Great speech

The Recent address by the Prime Minister to the third World Urban Forum on June 19, 2006 in Vancouver, BC, communicates a great vision and generates optimism and confidence in our society.
Except for the recurring erroneous blip about the "violent crime is growing" and the possible inaccuracy about the persistence of biker gang problems in Quebec (there have been massive crackdowns by provincial police in the past few years), this is a beautiful speech.

just can't shake the feeling

... that the current gov't (the self-proclaimed "Canada's New Government") is directed by people who aren't quite clear of the meaning of "dystopia" à la 1984.

For instance, through constant "war", the Party can keep domestic peace; when freedom is brought about, the people are enslaved to it, and the ignorance of the people is the strength of the Party.

Somewhere out west an English teacher needs to be fired.

more on taxes

During my vacation visiting the "summer cottages" built in Newport's Gilded Age got me thinking. These multi-million dollar mansions were built in a time when there were no such things as income tax or labour laws, when most corporations shouldered responsibility and recognized the importance of suporting the communities that provided the workforce for them. Some (probably most) corporations didn't, so the government (being an instrument of popular intention) came along, made that responsibility mandatory thru income tax and imposed themselves as middlemen.
That, plus labour laws and anti-trust laws, supposedly make such incomprehensible personal fortunes impossible today, according to the tour guides. Obviously they aren't aware of Microsoft or Exxon...

FW: Speech / Discours

Le 22 juin, le PM a fait une allocution sur la réparation des torts causés aux immigrants chinois pour la taxe d'entrée qui leur a été imposée.

je me demande pour quand les excuses pour la deportation des acadiens?

Canada boosts security funding

CANADA'S NEW GOVERNMENT TO INVEST $254 MILLION DOLLARS OVER TWO YEARS TO BOLSTER CANADA'S TRANSPORTATION SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE
http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=1207

Terrorism threatens all free and democratic countries. Canada is not alone. Canada's New Government is tackling terrorism at home and abroad.
"We need to better ensure that Canada does more to prevent terrorism at home," the Prime Minister said. "Although we witnessed how successfully our security and intelligence services work together two weeks ago, we need to do more to protect our people and our institutions."
"Canada can choose to ignore terrorism, but terrorism will not ignore Canada," the Prime Minister concluded. "Our new government is prepared to act and the measures announced today will better secure Canada and help protect the Canadian way of life."

I wonder when they will formally announce the creation of the ministries of Peace, Truth and Love?

Ministry of Love

In a speech delivered to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on 2 June 2006, I find it interesting that the Conservatives are spending $161 million to hire 1,000 new RCMP officers and federal prosecutors, up to $800 million for affordable housing in the cities (with up to $300 million specifically at improving housing for Aboriginal Canadians who live off-reserve).
Meanwhile, programs aimed at preventing young people from succumbing to crime in the first place only get $50 million.
So, we're paying a little bit to get them active and engaged in our society, which can ultimately lead to their interdependance, and we're paying a lot more to house them and punish them if they go astray. This current direction reinforces my impression of the "daddy-state" the Conservatives are imposing: "I'm paying for the roof over your head so you'd better behave, or else!"
I wonder if this alienating move isn't another deliberate step to recreate a class structure and further disengage society from government, so he can freely pass whatever laws his corporate totalitarian buddies are pressing him for?

fax machine from hell

User-interface people take note:
The stupid fax machine here has only one volume setting "LOUD SO EVERYBODY CAN HEAR IT" and lets you listen while it dials, polls and handshakes with the other fax when it picks up. However, it does not allow you to cancel a job when "The number (beeep) you have dialed is not in service (beeep). Please check (beeep) your number and try your (beeep) call again. Le (beeep) numero composé n'est (beeep) pas en service...." I'm sure you can imagine how annoying (and embarrassing) that can be.
At least I sleep soundly at night knowing it is "Y2K Compliant".

vacation

Just came back from a brief (8day) vacation. Being out of the country (was in the USA) , the exposure to the lifestyles of the rich and famous of Newport's Gilded Age, meeting good friend and their 3day old baby and new grandparents, and travelling with my mother-in-law and our own baby, gave me plenty of things to think about and opportunities to reflect. It goes without saying that I really missed having my blog to braindump into, cuz I've forgotten all the paradigm shifts I had made that would of course have solved the worlds problems (at least from my pov).
On the other hand, it was a good thing for me to have to communicate my thoughts the old fashioned way for a change...

media walkout

tee hee

Global cause

An Inconvenient Truth
(currently playing at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa)

Excellent film. Outstanding presentation. Crucial point. Go see it and become part of the solution.

"but he started it!"

Amazing how I'm still affected by stupid arguments that I lost to as a kid. For example, while looking for a unilingual English copy of a DVD for a friend yesterday:
Salesgirl: Personally I think it's dumb [to have bilingual DVD covers].
Me: I actually think it's a good thing.
SG: I'm against anything bilingual in Ottawa.
Me: Oh? Why is that?
SG: Well, when you go to Quebec, all the signs are French.
Me: So?
SG: Well, I can read a bit from school and stuff, but I can't read any of their signs. If they're not bilingual, why should we be forced to be bilingual?

(sigh) Obviously she paid as much attention in Canadian History class as she did in French class.

overheard just a minute ago: "boss, 1st rule of management: you can tell whatever lie you want, and as long as everybody thinks its true, you can't go wrong."

Sounds like the Conservative party is exerting a greater influence than I suspected.

human nature 101

After a rather painfully disillusioning discussion yesterday, I learned the following lessons:
-Manager's role is to "create a positive climate so that people want to come back;"
-Fear and hysteria trump cool logic as tools to influence a decision; and
-When faced with a decision between what's "most pleasant" and "what's best for the cause" the outcome is unfortunately easy to predict.

So I ask myself, why do I keep trying?

"I got mine"

A rather portly man walked by in a T-shirt this morning that read "THERE IS PLENTY OF FOOD FOR ALL OF GOD'S CREATURES - I just choose not to share."

Another feather in the cap of deconstructionist tendencies that I choose to stand against.

The Parent Trap

The Liberal governments under Chretien and Martin (especially aligned with the NDP), were accused of turning Canada into a Nanny State. Now under "Canada's New Government" under Harper, I get the impression they are trying to set up a "Daddy State." Why do I feel like I'm a kid caught in a messy divorce?

a flame still burning in a darkening world

ad wars

There's a storm brewing on the horizon, one that threatens the low-cost structures that we currently have in place and that everybody can afford, and taken to the extreme, undermines the fundamentals of democracy.
GlobalTV is claiming freedom of expression to strike down the laws against pharmaceutical advertising, because they want to put more money in their pockets. But where will that money come from? They don't care, but we should. They want to use our pockets to pad their bottom line, and the insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, ad agencies and marketing firms will each take a cut in the process. Sure, that may sound like a libertariainism success case, "the way capitalism works", and while it may contribute to short-sighted economic indicators like job creation, it flies in the face of the philosophy of Objectivism because "no one has the right to take what belongs to others by physical force or fraud." Anybody who claims that we each have the right to make pharmaceutical decisions for ourselves is obviously forgetting the reasons why we collectively gave doctors and pharmacists (and all other professional orders) the mandate to do what is best for the public and police themselves accordingly. Devolving that responsibility into the hands of every Tom Dick and Harriet (along with other deconstructionist tendencies currently taking the upper hand) will eventually bring us back into the Dark Ages where people, uneducated and untrusting, can be controlled by unscrupulous leaders through the use of intimidation, emotional blackmail and force.

whole health industry going mental

Now THIS is my kind of rant! Go Vinograd!

PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen
DATE: 2006.06.09
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
NAME: Letters
PAGE: A13
BYLINE: Caveat emptor.
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen

Drug firms keen to gain from mental 'disorders'
Re: Road rage identified as a mental disorder, June 6.

From May to September 1963, I did my first internship at a psychiatric hospital in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. One of my first patients was a young woman who had been hospitalized for many reasons, but whose main symptom was hysterical paralysis of her right arm and hand.
Using hypnosis, I was able to "cure" her "paralysis." When I informed her that I was soon to return to Ottawa to continue my formal training, her "paralysis" recurred.

Today hysterical paralysis is extremely rare. Do not believe for a moment that psychotherapists such as me, through diligent research and practice, have wiped this mighty scourge from the face of the planet. There is not a Jonas Salk among us.

What has happened, it seems, is that hysterical paralysis has fallen out of fashion.

Just this morning I read the latest of the latest: "Road rage identified as a mental disorder." Woe is me: I think I have another mental disorder! If a child has trouble sitting still for periods of time that are unreasonable to expect, he or she has attention-deficit disorder (ADD). If an adult is experiencing major turmoil in his or her marriage, the magic words presented to the psychotherapist are "I am depressed." Instead of probing the antecedents to the marital strife and attempting to resolve them, grab the DSM IV (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual) and pick a label, any label. Then medicate, medicate, medicate!

If the reader concludes that I am poking unnecessary jibes at the DSM IV, the authors of which determine what is and what is not a mental disorder, I draw your attention to the fact that an inordinate number of these scientists have an unusually high rate of direct and indirect connections to pharmaceutical conglomerates. And the remedies they recommend? Drugs and more drug therapy.

In fact, it seems to me that all we know about mental disorders is that some people say other people have them.

Caveat emptor.

Dr. Dov Vinograd,
Ottawa

Death of Senator Forrestall

First, my sympathies to the family and friends of the late Senator Michael Forrestall.

Excerpt from Statement issued by the PMO:

Prime Minister issues statement on the death of Senator Michael Forrestall
June 9, 2006
"I was deeply saddened to learn of Senator Forrestall's passing. For four decades, he served the people of Halifax/Dartmouth and Nova Scotia, first as a Member of Parliament and later as a Senator. Both I and members of my caucus benefited greatly from his advice and support, which was based on his extensive parliamentary experience and his commitment to the people he served."

So... he and his caucus "benefited greatly" from his four decades of service, yet he wants to prevent future senators from achieving such "extensive parliamentary experience" by limiting their terms to 8 years... is it just me or is this incongruent?

time to reign in the radicals

Harsh words in this article but the clarity of thought is refreshing (abbreviated and with minor editorial changes)

SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
EDITION: 2006.06.07 Final
PAGE: A1 / Front

The 17 men accused of plotting to bomb sites in Ontario shouldn't be seen as Muslim terrorists, but as idiotic thugs, if the allegations against them are true, says a University of Toronto psychology professor. If charges are true, these men are misguided idiots and to call them terrorists only serves to romanticize their cause, he argues.
"To call them Muslim terrorists in my estimation is a mistake. They're misguided totalitarian cowards and they're out for revenge," said Jordan Peterson, who studies the psychology of terrorism. "It's dumb and cowardly and they're in the same league, in my estimation, as bone-headed skinheads in Eastern Germany."
Mr. Peterson, an associate professor in U of T's Psychology department, said that calling such people terrorists only romanticizes them and gives them the notoriety they are seeking -- potentially leading others to join their cause.
"People like to think that those who are plotting against us are smart, because no one likes to think our society can be attacked by idiots," he said. "(But) they are low-ranked idiots. ... Their lack of intelligence, forethought and courage should be at the forefront."
The 12 men and five youths arrested in last Friday's sweep were allegedly led by 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal. A volunteer at the al-Rahman Islamic Centre in Toronto, Mr. Jamal had been heard to rail against Canada's involvement in Afghanistan and accuse Canadian soldiers of raping Muslim women, according to Toronto Liberal MP Wajjid Khan.
"I think (Mr. Jamal) is frustrated and vengeful. He sees himself as a victim and justified in attacking the people who victimized him," Mr. Peterson said.
Regarding the young men who allegedly followed Mr. Jamal, Mr. Peterson said it's no surprise. He said most violence in society is committed by men between the ages of 18 and 26, who are hard-wired to be status-seeking and to gravitate toward groups.
"Young men, they're gang creatures," he said. "There's no reason to presume these people are anything other than gang members who picked something contemptible to do because of a sense of victimization."
Mr. Peterson argues that, if the allegations against the men are true, they are more totalitarians than Muslims in their ideology. For someone who benefits from all the advantages of Canadian society, to turn around and attack Canada, is hypocritical.
"He's preying unethically on the suffering of others to make himself into the champion of the oppressed," Mr. Peterson said.
"It's lies and it's cloaked in a sense of adventure."

The article also talks about the effect of the war in Iraq and the recent "Canadian episode as a reflection of [the greater worldwide] trend of second-generation emigres who have sought in Europe and in Canada a better life. While they have found that better life often, what they haven't found is cultural acceptance."
Dr. Post said there is a tension within Islam itself, between those who want to move more in step with the western world and those who want to return to more traditional and fundamentalist values.
"There is a sense of collective identity that's being preached [among the muslims radicalized by society]... concerning an idealized version of what Islam stands for, against this corrupt, secularizing world. These young men see themselves as (being) on the cutting edge of a faith that they have to defend against what they see as western imperialism," he said.

Personally, I think its time for us reasonable non-corrupt and non-imperialist Canadians to retake the stage from the corporate hooligans and fear-mongerers currently running the show, and prove that fundamentally, our humanist values are not that different from those in Islam after all. Moving the wood away from the coals and letting the fire die out by itself exposed and naked is surely a more effective method than burying it with dirt and have it spread underground.

global warming

According to Jay Leno's opening monologue tonight (roughly quoted from memory):

X-Men 3 made 150million this weekend, while during the same time, The Inconvenient Truth made 2million. So, according to the box office, people are more interested in fake people saving a fake Earth than real people saving a real Earth.

It's sad but kinda nice to fantasize about what state the world would be in today if Al Gore had become president...

Toxic Nation report

We cannot let the Canadian government turn its back on the evidence of environmental contamination on humans. Toxic chemicals emitted by industry and released through contact with, or use of, consumer products are measurable in Canadians. To protect people today and safeguard the health of future generations, the Canadian government must set a course to ensure that all citizens, no matter where they live, how old they are or what they do for a living, will not be exposed to toxic substances. Part of this, and it would fit very nicely in the Tory platform, would be to make and hold industry accountable for its chemicals, and regulate toxic chemicals in consumer products.
However, I suspect that the Canadian government is heading towards corporate totalitarianism, and that trend may be irreversible due to public ignorance and apathy. After idly watching Harper renege on our Kyoto commitment and not offer any replacement programs, (dusting off Republican excuses that it would hurt our economy), I doubt we will see any progress at all on this issue. (Side note: economy is derived from ekos, meaning household. Exploiting natural resources without regard for the environment is akin to selling the goose that lays the golden eggs.)
Meanwhile, Canadians should reduce their personal exposure to toxic chemicals wherever possible. Sources of toxic exposure are varied and numerous, and small changes in lifestyle and purchasing habits can make a difference in the level of pollutants each person carries.
If this concerns you, please visit http://www.toxicnation.ca and read the full report. If you aren't concerned, please read the full report and pay attention, because you should be.

commitment to so-called commitments

so... the PM talks about "long-term predictable funding" and projects of national significance, right after quashing long-term funding for a national day-care program, all while preaching accountability?

Canada's new government delivers on commitments to communities
June 2, 2006
Montréal, QC

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today outlined the measures his Government has taken to support Canada's communities and promised to continue reducing the fiscal imbalance between Ottawa and other levels of government.

In an address to delegates at the annual meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Montréal, the Prime Minister pointed out that the recent federal budget provides $16.5 billion in new, long-term funding for local governments.

[...]

"The federal role must be defined to deal with projects of national significance," Prime Minister Harper said. "Federal funding must be put on a predictable long-term track and we must ensure accountability to Canadians for infrastructure investments by all levels of government."

capitalist evolution = social devolution

This article describes some of the reasons why I dislike the stock market system so much:

The earlier [capitalist] model said that corporations had a duty to ensure the well-being of employees, and an obligation to the community (chiefly but not exclusively fulfilled through corporate tax payments).

That model has been replaced by one in which corporation managers are responsible for creating short-term "value" for owners, as measured by stock valuation and quarterly dividends.

The practical result has been constant pressure to reduce wages and worker benefits (leading in some cases to theft of pensions and other crimes), and political lobbying and public persuasion to lower the corporate tax contribution to government finance and the public interest.

This evolution offends me to the core (even more than individual self-deresponsibilization): The emphasis on the bottom line has resulted in way too many things being left off the balance sheet, such as all the intangible benefits (e.g. reinvesting in the worker population by paying taxes) and environmental costs (e.g., pave paradise put up a parking lot, and all the packaging for single-serving commodities that ends up in landfills). I could go on...

corporate totalitarianism

This piece is an interesting discussion of how multicultural policies passively advance corporate totalitarianism. I never made the association before, and it will take some time for me to rethink my position on a few issues... Anyway, I think this is an interesting article and the discussion sure is thought-provoking. Not a fast or easy read, but I think it is well worth the time to consider these rather non-mainstream views.