LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Saturday, February 11, 2006

State Controlled Day Care

William Stairs propaganda oberfuerher for the Harper Regime in Ottawa denounced State Controled Day Care, on Don Newmans Poltics the other day. WTF is State Controled day care in Canada?

Is he refering to the fact that the Liberals gave provinces funds for their daycare portfolios, which are a hodge podge of programs across Canada. Which is why Harper can offer Quebec a special deal while telling the rest of the provinces to expect funding cuts.Harper offers Quebec 'extension' on child-care

Premiers want old child-care deals upheld

For instance Alberta has the lowest number of non-profit publicly funded daycares than any other province in Canada. We have more baba's babysitting and a huge private for profit day care industry that benefits from child tax credits.

Heather Forsyth, Alberta's minister for children's services, said she wanted to hear details, adding she had not yet heard from Harper. "We need to know his plan versus our plan," said Forsyth. "We need to know when his money is kicking in and when we're losing our money so that we can start talking to Albertans and getting them ready for the changes."

Oh thats ominous isn't it. What changes? Less spaces? Wage roll backs? Job cuts for day care workers? Who knows what impact the Harper plan will have?

When Oberfuerher Stairs denounces the mythical State controled daycare he must be refering to Israel, not Canada.

But he is not alone in creating mythical beasts to slay. Other Tory apologists in the blogosphere and columnists in the MSM also claim that the Liberal funding did not create any more daycare spaces. Well that also is a lie.

Day-care workers, parents eye future of federal funding

"If we don't have that money, we're going to have to look at what kind of cuts we can make, and that would jeopardize the quality of the programs for the kids we have in the program," she said.Many day-care centres have already received their share of this year's money, and have used the extra funds to boost pay and create more spaces. Now, the centres' managers are left wondering if they'll be able to continue to afford the pay raises and new programming. The money Winnipeg's Beaumont Day Care has received so far has paid for wage increases for staff and 15 new spaces for children. Director Jen Grove says she will refuse to cut back on wages, but she worries that other areas may suffer if the Tories don't honour the Liberal agreement. Vince Stycke, who has a child in day care, worries that it will be impossible to keep quality staff if the recent wage increases are rolled back. "As a parent, we just want to know that if we are leaving our children, that they are being looked after, and the people that are doing that are treating them well, are educated and engaged in their profession," he said. "I just don't know if that's possible if we cut back the pay."Across the province, the new federal money was expected to fund more than 3,000 new day-care spaces; hundreds of them are already in place.

Yep the Tories and their syncophants are practicing Herr Goebels Big Lie on the Day Care issue. So beware of Tories talking about State Controled Day Care. No such creature exists in Canada.

Now on the other hand State Funding for Day Care does exist. And the Tories day care plan is also State Funding for day care, just not direct funding to public non profit day care centres. Which last time I checked were not State controled and were classic liberal capitalist enterprizes for the public good.

For My Day Care Stories Go Here:

Day Care

Defend Public Day Care

Also See:

The Tories Big Lie

Two Tier Alberta

I Am Shocked

Province taken aback by Wabamun lawsuit
Provincial officials say they're surprised the government has been named in a multi-million dollar lawsuit over a train derailment last summer in Wabamun. The Paul First Nation is suing the Alberta government, CN Rail and the federal government for the disaster, where as much as 1.3 million litres of bunker oil was spilled beside and into the lake.

Because you dolts the Environment is a Provincial jurisdiction.Now how could you forget that little fact? Hmm? Since you make sure Ottawa knows what is Alberta's jurisdictions ad nauseum.

And lets see you didn't have an emergency disaster plan in place. And when the accident occured you threw up your hands and said it wasn't your problem, until the news coverage made you look stupid.

Robert Moyles, a spokesperson for Alberta Environment, says he believes the government took the appropriate action. "Minister Guy Boutilier established the environmental protection commission immediately after the incident to determine how we could develop a better response system," he said. "They've made their recommendations and the government has accepted those."

Yeah after the fact, only when push came to shove and the Minister was embarassed did he call for a study, the Klein Reich's way of dealing with most problems is to study it to death. Like Healthcare. In this case the report said that the Minister and his department weren't prepared with an emergency plan for any kind of predictable disaster like this. Well Duh Oh.

Because despite the clear responsibility of CN for this disaster the Klein governemt didn't sue them, take them to court ion behlaf of the citizens affected or fine them.

The Alberta government conducted an investigation into the derailment, but no charges were ever laid against CN.

Because thats business as ususal in Alberta, regulations and enforcement are just so much damn red tape. And besides they get in the way of business doing business, which is why the Government is out of business.

More CN Stories

Also See

Corporate Watch

Health and Safety

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Storm Clouds Over The US Economy

The reliance on consumer and government debt to produce and maintain the American economy has put that nation under a veritable storm cloud of trouble. It is the equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, and like Katrina America is ignoring their debt crisis until it actually hits home.

Soaring U.S. trade deficit a cloud over robust economy
By Paul Blustein

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit soared to a record in 2005 for the fourth year in a row, according to a government report released Friday that provided a reminder of the dangers hovering over a generally robust economy.

The United States imported $725.8 billion more in goods and services than it exported last year, the Commerce Department said. That is up 17.5 percent from last year, and it is an all-time high not only in dollar terms but also as a proportion of the economy; the figure is equal to 5.8 percent of gross domestic product.

For December alone, the trade gap increased to $65.7 billion from a revised $64.7 billion the month before. That is the third highest monthly deficit ever.

In some respects, the trade deficit reflects the strength of the U.S. economy, at least relative to other major trading partners.

Ah there is always a silver lining in those economic storm clouds.......but wait till the levee breaks.

Because U.S. economic growth has been rapid in recent years, U.S. consumers are snapping up foreign goods of all kinds — autos, electronics and clothing being some of the biggest categories.

At the same time, relatively sluggish growth in economies such as the European Union and Japan has dampened demand for goods made in the United States. Thus even though U.S. exports rose 10.4 percent last year to $1.27 trillion, imports surged 12.9 percent to nearly $2 trillion.

The gap worries many economists because it means the United States must borrow heavily from overseas.

The dollars that Americans spend on imports are typically invested by foreigners in the bonds of the U.S. Treasury and mortgage agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so the more the trade deficit widens and persists the greater U.S. indebtedness becomes.

That is why some analysts fret about a scenario in which foreigners would sell off U.S. securities en masse, causing interest rates to soar and the global economy to fall into recession.

America's economy is not driven by production, hence the less than devastating economic impact of the Ford and GM layoffs and the companies pending collapse into debt, but by credit card capitalism.

As Herr Dr.Marx formulated it M-C-M (Money-Capital-Money), money is making money in the casino capitalism of the American economy, that is until those who have invested decide to cash in their chips and go home.

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Friday, February 10, 2006

The World According to Adam

The new generation Tory Turk Adam Daifallah has weighed in on the Conservatives scandal and crisis with this. Emerson / Fortier, the Energizer bunny story

Where he says this about his elders; I fail to see how anyone can make excuses for what happened. I was particularly surprised to see two rock-ribbed conservatives whom I respect greatly, Ted Morton and Ezra Levant, engaging in excuse-making for these incidents on TV yesterday and today. They appear to have bought into the "it's for the greater long-term good" argument, the line the Harper people are trying to sell.

But Adam is from Ottawa and these guys are from Calgary....as I said before with the Calgary Gang in power at last it's the politics of Alberta that are being played in Ottawa.

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Emerson, Fortier, Levant, Morton, Conservatives, Government, Harper, blogs, Cabinet, Daillah, Tories

Five days and Counting

Here are my Blog articles on topics around this first week of our new Conservative government which is doing politics differently (sic). The last few articles were written during the week after the election. But the majority have been written since Monday. Has it only been five days. My gawd.

And it's still fifty days till Parliment recovenes, will the Conservativeslast that long? Or will their heads explode?!

And then watch the fireworks in Question Period. Ah this is delicious. It's the country bumpkins go to Ottawa.

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Kettle Calling the Pot Black

Oh this is rich. Now the unelected Senator Fortier, I won't run in a byelection, I didn't want to run in the election, I'll wait to run in the general election, is saying that Emerson should run in a byelection. Just to keep on with the cliches; this is a case of there being no honour amongst thieves.

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Naughty Naughty

A new private health care clinic has opened in Alberta in violation of both the Canada Health Act and provincial regulations. Being Alberta home of deregulation where NO enforcement rules, well all the Minister of Health had to say was; Naughty, naughty musn't do that.

Health officials keep close eye on private clinic's access fees
Alberta Health Minister Iris Evans said that provincial officials are currently investigating whether the Calgary clinic is violating any laws. In Alberta, there is a law that prohibits doctors from billing patients as a condition of providing insured health service.Ms. Evans said that if the private clinic is violating the law, she is hopeful there could be an "amicable conclusion to it."We will have to tell them that that isn't permitted. . . . To my way of thinking, we can't tolerate that," she said.

Which of course is such an effective deterent that a competing private healthcare hotel is planning to also open up in Alberta and they could care less about violating the Canadian Healthcare Act or Alberta's Bill 11. Cause it ain't about healthcare its about business and the bottom line. So far the Conservative government has been deafeningly silent over all this, while Minister Evans dithers.

Calgary doctors make waves with $3,600 annual 'access' fee
The program also follows news that Vancouver-based Copeman Healthcare plans to open private clinics with 24-hour access to physicians and specialists around the country. Don Copeman, company founder, said Ultimate Health Care's opening in Calgary won't deter his company from coming here. "We could care less," said Copeman. "Our phones are ringing off the hook."

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Emerson another Grewal

Oh dear here comes the ghost of Grewal to haunt the Tories even after he is gone. In this case he and Emerson share so many commonalities, both from Vancouver, both offered cabinet positions, both lacking in ethics. Do I smell a byelection?

Emerson accused of violating Parliament's conflict code

Ian Waddell, the New Democratic Party candidate who came a close second to Emerson in the Jan. 23 election, accused Harper, Emerson and John Reynolds, the just-retired Conservative MP who allegedly helped recruit Emerson to the Tories, of breaking the parliamentary conflict-of-interest code.

He said the ethics commissioner has ruled that had former Liberal cabinet minister Ujjal Dosanjh offered former Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal a government appointment to induce him to cross the floor, then Dosanjh would have broken the guidelines.

"This is precisely what the prime minister has done. I'm accusing him of breaking the members' code. The evidence is overwhelming. They offered him a cabinet post and he took it. When such things have happened in the past it's been hidden, but this is so blatant," said Waddell.

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Blasphemous Cartoon

Here is my contribution to Blasphemous cartoons:

Hi I Am God/Allah/YHVH

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Why Rob Anders Supports TheFalun Gong

The cult group the Falun Gong in China which has gotten a lot of support in Canada, including from members of our new Conservative Government like rightwhingnut MP Rob Anders ,has a less than savory background.

MP Rob Anders' Speech at "A Closer Look into China" Forum Special to The Epoch Times

And while the repression they face in China is not acceptable, neither is their ideology except to people like Rob Anders. They are anti-gay and anti-Semitic!

The cult is politically active in Canada distributing their propaganda paper Epoch Times in Canada's cities.

In San Francisco the cult has caused controversy with Republican members of the Board of Supervisors calling for support for them which has alienated both the gay and Chinese American community.

Supes support 'homophobic cult'
SF.Indymedia.org, CA - 6 Feb 2006

Amid accusations it is giving a San Francisco seal of approval to what some contend is a "homophobic cult," the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution this week in support of ending persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned since 1999 in China, where members of the group are routinely imprisoned.

Both the city's gay supervisors, Bevan Dufty and Tom Ammiano, joined in the 9-2 vote to pass the resolution, despite calls for them not to give any support to Falun Gong, whose founder has called gays "demonic" and has said that "the priority of the gods will be to eliminate homosexual people."

"People need to be aware of what their leader or founder has written. It is not just the homosexual community, but all the other things he said in the book about who gets to go to what level. It is very anti-Semitic also," said Hu. "I am hoping for support from the entire city, whether the gay community or the entire city."

Falun Gong, Barred From San Francisco Parade, to Show Up Anyway

Falun Gong's practices and meditation were introduced in China in 1992. It has 10,000 followers in the U.S. and tens of millions in more than 60 countries, the group says on its Web site. Sherry Zhang, a spokeswoman for the group, said the parade's decision extends oppression of the group from Asia to the U.S.

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