Destroying the Federation

Link Byfield and his tax exempt foundation the so called Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democrary, funded by bankrupting the Alberta Report, will be holding a Right Wing Love in this fall in Calgary. Entitled ironically Renewing the Federation.

What they really want is to devolve all power to the provinces. More like destroying the federation. Whenever you have Citizens or Taxpayers in your name you know that the politics are to the right. Here is another irony, Alberta is a One Party State with far less accountability or transparency than any other government in the hemisphere. Yep this is real model for citizen democracy and freedom.

Included in his rouges gallery of speakers are several candidates for the leadership of the Alberta Party of Calgary, to replace Ralph. And Ralph will be speaking too. Presto Manning will be speaking. Its the Reform party alumni.

I have blogged about Byfield's right wing lobby effort before. His private club the CCFD wish to ban same sex marriage by allowing provinces to secede from Canada. That sums it up. Anyways they also can't spell.

The Sunday morning session begins with
Dr. Barry Cooper of the University of Calgary political science department, a prominent Canadian political author and commentator.

He will propose National Principle 3: "That national institutions and governments reflet (sic) and respect the exclusive responsibility of provinces for social and economic development."

And while there is a need for a new confederation in Canada, this is not it.

The Bankruptcy of Liberal Federalism

Also See:

Link Byfield

Macleans the New Alberta Report

Social Credit And Western Canadian Radicalism

Historical Memory on the Eve of the Election

Calgary Herald Remembers RB Bennet

Right to Life = Right To Work

Western Canadian Populism

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Capitalism With A Soul

Socially Responsible Investing, mutual funds that invest in Nice Corporations, or force Corporations to be nice. Mutual Funds. The very origin of ponzi investing schemes in the United States after WWII. Outlawed and regulated after the 1929 crash Mutual Funds became a form of Peoples Capitalism with advent of Bernie Cornfeld and IOS.

Cornfeld and his pals ironically were Trotskyites for a short period while in college. Reminding us of the Trots who later became the very backbone of the neo-conservative movement in the United States. Anyways after the IOS scandal mutual funds were disreputable until the 1980's when they became popular again. Especailly after the 1987 crash which they survived. Today credit unions, peoples capitalism, promote socially responsible mutual funds. They are big in Canada as well as the US. As Motely Fool reports; Stocks With Scruples

Here's the scoop, and please don't take it too personally: It really doesn't matter how you feel about SRI. Like it or not, this way of investing has already made its presence known in the press and in the boardroom, on campus and in congregations, through a larger number of tailored securities products, increased shareholder activism, and greater corporate acknowledgement. According to the Social Investment Forum's fifth biennial report on investment trends, which was released in January, SRI investment assets have grown faster since 1995 than all other managed assets in this country -- more than 258%. That report documents an 18.5% increase in SRI mutual funds and a 16% rise in social and corporate governance resolutions over the past two years.

And surprisingly SRI mutual funds did better in May than other mutual funds. Proving you can have your cake and eat it too. Peoples Capitalism, ethical investing, oh joy make that an Americana Vente low fat with two sugars please.

May not a merry month for mutual fund investors and salespeople

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Soccer Scandal Canadian Style

As we get closer to the World Cup more soccer scandals are being exposed. In this case its a Vietnamese mafioso who came to Canada as one of the boat people, those folks who hid their wealth on their bodies and hit the ocean to escape 'Socialist Viet-Nam'. Strange but after many so called poor oppressed boat people got here the first thing they did was start jewelry stores, having brought their stolen wealth from Viet Nam here.

Sorry but I figure after the Viet Nam war folks had the responsibility to help rebuildtheir country. But under the infulence of the Americans, who deserted them, they figured they would take their ill gotten gains from war profiteering and head West. Where they were welcomed with open arms by the folks who kept them in power during the war years.

And the reason we have an increase in Vietnamese crime gangs is because many of the kids who came here had known nothing but war. And war, creates a messed up psyche. Gee who woulda thunk it. So imagine all those other children around the world growing up in war. As they migrate around the world, as they grow older expect more violent gang crime. Life in a warzone is cheap.

Anyways this gangster was busted in Viet Nam in the eighties and then fled to Canada as politcal refugee no doubt. Where he set up his gang. Interesting story. Tip o the blog to; Frost Hits The Rhubarb.


Oh and for those who cheer the new capitalist Viet-Nam well read on in the story to find out about the scandal not only over betting but road construction which was privatized. Road Construction. Privatization. Gee sounds like the Alberta Government.

Canadian-Vietnamese soccer mafia boss nabbed

Vietnam police investigating a high profile corruption case involving government officers in Hanoi have arrested a Canadian who is reputedly the head of an international criminal syndicate.

The crime gang called "Long Haul" operates in Canada, Europe and Asia specializing in drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized betting on international soccer games, police said according to Vietnam-based news sources.

The Canadian was identified as 46-year-old Ngo Tien Dung alias Dung Kieu.

The Vietnamese native also uses the names Dung Hanoi and Lai Thanh Huu and reportedly operated out of Vancouver and Toronto.

A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Canada told The Asian Pacific Post that the Canadian Embassy in Hanoi is aware of the detention and is providing consular assistance.

She refused further information citing the privacy legislation.

The RCMP, when contacted, said they had no information to share about the suspect.

Dung, according to a police reports in Hanoi was jailed in the late 1980s in Bac Thai jail for fraud and misappropriating other people’s assets.

Seventeen years ago, he allegedly killed another prisoner at the jail and escaped.

He then fled to Canada where he led the Long Haul mafia before returning to Vietnam in 1994 posing as a wealthy Viet kieu (overseas Vietnamese) investor.

Vietnamese media said Dung changed his named to Lai Thanh Huu in Canada, obtained citizenship and has traveled to Vietnam at least 35 times as an overseas businessman.

News reports said Dung is "the owner of five villas in Canada, one of which is worth US$7 million" and that he is believed to have laundered a whopping US$26 million in Vietnam through business contracts.

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Don't Ask Don't Tell

This is intrusive; a supposed survey of the sexual orientation of teachers and staff in Halifax public schools. Why? Oh cause we are concerned about human rights say the bosses, oh really or is it a fishing expedition?! MYOB!

N.S. teachers union cautioning against filling out sexual orientation survey

HALIFAX (CP) - A teachers union has cautioned its members against filling out a survey being distributed by the Halifax school board that asks about their sexual orientation, warning the sensitive information might not be protected.

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union said the roughly 8,000 teachers and other staff receiving the one-page questionnaire with their pay stubs Thursday should consider leaving several sections blank.

While the union can't offer direct advice about filling out the survey, spokesman Grant MacLean warned of the risks in completing sections that ask respondents to identify themselves as homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual, and then list their name and employee number.

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Stupid Smoking Laws

I can't believe I actually agree with this guy, but then he wrote this; Tough Anti-Smoking Laws Blanket Canada . Occasionally, rarely, maybe just this one time. The fact is you can outlaw smoking but that will not stop cancer. Cancer is caused by industrial capitalism.

Test shows pollutants in kids' blood, urine

Toxic shock

Toxic Shock, Part 1: A review by federal regulators has determined that chemicals once thought to be benign are potentially dangerous for the physical health of Canadians.

Federal regulators have determined that about 4,000 chemicals used for decades in Canada pose enough of a threat to human health or the environment that they need to be subjected to safety assessments.

The sheer number of chemicals needing review means there is probably not a person in Canada who hasn't been exposed to some of them.

While many are industrial compounds, others are widely used to make everyday products found in practically every home and office in the country, ranging from hair dryers to water bottles, fast-food wrappers, TVs, computer casings and the inside of tin cans.

A tip o the blog to I Didn't Get Where I Am Today

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Work Sucks

The headlines say it all, the problem is that workers continue to drag their asses into work, or even take all that stress home with them and work from there. Their misplaced loyalty is seldom rewarded since our bosses are psycopaths.

We need to quit enabling these sick bosses, who download more and more work onto us in the name of productivity, which is wage slavery. Work is driving us nuts.Mirror Mirror On The Wall

Comrades the revolutionary struggle is the struggle against work, that is against wage-slavery.

Work stress toll continues to rise

The stress of increasingly demanding jobs and invisible tethering to wireless devices is taking a rising physical toll on Canadian employees, according to a health study.

Twenty-one per cent of workers experienced physical health problems because of stress or depression in the past year that were bad enough to make them want to call in sick, the survey of 1,501 Canadian employees by Montreal-based pollster SOM for Desjardins Securities found.

The 'presenteeism' problem

Employers, who have long worried about absenteeism among their employees, should also be concerned about "presenteeism," suggests a report released today by a Canadian financial institution.

"In Canada, employees put work first -- before family and friends," says the report by Desjardins Financial Security, which argues that in doing so, everyone loses, including the employer.

Money worries trigger mental illness: Survey
Toronto Star, Canada - 12 hours ago
Maxed-out credit cards, BlackBerrys that buzz at all hours, and fear of being replaced were considered the most common triggers of mental health problems that

Health survey highlights

Is your job making you sick?

Stressed-out Canadians are putting work first, exacerbating mental health problems that affect their productivity and well-being, according to a survey released today.

Is your boss a corporate psychopath?
Answer 6 short questions to find out if you're working for a corporate psychopath.

Psychopath in a suit

See

Goof Off Day

The Right To Be Greedy

Relatively Speaking

Capitalism Kills

Outlaw Working Alone

Whose Family Values?

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Share The Wealth

Inco workers win takeover protection, raises

With the mere threat of a strike. In a boom economy, when nickel prices would go through the roof if they struck. While the big Canadian mininge Corporations are in the midst of an orgy of mergers and acquisitions, that is market monopoly, the mineworkers got job protection. Way to go.

The agreement "reflects Inco's extremely strong financial position and recognizes our members' contribution to that success, as well as protecting Inco employees through any merger or takeover process," Fraser said in a release.

But no matter how well paid or what signing bonuses they get they still won't be making as much as this guy.

	Inco Ltd.	Scott Hand, CEO	$10,715,736
Salary: $1,240,969 Bonus: $2,416,888 Subtotal: $3,657,857 12% chg Other: $161,791 Share Units: $2,436,903 Option Gains: $4,459,173 TOTAL: $10,715,736 New option grant: 54,000 ($800,789)

Even though it is the mineworkers who create the weath. Which is proven by the fact that had they gone on strike nickel would have become more valuable as well as making the companies involved more valuable. Maye the Steelworkers settled to short, and should have demanded shares and a seat on the board.

A looming strike at Inco Ltd.'s key Sudbury operations could send nickel prices higher and potentially make Inco's offer for Falconbridge Ltd. more attractive. That's because a strike at Inco's Sudbury operations, which account for roughly 9 per cent of global nickel output, tends to mean higher nickel prices as traders bet on potential shortages.

Also See:

Criminal Capitalism: Xstrata

Monopoly

Inco

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Soccer Scandal

Got this interesting email in response to my article on the Juventus scandal in Italy. This is the site of one member of European proto-situationist culture jammers and net artists collectively known as Luther Bissett.

Hi there,
I bumped into your post. If you're interested in following the development of this football scandal, with particular focus on its links to Italian politics, I built a lenspage on squidoo called "Calcio. Italian soccer and its nightmares", with daily updates etc.
http://www.squidoo.com/italiansoccer
And re Berlusconi's conflicts of interest:
http://www.wumingfoundation.com/english/outtakes/burlesquoni.htm

Ciao,

R. / WM1

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Uh Oh

Dodge also noted that interest rates are still historically low, 
which one analyst said seemed to be a suggestion 
that there might be room for more increases.

Told ya. Never trust the Bank of Canada. Their interventionism is old school, predictable and disastourous. Disastorous as in job losses, just like in the Mulroney era when this policy originated.

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Capitalist Demands Regulation

Regulate the market for me please.

"While I understand the Bank of Canada's role is to control inflation by varying interest rates, I have a hard time understanding why it only steps in when there is a loss of confidence in the Canadian dollar, and not in the opposite case when there is excess confidence." Laurent Beaudoin, chairman and chief executive of Bombardier Inc., questioned Bank of Canada policy at the company's annual general meeting yesterday.

See: Before the Crying Starts


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Cry Me A River

Unless the Canadian dollar cools off, he warned that manufacturers, such as Bombardier, would have little choice but to move jobs to the United States or elsewhere to remain competitive. Bombardier says its costs in Canada have increased by hundreds of millions of dollars relative to its largely U.S. dollar revenue base.

Bombardiers chicken little threats to cut jobs are hogwash. The reality is their drop in earning is BECAUSE they already cut jobs.

Bombardier's first-quarter earnings fell after a charge for job cuts at its train-making unit, but business jet deliveries and prices rose, the company said on Tuesday.

And then they will come cap in hand and ask for more corporate welfare from Ottawa to bail them out. And the reality is that Bombardier's problems are perenniel. Less to do with the dollar than the collapse of the American airline industry, and competition in Europe.

MONTREAL -- Bombardier Inc. posted a 56% decline in net income for the fiscal first quarter amid a 6% drop in revenue, as slower rail-equipment sales in Europe, the strengthening Canadian dollar and the financial struggles of U.S. airlines weighed on results.

Bombardier stock derailed over results

Cameron Doerksen of Versant Partners in Montreal said Bombardier's aerospace margin of 2.8 per cent in the first quarter was only slightly higher than the 2.7-per-cent reported a year ago.

The margin "is essentially unchanged from a year ago despite higher deliveries of business jets that were presumably sold at better prices," he wrote in a research update.

In the transportation -- or rail -- unit, the first-quarter margin was 3 per cent, up from 2.4 per cent a year earlier.

Mr. Doerksen questioned the company's ability to sustain higher margins in the longer term.

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Ho Hum Folk Festival

The problem with Terry Wickham is that he takes his audience for granted. The Edmonton Folk Festival is no longer exciting, nor experimental, in fact it is downright pedestrian. That's cause Terry leaves all the good acts for his Calgary Folk Festival. Which has been apparent over the last couple of years.

You see the Edmonton Festival is suffering from its own success. The consumers will come and consume, regardless of the performers presented. Wickham takes that as a given. Hence this years really, really, boring line up. No matter how they dress it up, with their syncophantic media relations.

Folk Fest reveals richest roster ever Not rich in performers but in fees probably and gate reciepts. About the only exciting act in this group of retro performers, really gimme a break Linda Rondstadt and David Bromberg, is Chumbawamba. And they are only mentioned in passing.


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Wrong Move

The Edmonton Police Service has dumped the cop in charge of community relations, who organized the largely peaceful crowd control situation on Whyte Avenue on Sunday night, in favour of this Orwellian named crew; the public safety unit, also known as the riot squad.

"I, quite unabashedly, state that yes, I was fired from that job," said South Division Insp. Bryan Boulanger, still reeling yesterday over the abrupt sacking. Boulanger said his approach to policing Whyte - "professionalism, discretion and tolerance" - clashed on more than one occasion with that of the commanders of the public safety unit, also known as the riot squad. "They wanted to put on their hats and bats and go out swinging," he said.

Yep and that would be a PR disaster. All you need to make hooliganism turn into a full scale riot is riot cops.

As I have said here before you need to charge the bars a tax since it is their drunks partying on the streets, plus make sure they are closing early. The other point is that while many revelers are drunk, they are coming from elsewhere, they have not been partying on Whyte all night.

They are encouraged by websites like bluemile.ca and coppermile.ca
Gee do ya think maybe the City should encourage these web sites to be more socially responsible and say post a message about responsible partying versus hooliganism.

Also when you herd all the revelers into the area of 105 st. around the old post office building, you have no control. Period. The crowd becomes too large. It naturally gets out of control. Spread 'em out don't let people bunch up, keep them moving.

The police line last Sunday was well behaved and friendly, it should have continued down to 109 St. The cop in sharge should not have been fired for what has been mainly a media snow job. The hooliganism occured later in the evening.

And interestingly there were three knifings in Edmonton that night, but NOT on Whyte. This of course was deemed less important to report than the predictable hooliganism on Whyte.Three stabbings overnight

Inviting the Riot Cops to patrol Whyte is asking for trouble. Since they won't listen to the cop in charge and undermined his authority on Sunday night they are just as responsible for the holliganism. Reinstate Boulanger.

Whyte reports overblown say business owners

Saturday’s hooliganism at the intersection of 105 Street and Whyte Avenue isn’t as bad as the media makes it out to be, say bar owners and shopkeepers in the area.

But they agree it’s time cops start pushing back at the idiot vandals who’ve been ruining everyone else’s fun.

“Everyone in the world is starting to think Whyte Avenue on game day is like a Saturday night in downtown Beirut,” says Blues On Whyte manager Jim Szakszon.

“Outside of that intersection the late night crowd gets very thin. The wisest thing the police can do is start ticketing every jerk that gives bar owners and fans a bad name.”

See Whyte Avenue


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Ignatieff Calls For Animal Sacrifice

Liberal Leadership Candidate Michael Ignatieff yesterday called for the "murder of the sacred cows" of the Liberal Party says Quebec newspaper Le Presse.

After getting in bed with the Conservatives over Afghanistan, now Ignatief is presenting himself as a Blue Liberal. So why doesn't he just join the Tories? Maybe he will after he loses the Liberal leadership race.

Here are the Sacred Cows that the Liberal version of Kurtz plans to sacrifice.

In the party until very recently directed by Paul Martin, "there are totems, there are sacred cows "and" they should be killed ", said M. Ignatieff, Monday, in front of a handful of militants - a dozen - come to have breakfast with him. He indicated some "sacred cows" which he would like to be sacrificed: financing of the system of health, tax imbalance, protocol of Kyoto and anti-Americanism, were his priorities.


Also See: Ignatieff


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Criminal Capitalism-WestJet

Well WestJet has been caught out. In a classic case of deny, deny,deny, confess out of court, they finally admited to the truth. They are crooks. That in order to take advantage of the consolidation of Air Canada they hacked into AC's customer base and looted information. And did they go to jail? Well unlike joe hacker, no. Of course not. They paid a fine, apologised and looked sheepish at a joint press conference with AC boss Robert Milton. See white collar crime does pay!

WestJet apology means industry can work together on regulatory change: Milton

Milton seeks WestJet's help on landing fees

Competitors? Competition? Nope, Oligopoly.

WestJet straying from its low-fare script

Clive Beddoe did the right thing in settling the espionage case against WestJet Airlines. Fifteen million dollars, plus a few toothpicks to remove the humble pie, doesn't seem like a big price to pay to get rid of a costly distraction.So the airline industry's conspiracy-of-the decade has ended with a whimper, and Mr. Beddoe's company emerged with no lasting damage. Is there a single person who refused to fly WestJet because they were concerned about management ethics? Doubtful. Most people want four things when choosing an airline: (1) low fares, (2) low fares, (3) to not feel as though they've been crammed into a tin of Starkist tuna, and -- What was the other thing? Oh, yes -- (4) low fares.

Here is a take on this from the left;


I think it goes a bit deeper, actually. Westjet has been held up, particularly by the right in Canada, as the paragon of free market virtue compared to Air Canada's incompetence and waste, in large part because Westjet was very profitable. It's been used as a way to bash on Air Canada and its unionized workforce. Layoffs have been a way of life for Air Canada staff for about 15 years. I know someone who is 4 years from retirement, and is at the bottom of the seniority list at his airport.

While Neil Waugh, the Edmonton Sun Columnist who has gone pinko, defends the unions and spanks AC boss Robert Milton (will wonders never cease) in a case of fair and balanced reporting.

Instead, for the grovelling confession and apology Milton is willing to settle for $5.5 million in investigation and legal fees, plus a further $10-million donation to unnamed Canadian kids' charities.

As a sign that Milton wants to bury the hatchet and "turn a new page on this unfortunate chapter," the cheques will bear both Air Canada's and WestJet's names.

But it's not open skies any time soon for Milton - even after recently reporting a "solid first quarter" for Air Canada's parent AEC Aviation Holdings.

The $118-million net profit has attracted the attention of the Air Canada Pilots Association, which took a 30% pay cut and faced massive layoffs when the company sought bankruptcy protection.

"The company can now afford to share this success with the people who helped achieve it," the Air Canada pilots said about upcoming contract negotiations. Especially when it pointed out that Milton took an alleged 13.5% salary cut from 2002-05 when the creditors were circling.

"During the same period, Milton's annual compensation grew by 72%," the pilots scolded. "And nearly doubled from 2004 to 2005."

Say it ain't so, Robert?

Also See:

Criminal Capitalism


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Jimmy Boy Where Are Ya?

Why am I not surprized? !

FBI Finds No Trace of Hoffa and Calls Off Search

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Comrade Ambrose

Gee this sounds like the whining that comes out of Conservative MP and Minister of the Environment; Rona Ambrose's mouth.

Beijing unlikely to meet air quality targets

Guess they didn't meet their Kyoto targets either. Wait they aren't signatories to the Kyoto Accord.Must be the Made in China solution. They are members of Rona's alternative to Kyoto the Asia-Pacific climate change partnership. Guess that isn't working either.


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Socialized Medicine Is Good For You

Nyah Nyah. Michael Moore got it right.

It's gotta be true it's an American study!

Canadians healthier than Americans, study says

Updated Tue. May. 30 2006 5:07 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Canadians are healthier and have better access to health care than U.S. residents. And, according to a new study, Canadians obtain better care for half of what Americans spend on their medical system.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, was conducted by Harvard Medical School researchers. They also found that:

• Canadians were seven per cent more likely to have a regular doctor
• Canadians were 19 per cent less likely than Americans to have their health needs go unmet.
• Americans were more than twice as likely to forgo needed medicines because of cost.

Discrepancies in health care become even wider when taking into account income, age, sex, race and immigrant status. In those kind of detailed comparisons, Canadians were 33 per cent more likely to have a regular doctor and 27 per cent less likely to have an unmet health need.

Meanwhile, Americans had higher rates of nearly every serious chronic disease, including obesity, diabetes and chronic lung disease, even though U.S. residents were less likely to be smokers.

"We pay almost twice what Canada does for care, more than $6,000 for every American, yet Canadians are healthier, and live two to three years longer," said Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor at Harvard and study co-author.

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