We give China everything.

China has just jumped over Japan as the second biggest economy. Now predictions are that China will pass the U.S.A in 2025. Considering that in this decade they have an average of 10 per cent GDP growth per year, while the U.S only posted a 2.4% GDP growth for the last quarter of this year. It was clear that this was going to happened. You know that when you let countries like the China manipulate it's currency it will take advantage of easy and cheap exports. Allowing China to grow like this only promotes China's human rights record, and tells them that even though they are breaking human rights they can grow and become the strongest economy in the world. I believe that the entire world should force China to give fair wages to it's citizens, and stop manipulating it's currency. I do think that in order to stop manipulating it's currency and not effect the economy it should happen in the course of some time, but don't get me wrong China must not continue the road it is following now. I find it unfair that many of Canadian jobs are going to China, only so that they can take advantage of their workers. It is appalling that not enough has been done to make China stop this practice.

"China, in fact, is now already the world's second-largest economy," China's currency regulator, Yi Gang, said in an interview posted on the agency's website.

Estimates from the IMF, World Bank and independent economists predict China will likely supplant the United States' economy as the world's largest by 2025.

Official data from China is always viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism, but China is generally believed to have passed Germany as the world's third-largest economy some time in 2007.

Read more here

Climate Change is the truth.

A new study made by international scientist support the fact that climate change is real. The scientist show that all the effects that climate change was expected to do has happened. Everything from air temperature is going up to humidity, and everything from Artic ice to glaciers has been disapering. This just restate the thruth about the climate of the planet that it is actually happening, and that he so called "Climategate" is just one big hoax. The truth is that the global temeprature has risen 0.56 °C.  Which means that the Climate is changing , and that We should stop arguing on the truth (that the climate is changing) and talk about solution to the problem like a Carbon Tax and investments in alternative energy.

But Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of NOAA, said the study found that the average temperature in the world had increased by 0.56° C (1° F) over the past 50 years. The rise "may seem small, but it has already altered our planet ... Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying, and heat waves are more common."

International scientists have injected fresh evidence into the debate over global warming, saying that climate change is "undeniable" and shows clear signs of "human fingerprints" in the first major piece of research since the "Climategate" controversy.

Seven indicators were rising, he said. These were: air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, marine air temperature, sea level, ocean heat, humidity, and tropospheric temperature in the "active-weather" layer of the atmosphere closest to the earth's surface.

Four indicators were declining: Arctic sea ice, glaciers, spring snow cover in the northern hemisphere, and stratospheric temperatures.

Read more here 

Judge stops parts of Arizona law.

A federal Judge said "No" to parts of the Arizona Immigration bill. Now the parts of the bill that has been put away is that Police officers don't have to check the legal status of someone while they are enforcing other laws. I think that if there is a legitimate reason to suspect that they are illegal Immigrant then they can check. I think racial discrimination isn't a legitimate reason. They also got rid of the law that requires all immigrants to carry there legal status with them for now. I hate that part of the bill, and I am glad that they are putting this aside. I feel that why do just Immigrants need to carry there legal status with them, because if a police officer has a legitimate reason to check someone why would it only be Immigrant's they check since they are the only one's carrying it. I say if Illegal Immigration is that bad then make sure that everybody holds there legal status, and not just one group. I am pretty glad about this verdict, and hope that this can still be in the news enough to pressure the U.S branches of government to create a solution against Illegal immigration.

Read more here 

Au revoir Hayward!

Hayward has just been fired. They finally fired him. He was clearly not good enough. When he was asked to come to congress, and was asked questions about the rig all we got was "I was not informed" or "I was not a part of that". First if he was a part of allowing the rig to explode he should be fired automatically. If he didn't know what was going on and was telling the truth then what in the world was he doing. If he does not know what is happening in all the rigs BP owns in the country then there is not just a big problem in BP , and he should be fired for not knowing was is going on in his own business. The new leader of BP is Robert Dudley. Now I hope for everyone that he does better than Mr. Hayward.

Like Hayward, Dudley is a long-time BP employee with more than 30 years in the oil business. A chemical engineer by training, Dudley was put in charge of the day-to-day leadership of the Gulf Coast clean-up operation in June.

The company also plans to nominate him as a non-executive director of Russian oil and gas venture TNK-BP. Executives at TNK-BP said they did not know whether Hayward would replace an existing director, nor did they provide any details about what Hayward's day-to-day involvement in the business would be.

Canadians want to keep long term census.

A poll shows that about 52% of Canadians support re-thinking of the Goverment descision of the madatory long term census. While only  27% of Canadians think the goverment idea is correct. While the others say there not sure. Now whether Canadians support something is irelavent sometimes when it comes to policy, but the point is that most Canadians don't find it that much a problem to write it out. Clement said that he thinks it is too much of a problem to sign it out madatory. Seems that more people don't think it is that bad. Any way even if it is a problem to sign it out. The information we get from it will be shaky. So not only do the majority of Candians want the goverment to rethink this idea, also with this our informations will not be fully accurate. I think the Conservative should re-think this idea, because nothing good will come of this not better information or political points.

In fact, according to the poll (margin of error 3.1 points), 52 per cent of Canadians think the government should reverse its decision and keep the mandatory long form census.

  Only 27 per cent support the decision to replace it with a voluntary form (24 per cent of Canadians think the long form is overly intrusive).

 Read more here

See PDF file here

Get rid of the tax cuts for rich

In 2001 and 2003 the Bush administration passed tax cuts. In total about half of the money that was spend for the tax cuts went to the top 5% of the nation. I say the richest people in the country didn't need those big tax cuts. So now Obama is trying to put away the tax cuts from the bush administration for the richest people in the country. I say that this is a good move to reduce the deficit. People saying that increasing taxes at this time will hurt the economy. Those people should remember that 95% of Americans are still getting these tax cuts. Now some republicans want to reduce the deficit , but they don't want it from increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans. They would rather continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy , and complain that Obama is not doing enough to reduce the deficit. I say that Obama does need to reduce the deficit, and that sometimes means increasing taxes, but increasing taxes on the richest Americans I think everyone should be behind that. This is considering this is not a increase, but away to return the tax system the way it was before for the wealthiest Americans, and not give them the special treatment the Bush administration gave.

That means pushing for measures designed to raise revenue, such as letting tax breaks from the Bush administration expire for families earning more than $250,000 a year while holding down spending and taking steps to encourage private sector job creation, Geithner said.

Geithner said the plan is to extend the tax cuts for more than 95 percent of country while letting them expire for about 3 percent, which he called the "highest-earning Americans."

read more here

No Cap and Trade!

Good news and bad news from Washington DC. Good news is that there will be no cap and trade initiavtive in the U.S, because the energy bill will be changed. The bad news is that the reason it was changed is because there are not nough votes for the bill to pass. I think this is in total good news considering the U.S will not have a fony cap and trade system that just let's polluters keep polluting. I think the U.S could do so much better with a carbon tax. Obama has even talked about putting a price on pollution, but I doubt that if they can't pass a cap and trade legeslation then how will the pass a carbon tax legislation.

"Many of us want to do a thorough, comprehensive bill that creates jobs, breaks our addiction to foreign oil and curbs pollution," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Thursday.

Harry Reid should realize that a carbon tax system does all of that and more. First a carbon tax will curve pollution as it puts a price on it. It will also reduce oil cosuption as diffrent sorces of energy that are renewable are cheper. With the extra money from the carbon tax the money can go to lowering income tax that will employ more people.

No Ignatieff!

Liberal leader Ignatieff had a speech in Montreal. Ignatieff said that he supported Affermative action. I hate this idea. I feel that Affirmative action insults who people think it is helping. Affirmative action for (example: women) tells them that the only reason they got the job is because they where born a women. I think they would rather want to get a job because they where the best qualified not because they where born. To quote Martin Luther King "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." So we should not judge people by there gender in this case, and give them a job because of it. We should judge them by their charector, and that is how they should get the job. I support getting rid of Affirmative action. Because the system works against themselfs we say no one should be treated better yet we allow people to be treated better.

They talk.

North Korea is going to have a metting abouth the sinking ship. This will be the second talk North Korea will have since the sinking of the ship. Since the attak as my last post has been the sanctions have been put in place against North Korea. The U.S has shown there strong alliance with South Korea by having 8,000 millitary personels have joint millitary exercises with the South Korean millitary. I think North Korea finaly knew it was over if they did any more. I am glad they finaly had talks. If there is a little more luck then maybe they could get North Korea to talk aboiyt there nuclear weapons.

About 8,000 military personnel from the United States and South Korea are to participate in joint military exercises dubbed "Invincible Spirit" from July 25-28, Combined Alliance Joint Naval and Air Exercises announced Tuesday.

 It will be the second meeting between the two parties since the March attack on the Cheonan, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.

An international investigation blamed North Korea for the sinking, an assertion the North has denied.

yes sanctions !

Hilliary Clinton has annouced that the U.S will be imposing sancitions on North Korea. This is because of the South Korean torpedo that North Korea has sunk which killed 46 people. New sanctions like freezing assets to stop any buying of arms from North Korea. I think that this is great. Just like Iran the international community is now taking action on the threats of the world. The U.S will now be standing beside south Korea in any case of war or conflict. I am glad that the U.S is supporting South korea in it's now very tense relationship with North Korea. The U.S has had a meeting with South Korean now talking about any further Actions. I hope this does not lead to war , and that with more pressure from other countries that North Korea will give up on war and nuclear weapons.

Hate the oil sands not the People.

As many people start to attack the province of Alberta because the oil sands , and telling them now to avoid the province all together. I think that is a bit to far. They should avoid using oil from the oil sands, but they shouldn't avoid the province itself. I say they should criticize the government for doing this, but to punish the local economy that needs tourist the people who have nothing to do with the oil sands shouldn't get punished. I think avoiding the province would hurt the people who might actualy not like the oil sands. I think these environmental groups should encourage there city or there state to do what some has already have to just avoid the oil from the oil sands. This would effect more on punishing the oil sands then the people of Alberta. This would be a better initiative on the environment .

Read more here

Clemant isn't budging.

 Even with new anger against the scraping of the long term census Clement isn't budging.  The conservatives are keeping this motion, because they say that some people are relieved about this move. Even though complaints about the long term census has been dropping. I think sure it might be a pain to be forced to do this, but it only takes 10 minutes and gives valuable information that economics say they need. So I think that we should just keep it. I don't think that this is a biggest political thing that happened this year , but I am surprised how many groups have protested over this move.

Ever since the move was announced in late June, statisticians, researchers, academics, municipalities, religious groups and others have decried the move, arguing it will result in skewed and unreliable data.

Opposition MPs say they have not heard such complaints and the privacy commissioner has said complaints about the census have actually declined over the years.

Read more here

climate truth.

 People came up to Washington DC , and told the US government that they need to have a climate bill based on true science and not denials. They brought an ice sculpture that has the globe on top and is under an ice sculpture that says "climate deniers". As the day went on the ice sculpture kept melting till the globe fell off the ice sculpture.  I think they're message was clear. They want clean jobs on clean renewable energy. They talked how the climate is changing , and how the US with their current climate bill has to be on stopping climate change. Now I don't support a cap and trade bill, but I support a carbon tax. Let's face it the U.S needs money what better way to get then from the big oil companies that are getting those big tax cuts. I say they could save billions of dollars that can go to spending on clean energy, and helping stimulate the economy even more or just reduce the deficits.

watch ice sculputure here

The Climate is changing.

Again new proof comes out that last month was the hotest June on record. This also makes the 304 consecutive month that global tempurature is above the 20th century average. People should not be saying that the world is not changing. The climate is clearly changing. We need to try to stop this trend, so that there is the planet we know to still be there. We need to start doing stuff now. Acting is over due, and has not been talked about enough. To the people who think that the planet is not changing. Please explain to me these trends showing the climate is changing. Explain to me how all the facts lead to the proof that the climate is changing , and we are the one's who have to fix it.

Last month was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide and the fourth consecutive month that the combined global land and sea temperature records have been broken, according to the US government's climate data centre.

The trend to a warmer world is now incontrovertible. According to NOAA, June was the 304th consecutive month with a combined global land and surface temperature above the 20th-century average.

"These are clear signs of a rapidly warming world and exactly what the climate models have predicted. Thankfully, there is a way out of it if we can get greenhouse gas emissions under control," said Ben Stewart of Greenpeace.

read more here

Keep the long term census.

The Conservative Government has said that they are going to scrap the long term census. What happens is that every five years 20 percent of Canadians will get a census they have by law to fill out. The problem many economist are arguing against this is that it will lose valuable information making this census not mandatory. In the U.S every American gets a census, and by law need to fill it out. I think we should keep the long term Census. I feel it is important to know the trends If we want to keep the same funding for programs , and that everyone is getting there fair share in federal funding. So if we scrap it some we will first not have solid information on how many people live where, and that can cause inaccurate funding in all these places for health care and sectors of government funding.

The 2006 census required about 20 per cent of Canadians to complete the long form which provides detailed household information used to decide everything from bus routes to new subdivisions to what support services are in local schools

"The long form gathers information that we feel is really necessary for a number of reasons. One, it helps to identify issues that people are living with," she said.

"And the other is that ... it provides a statistical record for us which is important to be able to have that information when we're applying for other funding and to run programs and to do some research."

Smith-MacDonald said she is worried that the poor and disadvantaged will statistically disappear if information on income is no longer rigorously collected in the census.

.

País Argentina!

Which is Spanish for "Go Argentina". This is because that Argentina although has not won the world cup has won the title as the first south American country to legalize gay marriage. This is great. All people have a right to marry. To have children, and to be treated like anyone else, and should not be discriminated like they are all over the world. the lower house has passed it , and in a senate vote of 33-27 it passed. This law will go into effect in a couple days. Soon in Argentina all couples get the same benefits whether they be a hetero or homosexual couple. I hope that soon all countries will follow suit, because all couples have a right to marry.

After a marathon debate that touched on religion, ethics, the legacy of Argentina's dictatorship and the challenges of raising children, the 33-27 Senate vote was tallied shortly before dawn, with three abstentions.

"From today onward, Argentina is a more just and democratic country," said Maria Rachid, president of the Argentine Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender federation.

The law "not only recognizes the rights of our families, but also the possibility of having access to health care, to leave a pension, to leave our assets to the people with whom we have shared many years of life, including our children," she said.

Read more here

Just build the mosque.

In an earlier post I stated how a tea party leader went against the mosque being build next to the ground zero in New york calling it a place for Muslims to pray to there "monkey God". I think it is crazy not allowing a mosque near ground zero. It is so intolerant of us. I am sure if it was a church or a synagogue it would be aloud , and there would be no anger, and protest. In a committee meting people voiced there opinion for and against the proposal of a mosque. I say just build the mosque. The people who oppose it hate the idea, because they are afraid of radical Islam doing terrorist activities. I think that is plan racist! That is absolutely not a justified reason to stop the building of the mosque. I hope that they can build the mosque so people can see that they are just being paranoid.

watch committee meting here

France takes a step back in the world.

France has just passed a law that would make it illegal for wearing the Niqab, Burqa and Hijab in public places. I think this is bad. You can't force people not to wear something. There is not a justified reason to do this. It is freedom of expression , and nothing else. This bill passed the lower house in France by a margin 335 yes 1 no. This will be the first European country to pass a law of banning this clothing. I do think that in some circumstances like voting, driver license, passport and others a face must be shown, but in public area's I say no everyone like me should have the right to where whatever in the world we want. This is just sad that France would do this to it's own citizens. It is not tolerant of us to not allow people to wear what they want. I would hope no other countries follows France, and that France's upper house rejects this law.

Some 82 percent of people polled approved of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved. That was the widest support the Washington-based think tank found in any of the five countries it surveyed.

Clear majorities also backed burqa bans in Germany, Britain and Spain, while two out of three Americans opposed it, the survey found.

France's lower house of parliament Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a ban on any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women.

They're back.

Congress is back in session. Now this will be a short period till there summer vacation. Which for some will be campaigning to reclam there sats again. Now during this period they are going to have a lot of things to take care of. Such as extending or ending the bush tax cuts, extending or ending unployment benefits, final vote on wall street reform, funding for the wars and if they can spair the time immigration reform. So this is a lot to do , and they better do a lot of them. Because after the vacation in the summer the fall will be pratacly Campaingning paloza , so not much is going to get done at that time. With the November election just around the side walk. It might be hard for democrats to put them selfs into bills that the right might hate when they come from a district that voted republican in the 2006 election. Now I think that they should do as much as they can, because after the election they're may not be as much democrats who can agree with them.

Oil sands are not clean!

Jean Charest a supporter of reducing edmissions has said he would be fine with future development in the oil sands. He said he was misqouted in Copenhagon when he said he was against future development. Priemeir Jean Charest who has attaked the Conservative Goverment on it's lack of enviromental actions. I think that the oil sands are a not clean source of oil. I say that if we can't use diffrent places for oil then there should be first enviromental protection imputed on all extraction sites. This means in any place in the oil sands they will have strict enviromental laws , and rules. More importantly there will be a Carbon Tax on the oil site. These taxes should go to reducing income tax, but also new money should go to renewable resources, so that the minumum comes out of the oil sands. I think we can't see the oil sands never being used, becuse of the mass need, but we should look at other cleaner not so polluting oil to be used, and use diffrent sources of energy the most we can to preserve oil. I would like to state I don't support the oil sands. The oil comapnies that exploit the oil should pay for the best secure enviromental protection, and all enviromental cost.

Leave Lebron James alone!

As I am sure you have all heard Lebron James is going to Miami .In Cleavland fans were throwing Lebron James jersey's and pictures into fires. This is absolutely crazy ! People are angry at Lebron James for going to another team.With all there protest and youtube posts. I think if the city of Cleavland really likes him they should have just let him go (I don't mean all cleavlanders). "If you love something, set it free" as Richard Bach would put it. I mean whatever his reason for it he doesn't have to explain. It is his decision. Lebron James has done nothing wrong , and for all those people hating him for it. I say those people never deserved Lebron James in the first place.

Stop it before they suffer.

These two ads show that there is another side to climate change. It is happening now, but it will have even more worse effects on the next generation. Look at the top of this blog. It states "we do not inherit the planet from our ancestors we borrow it from our children". These ads show that the next generation will hurt more than us. So I guess the question I am asking is do we care about the future generation?

Train ad

you might of thought that ad was too extreme, but it brings a valid point even if you think the problems will be in years away someone will get this problem. I would also like to be clear we are today seeing global warming taking into effect.

My partner on the blog states that poorer countries get effected by this more than us, but I would like to state it will not matter where you live everyone is feeling global warming. The question really is how long are we going to wait before we start realizing it . In 2040 California will face a water shortage that will make 85% of people unable to get water so save are planet now and not have to regret it later.

tick tock ad here

Conservatives threaten election in the fall

Because of a bill that may not pass in the senate Conservative say they are willing to have an election over it in the fall. Now with current polls having the Conservatives 10 points ahead. So first if an election came now the conservatives would win, but remeber the election will only be as soon as the fall, so this can give the contruy time to recover even more and a summer dor everyone to forget about what Harper did during the year. So there lead could grow. Now I think that Harper will try again this fall to get his majority, but we should not forget who Harper really is the guy who porogued parliment twice, doesn't care about the enviroment and spend 2 million dollars on a fake lake.

read more here

see new poll

There is no "ClimateGate"

An Independent report released Wednesday shows that the so called "Climategate" is not real it cleared the scientist. So if anyone just thought that the hacked emails prove that there is no such thing as Global Warming I regret to inform you that this is the second time the climate scientist were cleared. So all the words like Trick was just meaning  "A way to handle information". So let's stop arguing about the science because it is clear that there is Climate change. We need to keep trying to reduce our CO2  from the air to help stop Global warming. If you are still a skeptic I say that look at the science, and Climate change is not just temperature changes oil is leaving and is dangerous, so think of renewable energy that is not leaving. So don't think that climate change is just the  environment it is also energy needs and economics.

In his submission, Jones told the review that "the word 'trick' was not intended to imply any deception, simply the 'best way of doing or dealing with something.'"

The scandal fueled skepticism about the case for global warming just weeks before world leaders met to agree a global deal on climate change at a United Nations conference in Copenhagen last December.

Economic Recovery?

The TSX has been drooping lately giving new fear of a double dip recession. So now no country is attempting to spend more money, but with fear growing and economic confidence is down the recovery could turn to another recession. No country is eager to tell the world they are going into a double dip recession that will just cause more fear. I think that the economy is slowing down because of the Europe crisis so they have less confidence in the global economy. I still think that we are not going into a double dip recession if we don't shake the economy anymore. Canada is doing well , and will continue to do well I think this is just a bump in the road.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended trading down 103.56 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 11,092.5. Its previous low close for this year was 11,094.31, on Jan. 29. 

Though closed on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average was on a seven-day losing streak up to Friday, its longest such stretch since October 2008, when the financial crisis sent markets into a tailspin.

Read more here

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No Transparency on Spending

The Harper government continues to lack transparency. This time, 869 million dollars failed to be reported. I would like to ask how it is remotely possible to pass over 869 million dollars. This isn't measly pocket money. One of the biggest contracts was for the Defence department. No wonder the Conservatives don't want us to know about increased military spending. With this government in power, the country will ultimately move in the wrong direction. Bit by bit, Stephen Harper is moving Canada towards the extreme right. We need to wake up to this political reality.

OTTAWA — The federal government failed to disclose $869-million in contracts to preferred suppliers, raising questions about the reliability of the government’s main contracting report used by politicians, business and Canada’s trading partners.

“How do you miss reporting $869 million worth of contracts?” asked Shahid Minto, the government’s procurement ombudsman.

Read more at the National Post.

Owner and Doggy is Gone for the Summer

I will not be posting during July and August. Tomorrow's post will be my last. I will resume posting sometime in August. To all the readers of "The Happy Wanderer," have a great and fun summer!

HST is not Bad

I have written a post in the past attacking the HST. Now to be honest, I we know there are going to be some increases in taxes on specific items. However, after reading a article in the National Post I have to say convinced me that the HST will help economic growth and revenue. The PST places taxes on companies for manufacturing the product. This extra cost to the company increases prices. Thus, the burden goes to the consumer. With the HST, the PST will not exist, so the extra taxes will cease to exist, and will cause the company to reduce prices, hire more workers and make it cheaper to expand to other places. This is a good thing. I want the Quebec to implement the HST so that Quebecers can enjoy the benefits too. The rest of the country should too join the three Atlantic, British Columbia and Ontario.

On July 1, B.C. and Ontario will merge their provincial sales tax (PST) with the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) creating a single harmonized sales tax (HST) — 12% in B.C. and 13% in Ontario. Unfortunately, the prospect of harmonization has been met with public discontent due to misinformation being spread by those who oppose the reform and want to derail it. Canadians mustn’t believe the anti-HST hype. The economic case for the HST is ironclad.

Read more at the National Post.

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Tough on Crime Doesn't Make Sense

The Conservatives' tough on crime stance does not make sense. The latest example of this is the "Truth in Sentencing" act. This will cost us about ten billion dollars by 2015. Once again, the Tories do not regard the facts at all in their decision. Research shows that shutting criminals away in jail for an extended period of time makes them more likely to commit another crime when they get out. The Tories even reject the fact that housing more prisoners is going to cost more.

Instead of using the report as a chance to rethink the wisdom of spending billions of dollars -as much as $9.5 billion by 2015-16 -Public Safety Minister Vic Toews rejected Page's figures, saying he "must be making this up."

Tough on crime will be a waste of government spending as it doesn't work. What we need is to make sure that criminals do not become repeat offenders after they get out of jail. Longer stays in jail will actually make our society worse.

Canada has a $47-billion deficit, a crime rate that is falling steadily, and a public that is not clamouring for tougher crime laws. Yet in the face of little real need and even less available money, the Conservative government is planning to more than double the country's spending on prisons, to double the number of inmates.

Read more at the Montreal Gazette.

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Two Billion for Solar Power

Obama announced yesterday an investment of two billion American dollars for new solar power plants. The starting capital for building solar power plants is huge. That's why Obama has made a good decision on behalf of the United States of America. Clean energy is necessary for countries to go green. Obama recognizes this fact and is therefore investing in solar power. This energy must be developed and subsidised so that it is on the same level with oil, coal and natural gas. The polluting energy companies should have to pay a premium to be allowed to pollute (carbon tax). Investing in green power is a good start, but to really advance into the future, emissions must be taxed.

The U.S. government is handing out nearly $2 billion US for new solar plants that President Barack Obama says will create thousands of jobs and increase the use of renewable energy sources.

Obama announced the initiative in his weekly radio and online address Saturday, saying the money is part of his plan to bring new industries to the U.S.

"We're going to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries of the future are taking root right here in America," Obama said.

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HST is Good

Many people do not like the HST. I am not one of them. Even though some people will pay more because of the HST , businesses will ultimately save money and in the end, the consumer also saves. It's also the idea of a more simple tax: instead of two, there is only one sales tax. I am glad that Ignatieff supports the HST. I hope that many more provinces adopt the HST so that we have one, national, harmonized goods and services tax.

OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff restated his support Friday for the decision by Ontario and B.C. to impose a harmonized sales tax, although he said a Liberal government would consider measures to "mitigate" the impact on the most vulnerable.

"We've always said that if we're in government, if there's anything we can do to mitigate or reduce the impact on the most vulnerable, we'd be happy to do it," Ignatieff told reporters. "But if a province comes to the government of Canada and says we need to do this to create jobs, it seems to me it's important for us as a party to support the efforts of the provincial governments."

Read more at the Vancouver Sun.

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Nuke the spill?

Some people are saying that the solution to the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico is to set off a nuclear blast to blow it up. In fact, former Soviet physicist Viktor Mikhailov is saying, "I don't know what BP is waiting for, they are wasting their time. Only about 10 kilotons of nuclear explosion capacity and the problem is solved." Of course, this might cause enormous damage to the environment and maybe even people living on the shores of the Gulf. I'm no expert, but the benefits and disadvantages of a nuclear explosion in the area must be weighed against waiting for the relief well. But, we should not have to be considering these extreme measures. If we just just invested in alternative energy instead of giving presents to the oil companies, our country and world would be a better place. Fossil fuel subsidies are ancient and need to be killed.

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON -- His face wracked by age and his voice rasping after decades of chain-smoking coarse tobacco, the former long-time Russian Minister of nuclear energy and veteran Soviet physicist Viktor Mikhailov knows just how to fix BP's oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

"A nuclear explosion over the leak," he says nonchalantly puffing a cigarette as he sits in a conference room at the Institute of Strategic Stability, where he is a director. "I don't know what BP is waiting for, they are wasting their time. Only about 10 kilotons of nuclear explosion capacity and the problem is solved."

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U.K. Votes for Reform!

The U.K are going to have a referendum on changing the current voting system to another one. The current voting system they use is called "first past the post." They plan to change it to is instant runoff voting. On the ballot, instead of picking one choice, you list your first second, third, fourth choice and so on. Then if no one has the majority of votes, the candidate in the last place is eliminated. Then they take the eliminated candidates votes and give it to the second preference. This continues till one candidate gets 50% +1 of the vote. Now I know that there is no perfect democratic system so right now this is the best it may get, so I support changing the system in the U.K, and I hope it passes .

Image via Wikipedia

Example of Instant Runoff Voting Ballot

Britain's government will hold a referendum next year on changing to a proportional voting system — a reform that could permanently affect how the U.K. is governed.

Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street office said Friday an announcement will be made next week.

Any change could make European-style coalitions commonplace in the U.K. Britain currently has its first coalition government since World War II.

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What Fake Lake?

The 2 million dollar fake lake made it's big debut at the double summit last weekend. Now that the G8 and G20 are over, the lake is could be called dead by now. This means that the government spent two million taxpayer dollars on a temporary fake lake. I will sure miss that lake! I can't believe that the govermnet needed to spend millions of dollars for a lake that was not even nessesary and not even permanent. I am fine with spending some extra money for meetings between global leaders, but a fake lake that is right next to a real "great lake" is just not correct. I think if you are going to spend that much money for a fake lake at least keep it.

Global CO2 Emissions

I found this infographic showing the world's CO2 emissions and where they come from. The area in which we need to cut down is transportation. In Canada, transportation makes up about 35% of our carbon emissions. We need to stop flying and driving and start taking public transit and the train. Click on it to see it in a larger size.

Happy Canada Day!

Today is Canada Day, the birthday of our nation when in 1867, the province of Canada, along with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia formed the Dominion of Canada. In these modern times, Canada has achieved great things. Canada is my country and I am proud of it. Journalists from the Toronto Star wrote about why they love Canada. I love Canada because of our tendency to help other people. The most prominent token of this is universal health care. That is my Canada.

I never knew what Canada meant to me until this past Tuesday night. That’s when my son Michael graduated from high school.

It’s strange how one event can make everything seem clear. The kaleidoscope took that one extra “click,” the fragments of coloured glass formed a new pattern, and the picture I’d been staring at for 40 years suddenly came into 

Read more at the Toronto Star.