Quebec Hydro Created Kyoto

Charest to go it alone on Kyoto climate accord is the headline in the Globe and Mail.

Nothing surprizing with this, since it was the Chairman of Quebec Hydro, political scion of the Power Corporation, Maurice Strong who chaired the Rio round of talks on the environment, when petit Jean Charest was Environment Minister in the Mulroney government. Kyoto was Canada's creation. Before Jean Chretien ( another Quebecois aligned to Power Corp) signed it, Kyoto was the creation of Strong and Hydro Quebec.

It is the reason Mulroney was given the Greenist PM award by the environmental movement. Kyoto was his legacy. Ironic it was a Conservative government that created Kyoto and now it is a Conservative government that wants to destroy it.

The difference between the Conservative Party of the Past and today is that the Mulroney government was dominated by Quebec and its capitalist ruling class, todays Conservative party is dominated by the interests of Calgary and its petro-industry ruling class.


See: Harper Has Already Abandoned Kyoto

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Credit Card Fraud

The wonderful thing abut the stock market is that it is amoral, capitalism itself is amoral. Clearly with such little concern about the criminal behaviour of the big Credit Card companies, the stock market should be willing to put IPO's out for Bolivian Coca or Afghanistan Opium cooperatives. Then those two economic basket cases would at least be able to gain enough capital to reconstruct their economies.

Visa and MasterCard are part of the Banking cartels, they are in fact agents of the banks, much like the ATM service programs, Cirrus and Interac.

Interesting that banking/credit card fraud is considered a less henious crime than say oh I don't know, shoplifting, or robbery, or selling drugs on the street for the third time.

And the reason that Visa and Mastercard are facing legal suits? Why it's a simple thing called MONOPOLY.

As Americans go into Debt, and Canadians as well, Mastercard and Visa have reaped record profits off the go-go casino economy that is America.

Nothing productive here, just Money chasing Capital chasing Money; M-C-M. Housing Bubble, Debt Boom

Which is why America is now the worlds largest debtor.Storm Clouds Over The US Economy

Merchants Hit MasterCard IPO on Anticompetitive Grounds

A law firm co-leading the merchant class-action interchange lawsuit against Visa USA, MasterCard Inc. and a number of their large members yesterday filed a supplemental complaint in federal court asserting that MasterCard’s imminent initial public offering of stock is an attempt to shield itself from antitrust liability for past interchange practices. But if or how the revised complaint will affect the planned IPO that could come as soon as Thursday and raise up to $2.8 billion is unclear.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - MasterCard is expected to hit the market with a bang when it makes its debut on the New York Stock Exchange as early as next week.

But there may be reason for long-term investors to whimper.

Investors big and small are expected to gobble up shares of the credit card association, which has a long history of stable performance. But the company's future appears less certain.

MasterCard faces mounting lawsuits, and long-term investors could end up footing the company's legal bills, analysts said.

Investors in the IPO market like to see growth, and while MasterCard is a well established company, its business has benefited as consumers move from paper to electronic payments. The total value of transactions on MasterCard-branded cards - including purchases and cash advances - rose 13 percent last year to $1.7 trillion, according to company estimates.

MasterCard has booked about $860 million in expenses related to legal settlements over the last three fiscal years. It settled a lawsuit brought on behalf of merchants in 2003 but a number of cases remain outstanding, including separate suits filed by Morgan Stanley's (Research) Discover and American Express alleging the credit card association competes unfairly.

Also See:

Bank Charges

Contracting Out Faux Pas

Money Money Money

BANKS



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Two Super Powers

There are now two super powers in the World. As the latest Amnesty report reveals.

Rights report condemns US, China

When the powerful are too arrogant to review and reassess their strategies, the heaviest price is paid by the poor and powerless.

-- Amnesty Secretary-General Irene Khan

American hegemony was challenged last month when their rentier landlord came to visit them. Chinese Prime Minister Hu first stopped in Washington, not Washington D.C. but the State of Washington to buy a few planes from Boeing, and have an official State Dinner with the real power in Amerika, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. On his way to Europe he stopped in to visit President Bush shake some hands have a press conference, and ask about how America intended to pay its bills.

Did anyone care to notice that the Chinese president did not rush to see his US counterpart when he landed in the US? What did it say about China’s perspective on the Sino-US relationship that the first person that President Hu visited in the US was Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and the world’s richest man? No matter how rich Gates is, he is still a private citizen and one would surely imagine that the first person a visiting head of state and government visits before anyone else is his counterpart. With China It’s Simply Business, Not a Clash of Civilizations

In Washington the state, Hu beamed as he hobnobbed with the capitalist kings of computers, coffee shops and airplanes, who are among those making a mint in China's markets.

In Washington the city, Hu got a rather frostier reception. A dissident heckler startled him on the White House lawn, a White House announcer called his country the Republic of China - did someone say Taiwan? - and a senator warned that China should open more of its markets to American products, or else.

The chill in the East and the warmth in the West were, of course, mostly about money. The number most policy makers in Washington, D.C., think about when they think about China is the $202 billion trade deficit in 2005, up 25 percent from the year before. In Seattle, the focus is on the $5 billion that businesses in the state exported to China last year, up 64 percent from 2004. News Analysis: Hu sees 2 very different Washingtons

While America prides its power as Empire, it is no longer the only Superpower in the World. It no longer has hegemony. China has matched it.

China Befriends Oil-Rich Saudis; US Pays at Pump


Merkel's China visit to strengthen bilateral ties

China extends its reach into Africa with $1bn deal for Nigeria's railways

United States looks on as China mines Latin America's riches

As the American Empire spreads its military abroad, China keeps its at home. China too now is a hegemon. One that is playing in the world despite American protests.

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - China's military buildup has altered Asia-Pacific power balances and could pose threats to other forces, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in an annual report that repeated U.S. calls for Beijing to explain its actions. China has retained its long-standing focus on rival Taiwan but years of double-digit growth in arms spending and new missiles, ships and aircraft meant it could project power further afield, the 2006 China Military Power Report said. "The pace and scope of China's military build-up already place regional military balances at risk," the 58-page report said. "Current trends in China's military modernization could provide China with a force capable of prosecuting a range of military operations in Asia -- well beyond Taiwan -- potentially posing a credible threat to modern militaries operating in the region," it said.

Take Sudan. Please. As the old joke goes. Sudan is a client state of China, they own the petro-industry there. So ask yourselves why of all the UN Security council members, China is the only one who has not offered military forces for Darfur. Nor have they used their economic and political power to force the Sudanese state to settle the Darfur issue. Is it because Darfur is one of the new oil finds in Sudan?UN presses Sudan to admit assessment team in Darfur (Roundup)

Before we send Canadian forces to Sudan, or even aid, we should ask why their largest client is doing nothing.

China should revise policies on Sudan

But the Sudanese, more than all world powers and economic entities, are the ones most directly affected by the political and economic policies of China on Sudan.

Apart from the nuclear power conflict in the Chinese-Iranian-Western relations, the unabated fears about the Gulf oil, and the other international agenda, what concerns us here is a Sudanese viewpoint on the reasons for the requested revisions on the Chinese policies on Sudan.

There are clear political concerns with the Chinese mechanical support of Sudan in the international arena, especially the United Nations Security Council, as well as major economic questions about the Chinese oil methodologies in South Sudan and other parts of the country.

Of particular importance is the way the revenues of these investments have been used by China to support the repressive rule of Sudan with virtually non-economic or social development projects in the oil-producing region, South Sudan, for almost a decade.

Recently, the Chinese working team on the construction of the Hamadab Dam at the Manasir/Robatab area in the Nile Province of North Sudan faced some forms of popular resistance from the local inhabitants who had been prevented from using the Nile drinking water for their animals by construction provisions imposed by the repressive rule of Sudan in agreement with the Chinese firm.

The Chinese company, however, went as far as inciting the authorities that responded promptly with armed forces to displace the inhabitants and their animals from the dam construction area.

This insensitivity to the local communities of North Sudan was an extension of graver indifferences by the Chinese investors towards many other communities in South Sudan.

Yep China is just like America, both share the arrogance of power. And China is not only Sudan's landlord, it's America's landlord too.

Also See:

China No Longer Red Nor In The Red

China Challenges US over Saudi Oil

US vs China for Global Hegemony

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Only As Pretty As You Feel

Jefferson Airplane Pretty As You Feel

when you wake up in the morning
rub some sleep from your eye
look inside your mirror
comb your hair

don't give vanity a second chance
no no no
beauty's only skin deep
it goes just so far 'cause
you're only pretty as you feel
you're only pretty as you feel inside
just as pretty as you feel

Roz Weston, a 31-year-old reporter with Global Television, shows off his painted toenails on the set of Entertainment Tonight Canada. ‘I find it relaxing,’ he says, and he never allows women to do it for him. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)

The Globe and Mail is behind the times again, see my Boys will be Girls

It appears that years after the fact they have discovered the Metrosexual.

Say didn't Jack Layton call himself that,yep he did.

Straight men eager to polish their image
Cosmetic companies find a fresh market catering to the male workaday dandy

Farid Hassani, a 37-year-old designer, says he regularly borrows his wife's eyeliner to give himself a lift.

"It makes me feel good, it makes me feel different," Mr. Hassani says.

"I'm not gay but I don't want to be perceived as the typical heterosexual male," he says.

"Makeup gives me an edge."

As well, this month, Jean Paul Gaultier, one of the pioneers of the male makeup trend, relaunched in select Sears and The Bay stores across Canada, its Tout Beau Tout Propre collection of eyeliner, bronzing powder and coloured lip balm for men.

Along with the clear nail polish that has been available to men since 2003, there is now a chocolate shade.

Actually the LCN Diamond Base gives nails a nice natural fleshy tone. Check it out with Chrissy from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Being the ultimate hockey twink does Sidney Crosby wear toe nail polish? Only his esthetician knows. Sid Crosby Metrosexual

And for the Goth camp in all of us there is always the Midnight Black. As proved by the young androgenous man who served me at MegaTunes in his eyeliner, foundation, lipstick and black nails displaying the subtlety of male drag in public.

In Ancient Egypt the Men were always better made up than the women.

And the Peacock looks better than the peahen.

And unlike Calgary we actually have a Mens Spa in Edmonton, The Boardroom

A tip o' the glitter blog to Calgary Grit

Also See: Bald Facts

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Dicks

Well tonight the Oilers will meet the Ducks in Edmonton. And BBQ Duck is one of the favorite items in Edmonton's China Town

After the Oilers roast the Ducks Whyte Trash Avenue will be swarming with drunk macho male yahoos encouraging women to 'show us your tits'.

An appropriate response would be 'shows us your dicks' but that would be redundant since all these drunk guys on the Avenue have already shown us they are Dicks.


Also See: Hockey




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Free Trade: Primitive Accumulation of Capital

I have said it before and will say it again, capitalism is merchants with private armies. The modern market state that is evolving under globalization is no different.

Seventeenth Century Origins of Free Trade

During the early modern period (1500-1700), there was intense conflict among European states. Chartered trade companies acted as warrior merchants, especially the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company. Armed trade was refined into a ruthless art by the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. At the same time, some kingdoms — for example, France and Spain — attempted to control their economies (Mercantilism) for strategic reasons. Moral philosophers, meanwhile, were critical of trade itself. Unlike Islam which was largely hospitable toward trade and merchants, Christian theology and Church edicts were hostile; they condemned commerce as abetting fraud, promoting avarice, and encouraging worldly gains. Theologians became more liberal as the centuries passed, but the status of merchants who merely traded goods and produced nothing was not high. At best there was theological ambivalence about commerce. Free trade did not have an easy birth in these circumstances.

Ironic ain't it that the very historical forces opposed to Free Trade are now it's greatest proponents. Of course that is because of the development of the ultimate Protestant State; the American Empire. While Europe remains dominated by Catholicism, even in its Anglican and Lutheran forms.

See my; LOOKING BACKWARDS
The Fraternal Origins of Working Class Organizations In the Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism

As for Islam and Free Trade see my article Ibn Khaldun 14th Century Arab Libertarian

Instead of sabre rattling the Americans might want to use Free Trade, any trade in fact, with economically isolated Iran to get them to quit their sabre rattling.

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Dodge Ball

some economists believe the Bank of Canada may be habitually overestimating inflation because the central bank is focusing too much attention on traditional factors that cause prices to rise -- like a tight labour market and booming domestic demand -- and not enough on globalization and international competition.

Yep I have said it before the Bank of Canada is stuck in the Mulroney era. Leave well enough alone, David Dodge. But of course being a monetarist like he is he won't.Bank of Canada expected to raise interest rates which will result in;

Markets could be in for more losses in coming week

"That calls into question the Bank of Canada's own assertion that core inflation was going to be back at the two per cent threshold by the third quarter," said TD Securities chief strategist Marc Levesque. "It looks like the bank may have a bit more wiggle room on the inflation front, so I think this just adds to the likelihood that it could, in fact, choose to take a pass and do nothing." "Tame core inflation, a tight-as-a-drum labour market, healthy retail sales, a firm Canadian dollar, a red-hot economy in the west... what's a central bank to do?" asked Avery Shenfeld, senior economist with CIBC World Markets.

Leave well enough alone. Geez does it take an anarchist to tell the capitalists how the market works? Guess so.


More on Dodge

Also See

Loonie

Petro Dollar

Monopoly

Monopolies


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Silly Headlines

Human Remains Found in Quebec

I would hope so since humans have lived there for thousands of years.



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Harper Has Already Abandoned Kyoto

Which is why Rona Ambrose is on CTV Question Period,on Sunday and sitting on her duff in the House and not in Bonn.

And when asked why she isn't in Bonn, she replies like the trained parrot she is; "We want a made in the USA....errr...Canada policy."

Yeah more like a Made In Alberta policy.



Kyoto backslide sparks furor

Canada sabotaging Kyoto accord, environmentalists say

Canada wants Kyoto deal scrapped - reports


More On Kyoto


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Ping!

I use Pingomatic to hit multiple blog-readers. Lately it has been a bit funky but over all it when it works it saves you lots of time. And don't forget to Tag!
And if you have breaking news, its good to also post it to Indymedia.


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