Thursday, June 5, 2008

Canadian Media

I will be going through this to improve it's format and to add to it over time. It's really hard to find organizable information due to overlapping in the centralization.

Bell Canada Enterprises

Bell globemedia Inc. (21-station CTV television network, 17 specialty television channels)
CTVglobemedia Inc.
The Globe and Mail
CTV Inc.
A-Channel
ASN Atlantic Satellite Network
CKX Television
Discovery Channel
CTV News
eTalk
The Comedy Network
TSN
MTV
Chum - 33 radio stations, 12 local television stations and 21 specialty television channels

Chum






Canadian Broadcast Corporation

CBC Television
Radio-Canada
Radio-Canada International
CBC Newsworld
CBC Radio
CBC Radio One
Télévision de Radio-Canada

Radio
-----
19 stations in Ontario
22 stations in Quebec
2 stations in PEI
7 stations in Nova Scotia
7 stations in Newfoundland
8 stations in New Brunswick
11 stations in British Columbia
2 stations in Yukon Territories
3 stations in Northwest Territories
3 stations in Nunavut
4 stations in Saskatchewan
6 stations in Alberta
5 stations in Manitoba

Networks
----------
English TV Service
Espace Musique
French TV Service
Galaxie
La Première Chine
Radio One
Radio Two



Torstar

Toronto Star Lmt Newspaper
20% of CTV globe media
50% of workopolis
20% of Black press


Black Press

108 newspapers across Canada
1 magazine

Canwest Global Communications

Global Television Network
Everything Entertainment
56% of Ten Television Network

National Post
Calgary Herald
The Gazette
Leader Post
Ottawa Citizen
The Province
The StarPhoenix
Times Colonist
Vancouver Sun
The Windsor Star
Van Net
- Abbotsford/Mission Times
- Burnaby Now
- Chilliwack Times
- Coquitlam Now
- Delta Optimist
- Langley Advance
- Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Times
- New Westminster Record
- North Shore News
- Richmond News
- Surrey Now
- Vancouver Courier
Vancouver Island Newspaper Group (2 daily newspaper)
Windsor-Essex County Community Papers
Calgary Rush Hour
Edmonton Rush hour

Financial Post Business
TVTimes
Swerve
Living Windsor
The New Republic (American Paper)

canada.com
celebrating.com
connecting.com
dose.ca
driving.ca
remembering.ca
working.com
FPinfomart.ca

CNS - Canwest News Service

Canwest's Broadcasting Power
Food Network
HGTV
History Television
Showcase
Slice
TVtropolis
BBC Canada
BBC Kids
Dejaview
Cooltv
Discovery Health
Fine Living TV Network
Fox Sports World
IFC
Lone Star
MenTV
MysteryTV
National Geographic
Showcase: Action
Showcase: Diva
Xtreme Sports


Rogers Communication

Rogers Media Inc
Rogers Broadcasting Lmd

Radio
------
26 stations in Ontario
11 stations in Alberta
14 stations in British Columbia
2 stations in Manitoba

Broadcasting
-------------
Omni 1
Omni 2
1 station in Nova Scotia
2 stations in Newbrunswick
4 stations in Alberta
1 station in Vancouver

Specialty Services
------------------
TVtropolis (33.3%)
Rawlco In (9.9%)
Rogers Sports Group Inc
Rogers SportsNet
Canada Inc
The Biography Channel
Ontario Inc
Viewer's Choice Canada Inc.
Canada Indigo/Chapters

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Upcoming

I am going to try and write an article on Scientology. Right now I am trying to collect a lot of information about this "religion," by going through it's history, it's "important people," and developing an objective report based on my findings.

I am curious to figure out exactly how this pov (point of view) has become a religion. Why is this pov subject to criticism and attack? What makes the religion controversial? And what are the ideal candidates that join?

With those few questions, it should branch out into more questions. I hope to write something good in the upcoming month.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Corruption?





Isn't this bribery? Isn't that illegal?

WMDs

On going topic that I will expand and add to. This was too great to pass up.





Another example of pure awesomeness (hypocrisy). WMDs, or weapons of mass destruction, are not allowed for other countries, but they are allowed in the United States. The concept MAD, or mutually accepted destruction, was developed during the cold war era. This concept basically says that if you launch nuclear/biological weapons at another country, the recipient country will retaliate while the WMDs are enroute with their own nuclear/biological weapons. Thus, destroying both countries. If I die, you die too, in essence.

It's amazing to me that the UN weapons inspector does not have the authority to inspect the weapons of the United States. That is tyrannical and hypocritical in nature and practicality.

Having the UN headquarters in New York is the worst thing to happen. The UN being founded by "the big three" and controlled by "the big three" in the start was the most terrible idea. What epistemological reasoning did people consent to this? The UN is such a great tool, a tool that is, once again, abused by richer countries. Quite frankly, the UN should be removed from U.S soil and moved to a neutral, impartial dominion like Sweden. The U.N goes by a typical voting system similar to that of how representatives in congress, or the House of Commons is. The number of "votes" you have depends on the population ones country has. I have no complaints about that.

What I do have a complaint with are that some countries (the "big three," for example) have the power to veto bills, resolutions and votes developed in the U.N. What purpose does the power of vetoing a WORLD vote have other than centralizing bills that are detrimental to your country's stranglehold on another? I think that is downright dirty.

Liberty?





This is really no surprise anymore. A lot of people tend to dislike Michael Moore for many non empiricist reasons. They simply dislike him because they disagree, but disagree with what? Other than Fahrenheit 911, which received a counter documentary from Al Gore's political party (Fahrenhype 911), Michael Moore seems to be the one giving you the photo evidence of these things happening. Even though Al Gore's party believes the election was fair - Al Gore, on numerous occasions still questions it's authenticity. I think he knows that he should have won. But that's not the point of it all.

It still amazes me, and it will always amaze me in such a typical fashion.

Americans, be more of a hypocrite, please.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The West is Dead

I originally got into the world politics through conspiracy theories. When I was younger I liked thinking that there was more to everything. That everyone in power, or had power was a cheat and liked to oppress other people. I've heard some pretty far out stories, some more credible than others, but all taken with a packet of salt.

How this got me into politics was not necessarily why the people in power were the way they were, but why we, the people, allowed them to be. Lest it be known, I am not an American, I do not support the stars and stripes, it's not my country and I have no allegiances to it. I am Canadian with three A's. I like my bright red maple leaf on my flag. I love my land and I support our international stance. Even that being so, I take a great interest, as should everyone else, in the political processes happening in one of the most powerful nations in the world. Whether or not that is still an accurate statement is not really for me to decide.

One of the last few, I guess you could say, conspiracy theororists I used to read up about was a self-declared time-traveler named John Titor. Whether or not he was a time traveler, it's not that important. It's what he said that I care about. Sometimes people can read one thing far fetched and believe that the entire thing is not worth any claim. People believe that because what he said was so absurd at the time that it holds no claim, and is therefore not an accurate prediction of anything. My response to the skeptics is simple: make a prediction, argue and defend it. If you can't, you have no claim or basis.

However, the same situation was aroused when George Orwell first published 1984. George Orwell's 1984 was his prediction of what it would be like in the future. 1984 is the year the novel takes place. Orwell chose this date because his wife died in 1948. The same kind of feeling, when we think of John Titor's message is the same feeling people first had when they read 1984 for the first time when it was published in 1949.

I'm not going to go into what John Titor said, because I don't need to. The reality that exists now, the same "feeling" of his message exists today. None of John Titor's predictions have come true but I wanted to emphasize one prediction he made.

- The failure of foreign policy will lead to the second civil war in the United States

I got out of the conspiracy theory phase of things. The reason why is because it was an equally as negative of a message, as was the popularly followed ideals. To put it in a more related and clear context; the people who believe they are Republicans, believe they should dislike Democrats, and vice versa.

I get all the major networks on television in Canada. I watch all of them for a taste of what they're doing, I watch the banned Al Jazeera news network on the internet. I have an extensive blog reading list, I read just about all the articles on every major news website ranging from the NY times to the BBC. I can be labeled as someone who is ignorant, or someone who doesn't really know what the situation is. That's fine. I accept your terms to disagree with me, however, know that what I say here is not because I dislike Americans, or that I have an agenda to bring them down. Rather, I feel sorry for the people of America, and I know that they deserve so much better.

It has been stated that when the government controls all business within a country, it is called communism and when the corporations control the government, it is called fascism. The United States people have forgotten what their forefathers have said to them. The very same people who disapproved of monarchy, of dictators. The very same people who promoted democracy and power to the people. They valued democracy because they went through the same things as the people did. They experienced the same oppression by the British. This is a history lesson that doesn't even need to be repeated to the typical American.

The American people currently live in a fascist country. Their politicians are fascists. Their media are fascists, and many of the people who are content in their ignorance, and there is a good many of them, are fascists.

America used to be the beacon of freedom for the world. The beacon of liberty throughout the world when the world was ruled by empires and hereditary rule. Even up until when I was a child I believed the United States of America used to be the beacon of hope for the world.

America has failed the world, and themselves. We live in a society where we have everything, and we're throwing it all away. I say "we" because Canada is no different in this respect. The entire world is no different. We have everything we ever wanted, but we are just pissing it all away down the drain. America has failed themselves because the people have become complacent, and the evolution of the presidents, and the way they are elected have become filled to the brim with corruption. So much so that your elections are a joke. Your candidates are a joke, and the worst part about it, no one is willing to do anything about it. You can bitch, and complain about it all you want but let's call a spade a spade and say that the American people are not happy, but they are not willing to do anything about it. That, to me, is saddening.

In Canada, we almost had an election for thinking about extending our troop presence in Afghanistan for two more years, in America, your president issues hundreds of billions of dollars for the war, but can't muster 25 billion for a temporary child health care plan. From the articles I've read people are not happy, and it's a big blow to the American people, yet, where are you standing up to your president? Where is the anger? Where is the fire?

I stand by what I said. The United States of America is run by fascists and you are subjected to propaganda and information to make you conform to it every single day. We gave fascism a face and it was Hitler because Hitler made it obvious, and public that it was a fascist regime. Ironically enough, Hitler also said the following. "People are more willing to believe a big lie, than a small one." Big lies are told to you every single day by everyone you think you can trust.

Most of the older generations do not follow what is said on the internet, rather their only source of information about politicians and their views is from the media, but the media is on board with the government, and the corporations that own them control the politicians. The political system in America is designed for the corporations behind the scenes to keep control over the politics. Don't believe me?

General Electric owns NBC. NBC is censoring some politicians, case in point - Mike Gravel. If you've been following the debates, Mike Gravel is anti-war. NBC is censoring him making false claims that he hasn't met all the campaigning goals. He, in fact, has met all the goals except for his one or two million he must raise for being a hopeful. It's the fact that he is anti-war that's the problem. NBC and many of your pro-left media groups want Hilary for president. Why? Because Hilary will bring them war, and General Electric currently has a 2 billion dollar military contract with the United States government. War makes them money. This is not only a corruption of the political process, but it is also fascism. The network is going out of it's way to censor someone due to their views, thus, the people who use the television and news networks for their main source of presidential information, is now being given a different ideology. In other words, you are being forced to accept the ideas of other people, which is core definition of fascism. These large companies are also the major contributors to the politicians they want to win.

I could give you the exact same scenario in every single news network, if you want. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, you name it. I'll give it to you. I've been doing this for a long time; following it for even longer.

The fact Hilary Clinton is in the top spot for the democratic electorate is very disturbing. Her policies are not that far different from President Bush's. In fact, Bush supports her. Bush currently holds a 24% approval rating, and the fact that someone with the same ideology as Bush holds 40% in the democratic hopefuls is a direct contradiction of the people's view. If you disapprove of the current president's policies, why are you going to vote in someone who is exactly like him?

To make matters even scarier, if she is elected you will be having a particular dynasty going on here. Bush, Clinton, Bush and now Clinton. Do you, the American people, honestly believe that anything is going to change if Clinton is elected? She has stated she wants to end the war in Iraq, yet at the AIPAC summit she was pro-war with Iran, and she voted for the Lieberman report. That can only mean that she will say anything to win. It means she's screwing you over. She's also been involved in multiple money laundering scandals. Like the one with Peter Paul. What she did to Peter Paul was enough to end political careers, but for some reason or another this woman has 40% support, and currently holds the top spot for presidential democratic candidacy. Hilary Clinton is the scariest person on the face of the earth, and the fact that she has a good chance at being president makes America even scarier than what it's become already.

On the other side, you have a small beacon of hope to try and slightly go in the opposite direction. Ron Paul currently has the most support out of all the republican candidates. He is the most firm in his stance. He has never changed his views and stances while all the other candidates have in order to get more votes. In comparison with Ron Paul, the other candidates' are exposed. The candidates are going with Bush's failing foreign policy because that's what has worked in the past to get more votes. They are propagandizing war to you, telling you your life is at risk. Telling you that your home is at risk and your country is at risk. Haven't you learned or remembered anything from your forefathers?

"People willing trade a little liberty for security deserve neither and lose both." -Benjamin Franklin.

These guys went through exactly what you're going through now. Corrupt politics. "Taxation without representation." You have no one who is representing you. No one is standing up for the people, only masking their own agendas saying it's for the people. You are irrevocably being "taxed" because of it. Your economy is declining, your international reputation is declining, your poverty is going up, you're losing your homes and your jobs. Is this not a tax? Where are the political freedom fighters? Where are the politicians willing to cut "defense" budgeting for a better social system? "Defense budget" is another word for "Military budget." It has nothing to do with defense. You aren't any safer than you were 6 years ago, you're just slipping into the Big Brother mentality that you're safe. This is what Orwell tried to warn you about. You've had so many events and people to point you in the right direction. When will you finally say "enough is enough!" When will you finally stand up and take your country back? When will you fight your media and take it back, restoring it under the control of the people, like it should be?

The media is trying as hard as they can to silence Ron Paul. He has a huge internet following. He has won all the debates by over 10-15% support above the competition, but the mainstream media is saying he has no chance, most of them support Giuliani, who is just as bad as Hilary. Just like the episode of the Simpsons where the two aliens bent on global domination ran for president in opposing parties. No matter who you choose, you're screwed.

It is my understanding the presidential hopefuls must raise two million dollars in order to be accepted as candidacy. It's also my understanding that the party itself chooses the presidential hopeful. The first part shouldn't even exist. What does two million dollars have to do with the person's view on topics? Anyone should be able to run for president candidacy, shouldn't they? The second part is the same thing that happens in Canada, except not as public. This is equally as irrelevant and shouldn't even be followed. People should choose their presidential candidates, not the political party.

It is my opinion that Ron Paul is the American people's best bet to try to getting your country back on track. Except if his own party doesn't vote for him, even if the people really support him, then he doesn't have a chance.

Let's assume another President Bush-like character is elected into power. What are you going to do when you realize that this type of person is exactly what you were trying to elect out of power? If you're calling to impeach Bush, don't replace him with another President Bush. But what can you do? Will you finally rise up and take the power back after realizing that you've made the same mistake again? What will it take for you to finally stand up and just say "no?"

Even if my facts are wrong in this article and I've made some mistakes, the message will remain the same. There is something wrong with America, and it's deafening. There is something wrong in your political and media system. There is something wrong in America, that much the majority of everyone can agree with. The simple question is, what are you going to do about it? When are you going to do it? I want to believe that you are the beacon of hope again.

Democratic and Republicans are not the way. The people are the way. It is not about being far left, or far right. It is about the truth, and accepting the truth for what it is. We, as people, must force our leaders and media to inform us accurately and fully to allow us to make informed decisions. Without us there is no nation. We, the people, are the way.

"
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Son of a Bitch!

I haven't ranted about this before, but I very well should and thus, I will.

Have you ever taken a stroll through Best Buy and taken a look at their laptops and computers and think to yourself, "wow, these are really cheap for their specifications." Of course you have.

Have you ever had a problem with a product you've purchased, ie: a laptop part, and for some reason or another you can't get through to customer support? Of course you have.

Let's go through the story of my beloved laptop that I will here, by this time forward, be named Mr. Snippets Jr. Why did I add 'Jr' to the end of it? Because the bastards didn't get it right the first time!

I bought the original Snippets from Best Buy in August of 2006. I thought it was the greatest thing. It had pretty much everything I wanted. 17 inch screen, a number pad, a better processor, it was XP, because I knew vista was coming out and I predicted it's total and utter shittyness (hate to say I told you so... but...).

I took the laptop up to Ottawa with my girlfriend for about 10 days. I was interested to try it out because I also do a lot of photography, or did at that point in time. I needed a USB capable device to transfer my compact flash from my cameras straight to my computer for easy viewing. And, lest it be known, I am a gamer. You could say it's a sweet-tooth of mine. So I had a few games on the computer for good measure. I had bought a few movies while I was up there, and after watching them with my girlfriend I decided to work on a few of my pictures, play my game for a while then go to sleep. The editing of my photos went smoothly, but when I got to my game that's when the problem aroused. While about an hour ago my laptop could read DVD's just fine, it somehow had "forgotten" how to read regular CD-Roms.

[insert W.T.F here]

I figured it was a corrupted driver, or some software blip of the likes. I uninstalled my drivers for my disc drive and reloaded them thinking that would fix the problem. Nope. Try again! I thought maybe it was something completely simple, like a virus. So I did a scan with Norton, and wouldn't you figure, about 3 things pop up that ironically, Norton couldn't quarantine and delete, yet freeware software like Lavasoft Ad-Aware picked them up and deleted them quicker and more flawlessly. I have to say, uninstalling Norton was the best decision of my computer life. But back on topic, no, the virus' were doing nothing. My disc drive could read DVDs, but it had forgotten how to read CD-Roms, and I say forgotten for a simple reason. If I could install the games, I should be able to play them using the very same disc I used to install. Yes, the discs were authentic. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed.

Why?

Because I just bought the fucking thing. Here I am, a month later, ironically after my "past-return" date and I'm thinking I have to use the warranty I paid 400 dollars for to replace my laptop, which will force me to buy yet another warranty. You may be thinking "well, that's what warranties are for!" but no sir... no sir I disagree.

Warranties should not even be needed. You can mask and make excuses for what warranties are good for, ie: Dropping, spilling, etc... but if you actually read your warranty it'll state something along the lines of, "this warranty is not applicable for abuse, and negligence." That means that if you drop it, it's abuse, if you spill it, it's abuse, if you leave it out in the sun, it's abuse. That means that the only way to really get the warranty honored is if God ate some bad turkey burritos that's coming back to haunt him, forcing a thunderbolt out his ass that just so happened to hit your laptop. Don't get me started on the uselessness of the "accessories" warranty. But we'll get to that later.

So, it's 1 o'clock at night and I catch myself saying "What the fuck, Mr. Snippets, have I not given you a good home? Have I not treated you with decency, you bastard!" I took Mr. Snippets and all his malfunctioning parts to the Best Buy in Ottawa, where they told me that they can't honour my warranty because I bought at another location, BUT, they said they would give me a phone number and manager name so that they can honour my warranty back at the store of purchase (which is why I stated the blurb above about me being pissed about spending the warranty). As disgruntled as I was, I held my frustration back and I went through the rest of my vacation with a sense of inconvenience.

Upon returning, I did go back to the original store of purchase and they replaced my computer for a slightly better one and I paid 100 dollars more... and it was open box 0_o. Second fatal mistake. But at least they allowed me to retain my warranty.

So I get to my girlfriend's house and I set my new shiny laptop down - Mr. Snippet's Jr. and... well, firstly, I upgraded the laptop because it had a 200 mgh more processor, and another hard drive. That's right, mother fuckers, my laptop has two hard drives. Anyway, I lay my new laptop down, start her up. Get to the desktop and....

[insert W.T.F here]

The laptop should've had two hard drives. two 60 gig drives. I was only seeing one (damn you and your open box blasphemy! It was previously used, you bastards!). I open the laptop up, thus, voiding my warranty... however, if the hard drive was stolen from the previous owner, they wouldn't be able to tell it was me... unless they accuse me of stealing the hard drive -_-.

I take it back to Best buy and-
Employee: "Hey look, the hard drive is gone!"
Me: "Hey yeah, no fucking shit. Don't you inspect your hardware when people return things?"
Employee: "No. We're not allowed to do that."

Good thing, though. They gave me a new hard drive in the computer free of charge (damn straight). Looks like their customer service is keeping it's side of the threshold. Take it home. Not a bloody problem. Mind you, the "back up discs" my good employee gave me for the laptop is... um... not working, but luckily I still had the old ones so I could reformat just fine and take it from there.

Fast forward 10 or so months. It's June and the wire on my charger module has gone to module heaven. I take my laptop to work where the cable is flexed a lot so I knew it was only a matter of time before it was going to break and I knew that broken, physically damaged items were not covered under the warranty, only manufacturing defects and God's turkey burrito. The break happened at the most inconvenient time. 10:00pm on a Sunday afternoon. Which means I have to call in to work sick on a Monday in order to go to Best buy in the morning to replace the module. Except, I knew what Best Buy would say, so I decided to look up the part number, both actual and the listed "back up/replacement" number on the back. The actual part number didn't exist, but the back number did and it said "Not in stock. Only stocked at retail locations." Score one for me!

The next day I pondered for a good 10 minutes whether or not I should bring the warranty. For a good reason. Let's assume that what I expect Best Buy to say is actually said. That means that both manufacturer and retail locations don't support my model of laptop anymore, which means that I can submit my warranty for a brand new laptop. I decided against it because Best Buy has had good customer service the last few times I needed my laptop "serviced."

Biggest mistake.

I get to Best Buy, bring the module and ask "Do you have a module like this in stock. Here is the part number and the laptop make and number." As you can see, I did all the fucking work for this guy and he responds, quick as a gun "You have to order that part from the manufacturer, we don't carry it."

"OH really?" I say cooly, "well, that's not what they say." Once again, I expected them to say this and because I expected it, I actually printed the very page that said they were supposed to in Black and White. The guy is speechless, he doesn't know what to do so he calls a junior manager. I know the real manager, he's a good guy, this guy may have had a different shirt than the rest of the cronies, but he was no head manager. This guy had a real arrogant walk to him and at that moment I regretted very much so for not bringing my warranty with me.

Junior begins inspecting my module... why he is, I'm not even sure, and he's says to me: "How did this break?"

After thinking about it for a few seconds... I say to myself 'what does this have to do with anything?' I respond "Wear and tear." He suppresses a smile and chuckles.

You son of a bitch!

"Excuse me," I say, "Let's be frank together. You and the manufacturer don't support the model of my module. That means that if I had brought my warranty, which I clearly didn't because I believed your customer service to be good, then I would get a new laptop. I did not bring my warranty card with me because I understand it's not covered under the warranty as it's damaged. I am here with my money to BUY another module. That module." I pointed to the broken piece of shit module.

He suppresses more smiles and hands me a Kensington module that apparently is "universal to all laptops," and it costs 200 dollars. I very very reluctantly bought the module. Strictly because I need my laptop for work. I cannot work without it and I can assure you my battery power cannot last four weeks waiting for a module... assuming I bitch to HP. I didn't do anything, but I should. This module is now breaking two months after purchase and it was 3 times the price of my original module. The connector on the computer side is slowly breaking apart. When it does, not only will I bring my old module to Best Buy, but I will bring this one, and I will bring my warranty and demand a new laptop.

This leads me to a very fine point, and an observation that I have made:

All corporations, it doesn't matter how big or small, but once they get the big bucks, it's "screw you and everyone else." Blizzard and their World of Warcraft - shitty customer service and shitty buck for the game. Ford - when your vehicle just so happens to past warranty and pretty much falls apart, instead of compensating or trying to help you legitimately fix the problems, they treat you like dirt, try to sell you a new car, and overprice all of the repairs to your vehicle. Apple's iPooh. It's amazing how the old versions work pretty well, but the newer versions can't even charge the batteries correctly. But hey, says Apple, send in your iPooh, pay for shipping and handling both ways, we'll pretend to fix it and in the end just say "Go buy a new one. You broked it!" True story, that happened to my sister.

Best Buy - once they have your money and it's been a while, hey fuck you, buy a new laptop because we can't support the shit you buy! That's why it's the best!

But hey, good news! I hear a Canada Computers has opened across the street. Seems as though I get the last laugh now, eh Bitch Buy?