Thursday, February 24, 2011

Libya's Dictator Vows to Resign

     Moammar Kadafi leader of the Libya revolution in 1969 has vow to resign against "greasy rats;" those against the regime in the words of Kadafi. Moammar has done quite a bit to stop the popular uprisings in Libya influenced by other countries. Reports from witnesses and diplomats have suggested that Kadafi has used warplanes, helicopter gunships and foreign mercenaries against anti-government protests. The UN Security Council has met in New York to discuss the unarmed opposition forces in Tripoli. Many Libyan ambassadors have stepped down from their position; the deputy ambassador to the UN denounced the attacks as genocide. People have not seen such a bad government attack to their own people. According to Kadafi he has not fled the country.
   
     I feel that the people in the country have a right to show what kind of country they really want to fall in and that they should be able to have votes to choose their president. This dictatorship has lasted over 40 years and should come to an end. But I want to look at this in another perspective, one with possible consequences. This dictator has not really done anything bad towards the people of Libya until they started protesting against him. In my opinion countries like America and United Kingdom who follow democracy are influencing young people from dictated countries to follow along. Eventually this influence of young people creating a dictatorship could lead to power in the hands of countries like USA and the UK. We don't know what will happen if Kadafi goes and if the country will get worse or better. There is so much knowledge being withheld and sometimes or most of the time we don't know if we are getting the right information.      

Link
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-20110223,0,6760656.story

Photo Credit:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/02/22/mb-libya-protest-legislature-manitoba.html

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Mysterious Delay on TTC Today

    Today on the TTC citizens on their way to work were halted in a jammed subway, not knowing what had caused the subway to stop. Apparently the announcer on the subway system could not deliver the message because the audio system was not correctly established. The subway has always had poor speaker systems. There had been a broken rail discovered in King Station during rush hour. This caused cancellation between Bloor and Union Station for an hour and a half. TTC spokesperson Jessica Martin said "When a delay happens, we’re focused on safety, making sure trains get turned around. So communicating is kind of secondary.” She said that the broadcasts come from transit control, so they pick up noise. There are e-mails and Twitter alerts that will be sent to say what has happened; impossible in underground Subway. Martin says there should be screens in front of ticket booths to say if there are alerts about the station, but it is too costly. Another costly system is to have Wi-Fi or cellular connections in the subway.

   There is two big problems and one can be solved with a median level of difficulty and the other one is too expensive. The really expensive one is Wi-Fi connection for all subway systems the median one would be communication through the trains. Martin said communication is secondary and turning the train around is primary, but communication is the really big issue here and both should be a primary situation. If you want the people to be safe sure turn the train around, but tell them exactly what is going on through a sophisticated speaker. I think the TTC could possibly raise the prices for the tickets a little bit higher and just use that money to make up for a proper announcement; people will understand why they got to pay a little bit more and they will appreciate the service. There can be announcements stationed in a more subtle place instead of a transit control. Communication is what allows humans to interact with each other and if something goes really wrong other than knowing to turn the train around its best in the people to know. I think that the people in the TTC deserved to know what happened and I am glad that the TTC admits to it. They should get an appropriate speaker system. Communication is key, and it is something used in all aspects of life.

Web Link and Picture:

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Mubarak Potential for Stepping Down Tonight

   According to NBC Hosni Mubarak will step down Thursday, after more than two long weeks of protests. Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq told BBC Arabic that discussion is still in progress for the president of stepping down. Another report, from Reuters suggests that the information minister says Mubarak will stay in power. President Obama and CIA director have reports Mubarak stepping down. There are so many protests from labourers and this disturbs telecommunication as the people who work on them go on strike for anti-government protests. At this point people are taking advantage to protest for better wages and conditions; so far Mubarak has said he won't step down until September.

     With all these reports saying Mubarak will leave, shows a connection between America and Egypt's government. So I am assuming we definitely don't know if Mubarak will step down. The people seem a little unconscious about the future, if all you are focusing on is Mubarak stepping down, then who is going to replace him is it going to be better or worse. I think the country is just fine, it isn't like a messed up country like Iran where you would go protest against their brutal authoritarian government. Sure Egypt is authoritarian, but it isn't severe or bad at all; tourism, extremely prosperous, especially compared to rest of Middle-East and Africa; although people don't have too many rights they aren't thinking if it could get worse. If Mubarak was to step down, I think someone on his side, secretly, would replace him and continue Mubarak's legacy, but without full control of Hosni Mubarak. The protests have been going on for too long so I am assuming Mubarak will step down soon, but his legacy will continue for a little while. Until September election, there will be potential parties (hopefully good parties) forming for a democratic election. I think Mubarak should step down because it is what the whole country wants; so many people are against one government. I think if Mubarak steps down, it is for his own safety, but you never know if it is good for the country, maybe it will turn out worse. The future can never be told but there are clues and experience that can help you find out!


Link and Photo Credit:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/02/10/egypt-cairo-tahrir-protest.html

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Students Protest Beaver Pond Forest Development

      The Beaver Pond Forest in Kanata is under housing development, so students protested in order to stall tree-clearing work. There were 20 students in the effort that sang about the forest, about 100m from the entrance to the Goulbourn Forced Road. The students were surrounding the machinery demanding that the city and province get an assessment on the environment and archaeology; students shortly left when police asked them to leave. A group of developers named KNL, is going to clear a 29 hectare section of Kanata's South March Highlands; this consists of 2 square kilometres of Beaver Pond Forest where they are making 3300-unit subdivisions. There were similar protests a week ago regarding that the forest belong to interests of Algonquin people. There was a previous archaeological study in 2002 that was approved by Tourism and Cultural Ministry from KNL and later confirmed the decision in 2010; it was approved by Ottawa's city council in 2004. In fall the city planned to swap land with the developer in order to protect a small portion of the land through constructions of the houses, but the city could not afford to pay 40 million dollars to preserve land from the developer.


      I feel that the people protesting is the right of a citizen as they have a strong opinion and are trying to protect their own land. What the city should have done is estimate what would happen in the following years after agreeing with the developers; now they can have another assessment. I feel that already there is enough places that have construction but since Kanata doesn't have much people they could use a little room. I feel that 29 hectares is a load too much to cut and perhaps to make a compromise to have the houses integrated into the forest so all around the houses and yards there are trees, that way we are preserving nature (cut as little trees as they can) and building the benefits of subdivisions. This solution would probably be the best but most likely the government would have to pay the developers a lot of money. So they would have to compromise a certain price that is a win-win situation for the developers and the citizens. People have to start thinking about the environment or else we could not live a healthy lifestyle, maybe that is what these protesters are doing.

Information Link:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2011/02/08/ottawa-kanata-protest.html

Photo Credit:
http://lecanadian.com/2010/12/13/kanata-land-speculators-pursue-environmental-destruction-of-ecological-habitat-beaver-pond/

Friday, February 4, 2011

Charges Against Ex-Mayor

     Investigators of Operation Hammer have arrested Sylvie St-Jean former mayor of Boisbriand, Quebec and seven other people in connection of corruption scandal occurring from 2003-2009. The suspects have been charged with fraud ,bribery, conspiracy, extortion and since they showed up to court today (Thursday), they have been picked up and released to court. According to Sgt. Guy Lapointe, the whole scheme was construction companies bribing elected official's for cash incentives and in return for huge municipal contracts. The municipality would give big contracts to these businesses while they supported the municipality and gave them gifts. Operation Hammer (Opération Marteau) is a unique squad founded in 2009 to investigate allegations of corruption and collision in Quebec's construction industry. Lino Zambito an owner of Infrabec was arrested Thursday for teaming with St-Jean to eliminate the opposition. Zambito encouraged opposition leaders to drop down such as Patrick Thiffaut and Marlene Cordato. When Cordato refused two men broke in her house and assaulted her husband. In Radio-Canada, Zambito agreed for telling Cordato to drop down for the benefit of the community not paying taxes. St-Jean had denied favouring city contracts; Cordato won anyway in 2009 and the suspects will be questioned in courthouse of Joliette,Quebec.



    I think illegal activities of such as transaction between municipalities and constructions in favour of contracts and support should have consequences. There are so many "behind the scenes" work that no one really knows about, but unfortunately for St. Jean it was revealed. I think that if the suspects are alleged for the crime that they should go to jail, but not for a long time. I think St-Jean had done a great job for the city but not of that information is described in the article so instead of her going to jail, perhaps she can get fired from her job. If St-Jean had won then that would have been a different story, but before 2009 she was mayor and that was the time frame of the crimes. I know she wanted the support and for her to win but there are other ways to get it without cheating ,and her losing just made her look worse. The final decision should be that all the people involved should be detained as political prisoners and depending on how bad the situation is how the length shall be determined.

Link:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2011/02/03/boisbriand-hammer-corruption.html

Photo Credit:
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/elections-municipales/200910/16/01-912017-collusion-a-boisbriand-le-dgeq-verifie-sil-y-a-eu-infraction.php