Whether it’s Canada or the U.S., They Have to do a Study to Tell us This…!

Study: bosses get rich faster than workers

Feb. 23, 2008 at 3:28 PM

OTTAWA, Feb. 23 (UPI) — A study reveals Canadian managers’ wages rose faster than all other private-sector employment groups in the past 10 years.

The “Earnings in the last decade” study by Statistics Canada said managers’ wages increased 20.3 percent with inflation, to an average $27.41 an hour from 1997 to 2007, The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

“The top-end executives and senior managers are seeing their pay rates increase tremendously,” the study’s leader, Rene Morissette, told reporters.

The managers’ reportedly showed more than a 400 percent increase compared to other workers.

Non-managerial workers saw an average pay rate increase of only 4.6 percent to $16.46 per hour, and many did got even less, the report said.

Retail and clerical employees even experienced a decrease in their pay rates, the report said.

The CBC reported the study infers it pays more to tell people how to do a job than to do actually do it.

From United Press International

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Big, Big Snakes on the Move

 From United Press International

Scientists fear spread of Burmese pythons

Feb. 24, 2008 at 12:38 AM

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) — Scientists fear that Burmese pythons, already known to be breeding in South Florida, could spread through much of the southern United States.

Climate maps produced by the U.S. Geological Survey show the giant constrictors, native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia, could find suitable temperatures in an area that includes the southeast as far north as Virginia, most of Texas and parts of the southwest and most of California, Science Daily reported.

The pythons would be likely to threaten endangered species. In Florida, they have even become involved in battles with alligators.

The U.S.G.S. said the affected area could extend significantly north by the end of the century if the climate warms.

Burmese pythons can grow to be more than 20 feet long with weights up to 250 pounds. The Everglades National Park determined in 2003 that there was a breeding population within its boundaries and pythons have also been found in Big Cypress National Preserve, Key Largo and other open areas in the region.

The pythons are popular pets. But many owners have bought small ones and released them when they grew too big to handle and too expensive to feed.

18’Burmese Python and Friends

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North Korea: Be Nervous-Mr. Lee is Friends with President Bush

From the Washington Times

Lee to North Korea: Don’t be nervous

By Nicholas Kralev and Andrew Salmon
February 24, 2008

SEOUL — Lee Myung-bak, who takes office as South Korea’s 17th president tomorrow, told North Korea on the eve of his inauguration not to be “nervous” about his tougher policy approach to the communist state, pledging that reconciliation remains his goal.

The pro-American Mr. Lee, who will be the first conservative to lead South Korea in a decade, has promised to improve relations with Washington. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Seoul today, and Mr. Lee is expected to visit President Bush at the White House in April.

Among the various policy plans announced by Mr. Lee since his December election victory, the one that has most resonated internationally is his stance on North Korea. He has said that his predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, was too lenient toward the North and failed to hold it accountable for its actions.

Mr. Lee said he would link Seoul’s aid to Pyongyang to its progress on denuclearization, which has stalled because of the North’s failure to provide a promised declaration of its nuclear programs before a Dec. 31 deadline.
North Korea has not commented on Mr. Lee’s election, but official media have made it clear that his public message has been received in Pyongyang. Today, he sought to calm the North.

“There is no reason for North Korea to be nervous about the launch of the new government,” Mr. Lee said after a meeting in Seoul with Singapore’s former prime minister, Goh Chok Tong.
“The basic thought of the new government remains unchanged that South and North Korea should reconcile and maintain peace.”

Another proposal that has sparked an intense debate would fold the Unification Ministry into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mr. Lee argues that North Korea policy should be part of foreign policy, but his liberal opponents disagree.

“Lee emphasizes strong relations with the U.S. and Japan to solve the nuclear crisis, but the bottom line is, all his polices start when it abolishes nuke weapons,” said Sung Deuk-hahm, a professor in politics at Mr. Lee’ s alma mater, Korea University.

“What will he do in the meantime? I don’t see specific programs or proposals,” Mr. Sung said.
Domestically, Mr. Lee, 66, has vowed to accelerate growth in Asian’s third-largest economy, ease regulation and taxation on business and attract more foreign investment.

Rising from poverty to head Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Mr. Lee gained a reputation as a “bulldozer” who rammed through projects against opposition. As mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2006, he won popularity with a massive urban rejuvenation project, uncovering a stream that flowed through downtown.His flagship presidential plan is the digging of a grand canal the length of the mountainous nation.

The country, suffering from sagging competitiveness and falling foreign investment, is eagerly anticipating economic improvements, but given Mr. Lee’s background at Hyundai and in a market dominated by giant conglomerates, questions have arisen over whether he will be pro-free market or a pro-big business interventionist.
“I think he has much broader interests than a typical conglomerate executive,” said Tom Coyner, author of the book “Mastering Business in Korea.”

“If he mimics old-fashioned policies, he will not go down in history as the visionary which I think he believes himself to be.”

In addition to Miss Rice, other foreign officials expected to attend tomorrow’s ceremony are Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Russian Premier Victor Zubkov and Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan.

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“The Solution to Hunger” – Eat Bugs Says U.N.

 From Fox News

U.N. Conference Promotes Insect-Eating for Everyone From Famine Victims to Astronauts

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  —  Crickets, caterpillars and grubs are high in protein and minerals and could be an important food source during droughts and other emergencies, according to scientists.

“I definitely think they can assist,” said German biologist V.B. Meyer-Rochow, who regularly eats insects and wore a T-shirt with a Harlequin longhorn beetle to a U.N.-sponsored conference this month on promoting bugs as a food source.

Three dozen scientists from 15 countries gathered in this northern Thailand city, home to several dozen restaurants serving insects and other bugs. Some of their proposals were more down to earth than others.

A Japanese scientist proposed bug farms on spacecraft to feed astronauts, noting that it would be more practical than raising cows or pigs. Australian, Dutch and American researchers said more restaurants are serving the critters in their countries.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates 1,400 species of insects and worms are eaten in almost 90 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Researchers at the conference detailed how crickets and silk worms are eaten in Thailand, grubs and grasshoppers in Africa and ants in South America.

“In certain places with certain cultures with a certain level of acceptance, then insects can very well be seen as part of the solution” to hunger, said Patrick Durst, a Bangkok-based senior forestry officer at the FAO.

The challenge, experts said, is organizing unregulated, small bug food operations in many countries so they can supplement the food that aid agencies provide. The infrastructure to raise, transport and market bugs is almost nonexistent in most countries.

Prof. Arnold van Huis, a tropical entomologist known as “Mr. Edible Insect” in his native Netherlands, blamed a Western bias against eating insects for the failure of aid agencies to incorporate bugs into their mix.

“They are completely biased,” van Huis said. “They really have to change. I would urge other donor organizations to take a different attitude toward this … It’s excellent food. It can be sustainable with precautions.”

There are questions about the safety of eating bugs and potential dangers from over-harvesting them, said Durst, who became interested in the practice known scientifically as entomophagy during his years working in Bangkok, where crickets and bamboo worms are sold as food by street vendors.

Tina van den Briel, senior nutritionist at the World Food Program, the U.N. agency that provides food in emergencies, expressed doubt that insects can benefit large, vulnerable populations. Most bugs are seasonal and have a short shelf life, she said.

“They can be a very good complement to the diet,” said van den Briel, not a conference participant. “But they do not lend themselves to programs like ours where you transport food over long distances and where you have to store food for a few months.”

She suggested a more practical benefit might be adding insects to animal feed or crushing them into a meal powder that could be used to make cookies or cakes.

Meyer-Rochow said aid agencies might even find a way to harvest crop-destroying swarms of locusts and crickets.

“These mass outbreaks could be a valuable food source,” he said. “If the technology is available, they could be ground up like a paste and added to the food humans eat.”

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Note:  As Prof. Arnold van Huis has stated Americans need to stop being repulsed by alternative food choices such as bugs. Bad, bad Americans!

The Sunday meal, instead of the old pot roast, can be a healthy alternative such as broiled crickets topped with fried earthworms served with a side of boiled green grass topped with a pat of butter. Most items can be found in your yard or under your shed.

And put those flowers you have been growing in your garden to good use and eat them too! Think of the money you will save (you’ll need it to pay for the higher gasoline prices)! You can pat your tummy and your wallet at the same time!

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The US Government and Illegal Wiretapping: Changing Stories

As the list of potential terrorists increases, and now includes gamers and bloggers, the US Government is hot on the trail of phone tapping at any cost.

As we have been learning, one never knows what 15 year old Tommy, a gamer, may tell his 16 year old blogging buddy Sean on the phone that could help the CIA and FBI in diverting a potential terrorist plot.

Today the National Intelligence group is in a tizzy since the Protect America Act expired. Oh my! US spies don’t know how to conduct their jobs within legal bounds and are concerned that they may be losing valuable information gained by illegal means if the Protect America Act, with additional protection clauses, isn’t set back in place again soon.

Concerned over the lapse of the Protect America Act, Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell, throwing a temper tantrum in a letter to Congress, stated that the United States “is now more vulnerable to terrorist attack and other foreign threats.”

Mukasey further indicated that because the Protect America Act had lapsed valuable information was being lost.

Once again government officials were raising and throwing down the “war on terror” flag to strike fear into the hearts and minds of US citizens.

However, all is not lost!

According to National Intelligence, telecommunications companies agreed to continue to illegally wiretap and spy on US citizens without the Protect America Act.

Whew! Bet you were worried about that one!

One upstanding telecommunications company is refusing to cooperate (name not released) with the illegal action and they are denounced as potential hold-ups to providing information on new suspected terrorists.

Civil rights and privacy advocates are outraged at the continued abuses of wiretapping. “In an attempt to get sweeping powers to wiretap without warrants, Republicans are playing politics with domestic surveillance legislation,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Check out article at Los Angeles Times.

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As the Debate on Whether Global Warming is Real or Not Continues…

From Swiss Info

February 24, 2008 – 1:35 PM

Al Gore to be honoured in Switzerland

Former American vice president Al Gore is to be awarded an honorary doctorate by one of Switzerland’s most prestigious university institutions.

The Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne is honouring Gore for his work in publicising the issue of climate change.

“Gore made global warming an issue for debate at a time when no one, in the US in particular, was discussing it,” institute head Patrick Aebischer told the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

He said the institute awarded honorary doctorates not only to scientists, but also to people who had helped to ensure that the results of scientific research are applied for the good of society.

Gore will receive the doctorate in person on April 15.

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