Harpers NEP

I don't expect to see as much outrage over this new NEP in Alberta,as I do over Dion's pronoucements over the weekend on how Tax Credits to Big Oil is somehow the newest threat to Alberta.

Call me sceptical, call me a lifelong Albertan, but the True Blue Tory types in Alberta will deny, deny, deny this is a new NEP. Well it is.

MONTREAL -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper is poised to pre sent a solution to the so-called fiscal imbalance between the federal government and the provinces, the French-language network of the CBC reported Monday.

The plan will be part of the next federal budget, which will be tabled toward the end of March, which is later than usual, Radio-Canada said. The TV network later reported the budget would be tabled March 20.

The proposal would exempt 50 per cent of revenues from natural resources rather than the 100 per cent previously promised to Saskatchewan, Radio-Canada said.

Under the proposed plan, Quebec would get a total of $7 billion instead of the $5.5 billion in transfers it now gets.

Saskatchewan would get only $200 million instead of the $800 million it is awaiting.

Harper would be accepting the recommendations of a report ordered by the federal government last year which suggested that half the revenues of the provinces drawn from natural resources be included in the calculation of equalization payments.

'The Conservatives campaigned hard on saying they would remove natural resources from the equation. …This is an absolute betrayal of what their election promise was.'-Saskatchewan Finance Minister Andrew Thomson

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach said it was speculative to comment on whether Ottawa intends to alter the formulas, but Albertans were already paying their fair share into confederation.

And of course this would be fair for all of Canada, that is Ontario and Quebec, whose largest natural resource cash cow; hydro will not be touched.

See:

Harper

NEP

Equalization





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One Ship Navy

So much for Arctic Sovereignty. Heck so much for costal patrols. The Conservative government has only one ship on active duty, the HMS Ottawa, now posted in the Persian Gulf. Thanks to the Afghanistan mission our Navy is in dry dock due to funding cuts.

Well the government had to pay for its war somehow, and it's at the expense of Canadian coastal patrols.

And this might be another reason that the Conservative Government Fisheries Minister was opposed to tougher laws against deep trawler fishing, we have no Navy to enforce those laws.


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Esperanto

Esperanto an artifical language is 120 years old. Felichan Naskightagon!

Esperanto proves resilient as the movement celebrates 120 years

With the prospect of international peace looking more distant than ever, it's worth sparing a thought for the work of Doctor Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof.

A Polish Jew from the West of the Russian Empire, Zamenhof developed the Esperanto language in the late nineteenth century.

Dreaming of peace and international understanding, he constructed a composite of Romance and Germanic languages, which he hoped would be used as a universal second tongue.

Though his vision was never truly realised, small bands of Esperantists around the world are keeping the movement alive and hoping that the new global age may give the Esperanto a second chance.

It was a cause celebre for many anarchists at the begining of the 20th Century.

Esperanto in China and among the Chinese diaspora was for long periods closely linked with anarchism.

It also appeals to those of a scientific or technocratic bent.....

Mac OS X supports a language invented in the 19th century by a Polish ophthalmologist, a language invented in the 20th century for a sci-fi movie, and a language that formed in the 10th century on a Pacific island chain.

After U.S. English, make these your second, third, and fourth preferences respectively for your Mac’s application menus, dialogs, and sorting.

Answer: The three languages are Esperanto, Klingon, and Hawaiian and can be located by opening the International system preference, selecting the Language tab, and then clicking the Edit List button. Esperanto is easy enough to find but Klingon and Hawaiian aren’t as Klingon is spelled in the Klingon language (it’s the tlhlngan Hol entry) and Hawaiian is likewise presented in its native spelling. (You’ll find it just below Hrvatski.)

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Conservatives Glow Green

The announcement by the Conservative Government of extra funding for science and technology was aimed at benefiting the utilities, King Coal and Nukies.

There was representation from public utilities, private utilities, and the Ontario Power Workers Union their co-partners in nuclear power in Ontario. One of the few union backed P3's in Canada.

The room glowed as Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn proclaimed the era of nuclear steam injection for the Tar Sands.

Well that is a better idea than the original plan which was to detonate and atomic bomb, a teeny tiny one, in the tar sands creating a sea of molten bitumen.

But nuclear powered steam injection remains problematic since it will produce toxic waste, and still wastes water, which is already scarce thanks to expanded Tar Sands operations. It looks like everyone. including Liberal leader Stephane Dion, is pro nuke when it comes to the Tar Sands.

Taking another page from Ralph Klein, Lunn declared that the government would invest in clean coal technology, someone woke up the Tories and they have discovered that you could sell this technology to India and China. At least Lunn recognized that clean coal technology doesn't exist yet, Ralph claimed it did.

Nukes for Ontario and Nukes for Alberta, and a uranium boom for Saskatchewan. And Saskatchewan gets to be the dumping ground, literally, for nuclear waste and CO2 sequestration.

Now about those unsightly toxic radioactive wastes.....well.....we can solve that too......sometime...in the future.....there is technology being developed.

Isn't that how we got in this mess in the first place?!

See:

nuclear power

Environment

Hydro

Energy Probe

CANDU

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Cuba and Canada

Harper can help US take fresh look at Cuba says Jim Travers in today's Toronto Star.

Sorry Jim but he won't.

He had an opportunity but he blew it. And the right wing lobby aligned with the Conservative Party opposes any rapproachment with Cuba.

See:

Cuba

Castro


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Slavery Returns To Britain

But this is already happening in Canada.

Nannies and farmworkers are considered indentured servants under provincial employment laws, and by the Federal Governments migrant/temporary worker program. At least in Britain they have called a spade a spade, this is just modern slavery.

Britain's shame: Modern-day slaves

This is the story of Somalatha, who is from Sri Lanka. That's not her real name -- and you're about to find out why.

It's a story most people won't believe could occur in modern-day Britain. Sadly, it is true. It happened very recently.

Somalatha arrived in Britain when she was 29 with a family for whom she had been working in Jordan. Her job was to be a maid. She had to work 16 to 18 hours a day, for which she was paid about $450 Cdn a month. In the first two years, she was not given one day off.

She was not allowed to eat with the family and had to wait for leftovers. If there were none, she was advised to eat onions and potatoes.

If any food was missing, she was automatically blamed for it, or even punished.

Somalatha had to sleep on a sofa-bed in the sitting room, where she was disturbed by anyone who came in late.

Friday nights were especially difficult since the teenage children would come home late at night and bring their friends, which would prevent her from sleeping.

Her employer deliberately let Somalatha's visa expire. Since she was without a visa, she could not run away. She kept asking for a letter from her employer so she could apply to renew her visa but this was refused.

Under current British law, women like Somalatha have a way out. But the government is about to close her escape route. Earlier this year, it proposed changes to the law that divides migrants into five tiers according to their perceived skills and the economic benefit they will bring to Britain.

This system makes no mention of women like Somalatha. But immigration officials have told Anti-Slavery International that domestic workers like Somalatha will henceforth be tied to the employers with whom they entered the United Kingdom, with no right to change employers -- no matter how abusive their treatment.

See:

Slavery in Canada

Monte Solberg

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Psycho Bosses Depressed Workers

Being a wage slave under capitalism doesn't just kill it is also depressing......

About half a million Canadian workers experience depression, and most say it interferes with their ability to manage their jobs, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Data from 2002 showed almost four per cent of workers between the ages of 25 and 64 reported being depressed in the previous 12 months before the survey

Job-related factors associated with depression included:

• Night shifts.
• Non-regular hours.
• Work stress.
• Occupation.

The prevalence of depression was relatively high among workers who spent fewer than 30 hours on the job. It was lower among those who worked more than 40 hours.

Of course workers are depressedwhen they are forced into working two jobs just to make ends meet. And of course they can't manage their jobs because the bosses are all psychos.

Millions of harassed workers could have their worst fears confirmed about their bosses thanks to a new test to weed out the 'corporate psycho'.

You may already suspect that your boss's smooth, charming exterior masks a sadistic control freak with a penchant for violence.

Professor Hare estimates that 1% of the general population in North America are psychopaths.

The professor believes that psychopath's cold-blooded ability to manipulate others without remorse, coupled with a veneer of charm and high energy can make them extremely successful in many walks of life.

They could be perfectly qualified for top posts in the military, politics or in huge multi-national companies as history has already shown in one notorious case.

Former Daily Mirror tycoon Robert Maxwell, who made off with the newspaper's pension fund, was named as a classic example of a man in a powerful position who might very well have displayed psychopathic traits.

Which may explain why so many bosses are criminal capitalists.

See:

Work Kills

Work Sucks

Which Is True

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The Wicker Man Review

The Wicker Man Review

Why the remake of the Wickerman is as bad as I said it would be.

See:

Wicca

Pagan


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Christy Moore - Viva La Quince Brigada

Christy Moore - Viva La Quince Brigada

Christy Moore wrote the song about the Irish who went to Spain with the International Brigades to fight against Franco and the fascists during the Spanish Civil War.It has been sung by many singers and groups since.The tune dates back to the Napoleonic Wars.

It contains a denuciation of the Irish Reactionaries and the Catholic Church who blessed them for fighting with the fascists.

Includes some vintage footage from the Spanish Civil War.

No Pasaran!


See:

Rememberance or Revisionism

Kenney is A Funny Guy

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Revloutionary Music Flashback

Tom Robinson Band - power in the darkness


Wow I was thinking whatever happened to the Tom Robinson Band. The first 'out' gay left band that was active in the Anti-Fscist movement in Britain. And lo and behold I came across this video.

So I thought I would share it with ya' all. It's a great revolutionary song.

Just like 'Rise Up' by Canada's own 'out band' the Partachute Club, though it was recuperated by McCains for their Pizza ads on TV. Which never happened to TRB.


More YouTube videos on Le Revue Gauche;

What CNN Won't Show You

Communist Manisfesto Toon

Marxism in action

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