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pssst…Right wingers…over here
Right wingers like to paint doomsday scenarios of Canada’s Health Care system. Pointing to our neighbours to the south they wail about personal responsibility and the way it should be. I’ve never understood personal responsibility and health care..you do get that catch a cold is just a phrase…right?
Over at the Apophatic Attic there is a post comparing the the Canadian and US health systems and guess what? You are actually paying fewer tax dollars and reaping more rewards under the Health Care Act. Bet that’s a kick in the head.
I never realised the US government pays for ANY health care, let alone 45% of total health care expenditures. I thought, due to my leftist prejudice, that the government just left sick people completely at the mercy of the private sector. So for a moment I was pretty impressed. But then math kicked in again, just as it did when I was contemplating Labour’s welfare reform plans.
70.2% of $3463 is $2431.03
45.1% of $6347 is $2862.50What does this mean?
The US government already spends $431.47 more per capita on health care than the Canadian government.
Rights, the Right doesn’t believe in them
Rainer Knopff, a political scientist at the University of Calgary, said the program was “a biased boondoggle that had gone well past its `best before’ date.”
The program only funded groups on “one side” of the political spectrum while “socially conservative groups never got any money. Not a penny, as far as I know,” said Knopff.
He also echoed then-Treasury Board president John Baird’s suggestion, made in defending the decision to kill the program, that it made no sense for Ottawa to spend public money helping groups challenge its own legislation.
“I don’t want to pay for surrogate litigants,” said Knopff, arguing public interest groups should raise their own money for Charter cases. “If they can’t raise the money – tough.”
Today CTV has a story about the further erosion of rights in Canada;
OTTAWA — A Montreal court may be about to make Canadian legal history in a case that could see offenders considered guilty until proved innocent.
A bail hearing at the court this week is believed to be the first involving so-called “reverse onus,” in which a defendant must prove why they deserve less time behind bars and why they should be released on bail pending trial.
This ‘test case’ involves gangs. Naturally one chooses the circumstance least likely to garner public sympathy to launch such an attack. It goes without saying that any argument to democracy and rights will be met with an allegation of supporting gangs and violence. It being the case, unfortunately that some cannot hold more than one thought in their mind at a time. This law may start out as being about gangs and gun crime but it will not end there.
Image via Wikipedia
Dave Schroder of Edmonton’s Guardian Angels network thinks the reverse onus rule is “long overdue.”
“When somebody has demonstrated their lack of respect for Canadian law, we do have the right to expect them to be put away,” he said.
We certainly do have a right to expect criminals to be “put away”, right after they have been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of their peers.
I say this as someone whose life has been touched by violent crime. The criminals never even charged. While I still am affected by these crimes, I don’t believe the Canadian criminal system should be built upon whatever revenge fantasies I may hold.
Our rights and freedoms are being stripped away by those who value sound bite over substance, authoritarianism over democracy and big brother over individual freedom. It is time for us, all of us, to speak up before our right to speak is taken too.
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A Phone(y) Poll
CLC and KLR Vu’s formal press release;
NEW NATIONAL POLL: Among 13,000+ Respondents 56% Oppose Morgentaler Order of Canada
TORONTO, July 22 /CNW/ – A random telephone poll of Canadian households
with 13,324 respondents conducted between July 17-21, 2008 has revealed that
55.8% of Canadians oppose the awarding of the Order of Canada to abortionist
Henry Morgentaler.
The national poll commissioned by Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) and just
completed, by KLRVU polling has a 95% confidence level and a margin of error
of 1.5%. The data is accurate 19 times out of 20. A breakdown of votes by
province is provided.
Beginning with a wave on the east coast of Newfoundland, ebbing slightly
in Quebec and then continuing with a surge in Ontario right to the west
coast-the tide of opinion against awarding abortionist Henry Morgentaler has
risen, dramatically.
“Whatever side of the abortion debate you are on, many Canadians from all
walks of life felt this appointment went way too far and offended too many,”
said Jim Hughes National President of CLC. “The mass media coverage of the
Morgentaler award has given us the largest abortion debate this country has
seen in twenty years, and Canadians when they are forced to think about
abortion realize it is horrible.”
In every region of the country opinion has soured considerably. Ontario
is now 58 percent against honoring the infamous abortionist, with the prairies
and the Atlantic provinces having two thirds of its citizens against. Even in
Quebec support for Morgentaler has dropped to 53 percent.
“Clearly the waves of offended Canadians speaking out have had an
impact,” says Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC National Organizer. “When a former
Lieutenant Governor speaks out and returns his ‘Snowflake’, disavowing himself
from the Order, undoubtedly that is going to have an effect.”
Opinion has become the most negative in the Atlantic with Nova Scotia
leading the way at 68 percent against. The substantial size of the sample
gives some unique insights into the regions. For instance over 400 people were
surveyed in Newfoundland alone, even the territories were sampled. With over
13,000+ participants, this survey speaks definitively on the opinion within
the country.<< Provincial % of No's------------------------------------------------------------------------- Province BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL NWT/NT YK ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Percent 55% 64% 65% 66% 58% 47% 62% 68% 67% 64% 57% 57% -------------------------------------------------------------------------The Question "Do you believe abortionist Henry Morgentaler deserves the Order of Canada Press 1 for Yes Press 2 for No"A French script was used for the province of Quebec. >>
The extensive scientific poll called 157,115 Canadian households,
yielding over 13,000 respondents and the results were weighted in regional
proportions. Results have a margin of error of +/- 1.5%, 19 times out of 20.
The subgroups may have larger margins of error based on concentration of
population. The Targeted Population was Canadian households, respondents were
a result of households that were selected at random, using a random algorithm
provided by INFOLIST Canada, of Toronto, ON. Responses were weighted according
to geographical area, so that the sample would reflect the actual demographic
proportions in the population, using most recent Statistics Canada estimates.
How this poll was conducted: This KLRVU poll was conducted by touchtone
technology which polls households across Canada. Using this technology with
the voice of a professional announcer all respondents heard the questions
asked identically. In theory, with the stated sample size, one can say with
95% certainty that the results would not vary by more than the stated margin
of sampling error, in one direction or the other. There are other possible
sources of error in all surveys that may be more serious than theoretical
calculations of sampling error. These include refusals to be interviewed,
question wording and question order, weighting by demographic control data and
the manner in which respondents are filtered (such as, determining who is a
likely participant). It is difficult to quantify the errors that may result
from these factors.
Fieldwork for this survey was done by KLRVU Research of Winnipeg, MB.About KLRVU Research
Based in Winnipeg, KLRVU Research is a privately owned polling company
working with private firms since 2006 providing research services. Core
services include research, data collection and macro polling services.Campaign Life Coalition, together with many other organizations, will
continue to urge Canadians to call the Governor General’s office and insist
that the award be revoked.For further information: on the results of this survey, call: Media
Contact: Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC National Organizer, (613) 389-4472;
Marie-Christine Houle, CLC Toronto, (cell) (519) 569-0369; KLRVU Research,
Winnipeg, (204) 999-7446
Sorry FFers once again EPIC FAIL!
While all this is for the most part amusing, albeit showing a disgusting lack of ethics, to see the true nature of the people behind the push to deny reproductive rights read this story [points to a google cache page as the page is currently down]
This is true terrorism.
h/t to Alison@Creekside for the link
Let them eat mud!
While most of us remember making mud pies as a childhood pastime, some mothers in Haiti have been serving them as a main course.
Ironically, many of these women were once rice farmers themselves. But in the 1980s, U.S.-grown rice began pouring into Haiti. Thanks to federal subsidies, the imported rice was sold for less than what it cost to grow it. Haitian farmers just couldn’t compete.
Neither could millions of other farmers around the world, who have been bankrupted by the influx of rice, corn, and wheat from the U.S., Europe and Japan. These farmers have gone from growing their own food and feeding their countries to having to buy food that’s priced on a global market. Now that these commodity markets have spiked, millions of more families cannot afford to eat.
From “A Women’s Declaration to the G8: Support Real Solutions to the Global Food Crisis “;
The root cause of the food crisis is not scarcity, but the failed economic policies long championed by the G8, namely, trade liberalization and industrial agriculture. These policies, which treat food as a commodity rather than a human right, have induced chaotic climate change, oil dependency, and the depletion of the Earth’s land and water resources as well as today’s food crisis.
Yet, in the search for solutions, the G8 is considering expanded support for the very measures that caused this web of problems. Calls for more tariff reductions, biofuel plantations, genetically modified crops, and wider use of petroleum-based fertilizers and chemical pesticides are at the forefront of discussions in Japan.
I read a comment on a website today that claimed our country has no poor because you don’t see children playing on garbage piles. As though a lack of decent housing, food. clothing were of no consequence. This person felt that all could live a wealthy existence with a little effort. The lack of both knowledge and compassion in those few words was astounding.
As we become more and more comfortable with the idea of those basics necessary for human survival (food, water, shelter, could air be far behind?) as commodities, those commodities are becoming more scarce and harder to afford. We have appropriated human rights, dignity and survival and replaced it with a false claims that it is acceptable to allow people to die and that their deaths are due to their own moral failings.
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I’m supporting the Liberals!
Ok well one of them at least. Brent St. Denis has an answer to Bill C-484, Bill C-543 which says; “This enactment amends paragraph 718.2(a) of the Criminal Code by adding pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing … evidence that the offender, in committing the offence, abused a person who he or she knew or ought to have known was pregnant.”
When queried about why he decided to do this, St. Denis said, “Mr. Epps’ bill traded off a dilemma — many pro-choice members of Parliament felt trapped. And, after all, it’s hard to say you are against something the way Epps set it up. This will give MPs an option. This trumps Mr. Epps’ bill and his hidden agenda.”
Something else pointed out to me by St. Denis was what is happening in the United States where fetal protection laws have been passed.
“In 37 states, fetal protection laws make it a crime to cause harm to the fetus, but it has been shown that pregnant women are more likely to be punished for other behaviours and conditions that are not criminalized for other people. Such as drug or alcohol abuse or mental illness.”
That doesn’t seem like something we would want to happen in Canada, but don’t fool yourselves — Epps bill will do just that.
{emphasis added} SOURCE
Contact your MP
and email the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to let them know there is a sensible alternative to the bill currently before them. One which recognizes that protecting women is the best way to protect fetuses. JUST@parl.gc.ca
And if you would like to send support to St. Denis;
Parliamentary Office:
584 Confederation Building
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Phone:
Fax:
Email: (613) 996-5376
(613) 995-6661
stdenb@parl.gc.ca
Constituency Office:
121 Barber Street
Espanola ON P5E 1S4
Phone:
Fax:
Toll Free: (705) 869-0059
(705) 869-5341
1-800-463-3335
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