Pettigrew et les subventions: pourquoi donner un coup de main ??? Bombardier?

Ce matin j'ai lu dans la Gazette que le f???d???ral donnera d'aide des pr???ts ??? ceux qui ach???tent des
avion regionaux chez Bombardier Le ministre souligne qu'il ne s'agit pas d'une subvention pour le manufacturier ??? rien. Ouais, et moi je propose vendre du terrain costi???re dans le d???sert.

Ce qui me surprend de cette d???cision c'est que le f???d???ral n'a rien appris de la d???cision de
l'OMC qui avait adjug??? que le Canada subventionnait de fa???on ill???gale ??? son industrie a???rospatiale. En outre, je ne vois ps comment cr???er une demande artificielle pour l'achat des
avions r???gionaux Bombardier aider l'entreprise aux longue terme. Selon moi, le capitalisme exige un peu de cr???ativit??? face aux vicissitudes du march??? et cette subvention aux acheteurs domestiques n'aidera pas l'entreprise qui deviendra d???pendante de cette type d'intervention. Mieux vaut que Bombardier se d???brouille toute seule.

Harry Potter and the coming civil war: a bold prediction

One of the subplots that I noted is the coming civil war in the wizard world. I immediately picked
up on this theme when Harry naively asked Ron where his brother Percy stood on the issue of Voldemort's return. Ron's subsequent reaction and his explanation to Harry of how Percy and the rest of the family relations were strained . Indeed, Percy's letter to Ron later in the novel merely sealed the intra-familial tension. So I'll make an audacious prediction for the sixth novel: the relations between Percy and the rest of the Welsey's will be permanently strained and possible even broken. Just like civil wars in real life. I bet John Granger wished he'd predicted this subplot for the sixth novel :)

27 July 2003: one year later

Well golly gee. I just remembered that this Sunday is my first anniversary blogging. I decided to change my blog template but as you'll notice, the accented characters have turned into question marks. I won't be teaking a year's worth on non-English blog posts. This is a severe bug and the Blogger programmers had better fix it fast. The area of accented characters is one in which Anglophone computer technology falls down.
I like the new look; a little more sober and austure. I'll add the blogroll as soon as I figure out; though just to gripe some more, changing templates should cause us to lose our customization especially the blog rolls. Luckily I saved my and I simply have to check the various links and make the necessary changes or elminations as the case may be.
Thanks to all my patient and faithful readers! Here's to another year and many more!

Un any

Aquest diumenge far??? un any que escric ??? la bit???corna. N'estic molt content i supr???s que he pogut trobar coses a dir, opiniar, comentar, etc. He decidit de canviar el model per??? degut d'un fall, tots els car???cters accentuats s'han canviats en punts d'interrogaci???. Francament no tinc les ganes de substituir sistm???ticament substituir els punts d'interaci??? amb la lletra corresponent. Tinc altres prioritats. ???En tot cas, gr???cies a totles lectors fidels i patients! ???Por molts anys!

Un an

Simplement pour continuer le th???me: ce dimance fera un an que j'???cris mon blogue. J'ai chang??? le mod???le pour c???l???brer cette occasion. Comme j'ai plaint en anglais et et catalan que le changement de mod???le m'a chang??? tous les lettres accentu???es en point d'interrogation. Je ne g???chera pas ce moment satisfaisant avec des plaintes.
Merci ??? mes lecteurs fidels et patients!

  ¶ 17:13

 

La mort del fills de Saddam

Son ben bé notícies mundials que no cal un enllaà sobre la mort de Qussai i Udai. Psicològicament, son bones not?cies que la mort d'aquells dos monstres ha siguda confirmada apr?s setmanes d'emboscades que mataven soldats americans. Segons la premsa americana, es possible que un m?ssil els ha acabats. Es una mica frustrant que no es podr? arrastrar els culls d'aquest conelluyts davant un tribunal de crims contra l'huminaitat. Tanmateix suposo que afronten una just?cia m?s permanent sense dret d'apel?laci?. Els iraquies es donen compte que el retorn del r?gim bassista es ara impossible i pertany a l'hist?ria i ara podran comen?ar a reconstruir el pa?s amb m?s confian?a i tranqil?litat que abans. Confio que l'Iraq esdevindr? un pa?s pacific, m?s o menys democr?tic i lliure. Espero que donaran un exemple del millor dels ?rabs. Indubtablement, els ve?ns han apr?s la lli?? de cor, el dest? dels germans Qussai i Udai els esperen si emprenyessin massa els EE UU.

Harry Potter and subsidiarity

Subsidiarity is just a fancy word that states that each institution and entity has a legitimate place in society and it's inappropriate for one entity to usurp the functions and role of another. For example, a family can take over the functions of the stock market; a school that of a plumber. In Order of the Phoenix, we see a violation of subsidiarity when Umbridge is appointed to the school as the Defence against Dark arts professor.

We have the first violation- a really trivial one- is when Umbridge interrupts Dumbledore's welcome to school speech so she could speak. Even though Harry didn't bother paying attention (he should've as Hermione and Prof McDougall acidly remarked) the readers did get to read Umbridge's speech. The conclusion was unmistakable: the Ministry of Magic would now interfere in the running of the school as well as with the teaching of the curriculum.

As I noted in an earlier article, the interference takes the form of progressively oppressive decrees. I won't need to discuss that subject again except to point out how the Umbridge's meddling in the school disrupts the school's rhythm and provokes turmoil that upsets the students and teachers. They no longer enjoy themselves and are constantly thinking of ways to rebel. The Wesley twins- Fed and George- were the most audacious and finally left school in disgust in a dramatic way that was the talk of the school. It'll be interesting to see what aftermath Hogworth's endures in the sixth book.

Les mollahs et les Canadiens: vers le fin du r?gime?

La controverse de la mort de Zahra Kazemi s'aggrave et les mollahs ont vraiment mis les pieds dans le plat. Contrairement ? la volont? de sa famille et aux maintes demande de l'ambassadeur de retour, les mollahs avaient enterr? Mme Kazemi en Iran puisqu'elle a morte dans le pays de sa naissance. Le gouvernement canadien songe ? rappeler l'ambassadeur et contemple ? des sanction contre les mollahs. ?a doit prendre une stupidit? assez cr?ative pour f?cher un gouvernement assez paisible et bien pusillanime comme le canadien mais les mollahs n'ont jamais fait preuve d'intelligence ni savoir-faire diplomatique. Tant pis pour eux.

J'esp?re que cette fois-ci le gouvernement canadien d?montrera un peu d'?pine dorsale et sanction s?v?rement les mollahs. Je propose qu'on cong?le non seulement leur argent personnel mais rendre leur ambitions nucl?aires un v?ritable enfer. En plus, on ne doit plus h?siter ? g?ner le r?gime iranien chaque fois que l'occasion se pr?sente. On doit ? partir de maintenant aider ? ceux qui songe bouleverser la mollacracie. Cette r?gime a tu? une de nous et sa violence croissante envers ses propres citoyens l'expose comme une menace pour la paix mondiale.

  ¶ 15:21

 

Harry Potter and the law

One of the most interesting themes in the latest Harry Potter book is Rowling's view of the law. Indeed, early in the novel, Harry is hauled before the Wizard court for illegal use of magic by an underage wizard. During the course of the trial, Fudge- the minister of Magic- snarled to Dumbledore that laws can be changed. Fudge outburst comes to pass because Umbridge, the undersecretary to the ministry of Magic, is appointed as the Dark arts professor at Hogworth's. Soon the Ministry passes decrees that progressively empower Umbridge to interfere in the running of the school which begins to disrupt its life and routines. I'll discuss subsidiarity in a future article.

The fact that the Ministry resorts to decrees is significant. Judges in real life deplore the state's penchant to resort to regulations, of which decree is just a variant, instead of laws. The latter are clear, everyone has access to them, they limit the state and the public administration's reach and are part of the checks and balances in the exercise of executive power. Regulations, by contrast, are less well known to the public thus they're less aware of them. More importantly the state gives itself an enormous discretion when it legislates regulations. These usually establish complex- so as not to say convoluted- procedures with very short time limits. Worse is that the public has to follow a very strict 'checklist' of documents, procedures and time limits that if not followed properly the state can reject the petition or request and the courts can't intervene.

Either the regulations prohibit judicial oversight-unless there's been a violation of constitutional norms, of natural justice or an error in the determination of competency- or severely limit the courts' ability to scrutinize the decision.
We see in the novel that the lack of judicial scrutiny or political accountability leads to progressively oppressive laws. The oppression then causes the students and teachers to rebel in subtle and overt ways. Indeed, I was reminded of Vitoria and the School of Salamanca's admonition that an unjust law is no law and thus entitles the population to refuse to comply with the law and authorizes individuals to resist the prince.

In any case, Rowling's views of justice don't just articulate the popular view but also a rather medieval outlook.

La gr?ve de Poste Canada: manquer de justesse

Ce matin j'ai lu que les syndicats et le patronat du Postes Canada ont finalement accord? un contrat qui ?vitera la gr?ve de justesse. Vous m'excuseriez si d?montre une indiff?rence. Il va sans dire que si les syndicats l'auraient d?clench?e, les gens et les entreprises auront tout simplement recouru aux alternatifs comme l'Internet, les services messageries, t?l?phones. Ce n'est pas comme il y a 25 ans jadis ou une gr?ve de la Poste impacterait de fa?on imm?diate l'?conomie. Je pense que les syndicat et le patronat avaient conclu de mani?re semblable ce qui a permis la conclusion de la pr?sente entente.

? Problemes amb Ibidem?

No s? que passa amb la bit?corna de Jes?s Fa almenys 2 dies que no puc accedir al seu siti. Suposo que es un problema del servidor. En tot cas, espero que Jes?s podr? reapar?ixer aviat car em fa falta.  ¶ 17:18

 

La mort de Kelly et les armes de destruction massive

J'ai lu sur les ?v?nements qui auraient conduit Kelly, le scientifique qui a ?t? la taupe de la BBC et qui accusait le gouvernement d'avoir exag?r? l'?tendu du program irakien d'armes de destruction massive. Sans dire de lieux communs qu'il s'agit d'une trag?die car le scientifique s'est suicid?e dans de circonstances assez triste, il existe quand m?me une scandale.

Je n'accuse point le gouvernement britannique car il y a trop de questions inconnues et sans r?ponse pour qu'on puisse accuser quiconque. Une enqu?te parlementaire ?tudiera ? fond tous les circonstances qui ont men?es ? la suicide. N?anmoins, la scandale existe, elle r?side au fait que avant la guerre, les gouvernements britannique et am?ricain insistaient que les armes de destruction massive constituait une menace ? la paix mondiale et l'ordre international.

Beaucoup de gens ont ?t? sceptiques, y compris ceux qui appuyaient la guerre. Comme je l'ai dit ? maintes reprises, m?me si l'ancien r?gime irakien laissait les personnes raisonnables ? croire qu'il poss?dait des armes interdite, il exista suffisamment des violations du cessez-le-feu ainsi que les R?solutions de l'ONU pour justifier un bouleversement du r?gime. N?anmoins, cette insistance aux armes de destruction massives ? l'exclusion d'autre ?l?ments aurait peut-?tre contribu? un lien causal ? la suicide de Kelly. En tout cas, j'esp?re que l'enqu?te ?claircira les ?v?nements et s'il y a des responsables qui en subisse leurs responsabilit?s.

Harry Potter and the press: critique of Big Media

I finally got round to read the latest Harry Potter book. I liked it though the plot reminded me of Clancy's Bear and the Dragon, the Order of the Phoneix could've benefitted from some pruning so as to keep the story moving along. Nonetheless, Rowling has lots of interesting things to say about contemporary society. I'll be musing from time to time about the various themes that I picked up from the book.

I was particularly struck at how the press- the Daily Prophet, the TV news in the non magical world and the Quibbler played much more prominent role than in the previous books. Indeed, it's rather eerie that Order of the Phoenix was published not long at the moment that the press' role in shaping public opinion became an issue once again. I'm not simply bringing up the issue of the Iraqi war period but also the scandals that rocked the NY Times.

It was quite interesting to observe how in Potter's world, the magical establishment used the Daily Prophet to discredit Dumbledore and Harry as well as to deny the reemergence of Voldemort. Consequently, a lot of people were persuaded that Dumbledore was a crackpot while Harry was a disturbed attention seeker. Nonetheless, the establishment knew the truth but just didn't know how to deal with the situation so it was far easier to smear Dumbledore and Harry.

Yet the truth did reemerge. However, Rowling seemed to perpetuate the popular prejudice that journalists need to be spoon fed the facts as they're too lazy and too biassed to do the legwork. I'm more skeptical even though there's an element of truth. In any case, I smirked at how the truth came from a 'disreputable' source- the Quibbler. It's the magical world's equivalent of the tabloids/Drudge report/blogs. Yet we shouldn't sneer at the Quibbler because in real life, The National Enquirer broke some legitimate news stories that the 'legitimate' media ignored or downplayed. I don't even need to remind the readers about Drudge.

It's pretty obvious to me that Rowling warns us not to take the information provided to us by the media at face value but to read between the lines and adopt a more critical outlook because the truth can be hidden in plain sight or it's distorted by someone whose interests are threatened or fearful that the status quo will be disrupted.

  ¶ 13:53