(CP) - 56 minutes ago

FORT SASKATCHEWAN, Alberta -- Shell Canada vowed to ramp up security to keep protesters out of its properties after Greenpeace activists scaled smokestacks and a construction crane to unfurl banners at an oilsands upgrader expansion project northeast of Edmonton.

After spending 24 hours roped high up on the structures near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., the Greenpeace activists were arrested by members of a special police climbing team just after 5 a.m. Sunday at Shell's Scottford project.

"It was a peaceful resolution to what could have been a very dangerous situation," said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Darren Anderson.

In Calgary, Shell spokesman Phil Vircoe expressed concern about "Greenpeace's unsafe and confrontational tactics. This placed their own safety at risk and also the safety of others who were on site at that time and throughout this process."

Four protesters had agreed to an RCMP request to climb down from their perches Saturday evening after hours of negotiations.

But nine others refused to budge, and members of an RCMP and Edmonton Police Service climbing team donned ropes and harnesses and scaled the towering structures to arrest them, said Anderson, the RCMP spokesman.

"These police officers are specially trained in rappelling and use of ropes and have some background in mountaineering training as well," he said.

Many of the protesters agreed to climb down using their own equipment, Anderson said. But two of them refused to descend on their own and had to be brought down by the police team.

A total of 16 Greenpeace protesters were arrested during the incident.

Charges, including mischief and breaking and entering, were expected to be laid against all of them and they were expected to appear in court at a later date, Anderson said.

Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace activist who remained outside the plant, said the people who took part in the protest are passionate about trying to draw attention to an industry his group blames for dramatically increasing greenhouse gases.

"Every activist that was in there was prepared to be arrested and was willing to face the repercussions of that to hopefully push our world leaders to turn away from toxic developments like the tarsands," Hudema said.

The protest began early Saturday morning. Streaming video on a Greenpeace website from climbers dangling above massive storage tanks and a network of large metal pipes showed protesters unfurling banners that read "Climate Crime" and "Climate S.O.S."

After mounting several such protests in recent weeks at Alberta oilsands facilities, Hudema said he hoped that interrupting the industry's activities helped Greenpeace make its point about the oilsands industry.

"We've been able to stop at least a portion of the damage that the tarsands are doing to our planet. I think that's one thing that we've accomplished," he said.

Shell officials said the latest protest did not affect the neighbouring petrochemical refinery in Fort Saskatchewan and was confined to an area under construction, where few employees were working at the time.

Last month, protesters chained themselves to heavy earth-moving equipment at a Shell oilsands mine near Fort McMurray, Alta., bringing work at one pit to a halt. They were not charged in that incident.

Nearly a week ago, 10 protesters were arrested trying to block shipments of thick tar-like bitumen to a Suncor plant near Fort McMurray.

Hudema said the latest action was aimed at nudging negotiators to look for greener options at a climate-change conference in Bangkok. Officials there are paving the way to a new pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Vircoe said Shell has launched a full-scale audit to determine how security at the Fort Saskatchewan site was breached and to fix any problems.

The number of security staff there has been increased and protocols tightened, including increased patrolling of the perimeter of the fenced-in site, he said.

The latest incident has also highlighted the need for the industry as a whole to be more vigilant about security, Vircoe said.

"The incident serves as a reminder, a stern reminder, that our industry must work even harder to strengthen our approach to security across the province here in Alberta and right across the country," he said.

Premier Ed Stelmach has expressed frustration at the number of protesters who've been able to gain access to such sites in recent weeks, and has said they are being coddled while breaking the law.

"We understand his frustration and we share his concerns around security at all of the various energy sites across the province," Vircoe said.

As to whether company officials are coddling the protesters in allowing their actions to go on for several hours at a time, Vircoe said the company's main goal is to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

"Our concern, right from the very beginning, is for the safety of the activists, to make sure nobody gets hurt, the safety of our employees on the site and any of the public who are in the area around the facilities," Vircoe said.

-By Lisa Arrowsmith in Edmonton.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Original here:

Globe and Mail: Calgary -- PetroChina International Investment Company Ltd. [PTR-N] will buy a 60 per cent stake in privately-owned oil sands firm Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. in a deal that oil patch insiders see as a key vote of confidence in Alberta's massive bitumen reserves.

The $1.9-billion deal will give PetroChina a large stake in a company whose assets contain about five-billion barrels of bitumen.

"Oil sands projects are very capital-intensive long-term investments and difficult to fully finance in the traditional equity market," Athabasca chairman Bill Gallacher said in a release. Athabasca "therefore decided to look for joint venture partners, and these strategic joint venture arrangements with PetroChina, one of the world's largest energy companies, can ensure that the MacKay River and Dover projects will be developed in timely manner, which is excellent news for Alberta and the rest of Canada."

Rumours of the impending deal pushed up shares in several small junior oil sands companies, including UTS Energy Corp. [UTS-T] and Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. [CLL-T], on a belief that major outside investment interests are once again prepared to invest in the oil sands.

"It's great news for the oil sands business. It shows that there are still large, sophisticated, deep-pocketed companies out there prepared to write big cheques," said one Calgary banker.

In return we get the chance to 'invest' in the dollar store crap this oil grab will enable China to continue to produce to satisfy our 'needs'

Original here:

Canada's biggest dollar-store chain, which expanded and prospered while consumers pinched their pennies, now plans to go public as the economy heals and markets thaw.

Dollarama Group LP, the Montreal-based chain with 585 stores, plans an initial public offering of more than $250-million this fall, cashing in on its success during the recession, investment banking sources said.

The deal marks the continued thawing of an IPO market that froze during the financial crisis. It also gives its majority owner, Bain Capital LLC, a much-needed win.

An IPO from a name-brand company such as Dollarama would mark the third large corporate debut on Canadian public markets in as many months, marking the end of a nine-month drought in IPOs that began in 2008. Insurer Genworth MI Canada Inc. and power company Magma Energy Corp. went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange this summer, raising $850-million and $100-million respectively.

A number of companies have also sold stock recently as investors bet on a full-fledged recovery. WestJet Airlines Ltd. raised $150-million this week, and investment bankers said Dollarama would make much the same pitch to potential shareholders.

Discount and dollar stores have generally been able to make sales gains in the recession as cash-strapped consumers look for bargains.

Dollarama recently hired advisers to work on the sale of 25 to 30 per cent of the company, sources said. The chain is 80 per cent controlled by Boston-based Bain, which purchased its stake in 2004 from chief executive officer Larry Rossy in a deal that valued Dollarama at $1-billion.

Bain is expected to target its IPO campaign at Canadian investors, as domestic retailers such as Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. and Loblaw Cos. Ltd. draw premium valuations compared with U.S. peers. As the leading player in its sector, Dollarama will attempt to claim the same lofty status. Bain was a minority owner of Shoppers when the drugstore chain went public in 2001.

<Critical Mass is a monthly cycle ride in Vancouver, growing in popularity each month, which has start points and a destination but no planned route between these.>

So let me get this straight. The gasoline addicted drivers, the Mayor (Happy Planet) and the Chief of Police (I see a stapler) don't like the once a month Critical Mass bike ride because it is not formally organized, doesn't post its route in advance, may delay the journeys of others and can cause tension with other road users.

What exactly then is the twice daily car commute? Drivers in their tens of thousands leave their houses without posting a formal route, join in what is essentially a huge game of follow my leader without any rules, able to change direction and route without any consultation, cause massive gridlock, pollution and delays for others, and slow down or endanger travellers using other modes of movement.

This lemming like event happens twice a day, every working day and yet is seen as normal. Isn't this the point of the Critical Mass monthly ride? By reducing the situation to the absurd it forces us to reconsider what we see as normal, and view car obsession and commuting as repetitive, thoughtless and addicted behaviour.

Imagine the response if car drivers ('...because there are so many involved...') had to post their routes in advance, keep the police informed of their overall intentions, identify leaders, and enter into discussions with the authorities about the effect of their journeys on other road users.

Sort of harm reduction for gasoline addicts. Sounds fine to me.

In the flush of bidding for and winning the right to host the Olympics, nobody talked about how staging them might mean limiting civil liberties.

It's only now, with seven months until the 2010 Winter Games begin, that organizers and compliant politicians are revealing plans to make it more difficult to exercise our fundamental constitutional rights to free speech, peaceful assembly and free expression.

For months now, police have been knocking on the doors of known activists and tracking them down in their neighbourhoods to "chat" about their Olympic protest plans. But that's only part of it.

An omnibus bylaw that staff insists is "critical to the success of the Games" goes to Vancouver city council today.

The bylaw relaxes rules for Games-related events, limits free expression and speech in public and private spaces, and grants sweeping discretionary powers to Mayor Gregor Robertson and City Manager Penny Ballem to do whatever is "warranted," "necessary or desirable" to ensure the Olympics' "safety and security" and "protection of commercial rights."

It also claims none of this is intended to impact political expression or the right to lawful protest.

That might not be the intent, but it may be the result. And rather chillingly, we may never know whether any of this is legal because there's little time left for anyone to initiate a court case against these rights-challenging changes before the Olympics begin in February.

I had been wondering for a while why the phrase 'civil society' as mis-used and abused by Sullivan and his cronies (and council staff and journalists who sucked up to this phrase) had such a nasty ring to it.

Then I saw this piece in the New York Times and was reminded of Ralf Dahrendorf and his wonderfully stimulating re-working of Marxist theory - it's not so much money as power that is unfairly and unjustly distributed.

This lead to much innovative re-examining of what constitutes true consultation, participatory planning, and even the title of a recent DTES paper - I believe called 'Not about us without us.'

Truly empowering people breaks the power attached to money and indeed removes the power implicitly assocaited woth money.

Time to re-read "Class and Class Conflict in Civil Society" (1957)

This abstract and summary is quite good

http://fathom.lse.ac.uk/features/122552/

AS you'll seee these ideas are exactly what Fearless, W2 and other groups are achieving in the DTES and why the stale hierachical organizations - Portland Hotel Society as seen two weeks ago - find loose progress and achievment so threatening.

(From the link above:)

Organisations: These would be voluntary associations, and non-governmental or non-profit organisations, social movements, networks and informal groups. These organisations make up the infrastructure of civil society; they are the vehicles and forums for social participation, "voice" processes, the expression of values and preferences, and service provision.

Individuals: Citizens and participants in civil society generally. This would include people's activities in civil society such as membership, volunteering, organising events, or supporting specific causes; people's values, attitudes, preferences and expectations; and people's skills and in terms governance, management and leadership.As an analytic, conceptual term, civil society is very abstract, even somewhat vague, and certainly highly complex, seemingly resistant to any precise measurement. Yet as an operational definition, it refers to the activities, values and other key characteristics of institutions, organisations and individuals located among the market, the state and the family. (end quote)

From the New York Times:

Ralf Dahrendorf, Sociologist, Dies at 80

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Ralf Dahrendorf, a German sociologist whose experiences in Nazi Germany led him to develop a theory of liberalism and human freedom that often went against the grain of German politics in the postwar period, died Wednesday in Cologne. He was 80.

His death was confirmed in a statement from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said, "Europe has lost one of its most important thinkers and intellectuals." The cause was cancer, said his wife, Dr. Christiane Dahrendorf.

Democracy and its problems preoccupied Mr. Dahrendorf for his entire career as a scholar and as a politician in West Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. As a high school student he had been imprisoned by the Nazis for spreading leaflets opposing the regime, and early in his life he developed a deep suspicion of what he called "closed, encompassing systems."

Mr. Dahrendorf championed liberal pluralism, which he defined as a social system that recognizes divergent interests and aspirations and puts institutions in place that allow them to be expressed.

Democracy is "about organizing conflict and living with conflict," he told an audience at the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989.

"The world isn't simple, nor should it be simple," he continued. "It's rich because it's complicated. Let's learn to live with this."

He explored these ideas in "Class and Class Conflict in Civil Society" (1957), which famously proposed the counter-Marxist idea that power, rather than property, defined social class. Later books like "Society and Democracy in Germany" and "Modern Social Conflict" pursued similar themes.

"As a scholar he was always addressing human value problems in democracy, especially freedom, but he was also deeply involved in the civic life of Germany," said Neil J. Smeltser, an emeritus professor of sociology at Berkeley. "He bridged the gap between social theory and social practice as well as anyone I can think of."

Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf was born in Hamburg, where his father, a Social Democratic politician, was arrested and removed from his job by the Nazis in 1933. The family moved to Berlin soon after. Mr. Dahrendorf's father was arrested again in 1944, and a few months later, Ralf was arrested by the Gestapo for anti-Nazi activities and sent to a concentration camp in Poland. He was released as Soviet forces advanced in 1945.

At the University of Hamburg, Mr. Dahrendorf studied philosophy and classics, earning a doctorate in philosophy in 1952. He went on to earn a second doctorate, in sociology, at the London School of Economics, where he studied under Karl Popper. It was Mr. Popper's "Open Society" that provided the answers, he once said, to the great questions of modern industrial society posed by Marx.

After teaching at the universities of Saarbrücken, Tübingen and Konstanz in West Germany, and at Stanford in California, he ran for a seat in the regional Parliament of Baden-Württemberg. In 1969 he was elected to the federal Parliament as a Free Democrat. He was a junior foreign minister in Willy Brandt's first government and in 1970 became a European commissioner.

At a time when liberal democracy was under attack, Mr. Dahrendorf, as both a university professor and a politician, held fast to the principles of pluralism and personal freedom. His convictions were Social Democratic with a libertarian spin.

He favored laws and policies that encouraged personal freedom, a sense of citizenship and a broadening of social, economic and political opportunities. Germany's problems, he argued, stemmed from a belief in absolute answers and in the yearning for an all-powerful leader to put them into effect.

In 1974 he was invited to become director of the London School of Economics, a post he held for the next decade. He later wrote a history of the school.

He returned to Germany to become chairman of the social sciences department at Konstanz University, but in 1987 he accepted the position of warden of St. Antony's College, Oxford. He became a British citizen in 1988 and was made a life peer under the name Lord Dahrendorf of Clare Market in the City of Westminster in 1993.

In addition to Dr. Dahrendorf, his third wife, he is survived by three daughters, Nicola, Alexandra and Daphne, and one grandchild.

Career Development Conference 2009 - Working Local ~ Shaping Global, March 3rd and 4th, 2009

Greetings if you have arrived here fresh from the CDC conference presentation this morning.

Thanks for all the input, encouragement and support.

Comments, links and ideas can be posted below using the (duh!) "Comments" section

Should this post be removed from the front page on future visits, use the search function to click on 'Employment Counselling' and you'll find it.

We could use this post a resource for ideas on changing the language of our business - several people asked afterwards how they could help with this - I think its one word and one form, brochure, manual at a time

And also use this post to assemble artists resources.

I provide images and notes with this proviso. Seeing and reading is not the same as attending and experiencing. A little like reading the menu, not eating the meal. So with a requisite pinch of salt.........

For an PDF file of the presentation 'That Shiny Red Bicycle - longing, desire and reward in work' click Shiny and Red.pdf

For an rtf file of notes to accompany the images click shinyrednotes.rtf

The url for the 'I like boxes' awfulness on You Tube is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVMi-8KKSpI

Julie Fowlis and her Gaelic version of Blackbird and much more is available here:

http://www.myspace.com/juliefowlis

There might also be an htm version of the presentation coming to open in any browser with notes but bl**dy Microsoft is failing to let you save it in anything but a version so called optimized for so called Internet so called Explorer.....

Check back at the weekend for a document with brief notes on each topic, should the htm version not materialize..........

Thanks again

Stephen

PS Excellent new social activism site is http://www.idealist.org/

scjh

From the wonderfully current people at Howe Sound Brewery in Squamish, comes Bailout Bitter.



'A bitter ale for bitter times.' The full spirit of this wondrously timed ironic creation is amplified in this press release from the company.

As long as we have our sense of humour intact we have a chance.


'...with recession-fighting properties...'

Dave Dickson is leaving.

That name might mean nothing to you, but it's widely known in the Downtown Eastside.

Dickson spent more than 20 years walking the DTES beat as a member of the Vancouver Police Department. Now retired, Dickson works as the sex trade liaison for the VPD.

The liaison position was created two years ago--for Dickson--to help bridge the gap between law enforcement and the street.

Almost every day, the 57-year-old Dickson travels from his Surrey home to the syringe-speckled streets and alleys of the DTES. He doesn't have an office or a budget. He relies on street smarts, honed during his days on the force. He's on a first-name basis with prostitutes, drug addicts, street people and government and non-government workers in the area.

His relationship with prostitutes is unprecedented. He's the only man allowed inside the WISH women's shelter. His contacts on the street, combined with his access to police computers, help him locate missing persons for organizations such as Strathcona Mental Health.

Interesting how the final impetus was the pathetic tokenism of a monthly visit by a planner to the DTES for supposed 'consultation' and even that was rejected.

Whether running on the Vision ticket or the COPE ticket or the Wallabies ticket I don't really care.

A good man with heart, courage and imagination putting himself forward is excellent.

It's the imagination he has shown which is the greatest asset.

The DTES does not need more $$$, but simply imaginative ideas involvingly implemented and David Eby I believe gets this.

From the Metro......

Lawyer in running
JEFF HODSON/METRO VANCOUVER
14 July 2008 02:12

Pivot lawyer David Eby, a well-known Downtown Eastside housing advocate, on Commercial Drive yesterday, is seeking a city council nomination with Vision Vancouver.


JEFF HODSON/METRO VANCOUVER

A well-known Downtown Eastside housing advocate has his sights set on Vancouver's City Hall -- hoping to effect more change from within the system than he did as an outsider looking in.

Pivot lawyer David Eby, 31, announced Thursday that he would be seeking a city council nomination with Vision Vancouver in November's civic election.

"That was a real struggle for me, deciding whether I would be more effective on the ground or in council," said Eby, at Grandview Park off Commercial Drive yesterday.

"I realized that as much work as we did (reaching out) to the community, going to council and in the media, we weren't getting as far as we should have."

The event that convinced him to run was a proposal by Vision Coun. Tim Stevenson to locate a city office in the Downtown Eastside.

The proposal, Eby said, was whittled down to having a city planner work one day a month out of the Carnegie Centre. In the end, even the reduced proposal was defeated.

"That was incredibly frustrating," Eby said. "The NPA was not interested in input from the community or reaching out to the community. And that's not just the Downtown Eastside, that's all over Vancouver. I really want to be a part of changing that."

From The Globe and Mail

BEARCAT
Vancouver police to get armour on wheels

ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY

June 25, 2008

The Vancouver Police Department is beefing up its fleet, and the new machine's no puny gizmo: The city has approved $345,000 for an armoured rescue vehicle that will act as a mobile ballistic shield.

Inspector Tony Zanatta of the Vancouver police emergency response team says the armoured car will let officers go where they couldn't go safely before. They will be able to approach armed suspects with vehicles and barricaded in houses, deal with bomb scares and transport wounded people out of dangerous situations without fear of being shot.

"It's not a tank, it's a tool. It's simply that. It's a shield, it's a ballistic shield that's mobile," he said.

Some police forces in U.S. cities - including Los Angeles and New York - use Lenco "BearCat" armoured vehicles, one of the options Vancouver is considering.

Very comprehensive, very revealing.

DTES Demographic Study Final June 2008.pdf

Fearing it would hurt the poor, demonstrators want proposed development quashed

VANCOUVER -- Housing activists made a last-ditch effort to derail a Downtown Eastside condominium project at a city hall hearing yesterday, claiming the development would fuel "class hatred" and make it more difficult for low-income people who live in the neighbourhood to obtain decent housing and services.

"We need some indication that there is a future for poor people in this neighbourhood - otherwise these condos are a slap in the face," Carnegie Community Action Project spokeswoman Wendy Pedersen said yesterday at a development permit board meeting.

Ms. Pedersen and other activists attended the meeting to register their objections to the 160-unit Greenwich condominium project, which developer Concord Pacific has proposed for a downtown site at 58 West Hastings St.

The area is now dominated by single-room accommodation hotels and the rough edges of Vancouver's drug trade.

Priority will be getting a 'better handle' on crime, Rix says

"If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. But if you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody else."
 
Bruce Constantineau
Vancouver Sun

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Vancouver Board of Trade's new chairman says Vancouver businesses have to become more philanthropic and he'll push that concept aggressively over the next year.

"You can count on that," Donald Rix, 77, said in an interview Thursday after he became board chairman at the organization's 121st annual meeting.

The chairman of LifeLabs Diagnostics Inc. and Cantest Ltd., who's also a well-known philanthropist, told the meeting a recent U.S. survey found just 39 per cent of business leaders believe corporate citizenship is part of their business planning.

"To be successful over the long term, companies have to be involved and invested in their community," Rix told the meeting at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. "Not just chequebook involvement, but personal involvement.

"If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. But if you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody else."

Lori Culbert
Vancouver Sun

Friday, June 20, 2008

VANCOUVER - Gladys Radek will be thinking of her niece Tamara Chipman, who vanished along the Highway of Tears, when she leaves Vancouver Saturday to walk to Ottawa to demand justice for missing and murdered women.

She and other walkers planned to gather with supporters tomorrow morning at Trout Lake for a send-off breakfast before beginning their trek, which is scheduled to end Sept. 15 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. 

VANCOUVER -- The next mayor of Vancouver is a bicycle-riding environmentalist who is super fit, loves the outdoors and has a passion for social justice. In his hippie phase, he went back to the land, became a farmer and grew organic produce. City councillor Peter Ladner winces at this list of typical West Coast clichés. Ruefully, he admits they're all true. The trouble is, they're also true of his opponent, Gregor Robertson. One or the other is going to be elected Vancouver's Olympics mayor this fall (unless Carole Taylor, who says she's not running, changes her mind).

But how will voters tell which one is which? "I have much more experience," Mr. Ladner says. Until last week, people expected Sam Sullivan to be Vancouver's Olympics mayor. But Mr. Sullivan's leadership wasn't nearly as inspiring as his life story - a quadriplegic who triumphed over adversity. So his party turfed him and nominated Mr. Ladner, instead.

A work in progress - Stephen


An Hour or So With a Mexican Scribe
From The Washington Post

Is this the way ahead?

Seemingly backwards?

The wonderful Schumacher used the phrase 'intermediate technology' to refine the distinction between tools which put the power into the producers of the tools and home made tools which perhaps don't offer the mechanical advantage necessary.

In the villages of old, imagined societies, not everyone did everything. You had a fletcher - putting the flights on arrows, a blacksmith - shoeing horses, a baker - baking the bread.

A local person was skilled and revered for their skill. That skill was passed down through families. It grew upon a natural aptitude as well as something in the blood.

So no one failed. The large boned blacksmith wasn't forced to use his large fingers to be clumsy with delicate feathers.

In today's societies we are somehow made addicted to self-sufficiency.

I recall an incident about 20 years ago when the sister of a friend of mine wanted her bicycle serviced and asked me to do this for her. I remember being very angry at her refusal to learn from me how to do it herself. I had become obsessed with the self-reliant, we must all do everything approach and this incident exposed my unease with it.

So the story of Mexican scribes using electric typewriters to compose bills, love letters or contracts seems refreshing.

In westernized Vancouver, obsessed with formal learning, of course this would combat the idea of an educated population.As Daniel Quinn points out in 'My Ishmael' and Ivan Illich says everywhere, a child knows everything they need by about 12 years old. The last six years just turn them into insatiable consumers. Consumers of goods and of 'training'.

***   ***   ***

So the poor people who did not write would be sent to school in shame and pity.

Equality would be cited; you have to be equal Equally dependant on capitalist baubles and trinkets.

The electric typewriter scribes would be sent for 'upgrading', in shame and pity, to become obsessed with computers and be current or modern and keeping up with the times.

But why should everyone be able, read lonely and independent, enough to know how to do everything that the educational and capitalist society wants?

Could it be that capitalism needs everyone to do everything to sell more of everything?

The photographer used to be called in to take photographs, now everyone has to have a digital camera.

So instead of one camera per say 1000 people there are 500.

A true graphic designer or illustrator used to be a talented person who had a gift.

Now everyone with a computer and a silly amonut of money to buy Photoshop thinks they are talented instead of just tooled.

Every house in a street has its own lawnmower, electric drill and other assorted owned tools used so infrequently that sharing could reduce dependency by perhaps 100 to 1/

So the illiterate would swap their illiteracy for dependence on typewriter and computers.

The social interaction with the scribes would be gone.

The scribes would have no work.

But everyone would have imbibed the expectation to purchase expected tools and be so called self-sufficient.

Progress.
 

Globe editorial

The rights of drug addicts

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

May 29, 2008 at 6:09 AM EDT

Insisting that a Vancouver clinic be allowed to provide potentially life-saving supervision for heroin and cocaine addicts to inject their drugs, as a British Columbia judge did this week, is the right thing to do. It's right as a policy choice, but it's also right as a use of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect addicts from the arbitrary reach of the criminal law.

Well exactly - who really cares about Mr Ego Density?

Saturday » June 14 » 2008
 
You say Campbell's premier, I say he's mega-mayor
Municipal roles near zero as provincial leader races from project to project
 
Miro Cernetig
Vancouver Sun

Saturday, May 31, 2008

You may have noticed we're in civic election season again, time to pick a bunch of new mayors for Metro Vancouver. But, honestly, do we even have to bother?

After all, we already have something better than 21 mayors, all looking after their various fiefdoms. We have the mega-mayor, otherwise known as Gordon Campbell, premier of British Columbia.

Think about it. The premier bestrides our various cities like a colossus. Is there anything he doesn't have his hand in?

Just consider the city of Vancouver. The biggest ideas transforming the city aren't coming from Mayor Sam Sullivan or his opponents. They come straight from the premier's office.

Want a new $400-million Vancouver Art Gallery? Then get the premier to kick in $50 million and it'll get off the ground.

Sullivan wasn't even in the loop on that one.

Will that art gallery be on the edge of False Creek, instead of in an old bus station, as many favoured? The premier liked the waterfront location and so did his representatives at B.C. Pavilion Corp., so a waterfront gallery it shall be.


 

Expose Canada's perfidy, too - The Kingston Whig-Standard

The Kingston Whig-Standard, Canada

Further, Vancouver's rundown Downtown Eastside neighbourhood is being gentrified, and police intimidation of the homeless population is intensifying as the ...

Restoring a landmark, reviving a neighbourhood - Globe and Mail

Globe and Mail, Canada

VANCOUVER -- On a troubled block of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, where bars cover doors and windows and drugs are injected openly, members of the ...