Yet Another daylie rantie Thing

%expand% %null("written by Terry R Dye ") %null("case statements do not seem to work on mortimers version of SMX") %set(grunt,%mult(%counter(cgrunt,-1),0)) %set(normal,%mult(%counter(cnormal,-1),4.5)) %set(disgrunt,%mult(%counter(cdisgrunt,-1),9)) %set(gruntvalue, %div( %add( %grunt%,%normal%,%disgrunt% ), %add( %counter(cgrunt,-1),%counter(cnormal,-1),%counter(cdisgrunt,-1) ) ) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,0), %set(grunt,grunt0.gif) %set(gruntblurb,happy happy joy joy) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,.5), %set(grunt,grunt1.gif) %set(gruntblurb,finding flowers in the daisy patch) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,1.5), %set(grunt,grunt2.gif) %set(gruntblurb,generally just a happy jack\.) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,2.5), %set(grunt,grunt3.gif) %set(gruntblurb,must be a wrestling night on the telly) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,3.5), %set(grunt,grunt4.gif) %set(gruntblurb,oooh\, oh look\. a dime on the road\! cool\!) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,4.5), %set(grunt,grunt5.gif) %set(gruntblurb,pretty much just a normal Mark) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,5.5), %set(grunt,grunt6.gif) %set(gruntblurb,oh look\, I lost a dime\. Damnit\.) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,6.5), %set(grunt,grunt7.gif) %set(gruntblurb,a ok\, I should explain\. see\, it\'s that damned alex trebeck\'s fault) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,7.5), %set(grunt,grunt8.gif) %set(gruntblurb,normally\, my teeth don\'t expose themselves like this) ) %if(%gte(%gruntvalue%,8.5), %set(grunt,grunt9.gif) %set(gruntblurb,lock up the kiddies\, Mark\'s gone postal) ) Yet Another daylie rantie Thing

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Monday, December 1

Quick stuff - The month of December is upon us! Only 24 shopping days till Christmas! Gahhhhhh! (well, here where I live, stores are open 7 days a week!)

I don't think this is going to be a long one today.

First things first. I had a long talk with my Dad on Sunday, which was pretty cool. My Dad's been having some problems as of late, so it's good to see him in better spirits. We talked about a lot of stuff, and then got into our usual left-wing / right-wing arguments. The topic of the day? The postal strike, and the APEC conference that was recently in Vancouver.

As far as the postal strike goes, I'm pretty much of the opinion that the government should fire every one of their asses... much like ole Ronnie Raygun did to the air traffic controllers back in the mid 80s. Oh, in case you didn't know, Canada's in the middle of a national Postal Strike.

What really, really gets to me is this - the CUPW (Canadian Union of Postal Workers) strikers happen to be the highest paid people in this country (as a whole) for low-skill manual labour. You start at $17.50 an hour, and after being around for a few years, your take home pay is pretty darned fine - A guy with 20 years under his belt is taking home close to $35G after taxes, and considering the taxes we pay up here, that's substantial. My Dad once worked for the post office, and his comment about the work was that he could literally sleep on the job - it was so brainless - and also lots of lax time.

But that's not enough for them. In a blatant attempt by CUPW to prove their worth (and also justify the dues they take off all the workers' cheques every two weeks), the union demanded, get this - jobs for life for ALL posties, including the part time, casual and temporary workers (I'm still trying to figure out how you give a temp worker a job for life), and they want an 8.9% increase in salaries over 18 months!! Get outta town!!

The Canadian government claims that 9.2% of it's work-aged population is unemployed. I can tell you it's higher, much higher than that - the government only does their stats from the unemployment insurance payouts and welfare payouts. They conveniently forget all the people who fell through the cracks, live on the street, or work for virtual slave wages under the table. Some statistics say that as many as one out of every seven work-able Canadians is out of a job. With those kinds of stats, the posties should be damned ashamed of themselves for even considering a strike.

Some more facts for you - already, 35,000 Posties (out of 47,000, which includes temp and part time work) have "guaranteed jobs for life". In other words, it's next to impossible to fire them, and they can never be permanently laid off. They have, without a doubt, the best benefits in the country, when you look at all major labour forces.... some of these benefits include not working further than 40km away from their home, full dental, insurance, Canada Savings Bonds buying plans, and even paid travel to and from work for some Posties. They have it so good, but it's not enough for them.

As I said at the top, they should all be fired. Without recourse. I bet if someone in government had the balls to do this, they could head down to the unemployment offices and have those jobs filled within a day, at the same rates and benefits as now... and those jobs would be filled by people grateful to as much as triple the minimum wage for low-skill work. It would also be a huge public relations coup - The strike is not looked on well by the majority of Canadians, who think the posties are greedy as hell...

Unfortunately, no one in our government has those kinds of balls. Well, maybe Sheila Copps does, but she's not in a position to do anything. I still say fire all their asses. Now.

And in the meantime, while they go on strike, all the kids around the world and in this country who are writing to Santa Claus a North Pole, Canada, H0H 0H0, are getting their mail lost, bounced, or forgotten. Shame on them.

My Dad agrees with me on this, but what kind of irritated me is that he compared the protests in Ottawa last week by CUPW (at Parliament Hill) with the protests by people at the APEC conference in Vancouver. World of difference, Dad. The Posties are protesting their right to be greedy sunsabitches. The Vancouver protests we protesting the fact that our government hosted a giant party and money making venture for a bunch of "world" leaders, many among them who are murderers, genocidal dictators, and generally scum of the earth. I agree with those protesters, and for them to be compared to the CUPW weenies is not too good in my books.

I'll end off today by saying if you're a Canadian, call your local MP and demand that serious action be taken against the striking postal workers - demand that your MP voice your opinions in the House of Commons - after all, he or she is supposed to be your voice in government.

The archive is now almost totally updated. Well, over halfway now. Take a peek at the new, easy to navigate framed archive format. and yes I know, pictures are missing. individual months not archived yet: June | May | April

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