| Councillor reprimanded for not spending enough
Toronto city Coun. Rob Ford was formally reprimanded by the city's executive committee on Monday for not spending enough taxpayers' money. Ford is the ultimate penny-pincher on council, spending nothing of his allotted $53,000 office budget this year. Ford pays his office expenses out of his own pocket. He buys the stamps, the envelopes and pays the cellphone bills himself. But that goes against the city's ethics rules that call for transparency in public spending, the underlying principle being that the public should know who is paying so there is no chance individuals or companies could use the money as a lever to ask for favours. "You don't spend private money, or developers' money, or anybody else's money on things like your newsletters. You spend the public money because there's an audit trail, it's accountable," said Mayor David Miller.
51% of Afghans feeling good about country's direction: poll
Warrant Officer Sean Chase of the Provincial Reconstruction Team hands out "Izzy" dolls to 15 children from one family. They came with their father to the Village Medical Outreach at Forward Operating Base Martello.(Captain Dave Muralt/Department of National Defence) Most Afghans said they believe their lives are better than they were five years ago, citing increased security, as well as better roads and schools because of reconstruction efforts. Those who feel they are worse off say they don't feel safe in the face of continuing violence. "There's no consensus. It's not everyone [who] has a positive view," said Keith Neuman of Environics. "But more often than not, people feel that things are better than they were." The Ottawa-based research company oversaw the Sept.
'Tyrant of the middle way' sees huge China expansion
The theft of children from their families is common (as a recent Guardian article points out) and many provinces have a police anti-slavery squad. A large number of slave labourers were recently uncovered in Shanxi Province. Petty theft, bag snatching, and house breaking are every day occurences. Violent crime is common, and knife carrying is endemic. Rape and murder rates are also high. And that's before we get onto civil rights, corruption........................ Report as unsuitable 17. JB2003, Hong Kong / 6:02am 16 Oct 2007 Wow Galactic Cannibal, thanks for taking up the whole messageboard with your view.... You and Conan simply don't understand China. It is a very young (only just 40+ years old) country in terms of its political thinking and arguably didn't find its feet until Deng Xiaoping took power after the disasterous Moa era.
It's beginning to look a lot like Saturnalia
It took a while, but I officially hate Black Friday now. Capitalist Excess Saturday depresses me to no end. Sucker Sunday, Cyber Monday, Take All My Money Tuesday and Wimpy Consumer Wednesday leave me feeling tense and exploited even if I haven't spent a dime at the mall. Then there's Identity Theft Thursday, Fiscal Disaster Friday and Suffocate Me in My Sleep Saturday followed by 22 or 23 more shopping days until Christmas and the inevitable anticlimax and spiritual malaise the season embodies. My discontent with the holiday is as much a function of age as anything else. This is my 47th Christmas, so I've seen more than my fair share of these jingle-bell abominations over the years. When you feel your allegiance shifting from Little Cindy-Lou Who to the Grinch, you know you're in the grip of a profound existential crisis no amount of ho-ho-ho can deliver you from.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
ANSI is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and the American quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. The Institute currently administers five standards panels in the areas of biofuels, homeland security, nanotechnology, healthcare information technology, and identity theft prevention and identity management. American National Standards Institute (ANSI): CSR News, Events and Reports .
GCSO warns residents of possible identity theft operation via phone
Gray County Sheriff's Office is warning residents about a possible identity theft operation in which the person is asked for information concerning their bank account.At least one local resident has reported receiving a call from someone claiming to be a representative of the Internal Revenue Service, said Sheriff Don Copeland. The caller claimed that the IRS had a refund to send to the person, and asked for the person's bank routing number and bank account number in order to deposit the refund in their account.This information may be used by the caller to remove money from the account and may also lead to identity theft, Copeland said.
The IRS warns all citizens not to give personal information over the phone, through the mail or on the Internet unless they have initialed the contact or they are sure they know who they are dealing with.
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