Excited Delirium

Stories about Excited Delirium, the Shock Economy and a little fiction here and there.

Monthly Archives: August 2010

Jack’s Jump the Shark Moment

I’m calling it:  Jack Layton has jumped the shark.

OK … maybe many others have called it earlier (if even by a few days), but there’s no going back from the mess that Jack Layton has created for himself and I’m going to pile on to that point of view.

Suggesting that the NDP can’t be blamed for the death of the gun registry is akin to saying that your heart doesn’t help your blood flow.

For those of you looking for a solution to the Gun Registry situation, Scott Tribe posts a compromise recommendation for Jack and Michael to consider.

layton-harp-guns584

However, I am concerned that Jack will continue to play games with Stevie as opposed to creating real solutions that all Canadians will be proud of.

The image above reminds us that Jack Layton has been working to keep Stephen Harper in power for some time, not just as a result of the gun registry, but ever since he got bluffed by Stephen Harper into making a grab for a few more seats in 2006 and helped defeat Paul Martin’s Liberal government.

(NOTE:  For the record, I am not a Liberal or an NDPer.  I’m lost as far as who I would trust to earn my vote.)

As Jack Layton or members of the NDP continue to prop up the Conservatives, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the ‘socialists’ are just henchmen for the Cons.

Failing to differentiate the NDP from the most right-wing organization in Canada is a massive error and will cost the NDP dearly, both in terms of financial and voter support.  Their efforts to find concession will result in the Liberals being seen as Canada’s only progressive option.

Jack Layton needs to stop looking at the Liberals like they’re competition.  Jack Layton needs to start developing a plan for getting rid of the Conservatives, including concerted marketing effort across all opposition parties (including the Green Party) to remind Canadians that coalitions, even including separatists, are OK.

Jack and Michael need to work together to defeat the Conservatives at every turn before the DNA of this country is turned to mush (although it may be too late for that).  They should figure out every possible political angle they can to maximize the number of seats that they can get in the next election, including the removal of candidates in key ridings.

If Jack fails on this, the urban population will dump the dippers in droves and the NDP will be caput.

If the NDP survives this, there should be a leadership review for the NDP, but we know that will be pointless because the NDP is run by the unions and individual members will be shut out.

As such, the NDP is done as a party in Canada.

The Liberals know it and they’re distancing themselves in a big way from the NDP politically and likely in the polls as well.

All of this brings us back to why Stephen Harper will be in control for a very long time.  The Liberals and NDP refuse to play nice and bring the government down.  They are sworn enemies and will do anything to avoid concession, including returning democracy to Canadians.

Because Jack and Mikey won’t be able to play nice, we’ll all be screwed by Stevie.

Boycotting Quebecor: Avaaz.org Petition to CRTC

Avaaz.org has started a petition to encourage the support of Konrad von Finckenstein, head of the CRTC, to prevent ‘Fox News North’ (a subsidiary and entity managed by Quebecor Media Inc) from launching in Canada.

However, please also remember that an effective petition against Fox (and supporting the CRTC) should also include a boycott of Quebecor Media Inc, all subsidiaries and the companies that advertise on their sites.

Please spread the word that Canadians will not tolerate the abuse of media that QMI, Quebecor, Sun Papers, Canoe and other subsidiaries impose on us every day and that they will bury us with if Fox News North goes live in the coming months.

Steve is Stuck in the 50s

I figured it out.  Canada has its own version of a very uncool, very unpopular Austin Powers.  In fact, I need to correct myself:  we have a version of Dr. Evil (I wish I was good at doing image mockups, but I think you get where I’m going with this).

Stephen Harper has found a time machine and has dropped the entire nation of Canada in the 1950s.

You don’t believe me?

  • The Cold War is still going on.  The evil Ruskies are everywhere.  (Is our PM really trying to pick a fight with Russia?  Really?  Does he think we’re all that stupid?  Don’t answer … we are.)
  • Everyone is white and Canada belongs to ‘Europeans’.
  • McCarthyism is in full swing.  Fear and reprisal are everywhere.  No one can be trusted.  Arrests of ‘terrorists’ are constant, ongoing and ubiquitous.  We will fill jails with those that oppose us.
  • Roads and the auto industry are the only things worth saving in this country, but it’s too bad those damn unions are gumming things up.
  • There is no “Internet”.  It’s just print and TV and our friends in those media universes will help us ‘shape’ our messages to Canadians (just like our friend Goebbels did in the 30s and 40s!)
  • We fold the map of time and our political landscape follows Dief the Chief and no one else.  The Liberal domination from the 1960s onwards never happened.
  • Women are supposed to be bare-foot and pregnant in the kitchen (or publicly humiliated when they act up a bit).
  • GOD is the only religion, dammit.  Everything else is magic and witchcraft (and should be punishable by death, a la Sun editorials).

In the progressive world and for most others, we know this isn’t true, but Stevie and his 15-20% of Canada’s population as minions are stuck in the 50s.

What can we do to move forward?

How do we end Canada’s pain?

Whipping the NDP: Jack Won’t, So We Will

Jack Layton just won’t do his job.

Jack won’t whip (or at least kindly ask) his rural MPs to vote against the private member’s bill in the House of Commons.  For more background on this, read my original post.

The rationale is that he won’t whip his fellow MPs into a position that their constituents may not want.  I understand, but will tell you that a good leader won’t have to use ‘whipping’ to convince his MPs that they’re doing the right thing.

However, this won’t happen and it throws the leadership of the NDP into question.

But that’s a longer and more involved issue that we have to return to later.

In the interim, we (you, me and everyone else that cares about safety in Canada) have some work to do.

Below is a full list of NDP MPs that may wind up supporting the private member’s bill and the Conservative effort to dissolve the Gun Registry.

Ask them what makes them smarter about this than the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

Remind them that for every vote they keep in a rural riding (assuming we have an election tomorrow, which we won’t), they’ll likely lose 10-100 votes in urban areas.

I sure as hell won’t vote for the NDP if this get through!

Here’s a quick list of all of the email addresses so you can copy/paste them to your email:
Allen.Ma@parl.gc.ca, AngusC@parl.gc.ca, Ashton.N@parl.gc.ca, BevinD@parl.gc.ca, Cullen.N@parl.gc.ca, Gravelle.C@parl.gc.ca, Hughes.C@parl.gc.ca, Hyer.B@parl.gc.ca, Maloway.J@parl.gc.ca, Rafferty.J@parl.gc.ca, StoffP@parl.gc.ca, Thibeault.G@parl.gc.ca

And here are the details (remember that calling is much more effective than emailing):

Allen, Malcolm
Welland
T: 905-788-2204
Ottawa: 613-995-0988
Email: Allen.Ma@parl.gc.ca

Angus, Charlie
Timmins/James Bay
T: 705-567-2747
Ottawa: 613-992-2919
Email: AngusC@parl.gc.ca

Ashton, Niki
Churchill
T: 866-785-0522
Ottawa: 613-992-3018
Email: Ashton.N@parl.gc.ca

Bevington, Dennis
Western Arctic
T: 867-873-6995
Ottawa: 613-992-4587
Email: BevinD@parl.gc.ca

Cullen, Nathan
Skeena Bulkley Valley
T: (250) 877-4140
Ottawa: 613 993 6654
Email: Cullen.N@parl.gc.ca

Gravelle, Claude
Nickel Belt
T: 705-897-2222
Ottawa: 613-995-9107
Email: Gravelle.C@parl.gc.ca

Hughes, Carol
Algoma / Manitoulin / Kapuskasing
T: 705-848-8080
Ottawa: 613-996-5376
Email: Hughes.C@parl.gc.ca

Hyer, Bruce
Thunder Bay / Superior North
T: 807-345-1818
Ottawa: 613 996 4792
Email: Hyer.B@parl.gc.ca

Maloway, Jim
Elmwood / Transcona
T: 204-984-2499
Ottawa: 613-995-6339
Email: Maloway.J@parl.gc.ca

Rafferty, John
Thunder Bay / Rainy River
T: 807-623-6000
Ottawa: 613 992 3061
Email: Rafferty.J@parl.gc.ca

Stoffer, Peter
Sackville / Eastern Shore
T: 902-861-2311
Ottawa: 613-995-5822
Email: StoffP@parl.gc.ca

Thibeault, Glenn
Sudbury
T: 705-673-7107
Ottawa: 613-996-8962
Email: Thibeault.G@parl.gc.ca

Call them today.  Tell your friends to call them.  Remind them of the cost to the popularity of the NDP if they fail to support such a simple and basic way to keep our cities safe.

Boycotting Quebecor / Sun Media

The Sun Media chain has gone too far and will continue to over-step its bounds with respect to Canadian opinion until we stop them.

In a recent editorial, they called for ‘gun boat’ diplomacy with the Sun Sea, the tiny vessel that carried 500 people from Sri Lanka to Canada.

In other words, they expressed murderous intent towards people they’ve never met.

Their ‘polling’ is for the birds.  Keeping an Eye on Fox News North had a tongue in cheek piece about just how pathetic their data collection and reporting is, but unfortunately, many Canadians still accept this junk – including the CBC – as gospel.  This kind of manipulation is truly frightening and it’s irresponsible.

So where do we start?

We need to boycott companies that are currently advertising on their web sites or publications or write them to express your concern about the racist vitriol that’s spewing from their editorial board.  Some common company names of current advertisers include the following (all taken from the web site):

  • Extreme Fitness
  • Natural Defense Food For Dogs
  • HSBC
  • LL Bean
  • Live Green Toronto Festival
  • The Canon Theatre
  • Groupon
  • Hyundai
  • Toyota
  • Dell
  • Bank of Montreal

Ask people with these companies if they’re racist or if they support murder.  Ask them if they’re Canadians with compassion or they’d prefer to walk around the streets with Brown Shirts patrolling our neighbourhoods seeking out ‘brown’ people.

In another editorial, they let Ezra Levant open up and have this contribution about the refugees:

… So let’s rephrase that “lock and load approach” in light of the secret government report that gives credence to our concerns about becoming patsies – concerns rightly shared by many Canadians outraged by having our collective generosity taken advantage of by con artists.

Instead of “lock and load,” let’s “lock them up, load them up, and ship them out.”

Are we clear?

Who reads this and truly believes it’s something we should act on?  This is worthy of a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal.  Oh yeah … some people like those mentioned above don’t want one so they can spew off even worse things to Canadians.

If you read stuff like this editorial above and you’re offended by this, here’s a comprehensive list of the publications that belong to Quebecor or Sun Media (recopy from Wikipedia).  Boycott any and all of them if you can.  Do not communicate with them, do not follow them, do not quote them or visit their web pages.  Do not buy their papers and cancel your cable if you subscribe to Videotron.

Quebecor Media Inc. is a Canadian media company. It is a subsidiary of Quebecor Inc. that owns and operates the following companies:

In 2007, Quebecor acquired the Osprey Media newspaper group. Osprey is currently operated as a separate division of Quebecor.

  • Canoe.ca (Canadian internet portal)
    • ASL Internet (technology company)
  • Archambault stores (largest music store chain in Eastern Canada)
  • Editions Quebecor Media-largest group of publishing houses in Quebec
  • Vidéotron Télécom (telecommunications)
  • Distribution Select -Canada’s largest independent CD and video distributor
  • Nurun Inc. (interactive agency)
  • Le SuperClub Vidéotron -the largest chain of video stores in Québec
    • Jumbo Video (small video chain operated by Le SuperClub Vidéotron)

Quebecor Media’s wide range of media properties enables it to execute “convergence” strategies that are sometimes criticized. When the TVA television network was running the program Star Académie (sort of a French-language “American Idol“-type program), it was heavily cross-promoted: TVA would mention it in the “entertainment” segment of news broadcasts, the newspaper Le Journal de Montréal would run several pages on it, magazines would run articles on it, and so forth. The show was even hosted and produced by company CEO Pierre-Karl Péladeau‘s girlfriend, TV personality Julie Snyder.

Quelle Surprise: The WHO has Advisors with Industry Ties

Sheeple:  please stop believing the bulls#!t about flu bugs, viruses and other contagion that are ‘going around’.

This story reveals that we’re likely at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to conflict in the pharmaceutical, media and medical communities.  Even though these people are responsible for … being responsible … they declared a pandemic with H1N1 and will likely declare many more.

Our health is not their priority.  Their bottom line is what matters most.

The next wave is already launched and people are already panicking.

Don’t worry.  If you fall for it, the only thing you’ve already caught is stupidity.

WHO list reveals flu advisors with industry ties

(AFP) – Aug 11, 2010

GENEVA — Five of the 15 experts that advised the World Health Organisation about swine flu pandemic alerts had received support from the drugs industry, including for flu vaccine research, the WHO revealed on Wednesday.

The agency released for the first time a list of the 15 members of the Emergency Committee headed by Australian tropical diseases professor John Mackenzie, who was the only member publicly named during the outbreak.

They came from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin and North America, the list posted on the WHO’s website showed.

Most were scientific researchers and epidemiologists, along with a Senegalese diplomat, public health officials from Thailand and Chile as well as two specialists on international air travel and health. The list can be seen at http://www.who.int/ihr/emerg_comm_members_2009/en/index.html.

Critics had raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest that might have helped the drugs industry influence decisions on huge orders for special vaccines against A(H1N1) flu.

The WHO has repeatedly denied those claims, underlining that it had vetted members and maintained secrecy over their identities to protect them from undue pressure while the outbreak of swine flu was underway.

Six people declared interests to the UN health agency, including five researchers who disclosed past or current support from pharmaceutical firms, according to the WHO list.

Nancy Cox, from the US Centers for Disease Control, disclosed financial support from a drugs industry group, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) for flu vaccine research and work on viruses in her unit.

US professor Arnold Monto declared current and past consultancies on pandemic or seasonal influenza research for GSK, Novartis, Roche, Baxter and Sanofi Pasteur.

He also declared a grant from Sanofi for a clinical trial in 2007-2008 related to influenza vaccines.

John Wood’s research unit at Britain’s National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), had undertaken research for Sanofi Pasteur, CSL, IFPMA, Novartis and Powdermed on influenza vaccine.

Professor Maria Zambon’s laboratory at the UK Health Protection Agency Centre for Infection received funding from several vaccine makers, including Sanofi, Novartis, CSL, Baxter and GSK.

British professor Neil Ferguson, an advisor to the committee, had acted as a consultant for Roche and GSK Biologicals until 2007, according to the list.

The WHO said those interests “do not give rise to a conflict of interest such that the experts concerned should be partially or totally excluded from participation in the Emergency Committee.”

The panel provided expert advice to the WHO Director General Margaret Chan about the new swine flu virus, allowing her to raise the alert when it was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States in April 2009.

It was also instrumental in the declaration of a pandemic with global spread of the disease in June 2009, triggering a chain of public health precautions including development and production of an influenza vaccine.

However, swine flu turned out to be less severe than feared.

As the virus petered out in North America and Europe in late 2009, governments sought to offload costly and huge stocks of unused vaccines and some European parliamentarians claimed the scare was unjustified.

Chan announced on Tuesday that the A(H1N1) influenza pandemic was officially over after more than 18,500 people died.

The WHO estimated that about 300 million people had been vaccinated worldwide.

The United Stale Economy

Back in Feb 2009, I wrote ‘Why Can’t We Just Spend Our Way out of the Depression‘, knowing full well that the American and US economy was being supported by smoke and mirrors and little else.

At the core of this article was the rationale that we’re facing a seismic shock in spending, not because of what people’s attitudes are about the economy, but because of a totally different economic issue:  life-cycle planning.

Boomers have always influenced our economic fortunes or issues.  Bananas, oil shocks, market gyrations and soon, market collapse.

Nearly a year later, I followed up with this piece on the US housing crisis.

It finally seems like the mainstream is catching on to this idea.

Wall Street Journal:  Another Threat to the Economy: Boomers Cutting Back

This piece has an excellent chart in it:

Boomers-Cutting-back

For those brilliant no-minds that just dumped billions into the auto industry:  your (and ours) investment will likely be cut in half within the next couple of years because boomers have cut their demand in half.  This makes sense because we’re seeing the steep rise in empty nesters that don’t need two or three SUVs sitting in their lot.  Instead, they’re buying one convertible or Honda Accord (for those that lost their shirts on one of the many manias in the last 30 years).

Any recovery that we’re seeing with car companies will be short-lived.  GM will have to design a marketing strategy other than giving cars away.  Chrysler will have to end ‘employee’ pricing.

A lot of change will happen in the next 10 years and it won’t be pretty.  Pensions will go bust and pensioners will have to take up part-time work at dumps like Wal-Mart of Costco.

The notable increases are with health insurance and drugs.  These companies will likely be one of the only profitable sectors over the next decade, despite the cries of communism coming in the wake of Obama-care.

To pay for everything, all savings will be liquidated and converted to Viagra, Lipitor and a moderately decent nursing home.  Don’t be surprised if the best-selling horror stories are those related to retirement home abuse (or STDs).

US Is Bankrupt …

This one comes to us from Bloomberg.

The US is incapable of paying its bills and there’s suggestion that the situation will be worse than Greece within a few years.

Gerald Calente Video

Believe it or not, Gerald Calente is not the source of my predictions.  One of the people that captured some of these ideas best was David Foot, who wrote Boom Bust Echo a while ago.

Next Steps?

The US administrators will continue to try to bail out industry over the next decade.

Every time they do, they will face an economic wall.  Bailouts require that they print money, printed money = inflation, inflation = dollar deflation, falling dollar = rising commodity prices, rising commodity prices = economic collapse.

This cycle was best recently described by Jeremy Rifkin as an Economic Endgame.

What To Do?

Realistically, there are three things we can do:

  1. Stop spending, particularly on stupid wastes like car companies, prisons and military;
  2. Start taxing the rich and taxing consumption;
  3. Start slashing what corporations can deduct from their taxes.

People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are smart because they’re getting old and they saw it coming a while ago.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other efforts are great ways to say ‘I’ve made all of this money and I’m going to protect it before the government comes and takes it away’.

Fine … we’ll tax the charities too, especially the religious ones.

As people like me get older, we won’t have the luxury of avoiding the wealthiest in our effort to feed our parents and kids at the same time.

We’re going to lift every rock to find money and we’re going to start at the top.

Will a Future Canadian Gun Crime be Known as a “Jack Attack”?

Jack Layton’s refusal to stand up for the Gun Registry will cost all Canadians.

Unfortunately, Jack Layton is only capable of thinking about his party’s fortunes and preservation of a few rural seats.

Of course, he fails to see that strength and leadership on an issue will win the hearts or urban voters, but he’d rather surrender those seats to the Liberals.

Yesterday’s NDP negotiated with the Liberals to bring us life (ie. the universal Health Care system).

Today’s NDP bring us death.

So … when the Gun Registry dies because Jack Layton refused to act on this (and continues to show favour to Cons rather than negotiate with the more politically aligned Liberals), will Canadians remember this shameful act and refer to gun crime as a “Jack Attack”?

The Glimmer of Hope in the Khadr Circus (er … trial)

I have to thank Disaffected Lib for this article and commentary related to the UN condemning the Omar Khadr trial.

It is and will be a complete farce.   Using information ‘solicited’ while someone is under ‘duress’ is not information.  It’s a tainted plea for mercy.

Allowing a trial to proceed with evidence based on torture is just plain wrong.

If our government had any consideration for the plight of Canadians, they would have brought Khadr back long ago.  But they didn’t and here we are.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope … no matter how small.

As the judge in the trial declared, information obtained by any means of coercion will likely be admissible in this case.  The ‘hope’ is that in order to make this information known, the Khadr defense should insist on seeing exact video for at least 60 minutes prior to and after such evidence was obtained.

This way we’ll know for sure if the information is voluntary or not.

More importantly, the face of torture in the US and American society will be revealed, humiliating Americans and shaming them into the lowest of the low when it comes to respect for basic human dignities and rights.  Everyone around the world will see how Americans are treating people and expose them for being the grandest of hypocrites.

Unfortunately, Khadr may have to become a martyr to prove just how vile and corrupt the American war machine has become.