That's a police force specifically mandated to keep the peace; labour peace.
As in you can't be having the workers running wild with demands for a living wage and, God help us all, "benefits."
To understand how Bangladesh became a powerhouse in the international garment trade, you have to have a look at their Bangladesh Labour Act of 2006. Said Act was intended to "increase productivity and enhance a favourable climate for investment."
Sound familiar?
It should. That's pretty much the standard mantra for any right-leaning State government trying to bring in right-to-work-for-less legislation.
Yes, we all want to increase productivity and create a favourable climate for investment, don't we?
How else are we going to compete with Bangladesh?
But seriously, how can we possibly increase productivity and enhance the investment climate without following Bangladesh's lead and instituting Labour Police?
Then, instead of multinationals like Caterpillar being forced to uproot their manufacturing facilities in high-wage jurisdictions, they could just send in the Labour Police to knock some sense into the malcontents who insist on a living wage.
And sick time, and holiday pay, and dental plans, and blah blah blah....
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Syrian Air Force bombs Israel-bound munitions at New Jersey warehouse
The Syrian bombing raid came after repeated warnings from the Syrians that the US was crossing a "red line" by continuing to supply the IDF with weapons that could be used against Syria.
A spokesman for the Assad government confirmed that the air-strike had taken place. "We will continue to do what is necessary to defend Syria. We have done it in the past and we will continue to do it in the future."
A spokesman for the Assad government confirmed that the air-strike had taken place. "We will continue to do what is necessary to defend Syria. We have done it in the past and we will continue to do it in the future."
Caterpillar closes Toronto plant
Nowhere in any of the stories about Cat closing the former Lovat plant is it acknowledged that Cat is simply planning to do its manufacturing elsewhere.
In fact, Caterpillar executives are implying that the company is getting out of the tunnel-boring equipment business, claiming the business is "no longer a good fit" for the company.
That's not what they said a mere five years ago on purchasing Lovat Inc.
According to Caterpillar, the acquisition was "an excellent strategic fit."
If Lovat is no longer a good fit for Caterpillar, why don't they sell it instead of shutting it down?
Could it be because they are trying to hide the fact that this is simply another case of moving jobs to lower-wage jurisdictions?
In fact, Caterpillar executives are implying that the company is getting out of the tunnel-boring equipment business, claiming the business is "no longer a good fit" for the company.
That's not what they said a mere five years ago on purchasing Lovat Inc.
According to Caterpillar, the acquisition was "an excellent strategic fit."
If Lovat is no longer a good fit for Caterpillar, why don't they sell it instead of shutting it down?
Could it be because they are trying to hide the fact that this is simply another case of moving jobs to lower-wage jurisdictions?
Another case of GPS addiction
The Burgess sideroad is about a mile and a half long before it dead-ends at a turnaround the township has thoughtfully provided just past Hodkinson's place. There are a total of six dwellings along that stretch of road.
This afternoon a giant tractor-trailer from Bio-Ag of Michigan pulled up onto the Burgess sideroad and headed up the hill. I know for a fact that none of those six households have any need for a tractor-trailer load of fertilizer from Michigan.
It's another classic case of GPS addiction. Perfectly reasonable people realize that the turn they just made makes no sense, but their GPS told them to make it, so it must be the right thing to do.
It's not the first time I've run into folks who are lost on the Burgess sideroad. Early one morning about a year ago, while out walking, an elderly couple pulled over and asked me where the sheep farm was.
What sheep farm?
They even had a fire number for the non-existent sheep farm. And I'm sure it exists; just not here on this particular stretch of the Burgess sideroad.
But they didn't believe me. Had to drive to the end and see for themselves. Drove up and down the road a few times looking for the imaginary sheep farm.
The Bio-Ag rig must have been a good eighty feet long end-to-end. It's a testament to Buddy's driving skill that he got her turned around in that sixty-foot diameter turnaround.
But not every case of GPS dependency has such a happy ending.
This afternoon a giant tractor-trailer from Bio-Ag of Michigan pulled up onto the Burgess sideroad and headed up the hill. I know for a fact that none of those six households have any need for a tractor-trailer load of fertilizer from Michigan.
It's another classic case of GPS addiction. Perfectly reasonable people realize that the turn they just made makes no sense, but their GPS told them to make it, so it must be the right thing to do.
It's not the first time I've run into folks who are lost on the Burgess sideroad. Early one morning about a year ago, while out walking, an elderly couple pulled over and asked me where the sheep farm was.
What sheep farm?
They even had a fire number for the non-existent sheep farm. And I'm sure it exists; just not here on this particular stretch of the Burgess sideroad.
But they didn't believe me. Had to drive to the end and see for themselves. Drove up and down the road a few times looking for the imaginary sheep farm.
The Bio-Ag rig must have been a good eighty feet long end-to-end. It's a testament to Buddy's driving skill that he got her turned around in that sixty-foot diameter turnaround.
But not every case of GPS dependency has such a happy ending.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Why Tamils are golden but Palestinians are shit in Harper's Canada
Long story short, Harper's next election is going to depend way more on Tamils than on Palestinians to get the Harper gang re-elected.
The new Canadian position vis-a-vis the Tamils isn't much of a secret.
The Tamils were not that long ago "terrorists."
The Palestinians have always been and will always be "terrorists."
Both peoples are struggling with an occupying power that refuses to recognize their sovereignty.
But the difference is that Canada's Tamil community can mobilize tens of thousands of voters in the next Canadian election.
When you hear John Baird lauding Canada's "principles," this is what he is talking about.
The new Canadian position vis-a-vis the Tamils isn't much of a secret.
The Tamils were not that long ago "terrorists."
The Palestinians have always been and will always be "terrorists."
Both peoples are struggling with an occupying power that refuses to recognize their sovereignty.
But the difference is that Canada's Tamil community can mobilize tens of thousands of voters in the next Canadian election.
When you hear John Baird lauding Canada's "principles," this is what he is talking about.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Is winter over?
I took a chance yesterday, 1 May, and took the snow-blower off the tractor.
Five hundred miles to the west, in a band that stretches from Arkansas up through the Dakotas and Minnesota and into Canada, there's a snow-storm heading in this general direction.
Nevertheless, it was a beautiful summer day here. We took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours on a restaurant patio in town. Beer and wings on a patio in the bright afternoon sunshine, a patio that was under snow and windswept by blizzard conditions barely two weeks ago.
And we were far from being the only folks in the mood to celebrate the end of winter. The patio was packed.
But here's the thing that struck me. Most of the people on the patio were more engrossed by their smart-phones than by the company at their table. Couples are celebrating the first rays of spring sun by sitting on a patio, each with phone in hand, constantly checking whatever important stuff it is that totally unimportant people have to check on their phones. Constantly.
I know they are unimportant people because they are sitting on the same patio as me. I don't hang with important people.
Entire families were on that patio, every family member deeply into their 2X2 inch screen, with an occasional acknowledgement of their table-mates, but for the most part far more interested in what those screens were showing them.
There was even a guy with one of those magical phones strapped to his ear. You have to have a lot of faith in the purveyors of technology to walk around all day with a cell-phone strapped to the side of your brain. Yes, I know that most of the phone-company research conclusively concludes that there is no conclusive link between radio waves and brain cancer, but still....
If they can't be counted on to get your monthly bill straight, how can you count on their scientific research?
But no matter.
Spring has sprung.
At least for today.
Five hundred miles to the west, in a band that stretches from Arkansas up through the Dakotas and Minnesota and into Canada, there's a snow-storm heading in this general direction.
Nevertheless, it was a beautiful summer day here. We took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours on a restaurant patio in town. Beer and wings on a patio in the bright afternoon sunshine, a patio that was under snow and windswept by blizzard conditions barely two weeks ago.
And we were far from being the only folks in the mood to celebrate the end of winter. The patio was packed.
But here's the thing that struck me. Most of the people on the patio were more engrossed by their smart-phones than by the company at their table. Couples are celebrating the first rays of spring sun by sitting on a patio, each with phone in hand, constantly checking whatever important stuff it is that totally unimportant people have to check on their phones. Constantly.
I know they are unimportant people because they are sitting on the same patio as me. I don't hang with important people.
Entire families were on that patio, every family member deeply into their 2X2 inch screen, with an occasional acknowledgement of their table-mates, but for the most part far more interested in what those screens were showing them.
There was even a guy with one of those magical phones strapped to his ear. You have to have a lot of faith in the purveyors of technology to walk around all day with a cell-phone strapped to the side of your brain. Yes, I know that most of the phone-company research conclusively concludes that there is no conclusive link between radio waves and brain cancer, but still....
If they can't be counted on to get your monthly bill straight, how can you count on their scientific research?
But no matter.
Spring has sprung.
At least for today.
John Baird; the mouth that can't stop roaring
Michael Den Tandt has a quaint opinion piece in the Montreal Gazette today, which is at once a slam of the UN and a tribute to Canada's ever-bloviating Foreign Minister, John Baird.
First of all, congratulations Michael on keeping your post on the sinking ship you write for, but remember, tomorrow is a brand new day.
Secondly, there is no question that the UN is an easy target. What the hell do they accomplish? It's all too easy to argue that the answer is nothing or right next to it.
But for better or worse, it is the one forum that includes everybody. Sure, it's dominated by a few rich donor countries, but how would we be better off without it?
The rich donor countries, at least some of them, are distraught over the fact that a majority of UN members consistently vote against their initiatives on certain pet issues like the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Yes, the democratic process can be frustrating, especially when your positions are clearly anathema to the vast majority of your peers, but democracy doesn't mean that everybody has to agree with you.
As for Canada being the seventh largest financial contributor to the UN, that is not far out of line for the eleventh largest economy in the world, and suggests nothing more than that there may be four countries that should be paying a little more.
Where Den Tandt shows his stripes is with the claim that it is "NATO, led by the Americans," that intervenes to stop international barbarities when the UN fails to do so.
That is precisely the line of argument that ensures that a majority of UN member states will continue to vote against the Nations of Virtue at the General Assembly. The majority of the global population see America and her me-too NATO sidekicks as fomenting international barbarities rather than preventing them.
Baird's track record of high-profile idiocy since becoming Foreign Minister in 2011 has indeed served to isolate Canada. The flagrant and obsessive championing of Likud policies in the Middle East, the closing of the Canadian embassy in Iran, the scrapping of CIDA, the bone-headed refusal to observe international conventions initiated by Canada with respect to the child soldier Khadr; all of these have contributed to Canada becoming part of a rump bloc at the UN comprised of the US, Israel, and a handful of US vassals.
After years of contemptuous treatment of the UN, is it any wonder that some of that UN majority is moving to strip Canada of its status as home of the International Civil Aviation Authority?
Den Tandt finds it reasonable that Baird demands of the UN to account for what it accomplishes for our $76 million annual contribution. He thinks that's what makes John Baird an "effective" foreign minister.
$76 million could be better put to use buying half an F-35 fighter jet. Standing in front of the General Assembly and speechifying about Canada's presumed moral superiority doesn't make him "effective."
It makes him a buffoon.
First of all, congratulations Michael on keeping your post on the sinking ship you write for, but remember, tomorrow is a brand new day.
Secondly, there is no question that the UN is an easy target. What the hell do they accomplish? It's all too easy to argue that the answer is nothing or right next to it.
But for better or worse, it is the one forum that includes everybody. Sure, it's dominated by a few rich donor countries, but how would we be better off without it?
The rich donor countries, at least some of them, are distraught over the fact that a majority of UN members consistently vote against their initiatives on certain pet issues like the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Yes, the democratic process can be frustrating, especially when your positions are clearly anathema to the vast majority of your peers, but democracy doesn't mean that everybody has to agree with you.
As for Canada being the seventh largest financial contributor to the UN, that is not far out of line for the eleventh largest economy in the world, and suggests nothing more than that there may be four countries that should be paying a little more.
Where Den Tandt shows his stripes is with the claim that it is "NATO, led by the Americans," that intervenes to stop international barbarities when the UN fails to do so.
That is precisely the line of argument that ensures that a majority of UN member states will continue to vote against the Nations of Virtue at the General Assembly. The majority of the global population see America and her me-too NATO sidekicks as fomenting international barbarities rather than preventing them.
Baird's track record of high-profile idiocy since becoming Foreign Minister in 2011 has indeed served to isolate Canada. The flagrant and obsessive championing of Likud policies in the Middle East, the closing of the Canadian embassy in Iran, the scrapping of CIDA, the bone-headed refusal to observe international conventions initiated by Canada with respect to the child soldier Khadr; all of these have contributed to Canada becoming part of a rump bloc at the UN comprised of the US, Israel, and a handful of US vassals.
After years of contemptuous treatment of the UN, is it any wonder that some of that UN majority is moving to strip Canada of its status as home of the International Civil Aviation Authority?
Den Tandt finds it reasonable that Baird demands of the UN to account for what it accomplishes for our $76 million annual contribution. He thinks that's what makes John Baird an "effective" foreign minister.
$76 million could be better put to use buying half an F-35 fighter jet. Standing in front of the General Assembly and speechifying about Canada's presumed moral superiority doesn't make him "effective."
It makes him a buffoon.
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