Hypocrisy

 




Have you noticed the leap of logic and the hypocrisy?

By the end of this month, the legal society of BC, also known as the 'Benchers' will have the results of an internal referendum on their website. The referendum's purpose was to give all members of the society a chance to vote on the controversial issue surrounding the Trinity Western University's own law school and their requirement of all students to sign a 'community covenant'. The covenant states that they promise not to engage in sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

If the referendum passes, there will be a legal challenge because the graduates from TWU'S school will not be allowed to practice law because they will not be able to join the law society. Some legal societies from other provinces have already declared that TWU legal graduates will not practice in their jurisdiction. The community covenant has already stood the test of the courts and has been deemed legal under freedom of religion.

Now lets jump over to the mosques in Canada which are essentially schools where Islam is preached and taught. There is nothing wrong with this. The Sikhs, Christians, and Hindu's also have such establishments. It is obvious, and has come to light many times, that some mosques and their Imams (teacher/preachers) are preaching hate. Hate, as described under the law of hate crime legislation, is directing negative attention that may result in discrimination or harm to a recognisable group. This teaching is very effective as we have seen in Canada in recent days and in the recruits that ISIS gets from western Canada. The recognisable group or groups are Jews, Christian, lapsed Muslims, and now Canadian armed forces personnel.

The lawyers find it worth their time and effort to go after celibate single young people, but why are we not hearing from our Government, judiciary, and law enforcement about the blatant breaking of our treasured hate laws when they result in death and terrorism?
Apparently a community covenant is more dangerous than a jihadist on a murderous rampage.

Hate Crimes

 

This is a photo of Nathan Cirillo, a young man who was a victim of a hate crime today. He was gunned down as he 'guarded' the national war monument on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. There was no simmering conflict, no harsh words, no disagreement, but a gun was drawn and a life was lost, for nothing.

His crime was that he was a very small part of Canada's national defence and as such was a representation of Canada's military and by default a representation of Canada's stand against radical Islamic actions abroad.

Why was he killed? Some guy who was taught to hate was fulfilling a figment of someone's imagination. He was taught that it is an honourable thing to strike at the infidel (that would be any non-believer or any non-Muslim) and kill him. It would mean that he would get the approval of Allah and be ushered into paradise forever.

We have hate laws in this country which for the most part are expressions of political correctness gone bad. But when someone is taught hate to the point of murdering some innocent and unsuspecting citizen of this country, action must be taken. The source of this hate is almost always traced back to some mosque somewhere, and there are many of them that are of this ilk in Canada.

It is time to root this out at the source. I would even go so far as to say that banning all speeches, prayers, and teachings at any mosque, that had to do with "striking at the throat of the unbeliever" should be enforced. The immediate penalty, without appeal, would be deportation to the nearest Muslim dominated country.

Jim Keegstra was a school teacher from Alberta who claimed that the holocaust never took place and that the Jews were out to destroy Christianity.  He was found guilty of a hate crime, stripped of his teaching certificate, fined, put on probation, and had to do 200 hours of community service. He was a nut case and should have been ignored. What he was disputing (the Holocaust) was indisputable.

 

Now we have Imams teaching young impressionable Muslims that they should kill Christians, Jews, and lapsed Muslims, and nobody is going after them. This has got to stop.

Teacher's Strike

 

I have grown weary of the teacher's strike even though I am not a teacher, nor do I have kids that are not going to school. As a matter of fact, all of my grandkids attend private school so this dispute really does not have any effect on anyone in our family.

 

I have three things to say about the strike that I have not heard anyone say, and believe me, I have listened to this ongoing war from day one.

1. The labour contract that the government illegally 'tore up' is before the courts. Neither side wants to give in until they see what the court decision is. So we have some blaming the government, some blaming the teachers, and who knows, soon some might blame the kids. Here is a fresh take.

Blame the courts! Everyone knows how slow they are in making decisions. Here we have a critical decision that is holding up education all across the province and you would think that the litigators and judges could just burn some midnight oil and get this thing done. I have not heard a single commentator suggest this. Do we just take for granted that the courts are slow and that they have to be so?

2. Having recently read Bill Vanderzalm's autobiography, I have a better understanding about how things work in government and all things that have to do with government. Our government is made up of people who have foibles and faults and it is usually a secret know to only a few that there are personal vendettas and personal agendas going on behind the scenes. This could possibly be the case here. Wielding power, and harbouring hatred for someone, is a bad combination and it would appear to me that because the two sides are so entrenched that there might be some personal conflicts going on here.  

3. And you don't hear this because it is politically incorrect. Nobody is holding a gun to a teacher's head and making him or her be a teacher. We live in a free country with great opportunity all around us. If you do not like the pay, change careers. If it really is the case that you were born to teach and as you say, it is about the quality of education and class size, and class make-up, join the staff at a private school where you will get lower pay, but you will not have to strike and you will get to do the thing you were called to do, teach kids.

I can say this because I too belonged to a union at one time. They went on strike for more pay and less work, something I totally did not agree with. I soon quit the best paying job I ever had and changed my direction in life. It can be done.

Shock and Outrage

 

There was a headline that caught my eye on my internet news page, this morning, that has since been removed. It is the discovery of the remains of 7 dead babies in the garage of a home in Utah. Apparently, the woman vacated the house and her estranged husband was cleaning out the garage when he found a dead baby in a box. Upon calling the authorities, they discovered six more young bodies. Yes, this is horrific and the reaction of the news announcers on the CBC clip were appropriate, as you can see here.

 

I was wondering if these women announcers were pro-life or pro-choice in their stance on the abortion issue. As I did a quick internet search for an appropriate image for my blog post, I was sickened and horrified at the images I found and could not look for more that a few seconds, but quickly found the above image and got out of there.

 

There is no difference between seven dead babies in a garage and 20 dead babies in the garbage can at an abortion clinic except for the number and the age of the babies. And yet this daily occurrence does not seem to shock too many. This murderous practice has been sanitized by its proponents with twists of the English language and most people are immune to what is really going on.

 

If the woman from Utah had aborted her babies shortly before their birth, there would no repercussions and no news headlines. But she chose to let the children go to full term and now she is a murderer.

 

Our society is sick!

 

Meat is Meat

 

Today's MSN poll asked if the Copenhagen Zoo did a bad thing when it killed Marius the giraffe and fed him to the lions. 86% said that they believed it was a bad thing to do. I would suggest that it was not a bad thing to do, but perhaps the way in which they did it was not the brightest move given today's culture of political correctness.

Let's face it. Lions eat giraffes all the time. In fact, for a National Geographic cinematographer to get some good footage of this kind of thing is a feather in his hat. So what really is so different when the lion eats the giraffe in the zoo, where it was not torn apart at the throat, but humanely killed by the zoo staff and then cut up like a piece of beef or pork or whatever it is that they usually feed the lions. Skin the giraffe first and nobody knows that it is a giraffe that is being eaten. Red meat is red meat.

Where is the hue and cry when a cow or a pig or an old horse is butchered to feed the carnivores in the zoo. Why is killing one animal to feed another a bad thing only if the animal being killed has 'charisma' or is 'cute' or is 'beautiful'. Endangered is another thing, but Marius was surplus, having a shallow gene pool and he had to go. Should he have been sold to a big game farm where he would have been a trophy for some macho hunter with a high powered rifle and a telescopic range finder?

This smacks of hypocrisy just a wee bit. Most of us eat meat and we do not give it a second thought. Do we see the cute little red faced Angus calf suckling at his mother's hind quarters when we order a steak or veal cutlets? Would we have second thoughts if we did? We are conditioned, just we are being conditioned to protect cute species and never mind the not so cute ones, like the plain-Jane chicken from the broiler farm, or the ugly pink pig from the hog farm. For goodness sake, where do we think our breakfast sausages or bacon come from. 

Meat is meat. Get over it, you 86%!    

 

Stay Calm

Some things in life are just so ridiculous that one does not know to laugh or cry. Here is a recent example.

 

The Everyday Absurdities of the TSA

'Tis the season to be jolly. But then there's the TSA. No government agency inspires "Bah Humbug" like the Transportation Safety Administration. For those who travel, the agency is 65,000 employees dressed in blue to make airline travel as annoying as possible.

Last week the House Aviation Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss common sense improvements for the agency in charge of transportation security but TSA boss John Pistole thinks he has it all figured out and refused to testify. The committee has no jurisdiction over his kingdom, so why show up? Pistole didn't even send one of his minions to be grilled. This is the third time he's snubbed the committee.

Christopher Elliott reported on the hearing for The Huntington Post,

 

One by one, panelists took turns excoriating the agency charged with protecting America's transportation systems. It was plainly clear why Pistole was a no-show, and it had nothing to do with jurisdiction; it would have been an openly hostile crowd.

Charles Edwards, the Department of  Homeland Security's acting inspector general, descibed the TSA as bureaucratic and dysfunctional. Stephen Lord of the Government Accountability Office, suggested the agency was ignoring the thousands of complaints from air travellers. And Kenneth Dunlap, who represented the International Air Transport Association, criticized the current TSA as expensive, inconsistent, and reactive.

The TSA screening area is a logic-free zone as my wife and I were reminded over the Thanksgiving holiday. Grandmothers never like to arrive empty-handed when they visit grandbabies. A wooden flintlock toy cap pistol for a little boy in New Jersey was tucked away in our carry-on luggage.

The gun was not detected by the x-ray, but two bottles of hair product spurred the TSA agent to action.

His pawing through the luggage quickly uncovered the wooden flintlock and he gingerly pulled the toy out  from under some clothes. He nervously said he didn't know what to do and needed a supervisor's opinion.

We waited for a supervisor while the clock ticked closer to our departure time. A young woman finally appeared. She asked what the toy was. "What's it look like?" asked the exasperated grandmother. "I don't know what it is," the supervisor shot back, "and I won't touch it until you tell me."

"It's a piece of wood carved in the shape of gun." The young supervisor picked up the toy carefully and said she needed to consult her bosses. In the distance, I watched her hand the toy over to a group of TSA higher ups hanging around the central command post located behind the inspection lines.

Eventually the offending item was passed up to what looked to be a metro cop, who looked it over and passed it back with no conversation. The gathering of supervisors then inspected the wooden pistol again. Finally, without thought, one of them threw it (our property) in the trash.

While this pow-wow was taking place, a discussion ensued about us solving this problem by returning to the airline counter and checking the bag. The TSA screener supported that idea until the supervisor returned, with another supervisor in tow. "The gun can't be taken on an airplane."

We again make the mistake of believing that logic and reason are of some use with the TSA and calmly pointed out that the toy was not a gun. The supervisor countered that it was a replica of a weapon and TSA rules don't allow replicas to be carried on planes. "OK, return our replica and we'll go back and check our bag."

The supervisor thought quickly, knowing they had already thrown the toy away. "You can't store a replica of a weapon in luggage unless it's in a hard case that's locked."

At this point my fellow traveler, who makes her living arguing in court, threw up her hands. "You deal with these people," she fumed. "I can't do it anymore."

The supervisors then tried to convince me that they were really giving us a break. They should be writing us up for this offense and that we could be fined. I told them I didn't want to hear their nonsense, finally sticking my forefingers in my ears and chanting "lalalalala."

"Can I please just have my bag," I pleaded with an eye on the ticking clock. "No, this bag hasn't been cleared," the screener said. Back through the x-ray it went. Again another problem, this time it was plastic curlers.

Finally, after eyeballing the curlers the screener and supervisor together determined the beauty aids passed muster.

"Thanks, I feel so much safer," the aggravated grandmother told the supervisor as we finally left for our flight. Being trained or medicated not to react, the supervisor calmly replied, "have a nice day."

Sadly this story isn't unusual and pales in comparison to stories of molestation and theft by TSA employees. It was just an average day with the TSA.

"As this mushrooming agency has spun out of control," chairman, John Mica, concluded last week, "passengers have not been well served." He went on to say that the agency should be closed down or at least closed down as we know it.

If the political class were forced to fly commercial one wonders whether the TSA would exist at all. As it is, while every flyer complains and congress is well aware of the problem, the TSA's head man is not accountable to anyone. All the while, on the ground, unionized TSA employees make up rules as they go along to suit their own purposes.

"TSA has become the butt of countless jokes," Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance told the subcommittee. "TSA is set up like the Maginot Line, the poster child for generals fighting the last war."

It's no joke when government employees callously throw passengers' property away. This is how all of government works. While most people don't deal with government day-to-day, we get to enjoy the TSA up close and personal. For those who believe government has a role to play, remember the TSA is as effective, efficient and careful as any other government agency.

They are indeed fighting the last war. Safety isn't the issue. The war is on us.

Sincerely,
Douglas French

 

This is the culprit!

Douglas French

 

Not a Corny Joke

 

Bureaucracy (Big Brother) has never been stopped by reason or common sense. Rules, regulations, agendas, dogma, and pig headedness are the guiding lights. Take the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the USA for example.

It is commonly known that the drought throughout most of the USA Midwest this summer has decimated the corn crop. The corn shortage has driven up prices for anything corn, including both animal and human food. One would think that would precipitate an action to reduce the Green driven agenda of using a designated amount of corn for ethanol, which is mixed with our gasoline to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. The effectiveness (or lack thereof) of this initiative is a story by itself.

The mandated increase in corn consumption for ethanol for 2013 brings it to 40% of the total corn produced on US soil.

Why are we burning our food?

A few days after his election, President Obama declared 1.6 million acres of potential oil producing, government owned lands, off limits to oil extraction. Another agenda by the Greens.

Would not common sense dictate that in order to keep food prices down, that some of that ethanol could be foregone by extracting a little more oil from the ground? After all, the USA is declared to have become the country with the richest oil reserves in the entire world.

Don't you think some of it could be used for a rainy day*?

 

*I use "rainy day" as a euphemism for drought. Rather clever, don't you think?

Sturgeon

 

We have two local newspapers and every year at about this time, we get the same old headline stories, week after week, about the biggest fish ever caught on the Fraser River. Of course, it is the mighty sturgeon, the great bottom feeders that live to be more than 100 years old. The stories go on to tell of the epic battle that it is to land one of these behemoths.

They don't actually pull the fish into the boat, but drag it close to shore, get out into waist deep water, and pose for the camera while holding the fish out of the water almost long enough to kill it.

 

The fish is then released, free to hunker back down under a log boom and continue feeding until another tempting fish hook floats by.

 

Did it ever occur to these fishermen, and the media who soak this stuff up, that all these guys are probably catching the same fish over and over? They even go to the same general area to assure themselves of 'a catch'. Of course, there is one way to prove my theory and it is politically incorrect.

Eat it!

Overstuffed

Every other week we have yard refuse pick-up along with our garbage pick-up. We pay for it with our property taxes. The pick-up man drives a rather large truck and gets paid a rather large salary. It seems like, at times, that the more money one earns on their job, the more reluctant they are to actually earn it. This little can of garden clippings did not get picked up a few days ago because, as the label says, it is "overstuffed". Really? The can weighed no more than 15 lbs. and had a small, green, flexible branch sticking out of the top, something that could have been pushed down easily if it was a huge bother to the collector. Or, he could have taken the offending branch out and thrown it in the truck on its own. But, no. He took time out of his busy route schedule to write a note and stick on the offending branch and then leave it at the curb so we could bring it back to our house and let it sit for another two weeks. 

I want a small refund on my property taxes.    

Ethanol

Speaking of engines ......

I was filling my gas tank in the USA and noticed that the fuel there contains at least 10% ethanol, the source of which, is food. I had just heard, minutes ago, that the severe droughts in the USA were devastating the corn crops and in many areas the crops were a complete write off. This year will experience the lowest corn yields since 1995 and the highest prices, ever!

"Corn is the single most important commodity for retail food," Richard Volpe, an economist for the USDA told the Los Angeles Times. "Corn is either directly or indirectly in about three-quarters of all food consumers buy."

The last time corn prices spiked, there were price driven food riots over many parts of the world. Why then is 40% of all corn grown used for fuel? Ethanol is a sticky substance that destabilizes when sitting in a gas tank, thus making engines, especially small engines difficult to start after remaining idle for a while. It also gunks up engines that run on it for any length of time, thus a myriad of fuel additives and engine cleaners have evolved to solve the problem. The trucking industry refuses to use ethanol fuels because they run "dry" causing the engines to break down early in their career. Boaters and aviators will not use ethanol based fuels because of the potential problems.

This whole ethanol business was mandated by the government in 2005 based on the assumption that traditional fuel, petroleum, was unsustainable and therefore had to be supplemented. There was also the whole carbon issue which was a farce because the carbon produced to create one litre of ethanol exceeds the carbon saved when burning it. But that is government thinking at its best. Tinker with the market in order to save the world. As it turns out, the world is discovering unprecedented oil reserves, while the precious corn crops that can feed the world are being converted into ethanol.

If you think that you can avoid food price increases by not buying corn, think again. Animal feed with corn in it is more expensive and that cost trickles down to chicken, beef, eggs, dairy, and the vast amounts of food containing high fructose corn syrup.

Once a government program is in place, it is almost always there in perpetuity. Maybe this time a famine and a good dose of food riots will change that reality.

Fixing Things That Are Not Broken

I feel a rant coming on, so here goes. ( A small break from the Bible project)

There is a trend in society that is disturbing. As government increases in size and more regulatory bodies are created, and more environmental initiatives are implemented, we find that many of the things we use and enjoy are being meddled with, eliminated, or just broken by those who need to justify their high salaries. These are the do-gooders who want to make our world a better place and in the process try to remove all risk from our lives. (An impossibility!) I will not talk about camp fires, as I have already done that, so I will give two other recent examples.

The microwave oven is now deemed to be an energy hog because it has a clock running 24/7. The new ones, in the not too distant future, will have no clock in the attempt to make them more energy efficient. The free market system is always innovative in trying to develop new products that the consumer wants, but so far have not come with a microwave like this because nobody wants one. So Government will do it. Now, those who need a clock in the kitchen will have to buy a seperate clock and the power consumption will remain the same while the microwave oven will devolve. Brilliant, as the net power usage will remain unchanged.

The second example is even more assinine. In the state of California ( the state full of fruits and nuts) the powers that be have mandated that all gasoline jerrycans can no longer have a vent hole. Apparently, folks sometimes leave the vent hole unplugged and all the nasty gasoline fumes escape and cause global warming. Have you ever tried to pour gas from a jerrycan with no vent hole? Let me tell you that it chugalugs out, gulping and splashing away as much of it misses the target and the spillage ends up on the ground, evaporating and causing global warming anyway. (As if!) Add to that, the frustrated owner now punctures his own hole for venting, but has no way of plugging it after pouring the gas, so now the evaporation is continuous and so much more. Brilliant! The original problem has just now increased. The do gooders of the world should be required to have brains at least, and common sense at worst.

How much longer are we going to roll over and let things like this pass?

Is it just me, or have you noticed that our freedoms are leaving us at an ever increasing pace ever since the global warming industry began, and the Twin Towers in New York City were destroyed? Global warming is bogus and 9/11 should be put behind us.

Once a freedom is taken away, it is almost impossible to regain it.

And once a tax is implemented, it will never go away. Today is the second day of the increase in the carbon tax on gasoline. Did you notice how the climate is settling right down since we are now paying 7 cents a litre extra? Funny, I didn't either.

Please forgive any spelling errors as the spell check on "Blogger" no longer works.

A New Law?!

One would think that the UK would be concentrating on getting their economy and unemployment in order, but apparently not. A report has just come out by the All Party Group on Body Image and the Central YMCA stating that it should be a crime to discriminate against or make derogatory remarks to overweight people. This is not surprising at all, but before I go any further, let me make myself clear that I do not condone derogatory comments made to anyone (except white cats) for any reason. It is rude and ill mannered, and is very often quite hurtful. But, make a law?
Who or what will be next? No comments about men who are follically challenged? No side ways glances at red headed, freckled people? No more staring at excessively 'inked' folks?

We do not need laws for this kid of thing. We have, as a society, lost our civility. We have become self-centered and uncaring about anyone other than ourselves and our best friends and closest family. We all need to grow and learn our manners, and especially teach them to the young kids. But we do not need a law.  

It used to be said that you cannot legislate morality. Well, of course you can. And yes, you can legislate good manners. But for heaven's sake, we do not need laws for this. We are losing our freedom of choice in so many areas of life simply because the laws and regulations are being instituted and enforced because of the lowest common denominator. If 1% of people are stupid, do we all need a law to  prevent a particular kind of stupidity?

Our socialistic society is rampaging itself into every area of our lives. Big government wants to control everything and everybody, simply because they believe that government, run by the so called elites of the nation, know better than the average man what is good for him and good for society.

I want no part of it.   

Butt Out

A while ago, I read that the #1 litter item on our streets was cigarette butts. I found that difficult to believe because fewer and fewer people are smoking these days. So, as I was walking home from my downtown errands yesterday, the issue came to mind and I thought I would see if I could detect any butts on the sidewalk or on the curb and maybe count them, just out of curiosity, as I was walking. I was amazed at what I saw when I took the time to really look. In fact, the passing motorists must have wondered why I was slowing down and looking so intently at the ground. In a one block section of a busy street, I counted 256 butts! When you realise how much it rains here, and how often the street sweepers clean the gutters, this is amazing. I stopped counting but as I turned the next corner, I am sure that there were even more on the next block. A bit of research showed me that the average price of one cigarette is around $.46 so the amount of wasted money on only one city block is $117.00! Now, who is going to get out a map to determine how many city blocks there are in our town, multiplied by 4 (sides) multiplied by 117? 

Why?

There was a time in our lives when we had a large mortgage, some other debt, very little work, and we (read "I") were worried. Out of necessity, we cut our expenditures by eating more cheaply, not going out for dinner or movies, wearing the same clothes forever, and driving an old vehicle. This was normal and was really the only solution. This is no longer the norm.

Today, a debt problem is ignored, or if, rarely, acknowledged, is met with indifference. Borrowing more to cover existing debt is thought to be a solution, when, in fact, it only makes the problem worse in the long run. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is a case in point.

I am not an anti-monarchist but would state my opinion as more a mild indifference than anything else. Like a 60th birthday, 60 is just a number, not much change from 59 or 61. Why then, in a time of debt crisis, would we as a nation spend more than $8 million 'celebrating'? What does it really accomplish when we have special flags made and flown, commemorative medals for prominent civic workers, stained glass windows in the parliament buildings, and an anti-climactic visit from Prince Charles and his woman.

In the grand scheme of things, this is not a large amount of money for a country our size, but when considered together with hundreds of other little $8 million items that are trivial, we are soon looking at a large amount of money that need not have been borrowed. 

The committee that was struck two years ago to oversee the Jubilee Year say that this is not new money but funds that have been in the various ministries for just this occasion. This is pure nonsense.

If you have to make a mortgage payment with your last $800, but in your other pocket you have $800 that you put away a year ago for a little vacation, just how wise is it to still go on that vacation? I don't know about you, but I would forget the vacation and go buy some groceries.  

Gas Up

This is where I gas up. It is about 1 Km. from my house.

This is where I do not gas up. It is about 1/2 Km. from my house. Why? Glad you asked. Husky is big on Ethanol content in the fuel. Ethanol is all about reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Excuse me! Do they not realise that growing the corn, from which ethanol is derived, and then processing the corn into ethanol,  a bigger 'carbon footprint' is produced than if you just burn straight petroleum? And why on earth are we burning our food?  

How Much is too Much?

Forbidden berries.

With the world wide 'Occupy Movement' still showing signs of life, you would think the ultra wealthy would lie low to shift some of the negative attention away from themselves. A recent survey shows American CEOs enjoyed pay hikes of up to 40% this last year, with one chief executive earning (sic) $145m. This comes as the latest government figures show that wages for the majority of Americans are failing to keep up with inflation.

Three of this year's top ten earners came from the American Health care system. And, losing your job in health is not too shabby either. Omnicare's Joel Gemunder retired last August and received cash severance of $16m, part of a final year pay package worth $98.28m.

I am a free enterpriser to the core, and absolutely believe that someone should be paid what they are worth, but nobody or their talents are worth that much money.

Is This The Way It Works?

Fish skeletons, feathers, or grass?

Our members of parliament were pressed for time and could no longer change their own light bulbs. After much debate in the House of Commons, it was decided to form a parliamentary committee to look into the matter. A report was written a few months later and as a result of a private member's bill, a person was hired to actually change the light bulbs in each of the offices of all of the MPs. This man's salary was determined by fair wage policies put forth in previous legislation and was set at $56,000.00 per annum. The time of the parliamentarians was now freed up to do the work of government. The LBC (light bulb changer) was required to join the Canadian Union of Public Employees and then was required to be protected from job hazards, yet to be determined.

A safety committee was struck to look into such things as ladder heights, the toxicity of various types of light bulbs and the danger of light glare in the eyes. A permanent position was created to oversee the LBC's tasks in terms of safety because every situation was different and the LBC was not technically qualified to assess each situation. Because there was now a payroll for this job, an accountant was hired as well as a supervisor to oversee the LBC, the safety technician, and the accountant. The LCB was allowed, under his contract, three weeks paid vacation so a replacement had to be hired, but had to be trained first. The LCB then received a salary bonus as a specialty trainer. Together with a newly acquired secretary, the LCB drew up a draft for a training manual, and had it published in both official languages, after having had it edited for political correctness and gender bias. Of course, it stated quite clearly that the assistant LBC had to be a female of colour to meet the requirements of equal opportunity. With this many employees in the newly created LBC department, an oversight committee was formed, who were directly responsible to the under secretary of  the assistant to the deputy minister in charge of maintenance of the Parliament Buildings. 

And then came the downturn in the economy.
Every ministry and every department was required to cut costs in order to meet new budget requirements. Each and every department was required to report on exactly what they had done to keep expenses down, and indeed actually cut costs. The deputy minister in charge of Parliamentary building maintenance was absolutely proud as he announced that they had reduced their direct expenses by $56,000.00 for the fiscal year. They had fired the LBC. 

The LBC department remained intact in order to lessen the impact on the job figures, but the MPs now change their own light bulbs. After all, they should suffer in a downturn like the rest of us Canadians.    

Too Stupid for Words

Is there any hope that we will one day arise out of the abyss of utter and abject stupidity? I keep thinking that we have hit bottom, like when the school buses in Ontario are ordered to remove all Christmas decorations from the bus. Or when the instructions on a curling iron caution the user that it may get hot. But the above photo may show that we have hit bottom. The seventeen year old girl pictured was not allowed on a US domestic airline flight because the metal applique on her purse was a replica handgun. OK, I get it that replica handguns can be dangerous, not because they are dangerous, but because they can cause panic among the paranoid, but calling this a replica handgun is beyond stupid. The whole idea behind TSA security is to protect, and to avoid any situation or potential situation where anyone would be put at risk. Well, good on the inpsector who saved all those on the flight from the dangers of a purse in the hands of a seventeen year old girl whose mother was panicking that she was not on the flight.  I am sure they will be forever grateful.   

Oil

Removing overburden at the Athabasca Oil Sands operation.

Further to yesterday's post, there was some good news regarding the opposition to Canada's oil sands operation. As you may know, there is a large movement in Europe to declare this oil 'dirty' and encourage a Europe wide ban on its import. Our good friends in the UK, Netherlands, Spain and Poland are supporting us because they recognize the hypocrisy for what it is. I get the feeling the powerful environmental lobby is trying to punish Canada for its stand on Kyoto. (see yesterday's post)

Ooze!

Apart from the misinformation out there about the oil sands, I see the whole situation in a different light.

Imagine for a moment, that there was a large oil tanker truck travelling the roads north of Edmonton, and it left the road, tipped over, split open and spewed its contents into the ditch. There would be a haz-mat team there in an instant and there would be no cost prohibition, nor stone unturned to make certain that every last drop of oil was mopped up and no damage done to the environment.

The photo above is natural bitumen oozing out of the bank on the Athabasca River. The ditches along the highways look very similar to this. There is oil oozing everywhere in that country.

So, let's look at the oil sands as the most ambitious reclamation, or oil cleanup in the history of mankind. They are taking dirty, oily, gooey sand and cleaning it up, removing all traces of oil, and returning it to nature as clean sand. This, to me, is something the environmentalists should be embracing.  

Down town Ft. McMurray Alberta

Why do I even care about this? Because I own property in Ft. McMurray (a chunk of the high rises on the right hand side of the above photo) and as an owner, I have been there. I have seen what goes on there, and I keep myself informed about the situation. I have what you call a vested interest. When I hear that the USA is bowing down to the environmentalists to delay building a pipeline, that would bring them a non-stop supply of oil, from a friendly neighbour, as opposed to some middle eastern quasi enemy, I get more than irritated.  

Choke Warning!

Don't eat these, you may choke on them too.

First off, my apologies for the black font on black background on my last post. For some reason, I discovered it late, and then try as I might, I could not change it.

The 27 nation EU (European Union) has moved closer to Nanny State status today. They have decreed that the age one can blow up a balloon is 14. Anytime before that is an illegal activity. In fact, if you are under 8, you are not even allowed to handle a balloon. This is only one of many news laws and regulations governing toy safety that toy stores and parents will have to keep in mind as they try to educate and entertain the wee ones. Yes, my friends, there is no area of life that is immune to rules and regulations. What with inspections, labelling, enforcement, and re-manufacturing, the cost of entertaining small children just became more stressful and more costly. Perhaps an underground balloon trafficking network will rear its ugly head in a neighbourhood near you, similar to the fireworks situation. (Hey, balloons blow up too!) Birthday parties will never be the same. No doubt, in the future, one will be required to purchase a birthday party permit and have at least one toy nazi on hand to keep all the kiddies alive. And forget those water balloon fights next summer when you and the kids are trying to keep cool. No doubt we would all be dead already if we didn't have the government to take care of our every need. ("Nobody told me one of these things could make you wet!")

You know what happens to children when the parents make every single decision and hover over the kids 'for their own good'. The poor kid never learns to think, and when they finally do make a decision without parental supervision, they make huge blunders. We are almost there as a society.