This Cancon's Current Concerns

Today's concerning issues.

Move over Rambo, you're cramping new man's style
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050608/lf_afp/afplifestylefashion_050608142956
Wed Jun 8,10:29 AM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Macho man is an endangered species, with today's male more likely to opt for a pink flowered shirt and swingers' clubs than the traditional role as family super-hero, fashion industry insiders say.

Sickening, just sickening is all I can say. One minute gays are okay, next minute I have to be one.

The masculine ideal is being completely modified. All the traditional male values of authority, infallibility, virility and strength are being completely overturned," said Pierre Francois Le Louet, the agency's managing director.
Instead today's males are turning more towards "creativity, sensitivity and multiplicity," as seen already in recent seasons on the catwalks of Paris and Milan.
Arnold Schwarznegger and Sylvester Stallone are being replaced by the 21st-century man who "no longer wants to be the family super-hero", but instead has the guts to be himself, to test his own limits.

"We are watching the birth of a hybrid man. ... Why not put on a pink-flowered shirt and try out a partner-swapping club?" asked Le Louet, stressing that the study had focused on men aged between 20 and 35.

Lesson to learn: never, ever trust the left.


Coast Guard intercepts Cubans in floating taxi
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:54 a.m. ET June 8, 2005
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8136908

MIAMI - A vintage blue taxicab converted into a seagoing vessel and carrying several Cuban immigrants was intercepted Tuesday off Key West by the Coast Guard, a television station reported.

Cuba is one desparate place due to decades of incompetent socialism. One half of the population living on the backs of the other half with an incompetent market system.


Editorial: Need to debate forced retirement
Thestar.com editorial, June 7, 2005
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1118182510936&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795

The Ontario government threw the doors at Queen's Park wide open yesterday to what will be a highly charged debate on civil rights with its controversial proposal to end mandatory retirement at age 65.

Annother coward move by Ontario Liberals to test market policy in the court of public opinion.

Those who oppose mandatory retirement also note that Canadians are now living much longer and are in better health. Consequently, opponents believe many seniors would find productive, engaging work far preferable to decades spent filling their time puttering around the house.

How about more seniors volunteer or do other socially productive work to give back to society then?

Some employers feel the health and vibrancy of their businesses rely on the continuous infusion of "new blood." In industries where creativity and innovation are key sources of competition, employers ask how they could keep renewing their firms with younger people without the chance to shed older workers. Could a computer gaming company, for example, meet the competition with a workforce weighed down by 70-year-olds?

In Britain they are discussing the idea of providing old-age security as an insurance benefit. The rationalle is that higher income earners would have to wait longer to retire and collect benefits because statistics show that higher income earners live longer than workers of lower income levels. A better approach by difficult to manage.

Mandatory retirement also helps young people who cannot find work at many companies because the jobs are occupied by baby boomers, or who find promotion blocked for similar reasons. Jobs in large companies are less numerous than they used to be and yet they provide excellent training and networks. To some degree, the question is: Should one age cohort get to monopolize those scarce positions at the expense of another?

This is my biggest beef with this proposed legislation. When one nears middle age they start to think about their long-term career attainment and look more and more at who is above them. Since most at the top are older and well paid and taken care of, I can see many people hanging on to their soft well-paying jobs as long as possible. The real loss is that younger better educated middle management types will not be able to move up the corporate ladder. By the time the people at the top leave, a lot of the middle management types may be passed over for promotion by younger and even better educated staff. Thus, an entire generation of knowledge workers could be cheated out of their just rewards. This could hurt Canada's international competitiveness as the old top management hangs on trying to compete with top management in other countries that is younger more tech savy and better educated.

I think that many of the top execs should go out into the self-employment realm if they still want to work. There is opportunities as consultants, to start businesses, open a franchise, buy an existing business or even work overseas. Of course these highly skilled execs can always volunteer their time and knowledge to many needy causes. Please step down and give somebody else a chance.