Huge rally in London

Saturday there was a huge rally in London protesting Cameron's Cuts. Organizers stopped counting at 250,000 participants. There are two points I will make. The rally was hugely successful. It was a peaceful public protest that included families and children. There was a reason for the rally. There was a significant purpose that many people took to the street to voice their opinion which I will expand upon. Pensioners and families with children protesting cuts to pensions and education to start.

The other point is the fact that a small break off group of anarchists and who knows who else, seized the opportunity to vandalize and clash with police later in the day and later in the evening at Trafalgar square. The initial peaceful rally that had massive attendance was at Hyde Park with a march to parliament. It was the largest demonstration in England in decades. That means the public has real concerns about the direction the government has pledged to go in. In a democratic society, the government listens to the will of the voters. Dictatorships don't.

I will emphasize that the spin off violence is suspect. Police participated in the rally protesting cuts to policing. Why would the police clash with the police. Sure there are some yahoos that feed off the adrenaline and love to vandalize and loot for any reason. Yet there is without question another very real possibility. There is no doubt that the political extremists who want to privatize everything under the sun and completely remove all public accountability whatsoever would hire people to vandalize things and create violence in the attempt to destroy the credibility of the real protest and distract the world from the real issues that are on the table.

MI 6 were caught doing it in Iraq. Twice. I personally have no doubt in my mind whatsoever, that it is well within the MI 6 mentality to hire masked thugs to create violence to take away from the very serious issues that are on the table. They also did it with the help of the Americans in Iran under the guise of Operation Ajax. That I might add was for oil.

So, setting the spin off violence aside, be it childish brats or paid thugs, let us look clearly at the real issues that have given rise to England’s largest public protest in decades.

Cuts to Pensions

Cuts to pensions is one thing. Deregulating pensions and removing public accountability is another. All too often we have seen many pensions go down the toilet as soon as they are deregulated and the public accountability has been removed. Large corporations covet the ability to utilize pension money and gamble it away in the chance of getting a larger return. Large corporations should not be allowed to get their greedy little mitts on public pensions. The motivation for the deregulation of pensions and removing public accountability has nothing to do with reducing the deficit. It is just plain bad business.

National Debt and The Almighty Corporation

Now this brings us the the most obvious point. Cameron claims he wants to reduce the deficit in four years making all these trade cuts and more frighteningly the complete removal of public accountability from everything and handing all power and control of every conceivable social program into the hands of the greed driven almighty corporation.

Some corporations profit from war. Some corporations profit from oil. The oil companies have been responsible for many wars. Taking tax dollars away from pensions, schools and hospitals to fund the war for oil is just plain wrong.

Let me emphasise that the goals of eliminating the debt is not a bad thing. Pimping that goal to steal tax dollars to fund oil wars and corporate greed is morally wrong. Of course we need a military. The unlawful invasion of Iraq cost American taxpayers billions of dollars. That invasion was based on a lie - Weapons of Mass Destruction. MI 6 were caught red handed giving false information to the media about Iraq's WMD under Operation Mass Appeal to justify the invasion of the oil rich nation.

John Reese from Stop the War Coalition is right. "I think a very big part of the problem that the British government has with it's deficit is it's continual addition to war. If we were to scrap the Trident Nuclear Weapons renewal, if we were to stop the wars in Afghanistan and the attack in Libya we would have a very large portion of the British government's deficit dealt with in a single blow. He has a good point. Yes we need a national defense but we don't need to spend huge amounts of tax dollars on military equipment to invade countries for their oil in a time of peace.

Education

Removing public accountability from the school system is unwise. "Liberating" all of the schools from state control is the most absurd sip of poison kool aid I have ever heard. Cameron is using the reduce the deficit lie to hand over public accountability to the almighty corporation to do with it what that greed driven machine wants.

Public Accountability

Canadian fugitive Moya Greene was hired to destroy the Royal Mail with her bizarre mandate. If you privatize a public corporation, the ceo all of a sudden stands to make a much larger salary than the ceos in public crown corporation. Moya Greene's mandate is to remove public accountability because she claims the private sector thinks the public is stupid. Where have we heard that before?

Save the Dream, Stop Moya Greene.

The Libya Lie

Stephen Harper sends Canadian jets to Libya to enforce a cease fire in their civil war. As soon as that happens, Libya announces a cease fire. THEN the Western forces start bombing Libya and THEIR offensive begins. What's wrong with this picture?

I've compared Libya to Saudi Arabia. Why would we support a revolution against Gaddafi but not a revolution against the Monarchy in Saudi Arabia? Because we like the Saudi King and he lets the US have troops there? Because we don't like Gaddafi since he refuses foreign ownership of his country's oil? This is so wrong.

David Cameron said he was afraid they would lose the opportunity to strike in Libya. He was right as soon as the ceasefire started there was no need to bomb Libya. Unless of course they ceased the opportunity to start bombing Libya after the ceasefire already started and hope the media forgets that small detail.

Giving Stephen Harper a majority government is just plain wrong. It diminishes us as Canadians. Operation Libya is only about oil. As soon as the Western Allies started bombing Gaddafi's forces, rebels took the oil town of Ras Lanouf and the next day the rebels started shipping oil.

Canadian Postal workers strike Vote

My father used to say there are three kinds of people in the world. Those who watch the parade, those who join in the parade and those who don't even know a parade is on. I am shocked to hear that workers on the floor have no idea what the issues are on the table involved in the up coming strike vote. I am not surprised in the least to find out the issues on the table are very serious.

However, when the members are told the Union recommends something, that really doesn't tell them anything because some do and some don't have confidence in what the Union has to say. When the members see pictures or video clips of people running around with signs that say Solidarity, that really does nothing to tell them just what issues are really on the table and how serious the situation really is. How about some signs that say Job Security, Protecting Pensions or Protecting the Future Generation.



Let's mention the word Winnipeg. Most Postal Workers in Canada have heard that the new route measurement implementation in Winnipeg have been a disaster. Most realize that when those changes come to their work floor, they're screwed.

Many have heard that when they tried to implement the same thing in Moncton that they did in Winnipeg, it was also disastrous but the Union won an arbitration that throws out the new restructuring of letter carrier walks that led to the problems there. Unfortunately as we all know the Corporation will just create another new way that will need to be addressed in the courts. The problem is the screwy way these new line of travel machines work and the insane way they demand the work be done to utilize those new machines. There has to be another way.

So when thinking about the up coming Strike Vote and what issues are on the table, let's think about Winnipeg and Moncton then read the fine print in the Corporation's global offer. Winnipeg was a disaster. Moncton was a disaster. Moncton won an arbitration throwing out their new way of restructuring routes. Ya think maybe the Corporation wants to change a few key words to prevent a court from stopping them from implementing their insane route measurement system and wrecking havoc on the work floor for generations to come?

CPC wants the ability to impose an interim standard when there is no agreement between the parties. The ability to impose an interim standard. When we have seen what they did to Winnipeg and Moncton that is a very scary thing indeed. The Corporation should not be able to randomly and arbitrarily throw our the Route Measurement system and create whatever they want whenever they want. That demand is absolutely insane.

CPC is attempting to impose a multiple bundle delivery method. Notice they said impose and notice they said multiple bundle delivery method. They didn't just say two pull method which is bad enough they said impose a multiple bundle delivery system which means not only are you juggling your flats and letters separately, but each individual flyer that they aren't letting you stuff or run in to your case. It gets worse.

The turn around mail that doesn't get sorted by the new machines in time. You have to manually sort that into the case you share with other routes and carry that separately was well. God help you if you dare run your line of travel mail into the case with your turn around mail. If you do that or criss cross a street you will be fired. That is insane. They won't even let carriers help with efficient ideas on how to make their stupid machines work. They are determined to force a multiple bundle of insanity upon us.

Don't forget Moya Greene's STD's that are still lingering after her departure. She did away with sick time and implemented the Short Term Disability program where you go on EI if you're sick and you can't accumulate sick leave credits. She stole PSAC's sick leave as well as managements. If CUPW keeps their sick leave managers will get theirs back. Don't you think the managers are now cheering on the bargaining unit hoping they keep their sick leave so they can get their back? Beware of Moya Greene's STDs.

Pensions. Changing the formula for pensions is serious. Time in plus years of service used to equal 85. They want to change that. They also want to reduce wages, job security and pensions for new employees. Don't sell out the future generations just because you want to make a quick buck before you retire. This is all about protecting jobs for our children and the next generation. That is what this is all about.

I encourage everyone to find out what the issues are because as we all know, this is important. Lead, follow or get out of the way.

Finian's Guinness Chocolate Truffles

OK This is a work in progress. My daughter tells me she found a Guinness Chocolate truffle recipe on Youtube and sent it to me. I thought it sounded interesting since Guinness and chocolate are my two favorite things. I think it would go great together. Better than peanut butter and chocolate.

Only the recipe called for Ginger syrup and ginger snap crackers and I don't like ginger very much and didn't think it would go that well. So we made a few changes. I tried molasses and that sucked. The taste wasn't right and the proportions weren't right either. To wet and runny.

If you put that much Guinness in it, you're going to need a thickening agent. Off hand I can think of three. Flour, corn starch or gelatin / aspic. Gelatin would work well in a mouse you pour in a glass and let set but it wouldn't be right for this because you can't work with it. Flour's out because you have to cook the flour taste out and that's not going to happen so I tried cornstarch. I almost had it perfect but then it got too think and I added a bit more cream and it broke. I'm still working on the proportions.

I found this other recipe that used corn syrup as a thickening agent and used brandy. Sounded great but I thought I could substitute the Brandy with the Guinness and it should be about right. I'll have to perfect the proportions. For the covering we have melted white chocolate rolled in roasted ground walnuts.

St Patrick's day

Happy St Patrick's day. Vancouver doesn't have a lot of history or a lot of traditions. Not like other places. I always say Vancouver's history is the heritage people bring with them when they come here. St Patrick's Day is a fun tradition. If I had know how easy potato bread and soda bread was to make I wouldn't have waited 20 years to make it.

Potato bread is just mashed potatoes without the milk and some flour mixed in. Roughly 2 parts potatoes to 1 part flour depending on the consistency you prefer. Once you mix the warm potatoes with the flour kneed it a few times and roll it out to 1/2 inch think. Then I cut it in squares or rectangles and fry it both sides on the grill. Because I made it a bit thicker than normal I finished them of in the oven.

Soda bread is basically a butter milk backing soda biscuit just a different shape. Usually it's a round loaf with a scored X on the top. I rolled it out into just under 1 inch think then cut them into rectangular portions. Baked them for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees, the recipe said 425 but I thought that was a bit high. When they had cooled a bit I cut the top and bottom crust off and sliced them in half making them thinner. You can fry them in oil for an Ulster fry with potato bread, bacon and sausage. I'll pass on the blood pudding.

Traditions are a good thing. Ramadan is a nice tradition. One culture's traditions don't threaten or inhibit another culture's traditions. Diversity is a good thing. When I was young my parents took me to see Fiddler on the Roof at a live play in Vancouver. That play is all about tradition.

Music is a nice tradition. Today I was listening to some of Mozart's concertos for the violin. What a wonderful instrument. When my son played in the Youth Symphony I was amazed to see a handful of wind instruments with a sea of young kids kicking ass on the strings playing difficult classical pieces. Now that is a symphony I thought. The violins, bases, cellos and violas enhance the wind instruments and make a symphony much fuller than just a wind ensemble.

I even like a little TSO. Mixing classics with the modern in a talented remix. It reminds me of how the Scorpions performed Rock you like a Hurricane with the Philharmonic orchestra in Berlin. I was amazed at how well the two different styles blended and complemented each other. One didn't over power the other.

It's also amazing to see the versatility of the violin when used as a fiddle to play traditional Irish music like in Riverdance. The electric violin is pretty awesome too. Indeed music is a good tradition. Fuse rocks.

Finian Escapes like a Bat out of Hell

Here's another epiphany. I was really upset about "losing" the TELUS trial in San Fran and caved into their stupid demand of destroying all the copies I had of TELUS Idol but then it finally dawned on me. I didn't really lose the case.

From the very beginning I was ready to agree to a consent order letting them have TELUS Idol as long as I could get all the other videos they had taken off YouTube back on. The ones they claimed copyright to but had no possible copyright to. Like home videos of the picketline and songs written and performed by members on the picket line. They had 23 videos taken off YouTube not 11.

Their San Fransisco lawyer wouldn't agree to a consent order so we proceeded to trial. Obviously they were initially trying to scare me. The consequence for copyright infringement could be a fine of up to $500,000.00 as well as imprisonment. The fine for a Corporation who gets caught committing copyfraud, claiming copyright to things they don't have copyright on to censor the Internet is $2,000.00. Absolutely nothing for a large corporation.

Clearly TELUS and I did not have the same risk on the table. Which is why their Vancouver lawyer thought I was insane since I was fully aware of that fact. In the end, although they were not convicted of perjury, I wasn't fined $500,000.00 and sent to jail either.

So indeed. Finian Escapes like a Bat out of Hell and Darren Entwistle can kiss my black Irish ass because he's still a bitch. $12 million doesn't buy respect.

Libyan Intervention

British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that time is running out for the international community to intervene in Libya. Personally I wouldn't follow David Cameron into a bar not to mention another war for oil. Cameron is A) a freak and B) Untrustworthy.

He's the freak that wants to "liberate" every single publicly accountable program under the sun from "State" control. Schools, hospitals - everything. The freak show is all done under the guise of democracy when in reality it is clear that removing public accountability and handing all power over to private corporations removes our democracy and our autonomy.

"Every day Gadhafi is brutalizing his own people," he said. "Time is of the essence." As he spoke, Libyan government forces continued to bombard opposition positions as they advanced on the rebel capital, Benghazi, in a counteroffensive that has pushed rebels back 160 km in a week, far outpacing diplomatic efforts to impose a no-fly zone.

Gadhafi is fighting a coo. It is a civil war. People want him to leave while others don't. Like I said before, if the Falklands wanted to be free from British rule would David Cameron let them go or would he send in the Navy to crush that rebellion. Again.

I don't know all the bad things Gadhafi has done and is doing, but I do know England got involved in Iranian politics because they wanted their oil and convinced the Americans to get involved there which created quite a mess.

We know that England and America invaded Iraq for their oil and there were no weapons of mass destruction. That was a premeditated lie perpetuated in Operation Mass Appeal. We do know that Libya has oil and that Gadhafi has worked hard to prevent foreign ownership of that oil which England and America don't like. Look what happened to Afghanistan when the Taliban gave the contract for the oil pipeline UNICOL wanted to Bridas, and Argentina firm instead of an American firm.

Things are heating up in Saudi Arabia too as the people there are rebellion against their monarchy. Do we go to war with Gadhafi because we don't like him and then go to war with the Saudi people because we do like the monarchy they are rebelling against? It's all very problematic so it is. Perhaps conflicted would be a better word. It's a double standard.