The UBB Deception

Thanks Daniel (@platypus_123) :)

So simple, even kids get it...

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/94/paradigm-shift.html

Egypt is Free :)

Mubarak Step down...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/11/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

Look what I did...

You're welcome Internet

Lorraine -- 

It’s another step towards an open and competitive internet in Canada, and it's thanks to you.

Late last night, news broke that Tony Clement will ask the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to reverse their decision on usage-based internet billing – a decision that allows internet service providers to impose download limits and new fees.

Our work is not yet done. We need to keep up the pressure until the CRTC’s decision is reversed once and for all.

Canadian families and businesses need open, affordable, unlimited internet access. The future of our economy depends on it. The Conservative government should have known that from the start.

When messages like yours reached us this past weekend – on Twitter and Facebook, by email, phone and fax – my Liberal colleagues and I knew what we had to do.

On Tuesday morning, we sided with you against the CRTC’s decision. By the end of the day, Liberal MPs on the Industry Committee had already begun an investigation. Then, yesterday, we kept the pressure on the Conservative government during Question Period in the House of Commons. At tonight’s meeting of the Industry Committee, Liberal MPs will tell CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein to reverse course.

This isn't the first time that you’ve stared down the Conservatives over an open internet — and that's why tens of thousands of you visited our action page athttp://www.liberal.ca/ubb/, to join our digital policy email list and help carry the fight into Parliament.

This is your movement. You rallied on Twitter. You wrote emails and called Tony Clement’s office. You made the difference.

We all know that there are wider issues at stake here. After five years of Stephen Harper, Canada still has no digital plan. The Conservatives’ proposed copyright bill contains unfair digital lock provisions. Canadians are less connected and face higher internet costs than citizens of other OECD countries. And don’t even get me started on the long-form census.

Liberals have been engaged on these issues. In 2009, we worked with theOpenmedia.ca / Save Our Net Coalition on Net Neutrality, a position that we support wholeheartedly. Last fall, we announced our Open Government Initiative, which will make government data accessible to all Canadians.

At the heart of our digital policy is a core Liberal value: we must make Canada more competitive and more innovative. That means expanding high-speed internet access to every region of the country, fair and equitable wholesale access, and transparent pricing.

We must build a digital strategy for Canada that embraces the energy, entrepreneurial spirit, and innovative creativity of consumers, businesses and digital influencers like you.

We'll keep the pressure on the Conservatives in Parliament to make sure they follow through and reverse the CRTC’s decision on usage-based billing. This victory is just a taste of what we can accomplish, if we continue this fight together.

I hope you’ll join the Liberal Party's digital policy email list athttp://www.liberal.ca/ubb/. Let’s build a more open, more competitive future for Canada.

Thank you for being engaged.

Michael Ignatieff

Stop The Meter On Your Internet Use

http://openmedia.ca/meter

Happy Meatless Monday Everyone!

Even if you don't like Tofu or soy based products like me, use this day of the week as an excuse to eat your favorite meatless comfort food like Mac and Cheese, Pizza sans-pepperoni, or perogies!! 

Don't forget though, you can still get creative and make some healthier choices than the carbomadic ones I've just mentioned...  There are countless salad, soup and omelette or fritatta combinations.

More info:
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ 

And check this out, everyone's doing it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-elam/sodexo-meatless-monday_b_812889.html 

Bon Appétit!

COLLAPSE

Asside from false attempts to go to the gym and apartment hunting with Curtis we stayed in Saturday night and watched this documentary that was suggested by Roger Ebert. Actually he has a whole list of them and we're going to try and watch them all, I don't know why we'd do this exactly but we have total faith in everything Ebert says at this point so why the hell not?  

Anyways it was really good except I will stipulate that if you have recently quit smoking, wait awhile before watching, I didn't count, but dude must have smoked a good 15 cigs while on camera.  While some things that are said in the doc aren't backed with any solid proof, you can't deny that what Michael Ruppert is saying makes sense and deserves attention. 

All I can say is that we were both happy SNL came on right after we were finished watching because we def needed a little comedic relief...



This sums it up nicely:
"Right or wrong, Prophesy or paranaoia-it takes up residence in your mind"
Entertainment Weekly

AL FRANKEN ON NET NEUTRALITY

EARTHLINGS

Guess what I'm going to be again:

A vegetarian...

Don't shoot the messenger...

Very interesting read about Julian Assange:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332

Addicted to Plastic

I'm only 20 minutes into this documentary but it's really good so far and free :)

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=89SVWWM6

Just hit the red button in the center, might have to try a couple of times :)

Going "Deep Green"

Another good documentary! It  looks like it might be less gloomy and more hopeful for than your usual phrophesies of doom type docs but very informative at the same time.  I haven't seen it, so I can't tell you it's a for shiz watch, but the trailer spoke to me, and if you speak my languange, it should speak to you too.

I'm also proud of the fact that I found it on my very own and it's not something Curtis sent me! See, I know things too!! lol.

Hooked on Growth



Awesome Documentary and awesome cause.

Check out the website:  http://growthbusters.org/

Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity from Dave Gardner on Vimeo.

Bosnian woman tosses puppies in river...

So Curtis sent me this and told me NOT to watch the video, so I didn't watch the video. If you thought the woman putting the cat in the compost bin was cruel, well, she's got nothing on this bitch. I really hope they find this chick and arrest her because this is criminal.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Online+hunt+woman+puppy+drowning+video/3464672/story.html

GASLAND

After a fabulous fun filled weekend full of love and emotion, is was only natural that I watch something completely depressing and infuriating upon my return. lol. I honestly didn't mean to but I had seen the trailer for this some time ago and noticed yesterday that it was on TMN on demand and decided to watch it. 

While it is somewhat depressing and likely to cause some teeth grinding, it is really worth the watch as I learned so much from it. As the title suggests, it's about Gas, however, not crude oil, but the natural gas shales deep under the surface. Major oil corporations have been "Fracking" these basins, a process which uses hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, insane cancer causing chemicals and creating fake "earthquakes" that releases the gas up to the surface, and thus polluting the local drinking water. When I say polluting local drinking water, I really mean this:

Here's the trailer

Hitchens~God~Cancer~Waterboarding

Curtis sent me a great article written by Roger Ebert about Christopher Hitchens and his "battle" with cancer. I use the word 'battle' loosely as Hitchens self describes it as the farthest thing from battling or fighting. It's a boring lonely process that you're just vaguely a part of while those around you try to keep things as chipper and light as possible.  In the meantime, he remains hopeful but not without being realistic about his odds.

Whether you're a follower or hater of Hitchens, no one can deny that the man is nothing short of a genius and might actually be the most interesting man on earth, sorry Dos Equis. 

As Ebert describes him in his article, he mentions that he's a good speaker and that he never says anything just for the sake of saying something. And I love that about him. As smart as he is, he could probably back up and defend any inflated comment he could come up with, but instead he has the intellect and patience not to.  While religious fundamentalists scream obscenities at him, organize prayer groups for his demise and loonies take time to write him hate mail, he sits back and watches his arguments unfold around him as the masses remain oblivious.  Your religion doesn't believe in killing, but that murderous letter you wrote him proves otherwise. Your religion claims that your god gave you free will, but obviously not free thought or you'd let him speak his mind. 

While I could go on for ages why I find Hitchens so fascinating, and more recently Roger Ebert for that matter , I'll stop and just post this video of Hitchens being waterboarded testing for himself what it's like. To be honest, before actually seeing the procedure or whatever you want to call it, I thought it barely skirted on the border of torture, but as Hitchens describes it afterwards, there is no gray area, it's most definitely tortureous and inhumane.

Here's the article by Ebert:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/08/traveler_to_the_undiscovered_c.html

Food Inc

If you haven't watched this yet, I highly reccomend that you do.  Directed by Robert Kenner and in collaboration with Michael Pollan, author of "In Defense of Food" and most recently "Food Rules" this documentary touches on everything from the seeds we grow our veggies with to the slab of meat on your plate. 

You might have seen Michael Pollan on Oprah a little while back discussing the various foods we should avoid and those we shoudl reach for instead. (Mainly and most obviously those with ingredients we can pronounce).  Anyways below is the trailer, it gives me goosebumps even though I've already saw a while ago! Also if you're interested in more documentaries such as this one, King Corn is pretty good as well. It's focus is duhhh on corn and how's it's in everything. Curtis and I  finally got around to watching it last week and it was really interesting.  

And finally in case documentaries aren't your thang, there's a movie based on the book Fast Food Nation, with Greg Kinnear and Wilmer Valderrama. We haven't seen it so I can't tell you much about it but I'm sure the message is similar and equally disturbing. (trailer on youtube).

Espèce de p'tit poisson!

I know this vid is long, but I'm telling you, it's one of the most interesting things I've ever watched and it's so important for people to be aware and make consciensious decisions when they go shopping.  Nobody likes to hear that they're not doing enough or that they're doing something wrong. Especially when we all recycle, compost and do as much as we can and can afford. 

But what if there was a really easy thing you could do that would have the biggest positive impact on your carbon footrpint, would you do it?  Everyone loves to shop, especially for food, it's so gratifying imagining the meals and snacks you're going to have for the rest of the week that it almost makes you look forward to going back to work on Monday... okay well I did say almost!  So what's in your grocery cart?  Generally we try to be aware of what we're putting into our bodies in terms of nutritional content, and those of you with kiddies are extra careful of the crap that's out there... but we always assume that  fresh produce and meats are safe bets and we just buy from our favorite grocery store.  We don't question if the cow had ever seen a blade of grass, or had this chicken ever spent a single day outside in the sun? Was it killed humanely or just part of a production line?  

So what am I suggesting here? Simple, buy your meats and veggies from local farmers if you can. Find a reputable butcher and ask him/ her questions about the meat and where it came from. If he doesn't know, then there's a problem.  Try finding a Halal butcher or a Kosher one.  Do you really need meat 7 days a week? No.  For the environment and for your health, try skipping meat every other day.  The only reason these big corps continue to mass produce meat and over fish our oceans is because they think there's a market for it...




BTW, the title of this post is from a book Vero and I wrote in the 3rd grade and although it has yet to be published, it's a literary delight!

Why am I not surprised?

Curtis sent me this with the fitting subject title of  "prepare to be depressed" and so I pass that same message on to you...  Like for effin sakes, just tell people the truth. Whatever happened has happened, why are they trying to cover it up even further?  People aren't stupid, they're going to see the shiz getting worse...  Also people have a right to know and relocate to protect themselves, their families and hopefully thier fur families.  As Mr. Simmons says, once a hurricane comes around they're going to have to evacuate the entire golf coast... so why wait until they only have a 3 day notice?