This is where I come to cry...

Well the new federal budget is out. It's been a point of much speculation... everyone wanted to know how the conservative minority would fair at keeping their promises and maintaining a balanced budget. So what's the consensus now that the new budget has been presented? Well my take on it is that it's poor at best. The conservatives did little to keep their promises of making government spending accountable and easing ecoomic strain on average Canadian families.

 

You have to keep in mind that the whole point of the conservative ideology is to keep the government out of the public sphere as much as possible, so the conservatives really did more than I would have expected. They cut the GST by 1%, which is almost a punch in the face considering the fact that it was supposed to be removed entirely years ago. Realistically a 1% cut doesn't do much, even on a large purchase it still has little effect. They're also added a slew of new tax credits... students can claim text books in their taxes and workers can claim vehicle expenses and so on. Though this is a step in the right direction it's not quite what most Canadians had in mind when the government promised lower taxes. Average people will save nothing initially and will only benefit very little during tax time... that is if you can figure out all of the new tax credits.

 

The government did however offer one straight forward tax cut to corporations. They get a 0.5% decrease. It's more than they gave the average family and in their tax bracket it means that they'll save hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm all for promoting Canadian industry, but I think it's wrong to tax corporations that make millions of dollars far less than a family.

 

The government also tried to maintain a feeling of openess with the public by funding an "independent" watchdog to observe government spending. The only problem with that is that an organization can't maintain autonomy when it is funded by the group it is observing. It's like all the studies that show smoking isn't bad for you... all funded by companies that make cigarettes.

 

I also found it interesting that the conservatives take credit for increased spending for the military and security as well as sharing the gas tax with provinces when those were all deals worked out by Martin's liberals. I didn't like the liberals either, but the conservatives shouldn't take credit for the few things the liberals did that people liked.

 

Overall the conservatives have alot to learn about how to keep promises and change the country for the better. Maybe it's time that the Canadian public learned that the best way to invest in their future is to voice their opinions and stand up for what's right.

Not much to say today... I decided to clean things up around here. Removed some old links that don't work anymore and added a new photo album from a party I went to. Other than that all I have to say is this one's for you Ben.

 

Me with a moustache...

 

 

Genetically modified foods have been around for quite awhile now... hundreds of years really if you count selective breeding of cereal crops, bananas and such. More recent incarnations of genetic modification through gene splicing have raised serious questions though. There are obvious benefits to gene splicing like making crops more pest resistant, having higher yields, or having new vitamins inserted.

 

One example of a specially modified crop like this is Golden Rice. This rice has a shorter maturity season, higher yields and has extra vitamins normal rice doesn't have. The whole idea behind the development of this rice was to help countries like India feed their huge population with their shortage of farm land. It seems like a noble cause and if it were left at that I would even say that their intentions were noble, but it can't be left at that. Golden Rice requires less space to get the same yields, however it requires much more fertilization... which most Indian farmers can't afford. Also, this rice has a termination gene inserted into it's genes. To explain it plainly this means that the rice doesn't produce any useful seeds. Under normal circumstances the farmers would gather their seeds to replant the following growth season, but with Golden Rice this can't be done. It makes the farmers completely dependent on the producers of this rice each season.

 

The obvious motivation here is greed, but it doesn't have any serious effect on those that choose not to buy the Golden Rice right? Wrong... if anyone grows this rice there is a chance that it could cross breed with other rice fields in the area and spread the termination gene to natural crops. This may sound far fetched but it's not. Take bananas for example. When you buy them in a store they don't have any seeds. Naturally bananas have many seeds inside them but they have been modified and cross bred to have no seeds to make them more appealing to a North American market. These bananas cross bred with natural bananas being grown in their regions and the banana is now actually nearly threatened by extinction because of these practices. Luckily, they aren't actually extinct and can still be grown by means of budding... but soon they won't be able to grow new trees from seeds.

 

Of course there is the other problem that we really have no idea how serious genetic modification of foods  effects human health. There have been no real long term studies so there's no way to judge what it does to our bodies. You may say that it can't be that serious because they're just taking genes from other fruits or vegetables, but that's not true. They've been using genes from everything... bacteria and animals included.

 

And now they're genetically modifying pigs to include fish DNA that produces Amino Acids... of course they would probably include genes to sterilize the pigs so they could not cross bred. At least I hope they would think to do that. Just remember, next time your eating bacon, you might be getting more than you bargained for.

 

The United States government is complaining now that their military has found alleged intelligence documents from the Russian military given to Iraqi officials during the War. These documents were detailed accounts of how many troops and vehicles the US had and where they would attack. Some of the documents were accurate and others weren't even close. Still, one document found claimed that the Russians had spies in the US military headquarters that were feeding them this information. The US government is saying this turn of events is the most damaging thing to happen to Russo/US relations since the cold war and that this means that Russia can no longer be trusted in helping with the Iranian Nuclear question. They are also saying it's the worst thing they could do short of actually attacking US troops.

 

There are some important things that the US is overlooking in this whole matter though. First of all, Russia was very much against everything the US tried to do in Iraq since the first Gulf War. They didn't support the sanctions that were placed against Iraq, they didn't support the arms agreements, and they were totally against the war. They were against all of these things because Iraq was a friendly ally for Russia that supported it's floundering economy since the fall of communism. Also, it's usually a good idea to keep your neighbours happy. It's one thing for the US to attack Iraq since it's halfway around the world from their own soil, but Russia is relatively close to Iraq and would have to worry about fighting in it's own borders... it would be like the US not helping Canada out if we were attacked. They'd just look like jerks cause they're our neighbour and they're a major power.

 

Another important thing to realize is that Russia knew that Iraq didn't stand a chance and most likely wanted the war to last as long as possible. Why? For one thing because it would mean the price of oil would go up and Russia is a major oil producing country. Secondly because  war is good for any economy. A long war would mean that Russia would end up with an oppurtunity to supply Iraqi troops with munitions. Also, war in the middle east would destabilize the whole region meaning once again that there would be increased market for old soviet munitions. Not only that but chaos in this region would mean that Russia would be able to better holds its sphere of influence should it support the right people.

 

So in my opinion the US has no right to be mad at the Russians. They were only protecting their own interests and trying to boost their economy by using the war to their advantage... much the same way the United States did.

Globalization is once again rearing it's ugly head in the media. This time specifically it is the globalization of sovereignty. A man in Afganistan is facing execution on the charge of convertion from Islam to Christianity. According to the Islamic legal code death is the only acceptable legal consequence of this offense. I personally support religious freedom and equality, but it is that respect for other religions and their freedom that justifies the mans execution to me.

 

The whole idea of a country is that people give up certain freedoms to a governing body in exchange for security of body, culture, and economy. When you are part of that country it is understood that you accept giving up those freedoms, whether it be not being allowed to kill whoever you want to or not being allowed to switch religions. As a sovereign nation you can create whatever laws you want to restricting freedoms so long as the general public supports it. In this Afgani case the general public supports the execution of this man. All Afgani clerics, including the more liberal ones have called for his execution and the general public supports that consequence.

 

This is all pretty straightforward and under normal circumstances the government in power in Afganistan would in all likelihood have already executed this man. A problem arises with the opinions of non-muslem countries on the international stage. The United States and Australia are reacting to this trial as a travesty of personal freedom to Afgani people. What these countries are ignoring is that fact that they are applying their own countries and religions ideals to a country very different from their own. Presidents of both these countries are putting tremendous pressure on the fledgling Afgani government to free the man on trial. This pressure is very tangible for the Afgani government because they rely on U.S. aid and troops to keep the peace in their country. Should the U.S. pull out the country would fall into devastating civil war most likely.

 

This is the point that I am making... the United States and Australia are using their wealth to infringe on the sovereignty of another nation. Forcing a nation that has a set of laws that are agreed on by the majority of its citizens to change that law is a direct attack on that countries sovereignty. Just because it's not an invasion force (which has already there once before) it doesn't make it any better. This is just another step towards globalized sovereignty under one nation which cannot understand or provide for the needs of all its citizens.

 

I personally call for the U.S. and Australia to leave this decision up to the Afgani government to decide on this matter without outside influence... after all what better way for a government to prove itself internationally than by solving a problem like this by themselves. It's time the U.S. realized that it's little Afgani nation is all grown up and it's time to let it move out of the basement.

Well I've been in the process of working on a side project to my solo music with a good friend of mine Nic. It's been tentatively called The Otters... for the last little while it's been a project with only Nic and I and we haven't had much of a chance to get any real work on it done.

 

I've learned today however that there are some other interested parties in our little group. A friend of Nic's named Francis is apparently interested and happens to be a good bassist. And the more exciting news is that Sarah Slean is apparently interested in helping out. That of course is big news since she is an already established artist. We'll have to see how that goes.

Ysterday was my birthday... happy birthday me. I didn't even do anything for my birthday. I think that's a sign I'm getting old....