You wouldn’t think it is so hard to make a voting simple but apparently it is. And apparently the US is fucking it up again. Remember the whole chad incident?
Now they are getting ready to fuck it up with video voting! http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q9NSVUu8nk
So… who do you think is going to win now?
There are many rumors and urban myths about gas companies buying/stealing/cajoling the patents on electric cars, cars that run on water, or super efficient cars and for the most part you might think that is total crap. Except that some car manufacturer’s are getting less efficient!
Take the 2004 Volkswagon Jetta for example.
According to Canadian Driver it got 6.2 litres/100 km in the city (46 mpg) and 4.6 (61 mpg) on the highway. Pretty impressive!
Now look at the 2009 Jetta,
Car and Diver writes that the 2009 Jetta TDI has been officially rated at 30 mpg city, 41 mpg highway. That is a loss of 16 in the city and 20 on the highway.
What the Hell Volkswagon?!! Given today’s economic and environmental state, why would you make a vehicle less fuel efficient unless it is because you are in cahoots with the oil companies?
I just started reading Tribes by Seth Godin
And I got all inspired so I started making a lens on Squidoo.
http://www.squidoo.com/search-engine-optimization-4
I am quick to jump to conclusions, and fast to fly off the handle. I admit this because I am passionate. One of the things I am most passionate about it human rights. I believe that torture of any sort, for any reason (like there could be a justifiable reason) is in clear violation of these rights.
The CBC reported on the iacobucci inquiry into the torture of three men. A number of bigotted hateful things were posted in the comment section to which I replied:
PollySci – Who are you to say these men are criminals? Do you know for sure? Do you have evidence the rest of Canada doesn’t? If so, then bring it forth so all can see it in the light of day!
I object to my government torturing my fellow citizens -regardless of who is paying the bill. I object to my government stalling and hiding the truth behind the threat of “national security” and object to the fact that not a single government office has lost their job over this.
Go spew your thinly veiled bigotry elsewhere.
That was prior to the government releasing the details of the inquiry. I had hoped for some form of justice unfortunately it is not to be.
The CBC reported:
The actions of Canadian officials contributed indirectly to the torture of three Arab-Canadian men in Syria, a federal inquiry has concluded.
“I found no evidence that any of these officials were seeking to do anything other than carry out conscientiously the duties and responsibilities of the institutions of which they were a part,” .
They also report:
“It is neither necessary nor appropriate that I make findings concerning the actions of any individual Canadian official, and I have not done so,” Iacobucci wrote.
I have numerous issues with all of this. First is, what consitutes indirect contributions? CSIS and the RCMP provided information to Syria, which made Syria detain and torture these men. I would say that is a pretty direct contribution. If the RCMP had information, they should have used it to detain them here in Canada. They didn’t of course, so that they could deny being involved since “Canada doesn’t torture”
If you think for one second that our government is not a proponent of torture, I suggest you look up terms such as extrodinary rendition, black sites, and Maher Arar.
The second issue I have with this is that claiming these people where jsut doing their jobs, is akin to the claim “I was just following orders”. If these institutions define passing information to foreign countries so Canadian citizens can be tortures, then those institutions need to be dismantled. (Yes RCMP, I am looking at you)
Lastly Iacobucci claims, “It is neither necessary nor appropriate that I make findings concerning the actions of any individual Canadian official…” Wrong! It is abso-fucking-lutely necessary. It is also necessary that that individual be removed from their position of authority.
Hopefully this time Canada will have the stones to hold those reponsible - responsible.
So the folks that brought you Survivor are going to be creating a new show, “Live like you’re dying“. It will feature someone who is terminally ill and follow them on the trip of a life time. Which will include reunions with feuding family members and former friends. Think Make a Wish meets Big Brother.
While they insist the show will be inspirational rather than depressing and morbid, one can’t help but question how far they will take it. Will they follow some poor bastard through their last rattling breaths while they shit themselves waiting for the grim spectre of death to finally provide them with some relief? Let’s hope so!
It reminds me of the Dutch T.V. show “De Grote Donorshow” or “The Big Donor Show” where contestants compete to win a kidney, or liver or some other organ they desperately need. While the show was a hoax and supposed to raise organ donation awareness, this Live like you’re dying idea is not far off.
I’m all for “make a wish” and carpe diem but I really don’t need to watch someone reunite with estranged family members just because they are dying. If people spent time and effort on their own lives they wouldn’t need to watch the misery and drama in other’s.
I turned 35 on Monday. Same day as Thanksgiving. My father said, “So now you’re middle aged.” I laughed and said, “A-ha you have middle-aged children.” I don’t feel middle aged, not that I know what it is supposed to feel like, but I assumed I wouldn’t get zits anymore, or cold sores. I thought I would feel much older and secure than I do. I thought I would know what to do and what comes next. Lies.
Everytime it is my birthday I begin to think of my mother. The connection is obvious. I think we should change things and on your birthday you should give gifts to others. Especially your mom.
I came across this on Postsecret and started quietly crying at work. I miss her so much.
The election results in Canada were a big disappointment, and what is painfully obvious is the need to overhaul our electoral system.
The Conservatives only had 37.63% of the popular vote and ended up with 143 seats. The Liberals had 26.24% of the popular vote but only for 76 seats.
| Vote Share (%) | Seats (First Past Post) |
Seats (Popular Vote) |
|
| Conservatives | 37.63% | 143 | 116 |
| Liberals | 26.24% | 76 | 81 |
| BQ | 9.97% | 50 | 31 |
| NDP | 18.20% | 37 | 56 |
| IND | 0.65% | 2 | 2 |
| Green | 6.80% | 0 | 21 |
| Other | 0.51% | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 308 | 308 |
One of the r Canadian election process is that the First Past the Post system, which we currently use, encourages parties to concentrate their efforts in a small area. Take the Bloc Quebecois for example, with less than 10% of the populat vote, they get an incredible 60 seats in the house. Do you really think they have the interests of all Canadians in mind?
Another problem is that parties such as the Green Party, which has support “an inch deep and a mile wide”, get no seats because they don’t concentrate on one tiny area. You can see if we gave seats out as a potion of the popular vote then the Conservatives have 23 fewer seats, the BQ have 28 fewer and everyone else gains seats.
Personally I think we should switch to a popular vote system. One of the common objections is how do we decide which ridings end up represented by which party? I think the easiest solution is to say that MPs represent all Canadians, not their specific riding. This would also help keep nepotism to a minimum. Back when election results were being continuously published by the media throughout election day I would wait to see who Ontario voted for and then vote for the same party. The idea being I wanted my MP to be on the winning team. If he or she was on the majority then they would be in a better position to help my riding out.
The other thing we could do is allow the parties to put forth the list of names in order of members they would put in power should they win. Similar to the batting order in pro baseball. This way voters know in advance who the parties would put forth and it would force parties to put their best people first.
One of the biggest advantages of the popular vote is that every vote counts. Even the fringe votes will mean something. People will be able to vote for who they really want, and not need to strategically vote to prevent the person they don’t want from getting office.
This also means parties without a concentrated base will gain seats. For example the Green Party received no seats in this election but would end up with 22 seats in the popular vote system.
The other thing I would implement is a penalty for not voting. Make it small, like a $10 fine. Democracy is not a right, and it is not a privilege. It is something that we have worked hard for and every Canadian has an obligation to do their part.
Every industry evolves. It evolves or it dies. In the music industry records evolved into cassettes, cassettes into CDs, and now CDs into mp3s. In the communications industry wireless gave way to radio, radio to T.V., and now the T.V. is giving way to the Internet.
While these industries have had mutated offspring, Beta max and laser discs to name just two, the strongest survive and the industry gets stronger. One could easily argue that communications today is much stronger, and more evolved than in Edison’s day.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said about banking. This is because banking has long be suckling at the teet of government which protects it and helps the weaker ones along. Leahman’s not withstanding, banks have not been allowed to collapse and die the same way other companies have. This current credit crisis is a perfect example. Rather than allow nature to take it’s course and allow companies like Wachovia and AIG to collapse the government is only adding fuel to the fire by giving them a bail out. (Not to mention AIG spent almost half a million dollars on a spa resort for executives after the government bailed them out.)
Where all this will lead is to forced evolution. And like the music and communications industries will come through the Internet. The Internet forces the music industry to change the way it does business and in return has given rise to iTunes and down-loadable music.
Within the banking industry it will lead to people removing their money from banks and putting it into social investing and social lending sites. For example, zopa.com or prosper.com through which people can borrow and lend money to other people. While these might be slow in uptake and more complicated than older banking customers want, they are very interesting propositions.
With better rates than banks, these companies will take those bread and butter transactions from traditional banks. If you doubt the solidity of these companies consider that many people never set foot in a bank. You can now open accounts online, and through automatic deposit and online bill payments never need to actually meet anyone from a bank.
Change is coming. The bailout only delayed it. And it is going to hit like the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs.
I can’t wait.
