Harper's New Legacy : Be Chinese.

by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

The light of truth is blinding...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has left a new legacy for Canadians:  Become Chinese

We will soon be living in Chinada and speaking Mandarin. 
We won't have to worry about the well-being of Canadians or our historical friends the Americans on the world's longest undefended border. 
We won't have to worry about  Quebec separatists. 
We won't have to worry about  speaking Quebecois 
We won't have to wonder  if our flag has a maple leaf.   Why?
It will all be Chinese. 

 In an 'oil deal' that 99.9%  of  logical, thinking Canadians did not want, China's state-owned oil giant CNOOC  has been allowed to take over Canada's Nexen, a $15B  mistake.  A huge swath of the Canadian oil sands will now be under the control of the Chinese government.

We cannot believe our eyes. This decision casts shame on the "Harper government" --And yes, let us, in this instance, call it what it IS...the "Harper government".  It certainly does not represent the interest of Canadians.
 
Is this deal good for Canada?  NO.  Let us exclude the opinions of short-sighted politicians with their own self-serving agenda,  greedy oil barons and foreign national communists alike, who will make billions of dollars.
Let us totally ignore  the Alberta "government" , which is blinded and  inebriated by oil fumes and doesn't  give a royal crap what they do as long as they make money from dirty oil at any environmental cost, prancing in delight at the prospect of big piles of money, regardless of the iron-clad guarantee of  an unprecedented  environmental disaster the size of Nova Scotia.

The question should be: 

Since when is it in the interest of Canadians to sell control of Canadian resources to a foreign Communist nation?  
What is this government up to?   Should we "follow the money?"  The truth always comes out. 
The approval of the Nexen-CNOOC deal will change Canada forever.

This huge mistake  is reminiscent of a previous huge mistake  by the "Diefenbaker Conservatives"   to kill off the AVRO ARROW -an incredibly bad error in judgment and a  decision that destroyed Canada's huge technological lead in the aviation industry.
This huge mistake  is also reminiscent of another HUGE mistake by the "Mulroney Conservatives", the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which made billions of dollars for big Corporate North America, but did nothing for ordinary Canadians. Canadians continue to pay incredibly high prices for comparable products. 

NO disrespect, but all Canadians should be asking this question: 

   Like the "Diefenbaker Government",  why is this Harper Conservative "government" so short-sighted? 

Why do  arrogant Conservative governments repeatedly make basic, essential errors in government that ARE  huge mistakes,  unmitigated disasters with bad long-term consequences?

It seems only Stephen Harper himself could make a decision as bad as John Diefenbaker's  AVRO Arrow decision was.     
 To wit:  It will now cost  Canadians  $60B to "buy" jet fighters that still cannot out-perform the highly advanced, high-performance Avro Arrow scrapped some 50 years ago. 
John Diefenbaker sold out to the USA aviation industry, and now Stephen Harper somehow appears to believe  it's a fine idea to allow a sell-out of Canadian resources to China--at any cost.

A couple of days ago I was walking around in "Canadian"  Tire, a 'big' Canadian retailer that now sells everything made in  China.
 No matter what I picked up to look at, it was "Made in China". From baking pans to dishes to appliances to tools. Soft goods, hardware, everything in between. "Made in China". Canada --has now been 'made by China" but let us not be TOO impolite.

North America has lost the ability to produce anything.  How sad for Canadians. How sad for North America. It's NOT for lack of rich people or a dearth of investment money in Canada or the USA. Follow the money. It is going offshore to Asia.

Increasingly, little of anything is now manufactured in North America because "big Corporate North America"  and the rich can make bigger profits  and more money outsourcing  in China--where virtual slave labour,  uneducated people, being paid  slave labour rates, and living in poverty --under iron-fisted Communist rule-- are the  labour force of choice.There are virtually NO environmental regulations in China, as witnessed by the horrific, stifling and deadly pollution that is everywhere.

With the CNOOC takeover of Canadian oil approved,  Harper's recently gutted environmental rules will come in handy to China. Environmental concerns will be ignored "the Chinese -Harper way"  
Pollution in, and  destruction of Canada's north  is now assured to be the planet's biggest environmental disaster. 

CNOOC will also  "conveniently"  now dictate the necessity of construction of the Northern Gateway Pipeline through the pristine BC coast line --an earthquake prone area.  Our "trusted Conservative politicians" who have known this from the very start will 'throw up their hands like foolish children and say "Well, what can we do, it's "our" industry"...... and "acquiesce smugly" -- knowing they had this planned all along.

Now that the deal is approved, the government "swears" there won't be any more deals like these?  We know better.   ALL Canadians know that Conservatives, like most politicians,  say what is convenient  to their egos and pockets at the time. The truth eventually proves them to be blatant liars and deceivers and as such, unfit to govern. We "wrested concessions from China in this deal?? Let us now laugh in disbelief at the blatant lies.

China is already laughing;  they will also laugh and walk away from the unprecedented ecological disaster and Canada will be without remedy after the oil sands resources are depleted, and  China will 'conveniently' move on to target other resources.
 
This is a sad day for Canada.   Harper's new 'legacy'. Be Chinese. Be happy. be stupid. Shop. Pat ourselves on the head. 
Let the government run the important things".

We are far too polite to say what should be said.

The fact is, this decision is a betrayal of the trust of Canadians.
This is not only an issue of sovereignty over Canadian resources,  it is an issue of lack of common sense  and short-sighted, very  poor governance.

Stephen Harper and  the  Harper Government" must resign in shame. We no longer have any confidence in this government. This agreement must be reversed.


Is that Incoming I hear?

100 Posts Later....

Discovery of the Light can be Blinding.....

This is a special occasion. One Hundred, count them, yes,  100 posts later, we're still here at Incoming Bytes !   We are still here.

Isn't that amazing? Why did we persist so?  Stubbornness. Foolishness, persistence,  the will to survive, no matter what?
Detractors and critics --we are sorry to disappoint you.  We didn't give up. We didn't quit. We did not run out of stuff to write about either.
Loyal friends, contributors, supporters and readers, rejoice, we clearly shall overcome!

We have become a real blog, talking about real stuff. 
From the abuse of Kakabeka Falls  to Fukushima Japan's nuclear disaster, elections and disastrous political games,  the destruction of Canada's Avro Arrow--an aircraft that has few equals even 50 years later!  We  happily digressed to  bonsai and heaps of gardening all the way to the Middle East--- and even dared to wander back home into dull, boring politics, electioneering and tongue-in-cheek political-psycho-babble, sanctions and mousy local dictatorships.
From sugar-maple  mysteries,  discussions of garden zeitgeists,   Glory Lennon our gardener  all the way from  sunflowers to oaks,  we have even migrated across  the tender economics of economic growth, global failure and the fall of nasty dictators.
Snowmobile high-marking made it to the foreground when that foolish, mindless sport caused deaths yet again last winter!   Will they never LEARN?  
Predictions of Doomsday were discussed right on time, but Harold Camping and his doomsday money-making machine  failed to make it happen.  Twice yet!  
A couple of wonderful guest posts were included,  one by  Adriana Heep, a young thinker who clearly offers hope for humanity,   and  M.J Joachim (Gum Pets on the Hill)  who stirred the hearts of  alert readers with her  distinguished voice in poetic justice. 

We  even got to the point of  telling stories, checking out Glorious Flower Power, tales of persistence and  and  promoting the publishing  of eBooks, starting with my new Christmas classic, Morgidoo's Christmas Carol.  We have hypothesized about the new Age of Light --and recently welcomed a new website  EffectivelyHuman.com, a site that promotes human worth and dignity, something necessary to initiate the Age of Light.   We asked questions. 


I still like this question the best:  "Is willful nuclear expansion a sign of collective human insanity, insatiable corporate greed, total lunacy, irresponsible governance, --or proof positive of all of the above?"  (MUST WE Contaminate the world with Radiation? Say NO! (Mar.23rd 2011)


As a reader, what more could you ask ?   The fact is, almost any subject matter  may show up at Incoming Bytes.
Where are we going NEXT?   Wait and see.  Stay tuned.  Participate!  Enjoy!

Where do we stand after 100 posts? We still want you to  think, --if you dare. We also want you to stand and be counted.


That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Elections and Political Games: Let's Play " Elections" - and Waste $400M on another Minority

Whaddya mean,  another ELECTION !  **

Not ANOTHER election ! The cat's out of the bag.  
Do tell.   Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his minority government were defeated on Friday so  we "get to go" to the polls on May 2nd.  "  Let's play "Election". 
Why were the Conservatives  defeated?  A vote of non-confidence was brought forward by non-confident Liberals.  A nasty, but predetermined vote.
We're not surprised at all.  Dissolution of the House.  Failure of the Conservatives to maintain the confidence of the House,   get it?  Failure to get along with Jack and Mikey and Gilles  in the playground at Ottawa.   They  "lost the confidence of Canadians" ,  according to Michael Ignatieff, the temporary leader of the Liberals .  Temporary, because his rating as leader is somewhat low and if he doesn't win this election, he'll likely be heading for Harvard. No matter.

So we're having an election, and regardless of cause, effect, or process, there is little else in Canada  more blatantly annoying than being  forced to listen to elected politicians  as they pretend to blame  one another for precipitating an election they equally  swear they do not want. Are we to believe them?  No.
Guess what;   Stop Fibbing,  we all know how it works.   It's a tricky politician's plan to get more  vacation time.   After all, it's  March here in Canada,  it's still cold outside,  and all good politicians  need yet another 6 weeks of  "off-the-trough, fun-sabbatical  quality time,  a.k.a.   a vacation from real work.  The holidays suffered during the winter break from December through to the end of January  were clearly inadequate.
Those same  eager combatants also have expressed a wish to avoid,  at any cost, the  aggregate responsibility of attending to the difficult work of  good governance for our Canada,  the land of frozen beavers, sovereign polar bears and  melting ice packs. No matter.
 Canadians, unbelievably,  in these tough economic times,  are  about to spend  $400,000,000,  and it's  money we should not be throwing away. Break the piggy-banks anyway.
No, it's not going to be spent on anything sensible;  on our behalf,  our political " mystery shoppers"  just bought an election complete with questionable trappings.          
No reason, but would we believe it anyway?  Little credibility seems to reside in Ottawa, perhaps with the exception of a half dozen very specific individuals, but they're too busy mopping the floors to talk to us.
We  will likely end up with yet another  minority government.    The third one, by the way.   Why do we have minority governments?  Non-confidence?  Voter disinterest? Bad weather?   Perhaps another contributing factor is our "unique" party system.   The Bloc Quebecois is allowed to commandeer Federal parliamentary seats without universal representation,  making the achievement of a  majority by other parties much more difficult. That distinct  monopoly seems to be politely ignored as an invisible anchor dragging behind a ghost ship, but apparently has been deemed an acceptable  part of the cost of appeasing Quebec,-- a  political aberration that is unbelievable, inexplicable and  unacceptable to thinking Canadians.
Why complain about it?  Maybe we need another REAL party. Maybe we would vote for Gilles  if they did offer the R.O.C. (rest of Canada) representation, --but alas,  he has no interest in doing so.   Gilles whines for Billions,  and more gifts for Quebec at every opportunity,  --and inevitably, he gets the goodies, so what else is new? 
No matter. On to THIS election that is already hobbled. 
 
 We can only imagine what happened in the House of Commons:

"Mr. Speaker, it seems nobody likes my new budget at all, nobody wants to be nice and play with me,  so don't vote, see if I care,  I'm taking all my toys home,  and if you're nice, you can see it after we win another minority on May 2nd, Mr. Speaker."
 (raucous laughter)

"Mr. Speaker,  we are obligated to listen to a  finance minister from the Honorable member opposite, even if he didn't  buy new shoes,for this important occasion, Mr. Speaker?  But come now,  ..we on this side of the house think the Honorable member across the floor would much prefer to be tossed on a matter of disrespect for Parliament instead of something as boring as a mean-spirited budget, after all..."

"Mr. Speaker, yes, yes,,,,okay,  let's do that instead, --that was a good idea brought forward by the Honorable member across the floor, Mr. Speaker."
(raucous cheering) 
"  Mr. Speaker,   like 34 Million  other Honorable,  vote-weary Canadians,  I'm  a little less skeptical now,  I see there is hope after all,  seeing such perky cut-and-dried  collusion to create the latest reason for an election we all want--er, don't want,  -- and for  the fine posturing, the offended demeanor,  and offensive childish exchanges observed in this House of Commons, all members of the House are to be congratulated for such a fine performance, Mr. Speaker."
(clapping)

"Mr. Speaker, along the same lines, why should we not all just get along and be happy, Mr. Speaker?  After all, Canadians, cold or not, have much to be happy about,  do they not, Mr. Speaker?
This   Honorable member suggests that Canadians should  all be happy and allow their duly elected representatives to  spend $400 million dollars yet AGAIN, especially  for an election all of our  venerable leaders  equally  insist  they do not want, Mr. Speaker, even if  we all know better, --oops,,,...is that camera turned off, Mr. Speaker?" 

"Mr. Speaker,  our committee  recommends that  we turn the cameras back on, clap our hands in unison, sing  "kumbaya",  and pass out out kudos to our political children hauling back huge salaries,  while SENIORS live  in poverty and received  a microscopic raise of  $1.56 Cdn. -- after waiting years,  Mr. Speaker,  because that was, after all, quite a good raise.   In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, our Honorable members will  busy themselves in the last few minutes of Parliament doing important things, like  handing out more  major tax credits to our  huge Corporate interests, Mr. Speaker". 
( cheering )
" Mr. Speaker,  I wish to add that we should additionally  feel all  warm and fuzzy as we celebrate the integrity of our leaders and enjoy watching  official funding  departmental  documents change  magically with black-marker,  and pay particular attention to  enjoying that last moment protocol.  Canadians should be  especially proud of this accomplishment, and celebrate the fact that any departmental document might  be adequately changed by erstwhile Ministers who are not obligated to explain "how or why" documentation is changed,  Mr. Speaker."  

"  Mr. Speaker, one  further  issue of great importance, let us all cheer wildly as we spend UNKNOWN  BILLIONS of dollars on that fleet of nice shiny F-35 fighter jets at over $60M  per copy, a  fighter jet  that cannot fly anywhere near the speed of our own Canadian Avro Arrow,  an aerospace industry that our  Honorable Dief  the Chief  and  fellow  Conservatives  killed inexplicably 50 years ago, Mr. Speaker, at the cost of 14,000 jobs in the aerospace industry, --and  Mr. Speaker, let it be known  that we are still  working diligently  at replacing those jobs  with  wait-positions  and other highly skilled jobs in our job-creation strategy we are so  happily advertising as we speak."   

"The Honorable members should also vibrate with pride as we recall the "Billion dollar G20 security party complete with fake lakes,  Mr. Speaker.  Such clever environmental planning and  spending is required to ensure the integrity of the Canadian dollar is not limited to necessary projects like million-dollar fences or spent foolishly lifting Canadians out of poverty."  
 (raucous laughter)

"Mr. Speaker, we are all Canadians here , so let us truly  jump up and down for joy,  as all of our Honorable members  do their sworn duty to Canadians.  Let us now act like Grade IV students in  a 'do or die' food fight as we fling  stale  bologna sandwiches at each other across the floor of the House.  Mr. Speaker, all Honorable members are reminded to participate vigorously,  shouting  and pointing and jumping up and down with indignity --at least  whilst on camera, for the benefit of their  attentive constituents, Mr. Speaker". 

" Mr. Speaker, finally,  let us encourage all Canadians to express delirious  delight for the coming opportunity to listen to an  endless round of lies, attack ads, accusations,  counter-accusations,  promises, and instructions on how to clothespin their  noses  to the reek of the  endless pile of political manure that will be shoveled with very large, expensive shovels, Mr. Speaker."
-- By the way, do you have any Dijon and mayonnaise  handy up there for our new coalition sandwiches,  Mr. Speaker?"
(Cheering and whacking of  an old, but re-soled  shoe on the desk of the Finance Minister)
 
Let us now be serious.
How fitting, and how predictable the calling of this unnecessary election,  when the  Conservative minority,  a.k.a,  "the  Harper government", as they so aptly "branded" themselves, is momentarily ahead in the polls.   Do the Conservatives  believe  they actually have a shot at a majority simply because they are slightly ahead in meaningless polls?    It is little wonder they  so quickly  thereafter  offered a meaningless budget to ensure it would be rejected by all parties, a budget  specifically offered with no amendments desired, considered, or accepted.
The Honorable Minister of Finance did not put on the traditional "new shoes" so often displayed.  He doesn't seem to get it, does he?  Many seniors live in poverty and cannot afford to install new soles on their old worn-out shoes.

  The fact that the "Harper government"  just been voted "in contempt of parliament,  disrespectful of democracy and parliament",  unethical and dripping with scandal   is almost a moot point in spite of the indignity act played so beautifully by Michael the Harvard man,  Honorable Jack,  Gilles the whiner, and  Elizabeth the Green?  
Haven't the majority of politician incumbents been unethical, dripping with scandal, names besmirched with problems of some kind, at one time or the other,  most notably just before election time?

Watch out. Be forewarned.  On May 2nd, the world will come to a complete halt, the nuclear disaster in Japan won't matter, the war in Libya will halt,  and the earth itself shall stop rotating, while  Canadians drop everything to trundle through the slush and snow,  hold their  noses, and vote for the best of the worst collection of politicians Canada has seen for many years.
After all, isn't that the Canadian way?  As one of my smartest colleagues observes, "We shall see what we shall see." 

**Note:  With thanks,  photo credit courtesy of:     http://iruntheinternet.com/  

Does This Thing Really Fly?

Avro ARROW CF105 Fighter 1959                                                             photo courtesy of ArtEyePhoto

I would not care to have the reader  believe that Incoming Bytes  is eternally earth-bound and contains only  skepticism or criticism,  or that it is  intended  to be so at all times, but the astute reader will also recognize  with incoming news articles, bits and bytes  of information,  timing is everything.  Specific commentary is often better placed immediately.  So be it today.  Recent  announcement by Ottawa that Pratt & Whitney is being loaned $300 million taxpayer dollars  “to create and maintain” jobs is worthy of just that commentary,  and more.

Money itself is not the issue. Governments do waste money.  The loan itself,  funded by the taxpayer, is not the issue.   It is mere peanuts compared to the unnecessary  billion-dollar long gun registry, the unnecessary billion-dollar G-20 Summit security bill, and  other just-as-creative but  unnecessary  government incentives, ad nauseam.  

Don’t misunderstand,  most Canadians will applaud the idea and agree  the ‘creation and maintenance of jobs” is a wonderful thing,  indeed, it is a worthy goal and mandate of any government,  but in recalling the past and comparing it to the present, I do wonder. The memory is long, and curiosity often gets the better of me.    The shadows of political backtracking, inconsistency,   non-transparency, inexplicable decisions,  foolishness and bureaucratic hypocrisy are seemingly brought to the fore.

 In many  ways it is a  shame that the modern Wikileaks was not fully functional in 1959.   That was the year the AVRO  Arrow  was shot down, not by enemy fighters or  terrorists, but  by  Canada’s own slightly frumpy  job-maker and his helpers   who  seemingly  shot Canada  squarely in the foot as they killed off a potential  multi-trillion dollar industry.  Fifty-one years after the AVRO Arrow, -- are the Conservatives changing their minds?  How about some tongue-in-the-cheek?  Can this bird fly?  The Arrow  was  more than capable of flight at Mach 2.0 at 50,000 ft.
 
For anyone that has any meaningful  recollection of the aircraft industry in Canada, today’s  announcement must bring to mind the absolute contradiction in government policy  with the willful and unprecedented  destruction of the aircraft industry by the same  Conservative government on February 20th, 1959 .

On that date, the highly successful Canadian aircraft and aerospace industry was dealt a mortal blow, as the highly advanced CF-105 AVRO  Arrow fighter  program was scrapped  with little notice,and seemingly little justification then, or since that sad event.

 That government decision was disastrous.   Fourteen thousand aircraft workers, designers, aerospace engineers and hundreds of thousands of spin-off jobs  disappeared overnight, as  successfully-tested prototypes of the  Arrows on the tarmac at A.V. Roe   were ordered quickly chopped into little pieces to be sent for scrap metal and engineering drawings and plans were ordered destroyed. Arrow engineers quickly drifted south to the US industry.

The ARROW was proven to be a technically-advanced,  performance-superior aircraft that was faster, equipped with weaponry that is still used today, and it’s performance  remained  unequaled by any foreign fighter aircraft until the mid-1980's.   With a substantial  market potential for both the aircraft itself and the powerful, all-Canadian Iroquois engine,  the aircraft was all-Canadian and the Canadian aerospace industry was totally viable until the then Prime-Minister of Canada,   John Diefenbaker and his Conservative government shot it down, --if only to make  the American aerospace industry successful instead.
 What happened, and what was the REAL reason?  Worse yet,  at what cost was such an arbitrary, foolish decision made?
Just for the record, Pratt& Whitney is reportedly using that loan to employ 200 more engineers to develop a lighter, more powerful engine, possibly even  to be used in the “new”  F-35's Canada will be purchasing. 
Go figure. 
Maybe the backwash from that  governmental Arrow  boo-boo has finally caught up.  Extremely  expensive American  F-35's will now be purchased from the US  Aerospace industry to replace the prohibitively expensive but aging  American F-18's previously purchased from the US Aerospace industry.  Is there any lesson to be observed here?
Will this bird fly, or is the latest loan an official  admission that the fateful  decision made 51 years ago to kill the Arrow  was a “mistake” and has  finally come home to roost?