Blog of Mass Distraction

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Poles and Pickets

I've been really inspired lately and have met some very interesting people. I've attended some really interesting speeches and am set to attend some more. It's been refreshing to see some political viewpoints that differ from the vast dogmatic malaise that's too common nowadays. It's sad to see the degrading state of economic and political well being.

The strike at HydroOne is over after some 3 months. One of the union's at the company went on strike to fight the offer of multi-tiered pay and benefits. The CEO Tom Parkinson said the change was necessary to cut costs. His high salary, over 1 million a year, is some 5 times what the salary of the previous CEO Clitheroe's salary (who incidentally was fired for gross mismanagement and misappropriation). Parkinson was also appointed by the previous Tory government for his supposed reputation as a union buster. The strike has ended with both sides agreeing to arbitration which will take place over the next few months.
Speaking of unions, Michael Moore had some choice words for CBC which aired his film Bowling For Columbine tonight. Moore was upset with CBC for the continued lockout of their employees which are represented by the Canadian Media Guild. Moore was upset to the point of wishing they not air his movie. CBC has been working hard to try and maintain a broadcast schedule, but there has been an obvious disruption in their regular shows both on television and radio. Since CBC radio is pretty much the only thing I listen to in the car, I've started listening to more music while driving. My iPod helps there. :)

Elections in Afghanistan and Germany happened this weekend. The German elections have come out with mixed results and no clear majority. Conservative leader Angela Merkel has suffered a crushing defeat with only slight lead over Schroeder. Some blunders on her part cost her a major lead earlier in the campaigning. The US administration was apparently looking forward to dealing with Merkel as opposed to Schroeder who has always been distant to current President Bush and his international policy.
The results for the Afghan elections won't be in for a while yet.

Finally, Iranian President Ahmedinejad spoke at the UN stating that Iran's nuclear program was for civilian use only. But he restated the insistence of the Iranian government to develop nuclear technology, despite the US and EU efforts to prevent this.

1 Comments:

  • lol ... these are so lame!! Pre-engineered steel buildings ... hahaha.

    You got sploged!!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:59 AM  

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