Checkered Lounge Pants

Transparent governing would not require damage controlling censorship. Sometimes accountability comes in unusual shapes... CBC News - World - U.K. government wants WikiLeaks media briefing: report

by Paul Waldie From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Global investment funds have sunk as much as $20-billion (U.S.) into farmland, last year alone they bought 111 million acres of farmland, a tenfold increase from previous years. *just as a pre-cursor to the following blog here is the scope of the established agri-corporations and their vested interest as per 2004 financials: Critics argue that the ultimate goal of corporate farming is to vertically integrate the entire process of food production, up to the point of the distribution and sale of food to consumers. Some corporations are considered to be well on the way to achieving this objective, and have become very large in the process, such as Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto Company, and the privately held Cargill, with 2004 revenues of $62.9 billion. I think you will agree, the present day investors pale to the long-standing established corporations. Why the cries NOW????? Here are some of the biggest buyers in agriculture real est...

What does procrastination tell us about ourselves? Some years ago, the economist George Akerlof found himself faced with a simple task: mailing a box of clothes from India, where he was living, to the United States. The clothes belonged to his friend and colleague Joseph Stiglitz, who had left them behind when visiting, so Akerlof was eager to send the box off. But there was a problem. The combination of Indian bureaucracy and what Akerlof called “my own ineptitude in such matters” meant that doing so was going to be a hassle—indeed, he estimated that it would take an entire workday. So he put off dealing with it, week after week. This went on for more than eight months, and it was only shortly before Akerlof himself returned home that he managed to solve his problem: another friend happened to be sending some things back to the U.S., and Akerlof was able to add Stiglitz’s clothes to the shipment. Given the vagaries of intercontinental mail, it’s possible that Akerlof made it back to t...

Weekly Audit: Banks get big bucks, consumers get bupkis By Lindsay Beyerstein | November 9, 2010 Last week, the Federal Reserve announced a plan to buy an additional $600 billion worth of Treasury bonds in an attempt to stimulate the economy. On Democracy Now!, economist Michael Hudson argues that the $600 billion T-bill buy will help Wall Street at the expense of ordinary Americans. The Fed justifies the purchase as an infusion of cash into the U.S. economy. The buy-up will certainly be an infusion of cash into U.S. banks. In effect, the Fed will help the government pay back the banks that lent money to finance deficit spending. The hope is that these banks, suddenly flush with cash, will help the U.S. economy by lending money to finance projects that will create wealth and jobs (i.e. opening factories and hiring more workers). However, as Hudson points out, there’s no guarantee that the banks are going to use the windfall to build wealth in the U.S. On the contrary, he argues, there’...

China becomes scapegoat of American illness in mid-term election By Han Dongping (chinadaily.com.cn) The US mid-term election on Tuesday was a very important event in American political life. As most polls indicated, Democrats lost its control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans amid high unemployment and unprecedented government deficit. Just two years ago, voters elected Barack Obama with their anger toward former President George W. Bush's unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In just two years, voters' anger has turned against Obama and the Democrats because of his administration's inability to improve the unemployment situation in the US and his huge government spending in rescuing banks and big business. All politics is local, as Dick O'Neil, former US House speaker from Massachusetts once said. Most Americans cast their votes according to their own economic situation and what is happening in their local communities. However, foreign policies alwa...

Hi all, been a while since I did a manual post. The link options make it so easy to link up to interesting articles that, banging out on the keyboard seems cumbersome. I had a busy summer...spent April and May in Winnipeg. I went to Boston and Cape Cod in August. I helped my folks move from the farm to a Co-op in Winnipeg in September and I went to the Union's Education Centre in Port Elgin, ON this month as a guest to the Rail Di vision convention. This brings us to harvest time...i love harvest time. All the crops and orchards are competing the grow cycle and the farmers are harvesting the fruits of their labour. Fall colours abound and are pleasing to the eye. The autumn season is fufilling other than it being the prelude to winter. I'll be in touch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11612731#

Actor Randy Quaid and wife arrested in Vancouver on California warrants - Winnipeg Free Press

Migrant workers in Ontario embark on 'Pilgrimage to Freedom' this Thanksgiving weekend rabble.ca

Indicative of medical biological technology advancing beyond the realm of physcological capabilities, no??? Just my opinion. 'The single most significant health and social crisis' Last Updated: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 7:42 AM ET The Associated Press The global cost of dementia will likely exceed $620 billion this year, or one per cent of the world's total economy, a new report says. In a study issued Tuesday, European researchers estimate that 35 million people have dementia worldwide. They said this figure is likely to almost double every 20 years, to nearly 66 million in 2030 and 115 million in 2050. In the report, scientists called the spread of dementia an epidemic that is increasing its pace with the greying of the population around the world. As people live longer, particularly in developed countries, they become more susceptible to dementia. After age 65, the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, doubles every five y...

Cussing the Riders for Dad - Winnipeg Free Press

Last month I took a ride to visit Kevin and Audra. I was excited to see their new house in Boston. I was planning to spend my usual 5 days on the trip, that consist of two travel days and 3 visit days. when Kevin suggested we spend the weekend camping on the Cape. I had images of Hyannisport where the Kennedy's summered, and lighthouses from Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find an idyllic forested campground that featrured a number of recreations including canoeing and horseback riding. Anyhow, in the spirit of a picture better than a thousand words, I took this video for you to see. Enjoy and I'll be in touch.

Ever wanted to visit the Vatican? You can tour the Vatican on your computer. This is pretty amazing stuff. Wow... the technology of computers is unbelievable! You can spend as much or as little time as you want on it, keep it permanently if you wish, and explore it at leisure. Don't forget to turn up the volume on your speakers, and remember the close-up tool is your friend ---(lower left corner). Also use your cursor to click and drag, and you can move to the ceiling or 360 degrees or take any perspective you wish to take. You can zero in on the smallest feature of a painting. Whether you have seen the Vatican or not, you have never seen it this well... This is truly amazing, with heavenly music! Click your mouse here: http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_giovanni/vr_tour/index-en.html%3E > I'll be in touch.

Don't be too hard on the Goldeyes owner. Katz may have gained from the Goldeyes association with Winnipeg, but so has Winnipeg. Winnipeg wasn't so lucky with Barry Shenkarow's NHL Jets. "Barry Shenkarow, president/part owner, the single biggest reason for the failures of the Jets both on and off the ice, as well as the biggest reason that the Winnipeg Jets no longer exist. One of the very worst owners in the history of pro sports, perhaps second in this category, the worst being Art Modell in the NFL, currently in Baltimore." (circa Jets Memorial Site) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayor claims his team isn’t a money machine; You be the judge By: Paul Wiecek DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image Mayor Sam Katz claims the Goldeyes team isn't a money machine. What does it cost to field a baseball team in the Northern League? On the surface, surprisingly little. So how is it, then, that Winnipeg Go...

(as reported by the BBC) Lt Gen Babaker Zebari says the "problem will start after 2011" Iraq's top army officer has criticised as premature the planned US troop withdrawal by the end of next year. Lt Gen Babaker Zebari warned that the Iraqi military might not be ready to take control for another decade. The US says it is on target to end combat operations by the end of August and meet its deadline for removing all troops by the end of 2011. It has 64,000 soldiers in Iraq. About 50,000 will remain until 2011 to train Iraqi forces and protect US interests. "The politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011... If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020."

YIKES.. my first ride to Sturgis was in 1984 and again in 1990 and 2005...the rally sure has changed!!! Pee-wee Herman adventures to SD biker rally to reconnect with fans, recreate 'Tequila dance' By: James MacPherson, The Associated Press STURGIS, S.D. - Mean machines and burly bikers didn't draw Amanda White to the world's largest motorcycle rally. She had her sights set on a bow-tied nerd in an ill-fitting grey plaid suit: Pee-wee Herman. Actor Paul Reubens is reintroducing Pee-wee — his alter ego and 1980s cult character — to fans at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, which is expected to draw more than 500,000 people this week. "I call it my Pee-wee pilgrimage," said White, a 29-year-old Minneapolis school teacher who drove 10 hours to the rally and had Reubens autograph her bicycle seat. "I'm a huge Pee-wee fan." White is not alone. Plenty of Pee-wee fans have flocked to the Buffalo Chip campground outside Sturgis to see Reubens...

It's one of the things that defines us By: David Connors What are Winnipeg's institutions? I don't mean hospitals and corporate headquarters. I mean the things that define us as a city. Would that list include the Bridge Drive Inn? The Jets? (The dream, at least, lives on... and on and on.) The Blue Bombers? (Well, let's see how they do in the Banjo Bowl before we decide on that one.) A friend recently emailed me a copy of the 1958 Winnipeg Visitors Guide. It was the big ad for Eaton's that set me off on this particular tangent. Remember Eaton's? In the same guide, an ad for the Childs Restaurant boasts, "If you visit us once, you'll return." If only we could; its menu featured steamed Lake Winnipeg goldeye (whatever happened to that Winnipeg institution?). The restaurant, alas, was torn down to make way for the Canwest building. Will that organization become a Winnipeg institution? That's anybody's guess right now. Mama Trossi's was an...

The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports describe the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military. They include the number of persons internally stated to be killed, wounded, or detained during each action, together with the precise geographical location of each event, and the military units involved and major weapon systems used. The Afghan War Diary is the most significant archive about the reality of war to have ever been released during the course of a war. The deaths of tens of thousands is normally only a statistic but the archive reveals the locations and the key events behind each most of these deaths. We hope its release will lead to a comprehensive understanding of the war in Afghanistan and provide the raw ingredients necessary to change its course. Most entries have been written by soldiers and intelligence officers listening to reports radioed i...

Lundar resident faces charges over 911 calls - Winnipeg Free Press Ps. Earlier this summer I was enlisted by one of the nieghbourhood kids to take the boys fishing. The shoreline was cluttered with firelog size Carp but, try as we might, we just couldn.t land the huge creatures. Several visits later to the ole fishin' hole and multiple restocks of tackle...one of the lads caught his first fish. WTG!! I'll be in touch.

International News Britain deputy PM says Iraq war was "illegal"