Mid-Week Post

Getting into the middle of things...


The circus, it does go on again:

First Nations demonstrators stopped passenger railway traffic lines between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal this afternoon, while others stalled major highways and rail lines in parts of Manitoba, Alberta, New Brunswick and Ontario as part of the Idle No More Movement's national day of action.

Protesters also gathered in Windsor, Ont., near the Ambassador Bridge to Michigan, slowing down traffic to North America's busiest border crossing for several hours, the CBC's Allison Johnson reported.

Activities including rallies, possible blockades and prayer circles were planned across the country Wednesday as part of the grassroots movement calling for more attention to changes that were contained in Bill C-45, the Conservative government's controversial omnibus budget bill that directly affected First Nations communities. ...

Meanwhile, area traffic near the Ambassador Bridge was slowed Wednesday afternoon, Johnson reported.

The bridge is a key border crossing for trade between Canada and the U.S., she added, with roughly 10,000 trucks crossing daily.

"Any flow of traffic stoppage is a pretty big deal, [but] we are told that is not the goal here today," she reported from Windsor.

Organizers say it was an "economic slowdown" and "not a blockade."

No, it wasn't an economic slowdown; it was a shakedown. Any deliberate blockade of free citizens contributing to the economy or merely going home is. If chiefs are made accountable for the (taxpayer) money spent (or wasted), the jig is up. The failure to remove "protesters" attests to the willing impotence of the police in not serving the greater interests of justice and maintaining one standard for all. As it stands, things are lop-sided and multi-tiered (re: Mary Wagner and Judge Psycho-Hosebeast). It also provides a distraction from the endemic corruption and other myriad of problems on reservations.

Related: a poll indicates how things have soured for Chief Theresa Spense and the Idle No More movement and the changing opinion of most Canadians on financial accountibility:

While there’s general support for resolving land claims to provide Aboriginal Peoples with the land and resources needed to become self-sufficient (63%) and for the federal government to act now to raise the quality of life for Aboriginal peoples (63%, unchanged from July 2010), many Canadians also believe that there needs to be better financial accountability when it comes to supporting Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. 

Majorities believe that:

No additional taxpayer money should go to any Reserve until external auditors can be put in place to ensure financial accountability (81% nationally), with residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (92%) most in agreement with this and Atlantic Canadians (77%) and Quebecers (76%) least.

Canada’s Aboriginal peoples receive too much support from Canadian taxpayers. Two thirds (64%) nationally share this view -- unchanged from July 2012. Canadians from the Prairies (83% - Saskatchewan/Manitoba and 74% - Alberta) most believe this while Eastern Canadians (53% - Atlantic Canada, 60% - Ontario, and 62% - Quebec) are least to do so.

Canada’s Aboriginal peoples are treated well by the Canadian Government. Two thirds (62%) nationally share this sentiment, down from 66% in July 2012. Western Canadians (74% - Saskatchewan and Manitoba, 69% - British Columbia, and 63% - Alberta) most agree that this is the case, while Eastern Canadians (57% - Atlantic Canada, 58% - Ontario, and 61% - Quebec) least agree.

Most of the problems of native peoples are brought on by themselves (60% nationally, up 25 points from 35% in 1989). Canadians in the Prairies (76% - Saskatchewan/Manitoba and 68% - Alberta) are most likely to believe this, while Quebecers (58%) and British Columbians (58%) are least likely to do so.

Much of the money spent by the federal government for on-reserve services is managed well by the native leaders and communities who receive it (27% nationally)—Quebecers (36%) and British Columbians (34%) most agree with this, while those in the Prairies (8% - Saskatchewan/Manitoba and 16% - Alberta) least agree.

Taken together, these data suggest that last week’s protests have done little to build sympathy for First Nations issues, and have instead created a new issue for First Nation leaders to struggle with – financial accountability. ...

The Idle No More Movement – 38% nationally approve (54% among Atlantic Canadians and 47% among British Columbians)

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence – 29% nationally approve (highest at 38% among British Columbians) ...

It is confirmed: Obama wants to destroy America:

President Barack Obama demanded that lawmakers raise America's $16.4 trillion federal debt limit quickly, warning that benefits that the elderly and military veterans rely on will be affected if they don't and warning Republicans against insisting on cuts to government spending in exchange for not "crashing the economy."

Obama said he was willing to negotiate with Republican leaders about reining in deficit spending but insisted that those talks be separate from decisions to raise the federal debt ceiling and avert a possible first-ever national default.

"We are not a deadbeat nation," he declared at a news conference Monday, less than a week away from taking the oath of office for a second term.

(Sidebar: HA! You're broke, Mr. Four-Million-For-A-Hawaiian-Vacation-But-No-Money-For-His-Sick-and-Hospitalised-Nephew! Did you forget that when you said: "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are."?)


The ever-guilting and shaming African dictator can only legitimately blame this on the Republicans if they don't stop him. Perhaps the community organiser would like to explain how everything he promised will be paid for.

As for the willingly deceived American electorate, raising the debt ceiling only means your grandchildren and great grandchildren will hate you so much that they will dig you up and kill you all over again for putting them in such insurmountable debt that they can never imagine having the life that is slowly disappearing from you now (re: home ownership, savings, college education, healthcare).


One bright spot:

House Republicans proposed a bill today that would cut the pay of Vice President Joe Biden and other federal officials, noting that the executive order that President Obama signed to raise their pay costs $11 billion in new spending.

France deals with a new front in the Islamist war:

French troops launched their first ground assault against Islamist rebels in Mali on Wednesday in a broadening of their operation against battle-hardened al Qaeda-linked fighters who have resisted six days of air strikes.

France has called for international support against the Islamist insurgents it says pose a threat to Africa and the West, acknowledging it faces a long fight against the well-equipped fighters who seized Mali's vast desert north last year.

After Islamist pledges to exact revenge for France's intervention, militants claimed responsibility for a raid on a gas field in Mali's neighbor Algeria.

We've been through this. As Islam denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, it is, therefore, a heresy. THAT is how you can include Islam in Catholic schools. So what's all this bother?

Municipal authorities in Blitar, a town in East Java province, are threatening to shut down six Catholic schools "by 19 January" if the latter do not provide Islamic courses and readings of the Qur'an to their Muslim students, in accordance with regional bylaw n. 8 of 2012, which requires all Muslim students to receive Islamic courses in school. The latter is based on a national law, the National Education Act n. 55 of 2007. 

The six Catholic schools at risk are the Diponegoro Catholic High School, the Catholic Vocational Training High School, Saint Mary KG, Saint Mary Elementary School, and Yos Sudarso Catholic Elementary and Yos Sudarso Catholic Junior High School. 

The schools received the municipal injunction in the final days of 2012, but their administrators have refused to comply with the directive by 19 January, this according to the head of the local department of the Religious Affairs Ministry.

This is the Arab Spring:

Hundreds of Muslims came out of mosques today with hammers and destroyed a social services building belonging to the Coptic Church while chanting Islamic slogans. Security forces arrived after the building was completely razed. The 100 square meters social services building in the village of Fanous, Tamia district in Fayoum province, 130 KM south west of Cairo, had all the necessary government permits; it had a reception hall on the first floor and a kindergarten on the second.

But the Muslims insisted that it would become a church.

A meeting had taken place beforehand between the village mayor and elders from Muslim and Coptic sides and it was agreed that only the first floor was to remain and the second be demolished.

Mosques in surrounding villages called on their microphones this afternoon on Muslims to go and help their Muslim brethrens in the village of Fanous, because Christians were "building a church." According to rights activist Nader Shukry of Maspero Coptic Youth Organizations, nearly 5000 Muslims took part in demolishing the church property with their hammers, while shouting "Allahu Akbar." He said no one was arrested, not even the imams who called on Muslims to demolish the building; their calls fall under the crime of "enticement to violence."

We don't need cheap shoes that badly:

"The land and the Carmelite monastery at 72 Nguyễn Thái Học Street belong to the Archdiocese of Hanoi." The Church "never offered the government any of the 95 buildings that the latter is using across the city," wrote Mgr Peter Nguyen Van Nhon, archbishop of Hanoi, in a letter to Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng and the municipal authorities posted on the archdiocese's website.

On 3 January, the authorities began tearing down the Carmelite monastery to build a new, five-storey hospital. However, Catholic sources believe there is more than meets the eye, and plans other the hospital might be involved. The monastery with its church has been located at 72 Nguyễn Thái Học Street for more than a century.

After the recent conviction of young activists, the archbishop of Hanoi, Mgr Peter Nguyen Van Nhon, sent an urgent letter to Vietnam's prime minister, his fifth appeal, in order to stop this latest attack against the Catholic community. He also wrote to municipal authorities for the same reason. However, so far his rightful requests have fallen on deaf ears.

Stephen Harper would never do this.


Yes, there is an agenda to mind-rape students. Why do you ask?


This is just one of the reasons why China is eating the West alive:

A computer programmer 'outsourced' his own job to China, according to security company Verizon.

The mid-40s software developer, named only as 'Bob' in the report by Verizon's Risk Team, paid programmers in China one-fifth of his salary, and spent his work days browsing the internet.

Analysis of his machine found invoices from a company in Shenyang, who had been paid to do his job for him.

The programmer spent his days browsing videos on YouTube, using social news site Reddit and using eBay and Facebook. He no longer works for the company.

"Bob spent less that one fifth of his six-figure salary for a Chinese firm to do his job for him," says Valentine.

'Bob's' laziness is not just his problem; it is the problem of every other worker coming after him.Why not quit his job and screw around at home? Companies like the one he worked for now have every excuse to outsource and let's not forget the cyber-espionage.



(With thanks and such)