The date for election in Canada is October 14th. The date wasn't even officially announced yet when the posters for the local candidates started going up in residential areas.
CBC usually have live sessions in the studio with leaders and guests to answer questions from the audience/viewers. This time CBC has started using Skype, web technology each night, as well as phone and Email, giving viewers far and near a chance to ask questions, raise concerns close to their hearts. May be this is a start of things to come in future when the local candidates may even venture to make use of this technology to reach the thousands of voters in his/her riding. If they want to win votes than the candidates need to hit the street and reach as many potential voters and persuade them why they should vote for him and his party. Why? Because I for one would like to know for sure that the candidate in my riding will represent everyone in my community, does not matter what part of the world they came from and their party agenda is for the good of in the country as a whole.
Friday, September 26, 2008
2010 Winter Olympics - With Glowing Hearts
Yesterday VANOC unveiled "With Glowing Hearts" as the Olympic motto. The words come from the Canadian National anthem. The three words have powerful meaning for the athletes that have followed there passion, slaved at the sport to reach the Olympic. The culmination of reaching the dream of winning a medal and standing on the poduim proudly watching the national flag rise up high in the sky, it becomes so obvious to the viewer what the athelete is feeling at that precise moment.
Hope 2010 winter Olympics does make many hearts glow.
Hope 2010 winter Olympics does make many hearts glow.
Bihar flooding
In the current economic crisis which dominates the news, there are parts of the world which are also suffering crisis of another kind. The monsoon rains in India and particularly in Bihar has left 10 million people displaced. Whereas in one part of the world people are losing homes because they don't have money to the mortgage, others have lost everything in the floods.
Bihar is one of the poorest state in India. The relief camps itself are accessible to all the people, as several camps had to be abandoned when the waters reached them. So far there is no bailout for this people from the government and whatever money raised will be by the foreign aid agencies and by ordinary people who reside overseas.
Here in University of Toronto campus, one young girl is trying to raise funds to help the victims fo the flood. She is making the young generation aware of the plight of country from which their parents came from and giving them an opportunity to help the people who are thousands of miles away. By visiting places of worship and community gathering this group of people are doing seva that is much needed by the people of Bihar.
Bihar is one of the poorest state in India. The relief camps itself are accessible to all the people, as several camps had to be abandoned when the waters reached them. So far there is no bailout for this people from the government and whatever money raised will be by the foreign aid agencies and by ordinary people who reside overseas.
Here in University of Toronto campus, one young girl is trying to raise funds to help the victims fo the flood. She is making the young generation aware of the plight of country from which their parents came from and giving them an opportunity to help the people who are thousands of miles away. By visiting places of worship and community gathering this group of people are doing seva that is much needed by the people of Bihar.
Bailout....global credit crunch
A week ago President Bush announced a $700 billion package to bailout financial firms. The whole week the market has been on roller coaster awaiting the news of the senate approving the package. The presidential candidates Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama even stopped their campaigning to go to Washington for a meeting on the economy on Thursday, yet at the end at the close of markets on Friday nothing has been finalized and in fact overnight another financial giant Washington Mutual was prevented from collapsing when its assets were seized by federal regulators and a deal brokered with JP Morgan to purchase Washington Mutual for 1.9 billion dollars.
Why is the senate hesitant on using taxpayers money to bail out failing firms? Is it because if they don't protect the common taxpayer in approved the bailout, the taxpayers would lash out in the election. This financial mess is hurting everybody, the economy, the taxpayer, the home owner and the seniors whose portfolios have been eroded by the downturn.
So the rest of the world awaits for the outcome of the talks that will carry on over the weekend. On Monday will the investors breath a sigh of relief or will they watch the markets tumble yet again?
Why is the senate hesitant on using taxpayers money to bail out failing firms? Is it because if they don't protect the common taxpayer in approved the bailout, the taxpayers would lash out in the election. This financial mess is hurting everybody, the economy, the taxpayer, the home owner and the seniors whose portfolios have been eroded by the downturn.
So the rest of the world awaits for the outcome of the talks that will carry on over the weekend. On Monday will the investors breath a sigh of relief or will they watch the markets tumble yet again?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Lehaman, Merrill, AIG...how safe is your investment
For the last few days the financial markets around the world have been on a roller coaster ride. The financial crisis stemmed from the housing boom and the dubious mortgage-backed securities that were brought and sold. For the common man words like assets, liabilities, derivatives and financial instruments have no meaning. What does getting a mortgage from a local bank has to do with the all these big financial giants? Most of us think the bank lends money out from all the money that is put in savings by its customers. Who would ever thought that if the banks themselves borrowed or raised money by selling off these mortgages?
The credit crisis started a year ago by the decline in the housing market has come to blow at the end of this summer where companies filing for bankruptcy, workers losing their jobs and those who had invested with this companies having to line up with others to see if they will see recover any of their dollars once the balance sheet is sorted out.
In the time when transactions can be committed in a blink of an eye, a trader sitting in Hong Kong can buy/sell with a trader on the other side of the world, the collapse of these giants have had repercussions all around the world. The markets which started tumbling on Monday morning in West were followed by similarly by the markets in the east, it's become a global disruption around the world with no one knowing what the final impact of the fall of these giants will be. Will your savings in your local bank be safe from the fallout of this financial crisis?
The credit crisis started a year ago by the decline in the housing market has come to blow at the end of this summer where companies filing for bankruptcy, workers losing their jobs and those who had invested with this companies having to line up with others to see if they will see recover any of their dollars once the balance sheet is sorted out.
In the time when transactions can be committed in a blink of an eye, a trader sitting in Hong Kong can buy/sell with a trader on the other side of the world, the collapse of these giants have had repercussions all around the world. The markets which started tumbling on Monday morning in West were followed by similarly by the markets in the east, it's become a global disruption around the world with no one knowing what the final impact of the fall of these giants will be. Will your savings in your local bank be safe from the fallout of this financial crisis?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
9/11 Remembered
September 11, 2001, a day whose images are imprinted on many minds around the world who witnessed the attacks on the World Trade Center, Twin Towers in New York. We watched horrified as the plane slammed into those tall towers, watched the firing inferno eventually bring the towers down. I remember going into work as normal, sitting and watching the stock quotes flicker in mad frenzy, not realizing the chaos that was befalling in New York.
As soon as the news flashed on CNN of the first crash on the TV in my bosses office, we were all crowding around it watching with wildly beating hearts at the scenes unfolding. Of course the rest of the day was not the same, it was not the same for all of us. The horror of people burning live, jumping off building to certain death, trapped on the floor or in the stairwell and of the eventual burial as the building collapsed. How many families watched the horror watching the fate of their loved ones.
The day changed many things for all of us. We could no longer walk carefree through the security at the airport. We could no longer enter United States for a holiday or to visit family without facing a barrage of questions. Those of us who are brown skinned and happen to be born in certain part of world found ourselves being pulled aside for more questioning. It also brought invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq.
Did the terrorist attack bring the desired result for the organization that carried out? Did it bring world peace? Did it make life better for the poor man in the poorest parts of the world?
We have seen videos why this attacks happened, we have heard of the holy war, we heard of the grievance against the US for it's foreign policy, of the presence of foreign troops in the Middle East countries. Did the attacks bring about change that they wanted? Did the violence change anything? I or you cannot answer this, only the masterminds behind this attacks can answer them.
But I know every year we will only remember the loss of innocent lives, the desruction of families and the futility of using violence to change things.
As soon as the news flashed on CNN of the first crash on the TV in my bosses office, we were all crowding around it watching with wildly beating hearts at the scenes unfolding. Of course the rest of the day was not the same, it was not the same for all of us. The horror of people burning live, jumping off building to certain death, trapped on the floor or in the stairwell and of the eventual burial as the building collapsed. How many families watched the horror watching the fate of their loved ones.
The day changed many things for all of us. We could no longer walk carefree through the security at the airport. We could no longer enter United States for a holiday or to visit family without facing a barrage of questions. Those of us who are brown skinned and happen to be born in certain part of world found ourselves being pulled aside for more questioning. It also brought invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq.
Did the terrorist attack bring the desired result for the organization that carried out? Did it bring world peace? Did it make life better for the poor man in the poorest parts of the world?
We have seen videos why this attacks happened, we have heard of the holy war, we heard of the grievance against the US for it's foreign policy, of the presence of foreign troops in the Middle East countries. Did the attacks bring about change that they wanted? Did the violence change anything? I or you cannot answer this, only the masterminds behind this attacks can answer them.
But I know every year we will only remember the loss of innocent lives, the desruction of families and the futility of using violence to change things.
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