Thursday, May 15, 2008

People Power vs Big Oil

We have the power to put greed out of business. Really, all it requires is focus and determination.
The oil companies are recording record profits again as the rest of us struggle to get from A to B.
Exxon Mobil (Esso) had profit in 2007 of 40 BILLION dollars! No American company has EVER had a higher profit. Chevron recorded 18.7 billion. The others in the big five are close behind.
We're all waiting for the US Congress or the Canadian parliament to start looking at this and DO something. Anything. There is talk of regulating oil revenues to these greed mongers. Talk, I said.
Part of the problem is that for every dime in increased cost at the pump, the government gets a huge windfall in tax money! So they are spurred to INaction. But do you believe you get any of that cash back in tax breaks? You can bet the oil companies do.
So what can WE do? Us humble people out here in Let-Em-Eat-Cake land that the power people have no affiliation with?
Well we can't put them all out of business by NOT buying gasoline. But wait .... we CAN do something. We could put ONE company out of business.
How would that work? Well, for instance, you don't need an Esso card for your gas, you only need your Visa, Mastercard or debit card. So you ARE free to buy wherever you like. And to NOT buy wherever you like.
Let's target Exxon with their 'obscene' profits. Did you know that to date they still have not paid the reparations for the Exxon Valdez oil spill? Hmm, that's arrogance. Of course they have friends in the US and Canadian Governments to protect them from things like fines and scrutiny.
Yet they are not protected from YOU! The guy or gal who is trying to pay for kids' clothing and groceries and house payments.
You COULD just pass the Esso station and go to the next one. No one gas is better than the other in spite of PR spin about 'additives'.
They'd drop prices for a bit, and if you succumbed and went back, they'd just laugh at how fickle you were and the rich shareholders would grin their sly grins and rub their manicured hands together.
But if you decided that NO way would you buy at Esso no matter what! And were prepared to see it through. The impact would be felt immediately.
And it would be NEWS! You'd glom onto a nationwide pride and the feeling of power to fight back. Who would you be hurting? Poor rich shareholders and executives with million dollar salaries and hundred dollar haircuts. And the big oil Goliath! Mmmm sweet.
Imagine just for a minute the news item that Exxon Mobile was suffering huge losses as their stations remained deserted. You'd go home at night and tune in the stock market news that you never watched before just to grin at your new found power. "Esso closes 10 more gas stations! Company President fired!" Would that be the definition of glee or what?

It probably won't ever happen, but what a thought to dwell on while you sit idling in traffic and plan to cancel your holiday this year.

It's people power and we have it right now. It only needs awakening. Action. And it'd be fun too, wouldn't it?
Grab your power.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Blackwater Canada

The public inquiry continues over the issue of taser use and the effects of the weapon. Spiked of course by the death of Robert Dziekanski. One wonders if Paul Pritchard will appear. He is the man who videoed the entire scene. (check the link for his view)
The oddity of this inquiry into Taser use so far, is the fact that our Transit Police, on the verge of becoming notorious, have REFUSED to appear.
These police are a new force. We formed them to protect Sky Train passengers from the drug dealers who frequent the stations. We allowed them to have guns. Then someone allowed them to have tasers. Somewhere along the line they have become totally independent of public scrutiny and input. They have been known to actually taser fare evaders who are running away! They are now much like the arrogant private Blackwater Troops in the US, who, at gunpoint stopped Katrina victims from reaching high ground in New Orleans. The transit police are evidently running their own show, apart from government control. Is staying away from the inquiry their choice? The lawyer for Dziekanski's mother is disgusted by this and has publicly wondered who is in charge and accountable?
Our police are morphing into an American Blackwater style force with disdain for the public and we seem to have lost control. Perhaps it goes to the mentality of people who want to be policemen. Is it a chance to be a uniformed criminal? Are they now closing ranks against the public?
Should we beware of our local police? Has the phrase 'to serve and protect' taken on an entirely different meaning? Should they add the word "ourselves" to that phrase?
Something ominous happening here.

This is just the inquiry into Taser use, wait until the actual inquiry into Dziekanski's death starts, then you'll see the real cover-up! Check out the next link - - -

Paul Pritchard on who killed Dziekanski -
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taserrelease.html?ref=rss

82 year old man tasered in hospital bed -
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/08/bc-kamloops-man-taser.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a16:g12:r1:c0.00473053

RCMP brainwashed by taser company -
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/13/bc-080513-taser-inquiry-webster.html?ref=rss

Monday, May 12, 2008

Business first - always

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is about to make a ruling. Whether polar bears should be placed on the 'endangered species' list. We know the bears have already been categorized as doomed because of global warming and the fact that they hunt from ice floes which could no longer exist in the near future.
Companies are contesting the ruling because of 'business' interests. Northern communities make lots of money by guiding American hunters to the polar bears, charging $30,000. to shoot one. An endangered species ruling would also influence the oil and gas exploration business in the north because of laws which would be enacted regarding roads, installations etc. and protected habitat.
ONE of the reasons we have all those toxic toys and poisonous products coming from China, is because business was first when American and Canadian companies, like WalMart needed to import cheap goods. Of course those companies didn't stay in China to ensure that the products they contracted for were made under our strict laws for safe consumer products.
The same thing is happening with edible food from China and South America and elsewhere. These countries could use all the DDT they wanted and no one from the importing company is 'in the field' to protect Americans and Canadians and their kids. Children are already testing positive for chemicals that are not used by North American farmers!
Do you trust the beef industry in Canada OR America to tell you the truth about Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Mad Cow disease? The US is presently involved in a trade agreement with South Korea and one of the RULES of the trade pact will be that Korea MUST allow free imports of American beef and CANNOT STOP importing even if Mad Cow is found in US beef! No wonder the Korean people are afraid. And if they go about it like here in Canada, they'll not tell them what actually IS US beef!
Did you know that all those greenhouses that grow hothouse tomatoes for us actually IMPORT tomatoes from other countries while our season is too cold to grow and package them and RELABEL those tomatoes as 'Product of Canada'! Business over truth, of course.
Dow Chemical recently had Mary Gade, a regional EPA official in Chicago removed from her post because she continued to pressure Dow for dumping dioxins into rivers! (if you're not up on dioxins, they cause cancer and immune system problems in humans) She did her job and got fired for it without a whimper from government. Business first, as always.

It might be only a matter of a short time before there's a picture of a great white hunter standing over a great white bear with the proud inscription, I shot the last polar bear!
Business first as always.

update: I was wrong! Hooray for America - Under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act the polar bear has been classed as a 'threatened species'. And as such the trophies cannot be imported into America. Furthermore, the decision means all U.S. federal agencies now have to ensure nothing they do jeopardizes the bears' survival or the sea ice on which the bears live. However the fight will probably start from private concerns now. Hunters especially.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Arthur Griffiths - entrepreneur par insolence

It is rumoured that Arthur Griffith is about to become political. And run for a Liberal seat in the Provincial government for Premier Campbell.
Another star in the Liberal cabinet alongside the illustrious former judge Wally Opal, who has become a true politician now and even ignores the law; and the beautiful at any age, Carol Taylor, whose $600 budget shoes flaunt the poor as she brings in new figures to govern the let-em-eat-cake citizenry.
Arthur Giffiths, the son of the late and respected Frank Griffiths, who once owned the Vancouver Canucks and GM Place, the Vancouver Grizzlies and the money machine, CKNW radio. Hockey fans will recall lil' Arthur as the interfering and unknowledgeable Canucks executive who had no idea of hockey or team management until his Dad called him off and gave him pencils to sharpen.
Well the history of Arthur is that Frank died and Arthur took over the control of the empire. He promptly lost control of the Vancouver Grizzlies. Then he lost the Vancouver Canucks. And GM Place. And finally, the asset that made the sports empire possible in the first place, CKNW advertising radio! Arthur still does talk shows and is actually asked his opinion by the bozos at stations like Team 1040! Money impresses some.

So ... lil' Arthur will now join the Liberal government and be put in charge of something. That record speaks for itself already - Gordon Campbell lost BC Rail, BC Hydro, BC Gas, BC Ferries to foreign management or ownership. What can we expect in the future if Arthur gets elected?
Get ready to have Vancouver Island sold to Taiwan? Maybe he'll sell off Whistler to the Japanese. Don't they already own everything up there anyway? Maybe sell Victoria to the Americans and they can paint the parliament buildings pink? Arthur is well programmed to be in a job where he loses everything. Besides it's Liberal government policy!
If Gordon has any semblance of feeling left for British Columbians, (don't wait for it) he'll put Arthur in control of using all that beetle infested dead wood in our forests to make blue pencils for Carol Taylor and erasable signatures for Wally Opal.

The BC Pencil Corporation would be a good fit for a man who isn't the sharpest pencil in the box.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Olympic uniforms for who?

Canada's Olympic athletes will wear red and white uniforms decorated with a fusion of Canadian and Chinese symbols at the Beijing Summer Games.
Canada has just unveiled it's 2008 uniforms for our athletes. Take a look. Made in China of cotton and BAMBOO! The orange colour of those jammies is of course, a Chinese red, nothing to do with the colour of our flag.
The fashion director at the Bay, Suzanne Timmins, thinks they're cool because they have something to do with the number 8, which is a lucky number for Chinese people. I have NO idea why she wants the Chinese to be lucky with our attire.
It's almost like someone at Vannoc went to a buddy and said, "Look, get your kid to draw up something and we'll lose the money in China. I've got lots to spend on Olympic stuff, if I get you the contract, what's in it for me?"
Well don't look askance at me, no one does that to their country without a sneaky intent and that is for sure a first timer design.

Our own 2010 Winter Olympic logo features an image from the Northwest Territories, the Inukshuk was designed by newly arrived Mexicans who researched English Bay and thought the Expo 86 leftover was a BC emblem. And then Vannoc went to China again for those cute? lil ugly? Chinese characters.

No wonder the Tibetans want rid of the Chinese, they have no fashion sense.
Of course we also have to keep in mind that the Bay, our revered Hudsons Bay Company, is now owned by an American named Zucker. And maybe he's recalling how we showed up the Americans a few years ago when Roots did us proud with clothing. They immediately hired Roots themselves! Zucker has now done what he could to make us look bad. Psychologically. Really. Look what the yellow 'Bumble Bee' design did to the Canucks!
The designers say they consulted with 50 Olympians. Who? The Jamaican Bobsled Team and Eddie the Eagle? One can suppose that the designer was hanging with Ross Rebagliati and inhaled some foul mind bending air by mistake.
Canada 2006

I think to watch any of our athletes competing I'll need a puff or two myself, and maybe some nice orange coloured cheezie munchie snacks!