Trade Expansion

Posted on 2013/10/20 by danneau

Small, but effective, rogues’ gallery.

CETA: CEE TA look of Canada as it disappears off in the distance. This treaty has little to do with putting Canadians to work, and less yet to do with the prosperity of thee and me. It aligns us with the European Corporate Bureaucrats, meaning that everything will likely continue to get more expensive, and that control over pharmaceuticals and water will disappear entirely as the NAFTA-Chapter 11-style investor state relations clauses are invoked to override any sort of local control over economic issues. Along with the loss of economic autonomy goes the consequent loss of sovereignty as Canada slides to the bottom of the corporate client chasm. Harper, as usual, is sanguine in his expectations for the results of this agreement, as he is for the China-Canada FIPPA and the TPP, and well he should be as he ensures that the economic cupboard for Canada is entirely bare before he makes an exit for his beloved USA, where he counts on joining the winners’ circle in the economic game with the wealth and status conferred on elder statesmen and economic stooges.

And, no surprise, no one in the usual press sources has much to say about the downstream effects of this abomination, other than to mention changes in cheese quotas and the increased freedom of beef farmers to export into the EU (they don’t seem to have noticed that EU producers are already going down in droves in affluent jurisdictions as poorer Eastern producers undercut labour costs and sidestep inspections. Same old crap as FTA and NAFTA. Have fun, boys and girls.

Dissonance

Posted on 2013/10/08 by danneau

Heads up! Here comes the bullshit ball!

The feces seem to be splattering lightly off the blades of the fan in official circles as Canadian monitoring agencies appear to have hacked into servers in Brazil’s ministry of mines. First, Carol McNeil invited a former CSIS director to give his perspective, which predictably turned out to be a thin justification under the heading of a paper exercise where our boys were gaming a terror threat. Spin and damage control filled the screen with nary a challenge from Ms. McNeil. This was followed by a clip from Mr. Harper where he assured us that the government doesn’t share intelligence with private concerns, say, mining companies or energy consortia. It set off a bit of an alarm in that, quite recently, it was revealed that considerable government resources were being directed to the support of a series of energy projects as they move through the permitting process: if actions speak more loudly than words, we would have to assume that there is a good chance that the government is involved in wholesale industrial espionage for the benefit of Canadian business. This is surely jumping to a conclusion, but it’s plausible, and given the government’s record on truthfulness and forthrightness, there seems to be little that emanates from official Ottawa that is worth much trust. It’s particularly amusing to watch the crocodile tears over the damage to the relationship between the two countries (first think Embraer and Bombardier), and to absorb the faux contrition from Mr. Harper as he bemoans what will surely be a loss of faith in Canada’s goodwill. It’s like the husband who had a fling and got caught (no preemptive confession here) but assures his wife that it’s not official policy, or that it’s someone else’s fault. Too bad that the follow-on is likely to fall off the press cycle pretty quickly as back-channel chocolate and roses are laid on to patch up the marriage and ensure that business can go on as usual.

Investing In Their Future, Not Ours

Posted on 2013/10/06 by danneau

Get Some Of That Overseas Booty

Mr. Harper is crowing ( and I can’t even imagine Christie’s twisting and twerkings at this news) over the Petronas announcement that they will invest a total of $36 billion to build an LNG facility and associated infrastructure here in BC. Setting aside considerations of the fried planet with continued burning of fossil fuels, setting aside the devastation of hydraulic fracturing with its negative impacts of both land and water, not to mention the possibility of poisoning from sour gas, set aside the considerations of the corruption in the political and economic systems, and let’s talk about what investment really is in this context. Simply, it’s that we are unwilling to invest in our own economy, so we bring in the outside money, money that has a price. Not only does this take us back to the days of hewers of wood and drawers of water, it ensures that the best of the value generated by local activity ends up in Kuala Lumpur. This situation is particularly acute in the face of an administration that refuses to invest in a truly sustainable future by creating local capacity to employ our own citizens to provide for our own needs before we go off to look after the needs of shareholders in the international commodities market. For every $30 billion that comes into the country, we can count on that much leaving the country in short order, along with a premium for profit and the damage to the local landscape for which no one will be responsible under the current system of privatizing profits and socializing costs. Mr. Harper will just tell us to suck it up and either ignore what we can’t see or pay ourselves for his gifts to investors. My capitalist friend wags his finger at me and tells me that this attitude ensures that nothing will ever get built and that we will languish in the dark and twiddle out economic thumbs, that there is no prosperity without foreign investment. So far, based purely on my own narrow (but long time) observations, we’re headed that with the investors, so I don’t see that there’s a lot to gain. Saint Ronald Reagan’s Shining City On The Hill is a chimera populated only by those ranked bishop and above, or whatever the secular equivalent might be, leaving the rest of us to toil in obscurity and frustration. When investment becomes mostly local and supportive of people, I’ll be on board. In the meantime, I’m probably headed for some metaphorical equivalent of Lampedusa.

In The Night Garden

Posted on 2013/10/01 by danneau

My grand daughter used to watch a rather pointless television show called iIn The Night Garden, and example of which you can find here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYhb8h47CE

I was out planting the last of the garlic this morning and found this.

Calling Card

It’s about ten centimetres across, and is either from a very big dog, or, more likely, one of our local bears. We’re very careful about compost and we don’t leave fruit on the trees. This part of the garden is fenced, but bears hardly deign to recognize the existence of a fence. I went looking for the “deposit” type of calling card, but found nothing.

Meanwhile, here is what I brought in for Sunday dinner with the rest of the family. Grandchildren do love them some corn, and there seemed to be no difficulty in giving away some butter to go with it.

A Gathering

In addition, there remains a load of stuff to be harvested on an ongoing basis, some of it to be mulched and some to have tents for cover through the cold, rain, and snow, truly local food, which brings me to the subject of today’s venting: local food that isn’t.

A recent labeling decision by the provincial government defines as local anything that comes from this province, meaning that food from the Peace River area is now local to Vancouver Island, a notion so patently absurd that it could only have come from the kind of government currently occupying the throne. This is the kind of drek that allows supermarkets to advertise local food that patently isn’t local, and who’s to tell the difference? It represents further cheapening of language by removing any sort of precision from the meaning of key terms so as to keep maximum hold on all aspects of the economy in the hands of Jimmy Pattison. There have been many attempts to water down the idea of organic culture, and it’s getting to the point where organic will be impossible because there will be so much genetic pollution in the seed pool that there will be no organic feed nor fertilizer, meaning there will be no organic food in the real sense, but who knows what Christy lark, Stephen Harper and Jimmy Pattison (or any of the Westons, or others of that ilk) will be able to call organic and actually have people believe.

Finally, and after this I’ll go do something constructive, I promise, in response to a Facebook post by Denis Olsen, I posted this video link of Albert Collins playing with Lonnie Mack and Roy Buchanan. Check out where Collins attaches his capo!

Collins, Mack and Buchanan

Two Teles and a V

Send In The Clowns

Posted on 2013/09/30 by danneau

Un Clown pet en cacher un autre!

Had a chat with a friend about how Berlusconi can send the whole Italian government down the crapper when he, and probably a good number of his colleagues ought to be locked up and forgotten. Yet somehow, he retains office and influence al out of proportion to his contribution to society: some folks there seem to identify with him even though they are most likely among his victims.

Loose lips, and all that.

Of course the Italians have no corner on the idiocy in politics market, and a swing through Washington these days is likely to be good for a few guffaws before the spate of tears that must inevitably follow, given the consequences of the lack of substantive action in the face of impending disaster. It’s not just Ted Cruz reading Dr. Seuss (you can almost hear the Seussian spirits gagging in the next dimension), but the whole notion that the peoples’ business can be stopped dead in its tracks by the collection of louts that sits in those august chambers is beyond ridicule and goes a long way toward explaining why nothing has been done about climate change, about oil spills and the devastation of water resources through tracking, the sacking and pillage of the economy by the sponsors of said louts, who mostly hail from Wall Street, the crisis, not only of health care, but of health itself, brought on by our inability to tell ourselves the truth about diet, medication, exercise and the spare parts philosophy of care.

Innocent-looking fellow, don’t you think?

Caped Cruzader? Cruz Missile? Here is another man whose message is hidden behind the rhetoric of individual freedom. The unstated and sinister part of the message is that he protects his own freedom to plunder at the expense of the freedom of millions of fellow citizens, and he has a lot of company.

It’s everywhere: the Olympic torch has left Greece headed for Sochi, for a winter pageant to be held in a place with a sub-tropical climate, and where the vultures have moved in to boost the cost of hosting the event to something in the $50 billion range, according to recent reports on CBC news.

The government in Ottawa is removing the culture of medicinal marijuana from small operations run by individuals and is putting it in the hands of large corporate concerns. It will be interesting to see if the Bronfman clan gets in on the action. This looks from the outside as an invitation to graft and corruption where the current group in Ottawa are running like hell to catch up to the crew in Washington.

Go find a copy of Stephen Bruton’s song “The Clock”: it’s ticking, you can hear it every time you contemplate the direction set by leaders in all levels of political and corporate governance. What did Frank Zappa say about stupidity? That there’s more of it in the universe than hydrogen, and that it has a longer shelf life….

More Misdirection

Posted on 2013/09/26 by danneau

This pic is from:
http://suttonhistoricalsociety.blogspot.ca/2011/08/small-town-newspaper-news-opinion.html

Small town newspapers can be charming, a little quaint, terribly parochial and downright ridiculous when they try to be something other than a small town paper. Our local paper is right in line with most of this: they’re essentially a mouthpiece for the local chamber of commerce types, heavy on gossip and filler from sources from farther away, including most of the editorials, pretty much all of which parrot the editorial stance of the parent company, that being, don’t risk annoying anyone who might buy advertising, and besides, we want to be on the side of the economic winners. I’m saying this for a couple of reasons: 1) it’s very difficult for dissenting opinions to get published, even in the letters section of the editorial page, and, once labeled a dissenter, nothing gets into the paper, even completely non-controversial material relating to community cultural activities, and 2) anything is an excuse to sling more advertising, in whatever guise it may appear.

As to the first reason, I was a little taken aback to hear my wife mutter something about having the wrong last name in response to some item she thought ought to be highlighted in the letters column, and that she was going to write. I guess some of the bitter tone might have been directed at me for pissing off the powers that be, but she was also certainly lamenting the difficulty of getting anything with our last name past the gatekeepers at the editorial desk. I guess that might have something to do with my writing here occasionally, and in full knowledge that it’s about as likely to be read as it would be in the local paper, with the one consolation that it isn’t likely to be a bed for budgie droppings or a wrap for dead fish.

But here’s the killer: yesterday was deemed Raise-A-Reader Day to promote literacy, and the town notables were on the street soliciting donations for local literacy initiatives but, strangely, handing out copies of a rag from the bigger town 80 kilometers to the South and East (said paper being in some foo-doo for a second incidence of publishing material deemed by local First Nations to be blatantly racist). As well, the local had an insert devoted entirely to supporters of literacy, with a few nice pictures, a little bit of text and captioning, but you’ll have intuited that most of the space was taken up by advertising for those staunch business supporters of literacy who, coincidentally, would like us to drop by and leave behind some cash, while we’re at it. My literacy training tells me that there’s a lot less interest in literacy than in business, and I keep wondering why I deem it my civic duty to subscribe to the local paper, because, frankly, I only get from it the gloss that tells me what the parent company wants me to think is news. Newspapers are becoming irrelevant because they are patently not what people want them to be, or at least need them to be, that is to say, distributors of information and forums for real debate. Perhaps time to let the subscription lapse and redirect the funds to real journalists. Just as an example, have a look at Bob Mackin’s piece about the same event under discussion here:

http://2010goldrush.blogspot.ca/2013/09/raise-reader-rouse-adman.html

Planting Seeds

Posted on 2013/08/12 by danneau

Why is it that the Hupacasath First Nation seems to be the only group in Canada willing to make some noise about the China-Canada Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, a sort of NAFTA on steroids that would strip all Canadians of the right to do business in the interest of local, regional, provincial or national well-being, that well-being to be sacrificed on the altar of corporate profits? A story from the CBC outlines the concerns that the Port Alberni/West Coast First Nation has about lack of consultation and the potential impact on the 300-member group (does this sound like something out of The Mouse That Roared?), with the understanding that these impacts will equally affect all Canadians. The agreement is essentially a complete surrender of sovereignty and a charge toward economic oblivion, yet Canadians can’t seem to get terribly worked up about this latest attack on Canada from within, courtesy of the Harper government, with the connivance of sundry provincial administrations, a bought off press and a distracted citizenry. Pretty sad stuff.

A Clear(-cut) Case, or, Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Posted on 2013/08/10 by danneau

News footage showing the gathering around a roaring fire when there is a burning ban in effect doesn’t arouse a great deal of sympathy, and the media don’t o much to paint a positive picture of those traveling to join the host. There are legitimate concerns about the park resources being overwhelmed and about some of the folks being insanely unprepared for conditions at the northern end of Vancouver Island. The sad fact is that there aren’t likely a lot of communities hereabouts that would offer an alternative without some up-front money for services and damage deposits, funds unlikely to be forthcoming from the Rainbow Family. I guess, since this gathering won’t inject millions of dollars into the local economy, that most communities would rather they just not hold the gathering at all, even in the case where people might approve of some of the RF outlook. So BC Parks Service has closed Raft Cove Provincial Park and will station personnel on site to ward off any new arrivals. Cited as reasons for the closure were concerns about public safety, specifically that of the campers who seemed ill-prepared for the hardships they would face. There were also worries about damage to a sensitive local environment.

However, it might seem somewhat hypocritical of the authorities in light of what is a major part of the activity that sustains communities all up and down Vancouver Island, and the manner in which that business gets conducted (see below).

The Town Isn’t The Only Thing Being Burned

Posted on 2013/08/07 by danneau

Ring Of Fire

MM&A today filed for bankruptcy protection. This is the legal was of the principals in a company walking away from the consequences of acts brought on by the actions of their company. This is the result of laws defining limited or non-public liability. The shareholders may or may not have done well with this outfit,I suspect management did all right, the railroaders probably made enough to get by, but perhaps not enough to be really committed to the job and the company, but the people of Lac Mégantic are going to be left holding the bag, along with the Province of Québec and the citizens of Canada as a whole. The whole system works in favour of the investing class and, unless criminal responsibility can be established, it seems reasonable to assume that the railroaders will be looking for work, the shareholders will get what value hasn’t already been sapped out of the corporate structure, and the mucky-mucks will join some of their other friends on another corporate management team. It seems unlikely that there will be much left to pick over by the residents, either through compensation or lawsuit, and I wish them the best of luck dealing with the insurance folk. Any time anyone who has worked in management says the words “transparency” and “accountability” you can bet that they are talking about what they get from others. Make no mistake, this ought to be construed on several levels as a criminal act, it’s just that there will be no culprit because the law forgives MM&A its trespasses before they’re ever committed, if I read the signs right. Read Greg Palast.

Update:

Please have a look at:

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/08/lac-megantic-survivors-get-victimized.html

A Sad Commemoration

Posted on 2013/08/06 by danneau

Necessary?

Agugst 6, 1945:

Talk about your revised baselines, how about a world without nuclear weapons and the attitudes they represent. People will invent all manner of deviltry, often because someone else might otherwise do it first, and once something is invented, of course, it has to be tried, not just in the New Mexican desert, but, what the heck, let’s let it loose on a real city. What the heck, we’ve already firebombed Tokyo with a cool 100,000 casualties, why not go for the whole enchilada. Anyone less than 70 years old has lived his whole conscious life under this cloud, and we’re piling on even more disastrous potential with each passing year. There’s something seriously wrong, and we can’t seem to even contemplate the solutions.

Have a nice day.

Rub Eyes, Shake Head

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Category Archives: Biosphere