Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Ed's Glass Half Empty

CanWest Media; the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald this morning greeted Albertans with this screaming election headline; Another Tory majority in sight.

Well actually no. Their latest poll puts Ed Stelmach and his team at 40%. Now that would be a sweep in any other province. But this is Alberta. Where previous Tory Governments had pre-election poll numbers of 65%, 75%, 80%, 90%.

So this is a decline. Ed's glass is not half full, it's half empty. Worse yet a poll last week had Ed's Team at 49% so in a week he has dropped 9%. Like just under 10% in week. That means by next Monday they could fall even further, in the poll that counts.

The headline should have said 60% of Albertans unhappy with Ed and his team.

And so the sub header ih the Herald and Journal reveal the truth;

'Enormous' undecided bloc a wild card, poll finds.


Now that's the glass half full.



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Thursday, February 21, 2008

Alberta Election Debate

Watching the leaders debate tonight ...Mason hits Taft with a zinger over the issue of capping greenhouse gas, the NDP brought a motion into the legislature that would cap greenhouse gases but both the Liberals and PC's voted against it. Zingo, bang, direct hit. Taft stumbles backtracks doesn't answer the question. Mason hits back and says the legislature is where laws are made not election campaigns. So Kevin why did you and the Liberals not support the NDP motion on greenhouse caps. Waiting Waiting.

The debate formate is counter productive, far to short a time for answers. CBC is doing online polling of viewers and it is not realistic at all. The whole format is counter productive.

Watching CBC, though this is a joint CBC, CTV, CPAC, Global production, it is amtuer hour.

The Media running this are acting like they have never moderated or organized an election debate before. Paul McGloughlin pundit extrodinare just said there was no defining moment, but again I would say Masons counter attack on Taft over greenhouse gases was just such a defining moment. He praised Paul Hinman of the Wild Rose Party as doing a good job. As what a discombobulated disorganized rambling babbler? Hinman did the worst job.He wandered was unprepared and never made any other point except that he was the voice of Big Oil interests in the province and the PC's weren't.

The CBC ran an online poll, which was skewed by the fact that it had all of three people responding to it.

Over all it was amateur hour, not for the leaders but the media who sponsored this whole debacle. By keeping it to short answers they failed the public in allowing for any substantial debate. They had an hour and a half, and they decided that the whole thing should be run as if it was a WWE closed ring match for two minutes a round.

If the debate was supposed to be the event that would decide this election, it failed miserably. Better to have changed channels and watched the Obama Clinton debate.


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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Caldwells Bad Investment Advice

Theo Caldwell, yes the Caldwell Investment Banker,

- Theo Caldwell, president of Caldwell Asset Management, Inc., is an investment advisor in the United States and Canada.


in the National Pest whines about Canada's support for Cuba through both business investment and tourism. He makes spurious claims, unsubstantiated by a single fact, in his opinion piece.

He claims;
"It grates against our national character that Canada continues to do business with Cuba, thereby helping to prop up Fidel Castro's tyrannical regime."

Oh really. Which national character is that? Perhaps it grates the right wing supporters of the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party, but they are far from the majority of Canadians. In fact one of the ironies is that Alberta, home of the Republican Lite Right Wing in Canada is also the source of the greatest trading partners with Cuba; Sherritt Mining.

As well Albertans travel to Cuba, as Caldwell further whines about claiming that Cubans will go to jail and be tortured if they visit Canada's Delta Hotel Resorts.

The tragic irony of sipping a Cuba Libre beside the pool in a hotel that native Cubans are forbidden from entering under pain of imprisonment, and within walking distance of one of Castro's torture chambers,

And Alberta farmers have long traded cattle and bull semen with current Cuban Leader Raul Castro, who has spent years cross breeding Latin American cattle with Alberta Angus.

He concludes;

"But whether or not the despot has gone on to his reward, passing power to his equally brutal brother Raul, tyranny is tyranny and Canada ought to have nothing to do with it."
Not good investment advice. One would expect better from a capitalist like Caldwell. But with his cold war mentality he is out in the cold on his anti-Cuba strategy.

Cuba Fund Has Biggest-Ever Surge After Castro Resigns (Update3)
Bloomberg
Castro's decision is ``a clear step towards the possibility of the US resuming trade with Cuba,'' Miami-based investor Thomas J. Herzfeld said during a ...
How to profit from Castro's resignation CNNMoney.com
Investing in a Post-Castro Cuba U.S. News & World Report
Equity revolution! Globe and Mail
Stocks with Cuban exposure rise on Castro resignation CBC News
Cuba: The Investment Play Conde Nast Portfolio



The real question here is does Caldwell live by the principles he espouses? Well not really. Sure his Caldwell Canada Mutual Fund (Caldwell Investment Mgmt Ltd.) isn't invested in Sherritt.

But they are invested in Talisman Energy, the big oil company that invested in Sudan known for promoting slavery, torture, etc. making Cuba look like a workers paradise. That offended the national character of Canadians who forced Talisman to divest of its investment in Sudan.

No thanks to Theo Caldwell or his investment fund.

Caldwell focuses on companies with at least $500 million in market capitalization, and his current Caldwell Canada holdings are predominantly mid-cap stocks. He will re-assess the portfolio at least once every quarter and expects the portfolio turnover to be 100% or higher.

He wants to be fully invested at all times and is comfortable having a stock holding of 5% to 10% of the portfolio. In terms of his sell discipline, "once stocks stop going up, we sell," he says.

Caldwell will make significant sector bets. Compared to the S&P/TSX Composite Index benchmark, as of Feb. 15, Caldwell Canada is close to 100% overweight in both the energy and the basic materials sectors, and "considerably" overweight in communications and media.

By comparison, the fund is underweight by more than 80% in financial services. "As an owner of the fund, you will be overweight in the sectors that have been doing the best," he says.

But Caldwell will limit his sector exposure. Overall, his portfolio won't hold more than double the index weight in any sector or 10%, whichever is greater.

He'll also avoid some well known "sin stocks." Along with the strategy of owning "high flyers," the focus is on companies that at their core are "deep down helping people," says Caldwell. "So we don't own alcohol, tobacco or gambling companies. I don't need to own them to make this work."


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Dictator

With the resignation announcement of Cuba's Comrade Commandante El Presidente Fidel Castro, as I have been predicting for months, the usual media reference to him is as 'dictator'.

http://blogs.trb.com/news/politics/blog/FidelCastro.jpg


I guess that is because he is appointed leader by his party without being directly elected.

But then again I guess if you use that definition then this guy was a dictator for the past year

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http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20071026/wroyalties26/1026stelmach364big.jpg



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Monday, February 18, 2008

Dynamic Leadership

The difference between the Tories and Tory Light...is the NDP.

Keith Brownsey, political science professor at Mount Royal College; "Taft has performed well," Brownsey said, although he noted the Grit leader isn't connecting on a personal level with voters. "He speaks too much like a business professor."

NDP Leader Mason is showing himself to be a more "dynamic individual,"


It's all a question of leadership dynamics. For those that dismiss Brian Mason as Premier material well look at whose Premier now. And that guy leading the Liberals who wants to be Premier. Nope they both make look Brian look positively Premier like.


SEE:

Sun Love In With NDP


Careful Of What You Ask For


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Dog Fighting In Afghanistan.

Our troops are fighting in Afghanistan to defend abuse of women, children and now animals.

Assignment Kandahar: Dog Fights, then a Bloodbath
A suicide bomber killed scores of Afghans attending a dog fighting "festival" being held just outside the city.

There is no official word if the suicide bomber was a member of PETA.

No report on the number of dogs killed.

And apparently the bodyguards were responsible for as many deaths as the suicide bomber.

Men and boys were enjoying picnics or watching dog and cock fights when the blast happened. Six children and thirteen auxiliary policemen were among the dead. Many of the wounded were critically injured and the death toll was expected to rise. Witnesses claimed panicking bodyguards fired wildly after the explosion, hitting dazed survivors.

Faizullah Qar Gar, a resident of Kandahar who was at the dog fight, said the militant commanders' bodyguards opened fire on the crowd after the bombing.

"In my mind there were no Taliban to attack after the blast but the bodyguards were shooting anyway," he said.


And let's remember that in North America dog fighting is illegal and will get you kicked out of the NFL and put in jail. But in Kandahar, well it's a 'tradition', gee just like Burka's and boy brides.. Still haven't got rid of those either in liberated Afghanistan.

Ironically , like opium production, dog fighting was banned by the nasty Taleban.


Dog-fighting competitions, which were banned under the Taleban regime, are a popular pastime in Afghanistan.
Can you say medieval patriarchal society? The enemies of my enemy may not be any better....


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America Founded On Slaves And Servants

As part of Black History month let us go back to the original colonization of North America which was based upon the use of indentured servants from Europe who became rebellious and were replaced with slaves from Africa.

The history of North America, is the historical legacy of slavery. It is the dark side of American Exceptionalism.

Freemen who were black as well as European indentured servants would not win their rights until well into the 19th Century.

The myth of American freedom is that it was only freedom for those who could afford to pay for it. That is those who were forced to labour for others and paid their way out of bondage.



Robert Beverley, The History and Present State of Virginia (1705).


[
Robert Beverley was a Virginia planter who wrote a favorable account of the slave society that had developed in Virginia by the beginning of the eighteenth century.]


Of the Servants and Slaves in Virginia

50. Their Servants, they distinguish by the Names of Slaves for Life, and Servants for a time.

Slaves are the Negroes, and their Posterity, following the condition of the Mother, according to the Maxim, partus sequitur ventrem [status follows the womb]. They are call'd Slaves, in respect of the time of their Servitude, because it is for Life.

Servants, are those which serve only for a few years, according to the time of their Indenture, or the Custom of the Country. The Custom of the Country takes place upon such as have no Indentures. The Law in this case is, that if such Servants be under Nineteen years of Age, they must be brought into Court, to have their Age adjudged; and from the Age they are judg'd to be of, they must serve until they reach four and twenty: But if they be adjudged upwards of Nineteen, they are then only to be Servants for the term of five Years.

51. The Male-Servants, and Slaves of both Sexes, are employed together in Tilling and Manuring the Ground, in Sowing and Planting Tobacco, Corn, &c. Some Distinction indeed is made between them in their Cloaths, and Food; but the Work of both, is no other than what the Overseers, the Freemen, and the Planters themselves do.

Sufficient Distinction is also made between the Female-Servants, and Slaves; for a White Woman is rarely or never put to work in the Ground, if she be good for any thing else: And to Discourage all Planters from using any Women so, their Law imposes the heaviest Taxes upon Female Servants working in the Ground, while it suffers all other white Women to be absolutely exempted: Whereas on the other hand, it is a common thing to work a Woman Slave out of Doors; nor does the Law make any Distinction in her Taxes, whether her Work be Abroad, or at Home.

52. Because I have heard how strangely cruel, and severe, the Service of this Country is represented in some parts of England; I can't forbear affirming, that the work of their Servants, and Slaves, is no other than what every common Freeman do's. Neither is any Servant requir'd to do more in a Day, than his Overseer. And I can assure you with a great deal of Truth, that generally their Slaves are not worked near so hard, nor so many Hours in a Day, as the Husbandmen, and Day-Labourers in England. An Overseer is a Man, that having served his time, has acquired the Skill and Character of an experienced Planter, and is therefore intrusted with the Direction of the Servants and Slaves.

But to compleat this account of Servants, I shall give you a short Relation of the care their Laws take, that they be used as tenderly as possible.

By the Laws of their Country.

1. All Servants whatsoever, have their Complaints heard without Fee, or Reward; but if the Master be found Faulty, the charge of the. Complaint is cast upon him, otherwise the business is done ex Officio.

2. Any Justice of Peace may receive the Complaint of a Servant, and order every thing relating thereto, till the next County-Court, where it will be finally determin'd.

3. All Masters are under the Correction, and Censure of the County-Courts, to provide for their Servant-, good and wholsme Diet, Clothing, and Lodging.

4. They are always to appear, upon the first Notice given of the Complaint of their Servants, otherwise to forfeit the Service of them, until they do appear.

5. All Servants Complaints are to be receiv'd at any time in Court, without Process, and shall not be delay'd for want of Form; but the Merits of the Complaint must be immediately inquir'd into by the Justices; and if the Master cause any delay therein, the Court may remove such Servants, if they see Cause, until the Master will come to Tryal.

6. If a Master shall at any time disobey an Order of Court, made upon any Complaint of a Servant; the Court is impower'd to remove such Servant forthwith to another Master, who will be kinder; Giving to the former Master the produce only, (after Fees deducted) of what such Servants shall be sold for by Publick Outcry.

7. If a Master should be so cruel, as to use his Servant ill, that is fallen Sick, or Lame in his Service, and thereby render'd unfit for Labour, be must be remov'd by the Church-Wardens out of the way of such Cruelty, and boarded in some good Planter's House, till the time of his Freedom, the charge of which must be laid before the next County-Court, which has power to levy the same from time to time, upon the Goods and Chattels of the Master; After which, the charge of such Boarding is to come upon the Parish in General.

8. All hired Servants are entitled to these Priviledges.

9. No Master of a Servant, can make a new Bargain for Service, or other Matter with his Servant, without the privity and consent of a Justice of Peace, to prevent the Master's Over-reaching, or scareing such Servant into an unreasonable Complyance.

10. The property of all Money and Goods sent over thither to Servants, or carry'd in with them; is reserv'd to themselves, and remain intirely at their disposal.

11. Each Servant at his Freedom, receives of his Master fifteen Bushels of Corn, (which is sufficient for a whole year) and two new Suits of Cloaths, both Linnen and Woollen; and then becomes as free in all respects, and as much entituled to the Liberties, and Priviledges of the Country, as any other of the Inhabitants or Natives are.

12. Each Servant has then also a Right to take up fifty Acres of Land, where he can find any unpatented: But that is no great Privilege, for any one may have as good a right for a piece of Eight.

This is what the Laws prescribe in favour of Servants, by which you may find that the Cruelties and Severities imputed to that Country, are an unjust reflection. For no People more abhor the thoughts of such Usage, than Virginians, nor take more precaution to prevent it.


Source: Robert Beverley,
The History and Present State of Virginia (London, 1705). Some spelling has been modernized.

ECONOMIC HISTORY
OF
VIRGINIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

AN INQUIRY INTO THE MATERIAL CONDITION OF
THE PEOPLE, BASED UPON ORIGINAL AND
CONTEMPORANEOUS RECORDS

BY

PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE

Author of “The Plantation Negro as a Freeman,” and Corresponding Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society

In Two Volumes

New York
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND LONDON

1896

All rights reserved

The term “servant” has been misinterpreted in modern times in the light of the menial signification which the expression has gradually acquired.[3] The members of this class in Virginia in the seventeenth century included all who had bound themselves under the provisions of an agreement, embodied in a formal legal document, or, in the absence of an indenture, according to the universal custom of the country, which had the force and sanctity of law, to continue for a prescribed time in another’s employment. The term was applied not only to those who had contracted to work as agricultural laborers, or as artisans and mechanics, but also to those who were seeking to obtain, under articles of apprenticeship, a knowledge of one of the learned professions. In 1626, Richard Townsend, in a suit of law against Dr. John Pott on the ground that Dr. Pott had not instructed him in the apothecary’s art according to the conditions of his indenture, described himself as the servant of that physician, who was so distinguished in the early history of Virginia.[4] Nor did the term necessarily imply an humble social origin. Adam Thoroughgood, a man of wealth and influence in the Colony towards the middle of the seventeenth century, and who was referred to as “gentleman” in the patents he sued out,[5] a designation to which he was entitled not only on account of his general character and position, but by his social connections in England, came to Virginia as an apprentice or servant. In making his will in 1666, Sir Robert Peake, a well-known citizen of London, devised three hundred pounds sterling to George Lyddall, his cousin, at that time in Virginia, to whom he alludes as his “sometime servant.”[6]

The larger proportion of the servants in Virginia in the seventeenth century who were imported into the Colony after being guilty of offences against the law in England, were simply men who had taken part in various rebellious movements. This class of population, so far from always belonging to a low station in their native country, frequently represented the most useful and respectable elements in the kingdom from which they came; it was no crime for Irishmen to defend their soil against the tyrannical intrusion of Cromwell, or for disaffected Englishmen and Scotchmen to rise up against the harsh and cruel measures of Charles II and James II. It was the men who loved their homes and were devoted to their church that led these movements, and their followers, in spite of ignorance and poverty, shared their courage, their steadfastness, and their patriotism.

The fact that so few conspiracies were hatched among the laborers bound by articles of indenture is to be attributed not only to the fair treatment which, as a rule, they received from their masters, but also to the comparative brevity of the time for which all whose ages exceeded nineteen, among whom alone a plot was likely to be formed, were required to serve. It was entirely natural that the older members of this class should have been disposed to endure much that was harsh or repugnant to their wishes in the expectation of the early ending of their terms, rather than plunge into secret schemes that exposed them to the risk of certain death in the event of detection. There seems to have been a seditious feeling in York in 1661, and its display was considered to be sufficiently serious to justify the authorities in warning the magistrates and heads of families in that county to punish all discourse among those in their employment tending to a popular tumult.[56] The conspiracy of 1663, to which reference has been made already, had a religious and political object in view. Only a few servants appear to have been included among those implicated in it. The Cromwellian soldiers, reduced to the condition of common laborers, doubtless smarted with the sense of degradation, but beyond all this, there was a hope that the status of the English Protectorate might by their bravery and resolution be restored in the Colony.[57] The discovery of this plot led to the passage of severe laws in repression of the sinister meetings of servants. They were forbidden to come together in considerable numbers on Sunday, a day on which they had been allowed entire rest, and the same rule was also probably applicable to all recognized holidays. By the custom prevailing in the Colony, the laborers were granted not only the Sabbath and the usual holidays observed in England, but also the greater part of every Saturday.[58] Apart from the hours of night, there were many occasions when they were wholly at leisure, and if there had existed any disposition to conspiracy among them, the opportunity would not have been lacking. In the period of great depression following the collapse of the Rebellion of 1676, there was imminent danger of an open insurrection on the part of the servants, but if it had occurred, the motive would have been not merely impatience of the landowners’ authority but apprehension of famine. The feeling died out when relief had been obtained.

Among so large a body of laborers, it is not remarkable that there should have been many instances of resistance to masters. One of the earliest petitions presented to the General Assembly in 1619, the first legislature convening in the Colony, was that of Captain Powell, who desired to have his servant punished for falling into grossly insubordinate conduct. The petitioner was empowered to place this servant in the pillory for a period of four days, to nail his ears to the post, and to give him a public whipping on each day included in his sentence.[59] The severe punishment inflicted in this case does not appear to have been repeated in later times. The person who was found guilty of offering resistance either to his master, or to the overseer who was appointed to supervise him, was compelled to continue in the same employment two years beyond the expiration of the term for which he was bound either by indenture or the custom of the country.[60] If the spirit of insubordination which he exhibited rendered him dangerous, he could, upon complaint, be committed to jail, a bond being given by his owner that the charge would be pressed to a trial. During the imprisonment, the master was required to support the servant, five pounds of tobacco being paid to the sheriff to cover the expense of each twenty-four hours of detention.[61]

At each county seat there was a whipping-post, and this mode of punishment was frequently used as a substitute for the jail. The servant condemned to the lash was delivered to the sheriff to be publicly chastised as a warning to all who were similarly disposed, and afterwards returned to the plantation to which he or she might be attached. The master had a right to whip a delinquent with his own hands if unwilling to put himself to the inconvenience of sending him to a magistrate for that purpose.[62] When the servant had shown on any occasion the desire to inflict injury on any one not his employer, the latter might be ordered, in the discretion of the court, to furnish a bond that his servant would keep the peace.[63] Should a servant be guilty of murder or an attempt to kill, six men were summoned from the neighborhood where he lived whose names were put at the head of the panel. By the jury thus formed he was tried, and if convicted, was sentenced to be imprisoned or hanged, according to the circumstances of his crime.[64] Aggravated cases of robbery were doubtless punished with severity, but small offences like hog-stealing, especially when the person who suffered was the master, exposed the offender as a rule only to the pains of a public or private whipping.[65] In some cases, in addition to public chastisement, he was compelled by order of court to continue in the same employment for a term of two years after the expiration of the time upon which he had agreed.[66] It not infrequently happened that in condonation for the most serious forms of robbery, a servant bound himself upon the conclusion of the period covered by his indenture to enter into a second indenture by which he agreed to serve a second period.[67] Whoever induced a man of this class to dispose of his master’s property by stealth, more particularly when the tempter became the beneficiary of the theft, was compelled to suffer imprisonment for a month and to restore four times the value of the articles which had been carried off.[68]

In the Assembly of 1619, a law was passed that provided that the servant should receive a whipping for every oath he uttered, and should afterwards confess his guilt in the parish church when the congregation had convened for religious services. There is no record of this statute having been repealed.[69] The regulation imposing a fine of tobacco upon all freemen who had been heard to swear was steadily enforced, and there is no reason why there should have been any relaxation of the special punishment inflicted for the same offence upon those in their employment.


CHAPTER XI

SYSTEM OF LABOR: THE SLAVE

One of the most serious drawbacks to the employment of indented laborers was the inevitable frequency of change attending this form of service. In a few years, as soon as the time for which the servant had been bound under the articles of his contract or by the custom of the country had come to an end, his place had to be supplied by another person of the same class. Whenever a planter brought in a laborer at his own expense, or purchased his term from the local or foreign merchant who had transported him to the Colony, the planter was compelled to bear in mind the day when he would no longer have a right to claim the benefit of his servant’s energies because his control over him had expired by limitation. He might introduce a hundred willing laborers, who might prove invaluable to him during the time covered by their covenants, but in a few years, when experience had made them efficient, and their bodies had become thoroughly enured to the change of climate, they recovered their freedom, and, if they felt the inclination to do so, as the great majority naturally did, were at liberty to abandon his estate and begin the cultivation of tobacco on their own account, or follow the trades in which they had been educated. Unless the planter had been careful to make provision against their departure by the importation of other laborers, he was left in a helpless position without men to tend or reap his crops or to widen the area of his new grounds. It was not simply the desire to become an owner of a great extent of land that prompted the Virginian in the seventeenth century to bring in successive bands of persons whose transportation entitled him to a proportionate number of head rights. Perhaps in a majority of cases, his object was to obtain laborers whom he might substitute for those whose terms were on the point of expiring. It was this constantly recurring necessity, which must have been the source of much anxiety and annoyance as well as heavy pecuniary outlay, that led the planters to prefer youths to adults among the imported English agricultural servants, for while their physical strength might have been less, yet the periods for which they were bound extended over a longer time.

It can be readily seen that from this economic point of view, the slave was a far more desirable form of property than the white servant. His term was for life, not for a few years. There was no solicitude as to how his place was to be filled, for he belonged to his Master as long as he lived, and when he died he generally left behind him a family of children who were old enough to furnish valuable aid in the tobacco fields. In physical strength he was the equal of the white laborer of the same age, and in power of endurance he was the superior. Whilst some of the negroes imported into the Colony, more especially those snatched directly from a state of freedom in Africa, were doubtless in some measure difficult to manage, the slaves as a rule were docile and tractable, and, when natives of Virginia, not disposed to rebel against the condition of life in which they found themselves. Not only were they more easily controlled than the white servants, but they also throve on plainer fare and were satisfied with humbler lodgings. Nor were they subject to seasoning, a cause of serious loss in the instance of the white laborers. Moreover, they could not demand the grain and clothing which the custom of the country had prescribed in favor of the white servants at the close of their terms, and which constituted an important drain upon the resources of the planters. It is true that the master was required to provide for his slave in old age when he could make no return because incapable of further effort, but the expense which this entailed was insignificant.

It would appear for these reasons that even in the seventeenth century, the labor of slaves after the heavy outlay in securing it had been met, was cheaper than the labor of indented white servants,[1] although the latter class of persons stood upon the same footing as the former as long as their terms continued. This was the opinion of men who had resided in the Colony for many years, and enjoyed the fullest opportunity of observing the operation of the local system of agriculture. The wastefulness of slave labor, which has always been considered to be the most serious drawback attached to it as compared with free labor, was of smaller importance in that age than when the whole area of Virginia had been divided into separate plantations, and the extent of the untouched soil had become limited to a degree demanding more skilful and more careful methods in the cultivation of the ground. In the seventeenth century, there was no element of wealth so abundant as the new lands covered by the fertile mould which had been accumulating on their surface for many thousand years. The planter availed himself of their productiveness in reckless haste, soon reducing the rich loam to barrenness, but in doing so he was pursuing a more profitable course and a more economical plan than if he had endeavored to restore the original quality of the soil. If it had been possible to obtain domestic or imported manures at a small expense, it would still have been cheaper in the end, the volume of the annual crop being considered, to extend the clearings and to leave nature to bring back the abandoned fields to their primæval excellence. The Virginian planter of the seventeenth century was apparently the greatest of agricultural spendthrifts, but in reality he was only adapting himself to surrounding conditions, which were the reverse of those prevailing in the mother country, where art had to be called in to preserve the ground from the destructive effect of long-continued tillage. Introduced into the Colony where the first principle of agriculture was to abuse because the virgin lands were unlimited in quantity, the institution of slavery was not lessened in value from an industrial point of view by the fact that it did not promote economical methods in the use of the soil.



SEE:

Black History Month Posts

MLK Day

Edward Gibbon Wakefield

The Era Of The Common Man



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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Liberals Call For Strategic Voting

Tim Vant the invisible Liberal candidate in Edmonton Strathcona has good advise to voters and fellow Liberals.

VOTE STRATEGICALLY

Don't throw your vote away.


Seeing as he doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell against the well organized NDP candidate Rachel Notley.

Reading on we discover that the Liberals are an environmentally friendly party; recycling old campaign strategies. Across the province they are calling for strategic voting...for them of course.

The Alberta Liberal Team is the only party with a realistic chance of taking power away from the Conservatives and bringing change after 37 years of tired Tory government. If you want change, Tim Vant needs your vote.

Except the only time they actually came close to beating the PC's was way, way, way, back in 1993. Under the leadership of a charismatic political feisty former Edmonton Mayor. And back then it was against a feisty, charismatic, former mayor of Calgary. Since then the Liberals have run every election with a new leaders, except this one which has Taft being recycled as Premier material. It gives new meaning to green politics.

And in Edmonton Strathcona formerly held by the NDP Party leader Raj Pannu, and with a candidate whose father was the first NDP MLA, and has name recognition, well the best strategy is vote for an NDP opposition.

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In fact "It Is Time" that Redmonton voted strategically; Vote NDP, for a strong opposition.

SEE:

Sun Love In With NDP


Careful Of What You Ask For


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Edmonton Strarthcona PC Candidate MIA

Meet another PC candidate who is internet challenged. Unlike his boss though this guy is a member of the net generation.

T. J. Keil is Ed's boy in Edmonton Strathcona.TJ to his friends. But he doesn't have much of a campaign or a hope in hell of winning . The PC's have given up on Edmonton Strathcona leaving it for the NDP to retain.

Not for signs or literature would I have known who this guy was, Nor do I find out much from his sparse web page.

T.J. enjoys many different sports, traveling, and participating in journalism and broadcasting.


For instance we find that this is on the candidates itinerary page;

T.J.'s upcoming appearances
Coming soon.


And then we find he has no events planned, half way through the election......


This page will soon hold information about T.J.'s campaign events in the Edmonton-Strathcona area.


And it only gets worse..... being one of those hip internet savvy politicians T.J. has his own blog....not....

The image “http://www.tjkeil.com/img/topright.png” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Click....oops....

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /blog/ on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


Apache/2.2.8 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.8b mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 Server at www.tjkeil.com Port 80

Instead I have to visit his Facebook page to find out anything about him. Like last year he worked on one of the campaigns for one of the unnamed, unsuccessful candidates for Ralph's job.

T.J. was an active volunteer in the 2006 Leadership Campaign, organizing membership and campaign data and worked on the get-out-the-vote strategy.



And that he really, really, wants to represent us in Edmonton Strathcona.

T.J. has decided, after being involved in politics for most of his teen and young adult life, to throw his hat into the political ring. “This is something I really want to do right now”, he says. “It would be an honour to represent Edmonton-Strathcona as a Member of the Legislative Assembly.”
Not likely TJ.

Can you say parachute candidate....

Tory candidate drops out

Notley's chances grew Sunday with news that the Tories' candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona has dropped out, leaving the party scrambling to fill the slot.

Hughena Gagne, a staffer in Finance Minister Lyle Oberg's office, had been nominated. "She just didn't want to run," a senior Tory campaigner said. The party expects to replace the candidate later this week.

Yep the PC's have abandoned Edmonton Strathcona to the NDP.


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Ed's Facebook Page

Ed Stelmach doesn't have his own Facebook page....but he has a Facebook Fan Club which is formed by folks out in Toronto and Kingston, Ontario..... claiming Northern Alberta loves Ed....



The Ed Stelmach fan club
Type:
Organizations - Political Organizations
Description:
Because all of northern alberta loves steady Eddie.

Officers

Mathew Molsberry (Royal Military College of Canada)
Royal Military College of Canada '09
Kingston, ON
Director of Northern Alberta Relations
Daniel Muscat-Drago (Toronto, ON)
Director of Ghetto/Centenial relations
Max Riopelle (Royal Military College of Canada)
Director Ed Stelmach(visa ve Alberta)/Eastern Canada Relations

Administration
Stephen Paish (Royal Military College of Canada)



And it has 402 members not all of whom are Ed fans.....

Amber Kay (Simon Fraser) wrote
at 3:57pm yesterday
NARROW, I would describe narrow minded as selling your souls for a profit, a profit in which Albertans and Canadians don’t see because your wonderful premier won’t charge higher royalties!! Alberta has the lowest oil royalties in the world!! And the oil companies and the government have your balls in a vice because if you speak out to what you are entitled to, they will leave- very democratic of them, to bad your government won’t protect you! And what are you willing to sacrifice, because right now- its everything. Fresh water, air, and the lives of thousands of people- so if a human life is worth less then your job, then wow, what a sad state of affairs our world it is- and I believe we have your friend steady Eddie and the conservatives to thank.



Ivan Abelar wrote
at 11:26am yesterday
Such a narrow view Amber...Yes its hard on the enviroment but without Alberta's Economy Canada's economy we down the tubes. There are steps that still have to be taken for the good of the province but to much change will push oil companies out and thousands of people out of work and the ripple will be felt in all provinces. Even at simon fraser...


Amber Kay (Simon Fraser) wrote
at 6:49pm on February 15th, 2008
OMG- are you people slow!! Ed is a retard, sure he is great if you dont mind a guy who gives away Alberta resources, alows the WORLDS WORST NATURAL DISASTER to occur in your back yard, alow the oil companies to fuck every Albertan in the ass- and they dont even use lube!! So ya go Stelmach- cause ya, if you blind sheep keep voteing,then you will all continue to get screwed!! there is no Alberta advantage- and this group proves it

Oh dear seems like maybe this was not such a good idea...quick someone notify Tyler Shandro to sue these guys...they are doing more harm than good....Ed and the Tired Old Tories are internet challenged this election.

See:

Ed's Ides of March


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False Advertising

Yeah made a commitment to be delivered in 2009,or 2010 or maybe 2011....

The image “http://photos-726.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v155/14/16/505005726/n505005726_1594552_212.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.


As for a plan they have no plan...except to get re-elected...

Stelmach's sophomore-year throne speech will try to further convince voters he has a clear plan, contrary to the ominous whispers of "no plan" in union-funded ads that have run on TV for weeks.

The premier whispered back, "We have a plan" in a news conference last week, and now Kwong will reiterate that message on his behalf.




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Saturday, February 16, 2008

Insurance Woes and Whines


Insurance firms feel profit pinch
Industry giants blame roiling markets, high loonie for dampening fourth-quarter earnings and outlook


Sez the headline. But the reality is that it has less to do with the loonie, and more about their investments in the U.S. including of course their exposure to the sub-prime credit mess. Ah the joys of global capitalism. The reason that banks want to merge of course is to compete for positions in the global financial markets, that is the U.S. market. And this is what happens when they do.....

Manulife is Canada's largest insurer. Approximately 64 per cent of its earnings are generated in the United States and Asia. Smaller rival Sun Life faces a similar predicament with about 52 per cent of its earnings originating from the U.S., U.K. and Asia.

For the October-December quarter, Sun Life reported earnings of $555 million or 97 cents per share. That compared with net income of $545 million or 94 cents per share for the same period in 2006. "This quarter was also marked by significant market turbulence," McKenney said.

Chief executive Donald Stewart said that volatility would likely affect the industry's outlook in the near term. Echoing those sentiments, Manulife CEO Dominic D'Alessandro suggested that "unsettled markets" would likely affect wealth businesses.

Sun Life also disclosed it has $84 million in direct exposure and $961 million in indirect exposure to monoline bond insurers. Those companies, which provide insurance against default in securitized debt, have become a source of worry because certain firms have had their credit ratings downgraded.

Chief investment officer Jim Anderson said Sun Life's direct exposure to monolines is with two insurers that are "AAA rated with a stable outlook." Its indirect exposure is to insurers with "investment grade" ratings, adding most of its exposure is in the U.K.

Insurance companies used to be the most risk adverse and conservative of financial institutions. However with the shift to globalization of the marketplace in the eighties and nineties from production to FIRE (financial services, insurance, real estate,) this all changed. A renewed financial market dominated the market, as it once had prior to WWI, the result of this financial exuberance, and shift from investment in production to investment in investment instruments bailed out New York and London from their Reagan/Thatcher excesses and declines. In doing so insurance companies as well as the banks and other financial businesses exposed themselves to the dangers of the balloon and bust market. Chickens, home, roost.

Just as people meet and authorize someone from among their own number to take specific action on their behalf, so commodities must meet to authorize a single commodity to confer full or partial citizenship in the world of commodities. The act of exchange is the occasion for such a meeting of commodities. The social activity of commodities on the market is to capitalist society what collective intelligence is to a socialist society. The consciousness of the bourgeois world is concentrated in the market report. It is only after the successful completion of the exchange that the individual can have any insight into the process as a whole, or any guarantee that his product has satisfied a social need, as well as the incentive to begin his production anew. The object which is thus authorized by the common action of commodities to express the value of all other commodities is – money. The authority of this particular commodity develops along with the development of the exchange of commodities.

Finance Capital, Hilferding 1910


SEE:

Lenin Was Right

Petro Dollars Bail Out The CITI


Bank Smack Down


U.S. Economy Entering Twilight Zone

Lenin's State Monopoly Capitalism


40 Years Later; The Society of the Spectacle


Commodity Fetish a Definition

State Capitalism in the USSR

Plutocrats Rule


The Right To Be Greedy


Social Credit And Western Canadian Radicalism

It's the Labour Theory of Value, stupid


China: The Truimph of State Capitalism

Deconstructing Hayek

Social Insecurity- The Phony Pension Crisis


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