June 4 2009


Greetings my Dear Readers,

I come to you today from a sunny paradise

I've been meaning to post for a week or so, but alas life has not allowed me the opportunity, so I thought I might take a few moments and try to get caught up.


Loss

The body of Actor David Carradine was discovered in Bangkok, Thailand.  The victim of apparent Suicide.  He starred in over 100 movies including the recent Kill Bill series, but will always be best known in my eyes for the TV series "Kung Fu" and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues"

An unfortunate Loss.  May he rest in Peace.


The Economy Woes Continue

While personal bankruptcies, unemployment and Welfare claims continue to climb to record levels, the shaky global economy continues its tail spin and claims yet another multinational victim.

The Financial and National Post have reported that the worlds largest Movie Rental chain, BlockBuster Video is now exploring Bankruptcy as a way to escape its growing debt as Movie and Video Game rentals plummet as growing competition and online sources stretch the Movie Rental giant to the verge of collapse.  This Bankruptcy will likely close all of the companies 7500 stores in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work.

It just keeps getting better and better doesn't it folks?


Border Crossings

Effective June 1st, anyone crossing the U.S./Canada border by land or sea will require a passport or other approved legal document in order to be allowed across.

For years, due to the close relationship between Canadians and Americans all that has ever been required to the cross the border was a birth certificate and valid photo I.D. (usually a Driver's License), well no more.  Due to the eternal War on Terror and growing border security concerns Canada and the U.S. entered into a heightened border security agreement that went into full effect on June 1st.

Canadian Business's that depend on Tourism for survival have expressed concern about this new requirement, as according to official figures 54% of Canadians and only 30% of American's hold valid passports, so further economic woes are expected to follow as a result of this new rule.

Don't have a passport?  Still want to visit your neighboring country?  No Problem.  Many Canadian Provinces and U.S. states are now offering an "Enhanced" Driver's License as a cheaper alternative to a Passport.  However anyone wishing to acquire one of these "Enhanced" Driver's licenses will be subject to new enhanced security precautions and must submit to new Facial Recognition Technology and go through a vigorous half hour interview before an "Enhanced" drivers license can be issued.

These "Enhanced" Driver's Licenses are equipped with the latest RFID Technology and contain a chip that can be read by a remote sensor 4.5 meters away from the card.

The idea here is to speed up data processing and reduce wait times, but what it essentially boils down to is the increasing violation of your personal privacy by "secure" wireless data transmission.

Welcome to 1984.


Child Protection Makes Progress

For years Child Abuse Registries fell under Provincial Regulation meaning that someone that was convicted of harming or abusing a child in one Province could simply move to another Province and enter child related fields with a clean slate to re offend.   Then a few years ago, this disgusting loop hole was closed as all Provincial Registries were transferred to Federal Control and combined to provide a more secure and detailed national database to ensure that those who harm children could be quickly identified should they ever try to gain access to children again.

As wonderful as this is, sadly, only about 30% of those convicted of crimes against children are ever actually added to this national Child Abuse Registry, as having someone actually added to this registry requires a special request from the crown attorney and this can be disputed by the offender.

There is now a bill being put forward by Federal Officials that if approved will require anyone convicted of crimes against children to be automatically added to this database and further more, be legally  required to submit a DNA sample upon conviction that will be kept on file used to help solve crimes when they occur.

Already Privacy Groups are protesting this move, but I must give this bill my full support.  As far as I'm concerned when someone harms a child they automatically forfeit any right to privacy that they may have had, and if I had my way they would never get to re offend as I would lead them out of the court room upon conviction and execute them.

I applaud the authorities for this move and wish them nothing but success.  Anything that helps keep children safe, is a good thing.

and finally:

Jesse Ventura Tells It Like It Is

In my cyber Travels I stumbled across this two part interview with former Navy SEAL and U.S. Governor Jesse Ventura.  I submit them for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9yfMdNC6cQ

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejahDWoYk2A

Both Canada and the U.S. could use more Politicians like this


Until next time,
Your Cold Hearted Bastard,

D.