LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Monday, April 03, 2006

The Many Faces of Solaris

Stanislaw Lem's most well known novel is Solaris (1961) because it has been the basis of several movies, not because a lot of people have read it.

There are of course the 'Solaris" movies one made in Russia in 1972 by Andre Tarkovsky and the recent American remake in 2002. Lem has been critical of both. While Tarkovsky can be faulted by Lem he himself has been subjected to the Soviet Censors as Lem has.

Tarkovky's earliest film Ivan Rublev has been yet to be released in its full form having suffered the worst excesses of American cut and paste editing as well as Soviet censorship. It is a tale not unlike that of the Wickerman.

But before these two versions of Solaris there were two B Grade movies that were based on Solaris or the theme of Solaris.

The first is Journey to the Seventh Planet. Which was originally made in 1962 not 1959 as mistakenly listed here;

Journey To The Seventh Planet

The United Nations sends a team to explore Uranus and they find a "small Danish village filled with voluptuous women!" Behind this set up though is a force that is using the memories of the crew against them so it can take over their ship and fly back to Earth.

1959, 77 minutes, Widescreen DVD

LEM RIP

Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006)

Ukrainian Science Fiction writer Stanislaw Lem has passed on to the great Solaris. That world of hallucinatory existence which we create with our imaginations.

Now most bios will refer to him as Polish, Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, author of 'Solaris ...which is untrue since he was born in 1921 in Lviv — then part of Poland but now in Ukraine which was, is and always has been part of the Ukraine. It was a much disputed territory between the Polish Imperialists, German Imperialists and Moscow Imperialists over the past 400 years, but Ukraine it is.

Lem was Jewish, as Lviv was the largest Jewish city in the Ukraine or Poland. It was the historic city of Herzel and Bakunin, in their debates over Pan Slavism, liberalism and anarchism.

It was the most European of all East European cities.

Which reminds me of other Great Ukrainian writers who get absorbed by the Imperialists such as Hohol, opps I mean Gogol another Ukrainian writer who was claimed by the Russians through the Russification of his name. He too was an early Sci-Fi writer.

In fact let us remember that Sci-Fi beings in Eastern Europe with the advent of RUR from whence Isaac Asimov gets his theory of robotics.

Lem himself was the originator of the paranoid universe theory, which later became a popular motif for James Blish, Brian Aldiss and of course the ultimate paranoid American Phillip K. Dick.

Lem was an anarchic science fiction writer, opposed to the oppressiveness of Stalinism but equally critical of capitalism. In The Futurological Congress, Mr. Lem created a rollicking satire of a cosmonaut taking part in a congress in Costa Rica

The congress itself is a clash of civilizations between the capitalist and communist authorities, which is overcome when terrorists, anarchists, unleash hallucinogenic drugs into the conference room.

Lem always speculated in the realm of realities being subjective as well as objective, as hallucinogenic realities, virtual realities before their time. His concept of cyberspace as we would call it today, or VR was based on the use of drugs.

His writing is dense , which is typical of Slavic writers, but worth the readers effort. Phillip K Dick in a final moment of hallucinatory madness, the very essence of American Individualist self alienation declared Lem was a collective endeavour by the communists, not a real human being.

Lem inronically praised Dick as the only real science fiction writer in America and he viewed Dick as a religious writer in that earliest of Sci-Fi traditions,Gnosticism. Stanislaw Lem- Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans

It is a razor edged criticism of the genre ghetto in America that was defter than Harlan Ellisons usual bad boy commentary about the same ghetto. The result was that unlike Ellisons stand up comic routines that were all bluff and bluster, Lems critique of the American Sci-Fi ghetto as 'bad writers only in it for the money, cut them to the core and they turned Stalinist on Lem.

His honorary membership in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association was withdrawn in the mid-1970s after he criticized his U.S. colleagues' writing and charged that they were more interested in making money than expanding the genre. He reserved his praise only for iconic sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick.

Lem wrote about madness and alienation, Dick descended into it. Perhaps for all its flaws there is something to be said for the collective social values of the old Soviet Union. And interesting that Lem who faced censorship by the State in Poland then faced censorship by the State of Writers in the USSA.

Lem would have been amused to see his hero Dick turned into the very incarnation of himself as an electric sheep (as in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep the short story that was to become Bladerunner).

(Philip K. Dick Robotic Memorial Portrait
At NextFest 2005) The eerie robotic Philip K. Dick unveiled today at the NextFest 2005 event in Chicago is almost an objectification of Dick's fascination with what really makes people human. The robot was designed to provide a convincing imitation of life, with subtle head movements and facial expressions. The software that gives life to the device is well-stocked with all of Dick's printed works and memoirs. It also has face recognition software and a library of faces; it was capable of recognizing several of Dick's relatives who came to take a look at the project. It includes voice recognition and natural language processing features

Stanislaw Lem - Frequently Asked Questions

Scriptorium - Stanislaw Lem

"If [Stanislaw Lem] isn't considered for a Nobel Prize by the end of the century, it will be because someone told the judges that he writes science fiction," predicted a Philadelphia Inquirer critic in 1983. Lem is arguably the greatest living science fiction writer, and even one of the most important European authors of his generation; yet he commands little critical attention, and has failed to reach discerning American science fiction readers who ought, one would think, to be most interested in him. The reasons for this may be sought, paradoxically, in the high demands he makes of his own work: Lem is a true original, but at the price of being marginal.

We are still waiting for that Nobel Prize.

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Police View This Blog

I have been getting a lot of hits over my story on the Ianerios murder in Mexico, where I claim its a cover up. Mexican Murder Cover Up?

The most recent hit has been from the Peel Police Department. Hey guys anything to help out.

Unfortunately the Peel Police department has about as successful a record as the Mexican police, and they are just about as incorruptible as well. Remember they are police department that dealt with the Homolka/Bernardo murders. Bernardo claims more alleged sex assaults: police

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The Conservatives Reign of Terror

What is the real reason that Immigration Minister Monte Solberg and the Conservatives are attacking immigrant workers in Canada?

Sure they have overstayed their welcome without the proper papers , but we face nowhere near the illegal immigration of other countries. And they were promised an amnesty.

I refuse to call them illegal aliens, as my grandparents, and any of us whose grandparents came from non UK based countries, were so refered to.

The big " Enemy Alien" scare in 1919 during the Winnipeg General Strike was that it was led by Reds, Bolsheviki, aliens to Canada's very British way of life. The fact that the leaders of the General Strike were all English or Scottish trade unionists in no way related to the charges that the real force behind the strike was Ukrainian, Finn, Icelandic and Jewish labour activists.

The government of the day was of course Conservative. Eighty years later the Conservatives are in power once again and attacking immigrant workers as Aliens.

Bad enought they began deporting Portugese construction workers in Toronto, that has caused an outrage and raised concerns about the Conservatives immigration policy. Illegal immigrants told to stay 'underground'

One that appears influenced by the likes of Paul Fromm and his White Power advocates who influence the base of the Tories.

Here is the latest spin that the Conservatives will use to kick out undocumented workers; State security. And instead of it being Bolsheviki Reds they will use Terrorism as their excuse. But again like in 1919 the Conservatives will justify their reactionary policy with the supposeded threat of Enemy Aliens.

Cabbies speak out on arrest of colleague
Globe and Mail - 1 Apr 2006
NEWMARKET -- The recent arrest of two Toronto-area men on immigration charges -- and a published report linking one to a notorious Pakistani terrorist group -- has cast a chill over neighbours and co-workers while raising fresh concerns about how Canada ...
Suspect denies terror links Calgary Sun
Alleged al Qaeda terrorist arrested near Toronto CTV.ca
London Free Press - Toronto Sun - York Region Era Banner - 640 Toronto - all 26 related »

But we still have to ask why the Conservatives are hell bent on kicking out working class folks who are earning a living? It's not like we don't need them.

There is something sinister and white behind the Conservatives immigration concerns. It was no mistake they put a Mormon from white Southern Alberta in charge of Immigration. His riding is rife with racist attacks on foreign workers as the strike at Tysons showed last year.

And who is the new deportation policy hurting? Why those least able to defend themselves who came here looking for work. And of course they are not white.

Filipino caregiver in Canada to stay and fight deportation

Canadian immigration authorities set to deport Egyptian writer and ...

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Surrealist Blog

In searching web for my previous article on Zoo's I came across this interesting Surrealist Blog. And unlike the paintings of Salvador Dali, the blog does not melt on your screen.

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Zoo Screwed

Forget the protests by Pamela Anderson about the seal hunt. If she and other ill informed Anti-Sealing opponents were really concerened with wildlife they would have fund raised for the Quebec City Zoo which closed this weekend. It is not just an animal story but a political animal story.

It is a sad tale that exposed the continuing failure of the Neo-Conservative agenda. It includes opportunist federal Conservative candidates claiming they would save the Zoo. A secret report to the Liberal provincial government that exposes their privatization of the Zoo failed, and finally the closure of the Zoo this weekend.

The image “http://www.alamut.com/images/1999_misc/ernstBirdhead.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

The image “http://www.alamut.com/images/1999_misc/ernstBirdhead.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

The Chicago Surrealists called for the freedom of prisoners in Zoo's.

Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm describes the origins of Zoos in the 19th century, in his book Age of Empires, as part of the culture of Imperialism. Zoos captured and imprisoned animals and humans. The Zoo's and anthropological exhibtions of the 19th century included animals and captive humans from Africa. We have since released the humans from their beneficial captivity, but the myth of the benefits of Zoo's for animals continues.

That being said the occupants of the Quebec Zoo deserve to live their final days in security.

But some beasts like a pair of grizzly bears are probably too old to be moved, even if a new home can be found for the lumbering orphans. Devastated zookeepers say they have no intention of destroying any animals, but they have yet to hear the shut-down plan from the zoo's owner, the Quebec government. "We have an obligation to these animals, and there is nobody here who is going to euthanize these animals just because the zoo is closed," keeper Karl Fournier said in an interview.

Something they have in common with working class pensioners who now face a concerted capitalist assault on their penison benefits.

Joey the Bear meets Joey the Worker and they both get screwed by capitalism.

Quebec zoo closure ruffles a few feathers
More recently, the federal Conservative government refused to help despite the claim by many Quebec City residents that local Tory candidates promised during the recent election campaign to bail out the zoo. Josée Verner, the minister in charge of the Quebec City region, says the candidates' words were twisted. The provincial Liberal government finally decided to pull the plug on the zoo after a secret report that apparently recommended closure. When the zoo reopened a few years ago after renovations, admission was hiked to $25 per adult. Prices were later cut in half but annual attendance dropped from 250,000 in the 1990s to 60,000 by 2005. The zoo ran a $5 million deficit in each of the past three years, covering about half of its operating expenses. The province estimates closing the zoo will cost $23 million.

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WTO NAFTA And Montreal Metro

The Left has been correct in dissing the international accords Canada has signed that restrict our economic soverignty. Here is a case in point.

The irony being that the state capitalist Bombardier corporation calls for protectionism in the case of construction of subway cars for Montreals Metro.

While Premier Jean Charest, Mister Privatization at all costs, warns that if the Metro deal is done Bombardiers way it may meet a WTO or NAFTA challenge.

Which begs the question for all those right wingers who say don't worry about privatising Canada's medicare system, such NAFTA and WTO rules don't apply. They do. Just the same as they do for subway cars.

MONTREAL -- Bloc Quebecois industry critic Paul Crête says that Premier Jean Charest is dragging his feet on a construction contract for Montreal's metro.

Bombardier has requested that the province award the Montreal company the contract, worth $1.2 billion, without an invitation to tender.

Charest, however, says that he must first make sure that such an arrangement would not violate any international trade agreements.

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Mexican Cover Up Redux

Stephen Harper and Vincente Fox met and did not discuss the fate of the Canadian Couple who were murdered in Cancun.

When asked a direct question by Robert Fife of CTV, who insisted that Fox anwser in English, about why he said it was Canadians who murdered the Canadian couple, Fox deftly avoided speaking English or answering the question. Leaving slack jawed Harper to say that the two governments were coordinating their efforts. To further mess up the evidence, the Mexican authorities right on cue released evidentiary photos, forensic photos of the murder scene. This was done within hours of the end of the tripartite NAFTA confernce in Cancun. Tipster points to Canadians in Mexican murder

Which begs the question why the Mexicans are trying to foist this murder as being done by Canadians when we know full well that Cancun has had a spate of tourist murders as part of an ongoing drug/gang war in the region. One that netted the chief prosecutor last year as one of the conspirators in the drug/gang war. See my original post on this; Mexican Murder Cover Up?

Of course the drug cartels have expanded under the free market ideology of Vincente Fox. No wonder he wants to divert attention away from the possibility that the Canadian couple who were murdered were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Simple as that.

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If Wishes Were horses

Beggars would ride, as my mother would say.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft hopes the vote not only signals the demise of Mr. Klein, but of the Tory party. "Clearly it's the end of an era, not just for Ralph Klein but for conformity in Alberta politics and the end of the PC party as we have known it for so many years." Klein set to declare leadership decision

More on

Ralph Klein

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Return of the Socreds

Presto Manning is contemplating a run for the leadership of the Party of Calgary. Somethings never change. Preston Manning Expresses Interest In Replacing Klein

That would mean 35 years of Socred power that ended with his father, Ernest, being replaced with a lame duck Premier, then 33 years of PC power starting with Peter Lougheed and ending with a lame duck Premier, and then the possibility of that strange beast the Reformed PC Socreds under Presto.....noooooooo.

Preston Manning, who was once the second-most-powerful leader in Canada as leader of the opposition, is apparently now considering his chances of becoming the second-most-powerful leader in Canada as premier of Alberta.

King Ralph is dead
The Alberta Tories' regicide of Ralph Klein was big news for 12 hours. Then Preston Manning trumped it, telling reporters he was considering running for Klein's job.

Daddy Ernest Manning gave up party power to Peter Lougheed, thus assuring a Liberal Conservative Socred Alliance that was Seventies PC's. That alliance was shattered as neo-cons took over under Klein, the fiscal right was far less powerful than the social conservatives. The social conservatives align behind Oberg, the Reform types around Morton, and the liberal wing under Dinning. Alberta Tories in disarray

Dining did the dirty deed of balancing the budget on the backs of the working class, with wage and benefit cuts to the public sector. Then with victory in his back pocket he left the government.

The neo-cons in the party then went on to shape the Ralph Revolution, using the the debt and deficit hysteria of the ninties to impose their Republican Lite vision on Alberta, while promoting it for the rest of Canada with Prestos Reform Party.

Government that governs least is best — or not
When Mr. Klein became premier, the province had a $3.4-billion deficit and a $23-billion debt. He argued these burdens arose, in part, from governments having involved themselves too much in the economy. There were bad investments. The government taxed too much. Government regulations were too onerous. The free market, he asserted, would be encouraged if the government got out of the way.

This contrasted with the approach of Peter Lougheed, who led the Conservatives to power in 1971. Mr. Lougheed was no socialist, but he did believe the government should try to direct, cajole and even force the market in directions he believed Alberta needed. Only that way, he reasoned, could Alberta's economy be diversified and energy revenues used not just for today's needs, but for the future.

Mr. Lougheed's dirigiste preferences evaporated under Mr. Klein, but now some Albertans want that kind of guiding hand back, at least in a modified form. In a free-enterprise province, the critics are now demanding a “plan” for using the revenues that would be more than driving up spending on ongoing programs.

Presto would be an interesting add to the mix but his chances of winning are less than none. Unless he has something up his sleeve, oh like say Medicare Reform. If anyone could enunciate and promote the Third Way in Medicare it would be Presto.

“Where I think we're headed is a system of universal care, where everybody is covered ... with two tracks for delivery, and two tracks for payment. It's not a question of private versus public, but what mix of the two is appropriate.”

Mr. Manning left what he likes to call "active partisan politics" in 2002 to become more involved in the public-policy debate. He quickly got on board with the Fraser Institute and the Canada West Foundation, and he set up the Manning Centre for Building Democracy.

He and Mike Harris authored the Fraser Institute Report on exactly the musings that King Ralph has been tossing about for the past decade. And perhaps that would be the reason for him to run, otherwise Third Way Medicare Reform is dead in the water.

Third Way predicted to meet Klein's fate

Dead-end way Tories mull future of health-care reform if Ralph exits scene

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Ralph Klein

Social Credit

Western Canadian Populism

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Saturday, April 01, 2006

Ralph Says Ompph

This is a tragic comic classic for April Fools day. But this is no joke. So befiting the man who would be King forever. Now humbled on this famous day that makes fun of all rulers and their pomposity. Poetic justice indeed.

It's all over but the whailing. King Ralph's tragic tumble in slow motion from his throne began with his ill called 2004 election, is peek aboo healthcare reform, his threatening and challenging over how long he can retain power.

Klein takes devastating blow to leadership

And now his own party shows a massive 45% vote opposed to his continuing to linger in office. Ouch.

His big mouth has gotten him into trouble again. He announced he would be quiting if he wasn't supported at this convention. Well it has instantly come back to haunt him.

Klein dealt a crushing blow in leadership review

The press will badger him mercilessly about it, like a murder of crows after the battle.

So I ask is he more Hamlet or is he more Richard the III?

We shall see this afternoon when and if he meets the crows, err, press.

Will he retreat and hasten his retirement? When a leader gets only 55% support, he has lost the confidence of his party and his Volk. Ironic. Like his 'defeat' in the 2004 provinical election. His loss of seats, but left with an overwhelming majority the envy of every dictator in the world, left him rudderless, and the party adrift.

The PC's want, and need, a leader who swill steer their good ship of State somewhere, anywhere. The last thing they need is a lame duck leader who gooses the party while leading from the stern.

CALGARY (CP) - Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has received support from just 55 per cent of his fellow Conservatives at the party's annual convention in Calgary. It was not immediately clear what action Klein would take, though the numbers could only be seen as a crushing blow. Many observers had suggested Klein needed at least 75 per cent to avoid a serious challenge to his departure plans. Klein has traditionally enjoyed an approval rating of more than 90 per cent.

More on King Ralph

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Friday, March 31, 2006

Bush Liberation

King Georgie II announced at Freedom House that, shock of shocks, Womens Liberation is a key component of human rights struggles. It is the new face of American Humanitarian War. No wait it is the same old face. Yep they used Womens Liberation, that is the liberation of women from Islamiscist tyranny, as an excuse to invade Afghanistan. Sharia law being replaced with pluralistic modernist parliamentary representative democracy. Whew that was a mouthful.

And we have the photographic evidence of the success of the Bush war for Womens Liberation in Afghanistan.

Before Libertation After Liberation

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The image “http://www.mythinglinks.org/WomenFlee%7Ecmp30%7Ecapt_1000565819pakistan_afghanistan.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Afghanistan; Americas Shame Canada's Tragedy

More On Afghanistan

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Is Delphi the Oracle of things to come?

Delphi not only halts production, breaks its union contract and lays-off workers, but it also bails on its underfunded pension liabilities. Awash in money GM seperated out Delphi for exactly those liablities. Now they come back to bite both companies in the ass. And they come back and hits workers twice as hard, first as workers losing their pension benefits and then as taxpayers asked to pay for the company outsanding debt on those benefits.

The pension funds themselves? Well those not locked into payments become a source of liquid capital for Delphi in bankruptcy.

Pensions will also be replaced with defined-contribution plans for hourly employees who are more than seven years from retirement and not covered by the GM benefit guarantee and salaried workers. The company said it will also need to obtain relief from the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Internal Revenue Service, and Department of Labor in order to amortize funding contributions over a longer period than may have previously occurred. Congressional action may also be necessary, Delphi said.

Proving once again that labour is the source of all capital, Delphi is stripping itself of its 'costs' that is variable labour; workers and commodities and holding on to its fixed assets as assurance.

See

Pensions

GM

Get The Buzz

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Eine Klein Nachtmusik

I read this Tories pressed into display of support

and thought of this guy

Supporters of Premier Ralph Klein are planning an orchestrated show of caucus support before Friday's crucial leadership review vote.
Caucus whip Denis Ducharme sent copies of a letter to the 61 government MLAs calling on caucus members to join the premier on the stage in a show of solidarity and support for the premier.

Ducharme's letter leaves little doubt that all MLAs are expected to show their loyalty to Klein.

Ducharme told Tory MLAs that Klein's speech, being touted by some as the most important in his 25-year political career, "will outline how he plans to work with our caucus during the remainder of his term.

"I would like to ask, as a demonstration of our support for the premier, and as a show of party unity, that our entire caucus move up onto the stage to stand briefly with our leader immediately following his speech," the letter says. "A cue from the stage will signal that we should move from our seats and file up via the closest stairs to join Premier and Mrs. Klein."

And I thought of the big mass rally that this weekend is to be for our Great Leader and thought of this.

The image “http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Party%20Day/nazi.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Dont know why for the life of me.

After all I cannont conceive of what Alberta has in common with these other democratically elected one party states.

Just a thought. Since Daveberta gets all verklempt about this kind of comparison.

Hello, wakey, wakey, we live in a One Party State. We have a Great Leader who wants mass public support. Hmm could it be a metaphor? Meta For what? The Marxist in me wants to say.

Of course Daveberta being the politcal straight edge guy he is, will not find this funny either. Since he thought so little of the comparison of our Dear Leader with This Guy.

As for the headline here's the link, and correct spelling, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

by a more enlightened German,Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, than our King Ralph.

More Klein

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Thursday, March 30, 2006

High Tech Keyensians

Once again the harsh reality of capitalism and its state once again debunk the fantasy world of the anarcho-capitalists and their lazzie faire comrades. Here again capitalism cannot function without some kind of prime the pump state intrusion into the marketplace. Because the market place is disfunctional. Unfortunately unlike my friends in the Libertarian Left I do not believe that the market place of capitalism can ever be anything but what it is; a Harsh Mistress. And here again we see it in it's neo-coservative version of Keyensian economics.

This is the same ideology of neo-conservative statist economics, as those who would have the state promote venture capital schemes as Alberta did and then sold off.

High-tech firms need government help, executive says

Last updated Mar 29 2006 11:19 AM MST
CBC News

An Edmonton entrepreneur says the Alberta government has to do more to encourage investment in the province's small but burgeoning high-tech sector. Adrian Banica owns Synodon Inc., a small high-tech company that specializes in gas detection technology. He said without government help, the high-tech sector will disappear from the Alberta landscape because it can't compete for investment with the oil and gas industry. Banica added that he has had trouble for years raising money to develop his product and expand his business. He said for an economy to be strong, it has to be diverse, so the province should provide more incentive for investment in high-tech. "The government has to put some dollars forward and then demand that private investors match it at least. But one thing that could make a big difference is to have some sort of tax credit that's issued on certain investments." A recent survey of 128 high-tech firms by Ernst & Young discovered that 49 per cent of high-tech companies are thinking of moving to other provinces that offer tax credits and financial considerations for technology businesses.

ERNST & YOUNG: Alberta Technology Report 2006

High-tech companies are also concerned about finding new customers in what they consider to be a limited marketplace. In the Ernst & Young report, 91 per cent cited that as their greatest challenge.

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Dildo Residents Given the Shaft

I know I know I just coudn't resist the great headline, however this is a case of a company that is just this side of a Ponzi scheme. The result is still the same; screwing investors.

Don't blame us, Edmonton company tells Newfoundlanders

Last summer, the company came to Newfoundland and Labrador communities to find people willing to buy the products and work as independent distributors. Organizer Tracey Piercey said about 200 people signed up with the company last summer. She and others who attended a meeting Sunday night in the community of Dildo said they were promised high rates of returns within months of becoming involved.

As they say Cavet Emptor, or perhaps Invest Emptor, while the folks fleecing those gullible would say Carpe Diem.

Piercey said participants were told that when houses were sold, they would earn back their money – and a profit. Company president Dexter Dombro said the plan was never supposed to be about easy money.

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What's The Rush

Despite a declared amnesty for underground workers, those sans papiers as they are known in Europe, those without papers, now the Conservative government is deporting these foreign workers, giving them the bums rush, as they try and figure out how to run the department.

So the new Minister in charge, Monte Solberg, instead of declaring an amnesty on any further deportations till he actually knows what is going on, instead says steady as she goes.

And off goes the border guard to deport not criminals, not gunrunners or drug smugglers, nope just hard working construction workers. So much for securing the border in Canada against illegal guns, all the Tories have done is sicked the border cops on taxpaying foreign workers. The New Multitdue

And wanting to show they are tough on immigration; like Lou Dobbs, and tougher than George Bush, the Conservatives make an example of hard working folks kicking them out of Canada and telling them to reapply. A real fine example of compassionate conservativism. Ottawa rejects US model on workers

The past three Liberal immigration ministers all announced plans to regularize the status of illegal immigrants who toil in the vast underground economy -- 10,000 to 15,000 in Ontario alone and an estimated 200,000 nationally. Past promises of an amnesty gave false hope to these underground workers, some of whom came forward to file refugee claims and/or humanitarian applications in an attempt to stay -- only to be ordered deported.Foreign labourers shown the door

Ironically this will come to bite them on the ass as the big Tar Sands companies need and want temporary workers to come to work in Alberta which is going through a labour shortage. Lack of Planning Created Skills Shortage in Alberta

They're Alberta bound

So which is it going to be welcome temporary workers or deport workers already here. The mind boggles but at least we know that the labour crisis in Canada is a low priority for the newly appointed Minister.

Solberg says the numbers of Portuguese the Conservative government has removed pale in comparison to the roughly 700 the former Liberal government had deported in the past three years. Last week, he said that dealing with this issue is a "low priority" for the government -- although he denies Ottawa is stepping up deportations or singling out Portuguese. The Canadian Border Services Agency is on track to deport about 10,000 people this year.

Also See: No Place At Home

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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

A Little Bit Of Heaven In Ottawa

Alberta is fondly refered to as Gods Country. In the house that King Peter Lougheed built; the post 1971 PC controled Alberta Legislature, the TV cameras all focus on the Government Bench and the Premiers front row.

There is no ability to pan across to the opposition or even the public gallery. And if the Premier moves out of range of these anchored camera's well they miss the action... as occured recently when King Ralph threw legislation at a page.

The Press gallery was two floors below any offices of importance. But the fridge used to have beer so that made it barable.

The Press in Alberta is dominated by Kleins autarchy, obey the rules or don't get called. Bite the hand that feeds you press tips and well, so much for your career as a political reporter. And then there is the Alberta Media version of FAUX News the CFCN network, and Limbaugh in Ruthordford.

Back in the ninties the only provincial public radio station in Canada; CKUA was fully privatized and lost its perennial contract to broadcast live from the Alberta Legislature during Question Period when it was held.

They had done this for seventy five years, and even survived the tyranny of the Social Credit government of Bible Bill. But in one fell swoop of anti-democracy the only station willing to carry the QP was cut off from access due to increased costs charged to them now that they were privatized. The logic befuddles the mind.

So good luck in Ottawa, you mighty media giants. You are about to face the wrath of Gods country. How DARE YOU PRESUME on the PM. Welcome to a little bit of Alberta in Ottawa. A little bit of Heaven for Cesar Harper.

Reporters face off with PMO over limits on access

Harper tightens secrecy, limits access

Tory gov't secrecy blasted by Graham

Battle heats up between media and Prime Minister's Office

Security on Parliament Hill barred reporters from attending a pair of Stephen Harper photo opportunities Monday as the Prime Ministers Office flexed its media messaging muscles.

The made-for-TV confrontation between security and reporters outside Harper's office door graphically illustrated the deteriorating relations between a PMO seeking total message control and news media defending their hard-won access.

It's a battle that may be beginning to resonate beyond the cozy precincts of the Peace Tower as the Conservatives threaten to hold secret cabinet meetings and withhold information about visiting heads of state.

"Harper ran on a campaign of open and accountable government," New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said Monday.

"And the first thing we see him doing is putting plywood up over all his windows and barring access to the doors. My question is, why? What is Harper afraid of?"

Among a series of media access restrictions already imposed or being contemplated, the most inflammatory is a plan to bar reporters from staking out cabinet meetings, where they can ask departing ministers about their portfolios.

In order to stop the practice, the PMO is suggesting it will keep the weekly meetings secret. At a minimum, it hopes to force reporters to wait a floor below the cabinet room, so that only ministers who want to speak - or have permission - will face the media.

Emmanuelle Latraverse, a Radio-Canada reporter and president of the press gallery, said the PMO is attempting to claw back access rights that have taken years to win.

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Hey Ralph Smell The Coffee

In Alberta it is very bad to be spoken of in the same breathe as Jean Chretien. Very bad indeed. Just ask Paul Martin......And it is reoccuring more frequently......Ralph and Jean, two who took too long to say goodbye........

So how did Ralph Klein, for years the leader who could do no wrong, get himself into such a mess this week?

Mr. Populist Premier, just "Ralph" to most Albertans, the mastermind of massive Conservative majorities for a decade, suddenly finds his grip is slipping. One cabinet minister, Lyle Oberg, openly says it's time Klein is gone and another, Ed Stelmach steps down. With party rank and file torn in their loyalties, the top brass worry Klein may take the party down with him.

It seemed to happen so fast, but signs have been there for awhile.

Who could forget that great moment after the 2001 election when an ecstatic, yes, gloating Klein grinned into the cameras "Welcome to Ralph's world!" He'd crushed the opposition to nine seats and took back much of Edmonton. He had the world in his hands.

That was the zenith. The cult of Klein soon began to fray at the edges and it was evident after the 2004 election,which laid the groundwork for today's mess

A new fear factor: Speaking up to Ralph

Globe and Mail, Canada
By Deborah Yedlin.

CALGARY — Lyle Oberg has been a hot topic in Calgary's business community since he broke ranks with Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and dared to voice what many in this province have been thinking for at least the past 12 months.

One oil patch industry insider went as far as saying "people were very happy" that someone finally had the gumption to challenge Mr. Klein, even if it has cost Mr. Oberg a run at the top job in provincial politics.

Many business leaders in both Edmonton and Calgary have been equally reticent to confront him. They too have been nattering for months that it's time for the Premier to go but because the oil patch depends on the government for favourable rulings on everything from royalty rates to approvals for new projects, the silence has been deafening.

Now, Mr. Oberg has spoken up and will likely pay the ultimate political price. With luck, his comments will resonate with delegates when they walk into the voting booth this weekend and anonymously cast their ballots during Mr. Klein's leadership review.

Mr. Klein has said he's willing to accept a 70-per-cent approval rating. He'd do better to think of two Jeans: Mr. Béliveau -- who retired after helping the Montreal Canadiens to win 10 Stanley Cups -- or Mr. Chrétien, who will go down in Canadian history books as a leader who held on to power at a huge cost to the country and his party.

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