Month: February 2006

Tim Horton's In Kandahar? Am I Missing Something Here?

Mulder

While reading the paper today, I was perusing the first few pages, and catching up on Gordon O’Connor’s announcement on the intentions of the Ministry of Defence, when something leapt out at me.

Canadians may be taking over the region but they will still be guests at Kandahar Airfield, the U.S. base with 9,500 troops and civilians from a host of countries. Canadians have set up headquarters and a Canada House tent and patio where they can sip Tim Hortons coffee and watch the Olympics on TV.

(emphasis mine)

Did I read correctly?  Are they actually sipping Tim Horton’s??  Can I possibly end my protest?  If anyone has a friend in the military who is in Kandahar, I would love to know what they mean by “sip Tim Horton’s coffee”.
For my tastebud’s sake, I hope it’s a real cup of Timmy’s.  But I have a feeling that it is just homebrewed from a tin can.

Officially Unscrewed?

Mulder

Tonight, I had the priviledge of attending my riding associations annual general meeting. The Board members were elected and the executive was named. I am still not sure it actually happened, but I was nominated and now sit as the Communications Director. What is a communications director you might ask? Well directly from the Association website:

Responsibilities: The Communications Director’s primary responsibilities are: (a) Newsletters: design/write and arrange for printing and mailing; (b) Website: design, write and maintain; (c) Correspondence: email replies and postal communications; and (d) Fundraising letters: write, merge with membership list, and arrange for printing and mailing.

To break this down….

a) Newsletters: I can use mail merge in Word, and I can write with some rudimentary skill, as displayed on this website. I also know how to handle mass printing, envelope stuffing and mailing so that’s not an issue. Ok, so far so good.

b) Website: Ugh. No offence to the original designer, but I think this area is one I can help in. Hopefully, no one saw the trouble I had moving my server and getting WordPress up and running. But I think overall it was pretty smooth for my first effort into PHP and xhtml.

c) Correspondence: email etc. I should be fine here. I am good on the PC, and did a lot of work with mailings when I was in tech support my first year in the high tech industry.

d) Fundraising letters: Ok, so being in sales I think this one is ok. I am more used to providing goods for people giving me money instead of just asking for it, but maybe that means I put some good effort into explaining the benefits for those who are unsure about things.

I must also say that Brent Colbert was there as an independent observer and scrutineer. When I exclaimed my concern over this blog and my position, he said that I should put a disclaimer up. So in light of this, I have edited my old legal disclaimer and would like to reiterate here, that my words on this website are not necessarily those of the Conservative Party of Canada. I choose to express my views here, but seldom differ from those of the Tories. I do believe that there is a time to express your view, and a time to tow the party line. Once views are all presented and a decision is made, I do fully support the decisions which the majority make.

This has been a heck of a week. Previous to this, I have re-entered the land of the working having begun a new job last Monday. Back into strategic technical sales and marketing for me. (If you’re looking for some Memory or Memory modules in Ottawa, let me know!!

Responses To My Request That The Carp Mountain Expansion Not Be Passed

Mulder

It didn’t take long for Councillors El i El-Chantery and Janet Stavinga’s office to return my email request. I had emailed all of city council and the mayor of Ottawa asking them not to allow this growth.

Response from Eli El-Chantiry:

Thank you for your e-mail. I know this expansion is a real concern for all of us — it is in our community and we have to live with it every day. Our office was advised of WM’s proposed expansion plans in early February and that there would be an Open House held on Feb. 7th at the West Carleton Meeting Centre. I attended this Open House and talked to WM’s staff, concerned residents, and City Staff. Prior to this Open House I contacted City staff to confirm what involvement/authority we would have in this process. I was told that it falls under the Ministry of the Environment for approval and that this open house is part of the requirements for the Terms of Reference for the expansion. I was told that City staff will be in attendance each step of the way and that they would keep City Council apprised. As you know, it is very important that residents attend all the advertised information meetings and express their concerns so that they are documented with the data being sent to the Ministry of the Environment. It is also important to write to the Premier, Dalton McGuinty and your MPP, Mr. Norm Sterling. The contact at the City of Ottawa is Ken Brothers, P.Eng. who is the Director, Utility Services Branch should you have questions. There is also going to be a Public Meeting by WM held on Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 6-9:00 pm (presentation at 7:00 pm) followed by Q&A, at the Ecole elementaire catholique Jean-Paul II (gym), 5473 Abbott St., Stittsville. Please spread the word about this meeting to your neighbours. I will do my homework and I will represent my constituents’ views. I will continue to be your voice and support in our community. See you on March 1st and please keep me informed. Regards, Eli El-Chantiry.

Response from Janet Stavinga’s Office:

Thank you for your e-mail to Councillor Stavinga. This information will be brought to the councillor’s attention. In the interim, it would be of tremendous benefit to receive your permission to forward your message to Michael Walters, WM’s (Waste Management) Senior District Manager of Landfills for Eastern Canada, on this and any future correspondence you would be sending to Councillor Stavinga. This would enable your concerns and suggestions to be brought to Mr. Walters’ immediate attention and would also ensure your correspondence is placed on the public record required for the Environmental Assessment Review Process. Again, thank you for taking the time to express your concerns. Debra Belle Assistant to Councillor Janet Stavinga

Now I have no idea who to contact. One tells me my MPP, Norm Sterling, the other says the Sr. District Manager of Landfills for Waste Management, Michael Walters. i guess I will do both.  I gave Stavinga’s office permission to forward my email. I will contact Norm Sterling directly.  I urge you all to now contact your MPP’s to stop the chances of the growth of the Carp Mountain (of trash).

When Did Carp Get A Mountain?

Mulder

The Waste Management dump in west Ottawa is scheduled to grow unless something is done. The current monstrosity, dubbed the Carp Mountain, is about 1km x 1km and scrapes the sky a whopping 20 stories.

Waste Management is now looking at ways to expand the dump to 2 or even 3 times it’s current size.

The dump is already viewable from the 417 and on a downwind day you can smell it several kilometers away. According to Lowell Green as far east as Terry Fox Drive (2 highway exits over) and as far south as the old Stittsville Fleamarket.

The expectation is that trash would be coming from as far away as Trenton on the outskirts of Toronto. But, apparently, there is also a policy that enables the provincial government to force the dump to take trash from Toronto. With the state of Michigan looking at stopping 600 trucks a day of Toronto trash showing up to unload, this is going to be a problem.

WMI says that the plan is to accept only 10% of trash from outside the Ottawa area, but the ability for McGuinty to jump in and force this, I am on the side of stopping this expansion.

It’s bad enough we wallow in our own trash so close, but to wallow in the trash of others? Why is WMI not gasifying this stuff and turning it into electricity? Why are we not REDUCING the size of the carp mountain with these clean, safe methods of incineration?

For those in the Ottawa area there is something you can do. A march to demonstrate against the expansion is happening on March 1st at 6pm, starting at Sacred Heart in Stittsville. More info here. The last day for the city to accept input from the public is March 17th, so NOW is the time to act.

EMAIL CITY COUNCIL Today!! And tell them you don’t want the dump growing. I made that convenient link so you can send one email to all 21 councillors and the mayor.

Cookie Owns The Podium!!

Mulder

Ok, with all the Olympic hype the past week, I could not forget to toss my daughter into the mix.

Yesterday, here at home in Kanata, the 31st Kanata Cup was held. This was the biggest event put on by the local Rhythmic Gymnastics organization. There were over 60 competitors and in her age group, Cookie took a bronze and a silver and a bronze in the overall.

Talk about owning the podium!!!

She took a silver in her Free routine, and the bronze came in her Hoop routine. A bauble with her hoop had it roll out of bounds which was her only deduction of the day. She did manage to reach it without going out of bounds herself, which would have knocked her out of the medals in that event.

I was especially pleased to see our local MP, who happens to be the Minister of Defence, Gordon O’Connor at the event to present medals to the second group of girls and I had the honour of introducing him myself. Mr. O’Connor was kind enough to give the girls a few words of congratulations and inspiration.

Being a parent of one of the local girls, we all had our duties. My rubber arm got twisted to co-announce all day Sunday but it was worth it. I had front row seats!!

A-Channel showed up and took some footage for the 6pm news. I will strip the footage out of their broadcast and post it here later tonight.

Talk About Mr. Spilly Pants

Mulder

I can’t make this stuff up.

One of Canada’s largest breweries is in damage control after the 40-year-old Toronto actor who played a Scottish spokesman for Alexander Keith’s beer was charged with several counts of possessing child pornography.Robert Norman Smith, who is best known as the mutton-chopped, loudmouth Scotsman who praises Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale as “the pride of Nova Scotia” in television commercials, was charged Wednesday after Toronto police searched his home on a warrant Tuesday.

This is one heck of a CLM.

Ottawa City Staff Heading To Spain?

Mulder

I don’t normally criticize Jan Harder much. She is one of the Ottawa City Councillors that, typically, is on the ball when it comes to what is right or wrong. And I was pleased to hear that she was cleared of issues surrounding inappropriate aid to her daughter’s campaign. Today, Susan Sherring is reporting on an upcoming trip to Spain for four city employees, including Harder.

And why are they heading to Spain? To see an operational Plasma Waste Conversion facility in Castellgali in light of the Plasco pilot program going into the Trail Rd. Waste Facility in Harder’s riding.

Now I am all for PGP or (plasma gasification processes) that convert biomass to burnable gases which are then used to create electricity, but this is an unwarranted and not necessary.

At the end of the month, Kirkpatrick, Harder, acting deputy city manager Richard Hewitt and director of utility services Ken Brothers will go to Spain on Plasco’s dime. Plasco Energy Group, owned by Rod Bryden, has inked a contract with the City of Ottawa for a pilot plasma waste conversion project at the Trail Rd. facility The Spanish plant located in Castellgali is owned by Plasco, and operated by HERA Holdings, in which Plasco has a 40% share. The four leave on Feb. 25 and return to the nation’s capital on March 4.

Why would four senior level city employees head off to Spain for a week to view a facility we will have a pilot program for locally? The deal for the pilot facility has already been inked? Why not just drive a few miles down the road once it is built and see how it is going?

Don’t mistake my disdain for this trip as some slight against Rob Bryden. On the contrary, I think he has been an exceptional businessman in the city and built up some of the most interesting, socially responsible organizations. But I do question public servants, (and that’s just what these four nation hoppers are) with inappropriately accepting gifts/donations which they cannot reciprocate. This is the rule for our City employees.

Now, the only ways this trip could be done would be to say either 1) yes we can reciprocate, which puts us on the hook for carting four businessmen around the world, or 2) having the city pay it’s own expenses, which defeats the purpose and was already discounted as a reasonable expenditure above.

Auditor General's Awards Don't Go Far Enough

Mulder

Auditor General Sheila Fraser gave out the awards to the Crown Corporations submitting the best annual reports. The program has been around since 1993 to help promote good reporting.

The AG, with a team of 7 judges, determined that the winners for this year were Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) and the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation. CDIC won in the larger corporation category.

What I find amazing is that they had reviewed the reports of 46 Crown Corporations yet only select the top two.

The AG could take a lesson from Neilson ratings or the best to worst college lists published annually. They should lay it on the line and rank them 1 to 46. Wouldn’t this put some pressure on the organizations to put accountability into their reporting? Naming 2 while 46 get off easy could be reversed to pegging the worst 2 so they know where they rank and can get their asses in gear.

Simply announcing intentions to rank the Crown Corporations reports would whip them all into line in a year or two.

Pictures Depicting Mohammad Are Not New, So Why The Kerfuffle?

Mulder

Listening to Lowell Green this morning, he mentioned hearing that images of Mohammad were not new. So I quickly did some googling and came up with this gem from the Washington Post.

While rare in the 1,400 years of Islamic art, depictions of Muhammad are found in the collections of such institutions as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris and the Edinburgh University library. Muhammad has been portrayed in the work of revered Muslim artists and of such Western figures as William Blake, Auguste Rodin and Salvador Dali — as well as the creators of the cable-TV cartoon series “South Park.”

In addition, we have the the website Answering-Islam.org.uk siting the Qu’ran with the following support.

Numerous passages in the Qur’an prohibit idolatry, and worshipping statues or pictures, but there is not even single verse in the Qur’an that explicitly says not to have any pictures of Muhammad. This bears repeating: There is not a single verse in the Qur’an that prohibits making or having pictures of Muhammad or people or animals or trees. In fact, there are some verses in the Qur’an which mention images in a positive context and which therefore presuppose that some statues or images were approved by God, see the article Muhammad and Images.

But the article continues with a very critical point that must be made. This MUST be read.

It is clear that making pictures is a horrible sin in Islam. There are dozens of narrations that emphasize and reiterate this point. However, it is always said that Allah will punish those people on the Day of Judgment. There is no command for Muslims to go out now and punish those painters themselves. This is particularly relevant since Muhammad was not shy in this regard.

I am not sure about this source, but if this is the case, then the rioting and uproar over this whole issue is, again, invalid. The Day of Judgment is where those who portray images will get their just due. In addition, there is continued growth of support that the whole concept of no images is to prevent idol worship. Which, again, supports what I said here. I think that portraying images of anyone, including Mohammad, is actually within the guidelines of the Qu’ran because images in a newspaper, cartoons, educational imagery, are fine, as long as you don’t idolize the photo or painting by putting up on the wall in a place of honour. I can understand the disdain for the disrespect of certain cartoons, but again, why are people rioting? Are people afraid of images in general? I am not sure, but I think the reason may have something to do with this or this. You can read more from other bloggers on this subject here, and here, and here