Sunday musings

Away we go about another week that has been.
First off to politics federally. The Conservative government has had its agenda (Throne Speech) read in Parliament in which it states its intentions for the forthcoming session. This time it was mainly a repeat of the one that had lead to to the general election so there were no surprises. Tacked on were a a couple of long desired items such as  dissolution of the long gun registry and removing the monopoly of grains by the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). These have been long on the wish list but never done due to the minority status where any such legislation would have been defeated and brought about an election.
Also introduced were amendments to the running of the Senate chamber - that body of appointed until 75 supposedly sober second thought of Parliament. It actually is nothing more than an excuse to give the ruling party opportunities to place "friends" in highly paid, actually extremely highly paid do nothing jobs as a reward for being party "hacks". This in addition to terms limits.
Representation reform is proposed where more seats in the government would be created based on population growth, especially in Alberta and British Columbia. You know, something one would call basic democracy, representation by population.
Whoops - there you go - Quebec is, to quote from the movie Casablanca, "shocked" about this and will fight this assult on their "rights" in the courts.
Say what - in the courts? They want to maintain a disproportionate balance of order (read control) in the government because it reflects their historical rights? They prefer ( actually it makes sense in a way ) to have clout way above their actual strength? And that this is their right?
So we get the response from smiling Jack the head honcho of the Opposition and he smirks and says nothing at all and then smiles some more. Maybe the fact that the Government has a majority and does not need his support anymore is slowly - and I mean slowly - starting to sink in.
Interesting to see that Germany has decided to phase out their nuclear power plants. I wonder where the alternative energy is going to come from and at what cost. Wind farms are not the total alternative and the cost of underground transmission lines is high. To place them above ground has been proven to be bad for humans and bird life.
But then again maybe the "Greens" will be happy over this.
That having been said, I have always wondered about the disposal practice of the spent nuclear rods from the power plants. There just has never seemed to have been a proper way of doing this. In mining nowadays the company is required by law to restore the terrain to its former state (and rightly so) but with the power rods....? Just does not seem a complete process.
I do not know about you but what is it with our friends the Americans and their fascination with Sarah Palin anyways? The media is totally enthralled by her every move and utterance no matter how banal or wrong it is. This week she did a supposed non political bus tour of parts of the country in a emblazoned political style bus. She, of supposed Presidential caliber makes statements about the Paul Revere ride where "bugles rang" and "he warned the British" with "bugles" again about the upcoming revolt. This set of untruths from a person who slyly indicates that yes, no, yes wants to be President could possibly lead the greatest country in the world?
Help.
I cannot believe that the American electorate would go that far or actually that her party would let her succeed in becoming their person on the ballot.
The cost of socialism.
Hugo Chavez in Venezuela trumpets the benefits of it and brags about his nationalization of companies and how he does it for the poor. Then tell me why the largest looming crisis in that country is housing and inflation?
Greece is about to default on its loans and bad economy.
People in the European Bank want it to nationalize more or most of its assets. Bad move. All that does is take profits that go into the government coffers and redirects them into individuals without repairing the problem. As hard as it is for me, a true capitalist, to say, there are some business assets that should be state run.
On to FIFA and Mr. Blatters. Remember the scandals that were part and parcel of the old Olympic era? It seems that FIFA has read the book very well on how to sweep things under the rug.In addition to possible corruption at the highest levels, look at the blatantly poor officiating done in games.No way can officials be so bad so often without something being very very wrong.
So it is time to end this weeks ramblings, the sun is finally shining after a week of hiding, the wind is low and the yardwork calls.
Have a good week and take care out there,
flatlander52
By the way, I have never suggested other blogs but there is one that I am attaching a link to that might be of interest to some. It comes from Cuba and to be honest I came across it by accident the other week.
http://desdecuba.com/generationy/