Learn to love the pricks in your life

Click on image to enlarge.

Note: Thanks to my new FB friend Diana for this. With an election on right now this could not be more fitting and appropriate, don't you think? :-)


Look for the better men among those who are despised.

Layton vows to cap credit-card rates

CBC NEWS

NDP Leader Jack Layton said Tuesday he would cap credit card rates and fees as a way to control the household debt of Canadian families.

Layton announced the party's first platform plank at a news conference in Brantford, Ont.

The NDP proposal would cap credit card rates at five per cent, plus the prime interest rate, and extend powers to federal regulators to control "excessive fees on credit cards."

Layton also said he would make a voluntary code of conduct on transaction fees implemented by the Conservative government a law.

"It will allow banks to recoup a profit while keeping family debt loads manageable," Layton said in his speech.

"And unlike Stephen Harper's latest idea, my plan will help Canadians families now — not in 2015."

Layton's reference to the immediate measure was another shot at Harper's proposed family tax credit that was announced on Monday.

The proposal would allow families with children under 18 to split as much as $50,000 of their income. The policy would not come into effect until after the federal budget is balanced, which isn't expected until 2014-15.

Layton said the move is to combat the fact the average family household debt has jumped to more than $100,000 during the recession.

He said many Canadian families are turning to their credit cards to pay for basic needs.

Financial institutions doing 'just fine'

The NDP leader contrasted the problems he said many Canadian families are having in paying their bills with the latest bank profits.

He said Canadian chartered banks made more than $21 billion in profits last year. When asked whether his plan would eat into those bank profits, Layton said Canada's financial institutions will have to find a way to continue to make money without "gouging people."

"The financial institutions will do just fine. I think some control over the rates that they are charging is absolutely essential," Layton told reporters at his news conference.

"We have very large banks in Canada. There is not a lot of competition one to the other. The result is you need to have a government standing on the side of the people."


NOTE: Good for Jack and good for Canadians if this type of regulation can be put in place. Financial institutions profits over recent years have been obscene and have come about mainly from excessive user fees and through gouging the most vunerable and disadvantaged in our society. These practices need to stop and I am glad to see at least one party speaking up for those who can't.


Here's another example of criminal monolithic corporatocracy at work...

Moneyville
Banks, Visa and MasterCard fixing prices, class action suit claims

VANCOUVER— Two law firms say they have filed a class action lawsuit against Visa, MasterCard, and some of the country’s biggest banks, alleging they worked together to fix prices charged to merchants.

The suit, filed by Branch MacMaster LLP and Camp Fiorante Matthews, claims that the credit card companies and banks force retailers to accept all of their credit cards — even if the cards charge them higher processing fees.

Under the current model, credit card companies and banks take a percentage fee from the merchant that varies depending on the type of card the customer uses.

More basic credit cards have lower fees, while cards that collect points and other rewards often charge retailers higher fees.

The suit claims that merchants are prohibited from charging consumers more for transactions paid for on premium credit cards, and are forced to eat the costs themselves.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

Named in the suit are numerous Canadian banks, including Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO), Scotiabank (TSX: BNS), CIBC (TSX: CM), Royal Bank (TSX: RY), TD Bank (TSX: TD) and National Bank (TSX: NA).


Criminal: A person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation.

VIDEO: Meet Michael Ignatieff

Click here to view the full screen version on YouTube.


An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.

Harper's Family Tax Plan Only Goes Into Effect After You're Dead

Another good one from Emily Dee...

Harper's Family Tax Plan Only Goes Into Effect After You're Dead

Harper announced a family tax plan today, but he said that he will first have to pay for the F-35s, the prison expansion and his corporate tax cuts. Then he'll worry about your family. But the good news is, he plans to put more of your children in jail, so you won't have to worry about feeding them. Do you think that's what he meant by savings for families?

... the Family Tax Cut plan announced by Mr. Harper Monday in Saanich, B.C. wouldn’t come into effect until the federal budget is balanced, which could be years from now. Like pension splitting before it, splitting earned or other income for tax purposes would benefit only some families and be no help at all to singles, including single parents. To get the full benefit, even qualifying families would have to have a large income disparity between the higher and lower wage earners. Even then, a maximum of $50,000 of household income would be splittable for tax purposes.

Can't wait until tomorrow when he announces a childcare plan that goes into affect when they're old enough to take care of their aging parents.

Note: Says it all, I think. The bottom line is WE CAN'T TRUST HARPER... NO MORE!


Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.

VIDEO: Harper Coalition 1.0

In 2004 Harper called Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton to a meeting at the Delta Hotel in Montreal to discuss a coalition to replace the Liberal minority government of Paul Martin. New word for the Canadian lexicon: Harpercrit.



It’s in fact “the test” for future Parliaments, he says. How very interesting.

Note: Thanks to Warren Kinsella for this.


The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.

ELECTION CAUSED BY HARPER’S CONTEMPT FOR CANADIANS

Goodale Commentary:

Liberals are running on two strong national themes in this election:

• Integrity in how government operates; and

• A strong economy focused on families.

The Harper government was defeated last Friday in the House of Commons on a clear finding of Conservative contempt against Canadians – the first time in the Commonwealth that a government has been so disgraced.

The Conservatives were facing two contempt proceedings for suppressing financial data, falsifying documents and failing to tell the truth. They are being investigated by the RCMP for tampering with government information and influence peddling. And four senior Conservative officials (including two Harper Senators) are in court on charges of violating election laws.

So Mr. Harper fell from power because of his contempt. But also significantly wrong are his economic choices.

He’s using up all of Canada’s fiscal capacity on three big expensive risky projects -- $30 billion for stealth fighter warplanes, $30 billion for extra corporate tax cuts, and $10 billion for US-style mega-jails.

As a result, family care-giving, child care, healthcare, education and pensions get pushed off the agenda. A Liberal government will put these bread-and-butter issues front and centre where they belong, and we’ll do so in a fiscally responsible way that does not increase the tax burden on families.

Here in Saskatchewan, among other things, Liberal candidates will also be emphasizing greater leverage for Saskatchewan in Ottawa.

The Harper regime has badly used and abused this province. Think about equalization, income trusts, carbon capture and storage, cellulosic ethanol, rail service and costs, the RCMP Heritage Centre, PFRA, the Canadian Police Research Centre, potash, downtown urban renewal. In every case, Stephen Harper has just taken Saskatchewan for granted.

A Conservative political monopoly here (controlled and manipulated from Ottawa) only hamstrings Saskatchewan’s ability to protect its interests and get things done.

Ralph Goodale, M.P.
goodale@sasktel.net

Stephen Harper May be Barred From Running Again

Emily Dee is a FB friend and a fellow blogger I follow who in her most recent post raises an interesting and very important question as to Mr. Harper's legitimacy to run again? Considering as leader he and his government's recent conviction on 'contempt of parliament' charges?

Was Stephen Harper impeached? According to law he has to step down and a new leader chosen. He can't run again for five years.

What do you think?

Parliamentary law bars Harper from re-election. Found guilty of a culture of abuse of Parliament


Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive???

What part of 'contempt of parliament' does MSM not get?

You know what? Harper is found in Contempt of Parliament on Friday and what have we been talking about since? Coalition?

Coalition is the talking point Harper is pushing and the media are following along like the Harper lap dogs they all are. So sad!

On the other hand, international media are all about the facts. That for the first time ever in the history of Canada and in the hundreds of years of the British parliamentary system, a government, the Harper Conservative Government, has been found in contempt of Parliament. But our MSM makes light of it?

Mind boggling until one realizes who controls our monolithically 'conservative' MSM? Corporatocracy and foreign interests control it. And the traitorous HarperCONS are their corrupt stooges.

So instead of dealing with facts and the truth we are being force fed instead Harper's campaign of fear and lies. The man who treated parliament like the enemy is once again up to his old tricks of diversion, distraction, and division.

Will Canadians be fooled once again? I hope not!


Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

It's a beautiful mornin' ahhh I think I'll go outside to play

I'm sure the air outside will be so much more fresher this morning now that the stench of the HarperCONS is gone. :-) Will the air remain like that for long? Hard to say? It all depends on how suggestible people are to the propaganda wars that are about to start?

I am encouraged, however, by the astute observation of a fellow blogger who I believe has it right...

This time Tory voters will sit on their hands and not vote


Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.

There is a God and he has spoken: "HarperCONS, you're history!"

How to renew Canadian democracy

CALGARY, AB, Mar. 24, 2011/ Troy Media

There is much evidence that Canadians are dissatisfied with the present state of politics in the country. They hate the hyper-partisanship and many feel that politics doesn’t speak to the pressing problems they face. But even assuming they are interested in voting, under our present electoral system (“first-past-the-post”, or FPTP) and a multiplicity of parties, a conservative core gathered in one federal party has been able to eke out a series of minority victories. Recent polls do not indicate much of a shift in the coming election.

For the majority who does not vote Conservative, what can be done about this? FPTP was designed for more homogenous, less diverse jurisdictions, with only two mainline parties. This is not representative of Canada, however, which has three well-established parties – the Conservatives, Liberals and NDs.

Then add in the Green party which is struggling to elect its first Member of Parliament even though it garnered one million votes in the last federal election. Now look at the Bloc Quebecois, which, under FPTP, gained a seat in 2008 for every 28,163 votes they received because its support is concentrated in Quebec.

Frustrating the will of the people

FPTP distorts election results in Canada by frustrating the will of the people and thereby discrediting democracy.

Want some more examples? In New Brunswick in 1987, Frank McKenna’s provincial Liberals received 60 per cent of the vote, yet won all the seats. That means that 40 per cent of the voters supported parties which were totally excluded from the Legislature. These voters might as well have stayed home.

In Alberta’s 2008 election, Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservatives received 52.6 per cent of the votes, but won 87 per cent of the seats. Almost half the voters had to be content with their parties’ taking only 13 per cent of the seats.

Under Kim Campbell’s leadership in the 1993 federal election, her Progressive Conservatives received 16 per cent of the vote, but won only two seats. Yet in the same election, the Reform party with about 19 per cent of the vote won 52 seats, 26 times more, because its support was heavily concentrated in one region, the west.

Both grassroots and traditional party organizations are investigating various alternatives. The “Catch-22″ movement is targeting that number of Conservative seats for defeat in the looming federal election, by urging strategic voting to concentrate the opposition. And FairVote Canada and other organizations, including the federal Green and New Democratic Parties, want to exchange the present FPTP system for some form of Proportional Representation (PR).

A government benefiting from FPTP is highly unlikely to accept an alternative system which benefits smaller parties (and democracy) by increasing the diversity of voices in the legislature. This is true even though PR has been accepted in at least 80 other countries. But a number of efforts have been made to implement PR in Canada. The Alberta Democratic Renewal Project (DRP) has met the reform challenge by advocating a strategic voting campaign, via a new website – ChangeAlberta.ca. The DRP will study the situation in individual ridings, including past results, identify the strongest progressive candidate there and urge strategic voting for him or her.

Canada’s own “purple revolution”

Of course, strategic voting is not new. For example, many inner-city Calgarians crossed party lines in 2001 to vote for Progressive Conservative Joe Clark in Calgary Centre. It was an “anybody but the Alliance” movement and it worked. Mr. Clark won. Today, in the Calgary Centre North federal by-election, both the Green and Liberal candidates are suggesting strategic voting on the doorstep (although the Greens did much better than the Liberals in the last federal election and thus are better placed to benefit from strategic voting) and pressure has been brought on the able former NDP candidate in the riding not to run. A less well-known NDPer is less likely to split the opposition vote.

But, in the long run, we need PR. Adopting it is not just a topic for political junkies. The renewal of democracy is a serious moral issue. It is wrong to thwart the will of the people by sticking with FPTP. All candidates and parties, federal and provincial alike, have a moral responsibility to take a position on PR. And the political pay-off could be enormous. Young people and political idealists – of which there may be many more than the cynics can imagine – may flock to a party that supports PR. We could have another “purple revolution” like that which brought Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi into office and see a re-engagement of young people and other alienated voters. How good would that be?

Phil Elder is Emeritus Professor of Environmental and Planning Law with the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary.

Note: As some of my readers may know I have been a strong proponent for Proportional Representation believing it is the cure for many of our ills for both this province and our country. The present system is broken as it was designed for a different time and era from ours. Until we address this we will continue to flounder, disenfranchising huge segments of our population while alienating many of the rest. An overhaul of our democratic institutions along with electoral reform is long overdue, as is the need for proportional representation.


Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.

HARPER REGIME FAILS FOR LACK OF TRUST

Goodale Commentary:

Stephen Harper has decided he wants an election, so he’s sabotaging the current minority Parliament.

Part of his strategy is a belligerent budget that runs rough-shod over the needs of average middle-class families.

The Conservatives are using up every bit of Canada’s financial capacity on three big, risky, expensive projects:

· buying stealth warplanes without even the semblance of decent competition ($30 billion);

· building US-style mega jails ($10 billion); and

· extra corporate tax cuts for the six big banks and other large businesses that have already had their taxes cut by 35% ($6 billion/year).

The net result is nothing left for families – for education, healthcare, pensions, child care or family caregivers.

The Harper regime is spending 1,000-times more to buy warplanes than they’re investing in helping students get to university or technical school.

They’re spending 1,000-times more on jails than on youth crime prevention.

The Harper regime wasted more on one-day of G-20 extravagance in Toronto last summer than they’ll spend in a whole year to help low-income senior citizens.

This is just not good enough. Even more pathetic is the Harper regime’s appalling lack of ethics.

They’re under two RCMP investigations – one for influence peddling and the other for tampering with access-to-information laws. They’re subject to two contempt citations – for concealing essential financial data, doctoring documents and failing to tell the truth. And four senior Conservative operatives are in court on charges of violating Canadian election laws – like you’d find in some banana republic.

The Harper regime has no interest in the needs of ordinary middle-class families, and no respect for the rules that should govern a decently functioning democracy.

The key issue is trust. And the hard truth is Canadians cannot trust Stephen Harper!

Ralph Goodale, M.P.
goodale@sasktel.net

Why Liberals oppose this out-of-touch budget

John --

Last week at a Working Families town hall, I met a steel worker who’d just lost his job. With his family beside him, he broke down in tears as he asked for help.

He doesn’t want charity, he wants a job. This government doesn’t care about him, but we do.

As he spoke, I kept thinking to myself: How much further out-of-touch could this Conservative government be?

And then I saw today’s budget. The Conservatives are “staying the course” on $6 billion for tax breaks for the largest corporations. $13 billion on failed US-style mega-prisons. $30 billion for an untendered stealth fighter jet deal.

Nothing in today’s budget will help that steel worker’s family. Liberals are standing with working families, but in Stephen Harper’s Canada, they’re on their own.

With your help, we can focus on what really matters to Canadians: jobs, health care and pensions you can count on, affordable post-secondary education and training, support for family caregivers, and child care and early learning for our kids.

Liberals know what we stand for. And we’re making a clear choice to stand with Canadian families.

Liberals cannot support a budget that is out-of-touch with Canadian families’ priorities. And we will not support a government that deceives Canadians, breaks the law, and attacks our democracy.

Canadians want a different kind of Canada. An ambitious Canada. An entrepreneurial, innovative Canada. Where equal opportunity is back at the centre of Canadian life.

With an election call potentially days away, you can make a real contribution to the Liberal election fund to help us get our message out with a well-funded campaign and new TV ads.

Please donate what you can right now, and choose the Canada you believe in.

http://lpc.ca/electionfund

Thank you.


Michael Ignatieff

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conservative Spending Priorities....Graphically

Elkview Miners' reject offer: still on strike!

USW LOCAL 9346

Bargaining

UPDATE - Monday, March 21, 2011 - 11:10am

• Our Union Bargaining Committee will be meeting tomorrow morning amongst themselves.

• Teck has posted on their website that they "plan to recommence discussions with the Elkview union bargaining committee aimed at reaching a new collective agreement."

• To date we still have not heard from the Company on when they wish to meet with us; however we are ready to go back to the negotiating table to meet with them anytime.

• The membership has rejected the settlement by 56.9%

Results of the vote are as follows:

Number of Eligible Voters - 689

Number of Ballots Returned - 595

Number in Favour - 255

Number Against - 339

Number Spoiled - 1

RESULTS - 56.9% against


First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.

A Frightening Satellite Tour Of America's Foreclosure Wastelands

Gus Lubin

RealtyTrac is out with the total foreclosure numbers for 2010. On the whole things are getting worse.

72 percent of major metro areas saw an increase in foreclosure volume. Although some of the worst hit areas in Nevada, California and Florida improved from 2009, the foreclosure rate in these areas remains shockingly high. If not for some foreclosure suspensions due to the robosigning scandal, these numbers would have been higher.

For a frightening way to visualize the foreclosure crisis, we're borrowing a Google maps technique described by Barry Ritholtz.

Click here for a satellite tour of the foreclosure crisis >

_________________________________________

Note: If the above 'reality check' isn't scary enough for Canadians knowing as we do how dependent we are on the states for buying our exports (especially Alberta) i.e. if they aren't buying then we ain't spending... or as it has been said, "when they sneeze, we catch the cold", the following story makes the case that the national home price decline that has already been staggering has further to run... possibly as much as 15%-20%, before real prices reach the long-run trend and a level more in-line with fundamentals. What's even more mind boggling is that in real terms, home prices today are comparable to 120 years ago?

Home prices falling to level of 1890s

With all the above in mind, I find it both strange and disturbing how almost nightly the evening news has story after story about how great both our economy and the housing market are here in Canada? When in fact, many believe as I do that it is nothing more than government initiated propaganda and that in all likelihood we will soon be heading into another recession. With respect to our housing market, pundits and many indicators alike show we are living within a housing bubble that could soon burst, resulting in major price reductions, as we have seen and continue to see happening with our neighbours down south.

Who's fooling who when we continue to see internet news stories coming from our financial institutions, such as this one...

Canadian home prices to rise modestly: Scotiabank


The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.

MR. HARPER’S CONTEMPT OVERTAKES HIS BUDGET

Goodale commentary:

Stephen Harper planned this week to be all about his 2011 budget. Instead, focus has shifted onto his contempt for Canadians and his disregard for the law.

It’s a sad moment for our democracy when four senior Conservative officials (including two Senators – Mr. Harper’s closest friends) have to appear in court, as they did last week, on charges of seriously violating Canada’s election laws. This is something you’d expect only in a banana republic.

It’s a sad moment for our democracy when the Speaker of the House of Commons must rule, twice in one day, that this government is treating Canadians with contempt by wrongfully concealing essential financial information, tampering with documents and deliberately misleading Parliament.

It’s a sad moment for our democracy when a respected independent official (the Information Commissioner) suspects the Conservatives of systematically subverting Canada’s access-to-information laws, and calls in the RCMP.

It’s a sad moment for our democracy when a television network (APTN) uncovers worrisome evidence of potential influence peddling by a former senior member of the Prime Minister’s personal staff, and Mr. Harper has to scramble to call in the Mounties just before the story hits the headlines.

It all adds up to serious, repeated abuse of power.

And you could add – the misuse of prorogation (twice) to wrongfully shut-down Parliament, the mindless destruction of the census, and the denigration of public watchdogs (from the Nuclear Safety Commission and the Parliamentary Budget Officer to the Veterans Ombudsman and the Chief Electoral Officer).

And add as well – mega-millions of dollars (largely your tax dollars) wasted month-after-month on abusive, deceitful advertising calculated to slander and mislead.

This is what you get from a warped Conservative regime that puts jails ahead of schools, warplanes ahead of healthcare, and extra corporate tax cuts ahead of pensions or affordable housing.

Ralph Goodale, M.P.
goodale@sasktel.net

What's in a name? Lots, if it's Prince

I see on Dean's blog that my name is being banded about again, in mostly a derogatory and hostile manner (which serves the purposes of the blog administrator, I imagine?). What else is new? Smearing the one we love to hate has been the local pastime here for some years now. The shepple have been successfully indoctrinated to have a fixed opinion of me that for the most part is not very flattering and as such, at times, they have been trained to not give the time of day to what I have to say. In fact, they have been instructed to ignor me (which is damned hard to do when a no-shit kind of guy like me is always in their face showing them up for what they really are. :-) On the other hand, maybe that's exactly why they have been instructed to ignor me?). Until and unless, it has been pre-approved for consumption by their illustrious leaders, which most of the time it is not, and therefore they are then dependent on what John Prince said from a third source that has been great at distorting, misinterpreting and maligning me the best they can. Those at the Pass Herald have been especially good at this, whether it be through their newspaper, gossiping at the local coffee shops, email smear campaigns, etc., etc. At the end of the day, once they are through doing their dirty deeds for the day, nobody much cares what Prince had to say, and what he did say has since been turned around into something he did not say, or blown into more than what he actually did say?

Which leads me into why people such as myself, at times, use Anonymous when commenting on blogs. Most people in the Pass know how the powers that be operate here and are too scared to speak up on issues, fearful that what has been done to me and others, will be done to them.

The other reason, in my case, is that since many people have been brainwashed into hating me (without first even knowing me?) and therefore disregard or slander out of habit (and training) what I have to say, in some cases before I even say it. It makes sense, in order to have a fair and unbiased hearing of what I think and have to say, to, at times, be incognito. Otherwise, one's ideas and opinions are often shot down before they even open their mouth... especially, if their name is Prince.


UPDATE (March 18, 4:44 p.m.): Just a heads up to all who go to Dean Ward's blog from the link above on this post. Several comments have been removed and as a result you will no longer get the real meaning of what has transpired there. My appologies, but this is out of my hands, as I am not the blog administrator for Dean's blog... he is. You will have to ask him why he chose to censor (delete) 'fair comment', and stifle debate?


People who disagree with me are ill-informed and have their views clouded by an unrealistic ideological agenda, while I am a clear-minded pragmatist.

VIDEO: Traditional Irish Blessing

From a friend, to all my friends...



p.s. Click here to watch the full screen version on YouTube.

Take Time
Take time to think,
it is the source of power.
Take time to read,
it is the fountain of wisdom.
Take time to play,
it is the secret of staying young.
Take time to be quiet,
it is the opportunity to seek God.
Take time to be aware,
it is the opportunity to help others.
Take time to love and to be loved,
it is God’s greatest gift.
Take time to laugh,
it is music of the soul.
Take time to be friendly,
it is the road to happiness.
Take time to dream,
it is what the future is made of.
Take time to pray,
it is the greatest power on earth.


A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.

VIDEO: One world, one love for Japan

Note: Click the top of the video to view the full screen version.


Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

Angela De Cruz - At Last

Hello my dear Prince, and friends,
A Gift for you and all your friends.....



Here's the link to the FREE SONG to Download - "At Last" by Angela De Cruz

♥ Please give it to all your lovely friends and family to enjoy!!!!! ♥ all the Support ... My Angels!!!! :)

Download this FREE SONG - "At Last" by Angela De Cruz


Note: Love to love ya, baby! :-)


Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

VIDEO: Abuse of Power

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.
- Richard M. Nixon

Julian Assange tells students that the web is the greatest spying machine ever

Patrick Kingsley
guardian.co.uk

The internet is the "greatest spying machine the world has ever seen" and is not a technology that necessarily favours the freedom of speech, the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, has claimed in a rare public appearance.

Assange acknowledged that the web could allow greater government transparency and better co-operation between activists, but said it gave authorities their best ever opportunity to monitor and catch dissidents.

"While the internet has in some ways an ability to let us know to an unprecedented level what government is doing, and to let us co-operate with each other to hold repressive governments and repressive corporations to account, it is also the greatest spying machine the world has ever seen," he told students at Cambridge University. Hundreds queued for hours to attend.

He continued: "It [the web] is not a technology that favours freedom of speech. It is not a technology that favours human rights. It is not a technology that favours civil life. Rather it is a technology that can be used to set up a totalitarian spying regime, the likes of which we have never seen. Or, on the other hand, taken by us, taken by activists, and taken by all those who want a different trajectory for the technological world, it can be something we all hope for."

Assange also suggested that Facebook and Twitter played less of a role in the unrest in the Middle East than has previously been argued by social media commentators and politicians.

He said: "Yes [Twitter and Facebook] did play a part, although not nearly as large a part as al-Jazeera. But the guide produced by Egyptian revolutionaries … says on the first page, 'Do not use Facebook and Twitter', and says on the last page, 'Do not use Facebook and Twitter'.

"There is a reason for that. There was actually a Facebook revolt in Cairo three or four years ago. It was very small … after it, Facebook was used to round-up all the principal participants. They were then beaten, interrogated and incarcerated."

Assange said that cables released by WikiLeaks played a key role in both fomenting unrest in the Middle East and forcing the US government not to back former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Assange said diplomatic cables concerning US attitudes to the former Tunisian regime had given strength to revolutionary forces across the region.

"The Tunisian cables showed clearly that if it came down to it, the US, if it came down to a fight between the military on the one hand, and Ben Ali's political regime on the other, the US would probably support the military."

He continued: "That is something that must have also caused neighbouring countries to Tunisia some thought: that is that if they militarily intervened, they may not be on the same side as the United States."

Assange, who is appealing against his extradition to Sweden on alleged sex charges, said the WikiLeaks releases had also forced the US to drop their tacit support of Mubarak.

"As a result of releasing cables about Suleiman [the vice-president of Egypt under Mubarak], the US and Israel's preferred option for regime takeover in Egypt, as a result of releasing cables about Mubarak's approval of Suleiman's torture methods, it was not possible for Joseph Biden to [repeat his earlier claim that Mubarak was not a dictator]. It was not possible for Hillary Clinton to publicly come out and support Mubarak's regime."

Responding to a question about Bradley Manning, the US soldier incarcerated for allegedly leaking classified information, Assange said: "We have no idea whether he is one of our sources. All our technology is geared up to make sure we have no idea."

He expressed sympathy for Manning. "He is in a terrible situation. And if he is not connected to us, [then] he is there as an innocent … and if he is in some manner connected to our publications, then of course we have some responsibility. That said, there is no allegation that he was arrested as the result of anything to do with us. The allegation is that he was arrested as a result of him speaking to Wired magazine in the United States."

Assange also criticised the New York Times, which he claimed had suppressed stories about secret American military activity in Afghanistan.

___________________________________

Note: After reading this its pretty hard for me to believe Assange has not been set up... to shut him down.

Assange accuser friends with cop


Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

CONTEMPT FOR CANADIANS IN HARPERLAND

Goodale commentary:

A question often asked about the current minority Parliament is what causes it to be so bitter and rancorous? Some of the reasons are becoming more apparent.

The problem starts at the top – with Stephen Harper who believes he’s a privileged soul, above the law. He shows nothing but contempt for ordinary Canadians. Here are just a few examples:

Four of Mr. Harper’s closest associates – including two people he appointed to the Senate – are being hauled into Court this week.

They’re charged with violating Canada’s election laws. Following a police raid on Conservative Headquarters, the Director of Public Prosecutions says there’s “voluminous” evidence of serious illegal conduct. Mr. Harper condones that conduct.

And there’s more – The Conservative minister for foreign aid (Bev Oda) misrepresented the views of senior government officials, doctored documents, tried to cover-up and failed to tell the truth.

And more – When the House of Commons asked for documents detailing the multi-billion dollar cost of Conservative mega-jails and extra corporate tax cuts, Mr. Harper just thumbed his nose. That earned him a contempt citation.

And more – The Conservative minister of immigration was caught in an illicit political fund-raising scheme designed to manipulate newcomers to Canada – the very people over whom he holds decisive ministerial power. What a massive conflict-of-interest!

And more – The person hand-picked by Conservatives to be their “integrity commissioner” (investigating government wrong-doing) has a cozy relationship with Conservative ministers, fails to investigate a single complaint, gets chastised by the Auditor-General, and walks away with a half-million dollars and a promise to keep her mouth shut.

And more – The Parliamentary Budget Officer has calculated the cost of Mr. Harper’s new stealth-fighter war planes. The price-tag has nearly doubled to a shocking $30 billion – the biggest procurement boondoggle in Canadian history.

Abuse and dishonesty in Harperland know no bounds!

Ralph Goodale, M.P.
goodale@sasktel.net

Former Tory MP says his party is anti-democratic

And the hits keep on coming as the glass house Harper has built starts to shatter. Yet another example, this time from within their own party, of how the Harper Cons are anti democratic and as such a real threat to our nation's foundations and its institutions. The Conservative Party nomination process again is a sham

"We centralize way too much power in the leadership of political parties. It is so bad in the Harper Cons that Prime Minister Harper is a danger to democracy. He is contemptuous of democracy - and must be removed from power by citizens. Read Lawrence Martin's great book Harperland for detailed reasons why we need to defeat this kind of political abuse of power." - Ken Chapman

More Charges Coming Against the Conservatives?


We have far more to fear from an unaccountable government at home than from any foreign terrorist.

Sorry Japan, Gomennasai, ごめんなさい。

Crowsnest Pass for years has had a close and fraternal relationship with Japan through our sister city there. Many families here have close relations with many over there having been home stay parents. It is heartbreaking and gut wrenching I'm sure for all both here and there, but especially to those there who have to deal with what took place and what yet threatens them, even now as you read this.



I, too, have a special relationship with the Japanese having studied martial arts for many years under a sensei (teacher) and a master both being from the island of Japan. Below are some pictures I have of happier times than what many are experiencing today. These were taken some years back in Vancouver when I was in martial arts (Karate: Shorei-Kan Goju-Ryu)





Visiting from Japan (1982) Master Seikichi Toguchi


My Sensei: Sensei Tomoaki Koyabu


Yours truly, with two of my best martial arts friends: Simon Siu and Lawrence.


moi

Let me just say in closing that happier times are great to think on but the past cannot always heal the problems and troubles of the present, nor deal with the unknown certainties of what will be a very troublesome and precarious future for many. Our sympathy, sorrow and sadness go out to all our friends in Japan. The sorrow and sadness we feel cannot be properly expressed by me here but hopefully the following poem can say to them, and you, what I cannot. This poem is a blessing for happiness, peace and security and is one of the earliest blessings included as part of the Journey of Hearts' Poetry collection. The sentiments of this beautiful blessing evoke a sense of happiness and peace. It was written to all living beings, "visible or not visible, near or far away, already born or yet to be born" thus becoming a blessing for all - anyone who is living, has yet to live or who has died.

When you read this blessing - take a moment to read it once as a blessing for yourself, read it again as a blessing for your loved ones, and read it a final time, as a blessing for those who are no longer with us.

A Blessing for All Beings

May everyone be happy and safe,
and may their hearts be filled with joy.

May all living beings live in security and in peace
beings who are frail or strong,
tall or short, big or small,
visible or not visible, near or far away,
already born or yet to be born.
May all of them dwell in perfect tranquility.

Let no one do harm to anyone.
Let no one put the life of anyone in danger.
Let no one, out of anger or ill will,
wish anyone any harm.


Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die, so, let us all be thankful.

Prince George students protest 'Harper's Government'

Grade 6 and 7 students at Ecole Franco-Nord Prince George protested against Stephen Harper changing the letterhead on all directives and communications from The Government of Canada to Harper's Government.



"...we believe that our government's directives reflect not only one person or one political party, but the 305 deputies that make up our democratic office."

Elementary students send angry message to Stephen Harper


In criticizing, the teacher is hoping to teach. That's all.

VIDEO: George Carlin ~ The American Dream

*WARNING* - Adult content



"You have to be asleep to believe it."

With all this talk lately of an upcoming election do people really think change will come no matter which party is elected? The real owners who control everything have us all by the balls, because "It's a big club, and you ain't in it."

Real change will only come when we change the system to one that is more geared towards "more for the needy, less for the greedy".

In order to do that we need to take from the rich and give to the poor. Class Warfare, anyone?

p.s. Thanks to Let Freedom Rain for the vid.


The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.

Jason Kenney: Keeping the "price of labour contained" for multinational corporations

It's bastards like this guy who are suppose to be working for us and instead is working for the multi-national corporations selling both our people and country down the drain.

Yet Another Reason Why Jason Kenney Must be Fired

The 'Harper Government' has to go!

Ten reasons to vote for Harper's conservatives (sic)


The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.

Kissing the Crowsnest Pass 'Goodbye'

Some of my readers from the Crowsnest Pass may have noticed that I do not report or comment on local topics or happenings anymore. The main reason for this is that the Pass makes up only a small part of my overall readership these days, and for the most part seems stuck in the mud with their small minded trivial pursuits and ambitions, going round and round and getting no where, lacking resolve, real ambition and dedication to change things for the better. Besides, there is so much more going on in the world than beating dead horses as they have attempted to do in the past here on my blog, and continue to do on Dean's.

In addition, since the last election (which I believe was more crooked than the Alaska Highway, and even more so this last time around than the one before) I have basically given up on this community. I want no part of it anymore, and as such am seldom involved in anything here these days. Besides, "I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent here. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me." :-) Seriously, lets face it, our system here is designed to be top-down and undemocratic, and as a result we are where we are and paying the price. Although I still reside here physically I no longer do mentally or spiritually. These days I feel more a prisoner of circumstance than anything else.

With the above said, I want those that come to this blog from the Pass to no longer think of this as being exclusively a Pass blog, as it no longer is. Having outgrown the Pass it is now more than it was, and in fact has left home so to speak as so many others have done in the past here and continue to do so as you read this, especially our children.

In the last few months the Pass has turned me into a cynic who reads bitter lessons from the past, while at the same time (since the last election) being prematurely disappointed in its future, knowing as I do I no longer have a role to play (nor do I want one any more)... i.e. if I ever had one to begin with? After all, conformity has always been a mainstay here. As such, and as one who prides himself as a man among men, I have never been allowed to fit in or felt welcomed here, and/or accepted, by the establishment. For as it has been said "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist".

With the above in mind, I must now say to my Pass readers that I have outgrown you and therefore must now say adieu... "Goodbye Crowsnest Pass, Hello World!!"


I do not know which makes a man more conservative — to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.

VIDEO: Stephen Harper Says That Canadians Deserve a More Accountable Government. I Agree

p.s. Click here to watch the full screen version on YouTube.

Stephen Harper is losing control of his government. The scandals are threatening to topple him and he is running out of options.

I agree with Stephen Harper. We deserve better.


The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

VIDEO: Green party unveils 'attack on attack ads'

CONSERVATIVES CHARGED WITH BREAKING THE LAW!

Goodale commentary:

Four of Stephen Harper’s closest advisors, including two recently appointed to the Senate, have been charged with serious offences against the Elections Act. They appear in court next week.

According to Elections Canada (the independent agency established by Parliament to make sure Canadian voting is honest and fair) the Conservative Party worked an illegal scheme in past elections to violate campaign spending limits nationally and bilk taxpayers for extra rebates locally.

Elections Canada alleges the Conservatives – and ONLY the Conservatives – tried to get away with $1.3 million in illegal advertising and $800,000 in illegal rebates.

Mr. Harper claims this is just a “minor administrative matter”. Really?

The charges involve the most senior Conservative officials, based on an exhaustive investigation since 2006.

That investigation was authorized by two consecutive Chief Electoral Officers and pursued by the Commissioner of Elections Canada (a former Crown prosecutor). It included a police raid on Party headquarters, resulting in the seizure of apparently forged documents.

The charges were approved in advance by Canada’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) – an officer appointed by Mr. Harper himself. The DPP says there’s “voluminous” evidence of illegal conduct. The penalties are fines or jail terms.

That’s some “administrative” matter! The courts will decide. But two other points should be noted:

First, while more than 60 local Conservative constituency organizations were pressured by national Party officials to participate in this deceitful scheme, some had the courage to refuse – because it just didn’t smell right.

They were branded “undisciplined turds and idiots” by their own Conservative Party bosses. That shows you the mentality of the people running the Harper machine.

And secondly, this case comes amidst a raft of other Conservative misdemeanors – Bev Oda doctoring documents and failing to tell the truth; Jason Kenney improperly fund-raising among “ethnic” voters. And on it goes!

Ralph Goodale, M.P.
goodale@sasktel.net

VIDEO: America Is NOT Broke

VIDEO: America Is NOT Broke
By Michael Moore

America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined.

Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have more loot, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can't bring yourself to call that a financial coup d'état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.

And I can see why. For us to admit that we have let a small group of men abscond with and hoard the bulk of the wealth that runs our economy, would mean that we'd have to accept the humiliating acknowledgment that we have indeed surrendered our precious Democracy to the moneyed elite. Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic -- and, until this past month, the rest of us have felt completely helpless, unable to find a way to do anything about it.



I have nothing more than a high school degree. But back when I was in school, every student had to take one semester of economics in order to graduate. And here's what I learned: Money doesn't grow on trees. It grows when we make things. It grows when we have good jobs with good wages that we use to buy the things we need and thus create more jobs. It grows when we provide an outstanding educational system that then grows a new generation of inventers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and thinkers who come up with the next great idea for the planet. And that new idea creates new jobs and that creates revenue for the state. But if those who have the most money don't pay their fair share of taxes, the state can't function. The schools can't produce the best and the brightest who will go on to create those jobs. If the wealthy get to keep most of their money, we have seen what they will do with it: recklessly gamble it on crazy Wall Street schemes and crash our economy. The crash they created cost us millions of jobs. That too caused a reduction in revenue. And the population ended up suffering because they reduced their taxes, reduced our jobs and took wealth out of the system, removing it from circulation.

The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. It's part of the Big Lie. It's one of the three biggest lies of the decade: America/Wisconsin is broke, Iraq has WMD, the Packers can't win the Super Bowl without Brett Favre.

The truth is, there's lots of money to go around. LOTS. It's just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates. They know they have committed crimes to make this happen and they know that someday you may want to see some of that money that used to be yours. So they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their bidding for them. But just in case that doesn't work, they've got their gated communities, and the luxury jet is always fully fueled, the engines running, waiting for that day they hope never comes. To help prevent that day when the people demand their country back, the wealthy have done two very smart things:

1. They control the message. By owning most of the media they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote for their politicians. Their version of the Dream says that you, too, might be rich some day – this is America, where anything can happen if you just apply yourself! They have conveniently provided you with believable examples to show you how a poor boy can become a rich man, how the child of a single mother in Hawaii can become president, how a guy with a high school education can become a successful filmmaker. They will play these stories for you over and over again all day long so that the last thing you will want to do is upset the apple cart -- because you -- yes, you, too! -- might be rich/president/an Oscar-winner some day! The message is clear: keep you head down, your nose to the grindstone, don't rock the boat and be sure to vote for the party that protects the rich man that you might be some day.

2. They have created a poison pill that they know you will never want to take. It is their version of mutually assured destruction. And when they threatened to release this weapon of mass economic annihilation in September of 2008, we blinked. As the economy and the stock market went into a tailspin, and the banks were caught conducting a worldwide Ponzi scheme, Wall Street issued this threat: Either hand over trillions of dollars from the American taxpayers or we will crash this economy straight into the ground. Fork it over or it's Goodbye savings accounts. Goodbye pensions. Goodbye United States Treasury. Goodbye jobs and homes and future. It was friggin' awesome and it scared the shit out of everyone. "Here! Take our money! We don't care. We'll even print more for you! Just take it! But, please, leave our lives alone, PLEASE!"

The executives in the board rooms and hedge funds could not contain their laughter, their glee, and within three months they were writing each other huge bonus checks and marveling at how perfectly they had played a nation full of suckers. Millions lost their jobs anyway, and millions lost their homes. But there was no revolt (see #1).

Until now. On Wisconsin! Never has a Michigander been more happy to share a big, great lake with you! You have aroused the sleeping giant know as the working people of the United States of America. Right now the earth is shaking and the ground is shifting under the feet of those who are in charge. Your message has inspired people in all 50 states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT! We reject anyone tells us America is broke and broken. It's just the opposite! We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and, yes, love. Love and compassion toward those who have, through no fault of their own, ended up as the least among us. But they still crave what we all crave: Our country back! Our democracy back! Our good name back! The United States of America. NOT the Corporate States of America. The United States of America!

So how do we get this? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on how a government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.

Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois -- whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning. The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn't have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn't be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more – something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job -- their $19,000 a year job. That's how much some rookie pilots on commuter airlines make, maybe even the rookie pilots flying people here to Madison. But he's stopped trying to get better pay. All he asks is that he doesn't have to sleep in his car between shifts at O'Hare airport. That's how despicably low we have sunk. The wealthy couldn't be content with just paying this man $19,000 a year. They wanted to take away his sleep. They wanted to demean and dehumanize him. After all, he's just another slob.

And that, my friends, is Corporate America's fatal mistake. But trying to destroy us they have given birth to a movement -- a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country. We all knew there had to be a breaking point some day, and that point is upon us. Many people in the media don't understand this. They say they were caught off guard about Egypt, never saw it coming. Now they act surprised and flummoxed about why so many hundreds of thousands have come to Madison over the last three weeks during brutal winter weather. "Why are they all standing out there in the cold? I mean there was that election in November and that was supposed to be that!

"There's something happening here, and you don't know what it is, do you ...?"

America ain't broke! The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers. And we aim to fix that compass and steer the ship ourselves from now on. Never forget, as long as that Constitution of ours still stands, it's one person, one vote, and it's the thing the rich hate most about America -- because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakeable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!

Madison, do not retreat. We are with you. We will win together.


When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.

2012 - The Revolution Has Begun

Thanks to Aaron at Grandinite for this.

p.s. Click here to watch the full screen version on YouTube.

Where have you been, Johnny Boy?

Some of my readers may be wondering where I have been lately in that I have not written anything in the last couple of weeks or so? Well the answer is that I have been no where. I guess the combination of bad weather and being unemployed has me down... or something like that. I know on occasion when I did want to write something I just gave up on the idea as soon as I thought about things. Things such as how the state of the world is with so much bullshit happening with madmen filled with blood lust and greed running things and people world-wide (especially in North America) behaving like zombies walking about like so much brainless matter that one has to wonder is there any sanity left in this world anymore?

Zionist controlled mainstream media constantly feed us their one-sided spin pushing their agendas while world leaders (including our own) filled with hypocrisy tell a docile public how morally right they are in pursuing those agendas and how wonderful things are here at home under their leadership, while it is so bad 'over there' that we must do something about it. It seems we have money to burn (and innumerable lives to waste) fixing other people's problems but none for our own?

Corporate GREED and our world leaders unquenchable thirst for oil and power is the elixir of our times. Materialism, consumerism and capitalism have replaced spiritualism so that today Nietzsche's famous quote has proven to be true... "God is dead". And today, the pope absolved the Jews of having killed Christ. The world has gone mad and we are heading into the abyss as other civilizations have done countless times in the past. The dystopia of 1984 is upon us and it seems there is nothing we can do about it, as mankind has lost its way.

Any how, that is the reason why I have not written anything lately. Now go out and have yourself a nice day. :-)


People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.