Madoff gets 150 years

ik - uhm, does this make sense?

 

Madoff gets 150 years

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years behind bars for fleecing hundreds of investors out of tens of billions of dollars in a massive Ponzi scheme.

 

CBC News

Wal-Mart worker killed in bargain-hunting stampede

ik - this isn't funny. Is our consumer society really this warped?

The Associated Press

November 28, 2008 at 11:34 AM EST

NEW YORK — A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers as consumers, who had snapped their wallets shut since September, flocked to stores before dawn Friday to grab deals on everything from TVs to toys for the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, feared to be the weakest in decades.

Retailers extended their hours — some opening at midnight — and offered deals that promised to be more impressive than even the deep discounts that shoppers found throughout November.

The 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., an hour after the store opened, when a throng of shoppers "physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground," a police statement said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in Bentonville, Ark., would not confirm the reports of a stampede during the day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, but said a "medical emergency" caused them to close the store. A 28-year-old pregnant woman and three other shoppers suffered minor injuries and also were taken to hospitals for observation, a police spokesman said.

By 3:43 a.m., about 50 people had lined up in preparation for the 5 a.m. opening at a Wal-Mart store in Cary, N.C. Shannon Keane, 38, of Cary, who arrived with her son, Miles, 13, at midnight, said she was buying only one item today: an iPod for her son.

"He really wanted this one thing," Ms. Keane said. "So we're here for this one thing."

Ms. Keane, who was recently laid off from her job at an insurance company, said she was on a budget this year because her unemployment checks were also helping support family in Colorado.

"I really can't focus on gifts," she said. "I have to focus more on helping them pay their bills. It's hard," she said of being a single mom on a small income. "I've always filled the tree. But you have to be honest. This year, I'll do the best I can."

Best Buy, which threw its doors open at 5 a.m. offered such early morning specials as a 49-inch Panasonic plasma HDTV for $899.99 (U.S.) and a $189.99 GPS device by Garmin. Toys "R" Us, was offering up to 60 per cent discounts from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.

But it was clear that despite the crowds that showed up for the early morning deals, shoppers' worries about the economy — massive layoffs, tightening credit and dwindling retirement accounts — tempered buying.

Many consumers, clutching the store circulars, were focused on a few items Friday and said they were slashing their overall holiday budgets from a year ago as they juggle paying their rent and other bills while putting food on the table.

"I have never slept here before to save a few bucks, but with the economy so bad I thought that even a few dollars helps. Saving a few bucks here and there helps," said Analita Garcia of Falls Church, Va., who arrived at a local Best Buy store at 7 a.m. Thursday with 10 other family members. She bought a Dynax LCD 32-inch TV for $400, slashed from $500, along with an iPod and several DVDs.

"This year a lot of people I know won't be getting Christmas presents. I have to pay the rent and bills, and I have two little ones at home to think of," Ms. Garcia added.

At the Best Buy store in Syracuse, N.Y., a line snaked past stores and around walkways on the second floor of Carousel Center a few moments before the store's 5 a.m. opening — about eight hours after some people near the front of the line had arrived. Rob Schoeneck, the mall's manager, estimated about 1,000 people were waiting for the electronics store to open and said the crowd was about the same size as a year ago.

Inside, Kira Carinci, 33, a teacher from Cicero, N.Y., searched for the $80 "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" video game and guitar controller bundle for her son but said she is more concerned about money than she was last holiday season. She said she had set aside a certain amount for Christmas spending.

"I don't usually save, so this year is a little different," she said.

Black Friday — which falls on the day after Thanksgiving and officially starts the holiday shopping period — received its name because it historically was the day when a surge of shoppers helped stores break into profitability for the full year. But this year, with rampant promotions of up to 70 per cent throughout the month amid a deteriorating economy, the power of this landmark day for the retail industry could be fading.

Still, while it isn't a predictor of holiday season sales, the day after Thanksgiving is an important barometer of people's willingness to spend for the rest of the season. And particularly this year, analysts will dissect how the economy is shaping shoppers' buying habits, including whether they will spring for big-ticket items or focus on small purchases like gloves and hats.

Another issue that Wall Street analysts are watching is how shoppers will pay for the gifts. Shoppers, who may be maxed out on their credit cards or trying to manage to their money better, have been increasingly using cash or debit cards instead of credit cards to pay for purchases in recent months.

"No credit cards this year," said Linda Patton of Louisburg, N.C. who was shopping at a local Wal-Mart on Friday. "We're trying not to carry over any bills."

Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend of Friday through Sunday accounted for about 10 per cent of overall holiday sales, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp.

The group hasn't released estimates for Black Friday sales this year, but experts believe it will remain one of the season's biggest selling days, even as shoppers remain deliberate in their spending.

Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, expects to see the surge of shoppers dramatically taper off throughout the day and into the weekend.

"I think we are going to see the busiest Black Friday ever, but will it carry over past 10 a.m.?" he said. "The bottom line is a great Black Friday does not make a season."

Not addressing poverty's root causes costing Ontario $13B annually: study

ik - from CBC.CA

 

Not addressing the root causes of poverty is costing the Ontario economy about $13.1 billion annually, according to a study released on Thursday.

The study, entitled The Cost of Poverty, was conducted by the Ontario Association of Food Banks in collaboration with Canadian economists over a six-month period.

"It is wrong that so many Ontarians are forced to turn to food banks in our province," said Adam Spence, executive director of the food bank association. "But there is also an economic imperative to reduce poverty."

The study examines the relationship between poverty, poor health, lower productivity, and the social and economic future of children. It provides a cost-benefit analysis of poverty in Ontario from the standpoint of lost government revenues and lost economic activity.

"Poverty is a personal tragedy for everybody it inflicts. That alone justifies action," said Don Drummond, chief economist for TD Bank Financial Group, who served as a project adviser for the report.

The study's findings further strengthen the need to address poverty because it clearly illustrates the impact it is having on society, Drummond said.

The study finds that because of poverty, all Ontarians pay through increased costs for health care, crime and social assistance and in the loss of tax revenue that accompanies low earnings.

The social costs of poverty, in the private and public sectors, make up about 6.6 per cent of Ontario's gross domestic product, according to the report.

The study concludes the federal and provincial government are losing a combined total of as much as $13.1 billion a year in foregone tax revenues because of poverty.

Report says everyone pays for poverty

By not addressing poverty, every household in the province is paying an up to extra $2,895 each year.

"The cost is so large that substantial efforts are warranted to fight it," Drummond said.

The research confirms that poverty has implications for all Ontarians, not just the poor, said James Milway, executive director of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity.

"Whenever we hear that a program to help alleviate poverty by removing barriers or providing resources is going to cost X million dollars, there is seldom any mention of the savings that will accrue — there is an assumption that there are no offsetting savings — but nothing could be further from the truth," said John Stapleton, an innovation fellow with the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation.

Developing a strategy that is primarily focused on attacking the roots of poverty could generate substantial government savings, the report indicates.

The study doesn't say how much the Ontario government would need to spend to end poverty but it urges the government to invest in areas such as childhood development, programs to improve school performance, higher education for at-risk youth, language training and workforce integration for new immigrants.

With files from the Canadian Press

 

Remind Me Not to Dine at Cape Canaveral

ik- a tidbit from the wire about the current shuttle mission:

Monday, the shuttle crew and three space station crew began unloading cargo as part of an outer space home-improvement mission that will allow the station crew to expand from three to six members next year.

Among the items unloaded were a second toilet for the station, an exercise machine, kitchenette, two sleeping compartments and a water recycling system that will allow astronauts to purify urine and sweat, turning it into drinkable water.

Vague d'incidents racistes liés à l'élection d'Obama

Jesse Washington
Associated Press
Philadephie

Si Barack Obama a déjà écrit l'histoire en devenant le premier Noir élu à la Maison-Blanche, l'après-scrutin est marqué par des incidents plus nombreux qu'à l'habitude qui montrent que le racisme a encore de beaux jours devant lui aux États-Unis.

Un peu partout dans le pays, la police a relevé de nombreux incidents plus ou moins graves allant du vandalisme à l'agression physique, dans au moins un cas, en passant par les injures et menaces proférées aussi bien par des adultes que des adolescents ou des enfants.

Il y a eu des «centaines» d'incidents racistes depuis l'élection du 4 novembre, soit beaucoup plus que la normale, affirme Mark Potok, directeur de l'Intelligence Project au Southern Poverty Law Center, une organisation qui recense les crimes de haine.

À Snellville, en Géorgie (sud), une mère noire affirme que dans le bus scolaire, au lendemain de l'élection présidentielle, un élève a lancé à sa fille de 9 ans: «J'espère qu'Obama sera assassiné». Cette nuit-là, affirme Denene Millner, quelqu'un a saccagé la pelouse devant la maison de sa belle-soeur, déchiqueté les pancartes pro-Obama qui s'y trouvaient et laissé devant la porte deux boîtes à pizza remplies d'excréments humains.

Mme Millner est partagée entre peur et colère. «Je ne peux pas dire que tous les Blancs de Snellville sont mauvais ou anti-Obama et prêts à saccager ma propriété parce qu'un ou deux imbéciles l'ont fait», dit-elle. «Mais cela vous amène certainement à avoir un regard un peu différent sur les gens avec lesquels vous vivez, à vous demander de quoi ils sont capables et ce qu'ils pensent vraiment.»

Selon Mark Potok, de nombreux Blancs «ont l'impression de perdre tout ce qu'ils connaissent et qu'on leur vole d'une certaine manière le pays construit par leurs ancêtres». L'arrivée d'un président noir dans un pays qui pratiquait encore la ségrégation raciale dans les années 1960 constitue «le changement le plus profond qu'ait connu ce pays en matière de «race» depuis la guerre de Sécession», analyse Williams Ferris, directeur adjoint du Centre pour l'étude du Sud américain à l'université de Caroline du Nord. «Cela ébranle les fondations sur lesquelles notre pays vit depuis des siècles.»

Au lendemain de l'élection d'Obama, Barbara Tyler, une lycéenne noire de Marietta (Géorgie), a déclaré avoir entendu des commentaires haineux d'élèves blancs sur le président-élu.

A Covington, dans le même État, un collégien dit avoir été suspendu pour avoir porté une chemise Obama dans son établissement après que le directeur de l'établissement eut demandé aux écoliers de ne pas arborer de signes politiques. Selon la mère de l'élève, Eshe Riviears, le directeur lui a expliqué: «que cela vous plaise ou non nous sommes dans le Sud et il y a beaucoup de gens qui ne sont pas contents» de l'élection d'Obama.

Parmi les autres incidents recensés, quatre étudiants de l'université de Caroline du Nord ont reconnu avoir écrit des commentaires anti-Obama dans un lieu public dont un à connotation raciste.

A Standish, dans le Maine (nord-est), un tableau à l'intérieur d'un petit magasin annonçait une loterie sur l'assassinat «d'Oussama Obama». Les clients pouvaient s'inscrire pour parier jusqu'à un dollar sur la date à laquelle serait assassinée selon eux Barack Obama. Au bas du tableau, cette phrase: «Espérons que quelqu'un gagne.»

Des graffitis racistes ont été découverts à Long Island, dans l'État de New York, à Kilgore (Texas) tandis que dans la région de Los Angeles des croix gammées, des injures racistes et des «retourne en Afrique» ont été peints sur des trottoirs, des maisons et des voitures.

Des écoliers âgés de 7 à 9 ans ont scandé «Assassinez Obama» dans un bus scolaire à Rexburg (Idaho), selon un responsable local. Des mannequins noirs ont été pendus à des arbres à Mount Desert Island, dans le Maine, a rapporté le Bangor Daily News.

Des croix ont été brûlées dans le jardin de partisans d'Obama à Hardwick (New Jersey) et Apolacan Tonwship (Pennsylvanie). Cette pratique est habituellement utilisée comme moyen d'intimidation par les groupes prônant la «suprématie» des Blancs comme le Ku Klux Klan.

Un adolescent noir de New York dit avoir été attaqué à la batte de base-ball le soir de l'élection par quatre hommes blancs qui ont crié «Obama».

Enfin dans la banlieue de Forest Hills, un homme noir dit avoir trouvé une note assortie d'une injure raciste sur son pare-brise, disant: «maintenant que tu as voté pour Obama, fait attention à ta maison.»

Un Anglo Obama au Quebec? Pffttt.

Lysiane Gagnon pose une excellente question à la suite de l'éléction d'Obama:

 

Et chez nous? Un arabe ou même un juif de très vieille souche pourrait-il être premier ministre du Canada? Pas sûr. Un anglophone, même bilingue, pourrait-il être premier ministre du Québec? Encore moins sûr...

Canada is Upside-down

Two stories side-by-each in the papers this morning:

"Have-not is no more: N.L. (Newfoundland and Labrador) off equalization"

"Ontario will qualify for $347 million in equalization payments next year."

What's next? Quebec signing the Constitution?

NHL players use 13-year-old Ottawa resident as goaltender (National Post, 26 Aug 2008, Page S8)

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NHL players use 13-year-old Ottawa resident as goaltender

National Post
26 Aug 2008

Christian Rusu will have quite the story to tell when he goes back to school with his Grade 8 class next week. One minute late yesterday morning, the 13-year-old house league goaltender was laughing with his friends, taking off his equipment in the...read more...

Related:
Down a goalie, Senators recruit 13-year-old Goalie: Eventually got used to the tough shots

Tech Tags: National Post newspaper Sports

Importantes Coupures à Ottawa

Oi!!

Dans Le Droit d'aujourd'hui..

Les résidents d’Ottawa doivent s’attendre à des choix difficiles à l’approche du budget 2008. Afin de maintenir le gel de l’impôt foncier, la Ville étudie la possibilité de fermer 28 centres communautaires, de cinq à neuf bibliothèques, deux casernes d’incendie, deux piscines extérieures, neuf pataugeoires, deux arénas, de couper 697 places et de fermer trois garderies ainsi que deux parcs de planches à roulettes.

Selon un document intitulé Snapshot of the 2008 draft budget, la promesse du maire Larry O’Brien de geler l’impôt se traduirait par d’importantes coupures de services et de programmes totalisant 63,2 millions $.

Jonathan Kay: Off the reservation

In an ongoing series, National Post writers are being asked a simple question: If you had the power to change a single thing about Canada, what would it be? In today’s instalment, Jonathan Kay proposes a radical reform to our native policy.

When it comes to what needs fixing, every problem in this country pales beside our signature disgrace: the state of Canada’s native reserves. The worst are bastions of truly Third World-style poverty and decrepitude, infectious disease, and stomach-churning social pathologies.

In strictly numerical terms, the problem is not large. There are about 400,000 natives living on reserves ­ just 1.3% of the Canadian population. It would be a simple thing to cap this wellspring of misery if we had the right policies in place.

But that’s the problem: We don’t.

Every time the native file makes the news, the proposed solutions are the same: more money and more self-government. The federal government spends over $8-billlion on reserve-resident natives, over $80,000 per reserve-resident household (a statistic I never get tired of quoting, because it puts to rest the idea that natives are somehow being nickel-and-dimed under the current system). We have handed over all sorts of powers to native bands, even creating a new extra-constitutional order of government in the process.

None of this has worked, and the reason is simple: Our policy of propping up reserves with massive government subsidies flies in the face of three well-observed empirical truths learned the hard way in societies around the world.

(1) The modern global economy is driven by cities, which serve as hubs for high-value knowledge industries, skilled workers, and transportation networks. Rural economies have been dying since the Second World War. No government would pay white Canadians to confine themselves to the jobless outback, hundreds of miles from the country’s universities and job centers. Yet that is exactly what we do with our native population.

(2) One of the great lessons of the 20th century was that collective land ownership is a recipe for economic disaster. Behind the iron curtain, agricultural productivity exploded once people were given the right to own their own parcels of land outright, and sell the proceeds for profit. As Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has definitively shown, denying land title to slum dwellers is one of the main impediments to prosperity in poor societies.

Yet almost two decades after the Iron curtain fell, our reserves are still run ­ literally ­ like Marxist workers’ collectives (to the extent anyone actually works). Every once in a while, a Canadian reporter wanders around a reserve and writes shocked dispatches about the run-down quality of housing stock. Question: Would you pay good money to take care of your house if you couldn’t sell it, couldn’t use it to acquire mortgage financing, and you knew someone else would build you a new one as soon as the old one collapsed?

(3) Welfare destroys societies. Temporary government entitlements such as EI are fine for helping people get back on their feet. But when they become the permanent income source for an entire community ­ be it an inner-city American ghetto or a Canadian native reserve ­ civic life unravels. In a welfare society, the discipline and pride of workaday life are absent, men lose their social function, alcoholism carries no price (the cheque arrives whether you’re drunk or sober), and people are encouraged to view government as nothing but a platform for doling out booty.

All three of these principles have guided Western policy-makers for generations. Yet when it comes to natives, we pretend we never learned them. Many aboriginal advocates claim that racism is the main barrier facing natives. I would say it’s the opposite: We somehow have convinced ourselves that native societies have the collective, superhuman ability to resist the gravitational socioeconomic forces governing every other society on earth. Like all utopian experiments, this one has led to disaster and heartache ­ played out in everything from water contamination to glue-sniffing to abused children.

My fix for Canada is to make life better for natives by treating them like real human beings who are governed by the same empirically observed weaknesses and incentives as the rest of humanity ­ not Rousseauvian noble savages.

A proper native policy would be guided by the three principles listed above. The most decrepit and remote reserves, such as Kashechewan and Natuashish, would simply be torn down ­ their inhabitants installed at government expense in population centres of the residents’ choice. The hundreds of millions of dollars that go into running these hellholes would be used to teach job skills, detox the drunks, educate the children, and otherwise integrate the families into mainstream Canadian life.

Those reserves that have a fighting chance at developing a self-sustaining local economy ­ either through proximity to urban centers, tourism, agri-business or resource extraction ­ would be reorganized as municipal corporations. Land would be privatized and turned over to individuals, who would then own it in fee simple. Natives would stay if they chose ­ but only if they could find the employment necessary to feed themselves: Aside from treaty-mandated entitlements and regular government social programs, they would be cut off from the government dole.

Self-government would be possible, but only in the same limited way that any Canadian city or town is self-governing. The conceit that native reserves can be reconceived as culturally distinct “nations” would be given up in favour of a model that promotes integration.

All this, of course, would represent a massive legal and political undertaking ­ requiring not only the destruction of the Indian Act, but also, possibly, a rewriting of the Constitution. Even the act of parceling out reserve land to band members would itself be a decades-long exercise, requiring armies of land surveyors and bureaucrats to accomplish. This is a radical fix I am proposing, and I have no illusions about how wrenching the experience of integration would be for the affected communities.

That said, it is a trauma that need only be inflicted once ­ as opposed to the status quo, under which every generation of reserve-resident natives suffers under our dysfunctional system afresh. Which, I ask, is the more inhumane?

Burmese monks 'to be sent away'

Thousands of monks detained in Burma's main city of Rangoon will be sent to prisons in the far north of the country, sources have told the BBC. About 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week as the military government has tried to stamp out pro-democracy protests. They are being held at a disused race course and a technical college.

Sources from a government-sponsored militia said they would soon be moved away from Rangoon. The monks have been disrobed and shackled, the sources told BBC radio's Burmese service. There are reports that the monks are refusing to eat. The country has seen almost two weeks of sustained popular unrest, in the most serious challenge to the military leadership for more than two decades.

The authorities said 10 people were killed as the protests were dispersed, though diplomats and activists say the number of dead was many times higher. The banned opposition broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma has issued a picture which they say shows the body of a monk floating near the mouth of the Rangoon river.

Last week several monasteries were raided, and there were reports of monks being beaten and killed. Now, with many monks behind bars, the demonstrations have now died down.

On Monday, the centre of Rangoon was almost back to normal, a reporter, who cannot be identified for security reasons, told the BBC. Most shops and temples have reopened and people appear to be getting on with their lives. But there seemed to be a group of soldiers around every corner, and very few monks about, the reporter said. Their eyes are on the international community, their only hope is that the world will see their plight and help them.

This is notable in a city where monks can usually be spotted going in and out of temples, shopping at street stalls and chatting in tea shops.

The atmosphere in Rangoon is tense, the reporter said. Local people are well aware that the monks have been locked away and are afraid that they will be next. The crackdown, in which unarmed protesters were beaten, tear-gassed, and shot at, has attracted condemnation from abroad, and even from Burma's neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

As well as preventing the demonstrations, the military junta has tried to block news of the unrest filtering out. Troops are stopping young men on the streets and in cars, searching for cameras that may be used to smuggle out images.

Most internet links are still down and mobile phone networks disrupted. Official media has been warning Burmese people against co-operating with or using foreign news outlets. A TV message on Monday referred to the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia as "assassins on air".

UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari was set to meet Burma's military leader General Than Shwe on Tuesday, officials said. On Saturday, when Mr Gambari travelled to the new capital Naypidaw, he was allowed to meet only more junior members of the government. On Sunday, Mr Gambari held talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon - the first foreigner to be permitted to do so for 10 months.

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Why Does the Mayor Hate Aylmer So?

Aylmer hante à nouveau Bureau

publié dans Le Droit et écrit par je ne sais plus qui....

Le secteur Aylmer continue de hanter Marc Bureau. Deux ex-conseillers municipaux préparent une sortie publique, afin de dénoncer les propos du maire de Gatineau sur la vitesse à Aylmer.

André Levac et Alain Labonté n'ont pas apprécié certaines déclarations du maire Bureau qui les visaient directement. "Il nous a accusés de ne pas avoir fait notre travail de conseiller, on va lui démontrer le contraire", a dit André Levac.

Le maire Bureau a déclaré que si aucune mesure d'atténuation de vitesse n'avait été construite à Aylmer, en 2006, c'est parce que les trois ex-conseillers du secteur n'en avaient pas fait la demande.

L'accusation visait directement André Levac, Alain Labonté et leur collègue Richard Jennings. Ils ont tous cédé leur siège de conseiller en 2005.

André Levac a avalé son café de travers en lisant les déclarations du maire, la semaine dernière.

"Nous avons téléphoné au maire Bureau pour lui donner la chance de s'expliquer, mais il n'a pas retourné notre appel. Alors nous sommes en train d'organiser quelque chose avec les journalistes", a dit M. Levac.

M. Levac affirme que ses collègues et lui ont toujours été préoccupés par les excès de vitesse à Aylmer. Il entend le prouver lors d'un point de presse.

Jusqu'à maintenant, MM. Labonté et Levac n'ont pas réussi à rallier Richard Jennings. "Nous n'arrivons pas à le joindre, sans doute est-il en vacances", a dit M. Levac.

Les protestations indignées des deux ex-politiciens s'ajoutent à celles de leurs successeurs.

Depuis quelques jours, les conseillers André Laframboise et Frank Thérien déplorent que le secteur Aylmer n'ait pas eu sa juste part au sein de la grande Ville de Gatineau.

Gatineau a équipé 11 rues de mesures d'atténuation de vitesse en 2006. Mais Aylmer n'a hérité d'aucun dos d'âne, giratoires ou rétrécissements de rue.

Pourtant, le problème d'excès de vitesse est bien documenté à Aylmer. La semaine dernière, André Laframboise a brandi une étude datant de 2000 à propos de la vitesse excessive sur la rue Samuel-Edey.

On This Day in 1940...

The Germans began carpet bombing London.


By RAYMOND DANIELL
Special to The New York Times

London, Monday, Dec. 30.

It was London's turn again last night.

This capital had a blistering, somewhat mysterious and quite destructive visit from Adolf Hitler's arsonists of the air, who for some reason or other were not followed in proportionate force by the dynamiters who usually fly in their wake.

But for a few hours the incendiaries popped like starbursts from skyrockets and rained on the streets and rooftops with a clatter like machine-gun fire in some districts of London.

Where the fire-bombs hit there was a burst of pure white flame like a magnesium flare, followed where buildings were set afire by a bright red glow that colored the sky as it has not been colored since those days in early September when the "Blitz" attacks began.

[The Nazi incendiary attackers were met in air battles over London by fighter squadrons of the British Royal Air Force, other dispatches state. Heavy anti-aircraft gun fire held off while the defender planes were up; and rescue workers heard machine-gunning from the lighted sky.

[Casualties in London were believed heavy, The Associated Press and The United Press reported.]

Ouataouais Residents The Most Stressed Out in the Country

By HOLLY LAKE, OTTAWA SUN

IF YOU want stress, it's only a river away.

According to Statistics Canada data released yesterday, Outaouais residents are the most stressed out in the country.

As part of the Canadian Community Health Survey, 28.3% of Outaouais adults reported that most of their days are either quite or extremely stressful.

At 26% overall, Quebecers seem generally frazzled, compared to about 23% in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, Ontario and Canada.

Although the survey didn't deal with why Outouais residents are so stressed, Laurent M. Lapierre, an assistant professor in the University of Ottawa's school of management, says work and family are usually the culprits.

And if it's not one of the two, it's the stress created by trying to balance both important life roles.
"The work-family conflict has been given more light in the media relative to the others. But one shouldn't dismiss the others," Lapierre says.

Job insecurity, role ambiguity, interpersonal conflicts and work hours can all lead to stress, as can being underworked or given work you're not trained to do.

DUAL ROLES

Experts suggest stress costs the economy billions each year. What's clear is that people are more stressed today, particularly with more dual-income families eliminating stereotypical roles. Now both parents often do everything.

"And they're busier at work than ever before. Expectations keep going up. People have to work harder, yet they still have to take care of their families," Lapierre says.

Couple this with the "sandwich generation" -- people raising their children and taking care of their aging parents.

Something has to give, says Dr. Zul Merali, president and CEO of University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research. If a part of the body has an underlying issue, adding stress will exacerbate it.

He compares the body to a car with a weak tire. Continue to drive it hard and the tire will blow.
Stress and mental illness often go hand in hand. And some may have a genetic predisposition to develop an illness. That in itself may not be enough to cause it to show up, but adding in stress may well trigger it.

"I don't think people are aware (of how stressed they are)," Merali says. "They think it's part of every day experience."

Some thrive on it. Merali concedes stress is not always negative. The body is capable of dealing with short bouts of stress followed by long stretches of calm.

But stress is now experienced on a chronic basis and it follows people home via BlackBerries, cellphones and computers. "If you cannot give your body a chance to recoup and repair, the impact of the stressor builds and eventually something gives," Merali warns.

Thanks Warren Kinsella.

A reality check for separatists

ik - from today's G&M. Caution: the following article quotes an original document that uses overly florid writing and the use of ridiculous words to describe simple concepts. Discretion is advised.

Last week's manifesto by eight prominent sovereigntists goes partway to demolishing the PQ's 'mad illusions,' WILLIAM JOHNSON says

WILLIAM JOHNSON

Now there's a breakthrough. Eight prominent Quebeckers, committed to Quebec's independence, published a manifesto last Thursday that calls for "realism," while cutting to pieces the Parti Québécois's official program for achieving secession. They also demolished the PQ's approach to its 1980 and 1995 referendums. "What energy we are wasting with chimeras, mad illusions, wrong tracks and phantasmagorical deadlines."

Can realities finally overtake perennial magic thinking? The eight have ideological credibility among separatists. Marc Briére, 77, helped René Lévesque found the Mouvement Souveraineté-Association, then the Parti Québécois. He later sat as a judge. Jean-Roch Boivin was premier Lévesque's chief of staff and later an adviser to premier Lucien Bouchard. James Walkins was Bernard Landry's director of communications. Claude Jasmin is a prize-winning novelist, filmmaker and journalist. Guy Lachappelle, Henry Milner and Jacques Beauchemin are prominent university professors. Beauchemin won a prize in 2002 from the pro-separatism publication, L'action nationale.

Their manifesto was titled, "A realistic approach to sovereignty and to put an end to certain sophistries." The "sophistries" denounced are precisely the secessionist movement's main postulates.

Constantly, PQ leaders from Lévesque to Landry insisted Quebec has the right to secede unilaterally because the United Nations recognizes the right of peoples to self-determination.

But the eight realists reject that argument as a sophistry: "Under current international law, the right of peoples to self-determination does not mean a right to independence, except for peoples colonized by imperial powers or oppressed by the state of which they are part and in which they constitute national minorities that are deprived of reasonable autonomy. For other peoples, the right to self-determination means only the right to internal autonomy." Quebeckers could hardly convince the international community that they are oppressed, the authors conclude.

They skew another "sophistry," that it is only "normal" for a people like the Québécois to have their independent state. (This was René Lévesque's constant refrain.) The realists counter: "In the world, there are more nations which cohabit in the same state than there are sovereign nations . . . The argument for normality is a demagogic sophistry that must be driven out of democratic debate."

They argue that any referendum question on secession must be clear and must bear only on independence. They propose: "Are you in favour of Quebec becoming a sovereign and independent country?" They recognize that, in 1980, the question proposed "sovereignty-association," and, in 1995, sovereignty with a proposal of a partnership with Canada. Logically, they point out, if Canada were to refuse the double proposal, Quebec could not claim a right to secede unless it then won a second referendum dealing with independence only.

The current PQ program adopted last June and embraced by new leader André Boisclair -- who dismissed the manifesto as "quibbling over commas" -- commits the party to hold a referendum early in its mandate after elections and to pass a unilateral declaration of independence right after a victory, even one with the barest majority. Negotiations over the terms of settlement would take place strictly between two independent countries, Quebec and Canada. The eight realists argue that 50 per cent plus one would merely lead to a dangerous impasse. They propose, instead, the 55 per cent that will be required on May 21 for Montenegro's referendum on secession. They also condemn the proposed UDI as futile and suicidal.

The eight offer, instead, their interpretation of the Supreme Court of Canada's 1998 advisory opinion on secession which "has interpreted Canadian constitutional law as recognizing the right of every province to secede . . . if that is the clear will of a clear majority of its citizens, expressed in a referendum followed by good faith negotiations which precede the implementation of the secession and the declaration of independence."

For all their realism, the eight short-changed the Supreme Court's sophisticated ruling. They claim that the court had declared secession a right. Not so. The court stated that unilateral secession was not a right, neither under Canadian nor international law. It was legitimate to aspire to secession, but any attempt must abide by the four fundamental principles of the Constitution: the democratic principle (an unambiguous clear majority), the rule of law (an amendment to the Constitution that follows the amending procedure), the federal principle (the other provinces must assent) and the rights of minorities.

The eight defenders of realism took account of only one of the four principles, the requirement for a clear majority. They ignore the court's clear assertion that the new frontiers of a seceding Quebec would be set by negotiations, not given by current boundaries. They ignore the obvious implications: The lands of the aboriginals would not be up for grabs.

By ignoring the full reach of the Supreme Court's ruling, the realistic eight encouraged Quebeckers to waste more time struggling with chimeras, mad illusions, wrong tracks and phantasmagorical deadlines.

Common sense makes a PQ comeback

The Montréal Gazette
Friday, May 12, 2006

Another player has entered the endless, bruising debate on Quebec independence. A new grouplet within the sovereignty movement spoke up this week, on the pages of Le Devoir, in an effort to pull the Parti Quebecois and the whole movemement back from the brink of folly. It's a message all Quebecers, including federalists, should welcome.

Nobody can doubt the credentials of the eight men who signed the Manifesto for a Realistic Approach to Sovereignty. Jean-Roch Boivin was a close adviser to Premiers Rene Levesque and Lucien Bouchard. James Wilkins worked for Bernard Landry. Marc Briere, first among equals in the byline, was a founding member of the PQ.

These veterans of the independence wars - they're being called "lucid sovereignists" - are arguing that the PQ's current hardline independence blueprint means trouble, that a narrowly won referendum wouldn't be worth winning, and that it would be suicidal for the movement to rush into a referendum. This amounts to a repudiation of the PQ platform adopted last June, which promises a referendum "as early as possible within the (party's) next mandate."

Along the way, the manifesto also denounces the vocal party minority that claims a PQ election victory should lead to sovereignty without a referendum at all.

The PQ platform pledges any new PQ government to limit itself to only those actions "absolutely indispensible" to the march to sovereignty. Mario Dumont, leader of the third party Action democratique, says Quebecers are not really aware of how extreme this PQ commitment is; when the voters awaken, Dumont suggests, they'll be seeking other parties to support.

That's the analysis of these lucid sovereignists. They are, unlike Dumont, unhappy with the probable consequences of the 2005 PQ platform. "What really scares people," they say, "is not so much independence as the excesses of some sovereignists."

They've got that right. Some federalists will be dismayed to see a strain of relative common sense claiming a place within the PQ's thicket of hyper-zealous true-believer sub-groups. Such federalists might prefer to see the flagship party of separatism sail straight ahead into an electoral Bermuda triangle.

That's one way to look at it. But the future of Quebec is so important - to us all, in Quebec and across Canada - that the sooner the most dangerous excesses of the movement can be repudiated, by the movement's mainstream, and pushed far away from office, the better.

In the unlikely event that a clear majority of Quebecers ever does vote for independence, everyone involved will need to keep calm and work something out. The current PQ program, and the wasps' nests known as "political clubs" within the party, offer the polar opposite of calm, and of common sense.

This week's manifesto, we can hope, signals the beginning of the end for some dangerously unreasonable ideas.

Get a Grip, Mate!

ik - Hang on there, mate. Are we supposed to feel sorry for these blokes? Crikey!! Awwwww, they may have to cut back on expensive outings and forego ice cream so that they can pay for their renovations on their four-bedroom home in Quaker's Hill....

From, uhm, tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald.


By Bellinda Kontominas
May 4, 2006

ADRIAN and Kate Schembri are juggling a mortgage on their four-bedroom Quakers Hill home with expenses from their recent wedding. For them, yesterday's interest rate rise could not have come at a worse time.

Mr Schembri, an IT engineer and his wife, a primary school teacher, estimate the rate rise would add $70 to $80 to their monthly mortgage repayments, which were more than $2500. It will also stall plans for renovating.

Expensive outings with friends would also need to be cut back, the couple said. "It gets a bit expensive when you have big nights every weekend. There's not much you can [cut back on] in terms of food - you've still got to eat - but we may have to forgo luxuries like ice-cream."

The couple said they would consider refinancing their loan if the Reserve Bank announced more than one rate rise over the next few months. "The banks will be wanting business and there will be certain institutions that offer a more competitive loan," Mr Schembri said.

The Housing Industry Association's chief economist, Simon Tennant, said the rate rise would make breaking into the property market more difficult for first-time buyers and slow down an already "finely balanced" building industry.

"We have a build-up of first home buyers waiting to get into the market and affordability starting to increase, but a rate rise will put the brakes on anyone looking at renovating or getting into the market," he said.

Mr Tennant said buyers who stretched themselves financially to break into the market would be most affected.

Anti-graffiti crackdown bans spray paint sales to minors

ik - Hmm. good idea. Good thing no one keeps paint and markers in their homes. Phew!

So lemme get this straight, they "saw" 126 people but couldn't catch them, and 25 of 42 people charged were under 18, so now it's illegal for a minor to buy paint and markers. This makes as much policy sense as the Patriot Act. Using the same logic, all Quebecers should be banned from raising money for the Liberal Party. Hmmm, actually, that's not a bad idea....


Last Updated Tue, 02 May 2006 11:38:50 EDT
CBC News

The city of London, Ont., is taking a tough stand on graffiti, banning the sale of markers and spray paint to anyone under the age of 18.

The new bylaw, which was passed on Monday, is reportedly the first of its kind in the country.

"It took some hard work, but we're the first in Canada to do this and I think it's great," said Coun. Bernie MacDonald, who spearheaded the graffiti bylaw.

Police records show that in the last two years in the city, 25 of 42 people arrested for making graffiti were under 18.

As well, 126 people were seen but not caught. And, of them, 92 were minors.

With the bylaw passed, signs will soon be posted in the city warning young people that they need a parent or guardian to buy certain art supplies. MacDonald said the city will try to provide outlets for minors to express themselves creatively and artistically.

But other city councillors say they are worried the new bylaw will leave London open to legal challenges.

"It's ludicrous," Coun. David Winninger told a council meeting on Monday. "It's offensive to the Charter of Rights. It's not reasonable that it can be justified in a free and democratic society."

I want to have an affair

ik - from today's G&M:

Would you like to hear about my new fantasy man, Mr. Perfect? He's handsome in a fuzzy kind of way, he has no children but is fabulous with mine, but most importantly he adores me!

BRENDA SCHWARTZ

Here I am, a middle-aged woman, I've been living with the same man for 20 years, we have three children, and I am fantasizing about having an affair.

Would you like to hear about my new fantasy man, Mr. Perfect? He's handsome in a fuzzy kind of way, he has no children but is fabulous with mine, he loves to cook, he does the laundry and scrubs the toilet bowl, he has lots of money but most importantly he adores me! He thinks I'm the sexiest woman on Earth (if you knew what I look like you'd realize that even fantasy worlds have limits), and he rushes home to be with me for a candlelight dinner every night.

Now I'd like to introduce you to my partner of 20 years. I still think he's handsome although his hair is now turning grey. He has a wonderful smile when he's not overwhelmed by work at the office. He does keep himself in shape by cycling and going to Tae kwon-do three times a week; this cuts into our candlelight dinnertime. He is a devoted dad, coaching soccer twice a week and taking time off from work for school trips. Although he rarely has time to cook he is an excellent chef. He takes out the garbage every week and he doesn't have lots of money but that's because he spends it all on supporting his kids.

So why am I fantasizing about having an affair, you ask? My partner sounds like a pretty good man. Granted he doesn't have as much money as imaginary Mr. Right, but at least the money is going to the kids and not a gambling habit. No, the affair is not about the money, not about the looks, not about the personality. My partner even still finds me attractive, at least that's what he tells me to make me feel good. So on the plus side he's deceitful but only for a good cause -- to spare my ego. When you come right down to it I'm quite lucky to have a partner like him. I must be out of my mind to even be fantasizing about having an affair. But my partner no longer adores me. He does not rush home to be with me for dinner every night and that's my problem. He used to rush home to me but that was almost 20 years ago. That was a time before kids, before overwhelming work, before mortgages, before all the responsibilities we share now. My partner no longer adores me because he doesn't have time. All his time is taken up by the clutter of his life. You need time and energy to adore someone.

I'm not completely innocent in this affair business. I don't have the time or energy to adore him, either -- not like I used to. I'm too busy chauffeuring kids around town, playing hockey and skiing to keep what little shape I have left, scrubbing toilet bowls (okay, that's a lie -- I just think about it), and putting some semblance of food on the table at dinnertime.

So what's a most-of-the-time moral, middle-aged woman like me supposed to do?

Some people I know indulge in innocent flirting to feed their need for passion. Still others take the enormous step and have a real affair. They don't plan to have an affair. It just happens. The usual meeting place for a new romance is at work. No wonder I'm stuck at the fantasy stage -- I work at home, alone. Even our mail doesn't come to our house. Chat rooms on the Internet now also play a role for some in the clandestine dating game.

What do these people have to say about their affairs?

"It's exciting!"

"Someone actually notices what I'm wearing."

"Someone is listening to me."

It doesn't seem to be the real person they're having the affair with who is so exciting, it's the actions so far removed from their everyday tedium that are exciting.

The end of the affair is usually summed up by "He's just like all men."

One woman whose lover suggested she abandon her family and drive off with him on his motorcycle to the United States said it sounded so exciting until she realized that a few years down the road she would be leading the same life with him as she did with her present husband. Children, groceries, trying to make a living. What was the point?

I read once that if you're having a midlife affair you're a hero: "It is a hero's journey nevertheless when, at any age, you are prepared to dismantle seemingly indestructible patterns and be naked to who and what you are becoming. Most of us never start."

Yes, I want to be a hero. I want adventure and passion and joy. I want to get naked. But I realize I don't want a Mr. Perfect to come along and sweep me away in a moment of passion. I want Mr. Alright-But-Too-Busy to somehow find the time for passion in his already hectic life. I want to get naked with him.

For years I've joked with my partner that we should have an affair but we never seem to find the time to do it. If I'm at the stage where I'm contemplating an affair, now must be the time to just do it. Risk the missed meeting at work, the unscrubbed toilet bowl, the rumours at the office. I'm going to call him at work right now. It's time for us to get naked and sing with passion. We can be heroes.