Not Like the Norwegians - Week 150 - March 10-17

My favorite section of my favorite article of the week.  At one iconic meeting in 1974 the Norwegian government announced to a delegation of oil companies that they were raising the level of taxation on petroleum profits to 90 per cent from 50. After the shouting had died down, the minister expressed disappointment that some of them did not walk away from their offshore leases. "We should have taken more," he admonished his bureaucrats in full view of the enraged oil executives.

If you can't ignore science or advice from experts, the next best thing is a selective reading of it, with a total bastardization of the facts used to justify your opinion.  Pierre Polievre has been accused of just that with his use of a report on election fraud.

We're pulling out of Afghanistan.

I'm not really feeling very good about what is going on with Quebec right now.  If this leads to the break-up of Canada, the Conservatives will deserve their fair share of the blame.

The Tyee points out that the "good guys" in the Ukraine are pretty terrible themselves.

Former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page speaks about forecasting recessions, fighter jets, cuts to libraries and science, old age security and on and on.  Very interesting.  He does not paint the Conservatives as any sort of open and transparent.

Of course Stephen Harper thinks it's unacceptable for the Truckers to be striking.  How dare they hold up Canadian trade!  They need to just be happy that they even have jobs before these inconsequential humans are replaced by truck driving robots.  I find the dichotomy interesting...the work they are doing is so important that they must get back to work before they screw up the country...but how dare they expect more money and don't they know they're lucky they even have a job and how dare they actually think they matter?  Joseph Heller would be proud.

CIBC sticks it to Mark Carney for stickin' it to Canada.  Stickin' in with a high dollar and high housing prices.

Canada's navy ships, and shipbuilding program, appear to be in a bit of trouble.

Michael Geist likes the South Korean free trade agreement!  No crazy anti-piracy provisions.  This is a low hurdle to clear.

The Winnipeg Free Press points out that Vic Toews made terrible decisions before he became a judge.

I think I like Kevin Spacey more now.  Netflix must be pissed though...like 10,000 assholes in Toronto won't be watching House of Cards now.

Bored Stiff - Week 121 - Aug 19-26

I've got to admit something, folks.  I'm just bored stiff doing this.  Every week.  Just the same sad stuff.  Anyhow.  Here goes.

Blowback!  Trudeau the pothead has really inspired the Conservatives.  Says Peter McKay: "By flouting the laws of Canada while holding elected office, he shows he is a poor example for all Canadians, particularly young ones. Justin Trudeau is simply not the kind of leader our country needs."  I guess drunk driving is okay?  Embezzlement of public funds?  Ignoring Canada's election laws?  All this is fine, but smoking pot is unforgivable?  Fuck these guys.  I love how there are commenters blasting him for breaking the law, and at the same time blasting him for only admitting this to win votes.

Don't get me wrong...I love Quebec.  It just seems like there are a band of idiots running the place that are ruining it for all.  "Special treatment for us, fuck all the rest of you."

This is a really weird story.  But two questions come to mind...why are Stephen Harper's security agents enforcing who and who can't talk at a press conference?  And this whole language around "allowed to ask a question"?

Stephen Harper...Putin junior with his ridiculous military photo ops.  The shirt is probably coming off soon.

Jim Flaherty thinks the Real Estate market is fine.  Marked down and noted...August 21st, 2013.

It's a prorogue!

Might as well kill yourself - Week 71 - Sept 3-10

Oh man.  Maybe it’s just my mood this week, but things seem really grim.

We’ll start with the always excellent and always depressing Matt Taibbi.  He lays out just how Mitt Romney made his millions and just what is wrong with it.  Gawd.  Don’t worry though, Mitt is on the scene making sure we aren’t side-tracked from the most pressing of America’s many problems – identifying Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  At least he finally may have admitted that climate change is real…but not his problem.

Moving on to more depressing talk on the economy.  Here is a nice summary of some 21 truths to our current economy.  If any one of those doesn’t depress the hell out of you…man…I just don’t know.

And I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.  With all of the “improvements” in our lifetime, why are we so much worse off than our parents?  Why can’t we buy homes for reasonable prices?  Why are our wages stagnant?  Why is our environment shit?  Why can’t we invest for the long term with some reasonable expectation of a return?  Well, because we’re the fools holding the bag on a Ponzi scheme.

We’ll move on to Quebec, where a separatist government has just been elected.  But don’t worry, it’s a chance for Stephen Harper to really prove himself by ignoring all of their requests/demands/questions.

Because a Quebec branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada supported a separatist party in the Quebec election, a Tory MP (Pierre Poilievre) figures all federally regulated union members should be able to opt out of paying union dues...which kind of kills the union, no?  As well, last week, Mr. Poilievre saw a car speeding on the highway and suggested that all cars should be banned.  He also caught his son looking at pornography on the computer and suggested the dismantlement of the Internet. 

Enbridge has done some legal maneuvering to set up their proposed pipeline as a limited partnership.  A cynic might suggest that they're trying to avoid legal responsibility.  And, somehow, I don't quite understand this, but the pipeline is going to raise our fuel prices.

So, out of nowhere, Canada has broken off diplomatic ties with Iran.  There's no crisis.  No incident.  Just...time to no longer talk to those guys.  It happens to be on the same day they announce five new Senate appointments...but I couldn't really make sense of this.  But the National Post put it in perspective.  Oh Israel appeasement.  What haven't you done for us lately? (and Iran is pissed)

Stephen Harper named five new Senators?  How many of these fuckers are there?

As well, he's announced that KPMG will review the spending on the new Fighter Jets....and some people are complaining that he's spending more money!  Can't win on this.  In other fighter jet news, somebody is proposing to resurrect the Avro Arrow.  Seriously.

Hey.  Let’s talk about real estate.  Despite statistics showing a decline in house prices and an admittance that sales numbers are way down…hell, if we just use a different statistic “prices remain high”.  Look at that fucking graph!  This shit is not sustainable.  Not by outside money.  Not by drug money.  Not by Vancouver being the 3rd most liveable City (didn’t we used to be #1?).  You’re fucking delusional.  Prices are going to come down.

I don't know if he's totally full of shit, but a dude in the comments section of this article just laid out a plan for how BC could become a wireless internet province by piggybacking the smart meter infrastructure.  Very, very cool, if possible.  It's kind of sad that the best idea that I've seen in some time came from a Tyee article comment section.  I actually e-mailed this link to my MLA, Christy Clark.

Oh.  Some good news.  Bruce Willis is actually becoming a bit of a copyright crusader!  Yes, he’s trying to figure out a way to make sure, and I’m not making this up, to make sure that his children have access to his iTunes catalogue if he dies!  Why anybody would pay money to “own” a digital something that is not really theirs is beyond me.

Hey.  Fracking causes earthquakes.  It's no biggie though.

Bev Oda strikes back from beyond the grave.

We'll end with some inspiration.  Alex Zinardi lost his legs in a CART accident a few years back.  He just won a gold medal at the Paralympics.  Honestly, read this story.

Under the Rug - Week 41 - Feb 6-13

Is Canada going to SOPA up?  Well, they shut down debate on the issue.  But it doesn't matter because there has been "widespread consultation".  Widespread consultation that suggests the bill is flawed and will therefore be ignored (the consultation, that is), but consultation nonetheless.

Way to go Canada!  Winning the war on terror!  This Quebec Muslim man was arrested for sending a text to his workmates that they should "blow away" the competition at an upcoming trade show.  Not surprisingly, reddit has already created this meme.

There's a new strategy for getting pipelines approved - call opponents terrorists!  Money quote “I find it offensive that there is a list that puts people trying to protect the environment on the same list as white supremacists”.

In Canada, we don't torture people.  Unless it's really necessary.

Some Quebec MP's have decided not to accept their Queen's Jubilee medals.  I think the story should be about why the other 302 are given one in the first place.

In Canada, we don't torture people.  Unless it's really necessary.


No more talking about the long gun registry.  What do you guys think Parliament is for, anyhow?  This isn't even the first shutdown of debate THIS WEEK!  See ite  m 1.

Alberta starts laying the groundwork for succession as the 1% Province.  They're just so fabulously wealthy they want assurances that other Provinces aren't wasting their charity.  How nice of them!


And Stephen Harper spends some time in China.  Basically promising them everything that they want.  Don't worry though.  He used the phrase "human rights" in a speech.  Showing them who the boss is.

Harper's office racks up travel costs.  Some of them paying $6,000+ for flights to London.  There's also some $10-15,000 multi-leg airfares.  Somebody should tell them that there are websites for this sort of thing.