Ice Melts While The Twig Fiddles

PolesOnTheRocks
PermaMeltVille


This just in from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and NASA:

"For the fourth consecutive year, NSIDC and NASA scientists using satellite data have tracked a stunning reduction in arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer. The persistence of near-record low extents leads the group to conclude that Arctic sea ice is likely on an accelerating, long-term decline."

“Considering the record low amounts of sea ice this year leading up to the month of September, 2005 will almost certainly surpass 2002 as the lowest amount of ice cover in more than a century,” said Julienne Stroeve of NSIDC. If current rates of decline in sea ice continue, the summertime Arctic could be completely ice-free well before the end of this century."


Didn't NASA get the memo that all research satellites are now to be used to blow stuff up real good?

And as for those NSDIC scientists - you can be darned sure that they will receive no more of their technology-driven, athesist-based politically-slanted research funding next year. Not to mention the fact that Scooter Libby is reportedly getting ready to give Judy Miller her next big scoop - that NSDIC scientist Julienne Stroeve was recently spotted on a Houston freeway riding shotgun in a hopped-up Cadillac Escalade driven by that notorious commie-loving bugman-hater Ronnie Earle.

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Update: The NSDIC is also reporting that the Northwest Passage was essentially ice free for the first time ever last winter.
Double Secret Probation Update: And you thought we were just joking about the change in policy on the use of research satellites, right?

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Only The Close Minded Need Apply

GoSmallYoungMan
AspersonVille

Scott in Montreal has stumbled upon something extremely revealing about the editorial policy of the Canned West (not)Global Media Empire.

Specifically, here is what those not-so-magnificent AsperSons want in an Editorial Writer for the Ottawa Citizen:

"The successful applicant should be an elegant writer with a commitment to the principles of small government and individual freedom."


The silver lining in this very ominous dark cloud given this chain's market hegemony in many Canadian locales?

Guess this means they will soon start going after the size-inflated, freedom-suppressing Bush Administration, or at very least the Canadian representative of said Administration .

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Moonlighting, Reprised

BadSequel
MustNotSeeTeeVeeVille


It's nice to see that the bugman, US House Leader Tom Delay, was gracious enough to step down after he was indicted, in Texas no-less, for money laundering.

And we really found it interesting that another bigtime republican pol, feline extinguisher Bill Frist, is being investigated by the SEC after he bailed out bigbigbigtime on a huge pile of family private healthcare company stock just before it took a nose dive earlier this year.

But the latter news has us a little nervous.

Why?

Well, given that the Martha Stewart insider trading/prison story was just played to the hilt on the small screen by Cybill Sheppard, does this mean that if Frist does go down that the Waterheads running the TV Networks will go berserk and bring us a Cybill-Martha/Bruce-Bill hybrid thinly disguised as a shoulder pad-assisted Rethuglican Reagancomical Reprise of this?

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The Other Side Of The Story

TheLotuslandJungle
TeacherVille

The first phase of job action by British Columbia's public school teachers began today and they are taking a lot of flack from the usual mediamavens.

Over at the Tyee, John Malcomson takes Keith Baldrey to task over the latter's sloppy analysis. Mr. Malcomson also explains why the government might be happy to have set up an untenable bargaining climate.

"In looking at the current impasse, a better case can be made for the provincial government purposefully constructing a non-workable negotiating structure, one incapable of yielding any purposeful outcomes for teachers. Why do this? The answers are largely financial and budget-related. It saves money. It makes a freeze on public education spending easier. It allows Victoria to give out more tax cuts. And to spend money in other areas that have been given higher political priority."

Good stuff, and required to keep folks with influence like Mr. Baldrey on their toes.

In other words, it's the kind of piece that will help inject a little rigour into our local mainstream media.

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Never Mind The Chicken....

MoneySpeaksLouderThanPolls
InvisibleHandVille

.....Here Come The Tightwad Hawks!

Man, as if those protest(100,000) vs. anti-protest(400) numbers from last weekend in Washington weren't a stark enough illustration of how Americans really feel about the war, it looks like the 'Billionares For Bush' have not yet rallied the rank and file to start forking over hard earned cash to help increase their profit margins in Iraq:

"An extraordinary appeal to Americans from the Bush administration for money to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq has raised only $600 (£337).....

(snip)

The public's reluctance to contribute much more than the cost of two iPods to the administration's attempt to offer citizens 'a further stake in building a free and prosperous Iraq' has been seized on by critics as evidence of growing ambivalence over that country.

This coincides with concern over the increasing cost of the war. More than $30 billion has been appropriated for the reconstruction. Initially, America's overseas aid agency, USaid, expected it to cost taxpayers no more than $1.7bn, but it is now asking the public if they want to contribute even more."

And the Cheney administration's response?

USaid's Heather Layman denied it was disappointed with the meagre sum raised after a fortnight. 'Every little (bit) helps,' she said.

Wow.

Is it possible that folks down south just might be ignoring the corporate media and instead are starting to let their current leaders know that they don't believe in naked aggression in ways that really count (at least for those leaders)?


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At Least It's Not Maximus.....

MayTheSourceBeWithYou
OUTVille

Up until all the recent kuffufle demonstrated that US giant Maximus has been completely useless at taking care of British Columbia's MSP and Pharmacare inquiries, there was a lot of speculation that these Masters of Call-Line Disaster were also going to get the private contract to run the province's NurseLine.

The NurseLine allows anyone in BC to call up a nurse anytime to get advice. It's good practice, it gives assurance (my wife and I have used it with sick babies), and it's designed to cut down on needless emergency room visits.

And it is so successful that last year it reportedly received 250,000 calls.

So, apparently, we should all be immensely relieved that the contract has gone to the private company 'Clinidata' which is described in the official BC Govt Press Release in the following manner:

"An established provider of telehealth services in Canada has been selected to proceed to contract development negotiations, as government seeks a new contractor to deliver BC NurseLine and other related services in British Columbia.

Following an intensive nine-month competitive process, Clinidata Corporation has emerged as the preferred candidate. As Canada’s leading provider of patient-centred telehealth advisory, nursing triage and health information services, Clinidata has the program management and information technology skills to address the current and future requirements of BC NurseLine and BC HealthGuide.

The company already operates telehealth services in both Ontario and New Brunswick. With more than 350 professional nurses across six telehealth centres, Clinidata is the largest nursing triage service in Canada, and among the top five providers of nurse tele-triage in the world."

Sounds pretty good, huh. After all, couldn't help but notice that emphasis on Clinidata's 'Canadianness' in every single paragraph of the lead.

So why then did the propaganda-puff-piece also slip the following statement?

"The new proponent will be required to meet or exceed all of British Columbia’s stringent privacy laws."

That raised our eyebrows, perhaps even more so than Sean Holman's suggestion that Clinidata has had Maximus-like problems of it's own in the past.

Specifically, we went sniffing about to find out who actually controls Clinidata.

Turns out that it used to be owned by a Canadian company called 'Oracle - The Assistance Group' until late 1998 when it was swallowed whole by Sykes Enterprises Inc. of, you guessed it, Tampa Florida.

Which means that like Accenture and Maximus before it, when push comes to shove, Clinidata is subject to the whims of the clampdown.....errrr.......the US Patriot Act.

But still, that's not so bad, right. Everything's going to be alright because, for sure, according to B.C. Health Minister Boy George Abbott:

"....the contractor will be required to operate in BC and employ BC Registered Nurses."

So rest assured, with this decision, the SS Gordon Campbell has made sure that nobody is going to try and outsource those nursing jobs to ensure that profit margins be met.

But then we read this, from the front page of the parent company's website:

"Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated ("SYKES" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:SYKE), a global leader in providing outsourced customer contact management solutions and services in the business process outsourcing (BPO) arena....."


Hmmmm.......that's interesting, we thought, as we rubbed our chin before writing ever more complicated boolean script which generated stuff, a whole lotta stuff, like this:

"Sykes Enterprises has informed Florida officials that it will close its Marianna call center, and will lay off 145 of its Marianna employees Saturday and the remaining 121 on Oct. 2 (2004). The disclosure came just weeks after the Tampa company said it would shutter its only other Florida call center, located in Palatka. The announcement Tuesday brings to nine the number of U.S. call centers that Sykes plans to close in 2004. Only five other U.S. call centers will remain: Bismarck, N.D.; Wise, Va.; Morganfield, Ky.; Ponca City, Okla.; and Sterling, Colo. At one time, Sykes had nearly 20 call centers in the United States.

Total layoffs among the nine facilities to be closed this year is expected to exceed 2,500.....

(snip)

Like many of its competitors, the company is shutting down U.S. call centers and opening up new ones in offshore locales like the Philippines and India, where relatively low wages allow Sykes to meet client demands for reduced pricing."

Feel better now?

_____
Original Link Source: on the outsourcing from the 'Left Coaster'
Just in case you need another jolt in the spine: turns out that Mr. John Sykes the founder of Sykes Enterprises Inc. (ie. not the Infinity Broadcasting guy or the musician) likes to stay on the good side of the Cheney Administration. For example, in 2001 Mr. Sykes gave $100,000 to the Bush Cheney Inagural Committee.

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When You're Smilin'

Sammy'sNotSulkin'Now
VictoryVille


If S.M. Holman is right it all came down to the CC Machine not being able to bring in the Bus-Block Vote when it, well, counted.

Which perhaps makes it clear just how many current Martinis really do owe their seats to the type of machinations previously perfected by groups like the BBoys and their ilk.

Speaking of which, according to Mark Hume, Justice Dohm has delayed the big trial again. It's now set to start Feb 2006 at the earliest.

Which is fine with us, because the closer the climax comes to 2009 the better as far as we are concerned.

But back to the matter at hand.

Is today's result a good thing or a bad thing for Jim Green's candidacy?

I'm not really sure, although I have a feeling that he would have done a pretty good job of turning Ms. Clark's polarizing rhetoric back on itself.

One thing I am sure of, however, is that no matter who wins in November the new mayor will actually care about what happens to Vancouver, both now and in the future.

And that is a victory for all Vancouverites.

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btw: Best comment on the Public Eye comment threads once again goes to 'Name' who asked, "Any word yet re whether there might be a deal in the offing on a brand-new duplex at 16th and Columbia?"

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What Really Counts

IdeologyDoesn'tHelpKidsGetToSleepAtNight
Rock-A-ByeVille

Sure, there are many political points to be scored on the mess that B.C.'s Children and Families Ministry has become.

But now is not the time.

Paul Willcocks, who knows the whole story, makes it clear why.

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Methin' Up My Neighbourhood

DirectFromTheHorse'sMouth
WebsiteVille


A couple of readers took me to task offline for not providing a link to Vancouver Mayoral hopeful Christy Clark's sudden seizure of the Crystal Meth Road as a campaign issue.

So, I went directly to the candidate's website and found this, which is apparently an important part of her top priority for the City - Public Safety:

"Crystal meth is particularly disturbing because of the long-term mental health impacts and rapid decline that characterizes the drug. This is not a downtown eastside issue- it's citywide. It's in our schools. It's in Kerrisdale. It's in Cedar Cottage. It's in the West End....."

Whew!

Glad to know that Ms. Clark knows that this scourge is affecting my neighbourhood.

Just can't help but wonder if she actually knows where that neighborhood is (hint: it's the one that could be mistaken for a softwood lumber issue if one were, oh say, a Provincial Cabinet Minister).

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Where'd That Highroad Go?

PartisansAtTheParty
SquabbleVille

Can't find it now on the extra-cryptic, not-so Giant '98 website but I could have sworn that I heard Vancouver mayoral hopeful Sam Sullivan say that his candidacy represents the big tent division of the Non-Partisan Association on the 8:00am newscast this morning (I'm doing my best to not listen to CBC's Harrison Bergeronesque newscasts for the duration).

All of which is interesting because, as Frances Bula reported this morning, Mr. Sullivan is now also contrite about his earlier floating of conspiracy theories regarding Christy Clark's membership sign-up blitz. This, of course, hasn't stopped Sullivan's campaign and it's shadowy men from a shadowy planet from dumping these evil-inside CC Machine theories directly into the lap of the NPA braintrust. This is a story that Sean Holman is all over.

"Last night, a special meeting of the Non-Partisan Association's board of directors was held at the Marriott Pinnacle Hotel to discuss concerns about the mayoral nomination process. Those concerns were contained in a letter sent to the board last Friday by Warren Smith, a representative of nomination hopeful Sam Sullivan's campaign. Those familiar with the letter inform us the Sullivan campaign challenged the eligibility of 194 new association members to vote at the upcoming Saturday nomination meeting. According to review of 429 forms conducted by the campaign, those members aren't on the provincial voters list. Additionally, Mr. Smith questioned whether former Campbell administration cabinet minister Christy Clark's mayoral nomination campaign paid for the memberships of those they signed-up."


As for Ms. Clark?

Well, she seems to be leaving her Machine in the dust and is going waydown low, for example accusing Mr. Sullivan of wanting to legalize more drugs and ranting on about enforcement, enforcement, enforcement, bad Jim Green, enforcement, reckless Jim Green, and that oldtime, Christy-era S.S. Gordon Campbell bugaboo, Crystal Meth.
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Update: Demonstrating her exceptional grasp of all things Vancouver, apparently Ms. Clark had a little problem identifying areas of False Creek at an NPA public forum recently. But mistakes like that paled in comparison to her confusion over which party she is seeking to hijack. Specifically, she exorted a crowd of Partisans to bring sanity back to the city by returning a - get this - COPE majority to council.

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Jive Talking

TheBeeGeeAdministration
DiscoDuckVille


This, from current US Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins, on the extraordinary rendition of Marer Arar almost makes one pine for the the good ol' days of Mr. Cellucci:

As described by Canadian Press reporter Jim Brown, Mr. Wilkins "seemed puzzled" when asked if his government had regrets about the Arar affair. "You talking about regrets by the United States? The United States made that decision [to deport Arar] based on the facts it had, in the best interests of the people of the United States, and we stand behind it."

In other words, screw habeus corpus, not to mention international law.

After all, you kidnap people and deliver them to dictatorships for torture based on the facts you have, not the facts you wished you had.

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Why Is The Legacy Of Terry Fox....

TheSeasonsTheyGoRoundAndRound
CarouselOfLifeVille

....Bigger Now Than Ever?

I first learned of him was when I saw a smug and smirking TV anchor dismiss him as a fool while he worked like a demon to raise the meagre funds he needed just to get to the Atlantic Coast so that he could dip that artificial leg in the ocean.

But there was no stopping Mr. Fox, and within a few weeks many came to know his perserverance and his courage.

And by the time he got to Ontario his great, good heart was on display for all to see.

And then there was the tremendous dignity with which he died.

And thus was born perhaps Canada's greatest ever Horatio Alger story ever.

But once born something extra has to happen to turn a mere story into a legend that inspires future generations even further.

One of those extras is the Fox Foundation itself, which has been the model of integrity since its inception.

Another is the myth makers, folks like Douglas Coupland, who have helped keep the story alive (and in this case I mean that in a good way).

And then there is his family, individual members of which have consistently displayed many of the qualities of the boy himself. Like his mom Betty, for instance. When you hear her speak it is like that Marathon of Hope is still happening, right now.

But there is something else that you rarely hear about that may be as important as all of that, at least in the long run.

And it is something you very rarely hear about from the corporate shills, even amongst those who work hardest to never show their smirks or smugness in public.

That secret was inadvertently revealed late last week when an editor-type showed up on Michael Smyth's radio show to pump up the volume for the Vancouver Province's wall-to-wall Fox coverage this weekend.

Then they took calls, one of which was from an old-timer who had a tangential part in the original Marathon who said something that invoked a stunned silence from the host.

And that is the fact that the annual Terry Fox Run has never been brought to you by a bank, or an airline, or a running shoe company, or a make-up maven, or a media conglomerate.

To his great credit, the editor guy jumped in and pointed out that this is not an accident and that it was actually something that Fox himself insisted on from the very beginning.

Which is very likely another example of the kid's guts and his bedrock moral compass but, if you think about it, is also pure genius on a whole lot of levels.

Not the least of which is the fact that it ensures that no corporation will ever be able to attach itself like a leach to the Fox Run so that it can suck the life out of it before it moves on to next year's latest thing.

Case in point - when millions of kids run around their school to raise money for cancer research in 2010, do you seriously think any of them will be wearing one of those brightly coloured wristbands that are so popular today?

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The Minutemaid Men Are Coming!

VigilantesForever
MikeTeeVeeVille


After backing down earlier this past spring, it looks like those guys with guns are making noises about bringing their act North to the 49th parallel, again:

"Civilian border patrols, like those that have generated fierce debate in the Southwest, are planned to start along New York's border with Canada on October 1.

The leader of the Minuteman Civilian Defense Corps, Chris Simcox, will be keynote speaker at a four-hour meeting planned for Saturday in Babylon, on Long Island. The meeting is intended to organize and train volunteers to patrol the Canadian border in New England and New York. Mr. Simcox's group started patrols in Arizona in April and plans to launch a nationwide effort in October, according to a spokeswoman for the Minutemen, Connie Hair."


Clearly, these Nattering Neighbobs of Nascarism have not yet gotten wind of the 'McSorley Project':

"....(T)he way I figure it we could take care of these Minutemaid Men in about, well, 15 minutes, by massing our own homegrown, hockey stick-assisted V-group within spitting distance of the line on our side of the border in southern Manitoba.

We could call it 'The McSorely Project', fronted by the man himself, with chief lieutenants Dave Semenko and Todd Bertuzzi.

Of course, the head of the propaganda unit will be a guy that Bill O'Reilly will go absolutely bonkers over, Dave 'Flapping Gums' Williams.

And once they suckered the Anita Bryant lovin' Squeezers-of-the-Juice across the Frontier, the MProject would then kick their butts straight north all the way to Flin Flon - former home of the master of the two hander, Paddy Ginnell, not to mention the very best Mary Jane tunnels government money can buy.

Of course the Squeezers would be so freaked out by all of this, not to mention their dismay over the fact that they could stop in at the local clinic to get any and all of their injuries treated for free, that they would be begging to buy express route Greyhound tickets from Flin Flon's Gay Busdriver Alliance so that they could get safely home to Nome where we would then keep them pinned down in Alaska as a public service to all of those folks in the Excited States that are still sane enough to realize that vigilantism, even when it is stupid, useless showboating, is the beginning of the end of liberal democracies everywhere."

OK?

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The weird part about all of this is that some Canuckistanis have been bamboozled into thinking that we actually deserve it.
Update: Writing in the comment thread, Name informs us that the Juice Boys are here on the Left Coast as well, just south of Abbotsford apparently. For more of what Name has to say on one of our favorite topics, the Vancouver Election, check their comment out on this thread (@ 4:02pm Sept 17th).

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Trickle-Down Cronyism

ResurrectingTheVoodoo
JuicedUpReaganomicsVille


Sure, Mr. Brown may not have been qualified to run FEMA, but at least he knew something about something - maybe.

But get a load of this......

"WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 - President Bush is to pledge in an address to the nation from New Orleans on Thursday night that the federal government will provide housing assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina and also help reimburse the states for costs they have absorbed in taking in evacuees, a White House official said Wednesday......

--snip---

....Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort, which reaches across many agencies of government and includes the direct involvement of Alphonso R. Jackson, secretary of housing and urban development."

Did we miss something here?

When exactly did it become possible to use the Great Rovian Spin-Machine to turn water into wine? or food? or medicine? or new buildings? or schools? or highways? or anything of any substance whatsoever?

And as for the CronyCorps Brigade that will be paid cost plus to do the 'hard work', it appears that they have been given carte blanche(dubois?) to pay the folks they hire to do the actual work a less than decent wage.

" WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush issued an executive order Thursday (Sept 8/05) allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage."

Do these people have no shame?

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Just Say 'No' To The War

NancyWho?
ReaganVille


The 'War On Drugs' that is:

"VANCOUVER (CP) - Two years after the experimental safe injection site opened in Vancouver, both police and health officials are declaring the so-called shooting gallery a success. "It's been looked at very critically," said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall. "On all the measures that we've looked at, we've seen some measures of success......

--(snip-o-rama)--

....Vancouver Police Constable Tim Fanning said a combination of an increased police presence and the safe injection site have made the area safer for residents....."

Can the American DEA indict and extradite a Provincial Health Officer?

How about a City cop?

Or, better yet, how about a former Mayor who came to see the junkies and the sick for what they really are, people not criminals, and then mustered the courage to stand up against his own party, the same party that now appears to be ready to annoint a carpet-bagger because they think she will win, and do the right thing.

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