Vulture Capitalists Swoop in to Dine on Enbridge`s Still Warm Corpse

Written by Grant G


We sailed straight towards the eye of the hurricane, met its power and prevailed, battered and a little bruised, like a mother screaming while in a laborious state, all that pain is forgotten when the package delivered cries for nurture and touch....Leaves one breathlessly content...


   Kitimat`s non-binding referendum was a victory for the ages, corporate thug with deep cavernous  pockets loaded with loot engaged in carpet-bombing advertising on every national cable channel, every high ranking radio station, print ads plastered in all daily papers, video ads inserted behind articles one clicks to read, even progressive new media like The Tyee took Enbridge money, $60 million dollars Enbridge spent in the last 12 months in British Columbia, $60 million Enbridge spent before the Kitimat plebiscite, ......Enbridge flew near 100 people into Kitimat to persuade, doorknock, canvass and spindoctor, they held barbecues, open houses, fancy glossy mailers arrived in every home in Kitimat and surrounding areas, phones were dialed, workers were visited, lies were told, exaggeration of benefits and denial of risks while answering no questions of substance was planned, practiced and executed.....Saturday April 12th/2014 on the day of Kitimat`s non-binding make or break all the marbles on the table winners celebrate while losers take their ball and go home plebiscite I relaxed, no pressure, content knowing the outcome in advance...

Enbridge go home was the message sent, delivered in person, revenge is a dish best served cold and Enbridge felt a chill wrap around their cajones causing shrinkage a turtle would be proud of..

To be clear, (Janet one with the Orca) Holder and other Donny(dick) Dyck representative voices for Enbridge downplayed the result however, had this corporate thug won in Kitimat front pages would be branded with jumping for joy oil whores, victory is ours, V-day all over again, Billy Good would be calling his stock broker to check on his Enbridge holdings, Balderdash and Vaughn Palmer would dust off their Enbridge-is-a-go-and-we-called-it columns stored under their pillows...

A crushing blow for Enbridge, end of the line, rope cut, already several First Nation`s groups after the NON-BINDING PLEBISCITE result decided to cut ties with Enbridge....Beginning of the end for Northern Gateway...

Kitimat, a resource town, smelters, heavy industry, a working port, terminus for Enbridge`s proposed northern gateway limited liability 49% owned by China pipeline, a town that would have seen most of the very few permanent jobs if built said.....Take your pipe and shove it where the sun don`t shine!

Those results in Kitimat(60% against..40% for) .......Add 10% to the against and subtract 10% to the for...70% opposed ..30% for ....That`s what the result would be if we had British Columbia province-wide vote on Enbridge`s proposal....Guaranteed...

The Dogwood Initiative environmental group is proposing using BC`s recall and referendum process to force a province wide referendum vote...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/northern-gateway-pipeline-referendum-sought-by-dogwood-initiative-1.2609410

And I say....Forgetaboutit....I was part of the HST referendum, gathered up hundreds of signatures on the Sunshine Coast, thousands across our province gathered up the required signatures and forced a referendum...Which the good guys won, British Columbia shoved the HST up Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberal`s ass!

Unfortunately the Dogwood Initiative doesn`t understand the process, they think the HST referendum is the standard, they are wrong, what the Dogwood group is proposing is a guaranteed Enbridge win, how can they be so stupid..The HST referendum was granted special treatment, Gordon Campbell in an attempt to save his sorry ass from exile made an exception...50% plus 1 vote was good enough for victory....however, Enbridge and Christy Clucking Clark won`t be playing nice, or granting a special treatment exemption from the referendum rules..

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If the application is approved, a petition is issued to the applicant (called a proponent) 60 days later.

 The proponent then has 90 days to collect signatures of 10% of the registered voters in each electoral district. The proponent may be helped by volunteers when canvassing for signatures.

When all the signed petition sheets are submitted, the Chief Electoral Officer has 42 days to verify that enough valid signatures have been collected. If the verification process shows that sufficient signatures have been collected and the financing requirements have been met by the proponent, the Chief Electoral Officer sends a copy of the petition and draft Bill to a Select Standing Committee of the Legislature.

The Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives must meet within 30 days of receipt of the initiative petition and draft Bill. The Select Standing Committee has 90 days to consider the legislative proposal. The Committee must either table a report recommending introduction of the draft Bill or refer the initiative petition and draft Bill to the Chief Electoral Officer for an initiative vote.
If an initiative vote is required, a vote will be held on September 27, 2014, and on the last Saturday of September in every third year after that date.

 If more than 50% of the total number of registered voters in the province vote in favour of an initiative, and more than 50% of the total number of registered voters in each of at least 2/3 of the electoral districts in the province vote in favour of an initiative, the Chief Electoral Officer must declare the initiative vote to be successful and the government must introduce the Bill at the earliest practicable opportunity.


http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/referenda-recall-initiative/initiative/

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Did the Dogwood group forget how to read....British Columbia during provincial elections, or Federal election at most get about 55% of registered voters actually voting, pathetic turnout, voting has been on the decline for years..

So, let me break it down to simple math......First off....If even one of the 85 ridings falls short of the 10% of required signatures there is no referendum...Enbridge would claim victory...And I have no doubt that we could gather up 10% plus in every riding...

However, here is what Dogwood doesn`t understand, the NO TO ENBRIDGE REFERENDUM....

The no votes would have to get near 100% of the vote to be successful, because only 50% of registered voters vote...Read the above passage from Elections BC.....Dumb-asses.

A vote using our written in law referendum act would guarantee an Enbridge victory!

A province-wide vote on Enbridge is a fine idea as long as it`s a straight vote, our recall and referendum act make it impossible to win, a referendum to be successful requires 50% of registered voters in 2/3rds of all ridings to cast votes against, ...NOT 50% of votes cast, 50% of all registered voters, our last BC election we barely had 55% of registered voters vote....If we had the same turnout in a referendum vote we would require nearly 100% to vote against Enbridge....

The prudent thing to do is wait....

So we wait, as written at The Straight Goods after the NEB gave Enbridge approval, albeit with conditions, as written here in December 2013....We can`t do sweet-fluck-all until Stephen treason Harper gives Enbridge the nod(That nod is expected in June/2014)...However, with the way Harper and the Cons are registering in national polls I have a feeling Harper won`t approve the project, he needs another majority before he rams it through...That`s my gut feeling..

Now, I have been wrong before(I thought Adrian Dix couldn`t blow a 20 length lead with only a nag in pursuit)...If Stephen Harper approves Enbridge`s 49% Chinese owned limited liability northern gateway inc pipeline proposal the Haisla and other coastal First Nations are going to court, British Columbia supreme court and eventually this dispute will end up in the supreme court of Canada..

A place that doesn`t like Stephen Harper...Doesn`t matter, we have a federal election in 2015 and like it or not, as predicted here 16 months ago Justin Trudeau will be prime minister of Canada, and if Thomas Mulcair can pull a rabbit out of the hat and win...Both Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair are opposed to Enbridge`s northern gateway pipeline, it will be a federal election issue in British Columbia..

http://www.threehundredeight.com/2014/04/conservatives-drop-in-ekos-poll.html

So, we will have First Nations battling in court, battling for years where they will eventually win, we also have Stephen Harper`s Con party punted out of office, long before our courts have ruled, plus both Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair are campaigning against Enbridge`s northern gateway..

We have more, today icing was placed on my contentment pie....David Black crawled our from his rock denouncing Enbridge`s proposal, David Black`s altruistic motives are personal greed, not protecting our environment, and the shocker, crony capitalist vulture number two Aquilini held a press conference today in Vancouver, he proposed an $18 billion dollar refinery in Alberta and pipeline to Prince Rupert with First Nation partners, already those far from the coast First Nations who signed with Enbridge are ripping up agreements and cutting ties, as everyone smells a rotting dead horse named Enbridge...

David Black and the Aquilini Group, vulture capitalists come swooping in to dine on Enbridge`s corpse(On the first Monday following the Enbridge`s devastating plebiscite loss), while it`s still warm!

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Northern+Gateway+setback+could+mean+opportunity+aboriginal/9737026/story.html

Put the northern gateway pipeline battle to rest....She is dead, we`ll deal with those other clowns in due time.

Meanwhile, like the cat pictured above, contentment rules the day, can`t you hear me purring.

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

 

Corporatocracy and the illusion of Democracy

Corporatocracy and the illusion of Democracy


Written By Mark Taliano

 

 

 

“Freedom” and “democracy” are useful words, but very bankrupt: useful because they serve to advance imperial/corporate agendas, bankrupt because they are empty vessels perennially co-opted.

 When illegal coups are orchestrated to overthrow democratically elected governments in Venezuela, Honduras, Ukraine, or elsewhere, the lies of freedom and democracy are seamlessly attached to the criminal acts. 

 “Freedom” and “democracy” are still cloaking, tacitly or overtly, mass murder and genocide in Iraq, at this moment.

 

As long as the masses are fooled, conquest and regime change, not democracy and freedom, are enabled and perpetuated.  Illegal coups and wars of aggression are about imperial control, setting up puppet dictators, and the imposition of neoliberal economic business models for the corporate extensions of the invading nations.

 Once the vanquished “host” nation is subjugated, its industries are corporatized, and wealth is extracted  for the benefit of transnational corporations, corporate elites, and local oligarchs. The vanquished nations face corresponding losses of political and economic self-determination, human rights, democracy, and freedom. De facto corporate proxy regimes may call themselves democratic, or proclaim freedom, but the words are delusional, even if those being enslaved believe otherwise.

 Transnational corporate monopolies are the drivers behind the malaise.                           

Some of the predominant monopolies, all inter-related and mutually reinforcing, are often prefaced with the adjective “Big”.  They include:

 

                        * Finance

                        * Oil

                        * Military/Industrial Complex

                        * Media

                        * Pharmaceuticals

                                                               

These transnational monopolies  metastasize beneath protective umbrellas of secretly negotiated, supranational “free trade” agreements, and they exert disproportionate control over political economies throughout the world.  Additionally, their leverage is amplified and perpetuated through a matrix of intersecting trajectories that converge to create seamless, reciprocal unions with each other, and with elected polities.

 One strategy used by the resulting “corporatocracy” to increase its political might is the creation of a culture of “crony capitalism.” In this culture, a “revolving door” is created through which personnel from corporations and government come and go, thus creating a mutually empowering relationship, more responsible to each other, than to the voting public.   

 Author Tony Hall reveals the inherent conflict of interest created when a “revolving door” exists between industry-funded regulators and Big Oil. In "Oil Consultant Turned Whisleblower Exposes Fracking Crimes In Alberta",  Hall explains that Gerard Protti, the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) current head, is a former executive of EnCana petroleum corporation.

 Not only is the industry self-regulated, but the “regulator” himself is a former executive of the industry being regulated. “His conflict of interest,” explains Hall, “is illustrative of a culture of conflict of interest that is transforming the governments of Canada and Alberta into wholly-owned subsidiaries of Texas-based and China-based oil and gas companies." 

 Big Oil also works hand-in-hand with Big Media.  Close links between corporate media and the petroleum industry are detailed in a Vancouver Observer article entitled, "Presentation Suggests Intimate relationship Between Post Media And Oil Industry".

 According to the article, the Canadian Association Of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), a powerful right-wing “think tank”, would provide “thought leadership” for the media outlet, and that “topics (would) be directed by CAPP and written by Postmedia.”  In other words, the petroleum industry’s intent in this instance is to control media messaging related to petroleum related topics, thus creating its own platform/infomercial embedded within media that presents itself as “neutral”.  Interestingly, one of the first casualties of the proposed “marriage” was environment reporter Mike De Souza.

 

Corporate media and the military-industrial complex are also welded together.  The Military-Industrial -Media complex profits from keeping countries on a war footing, and  is complicit in unfathomable misery throughout the world. 

 War and war preparations serve as a pretext for vast outlays of money from the public to corporations. Consequently, war friendly media barely reported the huge protests against the illegal invasion of Iraq, but it did spin stories about Iraq’s imaginary Weapons Of Mass Destruction, and the imperatives of invasion.  Meanwhile, once the Shock And awe invasion started, Pentagon inspired nomenclature such as “collateral damage” or  “surgical strikes” continued to anesthetize the public to the horrors of the invasion.  Over one million died as a result of the carnage of the Second Gulf War, and the death rate

is still climbing.

 The interlocked military-industrial-media complex is created by the myriad of intersecting connections between the industries. Peter Philips and Mike Huff, in "Truth Emergency: Inside The Military Industrial Media Empire" describe some of these connections:

 “Only 118 people comprise the membership on the boards of director of the ten big media giants. These 118 individuals in turn sit on the corporate boards of 288 national and international corporations. Four of the top 10 media corporations share board director positions with the major defense contractors including:

William Kennard: New York Times, Carlyle Group

Douglas Warner III, GE (NBC), Bechtel

John Bryson: Disney (ABC), Boeing

Alwyn Lewis: Disney (ABC), Halliburton

Douglas McCorkindale: Gannett, Lockheed-Martin.”

 

Financial monopolies, for the most part overseen by the U.S, are also wedded to the destructive, self-reinforcing web of supranationally protected monopolies.  Honduras is a case in point. 

 Since the U.S orchestrated coup in 2009, transnational corporations, soon to be further protected beneath the umbrella of the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement, have wreaked havoc on Honduras.  Transnational Financing cartels, including the International Monetary Fund, bundle their loans with neoliberal market models, for the profit of foreign investors and Honduran oligarchs.   The loans finance cash crops such as African Palm monoculture plantations, and the results are devastating to almost all Hondurans.

 The plantations dispossess indigenous small-holder farmers, rob the nation of food sovereignty, and destroy indigenous cultures.  Since 2009, oligarchs, in concert with illegal proxy dictatorships, have killed 100 campesinos from the Aguan Valle alone  ---- with impunity.

 Big Pharma , yet another protected monopoly, also creates misery and desperation throughout the world, and its influences are woven into the fabric of lies and omissions perpetuated by the other monopolies.  

 Michael McBane, in Harper Caves In To Big Pharma, argues “(We ) need to take patents out of secret trade agreements and impose conditions that benefit the public interest in exchange for drug monopolies…”

 If the suppression of Big Pharma and its ubiquitous messaging were lifted, Canada could also create a National Pharmacare program, which would save Canadians about $10.7 billion per year.

 Once freed from the devastating tentacles of the transnational monopolies, Canadians will realize that it’s time to call 911 on the corporatocracy. We might then recapture real democracy and freedom, rather than settle for their bankrupt facsimiles.  

 

 

Written By Mark Taliano

 

 

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I would like to thank Mark Taliano for keeping his eyes wide open, for looking beyond the curtain, if we the people keep banging the drum, keep opening new eyes as to the extent of this corporate takeover we will win the war.....I have a feeling we haven`t heard the last of Mr. Taliano...

 

 

 

 

The Straight Goods

 

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

A Million Reasons Why Enbridge Will Never Be Given Permission for Northern Gateway, Here is Reason Number 30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NTSB Press Release

National Transportation Safety Board
Office of Public Affairs

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Pipeline Rupture and Oil Spill Accident Caused by Organizational Failures and Weak Regulations

July 10, 2012

WASHINGTON - Pervasive organizational failures by a pipeline operator along with weak federal regulations led to a pipeline rupture and subsequent oil spill in 2010, the National Transportation Safety Board said today.

On Sunday, July 25, 2010, at about 5:58 p.m., a 30 inch-diameter pipeline (Line 6B) owned and operated by Enbridge Incorporated ruptured and spilled crude oil into an ecologically sensitive area near the Kalamazoo River in Marshall, Mich., for 17 hours until a local utility worker discovered the oil and contacted Enbridge to report the rupture.

The NTSB found that the material failure of the pipeline was the result of multiple small corrosion-fatigue cracks that over time grew in size and linked together, creating a gaping breach in the pipe measuring over 80 inches long.

"This investigation identified a complete breakdown of safety at Enbridge. Their employees performed like Keystone Kops and failed to recognize their pipeline had ruptured and continued to pump crude into the environment," said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. "Despite multiple alarms and a loss of pressure in the pipeline, for more than 17 hours and through three shifts they failed to follow their own shutdown procedures."

Clean up costs are estimated by Enbridge and the EPA at $800 million and counting, making the Marshall rupture the single most expensive on-shore spill in US history.

Over 840,000 gallons of crude oil - enough to fill 120 tanker trucks - spilled into hundreds of acres of Michigan wetlands, fouling a creek and a river. A Michigan Department of Community Health study concluded that over 300 individuals suffered adverse health effects related to benzene exposure, a toxic component of crude oil.

Line 6B had been scheduled for a routine shutdown at the time of the rupture to accommodate changing delivery schedules. Following the shutdown, operators in the Enbridge control room in Edmonton, Alberta, received multiple alarms indicating a problem with low pressure in the pipeline, which were dismissed as being caused by factors other than a rupture. "Inadequate training of control center personnel" was cited as contributing to the accident.

The investigation found that Enbridge failed to accurately assess the structural integrity of the pipeline, including correctly analyzing cracks that required repair. The NTSB characterized Enbridge's control room operations, leak detection, and environmental response as deficient, and described the event as an "organizational accident."

Following the first alarm, Enbridge controllers restarted Line 6B twice, pumping an additional 683,000 gallons of crude oil, or 81 percent of the total amount spilled, through the ruptured pipeline. The NTSB determined that if Enbridge's own procedures had been followed during the initial phases of the accident, the magnitude of the spill would have been significantly reduced. Further, the NTSB attributed systemic flaws in operational decision-making to a "culture of deviance," which concluded that personnel had a developed an operating culture in which not adhering to approved procedures and protocols was normalized.

The NTSB also cited the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's weak regulations regarding pipeline assessment and repair criteria as well as a cursory review of Enbridge's oil spill response plan as contributing to the magnitude of the accident.

The investigation revealed that the cracks in Line 6B that ultimately ruptured were detected by Enbridge in 2005 but were not repaired. A further examination of records revealed that Enbridge's crack assessment process was inadequate, increasing the risk of a rupture.

http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2012/120710.html


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The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Breaking, Enbridge loses bigtime in Kitimat Plebiscite, Northern Gateway Pipeline Is Dead!

Despite Enbridge bringing in hundreds of propaganda agents to knock on doors, PR spindoctors, over 20 public information open houses(Although Enbridge representatives failed to answer any questions, like how do you clean up the inevitable spills)...

Enbridge spent near $1/2 million dollars on PR..on advertising, on spin and bluster...

Not to mention Enbridge`s $60 million dollar provincial advertising campaign, endless streaming ads online, on TSN, on Global, on CTV, endless radio ads on CKNW, print ads, everywhere Enbridge ads and still.....

Kitimat city counsel also prevented the Haisla and Haida First Nations from voting on the plebiscite question, absolutely disgusting move by Kitimat city council as the Haida/Haisla traditional coastal lands are most at risk of complete annihilation by a tanker spill...

And despite all of Enbridge`s dirty tricks, Kitimat city council dirty tricks, they lost the plebiscite bigtime.....

60% against northern Gateway....40% for.....

The grassroots organization Douglas Channel Watch had but $1,500 dollars of money to compete against the corporate thug Enbridge....$500,000.00 against $1,500.00 ....

Stick that in your pipe Janet Holder.....I hope you are listening Stephen Harper...This pipeline insanity will be the death of both you and the Federal Conservative party..

To the fine people of Kitimat.....Grant G and the Straight Goods thank you...Cyber hugs and kisses are on the way..

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/national/Kitimat+residents+vote+Northern+Gateway/9733785/story.html

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2014/03/breaking-news-enbridge-goes-full.html

Good Day

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The Death of Democracy in Canada. The Death of James Michael Flaherty

The Death of Democracy in Canada.  The Death of James Michael Flaherty


Written by Robin Mathews

For the Canadians increasingly convinced that all conventional politicians are betraying Canadian democracy, the death of James Michael Flaherty underscores their position.  The response to his death by federal (and other) parliamentarians and politicians says it all. The praise of a major actor in the betrayal and deception of Canada and of all Canadians reaches across the parties in the House of Commons (and across the country) without interruption.

 Let us not confuse respect for the dead with blindness to history.  The party and government to which James Michael Flaherty belonged is one which eats at the freedoms of Canadians, destroys confidence in elected politicians, attacks the democratic electoral process, habitually misrepresents its actions as a government, and takes mean-mindedness and attacks upon the innocent to an historically high level.

 Any and all politicians can say – and mean – that they send their deepest sympathy to the family of James Michael Flaherty.  After that, in the interest and service of Canadians, they must add that the government which he served faithfully is one of the most destructive governments in Canadian history and that he was a faithful partisan in the destruction of Canadian democracy. 

 In failing to do that all politicians in the House of Commons and in Canada are making absolutely clear that they have joined the forces intending to destroy fairness and justice in Canada and to create a new kind of government in the country, one that is fairly described as a fascist government – one which serves private corporations (globally) before the Canadian people, which uses deception and falsehood to achieve illegitimate ends, and which, finally, will use police and military power to subdue a dissenting population.

 James Michael Flaherty, as Canadian finance minister, used and permitted the use of his federal budgets to hide vicious and unfair attacks upon people and institutions providing necessary information and services to Canadians. He permitted, in so-called budget implementation legislation, hidden moves to curtail, to weaken, to undermine, and to destroy the democratic freedoms of Canadians.  He never spoke or acted against Conservative election fraud that was  repeated during his time in power (and so, tacitly, he participated in it).

 He undertook politically motivated and dangerous cutbacks in science, the environment, and institutions providing public information.  He provided wholesale support for vicious and destructive initiatives like vengeful and oppressive prison laws, laws to destroy information Canadians need to make responsible public choices, laws to protect and support the richest and most oppressive forces in the society, and laws to humiliate and persecute Canadian veterans. 

 

He stood behind the moves to destroy Canada’s universal medicare system and its other public service institutions like the Post Office and the CBC.  He gave his assent to untiring attacks on labour unionism in Canada. He stood firmly behind poisonous anti-democratic electoral laws being bludgeoned through the House of Commons.  He helped to shape subsidies, subventions, and laws (and failure to make laws) which assist polluters, especially in the environmentally hazardous Tar Sands and Fracking operations.

 James Michael Flaherty was a major mainstay of the move by the present Conservative government, led by Stephen Harper, to build a permanent, unreplaceable, fascist government in Canada.

Any Canadian – whomsoever – especially any Canadian politician who approves of, assents to, fails to rail (and act) against, or who takes part in the tasteless, expensive, repugnant, “bread and circuses”, fascist state funeral for James Michael Flaherty is condemning himself or herself to....

A place in history as a person who condoned and supported the move in Canada to the destruction of democracy and to the end of justice, fairness, and freedom for Canadians.


Written by Robin Mathews


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P.S......Hello friends, readers, contributors and PAB trolls....Sorry for not posting, been real busy repairing my mom`s world, we can`t choose family, one day my siblings might grow up and actually contribute to helping their mother and society as a whole, we won`t hold our breath, .....12 hours a day working for mom, pro-bono, .....Plus having to keep up on current affairs, write, publish guest posts.........All the while charming my new true, honest life partner...

She is waiting patiently for more time.........and she wants to dance..! 

Mr. Mathews column was outstanding and on point, time and time again when scoundrels, liars, cheats and enablers within government drop dead their sins are forgiven, we don`t forgive hideous acts here at The Straight Goods, no quarter given, .........You might be resting in peace MR Flaherty..........However, those of us still living on the Canadian part of this blue orb won`t be, your complicit actions and muted mouth assisted oil whore and savage pussball Stephen Harper in terrorizing, frightening and abusing a once trusting Canadian populous...

No quarter given...


Good Day


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Ian Reid, A Voice of Reason

A heartfelt send off is definitely called for, a friend, a voice, a clear concise no holds barred voice has gone silent, brought tears to my eyes, tears not of sadness but tears of inspiration, of hope, of relief knowing his physical pain has relented...


He will be missed, his clear written words will live on in the clouds..

Ian`s spirit will twinkle in the stars above..

Life is hard, frustrating and at times without reward, fleeting and far too short..

I would like to thank Ross K for confirming Mr. Reid`s transformation from the physical to spirit form..It explains the emergence of a new shining star I spotted last night in our western sky..

Some of Ian`s greatest works were scribed while he was challenging tomorrow, writing today not knowing if another sunrise was in the making...


http://therealstory.ca/


A great man once told me......"We are never guaranteed the next sunrise, only the next sunset"



A toast...

Until we meet again Ian Reid...

Good Day

P.S.   Norman Farrell has some nice things to say about Mr. Reid

http://northerninsights.blogspot.ca/2013/11/salute-to-man-we-can-all-admire.html

http://northerninsights.blogspot.ca/2014/04/guts-and-glory.html

Alex Tsakumis too..

https://www.facebook.com/agtsakumis

And of course, The venerable one...Ross K

 http://pacificgazette.blogspot.ca/2014/04/goodbye-to-my-friend-ian.html


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Full of Tears
 

“The Globe(alization) and Mail”.

 

 

The Crumbling Mainstream Press and Media In Canada.  Part II.  

 written By Robin Mathews   April  2014

 

 

 

“The Globe(alization) and Mail”.

 

Newspapers and conventional media are losing readers, listeners, and viewers simply because people use personal electronic devices of many kinds.  For convenience.

 Untrue.

 Newspapers and conventional media must, it is true, face and deal with the new “social media, etc.”  - which add an exciting dimension to communication and publication.  But the established communication sources are losing ground for quite another reason – which they will not whisper about in the dark or admit is even a vague possibility.  In short, they are the (owned) servants of big corporate capital, and they serve it … first, last, and always.  They not only serve the One Per Cent.  They are the One Per Cent. 

 

And so they don’t give you the news.  They give you Corporate Propaganda.  That doesn’t mean they tell you daily what Goldman Sachs or RBC or Telus or CGI or the Stephen Harper goons tell them to pass along to you.  They simply shape news to back those kinds of Corporate giants and their friends… and they don’t report facts that might shake your support for globalized corporate rule.  In Canada, the Stephen Harper Conservative organization speaks for globalized corporate rule: it is protected by the Mainstream Press and Media.

 

The Globe and Mail’s “Public Editor” (Are there ‘Private’ Editors?) Sylvia Stead admits her paper supports Stephen Harper (Mar. 29 14 F8, “Why endorsing Harper doesn’t mean not criticizing him”.)  She is proud the Globe and Mail’s  “editorial page published an unprecedented five-part series calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to kill the Fair Elections Act” because (her claim) of its devastating anti-democratic force.  She brags, as if to do once what it should be doing all the time is a major achievement.

 

She does NOT write that if the bill remains and is pushed through, the Globe and Mail will abandon its support for Stephen Harper and his “Conservatives”, declare the need for a change of government and – if suitable - back one of the Opposition parties. (“Come, Come!” Ms. Stead might say,  “Be serious.  We’re paid to say we believe in democracy, but not if it means rejecting globalization, the corporate agenda, the new fascism, and … Stephen Harper.”)

 

To show how the chatter from Ms. Stead should be on the entertainment page, she points out how great, bold journalists in Toronto have “made repeated efforts, including a running scrum, to extract an answer from Mayor Rob Ford about newly released court documents.” 

 

Canadians have looked and looked and looked for Globe and Mail reporters to follow Stephen Harper (in a running scrum?) to extract answers from him about the F35 fighter, the (admitted) guilt of his Party in Election Fraud, the relation of Conservative Senators to that fraud, the suppression of scientific research in Canada and the killing of environmental law and oversight, the alleged PMO activated Robocall Fraud in 2013 concerning Saskatchewan electoral boundaries, his relation to Nigel Wright and the possible criminal implications of their relation … and … and … and.  All in vain.

 The Globe and Mail doesn’t even seriously inform Canadians of Harper and PMO secrecy, of his refusal to hold open press conferences, his purposeful suppression of information that belongs to the public. The Globe and Mail (as a public information source) should declare open and unending war against a prime minister and party who – daily – do everything they can to prevent Canadians from being informed about government in Canada –  working, in effect, to destroy democracy in Canada.  The Globe and Mail, one might say, colludes … by its repeated and continuing failures.  (That might be the statement summing up the whole Mainstream Press and Media in Canada.)

 

That’s why more and more Canadians go around them all – ignore them, all of them - to get real information from somewhere else.

 As if to prove the point, the same Globe and Mail issue has a page-and-a-half spread on Goldman Sachs, featuring Gary Cohn, No. 2 in the Goldman Sachs hierarchy (pp. B4, B5).  Called “Goldman Opens Up”, the article features a large photo of Cohn, laughing like a PNE clown.  Between Rod Erman (writer), Cohn, and editors, the Globe and Mail gives less information about Goldman Sachs than a person could squeeze from a drunken PNE clown at the end of his shift. Something to laugh about ….

Among almost all serious commentators about the financial crash and burn of 2008, Goldman Sachs is fingered as one of the most destructive.  The Globe and Mail article tells a reader … nothing, but that Mr. Cohn made  $12.5 (U.S.) million in 2012.  (The fact that payoffs are still so high tells it all.  Little has changed in that corrupt world.)

 The article builds around the allegation that the 2008 crash wasn’t good for Goldman Sachs … and how it has had to refurbish its image.  Nothing is said about WHY that is necessary. Nothing is said about its participation in the economic collapse of Greece or other international and national depredations.  Not a word is said about what Goldman Sachs is alleged to have done to contribute to the crash and to the loss of savings and security of millions of people. Not a detail or a piece of information is given about the huge con-game of creating (in layman’s terms) fake investments that melted like snow in hot sun when fairly examined.

 All we get is that “We have reduced the lab where we used to have all these people creating and engineering these things”. (REDUCED the lab?) Taking care not to explain clearly that operations like Goldman Sachs (in layman’s terms) loaned money that didn’t exist and sold “securities”without traceable records… and on … and on, the reader is simply told “that banks [must] reduce the use of borrowed money, the key in ‘levering up’ returns”.

 In short, someone who doesn’t know the lingo and needs clear information is told nothing that matters about Goldman Sachs – which Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone called a “vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”.

 Maybe we can stop there.  Readers get almost no information about Goldman Sachs in what looks like an elaborate page-and-a half “infomercial” for the corporation by the Globe and Mail.  But if readers google Matt Taibbi and the new ‘The Intercept’ blog site, they can find in-depth, serious examination of the gigantic and multi-facetted con-jobs engaged in by the vampire squid community … people we might call “the globalizers”.  Readers WON’T get that kind of information from The Globe and Mail.

 

Let’s shine a little light on The Globe and Mail working in a local scene.  British Columbia.

 In that same Globe and Mail issue, apparently investigative journalists Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey look at politicians and entitlement. (S1, S4) To show the virtues of a “good guy”, the journalists focus on present B.C. minister of finance Mike de Jong and his personal push to cut expenses, to drive a twenty-year old car, to refuse VIP transport, and to urge such virtue upon others.  All that is reported to show up those others who appear to swill at the public trough … and have been exposed lately… and who seem to emit the faint odor of corruption … which, apparently Mike de Jong is free of.

 Except …except … there’s Mike de Jong and the BC Rail Scandal. What is never said and has never been approached by anyone at the Globe and Mail is that the (lily-pure and independent) Special (Crown) Prosecutor - (appointed in 2003) in the 14 year saga of the BC Rail Scandal investigation, pre-trial, and trial - was illegitimately in the position.  Appointed under the Attorney Generalship of Geoff Plant, his partner and colleague for seven years, that Special Prosecutor had also been partner and colleague of the Deputy Attorney General (Allan Seckel) for eleven years. Buddies, you might say.

 

The Special Prosecutor’s illegitimacy means that everything done toward, and including, the BC Rail Scandal court case from his appointment in 2003 is invalid … and worse.  The Attorney General of B.C. was fully informed more than once of the violation … and did nothing … refused even to answer correspondence.

 

Which is where Mike de Jong comes in.  Becoming Attorney General around the time of the revelation about the illegitimate Special Prosecutor, he decided – not to act on the irrefutable information but to have a review of the appointment process of Special Prosecutors.  He wanted a swift, efficient review by UBC vice president Stephen Owen. Apparently … apparently, the review had nothing whatever to do with the gigantically important violation in the case of the BC Rail Scandal trial about which the Attorney General of B.C. had been fully informed.

 The Report by Stephen Owen never mentions the BC Rail Scandal Special Prosecutor appointment.  The Report is a pumped up whitewash of the process.  The Special Prosecution appointment process, readers are led to conclude, was made in heaven and the name of each appointee is delivered to the Attorney General by an angel with golden wings.  So much for Mike de Jong.  (Don’t Globe and Mail writers do ANY research?)

 The two Globe and Mail columnists on the story during the four-year long BC Rail Scandal pre-trial and trial (known also as the Basi, Virk, and Basi trial) were (award winning) Gary Mason and Mark Hume.  They were in the courtroom frequently.  When the Special Prosecutor’s illegitimate appointment was reported upon, the blog world lit up with the information.  The Mainstream Press and Media refused to touch it, to investigate the facts, to do … anything. Gary Mason and Mark Hume never published a word.

 Sylvia Stead, Public Editor, Globe and Mail, writes: “the role of the media in a democracy [is]: to think, to challenge, to question, to include the facts and not just to accept what is said.  And to do it regardless of which party or leader is in power.”

 The Globe and Mail, demonstrably, does not do what Sylvia Stead says it must do in a democracy.  Serious Canadians, then, should ignore (and more and more do) the organ of sleazy corporate propaganda called the Globe and Mail.

 Canadians, more and more, seek information from almost any other source than Canada’s Mainstream Press and Media, and, especially, from any source other than their flagship institution, called – we all know – Canada’s National Newspaper, the Globe and Mail. 

 

Written by Robin Mathews

 

 

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(The examples Robin has noted are only but a few, British Columbia`s media has become a putrid sewer, bias corporatism, a bowing to the elites, columnists and reporters polishing BC Liberal jackboots.....Cowards, Keith Baldrey thinks Twitter followers count as status, those with few are treated as lepers....
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Keith Baldrey ‏@keithbaldrey Apr 2

Some idiot with 9 followers insults me and demands I ANSWER HIM NOW! Too funny. Applies to many other twits. You know who you are. #bcpoli

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You see, that Keith Baldrey Tweet...Keith Baldrey could have said.....Some idiot wants me to respond to him, but no, Keith Baldrey thinks the person is beneath him because of the amount of Twitter followers he has, ...Baldrey did the same thing months ago with me, in a private message...Keith Baldrey has never broken one big story, or one scandal in his entire political career, nothing, he`s a paid stenographer, a pathetic little man with an inflated ego.....A cowardly slug who couldn`t hold a candle to 90% of those who blog and report....!

Vaughn Palmer with his fluffball Voice of B.C. Government press release no tough questions zero follow-up inquiry bootlick dog n pony show...Billy Good and his Friday political panel, now  known as..The Yawning Edge of the Ledge..

Just in the last few weeks alone, A big scandal in our ambulance service, ignored, Laura Millar scandal, ignored, Amit Virk and the devastating Kwantlen college scandal, all but ignored because it involves BC Liberals, Christy Clark`s lobbying for big oil with her sex partner Mark Marissen, ignored, yet a tired old failed ex premier Mike Harcourt with either a bad case of dementia or revisionist history syndrome makes a statement borne out of anger over Adrian Dix`s feeble and fatal  electioneering is plastered on front pages, a lead news item on Global, as well as endless drone on radio, a nothing story pounded by media on orders from corporate headquarters......

Pathetic, and the media knows it, the columnists and writers know it, patting each other on the back while pretending they mattered, or made a difference when clearly they did neither, complicit by compromise, by concession by concealment and of course, collusion....Grant G)

  The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open  

The Absurdity Of US Natural Gas Exports

 

 

 

 

(I present you a guest post, well written, articulate, and it does apply to Canadian LNG export aspirations, Grant G)

 

Written by Gail Tverberg

 

Gail Tverberg has an outstanding website...

 

http://ourfiniteworld.com/

 

 

← Oil Limits and the Economy: One Story, Not Two

The Absurdity of US Natural Gas Exports

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Gail Tverberg

Quiz:
1. How much natural gas is the United States currently extracting?
(a) Barely enough to meet its own needs
(b) Enough to allow lots of exports
(c) Enough to allow a bit of exports
(d) The United States is a natural gas importer
Answer: (d) The United States is a natural gas importer, and has been for many years. The EIA is forecasting that by 2017, we will finally be able to meet our own natural gas needs.

Figure 1. US Natural Gas recent history and forecast, based on EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release Overview

In fact, this last year, with a cold winter, we have had a problem with excessively drawing down amounts in storage.

Figure 2. US EIA’s chart showing natural gas in storage, compared to the five year average, from Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.

There is even discussion that at the low level in storage and current rates of production, it may not be possible to fully replace the natural gas in storage before next fall.
2. How much natural gas is the United States talking about exporting?
(a) A tiny amount, less than 5% of what it is currently producing.
(b) About 20% of what it is currently producing.
(c) About 40% of what it is currently producing.
(d) Over 60% of what it is currently producing.
The correct answer is (d) Over 60% what it is currently producing. If we look at the applications for natural gas exports found on the Energy.Gov website, we find that applications for exports total 42 billion cubic feet a day, most of which has already been approved.* This compares to US 2013 natural gas production of 67 billion cubic feet a day. In fact, if companies applying for exports build the facilities in, say, 3 years, and little additional natural gas production is ramped up, we could be left with less than half of current natural gas production for our own use.
*This is my calculation of the sum, equal to 38.51 billion cubic feet a day for Free Trade Association applications (and combined applications), and 3.25 for Non-Free Trade applications.
3. How much are the United States’ own natural gas needs projected to grow by 2030?
a. No growth
b. 12%
c. 50%
d. 150%
If we believe the US Energy Information Administration, US natural gas needs are expected to grow by only 12% between 2013 and 2030 (answer (b)). By 2040, natural gas consumption is expected to be 23% higher than in 2013. This is a little surprising for several reasons. For one, we are talking about scaling back coal use for making electricity, and we use almost as much coal as natural gas. Natural gas is an alternative to coal for this purpose.
Furthermore, the EIA expects US oil production to start dropping by 2020 (Figure 3, below), so logically we might want to use natural gas as a transportation fuel too.

Figure 3. US Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release Oil Forecast for the United States.

We currently use more oil than natural gas, so this change could in theory lead to a 100% or more increase in natural gas use.
Many nuclear plants we now have in service will need to be replaced in the next 20 years. If we substitute natural gas in this area as well, it would further send US natural gas usage up. So the EIA’s forecast of US natural gas needs definitely seem on the “light” side.
4. How does natural gas’s production growth fit in with the growth of other US fuels according to the EIA?
(a) Natural gas is the only fuel showing much growth
(b) Renewables grow by a lot more than natural gas
(c) All fuels are growing
The answer is (a). Natural gas is the only fuel showing much growth in production between now and 2040.
Figure 4 below shows the EIA’s figure from its Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release showing expected production of all types of fuels.

Figure 4. Forecast US Energy Production by source, from US EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Early Release.

Natural gas is pretty much the only growth area, growing from 31% of total energy production in 2012 to 38% of total US energy production in 2040. Renewables are expected to grow from 11% to 12% of total US energy production (probably because the majority is hydroelectric, and this doesn’t grow much). All of the others fuels, including oil, are expected to shrink as percentages of total energy production between 2012 and 2040.
5. What is the projected path of natural gas prices:
(a) Growing slowly
(b) Ramping up quickly
(c) It depends on who you ask
It depends on who you ask: Answer (c). According to the EIA, natural gas prices are expected to remain quite low. The EIA provides a forecast of natural gas prices for electricity producers, from which we can estimate expected wellhead prices (Figure 5).

Figure 5. EIA Forecast of Natural Gas prices for electricity use from AEO 2014 Advance Release, together with my forecast of corresponding wellhead prices. (2011 and 2012 are actual amounts, not forecasts.)

In this forecast, wellhead prices remain below $5.00 until 2028. Electricity companies look at these low price forecasts and assume that they should plan on ramping up electricity production from natural gas.
The catch–and the reason for all of the natural gas exports–is that most shale gas producers cannot produce natural gas at recent price levels. They need much higher price levels in order to make money on natural gas. We see one article after another on this subject: From Oil and Gas Journal; from Bloomberg; from the Financial Times. The Wall Street Journal quoted Exxon’s Rex Tillerson as saying, “We are all losing our shirts today. We’re making no money. It’s all in the red.”
Why all of the natural gas exports, if we don’t have very much natural gas, and the shale gas portion (which is the only portion with much potential for growth) is so unprofitable? The reason for all of the exports is too pump up the prices shale gas producers can get for their gas. This comes partly by engineering higher US prices (by shipping an excessive portion overseas) and partly by trying to take advantage of higher prices in Europe and Japan.

Figure 6. Comparison of natural gas prices based on World Bank “Pink Sheet” data. Also includes Pink Sheet world oil price on similar basis.

There are several catches in all of this. Dumping huge amounts of natural gas on world export markets is likely to sink the selling price of natural gas overseas, just as dumping shale gas on US markets sank US natural gas prices here (and misled some people, by making it look as if shale gas production is cheap). The amount of natural gas export capacity that is in the approval process is huge: 42 billion cubic feet per day. The European Union imports only about 30 billion cubic feet a day from all sources. This amount hasn’t increased since 2005, even though EU natural gas production has dropped. Japan’s imports amounted to 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day in 2012; China’s amounted to about 4 billion cubic feet. So in theory, if we try hard enough, there might be a place for the 42 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to go–but it would take a huge amount of effort.
There are other issues involved, as well. The countries that are importing huge amounts of high-priced natural gas are not doing well financially. They aren’t going to be able to afford to import a whole lot more high-priced natural gas. In fact, a big part of the reason that they are not doing well financially is because they are paying so much for imported natural gas (and oil).
If the US has to pay these high prices for natural gas (even if we produce it ourselves), we won’t be doing very well financially either. In particular, companies who manufacture goods with electricity from high-priced natural gas will find that the goods they make are not competitive with goods made with cheaper fuels (coal, nuclear, or hydroelectric) in the world marketplace. This is a problem, whether the country produces the high-priced natural gas itself or imports it. So the issue is not an imported fuel problem; it is a high-priced fuel problem.
Another issue is that with shale gas, we are the high cost producer. There is a lot of natural gas production around the world, particularly in the Middle East, that is cheaper. If we add our high cost of shale gas to the high cost of shipping LNG long-distance across the Atlantic or Pacific, we will most definitely be the high cost producer. Other producers with lower costs (even local shale gas producers) can undercut our prices. So at best those shipping LNG overseas are likely to make mediocre profits.
And there would seem to be great temptation to stir up trouble, to encourage Europe to buy our natural gas exports, rather than Russia’s. Of course, our ability to provide this natural gas is not entirely clear. It makes a good story, with lots of “ifs” involved: “If we can really extract this natural gas. If the price can really go up and stay up. If you can wait long enough.” The story makes the US look more rich and powerful than it really is. We can even pretend to offer help to the Ukraine.
Perhaps the best outcome would be if virtually none of this natural gas export capacity ever gets built–approval or no approval. If it is really possible to get the natural gas out, we need it here instead. Or leave it in the ground.

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I thank Gail Tverberg for her excellent column, and with luck we may have the privilege of posting more of her expert insights..

 

Profits from LNG exports, like the picture above this post....

 

Mirage and illusion..

 

 

 

The Straight Goods

 

Cheers Eyes Wide Open