Don't forget the Pollinators when giving thanks.

35% of the food you eat would not exist if we did not have bats, birds, and bees. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices and oilseed will be gone.

Insecticides are killing pollinators to the point wherespecies such as passion fuit now has to be pollinated by humans. Very labour intensive and expensive.

Changing Climate will kill many of these species, if not all. We will have a very nutrient deficient diet if we have to rely on the other 65% of crops that do not require these pollinators. How many of us would want to eat just wheat, corn and rice?

Not me. Recommend this Post

Postal Workers Refuse to Deliver Hate Material by Church Group

This is the reason why religious groups do not need a defense of religion act. They can currently mail out all the unaddressed hate propaganda they want.

Fortunately for Canadians, there are people with a shred of decency left and surprise, its the unionized workers of Canada Post, but not Canada Post itself (shame). They felt information being sent out by a wingnut baptist church group from Ontario, a 28 page diatribe against homosexuals, should not be put in the mail boxes of people living in the gay community. All of this garbage at taxpayer expense, since they are tax exempt (yet strangely able to advocate unlike all other non profits). Where's the outrage?

This is the reason religious groups will never get the religious freedoms they supposedly don't have. There is enough hate flowing from these people without enshrining their right to promote such. The right of religious freedoms is at odds with every other right Canadians have and it has to go. People are free to think what they want, the only reason to enshrine that right is so you can force your beliefs on someone else or use it to terrorise members of your own or other communities.

I received that booklet or one very similar at my place of work here in Toronto, I was not impressed. Going to your mailbox and getting a piece of mail that slanders you, your husband, and your life from people who think its a right to do so by virtue is not much different than living in Mississippi and seeing a cross burning on your yard circa 1964. Recommend this Post

Daphne Parsons, 1925-2006

Daphne Parsons was the first Newfoundland woman to to become a doctor and return home to practice. She was born in Botwood, NL on May 22, 1925 and attended Dalhousie from 1946-1950 with 13 other Newfoundlanders, and two women out of a class size of 47 in a time when it was assumed women were studying for degrees in childbirth and marriage.

She said "Only one professor made me her feel different and that their was no sex in medicine, there was no difference in who wore pants and wore a skirt".

Dr. Parsons created quite a ruckus a few years into her career when she created a situation which forced the government to establish pay equity for male and female doctors. She went as far to refuse a post with the Ministry of Health because they paid women $500 less a year and instead went to work for a TB sanatorium. Later the ministry asked her if she would take the job if they pay her the "same as a man".

She married in 1959 and was diagnosed with MS in the 1970's and was never hospitalised for the condition. It did not interfere with her intellectual pursuits.

Dr. Parson's died on July 19, 2006. She leaves her husband David and sons Keith, Ean, and Andrew. Recommend this Post

Why should consumer choice be sacrosant?

Consumer choice is not going to drive the combat of climate change.

Post WWII, humanity began a drive to share wealth and freedoms for the common good through the construction of public hospitals, and schools. Living standards were raised and class divisions broken down.

By the 1980's people felt more comfortable and less vulnerable, the war was now long gone, and people began to question the spending of money on such intangible long term benefits. The post war good will began to break down.

Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980's began to suggest that there really is no such thing as a society and investors could single handedly make the world a better place and contraints on trade began to be viewed as burdensome.

This rhetoric has proved to be wildly successful electorally in many countries. Reagan and Thatcher had managed to foist their view of personal and consumer choice as an article of faith. Such financial disasters as Enron,and Hurricane Katrina have failed to shake the widespread belief that the market will someday, somehow solve our problems.

Are consumer best suited to make informed choices? Are there not situations where more straight forward regulation might be more effective?

Climate Change and its science is quite robust and its obvious we need to reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately the consumer is emotionally attached to it's driver lifestyle and status symbols.

Governments and businesses need to stay popular. Businesses have to provide products as cheap as possible and governments have to let you have your cake and eat it too.

So who exactly will be responsible for providing potential solutions to climate change? To many it's our elected representatives. They have to change the rules under which individuals and businesses compete and making the hard choices for society's long term good.

Maintaining our business as usual approach just encourages people to continue to buy cheap inefficient products. As well, if governments do not step up, businesses fear being undercut and losing market share should they ever incur discretionary, yet responsible costs which are being avoided by the competition.

Its shocking but the major argument against making slavery illegal was whether it was economically justified! Shocking to hear in todays reality.

Short term profits should not be used to justify emissions standards nor keeping fuel costs low.

We must learn to accept that consumer choice cannot be expected to solve complex, large scale problems. Governments have to step up and roll out legislation; giving all the responsibilty to markets and consumers is not enough.

We need to remove the worst products from the market and build environmental costs into prices and give low carbon alternatives a chance of getting established.

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Unfortunately, our current government belongs to the group that thinks unrestricted business will fix all that ails us. Funny how it so far it has done the opposite.

Link Recommend this Post

Second Suicide Barbing by Fundamentalist Manta

In what appears to be the second suicide barbing, Fundamentalist Manta's have nearly claimed their second victim following the killing of the Crocodile Hunter.

An 81-year-old man was in critical condition Thursday after a stingray flopped into his boat and stung him in the chest with a 30-centimetre-long barb.

Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice in a news conference today says "this rise in Seafood Terrorism must stop and the US will be deploying divers and subs to deal with these radical mantas."

President Bush in a conference latter stated that they "have intelligence that shows these crazy fish do indeed have BMD or barbs of mass destruction."

Prime Minister Stephan Harper when asked about the threat to Canada reponded that "we will be lookin into the matter but is pretty sure its the liberals and special interest groups, most likely gay rights groups that have caused this and what George said."

Moby Dick was captured early today and has been secretly deported to Japan for eviceration and consumption. Charlie the Tuna has been detained at the border as a sympathiser to the manta cause. Recommend this Post

CPC environment plan leaked

Surprise, surprise the Green whatever it is called now is a a delay tactic. Though this is a leaked draft and not the 'official' document, it does confirm what think they will do...nothing.

I do believe that this document will be changed significantly now that they have leaked it and are gauging the outrage. So next week expect another name change and more pushing around figures on paper.

I guess they have to get the right combination of subtle name changes and clever use of statistics to show that climate change is correcting itself just like the fiscal balance/imbalance did. Recommend this Post

Two Months Later, Still No AIDS Funding Announcement

It has been two months since Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said the International AIDS Conference in Toronto had become too "politicized" to make a funding announcement.

Was anyone even convinced there would be one? How many forgot he even made that promise?

I know you don't like homosexuals Mr. Harper but would you help a world catastrophe happen due to your own ignorance and the sake of your voter base?

We have seen before that this PM and his motley crew of one issue politicians has no morals when it comes helping those in need unless you have an oil patch that is. Recommend this Post

Root of All Evil Part 2: The Virus of Faith

Recently, CBC showed the first part of the documentary Root of All Evil : The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Check the link to see quotes from the audience once the documentary was over.

The second part of this documentary wasn't aired on CBC, so I have posted it for your convenience. It is called Root of all Evil: The Virus of Faith. This documentary explores the negative effects indoctrination of children have amongst other issues.

I am posting this as a response to Harpo and the Regressive Conservatives latest promise to make homosexuals the brunt of all hate speech for here on in. This motley crew is doing this as a promise to his Social Conservatives, particularly Evangelicals. This documentary shows how these groups warp the minds of children at their most impressionable age. Take Stockwell Day for example. This man believes the world is 6000 years old. He is incapable of thinking otherwise, to do so would be to deny the holy spirit, the one thing that you cannot atone for. To even consider anything other than what your pastor told you from a book will put you in hell for eternity.

So take your childcare money and go get some beer and popcorn, then come back, and enjoy the show!




If interested in the subject, check out the following authors/directors:
Daniel Dennett
Sam Harris
Brian Flemming
David Mills Recommend this Post