Steak:

Today was spent driving through Alberta, and from the looks of things here you would never imagine that a few months ago the world was in economic turmoil. Whatever Canada’s economic plan for Alberta is, it seems to be working, there is a ton of construction going on along the highways coming to and from Banff. And outside of Calgary, the city seems to growing at a steady rate, pushing back never ending expanse of the prairies, making it habitable for you or I to have our own piece of the rugged wild rose province.

But with all this expanse, what are Alberta’s plans for keeping up with the demand for energy and stay ahead of the curve to avoid the energy problems plaguing larger and one might argue more economically diversified provinces like Ontario. Alberta’s energy plan is all lined out on their website which is filled with haunting statements like “Alberta has the wherewithal to leverage its current position and prepare for what is coming” and upon further investigation it seems Alberta’s plan is to invest in carbon capturing, develop clean hydrocarbons and infrastructure.

So essentially that means there going to build a bunch of pipelines and focus on curbing emissions. Not exactly a diverse energy portfolio there Alberta. Lets just hope either your precious oil sands last forever or the price of oil stays high. If the cost to pull it out of the ground out weighs the price per barrel, the math is simple. In a world of constant fluctuation, wouldn’t hedging your energy “bets” be a wiser choice

Eggs:

Just about 1768 miles, and what geographically seems a world away from Alberta sits Canada’s manufacturing and shipping powerhouse, as well as the seat of political power, Ontario. With a steady inflow of immigrants and by far the largest amount of new births per year 136,980 in 2008/09 as opposed to the nearest, Alberta with nearly 50,000 What are Ontario’s plans to combat the exponential rise in the demand for electricity, and are they as one dimensional as Alberta’s?

It seems right now there are two minds on how to go about dealing with this inevitable situation. Ontario’s Focus seems to be on “Green”, what seems to be a mantra these days. Go green, or go home. This plan includes transit upgrades, a Greenbelt act, Green jobs, and Greenhouse gas emission targets outlined in the governments “Go Green Booklet” . What it really seems like to this humble reader is a bunch of legislation, which looks great on paper but isn’t much good in the real world. They’re even predicting a return to pre 90’s levels by 2012, seems like there grasp has exceeded their reach.

Luckily the people who have been providing Ontario with electricity for more than five decades also have their “hat” in the ring when it comes to solving Ontario’s future energy problems, and Thank God. The Ontario Power workers have put together a far more diversified plan than their beaurocratic counterparts outlined in their “Better Energy Plan” In fact it’s motto is “Strength Through Diversity”. They state “ No one source can be relied on exclusively. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Creating the right economic and environmental balance among the available technologies and approaches will meet the challenge of ensuring reliable, affordable supply and meeting environmental goals.” Diversifying power generation will create more jobs by spreading them thought various industries and also not have the drawback of putting all of our power eggs in one basket. So if the bottom of one market falls out we have safe guards in place and other sources to fall back on.

What ever the people of Ontario decide it’s good to know that there are options and that one government body is not going to arbitrarily make the decisions for us. Get out there and get educated people. We all take electricity for granted, just think back to the first hours of the Eastern seaboard blackout of 2003, and the panic most of us felt, until we realized that we were going to be okay after all.

Steak:

Ok so for those of you who don’t know what gentrification is, we’ll go to our old friends at
Wikipedia. “Gentrification and urban gentrification denote the socio-economic, commercial, and demographic change in an urban area resulting from wealthier people buying housing property in a poor community.” But isn’t gentrification really just the product of a slow evolutionary climb, kicked into overdrive by events like the industrial revolution and more recently the microchip revolution? From the moment we decided on capitalism as our monetary philosophy we created a class system, the haves and the have nots. It’s a brutal truth, but almost every attempt to end this delicate balance has ended in horror, from the sea of blood left behind by the Bolsheviks in the Russian revolution to the scores of bodies in chairman Mao’s cultural reformation and the mass graves off the Cambodian killing fields, it seems like almost every experiment in Government interference in the marketplace has
resulted in disaster

So if we can’t trust the Government to run the marketplace, can we trust the corporation to
run and regulate themselves? I don’t think anyone these days is jumping to aid the banksters.
from Enron to AIG, you can’t pick up a paper without hearing about the exploits of Bernie
Maddof, or some other CEO and his company losing money hand over fist, with taxpayers footing
the bill.

Now if we can’t trust the “all knowing” Government, and we can’t trust the corporations, who
is left to set rules and standards by which we practice business? Why it’s you and me! Someone
once told me the most powerful way to vote is with your dollar. Don’t like how franchises
seem to be popping up in your neighbourhood, strangling out local business owners? Then don’t buy
from them. You can even go so far as to organize a community boycott. But don’t back and complain
when your local bookstore goes belly up under pressure from the chapters/indigo down the block. They’re not to blame for providing a service, as long as people keep buying.

Eggs:

Eggs:

For once I finally agree with Steak on this one, but as per usual we don’t exactly see eye to eye on this topic. Steak seems to think that the cultural identity of small towns and hamlets all over the world is up for sale to the highest bidder, and that’s just how the world works, get used to it. Well I refuse to believe that. Big corporations like Wal-mart don’t have the rights to tear up land in our towns and cities alike and drop one of their giant “superstores” on the outskirts. This process not only makes an eyesore on the beauty of our pristine communities. In Campbell River for example the city fought the impeding wal-mart for years untill the economic recession caused the local mine and pulp mill to close forcing hundreds of people to find other work, and just like the opportunistic disease wal-mart struck when their defences were down, and also like a disease the side effects can be numerous and sometimes not always visible at first.

1. Extracting tax and infrastructure concessions from local governments in return for opening a facility in the area. Typical concessions are zoning changes, infrastructure improvements (like new roads and traffic lights), and tax breaks. Here is a study on the impact of this behaviour:
Shopping for Subsidies

2. Labour practices drive down average wages in the region and cost the local economy a net loss. The study:
Economic Loss Study

3. Labour practices are anti-union and frequently break existing labour laws. Recent cases have resulted in $100+ million fines against Wal-Mart. There is also an ongoing class action suit over sex discrimination, which involves 1.5 million women – the largest employment discrimination case in history. I won’t cite links since a simple Google search will reveal numerous news stories of Wal-Mart’s labour violations. The company has a policy of breaking labour laws routinely. Either they won’t get caught, or the fine is small enough that they still come out ahead.

4. Undue economic influence over its suppliers. People think Wal-Mart is a monopoly, it is not, it is a Monopsony.

For some reason free marketers wish to overlook bad corporate behaviour. A free market assumes that companies play by the rules, that is why we have laws.

Well folks, in an attempt to add a little diversity to Steak and Eggs, starting tomorrow were going to be on the road, posting from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. Each post will be on issues relevant to the respective province and we’ll be trying to include some pictures and interviews from locals to see where they stand on each issue. Hopefully we’ll have a great time visiting your provinces, seeing all your lovely faces, and possibly get some great interviews. So until next time, have a great day and don’t forget your daily Steak and Eggs

Steak:

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Not me. I’m hearing a lot of paranoia these days as we race towards 2012. And just like the years approaching 2000, it seems like all the crazies come out of the wood works, yelling that the sky is falling. Well chicken little, I’m not buying it

Fact is this whole Codex thing has been around for a lot longer than we think. It was established by an FAO Conference resolution in 1961 and a World Health Assembly resolution, WHA 16.42, in 1963. Its principle objective was to protect the health of consumers and to facilitate the trade of food by setting international standards on foods. Now that doesn’t sound all bad does it? Everyone eating the same standard of food all over the globe, that would solve a lot of problems wouldn’t it?
The Codex, put simply, is just a code of standards that covers all the main foods, whether processed, semi-processed or raw, in addition to materials used in the processing of food products.

Codex provisions concern the hygienic and nutritional quality of food, including microbiological norms, food additives, pesticide and veterinary drug residues, contaminants, labeling and presentation, and methods of sampling and risk analysis.

It’s a Global organization with many contributing members like France, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, The U.S, and Canada, just to name a few, contributing to all facets of the food industry from Labeling standards and Methods of Analysis and Sampling to examination of Pesticide Residues and Food Additives and Contaminants. So the idea that a small number of shadowy figures will be in charge of the world food supply is preposterous.

And that brings me to the main point. Why do we even need codex? If for generations we’ve been doing fine the old fashioned way. Why change things now? The answer is because were not doing it right. We all remember the tainted milk scandal of 2008, and it seems like every month there’s an outbreak of salmonella or listeriosis in tainted hot dogs or peanut butter.

I think I would be in favor of a little oversight from and accredited organization like the WHO. It’s plain to see the food and agro corporative executives, with their eyes on their disappearing 401k’s and the trying to get a piece of that sweet, sweet stimulus money, have far to much on their minds to be concerned with the health of the people who buy their products.

Eggs:

A few years ago I was doing some research on availability of vitamin supplements in the EU and I came across some very disturbing information in the form of a mysterious organization known as “Codex Alimentarius” or “Food Code” in Latin. The Codex is not a consumer protection agency, nor a human rights agency, nor a public health organization it is a trade-based commission, whose goals are clearly profit-focused. The Codex plans to bolster extreme opposition against natural forms of medicine and nutrition.
One standard, approved in 2005, called the Codex Alimentarius Vitamin and Mineral Guideline (VMG), has the power to ban many powerful vitamins and mineral supplements under the basis of for-hire studies. This means, the organization pays scientists and doctors to tell them what is most profitable. From there, more money will go to the pharmaceutical industry over natural remedies. One extreme measure even bans Vitamin C to doses of only several milligrams per dose. What sort of insanity can you expect if codex gets its way? ;

• Dietary supplements could not be sold for preventive (prophylactic) or therapeutic use.
• Potencies would be limited to extremely low dosages. Only the drug companies and the big pharmaceutical companies would have the right to produce and sell the higher potency products (at inflated prices).
• Prescriptions would be required for anything above the extremely low doses allowed (such as 35 mg. on niacin).
• Common foods such as garlic and peppermint would be classified as drugs or a third category (neither food nor drugs) that only big pharmaceutical companies could regulate and sell. Any food with any therapeutic effect can be considered a drug, even benign everyday substances like water.
• Codex regulations for dietary supplements would become binding (escape clauses would be eliminated).
• All new dietary supplements would be banned unless they go through Codex testing and approval.
• Genetically altered food would be sold worldwide without labeling.

And, according to John Hammell, a legislative advocate and the founder of International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF)

“If Codex Alimentarius has its way, then herbs, vitamins, minerals, homeopathic remedies, amino acids and other natural remedies you have taken for granted most of your life will be gone. The name of the game for Codex Alimentarius is to shift all remedies into the prescription category so they can be controlled exclusively by the medical monopoly and its bosses, the major pharmaceutical firms. Predictably, this scenario has been denied by both the Canadian Health Food Association and the Health Protection Branch of Canada (HPB).”


What Codex does is takes the decision making out of the hands of federal or provincial legislators, and puts it in the hands of international banks and multinational pharmaceutical companies. Codex Alimentarius Commission ,which is a joint program of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Codex’s history is extremely interesting because it is a kind of model for this type of transnational takeover. Codex seemed benign in the beginning, as most of these things do, because they seem to have no discernable forceful impact on regulations at home. That all changed with the adoption of NAFTA and GATT because each of those agreements contained within them Sanitary (Health) and Phytosanitary agreements. Suddenly the harmless old Codex became enforceable. Nowadays Codex guidelines carry a lot of weight because they are enforceable through the World Trade Organization. Enforcement is carried out by withdrawing other trade privileges conferred by the trade agreements.

Now why would our governments want this? Well because the natural health, prevention and supplement industries represent a growing sector of the economy. As profits on natural living increase, big pharmaceutical companies, as well as big-Agro businesses, are beginning to feel threatened. If they can enact stricter laws controlling supplements, consumers like you, will have less freedom to choose a pro-active approach to health and healing. In this sense, these laws could potentially endanger our ability to care for ourselves naturally.

I’m not sure about you but I think just about everyone either has a friend or, has themselves taken a vitamin at one time or another, and some people even take them every day, and report marked improvements in health and no one has ever related a “Vitamin poisoning” in fact until 1998 typically no deaths in the United States were associated with hypervitaminosis (vitamin overdose) and they were related to tainted iron supplements. As appose to the 450 deaths every year tied to Acetaminophen abuse. It seems to me the people behind the Codex have more than out collective health in mind.

Steak:

Organic is a word that’s being thrown around lately, rolling off the toungs of Prada clad strumpets up and down Richmond st. It’s been slapped on everything from squash to designer salads, and for a few dollars more you can pay for the feeling you’re eating something wholesome. Organic food is a 40 Billion dollar a year industry and every company from Kraft to Kellogg’s are chomping at the bit to jump on the bandwagon. But is all this belief in organics based in faith or solid evidence?

The truth is you’d be hard pressed to find any evidence, out side of anecdotal, that supports organic to be any healthier, substantial or more nutritious, than their old fashioned counterparts. Never the less is the public consciousness, organic farming is unquestioningly bundled with the reigning moral imperatives of sustainability, protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gasses.

With all these eco-Nazis foaming at the mouth over organics and the so-called evils of the big-agro business. Who becomes the whipping boy? Biotech and GMO foods, that’s who, and completely undeservedly at that. Through the modern miracle of gene modification we’ve been able to grow specialized soybeans for bio-fuels, and trans fat free deep-frying, and companies are now investing small fortunes in creating the allergy free peanuts.
The world is in the midst of a food crisis. According to UNICEF in world’s poorest nations, on average, 27% of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight, 10% are severely underweight, 8% of children under 5 are moderately to severely wasted, or seriously below weight for one’s height, and an overwhelming 32% are moderately to severely stunted, or seriously below normal height for one’s age. And the WHO has estimated 18 million people die every year from poverty-related causes. That’s nearly 50,000 deaths every day, and the black and whit of this matter is that GMO foods may be the only thing I can think of that might save us.

GMO crops are resistant to disease, herbicides, and pests. They’ve been improved to excel at specific tasks, or grow in harsh climates like cold, drought and salinity. Countless medicines and vaccines have been harvested from lab grown modified foods. But GMO’s crowning achievement in my opinion has got to be “golden” rice. A rice strain grown to fight such dietary micronutrient deficiencies, such as the lack of vitamin A, iodine, iron or zinc, which are a major source of morbidity (increased susceptibility to disease) and mortality worldwide. These deficiencies affect particularly children, impairing their immune systems and normal development, causing disease and ultimately death.
The gifts that Biotech has instilled on our society have been numerous and far outweigh the boons, if there are any. In the midst of what may be one of the most uncertain times in human history, I need to know that our food supply is safe. And frankly I trust people who have been held under the microscope of government scrutiny, and doing it for generations rather than the people running my local community garden.

Eggs:

The Floral industry been breeding roses to be bigger and have more petals for over 60 years now. These days most roses in a floral shop are so full of petals that the look like over stuffed bottoms-up bells instead of the 1950′s traditional, delicate, pointed-bulb shaped rose. But that’s not the only thing that is different between the modern rose and the ’50′s rose. The fact of the matter is the old rose smelled much sweeter then the new rose. Studies show that the current rose has decreased in scent inversely to it’s increased amount of petals. Half of the reason people used to put bouquets in their house was for the fragrance that used to be so strong that it would fill a room. Nowadays you have to practically bury your nose in a rose to even get a hint of fragrance.

It turns out that when you enhance one part of a plant, another part becomes equally deficient to balance out the excess. And this is what is so dangerous about GMO foods. Yes the GMO veggies are bigger, yes they’re more colorful, and yes they are resistant to pests, herbicide, and cold weather. But at what cost? We’re not talking about loosing ‘just a little fragrance’ here.
Gene variants that had been programmed into GMO corn started showing up in not only other non-GMO species of corn, but in other ‘weed’ classified plants as well. That means we could be breeding super-weeds w/out knowing it, and worst of all, since most of these GMO crops are designed to be sterile and only last one harvest, we may be transferring that Sterility onto other non-GMO food. In time this could destroy many natural strains of our most important food staples! Not only that, but the more scientist try to breed that plump, colorful, large vegetables, the more nutritionally deficient our food is becoming. These “perfect-looking” veggies can feed more people, but at a nutritional value that makes the larger size of the veggies moot.

This is, of course, not to mention the type of hormones that are injected into our meats for that ‘perfect’ extra-large chicken breast. The Chemicals and hormones we’re feeding our children are turning our little boys into girls, and our girls into women at too early an age! With all the toxins, and unstable DNA pumped into GMO, and Big Business agriculture foods, eating Organic food is one of the few ways left to protect yourself and your body.

Steak:

I’ve been hearing a lot about the arctic lately. Stephen Harper has said when it comes to the arctic, it’s “Use it or Loose it”. That echoes a sentiment leading to a dark tale in Canadian history little known to most Canadians.

In the 1950s, the Canadian government moved seventeen Inuit families from their homes in Northern Quebec, and three from Pond Inlet (in the then Northwest Territories, now part of Nunavut) whose purpose was to teach the Port Harrison Inuit skills for survival, to an area of the High Arctic, called Elsmere Island, more than 1,000 miles away. Separated from their families and friends, these people were left without food and shelter to eke out a livelihood as best they could in what could be argued the most inhospitable environment in the world. Most of them died; in fact the RCMP at the time reported that only 2 “colonies” were moderately successful. The survivors moved back to Inukjak where they were taken from originally, and In 1990, the Canadian House of Commons standing committee on aboriginal affairs asked the government to apologize to the Inuit who had been moved to the high Arctic, to provide them compensation, and to formally recognize the residents of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord for their service to Canada sovereignty. Oh and a 10 million dollar pay cheque.


So if use it or loose it is this government’s mantra, then why is it not living up to its promises. Un beknownst to most taxpayers the Canadian navy does not have a single vessel that can operate in the arctic winter, they lack double hulls necessary, and the only Submarines they have are 15 year old diesel subs, useless in the arctic, bought second hand from the British. The inadequacies of the Canadian Navy to operate and defend it’s own waters goes on and on. Consider the Aurora, Canada’s first and only response to an enemy submarine in The Arctic. They’re supposed to be a first response unit, the problem is the nearest Auroras are stationed B.C and Newfoundland, almost 10 hours away from their listening posts. In the last few years the Coast Guard also canceled nearly all of its patrols.
In an environment where only the strongest survive. I believe it was Robert service who said;
This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:

“Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane –
Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;

If the squeaky wheel gets the grease, Canada needs to start making some noise and not just with sound science or international journals, there’s a lot more at steak than just some underwater real estate.

Eggs:

High above the 60th parallel there is a place few people have dared to travel. Before 1900 it was called the Open Polar Sea now we call it the Arctic Ocean. Long has it been shrouded in mysteries, it’s climate unforgiving, riches trapped abysmally under meters of ice and it’s borders etched in stone (or continental shelf), until the last few years that is. “climate change” whatever the cause, has been beating back the Ice at break neck speeds. That means for the first time ever, the shipping route of fable and song, the mighty Northwest passage is not only viable, but a 7000 km shorter sea route from the east to west coast than the panama canal and nearly 15,000 km shorter than rounding cape horn. Not only that, but according to the Canadian coast guard there’s been no ice on the water in the northwest passage for 2 years (05-07) and researchers say that’s only the beginning,

In two decades (researchers say) the pole will be free of ice, clearing up almost all obstacles for mineral and oil/gas exploration. When all these goodies were out of our reach in the foreseeable future, this area was generally overlooked, but now that it’s bounties are emerging from under a frozen wasteland it’s fast becoming an international game of Hungry Hungry Hippos to see which nation can grab all the marbles faster. And with and estimated 30% of the words undiscovered raw materials and 15% of the oil, the game is high stakes, with some even higher rollers.

Canada, Russia, The U.S, Denmark, and Sweden all stake a claim to some section of the Arctic Ocean, and fortunately it’s not a wild west scenario where guy with the biggest posse makes the Law. It started In 1945, with President Harry S Truman, responding in part to pressure from domestic oil interests, unilaterally extended United States jurisdiction over all natural resources on that nation’s continental shelf – oil, gas, minerals, etc. This was the first major challenge to the freedom-of-the-seas doctrine, and ended in 1882 with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Now I’ve included the text of the charter but I’ll paraphrase it. Essentially it states that a country has the exploration rights to anything under the ocean which can be proved connected to said countries continental shelf, here’s were the high tech battle begins.
Every country has their own way of asserting their soverenty over the arctic. The Russians, have built an ultra advanced fleet consisting of more than a half dozen nuclear powered ice breakers, manned and un-manned submersible submarines and more than 30 nuclear submarines.

Canada has long taken our “right” to the arctic for granted. But were looking at gaining it back with some good old fashion science. Researchers like Ruth Jackson are using state of the art equipment to map underwater mountain ranges trying to extend Canada’s shelf, and submitting her findings to scientific journals in the hopes of convincing the U.N of our right to what lies on the ocean floor. Lets just hope it doesn’t get bogged down in all the red tape, while the rest of the world takes what they want.

Steak:

Now I don’t know about all you but men (or women) in lab coats scare the crap outta me, It’s not only that their numerous years of class room education leave them with little to no people skills, but also since on infallibility that often has fatal and often unknown repercussions.

The famous biologist, Stephen Jay Gould, has argued that “scientists can delude themselves” and even the great Einstein was known to get it wrong, he was even heard to have said “There is not the slightest indication that energy will ever be obtainable from the atom,” Take Scientist John Darsee for example who in 1981 faked over 100 research papers on heart disease or the Chernobyl Debacle which killed 4,300 people and wounded or disabled 70,000 more, and whose effects are still being seen in parts of the north, like Canada and Siberia. All you have to do is look at numbers. Doctors today are over prescribing antibiotics, and pharmaceutical companies are compelling doctors to push there latest “miracle drug” like common street pushers, and we all know what consequences that can have, just look at Fen-Phen and Thalidomide. And the Grand Puba Y2K, everyone remembers the panic everyone was in around December 1999. Well it cost about $100 billion, to “fix” the problem. And when the clocks rolled over, what’s happened, a big NUTHING. Another example of fear posturing and how we sheep fell right in line. Do we need another challenger before we realize that a lab coat doesn’t give you the mandate to play puppeteer with real people?

Now Approximately a year ago the European Organization for Nuclear Research (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN ) or CERN, built a giant particle accelerator, with the purpose of smashing particles together at close to light speed velocities in order to observe a particle called a Higgs boson a key to understanding the “Big Bang” or whatever mysteries origin our universe has. Sounds fun enough right?, well the only drawback it that it may create black holes that scientists HOPE will dissolve into what they call Hawking Radiation and say that something going wrong is “nearly impossible”. When the consequences of your actions are the destruction of our planet, as far as I’m concerned, nearly is not good enough.

On the 19th of September 2008, the operations were halted due to a serious fault with the LHC. Well at least they were able to catch it before it killed us all, and they plan to kick it back into gear mid-November 2009, I know this scares the crap outta me. Everyone understands that certain sacrifices need to be made in the name of progress, and as the old saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, but if you break the whole carton of eggs, that’s all she wrote, no do over’s. GAME OVER.

Eggs:

History is littered with people who have laid down their lives in the name of science, brave souls who understand that’s without sacrifice nothing can be achieved, and mankind may have nothing to aspire to. One example that comes to mind is the Challenger Accident. Those seven men and women lost their lives not in vain, but so that future generations would understand the dangers or space travel, and so that no one else would suffer the same fate, unfortunately seven others were killed in the Columbia disaster. But the sacrifices that they made have moved the progress of mankind a head leaps and bounds.

Take for example Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov. He was a Russian “Renaissance Man” who pioneered the blood transfusion procedure, and preformed it successfully more than 11 times on himself and once on V.I Lenin’s sister, and died in 1928 after complication arose from a transfusion (took blood from a person with TB). How many people have been saved by a blood transfusion? Or William Bullock who invented the rotary printing press among other things. He kicked a drive belt in order to get it working and got his leg stuck in the machine, later died from complications during the amputation. But one of the most significant and little known people claimed by there own inventions was Otto Lilienthal known as the “Glider King”. He was the first person to make successful gliding flights more than once. After years of successful flights, I guess fate caught up with him and on n August 9, 1896, he fell from a height of 56 feet and broke his spine. He died the next day, but said “Kleine Opfer müssen gebracht werden!” (”Small sacrifices must be made!”). The Wright Brothers credited him with as their inspiration for pursuing flight. “Of all the men who attacked the flying problem in the 19th century,” Wilbur Wright said, “Otto Lilienthal was easily the most important.”

Without people willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the advancement of our species, we’d still be stuck in the dark ages, drilling holes in peoples skulls to release demons and letting blood for everything from head aches to the common cold. I believe it was the great Mr. Spock who put it best saying, “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” We should never take for granted the sacrifices these people have made, nor should we forget them.

Voiceless it cries,
Wingless it flutters,
Toothless it bites,
Mouthless it mutters.

The answer (after polling the fantasy nerds in the office), I’ve found out is the Wind. There’s been a lot of talk lately in the news about wind power, especially with the trend of political instability in Oil producing countries, and public opinion towards fossil fuels waining. But is wind really the answer? Today’s topic Wind: Miracle Cure or silent killer!

Steak:

It seems today that having an alternative view on the environment, gets someone labeled a socialist, commie, bigot, or hippy, it doesn’t matter how far left or right your leaning on the subject, you can never make everyone happy. Now I know Al Gore has become the rock star of environmentalists, making a barrels full of cash off of peoples fears, from speaking engagements and residuals from his “An Inconvenient Truth” DVD rentals and sales, and you can all me crazy, but I fail to believe that mankind has in the last 200 years (aprox 1780-2009), caused irreversible damage to our planet. And some serious Russian scientists back me up.
DR. Habibullo Abdusamatov, who heads the space research laboratory at the Pulkovo Observatory in St. Petersburg has warned that global warming stems from an increase in the sun’s activity. This view contradicts the international scientific consensus that climate change is attributable to the emission of greenhouse gases. He’s gone on to say, and I quote, that;

“Global warming results not from the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but from an unusually high level of solar radiation and a lengthy – almost throughout the last century – growth in its intensity, It is no secret that when they go up, temperatures in the world’s oceans trigger the emission of large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. So the common view that man’s industrial activity is a deciding factor in global warming has emerged from a misinterpretation of cause and effect relations “

Scientists have gone on to study a period about 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago called the “The mid-Pliocene era”, in which the planets CO2 levels were much higher, and the temperatures were 2.5°C (4.5°F) greater than they are today. Senior Advisor to USGS Global Change Programs, Thomas Armstrong, has gone on to say;

“This is the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period and emphasizes the importance of examining the past state of Earth’s climate system to understand the future.”

In other words, we need to examine the past in order to understand our present and prepare for the future. Great advice in any facet of life
And now to address the problem of our oil situation. According to pastor Lindsey Williams, an ordained Baptist minister for 28 years, who went to Alaska in 1971 as a missionary and volunteered to serve as Chaplain on the Trans-Alaska pipeline when it started production in 1974. Because of his status as a Chaplin he was privy to some secret meetings among the top oil execs in the world, and the oil shortage or perceived shortage, he says, is a Hoax, perpetrated by the government and major oil execs to drive the price of oil up, until it can be used as a bargaining chip, to buy our favor. He contests that there is plenty of oil to go around, and will be for a while. No wonder the Russians are so interested in the arctic shelf the past few years. The details of this can all be found in his amazing book “The Energy Non-Crisis” . I’d love to sit here and paraphrase the book all day, but I thinks it’s much more poignant if you read the material yourself and form your own opinions. Mr. Williams is not just some quack. He’s backed up by people like Mr. Hugh M. Chance, a former senator of Colorado, who also had the chance to meet with the execs at Exxon and Mr. Williams and endorses Mr. Williams 100%.

And all this brings me back to the topic of today, Wind. Do we really need wind power? It seems like the more I hear about wind power, the less and less I like it. It seems the facts are simple, wind energy alone is not enough to solve our problems, not only is it inefficient, producing power only when the wind blows strongly enough to generate charge, but it’s also dangerous. According to numerous first hand accounts these “wind farms” are causing problems like headaches, heart palpitations, hearing problems, stress, anxiety and depression. And Ontario physician Dr. Robert McMurtry went on to say

“There is no question that they are genuinely suffering, and more people are at risk, there is no epidemiological study that has been conducted that establishes either the safety or harmfulness of industrial wind turbines. In short, there is an absence of evidence”

So until the jury is back on Wind power, I’m goin to keep my judgments reserved.  This problem seems to big to be solved with one answer alone.  It apears the more reasearch that i do the more i find, more research needs to be done.

Warning: Today’s blog Contains Graphic Images you may not want to see

Steak :

I guess before I get into it today I should explain, for those of you elsewhere, how the law in Ontario breaks down a stunt:

” For the purposes of section 172 of the Act, “stunt” includes any activity where one or more persons engage in any of the following driving behaviors:
1. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to lift some or all of its tires from the surface of the highway, including driving a motorcycle with only one wheel in contact with the ground, but not including the use of lift axles on commercial motor vehicles.
2. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to cause some or all of its tires to lose traction with the surface of the highway while turning.
3. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to spin it or cause it to circle, without maintaining control over it.
4. Driving two or more motor vehicles side by side or in proximity to each other, where one of the motor vehicles occupies a lane of traffic or other portion of the highway intended for use by oncoming traffic for a period of time that is longer than is reasonably required to pass another motor vehicle.
5. Driving a motor vehicle with a person in the trunk of the motor vehicle.
6. Driving a motor vehicle while the driver is not sitting in the driver’s seat.
7. Driving a motor vehicle at a rate of speed that is 50 kilometers per hour or more over the speed limit.
8. Driving a motor vehicle without due care and attention, without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway or in a manner that may endanger any person by,
i. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to prevent another vehicle from passing,
ii. Stopping or slowing down a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates the driver’s sole intention in stopping or slowing down is to interfere with the movement of another vehicle by cutting off its passage on the highway or to cause another vehicle to stop or slow down in circumstances where the other vehicle would not ordinarily do so,
iii. Driving a motor vehicle in a manner that indicates an intention to drive, without justification, as close as possible to another vehicle, pedestrian or fixed object on or near the highway, or
iv. making a left turn where,
(A) The driver is stopped at an intersection controlled by a traffic control signal system in response to a circular red indication;
(B) At least one vehicle facing the opposite direction is similarly stopped in response to a circular red indication; and
(C) The driver executes the left turn immediately before or after the system shows only a circular green indication in both directions and in a manner that indicates an intention to complete or attempt to complete the left turn before the vehicle facing the opposite direction is able to proceed straight through the intersection in response to the circular green indication facing that vehicle. O. Reg. 455/07, s. 3.”

Your friendly neighborhood police man

Eggs

The first person to be killed by a car was a 44-year-old British woman named Bridget Driscoll. As the coroner stood over her body on that cold August day back in 1896 and declared it an accidental death, he said, “This must never happen again”. But since then more than 25 million people have been killed by cars and 1.7 million more are predicted to die every year. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s 1.7 million to many. I’m not so foolish as to believe that accidents are not going to happen, but I think everyone can agree that to many people are killed in motor related accidents.

It only takes a second tuned into any traffic radio station to hear reports of everything from fender benders to multiple car collisions. Thankfully not every collision ends in a fatality but to many of them do, and to often factors like excessive speed and alcohol are involved. I think it’s rare today to meet anyone who’s lives haven’t been affected by the consequences of unsafe driving, and weather that’s a loss of a loved one or broken bones, the cost of saving some time is just to high. And isn’t that really what it breaks down to, saving time?

People these days are so concerned with saving time that it seems like they’ll sacrifice almost any thing to try to save a few minuets. Just look at all the late night infomercials touting crappy products, all with the promise of making your life easier and saving you time. It’s become an obsession for us, and as it turns out deadly one at that.

When it comes to keeping myself and my kids safe I’m up for almost means nessasary. We should be putting more tools into law enforcers hands, not taking them away. And even if that includes a little erosion of my civil liberties, and that means I’ll have to keep a closer eye on my speedometer then I guess that’s the price we pay to keep our streets safe.

Sobering, Isn't it?