best of 2017 - Bonus!

Saskatchewan MP Gerry Ritz resigned in 2017. A highlight was his tweet about polls. He served Battlefords—Lloydminster from 1997 as Reform, then Alliance and CPC post-merger (2004) member.

Fascinating! The world tilts every 40-50 years and polls freeze.

In other science news, Stephen Hawking passed (1942-2018). His ashes will be interred in Westminster Abbey near Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

the pretend arsonist and wildfires

Not wanting to appear as though the whole of northern Alberta could go up in flames -- including the oil fields, oilsands, gas wells, and any small town or city, hectare after hectare -- the Alberta government fabricates an arsonist: On Tuesday, the province said the fire was deliberately set and that investigators have pinpointed the ignition site and cause – though they wouldn’t reveal either. ($700m Slave Lake fire, Nov 1, 2011)

'I watched the whole town burn (May 16, 2011)

It wasn't out-of-control, really. It's better this way. There was no raging forest fire that overtook the city. No siree. It isn't a PR ('arsonist') stunt. It's just a little .... ditty ... to protect investments and ... and .... and .... reputation in the dry, dry pine beetle or peatless woods and a changing volatile climate.

Nothing got so hot, so fast, it blew up first. The Texas terminals are fine too. (See: A Look Back at the 2011 Texas Wildfires)

Be part of the non-renewable energy.™

al qaeda, hamas, taliban & martians: senator

Senator Don Plett. Oh dear, we lost one. {cuckoo}

"Let me ask you this, honourable senators: If environmentalists are willing to accept money from Martians, where would they draw the line on where they receive money from? Would they take money from Al Qaeda, the Hamas or the Taliban?," Senator Don Plett, the party's former president, asked in the Senate.

jasper: wat-cha-ching! glacier melt

It was controversial. No matter. The private observation deck in a public national park was approved by the federal government. It's being built. The Icefields TangleMeltWay Ridge Viewpoint Centre Parkway will be staffed by Brewster's, not Parks Canada.

Artist rendering of a proposed Glacier Discovery Walk at
Tangle Ridge Viewpoint on the Icefields Parkway.
Photograph by: Handout photo, Brewster Travel

The facility will be knocked into the cliff with explosives, and a 42 year lease, disappointing lichen and bighorn sheep. Brewster Travel Canada  is now owned by VIAD of Arizona ("The Business Behind Leading Businesses"). Admission to this GDW skywalker is expected to be $15-$30 per person.

Peter Kent joked about the high-volume form letter complaints (180,000 signatures + 1000s of letters & postcards)(dictionary.com "petition"), as if people have time to write these ministers of industry borg personal fucking letters, every week.

More info here.

stupid pandas{5yrs}, p-bear, toronto {hogtown}, jasmine junkets

A new little orphanish polar bear at the Toronto Zoey: "The three-month-old cub is the only survivor from a litter of three that was rejected by their mother at birth." pizzaville source

Junket: "Hogtown has been thrown into a state of panda-monium since a report surfaced that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trip to China next week would include an announcement that a pair of pandas would be coming to Toronto." when the tigers leave pizzaville.ca source

More stories: 7 big topics for Harper's China trip (including pandas), How panda diplomacy became bear-knuckle haggling, China's panda loan could signal cuddly new relations Pandas, pipelines top PM's China trip

Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flowers):
the symbol of Chinese Music

On censorship, pruning jasmine:  "Chang started to tell CNN from New York, but then the gym’s TV screen went black. CNN switched back on 30 seconds later and a Hong Kong-based anchor bid Chang thanks and farewell, leaving at least one jogger in the U.S. hotel joint venture with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wondering what had been said."  mr sloth source, costa rica

More stories: Revolution' Coverage Censored in China, Jasmine Becomes Contraband in China, AFP: China web users call for 'Jasmine Revolution', After Jasmine Revolution Video, U.S. Envoy to China Hunstman's ..., Why J-A-S-M-I-N-E is censored ? - China Watch, China Censorship Watch - Filed under 'Jasmine, China detains, censors bloggers on 'Jasmine Revolution

Nyage Sonamdrugyu (Sopa)

Itinerary: "Harper is expected to hit at least three cities during his nearly week-long trade mission to China — his second official visit as prime minister — including the capital of Beijing, southern trade port of Guangzhou (near Hong Kong) and the southwestern hub of Chongqing." netflix source

Tibet: "His case is a special one because he was considered a bodhisattva, a "living Buddha": monks considered revivals of great masters of the past." cathay pacific source

what a jerk. pick1

It was the taunt.

Elizabeth May: Very difficult to get to COP. UN deadline 2 apply passed before Kent told us we were not on del.

Justin Trudeau: This is a tradition that goes back 20 years of bringing multiple voices to a conference. He did not, they did not.

Peter Kent: "he chided NDP critic Megan Leslie for being ill-informed about last week's climate-change conference because she hadn't attended."

"Justin Trudeau calls on Peter Kent to issue his own apology after expletive-tinged Commons clash" source

wowzers: prevent NDP critic Megan Leslie from attending, then blame her for not being there. that's a bit fecal!

like banking regs, conservatives ♥ black-footed ferrets

Press Release
Government of Canada Marks Third Release of black-footed Ferrets in Grasslands National Park
Endangered Species Bringing Canadians Together
Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan, October 19, 2011– On the occasion of the third release of black-footed ferrets onto the Canadian prairies in Grasslands National Park, the Honourable Peter Kent, Canada's Environment Minister and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, today acknowledged the continued success of this species at risk program.

Grasslands National Park is gaining 15 black-footed ferrets
Wednesday as Parks Canada sends the group into the wild. source

Disingenuous: Stephen Harper has always supported bank deregulation and here and...

USA: Black-footed Ferret: The Comeback Kid Celebrates 30 Years of Rediscovery
Grasslands National Park: Grasslands National Park designated The Darkest Dark Sky Preserve, Oct '09

salmon inquiry, 'events in Japan' & trout

The Cohen Commission (Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River) today heard from Kristi Miller, who's been under pressure it seems to say nothing public, like other scientists, about her study and federal government science... stuff. There appears to be a little funding problem.

A research program led by geneticist Kristi Miller which recently discovered a new virus that could be a factor in declining Fraser River sockeye has no funding to continue its work, the Cohen Commission heard Thursday. more (Vancouver Sun)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued notification to media outlets that it was testing sockeye salmon for radiation levels in August and September 2011.

The federal government often refers to the reported meltdown of three nuclear reactors in Fukushima as "the events in Japan", rather than using more descriptive language. However, the words "nuclear crisis" appeared once in today's statement. more (Georgia Strait)

There was no spokesperson to take questions about the testing of 'this important commodity.'

In Yellowstone, between the lake and cutthroat trouts is a Judas team, 'a strike force in the biggest lake-trout-killing program in the nation.'

Ai WeiWei, Franke James & political climates

“Who was the idiot who approved an art show by that woman, Franke James?”
Memorable words from one of Canada’s top officials on hearing that the Canadian Embassy in Croatia had offered support for Franke’s art show.

Ai WeiWei is a Chinese artist, who is now out of jail ("suspected economic crimes") and under house arrest, without his passport. He was offered a teaching position at Berlin University for the Arts, so even if he wants that assignment, at the moment he cannot leave the country.

http://forestgospel.blogspot.com/2011/02/ai-weiwei.html

Franke James is an artist, who had her funding for a trip to Croatia revoked by the Canadian government. Incidentally, the (drowning polar bear) guy is suspended and, who knows, maybe he is an hostage in a US debt ceiling agreement deal; Charles Monnett is under investigation about melting Arctic ice. Another taboo is the genomic analysis of sockeye salmon. Kristi Miller, a federal scientist, is not allowed to talk to anyone, as per the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans ("some even suggesting a government conspiracy to save itself some embarrassment should its trade practices prove to be spreading it") or, the geologist and the most controversial 13,000 year-old flood.

Franke James: The Canadian Government, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party, is actively working to shut down my solo European art exhibition, which is set to tour 20 cities in Europe. The government’s interference includes phoning the corporate sponsor, and persuading them to cancel their $75,000 sponsorship.

http://www.frankejames.com/debate/?p=111