Sunday, June 22, 2014

Sunday musings

According to some so called "experts", Iraq has now been split into 3 regions. It is impossible to call a chaotic hell hole a country a this point but all indications seem to confirm that this country is almost lost to history and time will soon show what emerges from the rubble.
You notice how it did not take any time at all for the price of oil to climb as a result?
Regardless of the fact that there is plenty of oil floating around the planet, speculators HAVE to make money right?
And governments sure seem to be run by those folks don't they?
There once was a grand experiment by some long forgotten Prime Minister of Canada to set up a national oil and gas company - called PetroCanada. It was to compete with the ones run by foreign (American and Dutch) companies and with its own refineries and distribution system, it was supposed to protect Canadians from the vagaries and vicissitudes of international speculative oil politics.
Huh.
Long gone.
Never a factor, merely a fabulous expense of taxpayer money to friends of friends.
NO wonder the average citizen cowers and hopes no one notices them these days as when the politicians do notice them - it costs them more money and they continue to lose aspects of a civil society that they and those that came before worked so hard to attain.
If they complain - they are told that the economic spiral downward is their fault.
Huh.
 Some one asked me if I have been following the FIFA World Soccer championships in Brazil.
As if.
There are so many FIFA sponsored outdoor grills (in order to make it seem that the masses "love" this financial albatross thrust upon them) in the country that the government has been forced to issue a smog alert.
Remember the Ebola "scare" of a number of years ago?
Well, that horrible disease never did go away, it just faded from the 30 second attention span of the media and is running unchecked in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and Doctors without Borders report that it is overwhelmed by this disaster.
What response from, say the United Nations?
Absolutely nothing.
Cowardly nations that preach ideals but run from compassion and action.
Maybe political and economic isolation from the world for countries is the answer.
To hell with humanity - right?
Is this where we are headed?
If so, what a failure mankind is becoming.
The dirty war in the Ukraine rages on and now the leader of Russia is calling for a ceasefire.
Really?
Since when did Russia become a peace maker in a conflict that many say it started?
Oh well, the European Union has no "teeth" anyway and this will end in a horrible way won't it?
And at the same time Europe celebrated the heroics of those that landed on the beaches of Normandy oh so many decades ago to start the end of the Nazi regime.
One wonders if such heroes still exist in these days of political cowardice...err...correctness.
One my second most favourite island of Maui, the internal dispute among staff of the MauiTVNews web station continues to drag on and on. For many years this has been a needed pipeline to the weekly news of that magic island and now the voice of Mr. Jeff King has been stilled for much too long. Surely someone can break this stalemate and allow this valuable resource to resume its much needed function?
Over on Oahu, Hawaii, tens of thousands of people lined the shores at Ala Moana Beach Park this past American Memorial Day for the 2014 Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony. That must have been an incredible sight to see one suspects.
This Saturday marked the first day of Spring and signals the start of the end of school season and the inevitable onslaught of large vehicles crammed with families at every conceivable tourist "hot spot" and while a little bit of a pain, must be cheerfully accommodated as these folks (with their young hellions) do spend a lot of money while visiting and that helps all local economies.
This also marks the return of this voyager and his partner from the prairie flatlands to our island nook. Truly a long, long drive - over 8 hours for each of three days but the sights we saw and places we were able to see and visit -incredible to say the least.
Canadians do not know how lucky they are to have such a land to live in.
Really.


take care out there,
flatlander52

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