Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
September 2nd, 2010 | 
Author: Ever summer, the Canadian Navy sends a vessel on a tour of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Wherever it stops, it’s open for visitors and makes for a great PR/recruiting exercise. The HMCS Fredericton was in Kingston yesterday:
Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Fredericton was commissioned on September 10, 1994 and is one of twelve Halifax Class frigates built in Canada. Boasting a complex Command and Control System, combined with an impressive array of modern weaponry and sensors, this ship is considered to be one of the most advanced general-purpose frigates in the world. A state of the art, multi-role frigate under the operational command of the Commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic, she is 4750 tonnes and can travel at 29+ knots.
The Ship’s company is comprised of 22 officers, 55 Chiefs and Petty Officers, and 150 non commissioned members, organized into six departments by trades. Crew members are cross-trained to undertake a wide variety of tasks from seamanship to fire fighting. The Ship’s six departments include: Combat, Deck, Combat System Engineering, Marine Systems, Supply and Air.
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In the 80′s and 90′s, I had visions of making a living in the journalism world. I wasn’t really interested in leaving Kingston, so that never happened, but I still go everywhere with my camera and take pictures everywhere. I’ve had a few photos published and it’s nice to know that I still have a bit of a feel for it.
Two were used this summer. both from protests over the federal government’s decision to close the prison farm system.
The first was posted on the website of The Dominion, an independent, monthly news magazine:
The bastards moved the award-winning dairy herd out of Frontenac Institution today and I had planned to write something about it, but I’m so disgusted that I can properly gather my thoughts. So, I’ll just post my pictures from the protest and say this: the political process in Canada is broken and in need of a serious kick in the ass. With steel-toed hob-nail boots.
Our Prime Minister is such a control freak that his own cabinet is barred from speaking to the press without permission. Yet, he hand-picks idiots and morons to represent the country: his Minister of State for Science & Technology is a chiropractor and one of the leading members of cabinet believes that humans walked the earth with dinosaurs less than 6,000 years ago.
This government is a throw-back to the bad old days of the 19th Century. Build more prisons! Punish the inmates, don’t coddle them! Prime Minister Harper has stated that he wants to re-invent the Canadian prison system in the image of the US. I hear it’s working well down there.
I wear my heart on my sleeve around here, so it should come as no surprise that I’ve been to my fair share of protests over the years. Usually, but not always, with a camera in hand. What you may not know is that my in-laws are a bunch of rowdies, too.
It all stems from Bridget’s parents. There were both politically active farmers for about half their lives. I don’t know how active they were before 1969, but that year they really stepped in and helped to found the National Farmer’s union in Canada. It’s an association more than a union, but the represent the interests of smaller farmers all over the country. John was Eastern Ontario Coordinator for the NFU for at least the decade before he died. Bridget says she grew up cranking a mimeograph machine and attending rallies with them. In fact, she celebrated a birthday in Ottawa in the middle of a protest. 
After John died in 1991, his second-son Peter stepped into his shoes in various capacities and several other members of the family have done and do work for the NFU still. Peter’s wife, Dianne, is vice-president of Local 316.
The prison system in Canada has six farms connected with them. They’re classified as lower-security institutions that the inmate can earn their way out of the full prison to. There are two here and they produce very high quality eggs and milk for the prison system. Enough that they pretty much cover the system’s needs.
Like many other jurisdictions the world over, the state of Illinois is having budget issues. Big ones, apparently. That’s forcing politicos to look at all sorts of options. Some more realistic than others.
Naturally, the mouth-breathers at FOX “News” had to take it one knuckle-dragging step further and ran this last Monday:
Chicago – They eat up millions of your hard earned tax dollars. It’s money that could be used to keep your child’s school running. So with the internet and e-books, do we really need millions for libraries?
Libraries are quiet havens for the community. They take us to other worlds. They even make us laugh. But should these institutions — that date back to 1900 B.C. — be on the way out?
But, all good things must come to an end, I guess.
Noted weirdo Prince tells the Daily Mirror that “The internet’s completely over”.
The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it. The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.
Oh, yes and his new CD won’t be available anywhere online. 
h/t to Xeni at BoingBoing.