Shuffling a Cabinet with Half a deck

It’s quite amazing that the Conservative Party of Canada has such little depth of skills in its caucus that it just keeps moving the same damaged goods from one fuck up to another. Raitt was a total disaster at natural resources failing to handle the Chalk River Isotope Crisis, so is she gone? Nope, just demoted to the wasteland called labour!

Ambrose who failed at the Environment (which MP hasn’t) has done her required penance in Labour, (a nothing ministry especially in a Conservative government), now has the chance to screw up Public works a Ministry that controls billions in contracts. Of course they might simply be throwing Ambrose to the wolves should the investigation into the Federal Auction site blow up. After all we know the Cons suspect all women of being nothing more than a left wing fringe group. ( Personally I think he’s still pissed with Belinda!)

Peter Van Loan who is a general failure as a human let alone a minister slinks over to Trade so Day can move to Treasury. This is ominous as Day in Treasury screams of coming cuts.

Keith Ashfield adds Atlantic Gateway responsibilities to his existing Atlantic Canada Opportunities portfolio in order to give Peter MacKay more time to redact documents over at Defence. That’s good; Petey was looking a little worn out.

Overwork seems to be dragging on many of the Ministers as seen by the resignation of Greg Thompson, the minister of Veterans’ affairs. I don't get it, we generally treat our veterans like shit how hard can that be for a Conservative? Just keep ignoring them, that’s hardly a challenging job Greg!

Of course Rob Moore must be very pleased that his outstanding credentials of living in New Brunswick elevated him to the elite status of Minister of Small Business and Tourism

So what else?

We have Vic Toews to Public Safety
Christian Paradis to Natural Resources
Blackburn to Veterans affairs

All in all this shuffle is a typical conservative square dance where partners were changed but the tune remains the same. Unskilled, crass and indifferent to the voters in one ministry will still be unskilled, crass and indifferent in a different ministry. Out of the 145 Conservative MPs is this really the total extent of skills this government can access? Just this last session they had to use a Senator to fill one of the ministries.

I would like my Newmarket Aurora readers to note that if our Glorious MP Lois Brown is not capable enough to be rise above this group of has-beens and never-weres, she's certainly not capable of representing us.

A perfect example of this lack of depth in caucus can be seen over at Accidental Deliberations A total waste of skin, the entire bunch of them.

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Newmarket Aurora Anti Prorogation/ Pro Democracy Rally

Well it looks like we are going to go ahead with our own rally in Newmarket Aurora despite the powers that be at Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament who originally thought we are too close to Toronto and Barrie to have our own event. I agree that we might pull oh 30-40 people from each of the other events, but I'm sure just as many people if not more will not go to any event if they have to travel an hour plus. There are a lot of small towns between Newmarket and Barrie and for people in King City, Maple, Uxbrigde, Stouville etc they might like to join our mid point rally rather than travel into Toronto.

Newmarket Aurora is a Conservative riding and we have an MP (Lois Brown) who is more than willing to follow the Conservative talking points while defending Mr. Harper's cowardly attempt to hide from the Afghan detainee issue. Mr Harper has shown nothing but his contempt for our Parliament and citizens despite running on honesty and transparency. I'm not even going to go into all the other things he's done to piss us off. Ms Brown, always the good little soldier does what shes told and so deserves her own share of the blame and her own little protest. I wonder if Ms Brown still considers The Economist to be her favorite publication now that it has labeled Prorogation as "Naked Self Interest"

Personally I believe that we need to look at the big picture and act locally. So a local rally we shall have!

I don't know all the details yet as we still have a planning meeting tonight but the rally will begin at 1 p.m. Jan. 23 at Newmarket's Market Square and, weather permitting, will continue on foot to Ms Brown's office at Mulock Drive and Bayview Avenue.

We are planning this as a safe, family friendly protest (so wackos stay at home), and anyone who wishes to join us, invite friends or offer support may do so at our facebook site

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Just a thought on resource depletion, emergency preparations and economic resilience!

Most people who've heard of peak oil accept that it is a real phenomenon. Many people also realize that with rising world populations, increased consumption and the growing affluence of Asia that there will be a great many commodities from food, silver, distillates, catalysts, chemicals, rare earths and energy that will come into short term or permanent shortage at some time in our near future.

It is my belief that the GPC needs new ideas that will not only work towards the reality of resource depletion by advocating reduced consumption but at the same time creating policy that will strengthen Canada's resilience to the economic shocks caused by possible shortages. With this in mind I think that the GPC should adopt policy calling for the creation of regional strategic stockpiles that work with industry to make sure that primary materials required for the smooth operation of Canadian economic engine do not run out due to short term market shortages, or environmental emergencies.

I would also suggest that strategic reserves of grains, emergency supplies, and vital infrastructure components should be created so that in case of something like a massive blackout, ice storm, solar flare, hurricane etc. important infrastructure like the power grid or water treatment system can be restored in a timely manner without relying on foreign deliveries or waiting for the manufacture of damaged equipment. I'm sure there are already some government and utility provisions in place for such events but with the combination of resource depletion and the expectation of more volatile weather from climate change these programs surely need to be beefed up.

Now I admit there is no way to hoard our way to prosperity but having a strategic reserve for for energy is something most counties have. We do not! Canada always makes excuses for itself because it’s so big and cold, all the more reason to have a stockpile so no one ends up freezing in the dark, NO?

In today's just in time delivery system a strategic supply of food is only sane considering grocery stores and the distribution system only have a few days of anything in stock.

A strategic supply of rare earths for example will not keep us in business if the world runs out but would certainly keep industry running during a short term delivery interruption and would also be a great carrot to entice manufacturing companies to set up shop in Canada. Rare earths are especially important to those Green Techs we claim we wish to support like the manufacture of PV units and wind turbines.

Precursor chemicals for common and wide spread drugs like thyroxin, blood thiners or increased stockpiles of insulin might also be wise.

This is not an over night project but something that would take the better part of decade to build up to. Consultation with industry, economists, logistics people and the prioritization of which materials to stockpile would be a project unto itself but certainly energy and food should top of the list.

We are also in a time when currencies are going wild, the possibility sovereign defaults are being openly considered and it might just make sense to put part of our reserves into something that is real, growing in rarity and vital for our economic engine rather than more U.S. T bills.Recommend this Post

Questioning our future

I had not intended to blog today but yesterdays proroguing of parliament along with the other issues like thwarting committee work, being in contempt of parliament for withholding documents, outright lying and of course the systematic and deliberate sabotaging of climate change talks brings me to these questions I’ve been refusing to ask greater blogdom because I’m afraid of where the answer lies.

When the will of the people is no longer relevant and the democratic system has for all intensive purposes failed what do we have left?

When citizens, soldiers, courts, traditions, parliamentary will, election watchdogs, international law, democracy and national image are no longer valued or respected by the very government charged with defending them how can we not surmise we’ve become a failed state?

When the government continues to act against our needs and desires by heaping on debt, embracing war, sabotaging international negotiations on climate change, pandering to corporate interest and ignoring health and environmental issues over tar sands and asbestos and many others too numerous to list how can you not expect civil disobedience and radical action to grow?

We’ve all seen how failed or unstable democracies either breed contempt, lawlessness and violent action from their citizenry or outright oppression of their citizenry; which path are we on?

What options do we have now? Is this enough to scare the opposition parties into a concrete agreement/collation/accommodation to squash this bastard?Recommend this Post

Food security: Ending the year on a downer

Unlike last year before the crash there’s been little talk about food shortages in 2009 but it's my belief that this will change by spring/early summer 2010.

There have been a series of crop failures world wide with China, Australia, and Argentina all suffering long term droughts which have severely damaged grain production. India not only had a poor monsoon season but also heavy winds and rain damaging crops in their other growing season. All these problems could cause food issues during any normal year but it would also appear that the USDA has been cooking the books on crop yields to keep prices in check; a great ploy when you know it’s only going to be a short term blip but in this case it could be the fraud before the famine.

This article from Marketsceptics.com shows that 2009 USDA corn and soy predictions (in most cases) not only went up from earlier in the year but are also above the 5 year average making it look like a bumper year, so what’s the problem? Well it seems that the USDA is ignoring its own data on counties that have been declared Natural disaster areas,(areas suffering 30% or higher crop damage). In fact the in the 30 days before the article was written a staggering 274 counties were added to the list. An additional 66 counties were added on Christmas Eve, I guess they figured people would be too busy to notice.

Some areas just barely qualify for the 30% damage criteria but other counties are virtualy destroyed, making the USDA predictions that much more suspect.

Despite all these declared emergencies there have been no modifications to the already overly optimistic crop estimates. Come next spring it will become obvious that these predictions were bogus when shortages in corn and soy will begin to hit the markets. There is also potential for shortages in wheat, rice, and other grains due to both the U.S. and foreign disasters driving food inflation through the roof. As we saw in 2008, food shortages will lead to higher prices, a rush to hoard, the banning of exports which lead to more local shortages and last but certainly not least civil unrest.

Read the whole article and judge for yourself if there are reasons to worry, but other people such as the National Inflation Association is also predicting food shortages and high prices plus I’ve been telling you that we’ve been one bad crop away from problems for several years.

This is just another wake up call for the move towards localization and food self sufficiency, get involved in a local food movement, a transition town group, Food Not Lawns; Something! Also don't forget that next years food shortages will inevitably turn into 2011’s retail seed shortage. I would suggest buying one the several garden kit packages being offered that give you a wide selection of seeds packaged for long term storage. Some of these companies offer both northern and southern garden kits giving you the varieties more suited for your climate. I think the best deals out there are these collections from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds
I wish these guys had an associate program I’d love to join.

These seeds can be stored and will maintain their viability for years to come giving you the opportunity to either save money now gardening or prepare for your future food security. Learn to save seeds from each years crop and the benefit will be perpetual. Don’t leave it until too late, one of the companies I’ve listed before and purchase some of my own survival seeds from a few years ago increased their sales volumes by several times and ran out of seed last season. Many people see this trend and are acting.


If you don’t know how to grow your own food I’d recommend this book on gardening small spaces and this one on Seed saving

Food shortages are inevitable as we move along the peak oil path but are not solely dependant on peak oil. We can and will face shortages in the near future and we need to adapt now because the end of cheap oil will only make them that much worse in the coming decade.Recommend this Post

Obama's Billions, all smoke and mirrors

In a grand gesture in Copenhagen the U.S. promised to back a fund that would by 2020, supply $100 billion dollars a year in aid for developing countries so they can adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change. Sounds good no?

Well, of course the devil is in the details, the EU had already suggested a fund of 100 billion Euros making the U.S. plan 40% less, that sucks

The plan calls for $100 billion a year by 2020. So speak up Hillary, how much is the U.S. putting in and how much does it expect other, imaginary donors to cough up?

$100 Billion a year is a goodly amount but this is the goal for 10 years down the road, how much is slated for use as Jan1 2010? Is there any money yet?

The statement that the money is for mitigation and adaption is a message to all that we are not going to even try to stop climate change, simply slow down the inevitable die off, or more likely funnel money to compliant governments so they can oppress their own people, and keep resources flowing to the west while the developing world starves, fry's or drowns

Who are these mysterious benefactors who will fund this venture. Canada, hell no!. Our government does not care for the planet, our international image, or the various brown peoples destined to suffer most.

Greece, not likely they are on the verge of civil unrest over internal debt, poor credit, EU demands to commit to austerity plans

Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan, UK, U.S are all suffering under huge government debts, low gov revenue, and for all but Japan real unemployment in the mid to high teens.

So who is funding this and when if ever will this fund actually get to it's promised $100 billion/year

It's obvious there is no plan on who, how and when , but lets say they do get off their asses and write the cheques; how will this money be used?


My bets include giant hydro dams and irrigation systems. These kinds of projects are rife with corruption, padding and opportunities to reward the usual corporate suspects who feed on the teats of government. Expect billions more of untendered poorly planned projects to be just dropped in Halliburton's lap.

Expect straight handouts to dictators to maintain order and resource deliveries to the west, or at least buy a new palace and Limo

Billions funneled to Monsanto to create new crops that require a great deal of fertilizer, pesticide, unavailable water and will be far beyond the means of the average subsistence farmer to afford.

Solar power plants built in North Africa, of course none of this power will be used to improve the lives of Africans rather it will be sent under the Med so that Europeans will not have to cut back.

I bet a whole bunch of money will be used to bribe poor country A to absorb refugees from poor country B as sea levels displace more people.

What obvious fiascos do you see for this money?

How should this money be used? (if it ever shows up)

First and foremost because of the time lag involved money must be used to promote the preservation of existing forests and jungles while starting massive tree nurseries to begin reforesting the developing world.

Money to eliminate or drastically reduce the use of wood and charcoal for cooking over an open fire. These are not new technologies and for a couple of bucks a person can build or buy a rocket stove or some other form efficient wood stove. A billion dollars could, using local materials and skills take 200 million families from open fires to rocket stoves that use 50%+ less fuel.. Other efficient stoves the the Jiko stove showcased on the BBC World Challenge this year can also lower fuel use by 50% or more and only cost $2-3. Create Solar Oven factories and those people in uber sunny climates can all but eliminate their need for tree fuel, add forestry projects we can move towards net increase in forest cover which will both mitigate local temperature increases, sequester Carbon, supply food and protect habitat and biodiversity.

Spend money to identify, breed and disperse local, open pollinated, drought and heat resistant seeds getting developing world farmers out of the Monsanto debt and reliance trap.

Livestock dido, parts of the developing world have bought into N.A. genetics and now have cattle and sheep that need insane amounts of water to live or produce milk, these breeds will not thrive in warmer or dryer climates.

Training in no till farming and the building of local reservoirs and sealed irrigation systems.

Education and health programs to both lower mortality and birth rates.

Small local power

The clay pot-in-pot evaporative refrigeration. A locally made clay device that allows those in hot dry regions to keep food longer , so even if yields drop from the heat decreased spoilage rates will make up for the difference.

There are many things that can be done with this imaginary $100 billion dollars a year but honestly, does anybody think they will bother?Recommend this Post

Conservative Christmas Gifts

For those having trouble buying for their favourite family Conservative this year, here are a just a few of our top choices.



Tin foil hats many styles to choose from



Life time supply of Cool aid Yummm!



A variety pack of Sharpies I hear Stockwell fans can't get enough of these bad boys


Peter Mackay has been very popular and newsworthy with Conservatives this year encouraging a great range of themed gifts for young and old

For stocking stuffers there are lots of great little gifts like a

new Rubber hose,



or battery cables.


If you’re buying for someone in the midst of redecorating their basement perhaps a more substantial gift like their very own

Iron maiden


or water board
These items are destined to become the focal point of any Conservative party.



There is even a home Waterboard game, great fun for all the little Cons



Don’t forget clothing! Can a Conservative ever have enough of these?

For those who admire John Baird (I hope they've been sterilized)


perhaps a dog collar



Or even a muzzle It even comes in conservative colours


I forgot a gift for Conservative closet druggies like Jaffer


A subscription to High times, I'm sure they probably send it in a brown rapper so the neigbours and mail carriers think its just raunchy porn.




A conservative foodie would love just love some


Athabasca marinated duck





If you're really loaded you can give someone a Pacific Island. This is the perfect Conservative gift because even after it sinks beneath the waves they’ll never complain about it, they'll even deny it ever happened. "How’s the Island?" , “Oh it’s great, we enjoy it so much, thanks so much for giving it to us”

Considering how much they've been giving it to us, it's only fair.

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