heureusement, ici, c'est james

pathetic liberal communication efforts diminish coalition's credibility

2008-12-03T23:08:00.009-06:00

Whoever allowed Dion to appear on national television like that should be kicked in the stomach. Is it Dion or his staff who don't understand how political wars are won in the 21st century? He's lucky he has reason on his side, because that looked pathetic.

It's pretty obvious the NDP have been charged with the coalition's web strategy, because when you compare that with what the liberals have come up with, there's no competition.

Get a real bloody communications team already.

a voice of reason

2008-12-03T22:24:00.002-06:00

"While it’s true that during the campaign the leaders all said they wouldn’t form a coalition, and it’s true that Mr. Dion won less support in the election than any previous Liberal leader, those are not arguments against the democratic legitimacy of the coalition.

Consider that Winston Churchill governed throughout the Second World War as the head of a coalition government without ever winning an election.

Mr. Harper himself sought to participate in a coalition with the Bloc and NDP in 2004.

Many similar countries, including New Zealand and Ireland, are governed by coalitions."

An anti-democratic power grab by the separatists? WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE

2008-12-02T13:56:00.008-06:00

Seems that a solid chunk of people don't have a faint clue what's going on, and it terrifies them. So let's address that: the notion that the country will "implode" or that this all amounts to an anti-democratic "power-grab" is nothing more than ignorance. It's just a self-reinforcing, self-defeating fear.

Canadian constitutional conventions have been described as less-than-democratic, but the fact is we have a popular majority with this coalition (44% Lib-NDP; vs. 37.6 for Cons. And if we include the other parties, that's 54% including Bloc; 61% including Greens). That's a popular majority essentially shedding their pre-packaged ideologies in favour of working together to achieve a common aim - when our government refused to do that very same thing.

The fact that the NDP and the Liberals do not have the majority of seats despite their popular vote share only highlights the sad inadequacy of our first-past-the-post system. And while I'm quite in favour of significant reforms, that doesn't negate the fact that this new arrangement is quite unequivocally democratic.

In Canada, we DO NOT vote for a Prime Minister the way Americans vote for a President. We vote for individual members of parliament.

This is democratic.

Harper shows signs of joining earthlings, then digresses

2008-07-10T09:44:00.005-05:00

"TOKYO, Japan -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper conceded Thursday that biofuels are 'probably' a small factor in the rising cost of food."

In other news, understanding a problem is probably a small factor in one's ability to find solutions for it.

"Joseph Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister..."

2008-07-09T02:38:00.003-05:00

Um, apparently Harper hasn't yet made any kind of impression on the international media. I saw this picture and caption on the Times Online:

"Joseph Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, is seen off by preschool children in Date, Hokkaido island. Mr Harper pressed the assembled leaders to take a strong stand against Robert Mugabe's regime (Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images)"

the NDP carbon tax vote grab

2008-07-05T13:06:00.008-05:00

A "carbon market" sure does sound attractive, doesn't it? It sounds democratic and anti-interventionist. But because this plan - yes, the same one championed by the NDP - includes a government auction scheme, it will in fact mean more government intervention and a larger government bureaucracy.

Rather than simply measuring and taxing carbon output, in a market scheme, the government will not only have to measure and, for all intents and purposes, "tax" the output, but it will also be required to create a bureau that will auction off the credits and then verify that companies have in fact used the credits appropriately. This is a very government-heavy project.

It will likely function as poorly as the government-managed market has in the EU, where huge loopholes have essentially enabled large companies to use the credits as subsidies, with no measurable gains for the environment.

CARBON TAXES

On the other hand, "Denmark, which brought in a carbon tax in the 1990s, reduced its greenhouse gas emissions dramatically, and its economy grew faster than Canada’s."

This might come as a shock to those of us who seem inclined to believe that the tar sands have all but BECOME the Canadian economy, but we're way behind here - economically and environmentally - and we will continue to be for as long as we think that expensive oil will grease rather than grind down our economy. From a recent editorial in the Halifax Chronicle Herald:

"As long as we can run our cars on cheap gasoline and generate electricity with cheap coal, it is not economical to develop greener sources of energy.

When prices go up, the market seeks alternatives. According to a recent survey of the state of the world’s energy economy in the Economist, there is every reason to believe that the market will find alternatives.

Rich, smart innovators from the dot-com world are putting their brains and money into the energy market — billions in private research money. Google, for instance, is investing heavily in a project to develop green energy that will be cheaper to produce than dirty old coal.

Wind power, which used to be expensive, is already as cheap as electricity generated by natural gas, and it has the promise to be even more useful, if electricity grids are managed more intelligently. The price of solar power is coming down, although it is not yet practical on a large scale. Both geothermal and tidal power have great potential.

In Scandinavia, governments committed to reducing emissions in the 1990s. With wind power, energy-efficient buildings and community heating plants that run on waste wood or straw, communities there have radically reduced their energy consumption without ruining their standard of living.

In Canada, the government wasted money with popular but useless incentive programs and advertising campaigns, and our emissions steadily rose, driven by SUVs and the filthy oilsands."

In Japan, they're so far ahead that they're already installing solar panels ON WINDOWS to generate power (see pic below)!

We know we have to put a price on carbon. But if we want to put a price on carbon in the quickest, most effective way, we will select a carbon tax option.

i'm an unashamed broken record

2008-06-18T19:42:00.002-05:00

"The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks.

'A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared,' said Bob Janjuah, the bank's credit strategist.

A report by the bank's research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as "all the chickens come home to roost" from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets.

Such a slide on world bourses would amount to one of the worst bear markets over the last century."

astonishing "first contact" in the Amazon

2008-05-30T01:13:00.011-05:00

Their meal was suddenly interrupted by the foreboding, far-off whir of some giant bird, rigid in its constitution, approaching menacingly as if by virtue of its deep, unnatural vibration. They threw down their tools, exchanged them immediately for weapons and indulged the irrational fear that this event might soon threaten everything they've ever known.

I wonder if there's any chance of getting it right this time. If those who boldly initiate "contact" might consider being patient students of a valuable living history that holds more encyclopaedic knowledge of the Amazon than anything that's ever been catalogued.

There are said to be as few as 100 "uncontacted tribes" in the Amazon, all threatened by illegal logging.

um... but this IS the best time for a carbon tax

2008-05-24T17:46:00.011-05:00

"It is widely conceded that Stéphane Dion is taking a major risk trying to sell a carbon tax when gasoline prices are climbing," says Susan Riley; says just about every rep of every media outlet in the country.

A major risk. When prices are climbing.

What are we waiting for exactly? A price freefall? Ten cents a litre? The glory days of cheap, drinkable petroleum? Get over it, folks. This is about as low as oil's ever going to get, and that's precisely the problem.

From this week's article in The Independent:

The world uses about 87 million barrels of oil a day, about a quarter of it in the US. Saudi Arabia is the only country thought to have the capacity to pump oil faster. Meanwhile, China is in the throes of an industrial revolution that demands ever greater supplies of crude, yet global production has stagnated for two years. The Saudi government rejected a recent appeal from Mr Bush to increase production, saying there were no oil shortages at present. Economists worry, though, that shortages are around the corner, as mature oilfields wind down.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday that it might have overestimated the capacity of oil-producing nations to open new fields to keep up with growing demand over the next decade. Global production, which the IEA previously reckoned could reach 116 million barrels a day by 2030, might not even make 100 million.

If supply/demand are that out-of-balance today, there will never be a more opportune time to discourage the use of dirty energy and encourage alternatives. This is it.

Not only is carbon dirty, it's also inducing price increases and rampant inflation. Merrill Lynch economists wrote in a note to clients that,

"for the first time in our memory, inflation, not growth, is the primary macro driver at the global level. The inflation shock has already happened. What matters now is how persistent it is, and how markets and policy-makers react. At a global level, this begs for an accident that will awaken markets and policy makers to the risks."

The contrast in Canada couldn't be more poignant. We have a PM that ignores the aforementioned risks and calls cheap oil an economic "fundamental" that benefits the country, while Dion, May and to some extent Layton each express how critical a carbon price is to sound economic stewardship.

Environmentally, Elizabeth May has called the carbon tax a "litmus test" for whether parties are serious about the environment. She's added her voice to a chorus of others, including David Suzuki and throngs of economists around the world that applaud the scheme. Moreover, "Thomas d'Aquino, president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, has said that Canada's provincial and territorial leaders should commit to a coordinated nationwide strategy to address the risks of climate change, and supports a carbon tax. Jack Mintz, economist and former head of the C.D. Howe Institute, also supports a carbon tax."

Jack Layton proposes a model on the plagued European cap-and-trade system while Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn says, and I quote, "The leader of the Liberal party wants to propose a carbon tax on the price of gasoline and drive the price of gasoline north of $2.25 and higher, that is going to hurt hardworking people who are trying to get to work."

Hardworking workers trying to get to work to work for a living might also want to leave their children with a planet. (Perpetuating this kind of laughable hyperbole will enable every reasonably-minded Canadian with a half-decent bullshit detector to see how thoroughly engaged our government is in divisive, small-minded politicking of the worst kind.)

Like Layton, Dion also suggested a cap-and-trade system during his leadership bid, and my sense is that he realizes that the time necessary to implement and refine such a system has all but slipped away. There is room to apply and tweak the measure in a limited way, but the fact that a carbon tax can be implemented immediately cuts to the heart of the issue. Liberal MP David McGuinty says,

"There's no choice anymore. If Mr. Dion was a spineless person who understood the climate change crisis, the severity of it, the speed with which this is actually increasing—which is what the science is telling us—if he wanted to play politics with this, he'd do nothing, which is exactly what the government is doing. Mr. Dion, in fairness has taken a big step and he has ignited a debate in Canadian society that is actually taking hold, and so this is the time because we're facing a climate change crisis. That's why this is important to do it now."

My fear is that Canadians either don't sense the danger, or are too skeptical of the Liberal brand, or both. Frankly, we don't have a choice. Layton and May are not going to lead governing parties in the next election, and "playing" politics with this issue isn't an option.

If they were trying not to look paranoid

2008-05-03T16:22:00.010-05:00

We've had our media manipulated and all but kicked off parliament hill, our federal scientists muzzled, leading civil servants fired, and in addition muzzling quasi-judicial government bodies, but it's been discovered that the public no longer has broad access to government information.

Given that we only have vertical access to information laws, this is a considerable setback for the openness of Canadian democracy. Without tools for public scrutiny, the Conservatives have given themselves carte-blanche to indulge any number of reckless, self-serving or ideologically-driven initiatives.

And without our interest, we're helping them do it.

The cited reason for the cut was that "valuable resources currently being used to maintain CAIRS would be better used in the collection and analysis of improved statistical reporting," which, without blinking, we should know is more easily manipulated to the favour of the governing party.

Meanwhile, Auditor General Sheila Fraser has responded to a Conservative initiative to vet all communications by departments, agencies and independent officers of Parliament. Fraser served "blunt public notice this week that 'there is no way' her press releases are going to be vetted by [the Privy Council Office]."

And while I'm sure the opposition and a number of special interest groups will cry foul over this "bunkering" of Parliament hill, you really can't blame the Conservatives. This is all they have left to do after grinding parliament down into uselessness.

Boycott China for more than Tibet

2008-04-20T02:41:00.008-05:00

Judging by its soulless anti-democratic swagger across the global village, the Chinese government thinks it can habitually brainwash the global population -- the same way it brainwashes its own -- into believing it's simply pursuing its national interest.

Today Chinese troops are on the streets of a Zimbabwean city, aiding Mugabe's cronies with another illegal helping at the government trough. This coincided with the arrival of a Chinese weapons shipment in South Africa bound for Zimbabwe.

This is the latest in a string of Chinese transgressions aimed at subverting the political behaviour of other states in their favour. Consider the purblind genocide-for-oil arrangement with Darfur and the habitual cover the Chinese provide for Burmese leadership at the UN. During the Olympics, we should be bearing in mind more than their domestic repression of human rights in Tibet and the live organ harvesting of Falun Gong members -- to say nothing of their gross contribution to a worsening environmental crisis.

Those at the top of the political food-chain in that country must not fool themselves into thinking that global citizens would naively shrug off those of China's problems which extend well beyond their borders.

And for those of us who consider ourselves global citizens, we have to ask ourselves how much we should be opening our pockets in support of this kind of arrogant criminality.

Cons created immigration backlog: Globe

2008-04-09T03:17:00.009-05:00

"OTTAWA — Canada's backlog of refugee claims is soaring to record numbers due to the government's failure to appoint sufficient adjudicators, the chairman of the Immigration and Refugee Board says.

The backlog has ballooned along with the number of board vacancies since Prime Minister Stephen Harper took office in February, 2006.

The number of vacant positions has more than quintupled – to 58 from 10, according to the board. At the same time, the number of claims waiting to be heard has more than doubled, to 42,300 from just over 20,000.

In its recent report to Parliament, the board projects that the number of pending claims will reach 62,300 this year. That is more than triple the line-up when Harper took office and well beyond the previous record of 52,325 pending claims in 2002.

Moreover, the numbers are expected to escalate to 73,300 next year and to 84,300 the following year."

The government's minister responsible, Diane Finley, responded to this the same way she had for the better part of a year, with a cute distraction - saying that the 58 vacant positions would eventually be filled, but that the new board members are now required to pass exams, unlike their Liberal-appointed predecessors.

"But those changes have been in place since last July and the vacancy rate continues to hover about 33 per cent," quoeth the Globe. The conservatives will soon start blaming applicants for their perpetual stupidity. Why else would the vacancy rate hover like that?

NDP and Liberal critics both suspect the government of creating the crisis in order to scrap the board entirely. After all, it's more efficient and effective to have the immigration process run right through the minister's office.

In fact, why don't we politicize every government department. Eventually, we can run everything through Stephen Harper's office, including the RCMP. One giant chaotic room of hackneyed government monkeys delivering us from the sin of bureaucracy.

***UPDATE

This post by Runesmith articulated what a more than a few others must be thinking at this point: if we already have so many highly-skilled foreign-trained professionals filling low-skill positions, why do we need even more highly-skilled foreign trained workers?

Look to Alberta for the answer. This point should be front-and-centre as the debate, um, "continues."

Panic'd market pissing in political sandbox, so now what?

2008-03-20T06:01:00.013-05:00

Colour me red, but I decided to abstain from blogging before, during, and after the by-election. The MSM stuttered their speculative stake-raising nonsense and bloggers echoed the dysfunction in tune with their respective party lines.

As fun as it was, we may be facing economic problems so serious that we'll be forced to discuss real ideas for a change -- and wouldn't that be charming?

The National's lead story today featured one investor who said "we're looking at a financial crisis equal to that of the 1930s. We should all be very concerned about what that means."

But he wasn't the only one using alarmist rhetoric.

Another said "there is a possibility we could have a depression. We could be looking at 1929. I'm not forecasting that and I don't want to be represented as such, but the dangers are real and apparent."

The TSX plunged 400 points; the loonie saw its biggest single drop in 40 years, and the price of oil -- often called a market 'fundamental' by those with hats over their eyes -- keeps fluctuating so much that any minute we're all going to keel over with acute nausea.

It's just one day's movement, but the ride's not over.

Lyle Gramley, Former Governor of the US fed and 50-some-odd year economic veteran, said, "we need to begin to start thinking outside the box because what we're experiencing now in financial markets is unlike anything I have seen in more than 50 years in looking at the economy."

But just when we think the market's pissing in our sandbox, we hear such soothing words as "the fundamentals of our economy are still strong," usually alluding to the demand for oil. In fact, it's something our own delusional PM said a few months back, and something a good many people were saying at the beginning of the credit crisis, which I dare point out, keeps worsening.

***

In the midst of all the anxiety, I'd like to take up Gramley's offer and suggest an idea from outside the box:

We have a global market that is ruled by an unthinking, greedy, and growing global mob. At the centre of the mob, we have a huge hulk of a monster -- the US -- deep in debt from a nasty addiction to oil and oil wars, and using dirty money to finance it all. The dirty money comes from bad loans and other grimy, unseemly "quick cash" schemes.

Suddenly, Murphy and his law caught the US with its pants down, and now we have an economic problem that some are comparing to the 1930s.

But have you heard anyone talk about how broken our global financial institutions are? Are we thinking about changing how we finance credit and debt? Are we talking about just how bad an investment expensive oil is in this warming world (for that matter, do we realize how little oil actually contributes to the Canadian economy as a percentage of GDP)?

No, not at all. In fact, we more often than not hear people jabber on about how oil investments will somehow save us from diving off the edge of an economic cliff; that, like I said, it somehow constitutes a market "fundamental."

The problem with this logic is that oil means nothing if its prices is so high that it grinds down -- rather than greases -- the global economy. And if you look at the problem without your economic-fundamentalist blinders on, you notice that dirty, expensive oil is the dumbest investment we could possibly make in the economy, nevermind the planet, especially at this stage in history.

This is a twofold emergency made worse by our short-term thinking. Though whether we ever treat it as an emergency in Canada is debatable. Our present government doesn't believe in intervention, and I wonder sometimes if they even understand global warming.

Most of all, though this may at first seem from out of left-field, we need to reform our global financial practices. Currency-trading and debt-based economics have not served us well. The practice of using the US dollar as a reserve currency needs to end, and we need a globally-neutral currency or resource to replace it.

Not gold.

We don't have the luxury today of thinking that gold is the world's most precious resource. The most precious resource today the proportion of non-carbon elements in our atmosphere.

What am I talking about? We are facing not one, but two global emergencies: One being the credit crunch, the other, as I alluded to, being global warming. With a currency adjustment, we can quickly harness the power of the free market to save our future.

There is no reason why we can't translate the chemistry of our atmosphere into a global, ecologically-backed currency unit that prevents us from further overstepping our ecological limit and launches us toward a sure-footed economic future built on clean energy.

Sounds funny, you think, making cash out of thin air? Well just what the heck do you think we're doing right now?

The Conservative dictatorship hath spoken: thou shalt not artfully offend

2008-02-29T22:25:00.011-06:00

Bill C-10 would give the Heritage Department the power to deny government funding for films that aren't "in the public interest," even if federal agencies such as Telefilm and the Canadian Television Fund have invested.

Is it in the "public interest" to have the government tell us what kind of art we can make? After visiting their website, do you really believe that they want to rid the world of hate and propaganda?

Taking their cue from Conservative evangelicals, the heritage department says the new criteria would deny tax credits to films that feature "gratuitous violence, significant sexual content that lacks an educational purpose, or denigration of an identifiable group."

Do we really trust the judgment of a group of artless, soulless pro-market government bureaucrats to "get it" when they watch an independent film? People like Conservative MP Dave Batters, who said yesterday that offensive films should be made with private money. The Globe quotes him as saying, "if there's a market for that, let people pay the $11."

Batters swung and missed there, failing to grasp that these films are being made outside the mainstream precisely because they offend. Good art should rightly offend us, make us as upset, angry, disgusted or elated as necessary to show us how imperfect we are.

Perhaps Batters and Harper should sit down and watch a Canadian film sometime. They would find out that they're less perfect than they thought, or, god forbid, that these films aren't as horrible as they suggest.

New Conservative NFB logo care of creative revolution

Budget does nothing for climate emergency; sets potential barriers to lower, middle classes

2008-02-28T01:43:00.008-06:00

In defense of his budget, Flaherty invoked the spirit of Sir John A. himself, who used to say ‘look a little ahead my friends.'

"If we look a little bit ahead," Flaherty says, "we see how morally deficient it is for us to live high on the hog now and pass our debt on to the next generation.”

Paying down the debt surely counts for a lot in my books, and there were a few other tolerable things in this budget. But like most things, looking ahead and sensing moral deficiencies is relative.

Paying down the debt does dick all to abate a climate emergency, it doesn't pad our seats enough for a hard economic tumble. And most morally deficient of all, this budget may even have set the stage for raising income barriers to the lower and middle income brackets.

Economy: Flaherty says $250M will be earmarked for "greening" our auto sector over 5 years. It's plainly laughable to think that 50M a year shared among a handful of American manufacturers will do anything to actually reduce greenhouse gasses, especially given that we could be facing runaway climate change by the time this measure is implemented.

Infrastructure: It's about bloody time the gas tax fund was made permanent for infrastructure, though it's not nearly enough. This is what the Liberals were calling for ages ago, and the Liberals are still ahead of the curve calling for even greater infrastructure funding to help deal with climate change.

Education: I will laud the proposed new student grant program and the contribution extensions. I also laud the graduate student scholarship, with big caveat: giving a measly 500 students a whopping $50,000 per year kinda leaves the rest of us with a big fat nothing.

Security: More defense spending. More intelligence spending. More police officers. More money for Border Services. It's debatable whether this will do much to make us safer - we'll wait and see - but surely those of us quivering in fear will feel better. The 10-year renewals for passports is nice, though.

Employment Insurance: Is it really necessary to create another Crown corporation to manage our EI fund? I'm a blogger, not an accountant, so let's assume this is a good thing.

Environment: They get around to investing in Chalk River and call it an environmental initiative. They throw $240-million at one small "clean coal” plant and call it an environmental initiative. It's cute, but again, does nothing for the big environmental picture.

Best of all was watching Cons cave into Liberal pressure for a carbon-trading scheme. Wasn't it only a few months ago that the Conservatives said carbon-trading amounts to nothing more than selling "hot air"?

Carbon trading has proven widely ineffective in Europe, so I'm anxious to see how Conservatives plan to one-up the Europeans after only recently catching up with reality.

Tax-free Savings: We can put 5G of investments in our new account without being taxed. Sounds great, right? Maybe...

In effect, the Harper Conservatives are creating a new and important vehicle for those with the wherewithal to save to avoid income tax – leaving those who live month to month to make up the difference.
It is a small but important step toward implementing one of the political right's great dreams: neutralizing the progressive income tax system so that the rich pay less while the poor and middle classes pay more.
True, the new scheme starts small. Individuals will be able to put only $5,000 a year into accounts to earn tax-free interest and/or capital gains. In their first full year of operation, these tax-free savings accounts will cost the federal treasury only $50 million in lost tax revenue.
But the contribution limits are to be both cumulative and indexed to inflation. Within 20 years, the budget estimates that this program will cost the treasury a whopping $3 billion annually, in inflation-adjusted dollars, making it one of the government's biggest programs going.

And last but not least, "in the wake of this week's budget projections of razor thin surpluses that if the economy continues to weaken more than forecast the federal government could slip back into a deficit."

Sleazy patronage, breach of electoral laws and climate ignorance earn Cons 12% jump in support

2008-02-22T06:15:00.019-06:00

Taking Canadians for pylons, the Cons have thumbed their noses at those little superlatives known as "experience" and "expertise," filling patronage positions with who appear to be unqualified party nobs capable of little but towing the party line.

In Winnipeg, we have a registered nurse sitting as a chairwoman of the Board of Referees for Employment Insurance, a job which requires "a knowledge of the economy and labour market conditions, experience leading group discussions and experience interpreting and applying rules and guidelines." Refugees? Economics? Sounds just like nursing.

And on the CRTC, we now have a local TV reporter sitting alongside others who have "decades of experience as executives in broadcasting, publishing or public administration." Could come in handy when they try to get rid of the CBC.

The appointments highlight the Conservative's reckless and disrespectful approach to governance, turning our quasi-judicial bodies into cesspools of factless, ideological smut - much the same approach they have to climate change. After all, "science" is just another form of "expertise," isn't it? A leading international journal recently rebuked the Conservative government's "manifest disregard for science." What would a government want with science?

Our government's chronic ignorance was further evidenced by the discovery that a Conservative volunteer was working for an Alberta-based group of global warming skeptics that launched ads attacking the former government for climate change spending, which puts them in violation of Canada's electoral laws - not that they weren't already in violation. As I recently pointed out, they've been filibustering an inquiry into their electoral spending for ages.

And what has this model of virtue and accountability earned for such a smashing performance?

According to this week's poll numbers, a 12% jump in support. Either Canadians are capitulating amnesiacs, or the polls are a joke. Short of proving Conservatives right, it's my sincere hope that it's the latter.

Leading up to election, Conservative financing scandal goes unaddressed

2008-02-20T00:31:00.010-06:00

The Conservatives swept to power in 2006 as self-righteous agents of "accountability." But since November 2007, the government has been filibustering motions - including their own - in order to hide their election financing practices.

On the eve of a potential Federal election, you would think the very important question of Conservative fundraising legality could be addressed for once and all, if not within the stalled Procedure and House Affairs Committee, then at least on some airwave or page of our bootless and self-opportunistic media.

Have the Canadian people become such push-overs as to allow the corruption not only of our electoral system, but also the parliamentary process that is supposed to keep it in check?

History, live: World sheds political skin

2008-02-19T10:53:00.015-06:00

This reptilian world of ours is shedding its political skin all at once. Or maybe exfoliating. From the recent change in Australia and France to the marathon American Presidential election; from Putin's make-believe "exit" in Russia to yesterday's proclamation of Kosovar statehood.

Today two more chunks of skin fell off, in Cuba and Pakistan, and we'll watch them grow back slowly, perhaps painfully.

Castro's resignation marks the end of an era. That the fate of mortality should choose his exit rather than one of 638 assassination attempts is miracle enough to etch his name in the stone of history. Change is now in the Cuban air, and it's only a matter of time before we will be able to tell what it smells like. Judging by media hints, we'll see some kind of economic reform creep its way across the Communist island, with investment from Venezuela, Brazil and Russia.

In Pakistan, did we just witness a meaningful rotation of power, or a outward spiral into more instability masked as politics of reform? Musharraf has already said he won't resign in spite of calls from various leaders of the coalition. Perhaps more importantly, whether or not the new coalition can live up to the kinds of high expectations they flaunted in their various platforms is questionable, with the average voter looking for simple solutions to the complex problems of endemic violence and rising food prices.

Finally, I wonder if Canada, too, will jump on this bandwagon and shed some political skin of its own.

Conservatives look desperate painting Dion as spending lunatic

2008-02-18T10:54:00.006-06:00

Liberal MP John McCallum said it best: ''It's a $62-billion Conservative lie. I used to be chief economist for the Royal Bank, and I've never seen such a shoddy, inaccurate, let alone dishonest, document."

The Tories have reduced the treasury to bollocks after only 18 months in power. It was under Flaherty's watch that the ON government was saddled with a hidden $6 billion deficit.

This message is so painfully exaggerated and hypocritical that the Conservatives are actually starting to look desperate. Oh well - election or not, it's never to early for that.

Kosovo: Re-igniting a powder keg?

2008-02-17T07:09:00.018-06:00

The last time Kosovo declared independence, the region descended into chaos; NATO sent in the tanks to quell a Serbian military response.

So what's different this time?

...not the man leading the independence movement. Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is the former leader of the same Kosovo Liberation Army which had a hand in claiming 10,000 lives.

...not the Albanian's call to the West for protection. Granted, NATO's already there in Serbia, 16 000 strong. The Albanians look to Bush for solidarity. They want recognition of independence from the EU and the US, and it sounds like they'll get it.

What's different this time is Russia's posture. Vladamir Putin's been waving his (ahem) before the international community in support of his Slavic bretheren. He argues that Kosovo's announcement could set off a wave of similar declarations in breakaway regions around the world, including those in Russia.

We can't yet speculate just what kind of action-plan these allies have drafted, but anything that further pushes Russia away from the West can't be good for global peace. The reaction of the West to Kosovo's declaration of independence will be used as leverage in Russia's bid for increased global influence.

This event could well have further-reaching repercussions than we're prepared to admit.

UPDATE:

The US and all major EU powers have backed Kosovo's declaration, but some European states - including Spain - have not. Canada's still on the fence, though Dion has made some intelligent remarks on the matter:

Mr. Dion said the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo was "the best solution under the circumstances," and asked Canada to join its allies, such as the United States, in supporting the former Serbian province's move. But, he made a point to stress that Kosovo's situation is unique and it has no common ground with Quebec's separatist movement.
"You have here a people that were oppressed for years by the former government of Serbia, where NATO forces are present to protect the minorities and where there is no possible reconciliation in sight. It's a very unique situation and despite all of this, they don't have the international recognition that would allow them to join the United Nations, since Russia has a veto," Mr. Dion said from Quebec City.

Only a day after the declaration, there were reports that "an explosion rocked a UN building in northern Kosovo while another unexploded hand grenade was discovered near a hotel that housed EU officials." Serb protesters then began an attack on the US embassy in Belgrade.

Two days after the declaration, NATO sealed the Kosovo border as busloads of Serbs arrived to ransack the border crossing. This seems to be part of Serbia's planned response, with one BBC correspondent describing the effort as "a carefully planned and coordinated action." Days later, the protests are growing and the attack on the US embassy persists.

Great Lakes becoming great big health liabilities; Information suppressed

2008-02-15T02:19:00.019-06:00

Millions living in the Great Lakes basin are in danger from high levels of toxic chemical pollution, cites a new study by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC).

But like the increasing government censorship of Environmental Science here in Canada, this 400-page study was suppressed by the American government for fear of lawsuits, and God forbid, a public call to action.

Much of the N. American public is still under the false impression that the Lakes are rebounding from near-disaster in the 1970s.

Not so.

The Montreal Gazette reports the CDC to have identified "elevated levels of infant mortality in 26 AOCs [areas of concern], and of premature births in four AOCs. The study also identified 108 hazardous waste sites, of which 71 are or could be public health hazards. Powerful lake currents can distribute the chemical and hydrocarbon pollutants including dioxins throughout the Great Lakes system."

Findings echo Health Canada study

Health Canada's own study of the Great Lakes, released in 1998, identified 17 Canadian AOCs. The Montreal Gazette says this study was also kept from the public, circulated only to public health officials in the 17 AOCs.

"The Canadian study, for example, found a series of outbreaks of Minamata disease in Thunder Bay, Collingwood, Sarnia and Cornwall. Minamata disease, which includes cerebral palsy among its symptoms, is caused by mercury poisoning... Canadian research has also found an inexplicable drop in the male-female ratio on the Aamjiwnaang Reserve near Sarnia. The number of male babies had dropped 40 per cent in the mid-1990s. The reserve is surrounded by 46 large chemical plants and refineries."

While the American government cited faulty science as the reason for information suppression, Michael Gilbertson, one of three scientists to peer review the U.S. study, said the reasons behind the suppression were political.

Only one of many problems facing Great Lakes

The study essentially warns us that we are dumping too many chemicals into our lakes and rivers. But at the end of the day, the American chemical industry will still account for a huge chunk of GDP, and we will likely keep using the same pesticides, fertilizers, and lord-knows-what-else on a mass scale.

The problem of Lake toxicity is only in addition to a number of other problems facing the Lakes, including a growing algae buildup and an alarming shrinkage in their water volume. The Earth Policy Institute suggests that "the volume of water in the five Great Lakes could drop by 25 percent by 2040" due to overconsumption and global warming.

This information casts the recent tongue-in-cheek comments by David Suzuki - that politicians should be jailed for failing to heed environmental warnings - in a slightly better light.

Doing nothing to prevent premature births, mercury poisoning, palsy, cancer, not to mention the disappearance of the largest freshwater lake system in the world, surely qualifies as borderline criminal.

"they think we're invaders"

2008-02-14T11:55:00.004-06:00

Gwynne Dyer's comments on Iraq and Afghanistan. I stumbled across this thanks to Matt at bastard.logic, and I think it bids some repetition during this time of thickening rhetoric on the subject.

I'd like to echo Dyer's comments with a personal anecdote. On a trip to a conference in Norway, I met an Afghani who was once quite close to the Taliban. But far from personifying the cliché image of a raving religious fanatic, he was a reasonable, progressively-minded individual trying scrape up enough of a savings (and enough of an understanding of Norwegian and English) to get into the economics program at the local university.

His family's association with the Taliban was limited to a business arrangement, since the Taliban were willing to fork out a fair bit of money in exchange for harvested crops (compare that to the American practice of destroying them).

This guy was pretty enthusiastic about meeting a Canadian and he had a very clear message for us:

"I know you’re trying to help," he said to me, "and a few Afghans know this too. But you’re not. It’s not your fault. When the Taliban is paying you to live, and then you see white men with guns walking around, who do you think you’re going to believe? Who do you think you’ll support?"

The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan set off a wave of anti-Americanism and sympathy for the Taliban - not only in Afghanistan, but also in neighbouring Pakistan (though the tide seems to be turning there).

The Taliban earn the support of average Afghans by buying their crops and fighting off "invaders" the same way Conservatives are trying to earn your support by cutting taxes, and fighting off "the Liberal agenda." The Taliban are favoured in political talk around the Afghan "family dinner table."

Though political "favour" around the dinner table sometimes turns into into dangerously blind ideological enthusiasm.

Blind ideological enthusiasm. Sound familiar?

Bomb kills top Hezbollah leader

2008-02-13T11:39:00.004-06:00

"Lebanese group Hezbollah says one of its top leaders, Imad Mughniyeh, has died in a bombing in Damascus, and has blamed Israel for assassinating him.

Mughniyeh is widely believed to be behind a wave of Western hostage-taking in Lebanon during the 1980s. He had been in hiding for years and was high on US and Israeli wanted lists.

The Israeli prime minister's office later issued a statement rejecting "the attempt by terror groups to attribute to it any involvement" in the killing.

Mughniyeh, in his late 40s, is variously described as special operations or intelligence chief of Hezbollah's secretive military wing, the Islamic Resistance.

Correspondents say his death is a significant blow to Hezbollah, which battled Israel in the 2006 Lebanon war, and its Iranian and Syrian backers..." (more from BBC)

Clear as mud. Onwards and upwards...

Loudly rejecting Burma's new constitution

2008-02-09T23:21:00.000-06:00

The international community must loudly reject the junta's latest so-called "democratic" offering. We've already witnessed know how the junta practice democracy, having placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest since her election win in 1990.

An effective democracy, you reckon?

This time, the junta say they will hold a referendum on a new constitution in May and hold elections in 2010. This latest measure will transfer power to, rather than away from, this barbarous gang of governing criminals.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win has already highlighted the absurdity of the government's announcement: "The announcement is vague, incomplete and strange," because, he says, "even before knowing the results of the referendum, the government has already announced that elections will be held in 2010." In other words, the government has presupposed the approval of the draft constitution.

But most troubling of all, "the new constitution also disqualifies presidential candidates who are 'entitled to the rights and privileges of a ... foreign country' — thereby barring Suu Kyi, whose late husband was British."

I want my way, and I want it now

2008-02-08T12:06:00.000-06:00

One could be forgiven for assuming that Conservative MPs were all raised as only-children. How else do you explain the ramming of two confidence motions down the throats of Canadians in as many days?

I want my way, and I want it now.

Contrary to the spirit of the Manley report it claims to embrace, the government wants to force an extension of the Afghan mission before having actually secured additional troops. Contrary to the constitution, the government wants to tell the Senate what to do. Contrary to the principles of sanity, we have editorialists and pundits rewarding this infantile behaviour, lauding Harper as a manly "master of strategy."

Do we have confidence in Stephen Harper? Sure. Why wouldn't we have confidence in a government which uses principles of threat and violence to manipulate us?

Pacific Ocean contaminated by "plastic soup" twice the size of continental US

2008-02-05T23:18:00.000-06:00

"A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said."

Toxic plastics, which are said to account for 90% of all ocean garbage, are caught up in currents that eventually sweep them to this depository between the west coast of N. America and Japan. They act as a magnet for DDT and hydrocarbons, making the soup much more dangerous than we might instinctively think. What's more, these plastics can take thousands of years to decompose.

"Unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics, the plastic stew would double in size over the next decade," said one researcher.

Perhaps we should find this comforting. To have a legacy like this. To know that we'll always have a toxic creature growing and lingering in our shadow, virtually outside the realm of enforceable law. Something that, after global warming sets in, can melt into a shiny, stain-free new sea-floor.

But I don't. For some reason, I think this is a better idea.

Jail politicians who ignore science: Suzuki

2008-02-05T02:20:00.000-06:00

It's a great idea, but then the whole Conservative party would have to be thrown in jail. What would we do without great leaders?

Careful, Mr. Suzuki.

The dear leader has already fired several scientists. If he can't fire you, he might take his wrath out on you in other ways...

Adler-pated foolishness

2008-02-04T02:05:00.000-06:00

In his latest stroke of genius, Charles Adler marched in lockstep with the Conservative martyr brigade, heroically "telling it like it is" by suggesting "blacks" and "natives" have some kind of cultural problem that keep them at the bottom of the social hierarchy, and that our "the tyranny of politeness" is what keeps us from talking about it.

He rejects the findings of a report that indicate the policies of Mike Harris had something to do with the spate of current violence among Toronto's underprivileged.

His defamatory claptrap quickly reveals, however, that he wouldn't know tyranny if it came up and bit him in the ass: "Does anybody have the moral courage to talk back to this kind of larceny, this kind of deceipt, [sic] this kind of rhetorical manure? Are we really a free people?"

Larceny? Decei(p)t? You'd think Charles had been poked in the bum. Something scared him, anyway - for a man who's had it well all his life to suddenly stand up for freedom in this sewer of Canadian tyranny. (though perhaps a free person might also take advantage of their right to education and learn how to spell.)

Bear with me, his next dollop requires effort:

"Wouldn't a free people simply refuse to accept what they know in their hearts is nonsense, nonsense that is masking the real issues? I know we don't want to discuss problems in terms of colour, in terms of ethnicity, in terms of country of origin. We want to keep saying what the government and all agents of contemporary want us to say, that all people are the same, that all individuals are the same, that all groups are the same and when there is a problem, when that problem involves low outcomes in education, low outcomes in family unity and domestic harmony, higher rates of criminal behavior, drug addiction and violence."

Did you catch that? For all his self-proclaimed heroism (and knowledge of the heart), he won't take responsibility for his insinuations: "I know we don't want to discuss problems in terms of colour," he says. Why back down? I thought you were courageous, Mr. Adler?

I wonder where someone of the "class" so described by Adler gets these ideas of low self-worth? Certainly wouldn't be from the spoiled, greedy little gang of children using our nationally-syndicated newspapers to jerk off in public?

(Does the National Post even employ editors? Was this really written by a "professional"? ..."agents of contemporary" ... "nonsense that is masking the real issues." I suppose I could make a generalization about Mr. Adler's kind, too, based on this carelessness.)

So what are his constructive suggestions? They don't exist, short of hinting that "blacks" and "natives" should... er... take advantage of their freedom. Stick that nebulous concept up your policy pipe and smoke it.

But being constructive wasn't nearly as important as masking his racism in the rhetoric of moral superiority: "if this country were a tyranny, run by a dictator, I could understand how we could just feel we have no choice but to keep sucking on this multicultural lollipop until we gag. But I thought as a young child growing up in Canada that we a choice on speaking the truth or not speaking it. I thought that's what separated us from all those other countries where societies are under the thumb of the evil man with his evil secret police force and corrupt judges and lying media lapdogs."

Lying media lapdogs? Truth? Tyranny run by a dictator? Have you looked around recently? Are you sleeping?

Yes, Mr. Adler, let freedom ring. If only you could discover something worth talking about first.

NAFTA's danger to environmental protection never greater: CCPA

2008-02-03T04:15:00.000-06:00

Foreign corporate challenges to Canadian laws continue to grow under NAFTA, says the CCPA, weakening our environmental protection and natural resource management regulations at the whim of profit-seekers.

CCPA calls the trend "disturbing," claiming that these cases have a good chance at success due to the poor wording of the agreement. So far, of the 18 claims against Canada, all three have been decided. In all three cases, settlements have been awarded in favour of corporate interests, one of them out-of-court. Mexico lost all three of their cases, while all four of the U.S. cases have been dismissed. Smell any national bias in these decisions?

Is the Conservative government "standing up for Canada" here?

Far from it. The CCPA points out that our government has been expanding the use of the defective mechanism through new bilateral trade agreements with Peru, Colombia and South Korea. (Yes, Colombia.) Each bilateral agreement contains a version of NAFTA’s chapter 11 rules, "which permit foreign investors to challenge government measures that allegedly diminish the value of their investments.”

Baird shocked by reality, orders its compliance

2008-02-02T01:11:00.000-06:00

It seems Baird has been shocked to find his personal opinions clashing with reality, and like we've seen many times before, the gov't has taken steps to ensure that truth conforms to Conservative Government philosophy.

All scientists at Environment Canada must now use "approved lines" when dealing with the media, and all media queries first directed to the government:

"The new policy, which went into force in recent weeks and sent a chill through the department research divisions, is designed to control the department's media message and ensure there are no "surprises" for Environment Minister John Baird and senior management when they open the newspaper or turn on the television, according to documents."

Surprises. Scientists saying it's hot outside when the government thinks it's cold; or that it's windy when it should be clear. In fact, why don't we just take to manufacturing the weather, like the Chinese?

(Every day, Harper's Conservatives seem to have more and more in common with dictatorial Communists, don't they?).

Harper government perpetuates psychopathic behaviour

2008-01-26T00:11:00.000-06:00

Psychopath: a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.

On a day when we learn that his Harper's been lying to Canadians over the issue of torturing prisoners in Afghanistan, has our dear leader apologized or shown remorse for his perverted behaviour?

No, Harper and his legions of unthinking minions decided instead to spend a few hours in an orgy of self-congratulations, thanking themselves for being great stewards of Afghanistan, of the economy - by cutting taxes and paying down the debt (nevermind about what he said about the environment, it's not worth paying attention to).

Not only was today's bombshell non-existent from his speech, but he lied about the economic record of the opposition, too, saying "their reckless spending would, in one budget, push the country back into deficit, adding to the federal debt and putting upward pressure on interest rates."

Forgive me for my lack of amnesia, but wasn't it only recently that your government fucked up its numbers and eked out a pathetic $100m surplus because of a fetish for cutting taxes and and overconfidence in the economy (it was our dear leader that just over a month ago said "the fundamentals of our economy are as strong as they've ever been").

The irony on the issue of Afghanistan isn't lost on any of us. Our dear leader's psychopathic behaviour isn't just alienating the media anymore. After today's bout of nauseating stupidity, he might even be alienating the military, too.

more climate dementia: playing god and thinking small when we should be acting fast

2008-01-25T01:39:00.000-06:00

Guess who's gonna clean up our environmental mess now?

Not human-made robots, scrubbers or towers, nor those glowing Chinese pigs, but these fancy new micro-organisms made from scratch - the first form of human-made synthetic life.

These newest human bastardizations of life are supposed to "gobble up pollution, produce hard-to-make drugs, pump out clean energy, or, at the whimsical end, flowers designed to bloom on your birthday." Whimsy with genomes.

Leave it up to humans to play with things we don't understand in order to solve problems we created by playing with things we don't understand.

Gobble up pollution? Produce clean energy? Is this supposed to be a "safe" alternative to carbon? (Even safer than hydrogen?)

Indeed. The man at the helm, Craig Venter, says this new "design phase of biology" enables any idiot with a computer to "type up genetic code with keystrokes, e-mail it to a commercial lab that spits it out as chemical dots on a glass sheet, synthesizes it, tucks it into a bacteria for transport and returns a live version to the customer."

I can't wait to try it myself and make a killing in the process (no pun intended).

Though with idiots like Ed Stelmach already in charge of things, our time is limited anyway. Today he announced his swift 2020 target for capping emissions: "our climate-change plan ensures environmental protection while allowing for continued economic growth."

Sorry shithead, but you're growing the wrong industry.

Oh well. Given our ongoing carnival of delirium, we might as well go out with a bang and make a dirty fortune while we still can.

Manley's nothing if not consistent

2008-01-23T09:27:00.000-06:00

Compare this excerpt of the Manley panel's report:

Whenever we asked Afghans what they thought ISAF or Canada should do, there was never any hesitation: “We want you to stay; we need you to stay.” Without the presence of the international security forces, they said, chaos would surely ensue.

... to this journal article he published three months ago, before he was asked to head the panel:

Whenever we asked Afghans what they thought ISAF or Canada should do, they did not hesitate to say that we must stay. Without the presence of the international forces, chaos would surely ensue.

Feels a bit like a smack in the face, doesn't it? Thanks to TSR for some pretty good digging.

For all the reinforced prejudice of its findings, I think the report could indeed be seen as a compromise. Whereas Dion's saying "pull out and force an international rotation," and Harper's saying "stay indefinitely," Manley et. al. are saying "step up the international effort by 1000 troops and stay indefinitely, or pull out."

A pullout isn't without risk. It puts the Netherlands in an even more difficult position and could ignite a domino of withdrawals. But if NATO can't find the 1,000 troops Manley says it needs, as Dion and Manely have both pointed out, this "international effort" might conclusively be seen, sadly, as an exercise in futility.

***Update***

I want to give credit where it's due. Kelly McParland, Politics Editor of the National Post, defied his CanWest brandname and did some great analysis on this, saying that the "Manley report spreads chaos in Punditland." Everyone seems to have interpreted the report based on their preconceived bias:

"So you got that? This is a disaster for Dion, except when it’s bad news for Harper. It’s more of the same, except where it’s a call for change. There aren’t any real solutions, though it’s just what the troops have been demanding"

CanWest's ongoing assault on reason: economic edition

2008-01-23T01:52:00.000-06:00

I'm tired of watching the so-called "mainstream press" descend into a black hole of barely-literate political smut. Here's another vitriolic serving of self-righteous editorial slop from another of CanWest's finest:

"counter to the theory that ailing times for an economy are obituaries for a government, there's a good chance Prime Minister Stephen Harper may be leading the recession-defying exception that disproves the rule."

He says Harper isn't responsible for the Canadian economy, because the problem started in the States, a place where the top 10 per cent of their population "now command a share of national income not seen since 1928 -- the year before the 1929 Wall Street crash that ushered in the Great Depression."

If we aren't responsible for our "national" economy, why should we bother pretending we have any control at all? Why not just enjoy the ride and hand out loose government change to the provinces just to pacify us - make us all feel a little better?

Like a growing majority of editorial writers, Don Martin has taken a pass on that relic of the past known as logic-based evidence, opting instead to reinforce political and economic cliches, furthering the character assassination of Stephane Dion in the process.

He casts "economist Harper" against "ivory tower Liberal leader Stephane Dion" who, according to Martin, was "demanding measures long on rhetoric... and short on specifics."

Surely justifiable, with all the undeniable evidence of economic success since Harper applied his Calgary-school orthodoxy. How is it, Mr. Martin, that money from a tax cut spent on goods made in China will benefit Canadian manufacturers?

Nevermind. Harper the economist said so. He also says we have enough of a nest-egg to save us from a deficit, too, even though this diamond in the rough pointed out that "Ottawa itself is only projecting nominal surpluses of slightly more than $1 billion for the next two years, and that was before the global stock market crash."

And there was Dion, suggesting we save our money and make a targeted investment in green technology. What fairy-tale planet it he on, anyway?

"What's confounding Liberals is how to one-up this government on fiscal management when they've become the party aiming billions of dollars at fighting climate change and poverty, with only afterthoughts for economic stimulation."

Yes, you smarmy, fatuous jerk. Poverty and climate change are just aesthetic expenses, far removed from the economy - fuzzy cosmetics aimed at making suburbanites feel better.

Do the world a favour and read a book.

Clinton, Clinton anger Obama on CNN

2008-01-22T02:17:00.000-06:00

I don't ordinarily pretend to have American voting rights, but it was pretty fun watching Clinton and Obama on CNN.

This exchange began when Obama said last week that Reagan "changed the trajectory of America."

Then, on the CNN debate:

Clinton: "I think [the republicans] had ideas. But they were bad ideas."

Obama: clarifies that he wasn't endorsing their policies, but approved of the way Reagan brought political rivals together.

Clinton: interrupts and says she hadn't mentioned Reagan.

Obama: "Your husband did."

Clinton: "I'm here, he's not."

Obama: "Well I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

Obama then chides H. Clinton for serving as a corporate lawyer for Wal-Mart while American jobs were being shipped overseas; Clinton insinuates that Obama defended a slum landlord.

Who knew American politics could be so much fun?

the ecological economics of election timing

2008-01-21T22:02:00.000-06:00

The politics of being green briefly rippled across Canada's sea of news again today, a sea filled mostly with loud forecasts of economic doom.

And while there is still some Canadian reluctance to wed economics and the environment, today's announcement by the government of Israel to install an electric car network throughout their country in less than four years underscores the urgency with which we in Canada must dump our paleolithic economic paradigms, and Stephen Harper along with them.

Compare Israel's bold move with Harpers non-interventionist consumer tax cuts, which do little more than boost China's manufacturing sector. Hardly a sound decision in a time when Canadian manufacturers are in financial pain. If you disagree, I dare you to check the manufacturing labels of your latest purchases.

Better yet, compare Harper's laissez-faire mentality with Stephane Dion's proposal to invest $1 billion in green manufacturing and R&D, and his promise to "balance the carbon budget." The idea is simple - give a shot in the arm to green manufacturers rather than let them die along with other industries and position Canada for a softer economic landing.

This isn't a fairy-tale. With the kind of noises being made about Vancouver's hydrogen-powered Angstrom Power Inc., Canada is so well-positioned to be the leader of this energy revolution that it almost hurts to see us be so immobile on the subject. (Maybe we can pull ahead of Israel and install a hydrogen-network or develop a hydrogen-powered vehicle. With a visionary at the helm, the possiblities are endless.)

Smelling an election, Elizabeth May has also has come out swinging by calling Stephen Harper a "climate change denier," embracing the NTREE carbon tax proposal, and calling for "a moratorium on new projects in the tar sands and a total phase-out of nuclear power and uranium mining." They would even "amend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to enshrine Canadians' rights to healthy air and water." All worthy ideas.

But for all the Green's fantastic rhetoric on their will to create local "green economies," they are still short of the kind of specific initiatives that would get us there, which isn't much better than the useless posturing coming from the NDP.

With the economy switching gears, we need a leader who knows "where the puck is going to be," to quote a great Canadian visionary. The timing of this election highlights how Harper's ideological opposition to the new economics of progress makes him and his party all but irrelevant.

Bernier's endorsement of torture shames Canada

2008-01-19T10:15:00.000-06:00

Just when I thought our government had some semblance of human decency and common sense, I read that Bernier "regrets the embarrassment" caused by the release of a Foreign Affairs training manual that put the U.S. on a torture watch list.

Watch another head roll in the public service as a result of their "insolence." What a joke.

Bernier said "it contains a list that wrongly includes some of our closest allies." What's wrong about it exactly? Has the U.S. suddenly restored habeas corpus?

How astonishing it is that even after the Mahar Arar affair, our excuse for a government would smack him in the face by endorsing torture.

Bernier's embarrassed for all the wrong reasons.

plentiful oil supply feeds epidemic of catastrophic idiocy

2008-01-19T08:52:00.000-06:00

We've become suckling babies, oil our toxic infant-formula.

"a survey of 800 oilfields by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) has concluded that rates of (oil supply) decline are only 4.5 per cent a year, almost half the rate previously believed, leading the consultancy to conclude that oil output will continue to rise over the next decade."

Increase? How pathetic are we that we can't get a grip on the systematic logic of global warming? What naive excuse for a human being actually believes oil production can or should increase simply by virtue of its existence?

While demand-side carbon capture remains a glaring loophole in the fight against global warming, we do, believe it or not, have one other promising option:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have the answer! Incredible as it might seem, I have stumbled across the single technology which will save us from runaway climate change! From the goodness of my heart I offer it to you for free. No patents, no small print, no hidden clauses. Already this technology, a radical new kind of carbon capture and storage, is causing a stir among scientists. It is cheap, it is efficient and it can be deployed straight away. It is called … leaving fossil fuels in the ground."

Manitobans outraged by Ford ad

2008-01-18T23:40:00.000-06:00

One minute, you're reading a newspaper article about the sentencing of a 16-year-old boy who killed a local cyclist while behind the wheel of a stolen truck.

The next minute, in the same newspaper, you see an ad that reads "Drive it like you stole it. Built for life in Manitoba."

Did Ford know Manitoba is the car-theft capital of Canada? Was it ignorance or bad taste?

A CBC article quoted the reaction of one jogger who was badly hurt after being struck by a stolen SUV. He said he was "nauseated, offended — you can use any term you want to describe it, I think it's just ridiculous"

I should also point out that Manitoba's public insurer has one of the most progressive policies in the country. The 200 most at-risk vehicles are denied insurance without an ignition immobilizer, a device which prevents the car from being driven without a key.

NATO principles clearly parallel Dion's position

2008-01-18T00:30:00.000-06:00

For the all the wind blowing from Conservative and NDP partisans - that NATO serves no purpose but to point guns and shoot - NATO's literature doesn't bend to their argument:

"the fundamental role of NATO is to safeguard freedom and security of its member countries by political and military means," furthermore adding, "The Alliance... recognises the importance of political, economic, social and environmental factors in addition to the indispensable defence dimension."

NATO's new strategic concept (1999) also emphasizes the notion of "common commitment," stating that "The fundamental guiding principle by which the Alliance works is that of common commitment and mutual co-operation" and "no single Ally is forced to rely upon its own national efforts alone in dealing with basic security challenges."

This seems to be at odds with the way a minority of NATO members, Canada among them, have been forced into carrying a disproportionate burden in Afghanistan.

In the face of this public information, Jason Kenney went to bat as the government spinmaster, regardless of his lack of authority on the Foreign Affairs file. In this Toronto Star article, he said: "NATO is a military alliance. When you talk about a NATO intervention, you are clearly and explicitly talking about a military intervention."

After reading NATO's strategic concept, Kenney's comments seem to be a Conservative assumption of NATO's role based on a cold-war hangover. Though Kenney asserts that Dion "doesn't understand what NATO does," it appears that Kenney hasn't done his own homework on the role of the organization, however ineffectively it's been practiced.

For its part, the NDP seem to be taking their PR cues from the Conservative government, as NDP defence critic Dawn Black did little more but echo Kenney's comments.

Dion on Pakistan: entirely coherent

2008-01-16T22:01:00.001-06:00

Dion: "As long as we don't solve the problem in Pakistan, I don't see how we can solve it in Afghanistan."

Read it again - this analysis might not jive with the childish "pro-war" or "anti-war" verbal vomit spewing forth from bloggers everywhere, but there is nothing ambiguous about it whatsoever.

The logic which follows goes like this: if what we are doing in Afghanistan is burdened by futility due to the porous border with Pakistan, it seems perfectly sensible to suggest some kind cooperative diplomatic strategy with Pakistan.

"The point of Mr. Dion's comment was to say that Canada wants NATO to work diplomatically with Pakistan to ensure Pakistan is part of the solution in the region, Mr. Coderre said."

Why isn't this "shift in strategy" coming from NATO officials? Why are there no NATO replacements to speak of? Frankly, because NATO is an ineffective, wasteful dinosaur of an organization that is paralyzed by nationalism and pettiness of its members.

Canada need not be manipulated into submission by NATO, exploited by the international community, or treated like an international janitor - one that spends its time mopping up the floor rather than plugging the leak.

(Obama made simlar comments a few months back - though alluding to military action - and was similarly chided before the establishment came around a few months later.)

attack of the clones

2008-01-16T10:09:00.000-06:00

So the FDA says cloned meat is safe to eat. "That means producers likely will use clones' offspring for meat, not the clones themselves."

Well great. That whole "natural reproduction" thing was getting to be a little old. And way too much work for producers.

Soon we'll be able to stop having real babies, too.

I can see it now: human rights for clones.

How many generations of cloned offspring have been monitored by the FDA prior to this announcement? Well, considering that this madness only began in 1996, I'd bet it's in the neighbourhood of "less than a few." But why invite precautionary logic into the debate?

"The two main U.S. cloning companies, Viagen Inc. and Trans Ova Genetics, already have produced more than 600 cloned animals for U.S. breeders, including copies of prize-winning cows and rodeo bulls."

Mmmmmm. Trans ova.

diverging Western tactics over Iran

2008-01-13T22:18:00.001-06:00

On the one hand, you have Mr. Bush, the war-obsessed pylon, mightily huffing and puffing for all his worth about the need for democracy and fear of Iranian nuclear capabilities; and doing it while standing on the imported sands of an undemocratic oil-rich oligarchy. The layers of irony aren't lost on any of us.

Curiously, on the other hand, you have Mr. Sarkozy simultaneously taking a more proactive approach in good faith; actually signing deal to share nuclear technology with the United Arab Emirates, proclaiming that "the Arab world should have the same rights to such programmes as other states."

There has been a rush to find energy alternatives in the Middle East, and the nuclear option will not go away any time soon, especially in light of the undesired effects of dirty energy, namely global warming.

If nuclear energy cannot be avoided, then the world should renew interest in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty with all deliberate speed - before the rhetoric gets out of hand.

Though it seems to be a little late for preventing absurd, alarmist rhetoric. If the fuddle-duddle flowing from the trap of the almighty Bush continues to escalate, I dearly hope these impeachment whispers become full-on screams.

global warming finally begins to spur economic transition: Worldwatch Institute

2008-01-12T06:55:00.000-06:00

Amid warnings of "global economic collapse" if oil and gas habits are not drastically altered, the Worldwatch Institute's 2008 "State of the World" report contains kudos for the global economy, highlighting a change in our business practices:

"Once regarded as irrelevant to economic activity, environmental problems are drastically rewriting the rules for business, investors, and consumers, affecting over £50bn in annual capital flows"Main financial recipients included "clean energy projects, carbon trading and environmental and energy hedge funds."

The impact of this financial shift has yet to demonstrate a positive impact on the global environment, they say, since aggregate trends indicate that the global economy continues to rapidly destroy its own ecological resource base.

and now for something completely different

2008-01-11T04:39:00.000-06:00

The United States and Europe soon risk being overtaken by the rest of the world. To hold on to their place and value system, they ought to form an organic alliance, a Union of the West.

And from the mind of a former French Prime Minister, no less. Edouard Balladur's big idea is said to build on the free trade initiative currently backed by Angela Merkel and Gordon Brown:

History is starting to be made without the West, and perhaps one day it will be made against it.

This article hints at whether this might be "desperation" or "an escapist proposal that excuses the rich and comfortable from looking closer and less indulgently at their own failures."

Yup. Probably.

Not sure how yet another delusion of grandeur could save "the West."

why low carbon taxes won't work

2008-01-08T09:05:00.001-06:00

The day will come when oil will hit US $100/barrel and we won't be willing to fill our cars with gas or fly or... wait a sec -

- hey, guess what? The theory that paying more for carbon will make use use less of it has already been tested. And it's failed.

Tick. Tock.

Think about it. We've already faced a huge increase in the amount we pay for carbon, and it hasn't made much difference, has it?

I won't belabour this - our short term options are limited and the cap-and-trade system still has a few kinks to work out. But if oil and coal are among the most profitable industries in the world, how would a tax prevent the carbon industry from simply paying more for the right to pollute?

It wouldn't. Not unless taxes were so high as to discourage business altogether. Not bloody likely. We'd need one shocker of a price signal to stop consuming carbon. Wouldn't it be great if we one day opted for a built-in economic mechanism that actually makes it impossible to choke the planet?

Meanwhile, I should add, we get this quote from a NASA ice sheet researcher: "things are definitely far more serious than anyone would have thought five years ago."

dinosaur-pundits keep dead environmental paradigms on life support

2008-01-07T22:44:00.000-06:00

Here's a recent bout of analytical verbiage from Chantal Hebert on the National, which aired the night before these recent poll results came out, giving the Liberals a marginal lead and the progressive majority a landslide victory:

"the economy is starting to be on the radar again because of the high dollar; because of what's happening in the United States; because of rising energy prices - go through the list. But I also think that Conservative strategists don't see Stephane Dion as someone who is strong as economic issues. He has made poverty and the environment his two issues and I think they're trying to use tougher times on the economic front to try to portray Dion as someone who would be reckless with public money in difficult times; who would imperil the economy by going overboard on the environment and who would be a spending Liberal"

That might be a great old-fashioned political narrative, but the logic just doesn't hold up.

She thoughtfully omitted Dion's much advertised "third pillar" - the economy - and relied on that dead paradigm where the environment and economy are mortal enemies; the latter always poised to move in for the kill.

But when you turn your brain on, you quickly realize that the high dollar will continue to soar along with the price of energy as long as we pursue oil-intensive economic policies; that oil prices won't come crashing down with the big demand from Asia; that the conservative economic ideology - relying commodity exports - will have the eventual effect of driving up global inflation, and inflation here in Canada as a result; that the trouble in the U.S. economy from the sub-prime lending crisis will carry on for as long as Americans (and much of the rest of the world - us included) continue to finance a debt-based fiat economy through large loans and mass consumption rather than savings.

All this economic bullshit is part of the same ecological crisis.

At the risk of being unkind, I'm not sure what's more harmful to our well-being: dinosaur-pundits egging on our childish, chauvinistic government, or Harper's ancient neoconservative orthodoxy in action.

I never thought I'd see the day when our journalists would be unapologetically confusing Conservative games with actually governing, and then legitimately seeming to respect them for it.

I think it's because their jobs increasingly hinge on the made-up fluff of political soap operas rather than the real-life ramifications of policy positions, which frees them up to rake Dion's personality over the coals with adjectives like "pallid," "inept," "weak," and "incompetent." After all, it makes for a better political narrative.

Believe it or not, it wasn't his charm that won over the party in the first place. It was his priorities. But far be it from me to suggest that they actually figure this out before they spit uncontrollably at the people who are watching them on TV.

Pundits not only underestimate the depth and importance the environmental issue has for Canadians - especially of my generation - but, according to the polls, their comments expire only a few hours after they spit them out.

Harper, it seems, can any weather number of short-sighted flip-flops on the economy, income trusts, the environment, or even the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, by virtue of an emasculated and intellectually decrepit media which continues to laud his "considerable abilities." What a joke.

Believing that conservative orthodoxy will cure any of these persistent problems would be like cutting off the nose to spite the face.

Orchard dust-up clouds reason

2008-01-05T23:09:00.000-06:00

Well aren't we having a full-on field day with this one. It's like a participatory soap opera. Harper could cut someone's head off and he wouldn't face as much criticism as Dion is over this.

I'm not completely defending this decision. I think it was rude for Dion to leave this to the eleventh hour after Orchard campaigned for months. But let's keep it in context: Dion promised to personally ensure that women will be running in one-third of federal ridings.

Is the commitment to equality half-hearted among grassroots Liberals? Is equality is simply out-of-vogue? Should Dion instead risk later being criticized for failing to ensure enough women are running?

History has proven that this promise would be impossible to keep without hand-picking candidates.

Furthermore, according to the Edmonton Journal, "Dion and Orchard had spoken prior to the announcement," so it wasn't done blindly as if to stab Orchard in the back.

Orchard will get a nomination. Let's have some patience.

slow learners catching up; heads still up asses

2008-01-05T03:47:00.000-06:00

We have to forgive conservatives like David Frum. As evidenced by his recent rampage of arrogant self-evidence in the National Post, it seems they're just slow learners.

First, he tries to convince us that the oil and gas supply situation is dire. Good on 'ya. Second, he tries to convince Republicans to advocate for reducing consumption. A little damn late. Then he takes an intellectual detour, as if clarifying for himself that people "respond to price signals," and that "national economies" hardly exist anymore insofar as governments can help change oil supply and demand.

So what's his one great idea? Green taxes." It would look exactly like the carbon tax advocated by global warming crusaders," he says. Way to come around.

But does he actually give credit where it's due? No. In great conservative fashion, he instead belittles environmentalists as alarmists by launching into a self-righteous attack on the "environmental movement," arrogantly claiming they were "wrong all along":

The environmental movement has always trafficked in apocalyptic fantasy. From its onset, it has offered one vision after another of impending catastrophe... environmentalists seem positively to crave disaster as a righteous judgment on erring humanity.

He follows that up with this stunning flash of catastrophic idiocy:

It is a plain matter of record that the American environment has steadily and substantially improved over the past three decades.
Environmental trends are nearly all positive, with all forms of pollution except greenhouse gases in steady decline in the United States and the European Union. In the middle-1970s, only one-third of America's lakes and rivers were safe for fishing and swimming. Today, two-thirds are, and the proportion continues to rise. Since 1970, smog has declined by one-third, even as the number of cars has nearly doubled and vehicle-miles traveled have increased by 43%. Acid rain has declined by 67%, even though the United States now burns almost twice as much coal annually to produce electric power.

The logic of this argument is fundamentally flawed – much like that of instituting “intensity-based targets” for reducing C02: it doesn't consider the increase in overall entropy in the global system or the outsourcing of pollution to new manufacturing centres - in China, for instance, where there has been a clear increase in smog and acid rain. How is it that he can rightly espouse the disappearance of "national economies" but fail to see this global environmental repercussions of this orthodoxy?

Finally, treating "greenhouse gasses" as a mere exception to the rule while shrugging off the increase in American coal-burning amounts to flagrant stupidity, and it flags an immature understanding of how entrenched this problem really is.

He could have spared us this diatribe by listening to what others have had to say in the past or doing some more critical research that extends beyond the partisan box of his mind. But that's not nearly as fun as gain-saying and taking credit for another's ideas.

Iowa: now this is refreshing

2008-01-03T23:54:00.000-06:00

There'll soon be enough verbal diarrhea out there on the subject of Obama and Huckabee for politicos to keep themselves occupied for hours.

But before I'm drowning in it, I would like to point out that this was a victory not only for change, but also for a victory for political integrity and the environment:

Both of these candidates talk about non-partisan, "vertical" politics - a new kind of anti-spectrum politics that appeals to reason rather than pre-packaged dogmatism. And both of these candidates are proposing bold new energy security measures (arguably, Huckabee's policy is even ahead of Obama's in this department. More on that to follow).

For now, congratulations to both of them; and congratulations to the people of Iowa for thinking before caucusing.

CBC responds to Conservative smear campaign

2007-12-31T07:49:00.001-06:00

CBC publisher John Cruickshank writes to Doug Finley, the Conservative party official who sent the letter (my highlights in bold):

Dear Mr. Finley,
I have reviewed your pre-Christmas fundraising letter. I write this public response to you because I believe that by its inaccuracy, innuendo, exaggeration and expressed malice towards hundreds of Canadian journalists you risk damaging not just your target, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but also public faith in our political process.
I understand that a private association like the Conservative party does not have the sort of transparent and reliable complaints process that we have at the CBC. That is regrettable.
I understand that you have already availed yourself of access to our Ombudsman, complaining that a member of the CBC News staff communicated suggested questions to Liberal MPs in advance of a public hearing. I appreciate this show of confidence in the integrity of our process. I wish you had reflected that respect for our commitment to answer any and all complaints about our work in your unfortunate letter to potential donors.
You were well aware when you sat down to write your appeal for cash that CBC News had publicly condemned the behaviour you complain of and had called a disciplinary meeting to look into it.
Your suggestion to your potential contributors that the CBC was waging a partisan campaign against your party and the government of Canada was flatly contradicted by every step we had taken before you composed your cash appeal.
We accept that you are not the only, or even the first, Canadian political party to use CBC News as a whipping boy for fundraising purposes.
The Liberal party accused us of bias on several occasions when it fit their agenda.
As a public broadcaster we take our responsibilities to all Canadian shareholders very seriously. This is more than just a glib promise. Unlike any other broadcaster in the country, the CBC has a journalistic standards and practices book. This book is given to each reporter, producer, editor and host working at the CBC. It outlines in explicit detail the code of conduct for our journalists. It covers conflict of interest; it covers issues of journalistic fairness and balance. It is clear, and it is binding. It is also a living document. We talk about it and refer to it daily when we are dealing with difficult ethical issues. It is also freely available to the general public to see, so they know exactly what standards we aim to maintain.
I would be delighted to share a copy of it with you.
CBC News is especially sensitive to how we cover partisan political debates. The CBC is non-partisan. We do not want to be seen to be a creation of any party (although, as you know, it was a Progressive Conservative government that brought our organization into being.)
While all our journalists try to live by our code of conduct, CBC News is not infallible. But we are accountable. When there are errors of judgment, or misunderstandings or improper interpretation of the journalistic standards and practices, we investigate. When we discover shortcomings, we change our standards and practices.
No other news organization in the country operates within such a demanding ethical regime. For you to sully the reputations of so many dedicated Canadian professionals is utterly unacceptable. Your denigration of our ethical standards can only contribute to the public cynicism about public life that is already far too pervasive.
Yours sincerely,
John Cruickshank, Publisher, CBC News

conservative whining reaches new low

2007-12-26T05:45:00.000-06:00

A Conservative letter has gone out to rally party faithful by crapping all over our public institutions, including the CBC:

The Liberals have long benefited from the support of the country's most powerful
vested interests. And the NDP has always been backed by the country's loudest
vocal interests." He goes on to ask for $100 or $200, and argues that financial
support will help the Tories overcome the challenge of fighting the Liberals and
"their vested interest allies.

According to them, the CBC, the Star, the unions, the Universities, the NGOs, and the courts are all genetically Liberal.

I guess it has nothing to do with the fact that these people actually think about our future rather than acting by virtue of a partisan play-book. I guess it had nothing to do with the embarrassment at Bali. Or the critical funding cuts to organizations and programs like Court Challenges, or your financial and economic irresponsibility.

Could it be that your talentless party is in need of a bit of inward reflection?

Nah, reflection isn't in the playbook. But belittling our public institutions is. A typical Conservative tactic - relying on smear and fear instead of actually reaching out to these organizations, or God forbid, "getting things done" in a way that the vast majority of us have a stomach for.

"getting things done for all of us" at Bali

2007-12-15T07:44:00.001-06:00

Canada had dismissed the European goals as unattainable, arguing that it would need to cut emissions by 38 to 53 per cent within 12 years to reach the proposed target

No shit, Sherlock. It's called doing what needs to be done. Apparently our government lacks the will and the brainpower to make it happen.

Y'know that annoying classmate? I mean the twerp at the back of the class who does dick all except whine that everything's "too hard" even though they've never really bothered to try to think it through in the first place? That's Bush.

The only thing worse than that - worse than blankly SAYING that you're incapable of something - is pathetically TRYING to fail at it, and then issuing self-congratulations to boot. That's Harper.

Harper is the little dork at the back of the class sitting next to Bush. He isn't thinking it through or doing any of his homework either.

But at least he's learning something. He's learning the same skills as criminals and con-artists; mastering the art of manipulation by aiming low and then selling his abject failure as an accomplishment: "getting things done for all of us."

A line we know so well we can read it in his smug little smirk.

and a hearty one to you, too, sir

2007-12-11T07:22:00.000-06:00

Does this strike anyone as a little odd?

Jason Kenney's always presented himself as a bit of a partisan ass-kisser, so that alone doesn't put me off. I don't even mind the message.

It's the combination of ass-kissing AND the big blotch of conservative blue behind the honourable member that makes me chafe a bit. This over-engineered little ditty has trashed a relatively positive message by making it look and sound like just another self-opportunistic conservative horn-blow.

Oh well. At least, by persisting to flash a hefty bout of blue alongside the patriotic image of leafy grandeur, Kenny appears to be speaking only for conservatives, and not for the country.

Thank goodness for that.

until proven guilty

2007-12-11T07:14:00.000-06:00

Just think. If Larry O'Brien, John Baird, Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber are all truly innocent, then their backs must chafe something awful.

They go to all the trouble of keeping high-profile Conservative company and still somehow manage to get nothing out of it.

I feel especially sorry for Mulroney. I didn't realize that the Prime Ministership forces individuals so hideously into poverty. He was so desperate that he sold the furniture at 24 Sussex.

Whoever said Conservatives don't understand the plight of the working class?

somebody call the prosperity police

2007-12-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

"Canada-U.S. income gap widens" - Globe Report on Business, Nov. 18, 2007.

[According to the University of Toronto's Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity], Canada's “prosperity gap” with the United States was wider in 2006 than in previous years, and will continue to widen unless policy-makers and business leaders take significant steps to boost productivity.

Quick, somebody call the prosperity police.

"Canada-U.S. income gap narrows" - Globe Report on Business, Nov. 22, 2007.

[According to Statistics Canada] Canada's per capita real income grew by 15.5 per cent between 2000 and 2006, nearly two-thirds faster than the 9.1 per cent growth in the U.S.

Whoops, I guess we don't have to feel so poor and unwashed after all.

The Statscan report measured "real income growth," which measures the actual change in our purchasing power, while the first report focused on Canada's low productivity and manufacturing output per person.

So what we call "growth" in Canada has nothing to do with good economic planning or innovation at home. It's solely due to a rise in commodity prices, the fruits of which then finance our lucrative foreign investments.

In other words, In Canada, we're raping the Earth and proudly enjoying every minute of it. Not only are we making more money, but we're making more by doing less. We can sit and watch the world go round, extract a few somethings out of our home and native land, sell it to China or the US, and then use that money to cherry-pick a few sweet deals overseas. Then we move the money around a bit and buy a bigger set of widgets to stare at or drive in; and then we do it all over again, but with more gusto.

All the while, policy makers and business leaders are lamenting the fact that we don't manufacture anything of great value here at home.

Why bother?

We can't justifiably whine about Canada's low productivity while also celebrating globalization or the "integration of global markets" or whatever else we happen to enthusiastically call it on any given day. The whole point of globalization was to become a cog in the global economic machine! If we get rich just by digging in the dirt and finding shiny things, hard metals and combustible liquids, why should we have to do anything else?

In this machine, we have become a proud nation of extractor-investors. From here on in, we Canadians can officially retire our brains and just enjoy the widgetfest until the worlds melts into oblivion.

At least we're going out with a bang, eh?

Dion steals show at press gallery dinner

2007-11-25T04:54:00.001-06:00

If this fallen star somehow still has a ticket to Sussex, it will be earned with self-deprecating humour:

vignettes of now: economic ripples and environmental tidal waves

2007-11-11T03:17:00.000-06:00

"Dow plunges 360 points on credit fears" and "Citigroup downgrade causes global shockwaves." All because a few banks tried to mortgage homes to unqualified buyers.

Mortgage-fueled investment is one of the heavy engines of cashflow and mass consumption in our debt-based economy. Was it liquidity or profit they were desperate for? Just an economic ripple in the water.

--
Fear leads to speculation: large-scale credit trouble and record-high oil prices are said to point to an economic recession. Mentions of oil woes. Another, bigger ripple.

--
The NY Times reports that record oil prices - the third energy shock in a generation - are here to stay. Prices have gone from $20 in 1997 to a nearly unthinkable $100 today.

The current oil shock has "broad, long-lasting implications" because India - and especially China - will keep demand at peak capacity almost indefinitely, unless we see significant economic downturns in Asia or America.

Permanent oil woes. A "permanent" economic wave.

No mention of global warming though - publishers wouldn't want to seem scattered or alarmist.

--
Fears of a global sell-off of the American dollar, spurring an economic downturn in the US due to the compounding effects of its massive current-account and trade deficits. Federal reserve may be unable to control spending due to currency devaluation. But for now, the slide remains undramatic.

Tremors or ripples. Nobody knows yet.

--
PetroChina becomes the world's largest IPO after a surprising jumpstart on the public exchange. A semiotic shockwave.

--
Rising food prices. The Economist reports that oil is still cheaper than milk and bottled water. No mention that prices of milk and water include oil for transport (therefore must be more expensive). Or that bottled water is itself the child of oil-enabled transportation.

More lucrative biofuel crops are overtaking cropland formerly used for food. Farmers are happy; the poor aren't. But the poor don't read the Economist. No ripples.

--
The prospect of a recession lingers. But growth in China seems to keep the world economy stable. Millions of Chinese are lifted out of poverty. A wave of joy.

--
Canadians wave hello to renewed economic confidence. The loonie reaches record highs due to its standing as a "commodity-based currency." Large deposits of oil and other increasingly rare commodites make it necessary to trade in the Canadian dollar, though Canadian manufacturers warn of a potential trade-deficit backlash.

--
It's reported that C02 emissions are up 35 per cent today from 1990 - far faster than anticipated - due to increased industrial use of fossil fuels, and a dramatic handicap in the ability of oceans to absorb C02. Several international agencies support the findings.

The changes "characterize a carbon cycle that is generating stronger-than-expected and sooner-than-expected climate forcing," the researchers report.

A wave of anxiety.

--
The US government stays out of the credit crisis. Cash flow is ensured by encouraging consumption. Uneasy economic calm and unseen, unheard environmental ripples. A little silence never hurt anyone.

More debt, more growth economics, more energy to fuel it all. My favourite "practical" solution to this teetering tower, so far, has been to conduct a colossal experiment by making oceans vast carbon sinks again - through the use of artificial electrochemical weathering.

It's pretty useless in the long term, but it sure feels exciting, doesn't it? With all the heightened stakes that come with this experiment, I daresay it even beats the thrill that comes with making a risky investment. The only way it could possibly get better is if they found a way to broadcast the experiment LIVE on a cable news channel.

sirens and hamsters and lepers (oh my!)

2007-10-21T07:02:00.000-05:00

Something surreal about screaming the word "apple" to a bunch of five-year-olds over air raid sirens.

There I am trembling, questioning how long I have left to live; and the kids just carry on, blissfully unaware, thinking it's a police car. Some police car.

They could have warned me about the air raid tests.

Aside from that flare-up, life in Korea has been pretty comfortable. Though it usually feels like I'm talking over twenty-two little air-raid sirens in my grade one class. And when two-thirds of them bring hamsters to school in their pencil-cases, well, the challenge can't be overstated.

When I'm not working, I'm in my apartment or taking random walks in this dense city of almost 23 million. My place is quaint, as expected - a furnished one-room apartment with a bathroom and in-suite laundry. The school secretary went on a shopping spree at e-mart (like a Samsung-owned version of Wal-mart. Everything in my apartment is an LG, Samsung and Hyundai product. They really do own this country). I guess I'm lucky to have a western-style toilet, too.

Being alone with oneself could be nightmarish, but it's been a very productive silence for me. The only time I feel like I'm being screamed at is when I'm walking down one of Seoul's over-lit neon funparks. I gather Koreans don't believe in light pollution. The signs can scream at me all they want - I still can't understand them. I'm almost as unaware of the world around me as one of my five-year-olds.

But I do have company. The three English teachers I work with - not to mention my 40-yr-old Californian-turned-Japanese neighbour, Joe - are the lonely few I've met who can speak English. Joe usually just barges in to my place to talk about his second and third jobs - girls and beer. Sometimes I remind him he has a wife and children in Japan.

Cho, Lim and Lee have proven to be life-savers for those moments when I need to do official paperwork or when I lose bank cards or other such nonsense. But I struggle to understand sometimes. Today's adventure was a good example:

Cho asked me if I would like to take in some traditional Korean theatre with her daughter and a couple of friends from Uganda. Then she made some kind of obscene gesture which I gather was supposed to indicate they were disabled. She later clarified that they were "lepers."

Well the day has come and gone, and the show was spectacular. My two new Ugandan "leper" friends were not lepers at all. They were a doctor and a teacher who have come to Korea to do volunteer work with the disabled.

I can't wait to see what Cho has planned for next weekend. Whether she tells me in advance or not, it will surely be a surprise.

connecting the credit crunch dots

2007-09-22T04:45:00.000-05:00

It wasn't a depression-era bank run. But it was a bank run. And problems with Britain's Northern Rock are a sign of more financial turmoil to come.

The media has billed this a "subprime housing crisis" but there is an even bigger untold story at play here. This crisis is linked to the same money market lunacy that has fueled the rapidly-growing global economy - and some of our global environmental woes by extension.

In the latest episode of the credit crunch, Britain's Northern Rock has faced difficulty securing funds from international money markets due to the US subprime lending crisis. Northern Rock is a small lender, but it demonstrates how even a small bank run can have a negative effect on consumer confidence, justifiably driving us to take out everything we have before it vanishes.

But in our debt-based fiat system, the worst thing we could do for our financial security is withdraw all of our money. What the system drives us to do is build more credit-financed malls and buy more and bigger homes and cars - with as many huge loans as possible - just to keep it from collapsing (here's a video that gives a good background to this, though I disagree with their prescriptions).

I wonder if we might, just maybe, consider re-engineering our system so that it stops "thriving" on debt and mass consumption? It wasn't always this way, after all. This lunacy began after the end of the Nixon shock - during the Vietnam war. Before that, money was a stand-in for gold. Now money stands in for nothing but money itself.

This credit crunch started in the housing market because the housing market is one of the world's primary sources of money-making. These are literally the trees that money grow on - and one of the largest incubators of ecologically-unsustainable, high-entropy growth economics.

For the interim, our solutions are still based on our "more, bigger, better" understanding of the world. Several governments have promised to inject more cash in the system. And now banks are contributing, too.

By the way, under this twisted arrangement, the kind of gross government debt we see in the United States is actually "good" for the economy - for the moment - making the war in Iraq "good" economic policy.

Back in Britain, the government is also considering increasing deposit protection - up to £100,000 - to deal with the recent run on the banks. Though at £210,578 (BBC), the average price for a British home is worth more than double what it's protected for.

One last thing. As I was reading an article related to the British credit situation, I noticed an ad next to the headline: Firstplus - a secured home loan provider - is offering 7.9% APR on a homeowner loan! But hurry, the offer ends September 30th!!! Unbelievable.

mulroney's malarkey

2007-09-22T03:53:00.002-05:00

Zolf's latest CBC article clearly explains why this recent idiocy about Trudeau being a fascist anti-Semite does little but prove Mulroney's wheels don't turn properly: "it may come as a surprise to Mulroney, but nobody in Quebec — or anybody else in Canada — cared about the Jews being slaughtered in Europe."

"Mulroney's notion that all Quebecers and Canadians, young and old, saw the Second World War as a fight against Nazism and as a way of saving Europe's Jews is hogwash — highly emotional and very unscholarly. Quite simply, saving the Jews from the Nazis was not an issue at all in 1939... in Quebec in 1939, anti-Semitism was the norm: Trudeau, at age 20, felt no particular sympathies toward the Jews. As well, Trudeau was staunchly anti-British at that time."

Many of Trudeaus' mentors were Jewish, including Kohn, Kadourie and Laski. He appointed many Jews to top positions as well. He just wasn't a Zionist. He didn't support ethnic nationalism in any form, which also explains his evolved stance on Quebec. He moved away from his initial sympathies with Quebec nationalists who "dreamed of a separate Quebec, a state that would be all French, all Catholic and corporatist — fascist, if you like."

a dense first few moments

2007-09-18T04:38:00.000-05:00

Made it past quarantine. Guess I don't have bird flu.

After that reassuring step forward, I carried through customs, quickly found my luggage and stepped into the real world. But since the real world in Korea is full to the nuts with hangeul - the Korean alphabet - it's the most alien real world I've ever known.

Amid a barrage of hangeul on reception placards, I smiled at some familliar nomenclature - "James Johnston" etched in black on white.

I introduced myself overzealously to a man I would soon find out spoke almost no English. I should not have mistaken the Roman characters for a cue. I threw around a few names of school types to find out if he actually knew who I was or where I was going.

"Yes," he said. "Do not worry." He threw my luggage into some kind of hired van.
"Okay." Was it a taxi? A rental? Did I have to pay anything? Where were we going? I voiced a few variations of these questions, but the language barrier rendered me unresponseworthy.

The interior was upholstered with buttons and leather in such a way that it resembled an old-fashioned wing-backed armchair. But this image of luxury was buried in a nest of contraptions that flashed, beeped and buzzed. The GPS gadget was particularly annoying - heralding every half-degree turn with a ding-dong. The driver was reveling in self-gratifying beepage. Electronic positive reinforcement for drivers. But even better was the "vu meter" which seemed to do nothing but flash to register the decibel levels inside the car. Great investment, to be sure.

As my fascination with the interior disappeared, I began to notice the haze. They say it's more a symptom of moisture and less a product of pollution, but it's wasn't a pretty first impression. I guess there is only so much you can do when you live in one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Hard to believe that there are almost twice as many people living in S. Korea as there are people in Canada. There are hundreds of businesses within a single city block. I have no idea how many people that amounts to, but if one block can support that volume of business, that's a lot of people. The roadways are always clogged with traffic (above). Walkways and doorways to homes pop up everywhere, often in the most unexpected places.

The driver stopped at an intersection and we sat there for a few minutes until someone walked up to the car. He introduced himself as Dr. Lee and led me to another building across the street. "There is your apartment," said Dr. Lee. I didn't have to pay after all. And there it was - home sweet home (at right).

fun costs facts

2007-09-06T23:28:00.001-05:00

old but relevant - (click image to enlarge)

breaking stasis (kimchi anyone?)

2007-09-06T01:20:00.000-05:00

following some impromptu and all-encompassing forays, i'm ready to resurrect this thing with new digs.

and i moved to s. korea.

Reality Check: NDP Results

2007-04-09T23:46:00.001-05:00

Environment:

Greenhouse gas emissions have gone up under Gary Doer’s watch to 11% above 1990 levels.

Greenhouse gas emissions spiked by 20% between 2004 and 2005 alone. (Environment Canada)

Manitoba now lags behind 4 other provinces in megawatts of installed wind power: MB = 20 MW compared to AB = 275, QC = 212 MW, NS = 32 MW, SK = 22 MW (David Suzuki Foundation)

The toxic algal bloom problem on Lake Winnipeg and other Manitoba lakes today is the worst it has ever been.

No environment levy or other green tax shift to discourage the indiscriminate cosmetic use of fertilizers containing phosphorus.

Zero provincial support for small farmers and municipalities to end winter manure spreading

Health Care:

Eight years after promising to end hallway medicine – we still have hallway medicine in hospitals.

Emergency rooms are now in critical condition from a desperate shortage of doctors, as is the case at the Grace and St. Boniface Hospitals.

NDP continues to run a bureaucrat-centred health care system instead of a patient-centred system

Children and Families:

Provincial child care facilities threatened with closure or forced to charge new ancillary fees due to lack of a concrete provincial child care plan.
Children still housed in Winnipeg hotel rooms and not with caring foster families.
A Child and Family Services system resulting in the deaths of 31 children involved in the CFS system.

Education:

University students voluntarily hiking their tuition fees to fix crumbing university facilities and retain top caliber professors.

School boards and trustees hamstrung by sudden, unexpected NDP regulations on how to budget for surpluses – contrary to the advice of the provincial auditor and other independent auditors.

School boards having to levy huge property tax bills to make up for inadequate provincial funding for public schools.

Economy and Competitiveness:

Manitoba continues to suffer a net loss of people to Saskatchewan

Manitoba is the only western province to have suffered a net inter-provincial migration loss in the most recent figures

Manitoba now ties Newfoundland for having the highest percentage of inter-provincial outflow among Canadian provinces

“Gary Doer and the NDP spin machine continue with their tired old scam of shoveling money out of the back of a truck, hoping it falls somewhere useful, and praying that no one notices that it’s just blowing away in the wind. This latest NDP budget isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.”

Smart Provincial Policies

2007-04-03T02:20:00.000-05:00

Reasons to consider changing your vote in the upcoming provincial election:

Liberals first to give green light to rapid transit in Winnipeg

To make our capital city more competitive and meet our Kyoto targets, A Manitoba Liberal government will provide the City of Winnipeg with a provincial support package for rapid transit within the first 90 days of holding office.

Liberals want environment levy on cosmetic fertilizers

Discourage environmentally damaging retail practices. Retail fertilizers sold for cosmetic uses such as lawn care and golf courses need to be hit with a new green fee on the amount of phosphorus they contain, Manitoba Liberals said Friday.

Car theft crackdown: Liberals would screen and treat youth offenders for FASD

Treat the problem, not the symptom. Manitoba Liberals say a successful crackdown on car theft will require that all youth convicted of a crime in Manitoba be screened and treated for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

spot the irony

2007-03-09T09:23:00.000-06:00

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they have dismantled an international network set up to illegally use uranium mined there.

Uranium is the basic raw material of both civilian and military nuclear programmes. A mine in DR Congo's southern province of Katanga supplied the uranium that was used in the atomic bombs that were dropped by the Americans on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
To thank and reward DR Congo, the Americans funded the creation of DR Congo's nuclear centre in 1958. It was established on the university campus and only for research purpose. But in the late 1970s, a bar of uranium disappeared from the centre, raising concern about security at the site.
Moreover, the site of the centre is facing some erosion problems. And people fear a landslide that could lead to a wider disaster, our reporter says. In recent years, the IAEA has visited the centre and security was believed to have improved.

Enlightenment as Mass Deception

2007-02-01T23:10:00.000-06:00

as for the market's freedom, in the high period of art as elsewhere, it was freedom for the stupid to starve.

-Horkheimer and Adorno

Oh, how times have changed. Now it is freedom for the stupid to starve everyone else.

"Nobody Knows the Answer" to the CBC?

2007-01-20T13:39:00.001-06:00

Don't mistake the headline for my own words. That's a cop-out I saw in a Toronto Star blog. It's not so much that we don't know what to do with it. By and large, I think we just don't care.

I don't purport to have all the answers to the CBC dilemma, but in the spirit of giving a shit, I'll ramble off a few considerations:

First, the federal government has quietly launched what will likely be a disassembly project for our public broadcaster - i.e., "the nature of media in the 21st century" or something to that effect.

Why, under a Conservative government, would it be anything other than "free market?"

On the one hand, if the whole point of the CBC is to tell Canadian stories, it's not the be-all-and-end-all of national storytelling. Theatre, radio, books, and oral narrative all cover that ground.

But as far as pure TV is concerned, the CBC does a better job than non-public main-networks, which don't make much of an attempt to tell Canadian stories. Commercial networks struggle just to meet Can-con requirements with homogeneous copy-cat TV. Rarely do these attempts come to represent local culture gleaming through a barrage of externality.

On cable, the situation is different. On cable, a certain number of channels are "Canadian," but cable presents a different kind of "story." Many programs are neo-aristotelean slop. On music, news, entertainment, sports, business, food, gardening, or weather specialty channels, the form, currency and aesthetic are all more important than "content" - which can hardly ever be passed off as a "story."

In that case, it's pretty easy to gather that the CBC shouldn't be competing with the bulk of main-network TV or cable. It should be competing with narrative-focused programming: some main network content, and such specialty channels as learning, history, women, bravo, showcase, children's, etc. There are between five and ten stations out of about fifty that might be more inclined to focus on the quality of narrative rather than simply filling an aesthetic template with "content."

The CBC should therefore ditch the "me too" syndrome that paralyzes it - especially the teen-audience 'ganster' speech pattern in the afternoon - and instead concentrate on what it was designed to do in the first place. More meaningful long-format exchanges. A collaboration between the NSI, NFB and CBC. Find ways to make bestselling Canadian books and plays into mini-series. The CBC could be a place for us to showcase what's already out there but what mass audiences don't see or hear. I think we'd see a better product - maybe even something Canadians want to watch.

Should the CBC trade it's literate audience for "me too" and reality TV, the whole point of a public broadcaster would be dead long before the institution itself is. In that direction, the CBC will have forfeited it's mandate. The CBC will have killed itself.

The First Big Baby Step

2007-01-13T19:02:00.000-06:00

Federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is calling for energy companies that don't reduce carbon dioxide emissions and water use to face penalties, especially in Alberta's booming oilsands region.

Dion, who is rounding up his first visit to the oil-rich province since becoming Liberal leader in December, told CBC Radio Calgary Friday that the measures would be reasonable for companies that wished to remain competitive.

"The ones who are able to decrease their emissions easily enough, yes, we'll have a reward, but the ones who are not doing it will pay more," Dion said. "At the end of the day, you will have a strong incentive to do the right thing."

Dion said a Liberal government would create a carbon trading market similar to one already running in Europe to allow companies that didn't meet emissions targets to buy credits from those that exceeded the standard.

"We will have a regulation to ask the industry to decrease their emissions by 10 per cent," he said. "The ones who are able to decrease it by 15 per cent will have the capacity to sell the extra cuts in the market."

"This is a very effective way to speed up innovation and to use the technology to go from the lab to the market."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has rejected the idea of trading carbon credits on the international market.

Oilsands royalties targeted

Dion also took aim at oilsands companies, saying he would like to remove generous royalty incentives if firms didn't meet emissions targets that would be set by the government.

Energy companies have saved billions of dollars over the last decade under a program that allows them to pay a fraction of normal royalties until their giant oilsands projects are fully capitalized.

The new Liberal leader rejected suggestions that such tough regulations would kill investment in the oilsands — one of the main contributors to Alberta's record economic growth.

"I think Albertans want to be sure that our economic growth is sustainable …. The way we are doing it now is not sustainable," he said.

source: cbc.ca

ice, farming now out-of fashion

2006-12-31T02:24:00.000-06:00

Eight of 18 East African glaciers have disappeared. They couldn't have been that important - we just noticed they were there. Some predict that this will inflame conflict in the region as more people clamour for fewer resources. But thankfully, we're told an alternative to water will be synthesized out of hydrogen and oxygen. Some day. If we believe hard enough.

By that time, they say there will also be alternative energy sources to replace the Nile's many hydroelectric dams which will also die of thirst as the glaciers vanish. Alternative energies like biofuels - I mean the ones from N. America, because African farmers downstream from the glaciers will lose their sources of irrigation water. Whatever. Farming is so, like, 19th c., anyway.

"Northey's gone. Gregory's about finished," said John Maina, as if mourning old friends. The 56-year-old guide knows Mount Kenya's glaciers and peaks well, having led climbers up its face since he was a teenager. As he prepared for yet another trek from Naro Moru, he recalled how it once was.

"We used to be able to ski on Lewis, but now it's all crevasses," he said. "We would climb all the way up Lewis on ice to Lenana peak, but now it's climbing on rocks. And the ice is weak. We're seeing blue ice, weak ice."

Up at 10,000 feet, where he mans a weather station in the clouds, another longtime guide, Joseph Mwangi, 45, makes his own projections. "In five years, Lewis Glacier will be gone," he said.

Mwangi worries that the water loss may unravel the unique ecosystem that surrounds him, with its high-altitude trees and bamboo groves, blue monkeys and giant forest hogs. "The lobelia trees might die," he said.

Animals are already dying in the foothills and plains below.

Glaciologists say "terminal" glaciers often discharge -- and waste -- large amounts of water in the early years, then release increasingly less as they shrink. Villagers here seem to confirm that: The Naro Moru River and other streams off Mount Kenya ran very high some years back, they say, but are now growing thin. A years-long drought magnifies the problem.

"The more the snow goes down, the lower the rivers," said Roy Mwangi, the area water officer here.

The trouble has already begun, he said. Miles downstream on the Naro Moru, where the river now vanishes in the dry season, livestock are dying of thirst. Desperate nomadic herdsmen have raided points upriver, blocking intakes for farm irrigation systems, he said.

"There's a lot of suffering on the lower side. These are armed men. I'm afraid there will be conflict," Mwangi said.

Hardship may spread even to Nairobi, Kenya's capital. Most of the country's shaky electric grid relies on hydropower, and much of that is drawn from water streaming off Mount Kenya. In a U.N. study issued in early November, scientists predicted that the glacial rivers of Mount Kenya and the rest of East Africa may dry up in 15 years.

"The repercussions on people living down the slopes will be terrible," said Grace Akumu, a Kenyan environmentalist.

Many scientists say similar repercussions could follow wherever human settlements depend on steady runoffs from healthy glaciers -- in Peru and Bolivia, India and China. It could also extend beyond that to coastal settlements, they say, as oceans rise because of the melting of land ice.

The October report by European and North American glaciologists in Geophysical Research Letters estimates that glacier melt contributed up to one-third of the one- to two-inch rise in global sea levels in the past decade. And that contribution is accelerating. Since 2001, they report, dying glaciers apparently have doubled their runoff into the world's rising seas.

(from Charles J. Hanley of the Washington Post)

Happy, happy new year.

the nation (not Nation) in the motion

2006-11-22T17:48:00.000-06:00

What a feat. Remember last time we talked about this? That whole "distinct society," thing took years of haggling. This time, we got this whole "nation" thing taken care of in mere months.

And remember what Clyde Wells said after Meech Lake? He said that motions "mean dick." Thank (the politically correct) God that questions about nationhood are restricted to motions.

At the whim of a beautiful threesome of bedfellows - Michael Ignatieff, the Bloc, and now Stephen Harper - the business of governing the Nation (not the nation) has successfully been derailed into groovy little ditch where the important nuances of Quebec's present and future take precedence to such meaningless asides as climate change, environmental regulations, pensions, poverty, foreign affairs, urban decline, or international aid and trade.

Now, "Quebeckers" and "Other Canadians" can sleep easy at night. We've finally had the make-up sex we've been waiting for since our constitutional argument in the early 90s and it feels great. All things are perfectly unequal, messy and at once strangely balanced. I wonder what will happen when we all wake up?

Voting Bolsters Dion's Position as Ultimate Liberal Winner

2006-11-17T01:05:00.000-06:00

Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun, October 3, 2006

Results from the "super weekend" of voting for Liberal delegates to next month's leadership convention point to a likely win for veteran Quebec cabinet minister Stephane Dion.

Others doubtless will argue differently. But a clear-headed analysis of detailed voting results suggests front-runner Michael Ignatieff's support -- at 30 per cent -- will not carry beyond the first ballot.

Ignatieff is the darling of the party establishment, much as one-time leadership aspirant Kim Campbell was of Tory backroomers in her day; and we all know how that story ended.

Any way you look at it, Ignatieff lacks the majority result he'd need to snare the prize after the initial round of voting.

The political newcomer is destined to be overtaken in white-knuckle balloting, scheduled for Dec. 2 at the Palais de Congres in Old Montreal.

That is because Ignatieff has run a mediocre campaign that has polarized the Liberal membership. And because he hasn't given delegates confidence that he can capture the imagination of the broader electorate.

Most damaging has been his quasi support for the Iraq war and the Afghan offensive, policy areas where a lot of Grits are looking for leadership that would confront rather than bolster the Conservatives' position.

The former Harvard prof has little room to increase his support, encouraging a closer look at the three other front-runners.

Weekend balloting revealed former Ontario cabinet minister Gerard Kennedy is viewed as a serious contender but lacks appeal in Quebec, possibly because of a perception his French isn't good enough. Heck, Joe Volpe got more support from Quebec delegates -- 2.4 per cent -- than did Kennedy, with 1.6 per cent.

Liberals simply do not elect leaders who don't play well in Quebec.

And now, more than ever, following the party's loss of reputation in Quebec due to the sponsorship debacle, party members will be fretting big time about currency in that province when they select the new leader.

Bob Rae, former Ontario premier and a New Democrat before his political metamorphosis, meanwhile, is weak in all-important Ontario, where he governed during a recession and came away smelling like rotten cabbage. He received just 17 per cent of Ontario delegate support.

In fact, he and Kennedy, immediately following the super weekend, got into a slanging match over their respective appeal in the two heavyweight provinces, suggesting their respective camps could start alienating the other. That, in turn, could lead to a situation in which both men might look to throw their support to a third person on the big day.

The dynamics of the race between now and early December indicate that a compromise candidate will be sought, a second-favourite person who can slowly gain strength on the convention floor.

That person would appear to be Dion who, importantly, after the weekend balloting can claim credible support in his home province, with a stamp of approval from nearly 30 per cent of Quebec delegates.

There are other reasons why Dion is the most comfortable choice.

He's unburdened by any ideological tag the way Ignatieff is seen as leaning to the right, or Rae, perceived as leaning left.

In the next election, Liberals know their main task will be to keep the Harper Conservatives from retaining power. They need to hang on to every right-leaning Liberal-inclined voter out there. Rae can't help them do that.

There's less worry about the left; the NDP has been stagnant since the January election.

Consider, too, that Dion possesses a longer, assuring record, as a federal Liberal in good standing, than any of his three main competitors.

He served with distinction as intergovernmental affairs minister, his federalist bona fides well established. He then went on to impress environmentalists as environment minister.

Even when he was booted from cabinet briefly by prime minister Paul Martin, the classy MP refused to succumb to sour grapes. He played no politics and was soon back in cabinet, recognized as a loyal and principled Liberal disciple.

It's unclear at this point how many ballots it will take the new leader to taste victory. What is clear is that the new leader will be Stephane Dion.

Who Am I, and Where's Iraqistan?

2006-11-12T22:03:00.000-06:00

What a newsweek last week! “A landslide victory,” “a seismic shift,” and “a stunning triumph” happened all on the same day. On that day and for the rest of the week, hyperbole was suddenly acceptable in the objective news media because the good guys – the Democrats – finally took back the legislative branch. It was a revelation of the anxiety that “progressive” Americans were accruing over the past six years of Bush Republicanism. Like a sigh of relief, the referendum was quick and decisive: the war in Iraq is taking too long and Americans have little patience left.

Meanwhile, here in the cold white north, we asked ourselves what the win means for us in Canada. The answer was usually a confounded “I don't know,” followed by a citation of how the legislative branch almost always swings back to the other party during the second term of a President. Seismic indeed.

Nevertheless, the Liberals tried to capitalize on some of last week's positive hyperbole by association. They invited longtime Iraq war opponent Howard Dean to be their keynote speaker at the upcoming leadership convention. National director Steven MacKinnon said “the Liberals have a strong affinity with the Democrats.” By inviting him to speak, the Liberals position themselves not only as winners, but also as a party of peace and a friend of the American people (as an aside, I might like to remind Liberals what happened the last time they invited someone up from the United States to address them. He tried, and is still trying, to take over the party).

And as the Liberals attempt to gain from the anti-war movement in the United States, polls were suddenly being pumped into our Canadian political consciousness, telling us that – guess what – we're sick of war too! Wait a sec, which war were we opposing again? Where's Iraqistan, anyway?

Unlike our neighbours, we're not sick of war because of our intimate experience with death. We see a comparatively small number of caskets arrive home in the Canadian media, and the majority of us would be hard-pressed to say we personally knew someone that died as a result of fighting. By pointing to this, I don't mean to undermine tragic and meaningful Canadian deaths in Afghanistan. I'm pointing to our astounding national ignorance.

One poll indicates that we're sick of the war in Afghanistan because we either just discovered it was happening, or we erroneously believe it to be one and the same as America's war in Iraq. From the Democratic win to the announcement of Dean as keynote, last week's news didn't help clarify the difference between the two conflicts. Canadians are more confused than ever.

Consider the results of that Environics poll: a quarter of us somehow think we're in Afghanistan to peacekeep. Keep the peace between which two sides? More than a fifth (23%) of us say were just there to help Bush. Nine percent say we're there to defeat the Taliban; eight per cent to defeat Al-Qaeda; eight per cent to create a democracy; and only five per cent actually think we're there to support NATO. I guess “supporting Afghanis” wasn't a good enough reason to make the list.

We clearly don't know what we're doing there. And that should be no surprise, really, because that characterizes all multi-national, (and therefore) politically sensitive missions. Every contributing nation has a slightly different set of values, and consequently a slightly different goal.

But this obvious problem begs an obvious question: if we Canadians don't know what the heck we're doing there, what are “we” opposing, exactly? Fighting? Conflict? Death? Injustice? All of the above? Indeed, all worthy things to oppose. But with a dearth of detail, surely we're not qualified to pack up and haul out.

I wonder what we could achieve if we stopped talking in hopeless generalities and used our capacity to think in context without getting caught up in a warm southerly wind. We should be thinking about Afghanistan independently. Separate from the Iraqi conflict, separate from the popular American sentiment we heard so much about in the mid-term election.

Let's start with the basics. We know the Afghan economy is being positively boosted by an international presence, though on the other hand we know that a warlord-run opium monopoly presents a unique challenge to Afghan economic success - especially now that warlords are the governing elite. We also know that much of the Taliban is at large, and that they're hard to differentiate from average Afghanis. Surely we can appreciate how great a challenge this is for our military.

From that brief summary, we already know that an international departure from Afghanistan means a national Afghan economy as rooted in transnational crime as ever, and a fundamentalist, despotic former regime handed yet another opportunity to claim power. We're no better off than where we started.

So if we stay in Afghanistan, how quickly can Afghanis enjoy fundamental freedoms and democratic representation – if that is, in fact, the extended goal? First, this goal does not, as Derek Rosin suggests, depend on how well we impose a political or cultural institution through the use of force. It depends rather on how well we can help nurture opportunities for Afghanis to meet their needs and improve their standard of living. As abstract principles, freedom and democracy only have efficacy when they're coupled with economic opportunity.

And thankfully, contrary to popular belief, Afghanistan isn't just an opium-infested sandbowl. It actually has extensive deposits of natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, and precious and semiprecious stones. So while the ability of Afghanis to cultivate a basic agrarian, subsistence lifestyle is slight due to poor soil and climate, it seems that there exists great potential to create an industrial, or natural-resource-based economy, if that's what they wish to do.

That's a whole other ecological and economic can of worms that I won't belabour. Nevertheless, it doesn't take much effort to understand the situation in Afghanistan beyond our increasingly pervasive witless generalities.

Before we Canadians are qualified to complain about the absurdity of our commitment, we had better try to reach below the surface a bit. We had better ask ourselves whether our opposition to the Afghan mission comes from a well-informed and well-engaged understanding of the issue, or from a habit of paying a disproportionate amount of attention to the American conflict due to some kind of backward fascination and national sense of insecurity. Sure, we probably hear much more about Iraq than we do of Afghanistan. But it's a different war, folks. Take some initiative.

Afghanistan and Iraq are different places with different conflicts led by different organizations. Afghan difficulties are not impossible to comprehend. Solutions are available. Surely we can come up with something far better than a cop-out military solution to a complex international problem. Surely we can provide some leadership in the economic sphere - something to focus on beyond just hopelessness and despair.

new UN report

2006-11-05T13:40:00.000-06:00

...there is 35.4 per cent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the late 18th century due to our burning of fossil fuels.

Source: World Meteorological Organization

smart man, smartest candidate

2006-10-29T13:29:00.000-06:00

STEPHANE DION ON QUEBEC:

We've seen this movie three times already. First it was the debate on the constitutional recognition of Quebec as a "distinct society" contained in the Meech and Charlottetown accords. Then came the Calgary Declaration, a 1997 episode which few people remember. The premiers of the other provinces tried to define, for us Quebecers, the type of recognition we wanted. They had their legislatures adopt a declaration that recognized "the unique character of Quebec society." When the declaration landed in Quebec, the province's political class rejected it, stating that this recognition "had no teeth."

So, here is my position: I am proud to belong to the Quebec nation within Canada. The constitutional recognition of such a fact, although desirable, is not necessary because nothing prevents us Quebecers from participating and succeeding in this great endeavour that is Canada, a country we have contributed so much to building.

Nothing can justify our renouncing our Canadian identity. Such a rupture would be a tragedy, for ourselves, our children and future generations. We should not be encouraged to make such a mistake on the basis of a recognition that is desirable but not necessary. That is my position and I am more than willing to debate it because I do not underestimate the importance of symbols and recognition. But I do not believe that we should ask other Canadians for such a recognition until we have clarified what we are hoping to obtain from it.

Although it is an important one, I do not believe this debate is the most important thing we can do to improve Quebec and Canada as a whole. For me, the main priority by far is to ensure Canada is part of the solution, not the problem, to the crucial challenge of the 21^st century: how to reconcile humanity with the ecological limits of the planet. That is the vision and the plan of action I am proposing to Canadians in order to combine the three pillars of our success: economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability.

Quebecers have better things to do than to see this movie for a fourth time. We should mobilize ourselves to make our country a pathfinder in the 21^st century. Let's contribute all our talents, energies and our own culture, as we have always done in the past, when we have had to respond with other Canadians to great challenges.

first and lasting impressions

2006-10-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

First Impressions First...

John Doyle, of the Globe and Mail, thinks that first impressions matter. And he's met three Liberal Candidates in other contexts:

Of Michael Ignatieff, he said, "he was cold, patronizing, sarcastic and impatient. The thought flitted through my mind, 'What a jerk this guy is.'" Just like Harper. But Liberal. And less politically savvy.

Of Bob Rae, he said, "He was articulate and polite. Then we asked him to tape an intro to the next program on the station, a reggae music show. Incredibly, Rae stumbled over the word "reggae." He didn't know how to pronounce it and admitted to being unfamiliar with this "reggae" genre. I was astonished that a grown person could be so culturally unaware that reggae music or even the word 'reggae' had passed him by." Um, yeah. Coming from the guy with mention of 'arts and culture policy' on his website. Whose arts and culture, Bob?

Of Gerard Kennedy, he said "I liked him instantly... he was passionate, articulate, smart, humorous and down to earth." He didn't mention Dion... hm. Written off already, eh?

I might add, in case you missed it in an earlier post, that Kennedy seemed to better understand the dynamics of international trade better than Iggs or anyone else on the campaign trail.

I guess all you need to be deemed 'intelligent' is to cultivate your erudite roots and be accepted into a tiny prestigious circle of ivy-leagued pretentiousness. As if that's not political. He may be a smart guy, but if that's the only flattering adjective people can muster for him, then maybe we need to think twice before the vote.

... and Lasting Impressions Last

In other news, Washington Post news to be precise, Bush is continuing to cultivate a great and lasting impression, certainly in my books. It's interesting to see what happens to a President when his approval rating dips below 40% and is now managing a raging war in the middle east and a cold war in the far east:

"If I might say, that is a beautiful suit," he told NBC News correspondent Kevin Corke at yesterday's news conference in the Rose Garden. My tailor appreciates that," replied Corke.

one flat-pathed, privately-partnered, pretty little 'peg

2006-10-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

If elected, Sammy's gonna make it one pretty drive from city hall to the 'burb of your choice. First,

He's gonna finish fixin' the streets - a one-time investment so we won't have to worry about those paved car and truck paths ever, ever again. (Then, wouldn't you know it, we can cut taxes for once and all!)

And as you're driving on those flatter, smoother, less bumpy and... well, flatter roads, you'll notice that you're stopping at traffic lights less often than before. Why? Because Sammy's gonna...

Synchronize the traffic lights. That's right. He'll cut commute times down by [maybe] more than [about] 20%. So:

if you live in Transcona (though you probably don't), and work downtown, that will shave [about] 4 minutes off your 20 minute drive!
if you live in St. James, that's 4 minutes.
if you live in Whyte Ridge, that's... 4(.5) minutes.
Come to think of it... if you live in Garden City, the North End, Kildonan, Tuxedo, St. Norbert or heck, even East St. Paul - and work on the other side of the city - that will save you a whole 5 minutes. But if you live in Transcona and work in St. James or St. Vital then why the hell don't you just take the perimeter!?

In any case, those are 5 minutes you can bank and cash in at the Tim Horton's drive thru - which everyone knows is about a half-hour phenomenon during rush hour anyway.

Now the next one is of special import to those driving from downtown to Transcona, or from downtown to the West End (do people drive there?) Sammy's gonna...

Ban spraypaint! Surely that oughtta teach those young, rowdy little deviants not to join gangs and tag buildings. Watch them run back to their neighbourhood and get jobs now, what with all the business springing up where there was only graffiti. Now, for only the problem of municipal jurisdiction... but i'm sure Sammy's working on it.

Grow grass on the rooftops; ask people to use less water; try to use fewer city vehicles; continue to preserve our elms; study planting prairie grass on municipal lawns: to make the city look green - should make up for cutting the clean environment commission as well as the planned rapid transit system. Don't worry, I don't think anyone noticed, Sam.

Now imagine adding all that to such bold visionary accomplishments as:

Operation Clean Sweep. Sam told the police to sweep away little deviants that shoot people and tag buildings. And poof! Wouldn't you know it - they're gone! Like that! All it takes is a little bit of direction.

Public Private Partnerships. Ok, so we don't really know what this means yet. But it sounds creative. Like the one where the city pays rent for police stations rather than actually building and maintaining them. Or the one where we develop Assiniboine park to pay for it - so much unused land! Or the one where we flat out privatize the park. Anyway, that stuff should make up for a bit of the money that's run out from the sale of Winnipeg Hydro.

It's going to be one amazing term for this guy! Because of all his hard work, I'm going to be able to drive to and from work without seeing a hint of spraypaint or getting shot, and I will be able to do it one minute quicker than before. I might even be able to get a job as a rooftop grass-mower. That would locate me downtown instead of the West End and bank me TWO minutes!

This election is like the fart before the dump. Or, in terms of the international fart glossary - "a prelude to $h!t." Laugh and the world laughs with you; fart and they'll stop laughing (but they'll still vote for Sam).

GOVERN-MENTAL

2006-09-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

CANADA'S NEW(ISH) GOVERNMENT (HAVE MERCY) COMES TO SENSES, TRIMS FAT

Thanks guys. Nay, Men! It's like you read our minds:

ADULT LITERACY: If you're an adult, you alreadie should know how to read and spel.

MUSEUMS: If people don't visit the museums out there in those rural backwaters, shut them down. Museums should make money, not bleed the taxpayer by preserving Nellie McClung's hankerchief. Who's Nellie McClung anyway?

YOUTH INTERNSHIPS: Kids should grow up and learn here at home, just like PM Harper. He's never traveled and he turned out alright.

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT: Many, many businesses hire students to work full-time for only 4 months. Just not the government (it's inefficient).

PINE BEETLE: They're just beetles, people. So they killed a few trees. Calm down - they'll grow back. That's how nature works.

PALLIATIVE CARE RESEARCH: They're dying anyway - what's the point!? Again, just nature at work.

CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION: If the poor and uneducated can't afford to buy a house, they should get a job. If they can't get a job, they should learn how to read. But it's not up to the government to teach them how to read. For that, they should go to back school. Unless they were stupid enough to have kids. In summary, the poor and uneducated with multiple offspring might as well be written off.

COURT CHALLENGES PROGRAM: Ditto, but for minorities and immigrants. It's not the constitution's fault. That's a bloodly Liberal document anyway.

Bottom line: We're overtaxed in this kingdom. I hope you might cut the queen too, she doesn't do much except pose for the pictures that go on our money. And I know governmentals agree. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said "yeah, you know, we want to continue reducing taxes."

'atta boy, Flahts.

GOVERNMENT SHOWS CANADIANS LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL

"Canadians are facing risks such as the spread of disease, more drought in the prairies, melting permafrost in the North, longer and more intense heat waves and smog, and rising coastal waters," said Johanne Gainas, federal environment commissioner.

Now we know. Thank God for the environment commissioner.

p.s. Any job openings for the governmental 'state the obvious' department for a hack like me?'

because standing up for Canada and standing up for freedom (of speech) are two entirely different things

2006-09-20T15:40:00.000-05:00

Are you sitting down? Better not. Can't stand up for something when you're sitting down. Try it. Didn't work, did it?

"New" Government fires geologist for... disobedience

Dr. Andrew Okulitch was fired by an assistant deputy minister for refusing to call the government of Canada "Canada's New Government" with all three words capitalized.

No use spending micro-managed pennies on insolent geologists.

Nevermind, I'm sure you've all heard this already - we're privileged in Canada to have a responsible national press, just like they do in the US.

Harper "rebalances" foreign policy

Wow, he learns fast. It was just during the last election that he said he knew nothing about foreign policy and has never traveled.

"Errol Mendes, professor of international law at the University of Ottawa and a former advisor to the UN in the Martin government, said Canada's foreign policy is undergoing what he called a 'rebalancing,' which means it is being refashioned into a policy that is closer to that of the U.S. and Australia. Harper may talk about this change in direction" at his speech to the UN.

Anti-climate change propaganda paid for by ExxonMobil: Royal Society

The leading British science society, formerly including such members as Isaac Newton (idiot), Charles Darwin (Nazi) and Albert Einstein (wrong), found that ExxonMobil gave $2.9 million to 39 groups that "have been misinforming the public about the science of climate change."

The recipient groups dispute the link between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, and include the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market advocacy group; and the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change.

"It's bizarre that a company like ExxonMobil should be funding an organization that so clearly is putting out information that is at odds with the opinion of the scientific community"

RELATED UPDATE: Sea inherits even more freshwater

"From April 2004 to April 2006, Greenland lost roughly 680 cubic kilometres of ice - more than the volume of water in Lake Erie.

A previous study, in the August issue of Science, found that Greenland was losing about 240 cubic kilometres of ice annually from 2002 to 2005"

Now that's freedom you can drink.

So, a big fuzzy hug to cda's gov't. Whoops, I mean "Canada's New Government." (Have mercy.)

For stepping on insects in the civil service that question your authority and motives. That's standing up for Canada. Standing up for freedom of speech is just so pussy.

For investing in our military. God knows (along with Australia and the US) that it's the only way to get things done. That's power you can see and taste. Freedom you can smell.

For cutting our ties to Kyoto. Greenland was probably melting anyway, right? That's what the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change said.

good art

2006-08-21T23:52:00.000-05:00

Jack Bishop

it's enough to make you ralph

2006-08-15T15:44:00.000-05:00

ralph Pronunciation Key (rlf)

intr.v. Slang ralphed, ralphÂ·ing, ralphs

To vomit: to eject part or all of the contents of the stomach through the mouth, usually in a series of involuntary spasmic movements.
To be discharged forcefully and abundantly; spew or gush: The dike burst, and the floodwaters vomited forth.
The first name of Alberta's premier, Ralph Klein

I don't know that it's possible to condense more meaning than that:

I felt like ejecting part or all of the contents of my stomach through my mouth in an involuntary spasmic movment when I heard that Ralph Klein burst the dike of oilsands development (if ever there was one), rejecting all environmental concerns, effectively allowing the floodwaters of oilsands development to spew and vomit forth.

That's a rambling excerpt from the 21st century Bible. A beautiful image of economic power and wealthy greatness that The Pembina Institute and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
just don't seem to understand. Well you bunch of left-leaning ogranismic business-haters, let me tell you: lifey things aren't business. It's just that simple.

So I agree with Klein - "The Pembina Institute should keep their noses out of anyone's business, especially businesses that want to take risks," he said.

Exactly. You don't want to take oily risks, you keep your nose to your flaky floral and faunetic uselessness.

That's so cool. Klein's like, sticking it to the man from his ivory tower! "To have a long-range plan would be an interventionist kind of policy which says you either allow them or you don't allow them [to proceed]. The last thing we want to be is an interventionist government."

Duh. If government did something outside private interests, it would be inefficient for business. And the earth isn't a very profitable business. The earth's stock has been tumbling on the universal stock exchange since it developed language for humans.

Besides, Klein already made economic and social requirements for the oilsands to meet. And the oliers - the real ones - meet them. Biologists simply don't know how to extract oil any more than they know how to make requirements. That's for legislators.

And when you have legislators from places like Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina telling you that economic development is good for the environment, then you know you're right. So, no worries. It's okay, everything's fine.

good'ol'fashioned peak-of the crop smarts

2006-08-08T15:19:00.000-05:00

After a long and distinguished career in journalism, Terence Corcoran moved to the National Post to become editor of the Financial Post, where he seeks to bring "a free-market perspective to Canadian Economic and Business affairs."

It must have been a really valid perspective for my grandparents when they were young. The article was called "how to farm in a police state," and the premise is that the CBC was tacitly endorsing Fidel Castro's iron-fistedness by lauding Cuba's sustainable agricultural practices.

He attacked David Suzuki for calling the Cuban food supply system "the largest program of organic and sustainable agricaulture ever undertaken." Because, after all, we know (thank you Terrence) that Cuba's food supply is actually "messed up" and primitive, on par with what Canadians deplorably went through "circa 1870." Y'know, because the use of oxen is just obscene. Look at how it's spelled, for christ's sake. O-x? Even sounds obscene.

Terrence said that Cuban farmers aren't dumb, though. If they had the choice to use tractors, they wouldn't look dumb either, because they'd obviously choose tractors and everything would be fine. Just like it is here. It's almost like he's thinking in holistic terms. Tractors = democracy. Ox = police state. Democracy + police state = oxen tractors. What was Suzuki saying about the earth or something?

Smart, that guy, replacing the context of Suzuki's piece - "nature" - with "free market economics." Great for a FP piece. A context that makes "labour-intensive" and "ineffecient" synonyms by considering cost per hour of labour, not cost to your kids' nutrition. That's a net savings of like, billions. Of dollars. For somebody, anyway.

Nevermind that, thank god I don't live in Cuba. Just imagine, those poor, enslaved Cubans having to play in the dirt with animals all day. Shame, they never get to play with computers in beautifully hypersanitized offices with sweet, sterile air. Where do you work, Terrence?

Anyway, who the hell am I to criticze? I'm only 24. I've got lots of living to do, first. That what my grandparents say. But I'll figure it out someday.

"we have a voice that other countries listen to"

2006-08-01T16:45:00.000-05:00

Alright, so Ignatieff didn't impress me much when I saw him soundbite his way to mediocrity in the debate. But this bit ain't a sound bite. It's unfortunate we are missing a strong voice like this on the world stage right now:

For weeks now, Canadians have watched as innocent civilians on all sides have been killed in Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. For Lebanese Canadians, whose families have been fleeing the violence and for Jewish Canadians whose relatives may be hiding in bunkers, emotions are very raw. None of us can pretend the conflict is happening to someone else, far away. In a real sense, it is happening to Canadians. The conflict is sowing discord among us at a time when we should be standing together.

Canada can play a significant role in reducing the suffering, but first we need to agree together why this terrible conflict is so dangerous.

Hezbollah's strategy is to lure Israel into an escalation of violence that will radicalize the Arab world and cause Israel to lose its remaining international support. The terrible tragedy in Qana, which claimed 57 lives, is thus a victory for Hezbollah. But that is not all. Hezbollah then hopes to draw Israel into a wider conflict which would result in its ultimate destruction. In this terrible struggle, Israel cannot win, Hezbollah cannot lose and Lebanon perishes.

Israel must not play Hezbollah's game. It must defend itself, but to persist in its military campaign would only give Hezbollah what it wants: continuing carnage in Lebanon and weakening world support for Israel. Canada should be saying to Israel that there are no further military options in Lebanon that do not risk destroying Lebanon and ultimately endangering its own security.

If Israel persists, there is a danger that it will lose control of the situation. Hezbollah cannot be wiped out militarily. They have support among Lebanese Shiites, because they provide social welfare and have the blessing of the mullahs. They also have political power, having won
parliamentary seats in free elections. Further military action by Israel may only strengthen Hezbollah's political power in Lebanon.

Hezbollah's backers-- Iran and Syria-- are providing it with advanced military equipment. If Iran flashes a green light, Hezbollah could launch long-range, heavy payload weapons on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israel has warned Iran that if it encourages Hezbollah to escalate, what happened to
Beirut will happen to Tehran. But Israel cannot be sure that Tehran will get the message. If anyone miscalculates, the struggle risks turning into a full-scale conflict between states with unforeseeable yet devastating consequences.

Who can stop this struggle before it gets out of control? In the 1990's, the Clinton administration managed to keep all parties focused on a peace process leading to a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Such a solution remains the only long-term hope for peace. The
Bush Administration has done little or nothing to keep the parties focused on peace, and it is bogged down in a grinding insurgency in Iraq. Worse still, the US Administration has still not called for an immediate cease-fire.

The Harper government's response has been inadequate. It has failed to address the damage that the conflict is doing to relations between communities in Canada; it has failed to grasp just how serious the situation could become, and it has failed to stake out the positive role that Canada could play in defusing the crisis.

It's time for Canada to do its part in stopping this march to the abyss. It should call for an immediate cease-fire, authorized by the Security Council. It should line up with the Europeans and moderate Arab states issuing the same call. Under such a cease-fire deal, Israeli forces would
withdraw, aerial bombardment would cease and Hezbollah would stop rocket attacks and incursions into Israeli territory.

Once a cease-fire has taken hold, Canada should propose the deployment of an international naval, air and land force to prevent the movement of missiles and other military technology into Lebanon. These weapons come by land through Syria and by sea through the Mediterranean. Such a force should be deployed at all Lebanese ports and land borders. An additional
naval force should patrol Lebanese waters. The force should be authorized by the UN Security Council to seize any weapons destined for Hezbollah or any non-state actor in the region.

Such a force would not engage in direct confrontation with Hezbollah or with the Israelis but patrol a buffer zone between them. Canada's commitments in Afghanistan preclude sending ground troops on this mission, but Canada could participate in the naval interdiction effort in the Mediterranean. Canada's navy has already played this role in the Gulf and would be well equipped to do so again.

The goal here is limited but vital: to create demilitarized zones between combatants and to bar the entry of the advanced weaponry that risks widening the local conflict into a regional conflagration.

Once a cease-fire is in place, and the interdiction force deployed, Canada could form a 'friends of Lebanon' club, a group of states to work with the Lebanese government to reconstruct the country's shattered infrastructure. Germany played this role after the Afghanistan war of 2001, and Canada could play the same role in Lebanon.

We are a country of peace-makers, especially because we are also a country of immigrants, many of whom have come to Canada to escape the horrors of conflict. As a nation of immigrants from the zones of war, we have a special vocation for peace, and it is by exercising this vocation that we maintain our unity as a people. We have a voice that other countries listen to. Let us use it."

Michael Ignatieff is the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke Lakeshore and a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

The One

2006-07-31T03:15:00.000-05:00

... the making of a star-crossed flop

Eat that George.

(That was nice. I feel better.)

CBC officially goes insane

2006-06-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

...ok, imagine that our Canadian PUBLIC broacaster would dump an internationally-respected flagship news show for an American Idol look-alike imported from the U.S.

Now stop imagining and, if you're in the eastern time zone, just watch it happen. The National will surely lose core audience members as they opt for - well, virtually anything else instead - but hey, at least we'll have wanna-be teenage stars tuning in, soaking up all that brilliant American pop culture. And then those young'uns will be CBC converts! Hey, they might not even know they're watching The National when it returns in the fall!

Way to go CBC! Great plan! Somebody bring Robert Rabinovitch the champagne bottle!

Then hit him with it.

the microwave sickness

2006-06-15T23:57:00.000-05:00

Elena came in today insisting that our microwave was no longer a part of our material family.

Mic and I had a love-hate relationship. I know it's not "healthy." Microwaved food doesn't taste "good." But I do like some of the crap when I'm deliriously tired, especially during exam period.

Did you know the Russians actually called what the microwave does to people "the microwave sickness?" I did some research... according to some Swiss, Russian and German clinical studies:

1). Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].

2). The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.

3). Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.

4). The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.

5). Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.

6). The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.

7). Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.

8). The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.

9). Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10). Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and electromagnetic brain impairment

One Great City

2006-05-29T23:22:00.000-05:00

Something amazing happened the other day. Something more amazing than rhubarb pie or a mosquito-free day in summertime. Winnipeg was in the news! It wasn't a big headline, and it wasn't on the front page, but spotting the words "growth" and "Winnipeg" in the same sentence of a major Canadian newsmagazine was enough to make me flip straight to the article.

But before I was able to grasp the whole headline, I was distracted by the featured photo. It told the quaint little story of a photographer - lets call him/her Terry Ontario, or T.O. for short - who took to the streets one dull, dirty, late-winter mid-afternoon and knelt down at a Portage Avenue meridian just before the gleaming CanWest and Trizec towers. The photographer snapped a shot of a decades-old rusted jalopy pausing its turn for a pedestrian crossing the street. A precariously unhappy, slouched-over pedestrian carrying grocery bags and garbage. So it wasn't the most positive picture. But what about the headline? My eyes drifted up to read Winnipeg Faces Exodus Despite Growth.

But what about our renaissance? What about the MTS Centre? The Hydro tower? Condos in the exchange! And Rudy Giuliani! Surely we took a cue from the American hero himself! Why are we still going wrong?

Because it's cover-up. It's nice make-up. It's window dressing. And, Mr. or Ms. Decision-Maker, if that is your real name, while some of these moves make some attempt at restoring a bit of our civic pride, they go little distance in addressing the underlying chronic cultural malaise of this city.

What's that? As Canada is to the United States, Winnipeg is to Toronto or Calgary. We have an inferiority complex. We're insecure. And the things that motivate Winnipeggers to move away are the same things that motivate Canadians to move out of the country. We all seek legitimization.

The exodus of our youth is a great, if not disparaging, indicator of this. We have all the enthusiasm in the world to build this place up, live here and love it. But we know that our credentials will mean nothing until we make it somewhere else first.

That must explain why even our leaders look to the mayor of a city that we have nothing in common with for inspiration. Geographically, culturally, economically, Winnipeg has absolutely nothing in common with New York. Giuliani's cameo does nothing but feature our insecurity. We have institutes of urban studies in our city. We have resources here. Young, intelligent people who are eager to put their skills to use. Why don't we endow them with the experience they need and give them some tiny incentive to stick around?

We're so down on ourselves that we don't believe our own graduates or our own professionals have anything to offer simply because their credentials were earned here! The cure for our insecurity is not just self-congratulations and window dressing -- it's actually believing in our best and brightest.

So while the elites of the city move to a nice new condo behind the concert hall, and while our decision-makers swap self-congratulations, the exodus will continue. Oh, except for one or two. A couple of us so enjoyed dissecting pigs in biology that we were thrilled to hear of the new OlyWest factory. Maybe we'll end up working alongside a few gangsters from the Mad Cows, if only someone would consider pointing them in that direction. But I guess we should leave that to... the police...

The rest of us will take to the oil sands out west, business opportunities in the east, or academic opportunities in the United States or Europe. We'll be settling some extreme, almost implacable frustration.

'reality has a well-known liberal bias'

2006-05-18T23:51:00.000-05:00

I received six packs of Meloids in the mail today. Sixty bucks worth from some online pharmacy. That was the company's imposed limit. Since I haven't been able locate any identifiable expiration date on them, I am taking that as my signal to place my next sixty-dollar order!

My voice feels like crap, and it's making me nervous. Mozart's laugh has become nothing less than painful. It started last Thursday, with a sharp pain on my left vocal flap. I figured some weekend rest might make it disappear. Naive. And speaking quieter on stage is an impossibility - a lack of support just makes it hurt more. So I either speak at a good volume with full support or not at all. Two more weeks, sometimes two shows a day. Will I have a big problem by the time it's through? If so, I can kiss goodbye the rest of my stagework this summer. On top of that, I have a Camerata Nova concert next Wednesday and Thursday. This long weekend, parlance will be on paper.

I'm a little behind my cheers and kudos to Stephen Colbert for his speech at the presidential correspondents' dinner on May 1st. In case you haven't yet heard the story, he confronted the American elite, including the President and media over their chronic ignorance and irresponsibility. The room didn't take it very well - many up and left, including a couple of Presidential aides. I wonder if he delivered the same speech that he had approved by the White House?

While the room didn't take it well, many Americans were sincerely thankful for his comments. Only those mainstream media outlets that weren't offended by him managed to pick up the story. If you haven't read it yet, give it the 30 seconds it deserves. Here's a transcript:

Wow, wow, what an honor. The White House Correspondents' Dinner. To just sit here, at the same table with my hero, George W. Bush, to be this close to the man. I feel like I'm dreaming. Somebody pinch me. You know what, I'm a pretty sound sleeper, that may not be enough. Somebody shoot me in the face.
Is he really not here tonight? The one guy who could have helped.

By the way, before I get started, if anybody needs anything at their tables, speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers and somebody from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press corps, Mr. President and first lady, my name is Stephen Colbert and it's my privilege tonight to celebrate our president. He's not so different, he and I. We get it. We're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the "fact-inista." We go straight from the gut, right sir? That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up," and that's not true. That's because you looked it up in a book. Next time look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works.

Every night on my show, "The Colbert Report," I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the no-fact zone. Fox News, I own the copyright on that term.

I'm a simple man with a simple mind, with a simple set of beliefs that I live by.

Number one, I believe in America. I believe it exists. My gut tells me I live there. I feel that it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and I strongly believe it has 50 states. And I cannot wait to see how the Washington Post spins that one tomorrow.

I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.

I believe in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. I believe it is possible -- I saw this guy do it once in Cirque du Soleil. It was magical.

And though I am a committed Christian, I believe everyone has the right to their own religion, be it Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe it's yogurt. But I refuse to believe it's not butter. Most of all I believe in this president. Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32 percent approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.

So, Mr. President, pay no attention to the people that say the glass is half full. Pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32 percent means it's 2/3 empty. There's still some liquid in that glass is my point, but I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash.

Folks, my point is that I don't believe this is a low point in this presidency. I believe it is just a lull, before a comeback. I mean, it's like the movie "Rocky." The president is Rocky and Apollo Creed is everything else in the world. It's the 10th round. He's bloodied, his corner man [is] Mick, who in this case would be the vice president, and he's yelling "Cut me, Dick, cut me," and every time he falls she says stay down! Does he stay down? No. Like Rocky, he gets back up and in the end he -- actually loses in the first movie. OK. It doesn't matter. The point is the heart-warming story of a man who was repeatedly punched in the face.

So don't pay attention to the approval ratings that say 68 percent of Americans disapprove of the job this man is doing. I ask you this, does that not also logically mean that 68 percent approve of the job he's not doing? Think about it. I haven't.

I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.

Now, there may be an energy crisis. This president has a very forward-thinking energy policy. Why do you think he's down on the ranch cutting that brush all the time? He's trying to create an alternative energy source. By 2008 we will have a mesquite-powered car.

And I just like the guy. He's a good joe. Obviously loves his wife, calls her his better half. And polls show America agrees. She's a true lady and a wonderful woman. But I just have one beef, ma'am. I'm sorry, but this reading initiative. I've never been a fan of books. I don't trust them. They're all fact, no heart. I mean, they're elitists telling us what is or isn't true, what did or didn't happen. What's Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was built in 1914. If I want to say it was built in 1941, that's my right as an American. I'm with the president, let history decide what did or did not happen.

The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change, this man's beliefs never will.

And as excited as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of Fox News. Fox News gives you both sides of every story -- the President's side and the vice president's side. But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in Eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason -- they're super depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished.

Over the last five years you people were so good over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew.

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The president makes decisions, he's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home.

Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know, fiction.

Lakes of Plenty

2006-04-22T14:31:00.000-05:00

Since I missed Earth Day, I'll make up for it by giving you a dose of doom:

The world's 6th largest lake has nearly been drained because of regional overdevelopment - despite how it appears on maps. Aral Sea?!
The Dead Sea is "living up to it's name" - having lost 1/3 of its surface area and losing one metre of depth per year. There are plans for a massive underground diversion of Mediterranean waters to the historic sea to give it a refill. But it will no longer have the buoyancy it's famous for. If you want to have one of those famous floats, get there soon...
In Africa, Lake Chad is is being drained and Lake Victoria is becoming Uganda's hydroelectric engine, at the expense of the lake itself. Where does the power come from after the lake's gone? Why make such a huge investment for such short-term gain?

Where Policy Must Be, But Dares Not Go

2006-04-07T11:20:00.000-05:00

Building An Economy For Earth

The Bookshelf talks with Lester Brown,
from American Scientist Online

by Greg Ross

Since founding the Worldwatch Institute in 1974, environmental analyst Lester Brown has been monitoring the effects of unsustainable development and forecasting their possible consequences. He sees signs that we've entered what ecologists call an "overshoot-and-collapse" mode, in which demand exceeds the sustainable yield of natural systems. This effect has toppled earlier civilizations; now, he says, it is occurring at the global level.

click for full image and caption

Brown's book, Plan B 2.0 (Norton, 2006), updates a first edition that appeared three years ago. In it, he argues that the first signs of economic decline appear in the environment, and he sees worrisome omens in today's forests, fisheries and grasslands. His prescription is a remodeled global economy that fosters education and sustainable methods to support the planet's growing population.

A MacArthur Fellow, Brown holds more than 20 honorary degrees and an honorary professorship in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His books have appeared in more than 40 languages. He currently leads the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit, interdisciplinary research organization based in Washington, D.C. American Scientist Online managing editor Greg Ross interviewed him by e-mail in February 2006.

You address a number of issues in the book—the oil peak, water shortages, global warming. How are they related? Is there a root cause?

The oil peak, water shortages and global warming are related in the sense that they are all driven by the enormous growth in world population and economic activity. With oil we are depleting a resource that is not renewable in a relevant human time frame. Water shortages are the result of ever-growing demands for water, primarily to produce food. Global warming is the result of the enormous growth in the use of fossil fuels and the associated rise in carbon emissions to the point where they exceed the Earth's capacity to absorb them.

At the beginning of the last century, growth in the world economy was measured in billions of dollars. Today annual growth is measured in trillions of dollars. The sad fact is that the environmental trends that we monitor—shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling water tables, collapsing fisheries, deteriorating grasslands, eroding soils, rising temperatures, melting ice, rising seas, dying coral reefs and disappearing species—are all manifestations of a civilization that is putting more demands on the Earth than it can bear.

The overriding challenge facing our generation is to restructure the global economy so that economic progress can continue. This means replacing the fossil fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy with one that is powered by renewable sources of energy, that has a much more diversified transport system and that reuses and recycles virtually everything.

How is China's emergence affecting the global scorecard?

China's emergence as the world's leading consumer of natural resources can best be understood by comparing it with the United States, which was for decades the leader in consumption. Among the basic commodities—grain and meat in the food sector, oil and coal in the energy sector and steel in the industrial sector—China now consumes more than the United States of each of these except for oil. It consumes nearly twice as much meat (67 million tons compared with 39 million tons) and more than twice as much steel (258 million to 104 million tons).

These numbers are about national consumption. But what if China reaches the U.S. consumption level per person? If China's economy continues to expand at 8 percent a year, its income per person will reach the current U.S. level in 2031.

If at that point China's per capita resource consumption were the same as in the United States today, then its projected 1.45 billion people would consume the equivalent of two-thirds of the current world grain harvest. China's paper consumption would be double the world's current production. There go the world's forests.

If China one day has three cars for every four people, U.S.-style, it will have 1.1 billion cars. The whole world today has 800 million cars. To provide the roads, highways and parking lots to accommodate such a vast fleet, China would have to pave an area equal to the land it now plants in rice. It would need 99 million barrels of oil a day. Yet the world currently produces 84 million barrels per day and may never produce much more.

The Western economic model—the fossil fuel-based, auto-centered, throwaway economy—is not going to work for China. If it does not work for China, it will not work for India, which by 2031 is projected to have a population even larger than China's. Nor will it work for the 3 billion other people in developing countries who are also dreaming the "American dream."

And, perhaps most important, in an increasingly integrated world economy, where all countries are competing for the same oil, grain and steel, the existing economic model will not work for industrial countries either. China is helping us see that the days of the old economy are numbered.

Sustaining our early-21st-century global civilization now depends on shifting to a renewable energy-based, reuse/recycle economy with a diversified transport system. Business as usual—Plan A—cannot take us where we want to go. It is time for Plan B, time to build a new economy and a new world.

Doesn't our globalized economy make us more resilient than, say, the Sumerians?

Our globalized economy makes us more resilient in some ways and less resilient in others. The advantage of a global economy is that different parts will be affected by varying combinations of environmentally damaging trends, some much more than others. Nonetheless, in an integrated global economy, the effects anywhere will be felt to some degree everywhere. The destruction of forests or the depletion of aquifers in any part of the world will affect the entire world.

The principal weakness of our global economy is that we do not have a global governing body to manage our response to the environmental trends that are undermining the global economy. The lack of a global governing structure to mount an effective response to the environmental trends that are undermining our future is definitely a weakness.

What about new technologies? Can we invent our way out of these problems?

New technologies will play a central role in the energy transition, the shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. For the U.S. automotive fuel economy, the key to greatly reducing oil use and carbon emissions is gas-electric hybrid cars. The average new car sold in the United States last year got 22 miles to the gallon, compared with 55 miles per gallon for the Toyota Prius. If the United States decided for oil security and climate stabilization reasons to replace its entire fleet of passenger vehicles with super-efficient gas-electric hybrids over the next 10 years, gasoline use could easily be cut in half. This would involve no change in the number of cars or miles driven, only a shift to the most efficient automotive propulsion technology now available.

Beyond this, a gas-electric hybrid with an additional storage battery and a plug-in capacity would allow us to do most of our short-distance driving, such as the daily commute or grocery shopping, with electricity. This could cut U.S. gasoline use by an additional 20 percent, for a total reduction of 70 percent. Then if we invest in thousands of wind farms across the country to feed cheap electricity into the grid, we could do most short-distance driving with wind energy, dramatically reducing both carbon emissions and the pressure on world oil supplies.

Using timers to recharge batteries with electricity coming from wind farms during the low-demand hours between 1 and 6 a.m. costs the equivalent of 50-cent-a-gallon gasoline. Not only do we have an alternative to dwindling reserves of oil, but it is inexpensive, inexhaustible, and it is ours. The supply cannot be disrupted.

In effect, advances in the design of gas-electric cars and wind turbines has provided the technological foundation for creating a new automotive fuel economy in the United States and in much of the world as well. Other technologies that will facilitate the shift to renewable sources include photovoltaic cells, solar-thermal power plants, solar-thermal water and space heaters, devices to harness wave power, devices for harnessing geothermal energy and processes for converting cellulosic material into automotive fuel.

Ultimately, you say, the key is to "get the market to tell the ecological truth." What steps do you recommend?

The key to building a global economy that can sustain economic progress is the creation of an honest market, one that tells the ecological truth. The market is an incredible institution, allocating resources with an efficiency that no central planning body can match. It easily balances supply and demand, and it sets prices that readily reflect both scarcity and abundance.

The market does, however, have some fundamental weaknesses. It does not incorporate into prices the indirect costs of providing goods or services, it does not value nature's services properly, and it does not respect the sustainable-yield thresholds of natural systems. It also favors the near term over the long term, showing little concern for future generations.

Accounting systems that do not tell the truth can be costly. Faulty corporate accounting systems that leave costs off the books have driven some of the world's largest corporations into bankruptcy. Unfortunately, our faulty global economic accounting system has potentially far more serious consequences. Our modern economic prosperity is achieved in part by running up ecological deficits, costs that do not show up on the books, but costs that someone will eventually pay.

The first step is to calculate the indirect costs of the various goods and services we buy. Since we are all economic decision-makers as consumers, corporate planners, government policymakers and investment bankers, we rely on market prices to guide our decision-making. The problem is the market is giving us bad information. The result is bad decision-making.

Let me illustrate this point. A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States calculated the social cost of smoking cigarettes, including two costs: the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses and the loss of productivity associated with these illnesses. They concluded that the cost to society of smoking a pack of cigarettes was $7.18. If we assume that the cost of growing the tobacco and manufacturing the cigarettes is roughly $2 a pack, then the price of cigarettes should be roughly $9 per pack. This not only justifies raising taxes on cigarettes, which claim 4.9 million lives per year worldwide, but it also provides guidelines for how much to raise them.

If the cost to society of smoking a pack of cigarettes is $7.18, how much is the cost to society of burning a gallon of gasoline? Fortunately, the International Center for Technology Assessment has done a detailed analysis, entitled "The Real Price of Gasoline." The group calculates several indirect costs, including oil industry tax breaks, oil supply protection costs, oil industry subsidies and health care costs of treating auto exhaust-related respiratory illnesses. The total of these indirect costs centers around $9 per gallon, somewhat higher than the social cost of smoking a pack of cigarettes. Add this external or social cost to the roughly $2 per gallon average price of gasoline in the United States in early 2005, and gas would cost $11 a gallon. These costs are real. Someone bears them. Now that these costs have been calculated, they can be used to set tax rates on gasoline, just as the CDC analysis is being used to raise taxes on cigarettes.

In the summer of 1998, China suffered record flooding in the Yangtze River basin for an extended period of time. Eventually the flooding racked up $30 billion worth of damage, a sum equal to the value of China's annual rice harvest.

For some weeks the government referred to the flooding as the result of an act of nature, which indeed it was. But in mid-August they held a press conference in Beijing acknowledging that there was a human contribution, that the deforestation of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River basin was also contributing to the flooding. The government then took an unusual step. It banned the cutting of trees in forests throughout China. Officials justified this action by pointing out that the value of trees standing was three times that of those cut. What they were recognizing was that the flood control services provided by forests were three times as valuable as the timber in those forests. In the scientific world, this is known as an "aha" moment. The Chinese government was recognizing the ecological truth in the market. It is, in a sense, what the entire world needs to do across the board with all goods and services.

Do you foresee a tipping point, a deadline for action? What happens if we miss it?

In looking at the fast-changing relationship between our early-21st-century global civilization of 6.5 billion people and the natural systems and resources on which we depend, we think about thresholds, tipping points and deadlines for action. Unfortunately, since these thresholds are natural phenomena and since the deadlines for action are set by nature, we are handicapped in responding. We may not know that we are missing a deadline until it is too late. One of the best-known examples of failing to recognize a key threshold was in the management of the huge centuries-old cod fishery off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Some marine biologists warned that the overfishing and the shrinking stocks were jeopardizing the fishery. But when the decision was finally made to ban fishing for cod, the stocks had shrunk to the point where they could not recover. Today, more than a decade later, there are no signs of recovery. This fishery may have been lost for good.

Another example would be the melting of Arctic Sea ice. The melting of this ice in its own right will not affect sea level because the ice is already in the water, but if this vast, continent-sized area of ice, which has shrunk by more than 20 percent in the summertime over the last three decades, should eventually all melt, it will profoundly alter the climate in the region.

When incoming sunlight strikes snow and ice, roughly 80 percent is reflected back into space and 20 percent is absorbed as heat. Once the snow and ice melt and the incoming sunlight hits open water, this ratio is reversed, with only 20 percent being reflected back into space and 80 percent being absorbed as heat. This is what modelers refer to as a positive feedback loop, a situation where a trend, once under way, tends to feed on itself.

The melting of Arctic Sea ice concerns scientists because it could lead to a warming in the region and the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. If this were to occur it would likely take a few centuries, but it would raise sea level by 23 feet. Some scientists think that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet could raise sea level at a rate of 1 meter for each half-century. If warming in the arctic region has reached the point where the Greenland ice sheet is doomed, then we are looking at a future where many of the world's coastal cities will be partly or entirely under water. The rice-growing river deltas and floodplains of Asia will also be inundated, depriving the region of part of its rice supply.

Some scientists think we have already reached the point of no return. Others think if we move quickly to cut carbon emissions we might be able to save the Greenland ice sheet. The reality is that this deadline is set by nature. We will know if we have failed only when we learn that it has become irreversible.

If a few years from now it were to become clear that the arctic ice melting is indeed going to lead to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and that we cannot save it, then we may face, for the first time in history, a fracturing of societies along generational lines. We have experienced social fracturing along racial, religious and ethnic lines, but never before along generational lines. The next generation, which will have to cope with the rise in sea level that we have set in motion, will be asking us why we did not act. How, they will ask, could you do this to us? They will be able to read the same scientific literature and the warnings from the scientific community that we now read.

There is a further question, namely, how will we feel about ourselves if it becomes clear that our generation is responsible for the melting of the Greenland ice sheet?

What Everyone Needs to Know, but Nobody Wants to Hear

2006-04-05T17:57:00.000-05:00

In lieu of my own words, which have been monopolized by the end-of-term push, here's another doomsday bit - by Eric Pianka. He's a scholar of much renown who has recently had to defend his comments that the earth would be better off without 90% of the human population.

It's not as if this humble scholar is about to destroy the human population, and it's not as if any of us endorse such stupidity. But those of us in touch with modern science and reality know that the man is bang-on.

He clarifies his comments below - although the comparison between a disease that could wipe out our population today (during a time when our economy is overshooting the carrying capacity of the earth), and the bubonic plague, is a bit of a stretch... not the least of which because our population is ridiculously higher than it was back then.

What Everyone Needs to Hear, but Nobody Wants to Know
by Eric R. Pianka

I have two grandchildren and I want them to inherit a stable Earth. But I fear for them. Humans have overpopulated the Earth and in the process have created an ideal nutritional substrate on which bacteria and viruses (microbes) will grow and prosper. We are behaving like bacteria growing on an agar plate, flourishing until natural limits are reached or until another microbe colonizes and takes over, using them as their resource. In addition to our extremely high population density, we are social and mobile, exactly the conditions that favor growth and spread of pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes. I believe it is only a matter of time until microbes once again assert control over our population, since we are unwilling to control it ourselves.

This idea has been espoused by ecologists for at least four decades and is nothing new. People just don't want to hear it. Population crashes caused by disease have happened many times in the past. In the 1330s bubonic plague killed one third of the people in Europe's crowded cities. Smallpox and measles decimated Native Americans when Europeans transported them to the new world. HIV is a relatively new disease wreaking havoc in Africa and Asia. Another population crash is inevitable, but the next one will probably be world-wide. People think unrealistically because they have lost touch with the natural world. Many people today do not really know where and how our food is produced, and on what our life support systems are based.

As we continue paving over natural habitats, many think that we can disrupt and despoil the environment indefinitely. We have already taken half of this planet's land surface. Per capita shares of all the things that really matter (air, food, soil, and water) are continuously falling. Our economic system is based on the principle of a chain letter: growth, growth, and more growth. Such runaway growth only expands a bubble that cannot be sustained in a finite world. We are running out of virtually everything from oil, food and land to clean air and water. Some politicians, economists, and corporations want us to believe that technology will come to our rescue. But we have a false sense of security if we think that science can respond quickly enough to minimize threats from emerging diseases. Microbes have such short lifecycles that they can evolve exceedingly fast, much faster than we can respond to them. Many bacteria have evolved resistance to most antibiotics, and viruses are resistant to just about anything. Defense always lags behind offense.

So far, modern humans have just been lucky. A reactive approach to problems isn't enough, we also need to be proactive and anticipate problems before they become too severe to keep them from getting out of control.Many people believe that Earth and all its resources exist solely for human benefit and consumption, this is anthropocentrism. We should allow the millions of other denizens of this Earth some space to live -- they evolved here just as we did and have a right to this planet, too. I do not bear any ill will toward humanity. However, I am convinced that the world WOULD clearly be much better off without so many of us. Simply stopping the destruction of rainforests would help mediate some current planetary ills, including the release of previously unknown pathogens.

The ancient Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times" comes to mind -- we are living in one of the most interesting times humans have ever experienced. For example, consider the manifold effects of global warming. We need to make a transition to a sustainable world. If we don't, nature is going to do it for us in ways of her own choosing. By definition, these ways will not be ours and they won't be much fun. Think about that. If you don't believe me, read Richard Heinberg's "The Party's Over," Sean Nee's one page commentary "The great chain of being" in Nature (2005, vol.435:page 429), and Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel."

Oh yeah...

2006-03-17T18:24:00.000-06:00

I remembered I had a blog today, shortly after I noticed that the colour in my face had disappeared.

Yes, my head has been exploding for the last couple weeks, albeit mostly in a good way. Between last time I posted and now, I went to Ottawa to participate in a Model NATO experience. I will follow up some day with an explanation as to why it has temporarily hacked off a piece of my faith in humanity.

To restore some of that faith, I helped to organize and then attended a lecture by Romeo Dallaire at the UW. There were 900 in attendance (we were expecting 200). To say he is a sincere speaker is an understatement, and while I won't try to reproduce his lecture here, you can get a transcript at the UW website if you so please. All I can really say is that you must go out and listen to the man in person to fully capture the essence of what he says.

This past weekend, I performed in the world premiere of an Aboriginal Oratorio by Andrew Balfour, called 'Northern Lights'. It was recorded by CBC and I can genuinely say that I have been entranced by the beauty and organic nature of the music. Standing ovations both nights! I'll post the broadcast date when I know it.

Bryan, Kathryn (who both attended the oratorio!) and Allana all flew into town recently and I tried to ensure I spent enough quality time with them as I was hopping from place to place. This weekend I'm in Brandon for the Jazzfest (thanks to a very kind Paul for the VIP pass) - though I will mostly be spending quality time with, as exciting as it sounds, books - to catch up with academic stuff I've been avoiding. In fact, it turns out I totally missed a project worth 20% of one of my courses. I bought a laptop to help me stay focused. I have yet to determine how to pay for it - none of this stuff is paid employment, after all. And next week I'm off to Montreal for a Rights & Democracy National Foreign Policy mingler.

All the while I'm having to figure out (a) how to deal with an increasingly painful growth on my spine, and (b) how to take care of the piling expenses... HA!

Oil and Bilingualism, but not in that order

2006-02-10T15:46:00.000-06:00

While I appreciate that it seems strange how our Parliamentary Secretary to la Francophonie can't speak French, I also appreciate that maybe it's time for speakers of both official languages to be included in la Francophonie (bearing in mind, of course, that the Minister for la Francophone can actually speak French).

Otherwise, it really is a matter of "Canada" speaking on behalf of Quebec and a minority of communities scattered throughout the country - which is what we always deny. Is la Francophonie nothing more than a forum for debating issues related to the French language? Of course not. Why, then, should it be an exclusive club? If anglophones are not spoken for at those events, then perhaps Quebec really should have it's own seat at this particular international forum!

And Rolling Stone of all places, has an interesting article on peak oil. Here's a subject-related list of books.

now we know why

2006-01-28T14:09:00.000-06:00

This made the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press.

The only justification for this not making the front page anywhere else is that it was shot in what is often described as a "backward, isolated, unsophisticated little community in the middle of nowhere."

self-congratualtions for the rich and famous

2006-01-27T14:56:00.000-06:00

I take issue with censorship on Matt Good's blog. So I'll take my observations to my own forum, however obscure.

Now, if you're reading my blog, chances are you know that I'm not a fan of commercial culture, in all its pretentious glory. Chances are you also know that I'm not a fan of traditional high culture for the very same reason. I'm a fan of any art that tells us something about ourselves that we didn't know before. The obscure, the wonderful, the meaningful.

What does commercial culture tell us? That we're consumers. Whoop-de-do. You want my money? Earn it. Don't follow a shallow, two-dimensional form with intentions of expoiting me as some kind of blind, ignorant addict. I'm not interested in reinforcing our narrow-minded, dead lifestyle.

What makes it worse? When we know we're perpetuating the problem and, instead of using our awareness to solve the issue, we just complain about it. Hypocracy at its best. Hypocracy made worse by self-righteous pontificating from the likes of the rich and famous. Unlike the mases congregating there kissing the feet of the holy, I posted a question on his blog: "so why, Matt, do you perpetuate the consumer culture?" He replies:

Because I’m as guilty as the next person. But being that it’s my job, is raises concerns. Obviously, many would rather I work for free, so it would seem that I’d either have to quit music altogether and find other work or try my best to deal with it as best I can and do what I can - such as release songs for free at XMas that will probably never show up on anything - as I did last month.

Guilt is a form of strucutural economic violence. How? We're all "guilty" of our self-destructive lifestyle. And as long as that's the case, we won't get off our lazy asses and do something about it.

So, Matt Good, if that is your real name, it's not about giving up "music" - it's about choosing a form and style that isn't exploitative. It's about understanding how consumer culture IS the insulation for our pathetic lives and choosing to reveal that with the power you have rather than throwing away the opportunity for a fucking dollar or two.

Indeed, our bubble-life is "replete with distractions". So let's burst the bubble and give up "wanting it all" rather than indulging in such self-congratulatory bullshit.

he has a point...

2006-01-25T20:34:00.000-06:00

On Paul Martin, from the mouth of Paul Wells:

He proposed a handgun ban that wouldn't ban handguns. A wait-time guarantee that wouldn't guarantee wait times. An amendment to a constitutional provision no federal government has ever used. A unilateral amendment the federal government could not deliver unilaterally. He stood in a roomful of children in New Brunswick to announce a daycare commitment that will not begin until 2009 -- as if he could commit, not the government we are about to elect, but the one after that. He kept, as his Quebec lieutenant, a puffed-up talk-radio host who has rattled this country more profoundly as a federalist than he ever managed as co-founder of the Bloc Québécois.

I suddenly don't feel as sympathetic as I did.

"Sincerely, Frank McKenna"

2006-01-25T18:56:00.000-06:00

For crying out loud, it sounds like he's growling through a forced smile. For someone who is likely about to become Harper's forceful opponent, notice how many times he complments the man. Cynicism, anyone?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

501 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001

January 24, 2006

Mr. Stephen Harper
Prime Minister Elect
c/o The Conservative Party of Canada
1720 - 130 Albert Street
Ottawa, ON
CANADA K1P 5G4

Dear Mr. Harper,

I want to extend sincere congratulations on your success in today's election.

It was a hard-fought campaign and you have received a very significant vote of confidence from the Canadian public. I know the feeling of exhilaration when the people express confidence in your leadership and vision.

It has been a great privilege for me to serve as Canada's Ambassador to the United States throughout the past year. I was most grateful for your personal support and that of your Party during my Committee Hearing on the Appointment. It has also been a tremendous personal satisfaction to have been able to serve with the outstanding men and women of this Embassy and Consulates across the United States of America. Canadians may not fully appreciate the strength and commitment of these dedicated public servants who serve our country so proudly.

I've always placed great value on the importance of the Canada-U.S. relationship, and, in a short period of time, have learned much about how this critical link can be improved and expanded. In that regard, I would be pleased to offer my full co-operation in sharing insights on management of the many significant and crucial issues that we deal with on a daily basis.

However, I believe you would agree that the enormous value of a political appointment to this position is based on the ability to work intimately with the Canadian Government. It is this perception of closeness that provides a strong platform for the Canadian Ambassador to advance Canada's interest.

While I would have no difficulty working with you or your Government, it would be virtually impossible to establish the appearance of total confidence and support in a jurisdiction where political Ambassadorial appointees traditionally resign immediately after an election.

Consequently, it is in the best interest of our nation that I submit to you my resignation as Canada's Ambassador to the United States. I would be pleased to continue to serve until such time as a replacement is named or, I could depart more expeditiously if it is your wish.

With warmest personal regards and best wishes for a productive mandate.

Sincerely,

Frank McKenna
Ambassador

From Inside the Conservative Circle

2006-01-22T01:24:00.000-06:00

From the mouth of Tom Flannigan. Calgarian, Conservative, and Idiot:

He says Aboriginal Culture is Inferior and Primitive

“European Civilization was several thousand years more advanced than the aboriginal cultures of North America, both in technology and social organization.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider

He says Colonization of Aboriginal Peoples was Inevitable and Justifiable

“Owing to this tremendous gap in civilization, the European colonization of North America was inevitable and, if we accept the philosophical analysis of John Locke and Emer de Vattel, justifiable.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Inside

Aboriginal Peoples Must Assimilate

"Perhaps the damage to Canada would be tolerable if it meant that aboriginal peoples would escape from the social pathologies in which they are mired to become prosperous, self-supporting citizens" – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider

“Prosperity and self-sufficiency in the modern economy require a willingness to integrate into the economy, which means, among other things, a willingness to move to where jobs and investment opportunities exist.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider

Advanced. Yes, we've clearly hit the mark. Certainly as far as respect is concerned. Respect for value systems and ways-of-life. And I'm sure we'll be able to operate in a hundred years, the same way we always have...

"we're red, we're blue, we're stupid, we're against"

2006-01-09T21:36:00.000-06:00

In the absence of Chretien, Duceppe's won my vote for favourite line. But I don't know if I could pick a winner.

I liked Martin's performance during most of the debate, though his anxiety also made him look jumpy and scared. Sometimes his inability to get the words out bordered on comic, though Duceppe had a moment like that too. At least he has a better reason for it.

Layton looked extremely scripted and I think he was just hoping that he would be picked up on the evening news - as if nobody voting NDP actually watches the debates! I sat down in front of the television really wishing he would unscript himself. Alas, not so. Pity, he speaks very well when he's not fishing for soundbites.

And as far as Harper was concerned, his ease was disconcerting. It was as if he simply committed to riding the wave of glory past the finish line with reason as his crowning virtue. Virtuous as it is, I'm skeptical of his brand of reason - the kind of reason that says tax cuts will save the world. With his rise to the 40% mark, it seems I may have to move to Norway or San Fransisco - or an independent Quebec.

Yikes. I really am disenchanted.