tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110663932009-11-14T03:30:45.988-08:00TCWnoreply@blogger.comBlogger466125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-20350293495540853462009-10-24T22:26:00.003-07:002009-10-24T23:21:19.283-07:00

I will be taking a time out from doing any more blogging as I find I lack the energy and indeed, the interest, in carrying on. To say that I am stressed over what has happened over the past couple of years would be putting it mildly, and I am not referring to my own health but to that of the health of the entire world. It appears that we are only at the outset of a very immense global crisis

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-13025221682903605212009-10-09T14:16:00.003-07:002009-10-09T15:08:57.840-07:00

Are we all living in a Bizarro cartoon world? Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize - he who wants to send even more troops to Afganistan! We're bombing the moon in search of water? For the last year the stock market has gone up, up and away during the worst financial crisis in a hundred years while the price of oil, up, down, up down; the dollar, up, down, up, down; gold, up, down, up, down; one

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-37816617760628571142009-10-07T15:09:00.005-07:002009-10-07T16:01:20.570-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, largely due to not feeling up to it because of my chemotherapy treatments. I am finished with the chemo now but also suffering its side effects - numb and painful hands and feet and who knows what else will eventually show up. Since being diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing mastectomy and chemo treatments I've become much more aware of the prevalence

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-50887625733138946702009-09-16T11:19:00.001-07:002009-09-16T11:21:38.126-07:00

The School of One: the school of tomorrow:"Right now millions of American children are going back to the same old schools. But this summer I saw the future of American education in a middle school in New York's Chinatown: The School of One. The New York City Public Schools' Middle School (MS) 131 has adopted a bold and radical experiment. "The School of One" is a prototype for our

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-20284334361730803172009-09-06T13:53:00.004-07:002009-09-06T14:25:29.429-07:00

Economic Recovery? What the hell are they talking about?"As far as I can see, the economy has not bottomed out at all. Pluto is going direct at zero degrees Capricorn the second week of September, and that is very likely to be a rude awakening for everybody who believed the old days were coming back and fell for the notion that we've seen the last of tough times. We are not, however, all on our

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-23933841558284990262009-09-02T19:33:00.004-07:002009-09-02T20:07:18.932-07:00

The Drudge Report runs screaming red headlines from an article in the Telegraph, "Patients with terminal illnesses made to die prematurely".What a bloody pile of bullshit. The media and certain vested interests are in an all-out campaign to strike fear and suspicion into our hearts and minds over health care and dying. Face it. One day we will die and if one goes suddenly, without warning, count

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-47394678446912343452009-09-01T13:35:00.003-07:002009-09-01T13:54:30.188-07:00

An excellent article by Jeff Snyder which, in my estimation, gets to the root of the present predicament not just of America, but of all the developed world: truly a must read!-----"At times during the last year I could not help but recall Charles Dickens’ famous description of the behavior of the ruling class and wealthy in the days preceding the French Revolution.

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-56269866968529522562009-08-31T19:17:00.002-07:002009-08-31T19:25:14.656-07:00

Congratulations to the people of Japan on electing an all new government. As I have repeatedly maintained, people everywhere are fed up with their leaders in every realm. I sincerely hope the new government will be able to carry through with their plans for a new Japan.Of course, this change signals a brand new direction for Japan and who knows, maybe the world. At last a government that cares

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-13062686174535607762009-08-25T21:34:00.002-07:002009-08-25T21:41:22.802-07:00

The real world is sending us a message.....From the Vancouver Sun: Where have all the salmon gone?"Approximately 130 million baby sockeye from the Chilko, Quesnel and other interior river systems -- the largest producers of the most valuable commercial stocks on the Fraser system -- appear to have vanished during their annual migration to the sea in 2007.This season's shortfall in predicted

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-89071469894570856042009-08-11T21:29:00.003-07:002009-08-11T22:04:14.345-07:00

Today's post title is taken from a quote by Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. The senator was commenting on the anger of gathered constituents at a town hall meeting. The anger being vented at town hall meetings across the U.S. has been in the news lately. At last the anger is being expressed and it is not just in the U.S.A. where this anger is building. As I have been warning in my posts, people the

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-35280611727066824802009-08-09T22:25:00.004-07:002009-08-09T23:12:59.618-07:00

Our Prime Minister is in Mexico, talking up trade and among other things, the drug wars that have ravaged Mexico in the past couple of years. Apparently Canadian Mounties are going to help train the Mexican police on everything from fighting money laundering to intelligence gathering."The annual Three Amigos meeting, now in its fifth year, is showing signs of fading in importance. Missing from

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-32487100626269139742009-08-06T15:03:00.002-07:002009-08-06T15:07:54.194-07:00

From The Energy Bulletin: Temporary Recession or the End of Growth by Richard HeinbergEveryone agrees: our economy is sick. The inescapable symptoms include declines in consumer spending and consumer confidence, together with a contraction of international trade and available credit. Add a collapse in real estate values and carnage in the automotive and airline industries and the picture looks

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-38804453349782175802009-08-02T14:00:00.001-07:002009-08-02T14:04:44.457-07:00

From Nature's Wisdom by Allison Ewoldt and Sarah Anne Edwards:"Wealth, or the lack thereof, has been on the minds of many these long and often hotter, wetter, colder or drier summer days. Pundits compete daily with their predictions for when the recession will end and the economy will “recover.” Will it be 2010? 2011? Those like Robert Reich and Gerald Celente claim that our current economic

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-54787458835426677212009-08-01T10:43:00.002-07:002009-08-01T10:55:44.253-07:00

An interesting post from the website of Charles Hugh Smith's "Of Two Minds". He argues that the recession is far from over and examines the state of various sectors of the economy that most definitely do not conform to the sentiments of economists who are declaring that an economic recovery has begun. Says Mr. Smith, "The mainstream media is gleefully hyping "the recession is over, the recovery

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-25322690939691156132009-07-31T02:07:00.002-07:002009-07-31T02:17:30.538-07:00

When it comes to health care, Americans appear to be cursed with an inept government in the control of a handful of vested interests. In Matt Taibbi's latest piece, "democrats aren't pretending to even give a shit":"The AP reports that “after weeks of secretive talks, a bipartisan group in the Senate edged closer Monday to a health care compromise that omits two key Democratic priorities but

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-44184148028748580662009-07-19T21:55:00.002-07:002009-07-19T22:18:46.736-07:00

Surfing around the net one always comes across some new, amusing or startling bit of information. Here's the list of my surfing results for the past week for your edification, amusement or rumination:-----From the London Telegraph: A new treatment for peanut allergyFrom the World News: A preventive treatment for radiation sicknessA groundbreaking advance in medicine announced this week promises

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-70746061683229257112009-07-17T14:36:00.003-07:002009-07-17T14:42:09.125-07:00

The WSJ has come up with a good article on economist bloggers. If you want to keep yourself informed, check it out. Also make sure to check those listed in my own blogroll. They're all good.Sorry, no more material. I'm fighting a serious chest infection - the result of chemo.

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-12447479547248330772009-07-12T12:48:00.006-07:002009-07-12T13:05:21.392-07:00

Following my previous post I was delighted to come across this blog entry From Robert Reich's Blog: "When Will The Recovery Begin?" he asks. "Never", is his answer. "The so-called "green shoots" of recovery are turning brown in the scorching summer sun. In fact, the whole debate about when

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-62421687368630747472009-07-09T22:05:00.007-07:002009-07-10T01:48:33.612-07:00

The Next 100 Years:Technology has certainly brought about huge and destabilizing change in the last 100 years (well, unexpected if one had one's eyes completely closed to what was happening vis-a-vis the traditional ways of doing things) but this impact was made possible by access to cheap fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas. These are what fueled our growth mania and which enabled us to take flights

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-38487446076192902042009-07-09T17:30:00.008-07:002009-07-09T18:23:44.154-07:00

Not feeling up to writing a full-fledged article today, so instead I'm putting up some of the items that caught my eye in the last week with my own comments: -----Gore compares climate change to battle with the "Nazis". I wasn't aware we were in a "battle" against climate change until now. So, how can we win against this great Nazi threat? Bombs away!! Let's nuke this ugly enemy. Round it up and

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-56017753016303877922009-07-05T11:36:00.008-07:002009-07-06T15:13:37.428-07:00

The story about British Telecom which I posted a few days ago gave me plenty to think about over this weekend and I want to do some ruminating on this blog about what is really happening out there.First off, the idea of a huge telecommunications company in this day and age and in one of the leading developed nations on this planet being so down and out that it wants to put most of its staff on a

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-85866284579445192952009-07-03T18:22:00.001-07:002009-07-03T18:25:02.840-07:00

London Telegraph:"...one of Britain's biggest private employers with 106,000 staff - is trying to save money as it struggles to cope with the impact of the recession. BT has proposed that employees take up to a year off, in return for taking a 75 per cent pay cut. To encourage as many workers to take up of the offer, the company will pay their reduced salary as an upfront cash

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-2272873417069612252009-07-01T21:10:00.002-07:002009-07-01T21:15:57.152-07:00

July lst is Canada Day, more or less the equivalent of the 4th of July in the U.S. or the 14th of July in France. So, to Americans and French people soon to celebrate and free and independent people everywhere, Happy Independence Day.I am at home having a quiet time today, mostly sleeping as my chemotherapy begins to invade with a vengeance. My posts may be meager over the next little while as I

TCWnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-89127765906946623702009-06-30T16:07:00.002-07:002009-06-30T16:45:30.483-07:00

A fascinating story from the Toronto Sun. When I was a child I grew up in Ontario. We would pick strawberries for the local farmers for 5 cents a quart. Ontario was a self-sufficient region producing its own seasonal crops, fruits, and berries. The idea of trucking strawberries, or pears, thousands of miles to compete with local produce was unheard of and even today, in spite of the seeming

TCWnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11066393.post-77321858266148631582009-06-28T22:25:00.004-07:002009-06-28T22:58:59.472-07:00

I am encountering more and more articles on the internet expressing disappointment and confusion regarding Mr. Obama's agenda. Many are beginning to wonder when the bank bailouts and the support of the financial industry are going to end and when exactly Mr. Obama is going to turn his attention to the problems of Main Street and the voters who put him in the White House. My opinion of this

TCWnoreply@blogger.com1