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12 February 2009

2 February was the 2nd day of the eighth month of the 3rd year of Canadian national consciousness rising to invincibility.

2 February 2009

Dr William Overall, National Director of the Global Country of World Peace in Canada, presented highlights of news reports reflecting Canada's rising invincibility from Yogic Flying groups across Canada and the large Invincible America Assembly at Maharishi University of Management and Maharishi Vedic City, USA.

Extensive scientific research has documented the Maharishi Effect of rising coherence, harmony, and peace created in the collective consciousness of a nation by large groups of Yogic Flyers. The effect has been found to extend beyond national borders when the group is of sufficient size.

Following are press reports featured in Dr Overall's presentation:

The Canadian Press - Sarkozy calls for Quebec-Canada unity in hard economic times (2 February 2009) French President Nicolas Sarkozy tiptoed into the issue of Canadian unity in Paris on Monday during a ceremony to honour Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who was named a commander of France's Legion of Honour, one of the country's highest awards. Sarkozy said that he didn't need to hate the neighbours of Quebec to prove he loved them. To do so, he said, would be 'a strange idea'. He said he embraced the 'universal values' held in Quebec and France—the rejection of bigotry, the rejection of division, the rejection of self-confinement, the refusal to define one's identity through fierce opposition to another. Charest said he was proud to receive the award and accepted it on behalf of all Quebecers who strove to keep the French culture and language alive and well in Quebec for more than 400 years.

From a Canwest News Service report on this: President Sarkozy downplayed Quebec sovereignty, saying the world needs unity, not division. He said disunity sends the wrong message to the Francophonie alliance of 56 French-speaking countries. The Francophonie should be about unity, tolerance, and openness, he told the gathering that included senior French and Quebec government officials. Sarkozy seemed anxious to bury France's long-standing policy of 'ni-ni' (non-interference and non-indifference) towards the issue of Quebec separation from Canada. The ni-ni concept—long considered an irritant by federalists because the 'non-indifference' statement implies possible support for Quebec separation—isn't appropriate for friends or family, he said. Sarkozy, who outlined his pro-Canadian unity views in Quebec City last October, repeated his position that Canada is France's close friend but Quebeckers are like siblings.

The Canadian Press - Investment in microcredit presents secure and noble option in economic downturn (1 February 2009) While not completely insulated from market forces, microcredit or micro finance—the idea of lending small amounts of money (of a few hundred dollars or less) to the poor so they can develop self-sustaining small businesses—is grassroots. 'Through the Asian crisis, say 10 years ago, one of the things we learned is that micro finance was surprisingly resilient compared to when there were failures with the main commercial banks,' Results Canada president Blaise Salmon says. More than 106 million of the world's poorest families received a micro loan in 2007. With a default rate of just five per cent, most businesses are successful. While the Canadian International Development Agency invested C$76 million in microcredit programmes in places like Asia, Africa, and the Middle East last year, investing in microcredit is not simply the domain of charitable organizations. The Citizens Bank of Canada, an online institution that specializes in ethical investing, supports global microcredit programmes through term deposits and RRSPs (Registered Retirement Savings Plans). Over the last 11 years, Citizens Bank members have contributed some C$9 million to microcredit, says bank manager Elisabeth Geller. Investments currently yield anywhere from 1.2 to 2.6 per cent interest, but offer a 'guaranteed return'. Geller says 2,312 British Columbia residents have made similar investments in their own communities through Vancity Credit Union which, for the last year, has allowed clients to direct their funds toward microcredit programmes. 'What we found is when you invest in people, even C$1,000-C$5,000 which is the limit that we set for micro finance in Canada, it can make a real difference,' Geller says. The investments have, for example, helped a Jamaican immigrant rent space in a commercial kitchen so she could prepare homemade sauces to sell. It's also helped people purchase computers to start home-based bookkeeping businesses. Geller says the financial marketplace has become a complex battlefield for wheelers and dealers and microcredit is a reminder of what capitalism was designed to do.

The Ottawa Citizen - Prospects remain bright for capital high-tech sector (1 February 2009) Employment in Ottawa's high tech industry remains inherently attractive to job seekers, with plentiful growth and vision for the future, experts say. In the longer term, said analyst Barry Nabatian, general manager of Market Research Corporation, every aspect of our lives is becoming more automated and more technologically oriented and this will only spur demand: 'In terms of the future, I think it's one of the best places for people to go to, no question about it.' The future of the industry is 'just very good', he said. Boding well for high tech in Ottawa is the city's highly educated population. 'We have more PhD and Master's degrees people here per thousand than anywhere else in Canada,' Nabatian said. Jay Johnson, lab director of Kanata-based TalentLab, a high tech recruiting firm, says the sector continues to thrive and will remain one of the city's most dynamic and promising industries—even through a recession.

The Halifax Chronicle Herald - Halifax's green rating improves (2 February 2009) Halifax, thanks to its harbour cleanup project, has been propelled to the top of a list of Canada's most sustainable cities. Corporate Knights magazine unveiled its third annual list and Halifax finished in the top position for medium-sized cities, and was fifth over all in the country. Other initiatives, such as the pesticide use reduction programme, the composting and recycling systems, and the Alderney 5 Advanced Geothermal Energy Project also contributed to the city's finish. The ranking identifies cities whose practices leave the smallest environmental footprint possible and create a healthy, thriving population.

Canwest News Service - Gatineau to cut hockey arena junk food (2 February 2009) Gatineau, Que. has voted to cut junk food from hockey arena canteens within three years in an attempt by the city of 242,000 to reduce the trans fats in the diets of Gatineau hockey fans. Canteens will replace the fries and chocolate bars with spaghetti, sandwiches, and muffins and eliminate soft drinks. This will affect 10 rinks in the area. 'It's following requests from the parents,' said Pierre Philion, a city councillor and chairman of Gatineau's health commission.

The Globe and Mail - Personal-care chemicals go on toxic list (2 February 2009) The federal government is placing on its toxic substances list two silicone-based chemicals that are widely used in shampoos and conditioners, where they help give hair the silky, smooth feeling often played up in advertisements for these personal care products. It is the first time any country has taken such regulatory action against the substances, called D4 and D5 by the silicone industry, that are also in hundreds of personal-care products ranging from deodorants to skin moisturizers. The toxic designation is a regulatory step that allows the government to introduce measures to control, reduce, or even eliminate the use of dangerous substances.

The Globe and Mail - Open-source politics breathe fresh air into the Big Smoke (30 January 2009) Un-conferences are popping up throughout Toronto. An 'un-conference' is a conference with an open-everything mindset. For participants, they reflect the spirit of open-source collaboration: If there's a problem you'd like solved, put it out to the community, and see what they come up with. So it was that, last weekend, Ryan Merkley, a senior adviser to Mayor David Miller, was working an easel at an un-conference. Attendees—a collection of programmers, social activists, politicians and media types—were shouting out what municipal information they'd like to see the city put online. Heavy-hitting city hall staff showed up. Provincial bureaucrats spoke about how best to get public information posted to the Web. The City of Toronto is taking the open-everything idea quite seriously. The Toronto Transit Commission, for instance, has installed GPS trackers in every one of its buses and streetcars and is building a website that will tell you where they actually are. But there are some things that the city doesn't have the time or money to accomplish: for instance, making this information come up on BlackBerries or iPhones, or perhaps combining it on a map with other useful information. This is where the community comes in. The TTC has committed to making the vehicle-tracking data freely available in real time, in a format that other programmers can use. The city is hoping to apply this same approach across the board. 'When you open up the data, there's no limit to what people can do,' said Mayor David Miller this week. 'It engages the imagination of citizens in building the city.'

The Canadian Press - Humber students contact space station with class-project radio (2 February 2009) Four seniors in Toronto's Humber College made contact with the International Space Station Monday with a radio system they designed and built themselves. School officials say that, to their knowledge, that's never been accomplished by students at the college level. The first message got no response, but after a second attempt, the voice of astronaut Sandra Magnus filled the room.

From another Canadian Press report on this: They were able to squeeze in 18 questions in all, including one about what Magnus would say about the experience of seeing Earth from space. 'Up here I've seen the world from a different viewpoint. I see it as a whole system, I don't see it as a group of individual people or individual countries,' Magnus said. 'We are one huge group of people and we're all in it together.'

For further information on creating invincibility for your nation, please visit: www.globalgoodnews.com/invincibility.

© Copyright 2008 Global Good News^®

Global Good News comment:
For information about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York.

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