Wikipedia has gone dark for 24 hours to protest the PIPA-SOPA-PITA bills in the US Congress. Whatever will we do without Wikipedia? Crack a book open?
In support of this 24 hours blackout, websites from all over the US that don’t make much money are shutting down. Why? No commercial business would actually jeopardize their revenue if they make money. Meanwhile those who do shut down can attract attention to themselves and maybe… make money.
For those not stupid enough to shut their whole site down, they are putting ribbons, Twibbons or other crap on their site to “protest”. This is no different then those “eco-nuts” who drive GMC Yukons around with Sierra Club bumper stickers on the back and complain that we are all polluting the environment(except them).
I think the biggest news out of all of this is Michael Moore shutting down his site for 24-hours.
I would humbly suggest that MMFlint need to do this longer, say 40 years.
The Internet just got a little more relevent.
The Americans have put a hold on the KeystoneXL pipeline over environmental concerns which leaves companies in the Alberta Oil Sands with a choice as to where to sell their oil to.
One thing that Prime Minister Harper has indicated was to sell to China, which on the surface sounds like a good idea. The USA doesn’t want our oil, China does. Both have cash, here you go.
It is a bad idea though to sell the oil to the Chinese. China is a communist country and yes we do trade with them, millions of dollars worth a day. That trade mostly though is for finished products. That hair dryer at Walmart, the TV at Zellers, finished goods. They send product, we send cash, simple. If we start to send natural resources to China, we start becoming more dependent on them than we already are.
The argument has been made that they will become dependent on Canada as we have something they want. True, but if we decide to start selling to the Chinese, we won’t be able to stop, even if we want to. It is a corrupt, communist dictatorship, not much different than dealing with the Mafia. Once you’re in, you’ll never get out (pardon the Godfather pun).
Sending natural resources to an expanding and emerging China in 2012 is not that much different than the US and other western powers sending scrap metal, rubber and oil to Japan during their military buildup in the 1920′s and 30′s. In 1939 alone, over 2 million tonnes of scrap metal were sold by the US to Japan. The embargo of Japan by the Americans in early 1940 was one of the key factors in the launch of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were cut off their supply of raw materials(scrap) and as such, attacked.
Is that a position we want to be in. People seem to forget that no matter what the Chinese sell us, from TV’s to Toothbrushes, we may think of capitalism and free-market society, but we are buying from communists.
Meanwhile, the eastern-half of Canada is buying oil from overseas. Why? Canada has enough production right now to cover all of the domestic consumption we have and then some. But we need means to get the oil from west to the east. One solution is gasoline/oil trains. Those run already from places like Montreal, Quebec to Maitland, Ontario, carrying gasoline to a bulk distribution center. Why not more trains carrying oil cross-country? Another solution is a pipeline from Alberta to Thunder Bay, tied up at the Lakehead. Use Great Lakes ships to carry oil from Thunder Bay on east. It already happens.
Domestic consumption seems so simple of an idea, it’s a no-brainer. Probably why our leaders haven’t thought of it.
Published January 16, 2012 on OurHometown.ca
Much ado about Benson Centre financing
The Benson Centre is a first-class facility, there is no question of that. The hard work of the organizers to raise the over two-million dollar community contribution was outstanding. The residents who helped raise that money are to be thanked as are the many businesses who stepped up financially. Everybody has done their part, except for Cornwall City Council.
City Council has now brought up several times – plans and motions on how to pay their part of the bill, approximately 10.7 million dollars. They have the infamous “Progress Fund” which they collect interest from and it makes sense to get a loan, and the pay the loan off with the interest. In fact they have agreed to that plan a few times already. This way the fund stays intact and it doesn’t cost the city or taxpayers anything for the Benson Centre.
Wrong. It does cost the city and taxpayers because it locks up that fund into a task to pay a loan for a long period of time. A 20-year infrastructure loan for a municipality is not uncommon and while interest rates are low now at approximately 5%, that is still a cost. If the interest from the Progress Fund is paying a loan for 20 years, there is nothing else that money can be used for. The cost of that interest at 5% per year will mean that the 10.7 Million will have actually cost 17.2 million.
Why should the city/taxpayers pay over 6.5 million or more 61% more overall for this? The city could pay the bill from the Progress Fund, that would reduce the fund to 14.3 million, but that amount would still be generating interest year over year. That interest could be used to repay the fund back to 25 million, or if needed, to fund other obligations/projects. Borrowing from their own nest-egg costs them nothing, in the short or long term.
The argument has been made that the city needs to keep the fund intact to help lower taxes. City council has no plan or goal to reduce taxes, nor the fortitude to make tough decisions to keep taxes in line. Coupled with that is an increase in MPAC values which already add money to the city coffers. Lowering taxes isn’t a goal, isn’t a plan for the council. So it’s time to move on and do something that will truly work for the city and is smart long-term.
It would take discipline to pay back the Progress Fund, and we’ve seen already with three motions so far, lots of discussion and no progress, that council lacks that. Meanwhile the bill needs to be paid.
If I were Stephen Harper, or a member of the Conservative Party, I would be salivating over the twin prospects that Bob Rae may become permanent leader of the Liberal Party and that non-members may be able to vote for a Liberal Leader. Bob Rae, the socialist who ran Ontario into the ground from 1990 to 1995, became leader of the Liberals on the condition he wouldn’t seek the job in a Leadership Contest. Obviously someone was thinking when they said they didn’t want him as the leader long term.
One of the key ideas that have come out of the Liberal Convention this weekend was the idea of having people who aren’t members of the Liberal Party vote for the leader of the Liberal Party. No Membership Required. Great Idea. Just as you see with the primaries in the United States, you can have members of the opposition affect your party. I can see an organized “Operation Chaos” in the works for this if it passes.
If Liberals were smart, they would vote down this idea in a heart beat. Imagine if you have a field with a few strong candidates and one weak one. With an organized infiltration by non-members, instead of the Liberals electing a leader like Justin Trudeau or Dominic Leblanc, the party could get… Bob Rae.
Sounds like a good thing to ensure a further fragmented left, a weakened opposition and a long rule of the Conservatives over the land.
I remember, not all that long ago, when car shows were cool. Bob Segar signing ‘Like a Rock’ as the newest Chevy pickup smashed through a wall of rocks and massive fireworks explosions celebrating all that bravado that is the American Car Industry…
Now you go to the Detroit International Car Show and you get this…
A pick-up truck. This is what the greenies are calling a pickup truck. I can haul more in my 2003 Toyota Corolla than that POS. It looks like a cheap dollar-store toy that was made in China with melamine-tainted plastic.
Look at this commercial.
Could you see loading a single bail of hay in the back of the “Smart” “Pick-Up”?
