Food for thought

On the environmental front, the Canadian government, like the US, has
announced that carbon emissions will be reduced 17% over the next ten
years. Unfortunately, as environmentalists were quick to point out, this
will increase emissions by 2.5% over the 2006 targets already announced.
It's like the pas de deux, two steps forward, two steps back, two steps
forward, three steps back, and round and round we go. This bunch of lying
sycophants, managing the capitalist system in the interest of the
capitalists, had the gall to state, " Throughout the Copenhagen
negotiations, we maintained that our clear policy was to support the
outcome of Copenhagen…" (Toronto Star, Jan 31 2010).

What outcome are they talking about, I wonder?

Talking of liars, Tony Blair, testifying at the Iraq enquiry in London,
said, "When you are the prime minister and the Joint Intelligence
Committee is giving you this information (weapons of mass destruction),
you have got to rely on the people doing it, with the experience and with
the commitment and integrity as they do…Of course now, with the benefit of
hindsight, we look back on the situation differently." (Toronto Star, Jan
30 2010). Strange how he was able to dismiss the evidence of the UN
weapons inspectors on the ground in Iraq, then.

Are the Olympics worth it, asks the Toronto Star? The Vancouver games
have an 'operating budget' of $1.76 billion but,  cleverly, does not
include the construction of venues, $580 million. The Montreal games cost
$1.5 billion and took until 2006 to pay off; Sydney cost $6 billion and
has facilities that are too far out to be used efficiently; Athens cost
$14 billion and most of the facilities are not getting the use envisioned
for them; Beijing's spectacular facilities cost $15 billion and are laying
empty. Any idea how many houses, hospitals, schools we could have built,
how many lives we could have saved by providing free food, etc? Crazy
system! John Ayers.