Very bad publicity for the PM. He then added to the man’s pain by offering him instant citizenship.
Harper then brought in “master of the dark arts” Lynton Crosby to advise on improving survey numbers. He advised the party to make an issue of a Muslim woman who did not wish to remove her face veil during the swearing in of citizenship. This is a symbolic event in which a local politician gets a photo op. Long before the swearing in, that woman would have had her picture taken without the niqab. In all of Canadian history there have only been two women who refused to bare their faces to the world. BUT it did the trick. Discussion and disagreement followed. It also served to uncover some unpleasant bigotry on the part of Canadians. Harper and his ilk omitted that the Canadian Supreme Court has already dealt with the issue and declared her right to wear it. One to seize the day, Harper then went on TV to declare that women employed in the federal service would be banned from wearing the niqab at work. To date no woman has ever shown up in one. Today on the radio in BC I heard ads read by Harper bringing up Allan Schoenborn who murdered his three children and has vowed to kill his wife. There is no doubt that he is a murderer but he is insane and in a secure facility. Harper is intimating in the ads that somehow this puts the public in danger. Despicable behavior is what I call it. Crosby is described as favouring what is called a wedge strategy, whereby the party he advises introduces a divisive or controversial social issue into a campaign, aligning its own stance with the dissenting faction of its opponent party, with the goal of causing vitriolic debate inside the opposing party, defection of its supporters, and the legitimising of sentiment which had previously been considered inappropriate Wikipedia Crosby had been influential in the Australian 2001 election race. He had one candidate for PM claim that refugees from Asia were throwing their children overboard in order to improve their chances of claiming refuge, a totally false accusation. Democracy is a rare and fragile thing. Elections should be fought on the issues that are relevant to the country, not based on fear and bigotry. Mr. Harper send Mr. Nasty packing! Sources: Wikipedia
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That is not a surprising as his daughter is married to the Ugandan President’s son.
Kutesa, a wealthy businessman, is also widely seen by critics to have benefited from his close ties with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, an increasingly authoritarian leader who has held power for nearly three decades. Kutesa's daughter is married to Museveni's son. Al Jazeera Pres. Museveni has been in power since the ousting of Idi Amin Dada, a particularly nasty dictator who ended his reign in the ‘90s. Opinion: It seems incongruous that the UN can build unneeded multimillion dollar conference centres in a small Asian enclave when it cannot meet the basic food needs of refugees. Bottom line – we can’t do any of this without your support. WFP is 100% voluntarily funded, so every donation counts. World Food Programmes If something as important as feeding starving children is supported solely by citizen donations, then shouldn’t something as optional as a conference centre be built by those donating dribs and drabs of money as well? Sources: Al Jazeera UN General Assembly Not so lucky are the crew and passengers of a missing container ship. The US ship radioed a distress call stating that they had lost power while in the path of the storm. There were 33 people on the vessel. The coast guard has been unable to find the freighter but a life ring has been recovered. At the time that the vessel went missing, waves over 40 feet(10+ metres) were roiling the ocean. Planes have discovered a debris field and a container believed to be from the vessel. The El Faro was based in Jacksonville Florida and was headed for Puerto Rico on a routine trip.
Climatologists have predicted more extreme weather events as the Earth warms. When the temperature warms the oceans, more water can be taken into the atmosphere. When you get more water, more clouds and more temperature variations you’ve got the table set for a menu of extreme weather. Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology published the results of their work which predicted that there would be 60% more extreme rainfall events and 27 extremely hot days. It found that one in five extreme rain events experienced globally are a result of the 0.85C global rise in temperatre since the Industrial Revolution, as power plants, factories and cars continue to pump out greenhouse gas emissions. Sources: NOAA CNN The Guardian Translated from Prensa Libre:
During Thursday night and early Friday, the anguished father dug and dug."They are alive, are alive," he was said to nourish the hope of finding them. The family dog remained on top of the spot where the house used to be. The rescue workers operating heavy equipment must move carefully while there is still hope that some people may still be alive so that they don’t collapse buildings. But after two days hope is fading. When Sunday evening is reached, the operation will likely switch to a recovery one. Rescue workers are working in shifts but will have to suspend operations if rain continues to fall. The rest of the hillside is unstable and may slide as well. Some buildings are already under 20 metres of mud. Sources: BBC Presa Libre Patient one was injured in a dirt bike accident in 2014. It resulted in complete paralysis from the waist down. He was implanted with the scaffolding and has since regained some motor functions. Patient two was injured in a motorcycle accident. She has regained some sensory function but no motor function. Patient three fell from a hunting platform and was paralyzed from his chest down. He has since regained feeling in his legs and some bladder control.
Spinal injuries are catastrophic to the person injured, but also to their partners, parents, children. The Public Health Agency of Canada tried to estimate the cost over a lifetime for caring for severely injured people. It estimated that for those who still have functioning arms, the cost would amount to about $1.5 million. Those who developed quadriplegia would cost the health system approximately $3 million. With Canada’s relatively small population of around 35 million, the annual costs work out to about $2.67 billion each year. As well as the personal suffering and social costs, there are costs to society in loss of productivity. And if family is caring for the person, their loss in productivity. When people are paralyzed from the chest down, they often lose their control of bowels and bladder. Sexual functioning is also impaired. Severe spinal cord injuries often result in a shortened life span as well. Sources: Bloomberg Business In Vivo Therapeutics Public Health Agency of Canada |
Barbara McPherson
Blogger, gardener, farmer. Working toward food security and a 30 foot
diet. Addicted to reading. Love this planet, especially my little corner
on Vancouver Island, Canada Archives
October 2016
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