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What Arms and Legs Can’t Touch

Thanks to Andy Blumenthal:

http://andyblumenthal.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/what-arms-and-legs-cant-touch/

Powerful stuff.

Losing our intellectuals...

...of Hitchens and Havel:

http://maxminimus.blogspot.com/2011/12/hitch.html

No disrespect intended but...

The hyperbole and selective gnashing of teeth over Alberta oil sands and carbon emissions, etc. is patently absurd. And yes, Virginia, it’s called “oil sands” and not “tar sands” – unless your objective is to taint the argument from the outset. We humans do need to develop alternatives to petroleum-derived energy, and we will, but we simply do not have the technology to eliminate carbon-based generation just yet. There simply is no better alternative for providing the energy needs of the developed and developing world that can supplant the energy density and relatively low cost of oil and its derivatives.

It’s also worth noting that the Alberta contribution to global carbon emissions is in the single digit percentage range, and even if we were able to simply hit the “stop” button and turn off all production on the oil sands overnight, the output from nations like China, the U.S., India, Brazil, etc. would continue unabated. What about them?

It’s time to gain some perspective, and well past time to accept that “green” opponents of Alberta’s energy industry are so vocal and belligerent because Canada is, well, Canada. We are a safe target of their vituperative wrath. Why are so many of the anti-oil sands groups not making the same protests against China, Nigeria, South Africa, or Venezuela, et al? The truth is they are able to do so because Canada is not likely to round them all up and throw them in a prison somewhere to rail against the wind… although there is room on Baffin Island.

More reading:

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/sands+misguided+critics/5799633/story.html

The Police Officer, the Radar, and the Hornet

Thanks to Michael Sampson,

http://currents.michaelsampson.net/2011/11/radar.html

:-)

Talk about a disconnect...

"David Mooney, chief executive officer of Alliant Credit Union in Chicago, one of the nation's larger credit unions, used to work at a one of Wall Street's top banks, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N). There's a vast cultural gap between Wall Street and his new world, he says: Old friends from the Street, he says, now jokingly refer to him as a 'socialist.' A credit union is supposed to be run in the interests of all members, he says, while commercial bankers tend to see consumers as customers who can be "exploited" by layering on more fees.

Says Mooney: 'I don't say this lightly, but the consumer is simply an income stream and exploiting that is the purpose of the banking organization.'"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/18/us-wallst-disconnect-newspro-idUSTRE7AH13V20111118

I don't like starlings but...

This is a remarkable experience that would have been truly awe-inspiring.

Althouse: A genuinely thrilling and beautiful encounter with...: Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo . (Via Metafilter .)

Imported into Canada! Let's bloody well hope not...

There are some things that we really, really don't want in our fine country. There are many good things that our friends and neighbours to the south are more than welcome to send our way, but such odious behaviour as that described by Lorrie Goldstein of the Toronto Sun are not included.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/10/28/loose-rules-on-wall-st-could-be-imported-to-canada