Croc Tales

Stupid human tricks.

A Vietnamese teenager had his left hand bitten off by a crocodile in a tourist area Saturday after he jumped over a safety barrier and approached the animal kept in an enclosure.

Nguyen Van Thuan, 15, of Duong To commune in Phu Quoc island in southern Vietnam visited the Suoi Tranh tourist center which raises 20 crocodiles and dipped his left hand in the crocodile pond. A two-meter-long, 100kg animal instantly bit off his arm up to the elbow.

Hearing shouts, employees rushed to the scene and took him to a local hospital where he is recovering.

No indication if the boy was wearing a watch. Or if the croc now tocks.



Crikey!

My six nights up a tree, by Crocodile George

An Australian cattle rancher has told how he spent seven days up a tree looking down into the jaws of two hungry crocodiles after stumbling into a swamp crawling with the reptiles.

David George, 53, was knocked unconscious after falling from his horse during a bush-burning operation in north Queensland. Dazed and bleeding after coming round, he remounted his horse hoping it would take him home. Instead it took him to a swamp criss-crossed by crocodile tracks. Surrounded by "salties" - saltwater crocodiles - Mr George realised his only chance was to climb.

The rancher said: "There were some monstrous tracks and the big ones are never far from the nest," he said.

"I couldn't go back. It was too far and too dangerous. So I headed to the nearest high ground and stayed there, hoping someone would come and find me before the crocs did.

"Every night I was stalked by two crocs who would sit at the bottom of the tree staring up at me. All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me, and all night I had to listen to a big bull croc bellowing a bit further out.

He was lucky he could have ended up like this shark.
Look for this to eventually show up on Ultimate Fight TV.

While it looks small against a full-grown crocodile or beside the great white shark, one of the other killers of the ocean, the bull shark is responsible for numerous fatal attacks on humans around the world.

In fact, the great white has often been blamed for a deadly attack on a swimmer when the real culprit is a bull shark.

Which is why even feared salt-water crocodiles, which share river estuary waters with bull sharks in the Northern Territory, tend to keep their distance from them.

Three bull sharks were caught in a lake on the popular Queensland Gold Coast in 2003 after a swimmer was attacked and killed. And just last year a 21-year-old university student was killed by a bull shark on Queensland's Stradbroke Island.

But on this occasion, the 18ft crocodile decided to take on the shark, a creature reported by the respected National Geographical Society as being potentially more dangerous than even the notorious great white.

The two predators became locked in a deadly battle, watched by an astonished fisherman, Mr Indrek Urvet, who was fishing on the banks of the Northern Territory's Daly River.

And speaking of 18 foot Croc's here is one that has gotten away with murder.

Tourists at Bhitarkanika warned against crocodile

Kendrapara, Aug 18: A giant 18-feet crocodile, which had killed five persons in the past, has been exhibiting signs of hostility again at a national park in Orissa, leading authorities to issue a warning to tourists. The amphibious reptile, the largest in the Bhitarkanika national park and a prime tourist attraction, of late has ensconced itself in the Khola water body, the entry point to the national park, official sources said today. "There is every possibility that it may attack humans," the sources said. "Recently we received reports of the reptile attacking fishermen who had a close call," the officials said. It has also devoured three to four heads of cattle in the past few months, they added. The crocodile, a male, has developed a strong dislike for any form of human interference in its habitat, wildlife officials said. Though it attacked and killed five persons, it has not turned on humans in the last 10 years, the sources said.

And it appears that the war between the crocs and the residents in the park continues.

Kendrapara: In the latest outbreak of man-wildlife conflict in the Bhitarkanika National Park, five persons, including two minor children, were injured following attack by violent salt-water crocodiles since past three days while there are reports of agitated locals in Rajnagar tehsil launching assault on the violent species.

India is not the only country with crocs which are protected as an endangered species. And one that has an attitude.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Wildlife rangers want to catch an endangered crocodile that has sparked a rare scare in a coastal Malaysian city after it attacked a man bathing in a river, an official said Wednesday.

Residents have been warned not to swim or fish in northeastern Kelantan state's main river until the 3-meter (10-feet)-long saltwater crocodile is found, said Zaharil Dzulkafly, assistant director of Kelantan's wildlife department.

The reptile has been spotted repeatedly in the river in Kelantan's capital city of Kota Baru over the past two months, but authorities left it alone until it attacked a 60-year-old carpenter Monday. The man struggled free but suffered cuts and bruises.

"Since this accident, of course, we have to catch it," Zaharil said. "We are monitoring it very closely."

Ibrahim Yaakub, the man who was attacked, said he was bitten on his hands and left leg.

"The crocodile, which had a yellowish streak on its tail, began to swim away quickly after I struggled free," he told The Star newspaper.

The saltwater or estuarine crocodile is protected in Malaysia under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The species can be found in brackish and freshwater regions of Southeast Asia, eastern India and northern Australia.

Croc stew, a dish that bites back.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have caught a smuggler trying to bring 70 crocodiles into the country, state media reported on Monday.

The haul of crocs, each about 70 centimetres (28 inches) and weighing 1.5 kg (3.3 lb), along with baby turtles was made in Guangdong province in the country's far south, a part of the world where locals have famously adventurous eating habits.

But the report by Xinhua news agency said the crocodiles were "ornamental" and were caught with 3,000 baby turtles in the port city of Zhuhai. It did not say where they came from or what happened to the smuggler.

I have heard of watching for falling rocks but falling crocs?!

Crocodile falls 12 floors in escape bid

A CROCODILE survived a fall from the 12th floor of a block of flats in Russia after trying to escape through a window.

Diving out of the window has become a habit for the crocodile, called Khenar, with concerned neighbours saying it was the third time the animal had used that method to flee.

It lost a tooth in the latest fall but was otherwise unscathed. "It seems the owner was not at home when the crocodile came out of the window," a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in Nizhny Novgorod said.

The crocodile was put in a local aquarium to recover from its fall. Within a few hours, its concerned owner came to pick it up and the reptile was last seen being driven away, lying on the back seat of its owner's car.

In Egypt the folks in Cairo are upset that amongst the flotsam and jetsam of debris in the Nile may be a log that is not a log. A log with teeth.

Floating down the Nile's muddy waters on any given day are soda cans, plastic bags, swimming boys, tourists on felucca boats and patches of marsh grasses with birds hitching a ride.

This summer, a crocodile joined the flotsam and jetsam. Or so it seems.

No photos have confirmed the rumor in the two weeks since reports of sightings surfaced, but the Egyptian media have been abuzz. All that's clear is that an animal from the crocodilian family — perhaps a native Nile croc or a foreign alligator — has made its way to the urban waters of the northern Nile, something Cairenes say hasn't happened in living memory.

The officer in charge of the police patrolling the waterways in central Cairo confirms there is, in fact, a reptile in the river.

Nile crocodiles have made a recovery in other parts of Africa since being hunted to the edge of extinction by the 1950s. But they are rare in northern Egypt, and especially in settled areas where people often kill them for their prized hides — and out of fear.

In Florida bullying in the wildlife park is an evictable offense. But sheesh its just a croc's nature.Though I never thought I would see an alligator referred to as a couch potato.

The staff at Gatorland was busy on Wednesday trying to force a crocodile to move, WESH 2 News reported.The crocodile was hiding in a swamp at the park. The reptile apparently wasn't aware it was moving day.Mike Hileman and two others were trying to move the 7-foot saltwater crocodile from its pen because of an attitude problem."The reason we're moving her ... is she's being a bully to some of the animals," Hileman said.Gatorland officials said bullying equals eviction, so the handlers came armed with the help of calf rope, electrical tape and towels.With

"Alligators are like couch potatoes. Crocodiless are more springy, aglile, like athletes -- more aggressive,"

Baby Boomers the Croc Generation?

This Crocodile Nation

Earlier this week, I was talking to a young student who works in my local pub. I was telling him about a bizarre nature documentary I'd seen in which an adult male crocodile began eating its own young shortly after they were born. At the time, I turned to my son and said, "Don't worry; I'm not going to eat you!"

While relating this tale, it suddenly struck me that the UK has become something of a 'crocodile country' because, in financial terms at least, we are also eating our own young. What I mean is that the younger generation is losing out big-time to their parents and grandparents in the wealth stakes.

Indeed, as I explained in The Golden Generation, although people aged over fifty account for a third of the UK population (or twenty million people), these adults own three-quarters (75%) of the UK's entire net wealth. In fact, this age group owns £5.16 trillion of the UK's total wealth of £6.89 trillion, making them WOOPies, or Well Off Older Persons.

With all that wealth they can afford a Chanel Croc bag or shoes.

Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo has a fashionable musuem collection in Florence. The shoes in the museum speak the style of famous Hollywood celebrities from the 40s era. In fact, every season Ferragamo re-invents the shoe styles of a Hollywood star in a new avatar, but without altering its classic style. And it’s not just shoes which are re-visited by the luxury maker. Bag models have been reinterpreted too.

There is the top-handle crocodile bag with the ‘Gancino’ ornament, in golden brown, yellow, red and bright green hues. Made of gold kid, multi-coloured suede and crocodile, the collection is further enriched by a small bag with a chain that can also be used as a belt.

My Other Handbag’s in the Shop Clockwise from far left: Azzedine Alaïa shoe, about $1,500. Call 011-331-42-72-19-19. Etro cuff, $480. At Etro, 720 Madison Avenue. Givenchy clutch, $1,630. At Barneys New York and Blake, Chicago. Burberry patent-leather crocodile sandal, $665. At select Burberry stores. Giorgio Armani ring on Plexiglas base, price on request. At Giorgio Armani stores. Versace crocodile bag, $2,640. At Versace stores. Taher Chemirik silver choker with flower, $10,300, and gold ribbon cuff (bottom left), $13,200. Choker at Jeffrey, 449 West 14th Street. Cuff at Susan, Burlingame, Calif. Mark Davis prystal Bakelite and peridot bangle, $1,910. At Barneys New York.

Photo: Dan Tobin Smith

With prices for gator bags and shoes that high is it any wonder this happened?

OREM, Utah (ABC 4 News) - A taxidermist called police early in the morning on August 12 to report that someone had broken into his business.

Police say taxidermist Kenneth Kirkham arrived at his Orem shop to find the door had been kicked in. Kirkham said a large quantity of exotic hides and materials valued at more than $40,000 were missing.

Kirkham said the missing items include leopard skins, a crocodile skull, a replica crocodile head, an alligator skin, ring-tailed cat skins, bobcat skins, and several deer skins.

Is Esperanto the origin of the phrase;" See ya later alligator, in a while crocodile." Nope it was Bill Halley and the Comets.

A few weeks ago, on a sultry day in the western reaches of Hanoi, I crocodiled with an Australian. I also alligatored with a Nepalese and, with a charming young woman from Madagascar, I caymaned — in French.

Most of the time, however, I was trying hard to speak Esperanto, the most enduring and widely used of the international auxiliary languages, tongues invented to foster communication between people from different nations. Esperantists pride themselves on seeing beyond nationality, class, ethnicity and gender, but when it comes to language, they are given to fine distinctions. Krokodili — “to crocodile” — means to speak one’s native language at an Esperanto gathering. It’s one of several no-nos in Esperantujo, the imaginary country conjured into existence whenever Esperantists congregate, as they did in force in Hanoi at the 63rd annual International Youth Congress of Esperanto.

Alligatori means to speak one’s first language to someone speaking it as a second language; kaymani means to carry on a conversation in a language that is neither speaker’s mother tongue. In fact, the only time I heard “Ne krokodilu!” (“Don’t crocodile!”) was from the lips of someone unable to do so: a denasko, or Esperantist “from birth,” the offspring of two love-struck enthusiasts who met, coupled and raised children in their only common tongue. For the vast majority of Esperantists, though, the language is a motherless tongue — something they have chosen to adopt, often using “teach-yourself” guides or online tutorials.

In Australia generations of Australian Aborigines still wait for justice.
And like the crocs they face extinction.

Tears of crocodile man fall in grief for his people

Mandawuy Yunupingu (left) is embraced by dancers from Maningrida at the Garma festival in Arnhem Land.
Photo: Glenn Campbell

SIXTEEN years ago, Mandawuy Yunupingu sang his way into the heart of the nation with the anthem of his people, Treaty, a plea for understanding between black and white Australia.

In every sense, the lead singer of Yothu Yindi, the crocodile man, became the face of reconciliation. The song was an international hit. Yunupingu was named Australian of the Year.

Since then, the 50-year-old has watched the momentum for reconciliation peter out and his hopes for a treaty dissipate.

As the Federal Government pushes through legislation that he believes will further undermine the rights and welfare of indigenous Australians, the man who once held so much hope for a more equitable Australia fears not only for the future of his people but for his own.

In January Yunupingu entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. The man so many thought would never fall was fighting for his life.

"As the saying goes with rock and roll, alcohol and drugs can take you to the road of no return, the road of despair," he said from his home in north-east Arnhem Land. "I now know how much damage excessive consumption of alcohol can do."

Winning the battle for sobriety is just one of Yunupingu's health challenges. He is also diabetic and will soon have dialysis treatment for renal failure. He is a long way from the optimistic voice that spoke from his warrior's heart, a heart that carried the hopes of so many Australians, black and white.

But Yunupingu's story is more than that of another rock music casualty. It is intrinsically tied to the struggle of his people.

His family (the name means "rock that stands against time") is synonymous with the struggle for Aboriginal land rights.

The famous 1963 bark petition from the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land marks the first Aboriginal land claim and hangs in the national Parliament. Elder brother Galarrwuy, a senior elder of north-east Arnhem Land, was Australian of the Year in 1978 and remains a force in Australian politics.

And finally a happy ending, though the croc in this tale turned out to be a dragon.

Escaped 'crocodile' picked up by owners

Turtle the bearded dragon was reunited yesterday with his delighted owners.

Hannah Huynh and Calvin Cam showed up at the Vancouver animal shelter to take their "baby" home.

"We were sure he was dead by now because he can't survive in cold conditions and it rained all [last] weekend," said Huynh, 18.

Hannah Huynh, 18, reunited with her pet lizard, Turtle, at the city pound. Turtle escaped on Sunday and police were called by a man who claimed it was a large crocodile on the loose. The lizard is only 30 centimetres long.

My fascination with crocodiles? Well blame Walt Disney's Peter Pan. I thought the Crocodile was the best character in the movie.

aptain Hook is a pirate with a grudge. Although he fancies himself too clever for an impudent imp like Peter Pan, in their last bout the boy fed Hook's hand to a crocodile. Now Hook wants revenge, and his ship and all its men will stay anchored in Never Land's waters until he gets it. If only he could find Pan's hideout, he'd trap him in his lair. The deed will take diabolical planning and a treacherous streak of charm, and no one takes greater pleasure in both than Hook. If only that dreaded crocodile would stop circling his ship, licking its chops for the rest of him, he might be able to concentrate on the matter at hand ... er ... hook.

The Crocodile: A crocodile who swallowed an alarm clock and is after the remains of Hook; Pan had cut off Hook's hand and threw it to the Crocodile who enjoyed the little appetizer so much, he's been following him ever since. In comics published later on, the character was known as Tick-Tock the Croc. In the books Peter and the Starcatchers/Peter and the Shadow Thieves, he was called Mr. Grin.

SEE:

Godzilla Croc

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Jelly Bean Summit

"They Melt in Your Mouth Not Your Hands."

Here is the official joint statement of the Three Amigos from the SPP / North American Union Summit in Montebello.

Not one mention of jelly beans, which appear to have been a big focus of trade discussions, which of course had to be kept secret.

Nor any mention of intergalactic highways. Which was a witty way for Harper to dismiss protests about this hush hush secret meeting. He was of course making fun of Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's English. Low blow.

The official press release of the Leaders Statements post summit is just the usual neo-con pap about Free Trade, NAFTA, APEC, etc. So the question is; since we all know what the neo-con agenda is, why all the secrecy?

"I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place," President Bush said at a news conference in Montebello, Quebec.

"It's quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about," Bush said. "You lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist.

SEE:

Kim Campbell on North American Union

Mother Prevails

Nationalism Will Not Stop North American Union


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Coren Is An Idiot

The evidence is in. In black and white. Michael Coren is an idiot.

And why he has a TV and Radio Talk Show let alone a column in the Sun newspapers shows the shallow depths of the social conservative right wing will dredge to find someone, anyone, who will say anything to cause a controversy.

His opinion on matters is usually outrageous, but the ultimate off the wall comment is his latest column. All 'opinion' and reaction, and being a reactionary of course he will excuse himself, with no factual basis to back up his assertions.

Though you will find his opinion of animals, animal rights and the glorious animal husbandry of farmers shared by members of the Federal Conservative Government as well as rural MLA's and right wingers in the West.

I will excerpt the stupidest and most moronic of his statements. They are not suitable for young children, people with weak hearts, or folks with any heart.

They are the ramblings of mental case who would not matter if he did not have access to the media because they are desperate for right wing commentators to offset the supposed dominance of liberal left news bias.

OK, the evidence is in.

People who are obsessed with the welfare of animals and become hysterical when they hear about a dog or cat being abused are mentally ill.

No need here for compromise or silliness. Animal rights types are mentally ill.

Good God, get a grip! People matter more than animals.

Even bad people matter more than animals.

No relativism please, no soppy arguments about cute puppies compared to mass murderers.

The human spirit and soul is unique and deserves respect, dignity and reverence.

FOR US TO USE

Animals, on the other hand, are there to be used. Not abused, but used. So we can eat them, wear their skins, experiment on them if we can thus improve the human condition.

A million kittens do not one human life make. So if by testing medication on a million kittens we can find a cure for cancer, we should have not a second's pause.

Animals have no rights, but we have responsibilities. To treat them properly.

Farmers do this best because they treat them precisely as animals. Keep them fed and warm, show them affection and care, make them better when sick, but kill them if need be.

But not little Rover or cuddly Whiskers. Because they are dumb they must be special and because they give us pleasure they must be kind. Nonsense. Animals can be cruel, are invariably selfish and exist for us and not us for them.

And right wing columnists who claim to speak for the unborn can be cruel, dumb but must be given special privileges because they speak for those who have yet to exist. And like their fantasy worlds of the before life and after life, they condemn those who live in the here and now to their medieval ideal of hierarchy, man above animals, the King above human rights, and God above Man.

I would be remiss if I did not correct Coren's misleading allegations, assertions, and distortions

Not that he reads my blog, but rather because a letter to the editor while short and pithy does little to refute his over the top column.

First what got Coren's goat was the incident in Toronto this past week. Or more correctly not the incident itself but the reactions to it.

An idiot left his dog in his car with the windows rolled up on a very hot day. The car became a hotbox and the dog's brain was boiling. A Humane Society officer rescued the dog and in the process was confronted by the dogs owner, who interfered in the rescue.

The Humane Officer handcuffed him to his car and took the dog to the emergency vet clinic. The idiot who was broiling his dogs brain seems to have attracted some attention to his blight, and got beat up. As a result the Humane Society officer was suspended from his job. A protest in support of him ensued and Coren considers this an indication animal advocates mental illness.

This image taken from cell phone video shows Cyrus after being rescued.

The real sufferers of mental illness are those who would leave animals in a hot car with the windows closed. And contrary to Coren's relativist assertion that animals are less relevant than humans, these same brain dead types are also the folks who leave children in their cars.

Animal abusers often become human abusers, in fact they often become serial killers, as forensic psychologists will tell you.

And clearly this is the case in Edmonton currently.

Edmonton task force seeking serial cat-killer

Of course using Coren's illogic the police are wasting their time, since;" A million kittens do not one human life make."

Coren's illogic is frighteningly similar to the Nazi's belief that untermenschen were not humans. Once you have determined that there is a difference between humans and the 'other'; animals or humans, you are on that slippery slope to mass species genocide.

Animals have sentience, intelligence through learning, calculative thought processes, communication abilities, etc. But for Coren this matters not they are just dumb animals. It has recently been documented that dogs have the ability to remember hundreds of words, and that in human terms they have the intelligence of a three year old.

Elephants, dolphins, monkeys and apes all cogitate, that is have the capacity to learn, and now we are finding they use tools. Humans domesticated animals in a symbiotic relationship, horses, oxen, dogs, cats, etc. Not by force but through mutual aid to meet each others needs.

It was with development of capitalist agriculture that animals were seen as beasts of burden, not unlike the indentured servant, the serf and slave, those who were disposed of their land due to the English encroachment acts.

When Coren praises farmers as having a sympathetic understanding of the animals in their care, one must be forgiven for LOL. Farmers, ranchers and the like view their animals as property just as their fore bearers did. One can see the sympathetic treatment of animals at the rodeo, where horses who 'would be sold for horse meat" are sacrificed in the horror show that is chuckwagon races.

Coren's over the top rant is not much different from the arguments put forward by Reform/Alliance/Conservative MP Myron Thompson who has opposed strengthening Canada's woefully inadeuate animal protection laws, in order to protect rodeos. The laws concerning animal cruelty date back to 1892.

Since he claims to be a convert to Catholicism I would remind Coren of the venerable Saint Francis of Assisi who saw all creatures as part of Gods Creation, and not dumb animals to be processed, mutilated, tortured, abused, etc. Of course Saint Francis is not Coren's kind of Catholic, since he also was a pacifist as well as animal rights activist.

And speaking of St. Francis of Assisi, and dumb animals, this coyote proves Coren wrong.

Chicago City Animal Care and Control workers unsuccessfully tried Monday afternoon to catch a coyote that has been running wild in the Lincoln Park neighborhood for several days.

For two hours, three workers in three trucks couldn't grab the coyote that ran near children, dog walkers and eventually Cardinal Francis George's residence in the nearby Gold Coast neighborhood. At one point, the animal rested near a statue of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the environment.

Workers finally gave up their hunt when the coyote slipped away again into a backyard area of George's home.

Dumb animal indeed. Gave dem workers da slip. And knowing Chicago is a Sanctuary City, this illegal alien sought sanctuary from Saint Francis and on Catholic Church property. Indeed Chicago has the largest urban coyote population in North America. That is one Wiley E. Coyote.

SEE:

Animal Crimes

Katrina: It's a Dog-Gone Crime

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

We Love Animals

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Conservatives Kill Beef Plant

Here is a case where our Conservative Federal government in Ottawa seems to have forgotten that they claim to speak for "farmers" in Alberta.

Balzac beef plant closes after 14 months

Rancher's Beef Ltd. has shuttered its $40-million state-of-the-art processing plant in Balzac and laid off employees, just 14 months after opening to serve global markets.

Loan guarantees promised by the federal government fell short about $10 million because of changes to the funding formula, he said, adding the missing millions had to be taken out of the plant's operating budget to complete construction.

"We would never have built this plant if the government did what they did (sooner)," he said.

The company, a partnership of about 50 ranchers, farmers and feedlot owners from Alberta and B.C., had no choice but to file for bankruptcy, Van Raay said.

The closure of the slaughterhouse is a blow to Canada's fragile beef industry that is still recovering from the 2003 BSE crisis, said Ted Haney, president of Canada Beef Exports.

Meanwhile that other Tory Farmers Government of Eddie Stelmach did not bail out the plant. Instead they have been mired in a water diversion controversy about providing taxpayer subsidized infrastructure to Balzac for a Horse Racing Track, Casino and mall.

The Tories know where their bread is buttered. It ain't farm processing plants, as we saw with their fire sale of the old Gainers plant. Nor is it farmers support, as we saw in the corporate bail out over BSE.

Nope they subsidize horse racing and promote gambling. The latter being where they make all their money, since oil royalties are a subsidy to the oil industry.

This is just another nail in the coffin of the family farm.

Kill and Chill: Restructuring Canada's Beef Commodity Chain

By Ian MacLachlan,

Both horrified and fascinated by a visit with his geography students to the Canada Packers Lethbridge plant, Ian MacLachlan searched for a book that would explain the main features of the Canadian meat packing industry. Finding very little available, he set about writing an account of the industry that is both an economic geography and economic history.Comprehensive in its treatment of the whole system surrounding the Canadian beef industry, Kill and Chill offers a history of the structural changes in Canada's cattle and beef commodity chain, beginning with calf production and cattle feeding on farms and feedlots. It goes on to describe the changes in cattle marketing, the historical development of meatpacking-in particular the emergence of Canada's 'Big Three' meatpacking firms-and the rise of meatpacking unionism. Carrying the story almost to the present with the takeover of Maple Leaf by the McCain family in the mid-1990s, the work concludes with a discussion of current trends in retail beef marketing.

SEE:

Alberta State Capitalism

Agribusiness Bad Boys

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Hurricane and Howard Dean

Mexico, Belize bracing for wrath of Dean

Texas Warily Watches Dean and Prepares

Reminded me; we had not heard from or about Howard Dean in a while.

So has Dean been as big a disaster for the Democrats as his hurricane namesake appears to be for Jamaica and Mexico?

Not so says this article.

Bloggers and Billionaires, MoveOn and Howard Dean: The Battle for the Soul of the Democratic Party

Plus I get to use the screamin' Dean photo again.

And this YouTube flashback.





SEE:

Sach Dean

Purple Wave USA

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Fire Sale

After costing taxpayers an extra $100 million dollars in construction costs due to being a Mulroney government P3 the Federal Building in Edmonton and eight others across Canada are being sold at fire sale prices.

The $400 million they make off this mistake will not cover the 25 year rental cost to taxpayers of $79 million a year. Instead it's going to cost us almost $2 billion to lease back.

So would you sell your house and then rent it back, and agree to invest in upgrades? This is another example of neo-con ideology trumping economic common sense.

The federal government is selling nine office complexes, including two in Ottawa, to a private Vancouver developer for $1.64 billion -- $400 million more than the appraised value for the properties.

At the same time, the union representing many of the federal workers in the buildings labelled the deal "a give-away of colossal proportions."

"In addition to ceding ownership of the nine premium properties, the federal government has, in effect, written a $630-million cheque signed by Canadian taxpayers," said Patty Ducharme, the union's national vice-president.

The union cited its own study, done by Informetric, an Ottawa economic consultant. It valued the nine properties at almost $2.3 billion, Ms. Ducharme said.

The deal involves the sale of government property to Larco Investments Ltd., but also requires the federal government to lease back the office space for 25 years. That substantially reduces the risk to the new private owner.

The lease-back agreement calls for the government to pay base rent of $79 million a year plus operating and maintenance costs, officials said. Rents will be set annually by Public Works and Government Services to cover agreed-upon services, including annual maintenance costs.

Of the $1.644-billion purchase price, $1.567-billion will go to the government. Of this, RBC and BMO will each receive commissions of $5.7-million, according to a government official. There will also be up to $500,000 in expenses for the sale.

The remaining $77-million of the sale price will be used to undertake a 10-year capital repair program, while the government will be responsible for other expenses, including maintenance, repairs and other building improvements.

The government has agreed to lease back the nine buildings for 25 years, with payment amounts rising in five-year increments. Lease payments will total $505.3-million over the 25 years, rising from $82.2-million in the first five years, to $122.1-million in years 20 to 25.

See:

Minister of P3

Mr. P3

Super P3

Public Pensions Fund Private Partnerships

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Made In The U.S. Air Disaster

While the focus on China lately has been on product safety, of products outsourced to U.S. companies, it's a two way street.

As Taiwan based Air China found out yesterday when its commercial airliner burst into flames upon landing in Okinawa.

The Boeing aircraft and its engine co-produced by a unit of General Electric Co., were involved in a handful of fires on U.S. flights before Monday's dramatic China Airlines explosion.

Minutes after all 165 people aboard evacuated, the China Airlines plane burst into a fireball on the tarmac at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan.

The 737-800 had CFM 56 engines, made by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation and France's Snecma.

A preliminary search of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's accident/incident database found four cases involving fires with similar Boeing planes or engines between July 1998 and July 2005.

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Kim Campbell on North American Union

Former PC PM Kim Campbell was on the PBS News Hour last night revealing the dirty truth about Trilateralism, the SPP and the coming North American Union aka NAFTA2.

She was joined in her paean to the joy of Trilateralism and the new contientalism by former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda. Both of them criticized the 'secrecy' of the meetings between the Three Amigos and their Corporate Counterparts.

KIM CAMPBELL:We have the world's longest undefended border, and there is a concern to create a security perimeter that will create confidence on both sides of the border that those movements can pass relatively quickly, that there's trust in the documentation, trust in the broader security system. And we've had to deal with that.

It's something that predates 9/11, but the 9/11 brought it into very, very high profile. And I think we have to recognize we have in Canada, you know, the nationalists who are concerned that any kind of collaboration, any kind of harmonization of standards is the thin edge of the wedge of Canada losing its identity. And I'm amused to see that there are people in the United States who think that, you know, what they call "socialist Canada" is somehow going to come down and corrupt them.

But the fact of the matter is, our three countries are the world's largest trading region, the largest energy market. We really have an extraordinary future together, if we can find ways of dealing with the impediments for the movements of the things that we want to move and ways of ensuring that the public is confident that their security and that their standards of well-being are assured.

And I think one of the ways of doing that is to take this process -- this is the third summit in this security and prosperity partnership process -- is maybe to take it a little bit even more public and get the debate more open, because I think President Bush has been a bit quiet about it, even Prime Minister Harper. I don't know how President Calderon is dealing with this in Mexico. He's got a new government.

But these are important issues. And if we don't get them right, we really will lose the competitive battle, but also lose a lot of opportunities for prosperity and for security.



Building a trilateral relationship

RAY SUAREZ: Well, Professor, you heard the prime minister talking about the roles security has played in the trilateral relationship since 9/11. Is this a concern that is equally shared on both sides of these borders? Or is this a question of two close allies responding to what's seen as an American need, an American agenda, American wishes to toughen up both borders, north and south?

JORGE CASTANEDA: Well, Ray, I wouldn't want to speak for the Canadians, obviously. I think in Mexico we've been very forthcoming and very cooperative with the United States since 9/11 on security issues. Some of the things the Americans have asked for, we have done with great difficulty. Others we have suggested and they have accepted. And so I think we've come a long way.

But I agree completely with Prime Minister Campbell, Ray, that this could be a lost opportunity, this summit in Montebello, unless the three leaders really decide that they have nothing to be ashamed of in saying that they want to work towards a North American economic union, towards a North American security perimeter, towards a North American energy market.

If each one of the three leaders because of their domestic weaknesses get so scared of saying anything, of doing anything, of even moving an inch off just boiler-plate rhetoric, then this will be a huge lost opportunity. President Calderon has a lot to say about immigration, has a lot to say about drug enforcement, a lot to say about security.

President Bush has to understand that he has to combat his extreme right-wing in the United States which opposes any type of greater cooperation with Canada and with Mexico, because if he doesn't, they will eventually get to him and the Congress the way they got to him on immigration.

And Prime Minister Harper, I think, also perhaps should be a bit more forthcoming with a more trilateral vision of the relationship, instead of continuing to insist, as many Canadian prime ministers have in the past, that Canada has a better deal dealing bilaterally with the U.S. instead of trilateralizing the relationship, so to speak.

So I hope they really use this summit to move forward instead of standing still and being terrified of what their respective oppositions in the three countries would do to the three leaders if they were more forthright and clear about what they want.

Of course its hard to have open discussions when the agenda for Trilateralism and the New Contientalism is being pushed by the Corporate Elite.

The leaders will meet on Tuesday morning with the North American Competitiveness Council, a collection of 30 business leaders, 10 appointed by each country, who advise the leaders.

The Council was created in 2006 and is one of the only tangible results of the SPP process to date.

The group, whose Canadian executives include Dominic D'Alessandro of Manulife Financial, Paul Desmarais Jr. of Power Corporation, and Michael Sabia of Bell Canada, will present a progress report to the leaders.

It is the Council that is a main source of contention for critics of the SPP, who argue the North American governments are consulting only corporate leaders and ignoring labour leaders, human rights experts, environmentalists and even legislators.

"The problem with this process is that there has been no public consultation, and no parliamentary debate in any of our three countries," says Meera Karunananthan, a spokeswoman for the Council of Canadians, one of many activist organizations planning to attend the protests in Montebello.

You can't have authentic Trilateralism without Tripartitism, that is a balance between the interests of government, business and the missing partner in all this; labour and civil society.


SEE:

Will Canadian Labour Accept Free Trade?




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Mother Prevails

Mother Nature does what the protesters could not at the Trilateralist SPP/North American Union Summit in Montebello, Quebec.

Hurricane concerns to cut summit short

Oh he was hoping for more protesters to improve his profile?

Harper dismisses 'sad' summit protest as police fire tear gas

As riot police fired tear gas and pepper spray to hold back demonstrators outside the Montebello summit Monday, Stephen Harper shook hands with George W. Bush and dismissed the protest as a “sad” spectacle.

The prime minister welcomed Bush to the North American Leaders’ Summit as the U.S. president stepped off his helicopter on to the lush grounds of the posh — and heavily guarded — Chateau Montebello. “I’ve heard it’s nothing,” the prime minister said when asked whether he’d seen the protesters. “A couple hundred? It’s sad.”

And actually it was more than a couple of hundred protesters.

The protesters were among about 2,000 people who demonstrated for several hours outside the site of the meeting of U.S. President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

And it is a secret meeting after all, and has not been as well publicized as the "secret" meetings of the Bilderberg's, or Davos World Social Forum of the ruling classes. Which also did not get a lot of protests until after Seattle.

Hallmarks of the People’s Global Action (PGA)

As agreed to by social movements at the PGA Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, August 2001:

1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalisation;

2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings;

3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker;

4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements’ struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples’ rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism;

5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy.

Ironically for Canada's Gnu Government, which which hates all things Liberal, and supports the SPP the idea for a North American Union was laid out back in the eighties by those nasty Liberals with their MacDonald Commission






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