Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

I want Canada to be a leader, but not in one of the worst ways possible.

==

Last night I watched “Zeitgeist The Movie You can watch it free on Google Videos. It’s really interesting and I highly recommend it. And while it creates loads of homework, and angry reactions from viewers, it’s hard to argue with its explanation of why Jesus is literally the “sun of God”. I also didn’t previously understand the astrological concept of the “dawning of the age of Aquarius”. Now the song makes more sense too :-)

Zeitgeist means “spirit of the age”. An age is 2150 years, connected to how constellations appear in the sky due to orbital wobble of the earth. Zeit is “time” and geist is “ghost” or “spirit”. Right now we’re in the Age of Pisces (the Fish). That could explain why Jesus fed so many thousands with just a couple fish. They were constellation fish, and helped people determine their agricultural schedule.

The UofR employees union will vote on Monday whether to accept or reject the “final offer” from UofR management. The UofS will vote Tuesday.

Should the membership reject the offer, which seems likely since it still contains wording that will lead to reduced benefit coverage, and less wages than are being sought, as well as a flawed but slightly less senseless evaluation system, the next talks will take place on the Friday following the vote. CUPE negotiating head Don Puff said today that Thursday was offered as the next day to talk, but that the UofR/S were busy with other commitments. I wonder what could possibly be more important than finding a compromise to the dispute? I don’t know why Wednesday wasn’t offered as a date to meet should the vote be for rejection of the “final offer”.

The universities rejected an offer from the union for staff to return to work by today (Friday) because it was contingent upon the two parties using mediation. It doesn’t look like the universities are too eager to get services back to normal for students, or to seek a deal that suits both sides. They do have the money to buy advertising in the student paper though, where the President Dr. Jim Tomkins states “we are working to ensure that the delivery of academic programs remains our priority.”

Perhaps if the universities could explain why CUPE members should want the cuts to benefit-coverage, I’d change my mind. Or if they explain why there isn’t enough money for the wage increase being requested. Will tuition be lowered by the equivalent amount saved if they give CUPE less than what the union is asking for? Did the raises management got leave too little for CUPE, and tuition freezes/reductions? Did mismanagement leave the budget in a shambles and that’s why they are looking to cut benefits? Is anyone going to answer my questions? Is anyone reading them still? If so, do you find this sentence funny?

It looks like today I’ll reach a quarter million page loads on all of my personal websites since 1997. Right now as I write this, I have 248,892. Yesterday I got 2227, mostly from people finding me on Google looking for the disgusting Two Girls One Cup video that I talked about, but never showed. And yes, that was a daily visit record (1676), if you don’t count the ~quarter million people who viewed my Pet Foil Hat Technology auctions on eBay over the years.

So, whether you stop by from StumbleUpon, Google, Progressive Bloggers, Liblogs, SaskBlogs Aggregator, another blog, or an RSS feed/Bookmark, thank you for helping to inflate my online ego well past the size of my actual fan base :-)

If I can identify the 250,000 visitor (because they left a comment, and I happen to be home when they do it), I’ll mail out a PFHT foil hat to them.

Due to the strike at the UofS and UofR, I expect the Star Phoenix and Leader-Post won’t be ranking the UofS as highly next time. Who would be eager to work for them at this point, when their anti-union style has brought about a strike that has lasted 3 weeks, and looks likely to continue until the next at the very least? It’s CUPE 1975 on the picket line now standing up for employees who will get a raise that’s a fraction of the one the administration gave themselves this year. Which UofS union will be out next when their contract is up for re-negotiation?

It seems the Charter Right to organize politically can be contractually suppressed. And the employers at the UofS made sure to point it out too, to discourage faculty and others from taking part in the Day of Action November 22 set for the UofS and UofR.

CUPE 1975 responds:

Join us in holding the line and holding the employer publicly accountable for refusing to settle this dispute today in conciliation talks.

In an effort to expedite a settlement, CUPE 1975 proposed this [Wednesday] morning (through conciliator Doug Forseth) that both parties agree to refer the two outstanding issues to mediation. CUPE 1975 said if the employer agreed, all striking CUPE members would be back to work within two days.

At 3 p.m. [Wednesday] afternoon, the employer refused our request to settle the dispute through mediation, ending all hope of finding a settlement at the table today.

CUPE 1975 is holding a rally at 11 a.m. [Thursday] as part of our Day of Action. The rally will be held near the Memorial Gates. Speakers include faculty, students, union leaders and others.

Please come out and show that you support an end to the strike, through a fair settlement.

Continue Reading »

It’s a question that the Sask Party will have to deal with, and soon. They are hitting the road running when it comes to keeping the province’s roads and bridges open for business. I hope the cities, and Ministry of Highways and Transportation are working to keep the type of infrastructure failures that kill people, to a level of 0.

Murray Mandryk makes the case for MMP or another PR system of elections in Saskatchewan. Unfortunately the Sask NDP didn’t talk about doing this until the final 20 days of their 16 years in power. Now they don’t have the chance to put the more fair electoral system in place, because they don’t hold power, and Wall has a commanding majority, and a mandate given to him by more than 50% of active voters.

Given that this [lack of talent for cabinet] is now a 25-year- or-longer problem in Saskatchewan politics, and given the somewhat-skewed election results, maybe now is time to consider doing things differently.

Isn’t it now time to consider setting aside part of the Saskatchewan legislature for proportional representation? Suppose that there were 10 seats in the 58-seat legislature based on popular vote rather than first-past-the-post. And suppose, based on the recent popular vote, the Saskatchewan Party government had five more seats, the NDP four and and the Liberals one. Wouldn’t that result in both better cabinets and oppositions?

Maybe we need to consider such new ideas to get the depth we need in modern-day cabinets.

We need more reporters explaining the benefits of PR, on a regular basis. I hope Mandryk continues to show people that there are solutions to draining talent pools in elected governments, that don’t resort to installing unelected cronies like Stephen Harper did with Fortier. And we don’t need elected MPs and MLAs to cross the floor like Emerson did to join Harper’s government, if coalitions can be formed from the [likely] minority governments that will come from electoral reform.

–
Hat tip to John Murney

The Jurist also gives a nod to Mandryk’s effort to inject some sanity into our electoral system.

In an unfortunate twist of events, some races were so close that the provincial election results could not be finalized until weeks after November 7th. The final results held the previous counts of 38 Sask Party and 20 NDP though. Hagel, a Moose Jaw MLA and Minister last term, was defeated. Maynard Sontag was also defeated.

I’ve often boasted that in Canada you know who wins an election the same night as the vote count (unlike the USA, where courts decided the 2000 result). However, this time Elections Saskatchewan didn’t have its act together, and had to wait on absentee ballots that in my opinion should be available to be counted on election night, or at worst the next day.