Thursday, November 26, 2009

An open letter to Canada's Environment Minister

Dear Mr. Prentice,

I am very concerned about Canada's participation in the United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP15. With the recent revelation that many key climate scientists involved in the IPCC may have misrepresented data, and ruthlessly squelched opposing perspectives to anthropogenic global warming, I think it is absolutely imperative for Canada to avoid entangling ourselves in this thinly veiled pretext to implement a supra-national framework for global governance called "cap-and-trade."

Canada cannot afford to sign treaties on the basis of an unproven "chicken little" scenario, no matter how shrill the shouts of believers in their attempts to silence dissent.

Please consider the voices of these scientists before embroiling Canada in a policy created by doomsayers:
http://www.petitionproject.org/

Regards,
Alan Cruikshank

Monday, February 9, 2009

Oil recovery to be taxpayer subsidized?

Back when environmentalists were raising the alarm about a coming ice age and anti-war activists had us fearing a nuclear winter, chemical engineers like my father were engaged in "carbon capture and storage" profitably, for the oil industry.

My father worked for a large oil company at the time known as Dresser Industries. Dresser's operations based in Edmonton, like many other oil servicing companies of the time was engaged in an enhanced oil recovery technology pioneered by Royal Dutch Shell in 1972 then called "CO2 injection." Today the industry prefers to call CO2 injection "carbon capture and storage (CCS)."

Now that Alberta's provincial government is planning on making CCS a showcase of its Climate Change Strategy, should we expect the 2 billion dollars the Alberta Government is planning on spending to create the infrastructure to pump CO2 to oil fields will come from any additional revenues Albertans anticipated from our new oil royalty regime?

Though I am tempted to address the tenuous foundation of anthropogenic global warming, I ask environmentalists why the government is willing to pay for the collection and distribution of CO2, a raw material the oil industry paid for since 1972, so that same industry can extract more combustible hydrocarbons generating more CO2? With "climate change" initiatives like this one, it is no wonder multinational corporations like BP are on board.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Its Payback Time!

Though I consider the jury out on whether Premier Ed Stelmach offers an improvement to the quality of government we will receive here in Alberta, I heartily support his decision to follow the recommendations of the Alberta Royalty Review panel's "Our Fair Share". Accusations by his critics that the Government was unethical or dishonest by increasing the royalty rates in a time when oil is selling for over $100 a barrel is just so much hot air. Without the transparency implied under Alberta's so-called "Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act" (a classic example of Orwellian doublespeak) to scrutinize the agreements involved, Albertans are truly in the dark as to how much of our resource wealth has been squandered to fire-sale prices, and failures to properly collect. Cloaked by the following section of FOIP, Albertans are forbidden from knowing details:

16(1) The head of a public body must refuse to disclose to an applicant information

(a) that would reveal

... (ii) commercial, financial, labour relations, scientific or technical information of a third party,

(b) that is supplied, explicitly or implicitly, in confidence, and

(c) the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to

(i) harm significantly the competitive position or interfere significantly with the negotiating position of the third party,

(ii) result in similar information no longer being supplied to the public body when it is in the public interest that similar information continue to be supplied,

(iii) result in undue financial loss or gain to any person or organization ...

Now only 3 days after Ed Stelmach's landslide electoral victory, the Shell and Esso Strathcona refineries are reporting "coincidental" production shortages. Media analysts are speculating gasoline may hit $1.50 per liter ($5.68 a gallon) in the Edmonton area by May. Is this how the oil industry intends to recover lost profits from Alberta's increased oil royalty rates? Only a conspiracy theorist would think so. At any rate, it is time for Albertans to insist on repealing FOIP and replacing it with an Act that will cast sunlight on darkness.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Top Ten Reasons Why Fox News Didn't Invite Ron Paul to their New Hampshire TV Debate

10. He uses profanity, calling the U.S. Federal Reserve a “monopoly” and saying money is “created out of thin air.

9. Though supported by more U.S. servicemen, he won’t “play ball” with the military industrial complex.

8. Former Air Force Captain Ron Paul's legions of supporters will influence voters with their air corps or money bomb from their zepplin.

7. The 6 million dollar man might use his powers to break through Fox News' stranglehold of neoconservative opinion.

6. His supporters are the victims of internet mind control.

5. People might find out about his voting record.

4. After finding out about #5, voters might believe he’ll keep his campaign promises, like abolishing the IRS.

3. He makes the other Republican candidates look like the hacks and shills for special interests that they really are.

2. Ron Paul, like the proverbial 12 ton elephant, won’t fit in the TV studio.

1. Ron Paul is not supposed to win.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Tagged?

(From SME.)
1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not as far as I know.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? If you remember when you last cried, it must have been associated with a memorably emotional event. Otherwise, it wasn't worth crying about. (However, I do remember remember profuse welling of moisture from my tear ducts recently when I was making nachos a couple of weeks ago. Must have been a particularly pungent onion.)
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? What's not to like? Its mine. I suppose I would feel the same if you asked me if I like my hand.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAT? Barbecued baby back pork ribs. Leg of lamb, crab meat and smoked oysters are close runner-ups.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think I would find someone else that similar to me too unnerving. One of the primary things I value in friends is their uniqueness. What would I be able to learn from myself that I didn't already know?
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM ALOT? I try to avoid it. Sarcasm is so negative.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? They better not be someone else's!
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? If it had the possible side benefit of doing a chiropractic-quality spine adjustment...maybe.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? At this moment, new Diamond Shreddies.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Not usually.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not especially. I prefer to say "adequate."
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? French vanilla.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their gender.
15. RED OR PINK? If we're talking my clothes (and not ketchup I just spilt), red. If we're talking clothes on a woman, pink. If we're talking politics, pink. (Socialism being slightly less objectionable than communism.)
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF?
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
18. WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? Groceries.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Pants? Shoes? Was I supposed to dress for these questions?
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A spinach salad.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The humming of my computer's fan.
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Periwinkle
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Baby powder, coconut oil, vanilla.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My friend Anita.
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Spelling bees are actually quite interesting. So is a Stanley Cup playoff hockey game.
27. EYE COLOR? Brown.
28. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.
29. FAVORITE FOOD? Sushi.
30. STALLONE OR SCHWARTZENEGER?
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Gattaca
33. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Again, nobody told me I had to dress for these questions!
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs are warm, but kisses can be fire.
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Mom's pumpkin pie.
37. WHAT BOOK(S) ARE YOU READING NOW? None. I rarely read novels, instead preferring periodical literature or the internet.
38. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T. V. LAST NIGHT? 1 Versus 100.
39. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO WATCH TONIGHT? Don't know. Maybe The Tonight Show.
40. FAVORITE SOUND? The rich deep C note at the beginning of Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra.
41. DOG OR CAT? Dog.
42. FAVORITE FLOWER? Snapdragon.
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles.
44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Atlanta, Georgia.
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Favorite E-mail Signatures

Scriptural quotations notwithstanding, these are some of my preferred tag lines to my e-mails:

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." --Voltaire

"Think not those faithful who praise all your words and actions, but those who kindly reprove your faults."

"He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool...shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is willing...teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep...awaken him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise...follow him."

"The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts." --Edmund Burke

"The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." --John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859

"There are 10 types of people in the world; those who understand binary, and those who don't."

"Freedom includes the right to say what others may object to and resent...The essence of citizenship is to be tolerant of strong and provocative words."
--Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, April 9, 1970, House of Commons

"Men are qualified for liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites." --Edmund Burke

"Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honour, on the plausible pretense that he is justified by the goodness of his end. All good ends can be worked out by good means." --Charles Dickens

"What will destroy us?-- The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice." --Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi

"Being a lover of freedom, when the (Nazi) revolution came, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration for it because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly." --Albert Einstein from Kampi und Zeugnis der bekennenden Kirche

"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." --John Stuart Mill

"Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong."
--Prime Minister Diefenbaker

"Little vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies."

"It is better to be uninformed than misinformed." --Thomas Jefferson's response when he was asked why he did not read any of the newspapers of his day

"It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen." --Herodotus

"Power is a poison well known for thousands of years. If only no one were ever to acquire material power over others! But to the human being who has faith in some force that holds dominion over all of us, and who is therefore conscious of his own limitations, power is not necessarily fatal. For those, however, who are unaware of any higher sphere, it is a deadly poison. For them there is no antidote." --Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." --Thomas Paine

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. --Goethe

(Please let me know if I have misattributed any of the above quotes, or if you know who the unattributed quotes should be attributed to.)

Friday, March 16, 2007

My E-mail to CTV's "Ask Us"

To Whom it may Concern,

Though I was unable to catch the "Ask Us" question on March 16, 2007 that Joy Malbon was responding to, her answer contained statements that were at the very least misleading, if not outright wrong.

First she said that every U.S. President has been a Republican or Democrat since 1776 except for George Washington and the "accidental president", John Tyler (a Whig). She failed to mention that Millard Fillmore was also elected as a Whig. Prior to Abraham Lincoln, today's Republican Party didn't exist, though another party now referred to [by historians] as the "Democratic-Republican Party" elected four Presidents under that [the Republican] name. Also, John Adams considered himself a Federalist, and thus was neither a Republican or a Democrat.

Then she went on to describe the candidates vying for the Republican and Democratic nominations in the current Presidential election. I was surprised she decided CTV is empowered to act as a "benevolent censor" by failing to mention any Republican candidates other than John McCain or Rudy Guliani. Even though her U.S. media counterparts are also guilty of selective reporting, at least they have also generally acknowledge Mitt Romney's Republican Presidential candidacy. Several other competent Republicans and Democrats, that have and will be ignored by the U.S. news media, are already registered with the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) as Presidential candidates, have and will be ignored by CTV as well.
The choice - Tweedledum or Tweedledee?

With so few "legitimate" choices being presented to the public in [elections] by the press and network news media, old media should accept their complicity in the poor caliber of leadership the electorate are left with - Tweedledum or Tweedledee.

Such a lack of thoroughness and accuracy belies the increasing mistrust of the public in old media, and their willingness to rely on independent new media via the Internet.

Sincerely,
Al Cruikshank