Here's an article that you should read by a very competent source, a blog I've been reading since not long after the Iraq War started, by a reporter named Christopher Allbritton who has been there pretty much from day one.
Anyways, he brought to light Randy Scheunemann, Senator McCain's chief foreign policy strategist and spokesman. Have a read, I don't want to tarnish it with my Canadian ignorance on U.S. politics. Suffice it to say if I knew that dude was influencing my candidate for office I would have second thoughts about voting for said candidate.
So just to let you all know, in the future, don't take pictures of shoddy built schools which collapsed killing children and students, next to solid built buildings that are still intact, at least not in China anyways. Apparently by doing the above and then posting the pictures on the internet, accusing the builders of shoddy work and local officials of collusion, you will be taken without warning to serve up to four years of re-education without trial or formal charge. Your family will receive a re-education notice with your signature and fingerprints, but with no reference on how long you will be gone.
What happened to you, China? You used to be cool. Ok that's a lie, everyone knows there are human tragedies that are going on there, the lack of human rights and fascist iron fist rule. One thing the Olympics have done is opened China up to criticism, I don't really think they considered all the effects a world event would have on the wall. You really can't hide things as much as before, the wall is crumbling all around you, China, welcome to the 21st century of information.
I'm pretty excited, get to see a Latin band tomorrow night, La Sonora Carruseles from Colombia, they've never been here, let alone western Canada so it's a pretty big thing. Our band does covers of a few of their songs, of course not as great as this one but hey... we try.
So anyways with every good thing of course comes bad, I have tickets for both Amber and I to go, we asked her mom back in January to babysit for us and she said yes. We've reminded her many many times since then and she's said 'no problem'. Well then a week or so ago, indirectly we find out her and Sam are going to Halifax for a week or so and it just HAPPENS to be at the same time as the concert. Yet another example of her family letting her down, it just seems to never end. I'd like to say thanks to her for letting us know, at the time we thought we would have to either sell the ticket or get someone else to go and Amber gets to stay home. Luckily our friend Dan agreed to go, perhaps it could have been the pictures of the attendees in the facebook event, :).
Yeah, that's right, 42 years, to bring down CO2 in the atmosphere to 2005 levels. Hold on, hasn't it pretty much been agreed upon by everyone that we need to be actually around 1987 levels or 350 ppm concentration? I don't even want to think about what that CO2 graph will look like in 42 years. (edit)Wait, now Harper wants the developing countries to should a large portion of the burden of lowering emissions, right, because North Americans per capita, pollute 5 to 6 times as much as most developing countries, and we have the money to fix the problem.
I want to be a politician and make lofty (yet still inadequate) goals at the end of my career for the next guy in line to follow, I really do. Or better yet, when they ask you later in life as you're sitting in the expensive restaurant drinking 50 year old scotch you can say "I tried, I really did, but there's no accounting for
These guys are putting on a show because the public is concerned about climate change. It's an old tactic of conservative governments, make it look like you're doing something, like you care, so the populace goes back to their reality and jack-ass style TV shows; "Nothing to see folks, we're acting in your best interest". You can also bet that the lazy populace will go back and think 'Hyuk! Mah guvermnt is doin' stuff, so I don't have to! BRING ON the Monster trucks!"
This is sort of going off topic but I personally don't want to live in Alberta when the walls come crashing down. The rapid entrenchment of greed and scrambling for oil at the expense of everything else is sickening. I believe that so much is hidden about the impact of the oil sands that when the truth and environmental horror stories come out it's going to be a tale of destruction and woe. The big money is here and it's squelching the truth, and the residents don't want to / won't believe it or share it because it will affect their economic well-being.
Nature in northern Alberta seems endless, the trees and bush seem to go on forever, if you're from there it's easy to think that it's never going to end. That you are in a remote area and your actions won't affect others, or no one will find out. Take the death of all those ducks in the spring, do you actually think this is the first time this has happened? Probably the first time it was actually reported, but I can bet it's been going on since they first created those toxic ponds.