William Stratas is a unique individual I have known for 15 years, and yet hardly know. This, despite the fact I first met him when he was official photographer to a prime minister (just a hobby), later partnered with him to establish the world’s first online live television station, worked closely in the creation of network TV programming, commissioned him to create ground-breaking web sites, accepted his counsel on a string of entrepreneurial ventures, took his advice on the creation and branding of Canada’s first political webcasting, and watched him help defend my sorry ass during at least one of my stunning Parliamentary episodes.
While he is always a live email away, he will often answer my call on a cellphone parked in his hand in New York City, or some olive tree-infested speck in the Ionian Sea. Stratas is a renaissance man, son of a member of Parliament, intense and precocious enough to spot Rupert Murdoch on a Manhattan streetcorner or Paul Martin in a Toronto bookstore and march up for a intimate conversation.
He’s also my webmaster. And full of surprises. I think he almost snared a design commission for the World Trade Centre Site Memorial a few years ago. Yesterday he was asked by the guys who run NORAD (yes, the North American Aerospace Defense Command) to come to a gala dinner on Monday May 12th in Colorado Springs to represent the 400 million people who have lived under its protective shadow since 1958. It’s the 50th anniversary of the joint Canadian-American military organization, and Stratas will be dining with Defence Minister Peter MacKay and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, after his short essay on life under the NORAD umbrella was judged the best entry on the continent.
“A room full of brass and cigars will be a new experience,” he says. “I will bring back photos and insights for the blog.”
In the meantime, here are Bill’s winning words:
Since creation, North America has stood as a contiguous land mass, surrounded by oceans, threatened only by occasional forces of nature. The technological race of the modern age, however, unleashed new and forbidding threats upon our home continent.
For the past 50 years NORAD has sustained this advantage of geography as shared by two great nations. Even as threats evolve, and ingenuity of new foes brings new challenge, the mission dedication of NORAD endures.
I had fortune to be born exactly at dawn of the NORAD era, oblivious to threats from afar, but ever benefitting from its unseen umbrella of vigilance. This unremarkable story of my life has been replicated millions of times, as the NORAD mission shared equal benefit to all who live within its borders.
And this mission continues for ages to come, as good men and good women guard lonely outposts to deter unseen foes who never sleep.
92 comments ↓
they quashed the freedom to information data base.. all I can say is WTF!!!!!!
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/02/cairs.html
A fine gentleman indeed.
William Stratas:
Since creation, North America has stood as a contiguous land mass, surrounded by oceans, threatened only by occasional forces of nature.
The technological race of the modern age, however, unleashed new and forbidding threats upon our home continent.
For the past 50 years NORAD has sustained this advantage of geography as shared by two great nations.
………………………………..
Yes .. if you look at our North American continent on Google Earth, you won’t see any borders delineating our two countries. We are one and the same people sharing the continent, economies, cultures, even some politics … and our mutual interests coincide on a global basis too … particularly defence via NORAD.
Good post, Garth. – Harry S
Gee, can’t wait. Droll smilie. But I thought earth-penetrating, bunker-busting nukes were all the rage now.
they quashed the freedom to information data base.. all I can say is WTF!!!!!!
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/02/cairs.html
By Bel on 05.02.08 10:29 pm
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT WE ARE WITNESSING A BLOODLESS COUP OF CANADA…
AND CANADIANS ARE DRINKING THE KOOL AID
I don’t get the message. I am missing some pieces to the puzzle. Never heard of Norad before. Sorry.
Thanks.
Gates says the US ‘may’ go into southern Af’stan — if it gets our troops out, all the better.
They started it– they can finish it.
http://tinyurl.com/3kmlvf
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“More wars and more oil! Prettyyy pllleeezzee huh huh huh??!!”
http://tinyurl.com/3saaq3
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In the post above, if the gas co. isn’t happy with US$10.9 bln. profit for one quarter, then they can always hire these people who may lose their jobs shortly.
http://tinyurl.com/63lrnw
The co-chairs of the 9/11 commission wrote that they considered charging NORAD with perjury for changing their story, under oath giving different times for events on 9/11. Were any Canadians involved in the lies? Read their book “Without Precedent”
Congratulations William .Another first for the greatest nation on the planet .
For the past 50 years NORAD has sustained this advantage of geography as shared by two great nations.
a quibble…the geography of North America consists in 3 nations – don’t forget Mexico.
William’s comment – True, Linda – except there were never any ICBMs aimed at US or Canada from South America. The threat came over the polar seas from Russia. That’s why the orientation of NORAD was to the north, and placed Canada as the essential partner to the US for early warning of missile launch or bomber attack.
Everyone in their life should be lucky enough to call such a person a friend.
Off topic, news from the Yukon your readers should know.
A month ago I mentioned that a Chinese company bought a 20% stake in a molybedum mine just south of us. At the time I didn’t know that that metal was used primarily in steel making specifically for MILITARY applications. Yesterday it was announced that two Chinese firms offered to buy 100% of the shares in a lead-zinc-silver mine from the Canadian exploration and development company. As far as I have heard this is the first time that China has purchased a north american company directly.
Why the Yukon you say?
First 9 out of 10 Canadians can’t find it on the map and 10 out of 10 could care less.
Second, Canada has Harper as leader and we have Harper jr. but he does have one up on Steve as he was convicted in his youth of selling heroin!
Third, canada has DimJim who believes that cutting corporate taxes is the way to wealth. We have a government that thinks mining at ANY COST is the way to wealth.
Here is some history. The Yukon is the only territory to have devolved many federal responsebilities such as mining so that from now on we are responsible for any problems. You don’t know it but the Feds pay 10′s of millions a year maintaining abandoned minesites just in the Yukon. It would take over 2 billion to clean them up. These were left by CANADIAN companies as the normal way of mining in the north is to rape the countryside and when the price drops, walk away and let the government deal with the mess. Considering how China treats their own country how will they treat an area that up till now is almost untouched by man? The Finlayson river where the mine is located flows into the Liard river which goes into northern B.C. and if I lived in that province I would be concerned about this project.
My biggest concerns about this issue are:
1- Will this Chinese company hire as many Yukoners at current wage levels as companies in the past have?
2- Considering the Chinese environmental and business practice records is there any hope they will follow Canadian rules?
3- Unlike all the Canadian companies up till now is there any hope that they will leave the minesite in a natural and safe condition?
The Liberals ignored the west and now reap what they sowed. Canada has ignored the north and reaps what they sowed. If you leave the back door unlocked you will get robbed every time.
Hi Bel on 05.02.08 10:29 pm,
Have you seen this? I feel it is relavent!
Talk by Naomi Wolf author of “The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot” given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3dRjALf12PAWc&ei=utf-8&fr=b1ie7
Today the link above isn’t working???
So here is a link to an
Artical/interveiw that seem to work this morning;
An interview with author Naomi Wolf, whose new book, “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot,” may confirm your worries about democracy in America.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/68399/
Congratulations to Stratas for winning the competition, and especially for the garth.ca website. He will love the dinner!
Two thoughts to interject a quiet note of reservation and realism into the strategic realm of NORAD:
1. The “new and forbidding threats upon our home continent” did not arise from technological developments or out of nothing, but were caused in mutual action and reaction that was not always based on fact or reason. The history of the Cold War deserves close examination because we are perpetuating the errors.
2. There is no threat as great from “unseen foes who never sleep” as that which you create yourself.
I have been unable to confirm the source of this quote (David Lloyd George? Georges Clemenceau? Mark Twain?), but it is words to the effect of -
“Trust no policeman in matters of safety, soldier in matters of security, or doctor in matters of health.”
(To answer the obvious question, because personal interests and institutional imperatives get in the way of objectivity.)
By Linda Pearson on 05.03.08 3:32 am
Counter-quibble: I was always taught that Mexico was part of Central America (and Latin America). Personally, I have always believed that the inclusion of Mexico in North America has been more a business consideration than a political or social consideration.
By Harry S on 05.02.08 11:03 pm
“We are one and the same people sharing the continent,”
Nope, that type of narrow mentality leads to isolationist attitudes. I have seen too much of the world and have too many friends from every continent to be so narrow-minded. I am part of one and the same people sharing the World.
My biggest concerns about this issue are:
1- Will this Chinese company hire as many Yukoners at current wage levels as companies in the past have?
2- Considering the Chinese environmental and business practice records is there any hope they will follow Canadian rules?
3- Unlike all the Canadian companies up till now is there any hope that they will leave the minesite in a natural and safe condition?
The Liberals ignored the west and now reap what they sowed. Canada has ignored the north and reaps what they sowed. If you leave the back door unlocked you will get robbed every time.
By William Dahl on 05.03.08 5:36 am
A truly sad situation William. Re your question 1, the Chinese will probably bring in their own people & pay them low wages. Sure the new immigration bill will help them – skilled workers you know!!
Who needs access to information anyway?
http://caiti-online.blogspot.com/2008/05/who-needs-access-to-information-anyway.html
Hi John Duddy. on 05.03.08 1:04 am,
Is this the book?
Without Precedent: The Inside Story Of The 9/11 Commission
BY: Thomas H. Kean
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Without-Precedent-Inside-Story-Commission-Thomas-H-Kean/9780307263773-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%2527without+precedent%2527
Hi Sandy Canchuk on 05.03.08 12:47 am,
Norad is the group that fly the wars plans to protect us from ‘them’, at one time ‘them’ was the USSR big nuclear bomb bomers. So we were told???
Have you see this WARNING!
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/main.html
Off topic, but proof that right wingers actually are as obtuse as they seem – or are engaged in a conspiracy to dumb down the rest of us.
David Warren, on certain blogs as “essential sources of information” in his “Standing up to the ‘Human Rights’ Harassers” column to-day:
“(I) especially recommend that of Ezra Levant, a lawyer by training, and a magnificent aggregator and explicator of the details and arguments involved in each case. I would also put him at the top of any current list of those who actually deserve the Order of Canada, for valiant action of permanent value to our country.
“Mark Steyn’s blog, and Kate McMillan’s “Small Dead Animals” in Saskatchewan, also belong on the shortlist (sic) of essential sources for information …”
- http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id=bdf8f09d-06f7-4738-a2f0-f725fe7ad55b
By Herb on 05.03.08 8:19 am
Wise words Herb. Very tactful too I might add.
Greg,
why, thank you, Comrade Okie. How are you getting along on SDA? I haven’t had the heart to check.
Morning Greg and Herb. I was born for the revolution. Ever known any of the neo’s to have fought for anything? Much less Truth? Justice? A better way for all? If they appear to be doing so, is it for the benefit of all? That is the deciding factor for me. I read here a few days ago that character is determined by motive. Do Steyn and other’s have a legitimate arguement? It seems we are just beginning to hear about this. I saw Steyn, for the first time on MDL and was not aware of much of what he spoke. Do you care to fill me in? I feel this is important for all of us in one way or another. They are making serious charges re HRC. They, including Ezra, would like to shut it down, much like CPC does with their committee tricks, etc. That’s about all I know. Is this legit? Anyone? Care enough to fill me in? Thanks…
Garth,
Thank you for the tribute to William. I lived my entire life under the threat of nuclear war, and NORAD was there. Silently on Guard for North America. Perhaps one of the best examples of true cooperation between the U.S. and Canada. I, too, served in their function when we flew survellience missions around, and occassionally over, Cuba. I shall not discuss my pet angst, the AVRO Arrow Project cancellation (Grrrrrrr!)
Now, I shall postulate that I find it rather disturbing (a gross understatement BTW) that all along, it was not those Soviet ICBM’s that were the real threat to all of us. No, it was, and remains, the threat of American and Canadian, and international Agents of Greed.
See if you agree?
Good morning. I took some time to copy and edit this excerpt from John Ralston Saul’s book ‘The Collapse of Globalism; and the Reinvention of The World’, citing pages 33-35 (He is just getting warmed up BTW). I sincerely hope you will take the time to read the book, and the links, because all this pissing into the wind is only getting us wet. We need to define what the Hidden Agenda of Harper is, recognize it, and destroy it, before it destroys Canada.
I firmly believe you will grasp what the Game Plan is, if you take some time read the following. I have attempted to make it as painless and to the point as possible, and Saul has done all the research and original writing. I cannot do it better, nor do I suspect could another.
[Freidman's assumptions were transported into the Globalization movement. Global economics came to be presented as a tool to weaken government, discourage taxes both on corporations adn the top bracket of earners, force deregulation and, curiously enough, to stregthen private sector technocracies in large corporations to the disadvanteg of real capitalists and entrepreneurs. That prediction for the large over the small meant that the Globalization movement would actively and quite naturally favour the limitation of real competition.
A great deal of this deforming of international economics was done through the remarkable level of conformism in departments of economics around the world And much of this was the result of the international economic debate being flooded with work funded around the world by largely American neo-conservative foundations holding $2 billion in assets and neo-conservative think tanks with $140 million to sepnd every year. This was and remains a gold mine for professors of economics everywhere. There is no equivalent funding or even sizable funding for any other approach to economic thought. This situation is suggestive of a one-party state of mind - the sort of thing Marxists dreamt of..
Before you knew it, national governments were forgetting or felt they should pretend to forget Thomas Aquinas's old saintly joke that taxation might be robbery, but it wasn't a sin, because raising taxes was the job of the "sovereign ruler in accordance with the demands for justice to promote the general welfare."
Equally, it seemed to be forgotten that economics is no more than a dependant of civilization. Interpretations as recent as the thinker John Ruggie's embedded liberalism, which clarified the role of modern economics inside social relations, had to be put aside.
Soon enough this pretence of forgetting was forgotten. One gauge of our ability to remember has been the reaction of the economist John Williamson, the author of 'The Washington Consensus;' to the way in which other people used his 1989 ten-point description of what Western bankers wanted from indebted Latin American countries. It quickly became the ten commandments of the neo-conservative Globalist movement.
At first he was bemused, then annoyed, then he actually began explaining and protesting, and finally he made it clear that he had no neo-conservative sympathies and disagreed with many aspects of Globalization as applied - for example, the opening-up of capital markets.16 In 2002 he was still trying to make his intentions clear: "I, of course never intended my terms to imply policies like capital account liberalization, monetarism, supply-side economics, or a minimal state (getting the state out of welfare provision and income redistribution), which I think of as the quintessentially neo-liberal ideas. If that is how the term is interpreted, then we can all enjoy its wake:' You cannot help feeling sorry for the man, trapped inside an international ideology. But his disavowal tells us where Globalization is sliding. In early 2004 the editor of Newsweek, Pareed Zakaria, wrote, "For almost every country today, its primary struggle centres on globalization issues - growth, poverty eradication, disease prevention, education, urbanization, the preservation of identity."17 He is right. Except most of these are not in any direct way Globalization issues. They are international, regional and nation-state issues. But why couldn't an ideology simply change bits and pieces of its definition of itself?
Because each ideology has a core belief that shapes the bits and pieces. The central perception of Globalization is that civilization should be seen through economics, and economics alone. If you add disease prevention or urbanization or preservation of identity (the characteristic of belonging somewhere) to a commercially driven view of human existence, you merely compound the confusion about how the world works. The difficulty is not in internationalism or international commerce. It is in Globalization's construct of how the two come about.
It was de Tocqueville in 1835 who said, "Can it be believed that the democracy which has overthrown the feudal system and vanquished kings will retreat before tradesmen and capitalists." The equivalent retreat today would be before private sector technocrats, money market specialists, the dominant school of economists and, of course, those public commentators who fit the role of adoring courtiers.]
Here are the Ten Fundamentals Williamson spoke of. note, this is the Hidden Agenda of the neo-cons, and specifically Harper and Bush! This is The New World Order Geoprge H.W. Bush spoke of back in 1991 just before the U.S. invaded Iraq to ‘save’ Kuwait. andother instance of the clear use of WMD’s (Words of Mass Deception) by the U.S. Administration hiding behind the Bush.
List of recommendations
The consensus included ten broad sets of recommendations:
* Fiscal policy discipline;
* Redirection of public spending from subsidies (“especially indiscriminate subsidies”) toward broad-based provision of key pro-growth, pro-poor services like primary education, primary health care and infrastructure investment;
* Tax reform – broadening the tax base and adopting moderate marginal tax rates;
* Interest rates that are market determined and positive (but moderate) in real terms;
* Competitive exchange rates;
* Trade liberalization – liberalization of imports, with particular emphasis on elimination of quantitative restrictions (licensing, etc.); any trade protection to be provided by low and relatively uniform tariffs;
* Liberalization of inward foreign direct investment;
* Privatization of state enterprises;
* Deregulation – abolition of regulations that impede market entry or restrict competition, except for those justified on safety, environmental and consumer protection grounds, and prudent oversight of financial institutions; and,
* Legal security for property rights.
Go and read what the words said, and look at what has happened since. There is your proof that Stephen Harper does not ‘Love Canada’. Harper just is another Globalist Puppet trying to re-establish the Imperial Roman Empire under the disguise of ‘Democracy and Freedom.’
By Herb on 05.03.08 9:20 am
“essential sources for information”
Now there is an interesting thought. Begs the question, what is information?
Is it fact, fallacy, bits of truths intermingled with personal perspective, cherry picked quotes and misrepresentation?
Welcome to the blogosphere folks, we have it all here. Trying to accurately assess this crap could be a life’s work.
The article you posted Herb comes awfully close to the content offered on many blog sites. Start the recipe with bits and pieces of facts, add a dash of contemporary emotional based issues and then round it all up with opinion and stick an arrow on the end saying, walk this way.
Given the references this guy used, adds support to my contention that blogging is largely the new age propaganda machine and his column shows how dangerously close the large news sources are coming to this low ebb as well.
If a blog operator employs gossip newspaper based methods 75% of the time, then it is difficult to accept anything they have to say the rest of the time. Same for a newspaper columnist.
I don’t get the message. I am missing some pieces to the puzzle. Never heard of Norad before. Sorry.
Thanks.
By Sandy Canchuk on 05.03.08 12:47 am
Oh my, you are Young’n, eh?
Here is the story of NORAD
If you do not know what NORAD is, then I am quite sure you have never learned the song Duck and Cover, much less seen the film we all grew up with in North America during the Cold War. Fortunately, you can return to those Heady Days of Yersteryear and participate as well via the internet. LOL
Here is a tip from what we, somewhat jokingly, said about the era ‘When you see the flash, place your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye!’
While I share your delight that a colleague has gained recognition, I share Greg W’s concern that the presence of the ominous threat was not as ominous as presented, but a manufactured context to enhance the influence of the military-industrial complex as is examined in this additonal set of videos produced for the BBC:
http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/trap1.php
BTW, I have just finished reading ‘Harper’s Team’ and am examining the writings of one of Flanagan’s intellectual heroes, Friedrich Hayek. I am struck by the way the behaviour of this present government pays homage to certain ideals, but goes out of its way to act counter to them. More later.
By Herb on 05.03.08 9:20 am,
What this debate is essential about is the right of the private communication industry to promote their spin. Freedom of the press has been reinterpreted to mean the freedom to discriminate. What they are defending is the right of the private censorship of ideas and the promotion of others in order to manipulate public opinion.
The debate should about the limits of media freedom to promote an agenda. With the concentration of ownership and the admission that owners censor certain viewpoints should the media be allowed total freedom to promote certain forms of propaganda.
If you are presenting a one-sided point of view that is designed to create prejudice against another group is that a “natural right?”
By Greg on 05.03.08 10:42 am
Read Kathy English’s (Star’s Public Editor) column in today’s Star on the difference beyween news reporting and opnion. she nails it nicely.
Clearly, this column is my opinion
Linda, the story is absolutely legitimate.
It is quite telling that the public has taken so long to listen to what is going on with Human Rights Commissions across the country, at the federal, and provincial levels.
Keith Martin, now a Liberal MP, presented this Notice of a private member’s motion (not Bill, but Motion)this year:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=2&DocId=3227597&File=11
“M-446 — January 30, 2008 — Mr. Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca) — That, in the opinion of the House, subsection 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act should be deleted from the Act.”
This describes it a bit more:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/02/06/the-national-post-editorial-board-on-human-rights-legislation-keith-martin-s-good-fight.aspx
“Mr. Martin filed notice of a private member’s motion in favour of repealing subsection 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA). That section makes it a punishable offence to use telephones or the internet to promote “hatred or contempt” of any of the protected groups in the CHRA. By and large, the impugned behaviour is the same as that which is covered by the hate-propaganda section of the Criminal Code, Section 319. The difference in the context of human rights law is that a party who takes offence can have an investigation launched, and force a fellow citizen to undertake a legal defence, without having to comply with the rules of due process or the evidentiary standards that prevail in an actual courtroom.”
It is important to know that Stephan Dion asked Keith Martin to withdraw that motion.
And it is imortant to note the apparent lack of support, to debate this motion, from *any* other MPs.
It will be up to the public, especially those who use the internet or appreciate opinion columns, to show they have an interest in what is happening with cases being taken to the various HRCs.
Herb
Well Comrade, it has been a study. They are down to trying to divert me with don’t pick on the lady tactics, calling me nasty names and threatening to call me even nastier names if I don’t cease and desist with presenting alternative point of view and information that contradicts the accepted positions.
As far as winning arguments is concerned, that’s easy. They defeat themselves most of the time. There are a few very knowledgeable people who post there, but unless they support the head bobbing, they are ridiculed when not around to defend themselves.
One thing that I think is notable, they don’t have any sense of humor. Making a joke just seems to infuriate them even more.
At the end of the day, if there is a significant number who read and don’t post because they don’t want to deal with the backlash, and an effect is being had on them it might be worth it. If not, it probably isn’t. The core of 30 or so who post can’t be convinced by facts, and weight of evidence. Most of the time they don’t read the evidence linked to.
It has provided a greater understanding of how the blogosphere works though.
Reader beware.
So how would you summarize your experience there?
When dining with Robert Gates bring up this topic.
I QUOTE HISTORIAN WEBSTER GRIFFIN TARPLEY.
Robert Gates was an integral part of the gun-running, drug-running, and death squad murders lumped under the heading of the Iran-Contra scandal. Gates started in Iran-contra as a stooge of William Casey, and continued under Bush the elder.
When Gates was nominated by Reagan to be head of the CIA in 1987, his role in Iran-contra crimes was already so filthy and so blatant that he was forced to drop out of contention under questioning. In doing this, Gates was seeking to defend his new master, George H.W. Bush, who at that time was preparing a presidential bid for 1988. The elder Bush was the czar of all Reagan-Bush covert operations, including Iran-contra. Gates fell on his sword to avoid revelations which would have doomed the candidacy of Bush the elder. Payback for Gates came in June 1991, when he was nominated once again to be head of the CIA, this time by Bush the elder. Sam Nunn and some others posed embarrassing questions, but this time the cover-up of Gates’ Iran-contra role was supervised by Sen. David Boren of the Bush Skull & Bones clique. The Democrats, intimated by the elder Bush’s apparent victory in the first Gulf war, rolled over. If Gates was too dirty to even get to a vote in committee in 1987, how can he be acceptable today?
BTW, I have just finished reading ‘Harper’s Team’ and am examining the writings of one of Flanagan’s intellectual heroes, Friedrich Hayek. I am struck by the way the behaviour of this present government pays homage to certain ideals, but goes out of its way to act counter to them. More later.
By persona sine ingenio on 05.03.08 10:55 am
Hayek is also one of Harper’s intellectual heroes and is considered a Liberal philosopher as is Adam Smith who Harper follows. In essence, Harper and Flanagan are classical Liberals.
The difference is that they have selected certain parts of the classical Liberal philosophy and put it in the classical conservative context of hierarchy and economic class entitlement.
Hayek actually warned against that when he wrote: “A Conservative movement, by its very nature, is bound to be a defender of established privilege and to lean on the power of government for the protection of privilege.” This is precisely what the Harper ideology does. It is designed to protect the privilege of the economic elite by giving them special access to political influence (e.g. the NACC) and by decreasing the availability of measures designed to promote equality (e.g. cancelling of the court challenges program, programs to promote women’s equality.)
The new Conservative theory is that the marketplace results in the “cream rising to the top” and that “cream” are entitled to special privilege.
In this form of hierarchy paths to personal success, other than economic success, is down-graded so that academia, science, and other roads to personal achievement are discounted.
AHA! More Caesar Disgustus’ ‘I am IN CONTROL’ mutterings from his minions.
Minister blasts troops’ Taliban talks: Negotiating is not military’s job: MacKay
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Members of the Canadian military who have been encouraging low- and mid-level Taliban to talk with Afghan authorities were out of line, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday.
A Toronto newspaper quoted Lt.-Col. Gordon Corbould, the new battle group commander, and Sgt. Tim Seeley, a civilian-military co-operation officer for Canada’s Provincial Reconstruction Team, on Thursday as saying that channels were being opened to moderate Taliban.
Other officials in Kandahar, who spoke privately, backed up the military’s assessment, calling it creative thinking.
But they were sternly corrected by the minister.
Gee, sure reminds me of ‘Nam, where the Belt Loop Brain Trust in Washington, D.C., ran the show, despite being as clueless as rocks about the realities. Boiy, were they on Top of things…58,000 DEAD TROOPS to be exact.
By John Duddy. on 05.03.08 11:29 am
No wonder Harper eliminated the database,
How embarassing that facts should ever come out regarding corrupt governemnt’s actions.
Fortunately, according to the news reports, there are several backups of the data, but that does not cover new data that is currently being produced by the tonne within OUR government.
Thanks for the cite. Very remindful to we Boomers, and informative to the newer generations.
By linda on 05.03.08 10:21 am
Good morning Linda. Didn’t mean to ignore you especially where you appear to be a likely recruit. All parties are welcome in the Revolution.
C.B. posted on the free speech issue. I will try to augment that somewhat shortly.
Good posting, Garth … but it sounds so … anti-Liberal.
You are no doubt aware that Liberals are violently and viciously peddling their anti-American propaganda, in the hope of gaining votes with their crass nationalism. You got the Toronto multiculti vote, but that’s not enough to form a national party or government.
I somehow sense you are out-of-step with the Liberalistas whose only rationale for existence is getting back to power .. and yer riding the wrong horse with Dion.
Oh well .. at least you are a fiscal conservative attempting to disguise yourself as a social liberal .. good luck, because you’ll need it. A Dion-Liberal Carbon Tax will finish you off in Halton .. believe it!!
Glad someone is reading this.
Here is more from Webster Griffin Tarpley.
http://www.911blogger.com/node/4864
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 10:39 am
Too many words … what’s your point other than you are a Yankee-hating Commie ..??!!!
C.B.Innes:
Thanks for the follow up. One of the recurring catch phrases Flanagan uses repeatedly is ‘traditional values’, yet he never formally defines what he means by them. The only clarification comes late in the book and hearkens back to a sort of John Waynish self-reliant trustworthiness. Do you have any links that might elucidate the meaning of the concept, as they perceive it?
Tories kill access to information database.
From the CBC
“To do this now after the CAIRS’ usefulness has been proven over and over again is indicative of the extent to which government will go to stifle the access regime,” said Michel Drapeau, a lawyer who frequently uses the system and is a co-author of a reference work on access law.
“This is terrible and I consider this to be yet one more step in making records less accessible,” he told Canadian Press.
New Democrat MP Dawn Black also condemned the Tories for shutting down the system.
“It’s another example of the Harper government’s talk about accountability and transparency — they talk the talk but they don’t walk the walk,” said Black, who said her office often uses the database.
I Note that the “Trolls” have NOT commented on this.
Could it be that they approve of the LIERs plans to “Have Open and Transparent” gov.
Just another “Brick in the Wall”
Comments Harry/Catherine/Leasa/etc.
Bill and Linda
The article in the Star does address a good deal of what I was talking about, and can be expanded somewhat to the free speech issues.
This excerpt is a good place to start;
“But sound journalistic practice still demands a clear distinction between news and opinion so that readers understand what is opinion and what is reporting in the newspaper. Articles that contain opinion or personal interpretation should always be clearly identified.”
This is true and opinion based items should be very clearly marked as should news analysis as it is often based on individual bias and viewpoints. That is part of the human condition.
Having a separate section like sports, should help many to become aware of where fact and opinion may well part company. Also, as more and more people use the internet and blogs as sources of information, maybe it would be more helpful to set standards that require blog operators to clearly identify opinion based material including when they reference other opinion based material. I say this because not all people pay close attention to the sources of information and are open to accepting these things as fact.
That is where we start to cross into the great divide of the free speech debate.
Some blog operators grab a couple of sources from Media or other, post that perhaps with a little comment to set the tone, then sit back and edit out comments that conflict with the message they want to convey or, by using alternate ID’s, post opinions to lead the group thought. This type of round a bout can lead to all kinds of dinky things happening up to and including the kind of wars that are going on between HRC’s , bloggers and lawyers. That’s one consideration.
Another is that those making complaints to HRC’s don’t pay legal expenses. Those defending do. That doesn’t seem right.
By C. B. Innes on 05.03.08 10:59 am
I posted a rebuttal to your arbitrary statements about ‘MARKETS DON’T WORK”
but it was not posted by Garth for some reason?
Markets deserve an opportunity to provide a win-win possibility as we can always default to a command and control tax regime which may or may not work.
That was the essence of my response.
William Dahl – thanks for the reminder that things haven’t changed in the Yukon since I spent a couple of winters inside in the mid 70s.
Very sad, very true – and typical of the ongoing attitude of urban Canada and its politicians – its ok to rape the north and leave an ungodly mess because nobody important lives there.
And if anyone thinks this attitude doesn’t still exist, look at the obvious racism in the high-handed actions of Platinex – and the ongoing refusal to address the downstream concerns from Fort Mac and the mines around Lake Athabaska.
Comrade Herb will be on the drum, I’ll play the fife and you can carry the flag if you want. You can also use it to whack Trolls.
By Greg on 05.02.08 7:59 pm
I prefer to carry my Marine NCO Saber. I find it is a very efficient means of ‘Getting to the point’. LOL
Pssst I also play drums, and have several great Piper friends. The pipes will cause many enemies to flee, (as well as friends and family in close quarters.) LOL
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 10:54 am
I brought this forward from a couple of threads ago, wanted to know if there was room for a 12 string Martin?
G’day y’all, and to begin a real interview with a real person.
No sexism intended. Some may have read this before, but nevertheless, it shows how utterly stoopid these “politically correct” dimwits can outfox even themselves.
There was a pic of the General, but I haven’t included it.
****************************************
The Best Put Down Line Ever
For those that don’t know him, Major General Peter Cosgrove is an “Australian treasure!”
General Cosgrove was interviewed on the radio recently.
You’ll love his reply to the lady who interviewed him concerning guns and children. Regardless of how you feel about gun laws you gotta love this!
This is one of the best comeback lines of all time. It is a portion of an ABC interview between a female broadcaster and General Cosgrove who was about to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military headquarters.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
So, General Cosgrove, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?
GENERAL COSGROVE:
We’re going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery and shooting.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Shooting! That’s a bit irresponsible, isn’t it?
GENERAL COSGROVE:
I don’t see why, they’ll be properly supervised on the rifle range.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
Don’t you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?
GENERAL COSGROVE:
I don’t see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.
FEMALE INTERVIEWER:
But you’re equipping them to become violent killers.
GENERAL COSGROVE:
Well, Ma’am, you’re equipped to be a prostitute, but you’re not one, are you?
The radio went silent.
****************************************
Now, I shall postulate that I find it rather disturbing (a gross understatement BTW) that all along, it was not those Soviet ICBM’s that were the real threat to all of us. No, it was, and remains, the threat of American and Canadian, and international Agents of Greed.
See if you agree?
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 10:39 am
Agreed. From what I know, which isn’t much, less than five per cent of the world’s populaton controls more than 95% of the wealth (economies) of the world.
The Eastern Block was never a problem. It was a giant illusion, created and perpetuated by western govt.’s so as to further eradicate people’s basic rights.
Remember when Reagan publicly said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall” how easily it came down?
Until the concentration of wealth is broken and the wealth itself becomes more equitably distributed, what exists now will stay in place.
Witness Iraq, Af’stan, Iran and sooner or later, the entire Middle East, especially as a number of countries are now ditching the greenback in favor of the Euro, Ruble and Yuan for trading oil and other commodities.
dubya, cheney, harpo, etc., must keep these wars going, so as to keep Halliburton continually making solid profits — they are the ones that make WMD.
This is their business — the killing business.
“I somehow sense you are out-of-step with the Liberalistas whose only rationale for existence is getting back to power .. and yer riding the wrong horse with Dion.”
By Harry….
Well it is better than riding the crooked horse you are riding…
STEPHEN HARPER…
HE LIED TO INVESTORS ON INCOME TRUSTS.
(Hurting seniors near or on retirement as they don’t have the time frame to recuperate their losses)
ADMITTED ON TAPE he was aware of a financial offer to Cadman. (looks very much like vote buying)
ADMITTED THE CPC used the “IN & OUT SCHEME”
in their campaign financing.
His chief of staff, most likely under instructions from Harper, tried to INTERFERE in another country’s election process.
NAFTAGATE: (Probably doing a favour for his idol Bushie)
He tried to SMEAR Liberal MP Bains in the House of Commons.
(The character of Stevie exposed, like the smear against Martin as favouring child pornography and Liberals supporting the Taliban)
He ran on having an ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT, then immediately appointed an unaccountable minister.
(Hiding Michael Fortier in the Senate, the same senate he opposed as unelected, then appointed Fortier)
HE SAID HIS GOVERNMENT WOULD BE DIFFERENT from the dishonest Liberal government, they are the same if not worse.
(too many scandals to get them on one post, Baird, Day etc. etc..)
He MUZZLES HIS MINISTERS and only allows them to talk in public after the content has been cleared with the PMO. Now he wants to muzzle all government offices by having them clear everything with the PMO before releasing information.
Then he has scraped the Co-ordination of Access to Information Requests to deny access to Canadians to millions of pages of once secret documents.
He BROKE HIS WORD on the Atlantic Accord.
He SENDS HIS SMALL MINDED FINANCE MINISTER out to pick a fight with Ontario, the same finance minister that left Ontario with a $5.6 billion deficit and claimed it was balanced.
(Now we will have another problem with small minded Jim, if the
federal finances slip into deficit, will we know?)
And of course, Mr. Flaherty has problems with his untendered contracts….
Meanwhile the CPC is hell bent on TAKING AWAY ONTARIO’S representation based on population.
(Obviously the CPC is not interested in Ontario voters)
Remember that poor MILITARY WIDOW in the Maritimes that Harper promised she would get her pension, did she ever get it?
NOW we have the RCMP VISITING the CPC headquarters with a warrant? What illegal action has taken place?
COULD IT BE DEFRAUDING THE TAXPAYERS?
HIDES BEHIND PARLIAMENTARY PRIVLEDGE TO LIE ABOUT LIBERAL APPOINTMENTS!
Poor Stevie Harper…seems to be a DISHONEST & UNETHICAL leader!
Something for the inquisitive mind.
“G. Edward Griffin exposes the most blatant scam of all history. It’s all here: the cause of wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depression, prosperity. It’s just exactly what every American and Canadian needs to know about the power of the central bank.”
For starters I’m sure that most people are not aware that the USFed Reserve is NOT a gov’t agency.
At a time when we could be making changes to the Bank Act of Canada,
I think you will tremendously enjoy what Griffin has to offer.
The entire book is available in print and audio at this link.
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm
I hope you will make time this weekend to read it.
Garth
Gerry Ritz – The Enemy Combatant of the Science
So I listened to the interview of Gerry Ritz our Minister of Agriculture on “The House” with Kathleen Petty this morning. He seemed very excited after all he managed to get an environment bill C-33 through the Agriculture Committee to third reading. Farmers who grow corn, wheat, barley, canola will share in the wealth of this emerging bio-fuel strategy.
I love the smell of ethanol in the morning.
Of course if Gerry bothered to read the actual crop yields he might learn that sugar beets would provide the best yield of Canadian food crops in ethanol production output.
Unfortunately for poor old Gerry, Kathleen can read and asked about the Library of Parliament report on ethanol. He commented that the report was based on the assumption that farm production for ethanol is based on a 100% corn based solution. (Wrong Gerry)
Kathleen pressed old Gerry about the net GHG emission rate would only be reduced by 1% . Good old Gerry replies he has a report from Resources Canada that is much higher then that. (hmmm was it vetted by a peer review can I see it?)
Well I wonder if Gerry has a copy of the 2007 never published report from those pesky scientists over at Environment Canada. They measured tailpipe emissions in four different car models with 10% ethanol blended gasoline. “The study found no statistical difference between the greenhouse gas emissions of regular unleaded fuel and 10 per cent ethanol blended fuel.”
Those poor guys were muzzled after that little gem appeared in the press in March 2007.
I love the smell of manure in the morning.
Take Action Fast
The First Reading of Bill C-51 was on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
The Second Reading is Scheduled for Monday, April 28th, 2008
It appears that our Government is trying to fast track this bill before anyone has a chance to challenge it. Bills normally take months to pass not weeks.
http://www.stopc51.com/c51/what_you_can_do.asp
Also, if you have never heard of TILMA
please read.
http://www.canadians.org/DI/issues/TILMA/backgrounder.html
Disneyland goes to war-torn Iraq, with a multi-million dollar entertainment complex, to be built on a 50 acre lot adjacent to the Green Zone. (“Fun park rises from ruins of Baghdad zoo”, The Times, London, 24 April 2008)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8837
And everybody thought it was about oil.Jeeez.No rocket launchers or AK-47′s allowed on the Merry-go-Round.
Maybe Harper can re-hire Manley to investigate something along the same lines for Kabul.Step right up and come on in to Karzai’s Kabul National Exhibition.Free poppy seeds to the first one hundred visitors.Canadian politicians not admitted unless accompanied by an adult.
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 10:39 am
Too many words … what’s your point other than you are a Yankee-hating Commie ..??!!!
By Harry S on 05.03.08 12:10 pm
This is your basic problem Harry, 90% of your posts contain insults, you somehow believe this makes you masculine, which you obviously have a problem with…
On the other hand, you are a creative writer, but never let the facts get in your way, you just pull off your little tirades of emotion probably because there is no one in your life.
If there is, you have probably so alienated them, they now remain silent.
I also suspect you are a coward, you would not dare make the comments you have to Bill Muskoka and others if they were in your presence. I suspect you are a little man in all ways, especially emotionally.
Any real man would have some sense of compassion and fair play, which you obviously are lacking in spades. Now I realize Harry, that my “copy and paste” repetitive posts are annoying to you, however, where we differ is mine are based on fact and not the fiction you spew on here. Oh BTW…I am a male, with a wonderful caring wife and family, just another place you erred!
I do hope you continue with your creative garbage, you are the best advertisement for a vote against the CPC.
wanted to know if there was room for a 12 string Martin?
By pjw on 05.03.08 1:38 pm
Yes PJ, there is.
Recruiting is going well. It’s been a good week.
Welcome Comrade.
I posted a rebuttal to your arbitrary statements about ‘MARKETS DON’T WORK”
but it was not posted by Garth for some reason?
Markets deserve an opportunity to provide a win-win possibility as we can always default to a command and control tax regime which may or may not work.
That was the essence of my response.
By Calberta on 05.03.08 1:15 pm
That’s because you posted them on the previous forum.
I have posted a response to your arbitrary arguments there.
they quashed the freedom to information data base.. all I can say is WTF!!!!!!
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/02/cairs.html
BY BEL ON 05.02.08 10:29 PM
BEL,
Thanks for that, it’s going out to Friends, Relatives, Associates and Neighbours, as Esther says.. FRAN. This is getting so unbelievable. He’s hamstringing everything.
A.R. Wainwright, (and others) – anyone who applauds the diminishing of access to information, (such as the shutting down of CAIRS), has just shouted from the rooftops that they don’t want to be able to think for themselves.
I know that thinking for yourself is hard work, and often uncomfortable, but mommy and daddy and the great leader aren’t always right – and their mistakes can threaten your self-preservation.
Take Action Fast
The First Reading of Bill C-51 was on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
The Second Reading is Scheduled for Monday, April 28th, 2008
It appears that our Government is trying to fast track this bill before anyone has a chance to challenge it. Bills normally take months to pass not weeks.
http://www.stopc51.com/c51/what_you_can_do.asp
Also, if you have never heard of TILMA
please read.
http://www.canadians.org/DI/issues/TILMA/backgrounder.html
BY RON P ON 05.03.08 2:35 PM
This is very scary. What the hell is going on. Does anyone else have some links for a big picture of what’s up.
I brought this forward from a couple of threads ago, wanted to know if there was room for a 12 string Martin?
By pjw on 05.03.08 1:38 pm
Now THAT is a heavenly sound. Had A Guild F-512 12 string, and a Guild D-35 6-string. The Martins were sooooooo smooth on the actions.
A few of my Buds had Martins and we used to compare the two brands. Both excellent. Then there were the Ovations (Glen Campbell’s fiberglas ‘thang!’), which we called ‘Ovulations!’ LOL
Lots of Gord Lightfoot, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Biaz, Mason Williams, and my dear friend Bill Wilson, songs were played on those instruments. Memories indeed, very pleasant.
Nothing like rolling through the Autumn midwest countryside on a 1916 custom observation car behind an Express train at 70 MPH, singing ‘The City of New Orleans’ in the moonlight, and drinking cold beers.
Those were some very good days.
By Bonnie N BC on 05.03.08 2:33 pm
Motoring: Toyota wins biofuel race
5:00AM Wednesday November 07, 2007
Toyota’s locally developed racing series is a world first in its use of environmentally ethical fuel production and use with the adoption this year of an E85 ethanol (85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent 95 octane petrol) fuel blend.
In extensive testing, the fuel consistently burned cooler than petrol and delivered reduced emissions. In the process of re-tuning the engines for the new fuel, power and torque gains were also noted.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/9/story.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10474151
GM’s Corvette racing team is also using biofuel made from wood chips. I also saw a program on this a few months ago and the Toyota team had moved to 100% ethanol and claimed it gave considerably better fuel economy, so much so that they reduced the size of the fuel tanks and thus the weight of the car which is important in racing. They also claimed a significant increase in power.
LOL at Hairy’s assinine assumptions. ‘Yankee hating Commie’ That is so rich.
Here is what PM Margaret Thatcher had to say about the Globalist’s manifesto:
Nothing is more insidiuous than a fashionable consensus’, and ‘surely there is something logically suspect about a solution which is always correct whatever the problem.’
She said this referring to the so-called ‘New World Order’ and the idiotic concept that ‘economics’ and privatization alone could solve civilizations’ serious problems.
John Ralston Saul adds “Nothing is more comfortable than a consensus that has the answer to every problem. It is as if Karl Marx’s historical determinism had been transmorgified directly into the brains of the Globalists, particularly the neo-liberal sort.” (page 37 of his afremoentioned book)
By Charles Oxley on 05.03.08 1:46 pm
One advantage of being one of the Original Boomers is I can still recall watching and listening to Dwight D. Eisenhower’s speech (live BTW) warning about the military/industrial complex. He was right, and so are YOU mon ami!
Consider that about 50% of every U.S. Federal Tax Dollar goes to support that mysterious thing called ‘Defense’.
Nicholas Cage portrayed it very well in ‘Lord of War!’
Sadly, the American people are good, but seem to have the same relationship with their government as a Remora does with a Shark! You will benefit from the ride, get plenty of scraps to eat, just do not piss off the host!
Its ok to rape the north and leave an ungodly mess because nobody important lives there.
And if anyone thinks this attitude doesn’t still exist, look at the obvious racism in the high-handed actions of Platinex – and the ongoing refusal to address the downstream concerns from Fort Mac and the mines around Lake Athabaska.
By William Laidlaw on 05.03.08 1:34 pm
Which reminds me of the many PCB contaminated DEW Line sites the U.S. has left in OUR Arctic. Canada insisted the U.S. Navy come in and remove the contamination.
We got about same results as the softwood lumber issues. NADA!
By Harry S on 05.03.08 12:05 pm
Just for Harry
FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITY
Stephane Dion proudly leads the Liberal Party of Canada. A Party that built the national social safety net we today take for granted.
Liberals created public pensions for our seniors.
Liberals created our national health care system.
Liberals created employment insurance for our unemployed.
Liberals created child benefit programs for our families.
Liberals were the first to talk about making work pay and using the tax system to help Canadians get over the welfare wall.
Stephane Dion will be calling on Canadians to support the Liberal Party’s 30-50 Plan, to join in common cause with us as we embark on a war on poverty never seen before in Canada’s history.
We will win this war not by keeping people dependent but by helping them become self-sufficient.
We will champion the dignity of work. We will champion families.
We will work with the provinces, we will work with communities, we will work with the Learning Enrichment Foundation and other similar organizations.
We will be the best partner that you ever had.
We will work with all Canadians and because of that we will succeed. And we will have a richer Canada, a Greener Canada, and a fairer Canada for ourselves, our children and generations to come.
Stephane Dion is a leader. He defines true leadership.
By Greg on 05.03.08 4:13 pm
Recall, if you can, that the Indy 500 cars used to run on pure alcohol, aka, methanol. Ethanol, is the biomass derivative means. Methanol is derived from wood alcohol. The safety problem with alcohol is that it burns invisibly making fires very dangerous to crews and drivers.
The recent program ‘Car of the Future’ discloses how waste materials (i.e., corn husks, stalks, and otherwise worthless weeds) can be readily turned into Ethanol. Now that solves the food consumption problem nicely.
The Old Boys down in the Appalachians can teach a few things about ‘distillin’ to them thar city scientists I think? LOL Same problem arises it seems…Damn Revenuers from that blasted Washington, DC bunch, the BATF (Bureau of Assault, Fanatics, and Terrorism, a Division of TADA…The Treasury Department).
That doesn’t even deal with the fact that salt water yields a highly efficient gas when subjected to microwave radiation. A technology just now coming into vogue!
The majority of anti-bio-fuel people are being funded by …(ready?) the Oil Industry! SHOCKED? I am sure you are…NOT!
The secret to success is RENEWABLE RESOURCES! Only the Green Party is talking such a Sustainable Economy. It is part of their published PLATFORM!
Bottom line is this…If want real change, then Vote Green, and send the Old Parties to the bench. Otherwise, adn we know their track record the past two years PROVES it, we will just re-cycle the same CRAP we have been dealing with for far too long.
Maybe a serious Time Out will get them to forget power (because they won’t have it) and focus on the best ideas to make Canada the best country for ALL people.
STOP the 10 year cycles of Boom and Bust and stabilize our society by forethought and long range real planning.
Those were some very good days.
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 4:13 pm
Thanks Bill & Greg as well…but now I am going to disappoint you Bill….Elvis, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and some of the Eagles….that’s about all I can do…
A.R. Wainwright and KPN,
I checked a map — the two supermarkets are in a village (town) called Merindol, and Aix-en-Provence is also quite close.
Looking back, we went up the eastern side through Dijon, Reims — all sorts of places — and it took about a day and half driving to the ferry at Calais.
We ended up with a rich helping of life there!
****************************************
By Ron p on 05.03.08 2:23 pm
Hi Ron. When we lived in Trawna in the ’80s, one of the Toronto Sun columnists was Gary Dunford, who wrote the Page Six column (don’t know whether he does now).
I recall one thing in particular that he wrote: “. . . the banks pay interest five days a week and charge seven, so they get two days of pure profit . . .”.
No doubt banks and others are the underlings to our supposed “masters” — those are the ones continually getting richer each moment.
****************************************
Today’s WW from The Okanagan Saturday:
“Money often costs too much.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Akin to what Ron P mentioned, and in terms of war, food costs, oil prices — bear in mind that when oil companies want bigger profits, they turn off the taps which leads to higher pump prices, then make excuses why oil is so high — money is grossly expensive with the costs of messing up folks’ lives.
Not too bad. The HTML is somewhat amateurish, those tables are not well done but hey it is a cross scripted half css mess. Just like I used to make back in the day. Yes carnagepro is not exemplary by any means
. One day I’ll fix it …. maybe.
Elvis, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and some of the Eagles….that’s about all I can do…
By pjw on 05.03.08 5:16 pm
I can play popcorn on my cheeks.
Sheesh … the Liberal tribe is now reminiscing, regurgitating, and licking their wounds in mutual pity … and doing anything but broaching the fact that their leader is a dunce and generally ignoring the essence of what our MP Garth is posting and signaling about the lugubrious Liberals … oh .. and also reduced to cut & pasting old and irrelevant claims about Dion ..!!!
What a pathetic pack of poltroons you are …!!!!
NEW rules for entering Alberta:
1. Bring your own house.
2. If going to the Oil Sands, bring your own house, school and hospital.
3. If going to Edmonton, wear your flak jacket. This is the murder capital of Canada.
4. If driving to Edmonton, it is also the auto theft centre of Canada.
5. If you are bringing drugs, head to Fort McMurray, the drug capital of Canada.
6. If you are looking for work, look no further. Minimum wage is $15.60/hour.
7. If you work downtown, parking costs $15.00/hour.
8. If you are able to buy a house in Edmonton, or Calgary, why not spend the money on a 15 year holiday?
9. If you drive a Hummer, look out. We have about the highest gas prices in Canada. The Alberta Advantage.
10. In Edmonton we have 5 hospitals. 10 years ago we had 7. Don’t come here sick.
11. In Calgary the population has exploded. The last road was paved 12 years ago. Calgary is a no parking zone.
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 5:12 pm
Re: Biofuel and Hillbilly Kickapoo joy juice.
They all have an agenda. That’s the problem. Significantly reducing consumption of fossil fuel will require pursuing any and all means according to viability in given regions.
I think even the oil companies can see the value in pursuing this logic and are involved in development of alternatives themselves. It is in their interest to slow the use of oil and gas according to a schedule of their choosing. Sell less, charge more basically and use some of those funds to develop alternate sources. Gradually giving themselves majority control in a number of areas. Ethanol may be a sore spot for them as it can be made quite easily. So can biofuel that can power diesels and heating systems. A little internet research on this provides a surprising array of applications and possibilities.
I was looking into the use of used cooking oil for example and when the sources are considered, it can be significant. As everything from restaurants, bakeries, snortin’ Horton’s and fast food outlets to institutional facilities and food processing plants use it. Collection is simple but somewhat time consuming. Still, it is usually acquired at source simply for taking it away. There are some commercial fleets who are already using it and some fairly large businesses that have set up to process it as well.
Now here is the amazing thing. With the use of tiny bit of additive to thin it, it can used in a diesel vehicle with no more processing than just filtering it first. Here’s a video that shows it and a link that discusses it in more detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOFbsaNeZps
http://itotd.com/articles/509/vegetable-oil-as-diesel-fuel
The video is from the UK and they put the price of the fuel including additive at 3 pence. Then they say the taxes you should pay the government by law are 26 pence. Imagine that.
And Canadian like to make fun of Americans for not knowing geography. Mexico is indeed part of North America. But there are far more than 3 countries in North America. The Carribean AND Central America are also part of North America.
There is NO such continent as “Central America.” Don’t believe me… count for yourself:
1. Asia
2. Africa
3. North America
4. South America
5. Antarctica
6. Europe
7. Australia
Unless there’s some new fangled math that adds Central America but maintains 7 continents… or there’s now 8 continents on the planet… I think a few people need to go to summer school.
http://tinyurl.com/3eelvt
Elvis, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and some of the Eagles….that’s about all I can do…
By pjw on 05.03.08 5:16 pm
ROFLMAO!
OK, comeupance time PJW!
Elvis was great to listen to. He got his Shake & Shimmy from his mother, who performed barefoot as a Snake Dancer at a Pentecostal Church.
Dylan…What the Hell is he saying? LOL
Johnny Cash, now there was a Boy named Sue who knew what to do! *snicker…he was great…no doubt about it*
Then we come to the all time, best DAMN BAND ever to cut tracks…The Eagles! Seconded only by Fleetwood Mac (IMHO)
Eat you heart out mon (mas) ami, We have really GREAT TICKETS for the Eagles’ ‘Long Road Out of Eden’ Tour at Air Canada Centre in July! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beat that, eh! *snicker*
Time to go make some Perogies for dinner here! Then watch ‘Stealth’ on the Space Channel!
Eat you heart out mon (mas) ami, We have really GREAT TICKETS for the Eagles’ ‘Long Road Out of Eden’ Tour at Air Canada Centre in July! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beat that, eh! *snicker*
Time to go make some Perogies for dinner here! Then watch ‘Stealth’ on the Space Channel!
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 7:03 pm
You are right!!! Would love to see them…I’ll just have to settle for my Ipod….have a good evening!
I can play popcorn on my cheeks.
By Greg on 05.03.08 6:25 pm
LMAO….
By pjw on 05.03.08 5:16 pm
One of the beauties of today is that most of their works are ONLINE! Enjoy!!
Akin to what Ron P mentioned, and in terms of war, food costs, oil prices — bear in mind that when oil companies want bigger profits, they turn off the taps which leads to higher pump prices, then make excuses why oil is so high — money is grossly expensive with the costs of messing up folks’ lives.
By Charles Oxley on 05.03.08 5:42 pm
I, in fairness, will say this. Today finding new resources of oil is much more expensive than when they merely drilled wells on this continent.
Nowadays they have to spend millions, if not billions, to explore and find undersea fields. That still does not excuse the greed of the commodities market who are taking those needed profits.
If Intel could grow and expand based on in hand cash, then why can’t they?
Again, yet today, I bring forth the crux of the matter…Venture Capitalists who use knowlegeable people, then suck the profits off before the company has matured to self-sufficiency.
BTW, just watched ‘How It’s Made’ and they showed precisely how much corn waste there is in making canned corn.
All that waste is used for cattle feed, can also readily be converted into Ethanol.
By pjw on 05.03.08 7:43 pm
If you are in Ontario, or especially the GTA, have a couple hundred to spend, you may still be able to get tickets from Ticketmaster. I suggest the July 22nd performance, as the 21st is mot likely SOLD OUT! Good luck.
Hey, BTW, I have waited a lifetime to see them live. It is musical Nirvana to us.
From the banner atop National Newswatch this afternoon — “Minister blasts troops’ Taliban talks” and “Negotiating not military’s job: MacKay”
Someone might remind Mr. MacKay that the military’s job is to die — in large numbers — often because of decisions made by their political masters. I suspect that if Mr. MacKay were old enough to have a teenaged son — or even worse, a daughter — at the ‘front’, he might be a bit less of an arsehole in his comments about the military.
By pjw on 05.03.08 7:43 pm
If you are in Ontario, or especially the GTA, have a couple hundred to spend, you may still be able to get tickets from Ticketmaster. I suggest the July 22nd performance, as the 21st is mot likely SOLD OUT! Good luck.
Hey, BTW, I have waited a lifetime to see them live. It is musical Nirvana to us.
(WCS)
By Greg on 05.03.08 7:00 pm
Almost any fruit can be turned into alcohol. For instance, I once had a shot of 186 proof Hungarian Cherry Whiskey.
They are making orange based cleaners of numerous varieties now. In fact, take two nails, shove them into any citrus fruit, and you have electricity. Acid + Iron will generate electricity. Imagine those posibilities for electrical generation. Then you sell the drainage for Screwdriver drinks. LOL (Just kidding on the last part)
Moonshine is mellow compared to that stuff. hell, it qualifies as rocket fuel. LOL
watched a great program on food production last night. An old brewery in England (Hook & Something), that developed India Pale Ale is still using the same equipment and methods as they did back in the late 1800′s.
Fascinating program to say the least.
Well hello y’all. I never planned to comment on Garth’s blog today accept maybe to ditto all the Bill Stratas accolades. Bill is one of the most unaffected people I have ever met. He is web guy extraordinaire, patient, motivated and loyal to a fault. He has a sharp mind and a big heart. And heart, it seems, has been the reoccurring theme of the day. Doug and I woke up in a fog this morning. Literally!! At the ghastly hour of 530 am. We had arranged to meet Carey and Daniel in Milton for 615 am. Having a history of never being a morning person, this little odyssey was a stretch for me on many levels. The first one being, that we were heading east on the 401 into Jim Flaherty land to attend, wait for it, Liberal campaign manager training. Upon our arrival in Whitby, I felt a certain sense of almost poetic justice to feel this place as a touchstone for a kind of rebirth for the great Liberal machine. I thought that after all my years of indoctrination I mean, conservative campaign training, I owed it to Garth, the team and myself to see what the fabled Liberal machine had to offer. In a word, I was blown away! As much as I had spent 15 years of my life, and most notably the last 5 years learning the conservative tricks of the trade, today was my political epiphany. You see my cpc friends, today reminded me that campaigns are built from the bottom up. So take your taxpayer-paid-for-10%’r propaganda machine, take your anonymous, cowardly, cyber bully website, take your photo-op perpetual campaign masquerading as government political party and officially be put on notice, from my heart, the Liberal machine is getting retooled, recharged and revved. Today, for the first time in a long time, I felt enough heart to rival your bloated warchest; to challenge your bent obstruction of the rules, to stare down your quasi definition of accountability. As long as we remain the altruistic, basic champion of democracy and freedom in it’s purest form; then there is nothing that can ever daunt the human spirit. I met people today with ideals, a strategy, a plan Today, for the first time, in a long time, I felt Canada pulsating through my veins. And I liked it.
I can’t think of a more deserving person to receive this tribute. Congrats William. I’ve known William for a couple of years. He is my webmaster: Emphasis on the word master! His mastery and passion for web communication connected with my latent desire to go beyond the printed page. I spent 17 years in environment of printed pages and William has been my connection to the liberating democracy of the Web.
I am also happy that William has been nominated for the Norad mission. He is a refreshing thinker who speaks his mind. He is the type that can speak truth to power–and we need more of these folks.
Cheers William! Keep doing what you do so well!
By Reid on 05.03.08 7:01 pm
Why should the Carribean AND Central America be part of North America, and not part of South America?
Oh, while you are pondering that, can you explain to me where the continent called the Middle East? Rhetorical question, in case you did not guess.
Nowhere in my comment did I say that there was a continent called Central America. It is a region, like the Middle East.
Comrades,
sorry I am missing in action. Had to make like a Hero of Labour to-day: cut the power to study and computer to redo the incredible electrical work done by licensed electricians last year, then try to shim a 100 year-old ceiling joists straight enough for resilient channel tomorrow and drywall on Monday.
After all that, our computer won’t work, no doubt having inhaled as much Safe n’ Sound insulation dust as I did. Meanwhile, I’ve broken into the son’s machine, and hope that he can get ours going after he comes home from work past midnight.
Don’t start the revolution without me.
P.S.: No use for Presley and that ilk – I am and always was a classics man. Do enjoy the agony bag, however, as long as it’s at a safe distance.
P.P.S.: Eat your heart out, Hairy. Sometimes us poltroons think there are more important things to discuss than trolls.
Esther for GG!
…Venture Capitalists who use knowlegeable people, then suck the profits off before the company has matured to self-sufficiency.
By Bill-Muskoka on 05.03.08 8:01 pm
Pretty much “take the money and run”, but for how long can those venture capitalists keep running?
Your points are correct, mon ami.
BTW, re: PJW’s and Bonnie’s posts, keep up the great work — they’re annoying Trolls Unlimited, as they have nothing to counter with — EXCEPT THEIR SPIN DRIVEL!
Does anyone read FairyGodzillaHairy’s posts anymore? It really isn’t worth the effort!
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Can anyone, with a reasonable sense of fairness, read beyond the headline without bursting into uproarious laughter?
I tried and failed, and this is whom dimjim takes his lessons from.
Humanity has no hope!
http://tinyurl.com/4cpork
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Lil’ advice from Warren Buffet.
http://tinyurl.com/4hnwt7
Pretty much “take the money and run”, but for how long can those venture capitalists keep running?
By Charles Oxley on 05.03.08 9:53 pm
Until the desperate suckers run out. pretty much like the Flim-Flam man’s travels.
I personally witnessed about 6 very innovate, and well thought out companies be raped by such scumbags.
Who is to blame? The so-called banking industry. Some banks are very good, but the hardliners are anathema to real business growth.
Good night.
Hi Esther; I just want to thank you for your words. What comes from the heart, touches the heart…I think you were speaking of that; what the heart and human spirit can do for democracy and freedom…You have an important perspective too, having seen the difference between promoting CPC ideals and LPC ideals, as well as the methodology. They scare me Esther. But someone wise once said “courage is not the absence of fear…” I put everything I have and am on the line to fight these dudes, fair and square. Ever notice how they just can’t fight a fair honest fight? Just a brief glance at their tactics, changes, proposals and broken promises (lies) shows how they operate. It has to be skewered in their favour every single time. And if it isn’t?- fire them or shut them down or a myriad of other con tricks-couldn’t fight fair if their lives depended on it. Anyway Esther, and Garth, many of us are thankful for you and have hope for some of the other’s still there. Have a great and fun day! P.S. Herb- Esther for GG!! (Classical and pipes~ me too and me too!) I am studying the wealth of info I heard and found yesterday. Thanks to all. I will exercise what I believe is a free gift, to those with integrity–discernment, and talk to you soon. Peace.
Thanks for that Esther. In a few short clauses from a pair of sentences, you have distilled the very kernel of what at least some of us find so repugnant about this New©®™ Conservative party.
When I watched that link with Tom Flanagan posted on the previous thread, the Harper-mentor whose name, along with that of Findley, that keeps getting associated with behind-the-scenes maneuvering, one of the things that struck me most was his wholehearted embrace of using legal remedy and tactic to protect a strategy, rather than recognize in the first place that at least to the ordinary guy – of which in this country there is an abundance – it does not pass the “smell test”. To boast of a big war chest, hiring the best litigation lawyer, and so one, impresses no one of significance, that being the man or woman who will ultimately mark their ‘X’ on the ballot.
Garth, with such help, you are blessed.
Wow! It’s been a weekend of such coincidences for me.
I was just catching up on what’s been written here over the past 2 days, came across Esther’s posting, and felt compelled to comment. When I refreshed my screen, there was your entry immediately right behind mine, pretty much responding to the same post in the same way and at the same time. I assure you, I was in no way parroting your entry – I hadn’t seen it yet at the time I was composing mine – rather I derived the same response and came to the same conclusion independently.
I take heart when such things happen because it assures me that there are others out there who see things the same way; it’s nice not to be alone in my views.
I met people today with ideals, a strategy, a plan Today, for the first time, in a long time, I felt Canada pulsating through my veins. And I liked it.
By Esther Shaye on 05.03.08 8:30 pm
Hi Esther,
I found it too late last night to respond, but now it is Sunday morning. YES!!!!!!!!!!!! I call it being alive.
I remember being part of a wonderful community based planning committee. All volunteers, who dedicated a weekend of their time and mind power to making a one mile stretch of the city’s mainstreet a hallmark. There gathered together 150 people, representing all the demographics of the community, all openly presenting their true feelings and yet with a respect for all the others. We put together a plan from the best ideas of all presented, and put it into action by democratic consensus. One year later the project was done, on schedule, below budget, and became the pride of the community for all.
That is what real democracy can accomplish. Too bad Harper, aka, Caesar Disgustus, and his hand picked Goon Squad will never know the feeling.
Whenever I get feeling things are such a hopeless mess, I remember what CAN happen, and does more and more despite the little minded power perverts that infest politics everywhere. I call them the ‘gnatsies’, bothersome little pests that are easily eliminated with a good SWAT!
Just a brief glance at their tactics, changes, proposals and broken promises (lies) shows how they operate. It has to be skewered in their favour every single time.
By linda on 05.04.08 7:35 am
Linda, the reason for that is simple…they lack true faith. Therefore, they use a religious affiliation to make themselves appear people of faith, but in reality, they have little. they can neither trust God, or their fellow human beings.
They are scared, little minded power perverts who have to be in control, or they feel threatened. They suffer from so many psychological maladies they even have had a book book written about them the DSR-IV. The desk reference of all psychological anomalies. As I said to Esther, I call them the ‘gnatsies’, bothersome little pests.
William was never official photographer to a Prime Minister. Who told you that, Garth?
Me. I was there. — Garth