Some things change:

May 2020

Once upon a time, I used to enjoy reading Rex Murphy and his articles which to a certain extent I thought were well-measured pieces. I can’t say that anymore.

 Look at this piece:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/rex-murphy-only-the-greens-and-separatists-could-find-opportunity-in-a-pandemic/ar-BB13NSBw

The reason Alberta is in such a pickle does not lie with the rest of Canada but with them and the conservative governments both federal and provincial which have loaded the entire economy into the basket called “oil” and more recently bitumen (ethical oil? Or as Kenney calls it now “democratic oil”).

I have said this before and I at least think it worth repeating. Peter Lougheed saw the writing on the wall way back and created the Alberta Heritage Fund to provide for a day when “oil” and “bitumen” would not be the primary source of income for Alberta.  Following his retiring, conservative morons depleted this fund instead of using it to find other ways for Alberta to grow. If you do not believe me then just look at little Norway with a budget surplus of over $1 trillion.  Did their output exceed that of Alberta – do not know but the way they handled their heritage fund shows a remarkably different result.

 Yes, back in the 70s and 80s I worked in the Albertan oil patch in the transportation field – ie a truck driver for a company which catered largely to the Alberta oil patch and BC lumber – and even back then after visiting the Alberta tar sands far too many times I could tell that such a development would eventually come to an end. 

 It was also abundantly clear to me even back then that Alberta had a huge problem which would need cooperation to fix.  They are landlocked.  In order to export to anywhere their product had to travel through neighbouring provinces or territories or directly to the USA via Montana. This requires goodwill and co-operation neither of which have been Alberta’s strong suite for decades now, and indeed Kenney has been known to muse about Alberta leaving Canada; really? That would leave him only one exit to his only market for that dirty bitumen – through Montana.  By the same token the condensate required to move the bitumen through pipelines would have to come from Montana; standby for the price of that.!

Drew Anderson · CBC News · Posted: Oct 10, 2019 12:13 PM MT | Last Updated: October 10, 2019

He (Kenney)  admits it will be a challenge to work with the Trudeau Liberals, particularly if the party leads a coalition backstopped by the NDP.

“We certainly hope it doesn’t come to that, we think that will create enormous tension in the federation,” said Kenney, adding he hopes to find common ground with whoever wins power on Oct. 21.

Open threats to BC along with passing a provincial law that permits the shipping of oil to BC to cease regardless of the harm it might cause does not create goodwill in this direction, and anyway we have enough problems of our own here with the various pipelines coming our way if we want them or not.   

From your piece:

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet wishes to separate from Canada; and May wants to separate from reality.”

Really?  I was under the impression that Blanchet’s objective was to look after Quebec’s interest within the framework of Canada so I have to assume that you know better than I about his separatist aspirations and how much that would benefit Quebec.

As for Ms. May being separated from reality well look in the mirror Rex and see how far you have come.

Hey Rex, how about being real again instead of showing your biases?

Perhaps with your expertise you could find out where these mythical refineries are that will buy that Albertan bitumen – I mean the ones outside the USA.  I have asked almost everyone from Trudeau, Freeland, Notley, Scheer, Kenney and many more who have been involved in promoting this lie about exporting to other countries.  Naturally no response from any of them.   Think you can do better with your connections Rex?

Also Rex, NAFTA article 605 clearly states that we can increase the “percentage of our production” exported to the USA but we cannot reduce that percentage.  Notley claimed that 100% of Alberta’s bitumen went to the USA, so maybe you with your resources can tell me how we get around that article to be able to export even one barrel to those mythical refineries.  By the way, I have tried without success to find in this new robbery treaty – USMCA or whatever you want to call it – where this Article 605 is repealed or even changed and frankly I cannot see the current person in charge down there agreeing to anything which would disadvantage America.

Sure could use your abilities to answer these questions.

Happy days Rex and good health to you.

Jeremy

Some random thoughts about this 2020 pandemic

Covid19

I have been watching what is happening and has been happening all round the globe and particularly in North America – well Canada and the USA anyway….

 A nasty form of “flu” pandemic named the covid19 by the WHO has been circulating everywhere. Resulting specially here in Canada and the USA in a suspension of a normal life of unstainable economic growth based on credit.

There will be some who will argue that it is not the usual flu and of course the same could be said for all of the so called “pandemic” outbreaks since the Spanish flu back in the early 1900s .

There will be some, and have been many, who claim a lot of it is due to the advent of radio and the microwave effect, since that invention, upon the basic electric beings known as humans. Cell phones have accelerated that particular problem although generally is it not acknowledged by those who profit greatly from them.  Is it not indisputable that there are humans who are sensitive to those microwaves and now with the impending 5G that sensitivity will be accelerated immensely?

There will be those who claim that poisonous foods such as Coca Cole, and the proliferation of fast food outlets which provide very little, if any, nutritious value in their offerings but do cause excessive obesity along with diabetes; the vaste increase in the consumption of a treated bovine growth hormone (milk); the poisoning of our land, food etc., by very toxic pesticides previously used to deforest vast swathes in Vietnam, causing, amongst other things, the reduction of the very insects we need to pollinate our food plants;  this naturally all helps to diminish immune systems leaving us in a weakened state to fight of even the ordinary colds and flu, never mind this covid19.   Vitamin D, essential to the immune system comes free with the sun and yet we are asked to slather ourselves in ointments that stop that happening every time the sun shines to give us that help.  

What a mess!

So now here we are – covid 19, the latest and current pandemic, is upon us and we are not prepared or able to fight it.  The wonderful people who have bought us all this corporate nonsense by allowing all this to happen over the years are saying don’t work, don’t earn money, stay away from those who support your mental health and we will look after you if your governments will look after us!!!

Yes, that has happened in the form of handouts to those instructed to move into isolation, poverty and perhaps quite a bit of panic.  Yes, it must be great to have government support you a bit after they have made sure that the “big boys” are taken care of.   Small mom and pop businesses are being ruined and may never recover, entrepreneurs are in a bind and need help to start entrepreneuring again as they have been.  Yes there was and has been and will be inventive ways to keep doors open and some money coming in  –ie: sidewalk pickups and home deliveries,  a semblance of postal services, and an increase in the use of the internet (not much help to the seniors who don’t have an internet connection never mind a computer) and yet there is a general non-governmental rally around those who need help because that is the way most of us are.

I was happy to see that after 46 years of basic inactivity the Bank of Canada finally came to the assistance of a province and agreed to purchase their bonds, but this was completely offset by the fact that they are also going to buy corporate bonds.  The mandate for the Bank of Canada was established in 1939 and that was to look after Canada and the Canadian peoples’ needs at a vastly better rate of interest which, after deduction of operating expenses, resulted in a yearly dividend to the Minister of Finance to use to pay some of the Canadian government bills.  It was not created to give handouts to big business at the taxpayers’ expense, with lower rates of interest that were and are commercially available to them (“for private profit” supplying “for private profit”).   Commerce feeds on itself and supports itself.  The poor, elderly, sick and war wounded tax payers were supposed to be the recipients of the Bank of Canada’s ability to finance Canada’s needs not wealthy “for huge profit” corporations.

So in amongst all this I found myself wondering about the very simple question we should all be asking ourselves and that is:

 WHO BENFITS FROM THIS MESS?

Is it you and I?

No, I think not.

Is it the big boys like Gates whose wet dream of euthanizing the whole world with toxic vaccinations and micro ships may well come true along with his big pharma and global elitists friends who want to be very well paid to vaccinate us and implant in us a chip to track our every move and maybe even gauge our moods?

I watched a pastor Rev Danny Jones of Northlake Baptist Church in the USA speak from the pulpit about his parishioners being told to stay away from his church, and I was somewhat amazed and delighted by his talk:

https://www.brasscheck.com/video/sanity-from-the-pulpit/

Compare what he said with the utterings of one fired reality show host who doesn’t social distance, refuses to wear a mask (although I am actually OK with that) and will not go into a 14 day self-isolation even though his valet has the covid19.  In fact the White House seems to be developing its own hot spot…..and I am not referring to remarks made to journalists attending his never ending self-congratulatory lies and excuses while blaming others for his own short comings. As a direct result many journalists just trying to do their jobs are being harassed and sworn at and called unpatriotic traitors by gun toting republican pea heads.  A new civil war brewing down there maybe?

But I still come back to the question “Who benefits?”

Clearly here in Canada we have gone much further into debt amidst conflicting remarks from the official opposition who want more help (mostly for Alberta and corporations known as the free market) and yet less debt!  And, the fact remains that we the Canadian taxpayers will have to foot the bill as there are not only tax breaks for those wealthy ones who can afford offshore tax havens, but the pipers in the form of the IMF and BIS and other international investors whose sole aim is to make a profit from our situation and will indeed be merciless in collecting their pound of flesh.

Here in BC we have been treated with a calm provincial health officer who was, I suspect, just doing what she was told, but in a way that appealed to us all to do what she asked, and we did until the sun came out and the beaches got busy again. At the time of writing this I understand there are only 3 cases on Vancouver Island, in spite of the fact we are served by enclosed ferries from the mainland.  Amazing.

Time and again I hear talking heads saying” we will never go back to normal again”, and that is a good thing.  We live in a world where modern day “lynchings”  are praised as conducted by heroes and very fine people, where bazookas are carried into a sandwich store, and wartime weapons are openly displayed at “peaceful” demonstrations by people with pea brains, and political partisan showmanship is rampant by all who will feed at the public trough for the next four years.  So far that is to the south of us but who knows as we have our share of bigotry and racial hatred up here in the frozen north too.

Is that to be our new normal?

Meanwhile the finger pointing goes on and it’s just the flu season folks.

Just my meandering thoughts and I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but at the very least it is an open invitation to think outside the closing box again…….

Who does benefit?

Jeremy.