Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders

A friend of mine recently told me about his interest in joining Doctors Without Borders (for those of us that speak English), the non-profit organization that spreads medical aid throughout the world. And I say kudos. I currently do not have the guts to do something like that. I'm working on it, though.

If you'd like to know what type of work they do, check out the parent website for DWB / MSF. I just looked at it, and they had a press release proclaiming that Abbott Laboratories has yet to fill their order for AIDS medication from over a month ago. And that Abbott has yet to make it's most effective AIDS medication available outside of the U.S.

Also check out the Canadian website, which has an interesting and alarming piece about DARFUR. Yes, our old friend that George Clooney publicized a month or two ago. It seems that the World Food Program, which is pretty much the only organization providing survival aid to the refugee camps, is being forced to cut in half the vital food rations that it is able to supply. Why? Because they are seriously crippled by lack of funding. Apparently, all that amazing publicity by Clooney (see my post from May) did jack squat. Personally, I think it has something to do with people not giving a shit about Africa. That theme has come up in a number of my posts, and I can't see it going away any time soon.

Democracy Now!

Do you think our neighbour to the south is big, scary, unpredictable, and just a bit neurotic? Would you like to know more about what's going on down there, other than what Fox News has to say? I've heard that most Canadians get their American news from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which kicks ass in my books (aside: you ever watch the Colbert Report? Steven Colbert was the guest speaker at the White House correspondents' dinner last month. Reports said that he bombed, but that's because all his jokes were aimed at the audience. He gave it to them good! You can find it here). But for a deeper exploration of what's going on in the U.S. of A., check out Democracy Now! They compile a whole bunch of daily articles from around the world (but mostly the States) letting us know what's actually happening. For example, Tuesday's list of articles included one about American soldiers in Iraq setting up bases of operation in residential buildings and booting the occupants to the curb. And so on.

Thanks, Luke, for sending me the link in the first place.

Canada's Most Wanted

How you ever wondered if your next-door neighbour was perhaps a homocidal maniac hiding from the authorities? Well, now you can find out for sure. Check out the RCMP Most Wanted website, and let your paranoia take control! This guy may look like Hunter S. Thompson, but he's actually a child molestor on the run. And check out the people who are wanted on drug charges, the bigwigs who run the show. What a motley looking crew, and I don't mean Tommy Lee.

Regina Folk Festival

Well, paint me yellow and call me Woodstock (Snoopy's friend, not the recent violent incarnation of the music festival). But the Regina Folk Festival sounds exciting. Running from August 11-13th, this year's event showcases such talents as Bedouin Soundclash, Ani Difranco, Steve Earle, Five Star Homeless, and Utah Phillips. And for students, a weekend pass is only 64 bucks. That's the price of one quality concert, never mind five! I'm definitely trying to arrange my schedule to go to this, let me know if your interested. Ani has a new album out, but the best thing she's ever done is 'To the Teeth', check it out. And Steve Earle, of course everyone knows 'Copperhead Road', but his recent stuff rocks, like 'The Revolution Starts Now' and 'Jerusalem'. Now that's songwriting. Aside: when 'Guitar Town' was the #1 country album in America, Earle got booed off a stage in Texas, by a group who shouted, "play some real country!" His response was, "this week, my music is real country, so shut up and listen." I love artists who play the music they want to play, and don't cater to what they think the audience wants to hear. Sorry Nickelback, but I'm talking about you. I think an audience should find the artist, not the artist chasing an audience.

Check out the Regina Folk Festival and get some tickets.

The Deal Behind Gasoline

Intrigued by the economics of gasoline, I’ve been doing a little reading about the oil and gas industry. One book I read was Gasoline Prices in Canada, a report written by the Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology in 2003, and published by the Government of Canada. This report looked into how the gasoline industry is run in Canada and the States, and whether or not price-fixing was a problem. They heard from various industry experts and concluded that rising gas prices were caused by numerous supply-and-demand issues, and that price gouging did not exist. Their reasoning seems sound, but I had two major issues with it. First, all their data came from a think tank funded by the major oil companies (to be fair, the committee acknowledged this, but didn’t seem to think it was a big issue). Second, I don’t think they ask the industry experts the right questions. When dealing with the issue of price-fixing, they heard various responses summarizing how the gasoline industry is one of the most competitive in existence, mainly because their prices are clearly advertised and that people will go out of their way to save a few cents. So if one retailer lowers the gas by a cent, others will follow. But the committee failed to ask about the opposite: what happens when someone raises their gas by a cent? Who are the people who first make that decision? And why does every other retailer follow? I don’t think gas prices are fixed by 6 suits in a boardroom, but I’m willing to bet that prices are always raised by retailers run by the oil companies, rather than the independants. The whole report was suppose to deal with the reasons behind gas price increases, but they stopped asking questions after they heard a few quick responses. I learned a lot, but I’m not sure how helpful it actually was.

Bright Eyes in Saskatoon

The top pic is Conor Oberst, performing one of his many amazing songs. The second is of 2 girls waiting by the gate -- hopelessly out of their element and trying desperately to get backstage. Unbeknownst to them, the band was already gone. I hope they shagged a good-looking roadie!

Great show, but oddly, no merchandise table. Guess I'll grab something off the website. Something about border duty. My only other complaint is that they never performed "When the President Talks to God", I'm assuming because he thought Canadians wouldn't care as much. C'mon Conor, we hate Bush as much as you!

Retaliation, Maybe?

In May, the American military conducted an air strike on a village in Afghanistan that reportedly harboured Taliban fighters. A whole wackload of civilians were killed in this strike. Canadian ground troops are the only ones there right now, and they had no idea that the Americans were going to do it. When we heard about this, a friend of mine commented that the locals were going to blame Canadians for this strike, even though they didn’t have anything to do with it. Because of the Americans, any goodwill we have scrapped together in Afghanistan will dissipate.

Last week, 17 Islamic youths were arrested on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks within the Canadian borders. One of the alleged plots involved beheading the prime minister. It appears that my friend’s comments about Canadian-Afghanistan relations are fairly valid.