The Public Eye has left a new comment on your post, "Bankrupt and obese?"
Clare,
I'm surprised at you. The picture (a screencap from the 1971 movie "WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY") is of the character Violet Beauregard, a particularly vapid and immature young lady who became the most famous human blueberry in cinematic history.
I urge you and your readers to watch the movie (still a classic, and quite watchable, after all these years), think about what personal qualities led to her blueberry-esque obesity, and you will understand the symbolism of this photo.
Thank you for writing. Sorry, but our knowledge of the cinema compared to yours is sadly lacking. However, as you can see we're trying to quickly educate ourselves
THE MMF INC. BROKE? By Fortunat Guiboche As originally posted on: Metis Justice Manitoba (http://redriverman.blogspot.com) August 29, 2006
Well Folks .....
Yesterday Randy Delaronde made a comment on his blog site that the MMF Inc. was BROKE .....well I don`t know that for a fact BUT I do know that the MMF Inc. is BANKRUPT of IDEAS. Maybe they should concentrate on matters that they are experts at like eating and OBESITY. I would suggest the top would be a good place to start!
Fortunat Guiboche August 29, 2006/Winnipeg, Manitoba Metis Territory
"The MMF Inc. ..... and Its President and Board of Directors"
THE LAME DUCK MMF INC..... By Fortunat Guiboche As originally posted on: Metis Justice Manitoba (http://redriverman.blogspot.com) December 4, 2006
GOOD MORNING FOLKS...
YES FOLKS THE MMF INC. AND ITS PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN LAME DUCKS THAT ARE QUACKING AND QUACKING AND QUACKING ..... THEIR DAYS ARE NUMBERED ..... A NEW METIS NATION THAT'S NOT A NON-PROFIT CORPORATION WILL SOON RAISE UP NOW PUTTING THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA/MANITOBA ON NOTICE THAT A NEW METIS ORDER IS IN THE WORKS. THE QUITE METIS REVOLUTION IS HERE AND HAS BEEN HERE FOR SOME TIME AND WE ARE NOT HIDING OUR INTENTIONS.
FORTUNAT GUIBOCHE December 4, 2006/WINNIPEG METIS CAPITAL METIS TERRITORY
Want to see the iPad? So do Apple store employees Tuesday, March 30, 2010 By Gabriel Madway and Ian Sherr
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As Apple Inc. gears up for the crush of customers expected for Saturday's iPad launch, employees who staff its retail stores are just as curious about the tablet as the fans who will line up outside.
Apple store workers say they have yet to see or touch the iPad, even though the launch is just days away and they are being trained and encouraged to talk about Apple's newest device with customers.
"We haven't seen it; we never do" before a product is launched, said one employee, who asked not to be identified because workers are barred from speaking with the media. "Every store employee I know, including the managers, they haven't seen it."
With its notoriously secretive corporate culture, Apple is loathe to circulate any iPads among retail troops ahead of the debut. Even in-store Apple repair techs -- known as "geniuses" -- don't yet know how to fix the gadget.
Since the iPhone launch in June 2007, Apple product releases have played out like concert tours, with fans sleeping in lines overnight and blanket media coverage that generates plenty of free advertising.
But amidst all the hype, the company's ethos of secrecy extends from its corporate perch in Cupertino, California, to its component suppliers and its network of more than 200 U.S. stores.
"We did not see or hold an iPhone until an hour before it went on sale," said a former Apple store employee. "We didn't know much more about it than people asking us."
Major products are usually unveiled by Chief Executive Steve Jobs at special media events, and most retail employees are kept in the dark until the devices are publicly available.
"There was really no word on anything," said another former store worker of the iPhone launch. "We saw a video of the keynote, and that was basically all you knew."
Guards And Decoys
The iPad is Apple's most significant product launch since the iPhone. Starting at $499, analysts estimate Apple could sell from 850,000 to 1.2 million units of the 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet in the April-June quarter.
Apple's U.S. stores will open at 9 a.m. on Saturday but the company has provided few details about the launch. If the iPhone debut is any guideline, Apple will have guards and decoys in place to hold the iPad's secrets.
At one store, Apple arranged to have two pallets arrive the day before the iPhone launch, placing one in the manager's office and the other in the stock room, both under the watchful eye of security cameras. Staff said one was filled with iPhones and the other was a decoy to discourage nosy employees.
A former assistant manager at an Apple store was ordered to remain at work all night before the iPhone launch, and given strict directions that only managers were allowed to see the smartphone, right up until just before they went on sale.
"We were told to stay overnight to guard them, to make sure nobody broke in and got to them. It was all a bit insane, but it wasn't really surprising at the time," he said. "It did put me off a little, but then you would read about something being leaked and you realize why they did it."
Retail employees are in many ways the public face of Apple, charged with spreading the gospel about the company's products to tens of millions of shoppers every year. Store staff, including part-time workers, have to sign nondisclosure agreements and can be fired for talking to outsiders.
They are paid around $10 an hour for entry-level work to over $30 a hour for those who staff the "Genius Bars" where customers come looking for help.(emphasisours)
Tech savviness is not necessarily the top priority when it comes to hiring, according to the former assistant manager. He said there was a running joke about "Gapple" because his store often mined The Gap casual wear retail chain for potential employees.
"We looked for people who were passionate about Apple, people who would be comfortable selling the product," he said.
Employees get a 25 percent discount on iPods and Macs, but none for the iPhone. Employees said they have not yet been told whether they will get a discount for the iPad.
One of the former employees said Apple stores were a fun, upbeat place to work, despite the strictness over secrecy.
"I understand why they do it. They give you just a little bit of a peek, just to tease you," he said. "It drives people crazy but at the same time it generates all this interest. It's human nature."
(Reporting by Gabriel Madway and Ian Sherr; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Richard Chang)
As promised we watched the CBC Winnipeg Television News at 6:00 this evening to find out more about a controversial story involving Louis Riel. It concerned a company CafePress (www.cafepress.ca) based in San Mateo, California which produces what could best be described as satirical T-shirts in 24 categories - everything from Animals & Wildlife to Religion & Beliefs to Interwebs Fun & Frolic. Needless to say, the above example ("Humour?") has caused a furor among our province's Metis citizens and leaders.
To watch a video about the company's Chief Executive Officer/Co-Founder Fred Durham and Matt Jervis from Kulture Hero Designs, visit the About CafePress link which appears at the bottom of the main page. If you'd like to express your views they can be e-mailed to the Public Relations Department (pr@cafepress.com). Should you choose to do so, hopefully, it will be in the great Canadian tradition for diplomancy, reason and eloquence. Just because they're being bad taste jerks doesn't mean we have to be too.
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
P.S. While checking out the CafePress site we found the perfect T-Shirt under the lawyer category for Manitoba Metis Federation taxpayer financed, prolific, production line, defamation attorney Murray Trachtenberg. What size Mr. Trachtenberg?
There was a report on CBC Radio Winnipeg news this morning about a controversial T-shirt that apparently makes a disparaging comment about Louis Riel. No other details were provided except to say the story will be featured on CBC Television Winnipeg news tonight at 6:00. We'll be watching.
A virtual farm turns new ground for game developers Saturday, March 27, 2010 By John Gaudiosi
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A virtual farm attracting up to 83 million aspiring farmers monthly has video game developers scrambling to find ways to plough the booming popularity of games on social networks.
Sites like Facebook, which has an estimated 400 million users, and MySpace, with about 100 million users, are driving a social gaming craze that was in the spotlight at this month's 2010 Game Developers Conference (GDC).
Heiko Hubertz, CEO of browser-based games portal Bigpoint.com which is home to over 100 million gamers, said online game experiences were very solitary in the past.
"Now through social network gaming and browser-based games portals, gamers of all types can share their experiences and compete against each other in original experiences like 'Poisonville,' as well as licensed content like the upcoming 'Battlestar Galactica Online,'" said Hubertz.
Once-small companies like Zynga, Bigpoint, Playdom, and Playfish, which Electronic Arts bought for $400 million last year, are finding exponential growth by creating free-to-play casual games that encourage players to get their friends involved.
This viral approach to gaming is introducing a whole new audience to videogames.
"The 800 pound gorilla in social games is Zynga's 'FarmVille,' which has over 82 million people worldwide playing at least once a month and over 32 million people playing daily," said Justin Davis, founder and editor of SocialGameCentral.com.
"FarmVille," which has been available as an application on Facebook since June last year, involves managing a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting crops and raising livestock.
Zynga, which has created five of the 10 most popular social games, also attracts an audience of 30 million monthly and 9 million daily with "Cafe World," its second most popular game.
Davis said overall Zynga has over 230 million active players across multiple social networks.
Even MySpace, which announced a new MySpace Games experience at this month's conference aiming to encourage game makers to cater to its online audience, can attract over 10 million players with games like Playdom's "Mobsters" and Zynga's "Mafia Wars."
About one-third of MySpace users currently play games.
Strong Growth Forecast Michael Pachter, videogame analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, said social gaming has grown from around $600 million in total revenue in 2008 to $1 billion in 2009 and expects social gaming to bring in around $1.6 billion this year.
"The growth rate should remain very high at around 40 percent each of the next three years, so my guess at 2011 is around $2.2 billion, 2012 at $3 billion 2013 at more than $4 billion," said Pachter.
While most of this gaming revenue is currently focused on the sale of virtual in-game items, called micro-transactions, Pachter forecasts there will be more advertising revenue and data mining in the future.
Game developers are introducing new technologies that could help grow social games even further.
Vivox, which provides voice chat services for massively multi-player online games like Nexon's "Combat Arms" and CCP Games' "EVE Online," is working with developer Hive7 to allow Facebook gamers to talk to one another while playing titles like the medieval strategy game "Knighthood."
"People will be able to play social games as if they were at the same table," said Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox.
Traditional game companies like Activision Blizzard and Sony Computer Entertainment are connecting console games with social networks like FaceBook and micro-blogging site Twitter where users can send 140-character messages called "tweets."
Activision Blizzard's upcoming racing game, "Blur," will automatically write tweets for gamers to send to friends as they unlock achievements.
Sony announced at this month's conference that its virtual world, PlayStation Home, which has over 12 million users, will offer more interaction with FaceBook, including notifying players of turn-based games like chess when it's their next move.
"I love incorporating my latest achievements on Xbox 360 games like 'BioShock 2' and trophies on PlayStation 3 games like 'Uncharted 2' with my Facebook and Twitter," said Raychul Moore, host for videogame site Gamerlive.tv.
"It allows me to take my love of achievements one step further and share my accomplishments with a much wider group of friends."
It's that kind of connected experience that leads David Cole, president of DFC Intelligence, to forecast that the total free-to-play market worldwide excluding Asia will grow from $1 billion in 2009 to over $3 billion in 2013.
"The big challenge in 2010 and beyond will be in enhancing gameplay," said Cole.
IF YOU MUST KNOW Why Did Obama Use So Many Pens to Sign the Health Care Bill? By Claire Suddath/Tuesday, March 23, 2010
President Barack Obama signs the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, March 23, 2010(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
After more than a year of bitter political debate and seemingly inescapable congressional deadlock, President Obama sat down in the White House East Room on March 23 and signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law with a stroke of his pen. And then another pen. And another. Obama used 22 pens to sign the landmark $938 billion health care bill. It would seem that either the President has an undiagnosed case of OCD or the White House needs better office supplies.
Actually, the President was just adhering to an obscure Washington tradition. The practice of using multiple pens to sign important legislation dates at least as far back as Franklin Roosevelt and is now one of our government's frivolous little quirks, much like that oversize gavel Nancy Pelosi carried around the other day.
The rationale is fairly simple. The pen used to sign historic legislation itself becomes a historical artifact. The more pens a President uses, the more thank-you gifts he can offer to those who helped create that piece of history. The White House often engraves the pens, which are then given as keepsakes to key proponents or supporters of the newly signed legislation. When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he reportedly used more than 75 pens (video footage can be found here, although camera cutaways make it hard to keep track) and gave one of the first ones to Martin Luther King Jr. Senators Hubert Humphrey and Everett McKinley Dirksen also received pens for their aid in shuttling the bill through Congress. And in 1996, President Clinton gave the four pens he used to sign the Line-Item Veto bill — which allowed Presidents to veto individual sections of legislation rather than the entire thing — to those most likely to appreciate the bill's impact: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
But how does a President even sign his name with so many pens? Does he print it? Does his signature come out looking disconnected and wobbly? What if he runs out of letters? "I've been practicing signing my name slowly," President Obama joked in January 2009 when he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — for which he used seven pens. President Kennedy had the process figured out: when he needed more letters, he wasted ink by spelling out his middle name and adding a flourish under his signature.
Once they're given away, some pens wind up in museums; others are displayed proudly in recipients' offices or homes. But they sometimes pop up again, like in the 2008 presidential campaign, when John McCain vowed to use the same pen given to him by President Reagan to cut pork from the federal budget.
Not every President goes for the multipen signature, however. President George W. Bush preferred signing bills with only one pen and then offering several unused "gift" pens as souvenirs. Even a piece of legislation as famous as the Homeland Security Act got only one line of ink. When it was over, the President is rumored to have pocketed it.
In this photo taken May 13, 2009 a grower holds a marijuana plant being grown for medical purposes inside a greenhouse at a farm in Potter Valley, California. In the mountain forests along California's North Coast, refugees from San Francisco's Summer of Love have spent four decades hiding from the law as they tended some of the world's most fabled marijuana gardens. After all those years, several statewide efforts to legalize marijuana could finally let those growers come out into the light. But at a community meeting in the heart of Northern California pot country on Tuesday, many growers said they were more worried about the cost of legalization to their bottom lines than about any federal raid. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Not just hippies versus cops: California pot vote brings out well-organized groups on both sides.
LISA LEFF, MARCUS WOHLSEN Associated Press Writers March 25, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO — Now that a proposal to legalize pot is on the ballot in California, well-organized groups are lining up on both sides of the debate. And it's not just tie-dyed hippies versus anti-drug crusaders.
So far, the most outspoken groups on the issue are those affiliated with California's legal medical marijuana industry and law enforcement officials who vehemently oppose any loosening of drug laws.
But the campaign that unfolds before the November election could yield some unusual allies: free-market libertarians joining police officers frustrated by the drug war to support the measure, and pot growers worried about falling prices pairing with Democratic politicians to oppose it.
Others believe legalizing and taxing the drug could improve the state's flagging economy.
"We spend so much time, our police do, chasing around these nonviolent drug offenders, we don't have time anymore to protect our people from murders and child molesters," said Jack Cole, president of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group that plans to champion the California proposal between now and the election.
The initiative, also known as the "Tax Cannabis Act," received enough signatures this week to qualify for the November ballot. If it is approved, California would become the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use by adults. The measure would also give local governments the authority to regulate and tax pot sales.
According to campaign finance records, nearly all of the more than $1.3 million spent on the campaign to qualify the question for the ballot came from businesses controlled by the proposal's main backer, Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee.
Lee operates a medical marijuana dispensary and cafe in downtown Oakland and is the founder of Oaksterdam University, which trains people to run their own medical marijuana businesses. According to the school, more than 5,000 students have completed their programs.
The largest donations from an individual not connected to the marijuana business came from George Zimmer, founder and chief executive of the men's clothing chain Men's Wearhouse.
Television viewers know Zimmer as the Fremont-based company's longtime pitchman in commercials. But he is also known as a longtime supporter of efforts to liberalize the nation's drug laws.
Opponents contend that the legalization effort will pit a few wealthy individuals against regular Californians who will provide the groundswell needed to defeat the measure.
"You have rich dilettantes who want to legalize drugs and ordinary people who consider the ramifications of legalization on their communities and their families," said John Lovell, a lobbyist representing several law enforcement groups opposed to the initiative.
Lovell pointed to the lopsided defeat of a 2008 ballot issue that would have pushed treatment instead of prison for drug offenders as a sign of voters' leanings. Supporters of the measure heavily outspent opponents, but it was defeated 59 to 41 percent.
The anti-legalization campaign has not reported any contributions yet, but workers are reviewing what they believe are major flaws with the ballot initiative. They say the proposed law would allow pot to be grown in public parks and fail to prevent people with prior drug convictions from selling pot.
Meanwhile, some well-known liberals have come out against it, including the state's presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Brown, who was seen in the 1970s as an icon of California's counterculture, told the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this month that he was "not going to jump on the legalization bandwagon."
"We're going to get a vote of the people soon on that, but I'm not going to support it," he said.
Legalized marijuana in California, the nation's most populous state, would represent a sea change in the nation's drug laws and put the state in direct conflict with the federal government because pot is still illegal in the eyes of federal officials.
On Thursday, a Department of Justice spokeswoman said it was too soon to speculate on whether federal authorities would sue to keep the measure from becoming law.
The administration relaxed its prosecution guidelines for medical marijuana last year, but President Barack Obama's drug czar has said the White House strongly opposes any efforts to legalize pot.
"Marijuana legalization, for any purpose, remains a non-starter in the Obama administration," Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said last year. "It is not something that the president and I discuss. It isn't even on the agenda."
California in 1996 became the first of the 14 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana. Many jurisdictions around the country have also decriminalized marijuana to the point that low-level possession offenses are not prosecuted.
States such as California and Colorado have also been struggling to deal with an explosion in the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in recent years, a trend that has made pot readily available to the public.
A decision by California to legalize pot could lend momentum to the entire legalization movement, just like its historic 1996 law did for medical marijuana.
Legislators in Rhode Island are considering a plan to decriminalize pot, and a group in Nevada is pushing an initiative that marks the state's fourth attempt in a decade to legalize the drug.
Lawmakers in Washington state recently killed a plan to legalize the sale and use of marijuana, though lawmakers there did expand the pool of medical professionals who could prescribe the drug for medicinal use. The ballot measure in California would allow people 21 years and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, enough for dozens of joints. Residents also could grow their own crop of the plant in gardens measuring up to 25 square feet.
The proposal would ban users from using marijuana in public or smoking it while minors are present. It also would make it illegal to possess the drug on school grounds or drive while under its influence.
Proponents of the measure say legalizing marijuana could save the state $200 million a year by reducing public safety costs. At the same time, it could generate tax revenue for local governments.
Law enforcement officials are promising a vigorous fight to ensure that marijuana never becomes legal in California. They believe legalized marijuana would increase crime and violence, deepen the nation's drug culture and lead teenagers to abuse pot.
The California Police Chiefs Association, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and groups such as the youth-oriented Drug Abuse Resistance Education also plan to oppose the idea.
Not everyone in law enforcement is opposed to the measure, however.
"We believe by voting for that initiative you can actually save lives," Cole said.
I am quite disappointed in your letter and enclosures dated January 6, 2005, sent by fax at 11:39 a.m. same date. By letter dated January 6, 2005, sent to you by fax at 10:29 a.m., we advised you amongst other things that we do not have instructions to accept a Notice of Appointment for Assessment of Costs. Notwithstanding, at 11.39 a.m., you sent to us a fax purporting to serve upon us a Notice of Appointment for Assessment of Costs in the Court of Queen's Bench. You also took and Affidavit which was sworn on January 6, 2005, which at paragraph 5 says, "as at the time of swearing this Affidavit I have had no response to this letter." From our point it would appear that paragraph 5 of your Affidavit is not correct, and/or at minimum prior to your faxing same over, it was incumbent upon you to correct same given the fax that you received.
As a side note, given that you have taken an Affidavit, we question the appropriateness of your appearance at the assessment.
Again, we do not have instructions to accept a Notice of Appointment for Assessment of Costs, and as we stated in our letter dated January 6, 2005, a copy of which is enclosed, together with the fax confirmation sheet, we ask that in the circumstances that you deal directly with Mr. Yvon Dumont.
Cell phone use by tots on rise By Laura Crimaldi and Marie Szaniszlo Thursday, March 25, 2010
IT'S FOR YOU: Elizabeth Lopez of Haverhill says she's debating whether to buy a cell phone for her 6-year-old daughter, who is a kindergartner at Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School.(Photo by Patrick Whittemore)
Cell phones - the scourge of high school classrooms and corridors - are falling into the hands of grade school tots who are showing up for class with a phone to call home as early as kindergarten, school officials said.
“Cell phones are a problem for all grades,” Haverhill High School Principal Bernie Nangle said, adding that a colleague described seeing kindergarteners with cell phones at her elementary school.
Elementary school students in Boston are bringing cell phones to class to contact their parents after dismissal or check in on their walk home, said school spokesman Matthew F. Wilder.
Wilder said cell phones must be kept under wraps during school because they are a distraction.
“When a student comes to school they should be focused on what’s happening in the classroom and not necessarily a game on their cell phone or a conversation they’re having via text message with a friend,” Wilder said.
He added cell phone use “hasn’t risen to a districtwide problem” and punishment for offenders is handed out at the school level.
In Lynn, Robert L. Ford School Principal Claire Crane said a teacher caught a fourth-grader texting during a reading lesson, but she described that incident as an exception at her grade school.
“Parents are using good judgment with the little kids,” said Crane, who added she has seen children as young as third grade with phones.
Crane said when Ford included middle school grades, she routinely confiscated cell phones from students who broke the rules.
“I had a closet full of cell phones,” she said.
Elizabeth Lopez of Haverhill said she’s considering buying her 6-year-old kindergartner a phone with access restricted to select numbers.
“She’s been asking for one,” said Lopez, whose daughter attends the Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School. “She sees her older cousins with cell phones, and she wants one, too.”
But other parents are steadfastly resisting the pressure to buy their children cell phones simply because their friends have them.
“Definitely no,” said Rosaline Berroa of Haverhill when asked whether she has bought one for her 5-year-old kindergartner.
“I have a 10-year-old nephew, and he’s asking my sister for a cell phone because all his friends have one,” Berroa said. “Mine won’t get one until they’re teenagers.”
It all began with an e-mail from Anonymous in Camperville the Metis capital of Manitoba who'd heard there was going to be a regional MMF meeting but didn't know when or where. Next we received the following from a self-professed undercover agent:
When: Saturday, March 27, 2004 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Where: Dauphin, Manitoba, 11th Avenue Hall Contact: (204) 638-9465
You can also find this information on the MMF's website:
You'll probably find him lurking in the shadows. It seems Team Trachtenberg-Chartrand have become increasingly concerned lately about The Public Eye's exploits.
Sincerely, Clare L. Pieuk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 26 March 2010 "The Mighty Manitoba Metis Federation Inc." THE MIGHTY MANITOBA METIS FEDERATION INC. by Fortunat Guiboche As originally posted on: Metis Justice Manitoba November 30, 2006
GOOD EVENING FOLKS.....
YES FOLKS WHERE WOULD THE MIGHTY MMF INC. BE WITHOUT MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA/MANITOBA?
THEY WOULD BE LOOKING AROUND IN BEWILDERMENT WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR GOOD LIFE!
THE FACTS ARE FOLKS THEY WOULD BE NOTHING! THEY LIVE AND DIE AT THE HANDS OF THE GREAT CANADIAN BENEVOLENCY..... THEY WOULD FIND NO-ONE .
TO MEET WITH THEM THEY WOULD LOSE THEIR LIFESTYLES.THEY WOULD FIND THEMSELVES SAYING, "WELL IT WAS PRETTY GOOD WHILE IT LASTED." THIS THEN IS THE LIFE OF THE METIS NATION UNDER THE GREAT MMF INC.
REDUCED TO NOTHING BY A STROKE OF THE PEN! THE CLAMORING FOR JUSTICE BY THE MMF INC. FAITHFULL WOULD BE TREMENDOUS. AFTER ALL THEY LIVE BY THE GOODWILL OF OTTAWA. I SAY CUT IT OFF ANYTIME I WANT TO SEE THE TRUE METIS FIGHTERS.
FERGS CORNER November 14th, 2006
Note: Mr. Guiboche likes to use capital letters in his writing.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post, "The Manitoba Metis Federation Inc. is a corporation!"
The MMF Corporation is supposedly having a meeting in the NorthWest Region! What? Where? When?... living in the Metis capital of Canada (Camperville, Manitoba) you'd never know that! Just been downtown at the community post office and council office neither of which had any notices of this Federation meeting being held in Dauphin. Anybody know when this was advertised and where? Anybody going to attend? Please report something to us, please. Maybe there'll be an election called ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Anonymous:
Thank you for writing. Unfortunately, we don't have any information, however, if our readers do please contact us with the details and we'll certainly post them.
Fortunat Guiboche was part of a small group who met during the 1960s from which the MMF emerged in 1967. While perhaps a tad outspoken at times, nevertheless, he makes a lot of sense (http://the-metis-state.blogspot.com) questioning the need and power of organizations such as the Federation and the Metis National Council. His site is well worth a visit!
When CyberSmokeBlog began (March 2006) we received and posted articles by Mr. Guiboche. He prefers CAPITAL LETTERS but keep in mind he's not shouting at you.
Sincerely, Clare L. Pieuk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 25 March 2010 "Powerfull Corporations" and "False Faced People who Lead Their Nation's to Ruin" BEWARE THE POWER OF CORPORATIONS---- by Fortunat Guiboche As originally posted on: The Metis State June 2, 2007
GOOD MORNING FOLKS .....
YES FOLKS BEWARE THE POWER OF CORPORATIONS INCLUDING THE NON-PROFIT CORPORATIONS! NOT TO LONG AGO UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF STRONG MAN BENITO MUSSOLINI .....CREATED THE FASCIST STATE OF ITALY WITH THE FULL CONSENT OF POWERFULL CORPORATIONS ALLOWED THE FASCIST DICTATOR TO LEAD THAT NATION INTO UTTER RUIN! WE HAVE RECENT EXAMPLES OF FALSE FACED PEOPLE WHO LEAD THEIR NATION`S TO RUIN! ..... ROBERT MUGABE COMEs TO MIND ..... THERE ARE OTHERS! HERE AMONG US!
Special stork love story in eastern Croatia Croatian Times
The love story of stork "Rodan" and his female partner "Malena" in Brodski Varos in eastern Croatia is the most popular and beloved in their area.
But it is also shows that storks tend to be attached to nests as much as to partners.
Rodan flies to the south and then back each year going 13,000 kilometres through the air just to be with his partner Malena, who cannot fly owing to an injured wing.
Every year, he usually returns at the same time on the same day, but this year he arrived two hours earlier than usual yesterday (Weds).
He is welcomed by numerous residents and journalists, but what he loves the most is his Malena in their nest.
The daily Jutarnji list has reported that Stjepan Vokic has taken care of Malena for the last 17 years since she was injured by hunters who broke her wing and stopped her from flying forever.
Since 1993, Malena has lived in her nest at Vokic’s house.
Stjepan said: "Every year, I worry that Rodan will not return safely to his Malena. I know many other storks return a few days later, but he knows he needs to return home because Malena is waiting for him."
Malena and Rodan have had 32 chicks, and Vokic is assured there will be a lot of small storks in the nest in the future.
The Public Eye has left a new comment on your post, "Whose words?"
This is indeed a photo of original text from a poem written by Louis Riel. I am particularly proud to post this. Frankly, I cannot think of anyone who better embodies the rebellious spirit of my blog than the rebel hero Louis Riel. We have much to learn from him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lawyer slams Metis election decision Winnipeg Sun May 5, 2004
A judge cast a cloud of doubt over the Manitoba Metis Federation’s political process by setting aside the results of the group’s last presidential election , a lawyer argued yesterday.
“It is neither necessary nor … wanted for the courts to intervene,” said Murray Trachtenberg, (emphaisours) lawyer for the MMF. The judgment will not achieve any correction of a flawed process. The judgment will be to greater hardship … widespread disenfranchisement and a climate of political uncertainty.”
Four months ago, Queen’s Bench Justice Perry Schulman set aside the results of the MMF’s March 2003 presidential election. David Chartrand beat former lieutenant governor Yvon Dumont in a 20-vote count.
Dumont claimed the list of voters was amended without authority, that election officials had added 458 names to the polling books on the day of the election, that no advance polls were made available and that 657 voters were permitted to vote by mail- in ballots, even though election bylaws didn’t allow for it.
Schulman found the addition of names to the voters list before the election and at the polls was done without authority and the chief electoral officer should not have replaced advance polls with mail-in polls.
Since the Manitoba Metis Federaton held it's Southwest Regional Annual General Meeting March 20 this year at it's Brandon office, we've received serveral anonymous e-mail from those who attended. Rather than posting them individually here's a compilation. In no particular order:
(1) David Chartrand gave his usual "Amway" style speech - very inspirational but 80% B.S. so much so one elderly gentleman who left early was heard to remark he was allergic to it.
(2) Taxpayer financed Plaintiffand Southwest Regional Vice-President Leah Laplante will run again in the upcoming election
(3) The meeting was Co-Chaired by Southwest Regional Board of Director Ken LaForte, the aforemention Plaintiff Ms LaPlante, as well as, taxpayer fiananced SW Director Plaintiff John Fleury about whom it was said :
"During 2003 Bernie Shore, Head Accountant for the Manitoba Metis Federation, sent approximately 60 form letters to MMF staff and officials requesting it be signed and returned if they agreed with the amount shown as owing in travel advance monies. The total was over $111,000.PlaintiffJohn Fleury had the largest outstanding sum at over $19,000. Plaintiffs David Chartrand and Elbert Chartrand were cited for in excess of $13,000 and $8,000 respectively. I do verily believe Plaintiff Riddle was also on the list as may have been other Plaintiffs."
Affidavit of Clare L. Pieuk sworn September 11, 2009 at page 4 paragraph 24.(The "9-11!")
4. Messrs. LaForte and Plaintiff Fleury announced they will run in the upcoming election
5. Plaintiff LaPlante put Plaintiff David Chartrand on the spot by asking if he was running again for president. He confirmed he was
Sarah Palin near deal for reality show Tuesday, March 23, 2010 James Hibberd
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sarah Palin is close to a deal for her travelogue reality show.
Sources say Discovery Communications has edged out rival A&E Networks in the bidding for the project, "Sarah Palin's Alaska." An agreement could be announced in the next few days.
It's still undecided which network in the Discovery suite would air "Alaska," which is being produced by Mark Burnett Productions.
Although travelogues are on-brand for the Discovery flagship, having Palin as a centerpiece also makes the show a fit for mom-friendly TLC. Clearly nature docs are still viable for the company -- Discovery's latest effort in the genre, the miniseries "Life," just debuted to 11.8 million viewers on Sunday night.
In her numerous TV appearances, Palin has proven she can draw an audience. Yet her show won't come cheap. The former Alaska governor's asking price was $1.2 million per episode. A network paying anywhere close to that figure would make "Alaska" one of the most expensive nature series ever produced.
The high-definition program will be shot in a style similar to "Life" and "Planet Earth" and will feature the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate acting as a guide to the Alaskan outdoors. When it was commissioned by the BBC at a cost of $25 million, the 11-part "Planet Earth" was considered the most expensive documentary the network had ever made. Discovery Communications had no comment.
Masters Degree (University of Calgary - Economics), Bachelor of Arts (Honours - Carleton University), Diploma Chemical Technology (St. Clair College), Oh yes, almost forgot - one course credit, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
As is his custom Mr. Populi has included the usual metaphorical image. Anyone know from where it comes?
Sincerely,
