Hanging Harper

The political cartoon I chose from CanuckPolitics shows a piñata modeled after Stephen Harper being battered by four politicians carrying bat which are labeled Nuclear Safety, Commons Ethics, Status of Women and Environmental Commish (commission). Also another man has arrived at the door carrying a briefcase that is labeled “Elections Canada”. He is asking to join the club, join in the beating of the piñata modeled after Stephen Harper.

This cartoon is depicting how many apparatuses of the Canadian government feels about Stephen Harper. They obviously feel that Harper has paid little to no attention to these sections of parliament that are meant to and needed to be taken care of.

It has been noticed that Harper has been ignoring such affects of parliament such as nuclear safety, commons ethics, status of women and the environmental commission. It is important that these issues are recognised and dealt properly with by Stephen Harpers government. They are important assets to the government, the Canadian citizens and people around the world.

Nuclear safety needs to be recognized because in our today’s world, energy resources are slowly dissipating furthering the need for nuclear power. As a growing resource it is imperative that this be conducted in the safest manner to ensure the livelihood and wellness of the workers who must work at these nuclear sites.

Common ethics and women’s rights are a must to be recognised by Stephen Harper’s government. Canada is viewed as one of the most peaceful nations in the world and is more than often internationally promoting peace and human rights. If Canada as a nation is not able to support common ethics and women’s rights in Canada – how can it do so internationally? And how would it look upon us as a nation that is known for supporting these things?

Elections in Canada have spiraled downward in recent years. Stephen Harper’s government is actually a very small minority. At the past election in October, 51 percent of Canada’s population turned out to the election and out of that 37 percent voted conservative. This is a joke of democracy and it needs to be turned around by the government. Stephen Harper needs to take action against the decreasing amount of votes and erect a strong will power in the public to vote and participate in the government democratically. Canada also supports democracy internationally and it would be very difficult for Canada to promote democracy worldwide when we have a dwindling democracy in our own country. Stephen Harper needs to step up and act or step down and get out.

Auto Industry Collapse

The auto-industry is facing a crisis in which the major auto-makers are falling short of their normal profits and are quickly descending into bankruptcy. These auto-makers are depending heavily on the United States government to create a rescue plan that will boost them out of their current financial state and give them ability to secure themselves.

The proposed $14 billion dollar bailout package failed last week in senate. The Senate Republicans had a disagreement with the UAW over wage concessions. It is important that the U.S. government does create a bailout package that would pass because if the auto-industry falls, it will have a major impact on our society.

GM has announced that it will slow production at 14 plants in the first quarter of 2009 and it will make 250 000 less vehicles than already determined.

The auto-suppliers are now in trouble due to the auto-makers collapse. Many other businesses are toppling too, in a chain formation. The collapse of this industry will mean dire consequences for many economies and countries around the world. The United States government and the auto-makers need to resolve this issue and create a quick and effective solution to the problem.

Education for All

Education is the core developmental foundation to a country. Education increases a countries standard of living because with an increased education many more necessities are completed at a faster and more efficient rate. Better homes are built, better medicine is discovered, better governments are created, and there is also a higher awareness of safety and wellness. There is also a substantially lower amount of violence and discrimination due to less ignorance and arrogance.

Education proves to be the core developmental foundation to a country. The most peaceful and advanced countries in the world have extremely high educational standards and rates. Canada for example, has a literacy rate of 99% and is internationally renowned as being one of the most peaceful and most advanced country in the world. Canada has some of the highest ranking universities and schools in the entire world, as well as being one of the few countries that is known for promoting peace and having military sections created for that soul purpose.

Other countries that have substantially lower levels and rates of education clearly show that it is a necessity to have. Countries such as Burkina Faso have extremely low educational levels and a literacy rate of 23.6. Burkina Faso is also an under-developed country with large amounts of violence and oppression occurring everyday.

Where education is lacking, violence and oppression are flourishing. To ensure that a country is set to develop strongly and quickly, a country must equip its citizens with a proper education. This would also help to dissolve violence and unjustness around the world and help us to further ourselves into a peaceful global spectrum. Education is a powerful resource that we cannot let go unused.

Canadian Leaders Debate

I was watching the leaders debate live on television. I did not know much of each political leaders stand point. I knew some about all five, Liberals, Conservatives, NDP, Green and Bloc Quebecois. Although there were a great number of views and agenda’s of each party I had not heard of or knew about before. After hearing these views, I realised that the Conservative party of Canada is much worse than I had already determined. I had not realised that Harper had cut spending on the Canadian arts, one of the biggest trademarks of Canada. These cuts had been made by decision through specialised voting within the conservative party; votes that the majority of the public are not counted in. It also seems that all other political leaders are for the arts and love the arts. I am on their side. I feel the arts are one of the greatest attributes to Canada, and it would be a terrible thing to take away from this country. From totem poles on the west coast, the soap stone sculptures in the North, great architecture in all the great cities, the picturesque homes on the east coast and the music scene in the south, these are all inspirations to Canadians and international societies and I believe that these talents should be funded so that they may prosper in this generation and limitless to come.

Facebook

Facebook; the social utility that helps you connect and share with the people in your life … true of false?

Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerburg as a social networking for University of Harvard students, on February 4th 2004. Over time, the website has expanded its membership to all university students, then high school students, and has now currently enabled anyone aged 13 and over to attain a membership. Taking off at an astonishing rate, Facebook’s membership is currently at 120 million.

Controversies seem to be magnetic to this newly developed social networking site. What began as a medium for users to connect with each other, has become a spiral of controversy and law suits. These issues have arisen, through unclear positions on copyrights from embedded materials of users to spam advertisements. Facebook has also been known to be the reason for not getting a job acceptance because of unruly behaviour cited and shown on the website. There are other countless stories that have arisen from this social networking site to have a negative outcome.

Although Facebook has encountered many difficulties as one would from a public social networking site, there have been many positive outcomes. For example, people have been able to create or join groups that are tailored to their interests, which inevitably creates online friendships. This site also allows users to easily share photos, videos, literature and a very wide range of subjects that would be hard to share otherwise. Facebook has proven itself in many respects to be a useful social networking utility.

The question comes though; is Facebook truly a social utility that helps you connect and share with the people in your life? True. Facebook has proven to be a positive to a social life of someone. It is easy-to-use and easy-to-access website that empowers users to access all members who have signed up. It also gives users the power to create groups and post almost anything they want. This networking site also helps users to contact those who are extreme lengths apart. They can contact those who are very far in a matter of seconds, and it won’t cost a cent; eliminating the cost of long distance phone charges. Thus bringing everyone a little bit closer.

Facebook can also be used as a tool to promote and project the general publics opinion. Facebook has already been and will continue to be the housing for many protests and petitions. Facebook groups are easy to create and easy to pass by word of mouth. Many protests that have been created on Facebook have reached member numbers in the hundreds, to the hundreds of thousands. Some of these groups have been able to create change and others have not, although all of them have in-fact been able to serve the most beauteous purpose; uniting many people for one idea of change.

Facebook groups also have the power to enable the promotion of human rights and human equality. These groups, and their powers, as many have demonstrated, show that if people on Facebook can unite to make a change on certain topics, it can be done on other topics as well. Facebook groups have been based on raising awareness and money for HIV/AIDS victims, as well as cancer patients. Many other positive and beneficial groups to the community and the world have arisen through Facebook networking.

Facebook has been seen as a negative impact to our generation for its time consumption and productivity obstacle, but through human ingenuity and human kindness, we can easily see the positive outcomes of such a popular and influential social networking site.

Canada's Coalition Government

Stephen Harper’s minority government is in jeopardy of being toppled. The Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, and the Bloc Quebecois Party, all intend to overthrow the Conservative party through the actions of a coalition government.

The three leaders, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe signed the coalition accord and sent a letter to our Governor-General Michaelle Jean, advertently saying that the opposition has lost confidence in the Conservatives.

This proposed coalition government between these three parties will last until June 2011. The Bloc Quebecois will only pledge support for the first eighteen months. Of this time frame that is proposed, Stephane Dion would become Prime Minister until May. At this point in time, he will be replaced by his successor.

The plans for the coalition government would be 24 total cabinet positions. Six of these positions would be filled by New Democrats and the rest, eighteen would be filled with Liberal members.

This proposed coalition government is greatly enthused by the three participating parties as it is fiscally responsible in such distressful economic times and promotes the basic principles of national unity and equality. Liberal MP’s are also stating that even if the Conservatives show an economic-stimulus package, it would be rejected by the parties in opposition.

This rising coalition government, greatly reflects the majority of the populations concerns with the current Conservative minority government. Stephen Harper has not been able to conquer or even act significantly against the diminishing economy. This has been a major trigger in the reasoning for the coalition government and the three parties have already begun to set plans to implement a strong economic-stimulus package.

The coalition government is a very large threat to the Conservative government. It is a choice made by the opposing three parties that is needed. Stephen Harpers government has failed to accomplish many of the points that were recognised in his campaign and his lack of commitment to the economic downfall has Canadians worried about the future economy more than ever. This coalition government is the choice that needs to be made to reassure Canadians that we do in fact have a very bright and green future ahead of us.

Barack Addresses the World Via the Internet

Since the beginning of American history, since the first President, George Washington, there have been forty three presidents of the United States of America. Barack Obama is the forty-forth president. Many have implemented and utilized resources that were available to them at the time.

Barack Obama, the newly elected president of 2008, has begun to use the internet as a valuable resource in which no other American president has used on such a spectrum. This is a revolution in presidential communication and public consultation.

The newly elected President of the United States of America is clearly showing the advancing power of globalization. Obama can now be reached through the household computer instantaneously, which is effective and useful to working families who cannot spare the few extra minutes to watch a televised viewing. They are now enable to call up the viewing at any time and any place with the right internet connection and computer.

Although this limits those who do not own such technology. Americans who do not own computers with internet are at a disadvantage. Approximately 31% of Americans do not own a computer. For these people, it may seem that they are being disconnected from the diplomatic process of America and being forced into the dark because of their incapability’s to connect with the government.

It is understood that Barack Obama wants to revolutionize the way he communicates with America and with the world, but it seems to be unfair that many can not be communicated through this way. Although he is still addressing the country, through television and literacy he has eliminated the unfairness of this.

Globalization is showing its strength over the strongest person in one of the strongest countries in the world. Globalization is proving itself to be a measure that cannot be stopped due to our increasing advancements in communication and technology. It is showing though that it can be a good advancement that helps governments to create stronger democratic lifestyles and connects the world even more closely, and helps to spread the strength of fair and just governmental ideals.