Author: Mulder

TSX Closes Higher Than Before Income Trust Announcement

Mulder

On October 31st, 2006, the TSX closed at 12,344.59 (if my math is right from this article). This was the last close before the Conservative government announced the plans to tax income trusts.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 294.2 points or 2.4 per cent to 12,050.39 after the announcement late Tuesday that trusts will be taxed more like corporations — the biggest single one day drop in the index in two and a half years.

The market dropped dramatically the next couple of days as investers sold frantically.

Today, November 15th, 2006, the TSX closed at 12,425.37, over 80 points higher than it was before the announcement.

I know that the value did not come back in the same places, but it just goes to show you that if you are diversified enough in your portfolio, you probably are richer than you were the day before the announcement.

My Opinion of Garth Turner

Mulder

He is the tail that thinks he can wag the dog. Not only that, but he is the tail that thinks he can wag other dogs.

He is the splinter that thinks he is the wedge.

This is a clear sign of megalomania, IMHO.

If I had to guess, I would say that when he played Monopoly as a child that he was always the banker.

The World Now Knows Their Gravy Train Has Left The Station

Mulder

Right now the Kyoto countries make up 30% of the man made green house gas emissions.

Right now two of the biggest polluters, the USA and China, are not on board.

Right now, thanks to the Conservatives and Rona Ambrose, the third world countries that are starting to thrive on microcredit are looking for a new kid to rob of his lunch money, because us Canadians have learned some karate and are standing up for ourselves.

Right now, environmentalistas are screaming out loud in an effort to shame Canada into supporting the rest of the world with Kyoto credits, thus enabling the rest of the world to rape us of a percentage of our natural resources via treaties.

Right now countries like Saudi Arabia are laughing while they charge full price to the USA and other free countries for oil without putting a dime into Kyoto because, believe it or not, Saudi Arabia is considered a developing country.

You heard me right. They are considered a developing country. One of the 100+ nations signed on to Kyoto who won’t pay a dime, while nations like Canada, that pump far less fossil burning fuels into the world market pay.

As a developing country, Saudi Arabia would not be subject to emissions cuts under Kyoto, a requirement only binding 30 industrialised nations. Some 135 nations have formally given their support to the pact.

Think about that. A nation like Canada gets petitioned left right and center for things like better equality for women or to dish out our fare share of money to Kyoto and to stifle our economy, while one of the richest nations in the world, Saudi Arabia, pumps millions of barrels of oil a day without penalty. And then they turn around and treat women like a piece of trash.

Saudi Arabia had a GDP in 2005 of rougly $350 Billion and a surplus of roughly $28B surplus yet they whined throughout the Kyoto negotiations at the thought of losing $19B in oil revenue by the year 2010.

Yet do you see Greenpeace or other agencies giving Saudi Arabia any “dinosaur of the day” awards at the UN Climate Change Conference?? NoooOOOoooooo…… They just harp about Canada coming clean and stating we will not meet our Kyoto requirements and threaten to take us to some world level court.

And why do you think they would do that? Because they want their pound of flesh from of our resource-rich nation. Well I for one am glad that Minister Ambrose is on the job and telling the world the truth about what Canada will do and what we won’t do.

Julia Langer WWFNow here’s the kicker. Yesterday, Monday November 13th on Canada AM I heard Julia Langer from the World Wildlife Fund harping about how global warming is causing drought in Canada and lowering the water levels and that it would continue to do so on a global level.

*Screeeeeeeech*

What?? Global warming will LOWER water levels??? Has the left not brainwashed us into thinking the melting icecaps will flood the low lying areas of the planet displacing or killing millions of people in the process??

I am just about fed up with the left and their fearmongering. We just can’t win. Global warming will flood us. Global warming will dry out our lakes. Oh and did I tell you?? Global warming will slow down your internet connection and turn your hair blue. Global warming will kill your dog, break up your marriage and get your teenage daughter pregnant too!!

Be scared!!! Be very scared!!!

Ottawa Has A New Mayor But Returns Every Incumbent Councillor

Mulder

Tonight I had the privilege of attending the campaign party for Larry O’Brien, who just happens to be the new mayor of Ottawa.

Larry swept to an early lead taking just under 50% of the vote. The right leaning voters united behind his banner while the left leaning voters divvied themselves up between incumbent Bob Chiarelli and Alex Munter.

Funny, that’s just what I said would happen back in February. Albeit back then the right leaning candidate was to be Terry Kilrea and not Larry O’Brien.

I had the luxury of attending the event with ShamTheToryMan and Matt from A Step To The Right and below are a few pictures that I snapped with my cell phone.

BobConceding

Bob Chiarelli shows up to concede in a classy speech.

Larry1Small

Larry gets the crowd going with his victory speech. Plough those furrows straight Larry. Plough ’em straight.

LisaSmall

Provincial MPP Lisa MacLeod showed up to celebrate with Larry. I seem to run into her everywhere.

MattNLarry

Matt (A Step To The Right) with Larry.

ShamNMatt

ShamTheToryMan and Matt (A Step To The Right)

All in all a surprising evening. We now have a straight arrow businessman in charge but we have returned a left leaning council so it is going to be interesting to see how things develop.

Phew. Hopefully, tomorrow I can stop looking at the sign farms.
signssigns.jpg

OS Bookshelf – How To Talk To A Liberal (If You Must) by Ann Coulter

Mulder

talktoliberal.jpgI actually finished this book quite a while ago and just never got around to putting a review up. I enjoyed reading it but found the essay format a bit un-Coulterish. Some of the essays were very blunt and to the point, others got to the conclusion after a round about way, but all in all a good read with many good talking points which address the title of the book. From abortion to teachers unions, Ann Coulter hunkers down and bombards leftist views on topic after topic in her usual style.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is familiar with Ann Coulter, but not as a first read. If you have never read Coulter before go read Treason or Godless first.

I give this one a 7 out of 10

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Another Ottawa Blog Mafia Gathering Scheduled

Mulder

With the municipal election wrapping up, we are now ready for our next Ottawa Blog Mafia gathering. This event is open to all bloggers or politically minded people so don’t be shy. We may bark a lot, but we don’t bite.

Where: Marshy’s Bar and Grill at Centrepointe

When: Saturday November 25th at 7pm

Of note, Marshy’s now has free wireless internet access so if you feel dangerous, you can bring your laptop. There is no Sens game that night so traffic shouldn’t be too bad for anyone on the 417.

If you are thinking of attending, please drop me a note or comment below so we can make accommodations should the numbers get too far out of hand. If anyone has any questions feel free to email me at webmaster@officiallyscrewed.com

See you there!!

ADDENDUM: This gathering is in no way directly (or indirectly) tied to this blog site or the owner of this blog site. This gathering is just an announcement of the owner of this blogsite’s intent to be at the above location at the above specified time. This gathering is taking place at a bar/restaurant that is open to everyone in the general public, including the bloggers that seem to want to join in.

Sorry for the legalese, but since the event is an open event, I don’t want to be held liable for any actions or anything that may happen as a result of anyone attending this gettogether. i.e. if you choose to attend and drink and drive, I am absolving myself of any legal control over you. I also suggest that you do not attend this event alone if you have no familiarity with the area where we are gathering or any of the people attending.

You are your own keeper. I am not your keeper, nor am I to be held responsible for your actions or the actions of anyone but myself.

Ok, now that that is out of the way we have about a dozen or so people tentatively confirmed already. So spread the word, grab a friend who likes talking politics and drag them on down next Saturday night.

Is Kylie Minogue Really Worthy Of All The Press?

Mulder

Or is CTV Newsnet pimping itself?

When I was attending the University of Western Ontario, I remember the re-release ofkylie minogue Locomotion by Kylie Minogue. I didn’t hear boo from the Australian pop star for 15 or 20 years until a week or two ago.

CTV newsnet ran a piece on how she had recovered from cancer and was expecting to be back on tour soon. Considering I didn’t even KNOW she had been touring or heard boo from her since the Locomotion release, I found the story odd.

Today, the CTV has done it again. They had footage of Kylie on stage kicking off her new tour. They even went so far as to say that she would be doing 20 or so shows in Australia before heading overseas but no Canadian dates have been announced.

Is it me, or is this shameless promotion? What are the odds that the CTV is getting paid to promote Kylie Minogue in an effort to see if there is enough interest for her to come to Canada?

I know this is a very cynical view of the press but TV shows and movies have gone to integrating advertising into the background for extra income. So why wouldn’t a network that lives on news stories like CTV Newsnet do the same by integrating some advertising into a story?

If this is the case then it crosses a line as a news agency goes from reporting the news to promoting and creating via a news broadcast. It’s a fine line that the press should not cross. I’ll be watching this because I am really curious if Bell Globemedia is going to sponsor her tour in Canada.

Your opinions and comments are welcome.

Municipal Election Shenanigans Begin

Mulder

It was looking like a pretty clean municipal election campaign in Kanata South until this morning. I found the photo below in my mail box in what is a blatant attempt to tie the right leaning candidate, Allan Hubley, to the Liberal Party in an attempt to discredit him as a candidate. Well I hate to disappoint someone but people have photos taken with prominent politicians all the time and pulling one out of the hat from 7 years ago doesn’t hold much water. Especially when they can’t even spell Allan’s name properly.

Hubley-Martin

I can’t say which candidate’s supporters put this in my mail box but I just want to tell them that it will not be switching my vote. Our Ward needs a new face that won’t vote for Crack Pipe Kits, that won’t vote for North-South LRT, and who won’t flip flop like a fish.

Why Can't They Just Send Me My Bill?

Mulder

I woke up this morning and made my weekly run down to the “community mailboxes” which my neighbourhood has. You see, I don’t go down every day because I don’t get much mail. I only get flyers. This morning, in one week I received the following.

-34 pieces of advertising for businesses. 34!!!! It’s time our nation got a “do not mail” list to go along with the “do not call” and “do not spam” lists we need.

-5 bills

-6 political notices (not unexpected with a municipal election on Monday)

But what peeves me off more than the fact that the majority of mail is advertising is that even the mail that is not meant to be advertising has a bunch of gobbledygook in it.

Let me explain.

I opened up my Hydro Ottawa bill and inside the envelope was one sheet of paper with my bill, two inserts that were identical telling me to look up (for overhead wiring) before I do any work. For those that know Kanata, you will notice that our residential neighbourhoods have NO overhead wiring. We are an underground wiring community. But on top of the two inserts (one English and one French) I got a copy of this quarter’s Hydro Ottawa’s Currents a mini newsletter with full blown colour photos, information on LED lights, air conditioner disposal, etc.

How many of my electricity bill dollars does it take to pay someone to generate this crap? I don’t pay my electricity bill to keep a marketing team employed. I pay for my electricity.

Next. My Enbridge Natural Gas bill. Inside was one sheet of paper with all my billing information. I like the size of this one as it is small and full of info all on one sheet. But what does Enbridge go and add? One insert asking me “What’s hiding in your ducts?”. Another insert asking me “Who helps you weather the weather?”. Both advertising for services Enbridge offers to clean ducts or tune up my furnace. But it doesn’t end there. I got an insert telling me about my new rate information. I seem to get one of these every month because the rates fluctuate. This one was to inform me of a decrease in delivery charge. (Yes, Virginia, bills go down too). But then the kicker. I also get a newsletter called the Enbridge Pipeline!! Again, a piece of marketing fluff telling me all about natural gas and how Enbridge works with it.

Can’t my mailbox be JUST for my personally addressed mail? Can’t companies just send me my bill and not all the fluff? I am getting tired of compressing all the garbage and turning it into a fireplace log. But on the plus side, it does help keep my Enbridge bill down when I burn these logs.

In light of this, I have created a new poll regarding do not call, email or phone lists.