Watch this entry for changes
moar funny pictures
The 2009 G8 Summit will be held in L’Aquila from 8 to 10 July. The main issues on the Italian Presidency’s agenda are the economic crisis and a boost to growth, relaunching international trade, welfare policies, climate changes, development in the poor countries and in Africa, food security and safety, access to water, health, and the resolution of regional crises.
Non-profits such as Make Proverty History hopes: http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/en/blog/what-can-we-hope-italian-g8
Update: The environmentalists are sad about G8 non-targeted announcement! Will try to post an op-ed ASAP about this.
Last day: The last working day for the 2009 Summit will begin with a working breakfast from 08:30 to 10:00, in a format comprising the G8 + Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa + the African Union Commission, with the addition of the IEA, World Bank, IMF, ILO, OECD, WTO and UN. The topic for discussion will be the impact of the crisis on Africa.
From 10:30 to 12:30 the final working session will be devoted to the issue of food safety and security; it will be attended by all of the Summit’s participants.
People would say that I put my foot in my mouth when I say that tarsands are not just the sole to blame. (you can ask me more of why) Why? I now am witnessing the strike in the city where I am residing where kids could not go to public daycare, play in some of the parks due to: where temporary dumps are located, and I am not going to ramble on what else. When asked about what is more important to the country of Canada given the choices: environment or economy? You guess it right, its the money that speaks volumes. I would love to have our economy going, but is there also a way to make sure that we all can look at what we consume and what we can do to reduce too??? In terms of packaging, I have a tad of mixed messaging on that due to the fact that, common sense prevails when it comes to packaging and shipping safetly to the customers. Would you want your computer parts come in falling apart? Or your iPod screen shattered? Or your bluetooth all broken into pieces? Yes these have lots of packaging, but to reduce and to creatively think of reduce or even think about purchase a used or out of a box packaging from a store, like TigerDirect, you can save some money and some packaging(s).
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In its 2009 report, Canada is cited as the leading supplier of ecstasy in North America as well as a major producer and shipper of methamphetamine for markets around the world.
Wow! to continue the note:
Antonio Maria Costa, director of the UNODC, called for universal access to drug treatment and said: “People who take drugs need medical help, not criminal retribution.”
He said that was one of the best ways of shrinking the market as people with serious drug problems provide the bulk of demand. He added that legalisation of drugs was not the answer.
Remember the prohibition times in the 1920s for the alcohol? It did not work. The rapid rise of gangs came up during that period. Yeah, those were called the roaring 1920s.
Lets look at the Canada’s Vancouver’s supervised injection site. Apparently, UN asked Canada to shut down the site in 2008. It makes one wonder how this report reflects upon on the findings and standings of Canada.
There are a few questions to ponder.
Is UN contradicting themselves by saying that drug addicts needs help and not jail time and meanwhile to ask Canada to look at to shut down the legal supervised injection site??
Is legalizing marijuana a necessity?
Do we need to protect people from drugs?
Education? Prevention?
Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/24/united-nations-report-drug-use
Vancouver Safe Injection Site: http://ow.ly/fNJg
Shut Injection Site: http://ow.ly/fNJo
Insite: http://www.vch.ca/sis/
Usually I would post entertainment stuff to my entertainment blog, but I would post this entry here first. It was extremely difficult not to have an opinion, which I do have. I believe that Perez has the right to be a human, be upset, be who he is and he may say things he might regret. This will include all human beings, even if it hurts others, if people apologize for their behaviors, we can only take for the value as it is.
Links: http://perezhilton.com/
http://twitter.com/PEREZHILTON
I have the longest urge or desire to write about $ woes. Since past weekend, or the past few months, there were not just money woes, there were political undertones along with $ issues. There would be some crossover with some policies and money.
*This writing is a suggestively.
Money becomes very much not an answer to all woes. Solutions becomes something that are coming from grassroots or somewhere unexpected. Money does not become end all. Some asked is the age of capitalism come to the end? Is the age of Marxism regained its momentum?
What these past few months, the world have become a reluctant global citizen(s) and becoming a conscious back to the roots folks. People feel they have to become the jones, as a result, our world could not handle rapid amount of the growth. We look inwards again. We believe that looking that way, as a result, would or might lead us to happiness? Trading with our own tribe or country would lead us to prosperity? Since there is no definition of how much money is too much, its infinite. (in both capitalist and Marxist.)
Lets look at what one owns: clothing, food and home and that are the basics. These are the necessities and that would lead to happiness and warmth and a sense of safety. If one doesn’t have one or any of those, one can be very stressful. In terms of happiness, probably not too happy if one needs to seek for clothing. If need to seek for housing or food, well, still not too happy. Most will seek for clothes first, because most would not do without clothing. Then, we should seek for jobs before seeking for food and shelter. Since clothes are taken care of, one can seek for a job. Without money, one could not have a safe shelter or food. Hopefully soon, that one person can get some assistance to seek for a job from job fair. Once again, its stressful to do that. Once job is obtained, the cycle begin again….
This past weeks: pretty much for the last 2 weeks, these news have been there on our headlines or not so on our radar.
Note: Oil once again rise to more than we can afford, that is all: Is $250 a barrel of oil near?
Before we head into more of this discussion, there was another news of note:
Ottawa station 1st in world to sell biofuel from wheat straw. Really! We are frightful of oil prices heading up and we are looking for alternative sources such as: biofuel that also uses food sources: that also makes environmentialists upset. Other sources of energies, such as sun, wind, terminal or anything else are not that feasible to get our economy running as of yet in the next few decades. I am not going to discuss about solutions here at this blog entry, but to note, discussing about prices would not ease the usage of power or cars at all. Instead, we really do need to seek for more venues to more possible solutions and backups for fuel supplies.
Next news item: Canada to stop producing medicial isotopes.
That news item has been on the radar in Canada and perhaps all over the world, if you do pay some scant attention since 2006ish. Why it is so important: One type of isotope: Cobalt-60 is used to treat tumors and cancer in hospitals. Canada is the biggest producer in the world for those isotopes. It is worrysome when one’s government gives 7 years (2016) notice to find alternatives. As I scan through the news readers, its rather disappointing to see a few mentions, but a few of them in which there are, I will link them here. Stay tuned for more of these issues.
Canadian researchers find substitute for scarce medical isotope
Recently, US, Canada, and UK came out with their annual 2008 reports that their per capita debts are going up. Who would be surprised at a time of recession! Each of these countries have a great deal of consumer debts! We cannot forget there are also other developed countries like EU countries, but these 3 countries plus Iceland are particularly worrisome.
In US, the increase can be pinned on the explosion of federal borrowing during the recession and an aging population that is driving up the costs of Medicare and Social Security. In Canada, personal debt is reaching approximately to $1.3t Cdn & $50b Cdn in federal debt. In Canada, similarly federal debt are gone to: bailing out the car companies, aging population, unemployment and social infrastructures. Meanwhile in the UK, they will be borrowing from the public purse approximately 175b pounds for the 2009-2010 year. What are troublesome about these statistics: personal debts are just too high in all these countries, which are scantly addressed. Citizens in each countries would barely have ideas of their countries debt because their debt are so enormous. (In which their debts are so burdensome that they would require to declare bankruptcy.)
Issue: Devaulation of currencies: are the currencies like US$ or pound or yuan (China) worth what they are?
Is the good of the monetary policies caused by constant politicting?
Stay tuned when this blog will discuss about saving
Resources: US debt clock
The tasting came during the kick-off of festivities for the 10th anniversary of the creation of Canada’s northern territory of Nunavut.
Canada’s governor general, Michaelle Jean, has helped to butcher and eat a seal in an apparent act of solidarity with hunters.
The rest please read: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gbrMN3D0o80ZYBI51iYblUm3S0KA
Commentary: EU voted to ban commercial seal hunting and selling with some exceptions. As we are limiting the Inuit’s way of living, we are doing ourselves disservice cutting sustainability of our food supplies. We are already having issues of over (consuming) therefore its to meet the demand, it will be a contentious issue to cut off or to get furious at seal hunt, in which unless we are Inuits, we would really need some understanding of their landscapes and cultures, before saying they are cruel in their animal hunting.
On my daily readings of my blogs, one of my stumble upons:
Are Patients in Universal Healthcare Countries Less Satisfied?
Firstly, one already know that this article is pro-Universal healthcare. Secondly, you got to know me, I am a Canadian, therefore, do receive Universal healthcare. Thirdly, some of the facts are not exactly correct: Canada is single-payer with provinces deciding how health care is spent and strict limits on private care, prescription drugs are heavily subsidized. Single-payer, hmm, not all provinces are prescribed to that and prescription drugs are cheap at all, they are so pricey! arrgh! How we define universal healthcare means ease of access to doctors, which is an universal problem as population grows older. Thats actually a worldwide problem! The schooling for being a doctor or going to the specialties are not cheap in North American colleges/universities. How do we expect, universal access, when doctors are lured away to more profitable jobs? (consulting)
Meanwhile, for the poor folks, access for ID are in a sad state, therefore, there goes universal healthcare. For others, distance could be the barrier, mobility could be an issue, languages or unknown issues to medical staff could be the reasons. In terms of waiting times, it would have to go back to the above issue: training staffs, hiring people and efficiency of the locales.
As a result, money does a lot of talking and bottom line does matter. How sad.
Above blog is the opinion of selected anonymous conversations this blogger had in number of occasions with unnamed medical professionals who used to work in the field. Some were based on Canadian newspaper: GlobeandMail and TheStar.
