unrepentant old hippie: Friday afternoon turkeyblogging

YES!

Yesterday morning at dawn (had to adjust the light with iphoto) they were out there: a male, a female and a baby turkey.  My batteries died right after I took this picture, so that’s it for now… I gave them some cake, hopefully they’ll come back.

unrepentant old hippie: What he said

I was going to write about Shona Holmes and the outpouring of Canadian rage she’s experiencing since she decided to pimp for private health care interests in both Canada and the US, but Bruce pretty much says it all.

unrepentant old hippie: Slowly they rise

… step by step, inch by inch… the MSM awakens, stretches, lumbers out of the bedroom and, pushing past the furious discussion already in progress in the kitchen, puts on the coffee, stumbles to the bathroom for the Morning Ablutions, returns to the kitchen, clears its throat and joins the discussion:
A U.S. ad featuring an [...]

Written on the Body: Finally I can start gossiping about the Booker again!

Oh man, sorry for the sporadic posting folks. It’s been a long month. I promise a real post is in the works!
For now, in case you haven’t heard, The Booker Long List:

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
Summertime by J.M. Coetzee
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall
The Wilderness by [...]

Birth Pangs: Nicaragua’s Abortion Ban: Misogynist Utopia

“Dear President Ortega,
Your daughter was raped a month ago and she’s pregnant.
Should she marry the rapist so that the Catholic Church can feel better?”
“What happened to me shattered my dreams, my hopes – I wanted to be someone who worked outside the home but I spend all day at home looking after the baby…I can’t [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Gordie hits one out of the park

Well done, my reluctantly pro-choice friend, well done.

April Reign: The Terminator: California Governer Cuts Shelter Funding by 100%

Apparently missing his acting career, Schwarzeneger has made good on his promise to come back and has done so in the cheapest way. In an effort to prove that governments can run without taxes he has eliminated funding for domestic violence shelters.
Th…

unrepentant old hippie: LOL Break

For dog owners:

unrepentant old hippie: Malicious Tweet

Be careful out there, Tweeps!:
A 127-character tweet about a moldy apartment in Chicago could end up costing @abonnen $50,000.
On May 12th Amanda Bonnen, who has since deleted her Twitter account, responded to a friend with the tweet, “@JessB123You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty [...]

unrepentant old hippie: VP Joe Biden, hatespeecher

During a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal about foreign policy and eastern Europe, VP Biden Took The LORD’s Name In Vain:
“I can see Putin sitting in Moscow saying, ‘Jesus Christ, Iran gets the nuclear weapon, who goes first?’ Moscow, not Washington.”
You might think, as any normal person would, that Biden’s offhand comment was [...]

Creekside: IPPs suffer momentary lapse of muscular coordination

Map of proposed and existing run-of-river licences via IPP Watch

The Province : Private power sources ‘not in the public interest’

“A bombshell ruling by the B.C. Utilities Commission … refused to endorse Hydro’s long-term call for 3,000 gigawatts of power from public and independent power producers (IPPs) because it was not “in the public interest.”
In other words, the commission shot down government claims that the province needs more power, NDP energy critic John Horgan told The Province.”

Power to export to the US, he did not need to add, which anyway is looking much less likely to be able to afford it.

G&M : Green Premier’s agenda hits snag as energy plan rejected

“Some analysts say the ruling – which shocked the government and the stock market – indicates B.C. has been over-estimating the amount of power the province needs in order to justify the development of independent power projects.”

from which BC Hydro is contracted to buy power we don’t need at far more than market price and at a time of year when the BC dams are full to overflowing anyway.

So, utility watchdog does good? Maybe.
However … because there always has to be a however…

“Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom says the government is preparing a swift response to the ruling, and possibly a legal challenge.
Since the ruling, IPP investors have fled a budding industry that was valued at up to $14 billion after the May 12 election, analysts say.
Lekstrom admitted that IPPs are worried that Victoria’s plans will change, but he insists they won’t.”

which was predicted in the Wall Street Journal, who further note the new strategic advantage of Plutonic Power :

Analysts Say Outcome Of B.C. Clean-Power Call Unclear

” Analysts say green-power producers hoping to build new projects in British Columbia could still see some projects go forward, despite a ruling from the B.C. Utilities Commission that many thought put the future of clean power in the province in doubt.

BC Hydro could move forward with a modified plan, awarding some contracts to clean-power producers but reducing the number of awards. He said this scenario would likely favor smaller projects, and could require some intervention from the B.C. government.
… if BC Hydro moves forward with a reduced set of awards for smaller projects, it could help developers such as Plutonic Power, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (INE.T) and Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. (KHD.T) because each submitted some bids for smaller projects. “

Really? Flashback :

List of Key Liberal Insiders Hired by Private Power Developers

• Patrick Kinsella, Co-chair of 2001 and 2005 BC Liberal provincial campaigns – has consulted for Alcan, Accenture and now Plutonic Power. Alleged to have worked for both CN and BC Rail as BC Rail was being sold to CN.
• Tom Syer, former deputy chief of staff to Gordon Campbell, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• David Cyr, former Assistant to BC Liberal Minister Mike de Jong, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Robert Poore, recently worked under the Provincial Revenue Minister of the Province of BC, now a senior director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Bill Irwin, after holding key positions in the BC Ministries of Land and Water, and Crown Lands, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Mark Grant, former executive director of the BC Liberal Party now with Rupert Peace Power.
• Bruce Young, has held several high profile positions with the BC Liberal party and lobbied his own party on behalf of Katabatic Power is listed as a director of Atla Energy.

Plus 13 others in a list left in comments here on April 19 by Racheal11 and picked up 2 months later by The Province. benefitting from $30-billion in contracts to produce private power while BC Hydro is prohibited from generating any new energy sources.

This is a complicated story in many layers with a lot more yet to unfold.
I’ll be watching RossK.

BC Citizens for Public Power : “First, the Energy Plan fabricates an energy crisis in BC; next private power is erroneously portrayed as synonymous with green energy and, by extension, most viable solution for BC’s energy shortage and the fight against climate change.”

.

Marginal Notes: A Politics of Blood, Pain, Shit, Sex, Sweat and Tears

It has been a time of endings and beginnings for me. A long battle with months of infections came to an end and now I begin a new battle as my muscles resist a rude awakening as I return to regular mobility. A relationship ended and now I go forward refusing to fear that I am unlovable because I have a chronic illness. I have also parted ways with a political organization as I grow more confident in my own convictions and seek a politics of authenticity that begins with relationships in my own community. Finally, as someone who was…

unrepentant old hippie: Nice petition, guys

Fetus fetishists make a petition for “fetal consent to abortion”:

“Any baby killer that does NOT obtain written or verbal consent from the child they kill WILL be executed for first degree murder within 90 days of the murder with no appeals process.” Fortunately it looks like this isn’t a super-popular petition, given there’s only [...]

unrepentant old hippie: A teachable moment, wasted

That the anti-choice movement has an image problem (or as they might prefer to call it, an “unborn image solution”) is undeniable:  that  whole “dead doctor” thing is like a ball and chain.   So, especially in the wake of Dr.Tiller’s murder, it only makes sense that they’d take any and every opportunity to call out [...]

Creekside: The invisible hand of libertarianism

Hands up anyone even remotely surprised to hear a Fraser Institute alumnus making an argument in favour of slavery.

In an argument with Rafe Mair at The Tyee “Yes, Sell the Rivers”, libertarian Walter Block defends privatization using an example of what he is careful to call “voluntary slavery” :

“My child is gravely ill. Only an operation can save his life. But, this medical care costs $100 million, and I am a poor man (we assume away the possibility of government health care that will swoop in and ruin our example).
Seemingly, my only option is to witness the passing away of my beloved child.
But wait!
Rafe Mair, richer than Bill Gates, has for a long time wanted me to be his slave. He’d like more than anything else to boss me around, and then whip me every time I displeased him. He values this opportunity way more than the medical costs necessary to save my child’s life. So, we strike a deal. Rafe gives me the $100 million, which I immediately turn over to the hospital. Then, I go to Mair’s plantation, and become his slave.

Why is this so objectionable? Rafe and I both gain from this deal. I value my child’s life more than my own freedom; way more. Mair values my servitude more than the costs of buying me into servitude; again, way more, let us suppose. If voluntary slavery is legal, we can consummate this financial arrangement, to our mutual gain. If not, not, to the great loss of both of us.

Slave-master Rafe would never shell out the cold cash if, after he paid, I could haul him into court on assault and battery charges when he whipped me. Then, without this financial arrangement, I would have to witness the death of my child, probably the most devastating thing that can ever happen to a parent.”

$100 million in medicare costs for an operation?
What kind of cockamamie example is that ?
Oh yeah, right, Walter Block is the author of “Socialized Medicine is the Problem”.

“[Our healthcare system] should be privatized and take its place among all other industries (cars, computers, chalk) that contribute mightily to our advanced standard of living …
At this point the critic will retort, “It is not fair to charge people market prices for health care; the rich will be treated better.” But that is precisely the point of being rich in the first place. If the wealthy did not get better treatment, what would be the point in trying to amass riches?”

So according to Block, voluntary slavery is the best scenario result of privatizing ’socialized’ medicine.
Good to know.
Author Taras Grescoe once quipped to me that a libertarian is just a conservative who once smoked a joint. Maybe more than one was required here.
.

unrepentant old hippie: Obama’s Evil Plan to Kill Old People

You know — like Hitler!
The GOP and health care reform, where batshit and bugshit collide:

Oy vey.  It would be funny if there weren’t so many ignorant, ill-informed conservative types out there who actually believe this shit.

unrepentant old hippie: Roeder pleads

Not Guilty:
A Kansas judge on Tuesday ordered an anti-abortion activist to stand trial in the death of a Wichita doctor who was gunned down at his church.
Scott Roeder, 51, pleaded not guilty after being bound over to trial on charges of first-degree murder in the death of Dr. George Tiller, who ran a women’s clinic [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Home-skooling strikes again

D’oh!
(from JAB’s Twitter feed)

unrepentant old hippie: Sotomayor OK’d by Committee

Predictably, so far Randall Terry’s fire and brimstone campaign to DEFEAT SOTOMAYOR hasn’t had the intense effect he was hoping for… or any effect at all, really:
As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to confirm Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, setting her up for confirmation by the [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Kitteh Haiku

I can has attention please?
Mah bowl has problem
Is empty of cheeseburger.
UPDATE: And mah haiku pome
Wuz inside-out and backwards
Dis make up fer it

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