China Lives the Train

Mitch Moxley traveled to China to experience the Chinese train. According to his article in the Globe and Mail, it's very different form Canadian trains. It's like a mini village. Everyone is always busy doing something, socializing or doing whatever. The train is a popular way to travel and it its getting faster in China as the country is committed to expanding its high speed rail network. The train truly plays a big part of people's lives in China. In Canada, what the government can do is decrease travel time by train and start building high speed rail if it wants to attract people to take a better way to travel.

By 7 a.m., the train is alive. Old men climb from their berths, stretch and yawn. Young women shuffle to the steel sinks at the end of the car to brush their teeth. The televisions mounted to the walls of each cabin are soon turned on – at full volume – playing a low-budget Chinese historical epic. Before long, the grumpy attendants are back pushing carts down the aisle, selling fruit, toothbrushes and fried chicken in vacuum-sealed packages.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

Related articles

• High-speed future (news.bbc.co.uk)

Nov 2nd is coming!

The U.S midterm is this tuesday. Tuesday is usauly when most big U.S election are held. This election is as most would say about who gets the house or senate, but who wins Nov 3rd. On Nov 3rd no matter what party wins the election there will still be one big problem. "It's the economy stupid" as Bill Clinton says. The Uneploymeant rate is stuck at 9.5%, the deficit is impossible to tackle without major action, Immigration is crazy with 13 million illegal immigrants, Debt is rising at a rate almost impossible to stop, A baloning price on the two wars, The rising CO2 levels and then there is still all the small issues (Abortion, democratic reform, gun control etc...). If the Republicans win it will be terrible. They wouldn't care for the enviroment and have no real plan to help the economy. Then again the Democrats wound't raise taxes and continue imaginating that the deficit as Reagan would say "I am not worried about the deficit it is so big it can take care of itself". No matter who wins Democrat or Republican the problem in the U.S woun't leave that easy. The best is that the Democrats win they at least have great acomplishment that helped the U.S  (from Health care, wall street reform and at least increasing taxes on the rich). Oh and let us not forget the price tag for this life changing election 4 billion and going.

Related articles

• What's at stake in Tuesday's vote (cbc.ca)
• US midterm elections: Barack Obama's world turned upside down as Democrats face electoral disaster (telegraph.co.uk)

Republicans are big brother.

The Republican party is always saying they are against big Government and at means against Obama, but The Republicans became what they hated the most. In the 6 years Bush had control of all three parts of government he went big government. He made crazy deficits the thing they say would happen if the Democrats get control. This is also true today there is a right wing group asking to put in place a 62 amendment that would make Abortion illegal. That is crazy I think a women has a right to chose, but apparently according to some republicans the government has the right to tell people whether or not they should be able to have an Abortion. The Government has no right to regulate companies, but have the right to tell people is they can have an abortion . I think that it isn't the government's job to tell people if they can or can't have an abortion I believe that a women has the right to chose. Some republicans also believe that same sex marriage should be illegal. Republicans say that they should be able to say who can or can't get married. I think that the Government has no right to tell people they can or can't get married. Apparently some small government people like to impose there believes on others while those big Government people think they have no right to impose there beliefs on others

Related articles

• Ill. gov. candidates clash over budget, abortion (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Suspicious Packages Found

Two suspicious packages were found in Dubai and the UK bound for some Chicago synagogues, yesterday. This was a pretty crude attempt at an attack as whatever was in the packages had a stamp on it and went through snail mail. The Canadian response was to send two CF-18s to escort a jumbo jet, just in case there was another bomb on it. It seems that the system works, the response to the packages not overblown. Good work!

Suspicious packages sent from Yemen and postmarked for Chicago synagogues represent a “credible terrorist threat against our country,” U.S. President Barack Obama said as counterterrorism authorities everywhere were sent scrambling to divine the significance of the plot.

Read more at the Globe and Mail. 

Related articles

• Suspicious packages from Yemen found (politico.com)
• Cargo plane bomb plot: how the plot unfolded (telegraph.co.uk)

Arctic Arms Race

The purchase of the F-35s could cause an Arctic arms race with Russia, and we all know who has more weapons, more military personnel and more purchasing power. Besides, it would hardly help relations if we started an arms race. The F-35s would also be useless in the scenario in which we have war with Russia. Russia would invade with thousands of planes, probably provoking a reaction from the United States. This 16 billion dollars could be better spent on other things, like health care, education and maybe, more search-and -rescue planes to help save lives, not harm relations. The F-35 deal is a waste of money and should be reconsidered for another plane.

OTTAWA — A government purchase of F-35 fighter jets could cause "angst in Russia" and trigger an Arctic arms race, Arctic sovereignty expert Michael Byers said Thursday.

"I don't want my country to be the country that starts an Arctic arms race," Byers said as debate over the government's plan to spend $16 billion on 65 of the F-35s raged on several fronts on Parliament Hill.

Read more at the Calgary Herald.

A National Energy Strategy

Canada has been called an energy giant, or as Stephen Harper likes to put it, an "energy superpower." However, with Canadians still remembering the National Energy Policy from he 80's, thirty years ago yesterday, no party is willing to propose a policy to help manage the resources that we've got. It is not just a provincial responsibility. There should be at least a Ministry of Energy to manage the development, import and export of energy. Energy demand will continue to rise in the future. It's time to get over the NEP and propose a new plan to make smart energy choices for the future.

A decent first step for Ottawa would be creating a department that integrates energy and environment, similar to what Britain has done with its Department of Energy and Climate Change. Today the two departments in Ottawa with nominal responsibility -- Environment and Natural Resources -- are at each other's throats, ensuring stasis on oil sands policy.

Read more at the Ottawa Citizen.

Only in Quebec.

The lasted Ekos polls shows that the Conservatives are still ahead of the Liberals by 6%, but some intersting poll numbers from Quebec just made me laugh. The polls had the Bloc ahead at 37% while in second place the Liberals are at 22%, but third place is the Green party at 13%. The Conservatives are at 12% and so are the NDP. Now to be fair the margin of error is 5%, but to have a poll where the conservatives are behind the Green just shows how much people in Quebec hate the Conservatives. Now Liberals have there own problems in BC where the Green party is at 20% and the Liberals are at 19%. Now In BC the margin of error is 10% twice as high then Quebec. Harper will never have a majority when he has to fight the green Party just to get seats in Quebec. Harper might be winning across the country, but here in Quebec Harper is less populare than the Enviromentalist and is just ahead of the "socialist" (as Harper would call them)

HST Helps BC.

British Columbia like Ontario has implemented the harmonized sales tax. Economist have all said that having a harmonised sales tax is a good idea, because currently in other parts of the country provincial taxes can continue to tax a product again and again then it is taxed one last time when you buy it. With HST you will eliminate this tax on a product and it will help business have more money to invest in Canada. Without HST it will make Canadian business less competitive to foreign industries. Now, because there was a petition made the HST is now being put on a referendum in September. If a simple majority support the destruction of the HST then Campbell said he would get rid of it. First Campbell is the premier he has to help BC even if it unpopular. Second There was a referendum on changing the voting system in BC, and that referendum needed 60%. In 2005 58% of BC who voted supported BC-STV (the new voting system that put up on a referendum). BC should know that the HST will help them, and I hope that they vote no on repealing the HST.

Read more here

Cutting the Corners

The newest audit by the Auditor General has found out a few secrets on the so-called Economic Action Plan. First of all, every project approved was done so without the "standard" environmental assessment to see if a project would kill a few species here and there. This does not come as a surprise because the Conservatives have never cared that much about the environment to spend a little more time worrying about it. Another interesting fact discovered by the Auditor General was that the 130 000 jobs supposedly "created" by the bailout plan are not exact. These numbers are largely derived from anecdotes. But as we saw in the plan to kill the long-form census, statistics don't play a large part in the Tories' policies. But, all in all, the stimulus plan did create jobs, we don't know exactly how many, nor do we know the environmental impacts. Along with spending should come responsibility for the follow-up. All of which this government did not do.

OTTAWA—Shortcuts in the Conservatives’ environmental approval process for projects under the economic stimulus plan may have created a wave of environmental damage, Auditor General Sheila Fraser says.

Thousands of construction projects were excluded from standard environmental screening under a never-publicly-debated directive by the Conservative cabinet as the federal government rushed out $47 billion in economic stimulus, according to Fraser’s audit.

Read more at the Toronto Star.

A Republican house

The NY times put up a post saying that the Republicans have a 3 in 4 chance of winning the house and the democrats have an 81% chance of getting the senate. The thing is Obama would propably want it the other way around. See in the senate you need 60 seats to pass a bill. NY Times say that there is no hope (0%) that the democrats will go from 59 seats and get 60 seats. Now Obama could just do reconsilliation and he would only need 51, but that process takes longer and isn't done very offend. The house you just need 50% +1 now that is a much easier number to reach. See if Obama has 51 senate seats that doesn't mean he can pass legislation. First there are two independents that assoisiate themseleves with the democrats. Joe liberman who was once a Democrats and had diffrent opinion o the war in Iraq, but he could vote with Obama on more social economic issues. The next one is in Vermont and he is a socialist. Why does this matter? well in order to get 60 Obama no matter what the result is needs republican votes. If he has 49 democarts 2 indpendents he needs to puch more to the center which will maybe take away more left democrats (he is already doing this in the senate) . If Obama has the senate it wound't matter, because he already is budging on his agenda and if he losses the house it will be even harder to get much part of his agenda threw or any. If he had the House it would be easier for Obama then to have control of the senate that he already no matter what need to move more to the right. If republicans win the house and the Democrats win the senate I call it a win for the Republicans. If the Democrats win the House and not the senate then I call it a win for the Democrats.

Legaliziing Pot is Hard.

In the beginning (may) Prop 19 was ahead by 15%, but with major lack of funding of this issue the lead even though staying stable has now as the last weeks of the campaign hit in the polls show a tight race. Current polls have it losing by 1%, but there is still hope survey USA has it at a 5% lead. There is still the one doubt that may just break Prop 19 chances. Voter turnout. Older people in California are much against Marijuana even in the beginning have a tendency to vote, but Younger voters are for the legalization of pot all the way throw and have the tendency not to vote. The Youth need to vote! With that this could get to one very tight and close referendum to legalize pot. I support the legalization of pot in California, and I think if Prop 19 passes it will help regulate pot to be safer than it is when it is illegal. It will when passed help bring in revenue to the state with the worse budget shortfall. It will give relief to police men who can start working on real crime. Above all cigarettes and Alcohol is more dangerous and addicting then Marjuiana, which by the way is less addicting then coffee.

The Arctic Continues to Melt

While Canada is busy doing nothing on climate change, the Arctic is heating up. The Arctic is losing its most recognizable property, sea ice. As we move into the future, temperature will continue to increase everywhere in the world with horrible consequences. Climate change might cause a slightly larger growing season in small areas, but crops in other areas will suffer almost complete eradication. Sea level will rise, evicting many inhabitants of shore in the world. Canada's geography will be completely altered in the north. Biodiversity will be lost. To combat this, the Tories must accept bigger GHG reduction targets. But, they never will and that's why we need a new government.

Related articles

• "NOAA Releases Arctic Report Card For 2010" and related posts (aboutmyplanet.com)
• As the sea ice melts, so melts the Arctic (theglobeandmail.com)
• Sea ice melting as Arctic temperature rises. (washingtonpost.com)

Forget the Senate and the House.

In the U.S there is major talk over senators and congressman, but these chambers although one of the most important are shadowing a very important area. This is the governors and guess what 37 governors are up in this election. The current split in the governors race is 26 Democrats and 24 Republican. Current prediction show that there is 6 continuing Republicans with 10 solid seats that means predicting minimum 16 Republicans. Democrats have 7 continuing governors and 3 solid seats predicting 10 Democrats. With 24 seats either leaning or tied. 3 are leaning Democrats, 8 Republican Leaning seats and 13 seats up in the air. Doing the math 24 Republican governors are either continuing, solid and Leaning seats, while Democrats in the same category only 13 seats.  Looking like the Republicans will sweep it big, but again like the senate and the house there are enough swing seats to have 26 Democrats. Why does it matter which party has more governors. Governors have an amazing power where they can like the Missouri Governor put it up in a referendum. Obama's health care bill was put up in some states on whether to repeal minor parts of the bill. In the U.S states have much power over what happens. If  many governors are against Obama agenda it won't really matter somewhat what Obama passes, because some of it might not even get into some states.

Short on Money

The Harper government is falling short on its promised contribution to an international climate change fund. Tory sneakiness is the culprit here. It's all in the fine print. Canada will provide the 400 million dollars, but 72% in loans to private companies and only 11% to help developing countries adapt to climate change. The focus should be to help the countries that will bear the brunt of the consequences of climate change, but the Conservative government lending money, with expectations to get it back. We should be donating, or providing grants, not loaning. But, since when have the Conservatives wanted to spend on climate change, something that in their minds doesn't exist.

OTTAWA — The Harper government is falling short on its "fair share" of a $30-billion international fund to deal with climate change, according to a breakdown provided by Environment Canada and a recent analysis by an environmental think-tank.

The government and Canadian environmental groups agree that a $400-million pledge by Environment Minister Jim Prentice is an appropriate amount for the fund, which is being used for climate-change adaptation and clean-energy projects in developing countries.

Read more at the Montreal Gazette.

Related articles

• Struggling to Adjust: Adaptation Finance in Developing Countries (worldchanging.com)

Tea Party Vs. Republican Party

 A bit of a battle in Alaska for the senate race the tea party candidate Joe Miller. In the primaries Joe Miller had a tough battle to get ride of the republican incumbent . He got help from the former governor of the state Sarah Palin. In second place for the general election isn't a democrats it's Murkowski. She was the incumbent who got defeated by Joe Miller. She has not created her own party, but rather she is a write in Candidate. Instead ticking the name of any of the candidates that are on the list. People have to write her name correctly and send it in. It's a bit extra work, but sometimes it has worked, and especially in Alaska where her name is known well and where the population is in very small community. A poll shows it at a dead heat 37% Murkowski and 37% Joe Miller. This will be a race to watch for two reasons.First to see if Palin still has strength in her own state and to see whether the right wing state of Alaska will vote for a tea party candidate.

Read more here

Artic ice is melting at almost record rate.

The Arctic as we all know is the part of the planet that will be effected the most by climate change. In the first half of this year Arctic melting is almost at a record high pace. In Northern Canada monthly ratings show that the temperature is 4 degrees above average. Greenland has had the hottest air temperature recorded ice caps in Greenland has been breaking out (ex: the largest ice glacier loss for the country occurred this summer at Petermann Glacier which was about 3 times bigger than Manhattan).Now what will 4 degrees in the north do to us here? Last winter has had major snow storm to the mid Atlantic and northeast part of the U.S, because of higher Arctic temperature. Since the colder air is usually held up in the Arctic it doesn't go south, but because of Arctic melting the cold air went down to the south. We need to stop this trend! This report only proves again that Climate change is real.

Read more here

Liberal Openness

Yesterday, the Liberal Party of Canada released a new policy on openness that would allow us to have better access to information. Top of the list in this policy is reinstating the long form census. How can we be provided with information if we don't have any? This policy also includes special websites to help us get the information that we're allowed to get. This is a great way to reinstate real democratic access to information in the Canadian system. Not only will there be more information provided compared to the Harper secrets, but it will be less complicated than going through the bureaucratic system. I'm sure there are a lot of Canadians who don't bother to go through the whole system because they want to see a file. These websites will allow us to get the documents we need, in a rapid manner and for free. When you vote Liberal, you vote for government transparency.lpcopengov

Related articles

• Liberals propose government information overhaul (nationalpost.com)

Expensive European Missiles

The Conservative government has said it supports a missile defence system in Europe. This is a great idea, if you are playing Civilization IV on easy mode (settler). No AI has the guts to build missiles on their own and you can blow your enemies into oblivion. But, as much as the Harper government wants to pretend, leading a government is very unlike playing Civ IV on settler. Building more arms will just cause other nations to stock up on weapons. It's a continuing circle. What we should be concentrating on right now is disarmament of missiles. With more countries getting missiles, there is more chance for death, even by accidents. There should be no nuclear weapons in the world and minimal ballistic missiles.

OTTAWA — The Conservative government says it supports a European ballistic missile defence system proposed for approval by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the other NATO leaders at a summit in Portugal next month.

Read more at the Calgary Herald.

Related articles

• Turkey objects to Nato missile shield targeting Iran (telegraph.co.uk)

Obama why repeal what you support.

The courts of the U.S have the control to abolish laws that are unconstitutional. One of which was the don't ask don't tell policy that Obama wants gone. A court has stated and ruled that the current policy that denies Homosexuals isn't constitutional. Then Obama who I thought supported the repeal of this law is calling for an appeal. This appeal should be stooped the terrible policy of don't ask don't tell is gone, and Obama wants to stop the ruling to say that the congress should abolish the law. Obama if the congress was that good with repealing this law than maybe it would not have to go to the courts, but Obama the senate vote was 57 yea 41 nay and even though that is a majority it isn't enough to repeal the law. Obama should be celebrating this ruling and congratulating how the courts did there duty of differentiating the constitutional and the non constitutional.It is time to stop the discrimination let the policy go Obama.

Read more here

Election could mean new leaders.

I was reading the gazette this morning and I saw an very interesting opinion section made by Ian Macdonald. He motioned how all our current leaders leadership may expire by the next election. If Harper wins the election Ignatieff is gone and if Ignatieff wins Harper is gone . Now this is not surprising, but Ian then stated that unless Harper gets a majority he is out.Now I think that even if Harper wins a smaller minority he will still be leader, because if right after an election the party switches leaders than the new guy would look like he cheated to get elected. If Harper doesn't get a majority he could stay leader, but would Harper want to stay at his job, and would his party not maybe try to push him into leaving "willingly". Ignatieff is simple a government or your out. If Ignatieff losses the election but grew in seats it would depend if he makes a coalition government or if he makes the result close enough that the he can wait multiple month till the fall of the government. if there is an election now this will be Jack Layton's 4th election. He may have risen the party to 37 nearly record high, but polls showing Jack Layton will shrink the party almost all what he increased. If Jack Layton doesn't increase his poll numbers he will be gone. Ian mentioned that Gilles Duecepe will be gone as he is bored. Gilles Dueceppe is the only maybe here, because Dueceppe was once at 38 seats and he still stayed leader. Dueceppe might just want to leave, because he has been in Parliament for a long time, and he might just want to go home, but Dueceppe has stayed for long times so I wouldn't call anything on him yet. Elisabeth is also up she has to get a seat or it might be goodbye for her. If an election is called we might have as up as 5 new party leaders.

More Nonsense

The Conservatives are claiming that the $50 000 fake lake as part of the $2M Experience Canada venue was a "wild success." If they mean it was successful at wasting money, then they are right. The results were the exact opposite of a success. The fake lake became the face of a barrage of criticism on Canada from foreign press and innuendo from foreign governments. In fact, we payed to have our country be mocked across the world. Never again should there be a senseless waste of money like demonstrated at the double summit fiasco in June 2010.

OTTAWA — Far from being a spending debacle, the "fake lake" at the G20 summit in Toronto turned out to be a "wild success," says a senior government manager of the international gathering.

The reflection pool, built at the summit media centre at a cost of about $50,000, was widely decried by critics as a symbol of excessive government spending for the G8 and G20 summits.

Read more at the Vancouver Sun.

Related articles

• Government officials defend summit spending as efficient and necessary (theglobeandmail.com)
• Summit spending efficient and necessary, officials say (thestar.com)

Uneducated Decisions

Big news: the Tories don't like facts to affect policy. In protest of this, the union has launched a website called publicscience.ca. There are many examples of the Conservatives' ignoring the facts. My personal favorite is their "tough on crime" stance. The government's own research repeatedly shows that shutting people up in prisons for an elongated period of time makes them many times more likely to commit repeat offences once they get out of jail, therefore delaying, but worsening the problem. Of course Harper doesn't let facts get in his way. Beliefs with no foundation will continue to define the Tories' policy. This must be stopped as soon as possible for the good of Canada.

The union cited the example of the mandatory long-form census, which Stephen Harper's Conservative government decided in June to make voluntary despite opposition from statisticians, opposition politicians and many members of the public.

Read more at CBC.

Via to "Get Act Together"

After a freight train derailed, the CEO of Via Rail Canada said that upgrades will improve service in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor. This is all fine and the rebuilding of rolling stock is welcome, but we still need high speed rail. If it were to come to life, Via Rail would be glad to operate it. High speed rail would make a lot of money for Via Rail and would allow trains to hav their own right of way so that they can have more frequent departures and not have to wait for freight trains. High speed rail must come to Canada. If only this government would bring it to life...

MONTREAL - Marc Laliberte, who took over last January as CEO of Via Rail, had a message yesterday for the public and Canadian National Railway Co. just after a freight train derailed near Cornwall, forcing Toronto-Montreal passenger trains to be rerouted through Ottawa for delays of 90 minutes or more.

Read more at the Montreal Gazette.

Bringing out the vote!

In the last 2006 midterm the voter turnout was 40% in 2008 the presidential election the number was 56.8%. As you can see a clear significant margin. Some people find it more Important to vote in who becomes the president, and maybe less about midterms for senators and congressman. This is always trouble , because which ever party is more energized in the midterm election will go out and vote while the not so energized base makes the bigger part of the 17% loss. With this the midterm vote isn't proportional, and leans more to the not energized base. This of course is referring to the Democrats problem in the midterm election. In this midterm election youth voter turnout might face the most severe decrease, and youth vote tends to vote more left, while older voters will have the least severe drop as they tend to be more reliable voters that tend even in 2008 vote right wing (2008 election McCain 51% Obama 48%). If democrats want to win or at least maintain the majority they must either do one of two bring out the not energized base, or take votes from former Republicans. Neither of these choices are promising to work very well, but the first option is the only hope that can work. The Democrats must try to re grab the 2008 voters that brought in during the 2008 election. I saying that they should try to get the 30-64 age group that have a tendency to vote more than youth and that voted with Obama in 2008. The Democrats should still try to get out the youth vote, but they should still look more at the older groups. They will need a certain amount of youth vote to come out while still getting a lead on older age groups to win. It is still a shame that some young people don't vote that some politicians will ignore the youth vote I think that if the youth vote more election campaign will be different, so I urge the youth vote to go out and vote to show that they care about the election.

U.S Must Raise Taxes.

In the U.S there is a major problem that the Republicans and the tea party don't stop talking about. It is the issue of the debt and deficits. Now thhis issue is very important, and the U.S will face major problems in that. Even with Obama's major reform that will save billions of dollars there is still the problem of a lagging deficit. Bill Clinton put up a 250 billion dollar surplus. Bush with 2 tax cuts, 2 wars and 2 terms not only destroyed the economy, but left Obama before he even got in the white house with a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit.now with the end of the stimulus and bailouts this deficit will go down to 800 billion by 2012. after that the deficit is stay around that for the next 8 years. Even with unemployment rates going down the deficit will still stay. I think that the only solution to this is to eliminate all bush taxes. Now should this be done now? I think it has to be down eventually, and now would in one moment decrease the current deficit by 30% (450 billion) only in the first year. With this money Obama can put in place more money for states that are struggling with cuts, more tax credits, cash for clunkers program, and more help to struggling families. One time spending that will go away like the bailouts in a year. Now you might ask how would the economy do well if you raise taxes to high. Remember this isn't really an increase, but rather bring it back to the bill Clinton years Where the economy grew and stayed strong, and there was still a surplus. The bush tax cuts are do to leave next year. I think that either extend them for just the poor this year hen next year let them all expire would be the best idea, because there is no way you can have a surplus and make these tax cuts permanent.

See U.S deficit here

New High Speed Rail in the Swiss

In Switzerland a 14 year project to make the longest rail tunnel in the world. Switzerland now has it's new high speed rail that will help with new traffic problems in the future. The EU commission projects that traffic will grow by as much as 75% by 2010. High speed rails not only will it help save the planet, but it is needed to make travel faster and ore substantial. In Canada we are taking a much more slower approach. Everyone in the world has high speed rails except us. Russia, China, Japan, E-U and even the U.S has started investing in it. We are going to be very far behind soon. Canada wants and needs a high speed rail.

Hope for the Future

The world's freshwater supply is getting depleted. Demand will only rise as more of the world develops and the population increases. However, there are desalination plants that remove the salt from sea water. That's all very good except that these plants use enormous amounts of energy that is usually fossil fuels. But, in our own country, a Vancouver-based business called Saltworks Technologies has designed a way to separate salt and water while at the same time, cutting down energy use by half, maybe 80%. This kind of innovation will be important in the next few decades. Water will become valuable and there could be wars over it. This kind of desalination technology, that won't require a lot of energy provides us with hope for the future.

The world isn’t facing a water shortage. Anyone who lives by the ocean knows that.

What we are running short of is fresh water. Only 3 per cent of the water on this planet is considered fresh water, and of that about two thirds is locked up in glaciers.

Most of the rest isn’t close to the people who need it most, with parts of Australia, India and the U.S. southwest being some of the better known water-scarce regions.

Read more at the Toronto Star.

Water Disater

Water as we all know helps with food drinking and agriculuture, But it can do the oposite and so much more, because of climate change extrem weather activity has happened that have distroyed many crops. Climate change have caused many climate catastrophies like hurricains will come more and more which will cause major disators all around the world. With the polar ice caps melting the water level will rise all around and flood many areas. We have to take action to ensure that the effects of climate change are as minimal as possible, and water is seen as the resource of health and life and not the resource of catastrophies and death.

Related articles

• World must tackle water-shortage threat: adviser (reuters.com)
• A river ran through it (eurekalert.org)

Water: a Human Right

In July, the United Nations proclaimed access to safe and clean water was a human right. But, right now, almost a billion people live without clean and safe access to drinking water. Water is life. Without it we cannot survive. By declaring access to safe and clean water a human right, the United Nations are helping protect lives.

Now is the time to act. If we are to lift the poor out of poverty, people must have access to safe water. It's a matter of helping other humans who live in our world. In the goal of providing clean water to everyone, each country should invest in building the infrastructure that is needed in those countries instead of the pointless spending we see a lot of here in Canada. Investing in human rights such as water in other countries will not only boost our international reputation, but could also have landed us that seat on the Security Council...

Related articles

• John DeCock: Clean Water -- A Basic Human Right (huffingtonpost.com)
• Access to clean water is most violated human right | Maude Barlow (guardian.co.uk)
• UN declares right to clean water (bbc.co.uk)

Steps To Go Third World

3 world countries in Africa are considered 3rd world, because of lack for water. Which means everything in our global economy. If you have oil it means nothing unless you have water to get it. You need water for agriculture. You need lakes or shores for fishing and tourism. If you have none of these you country is doomed to go third world. European countries don't have as much water as North America does, but they have a substantial amount, while African countries have none or extremely minimal. Yet the U.S is allowing companies to pollute lakes rivers and ocean by allowing companies to leak toxic into the water. 40% of rivers and 46% of lakes in the U.S are too polluted to swim, fish or allow animals to survive. The U.S might be heading third world if it doesn't stop allowing companies to pollute in any river they want. Many places in the U.S are trying to preserve there rivers lakes for the future generation. We must make sure that we keep our lakes and rivers clean.
(note: even though rivers and lakes are polluted the tap water doesn't come from there as tap water is regulated to be clean and safe in the U.S)

Water is the New Oil.

In history we learn that many countries have wars, because of resources. In new France the resource was fur. In the last couple decades the resource was oil. Now in the future water will be the new oil. As the population in the world continue to increase which will make water the most demanded resource on earth even above water. Canada a country that has the largest supply of water will be in center stage of this shift in power. Canada may have to struggle with even higher immigration than we have today, and many countries across the world are going to be looking at Canada for the resource. The planet will shift and Canada will become the new Saudi Arabia for resource.

The Tar Sands: a Waste of Water

I've talked a lot about the enormous GHG emissions of the tar sands. However, the tar sands are also depleting our clean freshwater. The great majority of the tar sand sare located in the Athabasca region. It just so happens that the Athabasca watershed is situated in the same place. Naturally, bitumen, which IS the tar sands, needs to be refined, with a heavy use of water. It takes four barrels of water to produce every barrel of oil from the tar sands. This water is drawn from Canadian rivers.After the transformation of bitumen into oil, the water, along with many other "leftovers" of the process is dumped into tailing ponds that look something like this:

These tailing ponds are often quite close to the freshwater supply. Chemicals could easily leak into the drinking water of communities further downstream. Yet nothing is done about the waste and pollution of water that the tar sands cause. What we need is environmental taxes, to make sure that the polluters don't get away with wasting and leeching chemicals into our drinking water. Wasting and polluting water should not be tolerated, especially when the world will need more as we move into the future. Water should be used in a smart way, and not polluted. The tar sands are a prime example of those who waste water and it doesn't look pretty either.

Related articles

• Science & the Public: Tar sands 'fingerprint' seen in rivers and snow (sciencenews.org)
• River metals linked to tar sand extraction (nature.com)
• Tar Sands Projects Responsible for Water Pollution in Alberta's Rivers - Despite Industry Claims to Contrary (treehugger.com)

Water bottles vs. Tap Water

In north America many people don't want  to use city tap water, because it is "unsafe". So many people go for the alternative bottled water. In Cleavland they did a test between city tap vs. Fiji water bottle. What they found out is that tap water better quality and wins in a taste test. This is true across the country in the U.S where tap water is proven to be safer in most cases as it is more regulated and tastier than bottled water. People in the U.S buy more than 500,000,000 water bottles. Why? Because water companies are tricking people into think that tap water isn't safe, but the truth is that it is much better, and one third of all bottled water bottles is just filtered water from the tap. plastic that makes the bottle comes from oil and with 500,000,000 bottles of plastic that is enough oil and energy to fuel a million cars. The reason oil prices are going up is because we waste oil on plastic bottles we use once. Water bottles are the biggest waste of two dollars and our environment. Unless you live in an area where the water isn't really safe, because of polluting industries like the water bottled industry you should always try the tap.In North America we need to push against water bottles and try to ban them from our lives.

Blog Action Day is Today

Blog Action Day is is today! Throughout the day, the Happy Wanderer will post eight posts about water around the world. We hope you enjoy this as much as we will.
Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Montreal's going Green.

In Montreal the mayor Gerald Tremblay has put out his new green plan for the city. In Montreal we are going way beyond our provinces GHG emission reduction. Reducing 30% of the GHG by 2020 rather than the Quebec 20% by 2020. Both these targets are great, and are very ambitious. With more cycling opportunities renovating buildings to be more energy efficient and much more. Quebec is moving forward while Harper is taking us back with his so called "Eco plan" he wants to increase green house gasses from 1990 levels up by 2% by 2020. A disgraceful agenda, and I bet if he doesn't even reach that he will blame Quebec.

OECD Supports Carbon Taxes

A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says that environmental taxes are good! Their paper says that these kinds of taxes encourage innovation while discouraging polluting the environment. And this is coming from and organisation focused on developing the economy. This is even more proof that carbon taxes will not hurt the economy; in fact, this report proves the opposite. A carbon tax will improve the economy by innovation in new technologies and the refinement of old ones. The benefits to a carbon tax are clear: it's cheap and easy to set up, predictable from year to year, decreases pollution, and encourages innovation. What other tax does all this? The time has come for a carbon tax.

Environmental taxes -- such as carbon taxes on CO2 emissions -- are an effective way to clean up pollution while lighting a fire under technological innovation, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The report, which considers case studies from Japan, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Sweden, is unabashedly enthusiastic about environment-related taxes.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

Conservatives' Obsession with Liberals

When Harper is in a fix like people who ask him about the environment or the gun registry. It is never his fault for anything when he says he isn't going to even attempt Kyoto or any where even close he says It is because of Liberals how did nothing on the environment. When the gun registry vote doesn't go his way blame the Toronto elites. When Canada losses the UN seat blame the liberals, because since the binging of the UN Canada has won the seat every time since, and when we lose it for the first time it isn't the conservatives fault.  When the economy does well it was all because of the conservative plan. Not the fact that the Liberals left him with a surplus to waste, and an economy that was growing and prospering while the U.S was sinking little by little. The Harper agenda made us lose the UN seat, our surplus and our time.

Related articles

• Michael Ignatieff framed by Conservatives | Colin Horgan (guardian.co.uk)
• UN failure fits into 'increasingly damaging narrative' for Tories (theglobeandmail.com)

Security Seat Lost

Canada did not get the UN Security Council seat. We withdrew from the race after failing to get the required votes in the second round. As planned, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon blamed Ignatieff for the loss. But Robert Silver says it's Harper's loss. Since he made this a priority, and now Canada didn't get a seat, Conservatives are starting to claim that the UN is corrupt as they have always. This is going to reflect badly on the government.

If any Canadian woke up this morning still under the mistaken impression that Stephen Harper is some kind of political strategic genius, surely to God the results of the UN Security Council vote has put that once trendy canard to rest once and for all.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

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• Canada quits race for UN Security Council seat (calgaryherald.com)

Blog Action Day

Blog Action Day 2010 is Friday, October 15. The subject this year is water. Almost a billion people on this planet don't have access to clean drinking water. There are many different issues covering water. The Happy Wanderer is participating in Blog Action Day 2010. We hope you register your blog too! Register here. Sign the petition supporting clean water for everyone here.
Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.
Join the global conversation around water on October 15th.

Out of the Mirage

The United Arab Emirates have decided to kick Canada out of Camp Mirage, a stopover point for Canadian troops going in and out of Afghanistan. After no agreement was made on the issue UAE decided to ban Defence Minister MacKay and General Natynczyk from ever flying through UAE airspace. This is an insult towards our country. It's not like the minister poses a threat to their country. This act will just cause more tension between the two countries.

However, as a Liberal MP suggested, there might be a last minute solution. Canada should persuade UAE to accept a "six-month cooling-off period." After tempers on both sides have cooled down, we could enter negotiations without hot heads. The government should try really hard to keep this base.

The United Arab Emirates abruptly ended years of collaboration with the Canadian Forces on Monday, forbidding Defence Minister Peter MacKay and his top general from even flying over the country on a return trip from Afghanistan.

The public rebuke flowed from a spat over Canadian landing rights for airlines based in the Gulf and will complicate the Canadian Forces’ exit from Afghanistan next year, officials and experts said.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

Related articles

• Canada troops to leave UAE base (bbc.co.uk)
• Canadian military leaving Dubai base: MacKay (thestar.com)

Conservatives cuting in the wrong places

The Conservaive Government is fiscally responsible when it comes to destroying are rate of successful information, And is completely crazy when it comes to giving more and more money to oil companies. Stats Canada is now taking off 7 surveys, because they must meet budget cuts. The total savings is 7 million dollars that won't even make a dent on the 55 billion dollar deficit in fact it will contribute to reduce it by 0.001%. Now I understand that making cuts during a deficit is important, but we need important information from stats Canada, and I think that scraping the long term census made already a big dent on information. Now Harper wants to destroy more information.

Related articles

• Economic update to expose Harper government's budget dilemma (thestar.com)
• StatsCan cuts more surveys to meet budgetary demands (theglobeandmail.com)

NRA supprts the Republicans and Demorcrats!

In the U.S the National Rifle association a pro gun group has always been maybe seen as a right wing group, but would you be surprised to know that in the past in 2004 the NRA endorsed Harry Reid the democratic majority leader. This year the NRA doesn't support Harry Reid, because he supported the two judges Obama picked. The NRA feels that Obama picks where to anti gun. In the house of reprensentitives the NRA supported 64 democrats for reelection while still supporting 200 republicans. 30 of those democrats are in swing areas where the Democrats are going to need to win to get the Majority of the house. Why would the NRA support Democrats?Well many Dem's in the house voted with the NRA in many tough votes even against Obama, And the NRA wants to support them for there tough votes with them as if they don't they might lose some votes in the next house. The NRA isn't as partisan as we all might think it is just partisan on the issue of the 2nd amendment, and has stated that any candidate that supports or believes strongly about the second amendment would get there support. If the Dem's win the house Ironically Obama should thank the NRA for that.

The gun-rights group has endorsed over 200 Republican candidates for Congress, but it has also endorsed 64 Democrats – including a number of incumbents who Republicans believe may be vulnerable, like Chet Edwards in Texas, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in South Dakota, and Tom Perriello in Virginia.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the group has donated $169,500 to Democratic and $350,550 to Republican Congressional campaigns this cycle. Of the ten candidates who got the most, four are Democrats.

 Read more here 

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• Indiana Senate: Ellsworth Gets N.R.A. Backing (thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)

"Thou shalt not Attack Another Republican."(Reagan)

Reagan once made his own 11th commandment that "Thou shall not attack another Republican". Yet this year Republicans are fighting more and more against each other. All over the country Republican primaries where getting nasty against each other. In some cases like in Delaware the incumbent Republican said he won't campaign for the winner Christie O'Donnell. Now in Nevada a third party candidate is running with a tea party platform and is hurting Sharon Angle chances in Nevada. The republicans as some would say are taking a purity test to only get very right wing and expelling moderates from the party. John McCain a "maverick" almost didn't win against the the more right wing candidate. John McCain during the campaign has moved more to the right which some would say was the only way for him to win. With this so called "Purity test" some tea party candidates might win, and that could cause even more if possible partisan in Washington on Obama's agenda.

Related articles

• Reagan isn't allowed to be talked about in the 6th anymore (politics.nashvillepost.com)

Better Than Others

Another Tory MP thinks that he is better than others. Pierre Poilievre decided to skip the RCMP security check point at Parliament. This is the exact same thing as Helena Guergis. She threw a tantrum because she didn't want to wait in line. Same thing with Mr. Poilievre. He doesn't need to wait in line because he's better than other Canadians. If he respected us, he would wait in line, just like everyone else needs to. This guy is an embarrassment to Canada. In 2008, the Conservative suggested that natives were lazy the same day that Harper apologized for the residential schools. This man, who is parliamentary secretary, should resign from his post. He doesn't deserve it. He doesn't respect the same people who put him in his current position.

OTTAWA—In another case of bad behaviour by Conservative MPs, the controversial Pierre Poilievre is in trouble for blowing by an RCMP security check point on Parliament Hill because he didn’t feel like waiting.

Opposition critics are questioning what more the 31-year-old Poilievre, known around the hill as ‘Skippy’, has to do before Prime Minister Stephen Harper fires him as his parliamentary secretary.

 Read more at the Toronto Star.

Related articles

• Tory MP investigated over security breach (thestar.com)
• RCMP investigates Tory MP over security breach (ctv.ca)

Bush over Obama.

A new poll ask who would be a better president between Bush and Obama. Bush gets 45% and 47% goes to Obama. Now this is in the margin of error meaning it is a tie, but Maybe not very fair for Obama. Most presidents during there first 2 years of there presidency tend to have very low approval rating, and also as they say time is the best healer. That means looking at Obama they say he is doing bad, and forgetting what bush did. This happens to every president, and it causes that presidents party to lose seats every time. With the one exception of Bush, because that was the first election right after 9/11 and Bush's approval rating at that point went all the way up to 90% and slowly dipped back down.

And a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday also indicates in the battle for Congress, Republicans hold large advantages over the Democrats among independents, men and blue-collar whites. The poll also indicates that Republicans are much more enthusiastic than Democrats to vote.

Rea more at CNN. 

Related articles

• CNN poll asks "who's the better president": Obama 47, Bush 45 (hotair.com)
• Americans Split on Obama and Bush (politicalwire.com)

It's the Liberal Party's Fault

The Conservative Brainwashing squad is out in full force. Apparently, it's the because of the Liberals if we don't get the UN Security Council seat. So, if we do not get the Security Council seat, it's not because of what the Conservatives have or haven't done. It's because of those darned Liberals. This message won't get far at all. It is too farfetched to believe. Instead of blaming Liberals when we're not even in government, why don't they review the reasons why we didn't ge the seat if we don't. Then, we could arrive at the proper conclusion, not a partisan attack. Funny. The Foreign Affairs Minister said this.

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon suggested the Liberals were trying to scuttle Canada's chances of winning. Speaking to a group of foreign ambassadors in Ottawa, he accused Ignatieff in particular of being "unable to put the interests of this country above the interests of his political party."

"One of the few persons who believes that Canada should not sit on the Security Council, unfortunately, is the leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ignatieff," he said.

Read more at CBC.

Related articles

• Tories ready blame for a UN Security Council failure (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)
• Canada nervous about winning Security Council seat (reuters.com)

If Only Youth Voted...

Canada's Parliament would be completely different, if only youth voted. People aged 18-24 would elect a Liberal minority government with 104 seats and 23% support. However, the surprise starts now. The Conservatives would be reduced to 46 seats and 18% support. The Bloc would be the Official Opposition with 60 seats and a solid 40% in Quebec with the Liberals second, hovering near 20%. THe NDP would get 18% and 53 seats, and the Green Party would get 22% of the popular vote and 43 seats! This means that the progressive parties need to get the youth to vote in bigger numbers. Last election, only 37% of youth eligible to vote exercised their power. It is essential for the Canadian left to persuade these people, and a good source of support to vote for them. This would completely rupture the Conservatives, who in turn would lose a lot of support. Now imagine, 43 Conservative seats. We would become a role model in the world once again.

Canada’s youth would elect a Liberal minority government, with a substantial increase in representation for the New Democrats, Bloc Québécois, and Greens, according to projections based on recent polls of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24. The Conservative Party would be severely reduced, virtually wiped out east of Manitoba.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

Gay marriage more popular in the U.S

In the U.S only a few years ago Massachusetts and California were the only states that allowed same sex marriage. Then after the election of Barack Obama gay marriage got a hit by a bloc. Prop 8 passed and Gay marriage was no longer legal in the California. Then new hope came when states like Connecticut ,Vermont ,New Hampshire and Iowa. Then a judge in California saw that Prop 8 was unconstitutional and it might be replied. Anew poll shows that 42% of all Americans support gay marriage while 48% say they don't.Even though 42% support it only 5 states currently allow it, but in the future it might be better. A new poll shows that the younger a person is the more likely they support gay marriage, so soon the U.S will allow same sex marriage like Canada does.

Americans in the so-called Millennial Generation -- those born after the 1980s -- favor gay marriage by 53 percent to 39 percent, the poll found. Among those born between 1928 and 1945, just 29 percent favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, while 59 percent are opposed.

Among Democrats, 53 percent support legalized gay marriage, while just 24 percent of Republicans do.

 Read more here 

Liberal Family Care Plan

The Liberals have introduced a new Family Care plan. This will allow relatives to care for their own family without having to worry about money. This is not only good for caregivers who are always short on change, but also for our healthcare system. With family members able to provide care for each other without severe financial loss, the strain on our healthcare system will be greatly reduced. This is a great initiative for Canada. However, Harper has already changed the channel, saying that a picture of someone smoking in the brochure meant that the Liberals support smoking. That's classic Tory. Changing the topic to avoid their shortcomings. A good response to this excuse for an argument: Liberals care for all Canadians, whether they smoke or not.

Liberals believe family caregivers need to be cared for too. Canadians want choices when it comes to caring for their loved ones, and need help to ease the challenges of family care. That’s why we’ve proposed the Liberal Family Care Plan.

Read more at Liberal.ca.

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• Liberals pledge $1-billion to help families care for ailing relatives (theglobeandmail.com)
• Liberals unveil $1B home care plan (thestar.com)
• Michael Ignatieff and the vanishing cigarette (theglobeandmail.com)

The diffrence between "Tax and Spend" and "Fiscal Responsibillity".

We keep hearing from Harper that Ignatieff is a "Tax and Spend" Liberal, and that is why we should vote for the fiscally responsible Haper. Yes Harper has proven his fiscal responsibility again and again. By spending 2 million dollars for a fake lake, spending more money for a less reliable census and spending more money on prison and not preventions. While Ignatieff has went the pork and the waste.I think we might actually have it wrong. Harper is the recless spender yet he calls himself fiscally responsible? It seems that Ignatieff is the more fiscally responsible of the two of them.

Majority Support Long Gun Registry

A new poll carried out by Ipsos-Reid found that two-thirds of Canadians back the long gun registry. What's especially interesting is that the Conservative supporters are the most split on this issue. 53% want to scrap the long gun registry and 47% want to keep it. That's pretty close. But for Conservative voters, this is not an issue that will cause them to lose votes, except for in Quebec. As we can see in recent polls, the NDP is the big loser here, with Conservatives and Liberals using their not-whipped vote to gain support. This might not change things politically, but at least this confirms that Canadians want to hold on to things that define us as Canadian.

OTTAWA — Two-thirds of Canadians support the controversial long-gun registry and even voters who back Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are split on the issue, a new poll has found.

The national survey conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global Television finds that support for the registry stands at 66 per cent nationally. Moreover, support is strong in regions throughout the country — even though Harper has said his party will not "rest" until it abolishes the registry.

Read more at the Province.

Metro Contract goes to Bombardier-Alstom

The new metro cars are coming! But the story isn't that great. The National Assembly of Quebec is to adopt a special law designed just for this occasion so that the contract can be awarded to the Bombardier-Alstom consortium without calling for bidding. Of course, CAF, a Spanish company says they can provide the same metro cars for a cheaper price.

The CAF total would be $670 million, or about $550 million less.

CAF's Montreal spokesman Philippe Roy said this was enough for "a very, very big Colisee in Quebec City," referring the capital's desire for a new hockey arena.

However, the benefit to the consortium winning the contract is that there would be jobs remaining in our province. In my perspective, there should be bids: if Charest really wants Bombardier, I'm sure they could go lower. But the important thing is that the cars get replaced. Hopefully, the buffoons in city hall will change their mind and put AC on the new metro cars.
Read more at the Montreal Gazette.

Are Immigrants Voting Conservative?

According to this article in the Globe and Mail, yes. This is very surprising as the Liberal party has been THE party of immigrants since a long time ago. However, immigrants, are coming to Canada with more social conservative views. That means that there is more chance that the immigrants will ditch our Big Red Tent for the cold Tories. But, to make things better, the second generation of immigrants, born in this country are more progressive.

And though Helen Poon is giving serious thought to voting Conservative, her 12-year-old son, a proud cadet, has a very different view.

He came home from school one day urging her not to vote Conservative, Ms. Poon said.

In several years, it will be interesting to see what happens to Canada's political landscape. The Liberal party must continue to reach out to sell our message to the new citizens of this country.

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• Conservative immigrants boost Tory fortunes (theglobeandmail.com)

Nobel peace prize

The noble peace prize is being given out this week. The question I have is who is getting it this year? I think Oslo could do a bit better than Barack Obama last year. I think they should give it to someone who atually did something. I think there are many people who deserve this award who haven't been given it. Bill clinton for his attempt to make peace with the Olso agreement, and for his fund to help people in Africa and his call to help aid in Haiti.Bono for his efforts to help and aid Africa and maybe Oprah winfery someone who has helped people in troubeling countries has created a school in Africa for women and has donated lots of money to help people in need. I think any of these people deserve the peace prize and probably many more people. I do hope this year that they will award ay of these people who have done lots and shouldn't wait any longer for a prize they deserve.

Imam's Speech Cancelled

Defence Minister Peter MacKay has cancelled an imam's speech at National Defence HQ. This imam is the executive director if the Canadian Islamic Congress and according to MacKay, his organization's vies are too "extremist." The extremism being something a former executive director said six years ago and subsequently resigned from his position. As usual, the government does not show any respect for the facts. These comments, said six years ago, do not represent the organization. Not only this, but the imam only found out that his speech was cancelled when reporters called him. The Tories not only show disrespect for the facts but also to a Canadian. This is a continuing pattern, with Helena Guergis throwing her tantrum in the airport, Blackburn and his alcohol in an airport and even more. Disrespect for us Canadians should not be tolerated.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay has cancelled a public talk by the executive director of the Canadian Islamic Congress, saying his organization is too "extremist."

Read more at the Province.

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Tea party distroy's GOP chances

Ever since tea party candidates where winning primaries people have been talking about whether they would get elected. Well they may energize the very right wing base, but for the independents and the moderate left are being turned off. In Delaware Christie O'Donnell the tea party candidate won the primary and the first poll came out in Delaware showed she was behind by 15%. To be fair to the tea party O'Donnell has multiple scandals on her. Another example in NY. David Patterson left the government accused of corruption and very unpopular. His second in command ran for the job and now, because of the tea party candidate Carl Paladino  Andrew Cuomo is leading by 15%. In Kentucky Rand Paul the tea party candidate is tied 46%-46% in a state that voted against Obama by a margin 57% McCain to 41% Obama. In Nevada Harry Reid the democratic senate majority leader who is very unpopular ,because of his support of all Obama policies. He is tied with the tea party candidate rather being very behind like he was in the beginning. Now this may not be true is some areas,but the Tea party might guarantee the majority stay with the democrats.

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Enviromentalist groups can be crazy too!

I saw this ad on DR Roy blog and I have too say this ad is the definition of crazy. In the ad it starts with a teacher telling  her students if anyone wants to participate in going green. Then she ask who is going to participate. She then see's that two students don't want to, and says "no pressure". Then she clicks a button and the students who didn't to it blew up. Now this is absolutely crazy and am against 100%. I feel this ad is working against the cause and is showing people that they have to help the environment or they will get killed. Now I think we should ignore ads like this, and understand that they're are better environmentalist groups that are not so crazy, because we don't need another reason for people do nothing about the environment. The idea of helping the environment isn't hard, because if we all take an extra second to help the environment then we can help save the planet and the people in it.

watch ad here Warning this ad is very graphic.

Canada is Paying Off it's Debt.

Since the effects of climate change is caused by the more developed countries, and the effects of climate change occur in the more poorer nations the term debt has a new meaning. It is called our ecological debt. As we here in Canada pollute a CO2 that creates the effects of climate change on these nations then we are in a way responsible for them. Which means we are in debt to these nations for letting us pollute to make there lives harder. The Conservative Government is paying off this debt now. 400 million dollars is going to help developing nations like Haiti,Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. I find this a very genouruse gesture that I hope Haper continues.

Canada and other rich countries at last year's Copenhagen climate talks agreed to set up an annual $30 billion global pot for poorer nations to tap into.

— $20 million for the Least Developed Countries Fund;
— $10 million to improve climate research centres in Africa;
— $5 million for various climate-change initiatives in Haiti;
— $7 million for adaptation and food security in Ethiopia;
— $3 million for a Vietnamese climate program;
— $293 million for the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank that funds projects in developing countries;
— $40 million for a World Bank forestry fund;
— $5 million in various small-scale projects; and,
— $18.5 million for the Global Environment Facility.

 Read more here

First Nations Salaries Must be Public

A Conservative MP has introduced a private members bill that will ensure that the salaries of First Nations chiefs and councillors be made public, just like all other public officials across Canada. I actually agree with the goal of this bill. Canadians should be able to know how much their representatives are being paid and what public money is being spent on. However, this is not a replacement for the other actions that must be taken in First Nation communities. This would mean better access to education among other things. This is a good step forward, but it shouldn't distract from the actual problems in First Nation communities.

OTTAWA — A Conservative private member's bill proposes the salaries and expenses paid to First Nations chiefs and councillors should be publicly disclosed like those of all other elected representatives in Canada.

Saskatoon MP Kelly Block said if passed, her bill, introduced Friday, would result in greater "accountability and transparency" by making public all forms of remuneration paid to First Nations chiefs and councillors through federal government funds.

Read more at the Calgary Herald.

More Government Secrecy

On Thursday, an aide to cabinet minister Christian Paradis resigned after the Canadian Press found out that he had meddled in four access to information requests. Of course this is after the Tories said a ton on how ministers are responsible for their employees. For example, take the very minister said on ministerial responsibility.

Le principe de la responsabilité individuelle veut que les ministres soient comptables non seulement de leurs décisions comme chefs de ministère, mais également des actes de leurs subordonnés.

But the hypocrisy of the government here is not the issue. It's the recurring theme of this govenment keeping secrets from the public. The government is always behind on the release of documents and always controls which employees talk to the media and the subject. The facts that could come from the release of information is replaced by the Conservative lies. This will continue and worsen if the Conservatives stay in government.

Canada's information watchdog may widen an already lengthy probe into political interference following the abrupt resignation of an aide to a Conservative cabinet minister.

Sebastien Togneri tendered his own pink slip late Thursday after The Canadian Press reported he had meddled in at least four Access to Information Act requests.

Read more at the Toronto Star.

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