Category: government

Canadian government wants to read your email

On By Rick McIn government, product complaintsLeave a comment

I can’t understand why Canadian politicians are so easily influenced by the big American lobbyists.

Lobbyists must think Canada is a back door in the battle to win American legislation. Unhappily for them, Obama is no friend to those clinging to outdated copyright law.

copyleft-flag

This time it’s the Liberals adding even more intrusive provisions into legislation.

From Boing Boing:

… C-27 is the Canadian anti-spam bill that comes out of committee on Monday. The opposition Liberals have proposed amendments which appear to have been drafted by copyright and telecom lobbyists. They would allow for surreptitious installation of computer programs and – even more outrageously – would allow copyright owners to secretly access information on users’ computers. …

Telcos and Hollywood ask Canadian govt for right to secretly install spyware, listen in on your network connection — ACT NOW!

Read the full details on the blog of Canada’s best watchdog, Michael Geist:

The Copyright Lobby’s Secret Pressure On the Anti-Spam Bill

From that link you can contact Industry Minister Tony Clement. Or other Canadian politicians to weigh in with your opinion.

I did.

$50-billion lawsuit against Big Tobacco

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, good news, government, health & fitness2 Comments

Love it.

In launching a $50-billion lawsuit against tobacco companies, Ontario is joining what many expect will eventually become a national battle to recover health costs linked to smoking.

The governments of British Columbia and New Brunswick have already filed claims against cigarette manufacturers and most of the other provinces have passed legislation enabling them to make similar cases.

“Let’s be clear: This is important for the people of Ontario who have paid a lot of money for health-care costs directly related to tobacco use over the decades,” Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley told reporters yesterday. “We believe the taxpayers should be compensated for the costs that they have paid. That’s what this lawsuit is all about.”

After years of legal wrangling in the United States, tobacco manufacturers agreed in 1998 to pay state governments $246-billion (U.S.) over 25 years to help pay for the costs of treating people with smoking-related illnesses. …

Globe and Mail

That $246-billion settlement is not correct. It turned out to be well over $300 billion.

antismoking08

17 Creative Anti-Smoking Ads

… And why is it that smokers do not consider this littering? Most don’t toss anything else on the ground.

cigarettes-butts

privacy, ha … get over it

On By Rick McIn bad news, ethics, government, humour, robotsLeave a comment

In the U.K. we can see what’s yet to come in the other large cities of the world.

They have cameras everywhere.

One London bus has 16 CCTV cameras inside.

So far they’ve spent £500m on the Closed Circuit TV program.

Does it work?

Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city’s surveillance network has claimed.

The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals. …

BBC – 1,000 cameras ‘solve one crime’

(article recommended by Stuart Green)

graffiti artist Banksy painted this while being watched by a CCTV camera
graffiti artist Banksy painted this while being watched by a CCTV camera

details on the brilliant social commentary

At my hostel in Edinburgh there’s a sign in the kitchen saying:

Food has been stolen from this kitchen. If it continues, we’re actually going to take the time to review the video camera monitoring it!

I think these cameras are inevitable. They don’t work now. But our robot overlords will improve them over time.

worst political decision ever – Lockerbie bombing release

On By Rick McIn government1 Comment

The tabloids here in Scotland are full of it.

This story:

… On August 20th Scotland’s justice secretary freed Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted of the worst terrorist atrocity in British history, the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in which 270 people (189 of them Americans) were killed. Mr Megrahi is dying of cancer and Scottish law permits release on compassionate grounds. To Mr MacAskill’s surprise, it seems, all hell broke loose. …

Recall that everyone on the flight died. And 11 people in Lockerbie, Scotland killed when the plane wreckage fell on top of them.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty though to this day he has been steadfast in denying the charges.

… served just over 8½ years of his life sentence, was escorted by Strathclyde Police to Glasgow Airport where he boarded a specially chartered Afriqiyah Airways Airbus for Tripoli, Libya. Megrahi arrived back in time to join celebrations to mark 40 years since the country’s revolution. …

Innocent or guilty. Right or wrong. This was a big political mistake.

For Prime Minister Gordon Brown, though it was not his decision to release the man, this plays BAD, BAD, BAD.

Gordon Brown with Colonel Gaddafi (... or is it Bob Dylan)
Gordon Brown with Colonel Gaddafi (... or Bob Dylan)

Economist says this horribly unpopular decision may be part of ongoing secret deals between the U.K. and Libya.

have you seen Sicko?

On By Rick McIn books, economics, government, health & fitness, movies1 Comment

I first posted about this movie May 22, 2007.

How could I have missed seeing it until now?

It’s a very important film. Especially with the Health Care debate happening in the USA.

… Sicko is a 2007 documentary … by American film maker Michael Moore. The film investigates the American health care system, focusing on its health insurance and pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. …

Wikipedia

You can watch it free and legal on Google Video.

It’s not a documentary. It’s Michael Moore’s one sided diatribe against the American Medical system.

But he got the bottom line right. The USA has a crappy medical system, overall. Sure if you have good coverage in the States (working for Cirque du Soleil, for example) … you are better off personally than someone working for, say, Cirque in Canada.

But something like 50 million Americans have no insurance. That is really sick!

sicko_facts_up_front

People are healthier and live longer in pretty much every other developed country, too.

The case studies in Sicko are selective, but still well worth watching. (I want to move to France from Canada after seeing those interviews!)

Under the Obama presidency, something is going to happen in the USA. But what?

It’s complicated.

The best vision I’ve heard is that of George C. Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed care organization in the United States. A non-profit.

… KP places a strong emphasis on preventative care, reducing costs later on. Second, its doctors are salaried rather than paid per service, which removes any incentive for doctors to perform unnecessary procedures. Thirdly, KP attempts to minimize the time patients spend in high-cost hospitals by carefully planning their stay and by providing cares in clinics. …

His most recent book: Health Care Will Not Reform Itself: A User’s Guide to Refocusing and Reforming American Health Care

Halvorson-book

Halvorson is a realist. Not a utopian like Michael Moore.

Listen to an interview with Halvorson on NPR.

In his movie Michael Moore neglected to mention that current systems in countries like Canada will soon collapse. They are not sustainable financially.

In 10 or 20 years how will the U.S. ranking compare?

That’s being decided right now.

Obama-Health_care

Leave a comment if you have an opinion.

Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo – a review

On By Rick McIn government, product endorsements, travel4 Comments

Excellent.

I was very happy I finally got the chance to see it. The original meaning of military tattoo is a military drum performance, but nowadays it sometimes means army displays more generally.

The themes: the military, police, fire, patriotism, Scottish heritage, international cooperation, tradition. Military music: drums and pipes.

Tattoo
Tattoo

It’s so unhip. So retro. So old fashioned … I found it very charming. It’s the anti-Cirque.

Happily the old men in charge laughed off any suggestion to pander with a reference to Michael Jackson. In fact, they don’t know who he was. … But they do know Abba.

Though I was born to parents both in the military, my upbringing was just the opposite. The formative book of my teen years was anti-war: Catch-22.

The first adult movie I saw was anti-war: Kelly’s Heros.

As a young adult I told Rich that I would rather be Red than Dead. (As a gymnastics coach, I might just have been better off under the Commies than under Trudeau.)

But I’ve always respected the military. They are clear on purpose. Announced loudly and clearly during the Tattoo:

There are no good wars. And there is nothing good about war.
(Nod to Benjamin Franklin.)

A strong military is all about preventing war. And minimizing the risk of war.

Our greatest danger in 2009 is the hazard that the wrong people in Pakistan might get their hands on nuclear weapons. (Not climate change. Please.) We need a strong military to do what we can to minimize the risk of nuclear war.

At MEC I happened to see a young female soldier shopping for a personal backpack for her upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. Very young. I could only think of how much braver she was than me. I’d hate to be going over there right now.

Kudos to everyone in police, fire prevention and the military. I salute you.

official website – Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo

Here is the 2009 promo video on YouTube. (The footage is from previous years. But you’ll get the idea.)

The Tattoo is too long and slow for kids. At least 3 were asleep near where I was sitting by half way through the performance. But I recommend you attend if ever you get the chance.

Leave a comment if you’ve seen a Tattoo.

happy 4th of July

On By Rick McIn governmentLeave a comment

Independence Day in the USA.

4thofjuly

This Fourth of July visitors will once again be free to visit the Statue of Liberty’s crown for the first time since 9/11.

The New York City landmark’s upper reaches are set to reopen after being closed for safety reasons after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The move follows the reopening of Liberty Island in late 2001 and of the statue in 2004. …

National Geographic

Tiananmen Square Massacre, June 1989

On By Rick McIn government, photosLeave a comment

No one understands better the importance of symbolic imagery than totalitarian governments. One day this photo will be revered in China.

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 – Wikipedia

Tianasquare

The Unknown Rebel – AP photographer Jeff Widener. A lone protester delayed the tanks for over half an hour.

bailing out banks, not home owners

On By Rick McIn economics, government1 Comment

Here is an interesting graph from the New York Times showing the history of home values from 1890 to the present adjusted for inflation. …

click on image for larger version
click on image for larger version

Ray Fowler .org

If you were lucky, you sold a house after it went UP.

If you were unlucky you got stuck with a house that went DOWN in value.

mortgage_crisis_explained

Don’t look for much help from the U.S. government.

… This is a HOUSING crisis, not a BANKING crisis, yet $700+ billion has gone to help bankers and only $75 billion to “help” homeowners. The banker’s money has mainly been spent and the homeowner money has hardly been touched. If this is a HOUSING crisis, why aren’t more resources being devoted to housing? …

I, Cringely – Wall Street and Main Street Don’t Cross

Happily — for me — the value of my Hubba tent is holding up really well.