It's The Bullshit, Stupid - American Election Analysis

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Source: The Onion

The Fifth Column will be taking a blogging holiday during the March Break, The Fifth Column will return Monday, March 17, 2008.

Computer Nostalgia

I was working away at my slide scanning project when I came across this photo of my wife at our desk working on our first computer, an Osborne 1 in June 1983.(click on images to enlarge)

The Senate Must Reject Bill C-10s “Censorship” Provisions

Much has been written about the “censorship” provisions in Bill C-10. One might argue that it is not “censorship” but just the government setting standards for what it is willing to fund with taxpayers money. However, as others have pointed out, here are already provisions that prevent “pornography” from being funded. This is much more odious than that.

It is one thing to say the government will not fund “objectionable” content. It is another to say it will only fund content that promotes the goals of the governing party. That is what this provision allows and even mandates.

The key wording in Bill C-10 is the following phrase used to describe what the government would fund:

“(b) public financial support of the production would not be contrary to public policy”

Note the careful choice of words. We are not talking about the “public interest” but about “public policy”. What is “public policy”. What other interpretation could there be other than that it refers to “government policy”, and “government policy” is established by the party in power and changes as governments change.

At best, it is so ambiguous that film and television producers would never know if a film or television program would be eligible for funding or not. At worse, the government would be mandated not to provide public funding to films or programs that are contrary to Conservative Party policy.

Of course the government will argue that is not what it means. If so, why is that what it says.

At least one Member of the House of Commons has admitted to voting for Bill C-10 without knowing that provision was there. That is not surprising. The provision is well hidden in a 600 page tax bill. Simply for the reason that Members of Parliament were not aware of this clause, the Senate should send it back to the House of Commons for reconsideration.

Bill Clinton’s Priorities - Life Beyond Politics

In the midst of the most critical stages of his wife’s political campaign Bill Clinton has shown that there is life beyond politics. The Toronto Star reported that on March 2, 2008 he was in Toronto to speak at a fund-raising event for the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative which will assist local leaders in Latin America and the developing world in addressing issues of social, economic and environmental impact through employment and economy.

"The world is bedevilled by three great crises: the persistent and growing inequality in economic opportunity, education and health care; the insecurity caused by our interdependence making us vulnerable to terror, to weapons of mass destruction, to the spread of dangerous materials, to global epidemics; and the unsustainability of our current developmental course because of the threats of global warming," Clinton told more than 1,000 people at the Westin Harbour Castle Convention Centre.

We give credit to the former president for his international humanitarian role and his work with the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Cuba Has Surrounded Gitmo...

...with organic fruit and vegetables !

From: Oxfam Canada

Cuba: Organic Farming Improves Lives

Oxfam has helped the Cuban Association of Agriculture and Forestry Professionals (ACTAF) convert 13 hectares in the urban periphery surrounding Guantanamo into an organic, urban agriculture farm. 106 stable jobs were created - 51 of the workers are women. The majority live in the neighbourhood and their new union is now pushing for a day-care center for their kids.

“The people like this work because it’s close to their homes. They’re better paid then in other jobs, they can buy affordable fruits and vegetables for their families and they feel they’re doing something important”, said Oscar Borges, the Project Coordinator for ACTAF in the province. “For us it has been a great experience to work with Oxfam because there was always dialogue, flexibility, comprehension and respect.”

The fruits and vegetables are grown without any chemical inputs. Instead, the farmers produce their own fertilizer using organic compost and worms. They produce their plants in a new greenhouse. The project has contracts with government institutions to deliver produce to hospitals, child care centers and workplaces throughout the neighbourhood of 55,000 people. Their excess produce is sold to local people at affordable prices in a small shop on the farm and by bicycle around the community.

Odalys Puente manages the farm after years as an agricultural worker. For her “our goal is not to maximize our own benefits, but to contribute to good, healthy and available food for our people and be able to live our life with dignity”.

A class room has been built and equipped and is used for training farm workers as well as ACTAF members in the province. The project provided input and funds for a new edition of a technical manual for this kind of organic agriculture that will be used across the country.

Reflections on Cuba and Castro

The retirement of Fidel Castro has raised renewed interest in Cuba. Here are some resources that I found that might be of interest.

From the Pew Research Center, the article Global Views on Castro and Cuba, which states:

Fidel Castro ends his long tenure as president of Cuba with international opinion mixed on the question of whether his leadership has been good or bad for his country. While Americans have an overwhelmingly negative view of Castro, attitudes in many Latin American countries are far more favorable to the longtime Cuban leader. The Pew Global Attitudes survey in the spring of 2007, for example, found that pluralities in Bolivia (42%), Brazil (39%), Argentina (39%), and Peru (38%) think Castro has had a positive effect on his country.

Opinion in Canada is also positive towards Castro, with 44% saying that his leadership has been good for Cuba, the highest percentage among the nine countries surveyed about Castro. Even there, however, opinion is mixed, with 36% saying he has been bad for his country.

From Straight Goods the article Cuba's accomplishments likely to be overlooked in media coverage, which states:

With Fidel Castro's resignation, Cuba is poised to move onward and upward, building on what he began. Whether Canada and the United States will do so as well depends on the results of the next election in each country.

In days to come, we can expect to hear media reports casting Castro mostly as a strongman, dictator, revolutionary and nuisance to American presidents. He was all of that, but those were means to an end for Castro. The end was to build a miraculous, egalitarian society on a poor mountainous island with a history of colonialism and slavery, surrounded by enemies.

Other important realities of Castro's Cuba usually go unreported in news coverage. Castro's accomplishments in a poor, post-colonial economy are extraordinary.

* All Cubans have health care and free education up through post-secondary.
* Literacy levels are so high that Cuba has been able to offer doctors to other nations — including the US, after Hurricane Katrina.
* No Cubans starve. There is no homelessness problem.
* After the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba lost its oil supply, it became a world leader in organic agriculture

From CBC-TV: Doc Zone the film Castro, A Life of Revolution the summary of which states:

Now, after ruling Cuba for close to fifty years, Fidel Castro has stepped down. From his childhood in rural Cuba through his fight in the Sierra Maestra to winning the revolution and transforming the country, Fidel Castro: A Life of Revolution presents an account of his life and times that has rarely been heard – the account of Castro himself, taken largely from private letters, correspondence, speeches and interviews.

The documentary concludes with a debate about Castro’s legacy as world opinion now seems divided between those who blame him for executing hundreds, imprisoning thousands and driving hundreds of thousands into exile, and those who credit him with the most influential revolution of the modern era. Exclusive footage of Castro's childhood home and his rebel headquarters in the Sierra Maestra mountains is complimented by classic archival footage, including CBC interviews with Castro when he was the most wanted man in Cuba.

Holy Shit Diaperman

The Ontario Minister of Health may not have much experience with diapers but it only takes common sense to figure out that nobody is going to be comfortable in a soiled diaper, regardless of how full it is or how long it has been soiled. When we had children it never occurred to me to try wearing a dirty diaper to see how long was an acceptable time to leave them in one. Call it male intuition, but I just knew they would not be comfortable in a soiled diaper for any length of time. When we are dealing with elderly persons in nursing homes, we are not only talking about discomfort, we are talking about human dignity. There is no acceptable amount or time for someone to be left in a soiled diaper. Nursing homes must be required have the necessary facilities and staff to provide residents with proper care and to treat them with human dignity. I think George Smitherman can skip his experiment. He has already proven that he is full of it.

Stéphane You Have A Responsibility to The People of Canada

Canada is a Parliamentary democracy. As such, the government must retain the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons in order to continue to govern. The government’s budgetary policy is always a matter of confidence.

The CBC reports that “The Liberal caucus will meet Wednesday to decide whether to abstain or vote in favour of the budget.”

The Liberal Party, as “Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition”, have a responsibility to decide whether they support the government’s budgetary policy. Not caring is not an option. The choice is not whether they want, or are prepared for, an election. The choice is whether they support the budget, whether they have confidence in the government. It requires a Yes or No, answer, “We don’t know” will not do.

It is time for Stéphane Dion to prove once and for all whether the Conservative Party claims that “Stéphane Dion is not a leader” are true or false. The Liberal Party, and it’s leader, have a responsibility to the people of Canada to take a stand.

Some Good News About Police Taser Use

The good news about Tasers is that, with proper training, they can be used more responsibly by police.

The CBC reports that:

The use of Tasers, guns and physical force by Ottawa police dropped to the lowest level in years in 2007 — the year after the service introduced a special premium for officers who regularly retake a course on the proper use of force.

The CBC story further states:

Chief Vern White credits better training for the decline in the use of force.

"I went through use of force training two weeks ago," he said, "and I have to say I was totally impressed with the use of force training itself, the instructors."

He added that the instructors encouraged officers to talk to the people they deal with before doing anything else.

Since May 2006, officers have been eligible for a special salary premium called responsibility pay if they take the use of force training force every 11 months.

Const. David Zackrias said he believes the constant retraining has contributed to the drop in the use of force.

"The officers receive better training these days," he said. "We have to requalify annually and every time … there's always new scenarios we use in our training."

The good news is that with proper, and repeated, training the police can use Tasers and other forms of force more responsibly. The bad news is that they appear to have poor memories and require regular reinforcement training to prevent them from developing bad habits and overusing force.

Folk Music Heroes on Television This Week

Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger fought the battle for the rights of common people and workers with music.



Tuesday at night at 9:00 PM on Vision TV, Bound for Glory, the biography of Woody Guthrie, will be shown. It will be broadcast on Channel 61 on Rogers Cable in Ottawa.

Bound for Glory is a New York Times Critics Pick.

You can read more about Woody Guthrie on the Woody Guthrie Foundation website.



Wednesday PBS features the documentary, American Masters: Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. I was unable to determine the time or channel it will be shown on in Ottawa even though it was featured in the Ottawa Citizen’s TV Times, but I found it listed on several PBS stations at 9:00 PM.

Mark Klempner reviewed the documentary for the Huffington Post.

You can read more about Pete Seeger on the Pete Seeger Appreciation Page website.



My daddy was a miner
And I'm a miner's son
And I'll stick with the union
Till every battle's won