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. 

Musings on Gay Rights in Cuba, Gaza Flotilla, Catholic Church & abortion

I was pleased to see the news about Cuba's march against homophobia this year - apparently bigger and better than last year!


Although proud of Cuba for most of my life, I was always ashamed of their human right's record (although I understand the need to defend the state and the system) especially around gay rights, (and of course the right to dissent, although with the U.S. big hammer, backing dissenters it is a different situation from most states, and this is not the place for that post!) and was not uncritical of the state.

I am pleased, however, to report that things are getting much better, and Cuba is called by some: "the most progressive Latin American Country on gay rights. " This may not be true as Venezuela is also quite progressive, at least "legally". In Cuba you can get a free state sponsored "sex change" operation (sex reassignment surgery) and free hormones to maintain your assigned gender. But relationships are not acknowledged. In Venezuela a law acknowledging same sex unions is expected, soon. It is written by several authors that Cuba does not acknowledge same sex unions because marriage has little meaning in the country for heterosexuals and so there is little demand for it. Which state has the most discrimination day to day, is not clear to me but is dealt with in several wikipedia articles dealing with this issue.

I got started thinking about this due to an article in Direct Action from Australia which says in part:

One of the factors that have helped change attitudes has been the government’s strong commitment to education, research and improvement. In 1972 it set up the National Working Group of Sex Education (GNTES). Composed of professionals of various ministries with a multidisciplinary approach, the group’s main mission was to create and implement the policy for a national program of sex education. Importantly, it was also tasked with research, counselling and education about issues surrounding sexuality. GNTES helped advise and advocate for gay, lesbian and transgender rights throughout the 1970s and ’80s. It set up municipal research, education and counselling services across Cuba and in 1989 became the National Centre of Sex Education (CENESEX).

CENESEX has been leading the campaign against homophobia. On May 17, 2008, it organised activities to mark the International Day Against Homophobia. Associated Press reported at the time, “Cuba’s gay community celebrated unprecedented openness — and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday”. Mariela Castro, director of CENESEX and daughter of President Raul Castro, joined government leaders and hundreds of activists at a one-day conference that featured shows, lectures, panel discussions and book presentations. Mariela Castro told Associated Press, “This is a very important moment for us, the men and women of Cuba, because for the first time we can gather in this way and speak profoundly and with scientific basis about these topics”.

The president of Cuba’s national parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, told reporters at the conference that the government needs to do more to promote gay rights, but many Cubans still need to be convinced. The previous night, during prime time, Cuban state television ran the US film Brokeback Mountain, the story of two gay cowboys.

That said, other Gay organizations are not allowed/acknowledged, gay relationships are not recognized, they cannot celebrate a "Gay pride" day, and there is still a lot of homophobia in the population. (And I have no way to gauge whether it is better or worse in other countries in central and south America.) But I am happy that Cuba is not a monstrosity of homophobia and that there is state sponsored education to teach people to stop being discriminatory. You can read more at:
Wikipedia - LGBT Rights in Cuba
BBC - Castro Champions Gay rights in Cuba
AP - Cubans March Against Homophobia
Havana Times - Being Homosexual in Cuba.
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Also musing (in terror) this morning on Gaza. A flotilla of nine ships, from Ireland, Turkey, Sweden and other countries, carrying 700 activists and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid, are approaching Gaza by sea, in an attempt to break the Israeli Siege of Gaza. The siege continued since the 2007 election of Hamas, is a "collective punishment" of the people of Gaza for supporting the wrong government - this is illegal and an international crime.





According to wikipedia:

The Gaza Strip (Arabic: قطاع غزة‎ Qiṭāʿ Ġazza/Qita' Ghazzah, Arabic pronunciation: [qitˤaːʕ ɣazza]) lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about 41 kilometers (25 mi) long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers (4–7.5 mi) wide, with a total area of 360 square kilometers (139 sq mi). The territory takes its name from Gaza, its main city.

The territory has a population of about 1.5 million people, as at July 2009,^[1] 1 million of whom were, as of March 2005, refugees^[2] who fled to the territory from other parts of Palestine as part of the 1948 Palestinian exodus arising from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and their descendants. The population is predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak a Western Egyptian dialect of Arabic. . .

The Gaza Strip is one of the territorial units forming the Palestinian territories.^{[7][8][9][10]} Actual control of the area within the Gaza Strip borders are in the hands of Hamas, an organization that won civil parliamentary Palestinian Authority elections in 2006 and took over de facto government in the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority by way of its own political maneuvering and armed militia in July 2007, while consolidating power by violently removing the Palestinian Authority's security forces and civil servants from the Gaza Strip.

From my post earlier this month:
"Also thinking about Gaza today and the flotilla of ships on their way to hopefully break the seige of Gaza. See this article on Al Jazeera . . . Imagine 1.5 million people trapped in a prison strip of land, with no employment, not enough calories and no way to "escape" and no where to escape to. . . I cannot understand why there is not a huge outcry about Israel's policy of collective punishment of all of the people of Gaza. This piece says in part:

Ultimately Israel is faced with two questions: does it continue its policy of collective punishment and prevent the flotilla from entering Gaza until Gazans succumb to Israeli demands? Or does it allow the aid to enter and attempt to demonstrate to the world that Israel does in fact respect human rights?

Unfortunately neither of these options bode well for the Israelis, option one for the obvious public outcry that will spill out as a result of 800 people stranded in the water. And although option two would be smarter from a public relations perspective, it would be an indirect admission by Israel that its policy of collective punishment and continued siege is flawed, not to mention illegal. It seems Israel only has a few days left before it is to make up its mind on what could be one of its toughest tests yet."

Click on image below, for link to very recent article in Haaretz.

Hamas police ahead of the arrival of an aid flotilla.

Photo by: AP

You can follow the flotilla and see where they are - live - on http://www.witnessgaza.com/

Crowd for send off of boat from Turkey to free Gaza:


Israel is threatening to stop the fleet and is insisting that humanitarian aid is let into Gaza (although this does not include cement or steel to rebuild houses, enough calories for everyone to eat without starving, lots of medical equipment.) Their siege is meant to "punish' the people, including the children, of Gaza, to get them to change their support for Hamas - anybody know when that worked!?

Other links:
Al Jazeera - Tensions Rise over Gaza Aid Fleet
Israel's Disinformation Campaign Against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
Protest letter Template

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An op-ed piece in the NY Times caught my attention yesterday. It is by Nicholas D. Kristoff and titled Sister Margaret's Choice. In it he tells the story of a Catholic nun - who some call a "Saint" who has been excommunicated by the Catholic Church because she did not stop an abortion.

According to the story:

“In this tragic case, the treatment necessary to save the mother’s life required the termination of an 11-week pregnancy,” the hospital said in a statement. “This decision was made after consultation with the patient, her family, her physicians, and in consultation with the Ethics Committee.”

Sister Margaret was a member of that committee. She declined to discuss the episode with me, but the bishop of Phoenix, Thomas Olmstead, ruled that Sister Margaret was “automatically excommunicated” because she assented to an abortion.

So not one priest who assaulted and sexually molested little boys and girls, has been excommunicated (I assume that I DO NOT have to provide links or evidence for that statement!) but, don't object to saving a woman's life, and get excommunicated. Kristof goes on to say:

I heard about Sister Margaret from an acquaintance who is a doctor at the hospital. After what happened to Sister Margaret, he doesn’t dare be named, but he sent an e-mail to his friends lamenting the excommunication of “a saintly nun”:

“She is a kind, soft-spoken, humble, caring, spiritual woman whose spot in Heaven was reserved years ago,” he said in the e-mail message. “The idea that she could be ex-communicated after decades of service to the Church and humanity literally makes me nauseated.”

“True Christians, like Sister Margaret, understand that real life is full of difficult moral decisions and pray that they make the right decision in the context of Christ’s teachings. Only a group of detached, pampered men in gilded robes on a balcony high above the rest of us could deny these dilemmas.”

I am in a bit of a rage over that one. Ordinary church goers just seem to ignore these things (unless they happen to their family) - N.S. is full of Catholics who somehow see these actions of the church and hierarchy as outside their experience with the church - there is no way to change the church from within, as it is not democratic in any way - or responsive to "the people" so the only answer is to run away! run away! and I encourage that! If you feel compelled to attend mass - just don't leave any money behind! They have to get responsive and responsible for what they preach, or start selling off assets, and although that will keep a lot of men in gilded robes going for a long time - they will be rather meaningless without a flock!

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Just for fun - this is interesting -- First Human Infected with a Computer Virus. It is really about the electronics that people carry with in them - pacemakers, hearing aids etc. - other electronics may be available for more "cosmetic" or "enhancement" purposes and they will be "like part of us" but they will be susceptible to computer viruses. This is one of those problems that exists in principle but not yet in fact - but it makes sense that it is coming.

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A good article on Straight Goods today (hey, and send them some money!) Partly pasted below but worth reading the whole thing. . .

G20 lingo

Here's the difference between the bank levy and the Robin Hood tax.

Dateline: Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Kelly Crichton

With the G20 conference approaching, we have been hearing a lot of confusing talk about an international "bank levy" and also about the Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) — also called the Robin Hood Tax. The two taxes are not at all the same thing and can't be conflated.

When discussions began prior to the G20 in Pittsburgh last year to "do something" about the banks and the mess the economy was in, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised the idea of a Financial Transaction Tax — a re-working of the old Tobin Tax idea to properly reflect the times.

The FTT would be a tiny levy of .05 percent on all commercial global financial transactions. (The Tobin tax was just on currency trading.) The FTT would earn a very substantial amount of money — estimated to be at least $650 billion per year.

Half of the funds raised would remain in domestic hands, and could be used in the event of another financial meltdown, or to shore up domestic social programs. The other half of the funds would go into a global fund to aid development in the world's poorest countries and to help developing countries adapt their economies to the realities of climate change.

. . .

The FTT is very different from a bank levy, which would simply impose a tax on the banks. The bank levy would not be an instrument of global redistribution as is the FTT. And, in fact, it has been criticized as possibly creating an atmosphere of even greater recklessness, because, in effect, the banks would now have an "insurance" fund to fall back on.

An FTT on the other hand, is seen as something that could stabilize markets by discouraging the most egregious kinds of market activity, day trading, and short term speculation — what has often been called "casino capitalism" on the exchanges of the world.

The FTT — also known as the Robin Hood Tax — has had a great deal of publicity in the UK and Europe, in part due to the Oxfam International campaign and the participation of Ben Kingsley and Bill Nighy, but also because it was seen by many to be a global tax whose time had come.

Tuesday Musings on banks, pot, oil patch subsidies and abortion.

Well, I do know that the Canadian banks are large and profitable and I had bought the argument that we did not need to bail out our banks, because we have heavy (and required) regulation of the sector. Then, I read this article, by Murray Dobbin, which should be required reading, for Canadians especially Conservative Party supporters. If his analysis or facts are wrong, please let me know, because I expect to be quoting this for quite a while to come. In it he says that it is myth that we did not "bail out" banks in Canada, that the Harper Gov did the following:

We are, according to the IMF, actually the third worst of the G7 countries, behind the U.S. and Britain, in terms of financial stabilization costs.

First, we put up $70 billion to buy up iffy mortgages from the big five banks, through the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, taking them off the banks' balance sheets. That is almost the exact equivalent the U.S. bailout -- it spent 10 times as much, $700 billion, and its economy is about 10 times as large.

Secondly, the Harper government established a fund of $200 billion to backstop the banks -- money they could borrow if they needed it. The government had to borrow billions -- mostly from the banks! -- to do it. It's euphemistically called the Emergency Financing Framework -- implying that our impeccable banks might actually face an emergency. It is effectively a line of low-interest credit and while it has not all been accessed, it's there to be used. Could it help explain why credit has not dried up here as much as it has in the U.S.?

Third, the government now insures 100% of virtually all mortgages through CMHC eliminating risk for the banks -- and opening the door to the ridiculous flood of housing loans we have seen over the past few years. The result: housing has become unaffordable for tens of thousands of Canadians and new rental housing has dried up.

He also provides more analysis - absolutely worth a read - we are being lied to!

In addition, of course, the banks are profitable not just because of government guarantees/assistance - in fact they are about to announce big profits again (see this article in the Globe and Mail) and an increased profit rate, and just where do they make this money? From me and you - from "retail" banking profits - I cannot operate on cash these days and I pay a lot for the privilege. To have a chequing account that allows me unlimited interact withdrawals, to withdraw money from MY bank only, without charge, and to write unlimited cheques, I pay $12.95 a month plus $3.00 a month just to have an overdraft (then I pay interest on it, as well, if I use it.) That's close to $200 a year and I am sure it is over, once things like bank charges from "other" machines (at $1.50 a pop) are factored in - or interest on my overdraft, which I do use. I used to pay another $3.00 per month to have my cheques returned to me but since they now only return photocopies, and since I write so few cheques, I have cancelled that. . . At any rate, my employer uses direct deposit and unless I keep a large balance in my account, I cannot get rid of fees - our house lives kind of hand to mouth - so keeping a balance of $2-3000 is not on.

Also of note today, about banking, in Canada, is that home ownership costs are rising across Canada, and the reason is, primarily, the expected rise in Bank of Canada rates, according to this article from the Globe and Mail. Of course the banks were still charging over 5% for a 5 year mortgage when the Bank of Canada rate was near zero - so now they will be increasing to keep that 5+ % spread - and the 15% -20% that they earn on Credit cards - it makes it tough to try and keep the money from them. We do some credit union "banking" but they cannot look after everything - and since we moved to N.S. have found the credit union didn't want to do anything to get our business - and the banks treat us like "special customers" and yes I fell for it. . . I hope to slowly move everything over to a credit union again (as we did in Toronto and Vancouver) but even then the credit union's here, in Nova Scotia do not seem as progressive and consumer friendly as those we participated in (even so far as being on Board committees) in Ont. and B.C.

My last beef on financial services this morning (and it does affect other sectors) is again the Globe and mail reports (I should stop reading the financial pages it just upsets me!) an expected increase, this year, in Executive Compensation. It is also misleading in part as it says that there was "almost no increase in executive compensation", in one line, and then immediately says - Oh but cash compensation was "up" seven percent! OK - so they did not get their big stock options or they weren't worth as much because of the "meltdown" - I think that big CEO's helped create the mess and getting increases of over 7% while auto workers and others were asked to take "cuts" just demonstrates what wrong with the system! From the article:

A Globe and Mail review of pay for CEOs at Canada’s 100 largest public companies in 2009 shows top executives across Canada received, on average, almost no pay increase last year.

The cash portion of pay packages – salary and cash bonuses – did show substantial growth, with a combined median increase of 7.6 per cent. (Medians reflect the experience of the middle-of-the-pack CEO, while averages can be skewed by CEOs with particularly large or small compensation amounts.)

Read the article for more detail on how they fared, and how they are expected to be back to making real increases this year. (I say - where's mine!?)

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The Chronicle Herald is running a Canadian Press story this morning, that says that Canada is mulling cuts to the oil patch subsidies (thank gawd for small mercies!!)

OTTAWA — Canada is contemplating taking the lead on a key G20 pledge by announcing the elimination of some tax breaks for the oil patch prior to the June summit in Toronto, The Canadian Press has learned

G20 leaders agreed last September in Pittsburgh they would reduce distorting fossil fuel subsidies over the medium term and pledged to present concrete national plans in Toronto.

But sources say Ottawa wants to get ahead of the pack. They say senior officials are studying a proposal that would see Ottawa announce plans to reduce tax support for the oil and gas sector prior to the summit.

As the story suggests - "If Canada took unilateral action on fossil fuel subsidies, 'I think everybody would fall over dead' with shock, he said." Me too -but I do hope it happens.

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A story from Canadian Press appeared in most big city papers yesterday and today, that is of interest - the Chronicle Herald Story can found here - but it was also covered in the Globe and the Star.

OTTAWA — The Harper government turned its back on advice from its own civil servants when it excluded abortion funding in its G8 maternal- and child-health initiative, The Canadian Press has learned.

Briefing notes prepared in January by the Canadian International Development Agency for International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda suggest access to safe abortion services could save numerous lives in developing countries.

Abortion was among the measures CIDA felt were necessary to meet the ambitious maternal health goals Ottawa plans to promote at the upcoming meeting of world leaders in Ontario next month.

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Although not a personal fan of Marc Emery, I support his business and believe that he was treated appallingly, and that his extradition should break some Canadian law, or at least break the spirit of Canadian Law, if not the rule of law explicitly. I have written and called on his behalf, and I don't actually see how this is different from say, Saudi Arabia asking for the extradition of the publisher of Victoria's Secret Catalogue shipped in, or sending alcohol to Saudi -Arabia. Not smart, but does one get extradited from Canada where these things are legal because they are illegal somewhere else? I just don't get it. Why is this different? Why are we not protecting Canadian Citizens? I was shocked that he could be extradited to the U.S. for a business that he carried on in Canada and paid Canadian taxes on, and declared his business.

I found it interesting that the Marc Emery extradition story was carried, with some question, even in the Hindu in India.
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Great article on Al Jazeera by Robert Fisk of the Independent. In part he says:

More and more today, we journalists have become prisoners of the language of power. . .

Let me show you what I mean. For two decades now, the US and British - and Israeli and Palestinian - leaderships have used the words 'peace process' to define the hopeless, inadequate, dishonourable agreement that allowed the US and Israel to dominate whatever slivers of land would be given to an occupied people.

. . .

Same again today. We western journalists - used yet again by our masters - have been reporting our jolly generals in Afghanistan as saying that their war can only be won with a "hearts and minds" campaign. No-one asked them the obvious question: Wasn't this the very same phrase used about Vietnamese civilians in the Vietnam war? And didn't we - didn't the West - lose the war in Vietnam?

Yet now we western journalists are actually using - about Afghanistan - the phrase 'hearts and minds' in our reports as if it is a new dictionary definition rather than a symbol of defeat for the second time in four decades, in some cases used by the very same soldiers who peddled this nonsense - at a younger age - in Vietnam.

Language being used to "confuse the issue" - check it out!

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Lastly this morning, I am still thinking about Facebook, privacy and data accumulation and my part in it. One article in PCWorld suggests that Facebook should use opt out of complete privacy instead of opt-in if they are really committed to privacy.

Then there is this article from the Washington Post by Mark Zuckerman - the founder of Facebook who commits to improving privacy again including:

We have heard the feedback. There needs to be a simpler way to control your information. In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party services. We are working hard to make these changes available as soon as possible. We hope you'll be pleased with the result of our work and, as always, we'll be eager to get your feedback.

If they get a turn off for "all third party services" I will likely remain on FB, as that is what makes me really crazy!

Have a great day - let me know what you think about any of this . . .