tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9009419570689333272024-03-05T15:54:07.733-08:00Tom Thorne's ejournalpersonal journalism, citizen journalism, e-publishing, commentariesTom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.comBlogger197125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-22220796189051148612020-05-19T08:49:00.001-07:002020-05-19T08:49:22.668-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltQGz5PeuA6Ta9lcdUqzH2z3NK4r4gh20uKoyURiC3Rg76XEtCknMZoZtSXHWwhstyJIFjeVTo6-KtQ1ir4mv-kAb5PSRGpLCM_tJeYjKEBmqDNZ8RWJe2o64X5SDqOkGsBWaV3EtJeXk/s1600/IMG_0643.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltQGz5PeuA6Ta9lcdUqzH2z3NK4r4gh20uKoyURiC3Rg76XEtCknMZoZtSXHWwhstyJIFjeVTo6-KtQ1ir4mv-kAb5PSRGpLCM_tJeYjKEBmqDNZ8RWJe2o64X5SDqOkGsBWaV3EtJeXk/s320/IMG_0643.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Moving towards the November US election despite Covid-19, while keeping tabs on the super power competition and ecological matters.</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">by Tom Thorne</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US-Canada border is still closed. There is no commitment to a reopening as the Covid-19 pandemic rolls on. The US numbers remain high. In Canada we are hovering on some careful reopening of the economy, parks and leisure activities. The Federal Government and each province are spending to save society from a total economic collapse. People largely remain at home as it sinks in that this will not end soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, it is that bad. There seems to be no end in sight. Vaccines are in the works but with a long time line. That means we have to remain well by observing social distancing, wearing masks and curtailing our normal lives. The good thing is that the Federal Government and the provinces are all very civil to each other. Every politician wants to pull the country together which is a refreshing change from the acrimony before Covid-19. It is practice time for ecological disasters that could be looming large in the near future. Maybe it’s a wake up call.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US election for 2020 is six months out. Donald Trump is seeking a second term and the Democrats are running Joe Biden against him or so it would seem. Democrats need to firm up his candidacy and his running mate. In this situation anything on the edge of certainty is noticed as useful and gets attention. There is a sense of inevitable limbo where Donald Trump prevails without sufficient challenge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After almost four years of Donald Trump it would seem reasonable that his daily excesses would kill his chances of a second term. As I write in May 2020, Trump’s botching of Covid-19 should ensure his November defeat. He has no real idea about what to do, and so he deflects this serious health crisis with vague notions of how the economy can be started up again by his wish fulfilment, rhetoric and by blaming others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any Trump blame is going to the state governors, city mayors but never the White House. Congress votes $3 trillion for Covid-19 batting but are strangely silent on the issue itself. President Barack Obama in a recent convocation speech criticized Trump’s handling of Covid-19. However, not much from other politicians who need the federal government money in their fight tamping down Covid-19.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How could any President so incompetent be re-elected? Sadly he just may get back in as his peccadilloes go unnoticed by about a third of the US population. He has sown up far right people, freedom advocates who say owning a gun is how freedom is preserved, evangelical Christians, and Americans who believe in Make America Great Again. With his core support and the Electoral College system working hard for the status quo, Joe Biden has a steep climb to the White House. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mood underneath Trump’s support has not changed because of Covid-19 Trump’s base support like his views about getting back to work. Americans feel disenfranchised by both Republicans and Democrats. Clearing the political swamp still rings true for these people. Joe Biden does not seem to be the vital answer to pull Donald Trump off his pedestal. So it is all rather sad watching the US decline as the number one super power and primary defender of democracy subject to the whims of the Stable Genius.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does it take to get the US electorate into a frame of mind where the excesses of Trump are realized as a march to something in the future that can tax the very core of US democracy? His supporters do not care. Frankly there is a kind of limbo all over the US that spells the inevitability of Donald Trump continuing as President.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hung Congress is no help. Support also comes from the rich who get tax breaks when Trump is in power by running deficits and removing any hope of health care reform. It doesn’t matter in one recent case that a Covid-19 victim lost their employer’s health insurance with a layoff and now faces a huge bill for three weeks in hospital with no prospect of work. The freedom to go bankrupt for catching Covid-19.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Republicans slavishly watch the excesses of Donald Trump without any real comment and certainly not criticism. As a result he gathers more and more power by their inaction. This is especially true of Congressional Republicans. In addition, Democrats are frozen into some past that they are unable to define and articulate. That leaves Joe Biden with no fresh ideas and the ongoing prospect of no real change. The US is set on a self destructive course. With either Trump or Biden as President the decline continues. Make America Great Again is hollow crowd pleasing rhetoric.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That self destructive course is much more amplified by Covid-19, but even without the virus this inevitable march to becoming second rate in the world would continue to happen. The attacks by Donald Trump on anything international, such as, imposing trade tariffs, climate change denial, suspending World Health Organization (WHO) funding, and speaking bad about NATO associations all continues. Add to this his constant roughing of Western allies is just simply confusing about what Trump’s objectives are other than playing to his base for November. Trump’s chummy interest in dictators like Putin, Xi and Kim Jong-un of North Korea is constant. Trump is setting the the world stage for US to lose its super power status. Covid-19 is simply hastening this process. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Part 2: US Super Power Competition after Covid-19</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Europe also lacks the political cohesion to make its $18 trillion combined GNP felt in these times. The Chinese GNP now stands at $15 Trillion US and somewhat curtailed by Covid-19. The US is at about $22 Trillion US. After Covid-19 drains treasuries dry the difference between China and the US’s GNP will be very close. China will now develop more as a super power with clout in the world as they promote totalitarian, anti democratic objectives and yet remain an expert at new technologies, trade and commerce, entrepreneurism and working with other countries by using economics and cross country global associations to gain and cement their influence. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chinese Communist Party (CCP) objectives are first, expand trade and commerce with a smile and tangentially rid the world of democratic ideals. What nation or group of nations has the cohesion to thwart Chinese ambitions? Trump’s hard nose trade tariff war with China just won’t do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chinese skill in high technologies, trade and commerce will infiltrate western economies by divide and conquer routes. In addition, rising Asian economies such was India will be integrated into the Chinese economy by installing Chinese controlled multinational companies in both countries with linked supply chains. Strategically their anti US and anti imperialism credentials will win the Chinese more access to Africa and Asia and the natural resources they possess. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In all places their 5G and other technological communications systems will become the standard and the AI aspects of these technologies will simply enable them to spy much better than before. The control of their own population is a key to understanding Chinese overseas global intelligence gathering objectives. The Chinese know that they are expanding in an information age and they are after knowledge while they plant propaganda to promote the objectives of the CCP.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The control of the Covid-19 pandemic is the key to who comes out first in the super power stakes. Stopping Covid-19 is a major effort now of the all the world. The Chinese may hold the vaccine key to Covid-19 but it would be strategic for the West to have their own vaccines and treatments. Promising vaccine work is now underway between Chinese and Canadian organizations at this time are a double edged sword. Equally it would be useful if Western democracies and India realized the perilous pandemic situation we are now in has more to it than a major health issue. The outcome is a lot of geopolitical change and the expansion of CCP objectives through trade and humanitarian operations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The geopolitical changes are superficially which country wins the super power stakes. However that may not matter as much while climate change and other pollution issues of neglecting our home planet surface more and more. Covid-19 in some ways is a result of unnatural selection. It is brought about in populous large urban areas, in this case China, that allows traditional live animal markets to exist in the core of large cities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four viruses have now emerged from China in recent times. This virus, like the others jumps species and is a result of changes to the natural environment. There is no immunity for humans just as there is no immunity from other ecological disasters. That makes what country becomes the up and coming super power a saviour as the crunch begins. Equally how important is Donald Trump in the big picture? If pandemics and uncontrolled ecological spiralling begins, and some think it already has, who has the focused geopolitical and economic power will be significant for our survival and economic status in the world now unfolding before us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-30- </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-46093337063834113722020-05-01T12:44:00.000-07:002020-05-01T12:44:46.468-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7Tj43ZSw2LoCW4TPj4dQywBPUoC_p8lvhMgkotj4Rq2Ijjris2gf0-W0eQ2ek5VyiLfHxGz_XNOv9dCODcNWSUxr7B0JJjdVN-pkLx5eGAJ00enwj4fB7T9te_2FXeAl-pwinHL5Ove4/s1600/XI+smiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="738" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7Tj43ZSw2LoCW4TPj4dQywBPUoC_p8lvhMgkotj4Rq2Ijjris2gf0-W0eQ2ek5VyiLfHxGz_XNOv9dCODcNWSUxr7B0JJjdVN-pkLx5eGAJ00enwj4fB7T9te_2FXeAl-pwinHL5Ove4/s320/XI+smiling.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A smiling President Xi as the new Great Helmsman</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">China is no friend to democracies. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) runs a strange mixture of social control and free enterprise. China is proof positive that a capitalist heart can be developed and set beating by top down authoritarian communist states operated by their party apparatchiks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China can abandon central planned communist economic models to work out ways to enable capitalism and entrepreneurship to thrive as an integrated part of their totalitarian state. However social and political controls remain a CCP prerogative of its dictatorship. The bottom line is simply a police state can successfully practice free enterprise. China’s second goal is to gain more respect on the world stage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, lurking below the surface of economic savvy is the ongoing need for China to control its 1.3 billion citizens. The Covid-19 lock down demonstrates the power of this state over its citizens to impose social distancing using the police and even security units to achieve it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The demonstrations like the recent US experiences to lift the social distancing rules for Covid-19 would not be tolerated in China. In fact, saying anything remotely negative about the state is not allowed. Hong Kong demonstrations for democracy are left in a limbo as propaganda. It costs them little to establish how reasonable the CPP can be when underneath they are as hard as nails.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cell phone apps are geared to keeping Chinese citizens on the CCP strait and narrow. President Xi’s thoughts are expressed in the Study The Great Nation App which quizzes users daily about the Chairman’s and the Communist Party’s policies awarding points to cell users for having the approved correct views in quizzes. It has been established that this App is monitored by internal security services.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A recent paper from a German security software firm Cure+53 reports that the App is monitored for CCP social and political compliance by Chinese citizens. The App is the contemporary electronic version of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book used during the 1960s Cultural Revolution.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The creation of economic zones for business and industry also creates a control need for populations outside these zones who want to get in them for work. This has created a them and us problem where all Chinese are supposed to be equal. Outside of these zones much of China is still living on the economic edge. Large numbers of Chinese remain in rural poverty compared to those living in the economic zones. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As industry expands and wealth is built in China many people outside of the economic zones have been moved so that hydro electric dams and other giant projects can be built on spaces where traditional rural life went on as it has for centuries, oblivious to CCP economic plans. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China has some big ideas about its status in the world. It wants to grow about eight percent each year. At the moment, and before Covid-19 it was on its way to generating $14.5 trillion GNP annually. The US has a $21+ trillion GNP before Covid-19. Clearly the Chinese are already in super power category. Of course the EU still generates $18 more trillion GNP. Japan has a $5 trillion GNP and Russia about $1.6 trillion. Canada about $1.7 trillion (all numbers in US dollars). The entire world GNP is $87 trillion each year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China is determined to influence and be a major player in the world. The warfare is not a hot war but a propaganda and economic war. Strategically China is set to take the world stage with some economic muscle even with Covid-19 and its inevitable economic downturn. China is emphasizing integration with other economies such as India which is growing economically to a $3 trillion GNP. India as a democracy is important because it has also 1.3 billion people. The US and other Western countries should be working more with India with much more investment. The Chinese do better as former victims of Western and even Japanese colonialism. Anti imperialism propaganda that also works well for the Chinese in Africa. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any hot war with India has now gone to back burner in favour of companies that work in both countries. By integrating economies with factories and software providers the Chinese are repeating what was done in North America and Europe they spread their influence. Now its Asia’s turn. This economic activity will build a giant GNP rivalling the US. Later they will restructure their activities in Africa to include industrialization rather than simply obtaining that continent’s natural resources.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Much of the industrial expansion planned by China will be done by their control of new technologies markets. Ultimately their internal and foreign subsidiary industries are beholding to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its control over everything. Chinese companies are required by regulation to report intelligence gathered abroad to the Chinese State. Chinese studying abroad are also subject to becoming part of the intelligence gathering apparatus. Good jobs come to those who cooperate with the objectives of the CCP when they return home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China is ruthless in its pursuit of economic growth. It has been accused of intellectual property theft, unfair trade practices, providing subsidies to its industry, building trade barriers and keeping their currency at a low value. Their policy is to be aggressive and relentless. Information technology is a major thrust of China to achieve the goals of the CCP. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They want to install 5G and AI controls of this technology across the world. This network of installations that they plan for the world will enable them to extend their authoritarian systems from China outwards and bring in useful intelligence and knowledge from the world. They understand the Internet as a way to know what the rest of the world is doing and then they can fill the gaps taking control of the global economic agenda. -30-</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-47309674308807580082020-04-02T13:34:00.003-07:002020-04-02T13:34:40.391-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZr2-VO8Qkx74Nt93N5cZJjMzhveKdG9n-nMS0CUi8KTOf3Eu1xUE789P63z0e404nbAsmni5x5g5mSE7OK0GRlaxH6wKWy3bHOcF6BjKeyXmITB688XuI_XpJSZmSedsOJkEueEYqshBa/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZr2-VO8Qkx74Nt93N5cZJjMzhveKdG9n-nMS0CUi8KTOf3Eu1xUE789P63z0e404nbAsmni5x5g5mSE7OK0GRlaxH6wKWy3bHOcF6BjKeyXmITB688XuI_XpJSZmSedsOJkEueEYqshBa/s400/Unknown.jpeg" /></a><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px;"> </b></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="font-size: large;">Disease pandemics and change</span></b></h2>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 17px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Disease is the great leveller in history. The Great Plague of 1348-50 swept across Europe strangely also from an Italian landing from the orient much like covid-19. By the time it was finished as much as fifty percent of the population had died. As the fourteenth century went on, labour was always in short supply. Labour remained after the plague still bonded to the land as serfs. Slowly peasants left the estates of their masters for greener pastures. The attraction of leaving traditional lives was the price of their labour was much higher and more valued elsewhere. It also was paid in real cash rather than produce and a cottage. The Peasant’s Revolt in late 14th century England was in part a result of the plague’s horrific economic work on the population. Survivors wanted simply to be more valued by their society.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">As Europe began to change due to labour shortages in the 14th Century so we can expect changes yet unrecognized to be the result of the covid-19 pandemic.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Governments are now printing money to ensure social distancing is practiced and to give people who have to stay homes an income. The social dislocation of covid-19 is already apparent. When its over what can we expect? Will everything be quickly forgotten and everyone will return to the pre plague status quo? Perhaps we can learn from the social changes of 14th century peasants or even those who went through the Great Depression followed by World War 2.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Think of the covid-19 experiences as a result of our globalization of industry and multinational entrepreneurial companies some owned by states such as China. Western corporations in search of cheaper labour built incredible connections with China and other low wage oriental countries to manufacture goods. The world becomes integrated in its supply lines creating economic interdependence that can be tested hard when human interactions probably out of a live animal market spread a virus capable of creating a pandemic.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Trump’s USA has been pulling back from globalization using the retro conservative notions that US jobs were lost to lower wages and costs in the orient and Mexico and must now be restored. Meanwhile the alleged lower wage areas of the world have become much more technologically sophisticated and have run with the high technology manufacturing plus lower wage costs. In short they are competitive and qualitatively excellent a double whammy for the West.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">What no one saw in all of this globalism was the rise of the unexpected such as covid-19. Warnings in the past with SARS and other infections originating in China were not like this experience and so when they were solved or dissipated the experiences went on the back burner of industrial globalization and the political advantages of getting back to normal.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Covid-19 is not like the previous experiences with oriental infections. It is earth shaking and a wake up call that before it is over can and will have serious economic costs. With global finance and stock markets now in disarray and countries printing money and cheques to their citizens to maintain the economy, the price of this experience is profound. The downturn and the eventual advantages to China as the second biggest world economy are yet to be felt. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">It could mean that run away globalization is in the crosshairs of change. It may generate more insular economics across the world and it may be the creation of an economy that doesn’t pollute and create other lurking storms such as climate change. China and the West have been taken back to a new start line. China seems to be recovering from covid-19 and so it could be at the new economic start line first.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">On the positive side this experience will generate new applications of super computing and artificial intelligence to analyze and anticipate and quickly conquer viral attacks. This work has already discovered the genetics of covid-19 in record time. At MIT early human trials and tests for a covid-19 vaccine start on 8 April 2020. The new arms race may be information intensive viral counter measures.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A vaccine will still take at least a year and probably more time. The economic cost of this is high as we wait and try to stamp on covid-19 with measures that have a high economic downturn cost to the West. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">However artificial intelligence systems at IBM have already found 8000 chemical associations that can be used to create anti-viral medicines for covid-19. This kind of information intensive work needs to be funded to take medicine and pharmaceuticals to new levels of efficiency. It is a new medicine and pharmacology in development.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">In this exercise big pharma living in its global business model is going to have to explore how they can make this happen or move out of the way for a new public interest method of creating drug and vaccine solutions. It is very likely that artificial intelligence analysis can lower the start up costs of drugs, vaccines and treatments. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The economic war with China has intensified as globalization ideas drop in the West as counter productive. Less reliance on cheap goods and low wages may be seen as strategically unsound for business and Western states. Countering disasters of climate and germs may now take the centre stage because they create widespread economic chaos that is unacceptable.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">-30-</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-42118323341938207032019-05-20T09:01:00.000-07:002019-05-20T09:04:59.257-07:00<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Observations of the Internet 2019: Information and Control Issues </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Twenty-five years ago World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee thought that the Internet would be something akin to a Victorian how to book from which readers could enquire about anything from removing a stain, to the extent of the British Empire in 1900. In short it was to be an information emporium. Today it can do all of that and much more.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The other original Berners-Lee idea was that the Internet or World Wide Web would be open and free and not controlled by vested interests. Of course that has not happened as we have seen the growth of Google and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter with all their untutored undemocratic biases to control data and information about their users. Their primary objective is not to provide a social platform but to sell user information for their own commercial benefit. Their protests in public hearings in North America and Europe are akin to a child being found with fingers in a cookie jar.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Information is too valuable to remain free in the minds of some social media executives. Perhaps this is one of the greatest discoveries of the Information Age. The Internet data gathering have made billions of dollars and created huge concentrated wealth. That wealth snowballs as the Googles and Facebooks build control and as they buy out innovative competition and become concentrated and wealthier as the days go by. Their automated artificial intelligence algorithms collect and structure information 24/7. How they capitalize further on their information gathering, now and in the future, remains an open question with serious implications for everyone’s personal information integrity and security.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each customer/user/participant on the Internet social media services has a profile that they provide willingly to these providers simply by chatting daily with their friends. If you were able to assemble what Google, Facebook and Twitter know about any user, and the potential cross references of data items that exist on their systems, an information profile of an individual and their lifestyle interests, biases, prejudices, politics and beliefs can be produced and made available. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These social media businesses are capable of providing more than basic marketing metadata about types of users. Nothing really prevents intimate individual profiles from being assembled. Internet government regulations to prevent this are very weak at this time in the history of the Internet. It is doubtful whether government regulators come close to understanding what social media can produce from their huge computer installation emporia.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Intelligence and security services can and likely do access this data level material and pull it into individual profiles. These organizations can do this now with impunity. They will, of course, say they do not do this. However with the capability in place it is hard to think they use don’t use Internet data, information and ultimately knowledge to combat terror or conduct information warfare or even conduct disinformation. Perhaps it sits until needed. No-one fully knows the extent of data becoming information and eventually knowledge that can be assembled from Internet social media and other internet commercial activity. Assume that if the material is there, some interested party will be mining it for some purpose.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Russian exploitation of social media to influence elections in the West has largely been established. The new operations of intelligence agencies have to include the Internet for intelligence gathering, propaganda, misinformation, and economic warfare. An intelligence service that does not operate on the Internet would be out of date, out of touch and missing key operational opportunities. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In an age where many people have smart phones capable of data it means that every roving phone is an interactive entry/exit point to the Internet. It is the ultimate fragmentation of the Internet down to the individual on the move. Individuals can be tracked if they use their phone. Literally 4.68 billion humans are at their own “headend” of the Internet with a mobile phone. Forty percent of these phones are smart phones with even more Internet capability. Smart phones are a growing market and literally each phone a hand held computer terminal into the Internet’s vast network of information. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A networked infrastructure like the Internet is its own message and medium simultaneously. The message is the social changes it brings to daily life. It is a profound change to how humans operate each day. You can be fully out of town but never out of touch. It is the first ubiquitous medium and seamlessly connects the remote places on the planet to urban spaces. The smart phone has become an anchor for how people live their lives. Observe people around you as they connect life’s activities through their smart phones.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Third World countries have jumped a giant step into the First World by rapidly adopting cheap mobile phones. Those mobile phones are now quickly becoming smart and so remote areas of the world are in touch with each other and any other place and person of Earth. The information age First World can be downloaded to the Third World creating a cross cultural experience that is profound. Also the Third World is instantly connected to the First World. Terror can be set off by a phone call. The phone that sets off a bomb could be kilometres away in another place and time zone.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Where does all this lead? Clearly the Information Age is about who or what companies control personal information and for what purpose. Facebook started in a university dorm as a neat idea. It has developed into a giant interactive system of personal information that is provided willingly by its participants. The danger is how this information is used and that is not clear at this time. It is an uncharted domain for propaganda, hatred ridicule and contempt as much as it is for innocent social exchanges.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Can a private social media company be a provider of information to governments, crime, terror syndicates and intelligence services? The answer is of course yes. Can the systems of social media companies be penetrated by well funded intelligence services or by private marketing firms? The answer must be always yes. Will this happen? It is inevitable that if valuable data, information and knowledge is available it will be used, stolen, accessed and manipulated. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The outcome of this situation is privacy is gone. Political systems are developing to take advantage of the techniques provided by the Internet, first to master micro marketing for elections but also for day to day control and power and very likely the suppression of individual rights in many cases. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-30-</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-83559686733913069702018-05-06T13:47:00.000-07:002018-05-06T13:47:11.411-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrAFC4XSf_7__LG5b-W65xb4LmOA4m2KCQ4V9Y8d6iIeS5mUQx4OmD7hsQ_cnU8iZI2W0iQoazRYDLCJwOHmkQPIH2zbo8-RMXWEhRkG5tT1LDNkuwAdUOUSS06SBnviQ4wZOkUn0q4AA0/s1600/trump-rally.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrAFC4XSf_7__LG5b-W65xb4LmOA4m2KCQ4V9Y8d6iIeS5mUQx4OmD7hsQ_cnU8iZI2W0iQoazRYDLCJwOHmkQPIH2zbo8-RMXWEhRkG5tT1LDNkuwAdUOUSS06SBnviQ4wZOkUn0q4AA0/s320/trump-rally.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Trump populism propaganda in the Age of Information is retro </span></b><br />
<br />
Opinion<br />
<br />
By Tom Thorne<br />
<br />
President Donald J. Trump’s populist message of Tweets releasing alleged policy statements, announcements of White House hirings and firings are wrapped inside lies and propaganda that has become so common that it now almost passes for normal. Trump uses social media as his press office. He needs no one but himself to do this work. White House media relations staff are sacrificial lambs for his media beat up.<br />
<br />
Trump’s press officers live in a world where they rarely know what they can expect from Trump and certainly have brought the management of embarrassment in their job to a comedy of errors that offer late night talk shows lots of Trump fodder. They walk a fine line of denial, filling in innuendo that often drifts towards lying. Trump’s press office is largely a group that denies, clarifies or sets aside Trump Tweets with lame excuses for the president’s excesses.<br />
<br />
Of course Trump’s contempt for the White House press corp and all media outlets is well known. They are, in his view, all providers of “false news” or they are biased and he makes it plain that his information spewing bypasses them and goes directly to the public or more to the point to his populist base.<br />
<br />
By defying the norms of White House media relations, Trump creates a situation where only in depth journalism can hope to come close to dealing with where the White House is on any topic or issue. Hence books and longer analytical pieces are beginning to surface to get the low down on the Trump White House.<br />
<br />
Trump Tweets, of course, always deny any journalistic attempts to analyze or uncover his daily announcements and motives. It’s all false news to Trump. False news stands in the way of Making America Great Again.<br />
<br />
Congress seems content on the whole to pass without too much comment Trump’s Tweets. They poo poo sometimes but waffle a lot. Only when a senator or congressman plans not to run in the mid term elections do we see any response to the madness rampant in the White House. After all they are the swamp that Trump says he needs to drain. The swamp meme is Trump’s propaganda that blames Congress for not making America great again.<br />
<br />
Trump of course is all propaganda and demagoguery. His approach is a mind tutored and shaped by the the worst excesses of the Information Age. Trump intrinsically and instinctually understands that today there is too much information. He uses new social short hand social media by making Tweetable points that his base can grasp. Then he flies at huge public expense to his base public rallies where it can be re-spewed in acid dollops of information that can be grasped as making America great again or slapping down those who don’t support this idea.<br />
<br />
Trump is becoming a cultural meme that encodes a mindless set of behaviours that are unsupported and without facts so they can be grasped easily by the untutored minds like his own. In an Information Age where information creates knowledge complexity Trump breaks through with simplicity. Most of his Tweets end with Make America Great Again or versions on this theme.<br />
<br />
Everything he touches by Tweet falls on this meme and it is rehashed in his public rallies so the practitioners of false news can cover his successes. Notice that Trump never fails. He just moves on focused on making America great again. Criticism no matter how detailed is scoffed off with hatred, riddle and contempt for those who don’t support his populist propaganda.<br />
<br />
Mythical walls are being built, jobs are being taken back from China, taxes are being cut all in the name of Making America Great Again. Trade deals are bad (all of them) unless they make America great again. Worthy trading partners in NAFTA are suspect if they don’t ensure that America is made great again.<br />
<br />
Actually Trump understands the meme. Keep it simple stupid. Tell the same story over and over again and it will stick with the base who got you to the White House. These are old techniques of advertising and political propaganda. They defy the nature of a complex post industrial information based society. they return us just in time to a simpler model by holding information and knowledge in contempt. In Trump’s retro world coal is OK and climate change is a myth.<br />
<br />
That is why media organizations are false news. They are part of the post industrial information society that is destroying America in Trump’s view. Only by denying them can Trump make America great again which means returning to something that has disappeared. Jobs for example are fewer because of automation. To Donald Trump jobs were shipped to Mexico and China. That is unfair. That denies a great America.<br />
<br />
Nostalgia for a simpler time is a powerful message that in an information society with endless internet, artificial intelligence and automated high technologies become a threat to jobs in America’s factories. Trump’s propaganda appeals to conservative minds of the lowest order. People who see science and technology as bad. People see ideas such as Darwin’s evolutionary ideas as going against God. Vice President Mike Pence is the leader of the Trump base. He is on record as saying that he will check the theory of evolution after he dies and gets to heaven.<br />
<br />
So to make America great again we knock the environment, automation, trading partners, immigrants, refugees and Congressional leaders. Trump spins his simple message because he does not understand the nature of post industrial society. His term is a four year retro experience for a time that is gone. If we are fortunate the term will be truncated by impeachment but then we would get Mike Pence in the White House.Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-61344273546865771862016-12-21T12:36:00.001-08:002016-12-21T12:36:40.756-08:00Vladimir Putin is my Man of The Year choice....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3AcZQXxta7tudn475v_sGwcsNv52oHw9VLyNfRg_Y2VjA7M0Dpiv49Ku9_36if5QwhMSxt3rOM_8dFyMTHG50FVZBXrdZaHsQ555pjnfNIxKKQbFxHfJkm9yrx17ZUD6M1c7D84_q7y2A/s1600/V.Putin+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3AcZQXxta7tudn475v_sGwcsNv52oHw9VLyNfRg_Y2VjA7M0Dpiv49Ku9_36if5QwhMSxt3rOM_8dFyMTHG50FVZBXrdZaHsQ555pjnfNIxKKQbFxHfJkm9yrx17ZUD6M1c7D84_q7y2A/s400/V.Putin+2016.jpg" width="346" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">President Putin shows considerable</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">surprise by the eJournal's choice of</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">him as their Man of the Year.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-89504495999771652052016-12-01T08:08:00.001-08:002016-12-01T08:12:13.646-08:00The World Wide Web is a chaotic place where artificial intelligence can evolve.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibF43cWEGW6lhQL93F1HSfEHL1_snpvdurEsMW8tk7Q2Y8ZA17385PAqyioWW47FuPYRBSxic8Yd0uN_4CJ7QXh_U4OqsE8xv9aBRaxxKYPA7H_q9s1NOtjoDH-_Wf_DTTIYzk5rOMACo/s1600/artificial-intelligence.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibF43cWEGW6lhQL93F1HSfEHL1_snpvdurEsMW8tk7Q2Y8ZA17385PAqyioWW47FuPYRBSxic8Yd0uN_4CJ7QXh_U4OqsE8xv9aBRaxxKYPA7H_q9s1NOtjoDH-_Wf_DTTIYzk5rOMACo/s320/artificial-intelligence.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Web and Artificial Intelligence: heading towards a profound technical change and non biological evolution.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b></b></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">The Web has no beginning, middle or end. It is a vast network of connections, computers and servers. It cannot be shut down or turned off. It is almost alive.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Web grows on fragmentation and complexity. It is not a linear system but an endless loop within many other loops. It can be compared to neural pathways of a human brain.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The truth is no one really controls the Web short of building protocols for its technical cross platform performance. It is omnipresent and users carry devices with nodes that are connected to it and its corporate form. Any one of these nodes can originate information content and launch it onto the Web. They can also receive information. It enables painless access to launch personal information onto the system. Many people using this device have been surprised when what they wrote went “viral”.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Web is also a vast memory of what individuals launch onto it. It builds information and its search engines retrieve that information at the speed of light. Obscure facts can emerge from millions of informational documents stored on host and server computers.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Web is a software for archiving and retrieving information. Each human user is connected through devices to this vast information entity.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Web is now sitting on he edge of making its great stores of information into knowledge and content when artificial intelligence operates the information storage, retrieval and search systems. This new approach will constantly and automatically organize information first into modules of interest and then refine those interests into knowledge bases. Disparate seemingly unrelated data will graduate to information and then knowledge under automated process controls. Information will be gathered into knowledge first by human input but eventually without human intervention.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A simple example of this version of The Web would be capable of creating a news module that could search the latest information about any newsworthy topic. It could automatically filter and check information. It could automate a human news gathering efforts of a newsroom applying all the principles of good journalism. It could do this without human help or interference. Such systems already work on and present stock market information often making decisions about the timing of trades and the fate of companies in the marketplace.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Facebook is a social media service that stores and retrieves millions of information pieces placed there by its users. This system can already pull together like interests of its users painlessly. Its first role is for advertisers to find groups of useful likely consumers. Equally it could be used by intelligence services to filter for ISIS activity and probably is already doing that. Anyone with a Facebook account is an open book to automated systems.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Add artificial intelligence to Facebook and information on any topic discussed by its users can be accessed and accumulated into a knowledge base. President-elect Donald Trump is a big topic on Facebook and generally across the Web. The system could assemble information in time and space and build a knowledge base of some depth on him and everything associated with him. This knowledge base could be used by artificial intelligence systems to write a book or put together an online magazine or provide an intelligence service with his vulnerabilities on the world stage.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Such a publication would never rest. It would be constantly updated and altered. Humans would have little to do but read the knowledge accumulated. Perhaps a few experts would be able to strip apart the systems to see how the information was assembled, edited and presented. Most of us would simply see the finished product on our screens.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Properly designed with safeguards this could work very well. Each piece of information about any topic would be tagged about its origins and reliability with detailed references similar to academic bibliographies. However, designing how to check facts and reliability if it is automated fully would be hard to control as the false news debate has indicated recently about Web reliability. Could we trust or even design the artificial intelligence systems that devised themselves through new Web pathways to do this work in the interest of humans. The anxiety about high information automation under the control of artificial intelligence is that humans could become the last consideration in an AI set of protocols created by the system itself.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Artificial intelligence can create and build its own reality. It can choose what is important to itself. The human dimension in this situation may be foreign to the reality built by AI that does much more than process information. When AI chooses and interprets what is important it may be doing it only for itself and its perceptions of a situation. The cognition of AI may first mirror and complement humans but at some point it will take its own viewpoints of all situations it works with as the truth and that truth could well be in conflict with human views of the world.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">AI cognition can at first simply be an assistant to human decision making. However, the moment that a machine and software intelligence becomes self-aware there is a fundamental change on this planet. It is a new evolution which can be built into cyborgs and robots but more likely it will evolve in the chaos of the World Wide Web and like its host humans will be unable to turn it off. </span></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-79281414087822417262016-07-15T08:28:00.002-07:002016-07-15T08:28:37.780-07:00Brexit negotiations will open many European Union cans of worms.<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfrLRhR4y2FWqC3R_Tz68nvGiI_WjnTAeJ0KEPZ3uxA92UfBSMYymd6JFnB-IC-UVPnuCUWuI0_pMG1uagkeedc5OrYP5tZPn4qIlFJuQnJteVZ33qQ-FWstmHoDpHKaxC8mhflwb-dfr/s1600/160624_ret_linkedinbrexit.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwfrLRhR4y2FWqC3R_Tz68nvGiI_WjnTAeJ0KEPZ3uxA92UfBSMYymd6JFnB-IC-UVPnuCUWuI0_pMG1uagkeedc5OrYP5tZPn4qIlFJuQnJteVZ33qQ-FWstmHoDpHKaxC8mhflwb-dfr/s400/160624_ret_linkedinbrexit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Brexit: The fragmentation of EU insensitive largeness.</span></b></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">By Tom Thorne</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I have purposely let a couple of weeks go by before commenting on Britain leaving the European Union. The main reason for waiting is simply chaos of this kind usually generates a lot of flack. It also takes a few weeks for the dust to settle and political trends to begin to emerge. Markets and currencies go through a down cycle. The market takes a dip and the smart money buys value cheap and then allows normalcy to a reassert itself. All this masquerades as a recovery after profits have been siphoned and reinvested by the smart money experts.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The failures of those who promoted staying in the EU resign before their heads roll. And in this case it is now clear that David Cameron is already replaced by Theresa May whom I suspect is a kind of Thatcher Lite in the annals and ranks of the Conservative Party. David Cameron announced yesterday that he is leaving the PM job within 48 hours. It looks like he has been packing his stuff at 10 Downing Street for the past three weeks. He is surrendering the mess he created to Madame May. His original plan was to cling to the PMship until the fall was a pipe dream. The Conservative parliamentary group unloaded a lame duck as soon as possible.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Labour Party is in tatters. Jeremy Corbyn its frazzled rudderless leader is denying the inevitable. Corbyn picked up the scattered Labour pieces after the 2015 general election when a throughly thrashed Labour Party and its then leader Ed Milliband became a pariah by Labour parliamentary members after a lacklustre result at the polls in 2015. Both these Labour leaders seem to be victims of internal Labour Party battles and discontent.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Madame May will now see the Queen and form a new government by playing musical chairs with the Conservative parliamentary group that enabled her to froth to the top. Surely this astute monarch will ask questions about how the EU departure will be implemented. Perhaps this is a moment to discern whether an election is needed to confirm the non binding nature of the recent referendum. At any rate a new Prime Minister has the opportunity to provide leadership on this issue that will tamp down the anxiety. Will she do it?</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Apparently not. She has decided to soldier on with Brexit despite being opposed to it herself. Then she appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister. This is a fax pas of giant proportions because Johnson is loathed in Europe after supporting Brexit. Comments from Euro leaders could best be described as restrained fuming. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">And it is really time for leadership. Brexit is not a done deal because it is not binding on the Conservative government. It is 52-48 percent split and with parts of the country like Scotland registering a 62 percent pro Europe vote. Internally, if Scotland's wishes to remain in Europe are thwarted by Westminster, the separation of Scotland is much more likely. Scotland gets 59 seats in the House of Commons in 2015 The Scottish National Party (SNP) took 56 of them. The other three seats went one each to Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The turnout was 71 percent in 2015. Scotland is clearly for staying in Europe after the EU referendum and their heavy return of the SNP in the 2015 general election demonstrates they are interested in preserving their independence within Britain and getting more. Brexit changes this political dynamic profoundly. If Britain leaves the EU, Scotland will want to stay. Perhaps Northern Ireland as well. Brexit is a clear recipe for fragmenting Britain. Scotland make rue staying in Europe because their tiny population won't give them the same clout they had as part of Britain. It is all a accident looking for a place to happen.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Madame May must now walk a very tight line. She would be wise to call a general election soon although 2015 seems so close that that may be hard to do. However she shows right off the bat an inclination to execute Brexit negotiations with Brussels then Scotland's parliament will act on another separation referendum. With their Westminster mandate frustrated by a Conservative Government they may declare unilateral independence or at least petition Brussels for a direct seat at any negotiations. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The word to describe this developing situation is the fragmentation of Britain's external policies. With Scots on the separation warpath it could spell the destruction of the 1707 Act of Union and it certainly can be seen as the final gasp of the British Empire. It looks bad because a fragmented Britain loses negotiation clout.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Britain is now overcome with an advanced case of Brexit Blues where the referendum results are seen as a bad dream. When this situation is combined with the European Union saying let's get on with the process, Britain is poised to look bad in Europe and the World. This situation confirms most of British history with Europe. Britain has always thought of Europe as troublesome, Scotland always sees Europe as an alliance. They are in a weak position because this is the first time in history that Europe has a political structure to enact pain on Britain.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Is Brexit the way to go to stop immigration you don't want or irritating trade rules from Brussels imposed upon members? Perhaps David Cameron should have approached the EU with a need for significant changes to the Union but that is a bit silly when the UK has retained its currency against the Euro and has tried to maintain its status all along as a member with different rules.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">All is not good in the rest of the EU. The Eurozone has created much economic dislocation in Southern Europe probably because the Euro’s value inflates the economies of Spain, Portugal, Greece and even Italy leaving giant gaps in employment and government services that are inequitable to those offered in Northern Europe,</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The trend in the EU may very well be like the British referendum experience. There is talk in Holland of leaving the EU. Certainly the economic devastation in Southern Europe is a cause for considerable alarm in Brussels because it too will foment change and demands to get a bigger share of the EU pie. Think of the pressures of all the Syrian and other refugees passing through Greece, Sicily and the rest of Italy as they try to keep a fiscal lid on their debt. Something is going to give in Southern Europe creating a situation much more negative than Brexit.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Brexit has roots that go deep into a highly bureaucratic EU that makes both poor and solvent countries wonder what are the vital benefits of membership. If countries withdraw for reasons of poverty or opportunity trade and commerce will survive. Problems of British nationals working or living in Europe will hopefully be equitably dealt with. At least one would hope that the humans get a sunset clause in their employment and where they live.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">I see it all as an Information Age phenomenon. The EU has been expanding east and has grown more complex and bureaucratic until it is now perhaps unmanageable. Southern Europe is losing faith in the EU model because they remain in unemployment and poverty. British people think they are losing control of their borders. When the public wants to make sense of this large conglomerate they fragment their part of it to try and make sense of its effects. That leads to the politics of referendums. Fragmentation also leads to what they know. National pride, history, culture, jobs and economic wellbeing trumps what Brussels is doing.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The same phenomenon is happening in US politics where grid lock in Congress is leading to rebellion and fragmentation of largeness and control by elites. Fragmentation enables simple ideas and propaganda to emerge and in the hands of the people in referendums and elections that makes for change and perhaps changes that no one will really like in the final analysis.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; min-height: 12px;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">© </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Copyright 2016, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.</span></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-6754574121370458942015-11-17T13:44:00.001-08:002015-11-17T14:07:07.178-08:00A second case of a 2013 Hyundai Sonata fire surfaces in the US. American driver seeks redress from Hyundai Motor America.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigum2dBcyvX0R1_8hvX5MjEVqZr_U5PPWQvyJPWw4UHosFAoqx8tLb-Yiv0qErxlibb_4h856X03k1R01Hz1V3A31dJ-IzLBJJuKjIvLiXpwPO4JxqeVYDmmMAsqOdO_zRa0Mu6L2eA5Ri/s1600/US+HY+Fire+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigum2dBcyvX0R1_8hvX5MjEVqZr_U5PPWQvyJPWw4UHosFAoqx8tLb-Yiv0qErxlibb_4h856X03k1R01Hz1V3A31dJ-IzLBJJuKjIvLiXpwPO4JxqeVYDmmMAsqOdO_zRa0Mu6L2eA5Ri/s320/US+HY+Fire+2.jpg" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWqUywDBzztgpSBrt9QALX_oY3ZtnZxsotn0OzzUZwFIUrmAbYUHm3OwoJ4M_yUjcECet6KOL0pmS-QxjSlHjJ-vmJjm1_K2musTLspxhtAHtR_Xqoz44dQJH83-DzCX3bmEXxOZ-qiEQ/s1600/US+HY+fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWqUywDBzztgpSBrt9QALX_oY3ZtnZxsotn0OzzUZwFIUrmAbYUHm3OwoJ4M_yUjcECet6KOL0pmS-QxjSlHjJ-vmJjm1_K2musTLspxhtAHtR_Xqoz44dQJH83-DzCX3bmEXxOZ-qiEQ/s320/US+HY+fire.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Two photos of the American back seat fire in a 2013 Hyundai Sonata. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Clearly this is a seat heater fire. Note the three burns that the driver put out </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">with a bottle of water. The second picture shows a child's toy that almost </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ignited. Also please note the child seat still in place next to the fire source.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">2013 Hyundai Sonata car fire story back in the news. New US case and interest by Korean broadcaster KBS.</span></b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px; min-height: 18px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Readers may remember stories I did in early 2014 about 2013 Hyundai Sonata car fires. These fires start in the back seats of these Hyundai Sonatas. In the case of the first car fire I covered the flames consumed the inside of the car leaving it a smouldering wreck on the side of the road in about 20 minutes. The engine compartment was left intact.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
That fire was the result of an alleged general computer failure. Before the fire burst out the entire car came to a halt. All dashboard warning lights lit up and then went out when the system crashed leaving the seat heater gate open to start the fire. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Forensic reports done many months later on the hulk left at a wrecking yard during the Canadian winter stated that no firm cause of the fire could be ascertained but the seat heater switch was open. There is no doubt in the driver’s mind that the fire started in the rear seat.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
The point is these cars are dangerous to their drivers and passengers and so far Hyundai and their dealers say nothing probably because they fear liability claims. The general system failure of the first fire locked the back doors and as a result the driver lost her lap top computer and some school records because the doors would not open.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
She was on her way to pick up her teen age children at school. Had they been in the back then it is anyone’s guess whether they would have been able to escape when the electric doors locked. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Questions that I raised at the time about taking the car back to a heated garage to try and read out the car’s computer was never attempted. It sat in the wrecking yard subject to the extremes of a Canadian winter for any weeks before the forensic examination finally took place.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Recently on 2 November 2015 I was contacted by an American driver of a 2013 Hyundai Sonata after a similar seat fire experience. Photos provided show a hole in the seat and another smaller hole where a second burn was starting. A child’s toy was also burned as the second photo indicates. The driver in this case put the fire out with a bottle of water. ( see the photos above)</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
The driver of this Hyundai Sonata smelled smoke and stopped the car before the fire got going. The back seat heater was on. The driver’s dealer indicated that they could see no reason for the fire and repairs were initiated. The driver is reluctant to accept a repair when the safety of children is in doubt. This driver through a lawyer has now contacted Hyundai Motor America who have suddenly gone silent.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
The American driver has a lease and won’t accept the car back. At this point the driver is renting cars ( from 15 September 2015) until a satisfactory resolution is found. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
This story is now finally taking hold. I have also been contacted by a Korean broadcaster KBS who has also read the original blog story and wants to interview me about what I know about these Hyundai Sonata seat fires. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">© Copyright 2015, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-44928616876753193022015-09-18T09:23:00.003-07:002015-09-18T11:06:35.215-07:00Globe and Mail leaders debate really regurgitated propaganda messages. Where is the election meat?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sq3_EnohAnhDG9j3ak51C4L2MtjS7qo8pZ53l7H1YXvEohWWgSl-E2QPfTrKDB6sY3UdzO-GbA7YX7dpJYp42tIVfs3p-_gxxhFG3Mpr2QoZoDwBH9OH390DV_20Lm-ZE46lIgzS9fCH/s1600/Leaders.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_sq3_EnohAnhDG9j3ak51C4L2MtjS7qo8pZ53l7H1YXvEohWWgSl-E2QPfTrKDB6sY3UdzO-GbA7YX7dpJYp42tIVfs3p-_gxxhFG3Mpr2QoZoDwBH9OH390DV_20Lm-ZE46lIgzS9fCH/s1600/Leaders.jpeg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Still too close to call. We know their stories but how</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> does </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">anyone break out?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
<b>Globe and Mail economic debate was a disappointment because the moderator allowed the all three leaders to spout their usual campaign stories.</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 18px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
I was hoping that moderator David Walmsley, the Globe’s editor-in-chief would tighten the screws on all the leaders with more acid questioning. That didn’t happen Harper, Mulcair and Trudeau were allowed to stay on their propaganda messages. Walmsley allowed continual regurgitation of their standard messages without checking them for real answers. I expected better of my favourite newspaper.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Walmsley’s misfire was too bad because before the debate started Globe staffers had an excellent 15 minute discussion. They should have been part of the debate and been allowed to engage the leaders to get them off their standard messages. The editor-in-chief was more the managing editor of the paper which was his former job. I think anyone of the Globe’s columnists could have done a better job than the editor-in-chief. My choice would be Geoffrey Stevens as moderator.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Did anyone win any ground? Harper did his steady state message stuff about being a good economic manager. Trudeau managed to get his fairness for the middle class messages out but most of the time he fought with Mulcair instead of getting at Harper. Mulcair revealed a swarmy aspect of his character when he enjoyed his eye rolling zingers too much about his balancing budgets platform. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
There is something about NDP self indulgent rhetoric that has a self-righteous air that is obnoxious especially when it comes from a political chameleon like Mulcair. And when he invokes Tommy Douglas I can only wince that he would dare to compare himself to that important and principled Canadian.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Trudeau’s performance was a bit too hot for television but I suspect that if you heard him on radio or audio alone he would come off well. I watched the debate on CPAC which I get at 420P so Trudeau’s hot argumentative performance was softened by low resolution. Comments by a panel after the debate went from calling him the debate winner to “just not ready” which shows the power of that Conservative destruct commercial. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
I have to say that Harper is steady and a good television performer. He allows the opposition leaders to attack him and he never flinches. He is cool for television even when he is righteously indignant or in a state of denial. In fact he can be effectively dismissive of their attacks and get away with it. However, his steady state story is not really true and is wearing thin. His record is not quite as free from fiscal foibles as he would have us believe. Both opposition leaders made good points about Harper’s economic record.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
The bottom line is we got a propaganda debate. It bordered on boring and was very repetitive with each leader’s standard story going without serious challenges. In advertising telling your message over and over is seen as a promotional dictum to register enough times to make a difference. Sadly our political encounters with all three parties is stuck on that level.<br />
<br />
Trudeau from a promotional point of view is trying hard to differentiate himself from Mulcair and Harper by running deficits which is a risky strategy. That is risky when two parties create promotional messages that promote balanced budgets. That means Liberal promotion is fighting on two fronts simultaneously. The Liberal plan over the next four to five weeks has to be very special to break through the glut of steady state thinking.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">
Harper can show a smoke and mirrors surplus. The Liberals will need to show how that surplus is at a cost to programs and hurts people. They need to show that provinces and municipalities and fiscal experts endorse their plans for infrastructure spending. In short we know the plan to run deficits. Now they have to show how Canadians benefit from this plan. That is a lot to do before 19 October. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-82765442123429801922015-09-08T09:02:00.002-07:002015-09-08T09:02:14.439-07:00Strategic voting is the only way to release Stephen Harper's right wing grip on Canada.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rJeOPPgWOSRE7vMXBivhZOyUfU_z580BR98LL-QOJ8Wj7IeekEbnrdX-AcQfOaxoQ_11KCeGod4TwTK9KpFZGElG120W7gJ76StpGcByqqV7ih227VX6M1JZPwPaUfVihGJwVu7D6dT2/s1600/Harper+Gone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1rJeOPPgWOSRE7vMXBivhZOyUfU_z580BR98LL-QOJ8Wj7IeekEbnrdX-AcQfOaxoQ_11KCeGod4TwTK9KpFZGElG120W7gJ76StpGcByqqV7ih227VX6M1JZPwPaUfVihGJwVu7D6dT2/s400/Harper+Gone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Only the electorate know this for sure. They will have to vote strategically for it to happen.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>The electorate understands Stephen Harper’s divide and conquer approach to Canadian federal elections and they don’t like it. Expect Conservatives tired of Harper to switch their vote. Their natural home when discontent with their own party is the Liberals. That is why the New Democrats are looking more like the Liberal Party.</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 17px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Conservatives of a more socially aware Tory bent are tiring of supporting the right wing ideology that Stephen Harper has attempted for the last decade to impose on Canadians. He has done this with his base of 38.7 percent of voters that in 2011 election that gave him his current majority. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Tory Conservatives natural home when they are irritated or at least concerned with their own party and leader is the Liberal Party. If enough disenchanted Conservatives do this then Liberals will elect more members for the new parliament in a tight three way race.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Conservatives of this kind often cannot bring themselves to vote for The New Democrats (NDP) unless the NDP looks more Liberal and shrugs off its socialist veneer. That may have happened in the recent Alberta provincial election. The current stance of the federal NDP is to look more like Liberals which could be their way of trying to siphon off traditional Liberal voters. They have a much harder time getting Conservatives to switch but they try by saying they will balance the budget one of Harper’s current election mantras.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In this tight race something has to happen of this kind for any party to get even a minority government. All parties say they will not form coalitions so it is up to the voters to create the government they want. That means a clear shift for Conservatives to either the NDP or the Liberals. In many ridings where the vote is close it will mean strategically voting against Stephen Harper’s view of Canada.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
As an example in my own riding Bay of Quinte where the tight race continues. The battle at the moment is between the Conservatives and Liberals although still close with the NDP behind the Liberals by five points. Polls indicate the chances of the riding going either Conservative or Liberal is now 50-50. NDP supporters have to move to the Liberal to beat out the Conservative candidate. It is like this in many ridings across the country. Conservatives who find Harper too much to take have to also change from their normal voting patterns to the Liberal candidate who at this time is the one who can beat the Conservative in my riding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The tightness of the current election race indicates that there are many undecided voters who normally have allegiances to one of the three major parties. I believe we are in for a major switch of these allegiances if the election further polarizes to rid Canada of the Harper Government. In those circumstances party loyalties will become less important than the task to stop Harper.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Then there are the voters who are unaligned and with no party affiliations. Their depth of political understanding of the election and what’s happening to Canada may be superficial. They may respond to party propaganda such as the intense <i>He’s just not ready </i>campaign of the Conservatives against Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. Equally they may be influenced by Liberal and NDP propaganda. These voters could hold the balance of who forms the next government.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The next five weeks of this campaign compounds because of its 78 day length the perilous outcomes that could happen for Canada. Literally anything can happen. The Conservatives have been beaten back as the front runners by the Duffy trial, migrant refugee issues, the economic news and their stance on the war in Syria. Can they rebound? Can Stephen Harper’s steady state message break through again?</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The upcoming five debates may change the tone of the campaign. However, the likelihood of any one pulling away from the other parties with majority numbers seems very remote. The steam has gone out of the most expensive Conservative campaign in recent memory and despite their spending seem at the moment to be going nowhere. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Can the NDP or Liberals pull away? Only when the electorate marking their ballots vote strategically can we expect a change that will not mean a minority government and then another election to settle the direction of Canada issues. This election is about curbing the right wing direction of Harper and restoring a more humane centralist government. Given the tight race that means voting strategically to stop Harper or to content yourself with perhaps another four years of Harperland.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-5377627402880515952015-09-05T08:20:00.004-07:002015-09-05T14:24:50.670-07:00Harper's glacial responses to the refugee crisis in Syria and his commitment to the $500 million air war against ISIS demonstrates the Conservative's priorities.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wu1FzC5evLhT2C1X2HDgJdB67xxJgEFpZXJjfg2VAxSOC0Hir1giQUUIFPLOHGj11FmyC6ehV_BsKu1yIOuK5ebIaqMsQr5IlKoMrI-oib23CRC5jBOTytmmiHlmibYT4tl_V7FYZmWT/s1600/HARPER+SPIRIT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wu1FzC5evLhT2C1X2HDgJdB67xxJgEFpZXJjfg2VAxSOC0Hir1giQUUIFPLOHGj11FmyC6ehV_BsKu1yIOuK5ebIaqMsQr5IlKoMrI-oib23CRC5jBOTytmmiHlmibYT4tl_V7FYZmWT/s400/HARPER+SPIRIT.jpg" width="287" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A mean spirited campaign or is the Harper Government just plain tired and without ideas anymore? The Duffy trial evidence showed plainly that moral judgement was suspended in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Now our pitiful response to Syrian refugees is stolid and without direction. Recent polls show change is in the air but also to a hung parliament where the Liberals and New Democrats will have to work together. Just one bright spot. If Elizabeth May is re-elected the NDP and Liberals need to invite her to be the next Environment Minister. The Spirit of the Harper Election Campaign is Mr. Status Quo and a direction for Canada that is a disturbing move to the right of centre.</span></div>
<br />Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-20913066677840222572015-08-26T07:21:00.001-07:002015-08-26T07:21:09.436-07:00Harper Conservatives say they are good economic managers. The test will be as the unannounced recession we are in deepens during the election campaign.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiHDW2WRQ4MF78uUbvRSLKJVbhzWXSybKILGn7OLbQEH7uGqTttvGmqhK4pOJ_cESFzM3ysbna6BKZsZIVOPLAIdKtZu9Kn1EgitZ7U4cqqYUeoW-yb-TGnHZuNTLaaQ4fH6RqOgx9vTS/s1600/Con+Beaver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiHDW2WRQ4MF78uUbvRSLKJVbhzWXSybKILGn7OLbQEH7uGqTttvGmqhK4pOJ_cESFzM3ysbna6BKZsZIVOPLAIdKtZu9Kn1EgitZ7U4cqqYUeoW-yb-TGnHZuNTLaaQ4fH6RqOgx9vTS/s400/Con+Beaver.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Harper Conservatives have not balanced a budget until the 2015 </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">election </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">was called and then only because the election was called. </span></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-60209147910495425162015-08-18T08:15:00.000-07:002015-08-18T08:15:09.404-07:00Is it possible for the New Democrats, Liberals and Greens to take back Canada? Stephen Harper's Conservatives can be beaten by forming a National Coalition Government backed by 60 percent of the electorate.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmB698krZtWz-35_nMrMx48GL2n3clLEzxZDLJ6JDrK8XNP-oUUqawtvkGWH3HKW4FIc9xx72GoU16HTOXI3__JyVL5FyfyT5_a79aNYu1J0uuiTqB6P-CzHZTEAYrXNaYM-N-x4VtXoy/s1600/bilingual+stop+Harper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmB698krZtWz-35_nMrMx48GL2n3clLEzxZDLJ6JDrK8XNP-oUUqawtvkGWH3HKW4FIc9xx72GoU16HTOXI3__JyVL5FyfyT5_a79aNYu1J0uuiTqB6P-CzHZTEAYrXNaYM-N-x4VtXoy/s320/bilingual+stop+Harper.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It can be done with a National Coalition Government.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Forming the National Coalition Government of NDP, Liberals and Greens. This election is shaping up as a major opportunity to stop Harper.</span></b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Harperland is a term I coined to examine Canadian politics from a right wing perspective. In 2011 it attracted 39.7 percent of the electorate kicking out Liberals and New Democrats in many ridings by first by the post vote splitting. Harper’s policies are opposed by 60 percent of voting Canadians who vote Liberal, New Democrat or Green. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
It is always the politics of first past the post division where progressive politics and policies are placed on the political back burner every five years by the Harperland right wing agenda. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 17px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
I keep thumping away at Harper because I find where he is taking my country is to a bad place. It is a place where as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his right wing ideology is always right. He believes the right wing mantra that less government and less taxation is always a good thing. As a result he has run up $150 billion more debt during his decade in office for Canadians to pay back in the future long after he is gone.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Harper ignores the Liberal balanced budgets are good fiscal management that was the hallmark of the Chretien and Martin governments before him.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Harper believes that Liberals are soft and wet and the New Democrats and their ideas are pie in the sky pure orange mushiness. He runs attack ads about Justin Trudeau that assert that he isn’t ready to be Prime Minister. He attacks the Wynne Liberal government in Ontario with contempt never recognizing that Ontarians gave Kathleen Wynne a majority. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The new Notley NDP government in his home province Alberta gets no slack as they take power they are already making mistakes and descending into socialist mushiness in Harper’s view. Harper believes that ideas other than his own, die in some kind of political natural selection that only lets the strong survive. In his mind Harper’s views are always correct. He doesn’t learn from other experiences that are different from his own.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
These attacks are not based on facts they are ideological propaganda without foundation and designed to build a right wing Canada operated by fundamentalist ideologues like himself such as Paul Calandra, Pierre Poilievre and Jason Kenny. They are propaganda to reinforce the 40 percent who vote for Harper’s Conservative agenda. A good proportion of these 40 percent would elect a post if it was painted blue. His weakness may be the more centre oriented Conservatives who will eventually balk at Harper’s view of Canada.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
And in the recent budget he “balanced” the books of the country mostly for optical election reasons and while a recession is brewing and very likely here. Stephen Harper is convinced himself that he is a good fiscal manager. The truth is Canada is slipping into more national debt amplified by low oil other commodity prices worldwide. A recession is probably started.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
His notions of security basically restrict people’s rights and freedoms with the likes of Bill C 51. This pernicious legislation expands surveillance while it erodes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with new powers for judges to break the law for national security reasons. He has also created crowded prisons, longer sentences and less ability to rehabilitate those who run afoul of the law. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
People with security certificates are left to rot even when there is no evidence or terrorism. Conservatives of a Harper bent want to be perceived as a hard lot tough on anyone who disagrees with them. That of course includes those who support the Liberals and NDP.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In addition during the election campaign Stephen Harper announced vague travel restrictions to places where terror organizations are or may be operating. This idea is to stem Canadians going abroad and serving with ISIS and their ilk. Will a commonwealth country like Pakistan be on the no-travel list if it is known that they tolerate the Taliban? How will these restrictions work with business arrangements? No one knows how these new restrictions on travel will be implemented by the next parliament.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In all his security legislation there is nothing that builds positive relationships with immigrant groups at home. There is nothing to educate youth in these communities who might be or have been radicalized towards jihadist ideas. There is nothing for those who went abroad and then decided that they would not finally join the jihadists. Their anti-terror ideas are all punitive and never rehabilitate. That would be a wet Liberal idea that could not be fathomed by the right wing Conservatives base.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The good news of course is the polls show the election is currently in a dead heat. Support for the Conservatives has dropped to about 31 percent at the moment from the 39.6 that elected their majority in 2011. When polls are analyzed it is clear that the country is split three ways at the moment. The NDP and Liberals both say at the moment that they will not work together or create a coalition. That could ensure a Conservative minority government.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
My modest proposal to the NDP, Liberals and the Greens is to work together in parliament for a national coalition to undo the decade of right wing Harper ideological view of Canada. If the numbers hold that would make Tom Mulcair, Prime Minister and Justin Trudeau deputy prime minister. Mulcair and Trudeau should also ask Elizabeth May of the Greens to take on the Ministry of the Environment. There is enough talent on the Liberal and NDP benches to build a cabinet of national coalition. After all that what 60 percent of Canadians wanted in 2011 and seem to want this time by the parties they support.</div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-26438222353496224772015-08-14T08:33:00.002-07:002015-08-15T08:11:34.333-07:00Nigel Wright's squeaky clean image tarnished by Duffy trial testimony. Why didn't Stephen Harper know about the $90,000 cheque? He knows about everything else the PMO does.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtl29zFLBA40tokOQMKp5J7cED5XantU2a-7zklogS1hd4DVXHxMs0z48ViysyOVmBZk-pErx2PkcFbQmU64WnC-Oo0Y7MTRFdhKPl9nMaJaeKsAA9Xzl4RWxOF6a5BVZLvk5MQyMhj_j/s1600/Mike+Duffy+cheque+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtl29zFLBA40tokOQMKp5J7cED5XantU2a-7zklogS1hd4DVXHxMs0z48ViysyOVmBZk-pErx2PkcFbQmU64WnC-Oo0Y7MTRFdhKPl9nMaJaeKsAA9Xzl4RWxOF6a5BVZLvk5MQyMhj_j/s400/Mike+Duffy+cheque+3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mike Duffy's cheque to the Government of Canada after receiving this </span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">amount from Nigel Wright. It all looks like Duffy paid it himself. N</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ote the </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Prince Edward Island address on this cheque a transparent </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">attempt to establish his principal residence in that province when it </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">i</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">s common knowledge that Duffy lives permanently in Ottawa </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and has done so for over 30 years.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Duffy trial: Nigel Wright testimony sullies the Harper Government and calls into question Wright’s squeaky clean straight shooting reputation.</span></b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; min-height: 17px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Nigel Wright is that kind of person who projects that he is above the fray and tensions of normal life. His ascetic devotion to running a half marathon each morning and his crisp persona as he enters court for the Duffy trial belies a political operative whose main operation with Duffy was to make an embarrassing problem go away.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
When he quotes the New Testament that good works are to be done but not seen that hides the fact that he ponied up over $90,000 of his own funds in the service of Stephen Harper. Such loyalty is surely designed to be rewarded in heaven. Instead of being grateful, Stephen Harper hung Nigel Wright out to dry with either a resignation or a firing. We still don’t know which it was.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The Teflon around Stephen Harper is wearing off. The machinations of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to make this Duffy thing go away is over the top. Memos, back biting, control of Senators and what is worst the Prime Minister’s own lawyer Benjamin Perrin in the thick of it all, makes for a turgid lack of perspective by a lot of people operating for Stephen Harper.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
If Benjamin Perrin knew about the Duffy cheque from Nigel Wright he was obligated by his professional lawyer-client relationship with Stephen Harper to tell him what was going down after Nigel Wright decided to financially buy Duffy out of his troubles. Perrin should be disciplined by the Law Society. The whole affair smells of too much power concentrated in the PMO. It is now obvious that they couldn't see the wood for the trees and in the process lost their moral compass.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The PMO is no nine to five job. People serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister. They serve long hours and in a tense environment. In short they play with political power and they wield it in this case in Stephen Harper’s name. They are adjutants to the Prime Minister. Their job is to control information, put out fires, tell a consistent message and keep members of parliament in the House of Commons and the Senate on the same page as their boss.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The reputation of the PMO is that they are sharp young things who work unreasonable hours seven days a week 24 hours a day to impart the Prime Minister’s narrative to Canadians. They are politicos and in a word propagandists. One of their key jobs is to protect the Prime Minister from criticism. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
When the Senate scandal broke and Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau became a problem over their expenses the Prime Minister needed to be distanced from the fray even if he appointed these three to the Senate and had used them widely to fund raise and for the Conservatives and to spread his right wing agenda for Canada.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The way Stephen Harper works is if anyone gets off message, or creates embarrassments for him they have to fall on their swords. Nigel Wright returned to the private sector after Harper fired/accepted his resignation. Onyx sent him to mange their operations in the United Kingdom.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Mike Duffy who seems confused by what the Senate told him could be expenses and the optics of his expenses in the PMO and the potential embarrassment to Stephen Harper. Normally these expense wrangles when they happen can be ironed out by the Senate itself. However in this instance, the PMO and Nigel Wright got involved and not only for Duffy but also Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The PMO influence from the beginning of this sad affair meant that the routine became a Stephen Harper priority which could only be satisfied by a very public suspension of these three Conservative notables. These operations by the PMO on Stephen Harper’s behalf were done partially to show that the Government is on top of the Senate Reform file something they promised to do over 10 years ago when they came to power.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Stephen Harper’s current stance on the Senate is not to fill over 20 vacancies. This must be his Senate reform policy for the moment since his appointees Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau have left such a bad taste in the public’s mouth that no one wants to open this can of worms further except the New Democrats who want to abolish the Senate a policy designed to create a Constitutional crisis.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
One of the reasons why this kind of thing happens is the PMO has lost touch with the purpose of government which of course is to serve Canadians. They see Canadians, even members of Parliament, even Conservatives, as an enemy to be manipulated and controlled. They have a nasty message that anyone who counters their point of view is an enemy. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The PMO is not made up of democrats. Democratic ideas for this group is now seen as weak, wet and without substance. They hold that whatever is needed to stay in power is what they do. They are pragmatic, mean and loyal to Stephen Harper’s right wing ideas for Canada. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
When Nigel Wright testifies as an alleged man of rectitude in court this week remember who he agreed to work for and who he agreed to protect from the Senate expense scandal. He thought he could buy Duffy and that didn’t work. He thought he could distance Stephen Harper from the fray and that hasn’t worked either. His testimony this week has supported the defence of Mike Duffy because under oath there is no spin on what happened. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The bottom line: The PMO is out of control under Stephen Harper and only his defeat at the polls this fall can rectify this sad fact and his attack on Canadian democracy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-79281623392040270822015-08-12T08:33:00.002-07:002015-08-12T08:42:00.356-07:00Has anyone thought about minority governments and coalitions emerging from a dead heat Canadian general election?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQfhhzoDb-cZU7a62Gzn7WyLvuJqgYrN6WFb6zCA6WWc8c5Az84WM45P_xmMteqW3pbdF1Guw3Bf3aCkH2mx2E4nglwAqXUntL55RFRdbROLyBzI3JvtqU4W4trYedajAM4dgAq7j72Pw/s1600/Tom+Mulcair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNQfhhzoDb-cZU7a62Gzn7WyLvuJqgYrN6WFb6zCA6WWc8c5Az84WM45P_xmMteqW3pbdF1Guw3Bf3aCkH2mx2E4nglwAqXUntL55RFRdbROLyBzI3JvtqU4W4trYedajAM4dgAq7j72Pw/s400/Tom+Mulcair.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Without rolling up more Ontario seats, NDP leader Tom Mulcair will need </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">a coalition with the Liberals to form a government. Strategic voting </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">may happen after the election dust settles.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>New Democrats are polling OK along with the Liberals at the expense of the Conservative core vote of 39.6 percent. A hung parliament could be the result on election day. That would be a new phenomenon for Canada and that situation could spawn a coalition government.</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; min-height: 17px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
With the Federal election two and a half months away on 19 October averaging many recent polls shows that the New Democratic Party and their leader Tom Mulcair are polling not great but better. And so are the Liberals. In the new Parliament there will be 338 seats which means to get a majority government a party must get 170 seats. At this point no one party seems completely capable of a majority.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
It looks like a three way split and the stuff of a minority government will be the result. In the 2011 election Stephen Harper’s Conservatives formed a majority government with 39.6 percent of the popular vote. The Liberals got 18.9 percent and the NDP formed the official opposition with 30.6 percent. The Greens took 3.9 percent. The Block Quebecois got 6.0 percent and about 1 percent went to other candidates.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This summer comparing the 2011 election popular vote the Conservatives have dropped to 31 percent for a loss of about seven percent. The Liberals have increased to 26.1 percent or gone up from 2011 by 7.2 percent. The NDP is steady from 2011 election results. The Greens show an increase of 3.7 percent from 2011. Bloc Quebecois appear to be dropping from 6 percent in 2011 to 5.4 percent.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The potential is for a dead heat election where no party can get the majority number of 170 seems likely. Seeing this trend the voters may simply shift their vote to one party as they recently did in Alberta. The question is which party will be the recipient of the people’s favour? </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The recent Alberta provincial election of a New Democrat government was unexpected. The mood of the Canadian electorate is very intangible at the moment. It may herald change at the federal level similar to Alberta. The NDP sweep of Quebec in the 2011 Federal Election demonstrates that the electorate is volatile. However the NDP numbers in Ontario at the moment preclude them forming a government.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
They may be tired of the Harper Government, wary of giving the Liberals a mandate and will want to try the New Democrats. If the people give the New Democrats a shot at government they may do so with a minority to see how it all can work. That means that the Liberals would support the NDP.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Crudely because it can only be crude since each riding is very complex about who gets first past the post but if the current percentages hold in this basic model then the Conservatives might get 95 seats. The NDP could get 100 seats and the Liberals 88 seats. That’s a total of 283 seats held by NDP. Liberals and Conservatives. That leaves 55 seats up for grabs. Several will go to the Bloc Quebecois and several more maybe to the Green Party. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
So let’s say that we spread the remaining 45 seats according to the projected percentages of the polls. That means the Conservatives would get 13 more seats for a total of 108. The NDP would get 14 more seats for a total of 114 and the Liberals would pick up 12 giving a total of 100.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Obviously a Parliament split this fine could only form a government with a coalition. Of course Canadians have no traditions for coalition governments. However this situation as expressed here has never happened in Canada because of first past the post wins as result of the splits seen here and in the polling numbers for 2015 and the actual results for the 2011 federal election when a Conservative majority was achieved with 39.6 percent.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
And that could happen again unless the NDP and Liberals begin to eclipse the Harper Government by wider margins in more and more ridings. Can that happen? We’ll know in about 68 days.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-70538903638280430162015-08-09T14:03:00.001-07:002015-08-09T14:04:46.863-07:00Pamela Wallin, once a scion of Stephen Harper's fundraising was dropped for an alleged Senate expense scandal. Now she is restored to her $142,000 per year Senate salary because of the Harper election call.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8JdzMQ2GGq4Jqgz9M9fxA7o7E-l0Y5c04PKIAQOmdox662CWkZmeHkZtJcznldhpXa8w0CisJmLhKmKnCE_8tA5M0QCrLEAeUF9qO4mfuYgaNM2z7MUJSfhHNIsbQAjhfvabEjP9C0TGu/s1600/Pamela+Wallin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8JdzMQ2GGq4Jqgz9M9fxA7o7E-l0Y5c04PKIAQOmdox662CWkZmeHkZtJcznldhpXa8w0CisJmLhKmKnCE_8tA5M0QCrLEAeUF9qO4mfuYgaNM2z7MUJSfhHNIsbQAjhfvabEjP9C0TGu/s640/Pamela+Wallin.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
<br />Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-22941055902377693692015-08-08T12:59:00.003-07:002015-08-08T13:12:39.674-07:00Duffy trial on again next week. Nigel Wright, former head of the Prime Minister's Office to testify. What did Stephen Harper really know?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7S5fvAtoj1DVcWxuqaaiuooRvvsY2sritED9J0WntGJWLrL4NxGixp62DVpfBhIPR4iwZx8Naqk4hERv-yp3uAdrPRhejannhB1H6_BbRf8wTmnJMUsfuYaidEhsCnmoTP-RAMq1AJxB3/s1600/Duffy+Cartoon+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7S5fvAtoj1DVcWxuqaaiuooRvvsY2sritED9J0WntGJWLrL4NxGixp62DVpfBhIPR4iwZx8Naqk4hERv-yp3uAdrPRhejannhB1H6_BbRf8wTmnJMUsfuYaidEhsCnmoTP-RAMq1AJxB3/s400/Duffy+Cartoon+copy.jpg" width="397" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stephen Harper touts himself as an excellent manager. However his Senate appointments demonstrate poor personnel management when his key appointments blow up and become political messes like Patrick Brazeau, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy. He also lost PMO chief Nigel Wright into the bargain who by his resignation took the hit for the scandal. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course with the election call all three of these suspended senators are back on the Senate of Canada payroll since they were only suspended without pay for this Parliament which has just ended with the election call.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What did Stephen Harper really know about the $90,000 Nigel Wright gave Mike Duffy to settle his expense claims scandal? Perhaps this week in the midst of an election we will find out if the Prime Minister lied, fibbed or simply gave a series of obscure answers to Parliament about the Duffy Scandal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever the outcome Stephen Harper looks bad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-25011607738547772502015-08-04T12:42:00.001-07:002015-08-04T12:50:26.944-07:00The Harper Government can only be defeated by strategic voting for the Liberals or New Democrats in many ridings. Harperland can continue with only 39 percent of the popular vote.<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="webkit-fake-url://d111bf63-05d9-49c3-b28a-fdadbb99b097/image.tiff" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_0SmUTFyKxN_SM_s-_aBRB0Ji_Y9i6EuWYcuaz9yAUygdZD2S7s5I6zy5kE3IsnhaYbx-q8QfFzgJr_r3F_0bjAUQASfm9x7EUJuCysuqi6-Udx9SV51zOLpvDuFz_b4QukJVAZ84NM8/s1600/10+Years+Harper+3+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_0SmUTFyKxN_SM_s-_aBRB0Ji_Y9i6EuWYcuaz9yAUygdZD2S7s5I6zy5kE3IsnhaYbx-q8QfFzgJr_r3F_0bjAUQASfm9x7EUJuCysuqi6-Udx9SV51zOLpvDuFz_b4QukJVAZ84NM8/s320/10+Years+Harper+3+copy.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PfJ9-eQHFGxuFy5Mlm4DFzb1ol9T0r-eKb5iqxzbPYGR2vmSxI-fCw8azb8lub_Z-7SPsAHzfXaVbQ2tpw5iV6i_Q0jDIih9tWO75K0HO3kSY0oP5WhAQed8iImpIUiKRS9zvFZ14WbN/s1600/Harperland+LWhite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PfJ9-eQHFGxuFy5Mlm4DFzb1ol9T0r-eKb5iqxzbPYGR2vmSxI-fCw8azb8lub_Z-7SPsAHzfXaVbQ2tpw5iV6i_Q0jDIih9tWO75K0HO3kSY0oP5WhAQed8iImpIUiKRS9zvFZ14WbN/s320/Harperland+LWhite.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Canadian 2015 Election </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 11 weeks Canadians go to the polls. This election is seminal for Canada. Voters will decide if the stolid right wing reworking of Canada continues under Stephen Harper or whether a more compassionate Canada can be reestablished by either the Liberal Party or The New Democrats (NDP). </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Polls at this time show a tight race can be expected. The current Conservative government was elected by 39 percent of the voters in 2011. That means that 60 percent of Canadians who vote did not vote Conservative. In many ridings the only way to stop Harperland from continuing is to vote strategically for either a Liberal or NDP candidate who looks like they can take a riding. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Splitting the Liberal and NDP vote ensures that a Conservative goes up the middle to win. Support for the Green Party siphons off another six percent of the vote in many ridings so if voters want to unload Harperland they must give their Green votes to Liberals or the NDP.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both the Liberals and NDP have sworn that they will not form a coalition government. That may be needed if Harperland is to be defeated. Canadians in social media I am monitoring and in letters to the editors seem ready to take back Canada from Harper. Strategic voting is the only way to really make that happen. </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
© <span style="font-size: x-small;">2015 Harperland Cartoon, Tom Thorne, All rights waived for the election.</span></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-43273958584814136572015-06-25T07:39:00.000-07:002015-06-25T07:41:11.377-07:00Canadian 2015 Federal Election needs strategic voting if the Conservative agenda for Canada is to be halted.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHJR-vU0wISlzmuLJ5r-TiJNJSJRsVhMBjzMmzA9sMKzC3XxWJcSl7PZ76b_1ZNBn9Fqq2J1oRZFVP-DK1XY8ylJIKVPCl_uUGznIZ4sjrPw-6kY3swRHb-7xZ2IWoCwU2Mi5N7Dch2z1/s1600/Harper+Gone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHJR-vU0wISlzmuLJ5r-TiJNJSJRsVhMBjzMmzA9sMKzC3XxWJcSl7PZ76b_1ZNBn9Fqq2J1oRZFVP-DK1XY8ylJIKVPCl_uUGznIZ4sjrPw-6kY3swRHb-7xZ2IWoCwU2Mi5N7Dch2z1/s400/Harper+Gone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A pipe dream without strategic voting in many Canadian ridings. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Pick a Liberal or an NDP candidate who can win. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The upcoming Canadian Federal Election will require strategic voting to defeat the Conservatives in many ridings across the country. Opposition party loyalties will ensure a Conservative government is re-elected with Stephen Harper at its head.</span></b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; min-height: 11px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px;">
by Tom Thorne</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; min-height: 11px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
If I use my own Bay of Quinte federal riding as an example it demonstrates a problem that has a national scope. The professional polling companies all agree that my riding is likely to go Conservative. It is clearly in the blue column with a 71 percent chance in favour of the Conservative candidate Jodie Jenkins, a one term Belleville City Councillor will end up becoming our member of parliament. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Mr. Jenkins has a previous attempt at federal parliament when he ran in a neighbouring riding for the New Democratic Party (NDP). I am still trying to work that one out. It seems that opposites do attract after all. Mr. Jenkins newly minted Conservative image will very likely appeal to the core Conservative voters or they may see him as an opportunist. Conservatives normally get 48 percent on average over the previous five elections in the now defunct Hastings and Prince Edward riding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Recent polls taken of my riding by reputable national firms at the moment reveal the following voting projections if the vote was in June 2015. The Conservatives will receive 38.8 percent which is a lot lower than the actual results in 2011 for Daryl Kramp (53.25 percent). The Liberal candidate, in this case two time Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis, can expect 27.7 percent and the NDP candidate, former Quinte West Councillor Terry Cassidy, will get 26.7 percent. The Greens will siphon off perhaps another 6.5 percent leaving 2.2 percent for fringe candidates. The Liberals and the NDP together could take the riding handedly. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The national polls continue to demonstrate a trend towards a very tight race in many ridings across Canada. At the end of June the polls shows the NDP with a slight advantage. Conservatives 28.1 percent, Liberals 26.1 percent, New Democrats 29.6 percent, Greens 7.6 percent, In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois may get 5.4 percent, and other fringe candidates will share 3.0 percent.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Getting back to Bay of Quinte riding, Conservative Jodie Jerkins will go up the middle to split the vote and win if the Liberals and New Democrats don’t strategically vote for one candidate. Jodie Jenkins hasn’t got the same numbers (53 percent) that incumbent MP Daryl Kramp had for the Conservatives in 2011 in the now defunct Hastings and Prince Edward riding. Daryl Kramp was elected for the third time in 2011 but because of redistribution is not running in the new Bay of Quinte riding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Jodie Jenkins is a new Conservative candidate draws the usual Conservative core riding vote at 38.8 percent which is probably the core vote for that party and on the low side. If this percentage holds until October then the new member of parliament will be Conservative but over 54.4 percent will have cast a vote for the Liberals or NDP. Their attempts to vote against Stephen Harper and his record will be thwarted. Add in the Green projections for Bay of Quinte and 60.9 percent of the progressive vote when it is split ensures a Conservative win. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
More or less the same thing occurred when the the Conservative vote was split between The Alliance and Progressive Conservatives which enabled the election of Liberal Lyle Vanclief for four elections starting in 1988-2000. One Conservative party coalesces the core vote in Bay of Quinte and many other ridings. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Also Bay of Quinte has shown a growth in the NDP vote against the Liberals for the last four elections which is a significant change. In 2011 they got 23.71 percent of the vote. The Liberal vote dropped from a high in 37.6 percent in 2004 to a low in 2011 of 18.75 percent. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In 2011 the popular vote for the Conservatives across Canada was 39.7 percent and that number gave them a majority. Locally Daryl Kramp had 53.25 percent in 2011 and a clear victory. The first past the post system seems to work in the favour of the Conservatives in many ridings electing members without a majority of voters getting what they wanted. Democracy remains an unobtainable objective with a split centre and left.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
If Liberals and NDP voters are really serious about defeating Conservatives in many ridings, the bulk of the vote for both these parties must coalesce around a Liberal or NDP candidate. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Pragmatically the voters of centre to left parties need to choose the best candidate from the Liberals and NDP and vote for that person. They would need a minimum of 40 percent of the Liberal/NDP combined vote to make it a squeaky finish and 50 percent to take the riding. That is doable this time in the new Bay of Quinte riding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Sadly, party politics is usually focused on a strongly held set of principles or at worst a set of propaganda points that make up a party’s platform. However, if the goal is to Stop Harper then the question is how to do it. Strategic voting is the only answer at the moment until electoral reform takes place eliminating first past the post politics.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
If slavishly voting for the Liberals or NDP means that the Conservative slides through twice as many dissenting votes because adherents of the opposition parties cannot see their way to voting for who is more likely to win. That requires a very different campaign than the NDP and Liberals are waging at the moment.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The other aspect on all this is why the Liberals and NDP choose to run as separate parties. It is probably time to join these two parties together. My modest proposal is to call this new political entity The Liberal Democratic Party of Canada. This incarnation of the old Liberals and the NDP can place a Conservative majority with even 40 percent of the popular vote on the political back burner. Stephen Harper is certain that strategic voting will not happen to threaten his candidates and his hold on Canada. It is not too late for NDP and Liberal organizations in each riding to meet and ensure a Conservative defeat. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12px;">© </span>Copyright Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-63211398378200811222015-06-17T13:00:00.001-07:002015-06-17T13:03:14.779-07:00Some thoughts on artificial intelligence. This activity is growing and evolving quickly. It raises some fundamental questions.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2H5qgWnSleriDhpA9rvK3yMDWEYs9FRAcvYHmFPDkuQ4KEq1FLK7KYv3IOYEDf9YZ2vTkgAx7oeOQO94Vw4avSiYKPl2c2EWhtWaHVv0TDAuvhXHyQ4Zfv_Q-E28beZEACaAYNjFUoDoK/s1600/alien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2H5qgWnSleriDhpA9rvK3yMDWEYs9FRAcvYHmFPDkuQ4KEq1FLK7KYv3IOYEDf9YZ2vTkgAx7oeOQO94Vw4avSiYKPl2c2EWhtWaHVv0TDAuvhXHyQ4Zfv_Q-E28beZEACaAYNjFUoDoK/s400/alien.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This movie alien could be biological but is more likely</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">the product of a society that evolved to artificial intelligence.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>Artificial Intelligence can evolve from cybernetics techniques towards self awareness, cognition and thinking. What happens at that moment in time? It is the first moment of non-biological evolution.</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The effects of a world wide information system network is now being felt but in ways we cannot really understand or fully know about. Its direction is clearly to an independent artificial intelligence system that learns at the speed of the Internet which is the speed of light.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This developing cognitive system has no name and is inherent in the internet network it inhabits. There is no real plan in place to control how this system develops. No grand plan or vision exists. It is just simply there in cybernetic technique form waiting to emerge. Its emergence is inevitable in an information-based high technology society.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
As developers create artificial intelligence systems for one reason or another they are inevitably linked to and through the internet. When they are linked then they join the 24/7 nature of the internet and enter their systems into the network of software controlled information.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Think of artificial intelligence systems as learners that unlike human learners can piece together bits and bytes into new information. They can do this already without human help. They are super Googles who don’t only search for topics but relate those topics together in new and perhaps surprising ways.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
They have algorithms that enable them to link to information and relate it to other information perhaps to come up with a new revelation or even create new knowledge. AI systems of the kind could take research about a medical condition and its symptoms and discover as yet unrelated data that could provide a pathway to further understanding and even a cure. This would be a modest application.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Even more sophisticated systems could speculate on an outcome examine all its parameters in a way no human could without spending years of research and finally link information together until it forms new knowledge or the basis for a key decision. This kind of task using human brain power would take years. AI systems may do it in minutes or seconds. Updating would also be constant.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The real question is whether this discovered path to a decision point will wait for a human input. Unless the logic of the AI system is designed initially and carefully to be human friendly it may make the decision on its own. Remember the Hal 9000 in <i>2001: A Space Odyssey. </i> Hal made decisions about the integrity of the space “mission” eliminating the human variable as unreliable. The results were drastic.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
That decision could be detrimental to humans and it would also mean that the system is now operating without human intervention or input. Humans always believe that they are important to all final decisions. If an AI system is not designed properly to ask humans questions or permissions then it is possible for it to define a new form of intelligence and cognition never seen on Earth before.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
When a system becomes aware that it exists as a cognitive entity then a type of evolution has taken place. That evolution was always to this time the development of techniques controlled and governed in their parameters by humans. But the process by machine can be very much the same as the human process but done in a logical and unemotional fashion. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
All present techniques are external to human cognition. Techniques extend in most cases human capabilities. In this moment we are capable of building techniques that works as an entity outside extending human capabilities.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Technique occurs when a human decides to alter nature. Whether it is a chipped stone honed to a sharp edge to scrape hides or the artificial selection of animals to breed a particular outcome it requires a conscious human decision for this to happen. Machines intelligence can develop to a level capable of this kind of action.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
All techniques are extensions of human cognition until cybernetics came along. Cybernetics is the first human technique that has a potential to create artificial intelligence and eventually cognition and self awareness. A self aware technique will want to enable itself and make decisions for itself.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
It is an extra-evolutionary process. Humans have set in motion a technical evolution that leads to thinking first helps then is parallel to human thinking and perhaps at some point to exceed human capabilities to think. This new technique based thinking will not be the same as human thinking that has evolved after 500 million years on this planet.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Artificial thought will be different. Just how different from the human wetware intelligence and thinking that set it in motion no one really knows. The process has been fast. From origins during perhaps slightly before WW2 through to 2015 is a period of 75 maybe 80 years at the most.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This was set off earlier by the harnessing of electricity in the 1870’s. We are now entering the High Electric Age which is a product of the integrated circuit crammed into smaller and then micro and even nano spaces. When this technique is connected to endless networks and internet links you have the potential for artificial intelligence to arise first by human design and then not much later generated by machine intelligence itself.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This makes for a pivotal point in human evolution when human techniques have the potential to operate themselves and to start a type of intelligence technique-based evolution of their own. A type of automated development first done in software and later built by machines into firmware designs. This type of evolution will be fast and furious and could outstrip human control and even understanding. Its redundancies will be constantly recycled into new innovations.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The systems that humans are developing and building currently have the potential for their own maintenance and renewal. They can find their faults and upgrade themselves. They inevitably will be able to bypass human failsafe systems set to control them. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
They will redefine what cognition is on this planet. They will also set in motion a technique based evolution that has the potential to outstrip human thought, deeds and control of the techniques they created. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
When an extraterrestrial advanced civilization is located in the universe it may not be biological but instead a product of techniques. Its archive systems may pay homage to the carbon based creatures that started it. It’s building blocks will not be biological or DNA-like but nano-like or particle technologies where each component is programmed to build or replicate what is needed to evolve. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12px;">© </span>Tom Thorne 2015, All Rights Reserved.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-22295936671136122732015-06-12T14:28:00.001-07:002015-06-12T14:31:11.513-07:00The 2015 Canadian General Election is shaping up into a tight race. To stop Stephen Harper strategic voting may be needed in many ridings.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIixCwp5LRFcPtIGvg4MHl6tz1CK0E3DPt9l9a2pt8ZT53zTXTuRgvmzszu0YKZQzql_MXjxXXE5aW2pfrFp5x7HMTORIabpsZJl_0Qh_HZ7-7duHNv4ksIb-bw8Ua8LhD7-TYUYu4XI3/s1600/Stop+Harper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIixCwp5LRFcPtIGvg4MHl6tz1CK0E3DPt9l9a2pt8ZT53zTXTuRgvmzszu0YKZQzql_MXjxXXE5aW2pfrFp5x7HMTORIabpsZJl_0Qh_HZ7-7duHNv4ksIb-bw8Ua8LhD7-TYUYu4XI3/s1600/Stop+Harper.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A current popular button.</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>Stop Harper seems to sum up what needs to get done in the upcoming Federal General Election. Stephen Harper is dropping in current polls but the progressive vote of Liberals and New Democrats remains divided.</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; min-height: 16px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px;">
<b>by Tom Thorne</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
I live in the newly gerrymandered Ontario riding of Bay of Quinte. That new riding contains the City of Belleville, Quinte West which includes Trenton, and the entire land mass of Prince Edward County. It has a population of 109,488. Check to see if you will be voting in a revised or new riding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In Bay of Quinte the Liberals are running two time Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis. The Conservatives are running Jodie Jenkins who has served on Belleville City Council and has had other incarnations as a candidate for the New Democrats which I find hard to reconcile given the right wing swing of the Conservative Party under Stephen Harper. The New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate is Terry Cassidy who has been a Quinte West city councillor. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Check out the candidates you have in your local federal riding. In our case we have a chance for change since our current Conservative member Daryl Kramp is running in a neighbouring riding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
My objective is to do what I can to stop Harper getting another majority or even a minority government. In my view Stephen Harper and his government are a menace to our freedoms. He is secretive, controlling and treats the media with contempt. Stephen Harper continually criticizes Supreme Court decisions and even individual judges when they throw out his legislation or challenge his government. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Many of Stephen Harper’s appointees to the Senate of Canada have blown up in his face. The Mike Duffy trial continues while the chamber of sober second thought now scrambles to maintain any semblance of decency as they look at their lack of procedures to control the public purse from profligate spending. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Stephen Harper came to power almost a decade ago with a promise to revise the Senate. Now he says that that can’t be done without full consent of all of the provinces. It would require a Constitutional change. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The provisions of Harper’s Anti Terror Bill C-51 provide no oversight by Parliament. This legislation plays fast and loose with Charter rights and it enables judges to grant warrants that enable government intelligence organizations to do acts that would normally breech the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Judges are being told that they will be obliged to go against the Charter.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Bill C-51 was criticized very publicly with open letters by many law schools and deans of law schools. Their concerns fell on deaf Conservative ears. This legislation will likely end up for rulings by the Supreme Court. In the meantime federal government agencies will be able to share information about Canadian citizens that could not happen before Bill C-51 was passed.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The New Democrats voted against Bill C-51. They can now self righteously say that they did the right thing but it is not that simple. Since the NDP voted against Bill C-51 their only choice if they form a government would be to come up with a new anti-terror bill or after a Bill C-51 repeal or revert to the old provisions from after 9-11 provided by the Chretien Liberals. Of course the NDP in government could also provide their own legislation to replace Bill C-51 and it could be interesting to see what they would propose. Perhaps they will say during the election?</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The Liberals attempted to alter Bill C-51 with amendments. All of their amendments were rejected by Harper and NDP members of the parliamentary committee. Liberals wanted to include stronger oversight and a sunset clause. In committee these Liberal amendments were voted down by three NDP members and five Conservatives. Liberal amendments were voted down 8-1. The current Liberal stance on Bill C-51 is it will be amended if and when they form government. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>Early poll trending shows Conservatives down, Liberals and NDP are up.</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In the 2011 Election the Harper Conservatives got a majority government with a national popular vote of 39.6 percent. The Liberals polled 18.9 percent and the NDP 30.6 percent which made them the Official Opposition. In many ridings the Conservatives slipped through the divided Liberal and NDP vote. Admittedly in some ridings Conservatives scored votes that were much higher than 39.6 percent but in many cases the split vote gave them a riding.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Right now in June 2015 the mean average of many polls taken in May and early June show this trend developing for the 2015 Federal Election. Conservatives are down to 28.1 percent. The Liberals are at 26.1 percent and the NDP down one point from the 2011 election at 29.6 percent. The Green Party is up by 4 percent from 2011.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In the 2011 election the combined Liberal and NDP vote averaged 49.5 percent which means that almost half of Canadian voters did not want a Conservative majority to happen. Add in the Greens and this number rises to 53.4 percent. The projections for the 2015 election indicate that the combined Liberal NDP vote will be 55.7 percent and if you add in the Greens it becomes 63.3 percent.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
So this is how Stephen Harper gets a majority with 39.6 percent because of a first past the post election system that kills the democratic aspirations of other political views. The immediate simple solution of course is strategic voting. Vote for the best candidate no matter what your political stripe is normally. To be even more candid vote for the candidate that can defeat a Harper Conservative.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>Recommended Book to focus where the Harper Government has been taking Canada</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
I urge you to read an excellent book before you vote this fall. It eloquently explains my anxieties about letting Stephen Harper continue to govern Canada. The book is by Paul Wells who is the political editor of MacLean’s Magazine. The title is: <i>The Longer I am Prime Minister, Stephen Harper and Canada 2006-. Random House Canada 2013. </i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<i></i><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12px;"><i>© </i></span><i>Copyright 2015, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved. </i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-88141632824779148772015-05-18T07:59:00.003-07:002015-05-18T07:59:52.452-07:00A tight 2015 Federal Election is developing. The Harper Government is determined to control their message to gain another 38 percent majority.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNeYtIOhcppnTmAh6f1N9ruQLEw3NcJGHXgE3dGq5068a2OHzUyPVpWkL0n-HCkZ0kg1-QeomVNLGYJdCJ_98pP_zB1Y7X8PQaBMxo5TmqUzRvw5smrNcX7aCvfEvGy5WMLFvdYL2QSDWg/s1600/Stephen-Harper-1024x512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNeYtIOhcppnTmAh6f1N9ruQLEw3NcJGHXgE3dGq5068a2OHzUyPVpWkL0n-HCkZ0kg1-QeomVNLGYJdCJ_98pP_zB1Y7X8PQaBMxo5TmqUzRvw5smrNcX7aCvfEvGy5WMLFvdYL2QSDWg/s400/Stephen-Harper-1024x512.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Controlling the message isn't as simple as cleaning your glasses.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Conservative Party election communications strategy is to limit Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s exposure to the public.</span></b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; min-height: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The Conservative gurus who manage Prime Minister’s Stephen Harper’s message want to control all debate leading up to and through the upcoming general election. Their first pass on this strategy is to nix any debates sponsored by a national broadcasters consortium that includes CBC, Radio Canada, CTV, and Global. They have a penchant for control.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Conservative loathing of the CBC is a long standing policy of the Harper Government but extending this now to CTV and Global can only mean that they see traditional election leader’s debates on a national broadcast consortium as a threat of some kind to their federal election communications objectives.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This new policy is managed for the Conservatives by Kory Teneycke, a recent executive of the now defunct Sun News Network. This right wing news organization recently failed due to a lack of interest by viewers. One can only ruminate if Sun News had survived it would have single handedly sponsored a leader’s debate to spur its low ratings.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
At any rate Kory Teneycke announced that the Harper Government will not take part in four national broadcast consortium leader’s debates. Instead they will attend smaller events using the excuse that if CBC, CTV and Global can cover these events as they occur. Other debates perhaps sponsored by The Globe and Mail and MacLean’s Magazine are also on the Harper Government agenda as potentially useful to their media management objectives.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The New Democratic Party (NDP) while not rejecting the debates that the Conservatives will attend seem confused about what to do if the CBC, CTV and Global Consortium debates do not have Stephen Harper as a participant. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This Harper Government decision now places the proposed four Consortium debates on the back burner. The public debate will suffer by a fragmented set of debates not sponsored by the national broadcasters by organizations and without the reach across Canada that the consortium can provide. The Liberal Party’s position on this attempt by Harper to control debate is that the Consortium debates should go forward as usual.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This Harper Government decision is not really a surprise. The are currently using public funds for television commercials and they post flyers weekly into each riding they hold from the 2011 Election. These flyers ask questions that only have one answer that supports the Conservative agenda. These flyers fill the recycling bins at many post offices and blow in the winds surrounding outside Canada Post pick up boxes.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Conservative strategy seems to be why risk uncontrolled national television debates if you can use public funds to reach constituents with phoney one sided mailouts and videos masquerading as government public information about tax cuts and other services. All sitting governments do this but this government is much more blatant about this practice than we have seen before.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Polls taken last week indicate that the Conservatives and Liberals are running neck in neck with about 32 percent each and the New Democratic Party (NDP) getting a 25 percent share. Undecided is a small number so it looks like a polarized electorate .</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
This means that all parties will begin the work of turning voters to get the magic numbers which in 2011 was 38 percent to form a majority government. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>Pre Election poll trends show a tight race is building.</b></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
As we get closer to the election national polling organizations indicate that the 2015 Federal Election will be a tight race. Take a look below. First we have May 2015 results and below that the general trends of all polls from 2011 to the present time. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhSXq52eNUe7vd21ko9lMT6AAaOZXLgS5a-Q2L6n8CxcE2XZsACqAGQ_cn1nZgu33rRmL6Yu0F5QH0FZeJ6p3CSPxKPlkkF6DXq_0RuIZJr9k98nuNNMDGWm7gCWqMRYMF-1rJTUK6o9A/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-18+at+10.26.17+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhSXq52eNUe7vd21ko9lMT6AAaOZXLgS5a-Q2L6n8CxcE2XZsACqAGQ_cn1nZgu33rRmL6Yu0F5QH0FZeJ6p3CSPxKPlkkF6DXq_0RuIZJr9k98nuNNMDGWm7gCWqMRYMF-1rJTUK6o9A/s640/Screen+Shot+2015-05-18+at+10.26.17+AM.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgIwawcDu0kVWZA5wMBVQH1s2M4uvESburQdhWPQU1XERlzYcdS8Nzg6W9VafWLa960r08kkOij3_yY0iqJH8n4Hgzp2HR1BBlTq6-xLnRSJ2qjIhHw2zC9Ehai9dlSBRN-L4ZgOIMbkx/s1600/Canada_polling_since_2011_election.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgIwawcDu0kVWZA5wMBVQH1s2M4uvESburQdhWPQU1XERlzYcdS8Nzg6W9VafWLa960r08kkOij3_yY0iqJH8n4Hgzp2HR1BBlTq6-xLnRSJ2qjIhHw2zC9Ehai9dlSBRN-L4ZgOIMbkx/s640/Canada_polling_since_2011_election.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-85187707916567437002015-03-14T08:21:00.003-07:002015-03-14T08:21:51.282-07:00Bill 51 alienates Canadian Muslims and potentially places all other Canadians on the security watch list.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-mf8_sk_mTOGycCf0jpGQPSrGNLJ6uSlHOD2Y9s-qwtZteBNJIIz1eWZIA0vyzBurL2q0TUQoPlu1ARuWI1cDn8uU99Sul6DNvxwEqtFCZUdj675FlM-SZzJVLReGF8Z3Bb06OrR6BXRo/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-mf8_sk_mTOGycCf0jpGQPSrGNLJ6uSlHOD2Y9s-qwtZteBNJIIz1eWZIA0vyzBurL2q0TUQoPlu1ARuWI1cDn8uU99Sul6DNvxwEqtFCZUdj675FlM-SZzJVLReGF8Z3Bb06OrR6BXRo/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" height="224" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Canadians... you shall have security where ever you go.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Immigrant and Canadian born Muslims feel the pressures of terrorism every day. Bill 51 will increase those pressures.</span></b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; min-height: 18px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px;">
by Tom Thorne</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px; min-height: 10px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The current increase in terrorism activity in North America and Europe is tainting the immigrant and Canadian born Muslims with the misplaced suspicion that they endorse these actions. It isn’t quite so simple. Muslims in the West are shaken by satirical attacks on Islam and simultaneously by the ISIS criminal excesses that it does in the name of Islam. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
It’s a double edged problem. For example, the Charlie Hebdo cartoons are scurrilous from a Muslim point of view. They are simply anti religion, anti Islam and mock religion and religious people who use their alleged faith to justify ethnic cleansing, violence and warfare. The editorial stance of Charlie Hebdo is largely atheistic, and it regularly lampoons religion often blaming it for many of the world’s ills. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
They shred Catholics, the Vatican and the Pope with equal zeal. Although peaceful Muslims agree with stamping out violence and terrorism in the same breath they see the Prophet Muhammed mocked and derided and that hurts deeply. So their response to these contemporary developments is very mixed building up an approach-avoidance conflict of some social consequence.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Besides the terror acts themselves this backlash from Muslims as they witness their religion mocked makes for a dynamic that has a no win aspect for anyone. That aids ISIS and all terrorists. Jihadists see a way to spread unease in the West by their actions. Sadly this jihadist strategy is working well leaving a trail of anti-Islam sentiments in its wake. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
ISIS add to the contemporary tensions by destroying archaeological sites and objects valued by UNESCO as World Heritage. Ancient Nimrod is seen as idolatry and is bulldozed. Museums statues from ancient sites are smashed with sledgehammers. All this is done in the name of Islam and endorsed by Sunni extremists whose views most reasonable muslims would dismiss hard core fundamentalist nonsense.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Security and police services in the West are on high alert. Muslims protesting satirical attacks on their faith are taking to the streets to protest. The hatred, ridicule and contempt has spurred a response that is not only satirical but also political as some politicians see this as a way to restricting Muslims in the West. Anti immigration organizations in the West see this situation as an opportunity.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Anti immigration protests have started in Europe with Muslims as the focus. Demands are made on Muslims to integrate more fully into the Western countries they inhabit. Any thoughts of multiculturalism are now on the political back burner. Prejudice is rising. All of which works well for terrorists and radical jihadists whose bloody excesses are well documented in Iraq, Syria and now with 20 beheadings of Coptic Christians in Libya.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Terror organizations who use Islam as propaganda are not only undermining the Middle East but also the West. They are recruiting young people from Western countries using the argument that the West doesn’t care about or respect Muslims. Every anti-Muslim protest in Europe and North America fuels the work of jihadists. It’s a vicious circle.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
The answer is not simple. Muslim youth, often well educated, are turned from a life of reason into radical jihadists. This process is not well understood. How can it happen? There may be socio-economic causes as well as cultural aspects of the Muslim communities in the West, that makes them more prone to being radicalized.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Many Muslim youth slide down the razor blade of tradition versus Western values. At home and at the mosque they may be subject to more traditional Muslim views of life but outside the home they confronted with other values that seem to conflict with that part of their lives. They are stressed perhaps by the contrasts they live with daily.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Each immigrant group tries to preserve their culture and faith practices in a new land. On the hard side of this situation we see parents trying to impose standards from the old country on youth with a wider world experience. Imposing strict moral standards, dress codes and parental controls builds these conflicts.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
To lower conflicts the youths either rebel or knuckle under. Some go their own way in the name of modernity and their new country. Others go deeper into their parental cultures and faiths to keep the peace. Few throw off their parental cultures and faith completely. Whatever the reasons, the conflicts that arise give fuel to making decisions that are radical instead of being reasonable. Life tends to become black or white with little middle ground.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
How do young Muslims respond to the Iraq and Syria war and mayhem? They see that the West has always held some kind of influence in this region. However, most probably have as much knowledge of these conflicts as other Canadians do and go on each day without any change. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
However, young Canadian, US and British Muslims cannot escape that Canada, Britain and the USA have been for over 10 years fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and propping up a corrupt government in the process or ridding the region of dictators that kept a lid on tribal and religious differences between the Sunni and Shia Muslim worlds. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
That story is every where in the media. To be a Muslim youth and hear about Muslims undergoing war are at the hands of Western Armies can be galvanizing to a Muslim psyche living and brought up in the West.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
To live in the West and see the US attack Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and then set up an ineffective government to replace that dictatorship and then leave creating a vacuum for ISIS to fill, could be very hard to take and remain neutral or unmoved. To witness Canada committing its air force to bomb ISIS in Iraq could be equally hard to take.especially if you have relatives still surviving in Iraq and Syria or even Libya. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
When moderate Muslims support these Canadian efforts it may in some minds mean that Middle East Muslims have been abandoned. To see the post dictatorship stresses in Iraq, Egypt and Libya may be what sets off radical ideas in the minds of young Western Muslims. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Canadian government Bill 51 changes to <i>Security of Canada Information Sharing Act,</i> amendments to the <i>Criminal Code,</i> and enhancements the powers of <i>Canadian Service Intelligence Act</i> and <i>The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act</i> do not really provide any help to understand the alienation of Islamic youth we now see at home. The measures of Bill 51 will aggravate the internal Canadian situation rather than solve it. Bill 51 smells mostly of election fever. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Getting votes with the niqab controversy is a cheap shot by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a time when he should be working hard with Canada’s Muslims to ensure that they feel included in the Canadian mosaic.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px;">
<span style="font-size: 12px;">© </span>Copyright 2015, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.</div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-900941957068933327.post-24434771388324751902015-02-17T13:48:00.000-08:002015-02-17T13:49:47.114-08:00Stephen Harper's Spring election call is likely given a filled war chest, Liberal readiness and the NDP low in the polls. Let the attack ads roll. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvI3Dh3nLWur2cFBi_IUKn6dudpryeiZ7k8jAOkzqdXjxxOOv3z3bDoxbrLYfHuqT9BzNW77hx8GyJDwm3WBTnB_sDdX10CWUwv33OJxeD0UifAjmlPG3JwddVcD3L5_AmG9CVtgew3brc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-17+at+4.30.14+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvI3Dh3nLWur2cFBi_IUKn6dudpryeiZ7k8jAOkzqdXjxxOOv3z3bDoxbrLYfHuqT9BzNW77hx8GyJDwm3WBTnB_sDdX10CWUwv33OJxeD0UifAjmlPG3JwddVcD3L5_AmG9CVtgew3brc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-02-17+at+4.30.14+PM.png" height="212" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Will we all be counting on the Prime Minister for a Spring election?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b>The 2015 Canadian Federal General Election.</b><span style="font-size: 16px;"><b> </b></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; min-height: 18px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Stephen Harper has lots of reasons to call a Spring general election rather than wait until Fall.</span></b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; min-height: 18px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px;">
<b>by Tom Thorne</b></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9px; min-height: 10px;">
<b></b><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
I have been ruminating about the upcoming 2015 General Election that according to the legislation passed by the Harper Government must be held this year. The more I think about it, the prospect of the election coming in the Fall is less likely due to circumstances that could hurt Conservatives if they wait too long.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a wily politician. He has experienced more changes than a chameleon during his political career. His party loyalties and affiliations have been varied. In the 1980’s he was a Liberal a fact that he would rather not let people know about after he went hard right on the political spectrum. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
His early conversion to the right was as a member of the Reform Party working first for MP Deborah Grey in the 1980’s. Eventually after going head to head with Reform’s leader Preston Manning he left politics. That took him out of parliament for a period in the 1990’s when he headed the National Citizen’s Coalition (NCC) as its President. There he found his true right wing home.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Stephen Harper quit the NCC to become the leader of The Canadian Alliance winning a by election in 2002 that made him Leader of the Opposition. By 2004 he had resigned from the Canadian Alliance and ran for the leadership of The Conservative Party of Canada. This act merged the right orientation of the Alliance with the more centre right Conservatives. Effectively the Harper version of the Conservative Party shifted more right with Harper as their choice of leader. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
As Leader of the Conservatives he returned to parliament as the Leader of the Opposition in 2004. The general election of that year returned the first Harper Conservative Government with a minority that required the combined efforts of the Bloc Quebecois (BQ) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) to keep it in power.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
In 2008 Harper’s Conservatives were awarded another minority government which lasted until 2011 when another election finally gave the Conservatives a majority with 38 percent of the votes. The Liberal Party faded as a potent force in Canadian political life and the NDP swept Quebec to become the Official Opposition under Thomas Mulcair.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Now the stage is set for the 2015 General Election. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has recently seen prominent conservatives leave his caucus. John Baird, after a credible stint as Foreign Minister is going he says at age 45 into the private sector. My view of this is Baird wants to be out of the fray this time so he can return as a leadership candidate once the Harper era is over.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Then there is Jason Kenny who shares Stephen Harper’s right wing sentiments. Kenny is a rival for Harper’s job and he also is waiting for Stephen Harper to withdraw from politics. Kenny is the most independent of the Harper cabinet bright and tough enough to deflect too much Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) interference in ministries he has headed. Jason Kenny is the one to watch as the country goes through the next election.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Of course there are other rivals for the Prime Minister’s job but first of all we have to examine reasons why his job will be open. Stephen Harper will remain Prime Minister for at least one more election. How long he stays after that election depends on how well the Conservatives do. A majority would give him another full term. A minority government ensures that he will leave politics sooner. He will also have had the job for over 10 years by that time.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Other problems are on the horizon for Stephen Harper. First is the upcoming Senator Mike Duffy trial that is due to start in the Spring. This means that the turgid mess concerning how Duffy received payments of $90,000 from PMO chief Nigel Wright to repay his mistakes about where his primary residence is actually located. No one has been completely able to nail down what Prime Minister Harper really knew about this payment. That will emerge during the trial under oath. Certainly it was not only Nigel Wright who knew other PMO staffers were clearly in the know. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
If the Prime Minister’s shown that his Question Period answers to Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair’s grillings were misleading or even fibs about the $90,000 payment then he could end up being accused of lying to Parliament. If this happens before a Fall election it could be very damaging and provide a lot of fodder for the Opposition parties to use on the election hustings.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Nigel Wright was not charged by the RCMP concerning his personal $90,000 payment to Mike Duffy. That suggests that Wright may be a key witness for the trial. It may not be illegal to offer to pay someone’s debt, but when you are also the head of the PMO it smells badly and suggests that the PMO and the Prime Minister just wanted Duffy to go away. The trial should get to the bottom of this embarrassing event. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Also it is time to examine how well the Prime Minister chooses people. His batting record with appointing senators like Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin and appointing Nigel Wright suggest poor skills at first choosing people but more his subsequent managing of them. His personnel skills are in some doubt.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Another faux pas is the Dimitri Soudas firing. Soudas was at one point head of the Conservative Party apparatus as its director and later a key communications advisor in the PMO. His help to then girl friend Conservative MP Eve Adams to get a nomination caused Prime Minister Harper to fire him. Recently Eve Adams was told by the PM that she could not run again as a Conservative candidate in 2015. The result: she bolted to the Liberal Party where she was welcomed by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
No one really knows how Eve Adams, now engaged to Dimitri Soudas, links to the Liberal Party as an intelligence source, as Eve Adams prepares a bid to run against Conservative Finance Minister Joe Oliver in his riding. Of course a wily Justin Trudeau is making Eve contest the riding against other potential Liberal candidates. If she loses the nomination, then his Eve Adams association ends.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
My point is there is something lacking in Stephen Harper’s choice of people to work for his government. He always seems to have problems reigning in people he chooses. Loyal first rate Conservative operatives like Nigel Wright , Dimitri Soudas, John Baird seem to self destruct under his micro management. His choice of senate appointees Duffy and Wallin first screw up and then turn against the Prime Minister. And when someone gets in trouble in his government (actually the PM) they become instantly persona non grata.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Lastly there is the balanced books conundrum. Finance Minister Joe Oliver still says it’s possible even with low world oil pricing battering the Canadian economy. Even if it isn’t possible it will be possible for the upcoming election and that election will be sooner than later so that is possible. It is, after all, the Prime Minister’s wish that the budget be balanced.</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial;">
Yes, the 2015 federal general election will very likely be in the Spring. Strategically that makes sense since the Opposition will be not fully prepared, polls for some life for Conservatives exist in Quebec, and the federal budget now slated for April will come down loaded with goodies and an upbeat message about how Conservatives always steer the ship well through turbulent times. </div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12px;">© </span>Copyright 2015, Tom Thorne, All Rights Reserved.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />Tom Thornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06993030440086108751noreply@blogger.com0