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VOCM NEWS:
Homecare Workers Not Impressed
March 27, 2009

A lukewarm reception this morning for the minister of health at a homecare conference in St.John's. Home care workers are angry and say they want more action. Ross Wiseman addressed the homecare conference on the heels of the provincial budget. Workers got a raise of $1.71 an hour in yesterday's budget. The minister says that's just a first step in what he hopes will be a widening gap between the pay earned by homecare workers and those at the bottom of the scale, minimum wage earners. NAPE president Carol Furlong says they need an uinfusion of cash and that earning just over minimum wage just won't cut it.

Homecare workers might as well face it. It will be impossible to get ahead while Ross Wiseman is in that position. McDonalds must be giving this guy free lunches for the recruitment he has done for them.

When is a majority not a majority?

copied and pasted from the Gulf News Online Website:

Majority vote to leave Grand Bruit
Province says not enough support idea to proceed
NATALIE MUSSEAU
The Gulf News

A majority of residents want government's help to resettle Grand Bruit, but the province is saying that's not enough.

When the results of last month's resettlement vote were tallied, 26 out of 31 eligible voters expressed an interest in financial assistance to close out the community.

Four ballots were opposed to relocation, and a fifth person returned a letter instead of the ballot that also opposed relocation.

That means 26 out of 30 voters, or 87 per cent, want to resettle.

However, the provincial government said that doesn't qualify as the "virtually unanimous" support it requires to move forward with the proposal.

The province is also counting the letter as a 'no' ballot, lowering the percentage of resident in favour to 84 per cent.

Government has said it will not proceed further unless there is a higher level of support. If that happens, another vote will be held.

Residents who voted to ask for help in leaving the community are upset by the results, according to Cynthia Billard, head of Grand Bruit's Local Service District.

"We feel government should accept 'significant support,'" she said.

Mrs. Billard said going through the voting process hasn't been easy on the community's residents.

She said if virtually everyone needed to agree, she doesn't understand why government representatives would continue with the process when they knew there was some opposition to the idea of resettlement from the initial meetings.

Mrs. Billard also questioned what the province means by 'virtually unanimous' support. She said the residents were told significant support would be needed but were never given a concrete figure or percentage.

Kelvin Parsons, MHA for Burgeo-La Poile, said the province should use the 87 per cent figure and accept it for sufficient support to proceed with resettlement.

"This is not a questionable decision; this is the vast majority," he said, adding the person who didn't return their ballot should not be counted at all.

Mr. Parsons said he has received a call from one resident who voted no, but has already changed his mind. He said that brings the percentage of residents in favour of proceeding to 90 per cent.

The MHA said he intends to pressure government to go ahead with the next steps in the resettlement process. He said no one likes to think about the death of another rural community, but the residents in this case have made their wishes clear.
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Six decades ago we saw an entire Dominion dissolve on just over 52 percent of a vote. I don't know what way i would of voted if i was a resident of this little community but i do think the end is near.

Spring Ride

A winter storm is hitting the Eastern part of our island today and accumulations are to be 30 plus centimeters. Here on the Southwest end we are experiencing a mild day and we got out for an enjoyable ATV ride, Some of todays photos here.

A few photos of a little excursion around the shoreline here this morning. The ice has been flowing pass the Cape for a few days now . The photos have been touched up using filters in Adobe Photoshop.

Canada's filmmaker Rob Spence

Canada's filmmaker Rob Spence, who lost his right eye when he was a child, shows a prototype of a prosthetic eye which will be transformed into a video camera, during a conference in Brussels March 5, 2009. Spence, director and producer in Toronto, said he would use the eye-cam the same way he uses a video camera to carry out the so-called "EyeBorg Project". In using his eye as a wireless video camera, Spence wants to make a documentary about how video and humanity intersect especially with regards to surveillance.

Canadian filmmaker plans to shoot with camera in eye

11/03/2009 6:31:00 AM

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS - A one-eyed Canadian documentary filmmaker is preparing to work with a video camera concealed inside a prosthetic eye, hoping to secretly record people for a project commenting on the global spread of surveillance cameras.

Torontonian Rob Spence's eye was damaged in a childhood shooting accident and it was removed three years ago. Now, he is in the final stages of developing a camera to turn the handicap into an advantage.

A fan of the 1970s televsion series "The Six Million Dollar Man," Spence said he had an epiphany when looking at his cellphone camera and realizing something that small could fit into his empty eye socket.MORE,CLICK HERE...

This fascinates me mostly because i too have an artificial eye. I sure would like to come home at the end of a day outdoors and download images to my PC that i observed through the day. Now while out on an ATV ride or walk i have to stop and take the camera out,focus and shoot. At times the subject is long gone but with this little contraption i could capture it. Of course this technology will not be researched for that purpose but to help the vision impaired to see. Sure would be great just the same to have one!

No-kill shelter fights for life in court

From CBC.NL.March 11-09

An animal shelter in western Newfoundland that refuses to put down animals is being brought to court, on grounds that its animals are diseased and neglected.

The Bay St. George Animal Shelter in Stephenville has long defended its "no-kill" policy against criticism, including from former supporters.

On Wednesday, the Newfoundland and Labrador government is scheduled to argue in provincial court that the shelter should be shut down.

Veterinarians working for the province inspected the shelter — home to 25 dogs and 90 cats — and found feces and urine on the floors, along with cats that were sick with several diseases.

In court documents, the province argues that the animals are suffering severe neglect and that administrator Gwen Samms is not fit to take care of them.

The government says the animals are so sick they can't be sold and should be put down.

Samms stands by her shelter's policies.

Province criticized

"We're the ones [who are] raising the money, and it's the community that's giving us the money to look after these animals," Samms told CBC News.

"We're the ones [who] come in and tend to these animals every day. We don't mind a lot of animals," she said.

Samms is sharply critical of the province.

"It's pretty stressful on us, the thought of all these animals being killed, because there's some heartless people out there that just believe in killing animals instead of helping them," she said.

Supporters of the shelter plan to organize a silent rally outside the courthouse to protest the government's court application.

I have always agreed with their no kill policy. I guess it's the way i look at things. The mangy old dog would have the same chance as the pretty little kitten. It's to bad it has come to this. I don't live in the Stephenville area nor know the caretakers of this SPCA. I have dropped in a few times over the years and made a few donations. It's not a pleasant place to visit and i suspect to even work there could be hazardous to your health. They do the best they can with what they get in donations. I have neighbors that have had 20 cats in their home at one time and the reason given to me for having them was that we have no animal bylaws in the community so they can have as many as they want. It's the mentallity like that which causes situations such as the one were seeing in the Bay St.Georges Animal Shelter right now. Maybe it's time to start a registry of all pets in NL and proof by anyone who owns one that they can provide and care for it.

Gwen Samms may or not be fit to look after them but we have many people here in NL and even my own community who also fit that description.

You don't suppose???

I have been at workplaces over the years when someone really screws up and that person always ends up keeping their job despite what happens. There are usually several reasons why. One was that the person was related to the boss. The second was that the person had something on the boss and the boss would just let it go fearing what could happen. I think in some cases there could be a third reason. You don't suppose?????? NAH!

Will here's a song to acccompany my conspiracy theory today.

Happy Birthday.

She turns Seven today! I remember that winters evening when we got the call just Seven short years ago from my son saying she had arrived. I won't get to see her today but i did have an enjoyable day this past Sunday. Some photos of our evening around the mountains and Seashore here.