Remember, Elton John Chose to Play Saskatoon, Not Regina...

Who says good TV doesn't come out of Canada. Not the Daily Show! They recently ran a story on self-professed Straight Prider Bill Whatcott, a nurse who lives in Regina and doesn't think much about gay people. It's all on Youtube for your viewing enjoyment (Thanks, Katie: three cheers!).

Learn more about Whatcott from his very own words! I found this story he wrote a few years ago in which he infamously jumped into a gay pride parade with a pretty nifty sign. It's quite the read. Apparently, supernatural forces kept him from being harmed during the event. He also mentions the Daily Show twice, not seeming to realize they are not a real news program.

Interestingly, here is a blog post that discusses Bill's reaction to his lampooning. And in case this comes as a surprise, he's being charged with hate crimes involving past incidents in Edmonton. Perhaps you haven't figured out by my tone, but I'm fairly certain that this guy has crossed a line or two.

The Clean Air Act, or "Why Do Something Today When It Can Be Put Off Until Tomorrow"

It has been pointed out to me that I’ve been delinquent in commenting upon the Canadian political arena, and I agree. So this is the first post in a three-parter to deal with Canadian politics. And the Conservatives new “Clean Air Act” is a doozy to start with!

Everyone was feeling good about it until Environment Minister Ambrose mentioned the time frame. The year 2050? You might as well make it 1765 while you’re at it, toss in some legislation on time travel to make it completely realistic. For those of you who can’t add (you know who you are) that would be 44 years from now. Can you imagine legislation that takes 44 years to enact? Conservatives often bitch about the inefficiency of big government and the painfully slow process of passing legislation. Then they produce a bill that doesn’t require results for half a century. I’ve been hearing the word ‘smoke screen’ being passed around, and I like it.

Having such a distant timeframe really limits the power of accountability. Corporate heads in 1960 didn’t include in their business plans objectives for the year 2000. Capitalism is a much more short-sighted frame of mind: profits now, accountability later. Perhaps simplistic, but not altogether untrue. The business community is heralding the Act, not for it’s indecisiveness, but because it finally gives corporations tangible guidelines to follow. The Act also allows for consultation with the business community. The speakers in this newspaper story say that corporations are working towards this anyway, but do they speak for the entire business community?

I envision a future like this: Companies will wait 20 years before they start dealing with it. If you have 40 years to comply, why worry about it right now? By 2040 the business community will appear to start taking legitimate action to curb them. Even if air emissions are the same in 2040 as they are now, the companies will realized what a huge undertaking the Act will require. So they will petition government, stating that the goals of the Act are unrealistic and will cost people jobs, etc. Sound familiar? It’s the equivalent of students complaining that it is unrealistic to expect them to write an A paper because they only have one day to do it (conveniently forgetting to mention that they had been given 2 months to work on it, and they just kept putting it off). This is why children hate their parents. Every generation feels that the previous one shrugged off the hard work onto them.

Maybe it’s all mute, because every opposition party has already declared that they will vote this bill down. But is it RIP, Kyoto?

And in case you care, here is Environment Minister Rona Ambrose's previous track record in Parliament.

What About Wikipedia Could Possibly Be Bad?

Here is a well-written, very informative article by Jaron Lanie entitled "Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism. " He suggests possible dangers about the 'hive-mind' mentality, that idea that if everyone agrees about something, it must be true. He uses Wikipedia as an example of how such a reliance on collectivism can cause issues in the future. Very insightful.

Thanks to Krista for emailing this to me.

To show how fun the internet can be, here are the possible matches that come up when I type my own name into the Wikipedia search engine: The New Ghostwriter's Mystery, The 2002 Alpine Skiing World Cup Results, an Indian engineering company, and the List of Historical People Portrayed As Villians. And can you guess who is an award-winning song writer? The 29th Prez of the US of A? Aussie rules footballer? Also, my dad is a busy man, doing various important things.

All-knowing my ass! Everyone knows I'm a world famous lint collector!

Troubles in Elkford

The following is a story concerning my hometown of Elkford, B.C. It's scary sounding. I didn't live on this street but I have plenty of friends who did -- some of whom have been sick, and some who haven't. I think the town didn't do the testing because they were scared of what they were going to find. Here is the actual link to the story (I personally think this story is not very well written, kind of a cut and paste job, but I couldn't find anything better).

Residents of Street Allegedly Built on Waste Dump Divided on Health Effects
Provided by: Canadian Press Written by: AMY CARMICHAEL

VANCOUVER (CP) - Residents of "cancer street" in the community of Elkford B.C. allege companies dumped waste in the area, didn't clean up the mess and that nobody, including the government, told home buyers. Many residents have become sick and some blame the land. The street has a terrible stigma in Elkford, says resident and plaintiff Davie Jones and it has been given the unfortunate nickname of "Cancer Street."

Sixteen residents of the southeastern B.C. community have filed a statement of claim against the provincial government and a number of mining companies, accusing them of failing to take adequate measures to rehabilitate the land and make it fit for residential use. Others on the street say they have lived in their homes for close to 30 years and are fine. But they say they wish the village had done more soil and water testing to make sure the land is safe and help the street get rid of its stigma and fear for some residents.

Jack Burden, 75, said he's lived in the same house on the street since 1979. "As far as I know we've had no health problems," he said. But so many of his neighbours are ill and claim they have found garbage in the soil, plastic and batteries, when they dig only 15 centimetres deep.
Burden joined his neighbours in a lawsuit against the local and provincial governments and a number of mining companies. But now he's withdrawn because he doesn't have any proof. He said Elkford officials could have laid people's fears to rest if they'd followed through with soil and water testing. "There was a meeting a few years back and the government denied there was a dump. They said it was probably local people dumping garbage over the bank which I don't think was true. Thing that annoys me, is when meeting took place the mayor at the time said, 'OK, we'll do some test drilling.' It was going to cost lot of money. They said they were going to do it but they never did."

Davie Jones lives down the street from Burden. He believes his prostate cancer was caused by exposure to the land. He claims there was a dump in the area and that the government refused to warn people they were purchasing land on a landfill. Burden has heard the stories but says he's never seen any hard evidence.

Even neighbour and plaintiff Brad Batchelor, whose daughter had leukemia, said he doesn't think the street is making people sick. "We don't have clusters of the same kind of cancer on this street. There's a lot of it but it's all different kinds, and they say when you find something in the environment that triggers cancer, it's all the same kind." He says cancer runs in his family. Now his daughter is in remission.

Batchelor is part of the suit because he's angry at the allegations that his home may have been built on a landfill. "That should have been well publicized," he said. The allegations have not been proven in court.

The defendants, the provincial government, the District of Elkford or Teck Cominco Metals or Fording Coal Ltd., have not filed statements of defence. The statement filed by the plaintiffs in B.C. Supreme Court in February alleges that the metals and coal mining companies used the local land as a toxic dumping ground and didn't properly clean it up. The 16 plaintiffs allege companies allowed mine waste, automobile waste and other toxic hazardous carcinogenic materials on the lands. The statement of claim says the companies covered the waste they dumped in Elkford by creating a landfill. The plaintiffs say the landfill wasn't properly sealed.

Burden says he's pretty sure something was dumped on the land. "When they were developing the town the campsite used to be here. At one time they did dump stuff up here, I'm pretty sure that happened."

Davie Jones, the neighbour who has been demanding action on the issue since 1997, says too many people are sick. "In my neighbour's yard we dug down seven inches and hit garbage." He claims the land is toxic and fears it could harm generations of people. Jones is waiting for the defendants to file statements of defence and is determine to pursue his case.

Neither the local or provincial governments were immediately available to comment and the Elk Valley Coal Corporation did not immediately return calls.

Terrorism: The New "Where's Waldo?"

I've had this post sitting on the can for a few days too, and just when I'm about to unleash it, I realize that Mike has scooped me! I'm talking about evidence that shows that the Iraq war is actually causing more terrorism than it's preventing and pretty much making things worse for the next generation. My source is Rolling Stone, that anti-establishment rag that frequently has brilliant writing hidden between the pages of pop-star idolizing. Mike's link comes from the New York Times, which makes you register first; my link is free for all. And in case it doesn't remain free for all, I have scanned the article so it can be read as a jpeg. I'm sure this is considered illegal, but information should be free, damn it! The pages are not quite in the correct order because of my computer illiteracy, but the file names are numbered correctly.

Oh, and Mike: I apologize if this post sounds like a rant against you, it just angers me that you live in Japan and therefore all the news happens to you a full 12 hours before it happens to us. This coming February, you have to let me know who wins the Super Bowl before it happens here, so I can make us a ton of money gambling on it. Bling!