The Silence of Violence
Quote[size=18]The Silence of Violence[/size]Summer should be a time of happy memories for people, especially young people. They are on break from college and/or taking vacations with their friends and family. They should be enjoying Stampede, camping, boating and a whole array of other activities. Those should be the memories of a hot summer in Calgary.
Summer 2008 will be remembered by the young people in my life (my adult children and their friends) and many, many other Calgary youth, as a summer of mourning. They have all been touched by the passing of three young Calgarians.
First was a young man killed in a tragic motorcycle accident. At 18 years old, he was taken way too soon; doing something he had an incredible passion for. Friends and family can take some comfort in knowing he helped others by being an organ donor.
Second was another young man, who put up a valiant battle with health problems. Friends and family can take some comfort in knowing he is now at peace and no longer in pain.
Both of these were tragic and unexpected. The grieving process is fluid and in motion; the pain of losing of each will ebb and flow. Over time cherished memories will take the place of the pain, though it may never be completely be replaced.
The third is Sarah Rae, a young woman with a whole life and world before her yet to explore and discover.
Sarah was taken not by fate of an accident or a battle with a disease. Her life was taken by another person (or persons). I cannot phantom, nor will I claim to know what her family is experiencing. My heart aches at just trying to put myself in their shoes. The thought of losing one of my children (let alone an only child) is unthinkable. My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies go out to them.
This brings me to the silence. Not the silence of her family; that I completely understand and can respect.
Continued: http://janemorgan.blogspot.com/2008/08/silence-of-violence.html
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Cheers and Jeers: Rant Bouquets-Summer '08
The Promote Your Personal Agenda Bouquet: Lawyer Rupert Baudais has suckered a few Western Canadian Francophones into being pawns in his personal language rights crusade. And people wonder why the public image of lawyers is lower than crocodile piss.http://www.themoderateseparatist.com/2008/07/cheers-and-jeers-rant-bouquets-summer.html
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An Open Letter to Premier Ed
...It is an example of the stale and distasteful practice of social engineering that many Canadians outside of Alberta have come to think of as part of Canadian culture.....http://www.themoderateseparatist.com/2008/07/open-letter-to-premier-ed.html
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The Other Shoe Drops: NEP II is Here (and Ignored)
...Even in Quebec the public is split about 50-50 on the Green Shift plan, and if you can't fool Quebecers with an environmental plan that screws Alberta, who can you fool?.....http://www.themoderateseparatist.com/2008/07/other-shoe-drops-nep-ii-is-here-and.html
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No, but the Alberta francophonie community is taking notice. Check out this response to the article and the case:
http://doreus.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/un-arret-qui-risque-de-faire-du-bruit/
Sigh....if anyone knows french, could they translate? If I'm being slammed, you'd think this princess would at least do it in the land's official language. :roll:
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:downtown:
I was chatting with some folks in Kelowna last night and their first impression was that this was ok.
They don't drive any more and they have the $100 gift from the BC Guvvermint already spent.
What was that about "fooling the people, all the time" ???
](*,)
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The americans are going to have to make a serious choice in the coming years: would they rather buy their oil from islamic terrorists who use the money to attack their soldiers, or would they rather incur the wrath of a group of limp-wristed hippies and buy "dirty" oil?
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Reports of Recession Greatly Exaggerated
Quote[size=18]Recessions Are in the Eye of the Beholder[/size][size=9]by Ben Stein[/size]
How many times have you been witness to an event and then read about it in the newspaper later? How many times would you say the newspaper reported the event as you witnessed it?
If you're like me, truthful, accurate reportage is a rarity in your experience when compared with, well, with your experience.
Reports of Recession Greatly Exaggerated
This is as true of giant national events as it is of neighborhood ones. I've been involved in many of these big events, from Watergate to the Drexel/Michael Milken junk bond scandal. The media simply never gets it right. They give an impression, highly colored by the inexperience, bias, and laziness of the reporter. Most of all, in national events, the reporting is based upon the reporter's urgent need to magnify his or her own importance. This is only human, but it's good to recognize it.
I've been thinking about this a lot because in the last few weeks, we've seen a barrage of data buried in the back pages of major newspapers telling us that the "recession" everyone said was a certainty, the "recession" that the reporters assured us would be about as bad as the Great Depression, is simply not happening.
The bond markets have rallied staggeringly. The stock markets had one of their best months ever in April. The rate of defaults on corporate bonds remains extremely low. And index securities that track mortgage defaults are saying that the fear of a colossal national mortgage default epidemic was ill-founded.
Ignoring the Data
Just as I am writing this, new employment data has come out showing only very small job losses in April -- 20,000 jobs out of a labor force of very roughly 160 million, meaning that 1 in 8,000 jobs has been lost. The actual rate of unemployment is falling to a very modest level -- 5 percent.
Yet the national media is still selling us fear of a recession. One of the major national newspapers has a reporter who's desperately trying to peddle a story of national economic collapse even as the economy stays afloat.
And the beautiful part is that it's now crystal clear that we're not in a recession (we could be later -- anything can happen). There was just a report that showed first-quarter 2008 GDP growth was positive, meaning that as a matter of arithmetic we can't be in a recession, any more than a man who's gained weight can also be losing weight.
The Economy's Still Afloat
No, that's not the beautiful part: The beautiful part is that because we're not meeting the definition of a recession -- two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth -- the pundits are trying to rewrite the definition, to make it just about anything they feel like making it. (Or, as I like to say, the new rules allow liberals to call a conservative administration's tenure a recession any time they have the urge.)
Ladies and gentlemen, the dogs may bark but the caravan moves on. Adroit moves by the Federal Reserve have saved the economy from a bad recession. The housing crisis was never anywhere near as bad as the media naysayers were trying to claim. The mortgage foreclosure problem was never the disaster hedge fund traders and their allies in the media were trying to say.
This big old leaky barge of an economy is still floating lazily down the river. It's not as strong as it was two years ago, but it's still above the water line. The big problem for most employers now (as they tell me) is getting decent labor. Any halfway skilled, halfway decent college grad can have her choice of jobs. Anyone with a real work ethic and an education can make a fine living.
Get Real Now
I've come to feel that you, my readers, are my family. So I hope you haven't been terrified by the media and didn't sell your stocks. I hope you've been buying while the market was down. It may have some further air pockets, but the direction sure looks like it'll be up for a while now. P/E's aren't at all high, and foreign stocks are amazingly cheap.
And I'll add another suggestion. My evidence is anecdotal at this point, but I'm hearing of an uptick in home sales in my beloved Southern California and my native Washington, D.C. I think the tide is hitting full ebb, and while it may ebb for a while, it'll turn before long.
The nation is still rich. Mortgage rates are low. Employment is high. Contrary to media reports, loans are easily available to qualified buyers. Houses are still tax-subsidized. Young families need homes. We old people need retirement homes. People are moving for many reasons, and they need homes, too. Clearly it's a good time to dip your toe in and see how you like the residential real estate water.
Bunk, More or Less
As for the financial journalists, take a cue from Henry Ford, who famously said, "History is more or less bunk."
I wouldn't say business journalism is all bunk. But I would say it's about glorifying the reporters and selling newspapers. And while fear sells papers, it doesn't make for good investors.
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/81478
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School has child taken away because "psychic" ...
Quote[size=18]School has child taken away because "psychic" claimed she was abused[/size][size=7]Posted by Cory Doctorow, June 17, 2008 10:37 PM | permalink[/size]
The administration at Terry Fox Elementary in Barrie Ontario called Children's Aid on Colleen Leduc and accused her of allowing her autistic daughter to be sexually assaulted. They based the accusation on something a "psychic" told the special ed worker who worked with the kid.
"The teacher looked and me and said: 'We have to tell you something. The educational assistant who works with Victoria went to see a psychic last night, and the psychic asked the educational assistant at that particular time if she works with a little girl by the name of "V." And she said 'yes, I do.' And she said, 'well, you need to know that that child is being sexually abused by a man between the ages of 23 and 26.'"
Victoria, who is non-verbal, had also been exhibiting sexualized behaviour in class, actions which are known to be typical of autistic behavior. (See other typical actions here) That lead authorities to suspect she had a bladder infection that may have somehow been related to the 'attack.'
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/17/school-has-child-tak.html
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Tell Your Boss You've Voted Yourself a Raise
The furor over the behind-closed-door decision by Alberta’s governing Progressive Conservatives to give themselves a massive pay raise seems to be growing. The latest public image blunder by Premier Ed Stelmach and his huge cabinet has come off as arrogant and incredibly self-serving.....http://www.themoderateseparatist.com/2008/06/tell-your-boss-youve-voted-yourself.html
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