The Secrets Of Vancouver BC, Canada

Holding Canadians Hostage

From the National Post:

“The Liberal Party will bring forward a vote of no-confidence in the Conservative government on Monday that sources say has the “national” support of Jack Layton’s NDP and Gilles Duceppe’s Bloc Québécois…

The move would be designed to deprive Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his newly elected government from arguing that the opposition parties want to defeat them only to retain millions of dollars in political party finances the government proposes to abolish.”

When they say it’s not about the money, you know it is.

These welfare bums know that it would be impossible to form a coalition government with Dion as the leader. Imagine having a separatist party form the government. It’s a move that will never be forgiven.

Saying it’s about an economic plan is a lie at best – it’s about getting their handouts for their political parties.

They’ve even brought in the big guns – Ed Broadbent and Jean Chretian – to guide them through this hostage attempt.

You’d need to be out of your mind to believe Canadians would react favorably to such a move. And apparently they are.

photo credit: designwallah

Google Censoring Right Wing Blogs

The abuse of power by the friends of Obama…

Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, is a staunch Obama supporter and is in line for a cabinet post… and is now using Google as a tool against right wing thought.

A good example: In the past few weeks, Atlas Shrugs was usually in the top five of the search results for “Obama birth certificate“, “Obama odinga“, “honor killings”, “Obama campaign finance fraud“.

Now they’ve been wiped off Google search pages.

Google also shut down a number of anti-Obama sites on their Blogger network, during the election.

Here’s a small sampling:

Blue Lyon @ http://bluelyon.blogspot.com (back up after the election)

Come A Long Way @ http://comealongway.blogspot.com

Hillary or Bust @ http://hillaryorbust.blogspot.com

McCain Democrats @ http://mccaindemocrats.blogspot.com

NObama Blog @ http://nobamablog.blogspot.com

Politicallizard.blogspot.com @ http://thelizardannex.blogspot.com

Reflections in Tyme @ http://reflections-in-tyme.blogspot.com

More on the story here.

Nice Change from the Obamanauts…

Be careful what you say. The fairness doctrine has begun.

photo credit: ConnorTreacy

Doth Do Protest Too Much

The Tories proposal to slash funding to political parties has touched off a small firestorm.

Presently, a political party gets $1.95 in public funds for every vote it receives in the federal election. More »

If We Had A Wal-Mart In Vancouver…

Wal-Mart has decided to go 24/7 from now until Christmas.

Wal-Mart claims that 40% of their Canadian shoppers said that having extended store hours determined where they shop.

In Vancouver, our retail hours are regulated – meaning we have a lot less spending going on. And less employment than we should have.

The genius of Wal-Mart is that while other retailers are complaining about sales, closing stores, etc., they are going at business with a “winner take all” attitude.

You want to buy – we’re open.

Let’s hope that others follow suit.

UPDATE: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled To Death

photo credit: Thomas Hawk

Our Telcos Days Are Numbered

First Rogers screwed us with the iPhone, now the Telcos have stopped Twitter…

May not seem like much to most folks, but if you’ve been following the India story, Twitter reports are not only ahead of the news, but also they demonstrate how people in the action can frame what really is going on…

From Twitter:

Unexpected changes in our billing have forced us into a difficult situation with our Canadian SMS service. We can’t afford to support this service given our current arrangement with our providers (where costs have been doubling for the past several months.) As a result, effective today we are no longer delivering outbound SMS over our Canadian shortcode (21212)….

So, in typical fashion, the Telcos continue to gouge us in Canada for things that are free anywhere else… things like caller id, voicemail, etc.

Now that competition is on the horizon, you’d think someone in marketing would decide it may be in their favor to endear themselves to their customers.

Their overcharging will cause Canadians to leave, just to hurt them, once an alternative comes into the market.

Landlines are already dead. I know my American Vonage works great here for $29/month – all services included. PLUS my voicemail comes to my email.

photo credit: john giskes

Leveraged Buyouts Are Dead

Another sign of how the world financial crisis is impacting Canada…

The privatization of BCE Inc. probably won’t happen because the telecommunications giant cannot meet the requirements of a solvency test necessary for the $52-billion deal to close.

The Montreal-based company stunned investors yesterday when it revealed that it had been informed by KPMG that it would not receive a “favourable” solvency opinion by Dec. 11, a condition that BCE had to meet as part of its obligations.

Plus, everyone involved is having a “few” problems of their own.

As a result, the company said “the transaction is unlikely to proceed.”

With buyers sitting on the sidelines, a likely scenario is that BCE will reinstate its dividend and buy back a large chunk of stock from its weary shareholders.

It may have an upside – the stock is a steal, and with a dividend it could once again be the best stock for Canadians.

photo credit: lubart

What Will They Think Of Next – Sick Holiday Gifts

Merry Christmas… here’s a little something for those that have everything:

“People are making really tough decisions about putting gas in their car and food on their table, so we know that many women especially put healthcare at the bottom of their list to do,” said Chrystal Struben-Hall, Vice President of Planned Parenthood of Indiana…

“They can be seen for sexually transmitted disease screenings, HIV tests and general prostate exams and those kinds of things,” said Struben-Hall.

Asked if the gift certificates could be used towards abortions. The answer is yes. But, Planned Parenthood said that’s not the purpose of the gift certificates…

Indiana Family Institute President Curt Smith said he is appalled by the certificates.

“I think the way to help family planning is to give the money where there’s no agenda. So if somebody wants to help a woman at a time of crisis, they can support the life centers throughout Indiana,” said Smith.

Get yours today – sorry, they can only be used in Indiana

Terror in Mumbai

(PTI Photo) 80 dead, over 250 injured… so far.

Hostages taken, sounds like westerners.

Has there ever been an attack with this many targets?

MUMBAI: Terror struck the country’s financial capital late on Wednesday night as coordinated explosions and indiscriminate firing rocked eight areas across Mumbai including the crowded CST railway station, two five star hotels—Oberoi and Taj.

At least 80 people were dead and 250 injured in the terror attacks, hospital sources said.

Armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades, a couple of terrorists entered the passenger hall of CST and opened fire and threw grenades.

The terror strike which began at 10:33 PM at Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus(CST), formerly known as the Victoria Terminus(VT), claimed 10 lives in the premises of the station alone, police said.

Three persons were killed in a bomb explosion in a taxi on Mazegaon dockyard road and an equal number were gunned down at Taj Hotel. The victims in the hotel were its employees. The lobby of the Oberoi hotel was on fire and the hotel evacuated, eyewitnesses said…

More here…

And Here..

If you want to see immediate news, check this out on Twitter. Who needs CNN.

The Homeless World Cup

The Homeless World Cup is being held in Melbourne Dec. 1 to 7. It’s an annual, international street soccer tournament organized to give teams of homeless people the opportunity to represent their countries.

We’ll be represented by two of our Vancouver members – Guillermo Gonzalez and Robert Milton, both hailing from somewhere near East Hastings.

Gonzalez said that, after living in a shelter, he moved to a hostel where he came into contact with organizers of the Vancouver Dream Catchers soccer team, which was training for the tournament.

Once Gonzalez joined the team, organizers helped him find subsidized housing, furniture and community support. (Does this disqualify him for next year?)

The Dream Catchers competed in September at the national homeless soccer tournament in Calgary and won six out of eight games to top the tournament.

“When I went to Calgary I never dreamed we would win,” said Gonzalez, who plays goal. “Now my new dream is to win the world championship in Australia.”

During the qualifier, Street Soccer Canada selected two players each from Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Toronto to make up Canada’s team for the Homeless World Cup.

Most of the money raised to send Milton and Gonzalez to Australia came from Street Soccer Canada.

Wouldn’t a Homeless Hockey Tournament be a good idea?

h/t

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photo credit: l0ckergn0me