My Niece's Scholarly Award - Carleton - Norway (Masters in Journalism)

Congrats Ora! Your great efforts and hard work paid off - Loved your posts and articles about Norway!!Visit her posts and articles at www.noraway.net

More Corporate Tax Cuts - a Good Idea?

With recent discussion surrounding the issue of corporate tax cuts, I thought it best to post this link to a recent Globe and Mail article. It provides a basis for some alternative thinking on the issue.

(If the link, above, does not work, the article can be seen by going to the below-mentioned address)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/the-economists/five-reasons-to-say-no-to-more-corporate-tax-cuts/article1886449/

Compelling others to live as you see fit

Of all the tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.
The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
CS Lewis

Health: Americans vastly outpace Canadians as healthcare tourists

In a recent study researchers found that only 20 in 18,000 Canadians actually ever travel abroad to seek out healthcare. That works out to be just over 1 in 1000 Canadians leaving Canada to seek medical services outside of Canada.

That is compared to a recent study released in the US that shows that nearly 1 in 50 Americans will seek treatment abroad in 2010 - many traveling to Canada for such services. The vast majority of these Americans report that they cannot afford healthcare in their home country and so must travel to other countries for services.

This data supports earlier findings that suggest that the vast majority of Canadian-American cross boarder healthcare shoppers are actually Americans who simply can't get the care they need at home. Many other American health shoppers also travel to India and other developing nations to seek medical treatment.

See
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/palin-says-family-went-to-canada-for-health-care/article1494080/

see also
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/21/3/19

KIVA

Check out WWW.KIVA.ORG

Micro loans work to give the working poor a chance to start their own business. Often, the poor, both here and around the world, have never been to a bank. They have never had the money to start an account. They have no assets to leverage. They are, without you, without hope.
If you have 20 minutes, take a look at kiva.org and think about changing someone's life forever. You can Loan as little as $25 to someone looking to start a business. For many in the world, $25 or $50 may be all it takes - the equivalent of over 1 month's salary!

The percentage of repayed loans in 97% - i.e. its a good bet you will get your money back. With this return, you can either re-invest in another person, or reclaim your original loan.

It's easy, and it's a great way to give people a hand up. You will help someone who wants to help themselves, but, due to circumstances, cannot. That's where you can make a whole world of difference.

Remember, go to www.kiva.org Look around. Make a change.

Tazers and BC Polish men Don't mix

I don't often rant here, but this event in BC has me upset. I listened to CBC today, and the RCMP kept saying that "it’s better to use a tazer than a service firearm." Granted, it is better to not use a firearm - but are they trying to say that they would have simply walked up to this Polish fellow, and shot him??? That’s what they did with the tazer - good thing they didn't draw their guns...I guess.

In reality, isn't it better to get rid of these tazers? They are too easy to use, and take the place of good old-fashioned tackles - or reasoning! (?)

Cardinal 177

Hamilton to New York in 2.5 hrs. No hastle, and way-better views!

Gentlemen

Being unkind towards others is corrosive to all things good, and is not least, corrosive to our humanity. Even those whom we detest with the greatest furry are still our brothers and sisters, are still flesh and blood, and composed of the same frailties and fears that haunt us all. Does it behoove us, then, to deny others the courtesy of kindness – even if they would, in similar circumstances, not grant us the same? No, say I. What kind of a world would we create with such disdainful venom coursing through our veins? It would be, say I, a place where fear and distrust would rule, and where spite and suspicion would be our only tools of engagement.

Reject this, say I. Reject suspicion - in favor of hope. Reject spite - in favour of forgiveness. Reject distrust - in favour of trust. And above all, reject unkindness - in favour of kindness - indeed, in favour of humanity. For as someone once told me, many years ago, “The test of a true gentleman is in his kindness towards those who can be of no use to him.” Does this not seem more the world in which you and I would like to live? TDM

The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith

I am, as some of you know, in the middle of getting down to work on my thesis for my Masters of Laws degree. But I cannot help but pick up good books when I need a break from Aboriginal issues. Currently, I am at the start of a book I have always wanted to read - The Wealth of Nations. Interestingly, I was given a wonderful copy of this book by my father, who came across a 1911 re-publication of Adam Smith's greatest contribution to the study of political economics. I will, in due course, let you know how the book strikes me. Until then, and perhaps not until after my thesis is completed, we will just have to wait.