Election warning APES promise free everything

The APES are offering free bananas again -it must be election time Monday, September 10, 2007

Voters turn to bringing accountability back into the government service equation;

How do we get our real entitled ,paid for government services back? Fight for them and counteract government APE-isms and their negative consequences on your right to live your life with the minimum of government intrusions and expensive artificial government imposed annoyances. Protect your natural rights of quite enjoyment ,liberty. What are government APE-isms? What is a government APE?

An APE is defined as a government, government directed individual or government funded agency that abuses its authority and misuses its public mandate and the public’s rights and trust for their own interest and not of the stated organization mandate, the stated customers needs and/or the people that they are supposed to serve,help and protect.

• A - using their Authority in a frivolous, arrogant , officious manner to deliver services in an intimadating , autocratic and bureaucratic , unprofessional, secretative and non transparant way , that is costly,economically absurd and ineffecient to increase their own self serving power, agenda and importance and to increase compliance costs on their targeted victims in a punnative and demeaning way.


• P- using their Power to perform in an ineffective and costly manner. Incessantly talking the talk at great lengths but always defering the real and needed delivery of the service or walk. ( A group of highly Paid Public Resources that never become accountable for walking the talk- they talk never walk the talk because of the real risk to themselves.)


• E- demonstrating a lack of Effeciency and Effectiveness in supplying basic services to their customers and constituents by complicating and drawing our issues , rather then simplfying and fixing problems and challenges in a timely manner. Empowering themselves at the expense of the front line and customers that they are supposed to serve.

Always challenge and make the APES accountable this election-do not accept free bananas and excuses for bad performance with your tax money

Ontario MPP's, politicians list

Election time is here. Ask your mpp an accountability question- where did my money go and why should you get more of it? Show me proof that you spent my money wisely Why should I vote for you?

If everything is free why does it cost me more to live?
Ontario MPP's, politicians list

Election warning

The promises of free goodies paid for by your money are coming! Be aware of the danger -use your common sense.

ASK Questions and get an accounting of why now and not before. Cynicism is earned when there is no delivery of past promises.

Election warning

A useful reference for those making public presentations

A useful reference for those making public presentations




PubCon Street Tips: Giving a Kick Ass Presentation
Date: August 14, 2007, 11:27 amCategory Tag: "Unfiled" Posted by: Brett_Tabke
PubCon Street Tips on Giving Presentations : Investing in our Speakers
"According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two.
This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."

I am sitting here in a sea of speaker and session proposals for PubCon Las Vegas 2007. I have never had to make the kinds of decisions we are facing for this year's PubCon. We have increased the number of sessions again and the amount space we have reserved.
We get many questions about presentations at every conference. PubCon is known as a conference that embraces newbie speakers that are experts in their fields. We have seen it all. Even the old school professional speakers like to keep up with the new techniques and make a better presentation every time. So, while we prep for these presentation assignments, I am reminded of what it means to be a good speaker and how to develop into a good speaker. I think I am an average to above average speaker. I only got to that point by being a student of the presentation. I know there are many quality speakers that never take the time to study presentation for presentations sake, but the majority of us have to put some work into it.
At WebmasterWorld, PubCon, and other industry conferences, I've seen close to a thousand presentations. I've moderated over half of those panels. I've felt nervous, envious, sympathetic, and elated for those speakers I have seen. I mostly feel like I want to help them become better speakers. I have seen great first time speakers, and I have seen seasoned pro's fail. The one clear difference between a great presentation and a presentation I should have stayed in bed for is speaker preparation.

The Power of a Confident Presentation
Your ability to give a great presentation will help your career, ring a sales bell, or promote yourself effectively in an ever increasingly complex business world. Speaking with confidence is a skill that transcends the presentation and will help you throughout your life. Public speaking breeds confidence that will be the difference between getting a promotion, making a sale, or winning a friend. While chair of PubCon, I have seen people go from wallflowers to confident public speakers. The affect it has had on their lives and careers has been profoundly positive.
The old saying that business is a contact sport has never been more appropriate than today. You have good odds of making a great contact at a conference face-to-face. Exercise that opportunity and it will come back to you many times over. Making new contacts is part of the reason people attend a conference.

Stop 1: Who is in the room?
20-30% of the attendees will relish your presentation. Anything you put on the screen - they will love.
25-50% of your attendees are there to see someone else on your panel.
20-30% of your attendees will loathe all PowerPoints and are in the room because they need the information and don't want to miss anything.
5% are there just for the question and answer period (Q&A).
5% of your attendees are there because their boss said they needed to be there.
5% of your attendees are there because the WiFi is good in the room.
2% are there because their phone/laptop needed charging and there is a plug on the wall.
5% are there because they don't wish to walk back to the room while waiting for the next session.
5% are there because they are blogging about the session and need to beat Barry to the post button.
5% are there because there is a cute guy/girl on the panel.
What Should it Look Like?
The Big Opening:
Gracious: Thank your host, thank your moderator, and thank the audience for being there. This simple act will help to get a repeat invitation to speak. Always promote and thank the host up front. They got you there - thank them for the honor. Never try to upstage your host, or become the master of ceremonies - that is your moderators job. Don't take over the session - participate in it. You are a guest in their house.
Cheers Dudes: Let the audience know that you want to meet them and they can see you around the conference and should feel welcome to come talk to you.
One Theme - One Theme Only Please: Follow one central theme and nail it. Use every slide to prop up the core theme and should in some way refer back to your overall presentation theme.
Respect the Scope: Limit your bullet points. Be very selective. You don't want people reading your bullets, you want them looking and listening to you. Your power point is a tool - don't let it overshadow you by reading your own bullet points. Instead, read your notes about your bullet points. Try old fashioned 3x5 cards with large print for your notes.
The Big Five: Each presentation should have at least one slide for each of the big five: a chart, a graph, a list, a human picture, a funny picture, and finish with 3 take aways and your contact info.
The Stunner Opener: Start with a stunner of a statistic, a really funny experience, or a real world case study. However, don't attempt to tell a joke unless you are really really good at it. Nine out of ten jokes fail during presentations. Leave the comedy to the professionals like the one at the right.
The Survey Opener: Finding out who is in the audience with a survey question is a great ice breaker and opener. So ask for a show of hands. Some people in the audience just get giddy over being able to participate and they hang on your every syllable. Bueller?... Bueller?... Bueller?

Lead Them: Let your audience know what you are going to cover and what your theme is all about. Some people even number their slides backwards so the audience can follow along to the end.
Hitting the Sweet Spot:
One Slide Per Minute: Use a maximum of one slide per minute. You can talk that long. If you do more than one slide per minute, the audience will follow only the screen and not you.
No Pitches: Dude, you work for a cool company -- maybe even yourself -- but please only mention your company name or products one time. Nothing turns stomachs faster than a sales pitch.
Big Quote: A witty saying or quote from someone always grabs attention. (psst: the one with Ford at the right)
Work the Room: Go clockwise around the clock and look at each of your audience members in turn. Don't fixate on one person (like a college friend or coworker). Work the room.
Don't Distract: Don't look at the projector screen and don't use a laser pointer. People find them annoying and rarely can see them in the back of the room.
Stay Tech Light: Double check your tech prep. Avoid software or tech that is nonstandard on a simple machine with Office installed. I have seen every type of technical problem. Never ever use any type of software your host doesn't explicitly say is on the presentation machine. For example, software such as movies, sounds, or flash all have problems. Never count on an internet connection and always have a Plan B if you do. Internet connections have a staggering 50-75% failure rate at conferences. I have seen internet problems at every conference I have ever been too. PubCon, SearchEngineStrategies, and even Traffic, have all had internet failures during presentations. Never count on a live internet connection. Always prep a presentation that does not have the whiz bang version of software X that you really need. Even if it is supposed to be on the presentation machine, they could have swapped machines. Plan for the worst - especially if you are at a tech conference where attendees will saturate the WiFi with their own laptop connections.
All Demos Suck: Don't ever do a product demo unless the session is a product demo. People loath product demos - especially software demos - they are 95% unintelligible in a big room.
Bring A Backup: Give your PowerPoint to your host via the accepted means. Take a copy on USB stick and/or CD (careful - many systems don't have CD's these days).
Movement: Find out if you are allowed to walk-n-talk while you give your presentation. If so, practice with a remote mouse/clicker and take it with you to your presentation.
Bond with the Panel: Refer to one or two of your panel members during your presentation. Then make sure to say hi, or shake their hand before your session - build a bond. You are a team and that panel member may be the best contact you make at the entire session.
Leave Props to Home: Props rarely work. Handouts work even less - they cause a distraction.
Give Aways: "If you come up and see me after my presentation, I will give you a new pen, a new hat, sign your conference book, or give you a new car." Then swap business cards. At PubCon Vegas 2005, I gave away simple key chains at a presentation once and was given the business card of a producer who later put me on national TV.
The Big Surprise!: You will have a moment of surprise in your presentation. Watch for it and react accordingly. You will have no idea when your audience will find something you have said funny and laugh, moan, or groan. Don't panic - just smile -- pause as necessary -- and move onward.
Dramatic Pause: A pause here-n-there in your speech gives your audience a break and lets them think, breath, and take a drink of water. Oh yeah - always have a glass of water near the podium. Only half full because you might shake and spill it.
Panel Topics: Cross check with your other panelists about their topic coverage. Always respect the topics you are asked to speak about. There is no more solid way to end your speaking career at a conference, than by talking about apples when your host asked you to talk about oranges.
FONT SIZE: Use one font size larger than you think you need.
Three Words: charts, graphs, lists. Three more words: people love them!Ok, fess up -- how long did you stare at the pie chart at the right, before you realized it didn't mean anything? People love charts, graphs, and lists. They will see them before they see anything else on the screen. You can even do an entire presentation (or blog post) in nothing but list style presentation. Nine out of ten people love a good list. Tenth guy? There is a bad seed in every crowd.
Eye Candy: Be sure to leave a chart or graph on the screen for a couple of minutes for people to grasp the data. Even if the data is not necessarily what it seems. For example - you tell people you have 26 points to make and you only really have 25? If you don't leave that on the screen long enough, they won't notice. HSteel - Prep Work
owever, if it is to be published on a CD, a blog, or printed in the conference book - consider it.
Fear Factor: Nerves of Know the Audience: Ask your host who will be in the room. What is the typical attendee make up? Why do they come to the show? Don't assume you know from just looking at the layout of conference website. Many people think that PubCon is just the WebmasterWorld crowd - when in fact, less than 50% of the 2006 attendees are WebmasterWorld subscribers.
Visualize: Practice, visualize, practice, record, and practice. Visualize your presentation. Stop and walk through your entire presentation in your mind. Make it go perfectly as you expect. Practice your presentation until you can almost recite it from memory. Now relax, slow down, smile and exude confidence. The old saying; Fake it till you make it is accurate and appropriate. No one knows your presentation better than you.
Record: If you have a tape recorder, or a camcorder, then record your presentation and watch it. Yes, it can be hard to watch yourself the first few times, but nothing will make you a better presenter than watching yourself and taking action.
Be Casual - Stay Cool: How should I dress? Unless your host says otherwise, business casual is the rule of today's conferences. Dress one notch above what is appropriate for your audience.
During Question and Answer Period:
Repeat the question back to the audience so you make sure everyone in the room heard it.
Write the question down - even if the question isn't directed at you. While someone else responds, you can formulate your own answer. It is surprising how many good speaker don't use this trick. Even more surprising is how good it works.
Answer the person's question. Sound silly? I regularly see people respond to a question and finish their 2 minutes of time by asking, "what was the question again"?
Answer any question you are confident about answering, but never try to fake it in the question and answer period.
Watch how the pro's from the big corporations handle Q&A period. They have huge public relations facilities and train their speakers. They are masters of public speaking and Q&A sessions. At every PubCon, I am amazed at how the big search engine speakers always write down questions from the audience. That gives them time to think about an answer and finish by referring back to the question when done.
Want to ruin a great presentation? Be a blabbermouth during Q&A. This is where some great speakers die a quick death.
Presentation StrategiesThe Meet-N-Greet Strategy: Some people say you should meet as many people in the audience as possible. That means you should get into the room while the previous presentation is still going on. During the break - don't run to the podium to grab a chair - talk to the audience that is there instead. Also, if the panel before you is at the stage, walk up and ask one of the speakers a question to get a feel for what it is like to be on the receiving end of a speakers attention. How do you feel, and how do you want your audience to feel when they talk to you?
On Friendly Ground : Visit the room where you are speaking. Check out the room you are speaking in, as soon as you can. If there is a lunch break and the room is empty - go up to the stage, stand there and practice your presentation from memory.
Press Props: Everyone has a blog these days and there will be press and/or bloggers in the room. Ask the host for a press list. Identify those people and let them know you are available for an interview before you go to the show. At the show - find them and shake their hand - talk shop - bond - write an article for them. Backlinks rule the web.
Problems: Always acknowledge problems. If there is a problem with the projector, or the sound, or room is too hot/too cold - feel free to mention it. Don't apologize for it, but do acknowledge it. It builds a bond. People like to complain together and they also like to celebrate together. If you acknowledge problems, you don't seem like you are trying to ignore it. Some speaker trainers say you should ignore problems. I think telling people what they are already thinking, deflates the issue and makes you seem like one of the gang.
Multi Speaker Order Strategy: Go first or go last, but try to avoid the middle ground. The first speakers has the attention of the room. The last speaker can add some occasional comments about the previous speakers presentation. By the same reasoning - never give a presentation when someone elses slides are on the screen.

The Big Finish
At PubCon, we always ask speakers to end with three take-aways, (don't call them take-aways, call them real world applications of what you just talked about).
Finish on time, but if you run late - be ready to roll to your last screen at any point. Be flexible - stay loose, and don't fret if it changes.
Put your contact information and logo on the screen last. If you go last, you can often get your last screen left on the screen during a Q&A period.
Ask for links. Yep, ask people to link to your website if they liked your presentation. People laughed when Guy Kawasaki ended with asking for links, but he got enough to make it worth his while to come back again! If it works for a seasoned pro like Guy - it can work for everyone. (note: Guy, there is your link. Thanks)
After the Panel
When your session is over - stick in your panel chair like glue. If you have people in front of you that wish to talk - don't move - make the next people remove you. Go to the hall and continue talking with people that came up to you. This is your customer base - your fan base - use it wisely.
When someone hands you a business card - follow up.
One word: Toastmasters.
PubCon: Grade A Speaking With a Hangover
Lay out your speaking attire the night before going out to a fun PubCon bash. Put your PowerPoint on a USB stick and put it in the pants pocket. Make sure you have cab fare and directions prepared if you are staying away from the conference hotel.
Pack some eye drops in your overnight bag for every conference. Use 'em for the redness.
Light colored or clear alcohols are better. They have fewer byproducts. Milder hangovers.
Less than one drink an hour and skip the beer bongs, jello shots, and tequila twisters.
Fill up on as much food as possible while drinking. Multivitamins and especially Vitamin C are said to help some people.
Pain killers (aspirin tends to work better with hangovers).
Eat as soon as you think it will stay down.
Bland liquids - lots of water - caffeinate liberally - Gatorade if available.
Take a long hot - then cold shower.
Go last on your panel.
Warm climates like Vegas, make partying much easier than cold climates like - oh say - cold and windy Chicago.
Turn down the brightness on the presentation laptop then request the lights be lowered so people can see the screen better.
Buy a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses that look like real glasses.
Women - avoid high heels the day of your presentation. Men - clip on ties only.
If you expect a hangover, then bribe your chairman to put you last in the day very early on in the speaking selection process.
Speak every chance you can. Submit your name to every conference that you can. Toastmasters - everything - do it all. The more you do it - the easier it gets and the more people will want you back as a speaker.
Thanks, cya in Vegas Baby!Brett Tabke
..."Remember to be nice to the people on the way up the ladder of success, because you will see the same people on the way back down." - unknown

Sprint's Dear John customer letter | TechRepublic Photo Gallery

Sprint's Dear John customer letter TechRepublic Photo Gallery: "Sprint's Dear John customer letter"


Would it not be nice to write a similar letter or opt-out letter to government agencies as a customer who keeps paying for services that are not being delivered. PR

Office politics destroys companies

Raw ambition and quik fixes do not make up for a lack of talent or ability to deliver results

The purpose of democracy and freedom of choice Food for thought

What is the essence of sovereign government?
Ultimately, is government something done for us, or done to us? The whole discussion turns on this. In the final analysis, is government to serve or impose?
Social and economic programs, for example, ostensibly represent governments acting “for” us -- whether as an innovative private company or as an indulgent uncle it is never clear.
On the other hand, policing – taxation – licensing of cars, dogs, restaurants and guns – and everything down to standard weights and measures, are typically done to us, or to someone else. They regiment what we all must do and must not do.
Any of these impositions may be absolutely necessary for public order, or may be utterly stupid; but either way, it’s what sets governments apart – their power to impose.
The purpose of democracy
Efficiency is the concern of supermarkets and car dealers. Maximum sale for minimum investment. They have competitors. They must be imaginative and efficient, or perish.
But governments don't. No organization that can compel the entire population to pay for its own overstaffing, irresponsible mistakes and occasional blatant injustices will be creative and efficient, except at imposing its will, because that is its business.

It is a fundamental error to see governments merely as administrative services, like the sales and accounting staff at Walmart. Walmart can't force ypou to surrender 40% of your income for products you can't get and probably don't want.
For this reason, it's best to give the most powerful government as little responsibility as possible, and favour less powerful, more controllable orders of government with more. For the lower and closer sovereignty lies to you and me, the easier we find it to control. But this been said often enough.
Given Ottawa’s usurpation of social sovereignty over the past 50 years – from the unemployment insurance revenue grab in 1940, to the ponzi-scheme Canada Pension Plan in the 1960s, to the straitjacket Canada Health Act in the 1980s – it is surely time to bring the democratic reins back closer to hand and back to the provinces (or the grass roots citizens and taxpayers) where it originated.

Normal people donotmake thatmuch / MSN Finance - Surprise! We don't make that much money

Take this incontext of the rapidly expanding 100,000 $ club of government employees.PR

Savings & Debt John Caspar - Sympatico / MSN Finance - Surprise! We don't make that much money: "Surprise! We don't make that much money
advertisement

By John Caspar
April 04, 2007
Last week, I regaled you with some interesting data from the good folks at Statistics Canada regarding retirement savings. That was all about what we save. This week, let's talk a little bit about what we make. Specifically, how much money are people making out there, and where do you stack up?
All the data here is for the 2004 calendar year, which is the most recent income data available.
Just so you can brace yourself, we'll start with median total income. The median is the mid-point, where half the included population is higher, and half is lower. “Total income” in this case includes income from employment, investment, government transfers, private pensions, registered retirement savings plans and other income. You know. Total. And the median total income for Canadians with an income was…$24,400. If you made more than $24,400 in 2004, congratulations, you were in the top half of income earners.
Now, before you calculate that fully half of Canadians work for less than $12.20 an hour, bear in mind that “total income” will capture part-time employees, after-school student jobs, etc. Those people will pull down the average with a low income that may not be representative of hardship. That being said, the bottom half of total income earners is also populated by people who are out of the work force and living on low incomes provided by pensions and government benefits. Many of those people do indeed have financial hardship.
The median employment income for Canadians in 2004 was $25,400. That's just counting the working folks.

Now, before you calculate that fully half of Canadians work for less than $12.20 an hour, bear in mind that “total income” will capture part-time employees, after-school student jobs, etc. Those people will pull down the average with a low income that may not be representative of hardship. That being said, the bottom half of total income earners is also populated by people who are out of the work force and living on low incomes provided by pensions and government benefits. Many of those people do indeed have financial hardship.
The median employment income for Canadians in 2004 was $25,400. That's just counting the working folks. The highest median employment income by province was the Northwest Territories by a wide margin ($35,400), followed by the Yukon ($28,300), Ontario ($27,900) and Alberta ($27,500). Newfoundland was the lowest at $17,000.
But let's move back to total income for Canadians, and climb further up the scale to see where the meat is. Let's move all the way up to where about 2/3rds of individuals have lower incomes. In 2004, you were in the top third of incomes if you made more than…are you ready? $35,000.
I know what you're saying. Let's go higher! Okay, let's move up to the top quintile line. At this level of income, 80 percent of people made less than you. The number? Only 19.8 percent of Canadians with an income made $50,000 or more in 2004.
Now, although a bit over 12 percent of individuals had incomes between $50,000 and $75,000, the atmosphere thins out pretty quickly above that. Only 7.6 percent of people had incomes of $75,000 or more in 2004. Only 3.4 percent made $100,000 or more. And by the time we get to the $150,000 or more category, we're down to just 1.3 percent of income recipients.
People with 2004 incomes of $200,000 or more were a rounding error: only 0.7 percent made $200,000 or more. And you can be 99.5 percent sure that any randomly selected Canadian earned less than $250,000.

Those are the stats for individuals. The nice folks at Stats Canada also track the incomes of various family groupings, so we can get an idea of where entire households compare by income. “Couple families” are couples (married or common-law, including same-sex couples) living at the same address, with or without children. No singles or lone parents are included. The median total income from all sources for all members of such families in 2004 was $64,800. Less than a quarter of such households had total incomes of $100,000 or more. And just over 8 percent had incomes of $150,000 or greater.
So, there are the stats, and that's what we make. Now, consider some of the implications of this information. If there were folks who made $50,000 a year and didn't feel like they were making enough to get by (and there are), it would be useful for them to consider that based on 2004 figures, 80 percent of Canadians with an income make less. If their individual income was close to $65,000, that would be enough to push them into the top ten percent of incomes received by Canadians just two years ago. Ninety percent of the 23.4 million people with an income in Canada made less. If they felt they weren't getting by at an income level that's higher than that of the vast majority of the people in one of the richest countries in the history of the world, do they have an income problem? Or is it a problem related to something else, like choices or expectations?
Looking at the statistics of what we all make, it looks like it couldn't just be the money.
Th"

Food banks -the reality

This is really disturbing particularly when the story of the government 100,000 dollars club of publically funded civil servants is growing disproportionately. How long will the " let them eat cake" attitude of getting more forproducing less attitude prevail . Wake up, people and start righting this imbalance of your funds.

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Thousands rely on Brantford Food Bank

By Michelle Ruby, Expositor Staff
Local News - Monday, April 09, 2007 Updated @ 9:16:00 PM

A box of crackers, a bag of pasta, a bag of lentils, a box of cereal, one kilogram of peanut butter, three cans of vegetables, two cans of fruit, four cans of soup, and one can of beans.

Throw in a few loaves of bread and a litre of milk and that's what the Brantford Food Bank is able to give a family of four once a month.

The offering, put together based on nutrition and portion recommendations in the Canada Food Guide, is meant to be an emergency supply intended to last a family two or three days.

But Catherine Lawrence, director of development for Community Resource Service which operates the food bank, admits that concocting meals from the medley of foodstuff can be a challenge.

On a recent weekday, some 20 people sat in the lobby waiting to register for their grocery boxes. At this time of year, about 30 people a day come into the food bank. At other times, that number swells to 80 a day.

Those who came in last week were lucky. With Easter, public donations are generous. Recipients might walk away with a bit of meat or some snack foods.

In 2006, the Brantford Food Bank gave away 521,000 pounds of food. About 127,000 pounds of that went to community organizations that prepare meals for those in need. Local residents can get a free meal pretty much every day of the year at various churches and from other charitable groups.


Tammy Masters, 24, has been coming into the food bank once a month for about two years. The single mother of a five-year-old recently lost her job at a local sub shop where she earned minimu"

YouTube - The Big Brother State

This is really scary . People should be more aware how their basic liberties
are being eroded. Get your rights back say no to the big brother security establishment. PR

YouTube - The Big Brother State: ""

Winning over hearts | Markets | Stocks | Canadian Business Online

David versus Golliath - lets do the same with Back to Eden living

Winning over hearts | Markets | Stocks | Canadian Business Online: "Winning over hearts
Erin Pooley
From the March 26, 2007 issue of Canadian Business magazine
In the global cardiovascular drug industry, Medicure Inc. is a David among the Goliaths. With just 90 employees and a market capitalization of less than $140 million, the Winnipeg-based drug-discovery company is a small player compared to the pharmaceutical giants that compete in the US$70-billion heart-disease space. But despite its size, Medicure is working on a drug with the capacity to reduce the risk of heart damage due to cardiovascular disease — the No. 1 killer in both Canada and the United States. Recent safety concerns regarding drug-coated stents — an alternative treatment to coronary artery bypass surgery — could also pump some new life into this biotech's sagging share price (TSX: MPH).
Currently in pivotal Phase 3 trials, Medicure's MC-1 drug is a cardio-protectant, designed to reduce the damage to the heart when arteries are blocked and when they are subsequently reopened after bypass surgery. In a previous trial involving 900 bypass patients, the drug reduced the heart attack rate by nearly 50% in the first 30 days. If Phase 3 trials are successful — results are expected in March 2008 — MC-1 could be on the market in the U.S. as early as the beginning of 2009, following shortly after in Canada. (Medicure has already received fast-track approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for MC-1.)
'I call it the second Aspirin,' says Claude Camiré, a biotechnology analyst at Toronto-based Paradigm Capital Inc. 'A lot of people use Aspirin or blood thinners [after surgery], but those only help your blood flow — they don't really protect your heart like M"

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Flexible PM outfoxes budget critics

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Flexible PM outfoxes budget critics: "Knowing how the punditry in Canada operates, if Harper had produced a budget more in line with his party's core values, no doubt many of the same people criticizing Harper for being too Liberal with this budget would have raged about the 'inflexible' and 'dogmatic' prime minister plunging Canada into yet another unnecessary election.
Harper is getting far too little credit for creating a budget that gives him the support he needs in the Commons to keep his minority government alive, while at the same time bolstering the party's fortunes in Ontario and Quebec so that the PM can eventually win a majority.
Frankly, that's a pretty deft bit of stick-handling from a politician who has been woefully misjudged his entire career. "

RED HERRING | Bye-Bye Bankers?

RED HERRING | Bye-Bye Bankers?: "Bye-Bye Bankers?

Zopa nabs $12.9M as online lending gains believers.
March 19, 2007
By Ken Schachter

A new crop of online lending marketplaces is letting even the hoi polloi try their hands at being angel investors or micro-bankers.

On Monday, U.K.-based Zopa, an online loan marketplace that unites lenders and borrowers without a bank in the middle, announced a $12.9-million third round investment led by Bessemer Venture Partners to fund a U.S. launch.

Zopa, launched in March 2005, joins a group of online lending marketplaces that includes raisecapital.com, a Port Washington, New York-based startup that matches startups and angel investors and Kiva.org, a San Francisco-based site that lets lenders make microfinance loans to Third World entrepreneurs.

Should direct lending online gain a foothold in the marketplace, it could put pressure on a market traditionally dominated by banks, savings and loans, and credit unions."

Health Policy - Dr. Mike Magee provides education and insight into health policy and current healthcare issues.

And it starts - a systematic policy to reduce the liberty of the overeight QJ
Health Policy - Dr. Mike Magee provides education and insight into health policy and current healthcare issues.: "Taking Action on Obesity
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Transcript
The obesity epidemic is very real, and we hear about it constantly. But the talk is mostly about the problem – not the solution – and in the meantime, the situation is actually getting worse. Between 2005 and 2006, adult obesity rates continued to rise in 31 states, and it’s extremely unlikely that any state will be able to meet the national goal of reducing adult obesity levels to 15 percent or less by the year 2010.1,2 As for children, obesity rates have more than doubled over the last 25 years.3"

Budget 2007 - Sympatico / MSN Finance - Backroom budgeting

Interesting changes in the air PR
Budget 2007 - Sympatico / MSN Finance - Backroom budgeting: "Backroom budgeting
The budget process is increasingly political and increasingly irrelevant too.
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By Deirdre McMurdy
February 08, 2007
For a great many years now, there’s been a Holiday Inn rule in place between Ottawa and Bay Street: No surprises.
The Finance Department had learned to respect the need of financial markets to avoid jolts, sudden changes of direction or measures that might cause scrambling. That implicit partnership in maintaining an even keel worked well and along with it, came an elaborate system of pre-budget consultations that allowed everyone with a vested interest in the outcome of a budget to come forward and make their case.
That relative transparency effectively de-politicized the budget process. And the assurance that there’d be no surprises on the day of its formal delivery, meant that currency, bond and stock markets weren’t buffeted about. Predictability engendered a degree of mutual trust between private and public sectors.
That’s no longer the case – something that anyone who watched the changes to the tax status of income trusts go down last October can attest."

Bigger bang for research buck needed

RE 96% of the Expositor Reader poll of 486 do not want to spend $300,000 on the 2-way traffic study for Dalhousie and Colborne street.

It would appear that Brantford ratepayers are tired and skeptical of yet another study to help the downtown. Maybe they are tired of paying for studies that are never used or implemented or common sense obvious. The reverse of the penny wise pound foolish thinking, it seems that they are tired paying a pound to get a penny worth of results at their expense.

We , the Brant Taxpayers Coalition agree with these readers and suggest another use of these public funds. We suggest on a constructive basis, that council establish a committee of councilors and knowledgeable citizens form the ratepayers, to determine the viability of establishing a commercial casino that has the potential of creating an additional 2000 jobs. This study would include calls for proposals from the private sector to renew the overall recreational complex in the area and which would include an upgraded civic centre , Our information indicates that a commercial casino was at one time considered but narrowly defeated under the stewardship of former mayor Friel and that a promised public plebiscite was never conducted . This approach could have more benefits, get wider community acceptance , and be more visible , then the proposed traffic study A bigger bang for the taxpayer's research buck is respectfully requested.

Sieg Holle Communications director Brant Taxpayers Coalition

Brantford, On

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

This is an excellent expose of what afflicts the public in Ontario. Let all parties make visibilty and accountablity of our public institutions a priority platform PR

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Public routinely kept in dark, Osprey survey shows

James Wallace
Queens Park - Thursday, March 08, 2007

Osprey News Network

Secrecy, stone-walling, manipulation and ignorance within Ontario institutions is undermining fundamental public rights to hold government accountable, a four-month survey by Osprey Media newspapers has found.

In many cases, municipalities, police forces, hospitals, universities and provincial bodies supported by taxpayer dollars routinely deny, reject, delay or challenge requests for information that should be public and easily accessible.

For example, police in Cornwall refused to identify a high school that had been vandalized by two teens on the grounds the school was “like a victim” and police are not required to identify victims of crime.

Such concerns are familiar to Brian Beamish, Assistant Commissioner Access at Ontario’s Office of Information and Privacy.

Beamish said the findings of the Osprey survey come as no surprise to him and called on public institutions across the province to “embrace the spirit of openness” contained within Ontario’s Freedom of Information Act.

“There are definitely situations described (in the Osprey survey) where out expectation would be that information would be disclosed even without the need for a formal FOI request,” Beamish said.

“They seem quite clear these are situations where information should be made freely available to the public as a matter of course,” he said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty also expressed concern at the failure of some public institutions to readily release in"

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Hey Dion: It's not the East versus West

What a concept -no more divide and conquer- how refreshing ! PR

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Hey Dion: It's not the East versus West: "Mon, March 5, 2007

Hey Dion: It's not the East versus West

No part of Canada should ever be baited by politicians for short-term, partisan gain.
It was wrong when the old Reform party used to do it to Quebec. And it's wrong now that the same old Liberal party is doing it to Alberta -- again.
What else are Canadians to think when Liberal Leader Stephane Dion takes a trip out West and blames oilsands workers for 'living too fast for the easy money' and being bad for our economy?
Honest work is bad for our economy?
Perhaps Prof. Dion should spend a few weeks getting his hands dirty in the oilfields before lecturing Canadians on how 'easy' it is.

Then there's Liberal Natural Resources critic Mark Holland, who seems to imagine himself a right little terror of a fellow.
This for lecturing Alberta about how it must reduce oilsands production, now that the Liberals have rediscovered global warming after signing the Kyoto accord in 1998 then forgetting about it for eight years, until they were tossed out of office.
If Holland, who's from Ontario, really wants to make himself useful, let him explain to Ontario auto workers how many thousands of their jobs the Liberals are prepared to forfeit as part of their new-found zeal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, after falling 35 per cent behind their own targets while in power.
Why isn't Holland, or, more important, Dion, holding daily news conferences demanding their Liberal cousin in Ontario -- Premier Dalton McGuinty -- shut down Canada's single largest greenhouse gas emitter, the Nanticoke coal-fired electricity generating station?
That, along with three other greenhouse gas-emitting, coal-fired energy plan"

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

Another affront to human dignity and the concept of natural justice

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Man can't afford to fight extradition order

By Susan Gamble
Local News - Monday, March 05, 2007 Updated @ 11:08:07 PM

Carrying no more than they could shove in a few suitcases and cram in backpacks, Mohammed Naim, his wife Ilona and their four children fled from a frightening, corrupt world in Budapest.

They came to Canada in 1997, settling in the Paris area, far from the extortion, threats and killings that marked their lives in Hungary.

The most important thing, the Naims reminded each other, was that they were safe and together.

Now that’s no longer true.

Mohammed Naim, 49, turned himself in to Brantford police Wednesday evening to face extradition to Hungary.

He’s panicked at the idea of leaving his family, but the Naims simply can’t afford to continue to pay their Toronto immigration lawyer any more money to fight the order.

Hungary has 40 days to send for Naim. Meanwhile, he languishes in the Brantford jail where, he told his family, he is mocked and spit upon by other prisoners.

How did a once-wealthy businessman come to such an ignoble position?

Naim’s wife and eldest daughter sat down with The Expositor on Saturday to explain their tale. "

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - PM should relax, enjoy view from top

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - PM should relax, enjoy view from top: "PM should relax, enjoy view from top
By Licia Corbella




Two polls in two days. Both are favourable to the governing federal Tories. Both show the numbers for the federal Liberals, under the inept leadership of the flip-flopping Stephane Dion, freefalling.
As a result, many Parliament Hill pundits and opposition politicians are predicting that Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party will 'force' an election sooner rather than later. "

"Breaking the Link Between Poverty MSN Hotmail - Message

"Breaking the Link Between Poverty
and Obesity
It's not easy being healthy and fit in America, and for those in lower income groups, staying fit is a huge challenge. Research shows that in the United States, minorities and the poor have higher rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Among women, higher obesity rates tend to be associated with both low income and lower education. (The relationship between obesity and income is a little murkier with men for no known reason.) A casual observer could be forgiven for reaching the conclusion that poverty causes obesity. But the truth is a lot more complicated. There are some good reasons why the link between poverty and obesity is so strong -- not the least of which is the fact that poverty is also generally accompanied by the low cost of high-calorie foods containing high amounts of fat and sugar.
'Obesity is a political and social problem,' says Mark Hyman, MD. 'There's a medical-industrial complex designed to keep people sick and fat,' Dr. Hyman told me. 'We're spending billions of dollars a year subsidizing soybean and corn production, some of which winds up in our food supply as high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil.' High fructose corn syrup is a main sweetener in many foods and is found in high-caloric processed foods and sweetened beverages... hydrogenated soybean oil is a source of trans-fats. Both are among the cheapest source of calories on earth.
Indeed, research presented at the Institute of Food and"

yes

We live in a period of improbable technologies such as self-cooled beer, artificial retinas of the eye, full automated factories. All these open new methods of preservation and transfering of energy.
AC Energy Introduction to Technology
Wednesday February 28, 6:02 am ET

GARDNERVILLE, NV--Feb 28, 2007 -- AC Energy (ACEN P K - News) is committed to leading the world in research and development of TOP quality alternative power sources for cell phones and other small and large electronics.
Our target is to revolutionize the battery industry by providing consumers with products of unparalleled convenience and efficiency.
Through the establishment of select strategic partnerships, AC Energy will maximize its market reach, penetrating every
sector of the cell phone and electronics power source industry.

Using their advanced battery technology, a phone could operate for its entire
life without ever needing to be plugged into an outlet or cigarette lighter -- it could actually charge itself. Imagine,
a cell phone that never needs charging!
Furthermore, their product will have the capability to meet the energy needs of the entire small and large electronics market, with minimal
adaptations to the original technology.

AC Energy's Technology "The battery that never needs to be charged" could work in cell phones, laptops, music players or any other portable device.
It will be a self-contained unit that will replace the original battery of the device. It can be made to work with any existing product.

It's not some kind of story or something like this, we provide you with 100% information.
Energy is our future, don't waste time.

Conversation problems

In 21st century
energy supply problems are standing for every man.
Prices for oil, gas, coal are rising higher and higher.

The governments of many countries discuss using of the renewed kinds of energy such as biofuel, energy of the sun and so on. But the issue of saving energy also is of great importance. Because of it energy conservations is needed vitaly. One of perspective directions is the technology hydrogen. But Proton Exchange Membrane is required in order to modernize this technology. It's developing now by the following company.

AC Energy, Inc is an electrochemical power company pioneering strategic energy
pathways in the milliwatts to kilowatts range. AC Energy is creating
energy solutions designed for all spheres of modern life.

The fuel cell technology, Proton Exchange Membrane ("PEM") is
touted as the "Catalyst for the Hydrogen Age".

PEM, declared as the major candidate to replace the internal
combustion engine, has created investor interest. Famous developers, knowledgeable in commercialization issues, possess the expertise to capitalize on new concepts.
The strategies of AC Energy have an excellent understanding of these
issues and elive that because the Company has right team that certain market niches can be dominated by it.

Read more about Proton exchange membrane at wikipedia.
AC Energy symbol is ACEN

Watch, trade, invest, buy it today on Feb 28 2007 for tomorrow and beyond tomorrow.

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Finally, it's a deal
City, county ink tentative pact on boundaries

By Michael-Allan Marion
Local News - Friday, February 23, 2007 Updated @ 10:45:16 PM

At long last, Brantford and Brant County have an agreement in principle on boundary changes and long-term growth that will change the future of more than 4,000 acres of rural land.

Negotiating teams for the two councils, aided by a provincial facilitator, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing officials and staff from both municipalities, spent Thursday morning at the Best Western Brant Park Inn haggling over the final wording to resolve their remaining differences.

Then, after the negotiating team members finished nodding their heads through one final reading of the text, Brantford Mayor Mike Hancock and Brant Mayor Ron Eddy pulled out their pens.

They signed an agreement in principle that, if approved, would transfer more than 3,000 acres of county land to the north and east of Brantford into the city effective Jan. 1, 2008. That would handle the city's industrial and residential development needs for the next 30 years.

The vast majority of what has long been mostly agricultural land is now in the hands of development companies that have bought major tracts, particularly over the past four years, in anticipation of the deal.

The tentative pact also would allow the county to create new industrial and urban settlement in two areas of about 1,000 acres in its jurisdiction-- a parcel south of Paris and an expanded one in Cainsville -- which now is excluded from development.

And the pact gives the county a special deal under which the city would supply more water to Cainsville a"

general motors investor warning

"As I've written in The Digest, the daily e-letter I send to subscribers, GM is already bankrupt. Over the last 10 years, General Motors has been unable to make a profit selling cars. Its gross profits have declined by 46%, from $40 billion in 1996 to only $22 billion in 2005. It hasn't been earning enough money to pay for its overhead, capital expenses (upkeep of factories), or dividend payments. The result? An exploding debt level. In 10 years, the company's total liabilities have grown from $199 billion to more than $450 billion.
GM has been burning the family furniture to keep the furnace running. It has gone past the point of no return. General Motors will never earn enough money selling cars to repay these debts. In fact, the company cannot make enough money to merely service these debts. The final nail in the coffin came in 2005, when GM's credit rating was first downgraded to 'junk' status. Since then, as its obligations have come due, the company has had to refinance at steadily increasing rates of interest. Its financing costs have soared. Over the last three years, GM's annual interest expense grew by 77%, from $9 billion to $16 billion.
GM can downsize, it can close factories, it can lay off union workers and renegotiate pensions. But its debts cannot be downsized. And its bondholders aren't going to settle for less than the full amount they are owed. GM cannot pay. Its shareholders will be wiped out, and its bondholders will end up owning the company. GM will be bankrupt within three years – or perhaps sooner if the economy slows.

Inquiry in Major need of all the facts

What infomation are they hiding and why ? So much for an open and visible government responsive to the people . PR

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Inquiry in Major need of all the facts: "Federal bureaucrats are insisting that if 'secret' documents are made public at the ongoing Air India inquiry, it could compromise Canada's security.
Surely the greater concern is that if civil servants are allowed to keep too many documents secret using the excuse of 'national security,' the inquiry will never get to the bottom of how Canada's intelligence agencies botched their investigation of the 1985 Air India bombings.
The point of Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling this inquiry was to ensure such blunders as the erasing of key evidence and damaging turf wars between CSIS and the RCMP never happen again.
John Major, a retired Supreme Court of Canada judge who heads the inquiry, has privately seen the disputed documents and does not believe all of them need to be secret. Based on his mandate, which is to oversee a public inquiry into the Air India disaster, Major has given the federal government until March 5 to address this issue, or he will shut down his probe. "

Q-jumpers

Q-jumpers: "Lessons or the Moral of the story as we see it:

You are in charge of your health, vitality and life

o Be proactive and eventually you will succeed
o We have all experienced the new words in action.
This is particularly true if you need services or work in a government environment
o Have some fun- use the new words to make others accountable to you -point out 404 errors. Make the Adminisphere accountable and get rid of the seagulls through cropdusting. Reduce or avoid blamestorming before it gets started

Back to Eden-New Beginnings (Ridgetown) 23 Richards Street 519-674-3434

We are a community of like minded peers, with an environment that is cozy, caring and comfortable. We are not GENERICA. We are special designed community just for you . We are not institutional.

Community Updates:

1. We endorse the Carp position on No More waiting on Health Care. Be heard join the better health crusade. "

The liberal credibility gap or hole widens

The Ontario Liberal Education minister excuses her dismal performance by blaming the deep hole of poor educational quality that was "of course " created by the conservatives in 2003. After filling in the "hole" with $2.75 billion dollars of our money, the results are marginal at best . In fact-only 18% of us according to the SES eductional poll-think that the level of Education has improved.

It seems to me that the liberals or performance Fiberals who are so very liberal with our money have a 82% credibility gap or performance hole of their own making to overcome in the upcomming election. A real Accounting is comming from the old school-those who are tired of the empty promises,high public cost and lack of performance of the existing hole fillers.

'Your future is in your hand,' says talking urinal | The Register

And this is what happens to your money when the P----S are in charge PR

'Your future is in your hand,' says talking urinal | The Register: "future is in your hand,' says talking urinal
Well, quite
By Lester Haines → More by this authorPublished Wednesday 14th February 2007 11:55 GMTInterested in this story? Receive others like it on your desktop as they break. Back in July last year, we reported on the latest innovation in urinal technology: the 'Wizmark Urinal Communicator', designed to give forth whenever some unsuspecting bar customer points his pecker at the porcelain.
Specifically, the Wizmark is a 'waterproof, disposable drain cover embedded with electronics that senses a visitor and then relays an audio message'. It boasts a proximity sensor which detects someone approaching 'within about 30 to 60 centimetres'. After a suitable pause to allow the customer to position himself, the Communicator gives forth with a 'pre-recorded audio announcement'.
It also comes complete with 'nine-centimetre diameter display area containing a lenticular screen that features multiple images or text that, and as the person moves toward the urinal, they appear to change from one graphic to the other'.
Safety officials in Nassau County, New York, were suitably impressed and acquired 100 examples. They must have worked, because New Mexico has now ordered 500 at $21 a pop, due for deployment across the state.
According to Newmexican.com, the initiative is part of a local Department of Transportation drive (slogan 'You drink, you drive, you lose') to tackle drunk driving. TV ads and 'printed material' are to be backed by the vociferous bog cake in bars from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.
How, though, does the Wizmark discourage sozzled boozers from getting behind the wheel? Well, it's rather inspired, as you can find out here:

In case you di"

Widows of soldiers killed in Afghanistan face fight with banks over mortgages - Yahoo! Canada News

And the point is that by speaking up and making this visible -the banks and insurance ompanies changed their minds PR

Widows of soldiers killed in Afghanistan face fight with banks over mortgages - Yahoo! Canada News: "Widows of soldiers killed in Afghanistan face fight with banks over mortgages Sun Feb 11, 6:04 PM

By Alison Auld

HALIFAX (CP) - Widows of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan are tied up in a confusing fight of their own with banks that have delayed payment of their mortgages or claim they're not covered by insurance at all because their husbands died in combat.
Several women say they've been told by their financial institutions the mortgage insurance they've spent years paying into does not apply because their spouses died while at war. "

Travellers face 2-month wait for passports - Yahoo! Canada News

Travellers face 2-month wait for passports - Yahoo! Canada News: "Travellers face 2-month wait for passports
Fri Feb 9, 11:53 PM


Canadians scrambling to obtain passports before a March break holiday may be out of luck, with waiting times now stretching to 60 days, Passport Canada says.
ADVERTISEMENT

Passport Canada spokeswoman Francine Charbonneau said the agency is receiving high volumes of applications, averaging about 21,000 a day. On a busy day last year, the office would have received about 13,000 applications
'At this point your only chance if you want to travel for March break is to apply in person and even that's not a guarantee because of these backlogs,' she said.
If an application has recently been submitted by mail, people can call a 1-800 number to have their passport application returned to them.
In the case of an emergency such as a death in the family, illness or a last-minute business trip, passport officers can fast-track applications.
'It's up to the discretion of the passport officer,' Charbonneau said, noting that a last-minute flight to Florida would not qualify as an urgent situation.
Print centres running round-the-clock
While the office hired 200 new officers in November to help with the deluge, they're still having trouble meeting the demand.
'We're doing everything we can,' she said, noting that the office's print centres in Mississauga, Ont., and Gatineau, Que., have boosted their production.
'We are running our print centres on 24-hour clocks, which is something that's never been done before,' Charbonneau said.
A U.S. law that took effect on Jan. 23, 2007, requires that all Canadians flying to the U.S. have a valid passport."

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

Amazing - so why not hire more Justice of the Peaces or lay less frivolous or vexatious charges or reduce the number of laws which serve no purpose other then gouging more money from the victims who are trapped in the speedy justice system . PR
Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Justice of the peace shortage causing backlog in Norfolk court
Local News - Wednesday, February 07, 2007 Updated @ 9:25:12 AM

A provincewide shortage of justices of the peace is creating a backlog of cases in Norfolk's provincial offences court and costing the county money.

Council learned Tuesday that the local POA court is only staffed by justices of the peace once a week, on Thursday. When the responsibility for POA courts was first transferred from the province in 2001, justices of the peace were provided on other days when a lengthy or multi-day trial was scheduled.
But that changed in 2006 because there weren't enough JPs to go around. As a result, these matters were added to the schedule of regular trial matters, which has overloaded the docket.

Frank Gelinas, the county's general manager of corporate services, said some trial matters - including serious highway traffic offences - may have to be adjourned or withdrawn if the county can't schedule a trial within a reasonable time frame. 'Norfolk County loses its ability to administer justice in a fair and equitable manner and loses revenue as a result,' he said in his report to council. "

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

Disaster strikes again - more for less - why not get rid of the redundant staff PR

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Brant homeowners face 3.2 per cent tax increase

By John Paul Zronik
Local News - Wednesday, February 07, 2007 Updated @ 11:43:50 PM

Brant County homeowners will receive a 3.2 per cent tax increase this year, about $75 on a home assessed at $211,000.

Politicians passed the county’s 2007 budget during a meeting in Paris on Tuesday. Councillors approved an operating budget of about $48 million for 2007. Almost $29.5 million of that money will be raised through taxes, the rest through grants and other sources of revenue. "

News & Features - Rights activists urged to get serious - ArcaMax Publishing

News & Features - Rights activists urged to get serious - ArcaMax Publishing: "Rights activists urged to get serious
KASARANI, Kenya (UPI) -- Social justice groups must finally learn to take themselves seriously, a delegate to the anti-globalization World Social Forum in Kenya says.

They must realize how important their role is in a world in which the rich countries are increasingly withdrawing their financial support for public services, while the public sector in poor countries often fails, Filippo Addarii, an Italian professional from London, tells the German publication Der Spiegel.

The forum challenges global policies and assumptions that it says undermine the environment, labor rights, national sovereignty, the Third World and other concerns. "

Taxes skimmed?

Amazing!! Great integrity from the Tax collectors -at least they caught it -PR
winnipegsun.com - Winnipeg News - Taxes skimmed?: " Sun, January 28, 2007

Taxes skimmed?Winnipeg employee faces fraud charges
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU

Canada Revenue Agency's Winnipeg Tax Centre. Documents reveal an employee was able to pocket fraudulent refunds. (JON SCHLEDEWITZ, SUN)
OTTAWA -- A Canada Revenue Agency employee is accused of bilking taxpayers of more than $100,000, Sun Media has learned.
Documents obtained under Access to Information refer to a 'sensitive file' involving the 'fraudulent reassessment of client tax returns' by an employee at the Winnipeg Tax Centre.
According to one 2005 memorandum to then-CRA Commissioner Michel Dorais, adjustments of 18 client accounts resulted in $131,871 in fraudulent refunds being deposited into the employee's bank account.
Another document shows affected individuals were to be advised their records were corrected and that an investigation was underway.
'They will be advised that they may be contacted by a CRA investigator, and will be asked to monitor their tax records and contact CRA if they notice anything that appears unusual,' it reads.

The documents were requested by Sun Media last fall after the federal government's Public Accounts listed a loss of $119,399 due to 'theft of taxpayer remittance.'
The records listed $27,322 as recovered in 2005-2006, and another $92,077 that was to expected to be recovered in subsequent years.
FEW AND FAR BETWEEN
Emilia Kotris, a spokesman for the Winnipeg Tax Centre, would not provide details on the case because it is before the courts. But she stressed breaches by employees are few and far between.
"It's a very rare occurrence and in no way reflects on the integrity and professionalism of the thousands of other employees we have working with us," she said.
Kotris would not say if the employee is still employed with the CRA, but offered a general comment on potential repercussions for staff who break the rules.
"All CRA employees are subject to very strict standards of conduct and conflict of interest guidelines and any employee who violates those guidelines faces severe consequences up to and including dismissal and prosecution," she said.
The federal government documents state that CRA planned to "fully examine" existing procedures, access profiles and mainframe systems to improve and augment existing safeguards.
Michelle Mariano faces 28 charges under the Income Tax Act and the Criminal Code, including breach of trust by a public officer, fraud over $5,000 and making false or deceptive statements, for alleged offences between 2002-2005.
The next court date is scheduled for March 19.

Public Works launches investigations into leaks of government information - Yahoo! Canada News

Loose lips sink ships - tell that to the Gomery commission .
The public has the right to know how their money is being spent. PR
Public Works launches investigations into leaks of government information - Yahoo! Canada News: "Public Works launches investigations into leaks of government information
Sat Jan 27, 3:16 PM


By Dean Beeby
ADVERTISEMENT

OTTAWA (CP) - The Public Works Department has launched at least four 'loose lips' investigations in the last two years, as it tries to staunch leaks of government information to opposition politicians, lobby groups and journalists.
Records released under the Access to Information Act show investigators have pounced on even minor cases, mirroring the tight control of information that characterizes the current Conservative administration.
In June last year, for example, Liberal MPs Denis Coderre and Ujjal Dosanjh held a news conference complaining that the government's proposed purchase of four Boeing C-17 transport aircraft for the military would also give the maintenance contract to U.S. firms.
The two politicians released parts of a confidential April 10 briefing note, created to help ministers respond to Opposition attacks during question period in the House of Commons.
The incident triggered an internal investigation at Public Works, which determined that the document had not been previously released under the Access to Information Act and was therefore improperly leaked.
Censored records of the investigation do not indicate who made the complaint. A Public Works spokesman said only that it came from 'someone who works in the department.'
The inquiry was eventually abandoned when a senior official said the leak was 'minor' and 'mentioned that the information supplied during the news conference had been known by most members of Parliament as it was in the Conservative electoral platform.'
Considered far more serious was an anonymous fax sent to New Democrat MP Pa"

Nothing is free!

Buyer beware
Nothing is free!: "Nothing is free!
Investors warned about seminars
View Larger Image

If the public has any information regarding the investment scheme described in this alert, they should report or forward the information to their offices, regulators said.
Photograph by : Getty
Canadian Press
Published: Friday, January 26, 2007 Article tools
Printer friendly
E-mail
Font: * * * * VANCOUVER -- The British Columbia Securities Commission and the Alberta Securities Commission warned investors yesterday to beware of a 'suspicious' investment scheme offered at free seminars that involves moving money offshore to avoid taxes.
The regulators said they have received reports about a scheme being offered at free public seminars, in which investors are told they can participate in 'extraordinary investment returns' by joining an organization that allows them to learn about and access a system to become 'portfolio account managers' and restructure their assets.
These investors are told they can do so through a variety of methods, including investments in the precious metals industry, consumer debt or capital markets and international mutual funds, the regulators said.
If the public has any information regarding the investment scheme described in this alert, they should report or forward the information to their offices, the regulators said."

You can smoke at the Casino because it is a factory

More Hypocracy and broken promises

It is interesting to note that whenever the government "take " grap or revenue is threatened "new self-serving rules' can be applied to protect their own money making monopoly. It is okay to smoke in government cash making Casinos but not private bars or places that would cater to smokers . Casinos are " legal " factories to make money for the government.

Therefore , I suggest that everyone who wants to cater to these customers declare themselves a factory and make the whole area a smoker's designated meeting place. Lets learn from the hypocrites and use their same rationale against them. Fight fire with fire. or better yet just fire them in the next election and bring back reasonable laws of conduct that apply equally to everyone - people and businesses .

Poker - the government rules

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "OPP warns about poker events


Local News - Thursday, January 25, 2007 Updated @ 11:10:29 AM

Thinking about holding a poker event to raise money for some worthy cause?

If so, the OPP is advising you to think again and check with legal counsel because such an event could be illegal.

Casino nights run by charitable groups with games including blackjack and Crown and Anchor are exempt with a licence for gambling issued by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO).


However, there are no such exemptions for poker-type events. Therefore, it is illegal under the Criminal Code to hold such events, the OPP said in a statement released Thursday.

Any gambling in a licensed establishment is illegal under the Liquor Licence Act of Ontario. An establishment that directly or indirectly charges a fee or is paid by players for the privilege of playing or participating in a poker game including donations, is also considered illegal under the Criminal Code of Canada. Even in the event the entry fees are returned to the players as prizes doesn’t make the event legal.

Any organization should consult with legal counsel prior to holding any poker gaming event to ensure it won’t violate the criminal code.

Licensing information can be obtained by calling 1-800-522-2876. "

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Corporate welfare in the billions

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Corporate welfare in the billions: "

Sun, January 14, 2007

Corporate welfare in the billions

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation put out a report last week that should curl the hair of any taxpayer who hates government waste.
The CTF has compiled a list of financial assistance paid out by Industry Canada to private companies covering a period from 1982 to 2005.
You may want to sit down for this:
The CTF report notes that between 1982 and 2005, 'Ottawa authorized $18.4 billion in grants and loans to various companies and organizations. Of this, only $7.1 billion is repayable. However, to date, less than $1.3 billion has been repaid to taxpayers.'
The CTF found that almost $10 billion of the $18 billion paid out was basically free money -- grants and contribution that never had to be repaid.

That's scary enough, but the report notes that 'these numbers do not include handouts and loans made through Ottawa's regional development agencies' such as Western Economic Diversification.
So the actual amount of corporate welfare in this country is even higher than $18.4 billion.
The top 50 recipients of cash from Industry Canada comprise a who's who of corporate Canada, and those companies are not only highly profitable, but they account for one-third of all assistance.
Why on Earth major major manufacturers, huge electronics firms, and giant computer companies need money from the government of Canada is beyond us. But it's all there in black and white. (For the full details, see the CTF's website: www.taxpayer.com.)
In the report, the CTF correctly identifies why corporate welfare is bad policy: market decisions end up being made by bureaucrats and politicians, not investors; the decision"

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Delhi family can stay in country

By Michael-Allan Marion
Local News - Friday, January 12, 2007 Updated @ 11:40:41 PM

A Delhi family of seven won’t be deported to its native Holland after a flurry of phone calls and letters straightened out a mix-up over paperwork.

“We are very happy,” Jo Geven said Thursday, only a few hours after getting a call from an Immigration Canada official.

Geven said he was told that the paperwork surrounding his application for an extension of his work permit has been processed and the family won’t have to leave.

“He told me, ‘don’t worry',' he said. 'All the papers will be sent to their office in London and put in order.

“We had talked a lot of times on the phone over the past few days, but hearing those words was so good.”

After getting the news, the family had a party, said Geven. "

It’s not just the money, it’s the way they go about it

Wouldn't it be nice if we actually got some results for what we pay for ?

OspreyBlogs » Blog Archive » It’s not just the money, it’s the way they go about it: "“Being an MP is a vast subsidized ego-trip. It’s a job that needs no qualifications, it has no compulsory hours of work, no performance standards, and provides a warm room, a telephone and subsidized meals to a bunch of self-important windbags and busybodies who suddenly find people taking them seriously because they’ve go the letters ‘MP’ after their name.”
The best comedy does strike close to home, don’t you think?
Politicians claim they deserve respect. They want us to believe they work hard and earn their money. Yet why must they pull these strokes, and always in between elections? Why must they dodge and weave and duck and fudge the truth and in some cases just outright lie? I don’t think it’s necessarily the money that voters resent (although that surely is a contentious issue for many), but the way politicians go about getting it.
They want more money? Fine. Bring it up during a campaign. Tell us what they want to do. Show us how hard they work. Justify the pay. Hold public hearings.
Let the public have input into what it will pay its representatives. Quit being so sneaky. Quit behaving like, well, like politicians.
Maybe that’s asking too much.
To see the Coulter Osborne report on MPP salaries is at http://oico.on.ca/oic/oicweb2.nsf/(CommReports)/35/$FILE/report.pdf?OpenElement"

Retirement Gordon Powers - Sympatico / MSN Finance - Seven tax breaks you've been missing

Retirement Gordon Powers - Sympatico / MSN Finance - Seven tax breaks you've been missing: "Seven tax breaks you've been missing By Gordon Powers December 05, 2006
Although April is traditionally when people think of taxes, there's actually very little you can do after December 31st to reduce your tax bite. Making some smart moves before the end of the year – particularly after some recent rule changes – can make a difference though." (check it out )

Iraq to hang two Saddam aides Thursday - Yahoo! Canada News

Iraq to hang two Saddam aides Thursday - Yahoo! Canada News: "Saddam's half-brother and former head of intelligence, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, the former chief judge of revolutionary court, will be hanged at dawn on Thursday, the official said Wednesday."

Residents threaten legal action if church shelters homeless - Yahoo! Canada News

Residents threaten legal action if church shelters homeless - Yahoo! Canada News: "TORONTO (CBC) - A Toronto church's plan to shelter a dozen homeless people once a week during the cold winter months has been met by threats of an injunction from some area residents.
ADVERTISEMENT

Plans for the temporary shelter at St. Aidan's Anglican Church, located in the affluent Beach neighbourhood, have been put on hold after a group of neighbours threatened the church with a legal injunction.
Toronto lawyer Peter Silverberg, who represents the group of residents threatening legal action, told the Toronto Star their concerns did not stem from the 'not in my backyard syndrome,' but rather from the lack of consultations and questions over whether the program is the best use of resources. He refused to speak with the CBC.
The project would have been part of the Out of the Cold program, under which dozens of churches and synagogues throughout the city open their doors to provide shelter and food to the homeless."

Investing Insight - Sympatico / MSN Finance - U.S. housing market drop tops the year's business news, says AP survey

Investing Insight - Sympatico / MSN Finance - U.S. housing market drop tops the year's business news, says AP survey

1 Housing slips Lower since the great depression

2. ENRON'S FINAL ACT
Convictions of former CEOs Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay looked like the final act of the Enron drama, but Lay died in Aspen before he was sentenced and a federal judge vacated his conviction, halting a federal effort seeking millions from Lay's estate. Skilling, 53, reported to a Federal prison in Minnesota Dec. 13 to begin a sentence of 24 years and four months.
3. BACKDATING SCANDAL
News that executives and directors manipulated their option grants to inflate their gains rocked the executive suite. At least 195 companies disclosed federal or internal investigations and at least 59 senior executives or directors have left their companies as of Dec. 19. Among the highest profile to fall were UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s William McGuire, who was pushed out as the company's chairman and CEO, and Jacob (Kobi) Alexander, the former CEO of Comverse Technology Inc., who fled to Namibia, where he is fighting extradition.
4. AUTO WOES
Demand for U.S. auto makers' vehicles, especially sport utility vehicles, shrunk and their market share eroded. About 38,000 unionized Ford Motor Co. workers, more than half the company's U.S. hourly work force, said they would take buyouts. Through buyouts and early retirement, General Motors Corp. cut 35,000 jobs, nearly one-third of its hourly U.S. workers. Companies' bonds sunk into "junk" ratings and they were reduced to using plants or inventories as loan collateral.
5. OIL PRICES
War in the Middle East and soaring demand sent oil prices above $78 a barrel, an all-time record. The big winner from the sky-high prices were oil companies, whose profits hovered near their 2005 records. Oil prices have since fallen, but the summer's run has renewed rumblings about conservation and oil dependency.
6. GAS PRICES
Summer gas prices hit highs of $3.04 a gallon thanks to soaring crude oil prices, tight refining capacity and fears of another disastrous hurricane season. Increased prices began to sour the U.S. romance with gas-guzzling SUVs, hitting U.S. auto makers with another blow. Gas prices have since dropped, too, but drivers remain nervous.
7. FED HALTS
The Federal Reserve halted the rate hikes that had lifted its target short-term interest rate from one per cent in early June 2004 to 5.25 per cent in June 2006. While stock traders saw a slowing economy and looked forward to rate cuts, the Fed's Bernanke said the central bank was keeping a sharp eye on inflation, which could take rates higher.
8. HP SPYING
HP's boardroom infighting ended in humiliation. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn was hauled before Congress, ousted from her office and indicted for her role in a boardroom spying scandal in which private investigators lied and schemed to obtain the phone records of directors and reporters. Now the company's CEO is being asked to tell Congress about the $1.37 million worth of options he exercised just before the scandal became public.
9. CHINA TIGER
China's economy continues to grow more than 10 per cent a year and its trade surplus with the U.S. is the largest ever. While officials are trying to slow growth and questions linger about whether Chinese banks are too loose with loans, the economy has showed only modest signs of slowing.
10. RECORD DOW
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 12,000 for the first time ever, outpacing broader indexes. The Standard & Poor's 500 edged closer to its 2000 high and the Nasdaq composite index was miles behind its own record

Blogger: Venusian Issues :: Manage life positively

Merry Xmas everyone - you can make a difference next year -stand tall and firm on your positive convictions--PR

Blogger: Venusian Issues :: Manage Posts: "Arnold Toynbee, the historian, developed what he called the 'challenge-response theory' of history. In studying the rise and fall of 20 major world civilizations, Toynbee concluded that each civilization started out as a small group of people - as a village, as a tribe or in the case of the Mongol empire, as just three people who had survived the destruction of their small community. Toynbee concluded that each of these small groups faced external challenges, such as hostile tribes. In order to survive, much less thrive, these small groups had to reorganize themselves to deal positively and constructively with these challenges. By meeting each of these challenges successfully, the village or tribe would grow. Even greater challenges would be triggered as a result. And if this group of people continued to meet each challenge by drawing upon its resources and winning out, it would continue to grow until ultimately it became a nation-state and then a civilization covering a large geographical area.

Toynbee looked at the 21 great civilizations of human history, ending with the American civilization, and concluded that these civilizations began to decline and fall apart when their citizens and leaders lost the will or ability to rise to the inevitable external challenges occasioned by their very size and power.

Toynbee's theory of civilizations can be applicable to our life as well. You are continually faced with challenges and difficulties, with problems and disappointments, with temporary setbacks and defeats. They are an unavoidable and inevitable part of being human. But, as you draw upon your resources to respond effectively to each challenge, you grow and become a stronger and better person. In fact, without those setbacks, you could not have learned what you needed to know and developed the qu"

Public Porkers News Alert- sad humour

Public Porkers

our mission statement

“Always enjoy the feast at customers expense”

How to stop the Government spending crisis


How not to save public money- being the politically farsighted and specially “gifted” person that you have become

Learn how to spend it even more unwisely by:

Promising what you can not deliver

Give yourself and your staff more money-a minimum of 25% or more should do

Pretend to give services that don’t exist-afterall a public sucker is born every minute

Pretend to be service oriented and friendly by having impersonal phone answering systems in place to minimize customer contact and increase annoyance levels so they don’t call back

Confuse and scare customers and everyone with irrelevant ,high sounding Jargon

Hire more people to insulate yourself from the customers or people you are serving

Hire more friendly outside consultants to propagate and expand your government legacy

Use proven concepts that work in industry and subvert them to a lower government standard

Buy out all competition using your political and public money strengths

Fine or Jail anything that competes with you if they don’t run away , pay homage or conform to your wishes

Stifle any opposition by starving them to death with talk or by wasting their resources

Pretend to care about what people really want and need

Editorial - Federal reforms warrant debate

Any change in representation of government needs public debate-
winnipegsun.com - Editorial - Federal reforms warrant debate: "Harper introduced Senate-reform legislation this month that puts us on the road to having an elected upper chamber. He is also in favour of fixed election dates for general elections, as well as giving more autonomy to individual MPs.
An elected Senate. Fixed election dates. A national legislature where the power resides in individual lawmakers, not the parties.

Each of these changes may seem relatively minor in isolation. But, taken together, they add up to a U.S. form of government -- or at the very least a hybrid that would function in a different manner than the Parliament we now have.
Nobody should be opposed to change. Canada's federal government, patterned after the British model, has evolved over the decades by taking on new wrinkles that serve the needs of Canadians. The structure of our government should never be frozen in time; it should continue to evolve.
And there's nothing necessarily wrong with becoming more like the United States. It's perfectly fine to adopt practices from other countries if they suit our requirements.
The point is that there's a fundamental question underlying all of the reforms that Harper would like to introduce.
And before we go modifying our institutions beyond recognition, all Canadians should have the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons before we move forward."

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - U.S. should put up or shut up on Arar

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - U.S. should put up or shut up on Arar: "A Canadian inquiry has recently concluded there was no evidence linking Arar to terrorism, and he is seeking a huge financial settlement from the government of Canada for RCMP errors that Arar says helped send him on his fateful journey. "

Frederic

The hottest pick this year!

It just doesn't get any better than this. Booming sector, tightly held, with
an incredible PR blitz starting up. Not only that, but the company is set to
release some smashing news.

Physicians Adult Daycare, Inc.

Symbol: PHYA
Current Price: $1.90 (+18% Friday!)
Short-Term Projected Price: $4.25
Long-Term Target Price: $10.20

As the population ages, the economic value in the US market for adult
daycare is projected to grow nearly 600%. Globally the potential market
is a staggering $45 billion.

PHYA is already hitting it big in the sector. With solid acquisitions,
expert management, and a red hot sector, PHYA is looking at record
earnings.

Check your favorite news source. Check your Level 2 market data. You
will see that this one is set for an explosion.

With the huge publicity that is on the way THIS is where you want to be.
Make sure you get in early on December, 18th. Win big with PHYA!

Health waste-really discusting

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is not doing enough to ensure
that only those people who are eligible for OHIP services receive them
and that health-care providers are paid for only those billings that are
appropriate,' McCarter said in his report.
Among the problems the auditor found:
* Ontario's health ministry is already six years behind schedule
with plans to replace old red-and-white health cards with new photo
cards and estimates it will take another 14 years to finish the job;
* As first identified in a 1992 audit, there are 300,000 more
health cards than people in Ontario, most of them in border communities
and the Greater Toronto Area;
* The ministry has failed to verify citizenship documents for 70
per cent of all existing health card holders. Citizenship status for
health cards is supposed to be checked with the same provincial and
federal officials in charge of birth certificates and citizenship
documents but a huge verification backlog exists;
* Some 11,700 card holders submitted clams from different regions
across the province within a short period of time, 'possibly indicating
health-cards were being used inappropriately.
McCarter also found potential over-billing by one group of physicians of
$9.7 million since 2001; a health provider who billed $800,000 on six
health cards over four years; medical claims paid to 40 doctors whose
licences had either been taken away or expired and 'even deceased
doctors being paid OHIP claims.'
Despite evidence of fraud, including a 2004 consultant's report that
estimated OHIP fraud in the $11 million to $22 million range annually"

50Plus.com - Help for the holiday blues

50Plus.com - Help for the holiday blues: "
Interesting self help tip for the holidays=PR

Help for the holiday blues
Article By: Jennifer Gruden

For many of us, the holidays aren't always merry. Here are 10 ways to address the holiday blues.
The pressure over the holiday season to be merry and bright can be overwhelming. For those who suffer from the holiday blues – and especially those going through a difficult transition such as loss of a parent or spouse, or divorce or illness – the season represents an obstacle course over emotional pitfalls. Here are 10 ways to address the holiday blues – and when you should seek additional help.
1. Don’t cover up your feelings. It's just fine to calmly let friends and family know that you just aren't feeling the festive spirit this year. Allow them to be supportive or to give you the option to opt out of particular events. This is particularly important if you are grieving a loss.
2. Set reasonable expectations. A lot of the pressure from the holidays can stem from perfectionism. It’s just fine to buy pre-prepared treats at the store, use a gift-wrapping service, or take other shortcuts.
3. Delegate tasks to other family members. If you don’t feel up to cooking the turkey or trimming the tree this year – don’t.
4. Take time off from the holidays. Don’t feel that all your time has to be focused around the season. Get out to a park or other area that’s not all bedecked in bows and lights. If you live near a multicultural area it can be refreshing to spend time in shops and restaurants that aren’t as likely to over-emphasize the season.
5. Don’t over-spend. Financial worry is not something you need to add to your stress levels. Your family and friends will appreciate simple cards or gifts.
6. A"