You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2009.
I’m an introvert. To be honest, I really do not like people too too much. I find them to be loud, generally inane and
always bothersome.
That being said I’m also aware of the necessity of communication and its links to good mental health and well-being in general.
A Blog Around the Clock has once again provided useful fodder to pontificate on. Check out the Shy Connector here and gain a little hope if you are introvert like me.
Not really a big surprise is it? I mean, slavery as a topic to most Westerners seems sort of a hazy far away topic. The indolent luxury of our society washes away much of our collective memory of slavery, ah yes feel the consumerist tide set you free.
Mostly, when one mentions the Slavery our memories draw back to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade of the the 16th century onwards. It was a horrible time, to say the least. The wild notion that all people are people still has not taken hold in our world even now in the 21st century.
Some of the not so nice facts from DW-World.de.
“Siddarth Kara, in his book “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery,” says that there were just over 28 million slaves worldwide in 2006 divided into three categories: bonded labor/debt bondage, forced labor and trafficking slaves.
According to Kara, the profits generated worldwide by all forms of slavery in 2007 were just over $91 billion. That is second only to drug trafficking in terms of global criminal activities.
Information on slavery is very inexact. But we believe that the majority of slave victims – in the neighbourhood of 80 percent – are the female gender, and that around 50 percent are children. We believe that the largest category of slavery is sex slavery. This is not to minimize other large categories – domestic servitude slavery, forced labour in farms and factory slavery, child soldier slavery,” said John Miller, director of the US State Department‘s Office for Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Persons.
Human trafficking is synonymous with slavery. Human trafficking relies on coercion and exploitation. It thrives on converting hope to fear. It’s maintained through violence. The trade in people is a major source of revenue – in the billions [of dollars per year] – for organized crime, along with the drug trade and the arms trade. Let there be no misunderstanding, modern slavery plagues every country in the world – including the United States,” Miller said.”
So ya, happy slavery day. Maybe within my lifetime it can be a memorial day instead of a current events concern.
The last major flu epidemic killed 20 -40 million people. It was the so called Spanish Flu Epidemic. It spread rapidly throughout the population, we really did not know what hit us.
The Swine Flu has given us a many warning signs and clues to how it is going to run its course through our populations.
Children will be effected as well as adults. As always children are a particularly good transmitting and amplifying a virus as their general standards of hygiene are lower. Children are also packed together in schools and day-care facilities aiding in ease of transmission.
We have to start the planning now, as many governments have done including the Canadian government. Unfortunately this planning has revealed how critically understaffed and underfunded our system healthcare system is. The logistical requirements of merely giving a flu shot to millions of people will seriously tax our system’s resources. It must be done though as caring for all the cases of influenza will be worse if we do not vaccinate.
The CBC has an updated story on progress of the swine flu, find it here.
It is a cross-posting extravaganza. (Many thanks Intransigentia) But no, really, if you ever need to explain to your friends about Patriarchy or white male privilege or hetronormativitiy or any of the diverse topics along those lines, these two posts are not bad places to start.
The first is a post from Shakesville. It is long for a blog post but well worth the read. Check out the article here.
The second is a post from the Pursuit of Harpyness, it is a personal anecdote, but a good look into the hetronormative standards which pervade our society. The comment section is also quite informative for this article. Find it here.
Newsflash: Deregulation does nothing except help the energy suppliers. Consumers are generally out of luck and almost always get the short end of the stick.
The Conservatives in Alberta have deregulated the power distribution system. Has the market pushed down prices? NO. Alberta energy prices are some of the highest in the country. I am not sure how many times this has been said, then patently ignored by the alberta tories. Deregulation hurts consumers.
The Edmonton Journal occasionally squeaks its disapprobation at the most ludicrous government policy. For once they got it right…read the whole article below the fold. I’d link the article itself, but the Journal insists on some digital PDF nonsense.
Former chief consumer advocate
speaks out
Energy contracts shopped doorto-door in Alberta are a “ripoff” because consumers are being charged too much for electricity and natural gas, and have to spend hundreds of dollars to get out of them, a former official with the Utilities Consumer Advocate says.
David Gray, who last month stepped down from his post as the agency’s executive director, said Monday only 30 per cent of the province’s one million retail electricity consumers have switched to contracts.
“The biggest number of complaints we had at the Utilities Consumer Advocate were from people pressured into a contract at their door … and realizing after they got their bill what happened to them. Instead of saving money, their bills went up considerably, and if they wanted to cancel their contracts, they faced enormous penalties.”
If you have not noticed religion tends to get the short end of the stick here at DWR. Whether it is being put to philosophical test or really just being mocked. This post much more in the later than the former category. You really just have to stand back in awe of the stupid that is out there.
Today’s flavour is Turkish stupidity. Religion is the great equalizer when it comes to being absofrackinglutely retarded. I quote…
Dr. Oktar Babuna and Cihat Gündoğdu tried to “disprove” arguments of the scientists through harunyahya.tv. Supposedly Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya) would participate in the program, but he did not.
“Babuna and Gündoğdu presented same arguments as in last week’s TV program and referred to Koran to try disprove evolution, as well as they maintained an aggressive attitude. Followers of Harun Yahya, mostly remarkable for their finery and calm attitude, depicted Darwin as “wine addict, diseased personality, who wrote book and loafed around the ship with yelling”. The creationists described evolutionists as “so called scientists” and they “criticized” concepts of evolution with certain words such as “comedy, fiction, ridiculous absurdity”. “
Okay, well besmirch Darwin all you would like. I’m sure those with the allah/jeebus complex do not mind if similar standards or arguing are applied to their godhead. I’m sure their response would be measured… The evidence that supports evolution is mountainous. Refuting evolution would require conclusive evidence that evolution is wrong as a theory. And no, your magic book that says evolution isn’t fact won’t cut it.
“The creationist claimed that evolution theory relies on certain coincidences, and they applied to Koran to disprove the theory. The creationists argued that God need no reasons and consequently God created the universe “at that moment” saying “be”, not through evolution, nevertheless they did not slow down. They called in the question which evolution created angel and daemon, how felicities in the heaven evolved, how the snake came into existence out of the baton as well as the bird out of mud. The creationists tried to disprove evolution theory with these questions.”
You really cannot lose when you have magic on your side can you? I’m in awe of the fact they would mention ‘angels and demons’ in the same breath as evolution. It’s like wow….just wow…
“Babuna and Gündoğdu did not refer to evolution as a “theory” and they were insistent on inexistence of any intermediate forms. Babuna and Gündoğdu, who claimed that evolution theory has been falsified through 250 million fossils”
Take that evidence! Checkmate! We can just say it doesn’t work and it is good enough!
You know, Hitchens was right, religion really does poison everything.
I’m with Mr.Broadbent on this one. Forget about changing the name. Spend the time and the effort to reach more Canadians with the NDP’s message. Let us focus on getting Harper out of power and a NDP/Liberal coalition in. The conservatives actively destroy Canada’s social programs, while the Liberals tend to do it piecemeal and quietly. We need to reestablish the idea that the government works for the People of Canada as a opposed to the just the corporate elite of Canada.
Surprisingly I found this on the global website. The full article is behind the link.
Ed Broadbent fires up NDP convention
Richard Foot, Canwest News Service: Friday, August 14, 2009
Former NDP Leader Ed Broadbent in a file picture.
Photo Credit: Brent Foster, Windsor Star
HALIFAX — Twenty years after he left the helm of the federal NDP, a greyer, more stooped, but no less feisty Ed Broadbent was back in front of his party on Friday, unleashing an angry attack on the Liberals and Conservatives and blaming them squarely for the current recession.
In an opening speech at the NDP’s national convention in Halifax, Broadbent said “the disastrous consequences” of two decades of budget cutting, tax cutting and of slashing social programs in Ottawa — accompanied by similar policies in other western countries — led directly to “last fall’s economic crisis.”
He also said Canadians should not delude themselves in perceiving a difference between the economic stewardship of recent Liberal or Conservative governments.
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