Surf's Up In Gaza

The antithesis of the surf routine in Apocalypse Now.

Surfing for Peace. Cowabunga!

Dorian Paskowitz, 86, from Hawaii, handed over some of the surfboards himself. The retired Jewish doctor hopes a love of surfing will help bring Israelis and Palestinians together

Israel has allowed few nonessential goods to pass into Gaza since the militant group Hamas took over the coastal territory in June. When Paskowitz, 86, reached the crossing, the officer in charge had reason to be wary: Israeli forces trying to thwart rocket fire from Gaza that day had killed three Palestinian gunmen and two children who were playing near a rocket launcher near the border. Eight other Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops this week, among the bloodiest this summer.

Paskowitz, who is known as Doc, said he told the officer:

"I came 12,500 miles from Hawaii to give away these boards. The guys who need them are standing 50 meters from here, and you're trying to stop me. How can you do that to a fellow Jew?"

He showed the Israeli officer a photograph of two Gaza surfers on the Mediterranean shore with one battered board between them. It had appeared in the Los Angeles Times on July 29 with an article about how some Palestinians try to escape the poverty and violence of the overcrowded strip by riding the waves.

Paskowitz is one of surfing's top gurus in America after first taking to a board 75 years ago. He and his surfing brood - eight sons, one daughter and a brood of grandchildren - have been dubbed the "first family of surfing", with premier US newspapers and magazines writing about them for years.

The medical doctor who has penned a book on "Surfing and Health" hopes his initiative will bring happiness and hope to both Palestinian and Israelis.

He hopes to organise surfing competitions off the Mediterannean coast of Israel and Gaza within the next three years in order to bring the two sides closer.

"We love to surf and we know how other people love to surf. There is nothing more fulfilling."

See:

Israel

Palestine


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Put Doc's On Salary

It's time to proletarianize these petit-bourgeoisie self employed businessmen, and put them on salaries in community based medical clinics. Which would include pharmacists, and other complimentary workers like nurse practitioners.

This is not as far fetched as it may seem. Without such a radical grassroots reform expect the CMA businessmen to continue to lobby for contracting out and user fees as their ideals of Medicare reform.

Medical user-fee motion vote narrowly fails

doctors narrowly defeated a controversial user-fee motion at the annual Canadian Medical Association meeting.

The motion, which proposed that patients should help fund their care with "co-payments and health savings accounts," drew support from 48 per cent of voting doctors. Fifty per cent were opposed and two per cent abstained.

"Co-payments" mean patients would pay a fee when they see their doctors or obtain hospital services. "Health savings accounts" would act like registered retirement savings plans, enabling people to stash savings in tax-sheltered accounts, to be spent on medical items like home care, long-term care and prescription drugs.

CMA president wants public and private health care

"My support for universal health care is unequivocal, but I believe the [Canada Health] Act must be revised, reformed and updated," said Day, a founder and owner of the private Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver.

He said there could be a role for private health care in our public system.

"I realize it will surprise some of you that I raise this topic," he said. "Let's be clear. Canadians should have the right to private medical insurance when timely access is not available in the public system.

"Contracting out public health services to the private sector to reduce wait lists is not a new idea and does not spell the end of universality."

Prescribing a health-care revolution

The entire health-care system has to be examined with two aims in mind: To offer excellent health care as it is provided now, but using different professionals at a much lower cost.

Let's start with the drug companies. They spend tens of millions on research and promotion and bring out new drugs at an inflated price that are only marginally, if at all, better than the drugs being used. It is estimated that only about one in 20 drugs released for use is of major importance. The government should appoint pharmacists to check these new drugs against what is in use for a particular patient to see if the higher price is reflected in a healthier patient.

All the work done by doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and optometrists must be examined to see if their jobs can be inter-changed at a lower cost. As an example, the Ontario government will soon license dental hygienists to practise independent of dentists. This could change the way basic preventive oral care is offered in Ontario, surely at a lower cost.

In the North, where doctors are scarce, nurse-practitioners do the job of the GPs very successfully.

SEE:

Laundry Workers Fight Privatization

Two Tier Alberta

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Rent A Crowd

Once again another Red Friday brought to you by the PMO and Department of Defense.

This is called taking advantage of a captive audience. Interesting to note in this article that there are NO numbers given for this 'large crowd". It's because it wasn't that large. Not really a sea, more like a puddle in the midst of the CNE.

The grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto turned into a sea of red on Friday afternoon thanks to a large crowd that turned out for a rally in support of Canada's troops in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of people do not make it a massive rally as Stephen Harper pointed out the other day.

Gen. Rick Hillier was speaking at a massive rally at the Canadian National Exhibition fairgrounds, where hundreds of people turned out in red shirts to show support for the soldiers stationed overseas.

A thousand people is what they got out at the last Red Friday, and that is about average for these pro-war rallies put on by DND and the Government of Canada.

It really was a coming out party for Peter MacKay as the new Minister of Defense.

The question is how many were there for Don Cherry's autograph.

Perhaps Don Cherry – hockey personality and ardent supporter of Canada's military – said it best.

“You guys wanted red; you got red,” the broadcaster, himself sporting a maroon velvet suit, told an estimated 1,000 people who dressed up for yesterday's Red Friday Rally at the CNE as a show of support for Canada's soldiers.

Hundreds of people signed a “support our troops” banner and cheered loudly as a photo of the crowd was taken to be sent to the soldiers on Canada's military mission to Afghanistan.

And a thousand people at the CNE is a drop in the bucket in a crowd of 70,000. Heck more folks line up for those mini donuts and elephant ears.

All around people munched from yellow tubs of Poppa Corn and toted stuffed animals. A giant ferris wheel spun in the distance, while crowds gathered around military displays. The crowd, meanwhile, spread out to enjoy the event and check out what other entertainment the CNE had to offer.

And of course the cynical might suspect that this was all part of the Canadian Armed Forces new recruitment drive.

Operation Connection is underway at the CNE.

This year the military has expanded its endeavours at the fair. After more than 650,000 people visited the Canadian Forces' exhibit at the CNE last year, military officials asked organizers for another 743 square metres of real estate. That's almost half again as much as last year's 1,765 square metres.

Canadian Forces ask retired vets to re-enlist

Facing a shortage of experienced military personnel, the Canadian Forces has put out a call to retired veterans to sign up again -- not to battle, but to help train a new generation of soldiers.

While the military is exceeding its new recruit targets, the Afghanistan mission is draining the resources needed to get them into the system -- causing problems for the military's ambitious plans to boost its numbers.

SEE:

Harpers Body Count

Heil Hillier, Maintiens le droit

Harpers Fascism

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Stelmach's Rats Desert

Alberta is the only rat free province in Canada. And we intend to keep it that way, thanks to the unelected and unpopular Eddie Stelmach.

The rats are deserting the sinking ship of state.

Clint Dunford Decides to Pack it In

Red Deer's Victor Doerksen Packs it In!

The only rat-free zones in the world are the Arctic, the Antarctic, some especially isolated islands, the province of Alberta in Canada, and certain conservation areas in New Zealand.

Alberta is unusual in that rat infestation was prevented by deliberate government action.

Although it is a major agricultural area and has a fairly high human population density, it is far from any seaport and only a portion of its eastern boundary with Saskatchewan provides a favorable entry route for rats. They cannot survive in the boreal forest to the north, the Rocky Mountains to the west, nor the semi-arid High Plains of Montana to the south.

The first rat did not reach Alberta until 1950, and in 1951 the province launched an extremely aggressive rat-control program that included shooting and poisoning rats, and bulldozing, burning down, and blowing up rat-infested buildings. In the first year of the program 64 tonnes of arsenic trioxide was spread in 8,000 buildings (8 kg/building) on 2,700 farms along the Saskatchewan border. Fortunately, in 1953 the much less toxic and more effective poison Warfarin was introduced, and since then the control program has consumed between 5 and 13 tonnes of Warfarin annually.

By 1960 the number of rat infestations in Alberta had dropped below 200 per year and has remained low ever since Any wild rat population is eliminated by the government Rat Patrol immediately after it is detected. The effort is aided by hundreds of pest control officers and thousands of local citizens, who will not tolerate the introduction of rats.

The laws regarding rats are draconian and firmly enforced. Only zoos, universities, and research institutes are allowed to own caged rats, and possession of an unlicensed rat (including pet rats) is punishable by a $5,000 fine or 60 days in jail. The adjacent and similarly landlocked province of Saskatchewan initiated a rat control program in 1963, and has managed to reduce the number of rats in the province substantially.

We are also facing the extinction of Ord's Kangaroo Rat, but it is not a rat, nor a kangaroo, nor is it a Tory.

But like other Albertans it too is suffering at the hands of the Tories and their Big Oil Pals.

Kangaroo rats feared hopping toward oblivion

The kangaroo rats of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta are disappearing along with the sand dunes they call home, researcher Darren Bender says.

The Ord's kangaroo rat, as the furry rodent is more formally known, most resembles a gerbil, but with larger hind legs and a longer tail. It hops around like a tiny kangaroo.

With fewer than 1,000 kangaroo rats left, it is a prime candidate for the country's endangered species list, said Bender, a biologist with the University of Calgary.

The sand dunes the animal needs to live are threatened by human development, such as resource exploration, as well as natural erosion, he told CBC News Wednesday.

Ord's Kangaroo Rat

Recovery Team Update (94.0K, PDF format)
Alberta Ord's Kangaroo Rat Recovery Plan 2005 (447 KB PDF format)

Like the poor Kangaroo Rat, Stelmach's Tories have become an endangered species.

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Hoax

Two moons on 27th August 2007?

An eclipse wrongly called a double moon? Or is it Mars?

It's Neither.

As Molly's Blog points out

As Molly has made plain in a previous post (see' What's All This Double Moon Stuff' earlier today) there will not be either any "double Moon" or "double eclipse" on the upcoming lunar eclipse in the early morning of August 28th. It will be the regular and ordinary lunar eclipse.

And the Mars post circulating by email, appears to be based on events in the recent past.

Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August.

It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65 Million miles of earth.
Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons.
The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

The text of this rumor was roughly accurate when it first began circulating in the summer of 2003, outdated when it went around again in 2005, and just plain false when it appeared for the third time in 2006. It is now 2007, and making the rounds again. How many times can a "once in a lifetime" event occur?

The oscillating orbits of Mars and Earth did, in fact, bring the two planets closer together on August 27, 2003 than at any other time during the past 50,000 years. Though Mars never actually appeared "as large as the full moon" -- not even close -- for a few days in 2003 it was indeed the brightest object in the night sky.

On August 27 of that year, the orbital paths of Earth and Mars brought the two planets to within 34.65 million miles of one another -- closer than at any other time in the past 50,000 years. Though Mars never actually appeared "as large as the full moon to the naked eye" (as claimed in the email), the red planet did vividly dominate the night sky for a time, making 2003's close encounter a once-in-a-lifetime event indeed for astronomers, space enthusiasts, and ordinary observers alike.

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Day In Wonderland

Stockwell Day expands on the Humpty Dumpty syndrome of the Harper government, and becomes the Red Queen for a Day,

The Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

By justifying the Police use of undercover agent provocateurs to incite violence and justify the use of riot police at the SPP protests in Montebello.

Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, meanwhile, continued to brush of questions about a call for a public inquiry. "The thing that was interesting in this particular incident, three people in question were spotted by protesters because (they) were not engaging in violence," Day said Friday in Vancouver. "Because they were not engaging in violence, it was noted that they were probably not protesters. I think that's a bit of an indictment against the violent protesters."

An undercover cop carrying rocks encouraging violence and acting as an agent provocateur is an indictment against the police and idiots like Day.

"They were being encouraged to throw rocks and they were not throwing rocks, it was the protesters who were throwing the rocks. That's the irony of this," said Day,

You see the cop was not being violent he was just carrying a rock. A rock he had handed to him only moments before, and he was going to drop it, but union protesters surrounded him and didn't give him a chance.

So still carrying his rock, he walked towards the riot cops to show them his evidence. And so they pretended to bust him so they could dust the rock for fingerprints for the identity of the real violent protester who handed him the rock.

And all those other rock throwing protesters? Well none seem to have been arrested. In fact they all seem to have disappeared.

On Wednesday, the mayor of Montebello thanked police and protesters, praising the fact that there wasn't a single report of damage during the two-day summit.

In the Wonderland that is Ottawa, Humpty Dumpty logic continues to dominate the mindset of the Harpocrites.

“When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,
"it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”

SEE:

Police Black Bloc



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Glass Half Full

In true blue fashion neither the Alberta Government nor their Federal cousins can calculate.

Someone get these guys an abacus.

Alberta surplus jumps in first-quarter projection


Fed surplus more than forecast, again

In Alberta though we have a regime stuck in the nineties, and even this surplus will end up somehow being a deficit when it comes to government spending.

While the Federal Surplus is helped along by the Conservatives delays in funding their eco-programs.


SEE:

Tax Cuts For The Rich Burden You and Me

Tax Fairness For The Rich

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Lotto Flashback

I read this headline and thought I was having a flashback.

Fired Lotto Corp. boss given controversial payout

The former president and CEO of British Columbia Lottery Corp. has been awarded more than $600,000 in direct severance, months after he was fired over an Ombudsman's report that raised concerns about policing retailers selling tickets.

The bulk of Vic Poleschuk's severance is a $412,500 payout in salary over 18 months that he is entitled to under the terms of his 1999 employment contract.

But the agreement also includes a $144,375 performance bonus equal to 35 per cent of his base salary over 18 months.

And there are other items, including $19,800 in car allowance for Mr. Poleschuk, who spent 22 years with the company, including nine years in the top job, before the board decided in June that he was not the leader to deal with the fallout from the Ombudsman's report.

In Canada crime pays. At least White Collar crime, anyway.Of course it helps when the criminal is the guy in charge of the governments gambling addiction.




See

CEO

Corporate Crime

White Collar Crime

Criminal Capitalism

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The Peasants Are Revolting!

Gee Thomas, I seem to remember that as the crisis hit the auto industry last fall the Prime Minister not only did not have time, but outright refused, to talk to Buzz Hargrove of the CAW.

But of course Tom, can I call you Tom, goes even further and from his elitist ivory tower, looking down cries out; The Peasants Are Revolting!

The demonstrators are also decrying the secrecy surrounding the meeting and that the only people with access to the three leaders at the summit are 30 chief executives of some of the biggest corporations in the world.

But Thomas D'Aquino, president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, said getting access to political leaders is not the only way to be heard.

"I do not say to myself, 'If I don't get an hour with the prime minister in the next six months, I'm going to go out and protest and reject the system outright,' " he said. "I don't do that because civilized human beings — those who believe in democracy — don't do that."

“The peasants are revolting!”

“They always have been.”

Clearly Tom believes he and his pals represent the ne plus ultra of bourgeois civilization.

Democracy for him is private luncheons and back room meetings between Heads of State and the executive committee of the ruling class.

And for the rest of us it's the same old crumbs from the same old cake.


SEE:

Police Black Bloc

Jelly Bean Summit

Kim Campbell on North American Union

How The MacDonald Commission Changed Canada

Nationalism Will Not Stop North American Union




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Not Before Alberta Votes

Hey, hold off those plans to bring down the Harpocrites.

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe vowed Thursday — in the wake of the deaths of three Quebec-based soldiers this week — to bring down the Conservative government if it does not commit to a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2009.

He said if Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not soon notify NATO and participating countries of Canada's withdrawal plans, the Bloc will vote against the expected autumn throne speech with the hopes of bringing the government down.

Ignoring Kyoto law could bring down Conservatives, opposition warns

Federal opposition parties say a Conservative decision to ignore a law requiring them to find ways to meet Kyoto targets is a provocation that could spell the end of the minority government.

"It is an explicit and important example of how the government is not respecting the wishes of the majority of elected parliamentarians," NDP Leader Jack Layton said. "They can't expect our party to take that kind of disrespect lying down."

Not until we have a provincial election in Alberta, folks.

Why? Because with our unelected Premier and his gang of Tired Old Tories messing things up, business as usual in the One Party State, the PC's are in for a trouncing at the polls when an election is finally called.

A loss of seats and popular support in Alberta for Stelmach and the PC's will mean the conservative voting base will also be weakened. It is this same voting base that the Harpocrites take for granted in all Blue Federal Alberta. With a seismic voting shift provincially there will be a resulting Tsunami away from the Harpocrites.

With the influx of 'Eastern bums and creeps' from the ROC, the political landscape in Alberta has changed. And not in the Tories favour. Instead the mass of these are like other Albertans, middle of the road Red Tories, Lougheed liberals by any other name, wondering where to go.

Across the province, the percentage of undecided voters doubled, from 18% in January to 36% in August.

Dem's da folks dat don't know much about the opposition parties, dey just know dey don't like da folks in power.

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