August 25, 2012

At the risk of sounding a little like Glen Beck

going off on a "Hitler!!" "Nazis!!" rampage...


..It's been shown that Harper HAS been tied to neo-nazi & white supremacist groups in the past.

I would assume that he could care less if info was gained from torture or not...It's not like morality or ethics would be an issue for him.
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http://canadianawareness.org/2012/02/stephen-harper-linked-to-nazi-intellectuals-and-christian-fundamentalists/

Mr. Harrison documents in the book entitled Of Passionate Intensity, that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a member of the ultra-right wing Northern Foundation in 1989. Mr. Harrison documents that this Foundation was comprised of Neo-Nazi social Darwinist intellectuals.

Stephen Harper was Reform Party Policy chief, at a time when it had numerous members of the white supremacist group Heritage Front as members. Trevor Harrison, further documents that Mr. Harper even had Heritage Front members doing security for Preston Manning at Reform Party events in Ontario. The Reform Party would evolve into the Alliance Party of Canada, which sought to take over the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC Party) toward the formation of the “Conservative Party of Canada”.

When Stephen Harper was a member of the ultra-right-wing Northern Foundation in 1989, Mr. Harrison documents that this was a group that had numerous Neo-Nazi skinheads as organizers, as well as a leadership that included a well-known white supremacist and anti-feminist crusader as a prominent leader that sought to take over the mass-media to enable the fulfillment of a right wing agenda.
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Is the behaviour of the CPC any surprise to anyone now that you know THIS little bit of info?

August 11, 2012

to put it plainly..

He can't defend it.

He's terrified to release those returns with my suspicion being he'd spark french revolution style backlash.

He may or may not of pioneered some of the income tax evading tricks (& maybe quite a few illegal ones, plus possible partnerships with businesses & such on the 'do not deal with on penalty of treason' list)

He may not have started some of those tricks but sure as hell took them to extremes & probably taught his buddies how to do the same, with NO consideration (or care) as to what the ripple effect would be for anyone else not not born with a platinum spoon in his mouth like he was. Social contract be damned...he never signed anything for that!

I remember a few posts here & elsewhere claiming that there are 10's of trillions of dollars hiding in offshore, tax free havens for the ultra-rich that can afford the army of accountants & lawyers to hide it for them.

I want to see leeches like him & all the dirty little financial tricks that vampires like him use to get out of paying their fair share.

As Obama SHOULD have said, "you didn't build that" BY YOURSELF.

I think of all the tax breaks, subsidies, public resources, etc. & most importantly the work done by EMPLOYEES that goes into building a company, regardless of industry.

With offshore accounts not subject to U.S. law, (or any other's laws for that matter) that means that ANYONE, in any country is able to pull the same shit he does & shift the burden onto the REAL tax-paying public's of said countries, while the vampires make off with all the loot & the ones that got them those riches left to...well...die. (not so extreme a statement considering all the efforts by the ultra-rich to limit health care, worker safety, living wages, etc.)

I really hope Harry Reid has access to those tax returns & eventually finds a way to release them. It's about time for change. REAL change. change that benefits not just the U.S., but other countries as well.

August 9, 2012

I recently posted a challenge about gay marriage/rights to an atheist discussion site

it's the reddit atheism page, taking a stab at the Chick-Fil-A controversy.

the full page is here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/xvmtj/food_protest/

it started off as comments made about this pic:



where I was arguing with someone about the 'protest' by folks that showed up were just using 'religion' & 'freedom of speech' as cover for bigotry & homophobia

After all..it DID happen after the story got national attention where the owner openly said he contributes to anti-gay hate groups, in support of 'traditional marriage' & christian values.



There's a lot of conservative/religious trolls & bigots there & they disrupt the subreddit all the time saying that anything posted with a homosexual slant has nothing to do with atheism

Considering the majority of opposition comes from from religious groups, I think it's a pretty damn good reason why someone would choose atheism.

all that aside though, the issue is this:



I wanted them to state a clear, logical argument as to why they are against gay marriage and/or gay rights, without using religion or bible passages as an excuse.

I was trying to isolate & remove the religion aspect & expose the bigotry & homophobia for what it is.

It may be a wee biased & have a preconception to it, but it was the best I came up with at the time.



A little background on myself:

I'm a 36 year old male heterosexual atheist, with gay relatives & close friends. I love 'em all equally.

My posted challenge was this:

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I do want to have a serious discussion..

So I'm going to post a challenge to try to separate bigotry (or just plain distaste) from religious beliefs

I want folks that don't approve of gay marriage (or gay equality/rights) for that matter to justify in their OWN words & opinions WITHOUT using religion or bible verses as a fall back.

Calling it unnatural or whatever is not a valid reason either. that's just an opinion.

Or that it makes them feel 'icky' or uncomfortable to think about. that is not a valid logical argument.

The argument should stand on it's own merit without needing a few verses from a collection of stories written 2000 years ago in a totally different era to prop it up. (or any other 'holy' book for that matter).

I'll be waiting.

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I need a sounding board or at least a few to come over there & keep things honest.

I post under the same username as I do on DU.

I also want to hear from everyone interested here, criticism & all!

June 7, 2012

It's a terrible thing using children as your army..

& something SHOULD be done about it...I'd just be wary about doing anything about it if it's connected to the the "Invisible Children" group

I haven't done research on other organizations that can help, bu this is what I found on "Invisible Children"

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Invisible_Children

In 2006, Invisible Children, Inc., became an official 501(c)3 non-profit which has "financial connections to hard right Christian fundamentalist organisations, [and] is led by an evangelical Christian." There was is focused on Uganda. [1] (For a similar example of a better known evangelical Christian nonprofit, see World Vision.)

http://blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/8090/2012-04-08.html

"Invisible Children, Makers of KONY2012, Spied For Ugandan Regime ---WikiLeaks"

Invisible Children, makers of KONY2012, provided an intelligence tip to Uganda's security apparatus leading to arrests of several suspected regime opponents, according to U.S. embassy cables posted by WikiLeaks.

It also diverts news attention from the fact that Gen. Museveni is fighting for his own political survival in Uganda, as opposition politicians who claim he stole the last presidential election continue their mass protests in Kampala, the capital. This week the regime banned protests by activists.

In return for the license granted him by Western powers, Museveni has contributed thousands of Ugandan soldiers -- some of whom may have participated in the war crimes in Congo and in Uganda -- for the U.S.-backed mission to stabilize Somalia, which, Washington fears, will become a haven for Al Qaeda.

Kony2012 was viewed more than 100 million times; yet it now turns out that Invisible Children may have duped a global audience by hiding the fact that it's been working closely with the Museveni regime all along, to the extent that it even shared intelligence leading to arrests of perceived or alleged regime opponents.


http://www.zcommunications.org/what-they-wont-say-about-kony-2012-by-bill-crane

In October, the Obama administration announced it was sending 100 soldiers to Uganda to act as military "advisers" to Ugandan and African Union forces fighting the LRA. "I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield," Obama wrote in a letter to Congress.

But the administration isn't motivated to extend military help to the Ugandan government out of altruism. U.S. involvement comes in the context of what SocialistWorker.org contributor Lee Wengraf called "a new African land grab"--with Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, India and South Korea, as well as agribusiness and private equity firms from Europe and the U.S., buying up large tracts in a competition for farmland and biofuel sources.

Despite Invisible Children's claim to speak on behalf of Kony's child soldiers, only one such soldier appears in the video. The only other Ugandans interviewed are politicians--representatives of a U.S.-aligned government that has repressed the Acholi people. In fact, the camera spends more time on the video's white director and his child, and the white activists working with Invisible Children.

June 6, 2012

I agree & can speak from experience

At least for the company website bit.

I applied once to a local call center that had recently changed it's polices to accept only online applications, & required answering a questionnaire (the 1-5 sliding scale "I strongly agree - I strongly disagree type) on top of supplying a resume, work history, etc.

I answered the questionnaire as honestly as I could, just to get an automated email later saying I didn't meet their requirements.

Being the technically inclined guy I am (Fix & build PC's for a living, used to finding workarounds) I figured out the apps were tied to email addresses, submitted a new application but this time giving out the 'gung-ho' I strongly agree answers, & later got an email saying I passed the app & would be getting a call for an interview soon.

The online work application was based on a pre-set of answers & automatically rejected you if you did not meet up with the gung ho attitude they were looking for...I doubt previous experience, expertise, references, etc played any part in the hiring process..

..Just a cold non-human program that merciless dump anyone with honesty, integrity, etc.

I believe they had only 2 H.R. people there..for a building that housed 500-600 employees at any given time..the program did most of the work for them..freeing them up to do pretty much...nothing.

Any real issues or grievances that were brought before them by the front-line agents (the people manning the phones, that did the real work, everything else is just support, really) resulted in them taking the company side pretty much all the time. The center tried to unionize to combat the unjust firings, etc, just to have that squashed due to intimidation & other methods (also threats to 'move elsewhere' if a union was formed)..along with an ineffectual labor board.

I put in a year & 1/2 before I decided to call it quits..after watching too many brown-nosers promoted to potions they couldn't handle, (due to too much time getting OUT of real work in various ways.. resulting in less real knowledge & experience doing the job) & watching various people getting fired for whatever reasons they could justify.

It's a common practice at most call centers..it keeps wages & salaries from getting too high..another trick being moving campaigns to other locations & setting everyone back to zero again, getting paid much less for the 'new' campaign. Of course you have the 'option' of moving to the new location to keep your old job...but the locations were usually pretty far away..as in the other side of the country or another country completely.

The company in question was named StarTek...whose client at the site I worked at was...T-Mobile.

June 4, 2012

Montreal's Grand Prix cancels opening day over protest threats

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/06/03/montreal-grand-prix-student-protests.html?cmp=rss

Montreal's Grand Prix cancels opening day over protest threats

Threats of student protests have forced organizers of the Canadian Grand Prix to cancel the free opening day of the event.

"Our ticket sales are down over the last month or so. People didn't buy the tickets, saying that they were afraid to come to Montreal."

Quebec Premier Jean Charest in turn has been critical of threats toward the race that generates an estimated $100 million in revenue for the city.
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Boy..the lies, fear, & hyperbole are strong with this government..Jean Charest is trying to make a big show as a tough guy since his party got decimated in the last election...maybe he's auditioning for a later move across the border to join the republican party?

May 31, 2012

Conservative Grifter Bev Oda's staff silent on travel expense changes

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/30/pol-oda-expenses.html?cmp=rss

International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda's office is refusing to say whether she has paid taxpayers back for any inappropriate travel costs in addition to the lavish hotel and chauffeured car she expensed for a trip to London last summer.

The refusal to provide information comes in the wake of last month's controversy when details emerged about Oda charging taxpayers with a stay at the swanky Savoy hotel in London last June. The room cost more than $600 per night.

Oda was originally supposed to stay at the hotel that was hosting the conference she was attending, but upon arrival in London she booked a room at the Savoy instead. Oda also billed taxpayers about $1,000 per day for a car and driver to transport her to the conference, a short cab ride away from the Savoy.
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As my title suggests..just another conservative party grifter living high off of YOUR tax money while we break our back on mimimum wage paying for it. Angry yet?

Don't let the issue of stolen elections through robocalls die! Get Harper & grifter buddies out of office!

May 24, 2012

Police kettle Montreal student protesters, arresting 518

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/05/24/montreal-arrests-kettling.html?cmp=rss

Police kettle Montreal student protesters, arresting 518

Police in Montreal moved in on student protesters again Wednesday night, kettling them and making 518 arrests — the largest number in one night since the demonstrations began weeks ago.

"This is the 30th night of the protest," one woman told CBC's Tom Parry. "Can you imagine what's going to happen when there's summer festivals? … We're going to keep marching. It's not going to stop. Negotiations have to happen."

The Quebec government has offered to return to the bargaining table, but it won't give in on the tuition hike or on another student demand that it scrap its controversial new emergency law that clamps down on protests.