Another Gift that Keeps on Giving -- CRTC & Lib. Big Brother, Daycare Myths, Tsunami $$$ -&- GG's Royal Taste

Protecting Turf and a Cash Grab

I have read that the Quality of Service premium gives no difference in service.

Web superhighway likely to be toll road -- Internet service providers expected to add fees to pay for bandwidth-hungry audio and video Charles Mandel, For CanWest, January 30, 2006, h/t Anonologue

The free ride may be over for consumers who download movies and music files and play video games, as Internet service providers consider a move toward a "two-tier Internet."

Companies that carry the data are talking about charging Canadians extra for everything from streaming audio and video to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls and online gaming. Anything that uses bandwidth is under examination. [....]

Telus is considering adding a quality-of-service charge or tiers of service tailored to different customer needs, Hall says. The company is also thinking about charging large firms such as Google or EBay for access to its network, something that Bell South and AT&T are also proposing in the United States.

But Geist says such a model is unhealthy and would stifle innovation. [....]

To say nothing of causing loss of everyone's freedom--for as low as $20 a month--to learn, to roam the highways and byways of the world and to find out what had been planned ........... It is easy to see why those who have had control would want to support this ... and the UNESCO protocol on cultural diversity which is another way of getting "no change ... You will support those who are in control already".

The left still doesn't get the idea of freedom; the CRTC was "Building on established services". Well, maybe the citizenry want the freedom to explore and not be controlled. Are Canadians still stuck with this control over what should be a simple matter of individual choice?


From a search: canada crtc digital radio

CRTC: subscription radio services -- heavily into control ... control ... not the freedom of the individual to choose -- or The CRTC is governed by the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act and reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. June 16th, 2005

Why have our past Ministers of Heritage come from one province, Quebec? The rest of us have heritage(s) too. If you dig a little deeper, you will know why, and it has to do with control.

The Commission also approved the application of CHUM and its associate, Astral Media Radio Inc., to offer a service comprising 50 channels produced entirely in Canada, of which at least 20% will be in the French language. This licensee also intends to offer five channels intended for the Aboriginal, Chinese, German, Italian and South Asian communities. The music broadcast by these channels must respect the minimums required by Commission regulations: notably, for popular music, 35% Canadian content, and, in the case of French-language channels, a minimum of 65% of musical selections in French.

In addition, CHUM/Astral must contribute 2% of its gross annual revenues to initiatives for the development of Canadian talent.

Why? If you have talent, should you not be able to find people who appreciate that? Why should anyone be forced to support you? Who chooses, anyway? Could any of us claim support on the basis of a claim of talent?

Isn't this sad? Don't they think people would listen unless control is mandated? Actually, this is the kind of control that means people like me refuse to listen to CBC FM radio, simply because of the forces of control that have emanated from LibGov. I now listen to CD's or to classical music in the US over the internet. (a plug here for classical 103.5)


What these people don't seem to understand is that many of us choose the kind of programming that is the best of the CBC/public broadcaster when we may choose for ourselves ... not when our choice is removed and government or a group of unelected whoevers make the choices for us. How many will skirt this control just because they resent the control, not necessarily the content of the programming -- except for the politics, of course.


Geist: Oceans of data ripe for abuse Michael Geist, Jan. 30, 2006.

The Internet community has been buzzing for the past 10 days about the U.S. Department of Justice's demand for search data from the world's leading search engines. Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft have all reportedly complied with the request; however Google refused, paving the way for a major court battle in the months ahead. [ .... ]

The value of information extends beyond personal data ....

[.....] companies retain such data for lengthy periods, using sophisticated data mining technologies to analyze the information.

Think of the implications of all of this.



How Harper Will Proceed Anonologue, Jan. 30, 06 (or Jan. 31 -- I forgot to get the date.)


"The Governor General of Canada spent two nights at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa booked by Paul Martin's Staff and the cost for two nights accommodation including a $400 bottle of wine and meals was $7,750." posted by Sensforever, 1/31/2006 10:16:25

Rapidly developing royal taste? I am waiting for a lottery to fairly choose any Canadian who enters for this position. I might even buy my first lottery ticket just to taste a $400 bottle of wine. Our GG, a gift of the CBC and the Liberals ... a gift that keeps on taking.

I hold nothing against the GG who seems to be delightful, as an individual; I just think she has fallen into the good life a little too easily, in the face of Canadians' need to pay for necessities. Think of the Hepatitis C victims of which I posted yesterday. Besides, why should she be appointed? The lottery would be as good a method as any.


His 'n Hers uplink, 1/31/2006 -- a daily chuckle that manages to convey something that rings true.


This came from a friend. In it Taylor clears up a few of the myths used in the Jan. 23 election to scare parents into voting for leftists / Liberals, the anything to block the scary Conservatives series.

Harper's day care plan good for New Brunswick

Brent Taylor

As published in the Fredericton Daily Gleaner, 31 January 2006

[. . . . ] Many Canadian parents – particularly in rural areas far away from regulated, licensed, day-care facilities – would never have seen tangible benefits from Ottawa’s panicked rush of eleventh hour agreements with the provinces. Nor would those parents who worked overnight shifts, or (egad!) who raised their children by themselves.

There are a few myths that need to be cleared up before the campaign-driven misconceptions take deeper root: [. . . . ]

Lies and distortions of the truth have been effective. Apparently, some commercial daycare operators were so fearful that a Conservative government would "ruin their newfound access to over $100 million in federal money over the next five years" that they were "placing campaign signs for Liberal candidates on their business properties".

There is no question the East needs an infusion of new information sources. The old ones appear to have been bought and paid for by the usual suspects. There was little media attention to truth available to refute the left's bilgewater, pre-election.

Search: Dryden , agreement-in-principle



Memory Lane -- the Tsunami Money, CIDA & the UN

The tsunami of rip-offs By Judi McLeod, Dec. 30, 05

[....] Forty million dollars of the $425-million pledged by Martin was donated by average Canadians. [....]

And now we know, courtesy of the Financial Times, "a year after the Indian Ocean tsunami, up to a third of the $590-million so far spent under the United Nations’ $1.1-billion disaster flash appeal appears to have gone on administration, staff and related costs."

The Canadian $425-million was to have been administered by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency). [....]

Worth reading ... and did you really expect otherwise?