary school, Harper would be in the remedial program by nowIt's been, oh, 87 days since Stephen Harper's been sworn in as Prime Minister How's he done? Let's see:
All of this without consulting Parliament or giving lip service. And now, just three days before the budget, he secretly signs an agreement with the US to extend the term of the NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command) agreement -- to make it permanent. Nothing wrong with NORAD at all; but this is a gross abuse of the Crown Prerogative. Making this sound as a done deal before putting it to the House of Commons for a final vote, even though he has promised to, is as much a contempt for Parliament as when Mulroney announced the GST in newspaper advertisements in the summer of 1989, a year and a half before it came into effect. While then Speaker John Fraser ruled the advertisements did not by themselves constitute a disregard for Parliament, he implied that the context in which they were placed almost did; and if another stunt like that happened again it would be called contempt. In Fraser's words:
It could not be any clearer based on Speaker Fraser's precedent. Harper has been consistently and repeatedly in contempt of the 39th Parliament from the moment it has sat, in fact even before it has sat, and the current Speaker Peter Milliken should so rule. My top two choices for Liberal leader (right now, anyway)At present, I am not aligned with any party; although I may reactivate the Liberal Party membership I allowed to lapse shortly after Paul Martin swept the 2003 convention, before the June 30th deadline to sign up so as to be able to vote in the delegate selection.
Whether I do so will be based largely on next week's budget -- whether Harper listens to reason and actually puts people first with across the board tax relief but that primarily puts young children and low income seniors at the front of the agenda; or whether, as I and other progressives are suspecting, he'll coddle big business and the jet set. Of course, the Opposition might be able to persuade him with their ranks being larger than his; but leadership comes from the front, not from behind.
There are ten candidates so far for Liberal Leader, any of whom would make a fine nominee for Prime Minister. All ten of them are also Cabinet material. However, there has been so much made about Michael Ignatieff that I can't see how and why he would be a serious contender. We had one philosopher king in our lifetime (Pierre Trudeau). We sure as hell don't need another one -- no disrespect to his surviving kids Justin, Sacha and Sarah.
I don't know enough about most of the other candidates; except for Bob Rae, who is a decent enough man, but one has to question just how loyal he is to his adopted home.
If I had to handicap the race, I'd say the top two contenders right now would be former food-bank operator Gerard Kennedy; and ex-hockey player Ken Dryden. Without getting into a long-winded explanation, I'll give my reasons why they'd be my first and second choices at this stage (not necessarily in that order):
They care about the kids and have a track record to prove it. They are interested in the big picture and making the Liberal Party a big tent again rather than shutting out one wing or the other. Finally, they have some time on their side -- it'll probably be two elections before the Liberals have a chance again unless Harper and Co get caught with their hands in the petty cash box, and both Dryden and Kennedy have the skills to appease those who can't wait that long. 28/04/2006 Info commish to Harper: No deal!John Reid, the Information Commissioner of Canada, is worried about the contents of Harper's ethics reform package. So much so that Reid's taken the rare step of filing an "emergency" report to both the House of Commons and the Senate before his annual report due June 30th -- which just also happens to be Harper's deadline for passing the reforms as is.
Read John Reid's comments here about the so-called Federal Accountablility Act. (I wrote my critique last week, here, but Reid easily gets an inside the park home run on this issue.)
I hope Harper pays attention and takes Reid's suggestions to improve the Act seriously -- after all, he just can't fire Reid before his seven year term expires, he must ask both Houses to impeach him (since the Info Commish is, like the Chief Electoral Officer and the Auditor General, an officer of Parliament); and with the Opposition having a majority in both Houses that's not going to happen any time soon. Saying goodbye to "7th Heaven" (and the episode summaries I write for them)It's long been a tradition for some US based shows to get an early Canadian airing, either across the country or on some local stations. The best known, of course, is The Young and The Restless. NTV in Newfoundland gets a kick out of doing "World Premières" of shows like Wheel of Fortune and The Simpsons, which air later the same day on the Mainland.
And then, there's 7th Heaven. My guilty pleasure.
So about four years ago, I decided to try an experiment. I went over to alt.tv.7th-heaven at USENET and posted an episode summary "spoiler" of the 6th season finale, the one where Matt and Sarah get "married" even though they and Ruthie know they have really been married for months, a day or two before its US airing. I did a play by play, and as an afterword tried to offer a technical explanation of some aspects of the plot that may have been missed by some.
I got such a huge response that I've kept on doing it, for four years -- using the handle "The Big Show," a parody of a WWE wrestler. At present, I use the Sunday evening airing on ASN Halifax or Access Alberta, thanks to my usually trusty satellite service.
(If you're interested in what I wrote for them, go to the archive at Google Groups for alt.tv.7th-heaven, where I still crosspost the summaries.) Most episodes for Seasons 7 to 10 are covered, except for a few when the Canadian airing was either pre-empted or simulcast with the US showing.)
Eventually, I was invited to a fan site which moved from one hosting site to another before finding its current home at Aimoo.com. I have become somewhat of a moderate to liberal counterbalance to a rather conversative group of people, some of whom have become friends of mine. The message board also offered a base to discuss some hot button issues, which allowed me to hone some of my writing skills. It's what eventually convinced me to start this blog last June, when I decided I needed to keep a running diary on issues rather than keeping them all buried in my head.
With 7H coming to an apparent end on May 8th (although the US edition of TV Guide is reporting that talks are underway to get a renewal for an 11th season), I just want to take the opportunity to thank those who have followed my summaries as a guide and say your support as well as your criticisms have been much appreciated. I would not be doing this without it.
I also want to openly thank the cast and crew of 7th Heaven for putting on a fine series that has been an oasis of relative sanity, in a TV world where generally only sex and reality sells. Family values still do have a place in our world, whether we are liberals or conservatives, and this show made that clear. "Choice in child care:" It's worse than even I thought ...HT to Cowboys for Social Responsibility: Some right-wing papers are now starting to wonder whether Harper's "Choice in Child Care Allowance" plan is all it's cracked up to be. The Red Deer Advocate brings up an issue that I didn't even realize before: Parents who don't claim child care expenses get extra money in the existing Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) -- an extra $20.25 per child per month, in addition to the maximum payout of $287.42 (using the 2006-07 numbers), which supplement would be undermined under the "Choice" plan.
And if that's not bad enough, consider this: The Caledon Institute took a second look at its January numbers and found that the Harper plan is even worse (PDF) than they first thought. It's much worse than even I imagined, having ranted about this for weeks.
Why? Because if the Child Care Allowance was implemented according to exactly how Harper campaigned under his platform, the "young child supplement" currently paid to parents with kids under seven would be eliminated in its entirety.
In other words, a tax free amount with a somewhat gentle clawback (between 2 and 4%) would be replaced by a taxable amount with a punitive clawback (between 22 and 67%, depending on the number of children). In effect, the very purpose of the CCTB, the reason why it was created -- to give families tax partial or total tax relief -- would be made impotent.
For a two income family with $30,000 of income, the $1200 per year taxable payout drops to just $199 (just $16.58 per month!). For a single parent the $1200 goes down to $301; and for a sole breadwinner to $432. Meanwhile, a family with an income of $200,000 gets to keep $679, $522 and $1076, respectively.
This is under the worst case scenario, which Diane Finley insists won't happen. Yeah, after yesterday's softwood lumber deal and Harper promising no compromise with the Americans during the election?
To quote directly from the report (p. 15):
More to the point, the National Child Benefit Supplement portion of the CCTB (formerly called the "Working Income Supplement," as it was during the Mulroney Administration -- and which it still really is) , which targets the lowest income families, would be made useless. This is a program that all the provinces and territories agreed to a decade ago and jointly fund with the feds. In the name of fixing the "fiscal imbalance" with the governments of the provinces, Harper seems bent on exacerbating the imbalance already struggling families have, while giving the lion's share to those who earn $200,000 + -- maybe one or two percent of the population.
The Caledon people again suggest, as I have for nearly a year, that real enhancements should be made to the CCTB.
If the $1200 were added that way, families earning up to $112,000 a year -- not the $100,000 I initially reckoned when I did my own number crunching -- would get to keep all of it. (The current cut-off for the CCTB actually is $111,578, and 90% of families get at least a partial family allowance under the current rules, even if it's only a few dollars a month.) Even families up to $172,000, well above the national average, would get at least a partial tax rebate.
Since the previous Liberal government created the Child Disability Benefit and the Canada Learning Bond as add-ons to the CCTB for the most disadvantaged kids in Canada, with almost no administrative costs; the Conservatives could achieve the same kinds of cost savings by doing it the right way. The Caledon Institute's recommendations are mine now as well:
We still must fight to have a real day care strategy ... and I shall do my part, as I said a month ago. But Harper must give parents the money they need now as a start and let them keep it all. It's that simple. If he refuses to do so when the budget comes out on Tuesday, he'll be making himself clear: He supports child poverty and making it even worse.
UPDATE: (8:36 AM EDT, 1236 GMT): I had to reverse a couple of the numbers for the $200,000 calculation -- and wanted to emphasize what could be lost if the "Allowance" is implemented. This issue, admittedly, is getting weary even for me and I want to blog on other issues again, like the Valerie Plame betrayal and Karl Rove's possible involvment in it. But after reading the second report from Caledon, I nearly burst a vein. 27/04/2006 Reject the softwood lumber deal, Part IINothing I've read or heard in the last few hours, since Stephen Harper announced the softwood "deal" has changed my mind.
Canada signed the FTA in 1988 on the understanding there would be free trade of all goods no latter than 1999. It's 2006, and the best under this protocol we can get for lumber is a quota? And this agreement is only good for seven years. That's not long enough to plan in a volatile industry like lumber and offers no assurance of what the terms of renegotiation might be when the understanding expires.
Moreover, the fact remains US lumber producers stole $5 billion US from Canadian producers. We're only getting back $4 billion of that. A lot of mills have closed permanently -- and that money will do nothing to recover the jobs lost or the families ruined by American intransigence on this issue which has been more than just an "irritant" for us in the True North.
My colleague over at Liberal Catnip notes that Trade Minister and Liberal turncoat David Emerson -- one a lumber king himself -- thinks American forest companies will donate the other billion as donations in kind for relief efforts like rebuilding the Katrina disaster area. Is this guy for real?
The "deal" is nothing more than Chamberlain style appeasement. I stand by what I said this morning: No deal.
UPDATE (9:36 PM, Friday 0136 GMT): Some will point out the agreement allows unfettered access under current market conditions. That's right, it's while the prices are still high. But the price will collapse sooner or later. A quota by any other name is still a quota -- period. Obituary: Pat MarsdenAnother giant that linked the "X" Generation I proudly belong to, to those of the past, died this morning of complications from lung cancer. Pat Marsden, the great Canadian sportscaster, was 69.
He emceed and did play by play for Canadian Football, including numerous Grey Cups during the 1970s and 80s; and was part of the broadcast team of the 1972 Canada - Soviet Union hockey showdown. I recall he also hosted (briefly) a weird game show called The Name of the Game is Tennis. More recently, he came out of retirement to host the morning show on an all-sports station in Toronto, which he did for several years; until about two years ago. What many of us will remember him for, though, was his sense of humour.
American readers may have never heard of Marsden, but will probably best remember him as the "reporter" who hosted maybe the most memorable stunt on one of the most successful Canadian TV exports of the eighties, John Byner's Bizarre. (A stunt that was also shown on network TV a couple of years later when Dick and Tom Smothers tried an 80s revival of their controversial 60s TV variety show.)
Mardsen was the ground reporter for when "Super" Dave Osborne (aka Bob Einstein, incidentally the brother of Albert Brooks) attempted to jump from the CN Tower. Osborne calls it off at the last minute due to very high winds and decides to "unpack," when his regular sidekick Mike Walden slams the door behind him and -- wham -- Dave goes hurling and turning through 1500 feet or so of air and head first into what was then Toronto's largest downtown parking lot.
Marsden covers all the action, trying to keep a straight face about it all and reporting it as a serious news story; but one couldn't help but notice he was trying a little too hard to contain his laughter; even as the ambulance pulls up, runs over Dave and then drags him all across the lot.
Pat's insights into the wacky world of sports, which have gotten even crazier as more "stars" have been caught using drugs we've never even heard of, were also greatly appreciated by the masses. He was no less important to Canada than the great Howard Cosell was to the States. He's going to be missed. Reject the softwood lumber dealHarper should not sell out Canada like this. We the people demand nothing more than
Like our fellow Canadian Howie Mandel would say: No deal. Now it's personalFunny how work and politics can get mixed together sometimes. But the events of the last few days and what's up in the next week are sowing the seeds of a perfect storm. If my place of employment is a microcosm of the country at whole, we haven't seen anything yet.
For starters, several of my co-workers are starting to get worried about how much of the "Choice" allowance they're actually going to get to keep in next week's budget -- precisely the point I've been making for weeks. That in spite of Diane Finley slamming the Caledon Institute's calculations. True, some provinces will not claw back the amount -- at least for single parents. What about couples? My colleagues are wondering if they're going to be better off staying at home. That's precisely the aim of the program as far as I'm concerned -- to create a new permanent class of barefoot and messy mothers.
These work colleagues may not be "friends" in the general sense of the term, but we respect each other and the idea of a rapid turnover as a result of a misguided strategy is a big concern to us all. I care for them as fellow human beings and want to see their lot as well as mine improved, not compromised.
Finley once again misses the point. It will still be taxable as currently constructed, unless it's made as a top-up to the Canada Child Tax Benefit. In other words, a tax cut. I continue to believe that doing this, not making it income, is the best way to distribute the money. I'm not going to hold my breath until the Budget -- just pray that at least one of the opposition parties will demand it's done the right way and that it's the party that holds the balance of power when the budget comes up for a vote.
Second, I also found out today that one of my co-workers is directly related to one of the four soldiers killed in Afghanistan. To protect her privacy, I won't say which of the four. This puts the flag debate into a much bigger focus for me. While the families do need space to grieve, this is a loss for all of us because our Armed Forces do what most of us are unwilling to do, put their lives on the line in the service of their country. I continue to believe Harper's decisions to muzzle the press and not lower the flag were both wrong-headed, for all the obvious reasons. I support our men and women in uniform, and his directions in this matter were the wrong ones for Canada.
Finally, the same Diane Finley who's supposed to represent the people in Caledonia is beginning to look like someone who's only interested in serving for one term. Some of my colleagues are Aboriginal, off-reserve members of the Six Nations band; others (non-native) have friends and family in Caledonia and collectively their patience has just about worn out; and they want their MP to actually be seen to do something. It's like the old saying "Do as I say, not as I do." We all see the clashes going on down in Caledonia, I just wonder how long before it spreads to the workplace. Finley may be a Cabinet Minister, but she's also an MP and she must be more than aware that her community is being ripped apart at the seams.
When my co-workers are affected by events, I try to empathize the best I can. To see all this happening in the same week, however, makes it personal. If Harper thought he could just cruise to a majority government, he might want to spend some time talking to those of us at the call centre; because we're rather representative of the community and maybe even the country at large We cover all political parties, dozens of ethnic groups, and everything from left to right; but we're all feeling that just three months after what looked like a new turning, Canada is actually more adrift than before. 26/04/2006 Is this why we elect MPs: To be invisible?Diane Finley, MP (Conservative, Haldimand-Norfolk) says that she isn't wearing a "neon sign" but is working behind the scenes to try to resolve the Battle of Douglas Creek. Is she too busy trying to destroy Canada's children with the taxable "Choice in Child Care Allowance" that she couldn't give a rats ass about her own constituents that elected her?
If I may be permitted to paraphrase Harper's own campaign slogan: "Stand up for a resolution. Stand up for Caledonia AND the Six Nations." Not getting it on Union StationUnion Station in Toronto can be an obstacle course during the best of times. Anyone who's tried to board or disembark trains during rush hour will know what I'm talking about. The commuter concourse in the basement for GO Transit can be a trampling ground if you don't watch your step; the main level often sees lineups -- long lineups -- for those waiting to board the intercity VIA Rail trains, particularly Ottawa and Montréal. The station is also, quite literally, crumbling.
Admittedly, the idea of leasing a public space like Union for a hundred years to a private consortium was a bit frightening to begin with. We only have to talk about Highway 407 to get the picture. However, it has to be done. Not when, but if; and done the right way Union could be once again a masterpiece. So to read this morning that a multi-million dollar deal to renovate the landmark has been called off after nearly six years of on and off negotiations that appeared to be finalized back in February is just ... weird. It also puts a big wrench into the concept of much needed transit improvements across the board. There is supposed to be work done on a high-speed rail line to connect Union to Pearson Airport; one wonders if that is going out the window too.
Union Station in Toronto is perhaps the focal point in the city's -- the region's -- transportation network. Not only do GO and VIA meet there, so too do both north-south subway lines (as do a couple of streetcar lines). Not to mention that it is also one of the main portals to the Air Canada Centre, the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre as well as a number of buildings in the financial district.
Hundreds of millions are being spent to build new subways, bus only lanes and -- as I noted the other day -- a region wide "smart card" system. Yet they can't agree on how to fix the Keystone where the pieces eventually meet, directly or indirectly? If the City of Toronto can prove they have a better idea, I'd like to see it; because with the talking they did to the private sector all this time, they could have finished the renovations by now. As a semi-regular user of GO, I have an interest in this through the fares I pay -- as do tens of thousands of other transit users.
This is ridiculous. There has to be a way to improve human traffic there and eliminate the claustrophobia, while at the same time encouraging commercial development. Most other major cities have figured it out. Why won't Toronto? 25/04/2006 I'm entitled to my entitlements -- Benny Hinn edition"Pastor" Benny Hinn was called to testify at a major fraud trial in US Federal Court. Not his own -- someone else's.
In today's Dallas Morning News, we learn Hinn (who may or may not still be under an IRS probe) invested money in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme worth $160 million. Hinn says he actually made a profit in one of the ventures (probably one of the few who did), a supposed plan to buy paint that would be resold to Mexico; but when he discovered a second fund -- an import-export business -- included a $2 million yacht, he pulled out of the second one and turned over the profit he made in the first ($165,000) to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
More details here from Religion News Blog, which picked up the story from Dallas. Also check here at Wittenburg Door, the Christian humour magazine and scroll to the bottom to see what the business bought -- this is both funny and scary.
I can't help but note the incongruity in this one. Hinn's a jetsetter who believes he's entitled to his entitlements (has for years in fact) and who makes Billy Graham look like a pauper. Hinn raises $30 million to build a healing centre in the Dallas area that still hasn't been constructed. He lives in a "parsonage" (and therefore, no property taxes) in The OC, one that could easily sell for over $10 million. He stays in the swankiest hotel rooms, even during alleged "layovers." Yet he goes nuts when people try to take advantage of him?
This quote from his testimony is telling: "I did not want to have anything to do with what I felt was not right. I didn't want other people's money."
Sound like someone else we know, too? Like, right here in Canada? In Ottawa, to be more exact?
(Oh, and for what it's worth, some other televangelists also got ripped off, including Reinhard Bonnke, who claims someone was raised from the dead during one of his Crusades; and Kenneth Copeland, who believes Jesus died spiritually and even turned into a demon when he "descended into hell" between his execution and Resurrection -- the heresy of positive confession. Bonnke and Copeland were also on the witness list, according to my research for this entry.)
For the record, I do not wish ill of any of those personalities. I pray that they, Hinn and the other "Word of Faith" proponents will see the error of their ways and will return to the true Light of Christ.
But like I mentioned a few months ago about CJIL in Lethbridge, Alberta -- a station which has now totally embraced the even weirder teachings of Clive Pick -- I don't think they care if someone is praying for their souls. They just want our money, no doubt to run more telethons to ask for even more money. Tempers flare in CaledoniaThings in Caledonia have gotten from bad to worse. Most of the anger at last night's rally at the community fairgrounds and afterwards was aimed at the Ontario Provincial Police, but there were according to at least a few off-hand accounts some racial slurs uttered -- and it's not the first time, one media report says it's been going on for weeks.
It has gotten so ugly that I take back what I said a few weeks ago. I'm not sure I would want to live in Caledonia when I start a family some years down the road, not anymore. The community was a model of tolerance and respect between the non-native and native groups but now ... well, TV pictures don't lie.
Why won't Stephen Harper and Dalton McGuinty at least say something rather than cop out and claim just that this is a police issue? First, the nearest hospital to Caledonia is in Hagersville, not Hamilton or Brantford. (A fact that affects both non-natives as well as many natives on reserve.) Second, there are at the core some real grivances that need to be settled and the longer it goes the more they're going to become simultaneouly obscured and exacerbated. Third and by some accounts of people I know online, it's becoming more than a hassle for people living on the south stretch of Highway 6 as well -- some in Hagersville, Jarvis and Port Dover are taking rather long detours to commute to and from work in larger centres, and they wonder if they're going to be within the echo of the next bang.
For the sake of the kids -- the natives as well as non-natives -- they have to find some way to end this. I don't know what will make both sides happy, but enough is enough. Not Bush Light, but Bush PlusShame on Stephen Harper. He personally bans the media from covering the arrival of the coffins at the military base at CFB Trenton, just like Dubya has for all arrivals of KIAs from overseas.
The next logical step is that he'll order Chalk River to change its focus from research to building Canada's very own nuclear weapons.
Why won't the Loyal Opposition get its spine and stop this guy? There are more of them than the Harperistas. 24/04/2006 Transit "Smart card" system introduced for GTA & HamiltonFinally, after years of three different parties talking about it, it's official: The Dalton McGuinty government is going ahead with the Greater Toronto Transit Authority (GTTA), which will integrate GO Transit (the regional commuter train and intercity bus system) and the local transit systems of Toronto, Hamilton, and the Regions (or counties) of Halton, Peel, York and Durham in between.
The idea, hopefully, will be that arrival and departure times will be better integrated; bus only and priority lanes will be built; and fares reflecting the combined length of the trip rather than treating each part as a separate one.
The devil is in the details. The first step is creating a single fare card -- a "smart card," not unlike what exists in New York City for both the local system as well as for the Metro North and Long Island Railroad. My main concern about the rollout will be fare integration and how to do this seamlessly.
There are four issues that, I think, need to be resolved to make the GTAA work:
A welcome development, but again it's just a first step. It does force the normally competing cities to work together, however, and that can only help improve development of our region. "Haldimand Tract" primer; Rez Radio is cool!Confused by the conflicting stories about the Battle of Douglas Creek in Caledonia? This primer in today's Hamilton Spectator and written by an expert on native affairs, tries to explain it -- including why there is controversy about what happened when most of the Haldimand Tract originally given to the Six Nations in perpetuity in 1784 was surrendered (or not, depending on your point of view) back to the Crown in 1843 -- and whether it was a total surrender or whether the land was just leased to white people. (Even if it's the latter, the potential payoff in a land claim could be hundred of millions in back rent payments.)
After reading it, I think it also indirectly explains why the community has been divided for decades between those who support the elected council and those who don't.
Meanwhile, if you want to keep up to date with the latest developments, listen in to the live streaming of the station at Six Nations, CKRZ. I've learned stuff there about the ongoing crisis that the white media will never, ever tell us. It's also a return to a true middle of the road station -- one that plays everything from bluegrass and real country music to gospel to rap and alternative rock as well as Aboriginal music. Give it a listen -- "Rez" radio is really underappreciated by us white folks. 23/04/2006 Count me out too, Lockheed Martin!It's almost time for the five-year census in Canada. No, this one won't determine representation in Parliament, the ones ending with a number "1" do that. However, this one, as the main census does, help determine transfer and equalization payments to each province as the calculation is partially based on population.
I owe my colleague at Verbana-19 a HT. Like so many Canadians, we're just pissed off that Stats Can has contracted this year's census data gathering, not to our own public servants but over the border and to the defence contractor Lockheed Martin in an alleged attempt to "save money."
No, I am not saying evade the census on May 16th. That's illegal and also immoral. What needs to be done, as Verbana suggests, is to make Lockheed's life miserable.
Go to http://www.countmeout.ca/ and get the details. They have some pretty innovative suggestions that are entirely within (or have fun with) the Government's rules:
And so forth. My favourite is something suggested by one of the posters: The census envelopes are not postage free, so mail it to the Minister of Industry c/o the House of Commons, where it is. By any luck, I'll be one of the 20% that gets the long form, the same as 3 of the last four rounds. But I'll take my time filling it in, that's for sure, and they're not getting it until the last day the law allows. I'm hoping my fellow Canadians do the same. After all, we don't get paid for this ... we're paying buddies of Dubya to do it. |
|
|
