JimBobby Sez

Enbridge lobbied 23 MPs, 3 deputy ministers, 1 chief of staff & other public office holders

2012-01-17T10:25:00.002-05:00

(Reprinted from Lobby Monitor Newsletter)

Enbridge did fall lobbying blitz
January 12, 2012 - 9:22am | Lobby Monitor Staff

In-house lobbyists with Enbridge, the Calgary-based energy company behind the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, lobbied 23 MPs, three deputy ministers, one chief of staff and other designated public office holders this fall, communication reports filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying show.

Registrations filed with the commissioner's office have Patrick Daniel, Enbridge's president and CEO, listed as the responsible officer for the firm's in-house lobbying. D'Arcy Levesque, the vice president of public and government affairs, and Sonya Savage, the senior manager of government relations, are identified as the two company officials whose lobbying activities represent 20 per cent or more of their duties.

A communication report does not specify which officials did the lobbying, or if the communication was face-to-face or by telephone.

The registration says Enbridge officials were to lobby on “bills (such as C-606 "An Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (Prohibition against the transportation of oil by tankers on Canada's Pacific North Coast) - measure or area of interest is the proposed ban on oil tanker traffic.”

It also noted there could be “discussions regarding the development of a national energy strategy and the approach to opening new markets for natural resources” and that the company would be “seeking improved efficiencies in the environmental assessment processes.”

One communication shows Enbridge lobbied 22 MPs, all of them Conservative, at once. Another communication shows Enbridge's in-house lobbyists lobbied Louis Levesque, deputy minister of international trade at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Michael Wernick, deputy minister at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and Michael Horgan, a deputy minister at the finance ministry, were also lobbied, according to two separate communications.

Enbridge is also working with outside consultants, the registry showed. Ensight Canada's Jacquie LaRoque, Gregory Kolz and Robin Sears are registered to lobby the House of Commons and the Senate on behalf of the company.

Mocha in Muskoka

2011-12-31T18:23:00.002-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, ol' Dr. Dawg wrote hisself a parody version of ol' Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskokee an' it's all about how Tony Clement took $50 million earmarked for border security an' spent it on fixin' up his stompin' grounds so's he'd be sure an' get hisself re-elected. DawgFeller called his version Mocha in Muskoka. Balbulican suggested maybe I'd sing it so Balbu an' some o' his buddies got together an' recorded up a backup track (dang good pickin' an' fiddlin', sez I).

Here's the video.

Mocha in Muskoka

We don't vote for Dippers in Muskoka
We don't take our trips with LPC
We party with the party that delivers,
And our borders are secure enough for me.

I'm proud to sip my mocha in Muskoka
A place where money always grows on trees
We rock ourselves to sleep on this gazebo
'cause we like bein' rich and livin' free.

We're sparin' no expense in Tony's riding
We're fixin' up the place to make it nice
We'll lift your chandelier or we'll remove it
And the government will gladly pay the price.

I'm proud to sip my mocha in Muskoka
A place where money always grows on trees
We rock ourselves to sleep on this gazebo
'cause we like bein' rich and livin' free.

Armani's still in style for Bay Street lawyers
Arriving for their summer on the green
Croquet is still the roughest sport at Deerhurst
No "Occupy Muskoka" will be seen.

We still wave to Tony from the boathouse
In Parry Sound-Muskoka, Canada.

http://drdawgsblawg.ca/2011/12/mocha-in-muskoka.shtml

'Twas just weeks before Christmas in Attawapiskat

2011-12-06T15:52:00.005-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I got me a new video an' poem all about Attawapiskat. Here it is:

'Twas just weeks before Christmas, when all through the land,
Attention was aimed at a First Nation band;
Canadians heard as they'd oft heard before,
Of hardship and squalour so hard to ignore;
Of children shivering cold in their beds,
While visions of plumbing danced in their heads;
And Ma in her parka, and Pa in his cap,
Thought they'd had quite enough of this poverty crap,
Then down south in Ottawa there arose a big clatter,
MP's rose in the House to discuss the matter.
They pounded their desks, jumped up in a flash,
They shifted the topic from hardship to cash.
Forget about cold and new-fallen snow,
Harper is asking where'd the money all go,
Indignant but calm he rose to his feet,
Said, first do an audit and then you'll get heat,
Excuses, distractions and rhetoric quick,
And a lack of compassion to rival Old Nick.
More rapid than eagles his ministers came,
To defend their inaction and divert the blame;
"We're not responsible. Look what we've spent!
Fifty thousand per person for food, heat and rent!
Fifty thousand per person over five or six years!
That ought to be plenty, so wipe off your tears!
That ought to buy roads, clean water and schools,
You wasted it all, incompetent fools"
Defensive and red-faced, in rages they flew,
Denying the truth about what they knew.
And then, in a twinkling, Big Steve hatched a plan,
Of third-party management, a white business man.
He spent twenty minutes or so looking around,
And put a manager on a plane northern bound.
He was dressed all in wool, in a fine three-piece suit,
Armed with pencils and papers and a chequebook to boot;
A bundle of cash he had tight in his hand,
And he looked like a banker and that was the plan.
Harper's eyes -- how they twinkled! He wore a broad smile!
The audits and studies would take quite a while!
And time favoured Harper, he's sly as a rat,
The focus will shift from Attawapiskat;
He'd stall and he'd study and tell a few fibs,
And dig up some scandal 'bout dippers or libs;
With his pasty white face, he was suitably smug,
For poor, hungry children, he just gave a shrug.
They can shiver and shake in their tar paper shacks,
Cold arctic can winds blow through the cracks;
Christmas break's coming, there's no need for speed,
There's slop pails to take care of toiletting needs;
He spoke some big words, delegated his work,
To the third-party guy, a white southern jerk,
Then laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, on vacation he goes;
He sprang for the door, to his caucus he whistled,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, now shut up and good-night."

MacKay - Baird Photo : Caption Contest

2011-06-23T12:45:00.001-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, when I seen this here pitcher of ol' Johnny Baird eyeballin' Petey MacKay, I figgered it was cryin' out fer a caption contest. It ain't much of a contest on accounta there ain't any prizes.

Here's a couple to start it off.

"Hmmmm... Why is there daylight coming through Pete's ear?"

***********

"Nice skin. I wonder what moisturizer Pete uses."

Canada's nuclear waste management plan looks good on paper. Will it ever go beyond the planning stage?

2011-03-21T12:19:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an’ foes, the other day, I tweeted calling attention to an article in StraightGoods.com, Canadians can't afford Candu complacency, by Paul McKay. One of my Twitter followers took exception to a number of points in the article and since it’s dang tough to give a detailed response in 140 characters or less, I’m using this blog post to kick off a more in-depth discussion.

The first point of contention relates to a quote from Paul McKay’s artcle:

Some may contend that since our generation has already built two dozen Candu's that must be entombed some day, and created some 60,000 tonnes of lethal nuclear wastes, adding more is no big deal.

That might be plausible if there was a proven, safe method of dismantling defunct Candu reactors, and permanently isolating nuclear wastes for millenia. But there is not, and virtually no thought or resources are being devoted to such solutions.

Meanwhile, the Canadian inventory of hellishly dangerous radioactive materials grows — and that is a fact for which our grandchildren will almost certainly curse us.

The bold text is the part my Twitter friend took issue with. To dispute the veracity of McKay’s statement, his tweet linked to Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) website. According to the NWMO website, the “Government of Canada (GoC) selected Canada’s plan for the long-term management of used nuclear fuel in June 2007.”

Okay, so there’s a plan. The timing begs a question, though. We’ve been accumulating highly radioactive spent fuel since Canada’s first nuclear power plant (NPP) was commissioned in 1954. In the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, most of Canada’s nuclear power plants were brought online and began creating 100’s of tonnes of waste annually. Doesn’t 2007 seem a bit late in the game to just be selecting a plan for dealing with such toxic and dangerous waste?

Considering the immediacy and severity of the waste problem, the mere fact that NWMO has a plan does not, at least to me, indicate a significant expenditure of thought or resources. Waiting until 60,000 tonnes of waste have accumulated on site at NPPs in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick before deciding on a plan borders on reckless endangerment… at least that’s how I see it.

So, how’s that plan progressing? Well, stage one of the plan is to find a willing host community that wants to have all of Canada’s nuclear waste stored underground nearby. Although NWMO and the GoC selected a plan back in 2007, they didn’t start actively soliciting for a willing host community until 2010. If – and it’s a big if – a willing host community comes forward and says it is willing to receive all present and future high-level nuclear waste, the geological conditions must be suitable. So, not only do we need a willing host community, that community must be located in an area with very specific physical attributes.

If the elusive willing community is found and if public resistance to harbouring deadly material is overcome, the plan then calls for building the deep geologic repository to safely contain the waste, isolated from ground water, for thousands of years.

Bruce Power's SWAT Team

Like the current stored spent fuel, the deep geologic repository will need to be kept secure by use of a well-equipped, well-armed security force. SWAT teams are on duty today safe-guarding our 60,000 tonnes of nuclear waste from those who could very easily fashion a dirty bomb from a small quantity of spent fuel.

Another big question: if the deep geologic repository is eventually built, how is highly radioactive waste going to be transported to the facility? Are the public highways and/or waterways to be used for carrying this deadly cargo? Will municipalities do as many European and American municipalities have done and declare themselves nuclear-free zones, thereby prohibiting the transportation of high level radioactive materials on their roads and highways?

Those 60,000 tonnes were created producing electricity that’s been used and paid for. Who pays for the construction of the waste storage facility? Who pays for the centuries of SWAT teams needed to secure that waste? Who pays for the transportation?

The expected lifespan of a nuclear power reactor is 40 years. That said, real life experience has shown that 25-30 years is more accurate. With costly, time-consuming refurbishments, it is conceivable that a reactor could deliver 60 years of service. The waste created during those 60 years, however, requires secure, safe storage for 100’s of years beyond the lifespan of the reactor. When the reactor is decommissioned, it obviously is no longer generating electricity… or revenue. There is a logical disconnect when we create an ongoing expense without creating an ongoing revenue source.

For what it’s worth, I can understand how this waste problem got to where it is. Back in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, the energy sector was brimming with optimism. Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrated that we could derive massive amounts of energy from tiny bits of nearly inexhaustible fuel. Nuclear electricity generation was going to make energy so inexpensive that it would be “too cheap to meter.”

The early investors, developers and scientists were aware of the problem posed by spent nuclear fuel. But they were understandably confident that a solution would be found relatively quickly. After all, the atomic age was upon us. Nuclear weapons proliferation and “Atoms for Peace” were both employing the world’s brightest minds. Remarkable strides had been made in the past 10 years. Einstein was involved, for heaven sakes. Surely, a small problem like spent fuel would be solved in short order. Five years was a widely accepted prediction.

Fast forward 50 years to 2011 – or 2007, if you prefer – and we’re not a whole lot further ahead when it comes to permanently storing waste. We’re keeping it in concrete and steel water-filled tanks and circulating cool water over it for anywhere from 1 to 10 years. At some point, it becomes cool enough to transfer to dry cask storage. It is these dry casks that will be moved to that deep geologic repository… someday, somewhere, if a suitable location is found.

But hold on a minute. The waste inside the dry casks will remain hazardous to human health for thousands of years. How about the dry casks? How long are they expected to last? The manufacturers of the dry casks say they’re good for 100 years. Nuclear waste management professionals feel that’s a modest estimate and that the casks should be good for at least 150 to 200 years. What then?

I will concede that having a plan is better than not having a plan. But a plan is not a storage solution. It is a storage solution on paper. It requires a whole series of happy events to actually achieve fruition: willing host, suitable geology, continued public investment and perhaps most important, the forgiveness of future generations for saddling them with a radioactive toxic legacy.

The mere existence of a plan is held out by the nuclear industry as proof that the waste issue is being handled. In fact, the waste issue is only being temporarily handled and the permanent disposition of waste is still, almost inexplicably, in a very early stage – the planning stage. A plan is not a solution and, in my opinion, does not constitute justification for building even more NPPs and generating even more high level radioactive waste.

Well, friends an’ foes, I done rambled on longer than I thought I would. You might say my plan for a concise rejoinder didn’t quite come to the quick and easy fruition I planned for. I got more arguments to make against nuclear energy. Next time, I plan to post something about the relationship between nuclear power generation and nuclear weaponry.

JimBobby

Think CANDUs are safer than anything else? Think again.

2011-03-17T13:28:00.003-04:00

It is a popular Canadian myth that CANDUs are exponentially safer than other reactor designs. Is nationalistic pride trumping real evidence? Or, has the massively funded PR machine of the nuclear industry convinced an all-too-gullible public with its "Don't worry. Be happy" corporate bullshit? If CANDUs are so safe, why can't AECL turn a profit? One would think a super-safe nuclear reactor would be the obvious choice but even Ontario is leaning away from CANDU heavy water technology and toward other designs.

Greenpeace's Shawn-Patrick Stensil has an excellent Q&A on whether Canada is safe from a nuclear accident. Here's what he tells us about the CANDU.

Canada’s CANDU nuclear reactor is no safer than any other reactor design.

Following the accident at the American Three Mile Island nuclear station in 1979, an all-party committee of the Ontario Legislature (the Select Committee on Hydro Affairs) investigated Ontario’s nuclear policies. In its 1980 report to the legislature, the committee concluded that:

“It is not right to say that a catastrophic accident (in a CANDU reactor) is impossible ... The worst possible accident could involve the spread of radioactive poisons over large areas, killing thousands immediately, killing others through increasing susceptibility to cancer, risking genetic defects that could affect future generations, and possibly contaminating, for further habitation, large land areas...

Accidents, mistakes and malfunctions do occur in [CANDU] nuclear plants: equipment fails; instrumentation gives improper readings; operators and maintainers make errors and fail to follow instructions; designs are inadequate; events that are considered `incredible' happen...no matter how careful we are, we must anticipate the unexpected.”

Additionally, the spent fuel storage pools that must circulate cool water over hot waste for 10-15 years are essentially the same at CANDU facilities as at every other facility. We have no deep geologic repository for spent fuel. All spent fuel in North America is being stored on site at nuclear power plants.

Spent fuel will remain hazardous for 1000's of years past the time when the plant responsible for creating it has ceased production. No production means no income... obviously. Yet today, we have SWAT teams guarding nuke plants to ensure bad guys don't get their hands on spent fuel. Who will be paying for the SWAT team and keeping the SWAT team armed with advanced weaponry 100 years from now? 200 years from now? 250,000 years from now? Remember, the most optimistic lifespan of a nuke plant is 60 years, including refurbishment.

BTW, all of Canada's plants are about the same age as Fukushima's 1971 reactors. They're failing. Pickering's CANDU leaked 73,000 liters of contaminated water into Lake Ontario this week. NB's Pt Lepreau refurbishment is years behind schedule and costing millions and millions more than estimated. Bruce Power's refurbishment is 18 months behind schedule and 100's of millions over budget.

Pro-nuke spinmeisters and vested interests are flailing desperately. It's their death throes. AECL was already on the auction block at a fire sale price with precious few (2) qualified bidders. Right now, I don't think we could give it away.

Sharp Shinned Hawk?

2011-03-02T11:41:00.002-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I looked out the back door yesterday afternoon an' seen this here hawk that just killed one o' the chipmunks that make my garage their home. Law of the jungle, I reckon, but I wish he'd got one o' the dang squirrels that keep cleanin' out the bird feeder.

Anyways, Ma an' I scoured the bird book an' we sorta figger this was a Sharp Shinned Hawk. Anybuddy got another opinion?

I reckon he was about 15" tall an' his back was more grey than it looks in the pitcher.

Is Canadian Uranium Fueling Iran's Nuclear Program? Follow the links.

2011-01-18T10:57:00.004-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an’ foes, seems like a dog’s age since I done any boogin’. I been twitterin’ up a storm but I reckon I ain’t been motivated enough to typewrite more’n a hunnert an’ forty characters at a time. Until now, that is.

What got me chewin’ nails an’ fartin’ tacks this mornin’ was when I read about a spill on a shipload of Canadian uranium bound for China.

Right off, I gotta say I ain’t too keen on the cosy trade relations we got with the world’s worst human rights abuser. Sure, China’s a terrific supplier of poison dog food, lead-painted kid’s toys, prison labour produced shoes, suicide factory iPhones an’ a whole whack of other great stuff. But tradin’ our uranium for all them great consumer goodies sorta sticks in my craw.

Of course, China wouldn’t dream of using any Canadian uranium to fuel its nuclear weapons program. Right?

And, they’d never sell it on to a nuclear wannabe like Iran. Would they?

Wikileaks has let us know that Iran’s nuclear program is being aided by 30 countries. As of yet, the names of those 30 countries remains unknown. However, the leaked cables inform us that Iran’s chief problem in advancing its nuclear program is a lack of uranium. Hmmm… Canada’s got plenty. In fact, we’re the world’s second-largest supplier after Australia.

But Canada doesn’t sell nuclear technology to Iran, does it? Not directly, at least. We do sell nuclear materials and technology to a couple of Iran’s trade buddies, though: China and Kazakhstan.

And Kazakhstan, like China, would never sell to Iran. Would they?

Of course, all this worry about Canadian technology and uranium being used to further nuclear arms proliferation is just unfounded scaremongering. Right? We sold our technology to India, didn’t we? Did India use CANDU know-how to build an atomic bomb? Oh yeah, they did. But that didn’t have any serious consequences. It’s not like India’s arch enemy, Pakistan, felt pressured to become a nuclear power. Oh yeah, it did. But these countries are responsible world citizens and they signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, didn't they? Oh yeah, they didn't.

That stuff’s all in the past. Who cares if India refuses to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty? Canada decided they don’t pose any threat and signed a nuclear trade agreement with India just last summer.

Well, at least India's enemy, Pakistan, is so politically stable that their nuclear arsenal will never fall into the hands of extremists. Will it?

Wikileaks Whack-a-Mole Workaround

2010-12-04T08:26:00.001-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, the cyber-censors have been doin' their dangedest to keep folks from seein' the Wikileaks website. The chased 'em from wikileaks.org to wikileaks.ch to wikileaks.nl an' I dunno how many other domains. Here's one that's been workin' fairly consistently for a couplafew days now: http://213.251.145.96

You see, fellers an' gals, the domain name system (DNS) is mostly a translator that takes a tuff-to-remember IP number like 213.251.145.96 and calls it something like wikileaks.org. When you go directly to http://213.251.145.96, you bypass the dns.

This ain't guaranteed to work forever. What is, for that matter? The IP number is attached to the host server. If wikileaks is chased off their existing server (it's happened once this week), then the IP number will change. So far, though, http://213.251.145.96 has worked through a few DNS changes brought about by the cyber censors and their whack-a-mole strategy to stifle free speech.

The truth is out there... and it'll set you free.

JimBobby

Inferiority, schminferiority!

2010-12-02T12:56:00.002-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I just left me a bigass comment over to Steve V's Far and Wide. Ol' Steve's bought into the idea that Canajuns got us an inferiority complex like that Merkan feller with the leaky wick said. I ain't buyin' it. Here's my recycled comment from Far and Wide.

Inferiority, schminferiority!

If we're comparin' ourselves to the Merkans, we got nothing to feel inferior about. We're better educated. We're in better health. We don't go around shootin' each other quite as much as they do. We tolerate diversity like same sex marriage and polygamy and poutine. We know how to drive in the snow. Our money's way prettier. We've got way more square kilometers per person. We know what kilometers are.

I figger it's the Merkans who got the inferiority complex. I mean who gets all antsy about how they're portrayed in dumbass sitcoms or cop shows? Merkan TV is always pokin' fun at Canajuns an', true to their stereotype, we're too polite to complain. The real reason we don't complain is we don't wanna make 'em see how stoopid they are. It's compassion more than politeness, I reckon.

Oh yeah... our tar sands are bigger and dirtier than theirs and we got pretty darn big carbon footprints, too. They only can go coast to coast but we can go from coast to coast to coast. We're whippin' their sorryasses 3 to 2 in the coast department an' I don't see 'em catchin' up, neither.

An' another thing, my dog's got a bigger vocabulary than most Merkans. He knows sign language, too.

Standin' on guard with a glowin' heart,

JimBobby

A dream come true for WikiLeaks founder

2010-12-02T08:39:00.001-05:00

“When governments stop torturing and killing people, and when corporations stop abusing the legal system, then perhaps it will be time to ask if free-speech activists are accountable.” Julian Assange

Way Down Yonder in the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-09T14:10:00.001-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I just wanna share another little slice o' rural life with all my erudite readers. I was out on an errand the other day an' I spotted this here bigass field chock full o' ripe pumpkins 'bout as far as the eye could see. I figgered some Toronto elites might like to see it, too.

These here pumpkins was just north of Waterford an' next weekend they got their big Pumpkinfest. It's only about an hour an' a half outta Trawna so if any city slickers wanna taste o' rural culture, c'mon down.

JimBobby

Bad Focus, A Leading Question and Wedge Politics

2010-09-20T10:38:00.011-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, today's the day our gummint goes back to work after another 13 week vacation. While the MPs were away from the House, "a total of $14 billion (has) been added to our national debt." Every poll in the past year or more has indicated that the biggest concern for Canadians is the economy. Yet, our spendthrift Conservative government is in full drunken sailor mode. $16 billion for new, unneeded F-35 stealth fighter jets. $6 billion for new prison cells to house unconvicted criminals who have committed unreported crimes. More than a billion on security for a few hours of face time with fellow promise breakers at the G8/G20. $35 billion for new ships.

Not only is our government preaching austerity while spending money at an unprecedented rate, it is spending most of its time and energy dealing with an issue that's barely a blip on the radar of public concern. The long gun registry is a pet issue for a few NRA types who make loud noises (like their guns) and have hijacked -- with the help of Harper's MPs -- the public agenda. While all hands need to be on the economy deck, the fight being waged is one of wedge politics where the ruling party is attempting to divide Canadians along rural-urban boundaries.

Here's the way my own MP, Diane Finley, is wasting her time and money. Remember, we the people are Diane's employers. When she wastes her time and money, she's actually wasting our time and money. Here's what Diane sent out to her constituents last week.

Notice how Diane says she has her mind made up and she will vote to repeal the registry. Then, she says she needs my support and help and I should get in touch. What help can I give? I can't vote in the Commons. She's the only one from Haldimand-Norfolk who can vote and she's already decided how.

She wants people to answer her question and send back their Yes or No response to her question: "Do you support getting rid of the wasteful and ineffective gun registry?" No need to worry about postage, registry opponents. Diane, or rather the taxpayer, has that covered.

Nothing leading about that question, is there? Who would answer "No, I don't support getting rid of something that's wasteful and ineffective"?

When a handful registry opponents take the time to respond with their meaningless Yes answers, Diane can then tell the media or anyone who asks that the bulk of the mail she's received supports killing the registry.

The big problem with trying to create a rural-urban rift is that so-called rural ridings are not entirely rural. Haldimand-Norfolk is comprised a several small towns, ranging in population from about 15,000 to a couple thousand. The residents of those towns are hardly all farmers or hunters. The farmers in the rural riding are, in reality, a small minority. Most voters in my rural riding live in town. I suspect there may be proportionally a few more hunters in small towns than in Toronto but most small town residents are neither hunters nor gun owners.

The tactic of dividing Canadians into Toronto and Montreal versus rural Canada will fail simply because politicians like Diane Finley do not really know what their constituents want. They will never know as long as they ask leading questions for which there is only one acceptable answer.

Intimidation, Stifling Dissent and Police State Tactics

2010-09-19T12:34:00.010-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, the past day or so I seen a few news items that really got my goat. Seems like our home and native land is slidin' down the slippery slope to totalitarianism. The G20 thing gave the slip-slide a bigass shove an' the situation's deterioratin', no two ways.

One thing I seen that made my blood start simmerin' was when the cops arrested a guy for the crime of discussing politics in a university forum. The chickenshits waited until after the event and arrested him at his dad's house. According to the event organizer, Judy Rebick, who had invited the young man to participate in the Ryerson panel discussion,

"It was a meeting, a calm, peaceful discussion of issues on people’s minds.”
“It’s an outrage that he was arrested for discussing issues, an outrage.”

Dang right!

Then, I seen an article where a guy out Calgary way got arrested for posting criticism of the RCMP on a website. Libel is generally a civil matter but I guess when the cops is the ones who think they're bein' libeled, they can slap the cuffs on and drag the accused libeler off to jail.

RCMP Supt. Randy McGinnis said the charges are very rare.
"In my 29 years, I've never heard of an individual being charged under the criminal code for libel charges, defamation of character," McGinnis said during the news conference.

Not rare enough, sez I. BTW, the guy's website is still up and (allegedly) libelin'. Rabble's got a good piece on this.

The third thing I seen and this one really hits home is where the OPP is payin' visits to people who are opposed to Bruce Power's plans to ship radioactive waste through the Great Lakes and up the St. Lawrence Seaway and over to Sweden... and back again.

Ontario Provincial Police officers are making the rounds in Grey Bruce, speaking to opponents of Bruce Power's plans to ship 16 decommissioned steam generators from Owen Sound Harbour through the Great Lakes to Sweden.

Two officers — Calum Rankin and Ian George — from the force's western regional headquarters called Sharen Skelly, a spokeswoman for the group Citizens Against Radioactive Generators in Owen Sound (CARGOS), on Tuesday afternoon and met with her that evening, Skelly said Friday.
"I wasn't expecting it," Skelly said of the call.
Rankin called her again on Friday to say he was willing to speak with anyone about the issue, she said. "He said they wanted to be open and transparent about it."
However, George would not answer questions from The Sun Times about who the officers where visiting or how they were chosen.

Does the OPP work for Bruce Power or for the citizens of Ontario? This looks like intimidation, pure and simple. A group of mayors of municipalities bordering the Great lakes has also voiced opposition to the shipments. Is the OPP calling on them, too?

Maybe the OPP will be calling on me next. I signed Sharen Skelly's petition and I've been outspoken about stopping the Great Lakes from being used as a transportation route for nuclear waste. I bumped heads with Bruce Power last year when they were trying to build a new nuke plant here in Nanticoke. I'm pretty sure they got a dossier on me. Will they send their OPP minions to knock on my door. If so, I'll be all the more inspired to protest those shipments. Count on it.

JimBobby

"Stay Calm, Be Brave, and Watch for the Signs"

2010-09-17T15:34:00.014-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I gave my ol' blog a facelift yesterday so I'm all inspired an' I figgered I'd enlighten my thousands an' thousands o' readers with some rural culture. Something I seen yesterday was ol' Pitbull Baird runnin' his stoopidass mouth off about "Toronto elites" an' tryin' his damnedest to drive a wedge between us hicks an' the good folks in the big city.

There ain't much I want more than peace an' harmony between Canada's rural folks an' the urbane urbanites. I reckon if I share some rural culture with the city fellers an' gals, it'll help in the bridge-buildin' department.

Today, I had an errand to run an' I had a chugmobile out on the country roads fer a coupla hours. On the way down to Port Colborne, I seen a few signs alongside the road. On my way back to Mayberry, I stopped a couplafew times an' took some pitchers. Some of 'em probbly need interpretin' for Toronto folks but I reckon these signs is gonna help the snooty-toots understand us bumpkins.

Hog Assembly Yard

Here's a close-up of the sign on the barn:

It's sorta faded out but it reads "Hog Assembly Yard" an' there's a pitcher of a flyin' pig. What most Toronto elites probbly didn't know is pigs get put together on assembly lines at places like this 5 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. Us hicks is always hearin' how city folks don't know where the food in the grocery store comes from. Well, now you know about pigmeat. They make it the same way they make Fords up in Oakville.

Now, city folks probbly figger us hicks ain't very computer literate an' we don't know much about doing acrobatics in our adobe huts. Wrong, again. We can Photoshop just as good as any highrise dweller. We even know that Photoshop is a verb. Out here in the boonies, they even got special Photoshop deals at the farm supply outfits.

In case some o' you latte-sippers ain't so 'puter savvy an' don't know what crop inputs are, here's where they live in Photoshop.

Now, some city slickers is probbly confused about farmers. That ain't too surprisin'. The dang farmers need the sun but they're always prayin' fer rain. Some farm folks is downright hostile when it comes to the sun. Here's a van I saw today down around Cayuga.

I get the part about solar farms destroyin' farmland an' wildlife but I gotta admit I'm sorta confuddled about how solar farms destroy communities. I'm all fer rooftop solar, though, an' so is this here van-paintin' sun-hater, by the looks of it. I figger he needs a website so's he can explain about the communities bit, at least.

I saved the best sign fer last. City folks probbly think dirt is dirty. Wrong, again, Starbuck! There's dirty dirt, alright, but that ain't the only kinda dirt we got out here in Sticksville. Look an' learn:

Well, I hope them there pitchers help a few Toronto elites understand us rural folks better. We ain't always shootin' off unregistered guns, spittin' tobacca juice an' drivin' tractor blockades down the 401. We got a deep-rooted culture that ain't always easy to comprehend. I'm just happy I can do my little part for national unity.

JimBobby

Were NDP MPs Listening to Ol' JimBobby?

2010-09-15T12:57:00.007-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, a coupla days ago, I posted up a blog story on how I'd written to a buncha NDP MPs an' to Jack Layton, too, tellin' 'em they need to vote to keep the gun registry if they want a hope in hell of fixin' it. The comments section on the blog got pretty heated with the Dipper Leftdog sayin' my position showed I'd been hoodwinked by the GrittyBoys. Well, I was watchin' Mansbridge last night and I seen the NDP leader come out and say the selfsame thing I said:

Layton said. "I am very confident that the votes that are needed to continue the registry so that it can be fixed will indeed be there, and I'm feeling very optimistic about what lies ahead as a result."

It ain't really that complicated. If you scrap it, you can't fix it. When I asked Leftdog several times how you could fix something if it was scrapped, he refused to answer. Jack Layton answered, though. What I'm really wonderin' about now is: does Leftdog think that Jack Layton was hoodwinked by the Liberals? After all, Jack's sayin' the exact same thing I said in my letter to the NDP MPs.

Dear NDP Member of Parliament,

2010-09-13T13:52:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well, friend an' foes, I just sent an email to a few NDP MPs via an online thingamajig that lets you send it automagically. The online tool has a pre-written letter that you can sign but you can change it or write yer own letter in the space provided. Here's what I sent.

Dear NDP Member of Parliament,

Once the gun registry is scrapped, it cannot be fixed. The Harper government will never resurrect the registry. If it is killed, it will not rise, zombie-like, to be tweaked by well-meaning MPs. The only way it can be fixed is if it still exists.

First, you must prevent it from being eliminated forever. Then and only then, can it be improved upon.

When you send an old car to the junkyard and they squash it into a 1 metre x 1 metre x 1 metre cube, it's a little too late to start talking about doing a tune-up.

If you want the registry dead and gone forever, then go ahead and vote to kill it. If, however, you want to improve it -- as Jack Layton says -- then you must allow it to survive long enough to be improved.

By the way, I am a rural dweller. Some rural Canadians are quite outspoken in favour of killing the gun registry. They speak loudly but I do not think they speak for the majority of rural people. We register our cars, our boats and even our dogs. Why would we not agree to registering our deadly weapons?

I signed it with my real name and postal code. I got a CPC MP so maybe them Dippers'll just toss my email in the scrap pile along with the gun registry but I figgered it was at least worth a try.

If I coulda sent a picture, this'd be the one:

Hey, Mr. Goodwrench, how about a tune-up?

JimBobby

Green Party Unity

2010-08-24T12:39:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I spent the weekend at the Green Party convention down in the centre of the universe. I had the pleasure of meetin' Sylvie Lemieux, a gal from up Ottawa way who was lookin' to challenge Earth Mother Lizzie May fer the leadership of us treehuggin' Greenies. Sylvie ain't gonna get a chance to challenge Lizzie now or in the foreseeable future. Neither is anybody else, by the looks of it. Sylvie ain't bitter, though, an' I gotta admire her for that.

The party decided that we ain't ever gonna have a leadership race unless fewer than 60% of the members endorse the leader within six months after a federal election. Now, what we gotta remember here is that the folks who want a change of leadership or even them who just want a leadership contest are the selfsame disgruntled folks who ain't renewing their Green Party memberships. The ones who are happy with the status quo will stay put. The "meaningless" membership numbers may decline but sure as shit at least 60% the happy clams who don't quit are gonna endorse the leader.

So far, I ain't quittin' the Greens. I reckon when you support a party you can't be a hunnert percent's worth happy with every dang policy -- unless yer a rubber stamp without any mind of yer own. I reckon even if we did have a leadership contest, Lizzie would win it anyway so I'm gonna keep on doin' what us card-carryin' party members do: support the party leader. A couple policies got adopted that I ain't too happy with but it could be worse. I could be a Liberal. The Green Party leader's at least a small-g green.

I wanna share a press release that Sylvie Lemieux put out yesterday. It reflects the selfsame attitude I heard her express on the convention floor and in personal conversation.

Lemieux calls for united effort to elect Green MPs

Ottawa, Aug 23 – Green Party leadership hopeful Sylvie Lemieux would like to thank all Green Party members who supported her motion and proposed workshop amendment calling for the Green Party to respect the intent of its constitution by holding regular leadership contests, not leadership reviews.

“Its clear from the voting results, however, that the majority of members who participated in the online Bonser ballot and who attended the convention would prefer using a leadership review process and for the reviews to take place after each election,” she said. "We are a grassroots party and the members have spoken."

Lemieux will now turn her focus to preparing for the next election campaign. “Canadians are counting on the Green Party to be the conscience of the country,” she said. “I am ready, willing and able to do whatever I can to help move the party forward, in a united effort, to elect our first Green MPs to parliament.”

I'd say Sylvie's showin' determination, magnanimosity, good leadership an' she's showin' she's a good soldier. She's a former Lt. Colonel in the Canadian Forces, after all, an' I reckon she knows a thing or two about the chain of command. She told me that the leadership issue was a skirmish she lost but the war is to get Greens into Parliament an' help save the planet an' that war ain't over by a long shot.

JimBobby

Ballad of Fake Lake - Updated with Video

2010-06-09T09:11:00.003-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I posted up the lyrics yesterday an' now I got the audio-video with ol' JB screechin' an' a few pertinent pitchers.

The Ballad of Fake Lake

The legend lives on from Toronto on down
Of a six inch deep pond they call Fake Lake.
The lake, it is said, made the blue Cons turn red
When they realized they'd made such mistake.

With Muskoka chairs and canoes in the air
The fake lake was meant to thrill writers.
A pleasant surprise, there ain't no blackflies,
No mosquitoes or other skin biters.

Fake Lake was the pride of the Conservative side,
With fake loon songs and JumboTron pictures
Of real lakes and woods and handcrafted goods
And all the outdoors you could wish for.

Surrounded by concrete and security teams,
They relax by pool that's reflecting.
While they sip on free beer they need never fear
Uncouth Torontonians protesting.

They'll file their stories of promises made
That the G20 leaders had spoken.
But every man knew, as the leaders did, too,
Promises are made to be broken.

The dawn came early for the hungover scribes
And the G20 pow-wow had ended.
Outdoors they must go to the real world and so,
Reality's no longer suspended

Does anyone know where Steve Harper will go
The next time they hold a G20.
He'll be headed headed for Seoul, just another black hole
For wasting the taxpayers' money.

Ballad of Fake Lake (Edmund Fitzgerald)

2010-06-08T16:11:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, ol' Susan Delacourt put up a twitterin' tweet how she'd like to see some new lyrics to ol' Gord Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald with a theme all about the G20 Fake Lake. Since I got me a little experience in re-writin' that there song, I took up the challenge. Here it is:

Ballad of Fake Lake

The legend lives on from Toronto on down
Of a six inch deep pond they call Fake Lake
The lake, it is said, made the blue Cons turn red
When they realized they'd made such mistake.

With a Muskoka chairs and canoes in the air
The fake lake was meant to thrill writers
A pleasant surprise, there ain't no blackflies,
No mosquitoes or other skin biters.

Fake Lake was the pride of the Conservative side
With fake loon songs and JumboTron pictures
Of real lakes and woods and handcrafted goods
And all the outdoors you could wish for.

Surrounded by concrete and security teams
They relax by pool that's reflecting
While they sip on free beer they need never fear
Uncouth Torontonians protesting.

They'll file their stories of promises made
That the G20 leaders had spoken
But every man knew, as the leaders did, too,
Promises are made to be broken.

The dawn came early for the hungover scribes
And the G20 pow-wow had ended
Outdoors they must go to the real world and so
Reality's no longer suspended

Does anyone know where Steve Harper will go
The next time they hold a G20
He'll be headed headed for Seoul, just another black hole
For wasting the taxpayers' money.

I ain't got time to sing it an' make a MP3 right now on accounta I gotta cook the macaroni an' cheese fer Ma's supper. Maybe I'll get it recorded tomorrow.

JimBobby

The Problem With Taxpayer Funded Social Media

2010-05-25T09:00:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, the twitterverse and blogdom is finally sittin' up and takin' notice that our gummint is paying for favourable postings in various social media. There was a story on it over the weekend: Harper government monitoring online chats about politics. As Stageleft points out, the headline is somewhat misleading. The government is not only monitoring online opinion, they're jumping in and "correcting misinformation." Stageleft says he has no problems with the practice. I disagree.

I posted a bigass comment over at Stageleft and I'm recyclin' it here. Nobody is paying me to post my opinions, btw. I'm open to offers, though. If I'm paying for the government to hire a social media contractor to refute me, I may as well get paid, too.

Here's what I said at Stageleft:

Of course we know that the government and political parties monitor social media. I have no problem with that and, as you say, we want them to take notice of what we, the everyday citizen, is opining.

What I find very questionable is the use of tax dollars to refute opinions which the government has deemed "incorrect." Perhaps a government in bed with big oil thinks it is incorrect to criticize BP for deepwater drilling without a contingency disaster plan. Rand Paul recently stated that criticism of BP with regard to Gulf oilspill is "un-American".

Is criticism of our own tar sands un-Canadian? Do we want our criticisms challenged by bought-and-paid-for PR firms working not for the oil industry but for us? When we express our opinions on our own time, should we be footing the bill for some flak to be countering us?

There's also the issue of credibility. Next time a pro-Harper comment is posted here or on my blog or on Twitter or on Facebook, who could help but wonder if that comment is being paid for with tax dollars and doesn't even necessarily represent the true thinking of the individual whose job it is to spout the government line?

If I were a pro-CPC or pro-Harper tweep or blogger, I'd be a bit concerned that I'd be suspect of not being genuine in my postings but merely working for $XX per tweet on the taxpayer dime.

If private corporations want to hire paid tweeps or bloggers and do so anonymously (or pseudonymously) without any disclaimers, that's business using investor capital to promote its product. I have little problem with that sort of astroturfing and have come to expect as much.

It's when government uses my own money to refute me that I have a problem.

I'm starting to see a few blogs supporting the MPs rejection of Sheila Fraser's request for an audit. Are those bloggers being paid from the public purse to shield MP expenses from scrutiny? One can't help but wonder.

When governments surreptitiously plant the government position into social media -- on our dime -- we no longer have honest discussion. The paying of social media contractors to shape public opinion goes beyond publishing talking points for the faithful to parrot on their own time, at their own expense.

Again, I have no problem with party staffers, company employees, paid PR firms pushing their agenda via social media. When it's done at public expense, however, it crosses a line much like the line crossed when Helena Guergis's staffers wrote letters of support to editors. It dilutes genuine public opinion to the detriment of social media.

Before anyone bothers arguing or refuting anything I just said, be warned: I will be able to accuse you of being a bought-and-paid-for flak spouting the line you're being paid to spout.

JimBobby

MP Expenses Scandal: Grassroots Outrage or Media Invention

2010-05-22T13:33:00.007-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I like the discussions that take place over at Steve V's Far and Wide. They're mostly Grits but they tolerate my Green-tinged rants and the partisanship doesn't permeate the conversation as much as on some other blogs. The topic on everybody's tongue these days is the MP expenses issue. Steve figgers the dang media's blown it all out of proportion and he's got hisself boog on that idea today.

I disagree with Steve and I just spent a few minutes blatherin' on (and on) about it. I'm recyclin' that comment here.

We all gave the MSM proper shit for failing to seize upon the prorogation issue. Their excuse was that they didn't think the public was politically astute enough to grasp the nuances of parliamentary protocol. They were wrong and they ended up admitting as much.

You don't have to be too politically astute to understand expense account sleaze, though. The issue comes hot on the heels of the UK's MP expenses scandal with homegrown provincial counterparts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The MSM doesn't have to wonder whether or not the public understands. We get it and they know it.

While I agree there are similarities between this issue and prorogation, there are major differences. Prorogation was all about ducking responsibility for the handing over of Afghan detainees to torture. I am one of those who have been on top of that issue for years but I know very well that it fails to strike a chord with many Canadians.

The A-G issue is all about money --- our money. Despite the fact that the amount pales in comparison to what we've squandered on an unwinnable and immoral war, it hits us close to home.

WRT the Facebook thing, there could be a couple of mitigating factors. First, the very fact that the MSM IS all over this issue makes it seem less important for individuals to get personally involved. This time around, the media is not ignoring the issue and perhaps would-be Facebook group members are sitting back and allowing the media to do its job and push for disclosure.

Secondly, the first and largest Facebook group is the creation of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, considered by many to be a right-wing lobby group. The anti-prorogation group was the creation of a non-partisan student and was truly a grassroots effort.

Perhaps partisanship is the biggest difference here. With prorogation, it was everyone against the ruling Conservatives. They only got 38% of the votes, after all. 62% voted against them and were not happy with the affront to democracy. There weren't too many card-carrying CPCers out on the streets on January 23. There were plenty of Liberals, Dippers and Greens.

In the expenses issue, highly partisan citizens -- card-carrying party members from all parties -- may be holding back. Ignatieff hasn't endorsed the protest. Neither has Layton. In fact, they are the ones we are protesting against, along with the Harper Conservatives. When the party faithful are being told that this isn't an issue by the party leaders and nearly every MP, party members are not too likely to join a Facebook group or take to the streets.

When the 4 parties finally struck a deal on the detainee documents, it was big news. The parties in this hitherto fractious parliament had been able to reach an agreement. The media was a bit surprised by the fact, as were many voters. Getting to the bottom of the torture allegations was secondary in the reportage. The all-party agreement on a divisive issue was the big story.

Jump ahead a couple weeks and there's parliamentary unanimity on another issue: MP expenses. Why shouldn't that be newsworthy? When the MPs solidarity is contrasted with the public's diametrically opposite solidarity, it's news.

Poll after poll after poll has found the MPs to be entirely out of step with public opinion. That's news and the media would be remiss in failing to report it. Remember, we faulted them severely for failing to pick up on the outrage around prorogation. Do they want to be accused of being out of touch yet again?

There is a big difference between journalists' expense accounts and MPs expense accounts. The MPs are spending our money. The MPs are our employees. The MPs are public servants. The MPs pledged accountability and transparency and we elected them and gave them our confidence. Abuse may be commonplace in every workplace but in this particular workplace, we are the employers. We have every right to see the books and we have every right to be outraged when MPs band together across party lines to hide them from us.

If we lose confidence in the media, we can quit buying newspapers. If we lose confidence in MPs of every party, we can live with it until the next election at which time we can choose between tweedle-crook and tweedle-crookeder.

Scandals are news. Scandal sell papers. So what? Would we rather bury our heads in the sand? There's a bigger scandal brewing regarding the detainees and I relish the moment that the media grabs it and runs with it. Crimes against expense accounts are scandalous, sure. War crimes and crimes against humanity are more scandalous and I won't fault the media for delving into such a scandal -- even if their motivation is to sell more papers.

Green Party Calls for MPs to Open Expenses to Auditor-General

2010-05-17T12:34:00.003-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, Earth Mother Lizzie May put out a press release this morning and she's on the money a hunnert percent's worth, sez I.

Greens call for transparency
17 May 2010 - 10:26am

The Green Party of Canada pledges full support for the Auditor General in her bid to increase the transparency of MPs' spending habits. Greens are calling for the release to the Auditor General of the last 10 years of MP expenses.

"The Green Party of Canada fully supports the Auditor General having a mandate to oversee MP expenses," said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "The Canadian public deserves accountability for the half billion dollars MPs spend every year. The fact that MPs are afraid to have Sheila Fraser examine their accounts suggests that it is probably long overdue."

Provincial governments and the government of Britain have been rocked by government spending scandals in recent years, adding to the disillusionment of citizens and mistrust of politicians.

"Given the declining voting record in this country, Parliament should be doing everything possible to encourage public trust and engagement in democracy," said May.

According to the Toronto Star, a Leger Marketing poll showed 88% of Canadians would like a deeper examination of politicians' expense accounts. Currently, details of any spending by MPs and senators are kept secret.

"For someone who campaigned on transparency, Prime Minister Harper is failing miserably," said May. "Shame on the Liberals and the NDP for agreeing that the public doesn't deserve to know how their tax money is being spent."

Dang right!

JimBobby

JimBobby Sings "Hey There, Guergis Girl"

2010-05-11T12:56:00.003-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I ain't been boogin' too much lately but I got me a new song that I just posted up on the YouTube an' it's all about pore little Helena Guergis: Hey There, Guergis Girl.

Harper (once again) displays dangerous ignorance on nuclear file

2010-04-14T10:53:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, Pryminister Harper was up on his hindlegs yammerin' about nuclear safety an' how Canada's gonna help save the world by sendin' 50% of our stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU, i.e. weapons-grade uranium) over to the USA.

In fairness, Harper did mention that he's not an expert with regard to nuclear technology. That, however, does not excuse the PM from making hugely inaccurate statements or from committing Canada to a course of action which could have disastrous consequences for future generations.

Harper was somewhat unclear about why we are only returning 50% of our stockpile but he was unequivocal (condescending, even) when he stated that 'Of course, we don't use highly enriched uranium for reactor fuel anymore.'

Wrong, again, Mr. Nuclear Physicist. The Chalk River NRU that makes medical isotopes does, indeed, use HEU as its fuel.

But, Harper may actually be partly correct. Thanks to years of mismanagement and the fact that it is about 10 years past its projected decommissioning date, the Chalk River reactor is out of service, so Harper may be technically correct that we aren't using HEU. The leaky reactor is undergoing a major repair job and is expected to limp back into service, possibly in June.

It is hard to believe that Harper is unaware that Canada has special dispensation under a side agreement to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that enables us to purchase weapons-grade uranium to fuel Chalk River. The issue made news in January when AECL ordered a fresh supply of HEU from the US.

While Harper's ignorance (or obfuscation) is a serious enough problem, the fact that Canada is returning used fuel to the country of origin is very significant, precedent setting... and foreboding. Under terms of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), all used nuclear fuel is to be repatriated to the country of origin. This is a big deal.

Canada is the world's second largest producer of Uranium (behind Australia) and the world's biggest exporter of uranium. Absurd as it sounds, the GNEP calls for used nuclear fuel that originally came from Canada to be returned to Canada. In case anyone is not aware, used nuclear fuel is 1000x more radioactive than unused fuel and must be kept in a secure location until it becomes harmless. That will take approximately 250,000 years. Quite a long term commitment with which our PM is saddling countless future generations of Canadians!

Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has only just begun looking for a suitable and willing host location for a Canadian nuclear waste repository. If the repository is ever built, it is designed to handle waste from the increasingly small number of Canadian nuclear power plants generating waste. How are we supposed to handle the thousands of tonnes of radioactive, toxic waste that could be returned to us under terms of the GNEP?

Canada: Energy Superpower or America's Nuclear Waste Dump?

JimBobby

Good News! Gordon Lightfoot Lives!

2010-02-18T15:30:00.006-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I had a tribute post up here when I heard that a great Canadian, Gordon Lightfoot, had died. It was all over Twitter and was in some big news outlets, too. I ain't kiddin' when I say I had tears runnin' down my face when I posted that RIP tribute but now The news is that it wasn't true. Glad to hear it.

In case anybody thinks I published on the basis of rumour only, here's what I saw in the Calgary Herald.

Harper's Haiti Trip - Please, MSM, Don't Go. Don't Take Photos

2010-02-15T07:51:00.004-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, Pryminister Harper is off to Haiti today. The official announcements say he's going there to assess the relief effort. Over at Steve V's Far and Wide, there's a lot of skepticism and at least one commenter who says Harper's visit will bolster troop morale.

Surprise visits to troops deployed in faraway locales is a trademark of tinpot heroes like Dick Cheney. I wonder where Harper got the idea he could bolster the troops -- and maybe his sagging poll numbers -- by paying a surprise visit?

Two years ago, Haitians were rioting for food and eating dirt patties to fill their empty bellies.

The food shortage was spurred by high commodities prices which the World Bank attributed mainly to biofuels. Canada was riding high on a crest of grain prices and federal and provincial "environmental" policies mandated 5% - 10% ethanol content for motor fuel. Harper and McGuinty denied the effect of their policies on world markets while thousands starved.

Today, the situation is compounded by the quake. Desperate reports from those on the ground are revealing a situation where food and water are stockpiled and people are starving.

They don't need Stephen Harper or Angelina Jolie or John Travolta scrambling for self-serving photo-ops. Harper can manage things just as well from Ottawa or Vancouver. If the troops need bolstering, he can do it via video link.

What are Harper's qualifications regarding the delivery of disaster relief? Do his medical qualifications go beyond his expertise in nuclear medicine? Where was he when they were eating dirt?

Haiti is headed for more grief. Their planting season begins in March and by all accounts, they need seeds, fertilizer, agricultural equipment and expertise to avert yet another round of starvation and desperation. Yet, little of this type of aid is reaching Haiti.

The first reports of Harper's trip said he would be sleeping inside the Canadian embassy and reporters should be prepared to sleep in tents outside the building. After a bit of negative reaction to the photo op started cropping up, the PMO quickly came out with new details. Harper will be flying in on an aid transport plane (read: white horse) and sleeping aboard a Canadian battleship anchored offshore.

Just how high does Haiti really rank in Harper's priorities? We have more troops serving as security detail for the Olympics than we have serving in Afghanistan. We have more than twice as many in Afghanistan as we have in Haiti.

If only our pandering news media would simply refuse to send anyone to cover this obvious play for approval. If only...

JimBobby

(Most of this post was originally written as a comment at Far and Wide.)

Bombshell! Forces Downplaying Canadian Afghan War Casualties

2010-02-08T09:13:00.010-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, there's an old saying that the first casualty of war is the truth. Sadly, that adage is proving to be accurate with regard to the Canadian Forces' release of information on casualties in the Afghanistan conflict. The Hill Times is reporting this morning that the number of returning troops on disability is up to ten times higher than what has been reported by the Canadian Forces.

More than 6,000 Canadian Forces members and discharged veterans who are receiving physical or psychiatric disability benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada have either served in Afghanistan or have a disability that has been related to their service in Afghanistan, the department says.

The Forces have been telling us that the number wounded in Afghanistan is 529. 529 wounded Canadians would be bad enough but when the real number is more than 6000, the figure quoted by the Canadian Forces is an all-out assault on the truth.

A few weeks ago, I posted up an audio blog where I sang a song by Tom Paxton that decried the psychological toll we exact upon our young people when we send them off to war. Today, when I read the Hill Times article, the poignancy of that song came back to haunt me again.

It's bad enough when we are forced into a war and must fight for our way of life and our very survival. In Afghanistan, we are fighting to support a fraudulently elected Hamid Karzai and his gang of warlords, opium merchants, bribe-takers and torturers. We've sacrificed the lives of 139 Canadians to an unworthy cause with unworthy allies.

Now, we find out that the wounded number far more than we were led to believe.

When I was a boy in the 1950's my WWII veteran dad would sometimes point out one of what he referred to as the "walking wounded". We'd see them on the street, often wearing a ragged military uniform and holding out a cup, begging for a handout from those for whom they sacrificed their sanity. My grandfather was a WWI Vimy vet. His name for the walking wounded was "shell shocked."

Today, we have a new name for the same problem. We call it "post traumatic stress disorder" or PTSD. When a loved one is killed in action it is a tragedy with a certain amount of closure, honour and solemn dignity. When a loved one sacrifices his or her sanity and mental well-being it is an ongoing, festering sore that rips apart families and continues to take physical, mental and financial tolls on the individuals, their families and society, in general.

The very least we should be able to expect is a truthful accounting of the numbers of troops who are suffering as a result of this misguided mission. We all bear the costs... and the shame.

JimBobby

(h/t to zippyFX on Twitter)

It's All About Torture. Don't Let Anyone Forget.

2010-02-05T09:41:00.007-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, Steve over at Far and Wide has a post about the polls and how bad ol' King Steve is doin' an' is the trend gonna continue. I left a bigass comment there an' I'm saving' energy by recycling that comment here.

We all saw the pundits come out wrong, wrong, wrong on the expected reaction to prorogation. Now, I've heard a few of 'em say that once the HOC resumes sitting, the prorogation issue will fall off the map. Maybe it'll be another swing and miss for the pundidiots. Maybe not.

If the prorogation outrage and backlash is to survive, we will need to show exactly how much work went down the tubes. How long will it take to get the legislative agenda back to where it was before the December break? How long before committees are reconstituted and back to where they were pre-prorogue?

If, as a small number believe, the budget triggers an election, how much work will be lost and, importantly, who will take the blame?

My own advice on this is that the public needs to be kept acutely aware that ducking the Afghan detainee issue was the primary reason Harper rolled the dice... and crapped out. So far, so good on that with the committee sitting.

The committee, however, is getting too bogged down in questions of privilege and protocol vis-a-vis the unreleased documents. The facts as reported by NGO spokespersons are that the current agreement is failing to do what it was intended to do. While they play cat and mouse with the document issue, detainees are not being monitored as required on paper and they ARE being tortured... now.

I think many voters see the power play over documents as politics -- parliamentary procedural wrangling done more for partisan gain than for truth-gathering. We know the truth. We've always known it. Detainees we hand over to the Afghans are abused. That fact can be clearly illustrated without the gamesmanship.

Despite some of the callous and uninformed comments I read in MSM comment threads, I truly believe most Canadians are repulsed by torture and are ashamed of any suggestion that our country was complicit in detainee abuse. If they are made to see that we are STILL complicit in ongoing abuse, we will achieve something. That "something" that we must be striving for is a cessation of torture by our allies -- Afghan or American.

Though we can show that abuse continues and we can demand it cease, the reality is that we have little power over such matters. Secret detention centres and denial of monitoring rights precludes our ability to wash our hands.

What to do? Either we quit handing over detainees altogether or we quit Afghanistan altogether.

Ignatieff made some encouraging comments a few days ago regarding the legitimacy of our support for the fraudulently elected Karzai and his gang of warlords, opium merchants and torturers. This theme will resonate; especially, when coupled with the message that the current transfer agreement is failing to prevent torture.

Human decency will prevail.

JB

JimBobby Sings Again: "Do the Prorogation"

2010-02-01T14:28:00.005-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, last night when Ma an' I was out walkin' the dogs, I made up some new lyrics to an old tune. Little Eva was the original, I think. The Beach Boys done it, too. I reckon they're better singers than ol' JB but their lyrics is kinda outta date. I made a little video an' posted it up on You Tube. Here it is:

Here's the words in case somebody wants to do it with a half-decent singer an' maybe a little back-up instrumentation.

Do the Prorogation

Stephen Harper's doin' a crazy dance now,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...
He thought no one was lookin' so he took a big chance now,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...

He's got a Governor General who's his partner in crime,
She let him get away with it a second time,
So come on, come on, do the prorogation with Steve...

Never mind the hypocrisy,
When you attack our democracy...
Well he's really got the knack,
Woah woah...

Lettin' Afghans torture Afghans now that was his intention,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...
He doesn't give a crap about Geneva Conventions,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...

He's lookin' warm and fuzzy in his sweater vest,
Lockin' out the opposition and liberal press,
So come on, come on, do the prorogation with Steve...

Oh yeah...
Do the prorogation...
Kill your legislation...
Yay, yay, yay, yeah...

He's got the people riled up across the nation,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...
By givin' his MP's an extended vacation,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...

He thought his little trick would be easy to do,
An apathetic public is so easy to screw,
So come on, come on, do the prorogation with Steve...

Never mind the hypocrisy,
When you attack our democracy...
Well he's really got the knack,
Woah woah...

Stephen Harper's doin a crazy dance now,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...
He thought no one was lookin' so he took a big chance now,
Come on Stevie, do the prorogation...

Shut down the committees. They can start up later,
Who needs the House of Commons when we've got a dictator,
So come on, come on, do the prorogation with Steve...
yeah...
Come on, come on, do the prorogation with Steve...

Three-Way Pissing Contest Keeps Harper on the Throne

2010-01-26T12:21:00.005-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I reckon my immodest proposal will attract some mud but here goes...

I just came from reading a blog post by a Dipper who used his first five paragraphs to trash Ignatieff before giving a nod to Layton for taking the high road and welcoming Ignatieff's support and expressing a willingness to work together on limiting the PM's prorogation powers. Ironic? Maybe. Counterproductive? Absolutely.

If we ever want to rid our country of the Harper dictatorship, the opposition parties will need to work together. If we want the public at large to accept a perfectly legal and constitutionally valid coalition, multi-partisan cooperation will need to extend from the top to the bottom and back up to the top again. Partisan sniping only demonstrates that the opposition would be unable to work together in a coalition.

Here's the radical proposal. There are a great many ridings where the three-way split between Greens, Liberals and New Democrats ushers in a minority victory by the Conservatives. Various strategic voting initiatives have emerged attempting to deal with the inherent unfairness of our first past the post (FPTP) electoral system. Since the Conservatives are still in power, it would be logical to assume that these strategic voting efforts have not been effective.

I propose a comprehensive top level agreement between the LPC, NDP and GPC. In ridings where vote splitting has allowed the CPC to elect an MP without a 50% majority, the parties should enter into non-compete agreements whereby the CPC candidate faces only one serious opponent.

How to choose which party will run a candidate in which riding? The simplest way would be to look at the last election results and have the 3rd and 4th place finishers step aside.

Why include the Greens, one might ask? Well, if we're aiming to eliminate vote-splitting among anti-Conservative parties, the Greens are a definite factor. Greens garnered more than 9% of the popular vote in 2008 and should at least run unopposed by LPC and NDP candidates in 9% of the available ridings.

It won't be enough for the 3rd and 4th place parties to simply bow out, though. They must endorse and work for the chosen banner carrier, regardless of which banner they carry. That will be difficult for hyper-partisans like a certain dead horse and plenty of Liberals and Greens. The benefits, in my opinion, would outweigh the obstacles.

Such a plan must be openly and honestly presented to the voter as a coalition. If the coalition is successful -- and I really believe it could be -- it must provide for a proportional cabinet that includes members of all three cooperating parties.

Of course, my back-of-a-napkin plan has some obvious drawbacks. Died-in-the-wool Dippers, Grits and Greenies may well refuse to vote at all if they cannot vote for their favoured party. Some may even vote Conservative rather than vote Liberal, Green or NDP. So be it.

Where does the Bloc fit in? Mostly, it doesn't. My proposal is about doing what's best for Canada. The Bloc is interested only in doing what's best for Quebec. If non-compete agreements in Quebec ridings would elect non-Bloc, non-Conservative MP's, good. Bringing the BQ into the non-compete agreements would be counterproductive in TROC and play into the CPC's hands by including the rotten separatists in the deal.

A coalition can be quite reflective of the voters' wants and needs. Solid cooperation from the top down by way of strategic non-compete agreements can serve to demonstrate to the voters that the ABC parties are capable of working together to get elected. If they can work together to get elected, they can work together to run the country.

Okay. There it is, hyper-partisans, naysayers and hacks. Unleash your vitriol and prove it can't be done.

JimBobby

Tools, Fools and Making Rules

2010-01-25T09:59:00.003-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I was just listenin' to The Current on CBC radio. Some dumbass apologist for Dictator Harper was spoutin' the same old crappola I been hearin' over an' over.

Prorogation has been done 104 times before so what's the problem now?

Prorogation is a tool in the parliamentary toolbox. I know a little bit about tools and toolboxes. Up until about 10 years ago, I spent 25 years as a self-employed tradesman. I pounded nails for a living most of my adult life.

Like prorogation, a hammer is a tool. It was the first tool I learned how to use and I've used a hammer a lot more than 104 times. I've never used a hammer to assault anyone, though. Harper has used the prorogation tool to assault accountability and crucify democracy.

Like any tool, prorogation can be used as it was intended or it can be abused. We don't need to outlaw hammers to stop people from hammering somebody's brains out. We have rules (laws) against assault and those laws apply to assaults with hammers, knives, staplers (!) and any other tool.

What we don't seem to have, though, is a law that prevents the abuse of prorogation. Jack Layton has proposed the implementation of some sort of rule that would prevent the misuse of prorogation. In his speech to the pro-democracy rally in Ottawa Saturday, Michael Ignatieff voiced support for parliamentary restrictions on the use of prorogation.

Let's get some rules to stop any PM from using prorogation to nail democracy to a cross.

JimBobby

Toronto Rally Videos

2010-01-24T08:38:00.006-05:00

Here's a little clip I did. More blogging on the rally later.

Here's some more...

Takin' it to the street. "Listen to the nation! Stop the prorogation!"

See You in Toronto on Saturday - CAPP

2010-01-21T08:40:00.004-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I'm gonna ride the train to Trawna on Satuday for the big Pro-Democracy Rally. It's always nice to meet up with fellow progressives but I figger there'll be a pretty big crowd an' I could be standin' right next to one o' my boogin' buddies or twitterin' tweeps without knowin' it.

I'll be wearin' a army green parka and I'll have this here name card pinned on:

If you spot me among the multitudes, tap me on the shoulder an' say hello.

JimBobby

Wanna win, Ignatieff? Here's how.

2010-01-14T11:07:00.006-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I'm a card carryin' Greenie but I'm gonna offer some free advice to the Grits an' Ignatieff. I'm so ancient that Harry Truman was president when I was born. Truman had a few famous quotes. His most famous was, "The buck stops here."

Truman also spoke about leadership: "Find a parade and get out in front of it."

There's a big parade marching up and down Main Street, Canada. It's the anti-prorogation parade. So far, Ignatieff hasn't capitalized on anti-prorogue sentiment effectively, if at all. Voters are rejecting prorogation by an increasingly wide margin. Time to lead, Mr. Leader.

My advice is for Iggy: make an unequivocal statement that, if elected, the Grits will put and end to prorogation, once and for all. Granted, Ignatieff has said he wouldn't abuse the mechanism as Harper has done but that does not go nearly far enough. He ought to solemnly promise to do away with the mechanism altogether.

Recent polls have shown the CPC losing ground in a big way. That loss is entirely due to Harper's misreading of public sentiment on prorogation and on the underlying reason for this prorogation: the Afghan detainee issue. The Liberals have not taken the opportunity to score points. They've merely stood by and watched the CPC throw away points. That is not leadership. It's not even getting out in front of the parade.

With a platform plank that promises no more prorogues, ever, by any future government, Ignatieff could ride the crest of this wave of discontent all the way to Sussex Drive.

JimBobby

Detainee abuse: Who Knew? Every MP. Since 2004.

2009-12-23T10:42:00.006-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, everyone wants to know who knew what and when with regard to Afghan detainees being tortured after being turned over by Canadian Forces. The evidence is piling up and it's starting to look like everyone in Ottawa knew and they knew almost from the get-go.

As early as February 2004, the antiwar group Lawyers Against War sent a legal brief to PM Paul Martin and all MPs. Here's part of it:

"The transfer by Canadian soldiers effectively deprives transferred prisoners their rights and leaves the determination of their status, treatment, trial and punishment subject solely to the arbitrary standards President Bush and his advisors determine.Those potentially liable under this statute [Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act] include the person committing the offence(s), his/her military commander(s) and his/her superior(s). Superior is defined in this statute as a 'person in authority other than a military commander.’ Both offences carry penalties of up to life in prison.

Clearly the interests of Canadian soldiers and prisoners alike require that the legality of prisoner transfer be determined before further transfers occur. In view of the U.S. demonstrated refusal to afford prisoner of war status to the prisoners pending determination, Canada is obliged by Article 12 to request the return of prisoners transferred by Canadian soldiers. The legality of the transfers ought to be referred immediately to the Supreme Court of Canada."

Lawyers Against War (LAW) has written an open letter to the Parliamentary Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan. In the December 21, 2009 letter, LAW cites several official reports made to the UN regarding the abuse of transferred detainees. These notifications didn't start in May 2007 as Peter MacKay tried to tell us. As early as March 2005, the UN was informed of "reasonable grounds to believe that prisoners in Afghanistan were being subjected to torture."

LAW's latest letter to the Afghanistan Committee reiterates what yesterday's testimony to the committee asserts: The abuse is still happening.

On Twitter yesterday, David Akin asked "What's the rush?" regarding in the Afghanistan Committee wanting to hold meetings during the Christmas parliamentary recess. The Conservative MPs on the committee are boycotting, saying there's nothing urgent to discuss.

But the committee is hearing that detainees are being tortured now... today. That's the rush. That's the urgency.

Enjoy your eggnog.

JimBobby

******************************************

Here is the entire open letter as published here and here:

Monday, December 21, 2009

Open letter to the Parliamentary Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan

Dear Committee Members:

Chair: Rick Casson, Vice-chair: Bryon Wilfert, Members: Jim Abbott, Ujjal Dosanjh, Francine Lalonde, Claude Bachand, Laurie Hawn, Dave MacKenzie, Paul Dewar, Greg Kerr, Deepak Obhrai:

Lawyers against the War (LAW) urges the Parliamentary Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan to recommend:

The immediate cessation of transfers of people taken prisoner in Afghanistan (prisoners) by Canada, to third countries, including Afghanistan; and,

That Canada immediately undertake effective protective and remedial measures with respect to all prisoners already transferred by Canada to third countries; and,

The creation of a judicial inquiry mandated to inquire into allegations that the transfers violate Canadian and international law and to recommend the civil and criminal remedies required by law.

Concerned Canadians know that people taken captive in Afghanistan and transferred to either U.S. or Afghan custody are at risk of torture and other grave violations of their internationally protected rights. The facts establishing the illegality of the transfer of prisoners have been a matter public record since, at the latest, early 2004. Under Canadian and international law transfer to risk of such harm violates both Canadian and international law. Knowledge of the applicable law is presumed.

Evidence that Canada was and is, violating Canadian and international law by transferring people taken captive in Afghanistan to either U.S. or Afghan authorities has long been part of the public record. Since November 13 20011, the world has known that the U.S. intended to illegally detain non-Americans taken prisoner in Afghanistan and to deny them access to properly constituted courts and other due process in violation of international law.2 The world has known since February 7, 20023 that such prisoners transferred into U.S. custody would be denied the protection of the Geneva Conventions and subjected to whatever treatment, including torture and/or other prohibited treatment, the President or Secretary of Defense arbitrarily determined was ‘required by the exigencies of the war on terror’. By the end of September 2004, concerned people and those in positions of responsibility knew, from the report of the Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, that prisoners were routinely subjected to torture and other internationally prohibited treatment in both Afghan-run and U.S.-run prisons within Afghanistan.4

Statements by Canadian officials that there was no torture or that, if there was they didn’t know about it, ring hollow and remind us of similar statements by U.S. officials. Suggestions by Canadian officials that the law doesn’t apply to ‘those people’ also remind us of the statements of the Bush administration to justify treatment of people taken captive in Afghanistan. Such statements do not alter the known fact that these transfers violate the internationally protected rights of prisoners: nor do they alter the law. Canada has the legal duty to act effectively to ensure that past violations are remedied and future violations prevented. It is instructive to consider that some U.S. officials who used their status to facilitate the illegal detention and treatment of people taken prisoner in Afghanistan are now being prosecuted5 and sued for damages for torture.6

Some of the reports detailing evidence of the likelihood and/or certainty that prisoners transferred to either U.S. or Afghan authorities would be subjected to criminal violations of their internationally protected rights including, but not limited to torture, are cited below. The Prime Minister and other political authorities responsible for ensuring adherence to the law received notice of these reports. They had a duty to ensure that military leaders were properly advised and instructed as a result.

On 11 March 2005, the Report of the Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, M. Cherif Bassiouni, to the UN Commission on Human Rights, indicated there were reasonable grounds to believe that prisoners in Afghanistan were being subjected to torture. Professor Bassiouni reported that while he had difficulty gaining access to detention facilities, he had interviewed prisoners who alleged that, “ …Coalition forces and special units of the Afghan security agencies and police act above and beyond the reach of the law by engaging in arbitrary arrests and detentions and committing abusive practices, including torture.” (paragraph 5) Professor Bassiouni also reported a grave situation with regard to, “The absence of due process in the arrest and detention of persons and the use of torture by various government intelligence entities, including those associated with the National Security Directorate, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior;” (paragraph 8.c) http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/128/24/PDF/G0512824.pdf?OpenElement

On February 1, 2006, the Afghanistan Compact, created at the London Conference, January 31-February 1, 2006, acknowledged that torture of prisoners was a systemic problem that could only be successfully remedied over a long period of time and set the following goal, “By end-2010: The Government’s capacity to comply with and report on its human rights treaty obligations will be strengthened; Government security and law enforcement agencies will adopt corrective measures including codes of conduct and procedures aimed at preventing arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, extortion and illegal expropriation of property with a view to the elimination of these practices;” http://unama.unmissions.org/Portals/UNAMA/Documents/AfghanistanCompact-English.pdf

On March 6, 2007 the U.S. State Department Report on Afghanistan reported that, “…human rights organizations reported that local authorities in Herat, Helmand, Badakhshan, and other locations continued to routinely torture and abuse detainees. Torture and abuse consisted of pulling out fingernails and toenails, burning with hot oil, beatings, sexual humiliation, and sodomy.” http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78868.htm

On March 6, 2007, Lawyers against the War, sent a letter to Stephen Harper, Peter MacKay, Rob Nicholson and Gordon O’Connor, advising that, “Evidence clearly indicates that people transferred to U.S. or Afghan custody are at risk of criminal rights violations including serious injury or death. By transferring people to risk of such harm, Canada is violating its legal duty to uphold Canadian and international law and Canadians responsible for the transfers are exposed to possible criminal liability. We urge you act to ensure immediate strict adherence to applicable laws: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment, the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Geneva Conventions Act, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Criminal Code, and Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.” http://www.nightslantern.ca/LAW.Detainee.Transfer.Mar.8.07.pdf

On April 25, 2007, the Liu Institute on Global Issues of the University of British Columbia submitted a complaint, War Crime and the transfer of detainees from Canadian custody in Afghanistan, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking that General Hillier and others be investigated for possible war crimes in the transfer of prisoners in Afghanistan. Professors Michael Byers of the University of British Columbia and William Schabas, Director of the Irish Human Rights Centre, advised the ICC prosecutor that, “…we are concerned that Minister O’Connor and General Hillier might wilfully be placing detainees at risk of torture, cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity. If so, they would appear to be violating Articles 8 and 25 (and perhaps Article 7) of the Rome Statutes of the International Criminal Court.”

o On March 4, 2008, Alex Neve Secretary General of Amnesty International/Canada gave this evidence to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development regarding prisoners apprehended by Canadian troops, “Amnesty International first raised concerns about this issue in early 2002, when Canada first deployed in Afghanistan. At that point, our concerns were with respect to the policy of handing over detainees to U.S. forces and the likelihood of such prisoners ending up at Bagram Air Base or Guantánamo Bay. That approach came to an end in December 2005, with the first agreement between Canada and Afghanistan, under which prisoners were to be transferred into Afghan custody, with indications that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission would play a role in monitoring.

We immediately stressed that it had not solved the problem, given the widespread, longstanding reality of torture throughout the Afghan prison system. We urged Canada to consider a different approach, one that would accord with our international obligations.”

On February 1, 2004 LAW sent a legal brief to the Prime Ministers and other Members of Parliament advising that the transfer of prisoners in Afghanistan violated the law,

“The transfer by Canadian soldiers effectively deprives transferred prisoners their rights and leaves the determination of their status, treatment, trial and punishment subject solely to the arbitrary standards President Bush and his advisors determine.

Those potentially liable under this statute [Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act] include the person committing the offence(s), his/her military commander(s) and his/her superior(s). Superior is defined in this statute as a ‘person in authority other than a military commander.’ Both offences carry penalties of up to life in prison.

Clearly the interests of Canadian soldiers and prisoners alike require that the legality of prisoner transfer be determined before further transfers occur. In view of the U.S. demonstrated refusal to afford prisoner of war status to the prisoners pending determination, Canada is obliged by Article 12 to request the return of prisoners transferred by Canadian soldiers. The legality of the transfers ought to be referred immediately to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In June 2008, Maj. General Antonio M. Taguba (USA-Ret.), author of the U.S. Army’s 2004 internal report on Abu Ghraib wrote, “…After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current [Bush] administration has committed war crimes."7

Those same words apply to Canada’s transfer of prisoners in Afghanistan: there is no longer any doubt that the transfers are illegal. Neither is there any doubt that the law requires that the transfers be stopped, the violations investigated, identified and remedied and further violations prevented. While the personal knowledge of the Canadian officials in command of the transfers may be germaine to future legal suits, this factor does not and cannot alter Canada’s legal duties now or then.

LAW urges the Committee to act responsibly to uphold the law: to stop the transfers, ensure the identification of and remedies for past violations and to prevent future violations.

Respectfully submitted.

Gail Davidson, Lawyers against the War.

Copied to:

The Clerk of the Committee is Carmen DePape

Members of Parliament

Senators

Notes

1. Military Order of November 13, 2001, Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism. http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/mo-111301.htm

2. Denial of fair trial rights is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and a crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act.

3. Humane Treatment of Taliban and Al Qaeda Detainees, February 7, 2002 memorandum from President Bush.

4. Report of the Independent Expert of the Commission on Human Rights on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan. U.N. GAOR. 59th Sess. Agenda Item 105(c). U.N. Doc. A/59/370. September 21, 2004.

5. For example, in April 2009, the Spanish National Court accepted a criminal torture complaint against former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, William Haynes II, former general counsel for the Department of Defense; John Yoo, the former Justice Department lawyer who wrote secret legal opinions saying President George W. Bush had the authority to circumvent the Geneva Conventions; Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense for policy; Jay Bybee, Yoo's former boss at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel; and David Addington, chief of staff and legal adviser to ex-Vice President Dick Cheney.

6. For example, in Padilla v. Yoo U.S. filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California, Padilla claims damages for deprivation of constitutional rights against John Yoo for, during his tenure in the Office of Legal Counsel for the U.S. Justice Department, authoring memos purporting to legally justify “enhanced interrogation techniques” used on Padilla. Yoo advised, inter alia, that interrogation methods were not torture unless they caused pain “equivalent to the intensity of the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” Dismissing Yoo’s application to dismiss the suit, the U.S. District Court ruled that Yoo, had “set in motion events that resulted in the deprivation of the Padilla’s constitutional rights” and that, “government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct”

7. Preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by U.S. Personnel and its Impacts, A Report by Physicians for Human Rights, June 2008.

More Brown Stuff Hits the Fan - Canada Tortured Detainee

2009-12-18T10:15:00.007-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I been startin' my days lately by readin' the MSM's latest bombshells on the disgraceful Afghan detainee scandal. A day doesn't go by without more proverbial shit hittin' the proverbial fan.

I also indulge my masochistic bent by reading the hundreds of comments at the Globe, CBC and CTV. For the most part, I am somewhat encouraged by the "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" tallies. The voting on comments, while entirely unscientific, lend support to the basic belief that Canadians, by and large, do not want our country's reputation tainted by war crimes. Of course, there are plenty of notable exceptions.

There are several tactics/arguments the apologists for torture use in the MSM comment boards.

It's just Afghans torturing Afghans, nothing to do with Canada.
Nobody Cares
Even if people do care, Martin Started it
If you criticize a Conservative cabinet minister you are attacking “the troops”
Adscam, Adscam, Adscam
They are terrorist scumbags and deserve torture
The 23 former ambassadors who are criticizing were Liberal appointees
Even if they aren’t terrorists they live in the same neighbourhood as terrorists and how are CF personnel supposed to know the difference?
The first casualty of war is truth. SOP.
It didn’t happen.
If it happened, it only happened to a few of them.
Even if it happened to more than a few of them, it didn’t happen to ALL of them.
(h/t to Balbulican at Stageleft)

Today's particular bombshell may be one of the most devastating. A Canadian Forces Sergeant, Carol Utton, reveals that it wasn't just Afghan on Afghan abuse. Here's the whole story from CP.

Source: Afghan detainee mistreated in Canadian custody

By ELIZABETH THOMPSON - Parliamentary Bureau
OTTAWA — A new report has surfaced that suggests an Afghan detainee might have been mistreated while in Canadian Forces custody.

Global National reported Thursday night that a military police sergeant says not only was an Afghan detainee mistreated and kept for days in a tiny cell that reached intolerable temperatures, but that superiors ignored warnings.

In an interview with the Military Police Complaints Commission, Sgt. Carol Utton said an order in the spring of 2007 halted detainee transfers. One prisoner was still in custody, in a walled compound on the base with eight cells designed to hold prisoners no more than 96 hours.

Utton said the temperature reached 60 C in the cells. The soldiers tried to help him with bottles of frozen water, but the prisoner screamed and yelled.

However, Ottawa headquarters initially wouldn’t allow the prisoner to be released and ignored warnings about conditions in the cells, Utton said.

“We felt (Ottawa HQ) didn’t care,” Utton told the commission. “Nobody in Canada gave a crap.”

Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s office said the Global National report was the first they had heard of the incident and they’ve asked the defence department for more information.

Shame!

Ottawa was informed that Canada was keeping a detainee in a 60° C cell but the troops on the ground "felt (Ottawa HQ) didn’t care,” Utton told the commission. “Nobody in Canada gave a crap.”

The other new story today comes from the Globe & Mail: The Buck Stopped Nowhere. I'm not sure if it's another attempt by the government to shirk responsibility and accountability. It lends credence to the contention that "We didn't know." But, it begs the questions, "Why didn't they know? Why did they adamantly deny abuse when, according to the latest dirt, they didn't know whether or not abuse was happening?"

Over the next couple weeks, many of us will be socializing and enjoying time with our families and loved ones. Rather than proroguing our consciences, we can use the festive season to keep the issue on the front burner. I've already been steering discussions away from hockey and home renovations.

Conversation starter: "Thanks for the eggnog. Boy, this Afghan detainee thing is really a mess, ain't it?"

Peace on Earth. Goodwill to men.

JimBobby

Current Detainee Transfer Agreement Failing

2009-12-14T09:08:00.003-05:00

The Globe has a story on how the current transfer agreement is failing. Seems we really don't know what's happening to those we turn over. What's more, CF troops are reporting that they capture the same enemy fighters again and again.

Like almost every other aspect of this story, those of us who were paying attention knew about this long ago.

Indulge me a moment, please. Here's the bulk of a blog post I wrote in March 2008.

60%-70% of prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities are only held only briefly before they are able to bribe their way out of jail. See:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/107576/page/1

Q: Why do we fail to follow up on detainees to make sure they do not pay $20 and go back to the Taliban front lines?

A: We are so afraid of confirming that we are in violation of international law that we look the other way while two crimes are committed: bribery and torture.

Q: Why have we given in to Afghan demands that we resume detainee transfers?

A: Afghan soldiers and police only make $4 a day. They need the bribes to survive. Bribery has been an integral part of the Afghan economy for centuries. If we keep the detainees or follow up on their treatment, Afghan soldiers and police lose the opportunity for much needed extra cash.

Many so-called Taliban who are delivered for bounty to NATO forces are not Taliban at all. Tribal and family rivalries routinely see Afghans kidnapped for ransom or turned over to NATO, then by NATO to Afghans. From there, the age old system of bribery, pay-offs and torture goes into effect.

Detainees are released AFTER being tortured sufficiently enough to induce the detainees' relatives (or fellow Taliban) to cough up bribe money.

The failure of the detainee agreement is demonstrably putting out troops at unnecessary risk. Now. Not back in 2002-2006. Now.

Chew on that, Hillier-MacKay-O'Conner-Harper-Cannon-Baird.

Elizabeth May's Nomination: Challenges and Opportunities

2009-09-20T12:24:00.004-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May, got the nomination to run out on Vancouver Island in the Saanich Gulf Islands riding. Green Party blogger Camille Labchuk wrote up a blog on it and there's some comment action over there. Commenter Mark Francis brought up a couplafew points regardin' Ignatieff's less-than-stellar environmental stance vis-a-vis the tar sands, incumbent Gary Lunn's vulnerability and the need for getting "boots on the ground." Here's my response recycled:

Mark makes some good points. Every candidate will have some baggage. For the Libs, Ignatieff’s environmental intransigence will be serious baggage for small-g green voters. He’s on record supporting nukes, too. His militaristic support for Bush’s Iraq invasion/fiasco doesn’t really speak well for his international savvy, either, and won’t play well with the stereotypical west coast flower children. Hetherington will be saddled heavily with her un-green leader.

Lunn is vulnerable on Chalk River. As Minister of Natural Resources, he was the guy who fired Linda Keen so ignominiously in the middle of the night. He was responsible for restarting the limping reactor that is now giving Canada an international black eye in the medical isotope department. So hapless was Lunn that he was relieved of that portfolio and it was handed off to the even more hapless Lisa Raitt.

Elizabeth May’s biggest piece of baggage seems to be the parachute label. If she can wrap herself in SGI issues and make herself visible enough between now and whenever the Cons get too unpalatable for Layton, she may be able to shake that off. Her environmental credentials and those of the GPC are impeccable. For small-g green voters, she should be able to capitalize on the Liberal leader’s poor environmental stance.

The Herzog flair-up will be seen by most as a sour grapes thing; internal, riding-level party power politics: no worse, better or different than what happens with every party. Elections Canada will not find anything amiss with the riding funding plan and despite some valid concerns regarding top-down party management, Herzog’s complaints will not continue to play a significant part in an election campaign.

Have the NDP nominated anyone? BC voters have the advantage of having had a provincial NDP government by which to judge the NDP’s commitment to the environment. Sure, federal NDP does not equal provincial NDP… except when the NDP wants it to.

I’m a longtime GPC member and EDA exec. I wasn’t too keen on the SGI choice but now that it is a done deal, I’ll be putting my support behind Elizabeth. The decision to run her wherever she is most electable wasn’t a top down decision but was endorsed by the rank and file. My biggest concern centres around the availability of SGI foot soldiers. When Elizabeth ran in London, the foot soldiers flocked in from Toronto and elsewhere in densely populated southern Ontario to knock on doors. I fear that sort of feet-on-the-ground support will be much more difficult to muster in SGI where the doors are further apart and the population nearby is sparser.

JimBobby

Electoral Reform in My Lifetime? I Doubt It.

2009-09-18T08:38:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I was just over to POGGE's fine boog an' left me a bigass comment on the troublems with our dumbass electoral system. One o' the commenters by the name o' Greg said he figgered he only had 3 parties to choose from an' that got my Green Party hackles raised up so I lit in with a ramblin' diatribe. Here it is:

Greg said: Finally, I could withhold my vote...

There is another party that runs in all ridings and has remained steadfastly in favour of PR. While the Greens have not elected anyone, GPC support has been steadily growing and the unfairness of FPTP is driven home to more and more voters after each election.

NDP and GPC voters tend to have a better grasp on the problems with the current system simply because we are the ones most victimized by it. The two leading parties are the main beneficiaries of the unfair FPTP system and find it very easy -- and self-serving -- to deny that any problem exists.

I worked alongside my GPC candidate in the 2008 election. She was a big Fair Vote Canada campaigner and worked tirelessly in the Ontario referendum. Whenever she would bring up electoral reform, it would end up working against her. After a few such debacles, it was decided to keep the issue low key. It just didn't resonate or else it was deemed too complicated -- or a dead duck done deal due to the resounding defeat in the referendum.

Attempting to get votes, knowing full well that your party doesn't stand a chance in FPTP, can be frustrating. People will ask, "Why bother?" One of the best reasons has to be the mere fact that once a person sees his or her vote declared essentially meaningless due to FPTP, they will be more receptive and more vocal about the inherent unfairness of the current system.

When enough people start asking why a party that gets 8% or 9% of the popular votes gets 0% representation, we might stand a chance of changing the system. And, it's not just the disenfranchised GPC and NDP voters who can see the discrepancy.

Obviously, the main beneficiaries will be loathe to change a system in which they are the main beneficiaries. I'm not sure we can change that. A Liberal or Con MP who votes for a system that will deprive his party of seats will quickly be dropped from the party.

In the meantime, all we can do is vote our conscience and do our best to inform the public that we have a patently unfair system. I'm 60 YO and have lost all hope that the system will change within my lifetime. That won't stop me from pushing for change. Hey... I'm still pushing for world peace, too.

JimBobby

Depleted Uranium Weapons: Cancer and the Canadian Connection

2009-09-11T08:40:00.004-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I sure ain't been doin' too much boogin' lately. I been doin' some twitterin', though. This mornin', I tweeted:

Soldier's cancer death linked to depleted uranium (DU): UK court - http://bit.ly/26hiuQ - Canadian DU connection - http://bit.ly/4EHlHo

Them there links got clicked 20 times in the first few minutes so I reckon there's some point in the Twitter. I been skeptical about Twitter but I thought I'd give it a chance after havin' a live-in-person chat with Stageleft a coupla weeks ago when I was up in Ottywa.

I ain't so sure about carryin' on conversations 140 characters at a time, so I figgered I'd expand (expound?) here on my boog where I can blather on as long as I want.

Anyways, here's a little more about how depleted uranium killed a Brit soldier.

The death of Stuart Dyson, a 39-year-old former soldier, from a rare from of cancer was caused by his exposure to depleted uranium used in military munitions, an inquest jury ruled.
The jury heard that Mr Dyson, a lance corporal in the Royal Pioneer Corps, cleaned tanks after the first Gulf War during a five-month deployment to the war zone.

His widow Elaine told the hearing that her husband's health had deteriorated after he left the Army in 1992 and that he was diagnosed with colon cancer, which spread to his liver and spleen, in 2007.
...
Giving evidence at the inquest, Professor Christopher Busby, an expert on the effects of uranium on health, said Mr Dyson's cancer was "more likely than not" caused by ingestion and inhalation of the substance during his service in the Gulf.

...

Professor Busby said he had visited Iraq in 2000 and had personally found particles of depleted uranium with dangerously high radiation levels near the wrecks of tanks destroyed during the 1991 war.
(Source)

Keep in mind that DU ammo is also being used in Afghanistan and now that the US is stepping up its involvement, even more DU is likely to be used.

Also keep in mind that coalition soldiers are far more likely to get medical treatment and diagnoses than Iraqi or Afghan civilians living in the zones where this radioactive hazard is being dispersed. Destroyed vehicles and former battle grounds are routinely scavenged by children and others looking to pick up a few pennies from salvageable parts.

There's a Canadian connection to DU.

While the U.S. appears to be on the verge of attacking Iran just for having a nuclear reactor, Washington and its allies continue to be the biggest nuclear proliferators in the world. Chief among these nuclear allies is Canada, which provides up to 40% of the world’s uranium, the largest amount. Eighty percent of Canadian uranium is exported, with 76% going to the U.S.
Canada has long been the main source of uranium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal, globally the largest and deadliest at 10,000 warheads and bombs. Washington has a first-strike nuclear policy and is actively preparing for nuclear war. It is also the only country that has actually used nuclear weapons--not once, but twice, on Japan in 1945.
...
Q: How is Canada violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?

Harding: Canada signed this treaty in 1970 and claimed that it would not be using uranium for weapons production. We now know that uranium out of Saskatchewan has been diverted through the depleted uranium (DU) system and has been fuelling the weapons stream. The public, I think, is largely unaware that we are still complicit directly in the weapons stream. It’s a tricky thing to track, but it goes something like this: After refining the uranium at Port Hope, we send it to the enriching system in the U.S. This system integrates both the military and the industrial uses of nuclear power. The U.S. Department of Energy and the Pentagon both take uranium from this system.

The uranium that is to be used in electrical generating nuclear reactors is concentrated to about 5%. This is uranium-235. About nine-tenths of the mass of what’s left after enrichment is called depleted uranium. This is then available to the Pentagon to use for weapons. And it’s not really depleted. That’s a misnomer. It’s still uranium. It’s primarily uranium-238, which can be put into Pentagon reactors to create plutonium. All the Pentagon needs to do is bombard the depleted uranium with neutrons and it can create a plutonium stream for weapons. Also, the depleted uranium is the packing on the H-Bomb. What makes the H-Bomb the mega-bomb is the amount of packing of the depleted uranium around the plutonium trigger.

Then the various weapons-producing companies such as Aerojet and ATK take this uranium and make the conventional depleted uranium weapons that are now contaminating probably the last four war zones in the Middle East and Southern Europe. Uranium out of Canada that’s got into the depleted uranium stream has already been dropped on Iraq during the U.S. invasion. So the weapons connection got obscured when the Non-Proliferation Treaty came, because technically the uranium is shipped to the U.S. for their reactors, but in fact the depleted uranium that’s left is then in the control of those countries. So it fundamentally abrogates the intentions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but not technically.

Q: What are the implications of Canada’s continuing support for U.S. nuclear militarism?

Harding: It’s frightening stuff to think about. We’re really talking madness here in terms of the capacity. How few of these mega-bombs it would take to create a catastrophe that makes climate change look insignificant! The U.S. had 37,000 nuclear weapons during the 1980s, armed and ready to go. And we’re talking about using a very small number of those and having disastrous global implications.

When you dig below the surface, the complicity issue is always there. It was there in Vietnam, in terms of companies in Canada exporting armaments and even chemicals that were used in the napalm bombing. And in Canada we’re still doing that around depleted uranium. It just tends to be hidden behind the public statements of us being a non-nuclear power and having made the decision to focus on exporting medical isotopes and not nuclear weapons. This is an effective PR and propaganda system, but it just doesn’t happen to be true.

Q: What are the effects of depleted uranium on humans when it is used in conventional weapons, aside from immediate death and injury?

Harding: The number of cancers and death by cancer are significantly greater (than if the depleted uranium were not present), as are permanent sterility, birth deformations, and death from birth deformation. Depleted uranium affects the whole embryonic development, as well as increasing the risks of thyroid leukemia and other childhood cancers. They are seeing increases in a number of cancers in Basra and in other areas where they know there were high levels of depleted uranium weaponry used.
(Source)

There's plenty more in that interview.

I watched David Akin, Steve Paiken and a couple of nuclear proponents on TVO's The Agenda a couple nights ago. The topic was Canada's Nuclear Future. While they spent about two-thirds of the hour discussing Canada's role in the medical isotope business and the rest of the hour on nuclear energy issues, the topic of nuclear proliferation and Canada's role in supplying the raw material for nuclear weaponry was not mentioned, at all.

We cannot keep our heads buried in the sand. Canada is complicit in the proliferation of DU weaponry. Twenty or thirty years from now, some future Prime Minister will be issuing another meaningless apology and claiming we didn't know what was happening and sorry about all the cancer deaths. We do know.

JB

No Nukes in Nanticoke - Yippee!!

2009-07-26T09:13:00.012-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, OL' JB ain't been doin' too much boogin' lately on accounta I been busy fightin' a bigass nuclear war down here in Nanticoke. Now, I ain't gonna say we won the war but I'm sayin' the other guys lost. Leastwise, they turned tail an' run away. Good riddance, sez I.

Bruce Power abandoned its proposal to build a new nuke plant in Nanticoke. -- Public opposition was mounting. -- The estimated price tag went from $7 billion last November to $10-$15 this May. -- Nuke investors have been walking away from proposals all over the place.

According to our MPP, 76% of folks down this way were opposed to the plant. The Ontario government said it wasn't going to buy any electricity from the dumbasses. Bruce was probbly hoping to sell the power to the Merkans. If that happened, the Merkans'd get the power; the fatcats'd get the profits; and Nanticoke'd get to store tonnes of deadly radioactive waste for a few hundred thousand years.

Over in Port Dover, they're dancin' in the streets an' gatherin' up some driftwood for a bigass bonfire on the beach.(My ol' Grannie was a Dover girl, born in 1894. I reckon she and/or some of her sisters might be in this here pitcher. I'll ask my Mum if she recognizes anyone.)

In Port Dover, they don't mince words:

Isotope Crisis: Right Hand Hanging Left Hand Out to Dry

2009-06-11T12:28:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, seems like these here Conservative ministers is their own worst enemies. Instead of throwin' a lifeline to their flounderin' colleagues, they sit on their hands and watch 'em splash an' drown. Instead of pullin' out the rabbit they got in their hat, they play dumb... or, are they actually just as uninformed as they let on?

While Ministers Raitt and Aglukkaq continue to demonstrate their incompetence, real progress is being made in the field of isotope production. While Prime Minister Harper tells us Canada is throwing in the towel on future isotope manufacture and supply, Canadian research and technology is moving forward achieving just what Harper says is not feasible.

One wonders why Raitt, Aglukkaq and Harper seem unable to even attempt to fend off opposition questions with real answers that would put their government in a much better light. Although it seems improbable, it appears that none of the politicians are up to speed on what is happening under their very noses.

Back in November 2008, TRIUMF : Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, the University of British Columbia and Advanced Applied Physics Solutions, Inc. (AAPS) released a report “proposing a uniquely Canadian method for producing select medical isotopes which avoids using weapons-grade uranium and nuclear reactors.”

More recently, MDS Nordion, the same company that purchases and distributes all of the Chalk River isotopes, entered into a commercial agreement with TRIUMF “to study the feasibility of producing a viable and reliable supply of photo-fission-produced molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) used globally for diagnostic medical imaging.”

While Harper and his crew of liquidators are intent on selling the farm at bargain basement prices and abandoning Canada’s formerly respected role in the field of nuclear medicine, Canadian researchers and business interests are working outside the AECL framework to deliver much-needed isotopes using a safer, cheaper technology. While Harper and his nuclear grease monkeys are applying duct tape and Bondo to Chalk River’s 52 year old clunker, forward thinking scientists are developing an alternative source of Molybdenum-99.

While Harper and his inexperienced cabinet ministers sputter about securing isotopes from international sources, UBC, TRIUMF and MDS Nordion are forging ahead on a highly promising plan that, incredibly, was the subject of an announcement by Ministers Raitt and Aglukkaq less than two weeks ago.

Federal Gov't Takes Forward Steps on Medical Isotopes

29 May 2009

Yesterday, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Lisa Raitt and Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq announced the Government's plan to establish an Expert Review Panel for Long-Term Isotope Supply Solutions. TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, supports these steps and looks forward to contributing to the process.

Why, one wonders, did neither Raitt nor Aglukkaq point to this development when they faced tough questioning in the House? Is it possible that the announcement, though seemingly made jointly by their own offices, was unknown to the ministers?

Now, let’s move along to part two of the ministers not knowing what’s happening under their noses. This time, we have former Health Minister and current Industry Minister Tony Clement remaining silent in the House while his hapless colleagues Raitt and Aglukkaq squirm under questioning about what they are doing to ease the shortage of isotopes.

Odd, since it was just about a week earlier, on June 1, that Clement announced $22 million in new funding to upgrade McMaster University’s research reactor, part of which was designated “to expand Canada's isotope research and production capacity.” Although $22 million is a piddly amount by nuclear standards, Clement could have come to the aid of his fellow cabinet members with at least one concrete example of what Canada is doing to increase domestic isotope production. Additionally, unlike Chalk River’s NRU, the Mac reactor is currently operational and presumably could be producing some of the needed isotopes while the repairs to the NRU are being carried out.

When PM Harper told us yesterday that Canada is getting out of the isotope business, did he not know that his industry minister, just 10 short days ago, had doled out $22 million to expand Canada's isotope production capacity.

Don't these ministers talk to one another? Don't they even read their own press releases?

JimBobby

Secret, Schmecret -- AECL's Incompetence Further Revealed

2009-06-03T11:45:00.007-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, everybody's talkin' 'bout dumbass Lisa Raitt leaving secret papers behind at CTV. Par for the CPC course. Their talent pool's pretty shallow, after all. While the fact that another of Harper's Ministers can't keep tabs on secret stuff is damning, what is more interesting is the stuff itself.

Underlying all of this security breach stuff is the fact that AECL is as incompetent as the minister in charge. The AECL refurbishment up at Bruce is now known to be more than 400 days behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. Par for the nuclear course, I realize, but how can Ontario even consider AECL's unproven ACR-1000 design for its ridiculous $26.6 billion commitment to unneeded new nuclear builds?

That $26 Bn will undoubtedly turn into 10's of billions more and we all know who pays for these cost overruns.

Of course, Ontario could choose France's Areva to build the new reactors. They're 42 months behind schedule on their only contract to build the same new generation EPR reactor that is being considered for Ontario. Areva's Finnish project is running 60% over budget. On top of that, Finland was depending on Areva to be on time so that Finland would not face multi-million dollar penalties under Kyoto. In addition to the cost and time overruns, the Areva build also has safety shortcomings.

Governments need to face up to the fact that nuclear is the most expensive and least reliable option for meeting energy needs. We dole out lavish corporate welfare to these nuclear giants and, in turn, they use that money to lobby governments and mount public relations campaigns aimed at convincing decision makers and the public that they are selling a viable product.

The secrecy surrounding nuclear costs is only the tip of the iceberg. What are we not being told about lapses in safety and nuclear security? We are creating stockpiles of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel without any permanent storage solution. These stockpiles are guarded by paramilitary swat teams who must constantly upgrade their capabilities to stay ahead of terrorists and rogue states. We are saddling countless future generations with these security costs all so we can continue to waste energy like there's no tomorrow.

As far as the isotope crisis goes, watch for Harpoleon to pull a rabbit from the hat. The research reactor at McMaster Universty is to be upgraded with a paltry $22 million and part of that sum is intended isotope production.

In a statement, McMaster University said, "As Canada's only nuclear reactor outside of Chalk River capable of producing medical isotopes, the funding will be used to upgrade McMaster's physical infrastructure to expand Canada's isotope research and production capacity, to enhance research activities and train personnel for the nuclear industry and health care sectors."
(Source)

There's just one little problem. The Mac reactor, like the Chalk River dinosaur, is 50 years old. Throwing good money after bad seems to be the singled-minded goal of both the federal Conservatives and the Ontario Liberals.

What is somewhat surprising, though, is that when Minister Raitt was being grilled in QP the other day, she seemed to know nothing about the plans to upgrade the Mac reactor. More incompetence? Tony Clement failing to step up and defend his collegue? One hand unaware of what the other hand is doling out?

JB

Seal Hunt Not Worth the Fight - Time to Move On

2009-05-06T10:20:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I'm gonna wade into the seal hunt issue. Over to StageLeft, there's a comments section gabfest goin' on an' I left me a bigass comment. I'm recycling that comment here.

How about we look at the economics of the hunt?

Back in 2007, the landed value of the seal hunt was only a paltry $12 million. 2008 was about half of that. In 2007, the federal government paid about $3.4 million to rescue sealers from the ice. I don’t know how much we spent in 2008. Taxpayers also pay for aircraft used to locate seals and commercial sealers are led to the seals by Coast Guard icebreakers. Canadian tax dollars support the hunt and the massive PR campaign that was mounted to counter EU opposition.

Despite all the money we spent, the EU still voted for a ban. Now, we’re going to throw good money after bad by mounting a legal challenge at the WTO. At least the lawyers are still making money.

When the banks need money, we bail them out with billions of public dollars. When the dumbass, gas-guzzlin’ auto industry needs money, we bail them out with billions more. When the dirty tar sands need money, we give them billions in tax cuts and bogus R&D grants to fantasyland carbon capture schemes. When tobacco farmers can’t make it, we cough up $288 million in buyout money.

We sell a lot of other stuff to EU customers and our protestation over the seal hunt could well cause a larger boycott of Canadian products of all types. When the US banned seal imports, we didn’t mount a legal challenge, even though the US was formerly the biggest customer. We understood the possible trade ramifications. We’d better wake up and understand what a blanket European boycott of Canadian products could mean.

The seal hunt may be unjustly portrayed as inherently cruel. However, we fought the PR battle on that score and, like it or not, we lost. Public opinion is against the hunt. Also, contrary to what Doug Newton said, the EU Parliament is an elected body.

Even without the EU ban, the market for pelts was down so much in recent years that many sealers didn’t bother going out and risking their necks this past year. I suggest that the EU ban is less a case of an authoritarian imposition than it is a case of the EU Parliament reflecting the wishes of EU citizens. They spoke with their pocketbooks already.

If we simply didn’t fight the ban and gave up the logistical and search & rescue support we lavish on this industry, we’d have millions to invest into alternatives or to simply dole out to the out of work sealers. Instead, we’re planning to spend good dollars fighting a fight we cannot possibly win.

I have no opposition on humanitarian grounds and I understand and appreciate the argument that seals compete with humans for fish. Nevertheless, the public relations war is over and we lost. Time to move on.

BTW, I killed 5 mice in the past 36 hours. There is no market for mouse pelts or mouse meat so I tossed them in the trash. If the seals are pests to the fishing industry, I have no problem with the fishing industry financing a cull. We’ve culled deer down here on Long Point when they became too populous.

Something that I wonder about, though… Back when Cabot sailed into the Grand Banks, the cod were so plentiful they scooped them up with buckets. There was no commercial seal hunt at that time. Who is to blame for cod stock depletion? Seals or human over-fishing?

I think we can develop a Canadian market for Inuit seal products. I think the commercial sealers are already accustomed to taking handouts and giving them each a couple thousand bucks would be much more cost-effective than flogging the dead horse at the WTO.

Soldiers... with guns... in our streets - Forces Training for Domestic Deployment

2009-04-01T11:45:00.010-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I'm a little slow on the uptake in catchin' this story. I come across it while lookin' fer news about nuclear power plants in Canada.

Military readies reservists for threats to 'domestic front'
Adrian Humphreys, National Post
Published: Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Master Cpl. Brian Walsh/DNDReserve units across Canada
are being trained in securing perimeters in case of an emergency.
The Canadian military has embarked on a wide-ranging plan to turn its reserve soldiers into focused units trained and equipped to respond to a nightmarish array of domestic threats, including terrorist "dirty bomb" attacks, biological agent containment, Arctic catastrophes and natural disasters.
The creation of seven units within each region of the country -- including unusual all-terrain vehicle (ATV) squadrons and perimeter security teams to cordon areas of potential devastation -- prepares reserve soldiers for operations on the "domestic front" while freeing regular force soldiers to concentrate on foreign battlefields.
(More...)

What's that got to do with nuclear power plants?

"We all know the threat from dirty bombs, chemical contaminants. This is certainly one of the more dangerous situations that can arise," said Brig.-Gen. Collin.
"You can certainly get it from a terrorist act. You can also get it from a man-made disaster. You can get nuclear contamination from a nuclear power plant -- Three Mile Island, Chernobyl.
"We are training to establish a perimeter. Do I see a scenario when we might be obliged to keep people in? Probably. You need to be trained to be able to make sure that you don't become a casualty in the process of doing that security."
(Emphasis mine, JB)

The proponents of nuclear energy routinely dismiss concerns about security and the possibility of terrorist attacks and the problem of dirty bomb fuel being stored at power plants. The Canadian army is not so dismissive and is preparing for just such possibilities.

One of the more disturbing things in General Collin's quote is when he says that soldiers guarding a perimeter could be deployed to keep people inside the perimeter. If people happen to be in the 30KM radius of a nuclear accident, toxic leak or chemical warfare attack, I would hope the military would be deployed to get them out -- not to keep them in.

This is another example of the public picking up the tab for nuclear power plant security. How many military units will be needed to guard against contamination from windmills, solar panels and distributed hydro power?

JimBobby

Three Mile Island - People Died

2009-03-29T10:08:00.008-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, this is the 30 year anniversary of North America's worst nuclear accident: Three Mile Island. True to form for nuke incidents, we've been kept in the dark concerning the actual scope of the disaster.

Robert, over at Blast Furnace Blog, had a piece on TMI and I left a bigass comment. I'm recycling that comment here.

We're only just learning about the cover-ups at TMI.

People died.

Also:
In 1983, Metropolitan Edison was busted for falsifying documents related to the accident and reactor safety. They pled guilty to six, and no contest to one, of the 11-count indictment.

(The) thousands of people who received the same dose as an x-ray included pregnant women and children under the age of five. Pregnant women, fetuses and young children are more easily damaged by small doses of radiation. Acceptable doses are based on "reference man" -- a 20-30 YO Caucasian male.

Until we have a permanent, safe, passively secure site for storing spent fuel, we sure as hell shouldn't be adding to the stockpile.

While (Robert's) assertion that CANDUs are safer than other types is arguable, AECL has abandoned the old heavy water CANDU and is promoting the ACR 1000, a EPR (Generation 3) type reactor. All 3 of the reactor designs shortlisted for Ontario are EPR types.

In the past couple weeks, the Oxford Research Group, UK think tank, released a study for the Institute for Public Policy Research. They warn that these third generation (EPR) reactors, like the three models on OPG's shortlist for Ontario and Bruce Power's shortlist for Nanticoke, pose proliferation risks that could lead to “nuclear anarchy.” The report notes that the new type of reactor produces high grade plutonium as a by-product. Plutonium is used to make the most efficient nuclear weapons.

It's been nearly 60 years since the "Atoms for Peace" campaign started promoting nuclear electricity generation. Back then, the scientists were heady from successes like the Manhattan Project. They saw the problem of spent fuels but were understandably confident the problem would be solved quickly. After all , the world's best minds were working on a solution. After 60 years, the best they came up with was Yucca Mountain and that has just been kiboshed by Obama after 20 years work and $11 Billion thrown down the drain.

Reprocessing doesn't work either. A reprocessing plant in West Valley, NY, just across Lake Erie must be decommissioned at taxpayer expense. The operator went broke. NY State taxpayers are looking at a $27 billion estimate to decontaminate the site. Remember though, nuke projects typically come in at least 50% over budget.

Why on earth would any sensible person even consider a technology that leaves behind waste that must be guarded by paramilitary swat teams for 250,000 years?

Here's picture from Bruce Power bragging about their security team. The stuff they're guarding will need to be guarded for more than 100,000 years. Who's going to be responsible for securing the waste we're creating today? What right do we have to burden future generations and civilizations with the toxic legacy of our wasteful lifestyles?

JimBobby

Earth Hour: A Curmudgeon's View

2009-03-27T12:10:00.004-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I'm doin' some recyclin' an' I reckon it's OK on accounta it's all about Earth Hour. My boogin' buddy Balbulican has a post on how the anti-Earthers can carry their stoopidity to the next level. I'm recyclin' my comment from StageLeft and usin' it fer my boog story. I ain't sure how many KwH I'm savin'.

I’m a bigass treehugger an’ ol’ Mother Earth is who I fight for every day but I’m a little cynical about Earth Hour. Oh, I’ll participate. It’ll be easy. Ma and I always walk the dogs fer about an hour a night. Usually, we leave the back porch light on but on Saturday, I’ll pull the main breaker down in the basement before we go out and reset all the clocks when we come back.

Here in small town Ontariariario, we get useta power outages — even when yer livin’ in the shadow of the Nanticoke Generating Station. I hafta reset the clocks about 6x a year anyways. One more time ain’t gonna hurt much, sez I.

Reason I’m a bit cynical on Earth Hour is I get the impression some folks think if they turn off their lights fer an hour a year, they’re actually making some difference vis-a-vis savin’ the planet. I reckon symbolism is a little beyond some folks.

I also am a little concerned with the message that conservation involves freezing in the dark. There are far more effective and less inconvenient ways to use less energy than to turn off everything for an hour a year and then carry on with the usual wasteful practices the rest of the time.

Earth Hour can be fun and informative and I’m maybe a curmudgeon but I’ll do my bit on Saturday night. And, man-o-man, do I ever figger that them Small Dead Anti-Earthers is about as anti-conservative as they can get. Wanton waste does not equal conservatism in anybody’s dictionary.

How Pleasant for the Peasants: A Ringnecked Pheasant

2009-03-19T16:26:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, Ma an' I was out in the country on a errand this mornin' an' Ma spotted this here ringneck. She put on the brakes an' backed up an' rolled down the window an' I snapped this here pitcher.

Green jobs, yes we can. Tar sands, no we can't.

2009-02-18T08:50:00.007-05:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I read the other day that Environment Minister Prentice sez Canada and Merka are side-by-side on environmental issues. Strange, sez I. A few short weeks ago, we were side-by-side with Bush. Bush and Obama are pretty much at opposite ends of the environmental action spectrum. How could Harper be onside with Bush and then onside with Obama when he hasn't changed course?

I ain't the only one who noticed that Harper ain't really onside with Obama. Jack Layton and Lizzie May signed a letter to Obama tellin' him what a hypocrite Harper is. I guess Iggy couldn't sign with him agreein' to Harper's plan to destroy the planet and all.

Prominent Canadian Artists, Athletes, Activists and Community Leaders to Obama: Green jobs, yes we can. Tar sands, no we can't

OTTAWA, Feb. 18 /CNW Telbec/ - On the eve of President Obama's first foreign visit to Canada, a group of over 50 prominent Canadians have signed an open letter telling Obama that the tar sands don't fit in the new energy economy.

"In your discussions with the Canadian government, we encourage you to raise concerns over the environmental and social problems associated with tar sands production and make no exemption for the tar sands in any binational agreement addressing climate change" says the open letter.

Actress Neve Campbell, authors Ann-Marie MacDonald and Farley Mowat, musicians Anton Kuerti and Jim Creeggan of the Barenaked Ladies, athletes Adam Kreek (Olympic Gold Medalist) and Andrew Ference (Boston Bruins defenceman), and political leaders Jack Layton of the NDP and Elizabeth May of the Green Party, are just a few of the many prominent Canadians to sign the letter.

"The tar sands are one of the most destructive projects on Earth and this letter illustrates the diversity of Canadian opposition to the dirty oil and support for a new energy economy," says Tony Clarke, Executive Director of the Polaris Institute and author of Tar Sands Showdown.

"We must look at the bigger picture and see the consequences of relying on the tar sands as an economic driver" says Maude Barlow, Chairperson for the Council of Canadians and Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly. "There is an opportunity presented by the current pause in expansions to reassess, address, and develop a strategy to meet Canadians' energy security needs that transitions to sustainable energy production."

The open letter is one of many actions undertaken by a network of groups across Canada and the United States leading up to Obama's visit. The full letter and complete list of signatories is available on http://www.obama2canada.org/Ltr_ProminentToObama.pdf

For further information:
Andrea Harden-Donahue, Council of Canadians, (613) 218-5800, harden@canadians.org;
Joe Cressy, Polaris Institute, (613)668-5542, joecressy@polarisinstitute.org

I sure hope the Merchant of Hope gets to read that letter and doesn't bury his head in the tar sands.

JimBobby

Budget: Where's the green stuff?

2009-01-27T14:14:00.004-05:00

Whooee! Well friends and foes, I was just over to the ol' Prairie Wrangler's boog. There's some topnotch boogin’ from OlafFeller. Olaf's makin' the case that Harper ain't a real fiscal conservative with all his spendin' and now this here bigass deficit budget. Olaf seems to reckon Harpoon's spendin' like a drunken sailor. That's why the lefties shouldn't oughta criticise Harpoon. He's a big spender. Lefties is big spenderrs. They're peas in a pod.

I'm a lazyass comment recycler so some of this post was copied and pasted from a comment I left over to the Olaf the Wrangler's roost.

I wonder howcum Harper keeps gettin’ votes from real conservatives when he’s such a dang commie pinko big spender? Maybe it’s on accounta the CPC’s social conservatism. With what Olaf's sayin’, it sure as hell can’t be on accounta Harpoon’s fiscal conservatism.

Does this mean that the CPoC is essentially dedicated to social conservatism? Does fiscal conservatism take a back seat to crackin’ down on pansyass artistes in their penguin suits and designer gowns at them fancypants galas all standin’ around munchin’ rice crackers an’ Brie an’ sippin’ Chardonnay an’ exchangin’ tips on the best abortion clinics an’ who’s ass to kiss fer Canada Council grant money?

What’s next fer Harper? Is he gonna go green? Will he look south an’ see President Bracko savin’ the Merkan economy and ol’ Mother Earth simultaneously and finally a CFB goes off in his econobrain an’ sez: "Gee, the Yerpeans an’ Merkans are cashin’ in on this here save the planet stuff."

Bracko’s plan looks a lot like the Green Party policy book. And him takin’ that “whistle-stop” train ride just like the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May. Bracko ain’t The Manchurian Muslim. He’s The Manchurian Greenie.

I ain't a hunnert percent sold on just how green Bracko really is. He's a whole lot greener than Dubya but that don't say much. I'm a little worried about Bracko's big love affair with ethanol. But, that aside, I reckon he's puttin' a whole lot more emphasis on ol' Mother Earth than Harper's doin'. If Harper don't get on board with savin' the planet stuff, he's gonna isolate Canada even more. Used to be, we had ol' dinosaur Bushman in our corner when we were obstructionizin' global efforts at addressin' CO2. Now, with Oz's Howard gone and the Bushman beatin' a retreat to Texas, Harpoon's gonna make Canada the laffin' stock of the civilized world.

If Harper wants to show he's reachin' out and he's serious about fixin' the economy, he oughta do like Bracko. He oughta latch on to Green Party policies. If he don't, he's missin' the boat, no two ways.

What's ASSPOTY? Only the bestest award on the 'tubes, that's what.

2009-01-18T09:57:00.006-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the honours just keep rollin' in fer ol' JB. First, I got mentioned by the dang National Post an' now, I been nominated fer an ASSPOTY award. I gotta tellya, I'm more tickled pink by the ASSPOTY nomination than by the Top Ten NattyPo thing, no two ways.

Ol' Saskboy outdid hisself an' he's come up with a super duper best boog story of 2008 contest.

Now, I gotta apologize fer bein' a little slow off the mark on postin' up anything about the contest. I been all busy workin' on a cash money job an' I ain't had much time fer boogin' or boog readin' the past couplafew days. Sasky's post's been up there fer days now but I just seen it this mornin'. The feller from the flatlands has got a whack o' good boog stories in his list o' nominees.

O' course, I'm hopin' to win. I reckon it'd be a dang honour up there with the likes of Rhodes Scholarships an' Orders of Canada an' Victoria Crosses an' Nobel Prizes all rolled into one.

JimBobby

CBC Unfair in Next Great PM Contest

2009-01-12T15:27:00.003-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I got a email today from Camille Labchuk. Camille was a bigwig at Green Party headquarters and just recently changed jobs. Now she's workin' for the Canadian branch of the Humane Society International. She's also been runnin' in the Next Great Prime Minister contest on the CBC. She's been doin' great in that contest and was considered a frontrunner.

Today, I found out that the CBC kicked Camille outta the contest. They say it's because she's disqualified on accounta she ran fer Parliament once and that's against the rules. Apparently, if you're serious enough about Canadian politics to actually throw your hat in the ring, the CBC sez you're not qualified. Goofy logic, sez I.

The thing is... there's another NGPM contestant who also ran fer Parliament, Emily Berrigan's still in the running even though, like Camille, Emily ran for the Greens in a federal election.

The rules also set limits on the length of the YouTube videos the contestants are required to post. Some contestants did not comply with the time parameters but they ain't been kicked out.

Here's the story in Camille's own words:

From Camille Labchuk

Saturday, January 10, 2008

Hi supporters,

I just received the shocking news that CBC has disqualified me from the Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister contest. They say it is because I ran for Parliament in 2006, but when they asked me to enter the competition in November (yes, they recruited me) I raised this point with the producer and asked if it made me ineligible. The producer told me (in writing) that I was “good to go”.

Until today, I was a front runner in the contest. Thanks to your support, my entry video got more votes than any other contestant.

I devoted all of my free time to this competition over the past two months. My campaign team and I spent over 200 hours researching policy, filming videos, organizing online and encouraging people to vote for me. My efforts paid off and I was slated to become the Web Winner next week when voting closes, meaning I would have automatically advanced to the semifinals.

Another contestant has run for Parliament yet has not been deleted from the CBC’s website, like I have. There are 31 additional contestants whose videos are either too short or too long to comply with the entry rules and, according to the rules, should be disqualified too. I don't think these candidates should be kicked out and I don't think I should be kicked out either. CBC let us enter this competition, allowed us to spend two months of our lives on it, and they should let us finish it. I have asked CBC if they will disqualify these other candidates and they refuse to answer me.

The intent of the Next Great PM contest was supposedly to encourage youth political engagement. This outrageous treatment of a contestant who has poured her heart and soul into the contest sends an opposite message: "get involved, get kicked out". I am appalled that our publicly funded broadcaster sees fit to backtrack on its word. I am also shocked that major sponsor Magna, run by former MP Belinda Stronach, would accept this. Ms. Stronach has had to fight every step of the way to climb to the top in politics and I can't imagine that she would support this treatment of a young Canadian who loves politics and simply wants to make a difference.

CBC and Magna chose to disqualify the wrong young Canadian. I am launching a major campaign to draw attention to this abuse. I feel utterly crushed that my efforts have been for nothing and I refuse to just quietly go away. I will be retaining counsel and intend, if necessary, to pursue legal action against the CBC for unfair disqualification. Lawyers cost money and this is going to be difficult for me to take on financially, so if you want to contribute to my legal fund, write to me. I feel it’s the only way to hold CBC accountable.

Please help me expose this injustice by contacting CBC and Magna to tell them their actions are reprehensible. Write to:

seema.patel@cbc.ca (Seema Patel, Senior Producer)
matthew.barrington@cbc.ca (Matt Barrington, Producer)
ht.lacroix@cbc.ca (Hubert Lacroix, CBC President)
mary_gittins@magna.on.ca (Mary Gittins, Magna)

Copy your emails to me (cflbchk@mta.ca) so I can track support!

Thanks for standing with me.

Camille

My Facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=96386440211&ref=ts

Yeow! More'n 200 hours and winnin' the contest an' she gets kicked out.

Generally speakin', I'm a pretty big CBC booster. I don't begrudge 'em the money they get from outta the public purse and I think CBC Radio One, in particular, helps Canajuns understand one another. This time, the CBC's wrong. If they didn't want Camille in after she told 'em she'd run fer office, they shoulda sed so before she spent so much time and energy workin' on this here contest.

I've already written to the numbnutses and told 'em what I think. Maybe some o' my thousands an' thousands of readers'll do the same.

JimBobby

End of Innocence: JimBobby Sings Tom Paxton

2009-01-09T13:03:00.005-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I been readin' the news about how Canada's deportin' another war resister. And then there's the Canajun soldier who's been charged with murder over in Helmand. And then there's the senseless slaughter takin' place in Gaza.

I've had an old Tom Paxton song runnin' through my head the past couplafew days. I reckon these news stories mighta triggered the memory. Back in about 1966, ol' Tom wrote a song called The Willing Conscript. These days we ain't got conscription anymore but we still got armies an' drill sergeants an' freckle-faced kids showin' up fer duty.

I reckon when our country is fightin' in a war, we all gotta take responsibility. Like another song sez, "the orders come from far away no more; they come from him and you and me..." One thing I figger we don't often take into account when we're sendin' our kids over to Afghanistan is the sacrifice of innocence we demand from our troops.

I ain't posted many audio boogs lately but I recorded up a version of ol' JimBobby singin' the song. I changed the first line so's to make it an enlistee singin' instead of a draftee.

Click here to get a MP3 of ol' JB singin' all a capella like.

WILLING CONSCRIPT
(Tom Paxton)

Oh sergeant, I'm a draftee and I've just arrived in camp
I've come to wear the uniform and join the martial tramp
And I want to do my duty, but one thing I do implore
You must give me lessons, sergeant, for I've never killed before

To do my job obediently is all that I desire
To learn my weapon thoroughly and how to aim and fire
To learn to kill the enemy and how to slaughter more
Oh I'll need instructions, Sergeant, for I've never killed before

Now there are rumors in the camp about our enemy
They say that when you see him, he looks just like you and me
But you deny it, Sergeant, and you are a man of war
So you must give me lessons, for I've never killed before

Now there are several lessons that I haven’t mastered yet
I haven't got the hang of how to use the bayonet
If he doesn't die at once, am I to stick him with it more?
Oh I hope you will be patient, for I've never killed before

And the hand grenade is something that I just don't understand
You've got to throw it quickly or you're apt to lose your hand
Does it blow a man to pieces with its wicked muffled roar?
Oh I've got so much to learn because I've never killed before

Well I want to thank you, Sergeant, for the help you've been to me
You've taught me how to kill and how to hate the enemy
And I know that I'll be ready, when they march me off to war
And I know that it won't matter that I've never killed before

I reckon the song's as topical today as it was back in the Vietnam Era.

JimBobby

People be Damned. There's Money to be Made.

2009-01-06T08:40:00.005-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I just left a comment over to Excited Delerium. The excited blogger posted up a dandy piece on nuclear power. Here's a bit of it:

Nuclear power is an incredible waste of taxpayer’s money.

Rarely have we seen the full promised potential of nuclear power, the cost overruns have always been well beyond anyone’s wildest imagination and the risks of dealing with waste greatly outweigh any described benefits of nuclear power.

However, it’s very likely that the McGuinty government in Ontario will sign agreements in the spring of 2009 to bring on 2 new nuclear power plants in this province.
...
Please petition / attend meetings / write Smitherman and do what it takes to encourage our provincial leaders to spend $50-60 billion on renewable power generation.

Start here and spread the word .

Yeow! Nuthin' delirious about that, sez I.

I'm a lazyass recycler so I'm re-postin' my comment here.

Here's another source of nuke info: www.energyquest4nanticoke.ca.

Down here on Lake Erie, we got Bruce Power pushin' to build a new nuke plant in Nanticoke. They contend that since they are a private company, stuff like cost overruns and delays are not the public's problem. They been winin' an' dinin' the local gummints an' got the endorsements they was lookin' for. They been spendin' hunnerts of thousands on advertisin' in all the local papers and radio stations. They been holdin' public information (propaganda) sessions where they been puttin' out deluxe buffet dinners for the rubes.

The local folks got a petition goin' against the plant. The local county gummints have refused to hear delegations from anti-nuke citizens' groups but have been more than willing to allow Bruce's paid liars to present fabrications and exaggerations to councils. Councils are interested in jobs an' tax revenue. They have shown that they don't give a rat's ass for public health and safety.

Bruce got its Environmental Assessment officially started in November. They're steamrollin' and the only thing that's gonna stop 'em is public opposition. The Mayors and councillors never did any sorta public opinion gathering before endorsing the proposal. "People be damned; there's money to be made."

This Nanticoke location will put the entire golden horseshoe in jeopardy... all for 1000 jobs and the continued ability to waste energy at will. Our great-grandchildren will curse us in our graves. Our great-grandchildrens' great-grandchildren, too.

JimBobby

Workin' fer The Man every night an' day

2008-12-23T11:56:00.002-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, ol' Balbulican over to StageLeft got a little bloggin' tag game goin' on. Here's how it goes:

It’s simple. Just list all the jobs you’ve had in your life, in order. Don’t bust your brain: no durations or details are necessary, and feel free to omit anything that you feel might tend to incriminate you. I’m just curious. And when you’re done, tag another five bloggers you’re curious about.

I posted up my list over to StageLeft but here goes again:

Odd jobs - painting, yard work, snow shovellin’ (startin’ at age 13)
Refundable pop bottle sorter (corner store)
Flier delivery kid
Stockboy
Shipping clerk
Furniture, flowers and corpse pickup/delivery helper (combined furniture store/funeral parlour)
Steel mill labourer
Good Humor man
Machine shop labourer
Flooring installer’s helper
Temp worker - day labourer
Janitor (I got fired the 1st day - only time I was ever canned.)
Carpenter/remodeller/jack-of-all-trades - fixin’ up slummy apartments
Pie factory worker
Carpet and flooring installer
Photographer
Contractor
Web developer/host
Volunteer
Bigtime blogger
Shit disturber (age 59)

I fergot a couple when I made that list. I also worked helpin' out on deliveries of stuff like washin' machines an' big screen TV's and upholstered furniture.

Balbu asked me how I coulda got my dumbass fired from a janitor job. Here's how it happened.

The year was 1970. I was a hippie university student. I got hired and started the next day. I showed up at the offices we were contracted to clean. The other guy had been there a week. His partner got fired and I was the replacement. He wasn’t exactly sure what the partner was supposed to do but he told me what he thought were to be my duties. Next day, the boss called me and said I hadn’t emptied the wastebaskets in a coupla offices and they were bitchin’ and I was fired.

The worst part was he made it seem like he figgered I wasn’t smart enough to do the job. He knew I was a 3rd year uni student and I reckon he didn’t have high school. Punk hippie students weren’t prime employment material back then. But… maybe I was jes’ plain stoopid.

Funny how you remember shit like that, ain’t it? One day, 38 years ago.

I learned a valuable life lesson from that situation: Blame someone else. If I ever run fer office, that'll be a dang useful skill.

Anyways, ol' Balbu's little game brought back some good memories. I'm taggin' Steve V., Red Tory, Bene Diction, JJ and Chrystal.

JimBobby

I'm Humbled and Confused

2008-12-22T13:10:00.004-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I was over to Stageleft last night an' I seen that I been honoured as one of the top ten lefty blogs as per Michael Taube. Thankee kindly, Michael.

I ain't been boogin' so much lately. I sometimes blush but I never turn down a compliment an' I'm humbled to be named among the leading lights of the Canajun boogeysphere.

I'm also confused. I could name lotsa boogers who ain't on that list but who're way better at boogin' than ol' JB. Right off, there's Stageleft and POGGE and Impolitical and Mentarch and Red Tory and Saskboy and Buckdog and Steve V.

Anyways, to all my new readers droppin' in from the National Post, welcome to my little boog. I got some audio sing-songy stuff posted up an' there's links up yonder in the upper right. If yer lookin' fer what Mikey Taube figgers is so dang funny, that's probbly yer best bet.

In case I don't get around to any more boogin' on accounta gettin' goin' on the Christmas shoppin' or shovellin' the dang mountains of snow out there,

Merry Christmas to all!

JimBobby

It's Still Canada... or maybe North Zimbabwestan

2008-12-16T09:13:00.004-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I'm addin' my voice to the other Canajun boogers who are outraged an' disgusted at what happened up in Ottawa. I ain't talkin' coalition or perogies. I'm talkin' about police misconduct. I'm talkin' about an Ottawa police officer who says you need to be either a lawyer or a property owner to voice an opinion in public.

Knitnut got the photos.

POGGE's on it.
Stageleft chimed in.
Bene Diction, too.
And Dawg.
Miss Vicky
and Excited Delerium, as well.

The more this gets out into the boogeysphere, the more pressure gets put on the Ottawa Police to do the right thing. If they can figger out what that is.

JimBobby

Food Crisis Continues Killing Millions While Economic Crisis Takes Centre Stage

2008-12-12T12:46:00.005-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I ain't wrote much lately about the global food crisis that's killin' millions of human beings. Every 5 seconds, or so, some poor bastard starves to death here on good ol' Planet Earth. $700 billion would feed the hungry and put in place sustainable programs that would reduce suffering for generations to come.

When Wall Street is down on its luck and its own mismangement and greed has forced it to beg from the public purse, the powers that hold the pursestrings are ready with a bailout.

When Detroit automakers make dumbass decision after dumbass decision and drive their dumbass businesses into bankruptcy, the public purse is there to make sure they don't hafta give up their corporate jets or bigass wage and benefits packages.

But when a heartless global banking system, natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, stoopidass ethanol policy and greedy fuel and commodities brokers gang up to force nearly a billion people into malnourishment and starvartion, the cupboard's bare. Well, there ain't any $700 billion bailouts available to alleviate the massive real life'n'death suffering that goes beyond job losses and bath-taking on the stockmarket.

Here's a little bit of a good article on the food crisis:

Commentary: FedEx to the bottom billion
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE (UPI Editor at Large)

(UPI) -- Almost 1 billion people have been hit by this year's global food shortages, says the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The number of undernourished, the FAO said, rose by 40 million, following a 75 million jump the previous year.
Before the global food crisis there were 850 million chronically hungry people in 2003-05. A decade ago, the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals called for halving world hunger between 1995 and 2015. Soaring food prices and the global financial crisis have pushed that goal off the charts as no longer achievable. This would have required investing $30 billion a year to boost agricultural output.
But it isn't happening. In sub-Saharan Africa one in three is suffering from malnutrition.

There's some interesting stuff in there about the UN's World Food Program. I didn't know that UN operatives are dying and MIA in the struggle to feed the hungry in places like Darfur.

The woman in charge of feeding the world's hungry calls the World Food Program a "FedEx to the 'bottom billion.'" Josette Sheeran's WFP can reach any point of the globe within 24 hours with lifesaving food. Its 10,000 employees are known as "the humanitarian Green Berets." The WFP has been feeding 3 million people a day in Darfur, where 41 of its drivers are missing in action. Twelve of its "Green Berets" were killed in action so far this year. And volunteers for hazardous duty keep stepping forward from all over the world. The WFP's global network moves food by plane, helicopter, train, boat, barge, donkey, camel, mule, airdrops -- whatever it takes.

With everybody shriekin' an' moanin' over the bad economy and how much the TSE is down and how their house ain't worth what it was last year, I reckon a little perspective might help.

JimBobby

Anti-Nuke Action for Nanticoke

2008-11-19T11:20:00.007-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, down here in Norfolk and Haldimand Counties, Bruce Power is doin' its dangedest to build a new nuclear power plant. Ginty sez he's shuttin' down Nanticoke's filth-belchin' coal-fired plant by 2014. Bruce is ridin' in on a white horse an' promisin' a thousand jobs an' billions of dollars of investment in the local economy.

Both Bruce Power and the province have stated that they will only build nuclear plants in "willing host" communities. Both Haldimand and Norfolk County Councils have adopted resolutions declaring that we have a willing host community. Diane Finley's been actively working with Bruce Power, too.

There's just one big problem. Nobody has ever asked the local residents if they are in favour of a nuke plant here. Well, almost nobody. Bruce Power commissioned an Ipsos poll a couple years ago that asked if residents were in favour of exploring the possibility. As I recall, only about 1200-1500 people were polled and the poll was not an impartial poll commissioned by any branch of government but a poll commissioned by Bruce specifically to prove there is local support. There's something like 78,000 people on the voters' list in the two counties so a company-commissioned poll of 1500 doesn't cut much shit with me and it shouldn't cut much with our county gummints, neither.

I'm on a mailing list of a group that's been asking questions and publishing information about nuclear energy and the problems associated with it. The group is called Grand Erie Energy Quest. They been putting lotsa stuff on their website: www.energyquest4nanticoke.ca.

Well, things been movin' dang fast lately. Bruce Power's been makin' bigass announcements and putting full-page newspaper ads in every paper that serves the riding. They been sending out slick literature in the mail. They been makin' donations to local outfits like the Norfolk County Fair, Norfolk General Hospital and the Port Dover Medical Centre. They're describing the proposed project as a "clean energy hub." They say it's a combination of nuclear, wind, solar and hydrogen initiatives.

Greenwashing, sez I!

Well, the folks at Grand Erie Energy Quest (I'll call 'em GEEQs) have got themselves a petition and they're lookin' fer signatures. The issue goes beyond the boundaries of Haldimand and Norfolk. Hamilton and Niagara are in the Nanticoke air shed. Any accident at a new nuke plant in Nanticoke would affect millions of people in the Golden Horseshoe. I reckon anybody who wants can sign the GEEQ's petition.

Here's what the petition sez:

To: Norfolk County Council, Haldimand County Council, Legislature of Ontario, the Honourable Diane Finley and the Honourable Toby Barrett.

Without any formal public consultation, County Councils in both Haldimand and Norfolk have unanimously endorsed the first step in building two nuclear reactors.

The nuclear power industry has failed to address public concern over the issues of safety and security in the storage and handling of hazardous radioactive spent fuel.

Nuclear power is not emissions-free with its pollution intensive activities in uranium mining, transportation and refining.

No nuclear project has ever come in on budget or on time with the taxpayer and the utility customer paying for cost overruns that typically range in the billions of dollars.

We, the undersigned citizens, demand a complete moratorium on nuclear development until the issues of contamination, costs, security, and public consultation are adequately addressed.

You can download the petition from the GEEQ website. I've downloaded and printed a few copies and I don't reckon I'll have much trouble findin' signatures. Even though our local councils have told everyone we're a willing host, I been havin' a hard time findin' anybuddy who's in favour of this dumbass idea.

JimBobby

Canada to Renew Nuclear Ties With India

2008-11-14T11:15:00.005-05:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, most everybody's heard the old phrase, "Once bitten, twice shy." In case you can't figger out what that means, it means if somebody's done you wrong once, there's a good chance they'll do you wrong again and you oughta be careful dealin' with 'em. It holds true whether you're talkin' about Golden Retrievers or double-dealin' belligerent countries.

Back 35 years ago, Canada sold Candu nuclear technology to India. Not long after that, India developed a nuclear weapon (uh huh, an atomic bomb) using the technology they acquired from our Candu. They admitted it and we stopped nuclear technology dealings with India. In the subsequent decades since India became a nuclear power, they have failed to sign on to the Non Proliferation agreement that most other nuclear powers have signed on to.

Now, Canadian crown corporation AECL is ready to start dealing with India once more. Has India become more stable and responsible since it developed a weapon of mass destruction? Have India and Pakistan settled their differences over Kashmir? Has India agreed to sign on to a non proliferation treaty? No, no, and no.

As usual, news items concerning AECL and the nuclear industry are routinely buried in the business section of the media. Here's the story from today's Globe:

Nuclear deal would allow AECL to renew Indian business ties
SHAWN MCCARTHY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
November 14, 2008 at 4:25 AM EST

OTTAWA — Federally owned AECL Ltd. is looking to re-enter the Indian market some 35 years after the south Asian giant shocked the world and brought about its own nuclear isolation by using Candu technology to build a bomb.

The federal government is currently negotiating a nuclear co-operation agreement with India that would allow AECL to re-establish business ties, despite concerns that India has not signed the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The negotiations come after Canada backed a decision by the international Nuclear Suppliers Group to provide an exemption for India that would allow it to develop civilian nuclear power even as it maintains its right to develop weapons without international scrutiny.

The United States lobbied hard to exempt India from the kinds of sanctions it imposes on Iran and North Korea, and has concluded its own nuclear co-operation agreement with India. France has also completed a nuclear co-operation agreement, and both countries are now openly competing with Russia to sell reactors there.

Critics complain that the West's special treatment of India will spark a new arms race with Pakistan and undermine the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and argue Canada should hold out for stringent conditions in any bilateral accord.

In an interview from India, AECL chief executive Hugh MacDiarmid said the Crown-owned company is hopeful of getting major service work on the country's aging fleet of heavy-water reactors, and potentially even the sale of a new reactor.

The AECL group met with senior officials from India's Department of Atomic Energy, and from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., which has said it intends to build or buy up to 20 reactors over the next 12 years.

"We've been greeted very warmly," Mr. MacDiarmid said, concluding a six-day visit to India and China. He said Indian heavy-water reactor technology has not kept pace with Western companies, and AECL - one of the few companies that also deal in heavy-water reactors - could help modernize it.

"They feel there is a mutual benefit to be had. We do believe there is potential for us to be marketing our reactor technology in this country," he said.

AECL's own future remains very much in doubt as the federal government is reviewing its ownership and considering selling off the 60-year-old Crown corporation, either entirely or to a minority partner. Yesterday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the government is looking at selling some Crown corporations - without mentioning names - in order to balance the federal books.

Whether it sells AECL or keeps it, Ottawa is keen to put the company on a stronger commercial footing, and that means ensuring it has access to growing emerging markets such as India's.

In addition to AECL's interest, Canada's broader nuclear industry is eager to see the Indian market open up to them, as is Cameco Corp., the Saskatchewan-based uranium producer that has been prevented from selling fuel to India.

Activist Ernie Regehr of Project Ploughshares said the Indian exemptions undermine the international Non-Proliferation Treaty by sending the message that countries can flout the rules and still co-operate on civilian nuclear uses. He worries the decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group in September may reignite an arms race with Pakistan, which has reacted angrily to the move.

A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs confirmed the two sides had "informal" discussions last month and expect to schedule formal sessions soon. She said Canada signalled its support for India's re-engagement with the broader nuclear-energy community when it backed the suppliers' group decision.

"India is a responsible democracy that shares with Canada the fundamental values of freedom, democracy, human rights and respect for the rule of law," government spokesman Lisa Monette said. "India has made substantial non-proliferation and disarmament commitments to achieve the trust of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which were reiterated in a political statement on Sept. 5."

Mr. Regehr said India has made political commitments, such as agreeing not to test nuclear weapons, but has refused to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It has also insisted on the right to stockpile uranium, which Mr. Regehr says would provide it with an assured fuel supply should it again run afoul of the international suppliers group.

Australia, which along with Canada is one of the world's major uranium miners, is refusing to sell the fuel to India unless it signs the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Mr. Regehr said Canada should do likewise.

Well, King Steve says we gotta quit bein' so ideologically rigid and be more pragmatic. What could be more pragmatic than selling nuclear technology and materials to an eager customer? Step right up, folks. Canada's got nukes for sale. Yes, Mr. Terrist, how much do you bid?

JimBobby

Green Candidate Pat Gostlin, R.I.P.

2008-10-27T09:12:00.004-04:00

Well friends and foes, I met Pat Gostlin a couple of times at Green Party events. We only chatted briefly but I was impressed with Pat's enthusiasm and knowledge. Sadly, Pat Gostlin was killed in a car crash Sunday morning. I join with Elizabeth May in mourning our loss.

26.10.2008
Green Party mourns Pat Gostlin
Greens across the country are shocked and saddened following the tragic and unexpected death of Pat Gostlin. Ms. Gostlin was the Green candidate in Oshawa in the recent federal election. She was killed by a drunk driver while driving home early on Sunday morning in Durham.

"Pat's untimely death is simply devastating," said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. "She was a tireless and dedicated advocate for change. Her warmth, kindness and cheer touched all those she met. Pat will be sorely missed and I extend my deepest sympathies, on behalf of all Greens, to her family and loved ones."

Ms. Gostlin's efforts were instrumental in propelling the Greens into the televised debates in the last election, when she and other Greens organized a protest that hit the national airwaves.

"Many of us were blessed by the opportunity to know and work with Pat. Many more of us felt proud after learning of her tremendous efforts to protect democracy in Canada. Pat will always have a special place in Green history and today we mourn her tragic passing."

The Star has some details about the circumstances of the crash.

Gostlin's car was hit while stopped at a red light on John St. W. at Park Rd. S. in Oshawa, according to Durham police
The driver tried to flee, but was held by a citizen until officers arrived, police said. A Bowmanville man has been charged with impaired driving.

The GPC site is still showing Pat's candidate page. That page will be removed soon but I'm taking the liberty of copying Pat's bio here:

Pat Gostlin is a recently retired teacher who speaks 5 languages, including German, Polish, French, and Spanish. Born in Germany, she came to Canada with her mother in 1953 and grew up on a farm in Brooklin, Ontario (north of Whitby). A teacher with the Durham Catholic School Board for 35 years, she earned a B.A. in Cultural Studies from Trent University in 1997 after attending night and summer courses.

Asked why she is seeking public office under the Green banner, Pat simply answers: “Because I am a mother and a grandmother.” She has always been interested in politics and feels that retirement will allow her to dedicate the time and energy needed to effect positive policy change – not just for the sake of her children and grandchildren, but for her grandchildren’s grandchildren.

Pat’s care for future generations stems in part from a lifetime of work with young children. In addition to teaching in a classroom setting, she worked closely with children with reading difficulties and acquired expertise in reading recovery. Recognized by her peers as a distinguished educator in 2001, she was awarded the prestigious Ontario English Catholic Teacher’s Association President’s Award for Durham Region in 2007.

Pat has been very active within her unit of the teachers’ federation and served on numerous committees, including the negotiating team. She chaired the professional development committee and was a founding member of the Sharing of Excellence committee, an outreach initiative which shared original ideas and provided information to parents, teachers and the community on successful methods for dealing with problems like autism, learning disabilities, and bullying.

Pat is also an active volunteer in her community. In addition to her local involvement, she is a member of Amnesty International and The Council of Canadians.

Truly a great loss...

JimBobby

Political Compass

2008-10-25T11:48:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the folks over to StageLeft are talkin' about the Political Compass and how we oughta be doin' a better job of labelin' various people, parties and positions on more than just the right to left, linear definitions. I've been a proponent of the Political Compass method for a few years and I just re-tested myself. I'm a little more of a Lick than I was a few years back.

I found it interesting that my party of choice is well to the Upper Right of my own position. I ain't the only one to find a similar distance and trajectory from one's own position to that of one's chosen party.

I'd be interested in a round-up of bloggers' positions and a comparison of those positions to the positions of the party they generally support, if any.

JB

Post-Adolescent Apathy

2008-10-14T12:59:00.003-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I ain't been boogin' much during the election campaign on accounta I been helpin' out with tryin' to harvest up some Green votes here in Haldimand-Norfolk. I been doin' a lotta office work an' helpin' hand out propaganda. I even wrote an' printed up some o' that political panderin' stuff.

I spent some time this weekend handin' out pamphlets at the Norfolk County Fair over in Simcoe. Over the course of a few days, I reckon I spoke to about 4000 folks and handed out about 1800 pieces of Green Party stuff.

Since the Green Party's often listed as a favourite among the young folks, I approached a lotta 18-25's walkin' by the Green Party booth. I know the statistics also say the 18-25's are the least likely to get out an' mark their X one way or another.

My carnival barker pitch to flag down the passersby was to ask 'em if they were gonna be votin'. Some folks said they'd already voted. Some said they was gonna and they'd be glad to look at our GPC dead tree material. Some played deaf. Some said they'd made up their minds an' didn't want any dang literature. Some said they was already votin' Green so we could save our dang literature.

With the young folks, some was keen on Green. A few I asked was only 17. But, dang-it-all, I betcha well over half of the young folks said they wasn't gonna vote. I didn't get all preachy with 'em. Mostly, I just muttered under my breath that they was a buncha ignorant whelps; dumbasses who didn't pay the least attention to polyticks. Quite a few of the non-votin' 20-somethings were pushing strollers and/or had young kids in tow.

I ain't sure who I oughta blame fer the sorryass state of youth voter turnout. I reckon there's plenty of blame to go around. Judging by the stroller pushing non-voters, the parents are partly to blame. Then, there's the schools. Schools is always a good whipping boy since we expect them to turn out perfect specimens every time. Then there's the TV telling us that the only politicians worth mentioning are the crooks and perverts. Internet, video games, sports culture, discrimination by old farts, ballot-spoiling cynics... there's no end to the blameworthy.

I did have a few real bright moments at the fair, though. I had a young feller name o' Frank (17 and too young to vote) spend a lotta time askin' a lotta questions on stuff like Afghanistan and Caledonia. I found out he'd been over to the Lib's and Con's booths askin' them, too. He wasn't doin' a school project. Just keen. Young fellers an' gals like young Frank is who's gonna run the show in 25 years or so. I just hope there's enough of 'em.

JimBobby

Up in Smoke: Ol' JB's 'Puter Caught on Fire.

2008-10-14T12:37:00.002-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, my dang computer got all toasty yesterday. I was over to the Simcoe fair doin' some Green Party proselytizing and my son was puttin' some new memory in my old box. Between ol' Spot an' his girl friend, Ellie, there's a fair bit o' fur flies in ol' JB's happy home. I usually open up the box a coupla times a year an' blow it out. I figger it's been a good six months since I done that.

While the Boy (he's 37, btw) was puttin' in the new 2GB's, the accumulated hair musta got blowed in the wrong place an' when he plugged it back in, the smoke come out. Now, it's ruint an' I'm waitin' fer Dell to show up with a new machine where I can put my old hard drives. They ain't ruint. Leastwise, I don't think so.

I got Ma's laptop pressed into service. I'll be postin' up some election observations and pontifications shortly.

JimBobby

That's Why She's the Gal I Adore. Earth Mother Lizzie May, that is.

2008-10-03T15:08:00.009-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I gotta tell you I was glued to the dang TV set last night from 9 until 11. Well, I was mostly glued except fer one time when I started noddin' off an' Ma laughed an' roused me an' I seen it was Dion on the TV mumblin' some kinda sleep inducin' FranglaMerkan lingo. After that, I needed a little fresh air so I let ol' Spot out in the backyard and breathed in some. I managed to stay a alert an' bushy-tailed fer the rest of the debate.

I met Lizzie in person a coupla times an' I seen her talk in person a few times an' a few more times on the YouTube. I knew dang well she was gonna do good an' she did. I figger Lizzie Gal showed 'em she's right up there in the big leagues an' deservedly so. Knowledgeable and quick, our gal Lizzie. An' I see in the polls lotsa folks changed their opinion fer the better an' the Greens is up a point overall.

I hear-tell some is sayin' Lizzie was buttin' in too much but I didn't hear it that way. There was a few times when there was three or four voices all yammerin' at once and them times I was listenin' hard fer a female voice an' Lizzie weren't talkin' overtop of them baritone bossmen. I did hear our Lizzie gal mutterin' some when she disputed a coupla big whoppers ol' King Steve was blatherin' about. Sheesh! Stevie tried to make out like the whole dang dumbass House o' Comments voted to fire Linda Keen. That was Harper misleadin'. Not a leader.

I reckon Lizzie showed them kindergarten kids a thing or two about civility and stickin' with the issues. I was happy to see ol' Jack givin' Lizzie some credit now an' then. She returned the favour, too. They both come across like competent folks who could work together.

I gotta give young Steve Pakin a pat on the back, too. He was a good referee, mostly. I reckon that's a dang tough job refereein' a five-way jawfest an' keepin' it fair an' square.

Harper come across with what I'd call an air of paternalism. Kinda smug an' smirky like he's toleratin' these monkeys but he ain't got much respect fer 'em. I didn't find him to be credible but I reckon that's cause he was fibbin' an' exaggeratin' all the time. I figger what's doin' the Cons an' Harper the most harm is they ain't released a platform. I heard somebuddy say they was waitin' on the Aussies to get it deliverered.

I reckon if Harpoon don't release a platform an' still trounces the hapless Grits, it'll sure say somethin'. I ain't sure what. "Blind leadin' the blind" comes to mind. Don't worry. Be happy. I wear sweaters. I wonder where Sweater Boy keeps his thermostat set in the wintertime. I wonder if he starts in wearin' the long johns in the winter so's to save on the heatin' bill an' send out less so-called greenhouse gases.

Duceppe done okay, I reckon... fer a rotten separatist BlocHead. I figger he's a good feller doin' what he can fer his people. Only thing is, he figgers his people is Q-beckers an' not all Canajuns. Ma sez he seemed more like a Premier negotiatin' with Harper the PM. He's a dang good parlay l'anglais feller, sez I. Dion's got a lot better in the speakin' English department but he still sed a coupla things I didn't catch last night. Then, maybe it was just on accounta he was puttin' me to sleep.

My ol' Dad was a salesman. He's been dead fer 10 years, this year. He woulda had a good laugh at ol' Dion an' his hapless salesmanship skills. Dion could use some lessons from my ol' Dad. First off, Dion blew the sales job of the tax shift on day one way back in the springtime. He give hisself the entire summer to sell it and he had the perfect opportunity to sell it last night but he was lackin' in the lustre department.

He oughta been closin' the sale or closed it already. Last night, he looked like he ain't quite sure why he decided to sell this here vacuum cleaner he's callin' the Green Shift. He can't close the sale on accounta he opened it all wrong. That mighta worked if there weren't a few other vacuum cleaner guys standin' on John Q. Voter's doorstep. Poor feller dragged his party into a big hole. I figger he's sincere and dedicated. A fine Canajun. Useless in the sales department.

The worst part about it is Dion took a good Green Party policy an' turned it into political cyanide fer the next 10 or 20 years. I ain't sure Lizzie helped out Dion much, like they was tryin' to say she would. I figger she sold Green Party policy and not Liberal policy. I like that she talked about stuff other than the environment and had positions that differ with the Libs. Like on NAFTA and Afghanistan and the danged economy and health care.

Anyways, friends an' foes, I had a few people emailin' an' wondering where ol' JB's hidin' out lately. Don't worry, kids, this ol' codger-blogger's still up an' walkin' an' cheerin' on the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May.

JimBobby

Cool Green Music Video - Climate Change Blues

2008-10-02T08:20:00.004-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, my ol' buddy Steve Hogg got together with our local Greenies an' he made a YouTube video tellin' everybuddy how to save ol' Mother Earth. Like ol' Steve sez, "Just put an X beside the Green."

I Refuse to Vote Strategically

2008-09-26T08:15:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I left a bigass comment over at Excited Delirium and I'm recycling most of it here. I've been seeing a lot of interest in strategic voting. All sorts of schemes and ideas are popping up that are aimed at preventing Harper from attaining a majority. I won't be supporting any of those schemes. Here's why.

While I want to stop Harper as much as the next progressive, I think there are a couple problems with these types of tactics. The Greens and Libs are doing something like this with the so-called Red-Green deal in 2 ridings. The Liberals in May's Central Nova Riding are not moving en masse to the Greens, though. The numbers would work if every bit of the support for the parties that bowed out went to the agglomerated vote. It won't. Denied their party of choice, some voters will simply stay home. Polls include fence-sitters. Some of the weak support may go to the Cons.

With the way the NDP has been campaigning so vigorously against the Liberals, how many NDP supporters would vote Lib should their party decide to withdraw its candidate?

As a Green Party supporter and worker, I would have a hard time strategically voting Liberal. The Liberals haven't earned my vote. They've been particularly ineffective in opposition and allowed themselves to be bullied into acquiescing to every threat made by Harper. As a result, they staved off an election for a few months but managed to enter it looking like the hand-sitters and abstainers they became.

If we wanted a two-party system, we'd have one. Canadians want a choice. NDP supporters want to vote for the party that best represents their views. Ditto for the other parties' supporters. Democracy isn't about narrowing down our choices to allow us to vote for the lesser of two evils. We want to vote FOR something. These sorts of schemes require us to vote AGAINST something. I don't have any hard evidence handy, but I suspect voters are more motivated to actually get out and vote when they are doing something positive as opposed to something negative.

The system is broken. Unfortunately, of the 60% of Canadians who actually vote in federal elections, few realize how broken it is. I've been thumping the PR bible for years. I've watched as eyes glaze over when I start to explain how the FPTP system is undemocratic. People think, "one man, one vote" equals democracy. Period.

The large parties have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. They are not only the chief recipients of disproportional representation, they are also they very ones who have the legislative clout to change it. Why would they? There's no groundswell of public support for change.

There's the old saying that in a democracy, you get the government you deserve. Here in Canada in 2006, 64% voted against the Cons. Since then, the Cons have ruled us as though they had 100% support. We did not get the government we voted for. We do not deserve to be lorded over by a party with only 36% popular support. Ergo, we do not live in a democracy.

665,000 Canadians voted for the Green Party in 2006 and elected zero MPs. Those 665,000 have a better understanding of the patent unfairness of the system than the voters who elected MPs with 36% popular vote. This time, it is entirely possible that well over one million will vote Green and still not elect an MP.

Sadly, it may take a strong dose of un-democracy to convince enough Canadians that we have a broken system in need of reform. So be it. When we engage in schemes and vote trading and candidate trading and all sorts of strategies to play the game by the unfair rules, we only perpetuate acceptance.

I voted strategically once when I thought I could help stop an undesirable candidate from being elected. I felt slightly nauseous afterward and the experience still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils. I refuse to vote against the least desirable. I will continue to vote positively. I will vote for the party and candidates that best reflect my values, whether or not they stand a snowball's chance in hell in our unfair, archaic first past the post system.

JimBobby

Green Grandma on YouTube

2008-09-15T09:36:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I been spendin' a lotta energy the last coupla few years tryin' to kick the stuffin' out of a bigass misconception folks seem to have about the Green Party and more specifically, about Green supporters. I'm talkin' about the dumbass notion that Greenies is a buncha treehuggin' teenagers or idealistic university students or hippie commune dwellers.

Sure, there's a few o' them types in the party but the average Green Party member is a far cry from the hackneyed stereotype. I'm active in my local GPC riding association. Mostly, it's a group of 50+ grandparents, retired professionals, small business owners and just plain everyday folks like live up and down every street in Canada. I been to a few bigger Green Party events in places like Trawna (centre of the universe) and Guelph and Waterloo. Lookin' around them rooms, I seen that the average age was about 45 or 50. Mostly, they dress better than me but that don't take much.

Anyways, I just thought I'd like to share a YouTube ad from the Green Party candidate here in Haldimand-Norfolk. I met ol' Stephana Johnston a few times last year when she was workin' fer Fair Vote Canada agitatin' fer proportional representation in the Ontario referendum. Now, she's our Green Party nominee and I'm happy as Larry. Like I said, I'm a 59 year old grampaw. I figger Stephana's old enough to be my mum. She's smart as a whip an' she's got more energy than the Nanticoke coal station.

Here's her new YouTube ad.

I see she's got a dang good history and record posted up on her website. I reckon the ol' gal's gonna give Diane Finley a run fer her money. Diane's got more money but she sure as hell ain't been spendin' much time here in Norfolk and Haldimand counties. Most folks I talk to say Diane's all washed up. She's been a no-show on everything anybuddy cares about and she only shows her face when she's got some money to dole out buyin' votes.

The Grits got a pretty good guy in Eric Hoskins. Trouble with Eric is he ain't been around much neither. He's what some folks call an Ottawa insider and Dion's hand-picked candidate. From what I hear-tell, he left the area after high school and never came back until Dion wanted him to run fer the House o' Comments. He shouldn't have any trouble gettin' more votes than the absentee MP Diane Finley, though.

I'm votin' Green and I feel dang good about votin' fer ol' Stephana.

JimBobby

Snobby JimBobby Sez "Canadians ARE Stupid"

2008-09-12T08:39:00.007-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, before I start in pissin' everybuddy off, I'm gonna say that as a Green Party member, I wholeheartedly disagree with what John Bennett did yesterday. I've emailed the gal I adore and I'm hoping for a speedy resolution to this dumbass problem.

UPDATE: Re Leftdog issue, I have it on good authority that there will be an apology today. I hope it's quick and I hope it's a well-worded "real" apology.

Now for the part about how that down-home, folksy, treehuggin' grampaw shows his disrespect for the Canadian voter.

I don't lump all Canadians together and I don't think all Canadians are stupid - at least not about everything. I don't think Canadians who disagree with my POV are stupid just because we disagree. I want to respect Canadian voters and, of course, I do respect decisions made democratically in fair votes. But, dang it all, as much as I want to respect all voters, I can't help but wonder about the intelligence of many.

I'll try not to generalize too much but that won't be easy and I'm a lazyass, as everybuddy knows. Here's some of my evidence of Canadian voter stupidity:

Many, if not most, voters distrust politicians. We know that politicians often break their campaign promises. Not too much stupid about that.
However, knowing that politicians lie, we consistently vote for the one who tells the biggest, fattest, most-unbelieveable lies. The more they tell us just what we want to hear, the more likely we are to support them -- despite repeated evidence and countless examples of the promises being broken.
When it comes to issues that relate to taxes, the gullibility level increases exponentially.
Despite the fact that we know (or should know) that taxes pay for roads, schools, hospitals, doctors, parks, food safety, national defence, democratic representation, police, firefighters, and about a jillion other things that our society values and needs, we are always ready and willing and eager to reduce taxes. Worse, we believe lying politicians wjhen they promise to cut taxes in a cynical and self-serving attempt to take advantage of our stupidity.

Politicians -- I'm talking about old school, old-line politicians -- need to be very careful about telling the truth. The truth hurts. The truth can cost them votes. If the truth is that Canadians are gullible and ignorant, they value votes more than the truth and will be considered loose cannons or naive neophytes should they dare to say that Canadians are stupid.

I'm not running for office. I don't speak for any party or organization. I absolutely don't speak for the Green Party. I support the Greens and I'm a member. I am not a spokesperson - official or unofficial.

I'm sure I'll be called naive or an elitist or a poor politician.

I'm not naive. I've been around the block a few times in my nearly 60 years. I've been kicked down, put down, voted down and pushed around; hired, fired and conspired against. I've listened to professional, experienced politicians tell me lies and I've even been stupid enough to believe some of those lies.

I 'm not an elitist. You'll have to take my word for it, though. My income is well below the national average. I worked as a self-employed tradesman most of my life. Currently, I try to make ends meet with a home-based online business. I went to university for a few years but I never finished and there ain't any letters after my name.

I would make a poor politician. I've been approached to run for MP and MPP in my riding and I've declined every time. Last night, I was at band practice and my fellow band members were asking why I wasn't the local candidate. I told them it's mostly because we've got more qualified people willing to stand and they'll get more votes than me. What I didn't mention is that I'd make a piss poor politician. I just can't charge into a room with a big grin and an outstretched hand. I'm not that much of a salesman and I have a nasty habit of speaking my mind without regard for whether it's politically correct or expedient.

So, since I'm not running for office and I'm confident in my own knowledge that I'm not an elitist, I'm not afraid to say that some Canadians are stupid. Sometimes, they're only stupid when it comes to certain things. In fact, I don't think their are too many 100% dumbasses walking amongst us or puttin' their X on the ballot.

It might have been Mark Twain who said this old proverb that I'll try paraphrasing.

Some of the people are stupid all of the time. All of the people are stupid some of the time. All of the people are not stupid all of the time.

JimBobby

Bully-in-Chief Harper Even More of a Chickenshit Than I Thought

2008-09-09T13:28:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, not only is he afraid to debate the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May, he's afraid to admit that he's afraid.

PM won't say if he threatened debate boycott

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - Websites and watercoolers are abuzz Tuesday over the exclusion of Green party Leader Elizabeth May from the election leaders debates.
But Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't want to talk about it. The snub of May - and Harper's role in keeping her out - is all the rage on the Internet.
Harper refused to confirm that he threatened to boycott the televised debates if May was included.
He deflected the question after apologizing for another awkward matter - a tasteless Conservative ad depicting a bird defecating on Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
Harper has said it would be unfair for May to take part in the debates because she has already touted Dion as a better choice for prime minister

The article is here.

There was a photo accompanying the article but it failed to get a good head shot of Harper. I've fixed that little problem.

UPDATE: Layton is attempting to defend the indefensible. (h/t - Scott)

JimBobby

Going Green. Update your Blog Template

2008-09-09T11:50:00.003-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I'm joinin' in with my boogin' buddy Scott from Montreal and usin' an idea from the Gauntlet. I've changed the font in my boog to green. It's meant to protest the exclusion of teh Green Party leader from the televised debates. Whether yer a treehuggin' Greenie like me or if yer just a democracy lovin' Dipper or liberal minded Liberal or even a conscientiously-objectin' Conservative, you can do yer part an' tell the Canajun boogeysphere that you disagree with the cowardly and undemocratic actions of the chickenshit bastards who don't want voters to hear what the Green Party has to say.

It's a simple fix. Look for a style attribute and edit it. You'll see something like "color:#000000" or "color:#bbg". Just change the part after the # to 006600.

If you want to do it and you have trouble, email me and I'll look at your template and give you detailed instructions.

O' course, changin' the font colour on my little boog or a hunnert little boogs ain't gonna change the world or bring democracy to North Zimbabwestan. It's just a symbolic kick in the pants to a buncha pantywaist poltroons.

If you wanna do a little bit more, here's some assholes you can write to:

Stephen Harper: Conservative Party of Canada Election Headquarters #1204 - 130 Albert Street Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5G4 Toll free: (866) 808-8407 Phone: (613) 755-2000 Fax at: (613) 755-2001 Email: pm@pm.gc.ca	Jack Layton: Canada's NDP 300 - 279 Laurier West Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J9 Phone: 613-236-3613 Toll Free: 1-866-525-2555 Fax: 613-230-9950 TTY: 1-866-776-7742 Email: Layton.J@parl.gc.ca	Gilles Duceppe: Bloc Québécois 3730, boul. Crémazie Est Montréal (Québec) H2A 1B4 Téléphone : 514 526-3000 Télécopieur : 514 526-2868 Email : Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca
Constituency Office 1600 - 90th Avenue SW Suite A-203 Calgary, Alberta, T2V 5A8 Telephone: (403) 253-7990 Fax: (403) 253-8203	Constituency Office 221 Broadview Avenue Suite 100 (Main Office) Toronto, Ontario; M4M 2G3 Telephone: (416) 405-8914 Fax: (416) 405-8918	Constituency Office 1200 Papineau, # 350 Montreal, Québec; H2K 4R5 Telephone: (514) 522-1339 Fax: (514) 522-9899
Hill Office House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario; K1A 0A6 Telephone: (613) 992-4211 Fax: (613) 941-6900	Hill Office House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6 Telephone: (613) 995-7224 Fax: (613) 995-4565	Hill Office House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6 Telephone: (613) 992-6777 Fax: (613) 954-2121

You can visit http://demanddemocraticdebates.ca to sign a petition to pressure the Broadcast consortium to make sure that Green Party leader Elizabeth May is included in the leaders' debates. You can also let the broadcast consortium know of your disagreement by contacting them at:

John Cruikshank, Publisher, CBC news
(416) 205-6300

Robert Hurst, President of CTV News
416-332-5000

Troy Reeb, Senior Vice President of News Canwest Global
(416) 967-1174

Pierre Dion, President, Groupe TVA Inc.
514-526-9251

Ronald Cohen, National Chair, Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
P.O. Box 3265, Station D Ottawa, ON K1P 6H8
613-233-4607

Glenn O'Farrell, President and CEO, Canadian Association of Broadcasters
P.O. Box 627, Stn. B Ottawa, ON K1P 5S2
613-233-4035 ext: 326

JimBobby

Bastards! They're a buncha bastards!

2008-09-08T16:12:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, ol' JimBobby's chewin' nails an' fartin' tacks. The big, strong men-in-chicken-suits have pushed their chickenshit weight around and managed to make sure the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May, got excluded from the televised debates.

Nevermind that polls have consistently shown that 77% of Canadians want the Green leader in the debates. Nevermind that 660,000 Canadians voted Green in 2006. Nevermind that the Green Party is one of only 5 parties to receive federal funding. Nevermind that Canadian taxpayers shell out over $1 million a year to the Greens. Nevermind that the Greens run candidates in all provinces.

Nevermind democracy, you wimp chickenshit bastards.

Harper, Layton and Duceppe have conspired to deny Canadians a chance to see the leader of the only growing party in a head to head debate on national television. Harper, Layton and Duceppe do not care what Canadians want. Harper, Layton and Duceppe are enemies of democracy.

Did I mention that they're a buncha chickenshit bastards?

The Greens are running against Liberals in 305 of Canada's 308 ridings. How can they be the same as Liberals when they are running against Liberals in so many ridings?

The Greens have at least 29 major policy planks that are unique to the Green Party. These are policies that, in many cases, are diametrically opposed to Liberal policy. Here's a list of those uniquely Green policies:

“Income-splitting” to reduce the tax burden on middle class couples.
A continuing role in Afghanistan but within a transformed U.N. mission, legalizing and regulating the poppy trade for medicinal use, and bringing in more Islamic nations into the peace-keeping, security efforts in Southern Afghanistan through the U.N.
An end to asbestos mining and export to developing countries. (truly outrageous that for all the talk about asbestos, only the Green Party is prepared to call for banning mining and export.)
The phase out of nuclear power and uranium mining.
The reform of the Divorce Act to make family law less of a battleground.
To launch a national dialogue toward a Guaranteed Livable Income.
The legalization of marijuana, to be controlled, regulated and taxed.
The six month notice to get out of NAFTA with immediate re-negotiation of key provisions.
Support for open source software and net neutrality.
National shift to GE-free, organic agriculture and regional food self-sufficiency.
Creation of a federal Department of Tourism
Protect drinking water at its source (no other party will do this--the BC NDP jailed citizens for trying to protect drinking water).
Amend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to enshrine the right of Canadians to an ecological heritage that includes breathable air and drinkable water.
Pass federal legislation to prohibit bulk water exports.
Establish a National Parks completion budget; protect at least half of Canada's Boreal Forest in a network of large interconnected protected areas as called for in the 2003 Boreal Forest Conservation Framework
Zero waste, including laws requiring lifetime stewardship of products
A cancer prevention strategy that includes a toxic-free Canada -- taxing toxics and pollution; ending the production and use of the most dangerous toxic chemicals by 2012.
Pan-Arctic waste management strategy.
Shift funding from mega-freeway projects like Pacific Gateway that encourage urban sprawl and use the funds instead for public transit.
Implement Genuine Progress Indicator (or Index of Well-being)
Enact "living will" legislation to give person the choice to die with dignity.
Explore establishing a new crown corporation to bulk purchase and dispense generic drugs - to bring down the costs of pharmacare.
Pass pay equity legislation; immediately implement full pay equity for women employed in the federal sector and develop tax incentives for companies to meet gender and pay equity.
Press professional societies to remove unnecessary barriers recognizing the professional credentials of immigrants.
Canada must support and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Revamp CIDA to focus on developing community-based green economies, poverty alleviation and programmes to combat and adapt to climate change.
Declare Canada a nuclear free zone.
Reform WTO, IMF and the World Bank, placing these under the authority of the UN General Assembly and shift the direction of international trade away from free trade to fair trade.
Scrap the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership).

Today is a dark day for Canadian democracy. The blame goes squarely to Harper, Layton and Duceppe. I will not watch the debates between these tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumbasses. Craven cowards who used their collective might to thwart democratic debate. Bastards! Dirty, rotten, chickenshit bastards!

JimBobby

Blair Wilson MP, Green Party of Canada

2008-08-31T11:35:00.002-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, it's been a big 24 hours for the Green Party. As most followers of the Canadian political scene are now well aware, the Green Party has accepted independent MP Blair Wilson's offer to join the Greens, thereby becoming the first Green Party MP in Canada. I must admit I wasn't entirely overjoyed when I read that Wilson had been "turfed" from the Liberals in fall of 2007 due to financial irregularities under investigation by Elections Canada. Various bloggers, including me, took the assertion by Canadian Press and other MSM outlets at face value.

Yesterday, I spent some time defending the Greens' embrace of what I referred to as a questionable choice for MP. Today, I did what I should have done yesterday. I looked into what really happened in October 2007 when Wilson and the Liberal Party disassociated themselves from one another. It turns out Wilson was not turfed. He was not expelled. He was not fired. He was not ejected.

He resigned. He voluntarily stepped down when he was being investigated by Elections Canada.

At the time, Liberal leader Stephane Dion praised Wilson's action.

Vancouver MP Blair Wilson resigned from the federal Liberal caucus on Sunday, following accusations that he didn't disclose all his expenses during the 2006 federal election.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion confirmed the news in a written statement Sunday night.

"I have accepted Mr. Wilson's resignation from his position as national revenue critic, and as a member of our national caucus, effective immediately," he said.

Wilson denied the allegations and said in a written statement that he is confident his name will be cleared.

He has not suggested he is leaving his post as MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast, which means he will have to sit as an Independent.

"I will collaborate fully with Elections Canada, and do whatever I can to help expedite its investigation into the allegations," Wilson said.
...
Dion praised Wilson for asking Elections Canada to investigate the matter. Dion said the allegations against Wilson are serious and that they raise questions that must be addressed immediately.

"I have instructed the Liberal Party of Canada to provide whatever assistance they can to Elections Canada as it reviews the allegations," Dion said in his statement.
...
Liberal MP Marlene Jennings said that Wilson did the right thing by stepping down "at the first hint" of any questions about his campaign expenses.
(Source: CBC.ca)

As he said he would, Wilson cooperated fully with Elections Canada. Recently, he was cleared of any serious malfeasance. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. The smear job that led to the investigation had sullied Wilson's reputation enough that, even after he was cleared, the Liberals refused to take him back into the fold. So much for doing the right thing.

Now that Wilson has joined the Greens, the Liberal long knives are out. BCer in TO Jeff contends that Wilson was asked to leave the Liberal caucus. Jeff may have some inside info that the CBC, Dion and Jennings didn't know about. Or he may be blowing smoke. Jeff rhymes off a litany of problems he says the Liberals have with Wilson. Among those, is a $1.9 million dollar lawsuit brought forth by Wilson's wife's stepfather. According to published reports yesterday, the amount in dispute was reduced to just $11,000. Let's not let facts get in the way of sour grapes, though.

Jason Cherniak also continues the smear job. Cherniak states that Wilson "(w)as kicked out of the Liberal caucus for allegations of financial and legal improprieties." Jason is Stephane Dion's number one blogging friend. I wonder how Jason squares Dion's October 2007 praise of Wilson stepping down at the first hint of impropriety with his own false statement that Wilson was kicked out. As a lawyer, I expect Jason to know the difference between allegations and convictions. As a lawyer, I expect Jason to grasp the concept of innocent until proven guilty. As a lawyer, Jason should know that those allegations were, for the most part, dismissed by Elections Canada after a lengthy investigation. Don't let the facts get in the way of a smear job, Jason.

Pogge also bought into the story that Wilson was kicked out of the Liberal caucus. So did a few others. I can't blame them. I thought that was the case, too. After all, that's the way it was reported by CP.

Now, however, I'm setting the record straight. As evidenced by Dion's praise and MP Jennings' affirmation, Wilson was not kicked out of the party. I left a comment on Jason's blog a couple of hours ago. I cited Dion's praise and quoted the CBC article. I am still waiting for that comment to be published and responded to, Jason.

I expect it's too much to ask every blogger who bought into the "he was turfed" storyline to recant. I'm going to make the rounds and try to set the record straight and I do expect some bloggers to admit, like I have, that they jumped to a conclusion without investigating whether or not Wilson had really been turfed or fired or expelled or disgraced. We'll see.

I just went back to the original Canadian Press story that said Wilson had been "turfed." The story has been edited. It now states that Wilson resigned.

After that, I'll try to post another boog story on this whole Blair Wilson thing. I ain't quite as obsessed as some bloggers are but I've spouted off in a lot of comments sections and I'm aiming to recycle some of my copious verbosity here on my own little boog.

Attawapiskat Needs School, Afghanistan Takes Priority

2008-08-07T09:37:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, my boogin' buddy and ofttimes sparring partner, Cam Holmstrom, is agitatin' fer a school fer the kids up in Attawapiskat. We been hearin' a lot about how us Canajuns is buildin' schools over in Hamid Karzai's warlord-ruled opium-financed torture den, The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. How 'bout we spread a little of that edu-love here in our home and native land?

That pasty-faced, eyeliner-wearing, psychic-consultin', Bush-worshippin', war-mongerin', hypocrit we call Pryminister is still dolin' out $1.4 billion per year to his big oil buddy-boys up in the Athabasca tar sands. Yet, we got First Nations folks with no schools and not even clean drinkin' water. Not only that, the permafrost is meltin' out from under 'em and Harpoon ain't got even a whiff of a plan to deal with climate change.

I say good on Cam fer callin' attention in the boogeysphere and bad on the gummint fer neglectin' our kiddies up north.

Update: Fergot to mention there's an online petition you can sign and it's goin' to Chuck Strahl.

JB

Cap-and-Trade Promoter on My Doorstep

2008-07-30T14:07:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I been in a few yammerin' comments section gabfests with boogers like Cam and Steve and Scott and Pogge and StageLeft. One thing we been talkin' about on the boogs is, "Which is faster -- carbon tax or cap'n'trade?" It's been rainin' here again today and I just looked out the front door. Danged if there weren't a buncha cap'n'traders on my doorstep. I took a photo of one of 'em.

I reckon the cap'n'traders'll get to where they're headed... eventually.

JimBobby

How to Win in Afghanistan, Food Crisis Edition

2008-07-30T10:43:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, there's a bigass discussion raging over at StageLeft. It's all about Afghanistan and there are over 75 comments there. It makes for good readin' and good boogin'. There are thoughtful and considered comments coming in from all sides. There's also a bit of namecallin' and juvenile quips that have been effectively thwarted by the master debaters SL and Balbulican. It's well worth the read.

Like usual, I'm a lazyass and I'm recycling a comment I left over there concerning what we should do. Commenter Brent used the typically American phrase, "cut and run" and he threw out a challenge.

If you can suggest a way to resolve this conflict short of giving up, I’d love to hear it (so would the government).

Since there's no problem too large for know-it-all JimBobby's massive intellect, I decided to reply and I'm copyin' that reply here. BTW, I'm not so sure the government would love to hear my solution. They've wrapped themselves in a cloak of false patriotism and don't want any solution that doesn't involve increasing military spending under the guise of rebuilding the Canadian Forces.

We cannot win the war without winning hearts and minds. Afghans have slipped deeper into poverty, desperation and hunger during the course of the occupation. We are spending billions on war materiel and scant millions on aid. Thanks to our benign acceptance of Karzai’s corruption, much of the aid money we have sent has been siphoned off for governors’ mansions and out-and-out graft.

Every friendly fire death, every poorly targeted NATO airstrike has helped the Taliban recruit new fighters. Pure financial desperation and hunger have driven fighters to the Taliban where they are paid $14 a day compared to the $4 a day paid by the ANA and ANP.

Take a look at who we’re fighting for. Karzai has personally appointed the provincial governors. His talent pool has been the Northern Alliance warlords. Under our occupation, the country became officially established as The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The new constitution enshrines Sharia Law. Oipium harvests fuel both sides of the civil war that was raging prior to 9/11. Karzai admits to holding secret talks with the Taliban for several years and has publicly said that he would welcome Taliban inclusion in his government.

Cut and run (such an American phrase) or continue to support a corrupt regime that cannot even be trusted with its own police payroll? Cut and run or continue to prop up a regime that issues the death penalty for conversion from Islam to Christianity? Cut and run or continue supporting an Afghan senate that upholds the death penalty for “humiliating Islam” by questioning the treatment of women?

Alexander the Great cut and ran. The British cut and ran. The Russians cut and ran.

Afghans are suffering due to the worldwide food crisis. If we want to make lemonade, we can capitalize on that situation. By mounting a massive food distribution campaign, we can win hearts and minds. Desperate Afghans are selling their daughters for food money. They’re taking up arms in order to feed their families. If we divert a fraction of the money we’re spending on offensive seek and destroy missions to food aid, we will win hearts and minds. If we continue to support the corrupt Karzai regime and spend all of our time and money on shooting and killing and trying to achieve a military victory, we ensure failure.

I expect to hear the old refrain, “Without security, there can be no aid.” Hogwash. We can safely drop bags of grain and flour just as easily as we can drop bombs and shells. We can set up secure food distribution centres that would be welcomed and protected by the hungry locals. We can insist on oversight of the Afghan government that we helped install. We can keep track of the prisoners we hand over to ensure they don’t bribe their way back to the Taliban ranks. We can establish a market for legal, medicinal opium production. We can provide seed and fertilizer to help farmers move from opium to food crops.

The Manley Report calculates that Canada spent $6.1 billion on its military effort in the central Asian country between fiscal 2000-01 and 2006-07. The total financial aid between 2001-02 and 2006-07 was $741 million. Up to 90% of that $741 million is known to have been diverted to corrupt government officials.

There are about 2,500 military personnel deployed in Afghanistan. In comparison, there are 47 civilian government employees assigned to the country: at the embassy in Kabul, at Kandahar Airfield and in the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) office in Kandahar City. Of the 335 PRT team members, 315 are military personnel.

We’ve put nearly all of our eggs in the military basket and we cannot hope to win hearts and minds with that sort of lopsided approach. Again, if we don’t win hearts and minds, we will not win.

JimBobby

Neo-Nazis Lure Bigots to Calgary, Canada's Hate Crime Capital

2008-07-23T09:30:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, there ain't too many things that get me more pissed-off than racism an' bigotry. Now, there's some racist sumbitches tryin' to lure new recruits to Calgary. I'm chewin' nails and fartin' tacks.

Neo-Nazis offer recruits help with rent

Published: July 23, 2008 at 9:02 AM

CALGARY, Alberta, July 23 (UPI) -- A Canadian neo-Nazi group in Calgary, Alberta, has an online offer to help pay the rent for any recruits who will move to the city.
The Aryan Guard's site said it was "always seeking new brothers and sisters" and said rental assistance would be provided, CTV News reported.

Speaking to reporters, Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier said the ad hinted at desperation.

"It's quite surprising that people would have to resort to using financial support in order to encourage people to join their group," Bronconnier said. "I think that speaks to the support level that's here, which is non-existent."

However, in the most recent Statistics Canada report on crime in the country released last month, Calgary has the highest rate of hate crimes in the country, with 9.2 cases reported per 100,000 people. The national average is 3.1 cases per 100,000 people, CTV said.

Calgary police have said they can't shut down the Aryan Guard if the group isn't breaking any laws, the report said.

More at CTV.ca.

Calgary is King Steve's stompin' grounds, ain't it? It'd be good to hear the Pryminister weigh in on what's happenin' in his home town.

JimBobby

Idiots and Lunatics to be Allowed in British Parliament

2008-07-20T13:47:00.005-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I gotta feeling I might face some politically correct wrath over this one. It looks like Britain will possibly follow Canada's lead and allow idiots and lunatics to become Members of Parliament.

'Lunatics' ban in Parliament may be lifted

Published: July 20, 2008 at 12:38 PM

LONDON, July 20 (UPI) -- British government officials say they are considering doing away with laws banning people labeled "idiots" and "lunatics" from running for Parliament.
Justice Minister Bridget Prentice plans to hold a meeting to discuss throwing out the laws after they prompted negative feedback from members of Parliament and mental health organizations, The Times of London reported Sunday.

The rules consider idiots as people "incapable of gaining reason" and lunatics as those "capable of periods of lucidity."

The laws prevent lunatics from standing for Parliament in "their non-lucid intervals." People listed under the Mental Health Act are not allowed to seek election, regardless of whether they recover.

Some mental health charity groups say the laws are unfair and should be scrapped.

"People who have suffered mental health problems can function at a very high level," said a spokesman for Mind, a mental health charity.

I reckon we could use a law that prevents numbnutses and nutbars and nincompoops from runnin' fer our own House o' Comments.

JimBobby

Harper to Conjure Up NEP Zombie to Buy $850 Million Worth of Nova Scotia Votes

2008-07-08T09:19:00.004-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, things don't get much stranger than this. Stephen Harper's Conservative government is reviving the NEP (National Energy Program). No, I'm not referring to Harper's attempt to equate Dion's Green Shift with the NEP. Harper is actually reviving the NEP itself.

Read about it in the National Post. A tip of the tuque to Impolitical (Oh, how I wish he allowed comments. He'd have about the best blog in Canada.)

From the indispensible Impolitical:

There's likely to be outrage over this one: "Tories set to hand N.S. $850M windfall."
"The Conservative government is set to buy political peace in Nova Scotia with $850-million in taxpayers' dollars."
These funds are recommended settlement moneys from a panel of experts opining on how much Nova Scotia should get for having lost a potential ownership stake in offshore oil and gas projects.
The Crown share issue dates from the 1980s' National Energy Program and has been dormant for 20 years. Under the NEP, Nova Scotia gained a potential ownership stake in energy projects on Canadian lands off its shores. Successive governments have argued that when the NEP was dismantled in the mid-1980s, the Crown share went with it. But Nova Scotia has argued consistently that it should be compensated for loss of potential profits. (emphasis added)
In the wake of Harper messing with the Atlantic Accord last year, in order to save face with Nova Scotia, they agreed to throw in resolving this outstanding issue from the 1980's. This panel has now recommended that Nova Scotia get $850 million in compensation - for something that really was pie in the sky - and based on the Nova Scotia government's inflated numbers.

I reckon this tells everybody just how desperate the Con's are in Nova Scotia. Peter MacKay is lookin' worser and worser while the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May, keeps lookin' better an' better. Ol' Pete's on the hot seat about a bigass submarine contract that he awarded to a BC outfit. Then there was the Bill Casey fiasco.

Junior MacMoneybags is buying NS votes. Harper is reviving the NEP to make it happen. I wonder what the Alien Alberts think of their boy bringing the zombie NEP back to life in order to give away $850,000,000 to the 'the region that breeds a culture of defeatism.' Poor little Allbertans had to work hard squeezing those millions out of tar sands and now, YoBoy is handing it over to those layabouts for NOT drilling.

JimBobby

G8 Leaders Enjoy 6 Course Lunch, 8 Course Dinner Before Discussing Food Crisis

2008-07-07T13:01:00.004-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the more I read about this here G8 Summit, the more disgusted I get. One of the biggest troublems facin' the world is the worldwide food crisis. It was supposed to be high on the agenda at Toyako. For a wee glimpse into how far out of touch with reality the G8 leaders are, just consider how they dine.

Gordon Brown and his fellow world leaders have sparked outrage after it was disclosed they enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit where the global food crisis tops the agenda.
The Prime Minister was served 24 different dishes during his first day at the summit – just hours after urging the world to reduce the "unnecessary demand" for food and calling on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food.

Mr Brown and his wife Sarah were among 15 guests at the "blessings of the earth and the sea social dinner".

The dinner consisted of 18 dishes in eight courses including caviar, smoked salmon, Kyoto beef and a "G8 fantasy dessert".
The banquet was accompanied by five different wines from around the world including champagne, a French Bourgogne and sake.

African leaders including the heads of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Senegal who had taken part in talks during the day were not invited to the function.

The dinner came just hours after a "working lunch" consisting of six courses including white asparagus and truffle soup, crab and a supreme of chicken.

The lavish dining arrangements – disclosed by the Japanese Government which is hosting the summit in Hokkaido – come amid growing concern over rising food prices triggered by a shortage of many basic necessities.

On the flight to the summit, Mr Brown urged Britons to cut food waste as part of a global drive to help avert the food crisis.

Opposition politicians and charities condemned the extravagant meals.

Dominic Nutt, of Save the Children, said: "It is deeply hypocritical that they should be lavishing course after course on world leaders when there is a food crisis and millions cannot afford a decent meal to eat.

"If the G8 wants to betray the hopes of a generation of children, it is going the right way about it. The food crisis is an emergency and the G8 must treat it as that."

Andrew Mitchell, the shadow International Development Secretary, said: "The G8 have made a bad start to their summit, with excessive cost and lavish consumption.

"Surely it is not unreasonable for each leader to give a guarantee that they will stand by their solemn pledges of three years ago at Gleneagles to help the world's poor. All of us are watching, waiting and listening."

Mr Brown arrived at the G8 summit held on the holiday island of Hokkaido in northern Japan on Monday morning.

He arrived on a plane chartered from Texas, America, which had to fly empty for thousands of miles to pick up the Prime Minister and his entourage.

Unlike other countries, Britain does not have an official plane to transport the Prime Minister.

The lavish dining will embarrass Mr Brown, who has made tackling the global food crisis a key priority.

On the flight to the summit, the Prime Minister urged British people to cut food waste and "reduce unnecessary demand".

He said: "We need a global plan to deal with rising food prices that are affecting millions of families in Britain. That's why I am proposing that we take action to both increase the global supply of food and reduce unnecessary demand.

"If we are to get food prices down, we must also do more to deal with unnecessary demand, such as by all of us doing more to cut our food waste which is costing the average household in Britain around £8 per week."

Talks between world leaders at the summit will focus on dealing with soaring food and oil prices.

There is also hope for a breakthrough on protracted talks to secure a new global trade deal.

However, the leaders are facing criticism amid allegations that pledges for development aid promised for the third world at a previous G8 summit in Scotland have been watered down.

The Prime Minister's spokesman declined to comment on the menus.

I don't know for sure if Steve Harper was at that dinner. Or Baird. Or Mrs. Harper. Or the boy Harper. I do know that 1000 people died from starvation in the past hour and 1000 more are going to die in the next hour. I know that the money wasted on flying these so-called leaders to a lavish hob-nobbin' shoulder-rubbin' schmoozefest ain't solvin' the world's problems. The money spent on travel alone could have actually done something to alleviate suffering. Instead, our leaders gorge their puffy faces on expensive delicacies. What great examples of humanity!

JimBobby

Biofuels to Blame for 75% of Food Price Increase: World Bank

2008-07-04T09:30:00.003-04:00

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I been yammerin' an' frettin' about the world food crisis for a few months, now. When there are 100's of millions of people starving, there are plenty of fingers pointed at the blameholders. Most analysis I've read puts the blame on a combination of factors: high oil prices, increased demand from a rising Asian middle class, severe weather and drought, commodities market speculation, monoculture farming encouraged by World Bank and IMF debt repayment policies and biofuel development. There may be a few other factors, too.

Each of these sectors is getting a black eye over its contribution to high food prices that are killing 1000 human beings each and every hour of each and everyday. And each sector is eager to point the finger at one or more of the other sectors. With that record of finger pointing and claims of innocence in mind, the recent leak of a secret World Bank document must be regarded with some skepticism.

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis

Internal World Bank study delivers blow to plant energy drive
Aditya Chakrabortty
The Guardian,
Friday July 4, 2008

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.
The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.
Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.
"It would put the World Bank in a political hot-spot with the White House," said one yesterday.
(There's plenty more...)

Yeow! Liberal Dalton Ginty sez biofuels ain't a problem. So do the federal Conservatives. So does George W. Bush. Ditto McCain. Ditto Obama. Obama has strong ties to the US ethanol industry.

The biggest proponents of ethanol have been saying it's only responsible for 3% of the food price increase. If that were true, then biofuels would only be responsible for the starvation deaths of 3 million people of the 100 million facing starvation this year. That's 1000 times more than were killed on 9/11. Every year. For biofuel. For fueling gas-guzzling North American living rooms on wheels.

The World Bank's report may be an outright attempt at disinformation. To say that biofuels are responsible for 75% of the increase ( and, thus, culpable for 75,000,000 deaths this year) shifts blame away from the World Bank itself. Previous high estimates regarding the effect of biofuel development on world food prices had placed the estimate at 30%.

While it may be more difficult to quantify, World Bank policies have also had an effect. Third world countries were strongly pushed to develop agriculture for export in an attempt to pay down debt. Countries like Kenya phased out subsistence and sustenance agriculture in favour of growing things like roses for the European export market. In times of low transportation costs, the trade balance allowed Kenya to sell flowers and buy food. Now, Europeans are not eager to pay the exorbitant shipping charges brought on by $140/bbl oil. Kenyans still need to eat but their food production capacity has been converted to flowers.

This latest report is important and while some skepticism is called for, we cannot dismiss the effect of biofuel development on the food crisis that is killing so many of our fellow human beings. At the very least, Canada must stop all crop-based biofuel subsidies and incentives. Even if biofuel development is only responsible for a paltry 3,000,000 deaths per year, we should not be supporting it in any way.

JimBobby

Taking Out the Blue Box Even if China and India Don't

2008-07-03T09:28:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, Pryminister Harper's still on the all or nothing bandwagon and he's gonna act as waterboy for his American Idol at the G8 Summit. Harper's refusing to act on climate change unless China and India act, too.

Here in my little town, the county comes and picks up our trash and recyclables on Fridays. Today bein' Thursday, I'll be out in the shed sortin' recyclables and makin' sure there ain't any recyclables mixed in with the non-recyclables. Later on tonight, I'll hike the trash barrel and the blue box out to the street. Usually, the blue box is crammed full and there's a tiny little trash bag. Composting helps, too.

Now, my recyclin' effort hardly amounts to squat in the big picture. Hell, it don't even amount to 2% of my street. If I didn't recycle, hardly anyone would notice and it probably wouldn't amount to a millionth of a percent of what gets recycled here in Norfolk County. Why should I take a few minutes from my busy Thursday to sort out recyclable stuff? Why should I carry both a blue box and a garbage barrel out to the street on Thursday nights?

Then, there's my do-nuthin' neighbours. They're born and bred Canadians but I'll call 'em the Indias and the Chinas. A couple doors down, we got the India family. They got four boys and they generate a heap of garbage. I see it when I walk by with ol' Spot on Friday mornings. The Indias usually got three bigass garbage bags and a half-full blue box. Sometimes, it's all garbage and no blue box, at all.

Down the street a little further, we got the Chinas. They ain't Chinese. Their fictitious surname is China. They got a bigass RV, 2 SUV's, a 24' power boat on a trailer, a riding lawnmower, some ATV's and some snowmobiles. They never, ever put out a blue box.

Now, I wouldn't mind if the county were to enforce some bylaws and restrictions that would give these anti-Earthers a not-so-gentle nudge in the right direction. That might do some good for ol' Mother Earth.

What sure as hell won't do any good for ol' Mother Earth is if I say I'm gonna quit recycling until my neighbours start doin' their share. That'd only make things worse. And who's gonna worry about me, anyways. Like I been sayin' to anyone who'll listen, I ain't even responsible for 2% of the total problem. Why should I act like a responsible citizen?

JB

I Am Canadian, I Love Everybody

2008-07-01T09:30:00.004-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, it's Canada Day up Canada way an' I just spent a few minutes readin' a few boog stories from my fellow Canajun boogers. Ol' Zorph has a funny pitcher on Garth's boog. Dawg's blawggin' 10 good things about this land of ours. Jennifer's extollin' the virtues of the Canajun boogeysphere and quotin' Pierre Troodough. Mentarch's sendin' out happy wishes along with a wish for regime change. Paladiea's lookin' fer regime change, too. The Rev's got some good video selections for yer Canada Day viewin' pleasure. Plenty more Canada Day well wishers at Pergressive Boogers.

I reckon I better join in the well wishin'.

I wish all my feller Canajuns a Happy Canada Day. I ain't gonna growse or grumble or call for regime change or kvetch or bitch or piss'n'moan... leastwise, not today. The sun's shinin'. Ma's takin' the day off. Well, mostly. She's doin' a little sewin' work right now as a favour to the next door neighbour. When she's done, we're gonna go over to the ball park an' toss the ball an' frisbee fer Spot an' Ellie. Maybe we'll see some of our dog park buddies.

Yeow! It's almost 10 o'clock. I better get dressed. Can't go to the dog park in my bathrobe.

Be careful out there, Canajuns. If yer drivin', don't be drinkin'. If yer swimmin', don't be drownin'. If yer ridin' yer dumbass ATV, don't roll over in some poor farmer's soybeans. If yer out in the boat, wear sunscreen. If yer tossin' back a few brown pops, have one fer ol' JB.

Happy Canada Day.

JimBobby

Linda Keen Gets Major International Award, Nobody Notices

2008-06-27T10:55:00.008-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, we all remember Linda Keen. She was the scapegoat for AECL-MDS Nordion-MNR-GoC negligence and foul-ups. She was ignominiously fired as president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission by Gary Lunn after her inconvenient whistleblowing precipitated last December's so-called isotope crisis. Keen remains a CNSC member and employee.

Well, our gal Linda has been presented with a top award from a top international professional association. Here's the announcement from the CNSC website.

Linda J. Keen Receives 2008 Women in Nuclear (WiN) Global Award

On May 28th, 2008, Linda J. Keen, was presented with the 2008 Women in Nuclear (WiN) Global Award in Marseilles, France. She received special recognition for excellence in communications, education, leadership and mentoring in the nuclear sector. Ms. Keen is currently a permanent full-time Member of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer. The CNSC is proud to acknowledge Ms. Keen as the first Canadian to receive this award.

Wowee! Sounds impressive. Run the maple leaf up the flagpole, stand and sing O Canada. Our home and native land oughta be proud. But, gee, this was almost a month ago and even avid nuke news watchers like ol' JB didn't see anything about it in the MSM or the blogs.

I only learned of this award a couple days ago through a nuclear issues email list subscription. If you go to the CNSC's home page, there's nothing there to indicate that one of their employees and their immediate past-president has been honoured with a prestigious international award. Digging a little deeper, I tried to find the news item on the CNSC's News page. Nothing there, either, except a link to More News Releases. I was sure I'd dug deep enough into the CNSC site that finally, I'd find the News story that I quoted above. Hmmm... I found a page purporting to show all 2008 news releases. But, dang it, the story about Keen's dismissal was there but not a peep about Keen receiving this big award.

Be proud, Canajuns. Be proud of Linda Keen.

Just in case the CNSC decides to make the announcement completely unavailable, I've grabbed a screenshot.
JimBobby

Ontario Eyed for Wind Turbine Factory, Thousands of Jobs Possible

2008-06-25T15:34:00.007-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I been growsin' fer a few years now about how we're missin' the green collar job boat here in Canada -- especially, here in Ontariariario. One question that's been gettin' my goat is howcum we buy our wind generators from Denmark and Germany?

Well, it looks like some smart folks with deep pockets been askin' the same question. Looks promisin', sez I.

Ontario eyed for wind turbine factory
German company considers province for first North American facility, thousands of jobs possible

Jun 19, 2008 10:55 AM
Tyler Hamilton
Energy Reporter

A German maker of offshore wind turbines is targeting southern Ontario as the location for its first North American manufacturing plant, a venture that would create thousands of local jobs and inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the province's struggling economy.
Multibrid, majority owned by French nuclear giant Areva SA, made the announcement this morning alongside officials from Trillium Power Wind Corp., a local renewable-energy developer that plans to build a massive wind farm in Lake Ontario, about 15 kilometres offshore from Prince Edward County.
Trillium, which sees its Lake Ontario project as the beginning of a new industrial strategy for the province and a creator of high-value "green-collar" jobs, has established a wind-turbine buying consortium called Tai Wind committed to placing orders with a manufacturer that locates in Ontario.
"Ontario is perfectly placed to supply North America and even the world with offshore turbines, components, barges, and cranes needed to harness the resource wherever it may be," said John Kourtoff, president and chief executive of Trillium.
"That is the objective of the Tai Wind consortium. We want to build a solid economic foundation to make Ontario a world leader in renewable energy manufacturing and innovation."
Hundreds of megawatts of onshore wind farms have been built around Ontario, but job creation has been limited because the turbines are manufactured from plants in Europe or the United States. Industry experts say there is currently no industrial strategy in Ontario to complement Queen's Park's support for renewable energy development.
A decision by Multibrid to set up shop in Ontario would be welcome relief to a province hammered by the loss of manufacturing jobs, particularly in the automotive and forestry sectors.
Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, backs the initiative and sent a union representative to today's announcement to express his support.
Tai Wind members so far include Trillium and Fishermen's Energy of New Jersey, together representing potential orders for more than 300 offshore wind turbines. Kourtoff said the consortium is open to other North American offshore developers, which face long waiting lists if they rely on turbines to come from Europe.
Meanwhile, Multibrid said it is eager to discuss its role in Ontario with both the provincial and federal governments as it goes through its due diligence.
Compared to onshore wind projects, offshore wind represents only 1 per cent of global deployment. But Emerging Energy Research of Cambridge, Mass., predicts the offshore market is poised to take off and "has reached a critical juncture in its path toward large-scale deployment."
Earlier this month, the U.K. government unveiled an ambitious 12-year plan to deploy up to 7,000 offshore wind turbines in 11 ocean zones surrounding the British coastline - enough to supply electricity to every home in the U.K. when the wind is blowing strong.
Offshore wind projects require special engineering and underwater transmission, making them more expensive to build than onshore projects. But this added cost is largely offset by the stronger, more reliable and energy-packed winds that blow offshore.
In North America there are ocean-based offshore projects proposed off the coasts of New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and British Columbia.
But the Great Lakes represent a unique opportunity - they have strong winds, but unlike ocean projects the lake beds are shallower and the water is less turbulent, making for easier construction.
Helimax Energy Inc., in a report recently prepared for the Ontario Power Authority, estimated there are 64 offshore wind sites on the Ontario side of the Great Lakes representing 35,000 megawatts - enough to power all businesses, homes and industry in the province when the wind blows.
Trillium aims to be the first to develop on the Great Lakes. Its Lake Ontario project would likely require an investment of more than a billion dollars and would consist of 150 turbines placed in waters no deeper than 30 metres.
If built, it would be the largest wind project in North America and one of the largest offshore projects in the world.
"It's a significant opportunity that every jurisdiction in the world is looking for," said Kourtoff, adding that Multibrid's interest in locating in Ontario makes it more than just a green power play. "We're saying this is the first step to developing a sustainable, long-term green manufacturing economy."
But Trillium needs to strike a power-purchase agreement with the province for the project to move forward.
The power authority's current position is that offshore projects are too expensive to be part of its 20-year electricity plan.

Over the past decade, or so, Germany has added 200,000 green collar jobs to its economy. Green collar jobs now outnumber auto industry jobs in Germany.

JimBobby

More Free Green Advice for Liberals: Make Lemonade

2008-06-24T08:40:00.004-04:00

Whooee! There's an old saying that goes, "When life throws you lemons, make lemonade." It ain't too cryptic. If you get into a situation that looks bad, turn it around by making the best out of it. Right now, the Grits are on the receiving end of a truckload of lemons in the form of a trademark issue regarding the LPC's just-announced Green Shift policy and a private company that has been using that name for a few years. Talk of infringement, cease and desist letters and lawsuits is in the air.

Here are some of the products offered by GreenShift.ca:

Non-toxic, Biodegradable, cups, plates, bowls, cutlery, bags, wrapping…
Non-toxic, Biodegradable cleaning products
Non-toxic, Non Green House Gas emitting fuels
Fair Trade, Shade Grown, Organic Coffees from around the world
Chlorine Free, High Post Consumer Recycled Content Paper Products – toilet paper, towels, nose tissues, envelopes… containers.. bags… boxes..

Just the sort of supplies that would come in handy at a summer BBQ. Say... aren't the Liberals planning to promote their Green Shift at scores of BBQs this summer? Wouldn't it be a good idea if those BBQs were as Earth-friendly as possible -- both for the sake of the planet and for the sake of public relations?

Do I need to connect the dots?

I'm involved with my local community hall. We use a fair amount of the types of products offered by Green Shift. I've been advocating that our hall look into using non-toxic, biodegradable, cups, plates, bowls, cutlery and cleaning products. The switchover to green products has been on the back burner, mainly due to my own laziness wrt sourcing this stuff. Thanks to the controversy surrounding the Green Shift moniker, I have a ready source and I'll be pushing for a trial purchase by our community hall.

JimBobby

Selling the Carbon Tax to Climate Change Skeptics

2008-06-22T14:19:00.006-04:00

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I just left a bigass comment over to Jennifer Smith's fine boog, Runesmith. She's got a good piece about the Green Shift and it attracted a comment from AGW skeptic and anti-Green Shifter Raphael Alexander. I like ol' Raph. He ain't afraid to wander into the Pergressive Boogeysphere and he don't bow down and worship the infallible King Steve like a lot o' Boogin' Tories do.

Here's how I tried sellin' the carbon tax to Rafe.

Even if you're an AGW skeptic, there are many advantages to the tax shift. GHG's are closely related to other pollutants. When we reduce GHG's we reduce many conventional pollutants at the same time. While you may doubt AGW, I suspect you accept the fact that pollution kills. "Bad air days" in the Great Lakes basin are killing people. The latest estimate of premature deaths due to poor air quality is 9,000+/year. The most conservative estimates put the figure at 3,000. Take your pick. Neither is acceptable.

Regarding the shift away from income tax, this is something most people should welcome. We should try not to penalize success and the less we tax income and profits, the more we encourage entrepreneurship and productivity. Some people call it "takin' care of business and workin' overtime."

With or without a carbon tax, energy costs are rapidly rising. This trend isn't going to reverse itself. Energy costs will rise and our dependence upon fossil fuels will further hurt our economy. Anything we can do to reduce our dependence on expensive fossil fuels will make us more competitive. A carbon tax is specifically aimed at reducing fossil fuel use. Whether that reduction is for the sake of the planet or for the sake of competitiveness and financial efficiency doesn't matter. Reduction of dependence is a worthwhile goal in and of itself.

I don't take much issue with the "tax on everything" characterization. So what? If you can get an offsetting reduced tax on income and the average Canadian is not clobbered with thousands of dollars in new taxes, it really doesn't matter if it is on everything. What matters is how many dollars you pay and how many dollars you get back via reduced income taxes or, in the case of low income Canadians, refundable tax credits.

The per capita average carbon footprint for Canadians is between 15-18 tonnes per year. If we are to pay $10/tonne, the average Canadian's net share would be about $200-$250 after some administrative and overhead costs are added.

Almost everyone can reduce their carbon footprint and, by doing so, reduce both their taxes and their outlay on fossil fuels. In a relatively fair system, those who use more than average fossil fuel will pay more tax. Those who use less than average, will pay less. Everyone will pay, though. Nobody denies that.

AGW aside, the planet's in trouble and our taxation system is designed to stifle income. We allow industry to use the shared atmosphere as a dump without any charge to them at all. Oil industry insiders refer to the practice of burning off waste gas at refineries as "sky dumping." Saves money. So what if it pollutes and kills.

Economist after economist is lining up behind a carbon tax. If you believed King Steve on income trusts, then you can believe he won't do exactly as Dion and most economists are suggesting... years from now. It's already too little, too late.

JimBobby

JimBobby Sez

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Bastards! They're a buncha bastards!