Robin's Place

Why I can't vote for Harper and the Conservatives

Well we are finally in election mode in Canada. What a total waste of time. The cost $290 million. For what ?

I can't vote for Harper for the following reasons, the list is long but I will keep it short.

• After lambasting Ontario's Priemier for asking for help for the auto sector and saying its the wrong way to go, that these are dinosaur industries he turns around and hands out millions and millions to Ford and GM. These two companies don't deserve our money. We need to support industries that are actually interested in making a difference, are innovative and who also produce products people want to buy. There is no vision, no forward thinking here just old stryle handouts to buy votes.
• For not shutting his Finance Minster down when he was blowing his mouth off about how Ontario was a lousy place to invest. Way to go there Steve that was real smart.

• The Conservatives have no environmental plan, his Environment Minster John Baird treats people like they are complete idiots and fools. He talks like he has a monopoly on the knowledge around climate change. We have an environmental crisis and here is Harper doing absolutely nothing. In fact the Conservatives are so devoid of ideas on the environment that they have fabricated artifical targets that are the next best thing to doing nothing.

• Tax cuts. What tax cuts ? The guy who has told us over and over again that we are better off has pulled the wool over the eyes of the majority of Canadians. Under Harper, I don't pay less taxes I pay more and guess what I get less services from the Government. The GST cut was dumb. As much as I hate the GST, every economist will tell you consumption taxes are the way to go. So much for lower taxes there Steve.
• Under Harper Canada has no foreign policy. We have become an American lap dog with Harper wagging his tail as George pats him on the head. We have no business in Afganistan and shouldn't be there. Our brand has been tarnished. Thanks Steve !
• Harper claims to be a decisive leader, strong and full of vision. Sorry I don't see any of the above. I see a guy who is hungry for power, will do anything (including smearing the opposition and playing old style dirty politics) to stay in power including muzzling his own people. He's a dictator. Steve where's the plan man.
• I absolutely hate attack ads. They are crass, without merit and play in to the hands of bigots and people who are ignorant and uninformed. That unfortunately is the preception Harper's people have of the Canadian voting population. To me they reflect a party that is devoid of ideas and vision. They represent the political version of the school yard bully.
• Harper's has broken his word so many times I stopped counting. The biggies though, a fixed election date, income trusts you can go on and on and on...

L'Intendant Bordeaux A Most Amazing Wine Store

One of the highlights of our visit to Bordeaux was the discovery of a very neat wine store. L'Intendant in Bordeaux is really one of a kind ! 4 floors of wine that start with everyday drinkables rising to rarer and rarer wines as you go up. The staff are superb and very knowledgable. Its a wine lovers paradise like no other....in fact one the Lonely Planet guide says the following.....and I concur.

Stunning L'Intendant is like a sacred space dedicated to the fruit of the vine. It is dominated by a central spiral staircase climbing four floors, surrounded by cylindrical shelves holding 15,000 bottles of regional wine. If you can't find something to imbibe here, whether for a picnic in the park or to impress dinner guests, you should stop drinking.

If you are in Bordeaux check it out. Its across from the Theatre Nationale.

Summer Vacations

Its September and back to school and the grind. We spent 2 and a half weeks in France this summer. It was great to get away and have the change of pace that a vacation brings. I hadn't been to France in close to 16 years. Last time was going through Paris on my way from Nairobi to New Delhi.

Paris sure has changed. Today its a grubby and grafitti laced city. Its shine has gone, its looking really dirty and run down, far more run down than I remember. I was amazed to see shops on the Champs Elysees boarded up and closed, there was litter every where. The dog poop on the side walks was gone so that was one big plus. The only problem is its now in the parks. Not sure I'll be going back to Paris any time soon.

We spent a great week in Bordeaux drinking wine and touring Chateaux while the boys were at FC Bordeaux's residential soccer academy. Bordeaux is a great city, much like Paris used to be, classy, vibrant and full of great food at a good price. We ate like pigs and drank way too much great wine to boot.

Couple of interesting observations. The French are miles ahead of us in North America when it comes to the environment.

Grocery stores don't give out plastic bags, you bring your own or buy reuseable bags at the store.

Over 60% of the cars are diesel and have manual transmissions to boot. Talk about fuel efficiency!

Public transit works, its cheap and very efficient.

Public parking is reasonably priced ! What a concept.

There were wind mill farms every where. France is a country that has cut its dependence on imported oil by using nuclear. I was really surprised to see the wind farms.

Finally the train system works. The TGV from Bordeaux to Paris does 300 km between Tours and Paris. Now that is fast !

I'll be posting more impressions and pictures in the future.....if you have the chance do visit Bordeaux its a great place.

The Common Sense of the Common Sense Revolution

Mike Harris reared his ugly face again this past week with the propane explosion in Toronto. His Common Sense was to privatise the inspection of propane facilities in Ontario. So far the TSSA has demonstrated an incredible level incompetence. Common Sense meant less inspectors, less accountability, and less cost. It would be interesting to calculate how much was saved in the years since Harris pulled his Common Sense move by creating the TSSA and how much the Sunrise cleanup is going to cost. I would be willing to bet that the Government will have saved nothing and in fact it will cost more. So much for the Common Sense Revolution !!!!

BMO field for CFL Football ??? Who is the twit at MLSE ???????????

The news that MLSE are thinking of converting BMO field into a multi sport facility and enlarging it for CFL games is pure unadulterated idiocy. Argos find yourself another field, better yet build your own. I totally support the silent protest at the MLS All Star Game. Show MLSE the power the true fan base has. In the US you have these cavernous and empty football stadiums that play host to MLS games. More and more the MLS has realised that to grow the game in North America you need decicated soccer stadiums and thats what is happening south of the border. Here, well we start out the right way and now we want to go backwards. Way to go, ruin the game MLSE. Shame on you bean counters at MLSE for suggesting the idea cause it stinks !

War with Iran

I filled my truck up today. Diesel in Missisauga, Ontario is selling at $1.46 a litre. A year ago I could fill up for $0.94 cents a litre. Its a huge jump. That huge jump is about to go through the roof as the possibility of war heats up between Iran and the West. What war will do to the western world's economy I shudder to think.

There is a serious game of brinksmanship and baiting going on with Iran's test firing of a series of long range missiles. Sure, they are knock offs of old Soviet designed missilies, whose origins go back to the German V2 and not very reliable, as today's tests show, but these scuds can create havoc. A well placed scud or two will do some serious damage to oil installations in the Gulf. I remember the hole in the ground an Iraqi scud had left behind the Riyadh Sheraton when I stayed there just at the end of the first Gulf war. The scud missed the hotel but left a massive crater in the desert behind the hotel. The mess of burning oil fires will make those of Kuwait look like backyard barbeques.

The Iranians are experts at asymertical warfare as they have shown in Iraq and in Lebanon with Hezbollah. Don't under estimate the saber rattling of the Iranian regime. They are slowly being backed into a corner as western sanctions start to bite and they will fight to the death at all costs if it comes down to it.

So what are the prospects;

We have a weak lame duck President in the US on his way out, an Iranian President who is increasingly under pressure internally for the vey sorry state of the Iranian economy which is about to get much worse under EU sanctions and an Israeli Prime Minister who is very likely to get booted out of office in September when Israelis go to the polls. A classic recipe for a confrontation as none of these three has anything to lose.

The voices of restraint are being drowned out. Two large oil companies; Total of France and Royal Ducth Shell are pulling out of Iran citing the instability in the current climate. We are close to the tipping point. I don't want to make predictions as to when, but war will happen. War with Iran will be a total shock to the system to use a Billy Idol term.

The LCBO Markup - Read This and Weep

If you live in Ontario read this. If you don't, read this post and feel sorry for us. Not that its any different in any other province ! If you ever wondered how much that $19.95 bottle of wine in the LCBO actually cost from the producer here is the breakdown. This assumes a modest markup for the guy dealing with the producer. So that $19.95 bottle of wine at the LCBO actually cost the LCBO $8.45

Here is the breakdown !!!! I wish I could run my business this way....

Net Export Price Per Bottle	$7.35
Adds Commission at 15% (15% OF A)	$1.10
Price Quoted to LCBO ( A + B)	$8.45
Assumes a case of 12 - 750ml or 9 litres ( 12 X C)	$101.43
INPUT EXCHANGE RATE (default = 1) Assumes CDN	$101.43
INPUT FREIGHT RATE (default = $6.00)	$107.43
Excise/Duty rate has been added at $5.58	$113.01
Total is multiplied by 64% LCBO Markup	$185.34
$14.58 Flat Tax is added	$199.92
Total is divided by 12 to have a per bottle price	$16.66
$0.0495 Environment Charge is added	$16.71
$0.2995 Glass Tax is added	$17.01
Basic Price is determined	$17.01
12 % PST is added	$2.04
5% GST is added	$0.85
Retail price is determined	$19.90
Bottle Deposit Round to the nearest $0.05	$19.95
THIS IS THE PRICE CONSUMERS PAY!	$20.15

Global Warming and a Carbon Tax - Its time to act Canada

I am an environmentalist ! Studying archaeology you can't help but see the impact of man's activity on the planet over the past few hundred thousand years. Carbon has allowed us to modify the carrying capacity of the earth beyond any other technology we as a species have developed. Carbon also has the potential to be our downfall.

Global warming is a reality and one that unless we decide as individuals and as societies to do something about we are doomed as a species. I find that scary.

The leader of Federal Liberals recently unveiled the Liberal Green Plan called The Green Shift. For me its a great first step but its too little. Nothing will come from the Conservatives as they are the patsies of big oil and don't have the balls to take them on. Check out the Green Shift.

http://www.thegreenshift.ca/default_e.aspx

Yesterday, in Washington DC,  Dr. James Hansen, head of the Goddard Space Centre and Professor at Columbia University spoke at the National Press Club on the 20th anniversary of his first statements on Global warming back in 1988. He was the first to step up and publically claim that global warming was a reality and a by product of man's activity. His speech and powerpoint are a sobering reality check of just where we are. Take a look at them the links are below.
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TippingPointsNear_20080623.pdf

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf

Once you've read them here are few things to think about:

Man's greatest achievements have developed in the present inter glacial period the Holocene. In the last 10,000 to 12,000 years the global climate has maintained an equilibrium that stopped the massive advance of the North American and Asian ice sheets and kept the Greenland, Antarctic and Arctic ice caps from melting. Man flourished. How much warming is required to throw this equilibrium out of kilter ?  

In the last interglacial period, the Sangamon(Wurm and Riss), which happened around 130,000 years ago, the mean global temperature was 1 degree higher than it is today. That 1 degree lead to the massive melting of the contiental ice sheets and a rise in gloabl sea levels by about 4 to 6 meters. Today 1 billion people around the world live within 25 meters of current sea levels including 250 million in China alone.

Are we headed for disaster ? If you are feeling so inclined you can read the science....

http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.html

Tim Hortons you guys stink - Fire the Manager Instead

I haven't blogged in a while way too busy.

The story in today's newspapers about a Tim's employee being fired really got under my skin. A single mom of 4 in London, Ontario was fired from her job at Tim Horton's for giving the fussy toddler of a regular customer a timbit. The Timbit is worth 16 cents retail. This is so beyond absurb is pathetic. I understand a policy of no free food but come on guys one friggin timbit. Retail value 16 cents, actual cost far more because Tim Horton looks like a cheap money grubbing company. Sick, sick, sick. Instead of firing the employee who took the initiative to build client loyalty, costing Tim's a measly 16 cents, they should fire the Manager for the cost of the bad PR.

Tim's you stink !

This is our House

On saturday we went to the TFC home opener. BMO field was packed, a sell out crowd of 20,219 ! The crowd was loud, boisterous and the TFC won ! Laurent Robert was brilliant.

My withdrawl is over I can have my fix twice a month ! I love it and so do the boys. This is our House. This is our House.

Our street is crawling with kids, now that the weather is warm, zooming in and out of driveways and having fun. Summer is here. This is our street !

Flaperty I thought you were Finance Minister not Leader of the Provincial Opposition

A few weeks ago I blogged about Flaperty and Dueling Dalton. Things are now at new low with Flaperty's news conference in Toronto yesterday telling Dueling Dalton what he should and shouldn't do in his budget ! I wonder if he has the balls to try this with Quebec and Alberta ? I would pay money to see that and to see the reaction from those two provinces. I can think of a few words that might describe the reaction and they all start with F.

Does Harper think this is the role of the second most powerful Minister in the Federal Cabinet ? Or has he written off Ontario and is allowing Flaperty to start campaigning for John Tory's job. Premier Flaperty is a really scary idea. Harris Redux.

Jeffery Simpson's op-ed in the Globe today is bang on. Whose Finance Minister is he anyway.

Boycott the Beijing Olympics

I have never been a fan of the Summer Olympics. I find them to be an orgy of extravagence at the expense of the local population done under the guise of bettering one's infrastructure and promoting sport. One doesn't have to look far to see what the games leave in their wake. Momuments to ego and waste. I think the Beijing games will be no exception. People call this China's coming out. But the Chinese in all their rhetoric are very disengenuous.

China is not a developing country - I frankly am tired of hearing the Chinese leadship blow that line. The reality is that China is an economic powerhouse with the human rights record of the worst authoritarian states on the planet. What we in the West take for granted would land you in jail, tortured and probably dead in China. So the crack down we are seeing in Tibet is in keeping with that authoritarian regime.

But, the Chinese Government is disengenuous. As an economic powerhouse and a world power they need to lead by example. What China projects is a bully and in the process they will squash any dissent and free speech all under the guise of being a devloping country that needs to protect its people. The general Chinese population is smarter than that ! Unfortunately when you live in an authoritarian state you keep your mouth shut.

So why boycott the Olympics. Well, if a country won't lead by example but yet wants to be part of the greater world community and be seen as a world leader, you make it hurt. Change will happen but not through economic changes. Change will happen when Beijing is shown that other world powers expect certain standards of behaviour. France's announcement today is a step in the right direction.

Swahili Time

In the western world our day starts at midnight. In the Arab world the day starts at sunset. In East Africa amongst swahili speakers the day starts at sun rise. In East Africa, being on the equator it happens at the same time each day - 6AM to us in the western world. Swahili time is time as it is spoken in swahili. Now to me this has always made infinite sense. Why would I start my day when I am sound asleep. I get up at 6AM, the day starts. Logical ! I have always wondered how I would be looked upon if I tried running on swahili time in Canada ?

So when I stumbled across this web site feature a swahili clock I thought way cool I am going to order one for the office.

http://www.kamusiproject.org/?q=swahili_clock

Kenya - The Kibaki Odinga marriage lets hope it lasts

Things in Kenya seem to be settling down ! The BBC yesterday reported on meetings between the banned Mungiki and Government officials at State House prior to the December election. Of course the allegations were promptly denied by the Government's spokesman. Hopefully the rotten few months will be put behind Kenyans and the country can move forward and rebuild.

Odinga sounded optimistic this morning telling the BBC that "this new beginning has a very good prospect of succeeding".  Lets hope that Kenya is turning a page and that tribalism used for political gain will become a thing of the past. Kenyans have seen how terrible it can be and the resulting loss both in economic and social terms should make each and everyone of them ask themselves was it worth it.

So the question then becomes Unakwenda wapi Kenya ?

Harper's shine is a little dull, in fact its tarnishing faster than old silver in a fart storm

So its bash Harper time again. Canadians are finally seeing what this guy is all about and guess what he's no different from any other politician before or after. Mr Clean, the control freak, has a few problems despite his all his denials. He plays Canadians for fools. Loved the letter to the editor in today's Globe and Mail - All the strings lead back to him ! Guess who will have the last laugh !

The bad slide started with The Cadman Affair, then bounced to NAFTA Gate, and today, the Envronment Report Card - F for failure. Wow, whats next. Maybe a sex scandal.  One thing, I find very telling is how silent Peter Mackay has been with all these scandals. Is he holding off, waiting for his time ?

Stumbled on this great cartoon from the Halifax Hearld today.