First off, let's celebrate the fact that I'm merely a pot-addled hillbilly.
Not a crack-addled or meth-addled hillbilly.
The pot-addled hillbilly takes a dim view of those other addictions.
The dear Lord above put pot down here on His good green earth for a reason. The weed 'o wisdom just sprouts up in the fields of Jamaica and Mexico and the lower mainland of BC and the temperate forests of Washington and Oregon and northern California.
It's not like you have to cook it up in your bathtub.
With battery acid as an ingredient.
That's the difference between good drugs and bad drugs.
And that's why I'm a little leery of those folks who just want to willy-nilly legalize everything.
On the other hand, what's to be gained by criminalizing meth addiction? From what I hear, there's been a ton of really normal folks fall into this rut. Meth, crack, Fentanyl, heroin... the folks formerly known as middle class have taken to drugs big time now that their futures have been eclipsed by various "free trade" deals that have impoverished them.
That's probably why those folks are turning to Donald and Bernie big time.
Their politicians have failed them.
As for me, fuck, I struggle to differentiate between a meme and a trope, but at least I can tell a decent spliff when I burn one...
Showing posts with label TPP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TPP. Show all posts
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Monday, October 5, 2015
Towel-heads of terror threaten very fabric of Canadian society
Yup, that's Big Steve's story, and he's gonna double down on it. Never mind that his vendetta against that niqab-clad woman has now suffered three straight losses at the Federal Court of Appeal.
But that's not going to slow down the Harper train for long. Nosirree, Big Steve is promising real Canadians, the old stock, that his party will change the law within 100 days of being re-elected, making the paranoid niqab ban immune from both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Oddly enough, this comes out on the same day as Harper is boasting about entangling Canada in yet another "free trade" agreement.
Now, coming from the shop floor as I do, I verily believe that these free-trade agreements have done infinitely more damage to the fabric of Canadian society than some woman in a niqab ever will.
Back in the day, new immigrants got a bumpy ride. That was true of every group of newcomers who ever washed up on these shores. Once your old-stockers had decimated the native population, the land was wide open for settlement, and the huddled masses from your overseas shitholes took the bait right quick.
You got here and you fought for a grip on the bottom rung...
That was true for the Scots and Brits looking for new pastures after the enclosures. That was true for the Irish fleeing the potato famine. That was true for the Jews fleeing the pogroms in Eastern Europe. That was true for my folks after the WW 2. That was true for Jamaicans and Sikhs and folks of every creed and colour.
But none of them had to face a government so determined to exclude them that even after the Federal Court of Appeal rules against them three times in a row, that government promises to change the law of the land to keep them out.
It's not immigrants or refugees threatening the fabric of Canadian society...
It's Stephen Harper.
But that's not going to slow down the Harper train for long. Nosirree, Big Steve is promising real Canadians, the old stock, that his party will change the law within 100 days of being re-elected, making the paranoid niqab ban immune from both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Oddly enough, this comes out on the same day as Harper is boasting about entangling Canada in yet another "free trade" agreement.
Now, coming from the shop floor as I do, I verily believe that these free-trade agreements have done infinitely more damage to the fabric of Canadian society than some woman in a niqab ever will.
Back in the day, new immigrants got a bumpy ride. That was true of every group of newcomers who ever washed up on these shores. Once your old-stockers had decimated the native population, the land was wide open for settlement, and the huddled masses from your overseas shitholes took the bait right quick.
You got here and you fought for a grip on the bottom rung...
That was true for the Scots and Brits looking for new pastures after the enclosures. That was true for the Irish fleeing the potato famine. That was true for the Jews fleeing the pogroms in Eastern Europe. That was true for my folks after the WW 2. That was true for Jamaicans and Sikhs and folks of every creed and colour.
But none of them had to face a government so determined to exclude them that even after the Federal Court of Appeal rules against them three times in a row, that government promises to change the law of the land to keep them out.
It's not immigrants or refugees threatening the fabric of Canadian society...
It's Stephen Harper.
What's so great about signing "free trade" deals all over the place?
I'm from the generation that saw first-hand the manifold blessings of the original Canada-US Free-Trade Agreement back in '87. The ink was hardly dry on that master-work when it was superseded by NAFTA, and the deluge of Canadian jobs heading for Mexico began in earnest.
Now we've got the usual suspects singing hosannas over the grand-daddy of all free trade deals, the biggest free trade deal the country has ever reached.
And this is allegedly a good thing.
Bear in mind that the TPP has its genesis in the US conniving to carve out a Pacific trading bloc that would exclude its number one economic rival, China.
Bear in mind also, that while the TPP signatories may indeed account for 40% of global trade, China and India by themselves account for another 40%, and neither are part of the TPP.
What we're really doing is throwing all our eggs into one basket, and joining a trading bloc dominated by an empire in decline.
How smart is that?
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Death by TPP
That's the Trans Pacific Partnership in case you don't know.
As per usual, our union leaders are a month late and a hundred bucks short on calling this, the most odious "free trade" agreement ever.
But better late than never.
Big Steve is keen on getting Canada enmeshed in the TPP fine print ASAP. Preferably before the October election.
That will guarantee him many lucrative directorships in multinational corporations once he is consigned to the dustbin of history a month hence.
As per usual, our union leaders are a month late and a hundred bucks short on calling this, the most odious "free trade" agreement ever.
But better late than never.
Big Steve is keen on getting Canada enmeshed in the TPP fine print ASAP. Preferably before the October election.
That will guarantee him many lucrative directorships in multinational corporations once he is consigned to the dustbin of history a month hence.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
TPP fizzles
The corporate nabobs behind the drive to enmesh us in the Trans Pacific Partnership are having a tough time of it.
Seems some of their fellow nabobs feel unduly constrained by the obligations democracy has imposed on them. That's led a few of them to take contrarian positions for the simple reason that they know they'd have hell to pay in the next election.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The TPP pushers are down, but not out. They'll be back!
Remember, this is in the first instance an attempt to create an Asia-Pacific trade bloc that excludes China. As such, it'll be a convenient tool for the Americans when they're busy asserting their full-spectrum-dominance vis-a-vis Beijing. No serious person imagines that this TPP trading bloc will not be entirely dominated by the Americans.
Which is not to say that the money-grubbers in Canada or Chile or New Zealand or Malaysia don't see something to gain here. When we hear talk of "homogenizing" labour standards, environmental standards, and so forth, what do you suppose that means?
It means driving everybody to the lowest common denominator.
That's why the nabobs have worked so hard to keep these negotiations secret.
Seems some of their fellow nabobs feel unduly constrained by the obligations democracy has imposed on them. That's led a few of them to take contrarian positions for the simple reason that they know they'd have hell to pay in the next election.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The TPP pushers are down, but not out. They'll be back!
Remember, this is in the first instance an attempt to create an Asia-Pacific trade bloc that excludes China. As such, it'll be a convenient tool for the Americans when they're busy asserting their full-spectrum-dominance vis-a-vis Beijing. No serious person imagines that this TPP trading bloc will not be entirely dominated by the Americans.
Which is not to say that the money-grubbers in Canada or Chile or New Zealand or Malaysia don't see something to gain here. When we hear talk of "homogenizing" labour standards, environmental standards, and so forth, what do you suppose that means?
It means driving everybody to the lowest common denominator.
That's why the nabobs have worked so hard to keep these negotiations secret.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
TPP and the race to the bottom
My Globe and Mail this morning featured no less than four articles about the Trans Pacific Partnership "free trade" deal that is currently being hammered out in Hawaii.
Free trade agreements should at this point in time be understood as a mug's game, at least from the point of view of regular working folks. They help corporate profits and drag down the standard of living in high-wage countries.
I've been a keen observer of the free trade charade since before NAFTA, when Lyin' Brian Mulroney was campaigning on the merits of the pre-NAFTA Canada US Free Trade Agreement. Every time he saw a camera or a microphone he just kept repeating "jobs jobs jobs jobs..."
A lot of people believed him.
What we had to give up to get that deal was the Canada US Auto Pact that dated back to the early '60s, and which had created a thriving car manufacturing industry in Canada. The Auto Pact was the opposite of free trade; it was a focused trade deal that forced the automakers to build cars here if they wanted to sell them here. Auto manufacturing in Canada has been dying a slow death ever since.
Adding Mexico to the deal under NAFTA sped up the de-industrialization of the Canadian economy. I remember hearing the bullshit about how that one was going to lift all ships; the combination of Yankee ingenuity and capital, Canadian resources, and Mexican dollar-a-day labour were somehow going to combine in some magic formula to make North America an economic utopia.
And I guess it was for the corporate shitbags who closed down US and Canadian manufacturing, simultaneously creating America's rust belt and a manufacturing boom in Mexico.
So when we're told that TPP is far bigger and more important than NAFTA, I shudder with dread. The fact that these negotiations have been entirely shrouded in secrecy doesn't make me feel any better.
They've obviously got a lot to hide.
Free trade agreements should at this point in time be understood as a mug's game, at least from the point of view of regular working folks. They help corporate profits and drag down the standard of living in high-wage countries.
I've been a keen observer of the free trade charade since before NAFTA, when Lyin' Brian Mulroney was campaigning on the merits of the pre-NAFTA Canada US Free Trade Agreement. Every time he saw a camera or a microphone he just kept repeating "jobs jobs jobs jobs..."
A lot of people believed him.
What we had to give up to get that deal was the Canada US Auto Pact that dated back to the early '60s, and which had created a thriving car manufacturing industry in Canada. The Auto Pact was the opposite of free trade; it was a focused trade deal that forced the automakers to build cars here if they wanted to sell them here. Auto manufacturing in Canada has been dying a slow death ever since.
Adding Mexico to the deal under NAFTA sped up the de-industrialization of the Canadian economy. I remember hearing the bullshit about how that one was going to lift all ships; the combination of Yankee ingenuity and capital, Canadian resources, and Mexican dollar-a-day labour were somehow going to combine in some magic formula to make North America an economic utopia.
And I guess it was for the corporate shitbags who closed down US and Canadian manufacturing, simultaneously creating America's rust belt and a manufacturing boom in Mexico.
So when we're told that TPP is far bigger and more important than NAFTA, I shudder with dread. The fact that these negotiations have been entirely shrouded in secrecy doesn't make me feel any better.
They've obviously got a lot to hide.
Friday, June 5, 2015
How "free trade" screws the public
This is just one very small example.
Last month the WTO ruled that the USA's food labelling regulations violated international trade agreements because they require companies to list the country of origin on the packaging of meat products.
Seems perfectly reasonable to me that the consumer in the US or anywhere else be privy to where the meat came from that they're eating.
But according to the WTO, that puts non-domestic producers at a disadvantage.
Hell, non-domestic producers SHOULD be at a disadvantage!
Swiss cheese should have an advantage in Switzerland.
Canadian bacon should have an advantage in Canada.
USA beef should have an advantage in the USA.
That's why we have nation states...
So we can take care of our own!
That's just not allowed under all these "trade agreements" our leaders have been rushing us into these last 25 years.
Last month the WTO ruled that the USA's food labelling regulations violated international trade agreements because they require companies to list the country of origin on the packaging of meat products.
Seems perfectly reasonable to me that the consumer in the US or anywhere else be privy to where the meat came from that they're eating.
But according to the WTO, that puts non-domestic producers at a disadvantage.
Hell, non-domestic producers SHOULD be at a disadvantage!
Swiss cheese should have an advantage in Switzerland.
Canadian bacon should have an advantage in Canada.
USA beef should have an advantage in the USA.
That's why we have nation states...
So we can take care of our own!
That's just not allowed under all these "trade agreements" our leaders have been rushing us into these last 25 years.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
We're all niggers now
Back in the day, when I was a gas-pumper at John's Supertest on Wellington Road in Guelph, there was this guy who drove in a couple of times a week in a new Lincoln Mark III. Actually, there was a couple of guys who came in regularly with their new Mark III's. There was Harold Knight, who owned a local lumber yard, and there was Buddy who was a crane operator in the Operating Engineers, a construction union.
The construction unions are one of the few labour groups who have managed to more or less hold up the standard of living for their membership. The others are the cops, the teachers, and the nurses. What do they have in common?
What they have in common is that their work can't be out-sourced to Mexico or China.
You can't send a classroom of local kids to Mexico for the year to learn the three R's from dollar-a-day peons.
You can't out-source policing to Mexico or China either. And it goes without saying that your local health care providers are going to stay local. You might be able to medi-vac the local trauma patients to the nearest regional hospital by helicopter, but those helicopters won't make it to Shanghai.
Till now, the construction trades were safe too, but Big Steve's got a plan that's gonna change that.
One of the big "wins" for Canadian businesses under the pending CETA "free trade" agreement with the EU is enhanced labour mobility. Note that this is a "win" for Canadian business; not for Canadian workers. Buddy and his new Lincoln would never happen if Canada's construction work was thrown wide open to crane operators from Poland and Hungary and Estonia.
But it gets even better; at least for business owners, not workers. That hush-hush TPP trade agreement that Big Steve has been busy with is gonna throw open the door to crane operators from India and Bangladesh!
That's really gonna piss off the guys from Poland who just moved here to take away Canadian jobs that used to pay $50/hr by doing them for $20/hr. By the time the Bangladeshis settle in, a tower crane operator in Toronto is going to be working for five bucks an hour!
Around the time Buddy was pulling into John's Supertest, Pierre Vallieres was sitting in a cell in New York State penning a book called White Niggers of America.
Pierre was a bit ahead of his time. His provocative use of the "N" word was meant to draw attention to how Quebecois workers were exploited. Sadly, time has passed Pierre by...
We're all niggers now.
The construction unions are one of the few labour groups who have managed to more or less hold up the standard of living for their membership. The others are the cops, the teachers, and the nurses. What do they have in common?
What they have in common is that their work can't be out-sourced to Mexico or China.
You can't send a classroom of local kids to Mexico for the year to learn the three R's from dollar-a-day peons.
You can't out-source policing to Mexico or China either. And it goes without saying that your local health care providers are going to stay local. You might be able to medi-vac the local trauma patients to the nearest regional hospital by helicopter, but those helicopters won't make it to Shanghai.
Till now, the construction trades were safe too, but Big Steve's got a plan that's gonna change that.
One of the big "wins" for Canadian businesses under the pending CETA "free trade" agreement with the EU is enhanced labour mobility. Note that this is a "win" for Canadian business; not for Canadian workers. Buddy and his new Lincoln would never happen if Canada's construction work was thrown wide open to crane operators from Poland and Hungary and Estonia.
But it gets even better; at least for business owners, not workers. That hush-hush TPP trade agreement that Big Steve has been busy with is gonna throw open the door to crane operators from India and Bangladesh!
That's really gonna piss off the guys from Poland who just moved here to take away Canadian jobs that used to pay $50/hr by doing them for $20/hr. By the time the Bangladeshis settle in, a tower crane operator in Toronto is going to be working for five bucks an hour!
Around the time Buddy was pulling into John's Supertest, Pierre Vallieres was sitting in a cell in New York State penning a book called White Niggers of America.
Pierre was a bit ahead of his time. His provocative use of the "N" word was meant to draw attention to how Quebecois workers were exploited. Sadly, time has passed Pierre by...
We're all niggers now.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Latest leaks reveal why they want to keep the TPP negotiations secret
Because it's going to be a great deal for a few conglomerates and a shitty deal for everybody else!
It's also going to give the control freaks in the US an absolute monopoly over policing the internet. You will access the world wide web at their pleasure, and if you're not pleasing them, you'll be out of luck.
The secretive nature of these negotiations gives the impression that what's really going on is a not-so-secret attempt to cobble together an anti-China coalition.
That will not further trade, nor will it further peace.
This is the last gasp of a spent hegemon.
It's also going to give the control freaks in the US an absolute monopoly over policing the internet. You will access the world wide web at their pleasure, and if you're not pleasing them, you'll be out of luck.
The secretive nature of these negotiations gives the impression that what's really going on is a not-so-secret attempt to cobble together an anti-China coalition.
That will not further trade, nor will it further peace.
This is the last gasp of a spent hegemon.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Goldman Sachs flunkie to be next US ambassador to Canada
That's not news... that's what we've come to expect!
Bruce will no doubt assist the provincials in coming to terms with the ins and outs of that new top secret TPP deal... the one that will permit the multi-nationals domiciled in the signatory nations to sue those sovereign states for any damages that might be incurred when uppity citizens insist on bullshit like safety standards, environmental standards, minimum wages, health care, pensions... the whole nine yards of the standard socialist wish list.
Bruce, you got here in the nick of time!
You'll be busy for the next couple weeks with the entire Harper cabinet genuflecting and trying to touch your raiments, but they mean well... it's nothing to worry about.
Trust me, they're on your side.
Bruce will no doubt assist the provincials in coming to terms with the ins and outs of that new top secret TPP deal... the one that will permit the multi-nationals domiciled in the signatory nations to sue those sovereign states for any damages that might be incurred when uppity citizens insist on bullshit like safety standards, environmental standards, minimum wages, health care, pensions... the whole nine yards of the standard socialist wish list.
Bruce, you got here in the nick of time!
You'll be busy for the next couple weeks with the entire Harper cabinet genuflecting and trying to touch your raiments, but they mean well... it's nothing to worry about.
Trust me, they're on your side.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Free at last! Free at last!... who gets freedom in "Free trade Agreements?"
I'll have to keep this short because Duck Dynasty is coming on in a couple of minutes, but this has been bothering me.
Ever since NAFTA it seems that the main freedom in any "free trade" deal is the freedom of private capital to go where it wants to go.
Not only that, but all these deals empower private capital to seek redress when sovereign states impair their ability to pillage their economies.
That was true of NAFTA, and the pending Trans Pacific Partnership is going to legitimize this abhorrent principle across more nations than ever.
Think that through. If some rapacious corporate entity is turned away by a government, they have the "right" to be compensated for their imaginary losses... by the tax-payers in that country!
Sweet deal for them! Not so great for sovereign states and their resident tax-payers.
Ever since NAFTA it seems that the main freedom in any "free trade" deal is the freedom of private capital to go where it wants to go.
Not only that, but all these deals empower private capital to seek redress when sovereign states impair their ability to pillage their economies.
That was true of NAFTA, and the pending Trans Pacific Partnership is going to legitimize this abhorrent principle across more nations than ever.
Think that through. If some rapacious corporate entity is turned away by a government, they have the "right" to be compensated for their imaginary losses... by the tax-payers in that country!
Sweet deal for them! Not so great for sovereign states and their resident tax-payers.
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