August 19 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

These people get points for creativity; the proprietors of an outdoor marijuana growing operation lured black bears as a front line of defence for the farm. Police encountered the curious and relatively friendly bears in British Columbia along with a house-raccoon and a pot-bellied pig.

I wonder what will happen to all the animals now that the owners are in jail.

Posted in In The News, Security Measures | No Comments »

August 17 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

The news is awash with the parents in Barrie who attempted to block the use of Wi-Fi in their children’s elementary school and lost. Call me crazy, but if parents didn’t want something that they believe is harmful to their children, and which isn’t likely necessary for their education, why is it imposed on their offspring? The School Board is there to serve the parents and children, no? Not there to rule them. Or have I missed something?

The focus on the debate as to whether or not Wi-Fi and the electromagnetic radiation it produces, (regardless of how slight,) is harmful misses a bigger point: why do elementary school children even need to have Wi-Fi access? Shouldn’t they be learning to read and acquiring other fundamental mental skills, not surfing the internet and dependent on technology for answers?

As a society we have become mental midgets. Ask anyone under 30 to navigate a road trip without the aid of a GPS and see how far you get. What if all of Canada’s spellchecks failed in computers one day, would documents created be intelligible?  Heaven forbid the electricity ever going out for an extended period of time - most Canadians wouldn’t know what to do with themselves, much less survive.

The issue with Wi-Fi isn’t just a health concern, it’s one of mental competence.

Posted in In The News, Health Preparedness, Environment | No Comments »

August 16 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

Here is an unsettling story; apparently, the equivalent of 1.16 micrograms of bisphenol A was traced per litre of urine. Along with the plastic hardener, some 88 percent of Canadians also had noticeable amounts of mercury in their blood. While the thought is unsettling, it shouldn’t be surprising, just consider the crap we are putting in and on ourselves - cardboard fast food, chemical creams and dyes, botox injections - and this is to say nothing of the containers in which we store consumables. In a city such as Toronto where the sewage is treated and then water reclaimed from it released into Lake Ontario, the main water supply for city dwellers, the list of additional chemicals that might be found in bodies there could be even more startling.

Posted in In The News, Health Preparedness | No Comments »

August 5 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

An internal evaluation at Passport Canada warns that the agency remains vulnerable to crunch periods in demands for identity documents. The analysis, as written and published by Passport Canada about itself, cites American border security initiatives as a major threat to the bureaucracy’s efficiency and begs more money from the government to cope.

Here’s an idea, why not stop insisting infants have passports, particularly with pictures taken under the same stringent requirements as adults?

Posted in In The News, Identity | No Comments »

August 3 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

A lot of money is spent on proving the obvious.

The Globe and Mail recently reported on a study that indicates poorer cancer patients in Ontario are more likely to succumb to their affliction. Last time I checked, while visiting a doctor and undergoing tests might be covered by OHIP, the myriad of medications needed to combat the disease are not. This is to say nothing of the pills needed to counteract the long-term effects of treatment required after you have been cured. If you earn enough to get by, you no longer qualify for the benefits that one might who lives on welfare.  Nor do you have the excess resources to dedicate to drugs and other possible treatments that wealthier people enjoy. So, logically, poorer people would suffer financial restrictions limiting their ability to pay for the necessary treatments - in addition to their affliction.

Anyone who required a study to prove this is clearly not logical.

Posted in In The News, Economic Issues | No Comments »

August 2 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

If you don’t have a baby you might not be aware of the asinine Canadian regulations for infant passport photos. While visiting my newest godchild, his parents enlightened me. Some, likely childless, bureaucrat/politician has decided that somehow a two-month old baby can have his head held up straight maintaining a serious face long enough to capture his perfectly modelled photo. And not just that, the “parent’s or child’s hands must not appear in the photo.”

Last time I checked, babies aren’t capable of holding their heads up on their own. Have you ever tried to keep an infants head straight while hiding your hands? It isn’t easy. What’s perhaps more stupid  is the need to keep the parent (who presumably will not change greatly in appearance in the coming months and years) out of the picture - wouldn’t it be more important from a security perspective to be able to connect the parent with child, rather than ensuring that the baby match the stringent positioning rules imposed upon adults?

While “Passport Canada recognizes the difficulty in obtaining a neutral expression of a newborn and will allow for some tolerance in this regard,” the baby should also keep his mouth closed. Of course, the official website provides some helpful pictures to show parents what is acceptable and not. The photo on the left below is appropriate despite the gaping mouth, the one on the right, not so much:

I guess it’s just another wonderfully brilliant initiative brought to us by our government.

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July 21 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

Bronwyn Eyre ran a great article, entitled “We’re so deep in debt that we’ll never find our way out“, in the Vancouver Sun yesterday that is definitely worth a perusal. Eyre is right, there is likely no end to the abyss that is the world’s indebtedness.

Posted in In The News, Economic Issues | No Comments »

July 20 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

Bank of Canada Governor, Mark Carney, has announced that interest rates will be increased for the second consecutive month. This brings the Bank of Canada’s rate to 0.75 percent. While this isn’t considerable, it is unique. As the Globe and Mail points out, no other G7 country has done so once, never mind twice.

Carney insists that the Canadian economy is like some sort of island in the greater sea of Capitalism, miraculously immune to the market landslides experienced by other so-called developed countries, such as  Ireland or Iceland. This thinking ignores the fact that all modern economies are intrinsically tied through trade et cetera. If the United States sinks, we will go down with it. And, as far as I can tell, some of those larger unhealthy economies have not yet experienced the apparent rebound uniquely enjoyed in Canada. Moreover, what is to say that the economy must rebound? Nothing lasts forever, so why should Capitalism.

We might do better to look at things from a wider perspective instead of focusing on every quarter percent hike. Perhaps one place might be to look at Carney’s track record before putting the fate of a nation in his hands.

Posted in In The News, Economic Issues | No Comments »

July 12 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

The OECD has published a report that indicates migration numbers to once richer countries have fallen during the recent economic crisis. If these numbers continue to drop, the West’s status as the place to go for better opportunities will certainly be in question.

As the study also points out, the average age of workers in OECD member countries increased as a result of this dip in immigration. This could have a significant impact on those people living in affected countries, as with fewer immigrants we become ever-more stretched in funding the baby-boomers’ retirement.

Posted in In The News, Economic Issues, Politics | No Comments »

June 30 2010 by The Systemic Analyst.

Eventually, we’ll have to put a moratorium on stories related to the recent Super Summits, but for now, perhaps just one more. On Sunday, police in Toronto “kettled” protesters and regular citizens alike into the intersection of Queen Street and Spadina Avenue. After being herded behind riot police lines, these people were held inside the tightening configuration for hours, in the pouring rain.

The Toronto Police Chief has attempted to defend the actions with the following statement published in the Toronto Star: ““It’s unfortunate some innocent people had to stand in the rain. We had to stand in the rain with them.” Except there is a big difference between the police, who are paid and have chosen as a profession one that supposedly demanded such actions of them, and innocent bystanders held against their will for hours in heavy rain. That’s like a bully, after pummeling his now crying and pained victim, saying “So what? My hand hurts after having to hit you.”

Of course, Chief Blair is only attempting to remind us of the humanity in the Toronto Police Force. On one hand, we’re told that the police are above mere mortal behaviour as upholders of law and justice. On the other, we are still to accept how human and fallible they are. The two perspectives don’t jive. In reality, all police officers are human and only that. We (and especially law enforcement) would do well to remember this in the future.

This is perhaps one of the biggest problems with policing in Canada. We have fostered a culture in which the police have come to believe themselves the law and whatever tactics they feel must be taken in the moment are acceptable. It doesn’t really make normal citizens feel very warm and fuzzy about law enforcement, particularly when incidents arise that demonstrate how innocent bystanders can easily be swept up in such policing.

What’s more, the review process of incidents appears to be a bit faulty. So far the only slated review related to security at the Super Summits will be conducted by the Toronto Police - on itself. How fair and balanced do you think that could be? It’s reminiscent of the internal RCMP investigation that cleared the force’s members of any wrong-doing in Robert Dziekanski’s death, only to have an independent review utterly squash that report earlier this year.

In fact, come to think of it, the security fiasco surrounding the Super Summits is likely a blessing in disguise for at least one Canadian law enforcement agency: The RCMP. On June 18th, the Braidwood Report was released condemning members of the force for their role in Dziekanski’s death. And  just the day before that, the Air India report claimed that both the RCMP and CSIS had failed to prevent that massive disaster.  There is nothing like some minor police rough-handling and assisted rioting to help the attention-deficit suffering public forget about the past.

Posted in In The News, Security Measures, Politics | No Comments »