Wind, Cannabis, apprehension of children, minimum wage and more

So made it thorough a wild night of crazy wind (up to 120km an hour gusts) - no snow though.  Trees down in front of/beside our house but all belong to neighbours. . . although two are in our driveway they are on the house side of both cars - Assume eventually construction workers building new house next door will deal with it --   on Monday if not before.  We have power and warmth and light and internet etc. (113,000 NS Power customers without power this morning - never privatize your power company!!!!) )   All happily in place with one son, wife and grand child, and waiting for the other son and family to arrive for another "Christmas" at our house.   So happy. 
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Well thank goodness for the occasional judge that can literally see through the DCS judgment.


"An impoverished Halifax-area couple have regained custody of their toddler daughter, after a judge declared: "There is a difference between parents who are poor, and poor parents."   . . .
"The province's community services minister argued in court there is a "real chance" of harm if the girl is returned to her parents.
"But the judge noted the woman has had no mental-health crises for 17 months, and previously sought help when needed. She said the woman works as a babysitter, and has extensive experience caring for five younger siblings, and is "a confident, competent and capable care-giver."
"Parents who have poor mental health are not deprived of their children: parents whose poor mental health puts their children at risk and who do not seek needed treatment are," Jollimore said in her ruling."
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Lots of blow back in Ontario on minimum wage increase. . . and media playing their part by publishing lots of articles about how the increase will hurt minimum wage workers.

Although I cannot find the article this second - many news articles were about how 50-60,000 thousand jobs will be lost because of it - but the truth is that they are only predicating a slow down in job growth, NO job losses in fact.  And yet many headlines repeated this error. . . 

Michael Coren wrote a great piece (will wonders never cease - not the first time - amazing watching his views change over the last decades) saying in part: "The response seldom has anything to do with economics but is about control and even humiliation. Critics believe that those earning minimum wage somehow deserve to go without, need to pay a price for some imagined sin of failure or lack of ambition. Minimum wage is in their eyes punitive. Listen to talk radio, read right-wing columnists and we see a contemporary Calvinism, a perverse form of predestination where the undeserving poor need to know their place.
. . .
"When, for example, it’s revealed that business leaders are to receive bonuses on already astronomical salaries we never hear that this will lead to inflation or the need to reduce the number of bosses. On the contrary, the same types who oppose minimum wage increases explain that only such munificence will attract the best, even though the evidence indicates otherwise."

Tons of other great pieces on the minimum wage defense.  . .

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This article in Wired is from the summer,  but I just read it and found it fascinating: https://www.wired.com/story/this-pill-promises-to-extend-life-for-a-nickel-a-pop/
Metformin - that is used primarily to stabilize blood sugar in diabetics  may be the key to living, maybe not longer,  but healthier for longer - so more years of good health and ability - still perhaps getting cancer or heart disease,  but much later. . . Sounds good to me - I would love more years of health to enjoy the world. 
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There seems to be an assumption in this story that Cannabis use is way worse than alcohol.  Why is it any different than not allowing people to be drunk on the job?  Why need different methods or processes? It uses language like

Do you want some bozo driving a tank to be strung out? No," said Stuart Hendin, a lawyer and instructor at the Royal Military College and Canadian Forces College.

"strung out" on weed? Miriam Webster describes strung out as addicted or physically debilitated from long term drug use.  Cannabis does neither of those things on its own.   You can develop a "habit" but there are no physical symptoms from stopping use -  just psychological ones. . . there seems to be real panic as if there is not much difference between cannabis and heroin (a la Jeff Sessions) The Military seems a little panicked and the press are not asking questions about their lack of science/medical knowledge.

Daily Musings Feb 3rd.

Is Edward Snowden a prisoner in Russia?   The Guardian newspaper asks.  In the second exclusive extract from his new book, The Snowden Files, Luke Harding looks at the role of Russia's shadowy intelligence agency, the FSB, in securing the whistleblower's exile – and whether they have cracked his secret files.   I feel so bad for Snowden -- instead of politics he often brings out the Mom and Grannie in me. . . I just want to bring him home and look after him.

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There was a presentation in Halifax on the possibility of postal banking. . . a good idea whose time has come though the Post office CEO doesn't think so. . .   It suggests in part:

Traditional banks are closing, true. But they're also exclusive places and increasingly centralized in high density, higher income, areas, like shopping malls.
To prove the point, he draws back the curtain of a boardroom at the Holiday Inn in Dartmouth. Outside is the neon rush of another Pay Day loan storefront, a high interest loan provider that preys largely upon those who have been excluded from traditional banks due to poverty.
“We know who uses the pay day loan system,” says Bickerton. “It's basically the people who have been excluded form our 'great' banking system. In many cases they are part of the 3-5% of the population who don't have banks accounts. These are the poorest people in the country and they are systematically excluded from the banks. We know that First Nations people are often the greatest users of the pay day loans. Why? Because they are the most excluded from our banking system.”
Another of the great bank-excluded classes are rural Canadians. And here, with its cross-country network of postal outlets, Canada Post would be at a distinct advantage. Bickerton notes that there are over 2,000 bank-less communities across the country that are served by a postal outlet. Add a financial service delivery capacity to these outlets - et voila - an instant underserved market, goes the logic.

I like it. 

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Tell Shell's New CEO to stop drilling in the Arctic.  Sign the petition here.
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Our way or the highway. . .U.S. Cuts off aid to Bolivia,  Bolivia says: 

In any case, Morales said, 80 percent of the United States’ money returned to the U.S. in the form of Bolivian contracts for business enterprises and consulting services, “so what aid are we talking about?”

“If we review the data, the latest data, I believe it comes to 20 or 25 [million dollars], practically nothing,” he said at a press conference in the presidential palace.

Presidential chief of staff Juan Ramón Quintana told the press that USAID contributions amount at present to $23 million.

“We want to tell [the United States], with much pride, that we’re not a mendicant state, we are not beggars, we don’t need charity, we have pride and we’re going to finance the struggle against drug trafficking ourselves,” . . .       

See more here. 

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Lakoff!!!   George Lakoff has tried to teach the left about framing.  He says, in this interview in the Guardian,  we are still losing -- he is mostly talking about the democrats in the U.S. and many of them are not progressive at all. . . but I still buy the framing idea.  It is just hard to make confident, black and white statements when you have an analysis, and not just an opinion, or  direct revelation from the Lord.   Lakoff says in part:

'Conservatives don't follow the polls, they want to change them … Liberals do everything wrong'

Of course me and mine are not liberals in small or large L versions. . . but I still think we can learn from this. 

 "Framing is not primarily about politics or political messaging or communication. It is far more fundamental than that: frames are the mental structures that allow human beings to understand reality – and sometimes to create what we take to be reality. But frames do have an enormous bearing on politics … they structure our ideas and concepts, they shape the way we reason … For the most part, our use of frames is unconscious and automatic."

. . ."the left, he argues, is losing the political argument – every year, it cedes more ground to the right, under the mistaken impression that this will bring everything closer to the centre. In fact, there is no centre: the more progressives capitulate, the more boldly the conservatives express their vision, and the further to the right the mainstream moves. The reason is that conservatives speak from an authentic moral position, and appeal to voters' values. Liberals try to argue against them using evidence; they are embarrassed by emotionality. They think that if you can just demonstrate to voters how their self-interest is served by a socially egalitarian position, that will work, and everyone will vote for them and the debate will be over. In fact, Lakoff asserts, voters don't vote for bald self-interest; self-interest fails to ignite, it inspires nothing – progressives, of all people, ought to understand this.

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 This is just a funny piece, in MacLeans,  about how the government bureaucrats in Ottawa struggle with twitter.  Everything has to be approved and takes a lot of time and a medium that should be timely is left to languish and is always late.
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Does raising the minimum wage kill jobs?  asks Rabble blogger Tod Ferguson.   The right says: 

The Ontario PCs, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the usual suspects for the 1% have been wringing their hands and wailing about how terrible the notion of increasing the minimum wage by $0.75 is. The CFIB claims that increasing the minimum wage hurts minimum wage workers "by reducing the businesses' capacity to hire and retain them." In fact, the CFIB predicts that a 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage would trigger up to 321,000 job losses.

However the rest of the article provides actual,  statistical evidence from  5 provinces that it does not. 

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You'll have to watch this to get the joke but all I can say is that I would have considered this an effective ad for landmine removal.   I am not sure it is a great ad for staying in school.  watch it - what do you think?  Perhaps the OZ mindset is different from here but I don't think that this would be at all compelling. . .
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Good news/bad news . . .



http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/01/us-spain-abortion-idUSBREA100E020140201?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

1 of 4. Thousands of people march to protest a government plan to limit abortions in Madrid February 1, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Andrea Comas

 And in Alabama,  pregnant women who miscarry can be refused care -- all the staff in an emerg don't want to end that pregnancy where you might bleed to death?  They are being protected from liability and have no obligation to help you find treatment -- just a way of saying -- women can go die. Appalling. Details on the ACLU site, here.
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Given that my son (30 years old),  lives here full time, and his two children 12 and 7, live here part time, and we are not chomping to have them gone; this article was a little breath of fresh air for me.  

It seems to me, it was/is capitalism,  in the rush for "expansion of the economy" and selling more more more. . .  that broke down the extended family and moved us all to nuclear families, and now to atomized individuals. . . (so that everyone needs their own fridge, TV, car, stove, washer and dryer, lawn mower etc.)  Living in extended family (however defined - we have spent many years living with family members that we met and made into family ourselves) is an act of resistance!!

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ALjazeera reports on the effect on children in Gaza and the lack of international response to get Justice for the families in Gaza even though so many of Israel's actions are illegal.  

                                                            Photo by AljAZEERA

They say in part: 

. . . It has been five years since Operation Cast Lead, a 22-day Israeli military offensive in Gaza which took place between December 27 and January 18, 2008 and claimed the lives of at least 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 350 Palestinian children.

Despite damning evidence of war crimes, the US government played a role in blocking international efforts to hold Israel accountable for serious breaches of international law. The resulting impunity has enabled Israel to continue its oppressive policies in Gaza where children undoubtedly remain targets.

. . .

 Human rights groups, including Defence for Children International Palestine, Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, have documented cases of children killed and maimed in unlawful attacks; the destruction of civilian infrastructure such as schools and water and sanitation networks; the use of children as human shields; the unlawful use of white phosphorous in populated areas; and the arbitrary detention of children.

. . .

Following the attacks, the UN Human Rights Council established a fact-finding mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone. Their mandate was "to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law" that may have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations conducted in Gaza between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009. Although international law requires states to investigate war crime allegations, Israeli authorities refused to cooperate with the investigation.
The mission's report, published in September 2009, found evidence of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity committed by both the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups. Known as the "Goldstone Report", it was overwhelmingly endorsed by the UN General Assembly on November 5, 2009, with 114 states voting in favour of a resolution demanding that Israel and the Palestinians undertake "independent, credible investigations" into alleged war crimes. The resolution also urged the Security Council to take action on the report's recommendations, primarily by referring cases to the International Criminal Court.
Unsurprisingly, the US was one of 18 countries to vote against the resolution. The Obama administration then employed its diplomatic power to mitigate the impact of the Goldstone Report, and also blocked any further potential progress through the Security Council. 

What I said, What the Globe and Mail said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/your-say-are-todays-20-somethings-worse-off-financially/article2441072/?from=2445245

  
The Globe and Mail ran an article, a few days ago, in which they asked: From the Quebec student protests to reports of youth unemployment, there are no shortage of stories suggesting young people are facing tough financial times in Canada. But are things really worse, or are young people today spoiled? We asked readers of all generations to weigh in. 

So I have two sons 32 and 28, and, I work with, and try to change the world with, a lot of young people, and so I thought I would weigh in -- I even sent a picture.   Apparently though (I should have known) they were not interested in real answers,  just superficial info -- they said nothing about length or editing for length but they completely changed the tone of my submission and published it along with my picture (I am number 13) 

My submission, as published, is at Number 13 -- I tried to keep it personal assuming that was what they wanted -- Here is what I actually submitted.  The bolded parts are what they printed.



From what I can see people in their 20's have it harder than previous generations, at least back to the 40's.   The golden age ran from the 40's to about 1980 and I am a boomer, and old enough to have benefited.  But,  my children, and their children (I have 2 grandchildren) will be worse off than my generation, AND one of my children is a lawyer. The other has a good job at a high tech company.  Still,  they are more severely limited than my generation.

When I was young,  I went to College and then University and, although both my partner and I had student loans, we were able to pay them off (living on our own and not with parents) along with (eventually) having two kids, before we were 40.   We went to university with a baby, and later two,  and had daycare subsidy that covered most of the cost.  With two people working at minimum wage in NS, today, daycare subsidy is very low, making it hard for two people to work without family support.   (we provide the family support!)  You cannot really expect to get anywhere today without a university degree, but if you have a baby when young, ever being able to afford to go slips away quickly -- how can one find $6000 a year for tuition (and that is not counting the kind of tuition that my other son paid at a professional school - $17,000 a year in tuition alone!) and more for living costs -- student loans will not cover the costs - one is expected to pay on their own.

 When I was young, most work was full time and permanent if you wanted it. Much work these days is part time or casual (my daughter in law drives a school bus, and although the pay is not bad - she only works around 4-5 hours per day) The rest is shift work – when I was young,  people in heath care, fire and police worked shifts;  and the guys who worked at the car plants,  and they got paid very well to make up for it.   Today almost all work from Tim Horton's to retail, to education, is shift work, making childcare and transportation difficult, as we have not apparently kept up with the fact that people need childcare and transportation at all hours, and it is simply not provided – one has to figure it out on one's own through one's own expense/provision.   

 I have no idea how this generation makes it at all!  I am going to get OAS at 65 (and I am already tired) - waiting an additional two years means that there is pressure on young people to save for retirement , but they cannot even pay the rent so they will just be poor, with certainty,  when they get old.  More than 40% of Canadians have no pension but CPP, last time I checked.  With  the employer cuts in pensions, to feed profit in the private sector, and pressure to match those cuts in the public sector, soon far fewer people will not have a retirement plan.   I am worried about the future for my children, and grand children.  

 Although I am a boomer,  I am not to blame for these drastic changes, elimination of the safety net and increasing costs from speculation (land and energy) and the investment casino.  I have fought the inequality in society all my life - the concentration of wealth at the top eating up all of the productivity increases of the last thirty years means that my children will not be better off than their parents.   In fact, they are worse off than any generation post war, because they have no hope for the future.  I have no sense that they have opportunity, or hope.  

The jobs are being held onto by the old who have no pensions, and cannot retire,  and soon will have no OAS for an additional two years, keeping them from giving up their jobs.   Then, although there is a labour shortage (so they say) there are no jobs for the young.   The unemployment rate among young people is 20%+ and keep in mind that the rate wouldn't change if everyone of them was doing their best to find work.    The economy theoretically woks like this -- if there is a shortage of labour the price of labour would increase, but this we see, does NOT happen.   To ensure it doesn't happen, employers, instead of raising the wage,  or improving working conditions to attract workers, now just import under new federal rules, which allow it,  those who have no rights (temporary foreign workers) and will work cheaply under bad conditions.   For example, In Guysborough County N.S. a fish plant advertised for workers at about .30 over minimum wage (there is about thirty percent unemployment rate) and there was no shortage of takers.  However when they offered the job to locals they were offering a 6 day,  48 hour work week, every week of the year, with no benefits or sick pay.  It was not the work itself but the fact that one had to completely devote one's life to the job – a job with no room for promotion – that put off the Locals (assuming as the employer claims that no one local would take the work) maybe locals were interested but the plant went for temporary foreign workers - 9 Phillipina's who have no rights, don''t mind working 6 days a week (or who are desperate enough for the cash to send home) They should be allow to properly immigrate and bring their families - but more to the point why is this employer allowed to set wages and working conditions so far from the norm in Canada and then import workers to do it instead of providing decent jobs for people already here?  Just one more nail in the coffin of my children and grand-children's future.   They are worse off than the generations before – they will also inherit a planet that is about to create hunger and refugees due to climate change and an economic system that sees North Americans better off than others, especially in the south, and the 1-10% able to meet all crises while leaving the average worker in the dust.  The twenty somethings have plenty to complain about.