Wednesday, November 30, 2016
I borrowed this from Richard Michelson - posted in Eyes on Canadian Democracy
"As it always has been apparent that the 'Reformer' hillbillies lack the basic understanding of history, hence, they are unable to formulate a basic level of intellect or reasoning. Rather, they use any and every opportunity to make a complete ass of the themselves and are literally, too stupid to be embarrassed when making statements on social media about the 'dictator Castro' and JT's comments. The USA, after WWII took over Britain’s role of global expansionism and colonisation. Latin and South American being no exception. The process is always the same. If a government is not receptive to turning over access to a countries resources they are eliminated and replaced with one that does by proxy militias branded the good guys. Death and destruction mostly always follow until submission. In Cuba, as with Latin and South America, the United Fruit Company, working through a corrupt government headed by Fulgencio Batista, who gained power though a CIA backed military coupe gained control of much of the sugar industry.
"Batista's increasingly corrupt and repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large US-based multinationals who were awarded lucrative contracts". It was Batista's infamous death squads that led to the rise of Castro's rebellion and eventual oust of Batista. The USA made many attempts to kill Castro including the Bay of Pigs invasion that blew up in JFK's face.
Castro maintained control by leaving no opportunity for the return of the past. The USA left Castro no choice, if he or his country wanted to survive, but to turn to Russia for assistance. It got politically messy and it how Cuba has survived with USA enforced trade blockades for so may years is amazing.
Yes, there is Cubans who want American glitz and fast cars just as there is Americans who want the same but it is also out of their reach. Today's generation of Cuban's simply didn't go through the Bastita years. The bottom line is that Cuba is a hell of a lot better off that some of the Latin and South American countries that have gone through periods of genocide by American backed madmen who patronize foreign corporations rather than their own countrymen. It's all about money, globalization, and the evils of men. Case in point, Iraq. Oliver Stone has done an exemplary documentary on "The Untold History of the United States" (Netflix). It is a global perspective on terrorism wearing the mask of democracy-and-freedom and illustrates just how pathetic the comments of Kelly Leitch and the likes of her are."
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Worth reading
HOW MANY ALBERTANS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHTBULB?
Just back from another trip to Salt Spring Island, and therefore another opportunity to observe the insanity here at home from a distance. It’s not only the distance, of course: the island vibe is different, so that one sees the same old stuff in a new light.
In that light, might I suggest that everybody get out of here for a week.
Go someplace — anyplace — where the locals see things a little differently. Which is most places, really, other than Arizona. Spend the first 2 or 3 days paying attention to your new surroundings, drinking it all in, chatting nonchalantly with the locals, breaking your routine…and then turn around and look back at the place you came from.
And tell me that we don’t look ridiculous.
It has been a tough couple of years in Alberta. No — let me correct that. The last couple of years have been tougher than we’re used to.
Which is not to suggest for a moment that the financial and emotional pain that the jobless are feeling isn’t real. Or that those who still have jobs aren’t feeling real stress and anxiety over the uncertain economy, over how secure their own jobs are, and over the workload which they used to share with one or two colleagues in better times. And while there are bright spots and positive signs in Alberta’s economy going forward, that’s cold comfort if you’re not in one of the sectors that’s doing well or working for one of a few companies in the oil and gas sector that have recently started hiring again.
But while being scared, anxious, and depressed are totally understandable individual reactions, it’s our collective response that looks ridiculous.
Normal Albertans (and yes, I use that word intentionally and will explain why in a moment) are going about their business…head down…helmet on… not rocking the boat…trudging. (“To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on.” — Geoff Chaucer’s character in A Knight’s Tale)
“Normal” is a loaded word these days, but I’m using it to describe the tragically silent majority of us because our silence is leaving the field wide open for a handful of people who are the farthest thing from “normal” you’ll find north of the 49th to move in and fill the vacuum.
A year and a half ago, normal Albertans acted abnormally, took a chance, raised their heads above the ramparts and voted in an NDP government. Or, more accurately, voted out a bloated, arrogant, out-of-touch and borderline incompetent PC party whose only remaining identifiable value after 44 uninterrupted years in power was the hunger to remain in power.
Why did we do that? Well, the silent majority wanted change, and in 2015 the NDP was the only reasonable choice. The Wild Rose’s social and fiscal values were simply too far right for most of us.
If corporations want it why don't the CPC
Canadian Business Leaders Push Trudeau For 'Bold Leadership' On Climate
OTTAWA — Canadian corporate executives whose companies together employ more than a million people are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers to press ahead with collective climate action, including putting a price on carbon emissions.
An open letter to the first ministers was released Thursday morning ahead of a planned meeting early next month in Ottawa, where the federal Liberals hope to finalize a pan-Canadian plan with all the provinces and territories.
"Canada has a history of taking far-sighted policy actions to capitalize on the opportunities created by global economic change,'' says the letter.
"The time is right for the same kind of bold leadership.''
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/11/24/business-leaders-canada-climate-change-trudeau_n_13200944.html?ncid=fcbklnkcahpmg00000001
The 60-plus signatories include business leaders representing oil and gas, mining, forestry products, cement making, aluminium smelting, information technology, banking, grocery retail and building materials. Together, their businesses have revenues exceeding $300 billion annually.
Through the Smart Prosperity Institute based out of the University of Ottawa, they've made common cause with clean energy associations, environmental advocacy groups, organized labour and environmental think tanks.
Their common message is that enlightened self-interest dictates Canada strive to be at the front of the pack as the global economy makes a historic shift.
Did you know
Royal Canadian Air Force
Two military police guard and secure the blast doors to the Underground Complex in North Bay, Ontario. The MP on the left is holding a Sterling submachine gun.
Construction began on the underground complex in 1959. These blast doors were installed in 1962 and weighed an astonishing 19 tonnes.
The complex housed the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), the original computer system with a mainframe nearly the size as 12 houses! Learn more http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/22-wing/index.page
Photo: DND image NBC72-1301
Drôlerie
Thanks Ivan
Monday, November 28, 2016
Stop the spin NOW your not Donald Trup and this is Canada we know lies when we see them
Roundup: Crying wolf on fundraising
I’m starting to feel like a bit of history repeating again as I get cranky over yet more clutched pearls about so-called “cash for access” or “pay to play” fundraisers, which are nothing of the sort. Cabinet ministers are not soliciting stakeholders for tens of thousands of dollars of donations to meet fundraising targets. This is a government whose penchant for consultation means that there are multiple avenues of access for said stakeholders that they need not pony up to ministerial shakedowns in order to get meetings. And this latest allegation, that somehow “communist billionaires” from China got preferential access for $1500 (they didn’t pay as they can’t donate since they aren’t Canadian citizens) stretches credulity, and taking the cake is this hysteria about a donation made to the Trudeau Foundation. You know, a foundation that the Prime Minister is not a part of, and is a registered charity, which the PM sees no enrichment from in the slightest. That wealthy donors also contributed to the foundation, a statue of Trudeau’s father (again, where is the actual enrichment?) and to law school scholarship at McGill (Trudeau did not go to McGill law school) doesn’t have any particular relevance to him or government business, so even on the face of it, where is the conflict of interest? And don’t tell me that there’s a “perception” because if you actually look at the facts and not just go “Hmm, Justin Trudeau…Trudeau Foundation… Yup, sounds fishy to me,” then you’d realize that this is bunk.
The Dung for Brains Institute aka The Fraser Institute
Fraser Institute denounces Mary Poppins as 'communist propaganda'
Could a spoonful of sugar help seize the means of production?
According to a new blog post published by the Fraser Institute, the timeless story of Mary Poppins is about a lot more than "merry-go-round horses" and "fantastical rooftop dancing."
Believe it or not, but the right-wing think tank suggests the story, beloved by children around the world, is actually "propaganda" that pushes an evil "political ideology" – communism.
Fraser Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Fortier warns parents to be vigilant and not be distracted by Mary Poppins' "magic" or "song and dance," because something sinister is creeping beneath the surface:
"Some may remember the film for its magic, fantasy, song and dance. But I was struck by the film's latent socialist ideas and its implied attack on bankers and investment."
As evidence of Poppins' "implied" communist sympathies, he points to a scene in the 1964 Walt Disney movie in which a young boy wants to spend his pocket change on birdseed when the owner of the bank encourages him to invest his money instead:
What a sick gang of lowlife. Their upbringing and mental state really comes into question.
ansen to receive security protection because of death threats
Calgary MLA Sandra Jansen is now being protected by security after receiving death threats after crossing the floor from the Tories to the NDP government last week.
The government confirmed Wednesday that its Executive Protection Unit is providing security for Jansen on a temporary basis.
In an interview, Jansen said there have been death threats and threats of violence made towards her on social media since she joined the NDP government last week.
“There was a concern from the NDP, our government, that they wanted to make sure that I was protected in the event that someone decided to make good on the threats,” said the Calgary-North West MLA.
“I feel very safe. I have a wonderful group of people here who are making sure that I’m being taken care of and supported so I feel confident that they are very good at the job that they do and when we determine that the threat is gone, then things will go back to normal.”
The incidents are also being investigated by the police, said Jansen.
Sounds like a great add on
New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart
In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burner pitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former Microsoft MSFT -1.16% programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe barcodes to check whether conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch were behind a product on the shelves.
Burner figured the average supermarket shopper had no idea that buying Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper or Dixie cups meant contributing cash to Koch Industries through its subsidiary Georgia-Pacific. Similarly, purchasing a pair of yoga pants containing Lycra or a Stainmaster carpet meant indirectly handing the Kochs your money (Koch Industries bought Invista, one of the world’s largest fiber and textiles companies, in 2004 from DuPont).
At the time, Burner created a mock interface for her app, but that’s as far as she got. She was waiting to find the right team to build out the back end, which could be complicated given often murky corporate ownership structures.
She wasn’t aware that as she delivered her Netroots speech, a group of developers was hard at work on Buycott, an even more sophisticated version of the app she proposed.
The $10 Bill Jar
A man walks into a bar, notices a very large jar on the counter, and sees that it's filled to the brim with $10 bills. He guesses there must be at least ten thousand dollars in it. He approaches the bartender and asks, "What's with the money in the jar?""Well..., you pay $10, and if you pass three tests, you get all the money in the jar and the keys to a brand new Lexus."The man certainly isn't going to pass this up, so he asks,"What are the three tests?" "You gotta pay first," says the bartender, "those are the rules."So, after thinking it over a while, the man gives the bartender $10 which he stuffs into the jar."Okay," says the bartender, "here's what you need to do:First - You have to drink a whole quart of tequila, in 60 seconds or less, and you can't make a face while doing it."
"Third - There's a 90-year old lady upstairs who's never had sex. You have to take care of that problem."
The man is stunned! "I know I paid my $10 -- but I'm not an idiot! I won't do it! You'd have to be nuts to drink a quart of tequila and then do all those other things!"
"Your call," says the bartender, "but, your money stays where it is."
As time goes on, the man has a few more drinks and finally says, "Where's the damn tequila?!"
He grabs the bottle with both hands and drinks it as fast as he can. Tears stream down both cheeks -- but he doesn't make a face -- and he drinks it in 58 seconds!
Next, he staggers out the back door where he sees the pit bull chained to a pole. Soon, the people inside the bar hear loud growling, screaming, and sounds of a terrible fight -- then nothing but silence! Just when they think that the man surely must be dead, he staggers back into the bar. His clothes are ripped to shreds and he's bleeding from bites and gashes all over his body. He drunkenly says," Now...where's that old woman with the bad tooth?"
Thanks Randy
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