10 things I Hate About the World we Live In

The things which annoy me tend to be those that rob us of our humanity, which do not build, but merely destroy, and which detach us from our world, like the following:

1. IGNORANCE...Lack of knowledge has the most debilitating impact on our world because, without knowledge, we are at a loss to develop our potential to fruition. Ignorance keeps behavior and appreciation of others at the most basic level and simply robs us of a life.

2. Lack of SELF-LOVE...This is the biggest cause of problems in relationships. People lacking in self-love tend to be selfish, insecure, self-absorbed because it really is only about them. Lacking self-love means that one also lacks the love to give to others, which then sets up a vicious cycle of emotional pain.

3. WAR...This is the most destructive force in our life, often destroying more than it builds, yet solving very little in the long run. War might be an awesome exhibition of violence and power but the negative consequences it has, the havoc it wreaks and the sheer destruction it entails leave huge questions about how appropriate war is for resolving anything between nations or peoples.

4. VIOLENCE...particularly between youths and gangs, is pernicious, especially when gangs engender a sense of belonging among the youth and teaches them how to behave. Like war, violence solves nothing except to rob both the perpetrator and the recipient of their lives, in one form or another.

5. POVERTY...A lack of money and other basic essentials of life rob us of the opportunities we could have to make that life more enriching. Poverty is lethal because of the other negative things which come out of it: the main ones being ignorance, loss of self-esteem, loss of hope and violence.

6. INJUSTICE...Any injustice anywhere encourages injustice everywhere. We lose or humanity when we put up with blatant inequality and injustice to others, especially when they are weak and vulnerable.

7. Lack of RESPECT...At the heart of respect is sensitivity and a loss of respect is so obvious in our world today, in the way we treat each other, our expectations of each other, imposing our views on others and the selfish way we tend to live detached from one another.

8. Misuse of POWER...Power corrupts when it is misused and, if nothing else, the invasion of Iraq has demonstrated the impact of misused power for selfish reasons; the devastating way it affects the lives of many innocent and unsuspecting people.

9. GREED..The world has more than enough to go round for everyone. Nothing is more unattractive than seeing people, no matter how much they have, chasing money or material things for their own sake, when so many others have so little.

10. Lack of COURTESY...My mother taught me that 'Courtesy costs nothing, give generously' and I have lived by it ever since. The lack of courtesy in human interaction is now so sad, when a simple smile, thank you, and compliment can truly make someone's day, yet cost nothing at all to give.

Canadian Pacific, HudBay Minerals, Magna: Canada Equity Preview

The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in Canadian markets today. This preview includes news that broke after markets closed on May 11. Symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index on May 11 rose 150.69, or 1.1 percent, to a record 14,003.82 in Toronto.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP CN): The nation's second- biggest railroad said that its maintenance workers are poised to walk off the job on Wednesday. The Calgary-based company is deploying managers to maintain services during the strike, according to a statement released on the CNS news wire. The shares gained C$1.20, or 1.7 percent, to C$74.09

HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM CN): The zinc miner was downgraded to ``neutral'' from ``buy'' by analyst Tony Lesiak at UBS. The shares lost 42 cents, or 1.6 percent, to C$25.55.

Magna International Inc. (MG/A CN): Canada's biggest car- parts maker was unsuccessful in its bid with partner Onex Corp. (OCX CN) for DaimlerChrysler AG's money-losing Chrysler unit. Private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP will buy 80.1 percent of Chrysler for $7.4 billion, DaimlerChrysler said today in a statement.

Magna shares fell 15 cents, or 0.2 percent, to C$93.50. Onex gained C$1.16, or 3 percent, to C$40.01.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Kipphoff in Toronto at
.

Canada Firms Unexpectedly Shed 5,200 Workers in April (Update3)

Canadian employers unexpectedly shed 5,200 jobs in April, the first drop in eight months, led by manufacturers and financial-services companies.

The jobless rate stayed at a three-decade low of 6.1 percent as people left the workforce, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. Economists predicted 19,000 new jobs for April and a 6.1 percent jobless rate, based on the median of 25 and 26 estimates in Bloomberg News survey.

The drop marks a pause in the longest succession of job gains since a 15-month streak during 2002-2003. Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge, who has kept the country's main lending rate at 4.25 percent for almost a year, said last month that domestic demand will be the economy's ``primary engine of growth'' this year.

``Our hunch was right that after six months of unsustainably strong job growth, we would see a bit of a payback,'' said Ted Carmichael, chief economist at J.P. Morgan Securities in Toronto. Carmichael made the closest forecast, predicting no change in employment, and said doesn't see a negative trend developing. ``I don't think it changes the picture that the economy is doing well,'' he said.

Previous job gains, including 54,900 in March and 88,900 in January, led Canadians with new paychecks to drive home prices to record highs and offset a narrowing international trade surplus.

The Canadian dollar was little changed at 4:10 p.m. in Toronto, from 90 cents late yesterday.

The yield on the banker's acceptance contract due in September fell 3 basis points to 4.41 percent on the Montreal Exchange today, suggesting fewer investors speculate the central bank will raise its benchmark rate by then.

Central Bank

J.P. Morgan's Carmichael said he expects the central bank to raise rates in September and that today's report didn't alter his views.

Companies shed 14,900 full-time workers and added 9,700 part-time jobs in April. No economist surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted a decline in overall employment.

Workers aged 15 to 24 suffered most from the drop, with 10,100 losing their jobs. The unemployment rate for that group rose to 11.5 percent, from 11 percent in March.

Wage Growth

Average hourly wages rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier, faster than March's 2.2 percent pace, Statistics Canada said. Wage growth accelerated as companies hired 12,100 workers in the oil-rich western province of Alberta, where an energy boom has led to labor shortages.

Canada's core inflation rate, which excludes eight volatile items and some taxes, slowed to 2.3 percent in March from a year earlier, after reaching a four-year high of 2.4 percent in February, Statistics Canada said April 19. Overall inflation accelerated to 2.3 percent from 2 percent.

Quebec, the central Canadian province where many of the country's struggling manufacturers and lumber exporters are based, added 10,900 jobs, pushing its unemployment rate to a 33-year low of 7.2 percent.

Canada has added about 1.9 million jobs since 2001, in a country of 32.8 million people, as companies earn record profits from exports of commodities such as energy and metals. The job growth has stoked record homebuilding and consumer spending.

U.S. Jobs

Job growth in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in more than two years in April, as payroll losses spread from struggling homebuilders and factories to retailers. The month's 88,000 new jobs followed a gain of 177,000 in March that was smaller than first estimated, the Labor Department said May 4 in Washington. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent, which matched a five-year low, and wage growth slowed.

Canadian factories shed 18,600 workers in April and financial firms such as banks and insurers fired 17,200 employees, the statistics agency said.

Still, retailers and wholesalers added 20,100 jobs in April, while utilities hired 11,200 people and hospitals put 11,800 new workers on their payrolls.

The labor force shrank by 2,600 in April, pushing the participation rate down to 67.6 percent, from 67.7 percent in March.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at
.

Bernier Will Wait for Ministry's Advice on Alcan Bid (Update1)

Canadian Industry Minister Maxime
Bernier said he'll wait for recommendations from his ministry
before determining whether to allow Alcoa Inc.'s acquisition of
Montreal-based Alcan Inc.

Bernier can block the bid, which would be the country's
biggest takeover ever, if he determines it wouldn't provide
``net benefits'' to Canada's economy, such as more productivity
and research and development. Under current law, the department
has as many as 45 days to review the proposed transaction,
unless the government and Alcoa agree to extend the period.

``We want to be sure that each investment we have in this
country must be at the net benefit for this country,'' Bernier
told reporters today in Ottawa. ``I'm going to receive a
recommendation by my department on that, so we'll see.''

The Alcoa offer came amid growing concern among
politicians and some investors that too many firms in Canada
are being acquired by foreign competitors. The bid for Alcan
brings to almost 600 the number of announced foreign takeovers
in the past 16 months, worth a combined $156 billion, according
to Bloomberg data. That compares with just $43 billion in 2005.

While Quebec Industry Minister Raymond Bachand said
earlier this week that Alcoa may lose subsidies if jobs are
lost, Bernier hasn't commented on the bid, citing the
investment law's ``confidentiality provisions.''

Bernier also declined comment when asked today whether he
has any problems with foreign acquisitions in general.

Primary Metals

Alcoa promised May 7 to invest $5 billion in facilities
across Quebec, establish headquarters for the company's primary
metals unit in Montreal, and move some research and development
operations to the province.

The company, whose Canadian unit already has about 5,000
employees in Quebec and posted $3 billion in revenue last year,
said it would keep head offices in New York and Montreal, and
would list its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer, said May 7
that it will offer $26.9 billion in cash and stock for Alcan to
become more competitive against rivals around the world. Alcoa
received financing commitments for $30 billion of loans for the
purchase, according to a regulatory filing.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at
;
Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at
.

Academic Economists Skewing Data in Research Findings to Protect Failures of Socialism

As one reads the Economist and other carefully constructed economic media material it should be quite evident that the academics writing these papers are selling human capitalist civilizations far short - In fact, almost to the point of supporting communism or socialism - Why?

You may think that very intelligent economists would understand the free market system. And even though most economists will admit that free-market system does not exist anywhere in reality it is pretty hard to dismiss free-market capitalism as the most productive possible method of running a human civilization.

Nevertheless, the fantasy of communism or socialism seems to be sexy enough to grab the attention of some economists. Because it sounds good on the surface, but anyone who has studied history or watched how socialism and communism actually decrease the productivity level of any nation would have to agree that it is a complete dead end.

Plus it is quite amazing that academic economists knowing all this would be writing research papers and stealing data to overlook or protect the failures of Socialism in so many of our present period economies. The real problem with this is if there is too much buying into this in international banking circles, government agencies and political leaders we have a severe problem that is approaching in the future.

That problem would be issues with collapses of economies, scarcity and devaluation of currencies. An economist who was more reality based would promote less government intervention and regulation, a greater push towards real free-market thinking and show proof positive that came to which he shows this occurring.

The socialism which is taught in academia should not infiltrate itself into the study of economics allowing those professors to write research papers which view the actual results. Even a banana republic can not support its people if the productivity dives down too far.

Some of the worst atrocities to human rights abuses have been constant communist countries and we know that socialism not only destroys an economy pushing it into an unrecoverable spiral, but it also diminishes productivity to the point of complete economic collapse. If academia economists will not come to terms with reality, we should not bother to read their research is not worth the paper is written on, unless that paper is very thin on a roll in a public restroom.

Canada's Dollar Reaches 8-Month High as Commodity Prices Rise

The Canadian dollar rose to an eight-
month high as the prices of some of the nation's commodities
exports climbed.

The Canadian currency also gained on speculation
international investors will purchase Canadian companies,
boosting demand for the currency. Bank of Canada Governor David
Dodge suggested this week that the central bank won't use
interest rates to slow the currency's appreciation after it
gained 5.5 percent against the U.S. dollar this year.

``Oil prices have stabilized, supporting the Canadian
dollar,'' said Matthew Strauss, a currency strategist at RBC
Capital Markets in Toronto. ``Speculation of several sizable
acquisition deals also pushed the Canadian dollar even higher.''

The Canadian dollar traded at 90.61 U.S. cents at 8:36 a.m.
in Toronto, from 90.28 U.S. cents yesterday, and reached the
highest since Sept. 1. One U.S. dollar buys C$1.1036.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Ye Xie in New York at

Is This Unconditional Love or Am I a Doormat

Anonymous Asked:

Unconditional love is a good thing in a friendship. But what are the limits? How can you love someone who repeatedly treats you poorly and refuses to acknowledge any responsibility?

The situation I have with one friend is she is very good at *telling* me how much I mean to her but her *actions* say something entirely different. She always cancels plans, to the point where I have not seen her in 2 years (long distance friendship). The last time, she did not even call to cancel, and I waited all morning for her to arrive. Nor did she call later. (A week or two later she wrote me an email saying she had had a family emergency.) Then she says how I have to understand that she has a family, hardly has time for herself, etc. She apologizes but insists that hey, she couldn’t help it, she has a family, you know.

She’s done this garbage so many times in the past and I’ve made it clear it’s unacceptable. So it’s not like she just doesn’t know any better. It’s been a major issue for us over the years.

So, is putting up with such behavior unconditional love? My gut says NO. After this last episode I just feel really turned off. Frankly, I just don’t feel like I can love someone who has treated me so inconsiderately. I feel like she went beyond the bounds of how tacky you can be to a friend. Or something like that.

I think it’s analogous to someone in an abusive relationship. Heck, I think it *is* an abusive relationship. I think someone who is always canceling plans then saying “don’t be mad! you’re only mad because other friends have dumped on you!” has some real issues with power and control. And reality.

And I’m not interested in sticking around in an abusive relationship.

So. What do you think? When you love unconditionally, you accept the actions of the person. But what about when those actions are nasty towards *you*? Thank you for your insight!

Blushgirl Says:

Unconditional love is accepting someone for who they are. It is NEVER accepting behavior and treatment like you have been subjected to. We can love someone even if they are different from us, or their beliefs don’t agree with ours, but it is never acceptable to treat people with disrespect or to be treated with disrespect by others.

Your feeling of being “turned off” is actually a good first step in the right direction. You have gone way beyond what you should have done. Your “friends” behavior is utterly disgraceful and should not be rewarded with your continued attention.

This may be hard, but stop all contact with this person immediately. She needs to experience a shock to hopefully jolt her out of being disrespectful and taking you and probably others for granted. If she contacts you in the future, that will be a good time to lay it on the line. I do not mean telling her this is unacceptable behavior, you have already done that; you need to tell her you have put up with far too much already and you don’t need the crap she so abundantly dishes out. If at that time she starts spouting her venom about you being “mad” because others have dumped on you, simply tell her “maybe so, but ANYONE dumping on me ends here. I have been patient and gracious with your unreasonable, disrespectful and downright childish behavior and now I am ready to move on. Good luck to you in the future.”

From what you have written about her, it would do little to no good trying to reason. She has some major issues here. We all have families in one form or another. We learn to juggle things so we have time for our friends and those we love, but we never make promises we can’t keep. Most of us learned to respect others at an early age, but for some, these lessons come later. It usually involves some sort of shock or burst of reality. This is what must and will happen to this woman before she will see the error of her ways.

You must concentrate on you now. You have gone way out on a limb for your friend, but now it is time to let go. Do not feel guilty or bad in any way. You have done all you can to nurture this relationship. I wish you all the best. It pains me to see good people like you treated in disrespectful ways. My heart goes out to you. - Kelly