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William McNally Greatest President ever! 
- Today Dow Jones is near 18,000. Bush left office on January 20, 2009 and the Dow Jones was 7949.

- Bush left office with a negative 8.9% GDP growth rate. That is, the economy was collapsing. The current growth rate is a positive 5.0 %, a 13.9% improvement over the Bush economy. At this point in the Bush years, government employment was up by 1.2 million, but under Mr. Obama it’s down by 600,000. 

- The U.S. Central Bank (the Fed) has ended the Quantitative Easing program as the US economy is again healthy after the Bush Financial Collapse. And no, Wall Street did not collapse as a result of the end of QE. (China, Japan, and Germany have initiated QE programs after observing the Obama economic miracle.)

-Bush left office with unemployment at 7.9%. The current unemployment rate is 5.6%. 

- The U.S. capped its best year for hiring in 15 years with a healthy job gain in December and the unemployment rate falling to a six-year low. The data adds to signs of strength that contrast with sputtering global growth.Under President Obama's leadership, the economy has added private sector jobs for 56 straight months. During this span, 10.6 million private sector jobs have been created.

- US deficits when Bush left office were $1.4 Trillion. The current US deficit is $483 Billion, a reduction of 66%; and yes, Obamacare did reduce the deficit. 

- The dollar has strengthened to a five-year high which reflects the confidence the world has in the US economy. 

- The price of gold has fallen 35% reflecting the international confidence in the US dollar. 

- Today crude oil is hovering at at a 5.5 year low at and is expected to continue its decline as OPEC declared satisfaction with today's supply balance. 

- The US economy is currently thriving while arch enemy Russia is experiencing economic crisis. 

- Bush said Osama Bin Laden was not a priority. Obama made it a priority and he was killed. 

- Bush started 2 wars on a Chinese credit card and created a huge deficit. Obama cut it by 66%.

Ontario rip off, the drive clean thing..

a local mufflershop,driveclean agent who also happens to do repais stiffed me out of 200 bucks or more...drive clean fail,35 dollars, repair estimate$150 for a oxygensensor, retail $90 at cts, billed over 400 dollars, had to go elsewhere after that for another final clean test.A rip off I tried to question but the authorizing provincial agency are not interested, claiming they have no control beyond the 35 dollar initial charge for testing. It looks like the 2013 ruling to allow for a conditional pass if repairs are over $500 has become a business model for some greedy repair shops...unfortunately I fell into this trap with one of them, who also happens to be a bit of a loudmouth bully..blaming his outrages billing on...oh well that's the government...l

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Canada,

A number of Canadian Senators, Liberal and Conservative are in trouble for
overstating their living or residency expenses. One already resigned three
more probably will do so. They all had to repay their claimed funds to the
government, the amounts are actually insignificant as compared for the
enormous spending by the government. Even accumulated over several years
these numbers are less than $150,000 per individual. Just the same, they may
face charges for tax evasion or fraud. We will see.
For a senator of your country to engage in inflating bills and shipping the
ill gained profits overseas to share with financial partners clearly looks
like a crime to me.

This is probably another 419 farce, but even if there were any kind of basis
for it, anything resembling this form of diversion of sorely needed funds
for the improvement and betterment of the living conditions in Nigeria
should be considered a serious crime and be appropriately punished.

Your request for an urgent business relationship was actually received by me
on a number of e mail addresses I use. As a writer of a number of blogs I
somehow ended up with a few e mail tags, I generally use only one and it is
combining my name with Hotmail. The way you promote this effort is hardly a
method of keeping it secret from your government.
I did respond to you using one of my e mail addresses and I suggested that
you prove that you are legitimate and that there is some substance to your
proposal.
Our government ( Canada ) has once again, recently committed more funds to
the purpose of understanding between our two peoples. You live in a
beautiful and actually quite rich country.  If you compare it with resource
poor Germany or Britain for that matter, or France, Italy, even Spain you are
 blessed with a fine climate
and rich resources as well as a fairly intelligent population. I do find it
difficult to understand therefore why Nigeria ( Venezuela second) is
considered to be the most corrupt country on earth.
You may want to try and explain that to me...or to us Canadians...if you
please.

Do you believe.....Religion

Occasionally I am asked: Do you believe in God? What do you think of Jesus Christ? The 10 Commandments, How do you live your life. Church....what or which church do you belong to? Are you active in any of the major Religions, Christianity, other?

This really should not be too hard to answer, should it? After all as I recall we really got religion hammered into us as kids. First we were separated...Boys and Girls. Then again, age, then once more for either being Lutheran/ Evangelic they called it, and-or Catholic.

Home room teacher covered just about every subject, including religion, from grade 1 right up to grade 9. I had the misfortune to be instructed by a particularly brutal beast of a man from grades 5 to 9 until this madness ended.

As a 14 year old brought up as Lutheran there is a coming of age thing they call Confirmation, one qualifies for this by participation for a few months of catechism study or something like that. And that is more or less about it.  I  admire to a degree this fellow, monk, reformer Martin( Luder), Luther, who probably changed the world as much as did Napoleon Bonaparte did in obviously other ways.

As above so below. There was Heaven, above the ground....and there was Hell, supposedly below the ground. After life you could end up in one place or the other. Eternal peace above or hellfire below.

Now, today, we talk about the black hole. We are told that the universe started from absolutely nothing and expanded to all the galaxies, stars in the galaxies( suns) with all the appropriate planets and moons around the planets, one such planet being what we call the earth with all of the 7 billion inhabitants known as humans and everything else, animals, land and oceans, birds, fish bugs microbes, you name it. And, it is said this Universe started somewhere 12 to 15 billion years ago, they call it the big bang theory.
If you believe that you really must believe in a higher being or just thinking about it will drive you mad.

The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's Old Testament. They were given directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them from slavery : God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'


In today's context:  In somewhat more modern language, one such interpretation ...

1) God is the only God.

2) Don't worship idols, statues, and other human being.

3)Don't use God's name inappropriately. In other words saying "Oh my God"

   is considered a sin.

4) Go to church every Sunday or Saturday.

5) Respect your parents.

6) Don't kill.

7) Don't cheat on your husband or wife. Some Christians even include girlfriends and boyfriends.

8) No stealing.

9) The essence of this commandment is honesty. Just don't lie.

10) Be happy with what you have and don't envy other people's belongings.

 

Made in canada scam....

I know of a scam someone managed to execute just a few years ago. This fellow, just refer to him as Norm (real name) managed to accumulate somewhere between 1.2 and 2 million Canadian Dollars which he promptly used to buy a luxury home, several businesses and business properties.

His  initial investment was relatively small, just a few thousand dollars. In the end he was fined by the Provincial government for not properly registering a company or the company name he operated with. The fine was a lousy $500, that’s all. When I made a follow up phone call to see how this scam ended up I was told by the provincial officer that the file was closed, the fine was paid and that was the end of it. The officer then remarked that they are too busy to do anything more, being heavily involved to investigate fraud in the construction business .

There were hundreds of what I would call insured parties but the individual  fraud amounts were anywhere from $50 to $ 1,200 per situation. There was no way for the parties to know of each other and therefore the possibility of a class action lawsuit was minimal.

If not for a couple of USA postal inspectors showing up one day at my door I never would have bothered to get involved.

The scam  mastermind rented  office space from me  and after the activity when he moved out  I found evidence in the leftover extensive  paper trash.

scams

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Romance Scams

Dealing with the Dangers

Romance Scams Facts

Scammers will not stop until you make them stop. When a scammer confesses they are a scammer and they fell in love with you; this another part of the scam. What usually happens is you get sucked right back into it and worse the second time. They will convince you to visit them in Nigeria. You will lose more money, if you consider visiting and even your life. We are dealing with one victim who is being held in Nigeria against her will and her child is the leverage to keep her there. She is scamming now, and could lose her life. The FBI warned us a couple years ago, if they (victims) go over they will be dragged into the scamming business and are in danger...and its true.

So to answer your question yes its dangerous. To understand these scams you need to read the stories from other victims, and to read about these scams. These scammers will not stop, this is a business and very big one that is associated with terrorism.

Save yourself time, money, your sanity and even your life- start to heal from this scam and move on by helping others.

From a Romance Scam Victim

I know that the group will be very disappointed in me but I let my scammer David Nickson back in because he told me he was still in love with me. He said he wanted to talk to me again; so we talked tonight. He wanted me to send him money and a credit card in my name; so he could put the money on it and withdraw off it. All he cared about was money and a credit card. He called me every bad name in the book he could think of.

I wanted to believe that he was who he says he was, and not a scammer; but now I have learned that he is not David Nickson. He is truly a scammer. I did not want to say anything to the group about this because, I was so stupid, and dumb to think he really loved me. He is nothing but a liar who got back into my heart, and broke it again and hurt me.

Please learn from me, never ever let your scammer back into your life like I did. I have blocked him, and deleted him from my yahoo; I will never let him back in again. All those sweet words he would say to
me were just lies but I wanted to believe he was who he says he was.

Sally

Victim Stories Stories

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Scam Baiting Dangers

Scam backing or scam baiting, is not a means of revenge or closure for someone who has been scammed recently. The practice of Scam backing is filled with lots of negative energy; it will also take a lot out of you. The risk of being sucked right back in to the scam is very high..

Romance Scams does not advocate the practice of scam backing or scam baiting. Over the past three years we have witnessed victims being harmed in unimaginable ways by participating in this activity. We follow the advice of the FBI which is to remove, block and cease all contact immediately.

From a Romance Scam Victim

"Just needed to write a little bit about playing around with your scammers after you find out what they are. I thought they couldn't do anything to me, so every now and again I would send a little message. The Last one I sent was a copy of the news paper article that was written about my story. Well the other day I received a e-mail. I thought it was a response to that article considering I have received nearly one hundred responses to it. This one was different after opening it I discovered it was from my scammer and it also contain a virus that literal killed my new laptop. and on that computer was some irreplaceable data. This represented about a month of hard work. So please do your self a favor and not play with the scammers after you discover what they are doing to you. I just learned the hard way. This lesson just cost me about $2000. This is how they make their living, and is not a game to them; I know this first hand. "

Matt

The Dangers

• Whether you want to realize it or not you are playing with people who have terrorist connections.
• Your computer can be hacked into and have your personal information (identity theft) stolen along with having many viruses installed onto your computer.
• The scammers do not like their flow of money interrupted. This is not a game!
• We have confirmation from the FBI. The authors of the book were placed under protection when their computers came under cyber terrorism.
• Scam backing, may waste a bit of their time, but it does not solve the real problem at hand.

Visit Romance Scams Danger Warning Pages:

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Most people want revenge on their scammer, so they try to scam back them. But in more cases then we would even like to remember, the victims still had feelings for their scammer and got sucked right back into the scam. More

Scammers will say and do anything to have you send money including threatening your life, your family or something you hold dear to your self. To give into these tactics allows the scammer to win and accomplish their goal of stealing our money. More

Over the past few years thousands of individuals from all walks of life have shared their personal experiences on how the scam affected them. How they were able to over came the scam by describing the process of dealing with the embarrassment, heartbreak, financial crisis, pain, and anger. More

Web cams are more a psychological tool by turning on your web cam to the scammer you have become more vulnerable. They will use it to strengthen the relationship, telling the victim how beautiful or handsome they are. This creates more of a bond with them. More

If you gave your scammer your banking information, and/ or credit card information you will need to close your accounts. More

These types of scams are the more well know of Nigerian scams. Many people mistakenly confuse these with Romance Scams. There is a difference 419 scams are about gaining money and Romance Scams are about falling in love and helping the person you love. More

After you discover the scam you may have questions regarding the person you were talking to, the money you may have sent, the checks you may have cashed, how to report the scammer or just how the scam works. This is a section that can answer those questions and direct you to other areas on our site that will have more details on how to understand aftermath of a romance scammer. More

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Oh Canada

The Quebec election is over.The PQ separatist party won. PQ 54 seats, Liberals lost with 50 seats..new whatsits name party managed to get 18 seats and the other extreme separatist party managed to get 2 seats.
First order of business in Quebec was to remove the Canadian flag...that happened before but the more nationalistic Liberals in power for almost 10 years in the province had added the federal maple leaf flag to the provincial, flag..
The effect on the stock market and exchange rate was nil, Nada, probably due to the minority win by the PQ.
The pitiful part of this election was that the premier lost his own seat in the process.
Quebec now has its first female premier, so do four other provinces of Canada. That's a good thing..

computer

What is a computer virus? Does new computer virus affect your system? Does it damage your computer? How does it work? Does user fix computer virus? Why it is in there and how it came up? These are just some of the questions thrown by the computer users during the time they encounter it. That is the common issue about computers and how it affects your daily lives.

                Definition of computer virus differs from its behavior or its origin on how it works. It may be a program that copy itself and affects the computer and the system. It is also computer software that is enabling unauthorized transaction to be automatically executed without any permission. On the other hand, computer virus is useful referring on some task such as using it as a program installer. On that matter it helps the installation accurately and powerful in the sense that it cooperates well to the performance. It keeps the process to continually operate without any step by step procedure, thus resulting in a smooth and fluffy operation.

                But usually, worst computer viruses act as the most dangerous and harmful software that should be avoided and won’t let it happens anymore. That is why computer users create software application that disabling virus to execute and proceed. That is why there is anti-virus distributed and installed on every computer system upon their purchase and/or during their software installation to avoid program corruption, data losses or the worst, system breakdown. Some list of computer viruses and their names are malware, adware, Trojan horses, spyware, adware and others.

                So you must scan computer for virus to assure your system is clean and install computer virus removal such as Norton, Avira, Kaspersky, AVG, and other computer virus protection. By installing those virus protections, it helps to remove computer virus and never get rid of it.

Genocide....now and then

The Unknown Brutality & Savagery

In 10 countries, men, women and children are being killed as part of systematic“genocide, ‘politicide’ or mass atrocities,” according to Genocide Watch’s recently updated list.
In Syria, pro-democracy protesters and civilian bystanders are being bombed, shot and starved by their government’s security forces; in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 3 to 5 million civilians, mostly women and girls, have been raped and murdered; and in North Korea, labor camps house 500,000 domestic and political prisoners, and non-party members are starved and undergo forced abortions.
“Many people don’t realize that genocide is occurring every day all over the world,”says Renata Reinhart, author of In the Course of My Life (www.rexvita.com), an account of the little-known Soviet genocide of 2 million Eastern Germans in 1945, committed with the complicity of England and the United States.
“It’s something we should all be deeply concerned about – any of us can become the next victims,” Reinhart says.
One hallmark of genocide is that the perpetrators deny it, says Dr. Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch and the International Association of Genocide Scholars. They use tactics such as questioning and minimizing the statistics; blaming renegade forces; claiming self-defense; and/or claiming deaths were inadvertent and not intentional.
Allowing the killers to deny the massacres ensures future slaughters, Stanton says.
“Studies by genocide scholars prove that the single best predictor of future genocide is denial of a past genocide coupled with impunity for its perpetrators,” he says.“Genocide deniers are three times more likely to commit genocide again than other governments.”
In the case of the 1945 ethnic cleansing of Eastern Germany, Russian soldiers were given license to launch a “Revenge without Mercy” on the civilian populations of East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania and other parts of Eastern Europe, Reinhart says.
“It’s documented; it’s just been ignored, concealed and forgotten,” she says, noting Nobel Prize-winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a captain in the Red Army who witnessed the atrocities and recounted them in his poem, “Prussian Nights.” A survivor of the slaughter, Margot Serowy, tells her story in paintings at MargotSoweryFineArt.com.
Anticipating Germany’s defeat in World War II, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin considered the territories he would eventually claim and decided they should be cleared of all Germans, Reinhart says. Soldiers in the Red Army were encouraged to burn, loot, pillage, rape and kill to drive the Germans out of those areas beginning in January 1945.
“England’s prime minister, Winston Churchill, was informed of the plan and referred to it– approvingly – in 1944 as ‘these population transferences,’ ’’ Reinhart says. “Churchill personally ordered the massive bombing and destruction of East Prussia’s capital Konigsberg for no justifiable strategic reason and a few months later, the British bombed and leveled Dresden, killing 30.000 to 40.000 civilians. These attacks helped pave the way for Stalin’s genocide.”
The“revenge” soldiers, she added, were supplied with food, trucks, Jeeps and other vehicles by the United States.
“Because the victims were German, it was all right to rape children and murder women. No one tried to stop it,” Reinhart says. “And, apparently, it’s all right to kill men, women and children in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Burma – the rest of the countries on the Genocide Watch list.
“We need to hold the perpetrators accountable. That’s the first step to stopping these atrocities.”

Renata Reinhart is the pen name of the author, a scholar of World War II history who spent years researching the Red Army’s march across Eastern Europe in 1945. While the book is fictionalized as a memoir, the historical elements are accurate and based on numerous documented sources.
If you would like to run the above article, please feel free to do so. Please let me know if you’d be interested in receiving a copy of the book, In the Course of My Life, for possible review.
Ginny Grimsley
National Print Campaign Manager
News and Experts
3748 Turman Loop #101
Wesley Chapel, FL 33544
Tel: 727-443-7115, Extension 207www.newsandexperts.com

Dangerous food in Canada,

Foodstuff:  this is part of an e mail from my friend Debra...rather than pass on some questionable propaganda I went to the freezer and took out a package of  seaquest skinless,boneless wild sole filet's.
Extremely small print tells me that this is a product marketed by Lablaws/Product of China. In even smaller print the package/wrapper also tells me that :This Product comes from a fishery that has been independently certified to the marine stewardship councils standard for a well managed fishery www.msc.org     how reassuring.

 back to the e mail from Deb:

I know that some fish that says "a product of Canada" is caught there, shipped to China where it is cleaned, gutted and frozen and sent back to Canada, then sent to the USA for sale, that fish has been around.....and you thought you were buying a Canadian product which you are but processed in the Orient what for I don't know ! ! ! The imported food we eat, and junk we buy..(Just an eye opener) Please read this very carefully , and read to the very bottom. It's important for all of us. How is it possible to ship food from China cheaper -- than having it produced in Canada or at least the U.S.?   ALL "HIGH LINER" AND MOST OTHER FROZEN FISH PRODUCTS COME FROM CHINA OR INDONESIA. THE PACKAGE MAY SAY "PACIFIC SALMON" ON THE FRONT, BUT LOOK FOR THE SMALL PRINT. MOST OF THESE PRODUCTS COME FROM FISH FARMS IN THE ORIENT AND THERE ARE NO REGULATIONS ON WHAT IS FED TO THESE FISH. Recently a Montreal Gazette had an article by the Canadian Government about how Chinese feed the fish. They suspend the chicken wire crates over the fish ponds, and the fish feed on chicken shit! Canadian Government recommended and stressed NOT to buy any type of fish imported from China. If you search the internet about what the Chinese feed their fish you'll be alarmed, e.g. growth hormones, expired anti-biotics from humans etc., and never buy any type of fish or shellfish that comes from these countries...Vietnam China, Philippines. Check this out personally.   Next to them were President Choice brand. Product of Canada!! The PC went into my grocery bag. While the Chinese, export inferior and even toxic products and dangerous toys and goods to be sold in North American markets, the media wrings its hands and criticizes the Harper Government or Obama Administration for perceived errors. Yet 70% of North Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended!! Well, duh. Why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges? SIMPLY DO IT YOURSELF CANADA Simply look on the bottom of every food product you buy, and if it says 'Made in China'  just leave it alone... You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without. THINK ABOUT THIS, If 200 million North Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that's a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favour...fast!! The downside? Some Canadian/American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from having foreign stockpiles of inventory. Just one month of trading losses, will hit the Chinese for 8% of their North American exports. Then they will at least have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it. START NOW and don't stop. Send this to everybody you know. Let's show them that we are intelligent Canadians/Americans. If we can't live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives, WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET!

Katharine G.Leis, Glimpses ( a 9/11 story)

Katharine G.Leis, Glimpses ( a 9/11 story)

This review is from:
Glimpses

10 characters. And that is all.
Characters that any true person can relate to. Characters who have dreams, who have hopes, who win and lose tiny little battles every day. Characters who likely have dropped toast to land freshly-buttered side down. Characters like all of us.
Characters about to share one event.
Yes, it takes place in New York City. Yes, it quickly becomes clear that September 11th is about to wipe the morning's toast disaster from each of their minds. Yes it's another 9-11 inspired piece of "art."
But it's done well.
This is not another ignorant country song to rally the nation against the bad-guys. This is a small and wonderful collection of normal moments, carefully crafted like a spider-web about to be blown away by an unseen force.
Included in this collection is an epilogue where Katharine herself becomes one of the characters and openly shares her account of the event without pretense or preachy opinions.
An enjoyable read.

Another comment::

Glimpses is an in depth look inside the individual lives of ten people. Page by page you journey with them through their day. Experiencing first hand who they are, what they do, how they think and insight on their individual goals in life. You'll enter their homes, work places and the minds of these five women and five men. Their ages vary and each of them could resemble someone you've met somewhere in time. Although, I've been known to start reading a book and get easily distracted. Not so the case with Glimpses. I could not put it down until I finished reading it in its entirety. Great piece of work from this first time author and I'll be anxiously awaiting her next book. ...

More:

The beauty of this book is its simplicity. Ten common people--a rising executive, an aspiring actress, a middle-aged newsstand owner, a nanny for a power couple, a womanizing bartender, an aerobics teacher with self-image issues, a garbage hauler, a drug-addled stripper, a double amputee who works with kids, and a schoolgirl who feels that nothing in the world can be worse than being caught without your homework--are shown going about their lives on September 10, 2001, in a city very like New York. The expected denouement is not how things turn out, as the story segues into an impassioned personal first-person voice by the obviously affected narrator, whose own helplessness was caused by her feeling lost and useless in Orlando, Florida. The pat symmetry of the narrative, which threatens to be trite in the early going, is redeemed by finely observed details and an outpouring of emotion that sums up the universal sense of closeness that was lost in America all too quickly.

And another:

We all have those moments when we sit back and think to ourselves, "Why am I not anywhere near where I thought I would be at this stage in my life". Then we try to think of what it was that went wrong. We attempt to pinpoint this life changing decision we made somewhere along the line that put us where we are today. Why do we do this? We are looking for someone to blame. The book Glimpses by Katharine Leis is a wonderful reminder that we are in control of our own lives even when it feels out of control. There is nobody to blame, but ourselves, if we are not headed in the direction of where we want to be. Life is too short to not be doing what we truly desire to do. We are reminded of this as we read about the daily lives of the ten different characters Ms. Leis descriptively describes and revealing their inner thoughts. Glimpses is not a book that I will keep lined up on my bookshelf with the rest. I have decided to pack it away with my Christmas/New Year's Eve decorations. This way I know I will start every year by rereading it and bringing back the revitalizing feeling that comes at the end of this book. Hopefully the feeling will last throughout the year.

America,Canada and the Peace Corps

Company of Young Canadians

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Company of Young Canadians (CYC) was a short-lived (frankly, I would not consider 10 years as short lived) Canadian  youth program sponsored by the Canadian federal government, which existed from 1966 to 1977.
It was inspired by the U.S. Peace Corps, but was designed to be run autonomously without government direction.
It generated considerable controversy shortly after its founding: coordination with volunteers in small communities was poorly organized, and several of the youth involved in the program were prominent political activists. Among other things, it was accused in 1969 of harbouring terrorists by municipal officials from Montreal including Mayor Drapeau. These claims were never verified. In March 1970 its administration was taken over by the federal government, and in 1977 it was formally abolished.

The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.
Since that time, 200,000+ Peace Corps Volunteers have served in 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation.
Today's Peace Corps is more vital than ever, working in emerging and essential areas such as information technology and business development, and contributing to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Peace Corps Volunteers continue to help countless individuals who want to build a better life for themselves, their children, and their communities.

Iraq, the "war" an American crime

To truly honor those brave men and women in uniform – and, even more because there are more of them — the millions of Iraqis whose lives we destroyed, Americans need to look unflinchingly at this dreadful war.

They need to look at the ignorant, twisted and duplicitous men and women who started it, at the institutions that failed to stop it, and at their own complicity in it. Above all, they need to look at its terrible toll.

We need to remember that this war was launched under false pretenses  ( this is a link, click on it for details)  by an administration that used fake evidence to push it through. Americans need to remember their own understandable fear after 9/11, and how they allowed cunning and manipulative ideologues to exploit it.

We need to remember that the institutions that should have resisted the war – Congress and the media – completely failed to do so. Drugged by post-9/11 patriotism and group think, America’s representatives and their journalists abandoned their posts at the crucial hour.

Yes, the US politicians and US corporate media lied from start to finish on this hideous occupation of Iraq. And they show no signs of stopping, and no signs of noting how TENS OF MILLIONS of lives were damaged forever. Below is one soldier’s apology to the Iraqi people, and a commentary on the LIES that we tell ourselves about this war of aggression.

Economic Lessons, based on the Cow:

 

SOCIALISM

You have 2 cows.

You give one to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell one and buy a bull.

Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.

You sell them and retire on the income.

 

 BANK OF SCOTLAND (VENTURE) CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.

The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.

The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.

You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows.

No balance sheet provided with the release.

The public then buys your bull.

SURREALISM

You have two giraffes.

The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

 

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.

Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you

want three cows.

 

A JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.

You then create a clever cow cartoon image called a Cowkimona and market it worldwide.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.

You decide to have lunch.

 

A SWISS CORPORATION

You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.

You charge the owners for storing them.

 

A CHINESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You have 300 people milking them.

You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.

You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Both are mad.

 

 

AN IRAQI CORPORATION

Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.

You tell them that you have none.

No-one believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country.

You still have no cows, but at least you are now a Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Business seems pretty good.

You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION

You have two cows.

The one on the left looks very attractive