ahem.

three and a half months thats not too bad. I dont really have the time to do any major posting right now, i just want eveyone to know that i did my top ten albums post up on my other blog Awesome Until Proven Guilty.

Please comment if anyone still visits this page :)

OMG, i never thought this would happen.

Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous barb on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.

"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.

Read the whole article here

Fur is murder.

got last?

So lets take a quick second to talk about my last.fm chart this week. If you are using an aggrigator you will probably need to actually come to my site to know what i am talking about.

I have really been a NIN mood lately, it seems to come in spurts, I really, really like the left side of the fragile. In a "if i was on a desert island" sort of way. The rest is sort of just what i have been listening too. It is no 400+ CYHSY, but i think it is very representitive of my taste.

*Note: in a week the chart will change and this post won't make any sence at all.

june 1st

Race played a role in arrest - protester

Daily Gleaner | Greater Fredericton
As published on page A1/A2 on May 30, 2006

Race played a role in arrest - protester
By MICHAEL STAPLES
mstaples@dailygleaner.com

A protestor arrested Saturday in the city's downtown says he was targeted by Fredericton police because of his race.

Asaf Rashid was one of four people taken into custody and ticketed after police decided to crack down on a group of 30 marchers who had made their way from Queens Square to City Hall.

He said the fact he is of Pakistani descent played a role in his arrest.

"I was the only one handcuffed; I was the only one thrown to the ground and the first to be arrested," Rashid said Monday.

"The other three are not people of colour and they weren't treated the same way I was. When I was in the police station, I was asked where I was from. I was put off by that."

Rashid, 30, said he was asked by police if he was a Canadian citizen, even though that was apparent on identification he had with him.

The Fredericton Police Force said it is reviewing an incident.

Const. Bobbi Simmons rejected the idea that the arrest was racially
motivated.

"As a police force, we respect the cultural diversity of the City of Fredericton. In fact, we embrace it," Simmons said.

"We try as a police force to reflect within our own membership the ethnicity that thrives in Fredericton."

Simmons declined to comment on the specifics of the case other than to confirm that police became aware of the demonstration at about 2:25 p.m. on Saturday.

Rashid said the protest was peaceful one - designed to inform people on the problems facing immigrants and refugees in Canada.

The march started at Queens Square park and moved along Queen Street toward City Hall beneath the banner of "Solidarity Across Borders," where the group delivered the message "No one is Illegal."

Other protests took place simultaneously in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.

"On the left side of my ribs, it feels like I have been struck there. I don't exactly remember what happened; I just remember having my arm twisted behind my back and being forced to the ground," Rashid said.

"I am not sure if it is when I hit the ground that my ribs got sore ... Overall, I would say I do have an injury resulting from this."

Rashid said he is still in shock because all he and the others were doing were walking and handing out pamphlets.

Rashid said when they arrived at City Hall, the police, who had been watching them on Queen Street, came and asked them to leave.

"We were on our way out anyway," said Rashid.

"I asked him (the arresting officer) for his name and badge number, and when I asked him questions with a tape recorder playing, he didn't seem to be too impressed. He grabbed my arm and that is when the whole thing happened."

Rashid admitted he may have been pointed in his questions to the officer but didn't think it would provoke such a reaction.

He claimed the arresting officer told him "the next time I tell you to leave, you had better (expletive deleted) leave."

Rashid said he will be complaining to police and insisting that management at the not put up with that type of behaviour from one of its officers.

Asaf's father, Muhammad Rashid, a professor at the University of New Brunswick, was still at Queens Square when he heard what was going on.

Muhammad Rashid said he has been in Canada for 35 years and had never seen anything like what happened to his son.

"Even if I wasn't his father, I would be shocked by what they did," he said.

After he arrived, he said, he was told to leave or he would be arrested too.

"I think police are supposed to protect people and respect their rights," he said. "These people were peaceful and they were students saying things about respect for human beings, poverty and peace and this the treatment they get."

Muhammad Rashid said there is no doubt the incident was racially motivated.

Madhu Verma, the vice-president of the National Indo-Canadian Council, was also marching with the group Saturday. She said she tried to intervene when Rashid was taken to the ground but was unable to make a difference.

"I said, 'Look, you cannot do that,' " she said.

" 'You cannot use extra force, please stop it.' I said that five times."

She said the Fredericton Police Force needs sensitivity training. She said she approached the force in the past but was told they didn't need it.

"We think it is very, very important that they accept they have a problem and they need the training," she said. "Unless they accept it, they are not going to do it."

In the meantime, Chris Erb, the second person arrested by police on Saturday, said he has launched a private prosecution against one of the officers involved.

An administrative review is also being done on the ticket, Erb said.

"It certainly was an overreaction and I think part of it was motivated by race," Erb said.

Oh my

Ok, so last night Lisa, Neil and I were standing on their porch at around 4 am when we see a rather old, very drunk guy walking up Regent St. He has already removed his shirt and had slung it over his shoulder as he must have been thinking it was a particularly warm evening. He then realized that he needed to relieve himself immediately so he directs his path towards the telephone pole directly across the street from where we were standing, bounces his gut off of it, nearly falls over and, drops his trousers. After finishing peeing all over his shirt that is now on the ground he attempts to leave, unfortunately those pesky pants are still around his ankles. “Screw this” the drunkard thinks, and he continues to kick off his pants on the side of Regent. He manages to remove them by entering someone’s patio and leaning on their railing. He stands there in all his nudeness for some time as we ponder calling someone or going to see if he is ok. We see him back flip over the railing and make a very loud thud as his naked body hits the ground. By now it is obvious that this guy needs some help so with the aid of some Asian guy who lives in the next house shining a flashlight and Lisa giving excellent instructions on how to properly put the correct leg in your pants and arms in your shirt he manages to make it three houses further up the street before being picked up by the cops.

Random angry post

"Canada will not support attempts by other countries to set deeper emission-reduction targets for the Kyoto Protocol's second phase, according to private instructions to Canadian negotiators in Bonn, Germany." - more here

Seriously, f*ck you Steven Harper. I told you all to vote NDP and no one listened to me. I said that if Jack Layton didn't get in, Kyoto would be scrapped. I just don't think that Harper cares enough about the environment. We are the ones who are going to have to deal with all the mess this is going to create in 20 years after they have all moved on. Fix it now before it is too late. Jerks.

It'sa Me!

If you are anything like me and have heard about the new super marios bros game, you are pumped. If only i had a Gameboy.

Ch-check it out. If you are using a blog aggrigator you hay have to just visit my site. Trust me, it's worth it.

the lowdown on the tory budget.

28 tax reductions . . . and one hike

1. GST reduced by one percentage point to 6 per cent on July 1.

2. New Canada Employment Credit of $500, rising to $1,000 next year, for work-related expenses such as uniforms and home computers.

3. Income Tax Act to be amended so new $100-a-month child-care payment can be claimed by the lower-income spouse.

4. Family fishing boats become eligible for a $500,000 lifetime capital-gains tax exemption.

5. Excise duties repealed on the first 500,000 litres of wine made from Canadian-grown crops and reduced on beer from small and medium-sized breweries.

6. Excise tax repealed on jewellery made in or imported into Canada, clocks and articles made with semi-precious stones.

7. A $500 tax credit for parents whose children enroll in organized physical activity.

8. Tax credit on the purchase of monthly transit passes starting in July, meaning about $150 a year in tax relief for frequent transit users.

9. Exemption from capital-gains tax on donations of publicly listed securities to public charities.

10. Increases to $2,000 from $1,000 in the maximum amount of pension income that can be used to calculate the pension-income credit.

11. Increases the maximum annual Child Disability Benefit to $2,300 from $2,044 effective July 1 and coverage extended by reducing the rates at which the benefit is cut as family income rises.

12. Reintroduces the mineral- exploration tax credit to solidify recent exploration gains.

13. Raises the maximum amount of the refundable medical-expense supplement to $1,000 from $767 for the 2006 tax year.

14. Apprenticeship job-creation tax credits for employers, who will get $2,000 per apprentice.

15. A $1,000 apprenticeship grant for apprentices who take part in approved programs.

16. Tools deduction allowing tradespeople to deduct up to $500 for the cost of tools exceeding $1,000.

17. Textbook tax credit, worth about $80, for postsecondary students.

18. Removes the $3,000 limit on the tax-exempt status on bursaries, scholarships and fellowships so that all such income is tax free.

19. Reduces the parental contribution on Canada Student Loans so that about 30,000 more students with family incomes between $65,000 and $140,000 are eligible.

20. Donations of ecologically sensitive land under the Ecogift program will be exempt from capital-gains tax.

21. Reduction in the effective tax rate on dividends, matching a promise the Liberal government had made in an attempt to level the playing field between income trusts and other corporations.

22. Lowering of the general corporate income-tax rate to 19 per cent from 21 per cent by 2010.

23. Increases the amount of small-business income eligible for a 12-per-cent tax rate to $400,000 from $300,000, as of Jan. 1, 2007. The rate falls to 11.5 per cent in 2008 and to 11 per cent in 2009.

24. Eliminates the corporate surtax for all corporations as of Jan. 1, 2008. The surtax had previously been eliminated only for small and medium-sized companies.

25. Accelerates the capital cost allowance for forestry bioenergy.

26. The federal capital tax, which under the Liberals was to have been eliminated in 2008, will disappear this year at a cost of $795-million.

27. Eliminates so-called double taxation of dividends from large corporations at a cost of $375-million this year and $310-million next year.

28.Gradually raises the basic personal amount exempt from income tax to $10,000 by 2009.

ONE HIKE

1. Reduces the lowest personal income-tax rate to 15.5 per cent July 1. However, that is half a percentage point more than the rate currently in effect.

[more from globeandmail.com]

Fair Trade?

I have said for a while that I would post something on my views on fair trade as many have inquired as to why I am not pro fair trade.

Basically it comes down to the fact that a lot of large companies have always paid farmers well for high quality products. I am going to stick to the topic of coffee since it is the subject I know the most about.

Starbucks is a company that has been hated by lefties since I can remember it being around. I have heard many of them claiming that the beans are practically stolen from starving farmers in Latin America. This is preposterous. Starbucks is a worldwide coffee company that serves “A” grade Arabica beans. They have ridiculously high standards on their quality of their product and they pay ridiculously high prices for their beans. For someone like me who would gladly pay a little more knowing that hard work was put into making these beans the best they could be, this little cost is not a big deal. Starbucks pays their farmers equally or more than $1.26 per pound fair trade standard. They don’t pay to have the coffee fair trade certified because that would take money out of the farmer’s pockets.

Do you really think the price of fair trade products isn’t too high, and do you think that the entire extra amount you pay at the till goes to the farmers? The math just doesn’t add up for me. I believe the supermarkets are not being sufficiently open about their pricing of Fair trade products. I would like to see more of the premium going back to the Farmers if they are going to claim to be “Fair”

The basic argument for only buying fair trade coffee is that the other farmers don’t get paid enough. Does no one else see a flaw in this logic? Thinking that the “consumer power” of everyone buying fair trade will change the world is just ridiculous. Fair Trade companies will satisfy the market for people who can afford to pay extortionate prices for not-especially-wonderful coffee. The rest of us will continue drinking good coffee and nothing will change.

Fair trade is becoming so mainstream now; it is frustrating that no one is considering it seriously. On any given day at work I have about a dozen people ask for a “Free Trade” coffee. This is hilarious, they have all heard that free trade is good and/or fair trade is good, but the truth is they are non-interchangeable.

Free trade allows all farmers to sell in any market they choose at any price they choose. Fair trade is rigging the market in favour of friends and denying others the right to do business on equal terms. In any normal sense, it is unfair. If you believe is free trade you must also believe in an equal playing field.

QED

capital tonight go

Tonight our good friend The Trick is playing at the Capital with A/V . The show gets hopping at around 10:30. See ya there!

jerks

"The new Conservative government has decided to slash spending on Environment Canada programs designed to fight global warming by 80 per cent, and wants cuts of 40 per cent in the budgets devoted to climate change at other ministries..."

Jerks.

more here.

Few computer hardware retailers also sell kittens.

Here is a guide in case you want one.

heads up!

We have a contest going on over at Awesome Until Proven Guilty. Come on over and give it a try! Suckas!

sup

i had a pretty good weekend. Both Kathy(Kathlene) and Sherri(from the 'chi) stayed here all weekend so it was all party, all the time. Again very fun, too much fun to get into this blog.

So as i am sure you can tell there is a new template i am trying out. It has some crazy columns, so let me know it isn't working with your browser and i will change it.

Peace out.

palace revolution update

palace revolution?

Yesterday in Paris more than 200 000 people went out into the streets to protest a new youth labour law being passed. Set to take effect next month, it would let companies fire employees younger than 26 without reason in the first two years on the job. This is really the most ridiculous serious piece of legislation I have ever heard of.

Even with the huge marches under way Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin parliament that he was open to talks on employment and possible changes to the law but did not say that he would withdraw it. Mr. Villepin says the greater flexibility will encourage companies to hire young workers, who face a 22 per cent unemployment rate in France.

Can you imagine if Harper ever tried to pass some kind of crap like that here?

see the thing in itself

So i just got back from the Akron/Family show in Saint John. These guys are really good and it was kinda depressing that only about thirty people were there. Even though the guys had a really small crowd, they played a cool set and were really cool to talk to. Their music is pretty awesome, as they have many, many things on stage to play music with. The usual guitars, bass, drums, and keyboard accompanied by bells, whistles, stuffed birds, a twoonie, a wooden frog, a screwdriver and many other things to hit on blow into. Oh yeah he also played part of a song with his cell phone. Check out my other blog sometime soon for a full better review of the show.