Ignatieff, Layton and Gun Control

To Iggy and Jack ... our two gun registry amigos .... allow me pass on some facts ... which I'm sure will not put even the slightest of dents into their illogical thought process when it comes to long guns.

• In 1929 the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.


• Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.


• Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and other peoples, who were unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.


• China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.


• Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.


• Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.


• Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1980 one million people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century, after gun control was enacted: 56,000,000

Switzerland issues every household a gun. Its government trains every adult on how to use it.

Switzerland has the lowest gun related crime rate of any civilized country in the world.

The real truth is that gun control laws and registeries adversely affect only - law abiding citizens.

The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

Assault is a behaviour ... it is not caused by an inanimate object!

By the way, 64,986,987 firearms owners didn't kill anyone today!

Looks like Prime Minister Harper is correct once again!!

The Cantankerous Conservative pays his Canadian Taxes!

April 17, 2008

Dear Revenuers at Revenue Canada,

Enclosed and/or attached, you will find my 2007 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes.

Please note the attached article from the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper; dated 12 November, wherin you will see the Canadian Department of National Defense is paying $171.50 per hammer and Fisheries and Oceans Canada has paid $600.00 per toilet seat for its icebreakers.

As payment, I am enclosing eighty (80) toilet seats valued at $2,400 and 35 hammers valued @ $1,029, which I secured at Canadian Tire (because I couldn't find the Government's supplier), bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00

Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the "Stephan Dion Election Fund," as noted on my return.

You can do this inexpensively by sending Mr. Dion one (1) Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from The Globe and Mail detailing how the Department of Public Works pays $22.00 each for 1.5" Phillips Head Screw. One Phillips screw is enclosed for your convenience.

I would consider it a personal favour if you could inform Prime Minister Stephen Harper that I have now opened "Robert Otto's House of Hardware and Toilet Seats" and am looking forward to chatting with his common-sense-impaired purchasing officers as I believe that I can supply the government with $750.00 toilet seats, $225.00 hammers and $35.00 Phillips Head Screws.

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, knowing that my hard earned tax dollars are being spent so wisely, and I look forward with great anticipation, to paying you even more taxes next year.

Sincerely,
Robert James Otto

PS: Don't forget to tell Stephen about "the crapper collars."

Disturbing "Goings-On" in Canada

ITEM: On Feb. 14/08 Canada and the U.S. signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each others borders during an emergency.

This deal was never presented to, nor approved by the U.S. Congress, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has kept complete silence on the deal. I don't recall this even being on the agenda of Canada's Parliament ... strange!

The only Canadian statement has come from Canada Command spokesman David Scanlon stating, "if U.S. Forces were to come into Canada, they would be under tactical control of the Canadian Forces but still under the command of the U.S. Military."

What kind of gobbeldy-gook double speak is this? Lucy, you got a lot of 'splainin' to do!

ITEM: Next year, on April 2009, there are plans to practice a terrorist-reponse drill in Vancouver led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Code-named TOPOFF5, it will be conducted by Canada, the U.S. and Mexico ... oh my gosh if it isn't the 3 amigos of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) which proposes the joining of all 3 countries into a single North American Union by 2010 with a possible single currency tentatively called the Amero.

By the way, for those of you who still are not aware of the SPP, which is working towards the deep integration of Canada, Mexico with the U.S., visit the government SPP websites in all three countries. They are chock-full of information, as is the website for the Council on Foreign Relations ,... the prime mover and shaker for a one world government. These folks are making no secret as to what they are up to, so if one day you are caught by surprise, you have no one to blame but yourself.

YOU LOVE CANADA SO YOU NEED TO CHECK THE SPP FOR YOURSELF! There are literally hundreds of websites and blogs devoted to the SPP .... just Google it. The Alberta government SPP website is particularly interesting.

As usual, the Bushwhackers in Washington are moving ahead WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL. Prime Minister Harper seems to have become a cowboy as he moves ahead with the proposal without any dialogue whatsoever with Canadians! To be fair, I haven't heard a peep from Jack Layton or monsieur Dion either. And what about our "ami" Gilles Duceppe? Interesting ramifications for the sovereignty movement within the context of a 3 nation integration mais non?

Going back to TOPOFF5, does this mean that there will be American and Mexican troops on the ground during the Vancouver Olympics?

ITEM: The most recent audit by the FBI's inspector general documents the growth of FBI operations in Canada since 2001. It shows U.S. agents carrying out investigations without the approval of the Canadian Government.

The FBI has given agents in the Buffalo field office clearance to conduct "routine investigations" up to 50 miles into sovereign Canadian territory and it also says that about 30% of FBI agents crossing the border are doing so without Canada's approval.

Would it be fair to say that 70% of the crossings have Canadian Government approval? Why?

The inspector general's report documents 135 unapproved FBI crossings!

The FBI is a domestic agency mandated to operate within the U.S. Are they crossing Canada's borders because they are geographically challenged, or do they now consider parts of Canada to be domestic?

In view of rampant globalization and increasing talk of a one world government by governments around the world, perhaps these sort of activities are to be now expected. In my opinion they are nevertheless unacceptable and more than a little disturbing!

Mr. Bush and Mr. Harper ... What in the Tarnation is This All About?

On February 14th, Canada and the United States signed a military agreement which allows the armed forces of one country to support the armed forces of the other country during domestic civil emergency even if that emergency does not involve a cross-border crisis.

The bottom-line on this agreement (Civil Assistance Plan) is that the U.S. military and the Canadian military can cross each others borders to fight domestic emergencies. My question is what possible "domestic emergency" could Stephen Harper be possibly expecting that would prompt him to enter into an agreement that would provide for American troops to be on Canadian soil? Riddle me that Batman.

Conversely, what domestic emergency is George Bush anticipating that he would need Canadian troops on American soil? It just doesn't make any sense on the surface. Are we looking at another WMD (weapons of mass deception) scenario.

This agreement has not been announced either by Mr. Harper's government or by the Canadian military. WHY NOT MR. HARPER? Why are Canadians being purposely left in the dark on this agreement?

In the U.S. this plan has not been submitted to Congress for approval, nor did Congress pass any law or treaty specifically authorizing this military agreement to combine the armed forces of the U.S. and Canada in the event of a "wide range of domestic CIVIL disturbances." Does this not violate the U.S. Constitution?

Once again, what do both countries know or think that they know which would cause them to take this seemingly pre-emptive action. What civil disturbances are they afraid might occur?

This agreement was signed at U.S. Army North Headquarters, Fort Sam Houston, Texas by U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, Commander of Norad and U.S. Northern Command, or USNORTHCOM, and by Canadian Air Force Lt. Gen. Marc Dumais, Commander of Canada Command.

Let me throw in this bit of information as it may pertain to this agreement. In May 2007, President Bush, on his own authority, signed National Security Presidential Directive 51, also known as Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20, authorizing the President to declare a national emergency and take over all functions of federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments, without necessarily obtaining the approval of Congress to do so.

I would urge people on both sides of the border to seriously begin connecting the dots on this one and determine for yourselves what sort of picture is slowly being painted by Mr. Bush and Mr. Harper.

Canada's Conservative Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn apparently likes to Fly High

Here are some facts regarding our high-flying Labour Minister:

• Blackburn spent almost $68,000 of Our Money for 14 aircraft rentals between April and August of this year. (almost $4,900 per flight)
• 50% of these flights were between the airport at Gatineau Quebec near Ottawa and the CFB Base at Bagotville 200kms north of Quebec City. (almost $4,900 per flight)
• Flight records show that Blackburn was the only passenger on most of these flights. (almost $4,900 per flight)
• Not a single aircraft rental appears in Blackburn's travel expenses. This is a required public disclosure item. (almost $4,900 per flight)
• Instead these expenses are listed in the Ministry's list of procurement contracts, alongside transportation services and information technology contracts ...... HUH? ....... WHY? (almost $4,900 per flight)
• Well lookie here Mabel, the minister did disclose almost $20,000 of flights on commercial airlines under his own name.
• Last May, the Canadian Press revealed that in 2006 this minister spent almost $150,000 of our money on rented planes.

Do we have a problem here?

Mr. Harper, is this acceptable to you? ........ Just wondering.

How Big Oil and Governments Bend you over the Barrel

As I'm writing this post, oil is trading at $92.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline is near $3 a gallon in the U.S and $1.03 per litre in Canada. Meanwhile Exxon Mobil reported a $9.4 Billion (thats with a B folks) dollar profit for the last 3 months.

Here's why it's always your turn to be in the barrel;

• The world's cheapest oil to extract comes from Saudi Arabia and costs $2 a barrel to pump out of the ground. The Saudi's, through their national oil company, produce over 8 million barrels per day which for the most part is off-limits to Western oil companies ... hmmm.
• For Western oil companies it will cost between $5 to $7 a barrel for easily accessible oil. So let's say the cost is $7 per barrel.
• Factor in capital costs, like building the pumping facility at several billion dollars a pop and that will typically add another $5 to $7 dollars per barrel. So for easily accessible fields it costs Big Oil $14 to get that liquid gold out of the ground.
• For expensive fields like the Gulf of Mexico, Texas or the tar sands in Canada, the average production and capital cost is somewhere between $13 and $25 per barrel.

Now look out - here come the governments of the world. They have bequethed upon themselves the mantle of unrestricted taxation. Depending upon where you live on this planet, taxes and royalty payments can range from 40% of profits in the United States to over 90% in places like Russia or Libya.

Add to the mix the fact that there hasn't been one single new refinery built in the U.S. since 1976. As a matter of fact 50 have closed since the 1990's rather than making the necessary investments to comply with pollution laws. The net result are low gasoline supplies caused by a lack of refining capacity.

The domestic refining industry has continued to consolidate, allowing operators to avoid building new refineries, run existing ones at full throttle and thus causing many of the outages which have been experienced over the last few months.

Last but not least big oil companies refine more oil than they pump themselves. For example, Exxon refined 5.6 million barrels a day in the third quarter of 2007 .... but only pumped 2.5 million barrels a day. Chevron sold 3.5 million barrels a day of refined products ..... but only pumped 1.7 million barrels per day.

Mark Cooper, who is the research director for the Consumer Federation of America, said prior to a hearing by a House Judiciary Committee antitrust panel in Washington last May that Big Oil "have no interest in building spare capacity because that would undermine their pricing power." He went on to say at the hearing that "this is a picture of fundamental market failure," and that "Congress and the administration have stood by and done nothing to help consumers." "This is just mismanagement but they get away with it because their is no competitive discipline."

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is quoted as saying "There is near unanimity among economists that there is a concentration of power." The oil companies "have clearly demonstrated that they will abuse it."

To bring gasoline prices down in the short term, Cooper urged Congress to use its antitrust authority and investigate whether the refining industry has become too monopolistic. He also called for creating a strategic reserve to help ease price spikes when a refinery is taken offline.

I would urge Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, to also address this extremely serious situation ... because at the end of the day ... the citizens of this great country, like the proverbial golden goose, can only lay so many golden eggs.