Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

I have a couple press releases in my inbox that I thought I’d share. One is about the Sask Greens, and their candidate for the Cumberland riding. The next is about an exciting movie project in Regina. If the Greens win Cumberland, they’ll have to make a movie about that triumph too!

GREEN PARTY OF SASKATCHEWAN ANNOUNCES PROGRESSIVE POLICY FOR THE NORTH

For Release: Thursday, May-29-08 – La Ronge, Sk

The Green Party of Saskatchewan has announced Tory McGregor as their candidate for the Cumberland by-election called for June 25.
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This would be very cool to build into a home. Too bad these home owners have given away their secrets!

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Hat tip to Neatorama

I’m at the Saskatchewan Liberal Renewal Workshop in Regina this morning.

I’ll make updates thoughout the meeting. Ralph Goodale just finished a short speech. He sounded optimistic about the latest Nanos (and other polls).

2:14 Break’s over. There has been spirited discussion. People here are motivated and passionate to return to the successful liberal tradition of this party.

2:25 There is a recognition of the importance in reaching people at the grassroots around the province.

That’s all for now, more later with some thoughts.

When spam does get through my Hotmail account to my Bulk folder (usually not my inbox anymore these days), it can have really amusing titles. There’s one from Friday for instance. “100% real watch copies” Ooh, a real copy, eh? A genuine replica. Awesome!

So, would genuine fakes be taken at the border along with iPods once ACTA is implemented by Canada’s New World Order Government?

- Jeff protests the extradition of Marc Emery to the States while protesting the legal state of marijuana. (more of the article is here, but not the end, sorry.)

Paper is the Prairie Dog a couple weeks ago.

Steyn’s rally is coming up. He’s in less trouble than Emery though, and Emery is being railroaded because of the Canadian government and the American’s war on drugs.

If a politician isn’t a mindless and bland automaton (like us) then they should be. That’s according to a newspaper editor, and several commenters in that thread.

Sure, May’s expression is hurtful to some people. There were probably better hyperboles to use. You can’t infer that she’d be a bad leader because she feels so badly about how the last leaders debate went.

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Hat tip to David

Some not so bland politicians came from Saskatchewan.

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Scotty has seen the wind, and which way it is blowing. He’s probably trying to stay out of jail. That would explain the timing for the book, and the harshness with which he is “betraying” Bush, Rove, Cheney, and others.

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Nepal is changing it up a little.

A book from Europe poses the question: Is the climate change crisis a guise to put “green shackles” on our freedom and liberty? In short, my answer is no. However, the danger does exist, and it would be foolish to dismiss it out of hand. It’s also a danger played up by the Denial Machine, as I’ll explain at the end of this article.

It’s important to remember that resource shortages are a good chunk of what has made communist states such a failure for the people who live(d) there. Capitalism has ensured resource surpluses for select areas of the world over the last century, and punished other areas [not necessarily communist ones].

(Photo of Klaus courtesy
www.klaus.cz/klaus2/asp/clanek.asp?id=IS0gccWYLKQK)

Capitalism is excellent at motivating people to mine, cut, fish, build, and plow as fast as possible, even to the detriment of the people doing that work. It also cannot plan for resource depletion, it can only react to it when it’s too late. People choose governments. Governments choose an economic system to manage resources and distribute wealth. The current system in the Western world is poor at managing resources in a sustainable way through the checks and balances in capitalism.

Yes, there is a threat that laws in favour of preserving our resources will negatively modify capitalism, and reduce freedoms beyond what our environment needs in order to be sustainable. That’s what this book by Czech President Václav Klaus is intended to highlight (according to the author). From his perspective, government control of resource acquisition is a destructive force. It certainly can be; So too can a complete lack of government control over a resource. A better balance between communism and capitalism is needed to protect people from unjust restrictions, and unsafe resource depletion.

People by their nature will hate being told not to use a valuable resource that has previously been free, or there for exploiting. Yet, compare that feeling to the certain death and suffering that will result when that resource is completely gone and demand cannot be met because there is no supply with which to increase production! It’s possible to have restrictions in personal freedom (concerning resource acquisition) without infringing on liberty. We do have to come to terms with the fact that our resources are not infinite, and competition for them among 6 billion+ humans is going to either lead to conflict, or better co-operation and management.

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Now some important background to Václav’s book. He said, “Let me thank all those who helped to make the English translation and publication of my book “Blue Planet in Green Shackles” possible, especially Fred Smith and his Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…” “What is the CEI?”, I asked myself, then I asked Google. It turns out they have worked with Michelle Malkin, a fine, upstanding idiot since the 1990s.

Well, that’s probably just one bad egg, no organization is perfect. Right?

CEI has also worked to cultivate a relationship with John Stossel, the controversial correspondent for ABC-TV’s 20/20 program. When Stossel came under fire in August 2000 for citing nonexistent scientific studies on a 20/20 segment bashing organic foods, CEI set up a “Save John Stossel” website to help him keep his job.[14] Stossel returned the favor the following year by working with Michael Sanera to put together a program titled “Tampering With Nature” that focused on attacking environmental education. [...]

Oh, well, maybe their hearts are in the right place, because at least they have well thought out ideas, seeing as they are a “think tank”. Seems they might have more in common with a gas tank…

The oil giant ExxonMobil has admitted that its support for lobby groups that question the science of climate change may have hindered action to tackle global warming. In its corporate citizenship report, released last week, ExxonMobil says it intends to cut funds to several groups that “divert attention” from the need to find new sources of clean energy.

How does that relate to CEI?

In a 2006 profile of CEI and other global warming skeptics, Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach noted that “the most generous sponsors” of CEI’s 2005 annual dinner were “the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Exxon Mobil, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and Pfizer. Other contributors included General Motors, the American Petroleum Institute, the American Plastics Council, the Chlorine Chemistry Council and Arch Coal.”

CEI has 28 people on staff (2006), “half a platoon,” Smith likes to say. They’re in the persuasion business, fighting for the free market. They lobby against government regulations of all kinds. Smith writes articles with titles such as “Eco-Socialism: Threat to Liberty Around the World.“

Hmm, that title equals “Blue Planet in Green Shackles” in meaning at the least.

Well, well, it’s starting to sound like CEI is a one-trick pony. It writes what companies like Exxon is was willing to pay for. Or it pays people to promote what some people (such as Robert J., and Norma [linked below]) are looking to read.

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Norma sounds like she buys into the Denial Machine, from what I can understand of her unique web-lingo.

It’s interesting to hear that leaches really are making a comeback as a medical treatment ‘device’. Their chemicals help to restore natural blood flow in reattached body parts.