Monday, December 31, 2007

"Time…left twelve fresh months in your care"

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, it's been almost ten years since my old Dad passed away. Dad was born back in 1924. When I was growin' up, he'd sometimes recite inspirational poems he'd memorized as young feller. Here's a couple of 'em that come to mind at New Years.
VICTORY

You are the man who used to boast
That you’d achieve the uttermost,
Some day.

You merely wished a show,
To demonstrate how much you know
And prove the distance you can go…

Another year we’ve just passed through.
What new ideas came to you?
How many big things did you do?

Time…left twelve fresh months in your care
How many of them did you share
With opportunity and dare?

Again, we do not find you on the list of Makers Good.
Explain the fact!
Ah No, ’twas not the chance you lacked!
As usual - you failed to act!
and this one:
Salutation to the Dawn

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life,
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendor of beauty,
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow only a vision,
But today well lived makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.

Dad had a way o' makin' the recitations dramatic and I reckon he tried his best to live by them poems he remembered all them years. I first remember hearin' them poems when I was only about 7 or 8. That was 50 years ago. I still like what they got to say.

Happy New Year,

JimBobby

Friday, December 21, 2007

Environment is My Voting Issue Facebook Group

Whooee! I just went from DeSmogBlog to Facebook and joined this new group -- Environment is My Voting Issue in Canada. After I joined up, I went to see who else had joined. There at the top of the page, were three amigos from the Pergressive Boogers -- Scotty Tribe, Saskboy and yers truly.

Scotty's a Grit and Sasky an' me are both Greenies. I'm hopin' Scotty'll throw in with our merry band of treehuggers. He keeps pushin' GPC policy and practices and now he's sayin' ol' Mother Earth is his voting issue. Might as well get outta the fryin' pan and into the fire, Scotty. :-)

JimBobby

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Isotope Crisis: Manufactured and Avoidable

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I just left a bigass comment over to The Progressive Right and I'm recyclin' that comment here. Jim was talkin' about Presto Manning and how he's pushin' fer some new Ministry of Science and Technology, or some such thing. Manning says the new bureaucracy could do things like develop replacement reactors for the aging Chalk River NRU.

So, Manning thinks we need a brand new bureaucracy to develop new research reactors? We're already building the Maple 1 and Maple 2. Those new research reactors were scheduled to replace the aging Chalk River plant in 2000. They are 8 years late and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. More bureaucracy will fix that? I ain't bettin' on it.

The latest chapter to the AECL saga is that Mr. Burns was selected on purely partisan grounds after two headhunting studies recommended a qualified, experienced individual for the job. Just like Harper said, the problem is with political hacks being appointed to jobs for which they are unqualified.

Tony Clement is now saying there are management problems at AECL. He's making it sound like Burns had to go. Two days ago, the spin was that Burns' hasty departure had nothing to do with the manufactured isotope shortage. Yesterday, a different story. Tomorrow? Wait for the next spin cycle. The $31 million dollar polls aren't in yet.
“I think it's fair to say it confirmed our impression that there has to be new management, there has to be better management, at AECL,” Mr. Clement said.
Was that the same impression they had in 2006 (edited from "2005" by JB per correction from LKO - see comments) when they paid for a headhunter and then chose a party hack instead of the recommended hire?

The biggest part of this whole scandal is the fact that the shortage and ensuing crisis were avoidable
, even at almost the last minute.

MDS is the profitable private company that distributes AECL's isotopes. On Nov 30, MDS issued a press release advising investors that the company was facing a supply problem and shortages may develop. Such reporting is required for publicly traded companies when a known issue may affect stock price.

Alternate suppliers, particularly a Holland-based reactor, were already gearing up their production schedules to meet the demand when NRU could not. A similar outsourcing program was used in 1998 when a labour dispute shut down Chalk River.

Procedures for dealing with future shortages were implemented after the 1998 strike. Even during that strike, though, they managed to keep isotopes available.

This time, they let the crisis develop. Lives were put at risk. A full-blown crisis was manufactured and Harper, et al, saw no other option than to overrule CNSC and restart NRU. There were other options but they were apparently unknown to parliament.

If MDS had outsourced, no crisis would have developed. If MDS had outsourced, MDS's stock price would be negatively affected. Outsourcing from suppliers who are working overtime to meet demand is expensive. MDS's customers are mainly in North America. Flying isotopes from Holland or South Africa is expensive. Transportation costs would have would cut further into MDS's profits.

MDS played its cards skillfully. They created a shortage. They failed to notify all the affected parties. They failed to procure available alternative isotopes. They put thousands of lives at risk. They got Parliament to restore their source of profitable isotopes.

Harper's disdain for crown corporations is well known and his years at NCC document his anti-crowncorp ideology. Placing an unqualified party fundraiser in charge of a multi-billion dollar nuclear industry giant was tantamount to sabotage. Now, CPoC strategists like Norquay are popping up and saying we need to rid ourselves of this troublesome AECL.

Who benefits from a discredited safety board and a devalued AECL? G.E. for one. They are front runners in the bid to purchase AECL from the taxpayers of Canada.

20 years from now, will we be seeing some HoC ethics committee grilling Harper about his connection to an avoidable isotope shortage that threatened thousands of lives?

UPDATE: A commenter at the Globe & Mail found this file:
http://www.eh.doe.gov/NEPA/rods/1996/17se6rod.pdf

It outlines how a shortage is to be dealt with and names a Belgian supplier as the alternative source for isotopes.
'IRE and Nordion have signed a mutual Mo-99 backup agreement to avoid a complete shortage of Mo-99 in case of an unscheduled shutdown of the Canadian NRU reactor.'
Nordion is MDS Nordion,


JimBobby

Other bloggers are posting on this:

Monday, December 10, 2007

Conrad Black Gets 78 Months

Whooee! Sounds like they was extra lenient to the big crook. The prosecution wanted 240 months but he only got 78. After serving his time, he is to be deported. I hope they don't deport him to Canada. He renounced his citizenship and we got enough convicts and crooks without him. Deport him to Syria.

JimBobby

Diane Finley Says She's a Progressive Conservative

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, here in Nanticoke and Haldimand-Norfolk riding, we got us an absentee MP by the name of Diane Finley. Diane's Minister of Immigration and Citizenship. Up until a few minutes ago, I thought she was affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada. After all, Diane's husband Doug Finley is a top advisor to Conservative Party of Canada leader Harper.

Here's a calendar Diane sent me. It came in today's mail. It's a cheap-o thing with two months on each page and not really much room fer writin' on. As you can see, Diane says she's a P.C. Now, I ain't up on every single abbreviation that them politicians use but I'm pretty sure P.C. means Progressive Conservative. By the way, the "Diane Finley, P.C., M.P." text is on every page and appears a total of 15 times in the calendar.

When Diane ran for office for the first time here in Haldimand-Norfolk, the PC party had already merged with the Canadian Alliance. Diane never ran as a PC and I ain't sure why she's callin' herself a PC now.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that Provincial MPP Toby Barrett won a landslide victory in October and he ran on the PC ticket.

UPDATE: My face is red. Commenter Jim informs me that P.C. stands for Privy Council.

While perusing Diane's calendar, I noticed that she made sidenotes to remind us of various local events and also of holidays. She reminds us of St. Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and St. Patrick's Day along with things like Mother's Day and the Dunnville Mudcat Festival.

Now, Haldimand-Norfolk ain't exactly a hotbed of multiculturalism. Visible minorities are present but in small numbers. We ain't got many mosques or synagogues but we do have Jews and Muslims as well as Hindus and Buddhists in our communities.

Diane's calendar makes note of relatively unobserved Christian holidays like Ash Wednesday but doesn't bother to remind us of the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Eid or any non-Christian holiday.

How Progressive! How Conservative!

JimBobby

Landmines, Mother Earth and the Salvation Army

Whooee! Well friends and foes, I've made this analogy before so forgive me (or not) if you've already seen this argument. When I see the specious position put forth by Baird in Bali, I question Canada's role in any international agreement that fails to include every country in the world. BTW, are there any agreements that include every country in the world?

Canada joined 121 nations and signed the anti-landmine treaty in 1997. The United States did not sign. Canada ceased production of landmines and, in 1997, committed $500 million to landmine eradication.

Just last week, Bev Oda announced another $80 million of increased funding for Canada's landmine eradication efforts. The commitment to eliminating landmines appears to have been embraced by the Harper government. Why else would they voluntarily increase funding?
International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said Monday in Ottawa that the UN MineAction Centre for Afghanistan will receive the funds.

"Canada will continue its strong support of mine action activities in Afghanistan and the United Nations mine action service with a contribution of $80 million over the next four years," Oda told a press conference at the Canadian War Museum.

The Tories already budgeted $8.8 million for Afghan de-mining last February.
(CTV.ca)
But...but... but...

Landmine production and deployment continues unregulated by non-signatories such as the US. Canada's arms, weapons and munitions manufacturers have been cut out of the lucrative international trade in anti-personnel mines. It's not fair.

Canada is not responsible for the deployment of any significant percentage of the world's landmines. Canada alone cannot hope to remove all the landmines. At best, we can hope to eradicate maybe 2%. But what's the point when the US continues to produce landmines and they are still being deployed in various hotspots all over the world?

Over 50 years ago, when I was about 5 or 6, my Mum gave me a dime to put into the Salvation Army's Christmas bucket. She told me the money would buy Christmas dinners for poor folks. Even then, I had an idea of what could be bought for ten cents. I asked Mum how a dime would help. She replied, "Every little bit helps."

What a simple concept. At age 6, I had no trouble grasping the idea. Why can't our so-called leaders understand such a simple concept? With regard to landmines, they appear willing to act -- even without the co-operation of the big landmine producers. Why are they so intransigent regarding the environment?

Times have changed since 1955 but I'm willing to bet that if a 6 year old puts a dime in the Sally Ann bucket, the bellringin' believers will be thankful for every penny. My ol' Mum is now 82. I took her out Christmas shopping last week and we saw a Salvation Army guy in the mall. I won't say how much I gave but I know my Mum approved and we both know my little bit will help.

JimBobby

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Latimer Case: Not Black and White

Whooee! I feel sorry fer Latimer and I don't think he represents a threat to anyone, personally.

I do defer to spokespersons for the severely disabled, though. Who decides whether a non-communicative disabled person lives or dies?

If, somehow, the poor soul is able to make their wishes for assisted suicide known, they deserve the right to die in dignity and their assistant(s) do not deserve prosecution.

As a rural/small town dweller, I see the real lack of support for primary caregivers outside large urban centres. I can see how someone like Latimer could be at his wit's end. I see that in many desperate people but the answer cannot be to remove the problem by eliminating a life.

I'll qualify that. If the PWD (person with disability) can and does communicate a desire to end his or her miserable existence, that's assisted suicide. If that permission is not granted, there is no way to know that it is what the person wants. It is, after all, the disabled person's life to end -- not the caregiver's.

In all this time, Latimer must surely have searched his soul. He cannot claim to be so telepathic as to know what his child wished for. Even if he did know her wishes, she's a minor and it was his parental responsibility to keep her alive.

If we condone Latimer's mercy killing of a non-communicative child, we open up a door to the elimination of other non-communicative disabled persons. The disabled understand that they place a burden on society and they fear society will value other things like healthcare savings over their right to life. I think it's a valid fear in a world that places more value on it's economy than on it's ecology and environment. Society and the economy are self-serving and serving the disabled and their caregivers is costly.

The disabled have had to fight for every concession we've ever made. Now, they're fighting for their right not to be exterminated.

JimBobby

P.S. This post was originally written as a comment on Shagya Blog.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Canada Signs Bush Nuke Plan, Hidden Agenda Glowing in the Dark

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I can hardly keep from poundin' my fingers through the keyboard. I'm pissed off. Dang pissed off. This morning, I learned that our country has signed on to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). If you never heard of it, I ain't surprised. Whenever anybody's asked about it, the HarpoonTossers clammed up. Just this September at the APEC Summint, they was asked and they wouldn't even say if they were sending a representative to a Vienna GNEP meeting.

Now, they've announced that we're part of Bush's nuclear energy policy. They say it's a done deal.

There was no parliamentary debate. There was no public consultation. There was no public information campaign.

Major international energy agreements that encompass all aspects of a dangerous and controversial technology cannot appear out of thin air. Canada's involvement is now a fact. Canada's involvement up til now has been shrouded in secrecy.

So, yer askin', what's wrong with GNEP?

Since the 1970's, Canada has had a moritorium on the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. This is because reprocessing spent nuclear fuel creates an unacceptable security risk. The reprocessed fuel can be fashioned into a nuclear weapon. I ain't talkin' about just a dirty bomb. I'm talkin' about an A-bomb. GNEP fosters reprocessing.

Canada is the world's largest producer of uranium. GNEP requires uranium producers to repatriate spent nuclear fuel. Canada will become the world's largest nuclear waste dump.

GNEP may be the first step towards Canada dismantling AECL, the crown corporation responsible for the development and sale of CANDU reactors. Avro Arrow, anyone?

A hat tip to Politics'n'Poetry and Accidental Deliberations.

Chewin' nails an' fartin' tacks,

JimBobby

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Unilateral Uselessness: Poverty Edition

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I was just over to Red Tory's boog where he's got a story about compassionate conservatives in the Canajun boogeysphere. The topic is poverty.

I reckon tacklin' poverty is an international problem and needs full international participation.

Shee-it! Poverty ain't just a Canajun thing. There's poor folks barely scrapin' by in countries all over the whole dang world. It'd be nice'n'fuzzy, warm'n'feely to put an end to poverty but it shouldn't just be up to Canada. Canada only contributes about 2% of the world's total poverty. The big poverty producers like China and India need to do their part.

If we was to eliminate poverty an' China an' India keep pumpin' it out unregulated, we'd be overrun by hungry Chinese an' Indians lookin' fer free lima beans down at the food bank.

We gotta resist this so-called anti-poverty stuff which is nothin' but a thinly veiled socialist scheme to redistribute wealth. How can the poor get richer without the rich gettin' poorer? It just ain't fair fer the Canajun rich folks to suffer like that unless the whole world signs on.

Ho, ho, ho,

JimBobby

Monday, November 26, 2007

a "significant and unprecedented thing"

Whooee! France's new bossman, Nick Sarkozy sez a new climate change agreement between France and China is a "significant and unprecedented thing". Maybe. Maybe, not. Accordin' to Pryminister Steve, the Kyoto Protocol was a bigass mistake that the world shouldn't make again. Steve's big problem with Kyoto is that it didn't include countries like China and India.

How's a deal between just two countries supposed to do anything? King Steve sez any deal worth makin' has to include the whole dang world. Unanimous or useless.

Worse yet, this here China-France deal sez the two countries wanna work towards the selfsame goals as that bigass mistake we don't wanna make, Kyoto.

BEIJING -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced after their talks on Monday the releasing of a China-France joint statement on responding to climate change and the establishment of a partnership between the two countries in this regard.

According to the joint statement, the first of its kind issued between China and another country, China and France both reiterated their commitments to the aims, principles and provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

The two sides will establish a bilateral consultation mechanism and hold consultations once a year in turn in the two countries, to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on climate change, in the principles of Common and Differential Liability, respective capability and equity.

The two sides pledged in the joint statement to strengthen cooperation in the relevant fields, including bio-diversity, water resources, desertification, natural disasters, forests, garbage treatment, pollution prevention and environment-friendly economic measures, and promote the cooperation on the development, extension, application and transfer of technologies.

The two countries will cooperate on the major technologies of energy saving, renewable energy, hydrogen energy and fuel battery, clean coal and nuclear power for civil use.

The statement said the two countries will encourage the establishment of joint ventures to encourage technological innovation on responding to climate change, and will also encourage their enterprises and financial organizations to participate in more climate change and sustainable development cooperation projects of each other.

The two countries will promote world attention to the climate change issue and devote to a series of projects on the research on climate change, and increase the possibility of common cooperation with other countries, in a bid to benefit the least developed countries, especially African countries.

The two countries promised to attend a meeting of contracting parties to the UN Convention and Kyoto Protocol, scheduled for December in Bali, Indonesia.

Sarkozy hailed the releasing of the joint statement as a "significant and unprecedented thing". (Source: China Daily)

Well, I'm a cynical sumbitch an' I sure as hell don't trust the rotten, torturin' human rights abusin' Chinese. I ain't so sure the Chinese ain't just stallin' fer time an' tryin' to look good an' I ain't too keen on France helpin' China expand its nuke power capacity. France is nuke crazy an' that's part o' what they're talkin' about.

But I do gotta give credit where it's due. This here Sarkozy's only been in power fer a coupla months an' he's already got one o' the world's worst polluters to sign on the dotted line. I wonder if King Steve ever thought o' tryin' to get the Chinese to commit "to the aims, principles and provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol."? Nah! Why would he? Kyoto's a mistake.

JimBobby

Monday, November 12, 2007

Cross-Border Shopping Litterbugs Shame Canada

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I got some bad news about some Canajuns. It's the Canajuns who's flockin' over to Merkan border towns an' cities spendin' their Lucky Loonies on bargains.

I live about 2 hours from Buffalo, NY. My brother's a Merkan citizen an' he lives right in Buffalo. He’s recoverin’ from some surgery an’ my ol’ Mum am’ I went over to Merka last Friday fer a hospital visit. I was dreadin’ the Peace Bridge traffic but we went early an’ came home early an’ there was only a short wait both ways.

I drove past a few bigass malls an’ big box stores an’ such but I didn’t buy a dang thing. That helped get us through the customs booth quick on the way home.

My Merkan brother sez the big thing they notice about all the Canajuns comin’ over lately is we’re a buncha litterbugs. He sez the mall parkin’ lots is strewn with discarded clothes an’ shoes. The Canajuns are tossin’ their old rags out the car door an’ smugglin’ their new wardrobes on their backs.

Embarrassin’, sez I.

When The Canajun gummint is gettin' an international reputation fer pissin' on ol' Mother Earth, it don't help to have Canajun spendthrifts litterin' the landscape with old parkas an' runnin' shoes.

We all know about the Ugly Merkans: loudmouthed tourists who disrespect local customs an' people. Now that our money talks louder than Merkan greenbacks, it looks like some Canajuns wanna be as ugly as their Merkan counterparts.

My advice to Canajun cross border bargain huntin' clothes smugglers: find a donation box for Goodwill Industries or the Salvation Army. Clothes an' shoes left in mall parkin' lots just end up in the trash. If them clothes was good enough to wear shoppin', they're good enough to donate to some less fortunate feller or gal.

JB

"Liberal" Globe Can't Identify Liberal Leader

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, if you ever read the comments section at the Globe and Mail or if you listen to the Boogin' Tories, you'll have heard that the Globe & Mail is a Liberal Party mouthpiece. Nevermind the fact that the Globe endorsed Harper in 2006.

I'd figger that if the Globe editors are such Liberal sycophants, they'd be able to pick Liberal Leader Stephane Dion out of a line-up. They can't.


That ain't Dion. It's a feller with gray hair an' glasses but it sure as hell ain't Dion.

I think they got Dion mixed up with nincompoop pathologist Dr. Charles Smith.



JB

Monday, November 05, 2007

Senate Reform: Who Gives a Rat's Ass?

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I was just over to POGGE's fine boog an' I left a bigass comment that I'm recyclin' over here in my own little boog. PogFeller sez maybe the Senate ain't such a bad idea an' he also sez Smilin' Jack's got bigger fish he oughta be tossin' in the fryin' pan.

The Senate, as it stands, is an embarrassment. It may have some role to play with regard to "sober second thought" but when the members are unelected and there are no effective term limits, it amounts to patronage on a grand scale. I wrote up a song about the Senate one time when ol' Fartin' Martin was handin' out seats on the gravy train.

If the opposition does its job, a minority Harper government cannot subvert the will of Parliament -- with or without the Senate. They can stall things but they can't really do much? Pogge sez he figgers they can dig in their heels an' stop Harper's nutty ideas from affectin' us all. I ain't got that much confidence in them old farts.

But, dang-it-all, I'm alongside the PogMan that there's lotsa more important things ol' Layton oughta be yammerin' on. I had a laff when Jackwas on his horse about them bank fees. Sheesh! What a compellin' issue! Now, he's on Senate reform -- something else hardly anybody sees as a top issue facing Canajuns.

Want some big issues? Here's a few offa the top o' my noggin.

Ol' Mother Earth's in deep doo-doo an' accordin' to some pundidiots, Harpoon's managed to pull the wool over an' make a lotta Canajuns think he's as good as anyone when it comes to dealin' with the most important threat ever.

Afghanistan is a runaway train that's gonna come off the rails soon as the Merkans quit EyeRack an' start blowin' up Afstan, again. Karzai's headed fer the selfsame troublems that are plaguin' Perv the Mushy Sherrif.

Our First Nations folks is still fightin' 100 year old land claims.

Our water supply is threatened by wasteful Merkans who wanna tap into our clean lakes an' rivers now that they poisoned their own.

We got a bigass tradin' partner who is the worst human rights violator in the world an' who sells us tainted products fer our pets and our kids.

I reckon I could go on and on tellin' about things that are way more important than reformin' that retirement home fer friends of pryministers, the Senate.

It ain't just Happy Jack Laydown who's takin' his eye off the ball. They're all doin' it. Well... except maybe the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May.

JimBobby

Saturday, November 03, 2007

NUCLEAR POWER SPEEDING UP GLOBAL WARMING

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I'm on a email mailin' list where I get info about nuclear power an' alternative energy an' that sorta stuff. I got one today that was written by a good ol' boy name o' Ziggy Kleinau. I seen ol' Ziggy speak at a meetin' over in Jarvis a coupla few months back where they was talkin' about puttin' a nuke plant here in Nanticoke. Ziggy's been livin' off the grid fer somethin' like 12 years. I don't think he has a boog so I'm gonna share what he had to say to the email list.

NUCLEAR POWER SPEEDING UP GLOBAL WARMING.

Much has been made of the power contained in a single uranium fuel bundle used in Ontario’s CanDU reactors to produce electricity.

It is supposed to be able to generate as much electricity as 380 tonnes of coal or 1,800 barrels of oil (Canadian Nuclear Association website "Nuclear Facts").

Compared to the burning of fossil fuels to produce the steam to generate electric power the fuel bundle undergoes a fission process, splitting the uranium atoms to produce heat to fabricate the steam to drive turbines connected to the generators in a complicated process of electricity generation.

Matter-of-fact so much heat is produced by the fission-activated neutrons that – to keep the fuel from uncontrolled meltdown – there need to be huge amounts of cooling water drawn from Lakes Huron and Ontario.

The 6 operating Bruce Power reactors, by the way, are drawing close to 17 million litres of lake water A MINUTE( ! !) to keep the process from overheating (Golder Associates Ltd. Consultants).

What happens to this cooling water? Most of it is discharged back to the lake, but not in the same condition – it goes back out up to 12 degrees Celsius warmer! This so-called thermal plume has been heating up the Lakes for decades, 24/7, 365 days a year.

Very little ice has been forming on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay over successive, even colder, winters, resulting in lake water evaporation over the full 12 months instead of the normal 8 months of ice-free water. Without ice cover solar irradiation will also have the effect of additional warming of the open waters, while ice cover would have reflected the sun’s rays!

No wonder lake levels continue to drop, now at record low levels, affecting the economy of shipping companies and marinas, with waters getting warmer, resulting in increased evaporation and cloud forming.

That powerful fuel bundle – and there are 5760 of them in each reactor – can remain productive for just over 12 months, at which time it has to be removed BY REMOTE CONTROL because the fission has made it so highly radioactive that it would kill a person, standing as close as 3 metres, instantly.

When it is removed it still contains over 99% of potential energy,"but to extract it out costs a lot more than just to take it out and put it under water" (Jeremy Whitlock, past President, Canadian Nuclear Society, quoted on New Media Journalism website).

That ‘spent fuel’ bundle is so hot (37,000 watts – AECL 1994, NWMO Study ‘Choosing a Way Forward – 2005) that it, together with its compatriots, has to be kept in huge swimming pools, called irradiated fuel bays, for at least 10 years to bring the heat down to 5 watts, at which point it is supposed to be safe to store it above ground in heavy concrete containers.

So this impressive energy contained in the fuel bundle creating all the heat – how much electricity does it actually produce? Figures quoted generally pertain to primary power generation only.

This writer has toured the Bruce Power plant several times, also the huge Waste Management Facility adjacent to the reactors. There are a large number of auxiliary buildings absorbing lots of power, huge pumps sucking the cooling water from the Lake, stand-by power yards, fire fighting equipment – of course computers are running all the functions on site – all these together consume about one third of the electric power generated.

Together with transformer and transmission line losses and with the THERMAL POLLUTION HEAT LOSS, only about 33% of the heat released by that fuel bundle, while in the reactor, reaches the end user as electricity! ("Nuclear Heat", Issue Brief, Union of Concerned Scientists, August 2006).

Talking about efficiency – EFFICIENTLY HEATING UP OUR ENVIRONMENT WITH A HUGE AMOUNT OF WASTE HEAT!

IS NUCLEAR POWER REALLY THE SOLUTION TO GLOBAL WARMING ??

Ziggy Kleinau, Coordinator for non-profit organization Citizens For Renewable Energy(CFRE) has taken part in Environmental Assessment and licensing hearings before the Atomic Energy Control Board(AECB) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission(CNSC) for over 12 years.


Yeow! Ol' Ziggy sed a mouthful. I reckon there's a few things Ginty and his bunch might wanna look into before they mortgage our grandchildrens' futures with their bigass push to spend $40 billion bucks on nuke power.

JimBobby

Friday, October 19, 2007

Char-man of the Board - King Steve

Whooee! Ol' Zorf's been a busy photoshoppin' boy lately.

Hapless Hanglish Harranguing

Whooee! Ever since the Grits made Dion their bossman, I been sayin’ he’s gotta do two things to whip Harper. He’s gotta talk tough and he’s gotta talk English.

Over at Stageleft, the Stage Coach Driver's got a post sayin' Dion ain't cuttin' the mustard. A commenter by the name of "o" pointed out that King Steve's French weren't so good at first but it's a lot better now. O's a francophone, by the way. Most o' this here boog story is a recycled version of of my comment at Stageleft.

With all due respect to the Story of O, Dion needs English more than Harper needs French. That’s just arithmetic. Harper could conceivably win without a single francophone riding but Dion couldn’t come close to winnin’ without a single anglo riding. The French Fact is that francophones are a sizable — 20%, I think — minority.

I reckon a Canajun PM oughta be fluidly conversant in both languages. From what I seen of Dion in the press over the summer, it looked like he was doin’ a lot better with the English. Then I seen him on the TV yesterday an’ I had to turn up the volume an’ light up all my francosense to try makin’ head or tail o’ what he was yammerin’ on about.

I did get the gist of it but, like SL sez, he really didn’t pull it off.

I know Dion’s been takin’ Hanglish lessons an’ he’s made some progress. Looks like he’s also tryin’ to be more pitbull an’ less perfesser in the House of Comments. The troublem is that he ain’t good at either an’ he’s tryin’ to do both at the same time.

Lotsa non-EFL (English as a first language) speakers slip into a heavy accent when they get their dander up. Fer most people, in most dander-up situations, that ain’t much of a real problem. Fer the leader of the official opposition in televised parliamentary proceedings, it ain’t good enough.

Dion’s the team captain. He oughta do like Harpoon done. Sit back an’ let yer light brigade lead the charge. While he’s sittin’ back, he can privately practice up on some Impassioned English for Francophones lessons.

JimBobby

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Election Fatigue? "There'd better not be a f*ckin' election."

Whooee! Us wonks who live an' breathe politics probbly wouldn't mind if there was an election every six months. I don't reckon the non-wonks is so keen on the non-stop campaign bullcrap that dominates the news during the election.

It ain't the 5 minute ballot markin' job that has some fatigued. It's the constant jabs, sound bytes, namecallin' an' brinksmanship of the election cycle. An election don't just happen on election day. Officially, federal elections take about 6 weeks. Unofficially, Harper's been campaignin' fer a majority since the last election.

Canajuns want Parliament to work. We pay our MP's to represent us and to manage the country on our behalf. If we are in non-stop campaign mode, our MP's are busy tryin' to win an election an' not busy doin' the job we're payin' 'em fer.

Yesterday, in some boog comments here an' there, I come out fer Dion to stand up fer principle an' show he's a man an' fight an election. I figger it was a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" choice. Dion's troublem is with his image as a meek an' mild perfesser. His actions vis-a-vis the throne speech only serve to reinforce that negative image.

My wifemate (I call 'er Ma) was watchin' the TV news with me yeserday afternoon. They started talkin' about the possibility of an election. Ma ain't no fan of King Steve an' she don't usually cuss too much except when she's really really irritated or tired (fatigued). When she seen 'em talkin' election, Ma sed, "There'd better not be a f*ckin' election."

JimBobby

(Most o' this post was originally written as a comment at Red Tory.)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Voting: Why I Bother

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I just now left me a bigass comment over to StageLeft an' I'm rollin' it into this here boog story. Over to StageLeft, SL hisself was tellin' how he's gonna voice his disapproval of the whole dang system by spoilin' his ballot. If yer thinkin' along them lines, SL's got some specific instruction that'll help. Commenter an' gummint-loathin' libertarian Ian Scott sez he ain't gonna bother wastin' his time votin' an' he recommends we do somethin' more enjoyable like maybe fly-fishin'.

Well, I reckon I’ll hafta disagree with Ian. I’ll be goin’ over to the Lions Hall sometime today an’ castin’ my vote. I’ll be votin’ for the Green guy an’ fer the MMP. The Greens’ll get about 4% in my rural riding. MMP’ll fail. The miserably flawed system will have pretty much negated my two losing choices.

Why will I bother participating? It’s the best and only system we’ve got.

I don’t think MMP is perfect but I do think it’s an improvement over the status quo and worthy of my support. My vote for my local GPC loser sends a message to my winning PC MPP that there’s a handful o’ Mother Earth-lovin’ treehuggers among his constituents.

I respect StageLeft's spoiled ballot. He's at least tryin’ to say somethin’. I don’t reckon very many people are gonna unnerstand just what it is his spoiled ballot’s tryin’ to say but his follow-up letter to the MPP is a good idea.

I ain’t fer stayin’ away an’ not votin’, though. It ain’t outta any dumbass, flag-wavin’, democracy-toutin’ patriotism. It also ain’t outta any party loyalty tribalism. I vote so that the winner understands that the ones who voted for him aren’t the only ones he’s duty bound to represent.

I never voted until I was about 40, BTW. My philosophy was that the civil servants, diplomats, police, courts and military — all unelected — really ran the show and who held political power didn’t matter much. The system wasn’t perfect enough for me. Now, I’m more willing to exercise what little power I have in what’s likely to be the best system I’ll ever live within.

I think non-voters are wrong in the notion that “they” will try to entice you into the ranks of voters. Those in power are benefitted by low voter turnout — particularly in FPTP. If a candidate or party can get a relatively small but dedicated following that can be counted upon to vote, they can win. If only 60% vote in a 3 way race, the number of votes needed to be FPTP is quite tiny. Those in power know very well that many of the non-voters are disgruntled and would not likely support the status quo. Who needs ‘em? They only dilute the electorate and make it tougher to be FPTP.

Yeow! I sure can get to blatherin’.

JimBobby

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Karzai Government Carries Out Mass Executions

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I ain't done much boogin' fer a spell but I seen somethin' yesterday that got me chewin' nails an' fartin' tacks. Our allies, the Hamid Karzai Warlords, Mullahs and Opium Growers Association, handed out the death penalty to 15 criminals. They shot 'em. They used a firin' squad.

Canada and the rest of the civilized world quit usin' the death penalty years ago. There's still a few totalitarian regimes like BushLand an' Red China where they still have it but mostly it's gone the way of slavery, torture and corporal punishment and other official acts of barbarism.

The warlords say they ain't got any intention of holdin' off on executions just on accounta some namby-pamby human rights advocates. Back in 2004, Karzai did say he was puttin' a moratorium on death sentences. Guess they lifted the moratorium.

One of the crimes they executed somebody for was adultery.

Those executed had been found guilty of crimes such as murder, kidnapping, rape, adultery and armed robbery.

Yeow!!

The executions were in accordance with Afghanistan's constitution and its adoption of Sharia Law.
This week's executions were carried out in accordance with Islamic Sharia law and are a lesson to others who are taking advantage of unrest in the country, AFP cited state broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) as saying.
Karzai wants to bring the Taliban into his gummint. Why bother with formalities? They're already there. And our soldiers are dying for them.

JimBobby

Friday, August 17, 2007

Libel Chill Hits Canadian Blogosphere

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, are we men or are we mice? Last night, CBC's The National had an 8 minute segment on blogging and libel and lawsuits. Section 15's Mark Francis was interviewed. Also yammerin' were Michael Geist and Kate Holloway. I'd call that big news fer the Canajun boogeysphere.

I'd expect Pergressive Boogers an' the Boogin' Tories main feeds to be full of boog stories talkin' about the CBC story and about libel laws, links and litigious lunacy. But, dang it all, there's hardly anybuddy writin' about it.

Why not? Because, like the story was all about, there's a chill in the air -- Libel Chill.

I ain't in favour of libel and slander. I come out strong when I seen a Canajun booger libellin' Scott Tribe a few months back. I'll come out strong again if I see that sorta stuff. In comin' out against a slanderin' snake, I might post a link to the offensive material. I did link to the numbnuts slanderer when Scottie was bein' victimized. The offender eventually changed his post and took out the bad stuff.

In that case, if Scott was as small-minded as some other people (who shall remain nameless on accounta they'd probbly sue my sorryass) he'd have had cause to sue me fer linkin' to the slanderer. Scott ain't small-minded and he ain't a litigious lunatic (like some nameless people). He let the libel roll off like water off a duck's back.

If we wanna protect the Canajun boogeysphere and protect free speech, we need to fight frivolous lawsuits and the libel chill they foster. Do yer part and donate what you can.

One idea I been kickin' around is fer a mass linkin' campaign where as many boogers as possible defy the litigious lunatic and link to the offensive material. Double-dog-dare the sumbitch to sue everybuddy. It might backfire, though, on somebuddy who ain't afraid o' tryin' to sue Google, Yahoo, MySpace an' Wikipedia.

Or, we can all point an' laff an'compare this case to that numbnuts Merkan judge who tried suin' the poor dry cleaners fer $67 million when they lost his suit pants. He not only lost his suit pants, he lost his lawsuit and was ordered to pay costs. Plus, the whole world seen what a small-minded, greedy bullyboy he is.

JimBobby

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Olaf's Great Debate: Nuclear Power, Yes or No?

Whooee! I was just over to a new site called The Great Canadian Debate where they got a interestin' idea. They get two bloggers to make their case on a topic and then the readers go on a discussion board to comment. Olaf from The Prairie Wrangler is behind the site and I say kudos to Olaf fer a dang good idea.

Today, the debate's on nuclear power. John of Dymaxion World is arguing against nukes. Frank Cybulski is on the pro-nuke side. Since I'm a lazyass and a recycler, I lifted my comment from there and I'm pasting it here.
Frank said: However, it can be assumed from both evidence and logical deduction that those single two incidents are the two blotches on an otherwise flawless safety record,

Chernobyl and Three Mile Island are the two most well-known nuclear accidents. The industry's safety record is anything but flawless. A simple wikipedia search for nuclear accidents would tell even the most casual investigator that there have, in fact, been hundreds of accidents. To suggest that the nuclear industry's safety record is "flawless" is to insult the reader. After reading that genuinely offensive piece of disinformation, I very nearly quit reading Frank's argument.

If I had quit, though, I wouldn't have seen the next falsehood: The main example in favour of nuclear is that of France.

During heatwaves in 2003 and again in 2006, many of France's reactors had to be shut down due to a lack of cooling water. This was at the time when they needed the most energy for AC, refrigeration, fans, etc. In the 2003 heatwave, thousands of French citizens died from heat related problems.

Not enough cool water caused reactors to shut down in Michigan in 2006.

Groundwater in the French Champagne wine and dairy district is seven times more radioactive than EU standards permit. An entire industry, centuries old, faces collapse due to leaking radioactive contaminants.

Here in Canada, we have the Cameco situation. Cameco is a processor of raw uranium into nuclear fuel. Their Port Hope, Ontario plant has been leaking radioactive toxins into the ground and the plant has been shut down while they try to find the leak. They are being forced to drill holes through the sides of their various buildings and structures looking for the source. They've been looking for about three weeks, now.

The notion that nuclear energy production is carbon neutral is flat out wrong. Uranium mining is one of the most CO2 intensive of all mining operations. Transportation and refining of uranium are CO2 emitters. The construction of new nuclear plants takes years and is anything but carbon neutral.

Ontario's Environment Commissioner, Gordon Miller, says we should be looking at smaller, localized sources of power rather than large, centralized generators. The loss of power in transmitting across hundreds of miles amounts to more than 10%. Buyilding those transmission routes is another CO2 emitter and also takes valuable agricultural land out of use. McGuinty has chosen not to take the advice of his environment commissioner.

Frank goes on: Much is made of nuclear waste, but the miniscule amount of waste created by nuclear is insignificant when properly taken care of,
It's not the quantity. It's the toxicity. As far as "properly taken care of", nobody's figured out how to do that, yet. They've been looking for a way to properly take care of this waste for 60 years but, so far, temporary on-site storage is what we're doing. Even industry insiders say this is not a good permanent solution.

Nuclear waste must be guarded 24/7 by armed guards. Why? So terrorists or other criminals don't steal it to use as the dirt in a dirty bomb... or worse. Ontario Power Generation is training its own security force to takeover this responsibility from police.

No nuclear project in Canada has ever come in on time or on budget. The cost over-runs have been in the bilions. Reactor lifespans were said to be 40 years and when the existing Ontario reactors were built, the cost was prorated over 40 years. After 20 years, however, they began to fail. No reactor in Ontario has lasted more than 25 years. This has effectively doubled the cost to the taxpayer. Ontarians pay a charge on every monthly bill for "Ontario Hydro Debt Repayment." This money is entirely going to pay off bad investments in nuclear energy.

Shall I get into the cancer rates (200%-300% above average) in locales near nuclear plants? Shall I note all the times there were accidents and the public was left uninformed of the danger they were in (think way back to the Japan earthquake a couple weeks ago.) Shall I tell how the industry wines and dines local municipal government officials when a plant is proposed (Manitoba councillors flown out east for lobster dinners before a critical vote in which they approved a nuclear application)?

No nukes!

JimBobby

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Americans Favourable to Nuclear Power

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I got myself on a mailin' list fer folks concerned about what's happenin' here in Nanticoke with the Nanticoke coal-fired generator. Ginty sez he's closin' it down an' there's a bigass push to build a nuclear power plant on or near the present location on the shores of Lake Erie.Today, I got an email pointin' me at the Wall Street Journal's forum where they got a yammerin' gabfest goin' on all about whether the Merkans oughta build more nuke plants. I jumped in an' since I'm a lazyass, I recycled most o' my comment into this here boog story.

They got a poll sez about 80% like the nuke idea. Most o' the comments is pro-nuke. Some of 'em, they IDed themselves as nuke industry workers.Some commenters was castin' doubt on the veracity of the online poll. Me, too. I reckon it's gettin' freeped just like that one The Beaver done where ol' Troodough come out as worstest Canajun ever.

A lotta Merkans unnerstand that oil's what got 'em in hot water over in EyeRack an' they're willin' to do whatever it takes to quit buyin' oil. Whatever it takes that don't put a crimp in their wasteful lifestyle, that is. They're buyin' into the ad campaign: clean, safe, affordable.

I seen a lot of WSJ commenters touting France as a good example of nuclear success. Someone claimed France was successfully reprocessing its waste but that was later shown not to be the case and the attempt was abandoned 10 years ago.

France and Europe, in general, have troubles when they get heat waves. At the very time more power is needed for AC, nuclear plants are forced to shut down due to a lack of water to cool them.

Heatwave shuts down nuclear power plants

Same thing's happened in Michigan.

Northeast of Chicago, American Electric Power Co. shut down one of two nuclear reactors in Bridgman, Michigan, yesterday after lake water, used to cool the facility, pushed readings in the containment building to 120 degrees, spokesman William Schalk said.

I also seen a lot of people talking about how safe nuclear is. Unfortunately, they may have the impression that there have been no nuclear accidents in North America since Three Mile Island. In fact, there have been numerous leaks and problems. Here's something from the NYT concerning radioactive leaks at several US reactor locations:

Nuclear Reactors Found to Be Leaking Radioactive Water

Here's a more complete list of worldwide nuclear accidents from wikipedia.

The market price of uranium has more than quadrupled in the past 6 years. It is expected to double again this year. New nuclear plants won't come online for at least 10 years. How much will the US pay for (mostly) foreign uranium? Is America jumping out the the oil frying pan into the nuclear fire? As a chief supplier of uranium, should Canada be worried with regard to mining and transportation safety issues?

Nuclear waste must be guarded by armed personnel 24/7 for the next millenium or two. Reprocessed nuclear waste is much more radioactive and can be the fuel of a very dirty bomb. Do we have so much faith in government as to think it will be here conscientiously guarding the ever-growing stockpiles 2 or 3 thousand years from now? Here in Canada, that guard duty is being shifted from public to private responsibility. Will the rent-a-cops be as diligent as Dudley Dooright?

JimBobby

Monday, August 06, 2007

Navel-gazing in the Canadian Blogosphere

Whooee! Elijah, over to The Experiment, seems to have just noticed that the Canajun boogeysphere spends a lotta time navel-gazin’, nit-pickin' and contemplatin’ conspiracies. Elijah is complainin' that too many Pergressive Boogers is kvetchin' about possible gummint censorship and not enough is boogin' on important news, 'specially the Asian monsoons and the floods that been killin' so many hunnerts of poor souls in Bangladesh an' India. Elijah seems to be disgruntled an' discouraged by the pettiness of us boogers.

Not so hasty, sez I. This whole personal publishing power to the people is relatively new. Boogin’ publishers is just tryin’ to stake their claim in the infoworld. We’re neofighters in a field that goes back to Gutenberg.

While there were a few ProgBloggers yammerin’ about gummint boog-blockin’, there were plenty of others postin’ on other stuff. Some of the ones postin’ on the boog ban was also postin’ on stuff like MMP, SPP, DND, Hillier, O’Connor, handguns, arctic sovereignty, EyeRack, EyeRan, Mother Earth, nuclear energy, Harper, Bush and a whole raft of other topics.

There were hardly any (I didn’t see more than 1 or 2) PB boogs on the bridge collapse. And, yer right, there weren’t much on the Asia floods, neither. I see in Elijah's own 10 most recent posts, there’s nothin’ about them floods. Don’t he care, either?

The purpose of aggregators, like PB, is to give a quick choice of a variety of boog stories so’s the readers can choose which ones to bother readin’. There’s a wide variety of topics. Sure, there’s a little too much navel-gazin’ an’ introspective paranoia. There’s back’n'forth flame wars. There’s cheap shots and name-callin’. Welcome to the internets.

A week after the catastrophe, the bigass MSM is still carryin’ the bridge story as their lede while the Asian floods are on the back pages. This Merka-centric reportage is so typical that it gets little notice or is felt to be not worth mentioning.

Boogers often do write about disasters and often post links to sites where readers can donate to relief efforts. Not every single booger is gonna write about what Elijah’d prefer. Drawin’ conclusions from what is NOT written is speculative and doesn’t prove anything, sez I. I’ve never written about the Rwanda genocide. Does that mean that you can accurately interpret the lack of written work as a lack of concern?

I reckon a lotta PBer’s would really welcome a well-written boog story comparin’ the coverage of Minneapolis and Bangladesh.

Boogers is just individuals. We ain’t got bigass expense accounts to send ourselves to Bangladesh. We still depend on the MSM to report hard news from faraway places. If you started boogin’ and thought it was an alternative to the MSM, you were wrong. Fer the most part, boogs are opinion pieces. Maybe someday boogs’ll be an alternative news source. Right now, they’re mostly an alternative Op-Ed source.

JimBobby

PS: Most o' this here boog story was originally posted as a comment at The Experiment.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Thursday, August 02, 2007

True Confessions: JimBobby Contemplated Murder

Whooee! I been in a yammerin' gabfest on a coupla threads over to Scotty Tribe's DiaTribe boog. The topic is gun control, banned weapons and crime prevention. Some folks think anybody should be able to own any kinda weapon and should only be subject to legal intervention if they use that weapon in an illegal manner. I ain't on that side o' the argument.

I reckon we gotta make it tough fer people to get ahold of some weapons and impossible to get ahold of others. I ain't some sorta nanny-state socialist, though. I'm a left libertarian. I figger my rights extend to the point where I'm steppin' on somebody else's rights but I also figger society has a right to protect itself from deadly weaponry. I also understand that bans can create a black market in illegal weapons and can possibly increase crime.

Okay, let me tell you a true story of how gun control prevented a crime.

About 10 years ago, my then 25 year old son was viciously attacked by two men in Port Dover, Ontario. The attack was unprovoked. They "accused" my son of being gay and they beat him for that (mistaken) assumption. He was beaten unconscious and kicked in the face after he was out cold. We knew who did it and the assault was reported to police. The OPP investigated and during the investigation, the attackers threatened witnesses with death should they choose to testify. Eventually, reduced charges were laid and one of the attackers walked away uncharged while the other got probation and a $1000 fine.

Now, let's go back about 20 years.

Back then, I considered purchasing a rifle for target practice and perhaps for varmint shootin'. I looked into gettin' my Firearms Acquisition Certificate (FAC). I decided that I didn't wanna be bothered with takin' a course and I didn't really care that much about ownin' a gun. I brushed it off as a whim and didn't think about it much… until after my son was attacked.

For about a month after my son was beaten, while the bad guys were threatening everyone, I slept with a tire iron beside the bed.

But my thoughts were far from defensive. I secretly plotted to stalk and kill the guys who disfigured my boy. I kicked myself for failing to follow through and get my FAC. I longed for a high-powered sniper rifle so I could eliminate the scum from the community. BTW, this is the very first time I've admitted to my murderous intentions, even Ma don't know what I was plottin'.

Today, I'm still angry at the attackers. They got off easy. That said, I'm also relieved that I hadn't followed through with my original quest for gun ownership. I have almost no doubt that I would have lain in wait and shot those guys. I considered looking for an illegal weapon but I figgered I'd probably get caught if I went out right after my son got beat up and started lookin' fer a huntin' rifle. If I'd already had one, I'd have used it.

Today, I'm glad that I don't have murder on my conscience and the only reason I don't is that I didn't own a gun when murderous thoughts consumed me.

That's one example of crime prevention through gun control. I really don't think I'm the only Canajun who's ever contemplated murder (or suicide) and who's abandoned those thoughts after coolin' off.

JimBobby

PS - Most o' this here boog story was posted as a comment at Scott's boog.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Nuke Accident Downplayed -- As Usual

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, here we go again. Over in Japan, they had an earthquake an' they had a fire an' leaks at the world's biggest nuclear power plant.

First, the nuke plant operators said there were no leaks. For several hours after they knew they had a problem, they kept their mouths shut.

Then, they said there was a tiny leak that didn't pose any threat.

Then, they said that the leak was 50% bigger than they first said it was but it's still nothin' to worry about, sez they. 325 gallons of radioactive water just got washed in to the ocean. Drop in the bucket, sez they.

Then, they said there was about 100 barrels of low level radioactive waste that fell over and some of the lids come off.

Then, they said it was really 400 and not 100.

Then, the mayor of the city where the nuke plant is shut down the plant indefinitely. He ain't too happy about the way the plant operators kept the public in the dark fer so long. Maybe he ain't too sure they ain't still coverin' up. I know I ain't. Some industry watchers is sayin' it's worse than Three Mile Island.

Here in Nanticoke, Ginty's all gung-ho about buildin' a new nuke plant so's he can shut down the smokin' chuggin' coal-fired generator we got pollutin' the air. I reckon this situation in Japan oughta make ol' Dalton take another look. If he thinks we're ready to accept that sorta risk an' he won't run into a bigass fight, he's dreamin' in radioactive technicolour.

But, we don't have earthquakes in Ontariariario, so we ain't got nothin' to worry about. Right?

Wrong. We do have earthquakes and tremors here in GintyLand and also out in Lake Erie and just across the pond over in Ohio an' Pennsylvania. There's a whole whack o' faults under Lake Erie and in Southwestern Ontariariario. Out on the lake, they got a few gas wells. Some farmers got gas wells on their property 'round here, too. That travels underground in the faults. If there weren't faultlines, there wouldn't be any natural gas down there.

Why does Ginty wanna put Ontarians into the same jeopardy and danger as them poor Japanese?

JimBobby

Monday, July 16, 2007

SPP Challenge - Results Coming In

Whooee! Last week, I come up with a poll idea. The idea was fer a few Canajun boogers to personally survey friends, acquaintances, total strangers, stor clerks or anybuddy they can a simple question: "Have you ever heard of SPP?"

I asked 47 people. Not a single one had ever heard of SPP. Some guessed (incorrectly). After getting a negative response, I asked 'em if they'd ever heard of the Security and Prosperity Partnership. Not a single one of my 47 subjects had ever heard of it.

I didn't give 'em any handouts but I did tell my interviewees that they should keep an eye out fer SPP in the news and that they'd maybe hear more about it in August when Dubya comes callin'.

Most of my interviewees were relatively well-educated and informed. Most of 'em, I knew by name.

As more results come in, I'll post 'em up here and link to the boogs.

Green Assassin Brigade took me up on the challenge and has his results publicated this mornin'. He found a solitary person among his 27 interviewees who had some idea of what SPP is.

JB

Keep Convicts Out of Canada

Whooee! I was just over to Stageleft and I left a comment on Conrad the Crook. Balbulican's boogin' on how some Boogin' Tories are all sympathetic to poor old Conrad. The editorial in this mornin's Brantford Suppositor was addressed to Immigration Minister Diane Finley, my MP. They was urgin' Diane to keep Black outta Canada. I'm right alongside 'em.

A convicted criminal
Editorial - Monday, July 16, 2007 @07:00

Don't do it, Diane Finley. Don't give Conrad Black a break on visiting Canada - even for a day. Black is a convicted felon. A U.S. jury found him guilty Friday of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.

In 2001, Black gave up his Canadian citizenship in order to accept a British peerage.

We don't ask Immigration Minister Finley to give Black special treatment. She simply needs to apply the rules for any non-Canadian criminal and keep Black out of our country.

It doesn't matter that Black is an egocentric, arrogant jerk. Being a jerk is not a criminal offence.

But it does matter that he ignored a court order not to remove documents from his Toronto office. Security cameras caught Black carrying boxes of documents to his car.

He also has been found guilty of defrauding millions of dollars from stockholders by demanding payments from buyers of newspapers. Supposedly, the money was to assure Black, and others, didn't compete in new ventures. The prosecution called it diverting money from stockholders.

Six years ago, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship "as an impediment to my progress in another more amenable jurisdiction (the U.K.)"

Fine. Black knew what he wanted. Canada was too small-time for him. Now let him live with his decision. (more)


Dang right! Black is a convicted felon who showed contempt for Canada and contempt for the law. He deserves absolutely no support from Canadians. Canadians are among the stockholders who were ripped off by Black.

I cannot understand why any Canadian would support this criminal.

Monarchy lovers should be aghast at the shame his Lordship has brought to the peerage.

Big business lovers should be aghast at the disrepute and suspicion Black has brought to top level CEO’s everywhere.

Canadian patriots should be aghast at the way Black denounced his Canadian citizenship when it suited his personal ambitions.

How can patriotic Canadian conservative monarchists have any respect for a man who has done so much to discredit their cause?

The Cons are always sayin’ they ain’t afraid to call a spade a spade. Howcum they’re afraid to call a crook a crook?

One o' the stoopidest musical comedies of all time is Bye Bye Birdie. For some inexplicable reason, this topical 1960's out-dated work continues to be performed in high schools. Here in Norfolk County, it was performed this year. Back in 1966, when I was in high school, it was performed at my school. At least, it was somewhat relevent back then.

I reckon maybe the Conrad Black worshippers are singin' a song from outta that there dumbass play.

We love you Conrad
Oh yes we do
We love you Conrad
And will be true
When you're not near to us
We're blue
Oh, Conrad, we love you!

Why? Who knows?

JimBobby

Friday, July 13, 2007

Conrad's Prison Tattoos

Whooee! I was just leavin' a comment over to Stageleft on ol' Conrad Black's guilty verdict an' how maybe his lordship's gonna be rubbin' shoulders with mother-rapers an' father-stabbers. I got to wonderin' what sort prison tattoos ol' Conrad'll be sportin' when he gets out in 20 years, or so.
I wonder if he an' Barbie'll get the conjugatin' visits.
He ain't spent a night in jail, yet. Maybe he never will.
JimBobby

Thursday, July 12, 2007

SPP Challenge - Blogosphere-Meatspace Crossover Poll

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, ol' JB's chewin' nails an' fartin' tacks. I been readin' about how the RCMP, Surete Q-Beck an', get this, the US Army stopped the Council of Canadians from holding an informational meeting regarding the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

While I was postin' a comment over to Stageleft, I got thinkin' about how SPP has been flyin' under the radar. I got a boogin' poll that might help bring this festerin' boil to a head.

Here's how the poll works -
  1. Read up on SPP. Here, too.
  2. Over a few days, ask as many people as you can if they've ever heard of SPP or the Security and Prosperity Partnership for North America.
  3. Keep track of the percentage or fraction of those who got a clue an' those who ain't.
  4. Publish the results on yer boog.

Pretty easy, sez I.

If enough people do it, we could get a good idea of just how far under the radar SPP is flyin'.

I'm plannin' on askin' people startin' today and endin' on Sunday. I'll be goin' to some o' the Friday the 13th festivities over in Port Dover this weekend so I'll see more folks than on a usual weekend. I ain't sure I'll be askin' too many Hell's Angels about deep integration, though.

If yer interested in takin' part an' you let me know, I'll update this here post with a link to yer boog. I'll try to do some sorta tabulation of the combined results... or else, I'll find somebuddy who likes that sorta number crunchin'. Dang! This is startin' to sound like work.

JimBobby

UPDATE: Erik's on board. Sounds like Red Tory and Stageleft are, too. And Woman at Mile 0. Whooee! More pollsters - Green Assassin Brigade, skdadl at POGGE and AnnaMarie at Verbena-19.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Fighting for Western Values?

Whooee! A coupla days ago, I seen a newspaper quotin' Jimmy Flaherty. He said that we're there in Afghanistan to fight for western values.

Huh?

Canadian values? We're fightin' fer a warlord-ruled narco-state that has enshrined Shari'a law into its new constitution and is officially named The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Canadian values? Under NEW Afghan law, anyone who converts from Islam to Christianity is subject to the death penalty.

Canadian values? Since the ouster of the Taliban and the beginning of the NATO campaign, Afghanistan has become the world's top producer of opium. The country we're dyin' fer supplies 90% of the world opium market.

Canadian values? The Afghan Human Rights Commission says it has no ability to monitor the treatment of detainees. Serious, credible allegations of torture exist but our gummint sluffs it off an' passes the buck to the ineffective Afghan human rights group.

We are not there to support Canadian values. We are there to support warlords, opium dealers, the international heroin trade and the double-dealin' Karzai who admits to being involved in secret talks with the Taliban for the same months when 50+ Canajun soldiers was killed. I wonder what they been talkin' about.

JimBobby

P.s. Most o' this here boog story was wrote up as a comment over to the What Do I Know Grit's fine boog.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Afghan Mission Creeps into Pakistan

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the war in Afghanistan just got bigger.

Now, NATO's got permission to go over into Pakistan to kill Talibans. I ain't sure whether this'll help things in Afstan any. I pretty much figger it's a doomed mission. (h/t eaves.ca)

What I do figger this'll mean is that the Merkans'll wage some air strikes inside Pakistan and there'll be some civilians killed. You don't hafta be Kreskin to predict Merkan air strikes and civilian casualties and public outrage and anti-Merkan sentiments risin'. Why would Pakistan be any different than EyeRack or Afghanistan?

Ol' Pervez Musharrif's hangin' onta power by military force, alone. When the Merkans bomb a madrassa in Waziristan, MushMan's power'll be put to the test. I reckon NATO might just be sowin' the seeds of a Pakistan civil war.

I been doin' a bit a yammerin' in some comments gabfests here an' there. Mostly in reaction to our six brave soldiers dying at the hands of the talibans. I reckon we got us a doomed mission. The Merkans lost interest and took most o' their men and money over to EyeRack. Now that they made asses of themselves there, they're takin' a fresh look at Afghanistan.

Only thing is, they wanna keep usin' air power and they keep killin' the wrong people when they do that. The mess in Afstan ain't gonna get fixed by Merkan bombs.

Here's what we got in Afghanistan -- a warlord-ruled narco-state officially known as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The new constitution enshrines Shari'a law. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is a death penalty offense. Afghanistan supplies 90% of the world's opium. Opium is the mainstay of the economy but has only become the mainstay since the ouster of the anti-drug talibans.

Sounds like a bad place, right? Sounds like maybe we should be fightin' to create that shinin' beacon of democracy George W. talked about before we signed on, right?

Wrong. We ain't fightin' against any o' that bad stuff. We fightin' for it. We're fightin' and dyin' to prop up the warlord-ruled narco-state Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Why?

JimBobby

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Unfortunate Accident?

Whooee! When three more Canadian soldiers died yesterday after being targeted by Taliban in a successful enemy operation of planting an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) inside an area deemed to be secure, it was no accident.

I was watchin' CTV NewsWorld when they had a clip of our top general in charge of Canadian operations in Afghanistan. Brigadier General Tim Grant said:

"This is an unfortunate accident."

At first, I thought maybe Grant misspoke and would correct his slip of the tongue. No. He reiterated the "unfortunate accident" phrase twice in the clip.

It's an accident when somebody falls off a ladder.
It's an accident when a tree blows down and squashes somebody.
It's an accident when a 3 year-old pisses his pants.

It ain't an accident when an enemy plants a bomb and blows up 3 soldiers.

How in the hell can something like that be called an accident? How can it be called an accident by the top general in charge of Canadian operations?

Most folks would define "accident" a lot like this:

When the enemy is successful in killing Canadian troops in exactly the manner that they plan, it is in no way an accident. This wasn't a mishap or something that happened without an apparent cause.

If the top commander doesn't know the difference between an unfortunate accident and a successful enemy operation that results in the death of three of those in his command, what sort of operation is Dennis O'Connor running?

JimBobby
(h/t - Dave at the Galloping Beaver)

Monday, June 18, 2007

Cerberus' Poster Contest - The Ballad of Stevie Harpie

Whooee! Ol' Cerb's got a contest goin'.

Here's my entry--

Motorized "sport" is anti-Earth - Cons true colours ain't green

Whooee! I see a lotta Canajun boogers are postin' up boog stories on the Conservatives sponsorship of a NASCAR racecar. I left a bigass comment over at Steve V's Far and Wide boog. I'm recyclin' that comment here.

You don't get converts by preachin' to the choir. NASCAR is big down in Merka with Red State Republicans. Canajuns, not so much. Green Canajuns, not at all.

Unlike the marginally enlightened bunch at the Indy 500, NASCAR has not embraced the concept or practice of using alternate fuels. That don't matter much since ethanol or E85 ain't really a solution or even a step in the right direction. Incredibly, 2007 is the first season for NASCAR to adopt unleaded gasoline.

The average NASCAR vehicle gets between 2 and 5 miles per US gallon. The average NASCAR weekend race emits 20-40 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Dozens of these events are being held every weekend 10 months of the year, mostly (but hardly exclusively) in the southern Merkan states.

The CPC is glorifying the waste of precious fossil fuel and endorsing the needless emission of tonnes of GHG's. At the same time, they're adopting the Merkan mentality that NASCAR is a popular "sport" that can be capitalized upon.

Those who really care about Mother Earth, don't go ga-ga over powerful gas-guzzlers racin' around a track for no other reason than sheer spectacle.

Motorized "sport" is anti-Earth.

That goes fer recreational ATV's, dirt bikes, Sunday drives in the family Hummer, speedboat races, lawn mower races and every other non-productive waste of fossil fuel.

The CPC showin' its true colours has opened the door for those really concerned about the environment. Now, the others parties can sponsor environmentally-friendly recreational activities and events.

If this don't blow up in Harpoon's face (even without the Bourque connection), then the opposition will have missed a golden opportunity to showcase who cares about green stuff and who gives lip service while they pour cash into GHG bad boys NASCAR.

I'm lookin' fer party endorsements and sponsorship of things like canoe races, sailboat races, solar-powered car races, footraces, bike races, swimmin' races, rowin' races. Maybe even chicken chariot races.

Almost anything'd be better than sponsorin' NASCAR, sez I.

JimBobby

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Separatist Harper Winning by Losing

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, ol' JB's cobblin' this boog story up from a comment I made over to Red Tory's fine boog. When it comes to yammerin' gabfests in the comments departments, ol' RT's got one o' the best boogs in Canada, sez I.

Today, Red's boogin' about CTV's Davey Akin's very good question about the Atlantic Accord troublems-- "So what do you mean when you see you would prefer to continue talks? What is there to talk about if your finance minister says there can be no 'side deals'?"

Over to Red's comments, I sed Harpoon's an AlienAlbert separatist or at least a firewaller. Con's like walls. Lookit over in Palestine an' down on the Mex border. Wall-builders like it when regions is fightin'. That makes it all the more likely they'll wanna put up a wall.

I reckon Harpoon's more than just a firewaller. I figger he's an out'n'out separatist.

Unity, interprovincial harmony and good federal-provincial relations stand in the way of separatism. Federalism's failure is separatism's success. If Harper was a federalist, he'd be in trouble. As a separatist, he's doin' everything right.

A disfunctional federal parliament works in the separatists' favour, too. Up til recently, I been mainly thinkin' Harper's sabotaged parliament to show that minority don't work and we oughta give him a majority instead. Now, I ain't so sure that's the endgame he's got in mind.

Even a poor federal showing on the green file works in the separatists' favour. When eco-concerned folks see the provinces doin' more fer ol' Mother Earth than the anti-Earther feds, they'll push fer more provincial power.

I'm startin' to think he's playin' fer an outcome like King Steve of Alberta's New Monarchy. He must realize by now that he'll never win over a majority of Canajuns. Absolute power will only come when his loyal subjects place the crown on his head ... after the split-up of Canada he's engineerin' right now.

Confederation = Canada
Con Federation = Post-Canada tribal fiefdoms and a couple new US States.

JimBobby

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Harper vs. Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I seen somethin' in the news today that set my blood a-boilin'. The Harper gummint's doin' its dangedest to put the kibosh on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (a tip o' the headress to Shmohawk )

Now, Canada's a member of the UN Human Rights Council. There's 47 member nations on that there council. Canada and Russia are the only ones tryin' to kill the deal. Worse yet, the HarpoonTossers is tryin' to drum up support fer their regressive stand among badass human rights abusers around the world.

Here's the AP story ---

OTTAWA -- Amnesty International is accusing Canada of stalling a United Nations negotiation on the rights of indigenous peoples. The human rights group says Canada has been obstructionist and exploitive in its efforts to block discussion on the issue.

It notes that Canada and Russia were the only two members of the 47-country Human Rights Council to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in June 2006.

Amnesty says that since the Conservative government came to power in January 2006, it has been lobbying the UN General Assembly to vote against the declaration, which the previous Liberal government helped draft.

The group contends Ottawa has been encouraging abusive states in Africa, Asia and Latin America to oppose the declaration.

The Tories fear the declaration could run counter to the Constitution, defence laws and existing land deals.

Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, sent a letter to Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice last month, complaining that Canada's position "seriously undermines indigenous peoples' human rights.''

The federal government claims it is seeking "the broadest possible agreement.'' But Amnesty says that statement flies in the face of 68 states that recently endorsed the declaration and a "growing list'' of experts, prominent leaders and human-rights bodies that support it.

Conservative aboriginal policies have been criticized since the government scrapped the $5-billion Kelowna Accord, reached under the previous Liberal government. The deal was intended to improve native education, housing and economic conditions.


Shmohawk called 'em weasels. I reckon that's generous.

JimBobby

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Harper Takes Page from GWB's Book to Take Eyes Off CPC Book

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I'm confuddled as a cow knee-deep in spring thaw. Last week on Thursday or Friday, the National Post had a bigass exposé where Don Martin got ahold o' this here Conservative dirty tricks book. The HarpoonTossers wrote a book on how to thwart the will of the elected representatives who represent the majority of Canajuns.

When somebuddy wants a definition of democracy for dummies, I reckon the simplest thing is -- majority rule in a one person, one vote state. When King Steve has a book tellin' all his committee chairs how to make sure the majority doesn't rule and how to negate the votes of Canajuns, I say he's workin' against democracy.

When I seen the story last week, I was almost a hunnert percent's worth sure that the dirty tricks book would be the only thing anybuddy'd be on about this week. Guess what. It ain't hardly on the radar.

Where is it? Why don't anybuddy wanna talk about it?

I reckon the Grits got a similar skeleton an' that explains them leavin' the Cons alone on the biggest dirt they could ever hope for. Why else would they give it the kid gloves treatment?

But why oh why ain't the Dippers jumpin' all over the dirty tricks book? Could they have their own version?

What about the rotten separatist BlocHeads? Why ain't they screamin' bloody murder about the exposé?

Harpoon sure as hell done hisself a whole world o' good with his secret support the troops diversionary tactic photo-op trip. Now, instead o' talkin' about the book, the pundidiots is all talkin' about the trip. A transparently Dubya-style PR trip ain't half as bad as what that book sez about the HarpoonTossers' contempt fer Canajuns.

Harper changed the subject.

Looks like our bigass MSM fell for it, too.

JimBobby

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Thankless Task: PB Moderation

Whooee! Well, like some other Pergressive Boogers, I was gonna keep my yap shut on the dust-up goin' on with the moderators all fightin' an' boogers takin' sides an' nasty infightin' happenin' among the self-described lefty pundidiots. It's gettin' almost as bad as the House o' Comments. I was gonna clam up but I can't stop myself from yammerin' -- at least a little bit.

Mostly, the PB fracas is between ol' Scotty Tribe an' Polly Jones (aka Joanne, I guess). I known Scott fer quite a spell an' I count him as a friend. I ain't known Polly so long but we commented back an' forth on some feminist issues an' I reckon I see mostly eye-to-eye with Polly. She's always been civilized an' thoughtful an' polite. I like Polly.

What ain't been said enough in all the boog stories an' comments is how moderatin' is a thankless task. Nobuddy's makin' any money or gettin' much benefit by bein' in the PB modsquad. Scott's worked hard fer the pergressive boogin' community. He's a volunteer, ferchrissakes, so I reckon he oughta get some thanks along with any criticism. I ain't seein' much o' that.

Polly's apparently quit her modsquad job an' that's her prerogative. It's a volunteer job. There ain't any contract. If somebuddy finds the volunteer work they do to be unrewarding or stressful, they got every right to quit an' the rest of us owe 'em a big thanks fer the volunteer work they done.

I'd like to see Scott an' Polly shake hands an' bury the hatchet. I reckon that'd mean some crow-eatin' fer each of 'em. I'm pretty sure they'd feel better afterwards but I reckon that's between them 2. If they was to get together fer a coffee or get on the phone fer a good long gabfest, I betcha they'd both be happier. But, o' course, that's their bizness an' not mine. If it was my bizness, I'd make sure each of 'em did the Political Compass test before they get together.

We're dang lucky we got a few good Canajuns who take time to volunteer an' lend what help they can to the left side o' the Canajun boogeysphere. I figger us PB members all benefit from gettin' our boogs out in front of more readers thanks to Pergressive Boogers. ProgBlogs wouldn't exist without the volunteers who started it and continue to make it run.

Now, I'm talkin' to these folks -

Wayne Chu
Scott Tribe
John Baglow
Catnip
Joanne Costello
Jasmine Johansson
Devon Rowcliffe
Kyle Selmes
Saskboy

Thankee kindly fer all the work you folks put in.

Yores trooly,
JimBobby

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Does Harper Government Support Anti-Abortion Activists?

Whooee! Well friends and foes, I was just over to JJ, the Unrepentent Old Hippie's boog. JJ posted this here YouTube of a bigass anti-abortion march up on Parliament Hill. There's a big banner with the official trademark of the Government of Canada. Seems they call it the Canada Wordmark and it's protected so nobuddy supposed to use it without permission. Frank Frink's found another YouTube that shows the official wordmark in English and in French.




Yeow! Sometimes I get my knickers in a twist when I see that "Canada" logo at the end of some dumbass TV show or movie. That tells me that our tax money went into helpin' get the Trailer Park Boys on Showcase. I reckon there's some Canajuns who maybe think that the gummint oughta fund anti-abortion groups and dumbass TV shows.

When I see the wordmark in the credits of Trailer Park Boys, I take it as a bigass indication that the Gummint of Canada gave 'em some dough. When I seen that wordmark on the March for Life banner, I reckon it indicates official gummint suport.

I hope we find out if Parliament is funding the folks who march on Parliament. Anybuddy know?


JimBobby