Reverse Graffiti. Basically, you clean up a city to present your message:

1337hax0r

Is anyone else getting seriously bothered by this?

Toys and children’s necklaces made in China were recalled Wednesday, including five more items from the popular Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line, because they contain dangerous levels of lead.

This is not an anomaly, this is simply part of an obvious trend. Even after they got Mattel to apologize to them for, I guess, forcing them to use lead in toys, they just keep on doing it.

If you don’t want to outright block Chinese products, I’m fine with that, but at least legislate that if any part of any product (not just 50% or more) is made in china, the product needs to be clearly and obviously marked. This way, if our government or their government won’t do anything to stop them from poisoning our children (and it sure looks like both of them won’t.), then at least we can keep from unknowingly buying any goods from China until these issues are resolved.

The free market only works if the consumer has all of the information they need, and without legislating that companies need to clearly, obviously and plainly mark that their product was made whole or in part in China, regardless of how small of a part that might be.

Or, we can simply let them poison us again, and again, and again.

1337hax0r

From the Strategic Counsel poll, it looks like MMP will likely fail, not on it’s own merits, but simply because people are not aware of it and the benefits it gives. However, while it looks like MMP will fail, the most interesting table is the following:

Among Decided Voters:
Knowledge of MMP A Lot A Little None
For Changes 60% 59% 40%
Against Changes 40% 41% 60%

So basically, as soon as people understand even the least bit about what MMP is and how it works, it almost instantly passes the 60% mark. However, while people remain unknowledgeable about the subject, they are afraid of it, and the polls flips almost perfectly to the reverse.

Other interesting notes from this poll show that the Conservatives are the most against the change, and they are also the only party with less than 50% support for MMP. What is most interesting though, the only decided demographics that are against MPP (More people are against than for) are those with an education of HS or less, those from small communities, those who are 50 years old or older and those who support the PC party. Amongst most of the other decided demographics, there shows to be at very least a simple majority of support, and in many cases a supermajority of support for demographics like anyone under 50 years of age, anyone with some post-secondary education or higher, and anyone from a very large community (1M+).

Sadly, this referendum will likely get a simple majority and won’t pass. It could even get a province-wide super majority if people can get out the education campaign especially to smaller urban centers, but still it probably won’t pass. To pass the bill requires an overall supermajority (60% or more) over the entire province and a simple majority in a super majority of the ridings (50% in 64 or more ridings).

If I were in Ontario right now and working on a vote for MMP campaign, I would not only be trying to go door to door or handing out pamphlets on MMP in Toronto, but I would seriously try to road trip outside of the GTA with large groups of friends (get a lot of friends who support MMP, rent a few buses and hit a city for a weekend blitz) and try to get out the information about what MMP is and why is it good for all Ontarians. Unfortunately, though, I am in Alberta, so the best I can do is provide support and ideas to those who are out there and can make a difference in Ontario by simply letting people know what MMP is. The poll above shows that the more people know about MMP, the more likely they are to support it. If that is all it takes, then it should not be hard for pro-MPP groups to spread the word, and hell, it may still be possible for this great change to pass.

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I ran across this website recently, and I really quite enjoyed it. It basically shows television advertisements for American presidential elections all the way back to 1952. Some interesting highlights include Peace Little Girl, the presidential campaign by LBJ presenting the fear of a nuclear threat. The advertisement about Al Gore over his often misunderstood statement that he took the initiative in getting more money for internet development from the government. The Reagan advertisement presenting Russia as a bear in the woods, and well… lots more.

Definitely worth checking out. Now, if only it was easy to get copies of Canadian political adverts. I’d love to build up a collection like this for Canada. (hint, hint, if you know how to get Canadian election adverts, or have links to ones on youtube, please post them in the comments.)

1337hax0r

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Mattel, the company which has been importing toys made in China to sell in the states, toys which recently have been tainted with excessive amounts of lead, has publicly issued an apology… to China, for, I guess, forcing them to put lead into the toys we give our children:

“Our reputation has been damaged lately by these recalls,” Mr. Debrowski told Mr. Li in a meeting at Mr. Li’s office at which reporters were allowed to be present.

“And Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys,” Mr. Debrowski said.

The carefully worded apology, delivered with company lawyers present, underscores China’s central role in Mattel’s business. The world’s largest toy maker has been in China for 25 years and about 65 per cent of its products are made in China.

The hell?!?! What I find particularly incredible is this line in the story:

The recalls have prompted complaints from China that manufacturers were being blamed for design faults introduced by Mattel.

How the hell did Mattel demand that lead paint be used on children’s toys, and regardless, these toys from China are not the first things to be exported which contained deadly toxins. See, animal feed, for example, or shrimp, or toothpaste… the list goes on and on and on, and yet, Chinese authorities must have Mattel’s balls in a vice, for Mattel to go public saying that it’s their fault that China doesn’t actually have anything remotely resembling reasonable health and safety checks, and that it’s their fault that the toys Mattel bought were tainted with lead paint.

Note, Mattel is not the only company importing stuff from China which is dangerous for us. Hell, just recently a company importing pencils from china had the problem that they had an excessive amount of lead… in the coating. What was more mindboggling about the stories about the pencils was the comment that they were not dangerous, unless, of course, you, like every other nervous student out there, chew or suck on the pencils.

It’s just mindboggling, it’s like the US corporate world has become so obsessed with profit and making money in China that everyone has collectively lost their minds, and are willing to bend over backwards, give up their corporate morals, and even possibly kill our children and pets, if it will appease Chinese authorities and allow them to increase their profit margin by less than 1%.

It’s sick, and it’s twisted, and it’s incredible that even up to this point no one has done anything about it. What will it take? Do dozens of people have to die? hundreds? thousands? Before anything will happen? Or will, regardless of the circumstances, our countries’ leaders and corporate businessmen look the other way, if it means that they can buy that new hummer come the end of the next quarter, because they know they are not going to get any retribution, whatsoever.

1337hax0r

I had been making this prediction for years. In fact all the way back to when I was working at Niti. However, I only posted it on my blog recently (June of this year).

I say, if the Conservative budget does not screw up that badly in Canada, and the American economy continues it’s downward spiral into oblivion, then yes we’ll reach parity and beyond. However, I will have to wait until Fall and see what happens worldwide to say for sure.

As predicted, the Canadian dollar reached parity. In fact, it reached parity earlier than even I predicted it (I was saying to friends that it would reach it by the end of this year.

he Canadian dollar reached parity with the U.S. currency for the first time in 31 years on Thursday, according to Reuters data, supported by lofty commodity prices, a strong domestic economy and concerns about a U.S. economic slowdown.

I did, however, make one error in deciding why the dollar would reach parity. I expected Canadian interest rates to theoretically go up, and not a .5% drop in the american interest rate. Either way, it’s the same basic reasoning as to why the dollar reached parity.

Now, my current guess… The dollar is not going to stop at parity. I don’t want to give an exact number, because that’s always dangerous, but let’s just say I would not be surprised to see the dollar at 1.10USD or even higher per CAD sometime in the next year, if current trends continue.

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