Monday, February 28, 2005
Election Stock Market Opens Feb. 1, 2005 for Trading on the British Columbia Election
Vancouver - The UBC Election Stock Market (UBC-ESM) at the Sauder School of Business opens February 1, for trading on the May 17, 2005, British Columbia Provincial Election.
Operated during various Canadian federal and B.C. provincial elections since 1993, the UBC-ESM is an online, real-time market where the “shares” (or contracts) being traded are based on the outcome of an election. Past UBC ESMs have accurately predicted the outcome, within a few seats held, of the 2001 B.C. Provincial Election and 2000 and 1997 Federal Elections. This year the British Columbia provincial election and the referendum on electoral reform will be the focus of the stock market.
Participants in the stock market invest their own funds to buy and sell financial contracts representing the political parties, and in addition, bear the risk of losing money as well as earning profits.
“Election stock markets, like the UBC-ESM, have proven themselves capable of predicting with great accuracy the results of elections in Canada, the United States and elsewhere,” says Professor Tom Ross, Director of the Phelps Centre for the Study of Government and Business and Co-Director of the UBC-ESM. “Markets such as this are successful, in part because they capture the opinions of a geographically diverse electorate, through the traders. The fact that they have invested their own real money provides motivation to the traders who can earn profits or lose money depending on their success at predicting the political parties’ fortunes.”
Four markets will operate during the lead-up to the B.C. provincial election: a “Seats Market,” a “Popular Vote Market,” a “Majority Government Market,” and an “Electoral Reform Referendum Market.”
The UBC-ESM operates on a not-for-profit basis, with the results of the market contributing to research and teaching at UBC on market and trader behaviour. The minimum deposit required to open an account is $25.00, and the maximum amount that may be invested is $1,000.00 per account. At the close of the market, participants’ portfolios are repurchased by the UBC-ESM at prices determined by the election results. Individual traders will earn profits or bear losses depending upon whether the final values of their portfolios exceed or are lower than their initial investments.
PLEASE NOTE: The Election Stock Market will be open from February 1, 2005 at 12 a.m. PST to May 16, 2005 at 11 p.m. PST. Individuals will not be able to open accounts until after the market opens at 12 a.m. on February 1, 2005.
To open an account, or to watch the results, visit http://esm.ubc.ca./BC05/index.php
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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Visual Arts: Identity’s Points of Origin
Vancouver exhibitions illuminate our sense of place and deep ties to faraway countries
A strong element of our Pacific Rim identity informs this visual-arts season. Established and emerging artists, either based in or with cultural ties to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, appear in a number of solo and group exhibitions. Rising young artists of European descent are also commanding critical and curatorial attention. And, filling out the spring picture: our enduring attachment to forms and ideas of landscape.
Read more of Robin Laurence's article here
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Local TV news short on politics
By David Bauder, Associated Press
Despite its windfall from political advertising last fall, local TV news in 11 major markets spent little time covering local politics, a new study has concluded.
More than 90 percent of newscasts examined last fall had no news about campaigns for the House of Representatives, local or state governments. They devoted eight times the amount of coverage to people injured in accidents, said the Lear Center Local News Archive.
"If you want to get on local news, it's easier to be in a freak accident than to run for local office,'' said Marty Kaplan, professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School, which worked with the University of Wisconsin on the study. Researchers looked at all the evening and late-night newscasts in 11 cities for the 29 days before the Nov. 2, 2004 election.
The study is being released today in Washington by the Lear Center, which has encouraged local television news to be more aggressive in covering politics. Their findings this time mirror similar studies done in 2000 and 2002.
Local stations took in an estimate $1.6 billion in political advertising in 2004, according to the Alliance for Better Campaigns. That more than doubles the $770 million the stations got four years earlier.
More than half of those local news broadcasts contained a story on the Bush-Kerry presidential race, compared to 8 percent that had a local political story.
One reason local political races may be avoided is the broad geographic reach of some stations. A New York City station, for example, may not want to risk spending two minutes on a Brooklyn race for fear of turning off viewers in Manhattan or New Jersey.
"That's a challenge,'' said Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio and Television News Directors Association. "It isn't to say you don't do that, but it's a challenge.''
Cochran also noted that a vast majority of local races are not particularly competitive.
Kaplan agreed it was a challenge to cover these races, but that local stations have promised to do so in order to get their licenses to operate.
The time spent on the presidential race may have also taken time away from local races, he said. While national news broadcasts and cable news are also outlets for presidential news, there's usually no other TV outlet for the local stories.
Since there are many viewers who watch local newscasts and don't read a newspaper or watch national news, it's important for those stations to keep on top of the presidential race, Cochran said.
The study also appeared to give no credit to stations like those in Seattle that sponsored candidate debates because they weren't shown within the newscasts, she said.
In U.S. Senate races, the amount of time spent on commercials outnumbered that for actual campaign news by a 17-to-1 ratio, the study said.
As with many national newscasts, the study criticized the stations for spending more time on campaign strategy than issues. But it said the stations did a generally good job in informing viewers where to vote and if there were any polling problems.
The markets included in the study were New York; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Dallas; Seattle; Miami; Denver; Orlando; Tampa; Dayton, Ohio; and Des Moines, Iowa.
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Two Pro-China Parties Announce Merger
Beijing Pins Hope On Merger
The mainland hopes that merger of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) will consolidate its grip on the Election Committee which will elect the next chief executive in 2007.
According to a source, the mainland's Central Liaison Office has welcomed the merger of the two parties.
In the short term, Monday's merger will also been seen as an attempt by Beijing to use the influence of two groups to ensure a favorable Election Committee selection.
There are now 800 members on the committee. The government is still considering proposals that will either enlarge the group or maintain the status quo. A decision will have to be reached some time this year as voting for the committee begins next year.
The pro-democrat camp had 120 members in the last committee and Beijing wants to make sure they do not enlarge their representation.
``It is urgent to set the scene by strengthening our [DAB] political muscle first. Next year will see the election for the Election Committee,'' a DAB core member who declined to be named said. ``We [the pro-Beijing camp] should start preparing now.
``The merger will give us greater influence in the Election Committee and hence make us the kingmakers.''
Central Liaison officials, who helped to form the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance in 1994, also felt obliged to install a strong united front locally to support the Beijing-backed SAR government.
It is believed the Central Liaison Office approached the DAB leadership last year about a possible merger with the HKPA after the latter failed to win a seat in Legco and appeared to be a political party on the verge of extinction. At the same time, the DAB became the biggest political party in the 60-seat Legislative Council with 12 seats.
The merger also coincides with the long-term wish of the DAB to transform itself from a political party for the grassroots to one that represents a wide cross-section of Hong Kong.
The HKPA comprises deputies in the National People's Congress as well as representatives in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and claims to represent pro-Beijing professionals.
The merger will also put the DAB in a stronger position to recommend party members.
Copyright 2005, The Standard
23:33 Posted in Hong Kong Tales | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Democracy
Buy Blue
Why was BuyBlue.org started?
On the morning after the 2004 election, half of the country woke up in disbelief and disgust. Shortly afterwards it turned to anger and bitterness and many were entertaining moving to another country. It didn't take long for all of us to collectively realize that we had lost our country to the other side and we wanted, no needed to do something about it. It was at that moment that the original idea for BuyBlue.org was born.
What is BuyBlue.org all about?
Mission Statement: BuyBlue.org supports businesses that share our progressive values and ideals. BuyBlue.org uses our power as consumers to vote with our wallets, supporting businesses that abide by sustainability, workers' rights, environmental standards, and corporate transparency. At the same time, BuyBlue.org focuses sharply on businesses that violate the essential values of a sustainable, fair and profitable society through their policies and the politicians they support.
Vision Statement: BuyBlue.org will become a powerful tool used by a community of millions dissatisfied with the ineffectiveness of our elected and appointed leaders. We will form strong coalitions with stockholders, shareholders, corporations, small businesses and communities which share our values to gain strength through numbers. We will influence the political landscape, stimulate economic growth among participating businesses and industries and use the American dollar as an incentive for corporate transparency and responsibility.
Go to Buy Blue
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Monday, February 07, 2005
Happy Chinese New Year - Year of Rooster
The Chinese New Year Day is on February 9th, 2005. The Year 2005 (Rooster) is the 4702nd Chinese year. Most Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 BC, therefore China will enter the 4702nd year on February 4th, 2005.
Ran into an article with Chinese horoscope predictions for the coming year:
Rooster tends to be overconfident and is prone to come up with nonsensical plans. Politics will adhere to hard-line policies. The diplomatic scene will be dominated by philosophical orators who rave a lot about nothing. Governments will be found flexing their muscles at each other, but just for show. There may be no real confrontations. It is just that everyone will be too occupied with himself to hear or care what the other person is saying.
Best wishes for those of us involved with politics in 2005.
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Friday, February 04, 2005
Works by Deborah McCarroll
Deb is having her exhibition this weekend at the Pike Place Market.
Take a look at her abstract series and write a comment
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Canada, Here They Come...
By Andrew Buncombe
At their home in a comfortable, quiet Seattle suburb, Mike Teller and his partner Bob Vesely will not be cheering today. Indeed, while the celebratory thousands line the streets for the presidential inauguration 3,000 miles away in Washington, D.C., Teller and Vesely will think of their future and the greener pastures they believe await them. They'll be thinking of escape.
The clue to their getaway destination flies from a pole in front of their house - a Canadian flag. "We used to fly the US flag, but we changed it to a Canadian flag at the start of the Iraq war," says Vesely, 45, an IT manager. "It was our protest."
If the couple get their way, before too long they will be swapping the stars and stripes for the red and white maple leaf pennant - formally known as the National Flag of Canada - that now flutters in the breeze outside their home. Having toyed with the idea for many months, Teller and Vesely recently decided to leave the US and move to Canada. They made their decision on the morning of 3 November, the day after the American presidential election ensured that George Bush, rather than the Democratic candidate John Kerry, would be taking the oath of office on the western edge of the Capitol building later today.
And they are not alone. Even before the election, there were many people vowing that they would leave the country if President Bush was re-elected. In the aftermath of November's result, which many Democrats and progressives can still barely believe, large numbers of disgruntled, disaffected and simply fed-up Americans began focusing in earnest on a better, brighter life north of the border. Teller and Vesely have hired an immigration lawyer and sent off their applications.
The process of becoming a Canadian citizen takes at least two years, and at the moment the authorities in Ottawa say it is impossible to estimate how many US citizens are currently applying. What is certain is that the re-election of George W. Bush, along with what many perceive as an attendant shift to the right in America's cultural and political environment, has led many desperate Americans to enquire as to how they might get out of Dodge.
"It's a little early to say how many people have applied, but we do know there was a lot of interest in our internet site," says Maria Iadinardi of Canada's office of Citizenship and Immigration. "On 3 November, there were 115,628 visits from the US, and the day after there were half that number. We usually get 20,000 a day. It was three weeks before it went back down."
This isn't the first time Canada has emerged as a refuge for Americans who find themselves out of step with the direction their country is taking. Between 1970 and 1976, when the US was riven by disagreements over the Vietnam War, between 16,000 and 25,000 US citizens moved to Canada every year. The average, in more normal times, is between 5,000 and 6,000. Iadinardi points out that a click on a website is not the same as actually moving to Canada, and her office usually sees increased interest whenever a country undergoes a shift. "Now, after the tsunami in Asia, we have seen an increase in visits to our site," she says.
Still, there is certainly a feeling - if only based on anecdotal evidence - that a considerable northward migration is under way. Newspaper columnists in Canada are beckoning to disgruntled Americans; websites have been set up to help people thinking of moving; law firms are holding "Move to Canada" seminars in big cities; and even the smallest, dot-on-the-map places north of the border are anticipating an influx of US citizens. An advert placed in alternative US weekly newspapers by a development group based in the South Kootenay region of British Columbia is typical of the mood. It says: "Escape the Madness. Visit. Relocate. Immigrate."
People are heading north for different, often specific reasons. Teller and Vesely say the Bush administration's opposition to gay marriage, and the president's support of a constitutional amendment to ban formal recognition of such relationships, have made them feel like "outcasts." Also, they oppose the war in Iraq and don't support Bush's environmental policies, his go-it-alone approach to foreign affairs, and his snubbing of the United Nations.
Charles Key, a 56-year-old Vietnam veteran from Bellingham, whose ancestor Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," says he's leaving because his country is no longer tolerant. "The land of the free and the home of the brave always meant to me that America was supposed to stand for freedom and diversity and tolerance. I don't think it does that any more," he told a reporter.
Some of those planning to move highlight the increasing spread of Christianity in US society, eroding the traditional separation of church and state. Others are concerned about a general drift towards conservatism and away from liberal, progressive ideas. The one thing that appears to unite them is the shared belief that, in the second term of President George W. Bush, things are only going to get worse.
Another Seattle couple who won't celebrate today are Professor Frederick Neymeyer and his wife, Goebel. Neymeyer is the acting head of linguistics at the University of Washington, but this week he and his wife are househunting in Vancouver, a couple of hundred miles to the north in British Columbia. They, too, have spoken to lawyers, and are due to meet an accountant to find out how they can transfer their money to Canada.
"We are at the point of retirement and we want to move to a large, cosmopolitan city. Vancouver is more interesting than Seattle," says Neymeyer, 60. "Also, Canada appears to be moving in the opposite direction to the US. It is becoming more progressive, more tolerant. We're prepared to become Canadians."
Greg Pallas, 42, from Redwood City in California, has reasons other than politics to move north. His girlfriend Mariette is Canadian and the couple had always thought they would move to her home country. For Pallas, however, that desire greatly increased with Bush's re-election.
"It was 2 November that I decided," says Pallas, a financial analyst who has already sent off his paperwork to the Canadian authorities. "I can just see this country becoming more conservative. It's the religion thing. The country is moving to the right and becoming less tolerant."
For most people considering a life in Canada, the biggest uncertainty is whether they will find comparable jobs and lifestyles. Mike Teller is a zoologist at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle; whether he will be able to find such a position in Canada is unclear. Greg Pallas, a financial analyst, doubts that he will be able to find a similar post, with the same pay and benefits, in Canada. "The job is the main thing I think I will miss," he says. "My girlfriend is a teacher and should be able to get work. At the moment, we are saving money and I'm hoping it won't be so bad."
All this talk of a new future in Canada, a country which recognised gay marriage in December, and where there is a healthy suspicion of the Bush administration, implies that the good folk there are ready to welcome a flood of disgruntled Yanks. That might not be true - at least, not everywhere.
In November, when the talk of a mass migration to the north was at its height, disaffected Democrats who had just seen their man lose were given plenty to think about by Ian Robinson, a columnist with The Calgary Sun, who wrote: "I hope I'm not alone in gently suggesting to those considering coming to Canada: stay home, you pathetic whining maggots."
For the most part, however, the signs are more welcoming. Jason Mogus, director of a company called Communicopia, set up a website to help people considering the move and to point out that Canada has universal healthcare and no troops in Iraq, signed the Kyoto protocol on the environment and permits gay marriage - and that its senate recently recommended legalising cannabis.
The site, alternativecanada.com, adds: "We invite you to get to know Canada. Explore the richness and diversity of our regions. And find out why Canada is the perfect alternative for conscientious, forward-thinking Americans."
Most Americans who have already made the move to Canada - and there are up to one million now living there - appear to have only good things to say about their new home. The internet blogger Inspector Lohmann dedicates much of his website to details of his emigration from San Francisco to Toronto, a move he made last year. The inspector, who prefers to use his blog name, works in the film industry.
Lohmann, from New England, has no regrets. In one blog entry, he wrote: "When I crossed the border into Canada to begin a new life in a new country, I felt a tremendous weight lift from me. I felt free in a way I had never felt before. And I never looked back. I have not felt a single pang of regret, nor do I ever expect to. When I visit America now, I feel like a visitor in some alien land, and it's a great feeling."
Asked to sum up what is best about his new home, he says: "The best things about the move: leaving Murka [the US], loving Canada, loving Toronto, loving the change of seasons. No matter how bad my day is, I think to myself, 'I'm in Canada!' and suddenly I'm not so miserable anymore."
Of course, the road north isn't entirely straightforward. On top of the headaches of paperwork, as well as finding new homes, jobs, and friends, and all the rest, there is the sniping from proud red-state US citizens who cannot believe that any true American could conceive of leaving.
The vociferous, increasingly intolerant right-wing commentator Ann Coulter said recently on Fox News: "It's always the worst Americans who end up going [to Canada] - the Tories after the Revolutionary War, the Vietnam draft-dodgers after Vietnam. And now, after this election, you have the blue-state people moving up there. They better hope the United States doesn't roll over one night and crush them. They are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent."
To many people planning their move, such comments are merely another reason to get packing. As soon as they can.
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In Conversation with Mok Chiuyu
Theatrical Collaboration With Hong Kong Ahead
By Ershad Kamol
There's a new face on the theatre circuit in Dhaka. The Hong Kong-based Congress Director of International Drama/Theatre Educational Association (IDEA), Mok Chiuyu along with his five teammates has arrived in the city. The objective is to do two collaborative works - a TV film and a stage play - with his Bangladeshi counterpart Mamunur Rashid.
Mok seeks to generate awareness about social issues through stage plays in Hong Kong. Moreover, he is involved with a few remarkable theatre activities such as theatre in education and theatre for the disabled. Besides his theatrical activities, Mok acts in films.
Talking about his interesting theatre activities with the disabled in Hong Kong, Mok says, "I have produced many stage plays with disabled performers. Of those productions, the plays with speech-impaired performers have won plaudits both at home and abroad. In fact, speech-impaired performers stage nonverbal theatre, which has the power to overcome the language barrier. I have visited USA, Canada, Japan and other European countries with my artistes."
For his lifelong contribution in theatre Mok Chiuyu has won the Drama Achievement Award in 1999 given by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
On his Bangladesh visit, Mok says, "We are here to do two collaborative works with Mamunur Rashid and his troupe. We will jointly present a play on Colombian revolutionist Ernesto Guevara, known to us as Che Guevara, who became a legend during 1970s in Latin America for his bold stand against oppression and inequality. And we will also make a TV film."
The conversation veers to the reason behind a stage play on Che Guevara. Mok says, "In the era of globalisation, we badly need a powerful figure such as Guevara to fight against all forms of injustice. I think, we can take many cues from Guevara's life.
"His execution in Vallegrande at the age of 39 only enhanced Guevara's mythical stature. I visited Latin America to garner more information on the legend. We also staged five plays over there on him. We will perform the prelude--our search for Che Guevara - to Mamun's script on the play, which will be directed by Faiz Zahir. This multilingual production will be staged in Dhaka as well as in Hong Kong."
The Mok-Mamun duo is also making a TV film on the struggle of the Chinese civilians in Chittagong during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. Mok says, "It is not a film on politics, rather the struggle of people borne out of flawed politics. This will also be a multi-lingual production, which will be aired in the both countries - Bangladesh and Hong Kong. I will play a shoemaker in the film. Mamunur Rashid is the screen playwright and director. I will translate the Chinese dialogues and the roles will be performed by artistes from Hong Kong."
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Welcome to Girls' State
For Women Seeking Office, Washington Is The Hot Spot
By Karen Breslau on Newsweek
Jan. 31 issue - In 1992, Christine Gregoire, then running for attorney general of Washington, made a pilgrimage to the offices of EMILY's List, the legendary fund-raising network for women candidates. At the end of a daylong campaign course, EMILY's List founder Ellen Malcolm ushered Gregoire into a back room. "Ask me for money," Malcolm said. But Gregoire choked. "I thought, I can't do that," says Gregoire. "After I stumbled around for a bit, Ellen said, 'Let me play the candidate, and I'll show you how'." That conversation was invaluable, says Gregoire, who earlier this month was inaugurated as governor after a contested triple recount gave her a 129-vote lead over her Republican opponent, Dino Rossi. Not being squeamish about raising money - $6 million for her campaign and $2 million more for the recount - "is one way you make yourself credible," says Gregoire.
It's a lesson the women of the Evergreen State have learned well. Although Rossi is suing for a new election, Gregoire's victory makes Washington - at least for now - the first state to have a woman in the statehouse and two in the U.S. Senate, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. They are not anomalies in Washington: Gregoire, Murray and Cantwell, all Democrats, are creatures of a political culture that has produced greater electoral gains for women per capita than any state in the country - ranging from school boards and city councils all the way up. National groups are studying the state's political farm system in hopes of replicating it elsewhere. "Washington has normalized the whole idea of women leading," says Marie Wilson, of the White House Project, an organization promoting women's political involvement.
There's no easy explanation for how Washington came to be girls' state. The state's progressive frontier culture is part of it. "Women arrived here in covered wagons," Gregoire told NEWSWEEK. "Their contributions were respected from the beginning." Seattle elected the nation's first female big-city mayor, Bertha K. Landes, in 1926, and the state got its first female governor, Dixie Lee Ray, in 1976. But the big breakthrough came in 1992, when women nationwide were swept into office following outrage over the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. Murray, a self-described "mom in tennis shoes," vaulted to the U.S. Senate; Cantwell, then 34, was elected to the House of Representatives, and Gregoire became attorney general. "You reach a certain threshold, and then everyone becomes a role model," says Cantwell, whose 2000 Senate run was inspired by Murray.
Women have also benefited from the lack of an old boy's network. The state's relatively weak political parties and open primaries make it easier for newcomers to break in. Washington's tech-driven, entrepreneurial economy has also generated a high number of women business owners, says Seattle political consultant Cathy Allen. "Women here are writing the checks to candidates," she says. "They are more invested in the system." Though Washington is a Blue State, Republican women have also fared just fine. Conservative Jennifer Dunn, a top fund-raiser for George W. Bush and former chair of the state GOP, represented suburban Seattle in Congress for 12 years. In 2004, Cathy McMorris, a pro-life Republican, was elected to Congress from Spokane.
All three of Washington's top women have compelling life stories. Murray, a homemaker, was so angry about education-budget cuts that she got herself elected to the state Senate. Gregoire started her career as a clerk typist, put herself through law school, then became a crusading anti-tobacco attorney general. Cantwell, the first college graduate in her family, made (and lost) her own fortune as a software executive during the 1990s. "When I ran for Senate in 1992, I had women saying to me, 'Don't you think a man should do that?' or 'Put your name on the ballot as Pat, not Patty'," says Murray, who was re-elected to a third term last year. In Washington, no one dares to offer that advice now. Women rule.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
Governor Gregoire's Legislative Agenda
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