Obfuscated Thoughtlessness Inversed

Canada and Spain are the targets of a recent Greenpeace flash animation featuring 4 underwater South Park like creatures. Check it at: weblog.greenpeace.org

As a willing participant in destroying the economies of whatever countries destroy these delicate underwater ecosystems through bottom trawling I fired off the following missive to Stephen Harper:


To: Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Subject: Canada: It’s time to support deep sea habitat protection
(how would you like it if your habitat got scooped?)

Re: Canada joining the majority of the international community in support of a UN moratorium on high seas bottom trawling

To: Prime Minister Stephen Harper,

I am concerned and disappointed that Canada's new government continues to support high seas bottom trawling.

Just for a moment imagine how you would like it if a giant net came down and scooped up all of the Ottawa area (including the toxic mud at the bottom of the Rideau canal). Then dumped you and everything else in the net that wasn't an allowable catch (ie. a Chretien era sponsorship scandal linked Liberal) in a muddy pile. I bet you would be pretty happy to have a ban on these giant nets in place, wouldn't you. I think you would be pretty mad about your civil rights being trampled and your eco-system being destroyed.

Given the analogy I think you can see that destroying entire underwater eco-systems is not the right way to support fisheries in the long term.

This type of fishing is ludicrous. Given the known impacts of bottom trawl gear on the ocean floor, our lack of knowledge about deep-sea habitats and species and the complete lack of regulation on an estimated 75% of the high seas, it is essential that Canada take action.

I urge you to join responsible nations like the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. in their support of a UN resolution establishing a temporary "time out" from destructive bottom trawl fishing. Canada does not have any bottom trawlers fishing on the high seas, thus supporting a moratorium poses no threat to the livelihoods of Canadian fisher. It does, however, have much to gain. A moratorium on high seas bottom trawling would solve the long-standing problem of unregulated bottom trawling on the nose and tail of the Grand Banks.

In June of this year, your Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said that, "bottom trawling does damage to the stocks, and it does damage to habitat". Having acknowledged this, Canada has a responsibility to take leadership on the international stage and support a moratorium. By joining with nations like Spain (which is responsible for most the high seas bottom trawling) in opposing the moratorium, Canada is allowing the destruction of un-charted habitat in unregulated seas to continue unabated.

Prime Minister, please reconsider your position on high seas bottom trawling. Listen to the scientists, fishermen, Canadians and the global public who are calling for protection of deep sea life. Become a deep-sea defender and support a UN moratorium on high seas bottom trawling.

Damn!


PS: Now it's your turn. Don't worry there is a form letter if you aren't feeling creative.

Labels: green isn't just a colour it's an imperative, leftist content creation, online campaign, opinion

First, my sisters and brothers of the SEIU were attacked and now peaceful protesters outside the State Parliament in Melbourne.

Check out this total bullshit: http://melbourne.indymedia.org/uploads/g20parliament.mov

My one line critique of the G20: G20 leaders should be criticizing not only North Korea for nuclear tests, but also the other nuclear powers of the world for still having them.

Labels: alternatives, democracy, leftist content creation, online campaign, opinion, union

Racist, violent police on horseback attacked a group of peacefully protesting janitors yesterday.

Don't like how I called these cops racist and violent have a look for yourself: Download the podcast or watch it on YouTube.

Today, a thousand janitors held another protest at the same site.

“Houston has to make a decision whether they are going to use their power to grind workers deeper into poverty or use their power to lift workers out of poverty,” said Tom Balanoff, President of SEIU Local 1. “We hope the aggressive tactic employed against the janitors last night was a regrettable mistake on the part of the police and it won’t be repeated.”

Of course this story isn't about police aggression on one day in one city. This story is about the aggressive attack capitalism takes on the lowest paid workers doing the dirtiest crappiest jobs every day. Today, you just get to see how threatened the state becomes when a small number of these workers stand up for their rights.

In the words of NWA:

"To the police I'm sayin fuck you punk
Readin my rights and shit, it's all junk
Pullin out a silly club, so you stand
With a fake assed badge and a gun in your hand
But take off the gun so you can see what's up"

This isn't just the police either, this is also the property owners who had them called out.

Please take a moment to stand with these workers and send a note to the boss's boss.

Take a page from NWA's lyric book and let them know what you really think.

Labels: alternatives, copwatch, democracy, human rights abuse, online campaign, union

The Liberal Party leadership race is heating up and the members and their wannabe future leaders are melting under pressure.

Oh it is a good season for those of us who aren't members and never will be members of the natural governing party of Canada.

Evidence you ask?

Check this blog entry by a "finished" future Call me Bob staffer on how much Ignatieff shouldn't have used the word ghetto.

I quote:

"NDP voters? Ghetto!?!?!!?? Did he seriously just say that? Mark my words: Iggy is finished."

Iggy eh? Need I say more.. well yes.. here's some more...

What Bob & Iggy shouldn't have done is allowed these lame front pages on their web sites:



Wow. Who designed this crap?

Real - Vrai - Call me Bob - Appelez moi Bob - Canada good - Canada bon.. ack!

Are the designers going to get the ad scandal style contract for the www.gc.ca portal if their respective leader wins. I sure hope not.. and that's not because I like how it looks right now or how I'm still pissed off that www.canada.com belongs to the one of largest Liberal Party donor of the 1990's and former leader of the Manitoba Liberal party. It is because it is illegal to give your incompetent friends contracts damn it.

But I digress. Do you remember NDP Debate Bingo? Well - I propose a new game: Spot the turncoat!

The Rules

Once the Liberal leadership convention goes on tv. Watch it (don't hurt yourself though, feel free to turn it off if it makes you puke). Every time you see a former twit member of another Canadian political party or a disgraced Chretienite on the television, add a comment to this blog, including the person cited, the party they used to be in and whether or not they ran for leader of that party. Extra points for extremely obscure patronage appointments if you can name what they were appointed to and by whom.

An example entry worth extra points for "mating on screen" sighting would be "Trudeau's biographer and former Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski appointed by Chretien and charged with fraud in March of this year seen walking off the convention floor at Saturday afternoon 2:34 pm on CBC Newsworld behind an interview with Dave Haggard (see link to see what he was appointed to and by whom) formerly of the BC NDP."

Former failed leadership contenders from other parties such as Keith Martin (Canadian Alliance), Ujjal Dosanjh (BC NDP), Chris Axworthy (Saskatchewan NDP), Scott Brison (Conservative Party), Bob Rae (Ontario NDP) and Belinda Stronach (Bill Clinton's Canadian Fan Club Party) are all also worth tons of extra "loser" points.

I will ceremoniously award you these points (worth nothing more than bragging rights) for the quality of the turn coat sighted (make sure you include the time and the channel/live website coverage in case we need to verify the winner).

Good luck. May the best amongst you win. Or at least make the judge extremely happy with political obscurity annotated.

Labels: annotation, leftist content creation, nuclear waste, opinion

The BC Government is examining the possibility of allowing commercial development in BC Parks. I took a moment to express my views on this and here I share them with you (aren't you lucky).

To: Gordon Campbell, Premier premier@gov.bc.ca
Barry Penner, Minister of Environment barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.ca
CC: Carole James, Leader of the Official Opposition carole.james.mla@leg.bc.ca
Subject: 13% Commercial Free Please

Dear Gordon & Barry:

I am writing today on the topic of commercial development within BC Parks.

Your current proposal to allow development in the wonderful protected areas of our province is akin to the City of Victoria allowing a McDonald's in Beacon Hill Park. Allegorically, I'm not saying you should shut down the Beacon Hill Drive-in, just that you don't need a McDonald's overtop of the duck pond, or at the top of Beacon Hill.

Having trouble picturing what I am talking about? It is a five minute walk from your office. I know you Gordon and Barry personally aren't likely to be reading this e-mail, but may I suggest to the person who is, that you get up from your desk and take a field trip for the next 15 minutes and walk through to Beacon Hill park to think about this. It might not change your mind or the decision maker you report to, but I guarantee that it will be an enjoyable, quiet walk away from hubbub of commercial development and the office you work in.

An entire generation of British Columbians sacrificed economic growth to set aside the 13% of our land base that makes up the protected areas of British Columbia. This was the right decision and it is incomprehensible that you would allow private development within these parks. If we had wanted to develop these areas we could have. British Columbians made a reasonable choice to set these areas aside as parks free from commercial use. All of them were created with the possibility of building commercial enterprise on their edges. Accessible yet external. Once land claims and sovereignty issues are settled in British Columbia there would be few opponents to commercial interests building a "drive-in."

Sure, my generation could have grown up with a higher level of income in our province if we had allowed the kind of forestry and mining that had been proposed. We all would have benefited from increased spending on textbooks or teacher's salaries. Instead we got the chance to visit beautiful areas like the Carmanah Valley on field trips and the hope to be able to do the same with our grand children.

Please let me remind you of Judge Begbie's decision from 1884 about Beacon Hill Park. "The park alias the pleasure ground, is to be used for recreation and enjoyment; and therefore, I think, in no other manner; not for general purposes of profit, or utility, however great the prospect of these may be. A trustee cannot go beyond his "express trust at least cannot do anything inconsistent with it."

Let the intent of the public good guide you as you think of the future stewardship of our BC Parks.

You both know what Judge Begbie's nickname was! I am certain that the BC electorate's judgment could be equally severe at the next election if you make the wrong choices on such key issues.

-Morgan.


PS: My advice to the faceless reader of this e-mail at the Premier's office could also be given to you (or me for that matter).. it is always time for a fifteen minute walk through Beacon Hill Park.

Labels: alternatives, environment, green isn't just a colour it's an imperative, leftist content creation, online campaign, unfolding

I recently realized our community had lost two very influential people from my childhood.

Those of you who've known me a long-time will remember I was a gauche precocious youngster with a penchant for geekdom. Nothing has really changed with me of course, but two of the people who helped ensure that these traits were by choice and that I understood how to live differently, passed away in the last few years.

I only recently noticed the loss as I had not maintained direct contact with them. As the pace of my life slows a bit; I wanted to take a moment to remember the contributions they made to making my life and our communities better.

Reynald "Ren" L'Ecuyer, May 21, 1940 - July 23, 2005, when I knew him, was the SysOp of the Farwest BBS. After I got my first modem I was a regular on his bulletin board system. Running downstairs to take my own Atari ST based BBS off-line I would log-in with my fingers to a world he created. When I could afford it, I found a safe social space on his site and enjoyed the community that he created with 10-20 modems in his living room. His system was a predecessor to the web's magnificent global communities. From atop a building across the street from my future workplace at the BC Ministry of Health. This former Canadian Air Force pilot watched over a team of half-pint nerds in cyberspace, some of whom I learned to call friends, playing ridiculous nerd games, telling ridiculous nerd stories and chatting up a carefully controlled storm. Ren succumbed to typhoid fever in July of 2005 and will be sorely missed by the not so young nerds of Victoria, BC and many others.

Joyce Rafferty, January 14, 1929 - August 20, 2003, was a wonderful friend, and mentor to me, when I was growing up. I met her as her paper deliverer in 1987. As one of 60 pseudo-bosses on my route, she made an indelible impression on me as she convinced me to make all work a vocation and to take advantage of every moment working as a time when a lesson could be learned. She taught me to read between the lines of the newspapers I was delivering, and lent me the first Steinbeck I ever read (The Grapes of Wrath). She signed me up to the Socialist International's local branch - the New Democratic Party when I was 12. Shortly thereafter she quit as Mike Harcourt won the provincial election and failed to deliver on what she wanted (or at least failed to deliver at the speed she wanted it). This didn't slow her encouragement for me as an activist, a worker and a member of the NDP. I will forever remember her lessons on what it meant to be from Liverpool and a worker of the world. A registered nurse and a volunteer gardener at Government House, Joyce left many peoples lives far better than when she found them. She loved to plant ideas and watch them grow. I was lucky to be tended to as if I was one of them.

Many of the people who influenced me as a child were always encouraging and supportive no matter what I did. Although, this helped me develop my self-esteem it didn't help me learn from my many mistakes. I now view this nonconstructive lack of criticism and the gigantic gap between it and the constantly critical view professed by my own peers towards me as a part of a larger generational conflict of ideas.

Joyce & Ren were old school. These two magnificent teachers never hesitated to criticize. They understood that a youngster could grow from mistakes but only if they understood a mistake had been made. They were always pushing for a better life for them and the people they came into contact with. Although both were significant innovators in their own way and undeniable geniuses, the unregimented world that I lived in perplexed them. They were used to rules, seniority, rank and a style of discipline I had no other contact with. I miss 'em both even though for a long time I had no idea they were gone.

On a lighter note.. the STS, a much more raunchy and modem-mediated yet uncensored room of my childhood randomchattarama is still online.. check it at the STS.

Labels: democracy, in memory of, ndp, opinion

I admit it. I'm a vegetarian. But you know what is even more unlikeable about me (other than my hippie-critical hate/love affair with squid, mussels, octopus, eggs and milk). I'm an on again off again member of PETA. That's right People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

You know PETA, the bling-bling of social causes, the scientology of the environmental movement, the folks who have a magazine as glossy as a ranch in Garden City, Long Island is ridiculous.

Well, they called me out again for another campaign. Being the willing foot soldier in the PETA army of rich white girls that I am. I rose to the challenge.

What was the challenge you ask? Cancel the Elephant Polo in India!

Or at least embarrass the sponsor Cartier Diamonds good. (Not this Cartier by the way).

All 'cause, what's a 14 year old vegetarian girl's best friend?

That's right: a stinky, old, enslaved elephant being abused by a diamond company.. (and the polo players who work for them).

Of course this campaign has nothing to do with Conflict Diamonds. This has to do with the conflicted nature of the future diamond consumer.

Doesn't matter, get out your ink blotters... it is time to feel good about buying diamonds because it is time for you to join the army of suburban basement vegan anorexics and send Cartier Diamonds a note telling them what you think - using the PETA e-activism page. Admit it.. you read this far down this rant, you have time to send a form letter.

BTW: If you feel like harassing a celebrity, apparently you can do it about their choice of clothing. Check out Beyonce getting bossed around by an anti-fur crusader over dinner.

Maybe PETA isn't solving the world's most important problems, but damn are they good guilt relief.

So stop eating, wearing and killing animals. Stop feeling guilty. Then actually feel better about yourself! Move on to stopping the killing, abusing, underpaying and the trafficking of people.

Labels: human rights abuse, online campaign, opinion

So, Garth Turner is going to say something. He has a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning, can't say it today, gotta wait until tomorrow.

As he puts it in his weblog he is going to say something: "about what our political leaders promise and deliver, and what I’ve just learned."

The country is in a tail spin. What could it be?

What could Garth Turner know about our prime minister that everyone else doesn't know.. or that the Candians who do know, can't tell us. What is it that he is going to tell us that is so exciting?

It was obviously exciting enough that, unconfirmed, unpublished and before Garth realized what it was that he knew, it got Garth kicked out of the Conservative Caucus. I mean c'mon what kind of caucus confidentiality did he break, given that he hasn't even told us what he is going to tell us tomorrow, and he got kicked out of caucus on October 18?

Well we just don't know do we. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime any guesses? Any leaks from within Garth's brain that want to confirm themselves right here.

PS: Please stop contacting me about the Garth Turner bites it tonight betting pool. You know I'm not a betting man. For those of you who are punters and looking for some advice on which way to bet, don't look to me, look to history.

Labels: blogosphere, leftist content creation, new media critique, opinion, unfolding

This is from an e-mail I sent to a friend yesterday... reproduced for you the reader:

Ok let's seriously talk bathrooms. And not just because I think my 6 bits worth last night maybe offended. I'm not worried about offending..

The socially accepted descriptions of gender identity and the roles that go with them are flawed.

The little cut-out people on the bathroom door are the extreme examples of the doors that you and I are forced to walk through. They clearly aren't acceptable to us and they aren't because of the implications for the rest of our lives. These gender roles are defined through a series of social controls that definitely don't fit for a few and clearly can't fit for more.

It isn't enough to redefine the little cut-outs like some restaurant owners do. The idea of only two choices or even only three choices just simply isn't enough...

People shouldn't be confined in where they urinate and they shouldn't be forced to hide themselves.

And when I say people, I mean you and me.

Thankfully the things said at a party aren't enough to define the full belief system of a person.

I hope you had fun last night and that forever the doors you walk through are the ones of your choosing and you are able to flush other people's interpretations of what those doors define when they narrowly take away your identity or those you care about.

nb: In celebration of my newly unemployed status I was charging $.75 (or 6 bits) to hear my drunken rants at a party. Clinton did it first only he charged $80 for the cheap tix. I won't be reproducing my sweater rant, so stop asking.

Labels: mea culpa, opinion, personal story

The Mactas (that's the McMaster University Teaching Assistants of Hamilton, Ontario for those who haven't been preparing the barricades for the latest academic strike) have voted 61.5% to accept the university's "Best Offer." Meanwhile binding arbitration has resulted in a 21.5% increase for Uranium miners just up the road at the McArthur River and Key Lake uranium mining operations.

I'm reporting this here because I think the contrast is interesting.

Check out a Canadian government report on anti-discrimination in big operations in the northern prairie provinces. One win, that can carried forward in contracts around the world is to ensure that the language freeing workers from discrimination on the basis of: "transsexual transition status, gender expression, and gender identity" is added in to contracts. Given the economic base nature of discrimination though, I'd take a 21.5% increase over that language any day. Especially since most existing anti-discrimination language should be argued to ensure no discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity or expression.

Generally though let's just say Uranium miners have a much better deal than TA's and it is getting 21.5% better over four years.

Now, if we just stop mining uranium through a just transition to well paying teaching assistant jobs...

Labels: online campaign, opinion, union

With the sudden announcement of Bob Gates as the new secretary of defense and Bush's own family connections to the intelligence community (daddy Bush was the CIA director before becoming Vice-President and then President). Is it that improbable that Bill Gates might be a relative (likely distant) of Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp?

Is it possible that Microsoft's early financial dominance could be because of spying? Did someone slip their cousin some source code?

I'm sure there is someone out there that can rule out a family connection; that is if there isn't one. I know I don't have the research capacity.

But, I do love to wonder whether billionaires can keep themselves from influencing politics closely. More than that it will be interesting to know whether they had access to the corridors of power long before the money started to flow to them.

What we do know is Robert Gates's appointment is going to be rushed through congress in apparent defiance of the will of the American electorate. Defying the electorate probably isn't anything new for this veteran of the CIA, given his involvement with the Contra in Nicaragua. I wonder what the recently re-elected Ortega thinks of the Gates appointment?

It is worth noting that the departure of Rumsfeld (see prior post) from Ford's administration roughly coincided with daddy Bush's appointment as Director of Central Intelligence in the mid-1970's.

• Billy Gates
• Bobby Gates
• Daddy Bush
• José Daniel Ortega Saavedra

Labels: alternatives, anti-microsoft, spy-watch

The Internationale is a great song, but did you know you can tell the affiliation of a singer by the way they know the words?

Check out this wikipedia article including the different English translations...

Then raise your fist in the air and sing it the way you want, just make sure you sing it.

Other songs to raise your fist in the air and sing like you just do' care:

• I Dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
• Love me, Love me, I'm a Liberal
• Barrett's Privateers

Labels: anti-war, leftist content creation, opinion