Patriot Games: Election 2011

Not even a week has passed since Canada's ruling government was toppled, and already political posturing and scandals abound.

Last Friday, in an historic move, the Conservative Government was found in contempt of parliament on scandals of hidden costs of military jets and corporate tax cuts, to lying cabinet ministers and document doctoring.

Not 10 minutes after the final session of Parliament wrapped up did Stephen Harper's attack dog, John Baird, begin his annual fear mongering session on national news magazine's cameras declaring a conspiracy by opposition parties to form a coalition government that would throw our country into economic and political fires of Hell.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff did his best to answer reporters questions about the possibility of a coalition government with the NDP without actually giving a yes or no answer. He did this for a couple of days then finally broke down and gave a resounding "NO!" to the question.

Michael Ignatieff Plays Dumb: "What's a Coalition?"

This likely indicates that the Liberals will be running an all-or-nothing campaign on the election trail, as I believe a coalition had being enthusiastically discussed prior to the government falling. Now that Ignatieff publicly stated that no such agreement would occur after the election regardless of the results, it seems likely that his career would be quickly eviscerated should he go back on his word.

Since coalition is out of the question now, this puts the Liberals in a pressure cooker to perform drastically better than the last election, if not actually form a government. It is unlikely that Ignatieff would be allowed to keep his job as Liberal leader if the party fails to gain a significant amount of seats in the House.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemed to be sitting pretty for the first few days of the campaign while the heat was on his arch-rival. Until Sebastian Togneri turned up like a bad penny again.

You may remember Togneri's name. He was a high ranking government aide for many years until he was forced to resign over allegations of interfering in several requests for government information made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Very recently, even Conservative Minister Rona Ambrose had no choice but to call for an RCMP investigation into Togneri's interference with the requests for information. (Though, I find it odd that the RCMP were called in a year after Togneri's resignation). Unfortunately for Stephen Harper, the request for an RCMP investigation coincided with a Parliamentary inquiry into Minister Bev Oda's alleged altering of government documents.

Well, now Togneri's name was in the media again, as some lucky reporter discovered that he was working on the campaign for Conservative hopeful Ryan Hastman in the Edmonton Strathcona riding.

Linda Duncan: A Little Orange Fish In A Big Blue Sea

Hastman has a somewhat uphill battle in front of him to begin with. In the 2008 election, NDP candidate Linda Duncan wrestled the riding away from Conservative incumbent Rahim Jaffer (after Jaffer himself suffered several political scandals). From all accounts, Linda Duncan, a long time Edmonton Lawyer is well liked, and has been made high-profile by the NDP since it was the first time an Alberta riding has been anything but Tory blue since the Anne McLellen days.

Unfortunately for Hastman and Stephen Harper, it doesn't look good having a disgraced government aide currently under police investigation helping out with a new Conservative candidate's campaign.

Things turned from bad to worse for both Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff the last two days as Green Party leader Elizabeth May burst on to the scene in a blaze of controversy, fighting for her political rights.

Elizabeth May Is Going To Debate Your Ass Off. Deal With It.

You may remember from the 2008 election, when the Green Party was just starting to gain credibility and a lot of media attention, that the Canadian Broadcast Consortium (basically a handful of executives from Canada's 4 main TV networks) decided that May would not be entitled to participate in the electoral debates. This prompted a huge public outcry, and a chance for all party leaders to look like the good guy on national television by stating that they believed May should be included in the debate. Finally the consortium relented, and May had her day in the spotlight. (She actually did quite well- check out my review of her performance here.)

This week, for some bizarre reason, the consortium again decided that May, despite being the leader of a national party that received 6% of all votes in the last election (that's 1 million votes - more than the Bloc Quebecois received) and that runs a candidate in every riding across Canada, was not worthy of participating in the debates because her party does not have a current, elected MP.

Let's not bother taking into account that the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance Party, which are now both known as the Conservative Party, did not have elected MPs either during their first elections, but were still allowed to participate in the debates.

May has since launched a very public battle against the Consortium, and has retained a high profile lawyer to argue her case to the courts to sneak her way in to the debates.

This is particularly bad news for both Ignatieff and Harper. Partly because May seems to be very good a debating, and neither man likely wants her there. That being said, since Harper endorsed her presence in the last election, he can hardly say that she isn't entitled to be there for this election. He has since said he is open to her being there, but that all parties should submit to the rules put forth by the Consortium. Ignatieff on the other hand, has his barrels firmly aimed at Harper, and the more people included in the debate may lead the public to decide that there are other voting options rather than just the Liberals or the Conservatives, as he has been trying to prove in the media all week.

Foolishly, after May made her public tirade about not being included in the election debate, Ignatieff stated he was most keen on having a second debate televised solely between himself and Stephen Harper. Harper seemed keen on the idea as well, and all but issued a public challenge to his rival. Ignatieff then ran in front of the nearest camera and said it was on. However, as media attention intensified around May and her rhetoric of the debates being anti-democratic for shutting her out, Harper quietly back-peddled on his two-man debate idea. This gave Ignatieff an opportunity to call Harper "chicken", but also gave the impression of him being an elitist.

So to recap, in the last two weeks or so, we have had the government charged with contempt, allegations of creative bookkeeping, Ministers engaged in doctoring documents, police investigations, candidates receiving help from disgraced government aides, finger pointing at undemocratic television execs, threatened legal action, political threats and challenges, and a good deal of back-peddling from most of the party leaders. And we've just gotten started. Imagine where we will be in another 4 weeks!

Patriot Games: A Canadian Election For A New Generation

Oh, it's on, baby.

So last Friday, (March 25th) the Conservative's minority government was toppled when a confidence motion tabled by the opposition parties found the ruling conservatives in contempt of parliament.

The Look Of Contempt: Stephen Harper

This is intriguing for two reasons.

First, since the beginning of March, it was widely assumed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper would be forced to dissolve the parliament, but it was assumed that the motion of confidence that would be the downfall of the ruling government would be the Conservative's proposed budget. Not a decision that the government was in contempt of parliament.

Secondly, it's important because never through all of the political scandals or outrageous diatribes of the 144 years of parliament in Canada, has a ruling party found to be in contempt.

There were several reasons why the Conservative Government had been found in contempt. Firstly, there was the matter of 65 new F35 fighter jets that the government announced it would purchase for a reported $9 billion ($18 billion once a maintenance agreement was signed). The purchase announcement was made in July of 2010, but recently, the Parliamentary Budget Officer went public with his estimation of nearly double the cost to a whopping $30 billion.

Needless to say, this caused a frenzy on Parliament Hill, with the opposition parties attacking the Conservatives like rabid dogs on a lame rabbit. The opposition demanded to see numbers on paper, and their requests were repeatedly rebuffed. At the same time, it had been implied that the government was similarly down playing the expected costs of tax cuts being proposed for big corporations.

The second and more bizarre catalyst was the inquiry into International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda's document tampering scandal.

Bev Oda: Document Doctor

In 2009, a church based aid group known as Karios applied for renewal of it's international development grant. Oda stated publicly that the decision was actually made by the Canadian International Development Agency. However, upon digging up documents on the matter, it was discovered that the CIDA actually signed a note recommending the approval of the grant. And, that the note in question had actually been altered when the word "not" had been manually written before the word "approved".

Bev Oda later admitted in front of a committee that she had been the one who ordered the alteration of the document (if not altered it herself). And of course, no sooner had the admission left Oda's lips, were opposition MP's calling for her head to roll down the aisle of the House of Commons.

Predictably, after the committee wrapped up on Oda's case, the information that had been gathered on the F-35 fighter jets and the corporate tax cuts were all wrapped into one bundle of government-toppling joy. The final bow that had been attached to the bundle was the fact that the Liberal party intentionally stalled on voting on the Conservatives proposed budget, so they could bask in the glory of toppling the government on charges of contempt, rather than the budget.

And so, on March 26th, 2011, Stephen Harper was forced to seek the Governor General's approval to dissolve parliament, and presto! Election in May. So far from what we have seen, all of this political manoeuvring and scandal will just be the tip of the iceberg.

4G Phone? That's What YOU Think.

Think that new 4G smart phone you just bought for an exorbitant amount of money is the latest and greatest in download speeds? You're dead wrong.

For the last few months Sprint, Verizon & T-Mobile has been advertising the power of 4G speed on their networks as the new breakthrough in mobile technology. Telus also followed suit here in Canada, and today it was leaked that Bell Mobility will jump on the 4G advertising bandwagon.

But does anyone really know what the difference is between 3G and 4G connectivity speeds? Apparently there isn't one.

The International Telecommunications Union initially defined 4G as a reference to Long Term Evolution mobile standards (LTE for short). LTE meant a new version of wireless technology that could potentially offer speeds of 100 Mbps. So far, no commercial wireless network on the planet has deployed such a technology. And, as far as I know, no wireless communications company has even managed to develop such a technology that would work in a stable fashion on a consumer level.

The initial definition of LTE (100 Mbps) is considerably faster than the HSPA networks that are currently used by Bell, Telus & Rogers. Their HSPA networks generally tops out at 7.2 Mbps. Even improved HSPA networks known as HSPA+ only reach top speeds of 21 Mbps.

So if Bell, Telus & Rogers all top out at 7.2 Mbps, how can they possibly call themselves 4G?

In December, the International Telecommunications Union have changed the criteria or definition of 3G and 4G. Now 100 Mbps speed is no longer a definition of 4G. 4G is now considered any technology that shows a "substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities" over existing 3G networks.

As an example, Bell Mobility now refers to 3G as being any speeds slower than 3Mbps. And, since Bell's network can theoretically offer speeds up to 7.2 Mbps, (which IS a significant improvement over 3Mbps) presto! Bell is now a 4G network!

So the interesting part to watch for is how this will play out in the long term. Since all the 3G phones currently on the Bell and Telus network should theoretically be able to use the max network speed of 7.2Mbps (which can be less depending on location or network traffic), will Bell issue "4G" phones that operate in the same way so that everyone still has a phone that works at the same speed, (which would allow them to simply market their entire network as the latest and greatest 4G network) or will they attempt to choke bandwidth to keep existing 3G phones slower to encourage customers to upgrade to new 4G marketed handsets?

There is an old saying "Caveat Emptor". Or in English "let the buyer beware". I don't think there is any other product that this warning is most suited for than Telecomm Services.

Bell Mobility Overcharging For Data?

Kate & Daniel Methot from Merritt, BC, have been fighting Bell Mobility for several months over astronomical data charges that they have been receiving from Bell.

In October of last year, Kate purchased a Samsung Galaxy smart phone (shown above). After her first month of usage, the Methots received a bill for over $1000, mainly consisting of data charges.

The couple was shocked. Initially they thought they must have done something that they didn't realize was consuming huge amounts of data. Daniel deleted every app he had downloaded to the phone, thinking maybe it was an app that was accessing network data when not in use. Kate and Daniel also became scrooge-like with their data usage, basically not using the phone for any data if at all possible.

The couple also called Bell asking for an explanation into how is was possible they had used so much data. Bell was unable to give them an answer.

Even with their efforts to keep their data usage to a minimum, The Methots received another astronomical bill in December of 2010. At one point in December, the bill stated that they had used 30 hours of Data in one 24 hour period. The Methots maintained even if they had been frequently using their data capabilities on the phone, it would be impossible for them to use the phone continuously for a 24 hour period.

The couple has spent countless hours of time on the phone with Bell Customer Service to attempt to find an answer about the billing. Every time they called Bell, they were not able to speak to the same service agent, and would have to retell the whole story from the beginning. The responses from Bell was typically an agent telling the couple that they must be downloading video and to stop watching movies on the phone.

One other possibility that Bell suggested was that the couple had the hot-spot feature of the phone turned on, which allows tethering to 3 other devices. In other words other wireless devices that the Methots use, or someone else nearby uses has been connecting to the phone to access the internet.

The couple categorically denies that scenario is possible, stating that since the first two bills came in, the phone is rarely used and is always turned off because of the fear of excessive data charges. Daniel also maintains that some bills show data usage during time periods in which he knows the Samsung phone was turned off.

By the end of December, Bell Mobility had offered no answers for the outrages billing and had offered no solutions for the gigantic bills. Finally the Methots enlisted a lawyer for $400 and had the attorney send a letter to Bell, but that did not bring about any results.

However, in January, Daniel thought he had finally made a breakthrough with the phone company. On a call with a Bell rep that Daniel had recorded, the rep told Daniel that the problems they were experiencing was "known", and was a software problem that Bell was experiencing. Their account was immediately credited $3300. The couple thought that was the end of their problems.

They were wrong.

Within a few days, the couple received another bill for $1200. Bell has since recanted their admission to a software problem, saying the Account Rep the Methots spoke with was incorrect. Bell now says that the software issue they had been experiencing had charged a small number of customers for the correct amount of data, but at a rate that was much higher than in accordance with their monthly plan. Bell says this cannot be the same issue, as the Methots claim they are being billed for data they didn't use.

Since the Methots have taken their issues to CBC news, the couple claims that Bell has now offered to cancel their contract and waive all outstanding fees. The couple has not yet accepted this offer, as they feel this is not enough to make up for the hours of conversations with Bell Mobility, and the $400 for the unanswered lawyer's letter.

The CCTS, or Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunication Services say this happens more often than people think. Last year alone the CCTS received almost 1000 complaints solely for over-billing by cell phone companies. And those are just the customers that actually filed a complaint. The CCTS also recommends installing a third party app on your smart phone that monitors your phone usage. It's important that it's a third party software, so if there are discrepancies between billing and usage, the customer has some evidence to back them up.

If you are having problems with your cell phone company, and want to file a complaint with the CCTS, you can do so here.

BIZARRE: UK Man Adds Wife To Terror Watch List

A recent news report out of the UK describes a bizarre case in which an Immigration Official secretly added his own wife's name onto the nation's terror watch list.

The man's wife was visiting her family in Pakistan at the time. While there, the man illegally accessed government databases to add his wife's name onto the no-fly list.

Upon trying to board a flight from Pakistan to London, the woman was told she would not be allowed to board the flight, but was not given a reason why. Naturally, since her husband was an immigration official, she promptly called him asking for help. The man told his wife he would try to find out what was going on, but instead, left her stranded in Pakistan for 3 years.

UK officials stated that in the government's database, the woman was described as "not being in the good of the public" to allow her into the country.

How the man explained the lack of his wife's presence for 3 years has not been explained, but sources say the man had "the time of his life" while his wife was away. Eventually, the man applied for a promotion in which a routine background check shed light on what he had done. Officials then confronted him and he confessed. He was immediately fired.

Bell, Telus & Rogers vs. iPhone Reception Problems

So I took a bit of a break from the blogging to get in a nice long Christmas Holiday and to catch up on some left behind work through January. I am back now, and will be posting regularly again. (Keep checking for the soon to be released Ultimate Guide to the Las Vegas Strip).

However, while I was away, I was monitoring the site traffic and still going through emails from readers. A common topic seemed to be complaints about iPhone reception problems.

Most of the email was from people who had iPhone 3 G(s) phones. A couple were from iPhone 4 owners, and a few others did not specify their models.

As for why there were fewer iPhone 4 complaints, I don't know if its because that specific model works better, or if there are just less people that currently own that version.

At any rate, I have some updated news.

The main complaints seem to be specifically with reception issues: dropped calls even when the phone indicates good reception, getting poor reception even when in large cities, or not getting any reception at all. These problems have been experienced by people currently on ALL of the big 3 networks. Telus, Bell and Rogers are all suffering the same issues.

My first initial thought was the problems lied with the networks. This may be partially true, as both Telus and Bell operate the iPhones on new networks (not the same network that most of their other handsets run on). A Telus technician admitted to me directly that the technology was new for Telus and that they were experiencing constant problems with it, and had no clue how or when it would be fixed. Therefore, I am assuming Bell is in the same boat, as both companies share the same network across Canada.

However, this line of thinking would not account for the iPhone users on the Rogers network who were experiencing the same issues. Rogers has had a GSM network for years, and was well established long before the iPhone entered the market.

So what gives? This led me to believe that Apple was actually the problem. This theory seemed to be proven by the numerous and highly publicized reception issues upon the release of the iPhone 4. I spoke with some Apple Techs, and while they would not admit that they were experiencing widespread problems with the reception of any version of their iPhones, they encouraged me to bring the phone in for inspection and/or repair. I have not yet done this, as my iPhone has mysteriously been working better lately. Not 100% mind you, but much better than it once was. (Firmware upgrade, perhaps?)

Since Apple clammed up and wouldn't give me any direct answers, I dug deeper. I happened to fortuitously meet a couple of Technicians who work for Texas Instruments. What most people don't know is that Texas Instruments (or TI) make a large percentage of components that go into cell phones and smart phones. One of the most notable being the touch screen components and the backlighting for the LCD screens. They make various other pieces as well.

Upon my conversations with the TI techs, I discovered that the issues are not such a secret in the telecomm world. The issues are well known within the industry, and at least in the opinion of the TI techs, the problems lies with a company called Qualcomm.

Qualcomm is the company that essentially makes the networking of the iPhone possible. They deal with the reception of all the handsets. And, at least according to my contacts, do a very poor job of it. My best understanding of what was explained to me is that the antenna in the phones are very poor. Not the placement of the antenna that Apple claimed during the iPhone 4 debacle, but the actual hardware itself.

It is possible that the newest versions of the iPhone 4 have had this problem corrected- I am not sure. And it may also be possible that updating the firmware on your current iPhone may help to reduce issues you experience, but for all intents and purposes, unless you get a new handset all together, you may just be stuck with the frustrations no matter what.

So there you have it. It seems to be everyone is a bit to blame: Telus & Bell for their networks, Apple, for refusing to admit that they may have a shoddy piece of hardware in their product, and Qualcomm for making the product.

But at this point in time, no one seems to want to take the blame, and the consumer is stuck in the middle.

My advice (which pains me to say this as I really like Apple products and find most of them better than average on the reliability scale) is to determine what you need or want most from your phone. If you want muti-functionality most, then try to update your firmware or upgrade your handset. If you want a smartphone with reliability first and the multi-function and ease of use is less important, then get a Blackberry.

Hope that helps everyone.

Rainn

BIZARRE: Phobia-less Woman Surprisingly Still Alive

The medical journal Current Biology has released a new report about a 44 year old woman known only as SM.

The woman suffered from a genetic disease known as lipoid proteniosis, which has affected areas of her brain which controls the body's sensor to danger.

After years of psychological testing and numerous field tests, SM appears to fear absolutely nothing.

Though SM felt other emotions such as excitement and curiosity, she consistently displayed no signs of fear in almost any scenarios, and when asked to rate her fear on a scale of 1 - 10, never expressed a level higher than 2.

In one experiment, SM was taken to a pet shop where she had to interact with various types of snakes and spiders. Previously SM had stated she hated snakes and spiders, but during the experiment, she took delight in holding and touching the snakes. in some cases she pet the tongue of the snakes she was holding. She also had to be coaxed away from reaching towards some venomous tarantulas.

In another experiment, SM was led through a haunted house where she actually was drawn towards actors dressed as monsters. She actually scared one of the actors by poking as his face, as she was curious what the masks felt like.

SM said she felt the haunted house was "highly exciting and entertaining" she again rated her fear at zero.

SM was also subjected to numerous horror films and again rated her fear at zero.

Even during uncontrolled events during her real life, SM seemed to have no fear. In 1995, a man leapt off a park bench and held SM at knife point, threatening to kill her. She reportedly told her assailant "If you are going to kill me, you're going to have to go through my God's angles first." SM then walked away from the man, and returned to the same park the next night.

SM has said she recalled experiencing fear as a child when faced with a snarling Doberman that had cornered her, but said she could not recall any adult experience in which she had fear.

Scientists are trying to retrain SM's brain to react differently to fear. Dr. Justin Feinstein who is leading the study on SM said he felt "it is quite remarkable that she is still alive," indicating that she needlessly puts herself into dangerous situations due to her inability to process fear.

Doctors also hope that by studying SM that they may gain insight into curing the effects of post traumatic stress disorder in other patients.

Feature Destination: Tasmania, Australia

Tasmania, the island just off the south coast of Australia is truly one of Earth's last great refuges. 37% of Tasmania is comprised of natural reserves, national parks and world heritage sites.

The Australian state is the most mountainous region in the entire country, and lends to some of the most breath taking scenery in the world. Australia's largest temperate rain forest is located on the Northwest portion of the island, where the Northeast portion has some of the most beautiful beaches, such as the Bay of Fires.

The Bay of Fires

To truly experience the best Tasmania has to offer, it is best to go during the summer months from December to February. For being a small landmass, the climate can vary widely due to the different types of geographic terrain. For example, the average daytime high in the summer can vary up to four or five degrees depending on where you are.

Also during the summer months are numerous festivals that are ongoing around the island. One of the most popular of such festivals is the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. The race starts on Boxing Day (December 26th), and typically ends 3 - 4 days later as the yachts reach Constitution Harbor in Hobart City. Coincidentally, the race ends during the Taste of Tasmania festival, which features food and wine from around the island.

Constitution Harbor

And if food and wine is your game, Tasmania is the place for you. Traditionally most common forms of cuisine were derivatives of English fare, but over the last few decades, Tasmania food has had a revolution with more focus on locally grown foods and vegetables which have allowed the food industry to create its own identity.

As for libations, there are a number of locally produced beers, both from microbreweries and larger scale productions that allow their beers to be available on mainland Australia. For a popular local brew, try Boags beer.

The wine industry has also blossomed over the decades, partially due to Tasmania's unique ecosystem and climate. One very notable vineyard is Moorilla Estate. Moorilla is a remarkable complex which focuses not only on wines, though the vineyard has been producing award winning wines since 1958, but also makes beer, contains an antiquities museum, has a boutique hotel which showcases world class art, and hosts exclusive events throughout the year. Moorilla Estate is a remarkable winery that is much more than just wine, and could really be a Feature Destination in its own right. Visit their website at Moorilla Estate.

If your style is more urban contemporary rather than country style relaxation, try visiting some of the major cities on the island. The main cities are Launceston, Devonport, and of course Hobart, the region's capital city.

Hobart City

Hobart, a city of just over 200,000 is considered one of Australia's most sustainable cities, and has also been ranked as one of the most innovative cities on the globe. It is a major hub for Antarctic Services, serving as a close port to the south pole for research facilities. Hobart is also no stranger to tourists. The city sees more than 40 cruise ships a year dock in its harbors.

If your looking for a lively place where you can mingle with the locals, try Salamanaca Place, which turns into a giant outdoor market every Saturday. Great bargains can be found, and you will no doubt meet dozens of locals. It's estimated that more than 25,000 people shop at Salamanaca every weekend.

If you're done with shopping and want to let off a little steam, you can try out dozens of taverns, pubs, restaurants and clubs on Elizabeth St. or Sandy Bay. If nightclubbing is what appeals to you most, search out the Syrup Club, a hopping nightclub that features some well known DJs and acts. Check them out at Syrup Club. Or try your luck at the Wrest Point Hotel and Casino.

The summer season in Tasmania is just beginning and now is the time to visit. The easiest way to travel there is by air and the most common major airlines that fly there are Qantas and Virgin Blue. But if your too late to make it there this year, why not plan ahead and book for 2011? You'll have the privilege of attending the Ten Days On The Island Festival, which is Tasmania's bi-annual international arts festival. Go and soak up some culture.

Happy Travels

London Bridge is Falling Down

Well, not yet anyway.

Thousands of students took to the streets of London today to protest austerity measures enacted by the British Parliament, which will see tuition caps raised from approximately 4,700 pounds a year to nearly 14,000. In other words, tuition will be tripled.

The increase alone would be enough to incite riots, but one particular sore spot is the Coalition Government is currently made up of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. In fact, the deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, a Liberal Democrat, actually signed a pre-election pledge to oppose any tuition hikes.

The Liberal Democrats are typically a popular political party with students, as they have more progressive societal views and tend to lean more heavily for social programs and more universal education.

Today, students made public their thoughts on the government's decision. Sit ins and demonstrations were held across the nation, and central London was flooded with students waving banners, beating on drums and chanting.

The protests turned into riots in some part of the city. Small groups of protesters began throwing flares and paint bombs, tearing down police barricades and scuffling with officers. At one point Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles car was being punched and kicked as they tried to get to a social engagement.

But lets look at the logistics of the British Government's plan. I'm not sure I quite understand it myself.

To be fair, Britain is actually the second UK country to massively increase tuition this year. A few weeks back, Ireland also tripled the cost of post secondary education, as part of their mandated requirements to receive their bailout package from the EU. Harsh to be sure, but when the country is on the verge of veritable insolvency, harsh measures are required.

As for the UK, one of two things has occurred. Either the nation is also on the verge of bankruptcy, and has just done a much better job of keeping it quiet, or the Coalition government has just suffered a moment of colossal stupidity.

If the former is true, then the UK obviously has no intentions on asking the EU for a bailout, or we would have heard about it long before now. I don't think this is a very likely scenario. Which leaves us with, drum roll please, the latter.

Granted I am not an economist. But from what I remember from my business studies, if the economy is in retreat, the best way to correct the problem is to increase the median salary of the nation. Increasing the median salary means people are making more money and also spending more. It also encourages investment and increases the size of income tax contributions directly to federal coffers.

Sounds simple, right?

So what is the best way to increase median salary? Typically this is done by creating more highly trained specialists (who automatically command large salaries) and by increasing the number of entrepreneurs (who in turn pay more taxes and hire lower skilled labor).

And what is the best and easiest way of creating more highly trained specialists and entrepreneurs? Well, by making post secondary education more accessible of course!

So, since the government has chosen the opposite of the above example, what is likely the long term outcome?

Every 10% increase in tuition means less and less people can afford to access education. Since the tuition will go up nearly 300%, this means vastly less people will get the education they need. This provides the government a very small window of time to find other ways to save money and reverse the tuition rates. If the government fails to reverse the tuition costs, within 5 - 10 years, Britain will have a much higher unskilled workforce (who naturally make less money) and a much smaller skilled workforce. Thus creating a downward spiral in their economy for decades to come.

And of course, there is the potential long term damage done by continuing rioting.

The eyes of the world are on the British government now. I urge them to use this as only a temporary measure and come to their senses soon.

WikiLeaks Ally Takes Down Visa, Mastercard

An organization calling itself "Anonymous" has publicly sided with WikiLeaks, and claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on both Visa and Mastercard today.

Both sites in Canada and the US were inaccessible for most of the day.

The attack is supposed to be a form of retribution for both Visa and Mastercard cutting off service with WikiLeaks, which effectively cut off donations to the controversial website.

Mastercard Canada spokesmen have said that the attack has not affected any credit card transactions.

Anonymous has called the attacks "Operation Payback". Early wednesday, Anonymous led media outlets to a video posted on YouTube which explained the objectives of the attacks.

Anonymous released a statement in which they said: "While we don't have much of an affiliation with WikiLeaks, we fight for the same reasons. We want transparency and we counter censorship... This is why we intend to utilize our resources to raise awareness, attack those against, and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."

The US government has put intense pressure on both the business community and political world to condemn and cut ties with WikiLeaks. Earlier this week, Amazon.com cut ties with WikiLeaks, which was using Amazon.com's servers, due to political pressure from Washington to do so.

Washington has also put pressure on France to shut down mirror websites that are hosting WikiLeaks information in the stead of WikiLeaks own webpages being shut down. Currently the French government has been stalled by their court system while trying to comply.

WikiLeaks first garnered attention in the spring when it posted a US military video which showed US troops in Iraq shooting down two unarmed Reuters journalists. The video was apparently taken by US army helicopters.

Since that video, WikiLeaks has published nearly half a million classified US documents from Iraq and Afghanistan. WikiLeaks feels the public has a basic right to know what their Military and Governments are doing.

I understand that governments have a right to secrecy when it comes to armed forces potentially being in danger, and can understand why the US has reservations to seeing these documents in the public. However, I do feel the public has the right to know if their governments or military forces are doing unsavory things, intentional or not. This includes incidents of Friendly Fire, such as the Reuters journalists or other hidden agendas that may infringe on anyone's basic human rights or freedoms.

Censorship is a dangerous concept, and governments would do well to remember that one way or another in some point in time, the truth ALWAYS comes out.

Forbes Magazine: Gary Holden is The 5th Biggest Screwup!

According to Forbes Magazine, Gary Holden, CEO of public-owned energy utility Enmax, is one of the biggest CEO screw ups of the year.

As I recently reported, Holden made national headlines when he sent a ranting email to all Enmax employees chastising a former employee for leaking information to the media about lavish parties that had been held at his home on the company's dime. Holden went so far as to threaten legal recourse against the former employee in what seemed to be a warning to everyone else to keep quiet.

Helen Coster, the author of the article which was published on Forbes.com, said she found it surprising how Holden dealt with the accusations of wild company-fueled parties. She said most CEOs would have used a public relations firm, rather than attempting to control the situations themselves.

That should be sound advice for Mr. Holden during his future business dealings. Not only did he make the situation worse, but according to Forbes, Holden sounded "paranoid" when he warned employees not to speak to the press.

Also under the public microscope at Enmax is the executive pay scale. Salaries for executives have skyrocketed in the last few years.

Company documents show the chairman of the board, a part-time position, is currently banking $180,000 a year. Astounding, considering that only 8 years ago in 2002, the same position paid $18,000. For you statistic folks out there, that is a 1000% pay increase in 8 years. Talk about a cost of living increase.

Gary Holden himself seems to be enjoying regular pay increases. In 2002, his position paid a paltry $700,000 including salary and bonuses. In 2009, Holden took home nearly $2.7 million. That's a pretty good paycheque considering it's funded by City of Calgary taxpayers.

Newly elected Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he is awaiting a full report that will detail how Enmax chooses it's compensation packages. The Mayor also stated that past increases to board of directors salaries had been approved by previous city councils.

Nenshi stated he was most interested in having a long conversation with Holden regarding how current salaries are justified.

For the time being, we will have to wait until next week to find out more.

Napa Auto Parts Hockey Team Says No To Racism

UPDATE: DECEMBER 17, 2010

Coach Gary Walsh has been suspended for the rest of the season by the Ontario Minor Hockey Association.

The OMHA admitted in its statement that racial slurs had been made, as they referenced the offender's remorse. That being said, the OMHA stated that since none of the game officials heard the comments themselves, and appropriate penalty could not be dealt out during the game.

The OMHA also maintains that Walsh's actions were in direct violations of league rules, and therefore, the season suspension is justified. There has not yet been a statement released by Walsh.

_________________

A minor hockey team from Peterborough, Ontario has seen it's coach suspended indefinitely for pulling his hockey team out of a game at the beginning of the third period to show solidarity for a black teammate that faced racial slurs from their opponents.

During the game, a player from each team received a penalty. While in the box, the Napa Auto Parts player, who happens to be black, was being trash talked by his competitor and was called a negative, racist term.

There appeared to be no real repercussions for the player that was doing the name calling, and so, upon the start of the third period, when the young man who was making racial slurs took to the ice, the Napa Auto Parts team left the ice en masse and refused to finish the game, in a show of support for their black team mate.

This is not the first time this particular player faced racism. A similar incident occurred 2 years ago. Ever since then, the team has had a no tolerance policy on racism, and this was their chosen course of action.

Gary Walsh, coach of the team vigorously defended his players move and supported it whole heartedly. He knew what incident had occurred as soon as he seen the look on young Allan McCullum's face. He asked the player what had happened.

Both players had been removed from play for the remainder of the period, which seems to me, to be punishing the victim as well.

Gary Walsh also disagreed with the punishments and so his team walked. Hockey Canada, the governing body of the league was apparently not impressed, and suspended Walsh.

To give credit when it's due, the opposing team's coach suspended himself for three games, as well as the offending player.

However, Hockey Canada has yet to make an official statement, and Walsh faces a review inquiry by the governing body and a potential 1 year ban on coaching hockey. But Walsh doesn't care.

"It was the right thing to do, and I would do it again in a heartbeat," he said.

Shaw Cable: The Grinch Who Made Christmas More Expensive

Shaw's Yule Log: Is it worth your money?

Shaw Cable announced that their popular Yule Log broadcast, which has been a free service every December since 1986, will now cost you 99 cents for every two hours of enjoyment.

The video, which was made in 1985, showed a crackling fire on a looping broadcast. Occasionally an arm would reach towards the fireplace and add another log to the fire.

Each year, many families who don't have their own fireplace would enjoy the video as part of their holiday celebrations. It used to air on basic cable for all Shaw Cable subscribers.

Shaw has decided to move the video to their Video On Demand Service (which also means basic cable subscribers who don't have a digital cable box will not be able to purchase the service) and charge 99 cents for a 1 hour and 55 minute broadcast. Shaw claims revenue raised by the video will be donated to charity.

Their are a few problems with this in my opinion. Firstly, Shaw Cable has so far not responded to calls from the media for interviews regarding their decision, and as of yet, there has been no clarification on how much of the revenue will be donated to charity.

Also, lower income families who do not have expansive cable packages will no longer have the opportunity to get the service at all.

The biggest issue in my opinion is Shaw's decision to charge 99 cents for each play of the video. The free service on TV showed the video as a continuous loop for the entire month of December. Even when you purchase a regular movie or show on Video on Demand, you are allowed to play the film as much as you want for a 24 hour period. So why charge for every play of the Yule Log, rather than a single charge for a 24 hour period?

If you really want to get down to the nitty gritty, lets remember that Shaw Cable is a billion dollar company, who gets to write off charity donations. I think Shaw can afford to reach into their own pockets for a holiday donation, rather than siphon it off from their consumers.

Bah Humbug to Shaw Cable.

Leslie Nielsen: Goodbye To A Legend

Leslie Nielsen 1926 - 2010

(photo by Alan Light)

Sad news this week, as Canadian Comedy Legend Leslie Nielsen passed away from complications from pneumonia.

Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1926. His father was a constable in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which led to Leslie living in the extreme northern community of Fort Nelson, NWT. A town with only a few hundred people and hundreds of miles from any city.

During his teenage years, Leslie graduated from Victoria Composite High School in Edmonton, Alberta. He then enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was trained as a gunman. However, Leslie had been too young to complete training to be sent overseas to fight in WW II.

Leslie then worked as a Disc Jockey for a Calgary radio station before enrolling in the Lorne Green Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto. While there, he earned a scholarship to Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, which ultimately launch his acting career. His first acting job was one episode of Studio One with Charlton Heston. Leslie was paid $75 for his appearance.

Leslie's career continued from there with mainly dramatic roles. And a lot of them. In the year 1950, Nielsen appeared in more than 50 programs. He continued on and branched out into motion pictures with moderate success until he was asked to audition for a role in Forbidden Planet, alongside Anne Francis. The movie was a box office success and resulted in Nielsen being signed to a multi picture deal with MGM Studios.

Leslie Nielsen and Anne Francis in Forbidden Planet

Nielsen continued with dramatic roles during his time at MGM, and finally left the studio in 1959, ultimately dissatisfied with the quality of movies the studio had been putting out.

After appearing as the ship's Captain in the epic Poseidon Adventure in 1972 and starring in the action film Project: Kill in 1977, Leslie found his comedic niche playing the doctor in the classic spoof Airplane!

Airplane! directors specifically chose Nielsen because he had only been known for dramatic roles, and felt he could lend an air of ironic seriousness for the film. In the film his character responds to the line "Surely you're not serious?" with "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley." The line would go on to become his trademark, and is considered one of the top movie quotes of all time by the American Film Institute.

After the success of Airplane!, Nielsen was attached to a new show called Police Squad, which first introduced the world to the Frank Drebin character. The show did not fare well and was cancelled after only a few episodes. Six years later, Frank Drebin would be resurrected in the Naked Gun series which would propel Nielsen to modern stardom for a new generation.

Through the 80s and 90s Nielsen appeared in what seemed to be every comedic spoof movie made. This trend continued into the 2000s with cameo appearances in the Scary Movie franchise. For the rest of the 2000s, Nielsen stayed away from motion pictures but did dozens of other projects including stage acting, documentaries, mockumentaries, voice overs, and celebrity game shows for charity.

in 2009, a sequel to the 3rd installment of the Naked Gun series had been announced. Sadly we will not get to see Nielsen in the project, due to his passing.

Over the span of his career, Nielsen appeared in more than 100 films and 1500 television programs. He has portrayed more than 220 characters.

Bizarre: Bristol Palin's Bad Dancing Triggers Police Standoff

Authorities in the town of Vermont, Wisconsin ended up in an overnight standoff that ended Tuesday morning with a 67 year old man turning himself in.

Court papers filed by the Dane County Sheriff's office say that Steven Cowan became so enraged by Bristol Palin's dance routine on an episode of Dancing With The Stars, that he loaded his shotgun, blasted his TV, then turned the gun on his elderly wife. She managed to escape unharmed. Cowan then held police at bay overnight before giving himself up in the morning.

Court documents went on to explain that Cowan did not think that Palin was a good dancer, and was convinced she was still on the show only because of her famous mother, former Governor Sarah Palin.

Cowan has been charged with second degree reckless endangerment, and if convicted, could spend up to ten years in jail. This would be unlikely however, as it has been noted in court documents that Cowan suffers from bipolar disorder.

John Baird Returned To Environment Minister

John Baird: Angry Finger-Pointer or Environment Minister?

Upon the recent proverbial happy pill that Canadians received when MP Jim Prentice announced he was leaving politics to sell snake oil to, uh, sorry, promote CIBC and its services to corporate clients, we have all just been handed our inevitable downer pill.

John Baird, currently Canada's equivalent of Minister of State as been again handed the Environment portfolio. This comes almost two years to the day when he had been removed from the same post after his very public media Crucifixion resulting from his performance (or lack thereof) during the Bali Summit on Climate Change.

John Baird, arguably the loudest and often most obnoxious of MPs, has an environmental batting average that makes Rob Deer look like a superstar.

While it should not be a surprise to anyone that Stephen Harper's Conservative Government cares not about environmental issues, Canada is one of the world's most influential governments, and the Conservatives should at least try to look as though they are moving forward.

Handing this portfolio back to Baird, even if temporary, displays the arrogance of our current government, in the fact that they clearly don't care about public appearance. Obviously they are willing to continue to bully themselves around simply because they currently have the slight edge in the number of sitting MPs to do so.

Much like Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's opinion on numbers, maybe it's time to change them.

Naheed Nenshi Gets Zipped with Rick Mercer et al.

Naheed Nenshi was getting down with television personality Rick Mercer, as well as Canadian Songstress Jann Arden and Olympic Gold Medalist Kyle Shewfelt.

The quartet's visit to Canada Olympic Park (or C.O.P) to experience North America's fastest zip line was featured on tonight's episode of The Mercer Report on CBC.

Rick Mercer

(Photo by Robin Wong www.robinwong.ca)

The zip line starts at the top of the ski jumping apparatus and can reach speeds up to 140km/h before you reach the bottom, which is slightly slower than what people drive on the Deerfoot Trail.

Nenshi, always the ambassador, jokingly ranted on about the various things to see and do while in Calgary, as his cohorts shipped him off down the zip line, thereby ending his verbal diarrhea.

Meanwhile, Calgary's own Jann Arden looked as though she would rather soil herself on national television rather than go through with the experience. Both Mercer and Shewfelt looked like pros.

Oddly, Nenshi's appearance was presented more as a cameo, rather than a feature of the skit.

However, for being in office less than 2 months, he has certainly been in some good company.

Naheed Nenshi: "Bad Enmax! Bad!"

A little over a week ago, an email written by Enmax CEO Gary Holden, was leaked to the media. The email was apparently a heavy handed response against a former Enmax staffer who leaked details of Holden's salary and lavish parties held at Holden's personal residence at the expense of the taxpayers. The email went on to say that Enmax would be seeking legal charges against the former employee.

Talk about making a bad situation worse.

Enmax is a city owned utility that provides power to Southern Alberta. So, of course details of $100,000 private parties put on at Holden's home and funded by Enmax caused quite a bit of stir with the citizens of Calgary. Add to that the details of Holden's $2.7 million compensation package for last year, and you have a very bitter public opinion.

Holden has tried defending the parties, which included invited rockstars such as Tom Cochrane and Gord Downy from the Tragically hip, saying that they were meant to showcase Enmax's foray into renewable energy to industry heavyweights. Holden's home was fitted with wind turbines and solar panels and waste-to-energy recovery technology. Holden stated the most recent party in question had 300 invited guests, and 25 Enmax employees who helped stage the event with a cost over $100,000.

It is unclear at this point exactly how many parties have been held.

To add to public outrage, Gary Holden's internal email stressed a firm hand with employees who leak information to the media, and indicated that legal action would be taken against the former employee-turned-whistleblower.

This did not help matters. Several employees who spoke anonymously to media expressed fear for their jobs, should they say the wrong thing to the wrong person. The email also implied an effort of cover-up of Enmax expenditures.

Naheed Nenshi

Last week, new Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi weighed in on the Enmax ordeal, demanding an inquiry into the parties, and why Enmax board of directors seemed to receive a 60% increase in compensation last year.

Nenshi met with Enmax board member Clifford Fryers and laid the smack down. The first verbal bitchslap Nenshi gave Fryers was "no more lavish parties". The second was to suggest the taxpayers and Enmax customers would not appreciate the Corporation spending taxpayers money to persecute a whistleblower.

Seems like a reasonable solution. However, in an apparent effort to make a point, Holden has now cancelled the upcoming company Christmas party, citing Mayor Nenshi's insistence of no more parties. Holden also implied that the outrage from Calgarians was to fault for his employees not being entitled to a Christmas party.

Nenshi hasn't made any public statements about the cancellation of the Christmas party, but somehow I doubt he would begrudge city employees their yearly dose of merriment. However, one of the lavish parties in years past was a Christmas party entertained by Tom Cochrane, who performed a 3 hour set under a reported $100,000 contract. A little over the top, no?

Clearly Gary Holden is an all or nothing type man. Either there is a Christmas party which can only be described as an Orgy of Excess, or no party at all.

This man's disturbing attitude needs to be corrected. If he continues his antics, it would not be unreasonable to assume that he will be removed from his position very soon. And good riddance.

The Human Centipede: The Sickest Movie of All Time?

So, prior to tonight, I had never heard of the movie called The Human Centipede (First Sequence). Actually, I stumbled across a reference to the movie while reading a review for another film. But the poster of the comment in which I was reading said that he was unsure if he could stomach watching the film.

Well, of course, this made me wonder what the film was all about. So a quick Google search later, and I was suddenly tossed into the midst of watching a movie trailer for one of the most disgusting concepts of all time. Truly.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a film by Tom Six, a Dutch writer, director and producer. Upon first watching the trailer, the film starts out cliche, a la Hostel, but then quickly leaps into a more deranged direction, where in female tourists are used in a medical experiment to create a "Human Centipede" by surgically stitching them, along with an unknown Asian man, anus-to-mouth, thereby creating a 3 person creature who would share a single digestive tract.

Let your imagination run with that concept for a while.

Got that image in your head now? If your mind brought flashbacks of the Two Girls, One Cup video, that's ok. That's where your head should be right now.

Now I must say, as far as horror movie trailers go, The Human Centipede does a remarkable job of invoking feelings of horror and disgust while showing very little, if any, graphic detail. And, in my opinion, often the best cringeworthy films are works wherein there is little graphic gore shown. A good example of this is some of the prison scenes in the film Blindness. Sure, its not a horror flick, but those parts of the film certainly gave me the shudders.

So exactly how graphic does The Human Centipede get? Apparently not very (which I am sure many viewers are grateful for). However, the concept in itself was apparently gag-inducing enough, that it is reported that Tom Six did not reveal the mouth-to-anus details to investors while seeking funding for the film. And, as a result, many of the investors did not actually know about the complete subject matter of the film until it was released. Additionally, it has been reported that a number of auditioners for the project walked out of their reading due to sheer disgust at the concept.

The film debuted in 2009, and surprisingly, received fairly positive reviews from several film festivals. Mainstream reviews were less flattering, but there was the occasional silver lining. Entertainment Weekly for example, praised the direction of the film and the acting abilities of Dieter Laser (of the show Lexx), who portrayed the mad surgeon. However, EW also proclaimed Centipede to be "...The most disgusting horror movie of all time."

That being said, due to the modest success of The Human Centipede (First Sequence), Tom Six has been working on a sequel imaginatively called The Human Centipede (Full Sequence). Duh. What else would you call it? Six has released a teaser for the sequel (due out in 2011), where he says it will be so disgusting, it will make the first release look like "My Little Pony".

What is the plot line of the sequel? Well, a human centipede of course, but this time with 12 participants. And of course with a new lead as surgeon.

So at this point I have to ask: Have you seen The Human Centipede? Are you going to watch it? Would you watch the sequel? And what is your review on the movie?

You can view the trailer for the first film here. And here is the teaser for the sequel.

BC Premier Gordon Campbell Resigns

Gordon Campbell (photo by Mary McNeil)

In a surprise press conference this morning, BC Premier Gordon Campbell resigned from his post.

This comes after months of heated controversy in British Columbia where Campbell's Liberal government signed an agreement with the Conservative Federal Government to bring in a Harmonized Sales Tax which took effect in July of this year. (A topic on which they campaigned against in the last election)

The tax was openly despised by BC citizens, and dominated the headlines for much of the year as a grassroots movement came to life, forcing the government to agree to hold a referendum on the issue. Due to Campbell's lack of expediting the process (he could have chosen to table a motion in the BC legislature rather than a referendum, AND the fact that he scheduled the referendum for a year down the road), unsatisfied voters began a very public attempt at recalling Liberal MLAs.

It should be no surprise that members of the Liberal caucus did not appreciate the negative public opinion, and began criticizing Campbell's job performance.

It's likely that Campbell is attempting to curb what would have been a very public embarrassment, as it has been rumored that a number of Liberal MLAs were about to call on Campbell to resign during the next Liberal Caucus meeting.

Campbell's party has already suffered damage due to some high profile and well liked cabinet ministers who resigned this summer due to their dislike of the party's direction.

The next step will be for the Liberal Party to hold a leadership convention sooner, rather than later, to choose the next premier of BC. Unfortunately for the Liberals, history shows us that when a leader steps down, the replacement leader ultimately commits political suicide by taking the reins of a sinking party. See Kim Campbell and Paul Martin for examples of this.