Afghanistan Acid Attack

http://pashalaw.blogspot.com/2007/12/who-is-hamid-karzai.html

Sometimes it’s hard to know who to believe if anyone. I really don’t know much about the Taliban. All I know is that they shot a couple of female aid workers dead, which was outrageous and that they were trained by the CIA which is suspicious.

Then there’s the propaganda war. How do you discern the truth when the good guys are convicted liars? We know there was an acid attack on schoolgirls in Afghanistan recently. Yes, absolutely outrageous but who did it. Today the media reports it was the Taliban: http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20081125%2fafghan_acid_081125

Please note that the media is quoting an accusation made by the Kandahar Gov under the direction of the Afghan President opposing the Taliban. These are the guys who want forgein troops there longer because the Taliban will kick their ass if the troops leave. These are the guys who were accused of torturing prisoners after Canadian and US troops handed over prisoners to them. We know that Bush vetoed the bill preventing CIA torture and that the CIA likes to outsource their dirty work to hide their liability.

The claim is that high ranking Taliban officials paid the guy to perform the acid attack. So by their information we have confirmation that it wasn’t the Taliban soldiers who did it. We have an accusation that the Taliban paid someone to do it. Which is entirely possible. It’s just that it's so hard for us to tell which group paid the guys to do it – the Taliban or the CIA and MI6 in an ongoing string of false flag events in the ongoing media driven propaganda war.

The article claims that girls were forbidden to attend school when the Taliban were in power. I don’t know if that is true or false. The Taliban closed down Turkish schools and seem to be opposed to non religious schools and closed many. Whether their position is an attack on girls is hard to tell. Like I said, in Afghanistan, woman are allowed to vote. In Saudi Arabia and Kuwait they are not.

The propaganda war seems to revolve around the oil factor again. It’s not as blatant as in Iraq who has oil, it’s more subtle with US oil company UNOCAL: http://www.counterpunch.org/tomenron.html

Seemingly the oil issue appears with the quest to build an oil pipeline through Afghanistan. Despite the propaganda, that appears to be the real root of the conflict:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Central_Asia_watch/Don't%20Mess_Unocal.html

The Fraser Valley

Snowshoeing in the mountains on Saturday while sailboats sail in Howe Sound then Dragon boating on Sunday in the Bedford channel. That’s what I love about Vancouver. Sure our beaches aren’t nearly as nice as California, Mexico or the Caribbean, but the rain and the mountains of the west coast provide us with not only something to do, but constitute our home.



The Fraser Valley is a valley surrounded by mountains. Martin Luther King talked about a day when every valley shall be exalted and every mountain shall be brought low. I’m not looking forward to that day myself. I met a guy from the French Alps on Mount Strachan yesterday. I love the mountains.

Indeed, I’ve been to the mountain top and I’ve seen the Holy Land so I have. Yo bro, your home is holy and that makes this land sacred so it does. To us. Word.

The Dangers of Pension Greed

http://www.pbase.com/erinashley/image/32153603

This is something that really pisses me off. When someone works hard all their life and puts money aside in a pension, that pension should be secured. All too often we hear of large pensions just disappearing and that is absolutely criminal.

The problem is corporate greed. Big companies see the large amount of money in pensions and they want access to it. They want to take that money and invest it in high risk stocks to create even higher returns on the money. Well fuck off.

The recent stock market crash seems to be affecting everything and was another manufactured emergency. What was the cause of the great depression? Buying stock on margin. What was the cause of the last stock market blow out? Greed resulting in investing in high risk stocks and investing on margin. Business hasn’t changed. People make products or offer services and still turn a profit. What changed was the domino effect of high risk investments going belly up.

Pensions should not be invested in high risk stocks. Period. I don’t care how much money is sitting in them and I don’t care how many greedy little snake oil salesmen wanna get their greedy little mitts on that money, use it and return it without anyone every knowing. Guess what. You fucked up and we noticed and the ripple effect of that fuck up has been far reaching.

Don’t even get me started on Moya Greene: http://finiansworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/canada-post-pension-loss.html

She is not good at business. Stop letting her tell you that. She is destroying the company because of an extreme political agenda to privatize everything under the sun just because they think that will work better. Well guess what, it doesn’t. Business wants to remove public accountability. That is the Moya Greene Mandate: http://www.moyagreene.com/#mgm

Let’s think about the stock market for a minute. Let’s remember why Vancouver doesn’t have a stock exchange any more. They were corrupt! Ya think those crooks went honest when they merged with the TSE? Ya think those crooks from the NYSE are any more honest? Not likely. It’s all about making a quick buck and no one gives a rat’s ass if the stock exists or not. If the fake stock will balloon on speculation alone, then those crooks will exploit that frenzy and make a buck off it. As long as they pull out and screw the next guy before they get screwed. Not only is it dishonest, it’s high risk. http://finiansworld.blogspot.com/2008/10/bre-x-and-stornoway.html

Can’t you see that privatizing everything under the sun is also problematic? We need more public accountability not less. We need to address corporate corruption not sweep it under the carpet. Our future, not to mention our children’s future, depends on it.

Pension Thieves - Name and Shame: http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/name-and-shame-pension-thieves-78171.html

Canada Post Pension Loss

"Since December 2007 the CPCPP has lost $2 billion as a result of investments in stock markets." http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm?ci_id=11351&la_id=1

Since Moya Greene bragged about how the corporation didn’t have to make any contributions to the Pension Plan in 2007 because the plan performed so well, does that mean they now have to put twice as much into the plan since it performed poorly this year?
http://www.moyagreene.com/mgep.htm

If Moya Greene insists employer contributions are based on fluctuations in the market instead of the age old matching of employee contributions to the plan, then it has to go both ways. Last time the Plan performed poorly the employees had to give up their severance pay. Then as soon as it has a good year Canada Post stops making contributions to the plan. What about now?

Since the plan has performed poorly this term and Canada Post made zero contributions when it performed well, then natural justice cries out that they make up the difference. That is Moya Greene’s deal not ours.

Since she told the world the Pension is fully indexed then she has publicly committed herself to that contractual obligation. Don’t let her destroy the pension any more than she already has. Save the Dream get rid of Moya Greene:
http://www.moyagreene.com

Mary Mary quite the contrary. Mary Travesty is quite the Travesty: http://www.canadapost.ca/AboutUs/News/Letters/NationalPost7.aspx

Mind you she’s just writing what Moya Greene tells her to. Moya Greene is the real travesty of justice. She admits that Canada Post is a large and successful company. At least it was. Before Moya Greene.

If they gave the Union two years notice of the closure of the Quebec Post office, why did the Arbitrator order Canada Post to hold on the move until they notified the union? Canada Post lies. At least under the direction of Moya Greene they do.

Closing the Quebec Post office did not improve services it dramatically reduced them in a huge city with a vibrant history. Moya Greene is not good at business. If you reduce all your services in a service based industry you will lose your business revenue. Employees did lose their job. They were displaced and all those positions disappeared.

Just as Eva:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE6LUhcIAYE

Eva was a former postal worker from Quebec who won Canadian Idol.

First Snowfall

First real snowfall of the year in the Vancouver mountains today. I’ve been keeping my eye on the snow reports. This morning I saw they had 12 cm of fresh snow in the past 24 hours so I said I’m outta here.



Grouse was completely fogged in so I headed up Mount Strachan on Cypress. Zero visibility at the top but it was great to see the snow again. Ya gotta love the first snowfall of the year. A friend from Cali didn’t know what snowshoeing was so I made a video clip with some TSO in the background: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKYxjDg6XU

Privatized Military Now Accountable

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122705840450339701.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

This is good news. The former Blackwater mercenary conspiracy was that the US’ privatized military were not accountable for war crimes. They claimed that because they were part of the US’ total force their quasi military status made them exempt from civil prosecution. Then they argued that since they were civilians they were not subject to military discipline. These two legal loop holes gave them a free license to rape murder and torture without any legal accountability whatsoever. The new agreement simply states that the privatized military in Iraq are accountable if they commit crimes. That is a very important correction to make. God bless Barack Obama.

US contractors lose immunity in Iraq

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqd4ahie0zliIzNPYl_0PT92GHMgD94IV4EG0
Contractors in Iraq could face charges in earlier incidents

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/780976.html

"Private security contractors operating in Iraq could face Iraqi prosecution for acts committed when they supposedly had immunity from Iraqi law, U.S. officials said Thursday.

A new U.S.-Iraq security agreement doesn't specifically prevent Iraqi officials from bringing criminal charges retroactively in cases such as the September 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians by contractors protecting a State Department convoy, officials told security company officials during meetings in Washington Thursday.

The news caught company officials by surprise. "

"We are still trying to make sense of it," said Anne E. Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for Blackwater Inc.

Iraq contractors make billions

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/12/iraq.contractors/index.html

Conrad Black asks for clemency

Conrad Black is seeking clemency from George W. Bush before the U.S president's tenure in the White House ends in January: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=3ac1ca8d-d55f-4ec2-9a1a-5aab1e94004f

Hell no. That would be a great way to start a riot wherever Bush goes after his term is over. From one scam to the next. Clemency for Conrad black from George W. Bush spells one thing: Riot.