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WITHDRAWING FROM USE
The Ambler
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Just the fax, ma'am
Mood:  caffeinated

CBC/Radio-Canada needs a contract with
Canadians if it is to

reach its potential as the national public broadcaster Canada needs.

"The Broadcasting Act has not changed in more than 15 years, CBC/Radio-Canada has not received an increase to its base operating appropriation in more than 30 years, and the broadcasting environment is shifting dramatically and rapidly..."  - Robert Rabinovitch, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada

A contract reviewed on a regular cycle would provide direction on what Canadians could expect from their national public broadcaster in return for a clear commitment from Government
with regards to funding commensurate to the mandate.

"Such an approach is essential if CBC/Radio-Canada is going to be able to continue to respond to the needs of Canadians. Countries such as the U.K., Ireland and South Africa have already followed a
similar path, conducting mandate reviews that include widespread consultation, resulting in clear, contemporary mandates that equip public broadcasters for the future."

- -

While it may be cheaper to get a cell phone in the future at some point, the government should balance that with solidity in our own soveriegntity on endeavours that re-inforce our increasingly swelling pride in our own country at home.

 


Posted by mach1231 at 1:58 PM PST
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Obsssesed with Africa?
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Politics

World Bank launches new AIDS strategy for Africa

 

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

From the author of The Fate of Africa: A vivid, gripping history of the turbulent years leading up to the founding of the modern state of South Africa in 1910

 

 Once called: "“the most sterile and worthless in the whole [British] Empire”

South Africa was the locus point for the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century(circa 1910).

Based on significant new research, the author provides a 'many-faceted, sensibly incisive overview of events that could easily be oversimplified' as has been done in the past.

 "Dismissing reductive ideas like the thesis that capitalism and imperialism collided to create a war that would benefit both, he shows how one misstep led to another, how fear yielded miscalculations, how national pride and arrogance created such poisonous conditions."

Published: November 29, 2007

 You can find an excerpt from the book located here.

"[an] astute history… Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid."
The New Yorker

"engrossing…Anyone interested in African history and the British Empire will find this book fascinating."
Winnipeg Free Press

"Meredith offers an unvarnished portrait of what might be called 'Britain's worst hour… Diamonds, Gold, and War is a fine history of the formation of the most powerful country in Africa. It will certainly make uncomfortable reading for Rhodes' scholars, who may be shocked to learn of the bloodshed caused by the man whose name they wear with pride."

The American

Given that Mr Rhodes had finagled permission from Queen Victoria to wield private police power as well as public authority, I wonder if that meant he thought he had been granted license to kill?

 

 


 

Canada announces boost of foreign aid to Africa 

 

"Of all the Prime Minister's press releases, statements and speeches in the last year, not a single one mentions Africa - not the statement announcing support for HIV-AIDS research, not on the retirement of Kofi Annan, nor the Speech from the Throne..." Rt Hon Joe Clark , Former Progressive Conservative Party Leader and past Prime Minister of Canada, on Stephen Harpers inclusion of Africa in foreign-policy announcments.

When the world showed up at our door vis a vis an international conference on AIDS, Mr Harper was in the Artic protecting our sovereignty there instead. 

And Prime Minister Stephen Harper snubbed U2 singer and activist Bono at the last G8 summit, saying he is too busy to discuss the African AIDS crisis with him.

Harper says meeting Bono isn't his 'shtick'

 

 And now, well,.... for the first time since his Prime Ministerial inception, Stephen Harper has set foot on the soil of Africa.

Stopping over in Uganda (145th among 177 nations in the UN Human Development Index) on his way to Tanzania where he would go on to announce 110 million dollars in aid. (Doncha' know? Thats where the Canadian mining companies are?)

But it was Chretien in the Rocky Mountains of beautiful Banff (Canadas own Crown jewel) who first rolled his sleeves up and made monumental marches towards lifting Africa out of its grinding poverty.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2069632.stm 

Whereas outgoing PM Paul Martin continues to make Africas poverty the focus of his lifes work.

... the Harper government has referred to Africa as “Europe’s backyard:

CIGI event hosts experts on Africa

“the biggest danger in Africa is driving.”

?-                         - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ansafrica.org/ 

 

 

 

celebrities as the new diplomats,word.


 

 


Posted by mach1231 at 11:26 AM PST
Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:26 PM PST
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Jamie Foxx has ADD (Google!)
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: ...is he sure?
Topic: Science and Health

Has your kid been diagnosed with ADD or something similar?

Just to be sure, you might want to check out this article.

And don't forget this one:

Thomas Alvin Edison is cited more often than any other historical figure for exhibiting classic hyperactive ADD behavior. ADD and divergent thinking styles have even been dubbed "The Edison Trait."

 http://borntoexplore.org/edison.htm


 ---------------





Now that the big announcement has come in regards to child poverty in BC, and now, along with a recent report from UNICEF that Canada lags far too much for a developed country with such a strong economy to let children be left behind in poverty

..its just another final touch to add to an already un-pretty and muddled picture, to point out that the provincial government, here in the "best place on earth"


 is also not coming along well with recommendations to enhance child
protection in BC.


 With report and study after study, from the Gove Inquiry to the Hughes recommendations

to a tragedy in my former hometown of Prince George involving the death of a 3 year old named Savannah Hall.

and still after that a girl named Sherry Charlie,

 ....few people are left who are not shaking their heads and wondering, perhaps in silent contempt or brimming anger, as to why the government can't seem to get its kit and kaboodle together.

In my opinion, a national child and youth care advocate and Parlimentary Department and Minister is the best overall answer to see a longer term solution to these problems.  

Critics want action on family violence

Child care advocates alarmed at Conservative proposals

 
 

 

 


By far and wide, the problem is not limited by any scope to just within my neighborhood, my town, my province or my country.

Heres a man right here, a man

who left the New York City Department of Welfare to go directly into a war zone of a fledgling country called Biafra (now in Nigerias wing) which literally vanished during a genocidal tribal conflict. A man who then returned to NYC to study law and then moonlight as an author in order to become a full time advocate and defender for kids in trouble with the law or suffering needlessly from abuse. And thats the very rough and short version.


In this interview he all but gingerly but succinctly points out that amidst all the issues that roust peoples concerns for election goodies and make for good election platforms, not one candidate is outspoken enough to come forward with a proactive approach to tell citizens and voters what they intend to do to enhance their countries child protection laws and programs.

And in this day and age of so much concern for the safety and well being of the children in the age of the Internet, with recalled
defective toys,

(See also : Thin line between kids and unsafe toys)

contaminated playgrounds

and calls to: 

 
 

Health Canada downplays fluoride fears for infants
Globe and Mail, Canada - 13 hours ago
...

 


 ...and all the other stories and news items in similar vein...., that is , to use a much hackneyed cliche; to not have your prime ministerial or presidential candidates being more putspoken on these issues is, frankly: a real crying shame.

As per recommendation of internationally prepared reports, both the US and Canada should have a nationally mandated child protection advocacy portfolio with dedicated full time jobs, money and departmental resources to tackle all of these disparate but connected issues, to draw the strands together cohesively, one by one and head on, answering to other departments too like health and education and even perhaps export divisions and foreign trade to break away from this throw everything at the fan mentality.

It may not be the only way to prevent stories like this one

No objections to revisiting child deaths, coroner say

 

 

 

but it certainly seems like one of the smart ones. 

 


But, in spite of all of this negative scorekeeping, its unfair to sidestep and overlook what may bode well for the future so long as promises are kept.

Hillary Clinton Calls for Ensuring the Safety of Toys


Hillary Clinton has always suported the  Children's Defense Fund and also has some strong supporters (Barbra Streisands Charity work)


If the number of autism diagnoses in the US has risen from one/10,000 in 1993, to one/150 in 2007
and Ms.HR Clinton pledges to help autistic families by boosting funding for research and education to $700 million a year, theres real reason for hope.

Ms. Clinton would also invest more than $1 billion in programs that identify and support at-risk youth


Meanwhile, back here in Canada, with just a tenth of the population of the US, we have proportionally smaller concerns 

stories like: prison population climbs for first time in decade

and

youth violence as a national pastime ,

catch our eye but contrast so obliquely with ones like:

panic buttons and police: welcome to the school of the future.

 - - - 

 When the publics faith in national institutions is put to the

test in one case after another with news stories of the mentally ill or merely disordered or overly-stressed dying at the hands of police with both guns and Tasers.

what can be left to be said for the current Federal Tory government when it is revealed that they cut programs for autistic children?

And that it was only after an outcry that funding was restored?

While kids in oil-overflowing and rich Alberta lack childcare spaces (Alberta spends less on childcare than any other Canadian province.)

and whilst  bickering in the courts over who pays for the care and programs for such special needs kids,

a brand new report from America recommends earlier testing for the autistic condition in babies and children.

But, even if a question remains if this idea is

boon or bane..........?

...what is left to be said by the current Tories in both action and word is basically: not much. 



If we concede such politico-sophical questions are just too confusing, too disconcerting and too

mind numbing in this, a war ravaged world...

(Iraqi children bear the burden of an uncalled-for war)

...or too blasé to hold our interest or even if

were just too plain tired of it all and all energy sapped, it might all be just too bad in any case.

After all, just in case your child might get a false positive for lead, why bother with testing for early autism, right? 


 

 


  Bottom line is......

...beyond all of the talk, banter and care and concern over the well being of children, beneath the hoopla, rhetoric..

and electioneering, as thinking adults 

we are still left to answer to ourselves.


 
 
 
-Today's blog entry brought to you by

http://www.cosmikids.org

 

 - - - - - - - - 

 

"What drives me is real simple, one word: anger. I'm absolutely, morally convinced in my mind and my heart that child abuse is a greater cancer in this country than cocaine or communism." - Andrew Vachss

Thanks for visiting.


Posted by mach1231 at 2:10 AM PST
Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2007 2:16 AM PST
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Introducing
Topic: Politics

J. R. Ackley, who owns an insurance business in Marble Rock, noted that the top three Democrats in the field - Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards - have mighty short Senate resumes compared to Biden, who was elected in 1972.

 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/11/27/biden_fans_ask_why_not_take_on.html

Introducing

Joe Biden...

recalling the death of his wife and baby daughter in a car accident shortly after his first Senate election, and later, the two major brain surgeries that nearly cost Biden his life. Political advisors have urged to him to speak more of his struggles on the campaign trail.

But Biden told the crowd, "I'm not good at talking about it. I acknowledge it. I don't like to talk about it. You talk about it, you relive it." The crowd was frozen. "The neighborhood where I come from, a lot of people had a lot of tough things happen to them. At the end of the day, I think people will know who I am."

 Biden Gives His Take on Iraq Policy, Pakistan, Campaigning in Iowa

 

 


 

 


Posted by mach1231 at 6:29 PM PST
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Off to Mineralnye Vody Airport we go (oompah rumpah)

If you go:

The World’s Worst Airports

 - -

Charles de Gaulle International Airport gets to be fifth.

“Charles de Gaulle is a disgrace … it’s like a third-world airport.” —Michel-Yves Labbé, president of French travel company Directours, Aug. 14, 2007

 - -

Not too to surprising amidst todays headlines of riots ,

students protesting against reform  ,

bitter tourists amidst a workers strike ,

and renewed allegations against past President Chirac to boot.

France's Ex-president: was Chirac involved in political sleaze

 

 - -

In similar vein as political turkeys, check out Forbes list of turkey cars you would be wise to do a little more than kick the tires on if you are in the market for a 2007 used car. In other words visit the site

BEFORE!

 


 


 

you plunk that cash down on the barrelhead for that Sebring you always wanted...

http://ca.pfinance.yahoo.com/ca_finance_general/426/the-years-poorest-performing-cars 


Posted by mach1231 at 11:36 AM PST
Updated: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 12:52 PM PST
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Monday, November 26, 2007
Love and War (in hardly a paradise)

 

The location and period for 'In A Savage Land' emerged out of a fascination with the Trobriand Islands which began with the Director as an eight year old, looking at "old photos taken by his war-photographer father."

 

 

After spending over two years intensely researching the Trobriand Islands, which are located in the Solomon Sea, between the PNG mainland and Bougainville, "the idea of a love story set against this complex social structure evolved."

  - - - -

The result? 

 

- filming of  'In A Savage Land'  took place over eight weeks in the Trobriand Islands, (followed by a two week post-production shoot in Adelaide) at a cost of $10 - 12 million

- Nicole Kidman slated for the lead role of a young anthropologist, Evelyn, but opted out to spend time with Hubby Cruise

- key crew people spent six weeks building CGI models of authentic Japanese battleships needed for the impending invasion scene.

 - Shooting in Papua New Guinea was apparently alot more difficult than expected, despite all of Bennett's research:

Trobriand has no water, no electricity, no accomodation

"It was chosen for its..untouched wilderness and its savagery. But it took its toll, so isolated and undeveloped as to be the equivalent of shooting on the moon. A hot, steamy, jungle-covered moon."

 -a group of islanders punctured the film crews tyres, created a road block, and with machetes in hand demanded a payment of $10,000

- due to the fact that the film showed numerous bare-breasted women, a representative of the former PNG Prime Minister, Bill Skate, questioned the film crew over why he shouldn't deport them for 'making a pornographic film.'

 - An Australian produced film, the ending was tested on an American audience and changed to their liking.

- all of the scenes shot in Papua New Guinea were done by a handheld camera.

-a tidal wave in PNG (which killed 3000) meant the pic's freight had to ?

 

More info sites

http://www.geocities.com/vue2sewell/

In A Savage Land

http://www.themakeupgallery.info/hair/willingly/savage.htm 

 - -  -

"We wanted to give the film a dirty look. But every place we put the camera is so beautiful that we use seven filters. We wanted to take the romanticism out, to diffuse the sentiment, to avoid the cliches of the tropical islands. At the same time, we want to give it a caress. We want to avoid anything aggressive, because this is about a woman who finds her sensual self."

 

And now introducing

The Trobriand Islands Musicians

 http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Land-David-Bridie/dp/B00003ZKYA

 See also http://www.followthegeography.com 

 

--

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Posted by mach1231 at 8:59 PM PST
Updated: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 11:22 AM PST
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Old news
Mood:  lazy

Guaranteed to make you think again about

the term: "guerilla marketing

 


Chiquita Bananas Fined 25 Million for Involvement with Columbian Death Squads

 - -

 

Interesting article about the cooled (make that "frozen") relations between Columbia and Chavez-country here by a writer who dares to suggest for us to:

"..imagine for a moment that Venuzuela [Chavez] actually proved successful at doing what 50-plus years of U.S. effort failed to do: end the war..."

 but the real money-quote?

"..even a Brazilian telenovela cannot compete with the heat in this particular political drama."

A spat between countries, Chavez feels "humiliated", Columbia has "spit in Venezuela's face."


Posted by mach1231 at 8:19 PM PST
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Sunday, November 25, 2007
Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire
Mood:  chatty
Topic: News on News

I can't even keep up with my self these days

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 "After 28 years of war in Afghanistan, so many people have so many psychological problems."

Burn unit seeing too many young victims

 - - - --  -

And then theres this "gem" .

Alas!

 

10 politically incorrect truths about human nature

.. human nature is simply not politically correct.

Adapted from “Why beautiful people have more daughters

By Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa...


 

 


Posted by mach1231 at 4:41 PM PST
Updated: Sunday, November 25, 2007 4:52 PM PST
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Wheres Anastasia?
Mood:  not sure
Topic: News on News


 

 

(RE: missing remains of Royal Russian family)

Amateurs Unravel Russia’s Last Royal Mystery 

As the longest running un-solved mystery in Russias history draws near to a close a mystery from an age which has been termed the birth of a "diabolical era", perhaps the Litvinenko story shows just how far we have come in that era which started last century.

The widow of the poisoned Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko said yesterday that she had filed a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights, suing Russia for compensation

 

 

 

Litvinenko posioning suspect defiant a year on

 - -

 GRAVES, MISSING PERSONS

Meanwhile in war-scarred Bosnia, of the 30,000 persons missing following the cessation of conflicts there are still about 13,500 persons unaccounted for today.

Since November 2001, The International Commission on Missing Persons has led the way in using DNA as a first step in the process of identification.

ICMP has information from 85.323 relatives of 28.378 missing people and 24.011 bone samples taken from mass graves throughout the former Yugoslavia.

By matching DNA from the relatives' blood with DNA from victims ICMP has been able to identify 12.885 missing individuals from the region.

 See

Germany Continues to Support ICMP

for more....

 - -

-  -

Also running in the un-solved mysteries, this one out of Spokane, Washington about 4 hours from Vancouver,Canada

Teen abducted from father in Germany in 2006 found

A security guard walking the grounds of a medical center recognized one Megan Mulczynski, now 13, from a missing-person flier .......

 

 Man, now that is adroit.

Some people speculate that the Russian spy case may be paving the way for demonstrating with ease just how potential dirty bomb threats may be carried out.  Talk about laughter far from paradise.

 


Posted by mach1231 at 3:50 PM PST
Updated: Sunday, November 25, 2007 4:22 PM PST
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A little less conversation there Maestro
Mood:  blue

in 1725,                                                                                                                                            

Antonio Vivaldi wrote the music for The Four Seasons.                                                                            

He penned a poem for each of the four seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer.                                        

Each season has its reason, its significance, its purpose, its own symbolism.                                                 

Life is like the four seasons.                                                                                                                  

Summer is but one of the seasons of the year; one of the seasons of Vivaldi's masterpiece The Four Seasons.      

Summer is the story of Hope Jones, a young Gitxsan fiddler from northern British Columbia, Canada.            

Hope has a rare musical talent and what everyone believes is a very valuable Stradivarius violin.                     

Is it the mysterious missing 'Juliet'? As Hope grows and matures in her music, she learns more about her     violin, the romance         

and mystery that surrounds it and the very dangerous family that continually threatens her in their                  

attempts to claim it.                                                                                                                           

Hope's life follows the four seasons of Vivaldi's music, much like life unfolds through the seasons.                  

Summer is but one story in Vivaldi's musical journey.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

For more information, check out the author's website at: www3.sympatico.ca/mistymo

 - -

Symphony Will Sell a Collection in Dispute
New York Times, United States - 23 Nov 2007


Posted by mach1231 at 3:07 PM PST
Updated: Sunday, November 25, 2007 4:28 PM PST
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