nuclear protests..topless women of Paraquay

Recently

a demonstration prompted female protesters to go topless..a bit painted up...

the official photographs taken are not so great so we copied this picture from a remote village to take it's place..

In a more serious protest....

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Two women let themselves be crucified on wooden crosses and carried around Paraguay's capital on Friday as part of citywide protests demanding President Fernando Lugo grant funds for low-income housing.
Members of various homeless organizations nailed the women's hands and bound their feet to crosses in a plaza to pressure the Social Action Secretariat to give them $1 million to purchase land and build homes.
The women were identified as Laura Raquel Ramirez, 37, and Naida Villaverde, 41. One of them fainted from the heat and pain, said Blas Vera, one of the movement's leaders.
Several men heaved the crosses on their shoulders and bore the women through Asuncion, joining dozens of other protesters

Dear Sarah....more!

Sarah says...
"What is it exactly that the VP does every day?"
Sarah Louise Heath Palin is the governor of the U.S. state of Alaska. She was the Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election race, chosen by Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain on August 2008.
What Do You Think of Sarah?
Sarah Palin is smart. She is usually honest and sexy.
They think of her as a beautiful, classy and a fearless sweetheart.
Peter Principle Pimps Palin!
December 2006, Sarah Palin made history by becoming governor of Alaska, the first woman and youngest person to be elected to the post. She was elected after upsetting the incumbent in the Republican primary. As governor she declared that education, public safety, and transportation would be the three cornerstones of her administration. Prior to becoming governor, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, city council from 1992 to 1996, and was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996 and 1999. Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors in 1999. In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor of Alaska.

Sarah was born in Idaho. Her mother worked as a school secretary, and her father a science teacher and track coach. Her ancestry includes English, Irish, and German. Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.
At Wasilla High School in Alaska, Palin was a point guard and captain of the basketball team. She was also the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at her high school. She was the prayer leader before each game. Palin was originally baptized as a Catholic, but was re baptized at age 12 by the Wasilla Assembly of God Church. She is a member of The Church on the Rock, an independent congregation. She describes herself as a non-denominational Christian.
She was Miss Wasilla in 1984 and later lost a pageant to become Miss Alaska; she got second place.
Palin received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho, where she also minored in political science. She started her professional career as a local news and sports reporter for the local Anchorage TV station KTUU. She later served as city councilwoman and mayor of the town of about 9,000 before being elected governor of her home state in 2006.
She married Todd Palin in 1988, her boyfriend since high school. She is the mother of five children. Her husband works for the oil company BP in a non-managerial position and works as a fisherman in his hometown during the summer. He is a world champion snowmobiler. Neither her husband nor her son Track are registered Republicans, and neither have ever registered with a political party. Over half of Alaskans are registered as nonpartisan or undeclared.
Palin has two sons and three daughters. Her youngest child, 2008 has Down syndrome. Palin's decision to have the baby was applauded by the pro-life community. Track, her eldest child, is in an infantry brigade in the U.S. Army.

A biography written about Sarah Palin, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment on Its Ear, by Kaylene Johnson was released April, 2008. Immediately after McCain announced his VP choice the biography soared to number 12 of all books on the online merchant web site Amazon.com. The book ranked number one in the political biographies section of the web site.
Among the criticisms of her as a vice presidential nominee is that she has no national experience, not to mention international experience. McCain's VP choice seems ironic given the money he has spent in an attempt to portray Barack Obama as lacking the experience necessary to be president of the United States.
Palin strongly supports and promotes oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska. She believes that "a changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state" but she would not "attribute it to being man-made." This statement was announced after securing Senator McCain's VP nomination.
In March 2007, Palin presented the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) as the new legal vehicle for building a natural gas pipeline from the state's North Slope. In August 2008, Palin signed a bill into law giving the state of Alaska authority to award TransCanada Pipelines. A license was granted to build and operate the $26 billion pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Lower 48 through Canada.
In May 2008, Palin objected to listing polar bears as an endangered species. She filed a lawsuit to stop the listing fearing it would hurt oil and gas development. Palin strongly supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
In response to high oil and gas prices, Palin originally proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards and proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so that they would reduce customers' rates. She subsequently dropped the debit card proposal, and instead paid Alaskans $1,200 each from the windfall surplus the state earns due to higher oil prices.
Palin's selection as the 2008 Republican party vice presidential candidate came as a surprise. John McCain had only met Palin six months earlier at a meeting of the National Governors Association, and he had only spoken with her about the position once, on the Sunday before he formally offered it to her.
A month prior to being named McCain's nominee, Palin was quoted on the CNBC show Kudlow & Company as saying, "But as for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I'm used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we're trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S."
At the beginning of October 2008, the McCain campaign used Palin to attack the character of Barack Obama. Palin was quoted at a California political rally as saying about Obama: "Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country." The attacks, which were at once nonsensical and untrue, only eroded confidence in Palin as a potential future president.
In November 2008, three days after she and McCain were defeated by Senator Barack Obama and his running mate Senator Joe Biden, Palin lashed out at critics of her performance in the campaign, calling them "cowards and jerks" according to the Associated Press. Palin was criticized for accepting an expensive wardrobe paid for by the McCain campaign, her apparent belief that Africa is a country rather than a continent and her inability to name the three countries in the North American Free Trade Agreement (the United States, Canada and Mexico). reprinted...mono
my comments....:
I'm sure Mrs. Palin is a wonderful mom and wife, probably a good Governor of her state as well. The population of Alaska is about 650,000 I believe that is similar to North Dakota or for that matter South Dakota or in fact a suburb of my hometown Toronto (which has nothing to do with it).
Surely there are vast differences in administering the affairs of this state as compared to say California with a population of over 38 million. Or the country with 380 millions.

*AFGHANISTAN*

And now,...another three Canadian Soldiers return in boxes...I watched the scene in Trenton on TV as the families of the three participated in another military ritual...this time numbers 109-110 & 111.

Killed like most of the casualties by an explosive device blowing up their patrol vehicle.

I know we all believe we make a difference in being there,offering our talents, young men and women to try and help in a land that has to be one of the strangest places on earth. More so it appears that the population as a whole does not want our help or interference in their culture. If it's a matter of digging up BinLadin then all efforts should be made to find him and his band..wipe them out and be done with it. Beyond that I can't think of what good we are doing there.

We've had a successful peacekeeper role in many places of this universe, perhaps in the near future we can assist in Somalia and other flash point places once there is a peace to keep. But in Afghanistan we are in a middle of a tribal warlord scene much of it over dope and for what little good we are doing I for one am not sure it is worth it.

I*R*A*Q just what are we still doing there?

Bush would lead, he declared, "a coalition of the willing" (consisting in fact merely of the US, Britain and — to its disgrace — Australia), which would "disarm" Iraq and thereby remove an imminent threat to the entire world.
But efforts by warmongers such as former CIA Director R. James Woolsey failed to turn up any credible evidence of links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda or other groups of "Arab terrorists", particularly prior to September 11th, 2001. Investigatons by the CIA, the DIA, and the State Department failed to find any evidence of linkage between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of September 11th.
As for Iraq's alleged "weapons of mass destruction", the problem for Bush was that United Nations inspectors had been scouring Iraq for months and had found no evidence of the existence of any. The Americans tried to concoct such evidence (such as Colin Powell's claim of a "poison factory" in Northern Iraq, later shown to be non-existent, and documents purporting to show that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Niger, later shown by the IAEA to be forgeries) but only ignoble and servile lackeys such as the prime ministers of Britain, Australia and Spain pretended to believe this evidence. Nevertheless the Bush administration maintained this rationale for its invasion of Iraq, and continued to do so even after it was clear to all that this was a lie.
But after the regime of Saddam Hussein was overthrown, and US forces were able to inspect any place in Iraq they wished to, where were these "weapons of mass destruction"? None were found. That's because by November 2002 there weren't any, as former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter had already told the U.N. Security Council. The US rationale was a fiction, as was eventually revealed.Serendipity...

FIRA(Canada)

The Steel Company of Canada( Stelco).... sold out to USS ( United States Steel) a few years ago...not sure why was it that we Canadians figured the Americans could run the company better than we or was there an investment of capital anticipated to modernize this aging facility?
Same what later....somehow.... the Government ( Province of Ontario ) kept this business running with the infusion of 100 Million Dollars , a loan or a grant by Ontario.

Whatever happened to the watchdog
FIRA
Foreign Investment Review Agency
This Federal agency was set up under The Trudeau Liberals to avoid fiasco's by foreign takeover situations.
Stelco has just been shut down.., mothballed, who knows if this former Canadian Steel Mill will ever produce it's wide range of quality steel products again.
That leaves Dofasco, apparently this outfit too was sold to foreign control.I believe the other steel mill of note, Algoma is long gone.

Some ( many) years ago I was purchasing agent of a metals, mostly steel distributor ( the company was called A.C.Leslie Co. This firm was a metals warehouse, over 100 years in business)..
I also worked as Purchasing Agent for a time for another large volume slitting operation (cut large rolls of steel coils into smaller ones, about 300 tons a day.
The reason I state my background is merely to indicate that I have some idea as to what type of steel products these mills were producing, bars, structural and flat rolled, sheet & plate as well as rails and construction beams. A couple of other steel producing running mills were Burlington Steel and Dosco, Dominion Steel & Coal..

NOW...would be a good time to revive this industry...we need steel to rebuild the rapidly crumbling infrastructure, even concrete bridges and buildings require massive amounts of steel reinforcement structures. I have already commented on a previous blog on railway and rail-link improvements..but hey...the two railways as well ( CN & CP) have ended up under foreign control. If the railways are in the hands of people who are only looking for a return on their investmet, don't look for any significant improvements or modern addition to the existing lines any time soon...

boom..bust..depression..solutions..

Rut-at-tut-rat-ta-tut.....a train with about 100 rail cars rumbles through town..a small town on lake Ontario, Port Hope or Cobourg..does it really matter?
The point is,that these rail-links are old and should have been replaced long ago.Rail is about the cheapest way to move goods unless there is a possibility of traffic by water, a barge system.And yet we see thousands of transport trucks 18 wheelers with often overtired operators slugging it out on our highways.
Does it not make sens to review our transportation system? Is it not time to have a good look at where we are and where we should be going with this. During economic so called hard times we should find or create the resources to fix or renew this part of our infrastructure. People are looking for jobs and things to do and are less likely to want to go on strike for unreasonable demands. We should claim our railways back, they once were the backbone of what we were as a country and this would be the time to update the antiquated system .Years ago I suggested to build a rapid rail-link between Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal with an international Airport in or around Kingston..If this system would have been implemented we could have, today one of the most modern commuter, people moving systems in the world.
Instead multi millions were wasted acquiring land in Pickering ( east of Toronto) and a totally useless airport was built in Montreal ( Mirabel, mothballed).

democracy

Hampered by massive corruption and lack of quality leadership and human capital, the Government of Afghanistan is one of the weakest governments of the world, the Pentagon has said in its latest report to the Congress.
...meanwhile...there are slums, people begging in the streets and warlords building themselves fancy homes...
...tell this boy about freedom...democracy..

the ugly American...10

America...world domination in limbo...
The message of this document, stripped of its cynical euphemisms and calculated evasions, is unmistakably clear:
The United States government asserts the right to bomb, invade and destroy whatever country it chooses.
It refuses to respect as a matter of international law the sovereignty of any other country, and reserves the right to get rid of any regime, in any part of the world, that is, appears to be, or might some day become, hostile to what the United States considers to be its vital interests. Its threats are directed, in the short term, against so-called 'failed states' that is, former colonies and impoverished Third World countries ravaged by the predatory policies of imperialism.
But larger competitors of the United States, whom the document refers to, in a revival of pre-World War II imperialist jargon, as 'Great Powers,' are by no means out of the gun sights of the Bush administration. The wars against small and defenseless states that the United States is now preparing — first of all against Iraq — will prove to be the preparation for military onslaughts against more formidable targets. —
David North, The War against Iraq and America's Drive for World Domination

We don’t have wars.
We have conflicts
campaigns
operations
escalations
missions
offensives
preemptive strikes
We don’t have soldiers.
We have peace keepers
troops
servicemen
service women
forces
coalitions
units.
We don’t have mistakes in combat.
We have
incidents
accidents
friendly fire
flawed intelligence.
We don’t have death.
We have
casualties
loss of life
collateral damage
What we do have
is a careful vocabulary.

Wagner, Ann. 2008.

"America At War".

the new great depression..

Under the capitalist system the human condition is one of chronic anxiety because the capitalist system is based upon ruthless dog eat dog competition and people are routinely thrown to the wolves. You can even find them living in cardboard boxes under bridges. It is required that capitalism deliberately create poverty in order to maintain this constant state of chronic worry and anxiety in order for the capitalist system to function. If there was full employment, then we would have capitalists looking for workers instead having workers going cap in hand to capitalists and hoping to become the lucky chosen one our of a horde of such begging workers. When power is transferred to the workers and it is the capitalist looking for a worker, then a capitalist loses profits in order to meet a worker's demands and then there is a lack of money for a capitalist to invest and the system collapses. It is for this reason that whenever unemployment goes down and poverty decreases such outfits as the Federal Reserve will then deliberately jack up interests rates causing enough economic damage to result in the loss of workers that will then bring back into equilibrium what is known as ‘the ideal rate of unemployment' in a capitalist system, which is also the ‘ideal rate of poverty', the ‘ideal rate of slums', and the ‘ideal rate of homeless vagrants'. It is this deliberate policy of creating poverty on purpose as well as creating the social mentality that accepts ruthless dog eat dog oppression of workers who get thrown to wolves that then creates the chronic state of worry and anxiety that is characteristic of everyone who must live their lives under the domination of that capitalist economic system.Brent

Troubles....more of the same...

Israel...Palestine,Gaza.
While there is no shortage of venom heaped on Israel's Gaza incursion, and plenty of chicken vs egg discussion of who started this mess, there is scant acknowledgement of one basic truth: that this war, with its civilian deaths and horrible infrastructure damage, is the desired outcome of carefully thought out strategies by both Hamas and the Israelis. The two sides are fighting two different wars, which happen to intersect in the streets and alleys of Gaza.

...dear Sarah.....!

I will try to work on this posting a bit more when I have a chance ...for now, just a few comments on what I think about the recent efforts by the Republican Party to run Alaska Governor Sarah as future V.P. of the ticket.

No question about it, she comes across as a wonderful down to earth, beautiful lady and she was obviously picked by the party to capture or convert the Hillary votes when it became clear that Mr.Obama had made up his mind not to ask Senator Clinton to be his V.P.

BUT:

To run for high office, president or vice, in the United States today,one should have a basic minimum of qualifications to be prepared for a job like this. A background in political science, history,geography and human relations should be an absolute base or minimum requirement...imagine the comment of D.Q. a few years ago I better brush up on my Latin so I can talk to people on my upcoming trip to Latin America..or something like that.Governor Sarah was under the impression that they speak African in Africa, she was not sure..is Africa a country or a continent.Incredible really....I will add more to this post soon...

...and the beat goes on:-

...events are rapidly taking shape...I look forward to the new Obama administration in the States, hopefully the end of the Bush regime will be a positive one, with some resolve or solution to the auto industry in North America and a positive bailout to this important sector of our economy...

Two groupes of three Canadian Soldiers blown up in Afganistan within the last few days make our participation in this troubled area of the world rather difficult. As well, our recently elected PC government is on shaky grounds and could soon be out of office, not a good time to plan or impliment drastic changes to our infrastructure or large capital projects which need the support of all parties and all Canadians.

Internet Fraud..indeed antivirus2008

...further to my last post,below, a friend now retired but for many years with IBM tells me that this horrible antivirus thing is a fraud sceme by what he calls the Russian mafia...figures...
Lots of information available on these horrible fraud artists if you take a few minutes to google for it... here is another typical complaint by a lady about this nonexisting fraudulent software...:
It appears that this lady somehow is under the impression that she is dealing with a normal business in Northamerica,....live and learn...I made the same mistake.
On May 18, 2008, while reading my e-mail, a popup from what I thought was my Windows Antivirus detactor indicated that my computer was infected with 41 different dangerous viruses, torjans and etc. I closed out my e-mail, and went back to the Windows Antivirus window, only to discover it had expired. Assuming that the popup was from Windows, I open the link to the Software-payment website, still thinking it was coming from Windows, I proceeded to purchase the Antivirus 2008 Software @$49.95, the AlphaWipe Tracks Cleaner 2008 @$34.95 and the Premium Support @$24.95. The purchase was done throught Software-payment.com with my Debt/Credit Card for a total of $110.24. If one does the math, the company also charged a $2.00 processing fee, of which was not mentioned in their Product Information Package. After I filled out the Software's online invoice, which included Name, Phone Number, E-Mail Address and Debit/Credit Card Number, a notation at the bottom of the invoice instructed that I would receive all download information through my e-mail address, of which they did do. The following is their portion of the e-mail I received: (My personal information is omitted)We appreciate you making your order.Product: Antivirus 2008 - 49.95 USDAlphaWipe Tracks Cleaner 2008 - 34.95 USDPremium support - 24.95 USD Site: www.software-payment.com Order Billed As: billinternet.com 8778717412 Order Number: 7164809 Your code for Antivirus 2008 is: a long list of complaint follows here...not needed to repeat ...these circumstance I have only been contacted once, by you, SO I AM MAKING THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS:I WANT MY SUBSCRIPTION CANCELLED AND THE PAYMENT OF $110.24 REIMBURSED TO MY DEBT CARD IMMEDIATELY. YOUR BILLING DEPARTMENT HAS ALL MY INFORMATION ON RECORD, SO THERE SHOULD BE NO NEED FOR ME TO DO ANYTHING FURTHER. Please be assured that I will not recommend that anyone purchase this companies products. Disgruntly Customer,Today is July 10th and I have yet to receive a reply from Robert.Thank you, I hope you can help me ......, Missouri U.S.A.
Antivirus2008 is a corrupt anti-virus tool that is widely promoted as a legitimate security application. In truth, it is nothing more than another scam of the countless army of malware parasites attacking computers via internet, daily. Antivirus2008 (also known as Antivirus 2008) is distributed through malicious websites that sell other fake anti spyware tools as well. Antivirus 2008 presents itself as VistaAntivirus2008 and System Antivirus 2008 as well. All these names hide the same fraud. The most common fabricated report displayed by these malwares is "Halt! Critical System Warning".Antivirus2008 is an unreliable program that displays exaggerated scan results in order to gain a purchase. DO NOT trust this scam and remove Antivirus2008 ASAP if you've been infected.

Canadian Federal Scene

Finance Minister Flaherty has already acknowledged that the government is considering the sale of assets in an attempt to reduce or eliminate any deficits. I agree that deficits must be strictly controlled and provide demonstrable direct benefits.
However, the presence in the Harper cabinet of Harrisites; Baird, Clement and Flaherty, all ideologues to the core, raises a large red flag if they are involved in the sale of government assets. Or....for that matter approve the sale of crytical privately owned assets sold into foreign control...
As a group, these men strongly endorsed the privatization Ontario Hydro. The problems Hydro faced at the time were mainly two fold;
1. A lack of transparency as demonstrated by the governments of all three political parties over decades. It was most evident by their interference with the setting of electricity rates and in the building of nuclear generating facilities.
2. Poor management practices in the running of Ontario Hydro. It was broken up and was sold at bargain prices, while leaving the public with a huge “stranded debt” and the new companies being managed by executives who are over-paid and have guaranteed golden-parachutes should all not go as planned.
This trio also endorsed the sale of the bargain priced 407 highway mainly to avert a deficit.
I can not understand or condone the sale of our public highway ( now a toll road) sold to a so called Spanish Consortium. The result was a momentary relief from a deficit while leaving Ontario drivers totally at the mercy of the private sector for longer than any driver at the
time would be driving.
This same group is in a position of influence in the evaluation of the possible sale of Canada’s assets. Potential candidates likely include:- Atomic Energy of Canada, just when nuclear power is about to become the main source for “green” power for years to come; the CN tower, a major communication hub in southern Ontario; Canada Post, surely a significant requirement in any nation; the CBC, for years an essential part of the life of the rural areas of the country. Based on their Ontario track record, I have doubts there will be any sustainable benefits for Canada.

INTERNET FRAUD ,from Russia

You have got to be kidding.....like a bat out of hell your antivirus promotion appeared on my computer...almost impossible to get rid of nagging efforts to sign me up...your software claimed to have found x number of viruses...after briefly installing your ware ( it was the only way to get rid of your promotion) this was to have been removed..Fraud, these virus items never existed in the first place.
...soonafter I received the same forced ads on my computer...again..this time called antivirus2009 instead of 2008...same or similar viruscomponent detected, fraud I figured and cancelled the thing.
I am not using your software, I have no idea what you want from me at this time and unless there is some kind of copycat outfit I consider what you are doing and your methods as clear fraud I want to expose...phonebusters.com will be sent a copy of this and I hope they will assist in stopping this kind of nonsense.I am using legitimate, purchased antivirus software, not your stuff and in order to clean up my computer I was forced to upgrade to xp professional, after dumping your software the machine never worked properly with the original xp.
This, above, was my response to an e mail just received....

This is the e mail, six months after the incident:-
>From: "support" <administrator1@antivirus2008y.com>>To: "F...L..." <xxxxxxx>>Subject: For user of the program «Antivirus 2008».>Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 07:23:18 +0100>>>>>>>>>>Esteemed F....L.... user of the program «Antivirus 2008».>>>>>On 2008-06-17 your have used the website http://www.antivirus2008y.com/ to purchase the copyrighted software «Antivirus 2008», which is our private property.>As the owners of the product we haven’t received the funds you paid for it yet. Your actions are in the nature of theft and fraud. We are preparing papers for the police and the courts to bring you to criminal liability to recover the monetary damages you brought.>For a complete clarification of the incident and to resolve the arisen conflict by a peace settlement, we need your cooperation. To do this you have to send us a written confirmation of purchasing our software. (the text of the letter you have to send is attached, please print it and fill in the fields «from ______», indicating your name, address, phone number, e-mail and other data identifying your person and sign the letter). Attaching the copy of a bank payment document confirming the payment for the purchased software (check, receipt, money orders, bank statements or other) to your letter is obligatory.>You must send good quality scan of your filled letter and bank payment document within 3 days after receiving this warning to e-mail support@antivirus2008y.com>In case no response from you is received we reserve the right to go to court and the police for your action are illegal to recover the monetary damage you brought.>>>Thank you for your understanding and look forward to a peaceful resolution of the conflict arisen.>>>Sincerely http://www.antivirus2008y.com/ site Administration.>>
><<>>

The rest of the story:-
Some six months ago my computer was molested with an ad message...for free...no charge ...a certain programme would scan my confuser and tell me if there were any virus components of any sort on my machine...
Impossible to get rid of this message, I took the FREE test and indeed..apparently 50 some odd serious virus related items were found by this outfit...free up to this point...but for a relatively small amount of money, they would instantly dispose of these nagging uglies on my machine.
I was stupid enough to give this outfit my visa info...and found later that I was billed not only for the antivirus program but also for two other items, a scan thing to use daily and a years free advise or something like that.
Aside from that....with my virus crap all cleaned up, supposedly, a new ad appeared on my machine....this time it was called the same as the last one,except instead of 2008...they used 2009...
Curious I took the test...and sure enough..the program detected 50 some odd virus related component on my machine. Guess I'm a little slow, but I suspected a scam, called my Visa/ Bank people and cancelled the payment.
A third party billing company apologised and eventually processed the refund....well.
I should have taken other actions, reported this to the Internet police or something but I'm getting too old to fight idiotic scams and let it go, unfortunately.
Now, six months later, it looks like this outfit, scam artists, is coming out of the woodwork, threatening me with police action and trying to collect money from me.

interesting times...

..the economy-the American scene--Canadian political troubles--housing market--wars and related terror aspects--failure by governments to act on urgent needs, infrastructure,trouble preparedness--Internet related happenings--world hunger--aids--china--India--Russia--Somalia--,

these are all topics we should have an opinion on. write about whether capability or talents as a writer are adequate or not, at least one should voice opinions and with some conviction stick with and promote new ideas...

CANADIANA CONFERENCE...

I recall clearly, as if it happened only recently, being sent to a conference as the local delegate from Scarborough East, to a happening labelled Canadiana Conference, some 40 or more years ago. At the long ago torn down hotel, 401 & Kennedy road somewhere in East Toronto a small liberal party delegation was appointed to look at future planning and related aspects...suggestions to the then Liberal Government in Ottawa.
It was in the days of creating a land bank in the east end of Toronto,Pickering area for the purpose of building a future new large airport replacing Malton/Pearson airport which had sort of outgrown itself.
There was also talk about a new similar project in Montreal, the feds were assembling land to construct what eventually ended up as the white elephant named Mirabel.

My suggestion to the planning group...chairman Colin Vaughan, broadcaster-architect, was to forget about a new airport for Toronto or Montreal but instead consider a new site, in or near Kingston Ontario for a now east-central region facility to serve Toronto-Montreal and Ottawas needs for long distance international flights. To bring passengers to the new facility, rapid-train links from the three areas to Kingston could be built, all of it probably at a far lesser cost with plenty of land available. After some discussion about the pros and cons, a working paper was to be submitted to the federal government.
..and that was the last I've heard of it.
C.V. commented " the french will never go for it".
The Pickering Seaton land thing is still unresolved an airport there will probably never be . The Mirabel airport has been built at great expense but did not work out very well, this multimillion dollar facility has been mothballed.
Times have changed much in the nearly two generations since I had the opportunity to participate in this planning conference. Many airlines have come and gone and the once existing Transcanada/TCA/Aircanada and CP Air are long history or have been sold.

The two Railways CN and CP are in foreign hands, little has been done to put new track where it should be, rail cars, many with dangerous cargo are rumbling through small towns, when new lines away from populated areas should have been built long ago.

Greetings..now read this America (USA)...

Thanksgiving and ...happy November, December,Christmas,new-year, and mostly, happy commencement of the new team in Washington in January..

This is part my laundry list of the
most serious troubles to solve, and to solve soon or at least get started on it
or it may be too late,chaos may ensue whatever that means.

*Financial mess and appropriate actions to
provide support where needed

*Get out of Iraq,just get out...provide
some support using NATO & UN

*Get a proper and useful health coverage
situation going, Federal directed,State administered

*Repair the infrastructure, highways,
railways, waterworks,bridges,dams,hurricane sensitive areas, forest regions,ship
passages,ports

*Proper border control and points of entry
support for immigration and customs related
needs

*Fix the increasing unemployment situation
(some of the implementation of above items will help considerably)

*Fight crime,gangs in ghetto areas, drug
cart ells, mafia

Other topics of some urgent attention may include improvement of education, less emphasis on sport stars and more attention to scholastic improvement, graduate more doctors, less lawyers, more nurses, less financial promoters, consider reviving the peace corps for a few years.

If short of ideas on how to solve some of these problems, look elsewhere to find some guidance. Canada too has serious problems, but at least our health care system appears to function without putting people into bankruptcy because they happen to have a hearth attack. This is no joke.

One day, returning from a trip to New Orleans in January to Orlando I became ill, pneumonia. One afternoon in the hospital, breathing some oxygen ended up costing me $2,500. This is not unusual, more typical than you think, surely a rich country like the USA should be able to do better than that.

America North...

Looks like things have settled down o bit. The Canadian elections long over, the new same old government is in place, still a minority situation in this country.

It is hoped that this new, government will last a bit, while the Liberals attempt to find their feet and a new leader. Anybody but this washed up NDP Rae I hope. clothesline watercolour by permission of the artist Diana Holditch,copywright

Too bad about S.Dion, he may have been OK but to talk about new tax ideas during an election especially something like a carbon tax... is deadly.

New Government, this time the Democrats rapidly getting their stuff together to commence governing early in the new year, probably not a moment too soon. Bush2, the shrub, had a meeting in Washington with 20 heads of state...the G 7 and sympathisers..supposedly all about the money fix bailout. Not sure how much the decider can decide these days. Can this guy do any more damage than he has caused already. Time for change.

USA

• Since we are closely linked to the USA economy we should pay close attention as to whats happening there. The actions in Iraq and Afghanistan are having a terribly negative effect on the economy.Usually, during times of war or conflict by the shear nature of an upturn in production capacity,will effect the economy..upturn in employment,support for the troops and the government in power are usually seen as a result of focusing on whatever war activity the country finds itself in. Not this time.
  Whatever it takes to change the mind set of Americans, time,effort, the appropriate philosophy and substantial funds( borrowing from the future) must be directed to accomplishing the tasks desperately needing attention in this country.
  * End the conflict in Iraq
  * Restructure the failure of large industries ( Auto, Steel, Agriculture, Petrol)
  * Create a Health Insurance system that works, look at the Canadian model
  * Immigration issues and border control
  * Hurricane and other natural disaster prone items,Forest fires, Earthquake readiness
  * Refocus on international relations that make sense,start with the Americas.

These are a few of the main problem areas as I see it. Changes in employment or unemployment numbers will follow the efforts. Perhaps another limited term peace corps group could be created, this would be far more beneficial to America and the world than new bomb delivery systems or star war creations.

USA

This is an important day in history.
Hopefully Mr.Obama will be elected as the future President of the USA and along with the Democratic Congress some long needed changes will soon be in the works:


Just to name a few:
Ending the nonsense in Iraq, I find it hard to call it a war
Health care affordable for every citizen, a right of citizenship in most civilised countries
Cleaning up the financial mess, extremely serious present condition
Immigration, not Even in the news these days, mayor topic just a year ago
Federal input to repair the infrastructure, bridges, highways, hurricane damage
Relations with long neglected regions of the world, particularly the Americas