VUG Media

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Amongst some of my friends I'm known to hate Corporations (aka. "The Man"), an assumption that is very far from the truth. Corporations are not fundamentally evil by any standards: they exist to provide us with valuable goods and services, build equity for shareholders and employ people. All of these are great things. However, the downfall of corporations is that they are not hardwired to look at the big picture of overall stability, well-being and efficiency of nations. Racing after the elusive consumer dollar has led to these unfortunate realities such as pollution, sweatshops, obscene levels of ads and unfair political sanctions against small countries.

I agree with this article that the current situation of corporate regulation is not working. Business' are much better with pursuing innovation (and money) than doing things by the book:

We, like Sisyphus, are caught forever pushing the damn rock up the hill and that really sucks. When we finally decide to get out of this losing situation, we will work on changing the economic logic so that corporations pursue a different kind of profit while better respecting natural capital.

In response to this article

This is an awesome article detailing the falsity that Hi-rises are bad for the environment. Just the opposite is true: Urban sprawl leads to more driving, more highways, more resource use and higher house prices to boot. As you will find with this article and the others is that I am a bit of a pragmatic progressive. In my heart of hearts I know that I am a big, greedy capitalist. However, in most cases I think that progressive solutions to core issues saves money and resources in the long term which increases wealth and productivity for all. I liked this point in particular:

Not only are worse commutes bad for their own sake, but also bad for the economy and for family life. Longer times behind the wheel mean billions of man-hours in lost economic output, as well as lost time spent with family or doing other activities.

Just when I thought the end of school meant slowing down my pace I am blind-sided with the fact that I now have to focus on working full-time and finishing up a ton of different projects (2 Wedding photo packages, 1 Website, 2005 accounting + over due government stuff + taxes!).

All of this equals an extremely hectic week, especially seeing that I am the only web developer on full-time at Image X and there is a huge work backlog. Especially when I consider that I have Spanish night class starting May 9th. The current plan is to try and finish up as much as possible (hopefully all) projects and take a much needed break from night time projects until about July. No bringing extra work home, nothing else extra, just "me" time. I really need to have some downtime to reflect, recoup and re-connect with a ton of people. For who knows how long I've been letting myself pack too much into my schedule... I just want to get to the point where I can go watch a movie, go out to a concert, swim or play guitar without having to stress about what I should be doing.

I've always had a problem with the dichotomy of a church being a body of believers as well as an institution. To myself, the heart of any church is the congregation, not the programs offered or the image portrayed.

Lately, I have been reading more and more about the transition from church being about community to becoming a self-serve service or commodity. Think about the regularity of church "shopping", something that I am guilty of myself. Or maybe think of how we expect churches to provide us with services such as Vacation Bible Schools, Youth Groups, Child Care, Multimedia departments, Kids Clubs, Seniors Luncheons... the list goes on.

"MORE AND BETTER AID. TRADE JUSTICE. CANCEL THE DEBT. END CHILD POVERTY IN CANADA."

It is pretty simple in my mind. Watching Live 8 today, I think that basically everything that can be said on the topic has been is already said. Check Technorati if you don't believe me on that one!

I'm guessing that everyone who happens to read this has already signed onto the Live 8 campain. However, if you haven't already, go and voice your support on the Live 8 and Make Povery History websites and with everyone that you know and meet. I like Manifestos, so below is Make Poverty History Canada's take on the situation: