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TPP - Harper's Secret Treaty
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 2864
"Negotiated in secret" in itself suggests something's afoot, the The Trans Pacific Partnership agreement has been described as:
"I think in 10 years from now, we'll call that the signature worst thing in policy that Canada's ever done...
"It's a treaty that structures everything forever — and we can't get out of it."
And:
"Instead, agreements such as the TPP are about implementing policies that have nothing to do with comparative advantage, policies that are often designed to lead to higher consumer costs and concentrated corporate power. Treated as marginal issues, these policies are “free-trade free-riders,” coasting along on an unearned legitimacy.
Today, the free-trade free-riders are central to agreements such as the TPP. Take intellectual property. As Dr. Stiglitz, Dr. Hersh and groups such asMédecins sans frontières (Doctors Without Borders) have noted, greater drug-patent protection would “limit competition from generic drug manufacturers that reduce drug prices and improve access to treatment, and would accelerate already soaring medicine and vaccine prices.”
This isn’t a bug; it’s the point of the agreement."
In Stephen Harpers Canada, people were the slaves to the corporations. You were either rich, or expected to help others become rich. Regardless of the cost. 10 years of shitty government can take a lot longer that 10 years to fix up.
To get a clear (and well rounded view) of the Trans Pacific Partnership, and how it probably doesn't benefit you a single bit, read the following links:
Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/jim-balsillie-tpp-1.3310179
Link: New Zealand on TPP
Lost in Translation
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 2380
And English, so rich in theory, but so poor in realization, the poverty of day-to-day language and ideas.
For a few ideas that get you out of the box, try:
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude
and, rather the opposite: http://matadornetwork.com/life/35-untranslatable-words-describe-nuances-love/
Favorites: L'esprit de Escalier, Saudade, Koi No Yokan (that seems like 3 words to me...meh, Japanese...), Wabi-Sabi (2 words again), Aware, Mamihlapinatapai, there are more, find them and send them on...
Buried Alive
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 1924
A short selection of compelling first and second hand tales of those people who were buried alive. Some survived, while others were preserved only in gruesome accounts.
Musophobia
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2930
It turned out there's a phobia for this, one I don't get, it's hard to get other peoples phobias, this fear of something reasonably cute, bright eyed with big ears, nibbling on a wedge of cheese, what's scary about this? Didn't Mickey Mouse enlighten us? It's not a spider, that alien 8 legged intelligence that can, will, give venomous bite, will drop on you from the ceiling or entangle you in webs, look what happened to Miss Muffet, no, it's just a mouse.
But the salad girls, both of them are terrified, wide eyed, they've seen it, flitting out of the corner of their eyes, Greg and A***** confirm it, they've seen it as well...me, I see nothing, or chalk it up to flashbacks or sobriety...
These girls, they do the stereotypical standing on chairs and scream quietly, muffling their mouths, summoning the men folk in from the field, armed with pitchforks and ready to do battle, but the mouse is long gone...
I should affect an air of sympathy, compassion, one is worried, it was last seen in the office where she keeps her purse, I can find no trace, "maybe it's crawled into your bag?" I suggest helpfully, her purse is open, in terror she shakes her it out onto the desk, shakes it at arms length, inspects the contents, then gingerly repacks it all up...
Meanwhile, I'm hatching a plan, I'll cure them all, I just need some cat toys, or maybe just a handful of dryer lint, a little string for a tail, cork for a body...
Synonyms: Murophobia, Suriphobia,
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_mice
Link #2: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-06/canberra-archaeologists-discover-dog-sized-rats/6918658
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