You can tell by the tone of the article that the fake-news fairies are abuzz at the CBC.
Seems the number two guy at the Canadian Labour Congress had the audacity to suggest that sanctions on Syria should be ended.
Which got him a proper scolding from the scriptwriters at CBC News.
It can't be easy being a union boss these days. Look at the mess over at the UAW. I used to be a member of the UAW. I feel sad when I see the top guys exposed as crooks.
But not surprised.
Donald Lafleur isn't being exposed as a crook; he's being castigated for making a positive suggestion about Canada's foreign policy, namely that it's time to reconsider sanctions against Syria. We only did that stuff to appease Uncle Sam in the first place.
It's too late to change that shameful decision, but it's not too late to do the right thing now.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Monday, September 16, 2019
More anti-union, anti-worker propaganda
Check out this report from Fox News about the UAW strike at GM. It tells us flat out that GM workers make $63/hr in pay and benefits.
Fake news?
In fact, the highest earning shop floor folks make about half that. That's the old guard, people who have been there fifteen years or more. After the UAW allowed the two-tier contracts to come in, anyone hired since makes substantially less.
GM comes up with this number by throwing the expenses of almost half a million retirees into their labour costs! That's totally bogus, but the media who report this stuff want you to think that there's greedy UAW members who make well over $100,000 a year, striking for more!
Is that because the billionaires who own the media want to stir you up against unions?
Fake news?
In fact, the highest earning shop floor folks make about half that. That's the old guard, people who have been there fifteen years or more. After the UAW allowed the two-tier contracts to come in, anyone hired since makes substantially less.
GM comes up with this number by throwing the expenses of almost half a million retirees into their labour costs! That's totally bogus, but the media who report this stuff want you to think that there's greedy UAW members who make well over $100,000 a year, striking for more!
Is that because the billionaires who own the media want to stir you up against unions?
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Twilight at Falling Downs
My perch on the porch is a green lawn chair, one of a set of four we were gifted when Uncle Murray bought the farm. Two are permanently in the car in case me and the Farm Manager have a spontaneous urge to sit by the shore of Georgian Bay. Don't know where the fourth one is.
I'm sitting there, pointed vaguely to the southwest, watching the sun go down. Tonight it dropped below the horizon just to the left of the barn. For the last few weeks it's been setting behind the barn. At the summer solstice she went down well north of the barn.
My contemplations were interrupted by a great cacophony of Sandhill Crane eruptions. Two batches of four passed overhead, probably two sets of parents each with two young ones, heading off to winter in Florida. The sun had set but they were up high enough to catch the evening rays, a magnificent sight!
The Sandhill Cranes that summer in these parts would be the lazy ones. Their more ambitious relatives go all the way to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. In fact, they go all the way to Alaska and Baffin Island!
That's some serious commuting!
Speaking of serious commuting, there's a young guy just up the road who commutes all the way to Baffin Island. I shit you not!
He's a diesel mechanic who works at an iron ore mine up there. Till recently, he'd drive down to Waterloo every other week. The company sent a plane to pick up a crew for two weeks of twelve hour shifts, while dropping off the alternate crew. It's a good gig. He's gone for two weeks, then he's home with his young children for two solid weeks.
And he's very well paid. By local standards, he's making two years wages for six months work.
But apparently things aren't that great in the iron ore biz. The company recently cancelled the Waterloo arrangement; now Buddy has to catch his plane in Montreal every two weeks. So instead of a three hour drive to Waterloo, he's got an eight hour drive to Montreal!
That effectively knocks two days off his fourteen days of down time.
He's sticking with it though, at least for now.
Speaking of twilight, old Chloe isn't long for this world. We're not sure exactly how old she is, but it's well over twenty years. We lost Lucy a year ago, we lost Phil in April, and soon it'll be just Doublewide, the barn cat who got invited into the big house, and fourteen year old rottie-shepherd Boomer.
It's only since April that Boomer has been our only dog. For her entire life she's been overshadowed by dogs who were cuter or smarter or both. She's finally got the spotlight on herself.
She's enjoying every minute!
I'm sitting there, pointed vaguely to the southwest, watching the sun go down. Tonight it dropped below the horizon just to the left of the barn. For the last few weeks it's been setting behind the barn. At the summer solstice she went down well north of the barn.
My contemplations were interrupted by a great cacophony of Sandhill Crane eruptions. Two batches of four passed overhead, probably two sets of parents each with two young ones, heading off to winter in Florida. The sun had set but they were up high enough to catch the evening rays, a magnificent sight!
The Sandhill Cranes that summer in these parts would be the lazy ones. Their more ambitious relatives go all the way to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. In fact, they go all the way to Alaska and Baffin Island!
That's some serious commuting!
Speaking of serious commuting, there's a young guy just up the road who commutes all the way to Baffin Island. I shit you not!
He's a diesel mechanic who works at an iron ore mine up there. Till recently, he'd drive down to Waterloo every other week. The company sent a plane to pick up a crew for two weeks of twelve hour shifts, while dropping off the alternate crew. It's a good gig. He's gone for two weeks, then he's home with his young children for two solid weeks.
And he's very well paid. By local standards, he's making two years wages for six months work.
But apparently things aren't that great in the iron ore biz. The company recently cancelled the Waterloo arrangement; now Buddy has to catch his plane in Montreal every two weeks. So instead of a three hour drive to Waterloo, he's got an eight hour drive to Montreal!
That effectively knocks two days off his fourteen days of down time.
He's sticking with it though, at least for now.
Speaking of twilight, old Chloe isn't long for this world. We're not sure exactly how old she is, but it's well over twenty years. We lost Lucy a year ago, we lost Phil in April, and soon it'll be just Doublewide, the barn cat who got invited into the big house, and fourteen year old rottie-shepherd Boomer.
It's only since April that Boomer has been our only dog. For her entire life she's been overshadowed by dogs who were cuter or smarter or both. She's finally got the spotlight on herself.
She's enjoying every minute!
Globe and Mail gifts Kielburger empire its own section
Yesterday's Globe and Mail came with an eight page "W" section. The "W" stands for We Day, part of that constantly shifting sort-of-charity controlled by the Kielburger family. There's nothing in section W identifying it as paid content, so presumably we are to believe this is a legitimate part of Canada's national newspaper of record.
And it's just bursting with happy news!
WE Teachers is bringing education to black kids in Compton!
WE is teaming up with Canada's biggest bank (which just paid a multi-million dollar fine to make insider trading charges go away) to "help youth turn business ideas into reality!"
WE is moving into the wellness space, "leveraging long-standing partnerships with more than 7,000 schools across Canada to empower youth, educators and families with tools and classroom resources to promote life-long mental well-being."
WE is partnering with Telus (currently facing a class action lawsuit for cheating its customers) to stamp out cyber-bullying!...
It's all great stuff that WE and its corporate partners are bringing; lots of empowerment and sustainability, that's for sure!
But my favourite by far is the thank-you page, where WE thanks their corporate sponsors "for helping inspire young Canadians to change the world," including Teck Corporation (facing multiple lawsuits over the environmental degradation caused by its mining activities), Siemens (google Siemens corruption scandal and see what pops up), global consumer goods giant Unilever (check out this story at The Guardian about their complicity in destroying the rainforests of Sumatra), among others.
Not only does the Kielburger juggernaut, and its harem of A-list corporate sponsors, inspire kids to change the world, it facilitates the greenwashing, pinkwashing, and whitewashing of these corporate scofflaws' image problems!
Talk about a win-win!
And it's just bursting with happy news!
WE Teachers is bringing education to black kids in Compton!
WE is teaming up with Canada's biggest bank (which just paid a multi-million dollar fine to make insider trading charges go away) to "help youth turn business ideas into reality!"
WE is moving into the wellness space, "leveraging long-standing partnerships with more than 7,000 schools across Canada to empower youth, educators and families with tools and classroom resources to promote life-long mental well-being."
WE is partnering with Telus (currently facing a class action lawsuit for cheating its customers) to stamp out cyber-bullying!...
It's all great stuff that WE and its corporate partners are bringing; lots of empowerment and sustainability, that's for sure!
But my favourite by far is the thank-you page, where WE thanks their corporate sponsors "for helping inspire young Canadians to change the world," including Teck Corporation (facing multiple lawsuits over the environmental degradation caused by its mining activities), Siemens (google Siemens corruption scandal and see what pops up), global consumer goods giant Unilever (check out this story at The Guardian about their complicity in destroying the rainforests of Sumatra), among others.
Not only does the Kielburger juggernaut, and its harem of A-list corporate sponsors, inspire kids to change the world, it facilitates the greenwashing, pinkwashing, and whitewashing of these corporate scofflaws' image problems!
Talk about a win-win!
Saturday, September 14, 2019
I can tell a GTX from a GTO a mile away
In fact, I can tell a 67 GTX from a 68 from a mile away.
Differentiating between a 68 and a 69 would require me to be a little closer.
For the 1970 version I can zoom out a little.
The 71? I can spot the difference between a 70 and a 71 from a mile away...
When it comes to cars built in my life-time, I've got a pretty good handle on what's what. But when it comes to cars built in the Al Capone era, I can't distinguish between a Stutz and a Cord and a Duesenberg to save my soul.
It's Cobble Beach Concours weekend in Owen Sound. Pretty sure I saw both a Stutz and a antique Rolls Royce at the gas station in Springmount today.
At the same time.
We passed their tour on Grey Road 1. Some truly bizarre stuff, like those egg-shaped European three-wheelers. Also some Duesenbergs, Bentleys, and, if I'm not mistaken, at least one Cord.
Not to mention a 67 GTX convertible, a 70 Superbee convertible, and a very pretty 1970 Ford Cobra. That was the "Cobra" version that came on the Torino chassis and had the 429 motor. This one was bright orange and had a four speed.
Nice stuff!
Differentiating between a 68 and a 69 would require me to be a little closer.
For the 1970 version I can zoom out a little.
The 71? I can spot the difference between a 70 and a 71 from a mile away...
When it comes to cars built in my life-time, I've got a pretty good handle on what's what. But when it comes to cars built in the Al Capone era, I can't distinguish between a Stutz and a Cord and a Duesenberg to save my soul.
It's Cobble Beach Concours weekend in Owen Sound. Pretty sure I saw both a Stutz and a antique Rolls Royce at the gas station in Springmount today.
At the same time.
We passed their tour on Grey Road 1. Some truly bizarre stuff, like those egg-shaped European three-wheelers. Also some Duesenbergs, Bentleys, and, if I'm not mistaken, at least one Cord.
Not to mention a 67 GTX convertible, a 70 Superbee convertible, and a very pretty 1970 Ford Cobra. That was the "Cobra" version that came on the Torino chassis and had the 429 motor. This one was bright orange and had a four speed.
Nice stuff!
$150 oil by Monday?
The situation with that oil refinery in Saudi Arabia is by far the biggest story in the world right now, and it's being massively underplayed in our media.
And not that I'd want to start a conspiracy theory or anything, but do you really think it's "coincidence" that this goes down within a day or two of Bolton's exit?
Insofar as the Yemen war has been a proxy battle between Iran and the USA, Uncle Sam just got put into checkmate.
And that's just the start of his troubles.
Over in the Holy Land, the Greatest Leader Since Moses has got a lot riding on this election. Is it worth it to him to start an unwinnable war with Hezbollah at this moment? To keep himself in power and to keep his arse out of jail?
And how discouraging it is to see Trump choose this very moment to talk up a "Israel-USA mutual defence treaty."
Then America will be obliged to go to war to keep Bibi's arse out of jail.
Now that's discouraging.
And not that I'd want to start a conspiracy theory or anything, but do you really think it's "coincidence" that this goes down within a day or two of Bolton's exit?
Insofar as the Yemen war has been a proxy battle between Iran and the USA, Uncle Sam just got put into checkmate.
And that's just the start of his troubles.
Over in the Holy Land, the Greatest Leader Since Moses has got a lot riding on this election. Is it worth it to him to start an unwinnable war with Hezbollah at this moment? To keep himself in power and to keep his arse out of jail?
And how discouraging it is to see Trump choose this very moment to talk up a "Israel-USA mutual defence treaty."
Then America will be obliged to go to war to keep Bibi's arse out of jail.
Now that's discouraging.
Friday, September 13, 2019
How to lose millions selling marijuana
That would seem to be a tough slog, but the Government of Ontario has apparently managed it!
Which comes as something of a surprise, because Premier Doug is reputed to have been quite the wily weed shark in his younger days. Then again, just because he was a renowned pot peddler, doesn't mean he ever made much money at it.
I know how it goes. You're selling a quarter ounce here and a half ounce there. You do the math and figure if you could just crank up the volume, you could quit your day job! You scratch together a few thousand dollars to buy a couple pounds.
To move this in a timely manner, you're gonna need a network. So you enlist a bunch of your pothead buddies. None of them have any money, so you front them the stuff and wait for the cash to roll in.
You wait and you wait, and you wait some more. After about a month, you realize there's precious little money rolling in, but you're getting a virtual tsunami of hard-luck stories. What to do?
Well, what are your options? These are, or were, your pals. Kidnap their kids? Kill their dog? After briefly considering your options, you decide to eat your losses, strike the offenders off your Christmas card mailing list, and stick with your day job.
But that was then. This is now. It's legal, and the government has a monopoly!
And they still manage to fuck it up!
Which comes as something of a surprise, because Premier Doug is reputed to have been quite the wily weed shark in his younger days. Then again, just because he was a renowned pot peddler, doesn't mean he ever made much money at it.
I know how it goes. You're selling a quarter ounce here and a half ounce there. You do the math and figure if you could just crank up the volume, you could quit your day job! You scratch together a few thousand dollars to buy a couple pounds.
To move this in a timely manner, you're gonna need a network. So you enlist a bunch of your pothead buddies. None of them have any money, so you front them the stuff and wait for the cash to roll in.
You wait and you wait, and you wait some more. After about a month, you realize there's precious little money rolling in, but you're getting a virtual tsunami of hard-luck stories. What to do?
Well, what are your options? These are, or were, your pals. Kidnap their kids? Kill their dog? After briefly considering your options, you decide to eat your losses, strike the offenders off your Christmas card mailing list, and stick with your day job.
But that was then. This is now. It's legal, and the government has a monopoly!
And they still manage to fuck it up!
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