Go Figure – Suzuki Bus Tour Will Burn A Ton Of Gas

The night was February 8th, 1989. David Suzuki’s hair had more black than grey in it. The location was Alumni Hall at the University of Western Ontario. The debate was about race and a University of Western Ontario professor, Philip Rushton was preaching that intelligence was related to your race and penis size.

The controversy was immense. The outrage was real. Me and my fellow students were all up in arms over this outrageous claim made by an unknown professor.

So a debate was scheduled and the famous scientist David Suzuki was to be our saviour. We knew that a lowly professor could not possibly stand up to the onslaught that a worldly man like Suzuki would bring.

But it never happened. If there was someone scoring the debate, Rushton would have kicked Suzuki’s ass. All Suzuki could go on about was how a University of 50 or 60 thousand students couldn’t find anyone to debate this monster. How our world class school had to go outside its’ walls to find someone to denounce this professor. I was never so disappointed in David Suzuki as I was that day. But heck, when a major controversy was happening, Suzuki was there … at least in name.

And now he is at it again. The economy is flush with money and David Suzuki is aiming to make his mark on the subject of climate change and global warming. He is launching what CTV calls an “election-style environment tour“. Note it was not called an “Election-style Attack Tour”.

The first question that crossed my mind was “how much emissions is this tour putting into our atmospphere” as Suzuki is using a bus for the tour. The response is given:

The David Suzuki Foundation says in a news release that the carbon emissions associated with the tour are offset through its investments in sustainable energy projects, such as wind farms, solar installations, or energy efficiency projects.

Buying carbon credits with investments in green programs is good for his foundation but it is not acceptable for our government to invest money in Made in Canada green programs. For Suzuki to be happy, we need to give our tax dollars to Russia and Saudi Arabia via Kyoto.
David Suzuki has now disappointed me twice.

Ontario Liberals Redefine Hypocrisy In Opening Of Smoking Lounges

The Ontario Liberal government has decided that government owned casinos are no longer considered public places because the Niagara Falls Casino and the Windsor Casino will be opening smoking zones.

Today, Ontario Health Minister Jim Watson defended the announcement by saying that the ban on restaurants and bars is different because they serve food but that the primary reason for a casino is not to serve food.

This plan comes on the heels of the drop in business at the Windsor casino after the Detroit casino opened up a smoking area.

In related news, Legion’s are still smoke free zones which means the Provincial Liberals, headed by Dalton McShifty, are giving more rights to gamblers than to veterans who fought to create a free Canada.

I guess the dollar is almighty to the Ontario Liberal government and public businesses just don’t get a level playing field.

OfficiallyScrewed … again.

Student Crucified Over Crucifix In British School

This one earns the Officially Screwed label. A school in Britain has banned a girl from wearing her crucifix and chain.

A school provoked fury last night by ordering a devout Catholic schoolgirl to remove her cross necklace because it posed a health and safety risk.

Teachers demanded Samantha Devine remove her chain and tiny crucifix despite allowing Muslim and Sikh pupils to wear symbols of their religion.

Her family have vowed to fight the decision “all the way” claiming it discriminates against Christians.

I think that this school has one hell of a fight on it’s hands. But mark my words, I have a feeling that the student will lose and that the price will be that other religious wear must also be foregone. i.e. no more Kirpans, no more turbans, no more headgarb for Muslim females, no more yamakas, etc.

I am reminded of my years in highschool where I too was asked to remove my chain and crucifix. For me it only happened when I played in highschool basketball games and practice. I was asked once to remove it during a highschool soccer game but wore it for the majority of games and practices. (without incident I might add).

I understood the safety aspect in a sport or when in shop class, but I see no problem with a student wearing a chain with a crucifix in regular class. Although I am still not sure about Kirpans.

h/t to Backseat Blogger

Beer And Popcorn Approach To The Environment

John Duffy, the Liberal known for supporting the “beer and popcorn” quote has put his name behind a website called climateliberal.ca.as one of the founders. The website was initiated as a forum to 1) Focus on the Climate Crisis, 2) Use the Liberal Party as a vehicle, and 3) Organize via the web. Ironically, they refuse to scientifically argue the Climate Crisis, and as you will read below, the website seems to be going nowhere fast. But aren’t Liberals glad they have such a well organized group preparing to dip into envirodollars one day?

The site is clearly a failing prospect. To quote one of their recent commenters:

Slick appearance and over-the-top promotion aside, this website is a dud — from its patronizing, self-congratulatory home page to its unused forums.

Unless Liberals take the entire month of December off — that might partly explain Canada’s retreat from its Kyoto targets during their tenure, I would have expected them to flock to this site after the convention. Everybody there wet their pants in excitement at the prospect of this Internet Leviathan single-handedly toppling the hapless Conservatives. But, nobody came — not even Harry Potter and his “dream team” have bothered to participate.

Not simply putting my trust in the commenter, I took a peek around and found the comment above quite accurate. The forum section is not only unused, but when it is used it is clearly not open to discussion, which is the whole point of a forum.

There is a great initial post by Tom Harris about the flaws in Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth that presents Tom’s credentials as someone with a M. Eng in Thermofluids and links to an article he wrote with tons of great information on climate change and global warming.

The counter argument by the webmaster, Al Booth is as follows:

I Googled you Mr. Tom Harris. I think others visiting this forum might like to know the following (simply in the interests of transparency).

Here’s what Ajax-Liberal MP Mark Holland has to say about you on his web site in an article titled…

Petroleum money drives Conservative climate change skepticism

Here’s the part about you:

Tom Harris, once a legislative assistant to former Conservative Environment Critic Bob Mills, has been a prolific writer of anti-Kyoto op-ed pieces, typically quoting scientists associated with Friends of Science. He is a lobbyist with High Park Group, a firm with a number of energy industry clients. Previously working as an associate with the public relations firm APCO Worldwide (Canada), he organized a news conference of climate change skeptics in 2002. Most of those who spoke at the news conference have ties to both Friends of Science and the petroleum industry.

So a masters in engineering with a specialization in thermofluidity presents technical documentation on a website dedicated to addressing the enviromental issues surrounding climate change and it is met with what, in essence, translates to “You’re a filthy conservative, you’re science isn’t good here!”

What I find especially disheartening is that Tom was even nice enough to follow up and address all the concerns regarding his past ties to Bob Mills and the Conservative Party, but even that gets a response like this:

The one critism that can legitimately be leveled at Al Gore’s film is that it understates the threat to our planet and it doesn’t suggest any really workable, effective solutions. Changing a few light bulbs certainly won’t solve our problems.

What we need are huge federal programs and massive expenditures immediately invested in clean, green energy and totally revamping housing construction and our transportation system.

Even the NDP are calling the site sleezy. You know when the party that is traditionally known as the environmentally friendly party calls an environmental site sleezy, something REALLY has to be wrong with the site.

And the Liberals wonder why the greenest Prime Minister in history was a Conservative. And when Kyoto is explained as a carbon dioxide problem and not a pollution problem, people begin to understand why the previous government, and it’s environement minister, Stephane Dion, do not have a leg to stand on.

I would even go so far as to say that this site is a preliminary ploy by liberal supporters to lay the groundwork to receive a nice big paycheck should the Liberals be returned to power and pour millions, if not billions, into the environment. Can we say Enviroscam?

That payday would buy Mr. Duffy a heck of a lot of beer and popcorn.

ARARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH … Just Shoot Me

Arar Chronicles from CitizenSo I got up this morning and flipped open the big 24 page Arar section in my Sunday edition of the Ottawa Citizen. For some reason, it just didn’t have quite as much information for me and the text just wasn’t cutting it for my audio/visual personality. (image is from actual Ottawa Citizen website)

This drove me to flip on the boobtube and I caught a couple of hours of CTV-Ararnet. For those of you not on digital cable … you lose!! But for some reason, they missed some of the choice audio clips that I was really looking forward to hearing today. (I read about them on Dear Arar, the syndicated advice column designed for people who missed out on past Arar events.)

So I proceeded to turn on my Sirius digital satellite radio to listen to the 24/7 Arar call in talk radio show called Arar You Sirius? and dialled in a few times to try to ask about these hidden audio gems. No dice. The lines were packed with angry callers from Damascus demanding photos of his Syrian passport.

So, I just did the same old, same old and visited the www.arar.youtube.com hoping one of the Arararrazzi caught some good cellular phone video footage that they uploaded. Now and then I find some really awesome audio to go along with the video.

Barring this, I will just have to catch that Gemini winning, CBC reality show Terror Error – The Maher Arar Affair. Season 5 is available on DVD in time for Christmas. (nudge nudge wink wink to my wife)

Accountability Act Delays Cost Taxpayers $5.5 Million (and counting)

I just saw a counter that says it has been 158 days that the unelected Liberal slanted Senate has held up the Accountability Act.

158 freaking days!! Thats over 5 months over a single piece of legislation.

Let me do some math for you. 105 Senators paid $122,700/year, pro-rated at 158 days/365 days means we have already paid these guys $5,576,967 (and 12 cents) to get this piece of legislation through and they’re still arguing about it.

This is why our country is so broke taxes are so high my friends. The Liberals seem to think paying people to peruse the paperwork, ponder the paperwork, pander over the paperwork, pretend they are working on the paperwork, pushaw over the paperwork and then plunder the coffers by paying themselves and lawyers for half a year before they give it the A-OK is the way our nation should work.

What ever happened to “put your nose to the grindstone?” or “plant your feet in the same spot until you get the job done?” Why doesn’t the Senate show a little more “Put your money where your mouth is” and a lot less “Put OUR money where they need some trees cut at their cottage?” and get this piece of legislation through?

Talk about the public getting OfficiallyScrewed.

Good Morning Viagra Ladies, Goodbye Societal Morals

Some of you may have noticed the Viagra commercial where the ladies are singing the Good Morning, Good Morning tune. I am sure you know the one I am talking about. It appears on TV at all hours of the day and has four ladies singing their hearts out about how nice the morning is the day after their husbands have taken Viagra.

Today while watching Mike Duffy Live, the commercial came on again and I noticed something I have never noticed before. Since I tape Duffy, I thought I would slow down the video and see if I was right. Let’s look at this one lady at a time.

Viagra Lady number 1 is the blonde in the red sweatsuit. Viagra Lady number 1 isn’t wearing a wedding ring either that naughty girl!!! Take a look.

Viagra Lady 1a

Let’s zoom in.

Viagra Lady 1a zoom

Nope, no ring.

Viagra Lady number 2 is the classy looking business woman who hops off the streetcar swinging an umbrella on her way to work. Let’s take a closer look at her ring finger too.

Viagra Lady 2
And now for the zoom.

Viagra Lady 2 zoom

Nope, no ring.

Viagra Lady number three is the crossing guard. Let’s see if this grey haired lady is wearing a wedding band, shall we?

Viagra Lady 3

Hmmmmm, let’s zoom in here too.

Viagra Lady 3 zoom

Wow, that’s three for three without a ring.

How about Viagra Lady number 4, our favourite dancing man’s girlfriend/wife who is riding her bike home from the grocery store.

Viagra Lady 4

Could it be? Does she have a ring on??

Viagra lady 4 zoom

Nope. It looks like it is just part of the bike’s brakes that appear to be a ring.

So there you have it. Our famous little blue pill is, apparently, being used by ladies who are not lawfully wedded. Now I am not a huge prude by any means, but if my old eyes are able to spot little things like this, I am pretty sure the youngsters out there are too.

I guess I was just hoping that in the commercialization of erections, we could expect to at least have it marketed with married women. Am I asking for too much here? Let me know what you think. Should Viagra have at least made it appear like they are part of a society with a bit of a moral backbone? Have we digressed as a society this much?

A Few Officially Loose Screws

It’s a ticketmaster before the Stones show up in town… It’s the willcall at Scotiabank Place before the Sens playoff tickets go on sale… nooooo… It’s actually a Futureshop the day before the Sony Playstation 3 arrives.

Futureshop-PS3Day

Tomorrow the gaming unit is released and this location in Kanata has 12 units coming in and 12 people have already pitched tents or set up a mini scaffold with some tarps to cover themselves from the constant drizzle we have had here in Ottawa.

It just goes to show you that there are some really screwed up people out there. The good news is that with the weather, these overnighters are probably going to get sick in the cold and rain and then they can stay home… and play with their new toy.

Liberals Sent Big Bucks To Little China

Rona AmbroseFrom Oral Questions on Tuesday October 3rd. Lucienne Robillard tried to slam the Tory environmental policy when Minister of the Environment, Rona Ambrose dropped these numbers.

Mr. Speaker, I know the Liberals would like to distract us from their record. Let us talk about that record on climate change and their priorities.

The Liberals gave $2 million to the State Power Corporation of China to buy foreign credits. Last week I told the House about the $4.5 million the Liberals gave to Kazakhstan. Yesterday I told the House about the $5 million to the Asian Development Bank. Today I am telling the House about the $2 million to the State Power Corporation of China, all to buy foreign credits.

That could have paid for anti-pollution technology and sewage treatment to protect the health of Canadians. That money should stay here at home.

(emphasis mine)

So not only were they paying OUR Kyoto credits, but we were paying for China’s Kyoto credits too. How nice of us.

Just another example of the Liberals Officially Screwing Canadians while the Tories continue to slam the door on corruption and waste.

Well done Minister Ambrose.