Brazil?

Someone said:

"Brazil is considered to have the world's first sustainable biofuels economy and the biofuel industry leader, a policy model for other countries; and its sugarcane ethanol "the most successful alternative fuel to date"."

Well, good for Brazil, cutting down rain forest to plant sugarcane. Solving one problem in this way is just creating others. Planting sugarcane cuts down on the world's capacity to produce food for one thing.  The cutting down of the rain forest also affects weather patterns, ground water levels, water purity and you would have to be dreaming in Technicolor if you believe that any of these changes are going to be beneficial.   We are destroying an ecosystem where only perhaps 5 % of the species residing there have even been identified.   
Humans can be compared to a person who has been bequeathed a fortune and is currently going through it like a drunken sailor. After it is all gone future generations will wind up the equivalent of living in a broken down mansion. Future generations of humans will have to learn to live on what a reduced-capacity world can produce on a year to year basis. Harper rather than showing leadership is saying, "I will only if you will." I don't blame him. He is only catering to weaknesses in our human character (and he knows it). It will be nice someday to have a leader who can lead and inspire. At least Dion tried!

Muslims

This post was provoked by the following article.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/swiss-minaret-ban-emboldens-europes-extremists/article1383413/

I think we have to remember that the problem is not ordinary Muslims but rather radical Muslims.

Attempts to marginalize Muslims is only making the problem worse especially against the backdrop of ordinary civilians being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Calling these deaths collateral damage, not even counting the dead, is to Muslims a denial that these people even existed, the ultimate insult to a Muslim.  No wonder we have radical Muslims.

The novel "Three Cups of Tea" about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan is well worth reading in this regard. 

Expansion of the Keppel Quarry

This post was initiated as a result of the following letter to the editor: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2176199
Basically, we have a company that wants to expand a quarry onto property that abuts a Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW).   Information on PSWs can be found here: http://www.greatlakesdirectory.org/GLAHNF_wetlands_packet/wetlands_fact_sheets/ON_fact_sheet.htm
As you can see from reading this, PSWs are not that well protected.  The point that I would like to make is that it is not enough to protect the wetland itself because its health (and therefore its environmental value) is dependent on its interactions with its surroundings.  Any disturbance adjacent to any ecosystem will have an impact on the ecosystem itself.  Of course the farther away the disturbance is the less the impact will be, but still it is impossible to say that there will be no effect. We know that disturbance leads to loss of species and that results in a loss of diversity.  No one can say that this particular PSW will not be harmed.  Even if all seems to be OK that will almost surely not be the case.
The only reliable long term solution is to protect land that surrounds natural areas as well as the natural areas themselves.  There has to be recognizance of the fact that there is limited value in preserving small islands of natural areas.  Rather the bigger the better.  One good example of this is the small woodlot on the east side of Owen Sound that is soon going to disappear to build shopping malls.  Even if this small woodlot was preserved its environmental value would be very limited because it would be totally surrounded by asphalt.  It would be far better to ask the developer to provide funds to preserve natural areas where we can get more environmental bang for our environmental buck.

Who is going to suffer under these cuts?

This post was provoked by this article.  

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-price-of-ottawas-stimulus-here-come-the-cuts/article1386276/

In my opinion, a lot of people won't be hurt at all.

For instance, I am not going to be hurt.  The only way you can hurt me is to raise my taxes and Harper won't do that.

The people who are going to be hurt are those who rely on government programs like subsidized housing and education subsidies.

When are people going to realize that by buying the conservative mantra of no new taxes, they are cutting their own throats and throwing their children to the wolves.

H1N1 flu vaccinations, an evaluation.

Inspired by this article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/quebecs-disney-inspired-solution-to-flu-shot-chaos/article1364403/
The H1N1 crisis appears now that it will not live up to its hype but, at the very least, it was an invaluable emergency preparedness exercise.  So much has and will be learned from this shot across the bow.  
In addition, it should be noted that Quebec has again demonstrated its ability to do things differently and better.  Coming up with a novel solution and adopting it province wide within days provides a standard of performance for the rest of Canada to emulate ---- again . 

Annuities: An option for any retiree?

Sure, but this article does not emphasize enough the foolishness of doing it at a time of such low interest rates.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/annuities-an-option-for-any-retiree/article1360062/
The cost of annuities is based on current long term interest rates. I always considered 8% as being a good long term investment goal. Therefore I would never consider an annuity unless I could get at least that rate. I bought annuities for my mother and father from their RRSP so that they could take advantage of the (at that time) $1000 pension income deduction. The return was 10%! They both lived into their early nineties which is another factor. If you think you are healthy and will enjoy an above average lifespan you can get an extra bump from an annuity. If you are expected to live to 83 then every year after that you are getting a gift from others who didn't make it that far. Buying an annuity today when interest rates are rock bottom doesn't make sense to me. Neither does writing an article perhaps encouraging others to consider it. Nor does providing a link to it. Here's the come on.
"Welcome to the Globe and Mail Personal Finance Reader. I’m Rob Carrick, personal finance columnist at The Globe, and each week I compile a list of articles, blog postings, videos and websites that represent the best of what the online world has to offer on money-related subjects."

Is western-style democracy the only way to go?

I think so.  Have a look at this.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/native-tribe-will-petition-ottawa-to-remove-their-indian-status/article1356107/
Wow. We are trying to impose democracy on Afghanistan. We insist that they must hold western-style elections although Afghanistan has a traditional tribal system as well (warlords). The difference that I see is that the warlords have access to no natural resources while the Gitxsan tribal chiefs apparently would have access to plenty.
My question is, can/should we allow a subset of Canadians to, by way of a western-style election, give up western-style democracy - forever?
In our western-style democracy we see politicians and political appointees who can't keep their hands out of the cookie jar. Are the tribal chiefs going to be any different? (The warlords don't even have a cookie jar and have to make deals with criminals in order to survive.)
Rather than have the Gitxsan proposal involve the traditional tribal system, they could form a corporation to harvest the natural resources with each community member owning one non-salable non-transferable share that would be created at some age of majority (maybe 13 years of age) and expire on death. That would work for me.