Official Olympic Restaurant Doesn't Pay Gold Medal Wages

McDonald's is a "world wide partner" of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Unfortunately, it seems that McDonald's is not much of a partner to their employees in the province of British Columbia (or anywhere else for that matter).

Under British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell's Liberal Party government, his province has the distinction of having the lowest provincial minimum wage in Canada at C$8.00 per hour. But, BC also has a so-called "training wage" of C$6.35 and that's what McDonald's is paying it's employees in BC's Lower Mainland according to the British Columbia Federation of Labour.

According to this Reuters News Agency article that appeared recently in the Financial Post, McDonald's fourth quarter profits rose from US$985.3 million last year to US$1.22 billion this past year.

Wages of six and change an hour equals over a billion in profits!

Looks like McDonald's is a serious contender for the gold medal in exploiting low wage workers.

Smash Window$ not windows

Much ink has been spilled and audio/video bits and bytes used over the actions of some anti-Olympics protesters who smashed store windows in Vancouver.

While I support the anti-Olympics movement, the actions of this particular group of protesters was just plain stupid in my opinion. When the mainstream media is filled with Winter Olympics hype and looking for any excuse to discredit dissent, why give them exactly what they're looking for?

I've got a much better idea.

The best way to deal with all of the corporate hucksters trying to cash in on the Olympics by being the "official Olympics toilet paper" or whatever is to hit them in the pocket books.

For instance, NBC has the exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics in the world's largest market...the USA. According to Wikipedia, MSNBC, a major NBC TV channel is 18% owned by monopoly software conglomerate Microsoft.

That's a corporation that's really easy to hit in the pocket books.

How?

Have an Olympic sized GNU/Linux install fest!

Invite geeks and freaks from all over the world to rid computers of Microsoft's operating system and install the free (as in freedom) GNU/Linux system instead.

It would be environmentally friendly!

Millions of computers annually are dumped into land fills sites. Why? Sometimes it's just because they're loaded with viruses and spyware. Other times it's just because the machine is too old to run Microsoft's latest and greatest resource hogging operating system.

Tons of computers could be brought back to life and made useful again!

It would have tremendous community value. The computers could be donated to poor and marginalized folks, under resourced community centres, schools, you name it!

Or, folks who are constantly "fixing" their computers could have machines that actually work.

You could award a gold medal to the person who gets the most GNU/Linux installs done in a 24 hour period. There could be bonus points for getting it to run on especially old or particularly flakey hardware.

All kinds of folks would discover that it isn't necessary to pay the "Microsoft Windows tax" on computing.

And most importantly, it would make Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer cry.

So don't smash windows. Smash Window$

Of cellphones and smartphones and things

About a month ago I lost my cellphone. Well it got lost and then someone found it and stole it! I've since picked up a new one though and am back connected with the world.

My old cellphone was definitely "old" technology by today's standards but sometimes I like old tech.

It was a Motorola V235 flip camera phone. The on board camera took crappy little photos and even crappier little videos.

One of the things that I really liked about it is that I could use the free (as in freedom) software "Moto4lin" with it. Moto4lin allowed my GNU/Linux based computers to "talk" to my phone without having to purchase Motorola's proprietary software.

Motorola's proprietary software only ran on the proprietary Microsoft Windows operating system and would require me to "pay the Microsoft tax" so that I would have a Windows license on one of my computers.

So, first pay Microsoft for an operating system license, then pay Motorola for their Windows-only software. My only other option was to pay data charges to my cellphone provider to e-mail my photos to myself.

The combination of GNU/Linux and Moto4lin meant that now I owned my crappy little photos and videos. My media files were no longer imprisoned by Motorola, Microsoft and my cellphone carrier.

I controlled them and not some monolithic corporation.

The other thing you can do with Moto4lin is manage your contacts and things like that. But all I really cared about was my photos.

Moto4lin is ever so slightly geeky. To fire it up you have to go to a command line (the equivalent of a DOS prompt for Windows users) and type a simple command to start up moto4lin. After that, the programme opens up in a window.

It installs in a matter of 30 seconds using your GNU/Linux package management software.

Now the other very cool thing I liked about this old Motorola V235 was that I could charge the battery using a standard "off-the-shelf" USB cable; the same type used by most digital cameras. It did not use some weird proprietary connector that would cost a small fortune to replace.

So, if I forgot my charger (as I quite often did), I could walk into any computer store and for a few bucks buy a standard USB cable and charge it off the nearest computer.

On a GNU/Linux machine, you just had to plug it into the USB port and it would start charging. On a Windows computer, you had to plug it in, Windows would prompt you to connect to Windows Update, you'd download a driver and then you could charge it. A bit of a longer process with Windows. (People keep trying to tell me how "hard" GNU/Linux is).

So my trusty old V235 is gone and I had to get a new phone in a bit of a hurry. What did I do?

Well $60 got me a new Motorola W233.

I tried to buy one at the local Fido kiosk in a neighbourhood shopping mall, but they didn't have any in stock. Not only that, but the guy at the kiosk told me that they'd never ever had ANY in stock! This is really rather bizarre because the phone pictured in all of Fido's advertising materials is a Motorola W233!

I went to the little electronics discount store next to the mall to buy some batteries and what did I find? A whole bunch of Motorola W233's! So, I bought one!

Like my old Motorola V235, my W233 can be charged up with the same standard off-the-shelf USB cable. I plug my W233 into my GNU/Linux computers and it instantly charges up!

It's another story with Windows. Windows recognizes the model of cellphone and asks me to connect to Windows update to find a driver so that it can be charged. I let Windows grind away for a few minutes and I get a message saying that Windows hasn't found a driver.

So, I have to go to Motorola's website, and then download and install Motorola's "charging driver" for Windows. (Please tell me why Microsoft Windows is easier again?)

This cheapie little phone doesn't have a camera, so I've had to sacrifice that. But, it does play .mp3 files and so if I add a mini SD card, I can listen to my tunes on it.

For eco types, the case is apparently made from 25% recycled plastic. (Discarded water bottles).

The whole thing is an interim measure anyway until my contract with Fido runs out in the summer.

Then, I'm going to take a look around at other cellphone providers.

The other thing I'll be looking for is a "smartphone".

I'm using SMS text messaging much more often now and I'd like something with a QWERTY keyboard. It's a little hard doing SMS text messaging with a regular cellphone keypad.

Also, using tools like Twitter and identi.ca are only really practical if you have a smartphone.

But smartphones are no longer "just phones". They're now general purpose computers that you carry around in your pocket.

And just as you should be free to install any software you want on your desktop/laptop/netbook computer, you should be free to install whatever software you want on your smartphone. That's not the case with the two biggest selling smartphones; RIM's "Blackberry" and Apple's "iPhone". It's also not the case with a number of other smartphones.

On most smartphones you can only install the software that the vendor says you can. Also you have to go to their "app store" to get the software for your smartphone. If you want to install software from somewhere else, it's not allowed.

I do not want to be a tenant on any device that I buy.

An effort in this direction was the "Open Moko Freerunner", but the project was cancelled last April. The Open Moko ran on a GNU/Linux operating system and you could install whatever applications you wanted to install. The circuit board diagrams were published as well, so you could even hack the hardware if you wanted to!

So, the Open Moko folks are now concentrating on software for mobile phones instead of the hardware.

However, one of the good things to come out of this are other smartphones running on GNU/Linux operating systems. While none of them are anywhere near as "open" as the Open Moko, they're getting a bit more open.

While much is being made of Google's new "Nexus One" phone, it looks like software can only be installed from their app store "Android Market" from what I can see.

Some of Palm's new smartphones are running on the GNU/Linux based "WebOS". Palm's smartphones are looking a little more promising in the "open" department.

So I'm going to be watching and waiting to see what comes on the market over the next few months. My smartphone business will go to whatever manufacturer gives me the most freedom.

And being able to charge it with a standard USB cable would help too!

Back at it again!

Wow, life sure can get busy!

It's been over a year since I've posted anything here. It's about time I got back at it.

The funny thing is that in this country we again find ourselves with a prorogued Parliament...a "coup d'etat" in my humble opinion by the Harper Conservative government.

This time Parliament has been prorogued for even flimsier reasons than last year; namely the Harper government's refusal to answer opposition questions on the torture of Afghan detainees.

Back in 1852 Karl Marx wrote in "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte"

“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

Harper's second proroguing of Parliament is definitely a farce!

The Progressive Coalition...Canada's "Obama Campaign"

For starters I'm going to strike Governor-General Michaelle Jean off my Christmas card list.

Her Excellency made a rather unexcellent decision. Steven Harper's government has been spared the axe till January. So I'll keep polishing my barbeque fork and leave the champagne on ice.

I'm no constitutional lawyer, but I can read. I'm also reasonably knowledgeable about history. The GG's stay of execution flies in the face of the precedent set in the "King-Byng" affair of 1926.

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's minority Liberal government was about to be defeated after a customs scandal. King went to Governor-General Byng and asked for the dissolution of the house and for another election to be called (there'd been an election in 1925).

Byng refused and called in Conservative leader Arthur Meighan to form a government. True, Meighan's government didn't last long and a few months later Canada was back into another election campaign. But nevertheless, the precedent has been set.

There is a "government in waiting", but Governor General Jean paid no attention to this and let Prime Minister Harper have his way. Our elected representatives have been defacto locked out of Parliament.

But there's a bright spot to all this believe it or not. I have an LP in my collection (yes I still have quite a bit of vinyl lying around) called "Precious Friend". It's a recording of Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie's concert tour back in the 1980's.

In an intro to a little rant about "the neutron bomb", (a big issue at the time), Arlo said that "You can't have a light...without a dark... to stick it in!". In other words he explained "You can't have one thing...without the other thing".

We certainly have a dark...namely the "Chicago Boy" policies of Harper's government...and the extreme vindictive nastiness of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. To use very unparliamentary language, these dudes are a couple of pricks.

Pretty much every other government on earth has at least to some degree abandoned Friedmanite policies in the face of the crisis. But the Harper government simply saw the crisis as an opportunity to starve opposition parties of funds, beat up on public sector workers, and strip equality rights for women workers. The unemployed and the about to be unemployed were hung out to dry.

But we have a light too. A few short weeks ago, who'd have thought that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois would have been capable of setting aside their differences to build a coalition based on activist government and expansionist economic policies.

When I first heard about it, I was knocking back margaritas with a good friend. I'd been busy and so not paying a whole lot of attention to the news. I was dismissive and didn't believe it at first.

But then I saw the announcement on the TV behind the bar. Holy Shit! It was happening! We had a government in waiting that was willing to take the country in a much more positive direction.

I'm face to face with unemployed manufacturing workers every day of the week. They're scared about what lies ahead. The coalition doesn't offer them miracles, but it at least gives them a little bit of hope. And that, as Martha Stewart would say is a good thing!

The other "light" in this situation is the social and political movement that this coalition has spawned. Within a matter of days, rallies have been organized in just about every major city in Canada.

I've lost count of the number of online campaign sites, petitions, blogs, Facebook groups, Youtube videos etc. that have been created. Everyday there seems to be a new one popping up somewhere.

Barrack Obama's presidential campaign mobilized millions of people who hadn't been mobilized before around the idea of "change" from the corruption, cronyism and warmongering of the Bush II administration.

Our election campaign seemed rather unexciting compared to what happened south of the border.

The campaign to support the "Progressive Coalition" or whatever you want to call it is our very own "Obama Campaign".

This is an historic opportunity to change the face of politics in this country. It's a chance to bring some relief to the victims of the economic crisis. It's also an historic opportunity to do something positive about the growing environmental crisis.

People around the world are increasingly coming around to seeing that these two issues are bound together...everyone except Harper and the neo-cons.

Harper must go!

So we'll see you at the meetings, rallies, on the picket line and if it's cold outside...in cyberspace!

CLC weighs in on the coalition with new ad!

Stick a fork in them. They're done!

This weekend, watch for Harper & Co. to unleash a barrage of propaganda ads in a last ditch effort to cling to power. Gotta do something with that leftover campaign cash!

He'll try to get the GG to prorogue Parliament till January or else plunge the country into another election. Lotsa luck Stevie!

His minions have also developed a new hobby... eavesdropping on their opponents parliamentary caucus conference calls. Who else had that hobby? Wasn't it that guy who was nicknamed "Tricky Dick"?

The right-wing talk radio dudes will be in full foaming at the mouth mode...if they're not there already.

They may even try to organize a few rallies. Honestly, who'd be crazy enough to freeze their ass off on a cold Canadian December day to stand up for...Harper!

Mind you I think that lots of folks will turn out to Steve's retirement party.

Rallies are being organized in St. John's, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, Regina, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ottawa on Thursday, December 4th.

There will be rallies at noon on Saturday, December 6th in both Montreal and Toronto.

If you're in this part of the world, hope to see you at Nathan Phillips Square.

You'll find full details on the "coalition rallies" here.

If you're city isn't listed, maybe you can organize your own!

By the way, Green Party leader Elizabeth Maye has also come out in favour of the coalition.

The Greens didn't win any seats last October, but if they had, they would have joined in the fun. You can read her comments on rabble.ca here.

Welcome aboard Liz!

Don't give in to anti-Bloc paranoia!

Was listening to Rex Murphy today on the CBC's "Cross Country Checkup" and on more than one occasion he made reference to a Liberal/NDP coalition requiring the support from a party that "plans to breakup the country". He seemed to actively encourage that kind of talk from callers.

Frankly I'm sick of hearing about the separatist bogeyman.

Hello! I've got news for everyone!

Canada is not the only country in the world with a "separatist" party in its parliament.

I just so happened to be in Barcelona, Spain last March during their election campaign.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government was re-elected. It's a minority government and guess who's support they rely on? THE SEPARATISTS!

Only thing is Spain doesn't just have one separatist party in the Cortes (Parliament), they have a whole bunch of separatist parties. They have Catalan separatists, Basque separatists, Galician separatists and even Canary Island separatists.

And the separatists themselves don't have just one party. The main Catalan separatist party "Convergencia i Union" (CiU) is itself a coalition of two Catalan separatist parties. (The party banners you see in this street scene photo of Barcelona are from the CiU) Then of course there's the "ERC"...the "Republican Left of Catalonia".

On top of that there are a whole bunch of separatist and regional parties that didn't manage to get anyone elected.

Yet, Spain hasn't fallen apart.

Even in the UK there are separatist and regional parties...like the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalists), and from Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionists, Ulster Unionists, Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic & Labour Party.

Life goes on! Governments implement their policies.

Even if the Parti Quebecois wins every seat in the upcoming provincial election, holds a referendum and gets a 99.9% vote in favour of sovereignty-association, Quebec is still going to be on the other side of the Ottawa River.

Hell, the federal government does so little these days that quite frankly, there isn't much to "separate from".

The reformatories are also playing the "western alienation" card.

In two of the four western provinces, the majority of folks didn't vote for Harper's party. Less than half of British Columbians voted reformatory (44.5%). Only 48.8% of Manitobans voted reformatory.

In Alberta, the 35% of the electorate who didn't vote reformatory are represented by a single NDP MP. In Saskatchewan, the 46% of the electorate who didn't vote reformatory are represented by a single Liberal MP.

So not all western Canadians are reformatories! They're simply being drowned out in the mainstream media by right-wingers.

So who's trying to "break up the country"? Harper and his minions as they desperately cling to power. But it looks like it ain't gonna work this time. Bye bye Stevie!

Harper...going...going...almost gone!

Even though the Harper government has backed down on most of the provisions in their "Economic Statement", the opposition parties are sticking to their guns...the Liberals have developed a spine...or at least a temporary one.

A new organization has emerged online called "Canadians for a Progressive Coalition". Sounds like a good idea to me!

Here's their "Youtube" video:

A Holiday Gift from the Opposition MP's?

Well, it looks like Canadian politics is about to get interesting.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is using his latest "economic statement" in the midst of what's looking like the biggest economic meltdown since the 1930's depression to push through some very right-wing policies.

According to the latest from the CBC, negotiations are underway between former Prime Minister Jean Chretien and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent around the possibility of defeating the government and forming a Liberal/NDP coalition with the tacit support of the Bloc Quebecois.

It's very clear that in order to avoid a major economic disaster, we need a government that's willing to bring in some expansionist "New Deal" type economic policies.

Harper and Flaherty have made it clear that a "New Deal" isn't on.

Putting Harper and Flaherty out of business would be the best gift the opposition parties could give Canadians this holiday season! Afterall, in the last election 62% of Canadians didn't vote for these folks.

Going home...to the picket line!,

This afternoon I spent some time at "home".

Only this particular time I was at home at Toronto's South Central Postal Facility with some very special "relatives"...my brothers and sisters in the Union of Postal-Communications Employees/PSAC. They held a "picket line barbeque" with lots of folks there from the labour and social movements.

It was thirty years ago that I started working there and not too long afterwards as a naive young "20-something" began my life in the labour movement.

As a young activist, I'd been on plenty of picket lines and at plenty of demonstrations. But it was at South Central where for the first time I was on my "own" picket line back in the autumn of 1980. It was a time of double digit inflation and we were being offered single digit pay increases...so we walked out. In the end, we got that double digit pay increase.

When I look back, I owe these folks alot. They may not realize it, but they taught me alot about the practicalities of pulling folks together and taking on a rather nasty employer. The art of "people politics".

I got a chance today to reminisce with my old brother Steve. We shared coffee breaks together for years and argued about all the world's problems. We disagreed on just about everything. But there was always one thing we agreed on...fighting the bosses.

When you're organizing a people's fightback the most important thing is to look for common ground... the things we agree on. Usually the things we disagree about are really not all that important.

Of course I left Canada Post and my UPCE/PSAC membership a very long time ago. But the lessons I learned often through trial and error...and probably mostly error...will be with me forever.

Today, my "homies"...my brothers and sisters of UPCE/PSAC are in a very important fight that in the end will impact all working people in this country.

On the surface, it's a fight about sick leave. But in the bigger picture, it's a fight to maintain the little financial integrity that's left in Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) system.

The EI sick benefit system is meant as a "floor" so that those who work for smaller or less wealthy employers can at least get a minimum of 15 weeks sick pay.

Large employers like the Canada Post Corporation are expected to pay for their employees sick leave benefits.

But, Canada Post wants to dump a major share of their sick leave costs onto the publicly-funded EI system. Canada Post remains a profitable company. It can well afford to pay the costs of its employees sick leave. It doesn't need corporate welfare.

Canada Post has decided to take on its smaller bargaining units first. So UPCE/PSAC is first up at bat and has decided to take a stand. Next up, is the normally "pussycat" supervisory union, the Association of Postal Officials of Canada (APOC).

Once they've crushed these unions, Canada Post will take on their largest opponent, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).

If Canada Post succeeds in using the EI fund as a sick leave "piggy bank", it will be open season on every single group of workers in the country that has a sick leave plan.

In my "post Canada Post world", I've been watching the steady erosion of the EI system. I've dealt with I don't know how many thousand unemployed workers over the years who've seen their benefits slashed and burned by successive Liberal and Tory governments.

The most savage EI cuts were implemented by then Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin back in the 1990's. A massive surplus was built up in the fund. Then, in Stephen Harper's last pre-election budget he pocketed the $50+ billion dollar surplus.

So for the last decade and a half, governments have been undermining the EI system. Now employers are trying to get their paws into the system and undermine it even further...at a time when most of the world is heading into a recession...and maybe even a depression.

On the backburner is another issue. Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper is making "Keynsian" noises these days, we all know that deep down inside he's a hard core Friedmanite". He'd like to privatize Canada Post. So, cutting down sick leave costs will help fatten up Canada Post for a potential buyer.

So to Tom, Steve, Dolores, Mary Lou, Diane and all my other "homies"...stay tough and hang in there! Your fight is a fight for everyone. The labour movement is behind you.

To Canada Post? Pay your own god damned sick leave! And by the way, you still owe me some money from the twenty+ year old equal pay complaint.


P.S. This post was "fueled" by a large mocha and a bottle of Steam Whistle Beer supplied by my wonderful friends at "The Last Drop Cafe"...Coxwell & Sammon in Toronto. Very friendly neighbourhood atmosphere, great coffee and free wifi...what more could you ask for?

Harper signs free trade deal with murderous Colombian government

What do you do to a government that murders more trade unionists than any other country on the planet? If you're name is Stephen Harper you sign a free trade deal with this government.

That's the first major foreign policy decision of Harper's recently re-elected Conservative government. They "did the deal" while most folks weren't paying any attention.

The deal is subject to ratification in the Canadian parliament. Let's hope that the normally spineless Liberal Party...currently tied up in a leadership race, joins with the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois to block ratification.

Love digital audio and video? You'll love VLC Media Player!

I've got to admit that I absolutely cringe when I see folks play digital audio and video with bloated proprietary software like Windows Media Player, Real Player and Apple Quicktime.

It's loaded with ads trying to get you to buy various digital media content or to purchase subscriptions for online services.

Often it "phones home to Mama" reporting what file you just played even though it's just a file that's on your local hard drive. It bugs you to install updates and upgrades and often won't work until you've dealt with the latest dialogue box that's popped up on your screen.

Me, I just want to play the bloody file or audio/video stream! Leave me alone!

Thankfully, there's one programme that allows me to do just that...VLC Media Player! You can download it from http://videolan.org/vlc .

"VLC Media Player" is "free as in freedom, free as in free beer" and is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

VLC is available for just about any operating system you can think of including Microsoft Windows, MacOSX, GNU/Linux, various versions of Unix, Syllable and even a more or less obsolete operating system like BeOS.

VLC will play just about any audio or video file or stream that you might like to throw at it. You'll find a list of what's supported in the most current version (0.9) here. The only major file format that it doesn't support is Real Audio and Video...but if you're a Windows user, there's a free software solution here.

It's a small rather stripped down rather "unflashy" application that won't overload your computer. But it does the most important thing. It plays the bloody file without bugging you!

While it's not obvious, if you poke around inside the menus you'll find links to hundreds of "Shoutcast" radio, TV and podcast streams. Just go to "View", "Playlist", then in the dialogue box go to "Manage", and go to "Services Discovery". Exploring all of these Shoutcast streams will keep you busy for weeks!

If you're a bit geeky, you can even use VLC Media Player as a streaming server.

One of the other cool things about free software is that folks are free to build new software applications using software code from another application. That's exactly what's been done with the "Miro" internet TV application. It was built using the source code from VLC. But I'll leave that for a future post!

In the meantime, have fun with VLC Media Player!

Oops... AVG accidentally kills Windows

"AVG", a popular anti-virus software programme from Czech software vendor "Grisoft" kills the Microsoft Windows XP operating system after you install a recent update according to this article on "APCMag.com". According to the article, this "only" happens on the French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish editions.

Hmmm...according to Wikipedia there are about 322 million Spanish speakers, 177 million Portuguese speakers, 64 million French speakers, 61 million Italian speakers and 20 million Dutch speakers. Presumably some of these folks use computers.

Although the article expresses relief that the problem doesn't affect English language users, there are more speakers of these other languages than there are English speakers. So it sounds like a pretty big problem to me.

Users of Microsoft operating systems have grown "used" to the fact that viruses and assorted malware are a "normal" part of computing. They've grown used to running resource hogging security applications that require ever more powerful computers...and that's before you can actually do any work on your computer.

And, a programme that's supposed to protect your Windows operating system from "bad stuff" actually does something very bad to your computer (aside from "normal stuff" like hogging system resources).

While no computer operating system is perfect, users of non-Microsoft operating systems generally don't have these kinds of problems. They don't have to run these intrusive resource hogging security software programmes. Viruses and malware are the exception to the rule...not the rule.

Isn't it about time to end this abusive relationship with Microsoft software?

There are dozens of "free as in freedom", "free as in free beer" GNU/Linux based computer operating systems available today. Isn't it about time to take a look at the alternative?

Thoughts on Obama

Like most of the planet, I was incredibly happy at the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States of America for a number of reasons.

As the USA's first black president, it means there's been at least some sort of conclusion to the American Civil War...although it's taken nearly a century and a half.

It's marks an end to the eight year reign of error and terror of Bush-Cheney.

It comes at a time when the global banking system is near collapse under the weight of the high risk mortgage scandal in the U.S. The thirty year rule of the economic policies of Von Hayek and Milton Friedman are thoroughly discredited in the eyes of most of the world's people. Mainstream journalists are starting to talk about Keynes again.

When the Republicans accused Barack Obama of being a "socialist", Obama was easily able to dismiss them by asking whether he was a socialist just because when he was a kid he shared his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I thought it was brilliant.

Of course President-elect Obama isn't a socialist. I know because I have no problem at all wearing that label. Obama definitely isn't me.

It's really easy to be cynical. I know that many on the traditional left are. This is the USA...the most socially and politically conservative of any of the advanced capitalist countries.

I don't expect miracles.

What I do hope is that it opens up some space for more progressive political ideas to flourish.

I hope that the largely internet-based movement of young people doesn't go away and keeps the heat on President-elect Obama to follow through on some of his more progressive policy announcements.

I hope that he follows through and ends the war in Iraq. I also hope that he doesn't follow through with his promise to beef up the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

I hope that the U.S. becomes a little bit less imperialistic and starts to cooperate with other countries rather than dictate to them.

I hope that President Obama follows through and signs the Kyoto protocol.

I hope that President Obama has the courage to ignore the folks on Wall Street and implements some more "New Deal" oriented economic policies.

I hope that President Obama is a little bit friendlier to labour and starts making it easier for U.S. workers to join unions.

Reality being what it is, any major downturn in the U.S. economy is going to pull the rest of the world down with it. But if at least to some degree Obama is able to turn things around, he'll pull the rest of us up again.

Maybe this is too much to hope for...maybe it isn't. One thing is certain. The ruling elites are going to do their best to make sure that nothing much happens. The challenge for the rest of us is to keep the pressure on and make sure that things do happen.

Don't waste your vote...don't vote Liberal

Okay I haven't posted here in a while.

As everyone in this country knows, we have an election on October 14th.

It goes without saying that we need to get rid of Stephen Harper's Republican clones.

In the blogosphere, there's a pretty big "ABC" (Anything But Conservative) movement.

I've got a big problem with this movement. Anyone who thinks that the Liberal Party of Canada is somehow "progressive" is either suffering from amnesia or just plain stupid.

I've spent the last twenty odd years of my life trying to help out the unemployed in various ways, shapes and forms.

Unemployed folks need to feed their families, put a roof over their heads and maybe even retrain so that they can do new jobs.

What's the biggest obstacle that the unemployed face? The savage cuts to the "Employment Insurance" system imposed in the 1990's by guess who? The Chretien/Martin Liberal government.

A few years ago workers in the low paid hospitality sector were out of work due to the SARS crisis when Toronto's tourism industry went belly up. UNITE-HERE, the main union representing workers in that sector lobbied for special extended EI benefits for workers in that industry. Many of them were losing their homes or being evicted from their apartments.

What was the response of the Liberal government? "Nope". You have to bear in mind that at the time the Liberals held every single seat in Toronto.

What happened? A few Liberal hack politicians organized a charity Rolling Stones concert. Sure they raised a bit of money for a "rent bank". But given the devastation in the industry that money dried up very quickly.

Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing workers have lost their jobs in the last few years. But these same workers are still suffering the effects of the Liberal EI cuts. With the banking fiasco in the U.S., hundreds of thousands more will lose their jobs over the next few years. Guess what? All of these workers will be suffering the effects of Liberal EI cuts.

The Harper Republican wannabees have simply carried on with the Liberal war on the unemployed.

If you're unemployed, or about to become unemployed, the Liberals aren't your friends.

The Liberals would like folks to forget that they were in office for twelve long years. What's the legacy?

Does anyone remember the Liberal promise to introduce pharmacare? I didn't think so.

It's quite true that the Mulroney government took the feds out of the housing business. But in 1993 the Liberals promised to get the feds back into the biz. I lost track of how many times they announced money for housing. What did they deliver on? Nothing.

They promised money for childcare. It was only after the NDP put the screws to the Liberals during the short lived Martin minority government that the Liberals made any moves at all.

Liberal cuts in transfer payments to the provinces for healthcare created a legal climate where there have been court cases that threaten to undermine the entire medicare system.

Yeah the Liberals kept us out of George Bush II's war in Iraq. But they got us into Bush II's "other war" in Afghanistan. Over a hundred Canadian young people have paid for this disaster with their lives.

The Liberals signed the Kyoto protocol but did absolutely nothing to implement it's provisions.

Mulroney got us into the Canada/U.S. Free Trade Agreement. But who got us into NAFTA and signed-off on the notorious "Chapter 11"? The Liberals.

What about the Reformatory "Copyright Bill" which thankfully died on the order paper due to the election call. If you do anything of consequence on the internet, you've really only got one friend...namely the NDP...well maybe the Greens...but realistically they've only got a shot at maybe two seats. The Bloc Quebecois is actually worse than the Reformatories on this issue and at best the Liberals were being cagey...because they introduced a somewhat similar bill when they were in office.

The Harper Reformatories have brought in billions of dollars in corporate tax cuts. John Deere is axing 800 jobs in Welland, Ontario but is being rewarded with a tax cut. Guess who's supporting Harper on this one? Stephane Dionne and the Liberals.

The simple act of cancelling a scheduled corporate tax cut...not even "raising" corporate taxes is dismissed by Dionne as "socialism".

Not only that but Stephanne Dionne and the Liberals let Harper push through most of his right-wing agenda by not showing up in Parliament to vote against Harper.

Then of course there are all the useless drones who have occupied the Liberal backbenches for years if not decades. Dionne likes to talk about his "Liberal team". Alot of these folks should be sent back to the minor leagues.

There's an old expression "lead, follow or get out of the way". It's time for the Liberals to get out of the way.

US media conglomerates get the red carpet...Canada's manufacturing workers...the back of the hand

Different strokes for different folks as they say.

If you live in this country it's impossible not to know of the thousands of auto workers in Oshawa, Ontario who will be losing their jobs as General Motors closes its truck plant next year. Thousands more in auto parts plants and various support industries will also lose their jobs.

Over 200,000 manufacturing workers mainly in Ontario and Quebec have joined the ranks of the unemployed over the last five years.

This past week Air Canada announced they were giving two thousand more workers "the axe".

There's talk of the economy of Ontario, for over a century Canada's economic "engine" tanking so much that in a few short years the province will qualify for "equalization payments".

You would think that the government of Canada would view this as a "crisis" that needs to be dealt with.

But oh no, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has decided to do...ummmm...errr...nothing.

Okay, they did do something.

In the 1990's then Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin implemented massive cuts to the unemployment insurance system. Workers benefits were cut, qualifying periods were lengthened, and the amount of time the unemployed could collect EI benefits was shortened. They made it much harder for unemployed workers to access job training programmes.

They even renamed the programme "Employment Insurance" and so "UI" became "EI".

Because the programme wasn't paying out benefits, but workers and employers were still paying into the EI fund, a massive surplus was built up...to the tune of over $50 billion!

Everyone condemned what the Chretien/Martin government was doing.

Those on the left of the political spectrum i.e. unions, community and social action groups, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois all argued that benefits for the unemployed should be improved given the massive surplus that was building up in the EI fund.

Those on the right of the political spectrum argued that nothing more should be done for the unemployed, but rather EI premiums for employers and employees should be cut.

When Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government came to power in 2006 at first they continued following previous Liberal policy.

However in this year's budget, they finally did something about the EI surplus. They pocketed it. Harper's government legalized the theft of the EI fund.

Recently, under pressure from the US Ambassador, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and all of the fat cat US media conglomerates who control Hollywood and the recording industry, Harper's government introduced Bill C-61, "An Act to Amend the Copyright Act".

This bill is the US media mogul's wet dream come true. It's a Canadian copy of the U.S. Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)...only worse.

This bill criminalizes just about everything that the average person might do with digital media, opens the door to ISP "snooping" on your online activities and will result in massive numbers of lawsuits against internet users.

Over 28,000 law suits have been filed in the U.S., mostly against teenage kids for file sharing. Think our courts are clogged now?

The Conservative government is engaged in spin right now trying to say that citizen's "fair dealing" rights have been protected in this bill. Don't believe a word of it.

As soon as a corporation puts a "digital lock" on some media, your rights to fair dealing go out the window. Corporate digital locks are given legal priority over your fair dealing rights...just like the U.S. DMCA.

80% of the music industry is controlled by just four corporate conglomerates. Everything will be locked. You'll have no rights at all.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a user of the free software GNU/Linux computer operating system. The movie industry does not supply software that will permit me to watch a legally purchased (but encrypted) DVD movie on my computer.

Right now, I can legally download software that allows me to "break" the lock so that I can watch the movie I just paid good money for on my computer.

Under this new law, viewing a legally purchased DVD movie on my computer will be illegal. Distributing the software that allows me to view an encrypted DVD movie on my computer will also be illegal.

Just about every other kind of "format shifting" will become illegal. If you want to open up your mobile phone so that you can use it with a different mobile phone provider that will become illegal. Want to move music that you've legally downloaded from a music service from one device to another? Illegal.

Parliament is in recess over the summer. They'll resume business on September 15th. Over the summer, contact your Member of Parliament. You can do so easily via the "Copyright for Canadians" website (click here).


The NDP is taking a strong position against Bill C-61 with MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) leading a heroic effort worthy of Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Liberal and Bloc Quebecois MP's in particular need to be leaned on. The Conservatives only need the support of one of these parties to push this monstrosity through the House.

And if you need more information, by all means visit the Copyright for Canadians website at http://www.copyrightforcanadians.ca

Save Our Net!

A new coalition has formed to deal with the ongoing bandwidth "throttling" by the major internet service providers in Canada called Save Our Net. (click on the link).

The Canadian Radio & Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will apparently be holding hearings on net neutrality this coming September.

"Save Our Net" will be holding a number of events over the course of the summer.

Gotcha!

For months Canadian federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice has been trying to introduce a U.S.-style "Digital Millenium Copyright Act" under pressure from big U.S. media conglomerates, their puppets in Canada and the U.S. Ambassador.

Unfortunately for Prentice, (and fortunately for Canadians!) he's been up against some very active, informed and smart "netizens".

Chief among those smart netizens is Professor Michael Geist, Canada Chair of Internet and E-commerce law at the University of Ottawa.

This week Professor Geist exposed that Industry Canada computers have been used to edit Wikipedia entries concerning Minister Prentice's proposed "copyright reforms".

Public property is being used for partisan purposes.

It also shows that Prentice and/or his surrogates at Industry Canada are completely clueless when it comes to internet technology. Figuring out who owns the IP address of someone who has edited a Wikipedia entry isn't exactly rocket science.

And it is these same clueless individuals who will make decisions about both copyright reform and net neutrality. These decisions will affect how every Canadian is able to use the internet.

See Michael Geist's Blog

Microsoft ... Loves'm and leaves'm

The head honchos at the British Library must feel like they've been ship wrecked on love beach.

About three years ago, the British Library and Microsoft partnered up and announced plans to digitize 100,000 old out of copyright books. Wasn't Microsoft a wonderful corporate citizen?

The British Library acted as a so-called "independent" ally of Microsoft in their heavy-handed bid to get ISO (International Standards Organization) approval for their brand spanking new 6,000 page "Office Open XML" file formats.

(An even more broken version of this broken file format is used in Microsoft Office 2007).

Microsoft's committee stacking and general political interference in the ISO process worked and they got their broken file formats approved in February, helping them to perpetuate their Microsoft Office monopoly for a few more years.

The ISO's credibility in the tech community is now very close to zero.

Move the calendar forward to this month.

Microsoft has just announced that they are abandoning their digitization project at the British Library.

Microsoft just wants to be friends.

See:
Goodbye, British Library
Microsoft "Live Search" Blog
Alex Brown, the British Library and OOXML