All about Whitewater

After the money is gone... from Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads)

2012-02-10T14:43:00.000-05:00

Dr. Alan Bartletts "Simiple Arithmetic" for Unsustainability

2012-02-02T12:51:00.000-05:00

In this series of short videos addressing the effects of unchecked human population growth we can see the problems of our age delineated. Well worth viewing.

Affidavit accuses Prime Minister's Office of threatening environmental charity Bob Weber, Tuesday, January 24, 2012 7:47 PM Read it on Global News: Global BC | Affidavit accuses Prime Minister's Office of threatening environmental charity

2012-01-27T15:52:00.003-05:00

So... somebody is lying.

see article

The testator said: "I think Canadians need to know that behind the scenes, the Prime Minister's Office has apparently attempted to silence a legitimate voice and a critic of the proposed Enbridge oil tanker and pipeline project," he said.

Sources:

Affidavit accuses Prime Minister’s Office of threatening environmental charity http://www.globaltvbc.com/canada/affidavit+accuses+prime+ministers+office+of+threatening+environmental+charity/6442566233/story.html

Environmentalist’s departure sheds light on tension felt by green groups http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/activists-dismissal-raises-the-temperature-in-pipeline-debate/article2313991/

Attack on “radicals” sign of tougher federal strategy http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/11/pol-gateway-pipeline-strategy.html

Feds list First Nations, green groups as oilsands “adversaries” http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Feds+list+First+Nations+green+groups+oilsands+adversaries/6054920/story.html
”Scary time” for Canada http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/01/25/scary-time-canada

Canadian pipeline needs aboriginal consent: chief http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/25/us-aboriginals-idUSTRE80O1SC20120125

Save the Fraser Declaration http://savethefraser.ca
Whistleblower’s Open Letter to Canadians http://www.scribd.com/doc/79228736/Whistleblower-s-Open-Letter-to-Canadians

PMO branded environmental group an ‘enemy’ of Canada, affidavit says http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120800--pmo-branded-environmental-group-an-enemy-of-canada-affidavit-says

Affidavit accuses Prime Minister's Office of threatening environmental charity http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/affidavit-accuses-prime-ministers-office-of-threatening-environmental-charity-137994418.html

Affidavit accuses PMO of threatening environmental group http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120124/pmo-affidavit-environment-120124/

Nicole Foss: Q&A Food for thought

2012-01-26T23:15:00.001-05:00

The Costa Concordia: Is this the metaphor and portent for things to come in 2012

2012-01-26T13:30:00.000-05:00

A large ship, seemingling unstoppable, capital intensive, multinational in scope, about to keel over, and notice the life boats heading for "who knows where".

IS SHALE GAS THE ANSWER TO OUR ENERGY NEEDS?

2012-01-26T12:53:00.004-05:00

Jeff Rubin, (author of the book "why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller" in this interview
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/video/is-shale-gas-a-game-changer/article1868254/

in the Globe and Mail says not: depletion rates are too high and well head costs are too high relative to the current low price of gas.
Also consider this comment from

Juan Peron

12:22 PM on January 13, 2011

This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore Juan Peron. Show DetailsHide Details

Shale oil is extracted through hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The process pumps water and chemicals into the ground at a pressurized rate exceeding what the bedrock can withstand, resulting in a microquake that produces rock fractures.

According to an article by Rady Ananda, fracking has been used in Arkansas for some time with a tremendous increase in earthquake frequency following advanced drilling. There were thirty-eight earthquakes in Arkansas in 2009, and more in 2010 than in all of the twentieth century. There has been a 1,200% increase in earthquakes over 2009 in the last four months of 2010.

The recent, well-publicized deaths of thousands of birds happened in the shale extraction area of Arkansa. An earthquake of whatever scale can release a stream or cloud of gas and fracking chemicals which could easily explain why sleeping birds would suddenly take flight, and then quickly die as they succumbed to the toxic fumes. Hundreds of thousands of dead fish along the Arkansas River likely died from the same cause.

Dead fish, dead birds, and earthquakes. Are these the disasters that we are bringing to Canada?

The evidence we see today is the sudden drop in price of CARBO CERAMICS, the primary producer of fracking materials/propants.

By comparison, take a look at Westport Innovations, makers of natural gas powered engines:

By this logic, Wesport would go to the moon, if only gas prices would go to zero.

Of course, if the argument in favour of Shale Gas and Wesport had nothing to do with making money and EVERYTHING to do with building resliency in the economy then this all makes sense.

The question is what does the participation of the MIC and other related government agencies look like? If it is high, then it is reasonable to assume these companies will continue to grow.

Raging Grannies take on updating the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

2012-01-25T16:37:00.003-05:00

Inky Dinky Parlez-vous?

Raging Grannies sing the CEAA Blues from MiningWatch on Vimeo.

for more details: see the Canadian Environmental Network site... while it still exists!

http://rcen.ca/action-alerts/action-alert-canada-s-environmental-assessment-law-is-under-attack

for the full newsrelease; see below
Online, complete with Raging Grannies video, at:
http://rcen.ca/action-alerts/action-alert-canada-s-environmental-assessment-law-is-under-attack

Action Alert: Canada’s Environmental Assessment Law Is Under Attack

January, 2012

The Harper Government wants to gut the Canadian Environmental Assessment
Act.

Tell the Conservatives that Canada’s environment matters – and
environmental laws matter.

Tell Prime Minister Harper, Environment Minister Kent, and Natural
Resources Minister Oliver we won’t accept shoddy “streamlined” public
reviews and destructive megaprojects – even if they change the law to
allow them to proceed.

Background

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) is one of the most
important pieces of environmental legislation in Canada. It often
provides for more public participation and a more rigorous review than
provincial assessment legislation, and in many cases covers projects not
subject to provincial assessment at all. The Act has been in place since
1995.

CEAA was intended to promote sustainable development by forcing federal
authorities to make sure that an environmental assessment was done on
any projects they were required to authorise. It worked, but it did have
a number of problems that environmental groups, aboriginal
organisations, and government agencies have tried to resolve over the
years. Many of the problems have been resolved. For example,
harmonization agreements between federal and provincial governments
allow them to undertake joint reviews that meet both their requirements,
while reducing duplication and confusion for proponents and the public.

Other problems have never been resolved; for example, the Act is centred
on assessing the environmental impacts of physical projects, so
government policies, plans, and programs are not included – things like
fisheries policies, regional development plans, or plans for disposing
of high-level nuclear fuel waste. The review process also suffered
resistance from some government departments, such as Fisheries and
Oceans, that didn’t want to take responsibility for larger environmental
issues. MiningWatch Canada had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to
ensure that assessments could not be artificially defined to limit their
scope and avoid the Act’s public involvement requirements. And it
suffered periodic setbacks, especially when the Navigable Waters
Protection Act was amended in 2009 to exclude it from CEAA, and CEAA
itself amended in 2010 to exclude projects funded under the government’s
Economic Action Plan from environmental assessment.

The Environmental Planning and Assessment Caucus of the Canadian
Environment Network has continued working hard to engage the public and
develop thoughtful, evidence-based proposals for a better federal EA
process, and has produced a significant body of research and documentation.

CEAA Under Review

The Act includes a requirement for Parliament to review it by June 2010.
However, the government did no public preparation for the review and the
House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable
Development only started working on it in October, 2011. The Committee
held a scant five weeks of public hearings – nine sessions of less than
two hours each, with witnesses allowed all of ten minutes to make their
initial presentations, and only two days’ notice of the final deadline
for written submissions. The Committee has not yet published its report.

This is a stark contrast with the previous review of the Act, which
included extensive public consultations, government discussion papers,
and thorough public discussions in the Standing Committee.

Meanwhile, Stephen Harper, Peter Kent, and Joe Oliver have all made
public pronouncements about the environmental assessment process taking
too long, creating uncertainty for investors, and threatening economic
development. It is clear from their statements as well as from industry
talking points – and a leaked government document – that the government
is eager to reduce the scope and effectiveness of the federal
environmental assessment process if it can’t eliminate it altogether.
Small projects would be no longer be screened, and the assessment of
large projects will be “delegated” – no longer handled by the Canadian
Environmental Assessment Agency. Some are already handled (badly) by the
National Energy Board and the Nuclear Safety Commission, and this could
be extended to other federal and even provincial agencies, resulting in
an inconsistent patchwork of reviews, incomprehensible to the public –
and ineffective in protecting the public interest – the environment and
people’s livelihoods.

What You Can Do

Please write to Environment Minister Peter Kent to express your concerns
about the federal government’s intention to weaken federal environmental
assessment laws and undermine sustainable development in Canada. Send
copies to Prime Minister Harper, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver,
and the opposition parties’ environment critics, as well as your own
Member of Parliament. Engage your MP in discussion on this issue as most
of them know little about it and don’t realise its importance.

Most importantly, talk to your neighbours, friends, even strangers.
People have put a lot of hard work into trying to create and
environmental assessment process that protects the environment from
inappropriate development projects and gives the public a say in
development. We will not accept a review process that is “streamlined”
to limit public participation and ensure that potentially destructive
megaprojects proceed without serious consideration of their impacts –
and without those safeguards in place we will not accept the projects
themselves.

The following is a draft letter that you can send to Environment
Minister Peter Kent.
• If you can, personalize your message by adding information about your
own specific concerns. This could relate to a particular type of
development projects, a particular environmental assessment, or other
sustainable development issues.
• Make sure to send a copy to your own Member of Parliament.
• Below the letter, you will find a list of the relevant addresses,
phone/fax numbers, and e-mails.

Dear Minister Kent,

Don’t trash the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act! This law is
critical to understanding and mitigating the adverse environmental
effects of developments such as pipelines, tar sands projects, and
mines. Eliminating legal requirements and limiting public participation
in project reviews makes environmental disasters such as BP’s Deepwater
Horizon, Exxon Valdez, and Fukushima more likely. I know that you don’t
want catastrophes like these to happen in Canada.

That’s why I am urging you to work with Parliament to strengthen the
Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to make it more effective,
efficient, and open to public participation.

Canadians want all development projects to be sustainable, and a
stronger environmental assessment law – not a weaker one – is key to
achieving that goal.

Thank you for considering my views.

Sincerely,

[your name here]

cc: The Right Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
The Hon. Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources
Megan Leslie, MP, NDP Environment Critic
Kirsty Duncan, MP, Liberal Environment Critic
Maria Mourani, MP, Bloc Québecois Environment Critic
Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party

To find your Member of Parliament, use the Parliamentary directory at
http://www.parl.gc.ca/SenatorsMembers.aspx?Language=E.

Mail may be sent postage-free to any Member of Parliament at the
following address:
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

The Honourable Peter Kent
Minister of the Environment
Tel. (613) 992-0253
Fax: (613) 992-0887
Peter.Kent@parl.gc.ca

The Right Hon. Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Tel. (613) 992-4211
Fax: (613) 941-6900
Stephen.Harper@parl.gc.ca

The Honourable Joe Oliver
Minister of Natural Resources
Tel. (613) 992-6361
Fax: (613) 992-9791
Joe.Oliver@parl.gc.ca

Megan Leslie
Tel. (613) 995-7614
Fax: (613) 992-8569
Megan.Leslie@parl.gc.ca

Kirsty Duncan
Tel. (613) 995-4702
Fax: (613) 995-8359
Kirsty.Duncan@parl.gc.ca

Maria Mourani
Tel. (613) 992-0983
Fax: (613) 992-1932
Maria.Mourani@parl.gc.ca

Elizabeth May
Tel. (613) 996-1119
Fax: (613) 996-0850
Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca

--
Jamie Kneen, Communications & Outreach Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada
http://www.miningwatch.ca/

BANK HOLIDAY? Biden praises Corzine - its all so wrong

2012-01-24T17:22:00.003-05:00

GUNS, GOLD, and a GETAWAY PLAN : Okay - Where would you run to?

2012-01-23T11:51:00.011-05:00

Gonzola Lira, born and raised under the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile has recently said that media censorship in the US is more profound that it was in Chile under Pinochet.

The question raised was: well? where do you run?

There are very few options:

According to this article from CBC, the world can be a very unsafe place.

The information comes from the government of Canada's External Affairs own site:

Interesting the home of the brave and land of the free, the USA shows up as a vibrant green zone, just as long as your name isn't Mahar Arar ( who was kidnapped by the US government, and sent to Syria for torture. Oh yes, and there is still that pesky Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Private Manning is still being held in detention after a year, with out charge or arrest after releasing informaiton to Wikileaks. And so on...

Foreign Affairs, offers this advice about entering the USA:
Your rights when entering the U.S.

Under U.S. law, foreign nationals do not have the same rights as American citizens. When attempting to enter the U.S. (border crossing or airport) and while a determination is being made by U.S. authorities on your admissibility, you could be held for an extended period of time. If you are deemed inadmissible, there may be delays before you are returned to your point of departure or country of nationality.

So much is happening in the USA in the name of "national security interests" it is wise to pause and consider the implications on travel in general.

See John Pilger's Film "War on Democracy"

at 1:05:38 "National Security Interests... Like it or Lump it"

Daniel Clarridge former CIA director tells it like it is:

A truly frightening admonition.

Foreign Affairs doesn't offer any opinion on Canada but in my estimation, Canada still has rule of law, even though a majority government is essentially a dictatorship. The fusion of Corporate power and Government is reasonably obvious especially as the environmental issues around the tar sands and the Northern Pipeline become known. Fascism is growing but Canadians know it as something else, more benign, like "corporate sponsorship" or "lobbying", so much more comforting.

But the answers are not exactly clear. Gonzola's own site seeks to counsel people on their own relocation - for a nominal fee.

I'm thinking Canada is still a good bet: too bad about the weather ( six months of the year) but its much better in Ottawa than it is in Winnipeg, and the summer has no mosquitos to speak of.

There is, of course, one tiny problem and a roadmap of the country will pretty much spell it out:

The network of fourway, high capacity highways leading to Canada from the the United States is very significant. In many cases, the roads up from the US are 4 lane and the roads into Canada are 2 lane.

So despite our complacency about living in Canada once the "shit hits the fan" we may find we have a lot of new neighbors we didn't count on.

BP Oil used to be Called Anglo Iranian Oil Company

2012-01-12T10:27:00.002-05:00

from Jeff Hendrickson - https://membercentre.cbc.ca/ViewMember.aspx?u=7650633

January 12, 2012 cbc comment

Upstate NY Writer Here: From the "Democracy Now Website": "In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence orchestrated a coup d'etat that toppled the democratically elected government of Iran. The government of Mohammad Mossadegh. The aftershocks of the coup are still being felt.

In 1951 Prime Minister Mossadegh roused Britain's ire when he nationalized the oil industry. Mossadegh argued that Iran should begin profiting from its vast oil reserves which had been exclusively controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The company later became known as British Petroleum (BP).

After considering military action, Britain opted for a coup d'état. President Harry Truman rejected the idea, but when Dwight Eisenhower took over the White House, he ordered the CIA to embark on one of its first covert operations against a foreign government."

And here we are now, not many talk about 1951-1953 and what happened after we installed the Shah as Dictator of Iran but in a way the Iranians have grievance against us that has led, most likely, to today's problems. The U.S. just can't resist intefering with others and on and on and on it goes without true redress.

Merge this commment from another CBC reader:

The "Anglo - Soviet Invasion of Iran ( 1941 )"

Goal: steal Iranian oil, seize Iranian sovereignty in an illegal suprise attack to force it to kick out the German Embassy and force it out of Neutrality and into servicing Britain and the USSR.

"Operation AJAX" ( 1953 )"

Goal: steal Iranian oil again, because a pro-western, western educated, progressive anti-communist named Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq wants more of Iran's own oil wealth ( Iran's property ) going to --- Iranians !

Tactical Project AJAX was hatched by Kermit Rooseveldt, the CIA and MI-6...
they bombed popular religious leaders homes, etc and
handed out notices saying that Mossadeq had done it-
paid people to stage fake street protests-
This is called a " False Flag operation.
Result: Mossadeq imprisoned, the Shah gave the west what they wanted---until the 1979 Revolution.

Under the Shah, The Gestapo-esque SAVAK terrorized the people---trained by Israel and the CIA.

Bob MacDonald's Take on the Mayan Calender Hysteria

2012-01-11T16:47:00.000-05:00

excerpt from this CBC article Bob MacDonald

The Maya civilization did not disappear. There are about six million Mayans living in Central America today. But they did experience a collapse of giant city states such as Tikal, which thrived during their classic period from AD 200-900.

Some of these cities were the size of Manhattan, adorned with huge pyramids, monuments to power and large populations. Trade routes ran up and down the coastlines, prosperity blossomed.

But as cities grew, resources in the surrounding land were depleted, forcing further travel for fuel and food, battles with other cities, and a long chain of events that lead to their demise.

Those who survived were the farmers living in the high country.

Sound familiar?

What will our civilization look like by that time if we continue on the current trend of gobbling up resources, depleting fisheries, turning food into biofuel for vehicles, battling for oil abroad, contaminating water to get oil and gas out of the ground at home, and placing short-term economic gains over long-term environmental protection?

Whats the Rush ?

2012-01-11T09:25:00.005-05:00

(photo from CBC) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/10/bc-northern-gateway-enbridge-kitimat.html

According to Jamie Keen of MiningWatch:

"without pipelines to move bitumen out of Alberta for processing, there will be no need to ramp up further production in the tar sands. The creation of pipelines is essential for the oil industry to expand its production before stricter environmental standards can be imposed on it by a new government which might adopt a “go slow” approach. This is why there has been such a rush on to move forward with pipeline construction."

So do the AVAAZ Poll please...

If enough people click the link below and answer the question:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012/?vl

Are there any other major issue areas Avaaz should be prioritizing in 2012?
they might do it?

- - - - -
Dear Avaazers,

Happy New Year!! It's going to be a big one.

Democracy is on the march across the world, and our community is at the heart of the struggle, but to win we're going to need to choose our course wisely. Click below to take the annual Avaaz all-member poll, and let's decide together where to focus our energies in 2012.

The poll takes a few minutes to complete, but the more of us take it, the wiser our course will be:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012/?vl

And if you don't have time to take the poll right now, we can all see the results as they come in here:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012_people_power/?bv11891

Concentrated Solar Power in the Desert thwarted by Dust and Haze

2012-01-09T16:28:00.000-05:00

from CSP today

CSP Today: Are we likely to see more CSP plants built in the region, or does the poor DNI due to dust and haze make this unlikely? If so would future projects include thermal storage?

Dr Olaf Goebel: We think there will be more CSP projects in the region. All CSP projects shall be built with thermal energy storage in order to meet the demand profile. CSP without storage cannot compete against PV.

Ron Paul's Eerily accurate predictions of the future circa 2002

2012-01-09T15:38:00.001-05:00

Paul was Accurate in his predictions.

People need to pay attention to this man.

read /hear them

Energy Minister Lobs a Curvy Ball of BS.

2012-01-09T15:25:00.001-05:00

The Minister's Own Words

"Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade. Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams.

These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda. They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest. They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources. Finally, if all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach: sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further. They do this because they know it can work. It works because it helps them to achieve their ultimate objective: delay a project to the point it becomes economically unviable. "

Comment:

I wonder what color the sky is in this man's world? .. STOP HARPER!

Neil MacDonald Describes American Democracy: - brilliant

2012-01-09T11:05:00.000-05:00

"people yelling from one side that Obama is a Kenyan/Muslim/socialist, and people jeering from the other that Republicans are fascists/troglodytes/religious nutcases.

It is the voting public that drives this level of discussion: they elect people to Congress based upon it, then tell pollsters of their disgust and contempt for Congress. Fire them all again, they say. That'll fix things"

Full Article

Ron Paul Talks Turkey about Fiat Currency

2012-01-06T17:00:00.002-05:00

Some observations by Sara Outens on the East Coast of Japan

2012-01-06T16:49:00.000-05:00

The US Fiscal Debt and Deficit Explained in Household Terms

2012-01-06T12:30:00.002-05:00

Accounting Trick Assets are no assets

2012-01-05T14:41:00.001-05:00

Unicredit's company balance sheet shows $13.5 billion euros of "tax-deferred assets" – the value of the future tax savings UniCredit has earned by taking losses.

They are worth nothing if the bank doesn't return to profitability.

Unicredit lists $11.5 billion euros of goodwill – an intangible asset that's worth nothing if the bank doesn't survive.

That's $25 billion worth of assets that can't be traded or sold.

Are they really assets?

The Fall of Rome: What happened?

2012-01-05T11:06:00.001-05:00

Rome squeezed the peasants for tithes until they abandoned their land and threw in their lot with the surrounding barbarians. TAE

Nicole Foss and company go on to say...

We can provide basic necessities if we prepare in advance.

We have to align our expectations with reality.

Our mindset is our belief that business as usual is non-negotiable, and must continue.

It will not continue because it cannot.

Reality will not negotiate, it will dictate, and we will have to live by that.

Ron Paul in Iowa

2012-01-04T09:55:00.001-05:00

He's old, grey, bent and busted, a cratchey old guy that can't be trusted, however,

First the mainstream media says Ron Paul has no chance and almost won't let him debate.

They deliberately give him significantly less time in the debates and ignore him in polls.

He surges in the polls and looks as though he may win - the mainstream media begin regurgitating the line that if he wins in Iowa it will somehow besmirch the Iowa caucus reputation and it's relevant anyway

Days before the caucus is to be held the actual vote tallying is moved to a secret location.

The Republican Party openly "brokers deals" to defeat Paul with the other candidates and organizers.

It is announced that Romney is the decisive front runner despite there being only two percent difference between the first and third candidates.

Paul will win.

The first three paddlers to successfully kayak Le Grande Chute - Kipawa

2011-12-25T20:20:00.000-05:00

The first successful descent of Grande Chute by kayakers occured in 1998
In the pictures you'll see Brent Cooper, Ben Aylsworth, and Mike McCubbin

Remarkable, dangerous, and exceptional accomplishment.

The white and the light

From the deep and the dark
A space where sound does not exist
Where the heart is felt but never heard
We are called to witness the coming of the light
The light of day, the light of God and the light of life
a gift and wish inspired
Reached out in infinite rays
from a beginning so impossible
to conclude beyond thought and belief
An event borne of inspiration
both magical and implausible
revealed in prophesy
then realized one moment in time
with the promise of a future
where life and death converge
The moment of light is a moment of white
of such fright yet with the hope of life
The moment of truth
wrested from emptiness
on wings of design
not once in that instant
but three at a time
near grey rocks and water
and sun kissed besides
Yet arms raised high in victory
knew brief reward
they emptied quickly
with the flight of life from fright
leaving flickering knowlege
of the white and the light

kayaky

Rafting on the Kipawa 2005 vintage sequence

2011-12-25T20:06:00.001-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********
Davey Jone's Hole, Hollywood Rapid as it pours into Lake Temiskaming

Picnic Rapid Surfing

It was possible then, it is possible now

2011-12-24T23:14:00.010-05:00

I think it is vital to study our history and learn from it, and to use our knowledge of the past to prevent the despicable past from repeating itself.
As you look at these images taken from the landmark BBC series "The Nazis: a warning from History" consider what is going on today in North Korea.

This scene looks remarkably similar to the one extracted from the National Geographic series: Inside North Korea.

The people by fear or faith idolized their leader and in each case it led them to murder and suffering.

Unlike the Italians who themselves deposed Mussolini and turned against the Nazis, where do the North Koreans have to turn?

And today the issues in our society are very similar. When we are well fed, and our jobs are secure we become apathetic in our democracy. This merely means that the marginal benefits from resisting the status quo do not outweigh the marginal costs.

Only in the middle east, particularly Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya and soon Syria where life has become unbearable do we see the population finally rise up. The status quo has become unbearable. The marginal cost of resistance is finally exceeded by the perceived marginal benefits.

In effect the work of resistance will set them free.

There will be a cost.

Meanwhile back in Canada, the conscientious objector is marked as the lunatic fringe but by God, I have no doubt that it is all of our responsibility, in a democracy, by the power of rule of law, to be ever vigilant.

The price for not doing so is too great.

As predicted by Gerald Celente, this has grown to be a worldwide phenomena. Time Magazine has identified "the Protester" as man of the year.

Currently in Russia, the disgruntled electorate, sensing blood, and indignant about a perceived rigged election are taking to the street.

And again in Greece, but for different reasons, the IMF's attempt to sell off Greeces heritage assets and islands, anything of value really to impose austerity.
Notwithstanding, a debt so large that it cannot be repaid, will not be repaid.

Back home in North America, the glimmers of protest manifested themselves in the Occupy Wallstreet movement, which then led to the Occupy "your"street movement.
The meaning is clear: the status quo is not acceptable. Rule by the 1% will no longer be tolerated by the 99%

They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45, by Milton Mayer explains why many appear to be such whipped dogs today. What happen? Here is a quote:

"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn't see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don't want to act, or even talk, alone; you don't want to 'go out of your way to make trouble.' ... In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, 'It's not so bad' or 'You're seeing things' or 'You're an alarmist.'

"These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don't know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic... the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That's the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked... But of course this isn't the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C?"

The only difference is that they won't only becoming after Jews this time.

The above as cited in:b http://lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel154.html

About the 489 Billion Euro Bail out from the European Central Bank...

2011-12-23T09:10:00.003-05:00

"It may be presented as a good deal, but borrowing at 1% to get a 5% return is not all that attractive when you have a 50% chance of an 80% haircut... "

from http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com

"Why the U.S. was downgraded…

• U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
• Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

"Let's now remove eight zeros and pretend it's a household budget…

• Annual family income: $21,700
• Money the family spent: $38,200
• New debt on the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Total budget cuts: $385 "

posted by – Anonymous within the Stansberry Newsletter

Banks borrow at 1% - lend at 5%

2011-12-22T09:26:00.000-05:00

Nice work if you can get it...

The ECB lent long-term money to European banks at 1% interest. Those banks can then pay down their existing short-term debt to the ECB or invest in longer-term European sovereign debt and collect 5%-plus.

Banks borrowed money nearly $500 billion.

The ECB (European Central Bank) got its money for this european style of quantitative easing by printing it out of thin air.

Buy Gold, Buy silver!

A Breath of Whitewater

2011-12-21T13:18:00.000-05:00

Photo by Derek Folmer - simply kayaking

2011-12-20T16:34:00.002-05:00

Taken outside the bird sanctuary in Montreal, paddlers on their way to see "Big Joe"

Spin City (from surf city jan and dean)

I bought a second hand kayak and they call it a Honcho – (Spin city here I come)
Though its not very cherry its still got me feeling macho –(Spin city here I come)
It don’t have much leg room, or a place to stow
But that boat still gets me where I wanna go…

Cause I’m going to spin city gonna pull some blunts
Yes I’m going to spin city gonna spin some stunts
Well I’m going to spin city though theres lack of funds
I’ll still go to spin city then go drink some suds

Two boats for every guy (gal)!

Now when I’m sitting in the eddy and I’m waiting in the line up (Spin city here I come)
And its hot and its hazy and the boaters’ getting’ fed up (Spin city here I come)
I’m not gonna blow my cool - I’m ready to go
And if it gets too damned sticky then just go for a roll!

Cause I’m going to spin city gonna have some fun
Yes I’m going to spin city gonna get some sun
Well I’m going to spin city - not the only one
I’ll still go to spin city ‘least if my car still runs

Two boats for every guy (gal)!

Now that boat seems to vibrate when I’m crossing the eddy line - (Spin city here I come)
Then my Honcho just starts spinning like its freestyle time -(Spin city here I come)
I don’t do a thing cause it just finds me the groove
Like a hotrodding engine that’s a revving to move

Cause I’m going to spin city just like every one
Yes I’m going to spin city though I’m out of funds
Well I’m going to spin city - cause its lots of fun
I’ll still go to spin city til my days are done

Two boats for every guy (gal)! Oh yeah!

kayaky

Big Joe

Theres a little surfing spot down by the bird sanctuary
The waves are big and they're fat and its a little bit hairy
You've got to line up your boat with some trees - then say go ...
and hope the line you just took doesn't treat you unfairly

Well there's boils in the eddies, and current is pushin'
You've got to hustle to the middle or its surf you'be missin'
Cause the mighty St. Lawrence won't be giving much thought
To your little kayak or any fresh air that you've got.

Surf across that wave and spin away all summer day its the latest craze

Yeah the riots are there cause they're all Montrealese
They make those stinkin play boaters seem so hot so balsey
There's another one surfing the wave on the left while
They go out two at a time to the pit and the pile ...

When you're all done surfin you can blow off the wave train
hit the river sized eddy and start all over again
Theres a platform on the river and they're getting some sun
cause after playing all day they're plain tuckered from fun

Surf across that wave and spin and play all summer day its the latest craze

Gone surfin' at Big Joe- Just Spinnin' in Joe's hole
No cares for tomorrow -Gone surfin' at Big Joe

kayaky

THE US DEBT CLOCK

2011-12-20T15:13:00.001-05:00

I've circled the active numbers as at 1500 2012 12 20

I think the problem is fairly obvious....

Watch the numbers whirl yourself at http://www.usdebtclock.org/

DEBT CLOCK

Whats all this about Kim Jong Il?

2011-12-20T11:18:00.006-05:00

The first woman sets the pace: one by one, out of a thousand they follow the "need to praise the Great General"

First you have to understand: you don't understand North Korea - at all.

To get a glimpse at the lunatic fringe that is at work, first look at this National Geographic Documentary - ostensibly about eye surgery, to really get a handle on the cult of personality, and the state of fear that exists there.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/national-geographic-channel/shows/explorer-1/ngc-inside-north-korea.html

Then be afraid, very afraid. They have a 1 million man army, they still think they are at war with the US, they have nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

Isn't this why we followed the American Dream? The alternative is North Korea.

Now the "Great Leader" is dead and his son, Kim Jong Un has "taken over". But Korea is filled with people, like the ones in this clinic, seeing for the first time in many years after cataract surgery who direct, either by belief or fear, all their thanks to the posters on the wall not to the physician team that restored their sight.

Its frightening.

What would they not do for their newly appointed wing nut?

Some like this last gentleman, don't hide their animousity.

After years of state control, fear and indoctrination, mind control, there is no distinction between mind control, fear or belief.

This is the embedded feature in its entirety. The National Geographic Society has done a tremendous job preparing this material - I highly recommend you watch it.

Family Holiday 2104

2011-12-19T16:24:00.000-05:00

Things are going to get basic. Multiple jobs to make ends meet, coallescing families, changes in diet, clothing and pastimes, less free time, possibly debt slavery.

Time Names "the protester" as man of the year

2011-12-17T16:06:00.001-05:00

GLOBAL INSURRECTION AGAINST BANKER OCCUPATION! (from MaxKeiser.com)

Can you say "rehypothecation" - the banks use your own home for security against their bets, and like MF GLOBAL can assign them willy nilly to others for their own bad bets. Time to clear out your brokerage accounts! Hold the physical stock certificates.

Michael Harris Compares 1984 to Peter Kent's New Environmentalism

2011-12-15T10:16:00.002-05:00

"primarily a tale of Orwellian Newspeak"

see link below

**********Have a Nice Day**********

A masterful decomposition. New think!

JP Morgan Bank versus the price of Silver

2011-12-13T20:50:00.001-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Notice the timing and general pattern of the drop in JP Morgan stock price and the price of silver. What does this say about the interdependence of these two. It seems to speak to the matter of manipulation.

Oh - Canada - Our Heads are in the sand about climate change

2011-12-11T22:07:00.002-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Glaciers receding, Sea ice diminishing, average mean temperature rising: Hey, let's burn our children's fossil fuel inheritance to get oil out of the tar sands... who thinks this stuff up?

666? what if it actually is 999?

2011-12-11T20:45:00.002-05:00

You can't buy or sell without the mark 666 on your hand or your forehead?

That's biblical.

But what if it was all a misinterpretation: the real number is .999 and that is the purity requirement for buying and selling....Gold and Silver!

Excerpts from http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/12/08/f-vp-stewart.html

2011-12-09T15:23:00.002-05:00

ANALYSIS | Brian Stewart: The covert war in Iran
By Brian Stewart, special to CBC News
Posted: Dec 8, 2011 7:45 PM ET

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/12/08/f-vp-stewart.html
Last Updated: Dec 8, 2011 7:44 PM ET

Timeline: Iran and the West — a history of tensions

Iran focused war-hawk messages in the MSM mimic those propeling the U.S. into the Iraq war in 2003. A fiasco.
Newt Gingrich claimed recently that the U.S. "could break Iran in a year." despite what we know of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan..
Why support Israel? It is likely covertly attackingIran's supposed nuclear weapons sites.

There is now covert war that involves kidnappings and assassinations of scientists, the possible use of computer viruses to destroy information networks, and mysterious explosions at Iranian nuclear sites, all of which seem to be escalating.
Last year, two leading nuclear physicists were killed and the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization was wounded by car-bomb attacks inside Iran, attacks Teheran blamed on Israeli and U.S. operatives.

Months later, Iran's nuclear program was sabotaged and put back at least a year by the Stuxnet computer virus which made secret adjustments to centrifuges at Iran's uranium enrichment site. Who would do such a thing? USA, Israel?

Nov. 12 this year, an enormous explosion virtually obliterated a top secret base near Teheran that was being used for developing long-range missiles and killed the head of Iran's missile program and 17 others, including key experts in the field. Not likely an accident.

Two weeks later, another large explosion damaged the key uranium enrichment plant at Isfahan.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard brought down a US spy drone electronically over its northeastern border with Afghanistan in November 2011. Iran has been directing Shia militia in the roadside bombings that killed and maimed American troops in Iraq, and it is a strong backer of Hamas and Hezbollah in their clashes with Israel. There was a bizarre plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington and blow up his embassy. Iranian demonstrators stormed the British Embassy in Teheran last week shouting "Death to Britain."

The Mossad and CIA are widely reported to be working with Iranian exiles of the MKO (sometimes called MEK) — the military wing of the National Council of Resistance, which has strong links to U.S. conservative groups favouring action against Iran.
Patrick Clawson at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, believes these campaigns of assassinations and cyber-war and only vaguely acknowledged sabotage mark a new form of conflict in our world where it's never made clear who is doing what.

The descent into chaos started a long time ago.
General Wesley Clark (ret.) told "Democracy Now" (2007) that ten days after September 11, 2011 another general had told him that the Bush government was planning to invade: Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan and Iran. What they have in common is that they were not members of banks within the Bank of International Settlements, and most of them have lots of oil.

The military industrial complex will tell you anything to get in your bed, and its hands on taxpayers money.
A lot of these unnecessary wars about oil and greed could be avoided if those pushing for war had to enlist and serve in a combat role or, at least have someone in their immediate family do it.

All the candidates for the Republican leadership, with the exception of Ron Paul use war rhetoric which is truly disturbing. The leading wingnut is Gingrich.Ron Paul's "misguided and extreme views" on Israel include ending subsidies to Israel, Pakistan, Egypt etc. and to strenuously oppose a military attack against Iran.
He wants to ditch the Fed too and people like Bernanke have targeted him with public criticism.

The Iranians have the capacity and probably will block the Straight of Hormus where half of the world oil passes. The consequences of that blockage by Iran would immediatly send the price of oil thru the roof. This covert war where iranian scientists are coldly assassinated by professional killers unites Iranians against the west and now we have the downing of the drone.

War is makes a few people rich and everyone else suffers. I wish the poor would stop fighting a rich man's war. If they feel so passionately about fighting someone, make them do it themselves. I doubt we would have been at war this long if our politicians were the ones fighting. I'm sick of killing innocent people that just want to be left alone, ironically to spread freedom and democracy while our freedoms at home are being stripped away one by one.

If Iran decided to come forward with evidence of being attacked, it would be immediately mistrusted for the sole reason that it is coming from Iran (which the war machine's media has been attacking for months - who needs objective reporting anyways?). They seem to be out of reach of congressional or presidential oversight. Who do they take their orders from? So war with Iran seems inevitable, regardless of who gets elected President. Political pundits take for granted that a Republican in the White House would almost certainly mean war, and Obama seems to be going out of his way to steal the right's thunder. Obama sold the Israelis the bunker buster bombs that they needed to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, something even Bush refused to do. He has ratcheted up the rhetoric and the sanctions. Bush used the fiction of WMD as an excuse for war, Obama foists upon the world a most unlikely story of Iranian agents hiring the Mexican drug cartels to kill the Saudi ambassador to the US. All this strictly on the word of a paid FBI informant. At least Bush had a 5 star general spin his BS on the world stage.

As for the drone that was shot down, it is just a continuation of American covert activities in Iran which has been going on for years. These continued invasions of Iran's territory are acts of war in their own right and I fully support Iran's right to defend itself.

The greater force is not always the victor....Iran was once called Persia and was a great empire but was defeated eventually by a much smaller nation called Greece .

President Ahmadinejad did quote Ayatollah Khomein (the man who Israel was supplying weapons to during the Iran-Contra affair) to the effect that "this Occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" (in rezhim-e eshghalgar-i Qods bayad as safheh-e ruzgar mahv shavad). This was not a pledge to roll tanks and invade or to launch missiles, however. It is the expression of a hope that the regime will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did. It is not a threat to kill anyone at all.

Iran has not launched an aggressive war in modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of "no first strike." This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.

Iran's military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Moreover, Iran is a country of 70 million, so that its per capita spending on defence is tiny compared to these others, since they are much smaller countries with regard to population.

We need more guys like this- Ron Paul, Nigel Farage

2011-12-08T11:14:00.001-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Jon Corzine - writes his own epitaph and it lacks integrity

2011-12-08T10:45:00.002-05:00

According to the New York Post (Dec 8th)

Jon Corzine

Former MF Global CEO —
former New Jersey Governor
former CEO of Goldman Sachs

...will not answer questions from a congressional committee seeking to get to the bottom of the brokerage firm’s collapse meaning that though he may know the whereabouts of the $1.2 billion in missing customer cash he won't be helping regulators. Rather - he's expected to plead the Fifth Amendment in response to most hard-hitting questions, or provide only a limited statement, — was not expected to “say anything of substance” during the hearing.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/exclusive_fifth_house_hearing_thursday_fnyYVnzW0F2i3LL6MqEhGN#ixzz1fxSznvj8

Brigette Depape Strikes again

2011-12-07T13:36:00.002-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Attawapiskat Housing versus New Jets

2011-12-07T09:33:00.002-05:00

The loss of Moneyness

2011-12-05T16:09:00.001-05:00

At the heart of the problem lies the loss of money equivalence of credit instruments previously seen as risk free. As 'moneyness' is lost, the effective money supply contracts, and does so very rapidly. This is deflation by definition.

Demand will evaporate, not because people do not have wants, but because they will lack the purchasing power to turn those wants and needs into consumption. Demand is not what we want, but what we can pay for.

Nicole Foss

Ah Yes - Democracy is comin'

2011-12-05T13:32:00.008-05:00

Cap imposed on participant funding for the Site C dam assessment

Josh Paterson of the WCELA says “A maximum of $19,000 per group is an unreasonably low amount of funding
for community groups to participate in the multi-year Site C review process. This is a gigantic, nearly $8 billion project that will have
impacts on communities from BC right through to the Northwest Territories.”

“There's no way" this enough to allow the meaningful participation in a process filled with complicated evidence,legal
maneuvering and thousands of pages of complex data.

A Joint Review Panel Process will conduct hearings on behalf of both CEAA and the BC Environmental Assessment Office. “Effective
participation requires hiring experts who can review BC Hydro’s studies and hold them accountable,” says Andrea Morison, Coordinator for PVEA, which successfully prevented two previous attempts to get the dam approved. “This will cost us tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, something we, as a small, largely volunteer group, cannot afford” she adds.

"There is a long history of vocal public opposition to Site C,” says Tria Donaldson of the Wilderness Committee. “The paltry funding CEEA has set aside for non-profits is totally insufficient - it appears clearly designed to silence the very valid and very serious concerns of
non-profit groups,”

Josh Paterson, Staff Counsel at 604.601.2512 or toll free at 1-800-330-9235 x. 212

A financial system that is in worse shape than ever

2011-12-03T21:43:00.004-05:00

Ilargi - the automaticearth.blogspot.com

if we keep on spending ever more trillions to prevent Armageddon from arriving, surely we must invite it, by the very act of doing exactly that, to at some point come knocking on the back door. After all, you can't spend more and more, and then some, without ever being served with the bill for doing so.

So we’ve had all these rescue missions over the past 5 years. Behemoth-sized amounts of taxpayer money and future taxpayer money have been poured into our economies in this alleged attempt to try and save them.

Now, take a step back and tell me what you see. I'll tell you what I see: a financial system that is in worse shape than ever before during those 5 years. At least half of Europe is flat broke, most banks have lost 50%-80% of their market value, Bank of America, a major bailout recipient, is fast on its way to becoming a penny stock, China sees shrinkage wherever it looks and Japan is rumored to be awkwardly close to the chopping block.

...

We have a choice to make: either we save the banks, or we save our societies. Which are falling apart as we speak on account of the costs of saving an already deeply bankrupt financial system.

But we're not even starting to discuss that choice. All choices and decisions are being made -for us- in a one-dimensional vacuum theater by a small group of people who, to a (wo)man, flatly deny that such a choice needs to be made or even exists. Because making that choice doesn't fit their purposes and careers and fortunes and ego's.

Merkel, Blankfein, Sarkozy, Jamie Dimon, Obama, David Cameron, Mario Draghi and Timothy Geithner, they are all servants of the existing financial system, of the existing banks, which are broke but try to hide that from us. At our debilitating expense.

Yes, they've been able to stave off the inevitable until now. But that has only been possible because they have virtually unlimited access to your money, to the wallets of the 99%.

We should grow up and make these decisions ourselves, instead of letting a group of morally severely challenged suits with very vested interests make them for us any longer.

They're leading us straight into Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell. And last I heard, that's definitely not a place to raise your kids.

unwinding - what does it mean?

2011-12-02T15:30:00.002-05:00

John Glover of Bloomberg (as cited on theautomaticearth.blogspot.com) said

What the inflationistas are missing is that Europe is actually suffering from a profound contraction of its money supply. This contraction is crippling the banking system and will bring the economy to a grinding halt if it is not allieviated.

It’s easy to miss the contraction of the money supply because it involves a destruction of financial assets that we do not usually think of as “money” but that, in fact, operate as money — or did until relatively recently.

Canadian Government At Work - This is called Housing - Cree Ultra dependence on Crown

2011-12-01T16:16:00.000-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Moral Hazard? You May have heard this term - do you know what it is?

2011-12-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

Moral Hazard - would you do the right thing?

This is in reference to bankers. If they make risky inappropriate bets and especially are they are considered to big to fail, then the government will rush in to save them if they become insolvent.

But if their risky bets work out, they consider themselves heroes, pay themselves and their shareholders big bonuses.

So there is no downside to their mistakes and total upside for their wins.

There is no difference between what is right and what is wrong - a free for all.

This is complicated by the interweaving of government and corporations, especially banks and the military industrial complex. Often senior bureaucrats and politicians end up working within the government and then for the corporations, backslapping and congratulating themselves every step of the way.

Naturally this can go on for quite a while - until the whole thing unwinds.

God bless America.

CBC's Neil MacDonald Nails it Again

2011-11-30T10:30:00.001-05:00

There is a pattern here: Small-time losers, and even a few of the meltdown's medium-size culprits, go to prison. The really big boys and girls, meanwhile, hide behind corporate anonymity, perhaps pay fines, and admit no wrongdoing.

The full story

In the United States - Justic is not blind... the big fish are being let go, and the poor schmucks are getting pasted.

There is now a glimmer of hope:

District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected a, yet another, admit-no-wrongdoing SEC settlement, this one with Citigroup.

One of the largest banks in the world, Citigroup had, back in 2007, created a $1-billion mortgage fund filled with securities that, according to the SEC, it knew would fail.

The banking giant then placed bets against customers who bought these funds, so as to profit from their losses, which turned out to be another common practice during the subprime meltdown.

CEAA Review abruptly cancelled by committee

2011-11-29T12:21:00.008-05:00

Parliamentary Review of Canadian Environmental Assessment Act Abruptly Terminated‏

read about it **********Have a Nice Day**********

I just spoke to a colleague that said the occupy movement was wrong headed. To protest, you take your sign over to parliament hill and stand there, you don't camp out etc.

I said democracy was messy.

He said if he went to a park and camped out he'd be arrested in short order.

I asked him when it was the last time he knew that any protest had ever been successful?

He suggested some senator went on a hunger strike to save Katimavik.

Where are we going in this country? Brigitte Depape was right! Stop Harper.

Hill Times

House Environment Committee winds down review of Environmental Assessment Act

NDP Environment Critic calls exercise a farce,' accuses government of already drafting legislative overhaul of EA process.

Chris Plecash

The House Environment Committee is winding down its statutory review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, a process that committee vice-chair and NDP environment critic Megan Leslie is calling a farce, accusing the government of already drafting legislation to overhaul the federal environmental assessment process.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which sets out the criteria and processes to assess the environmental impacts of development that receives federal approval, was amended in 2003 to require a committee review of the legislation on a seven-year basis.

Since beginning its review of CEAA on Oct. 20, the Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development has heard from a range of stakeholders on the need to amend the regulatory framework, including Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency president Elaine Feldman, and representatives from a range of industry, environmental, and aboriginal groups, including the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Ecojustice, and the Assembly of First Nations.

After nine two-hour meetings on the merits and shortfalls of CEAA, the committee is at the conclusion of the review process. The time constraints on the review process have led Ms. Leslie to question the usefulness of the hearings.

We have these witnesses crammed on the witness list where they speak for ten minutes, we have a couple of rounds of questions, and everybody goes home, observed Ms. Leslie, who vice-chairs the committee with Liberal environment critic Christie Duncan (Etobicoke North, Ont.), and Conservative MP and committee chair Mark Warawa (Langley, B.C.).

I believe the government is already working on the act and what we're doing in the committee is not going to have any impact on what we see, Ms. Leslie added. The government isn't questioning environmental groups, they're only questioning industry. They aren't questioning native groups, they're only questioning industry.

The disparity between the number of questions that government MPs have asked of industry associations and the number of questions that have been asked of public interest groups has been noticeable throughout the review of the CEAA.

When Sierra Club of Canada executive director John Bennett appeared before the committee on Nov. 1, he used part of his opening statement to describe efforts to streamline environmental regulation through funding cuts as part of a wider anti-democratic campaign to marginalize and eventually silence the voices of the environment in Canada, but not before Conservative MP Michelle Rempel (Calgary Centre-North, Alta.) raised a point of order that Mr. Bennett's comments were rhetoric-driven.

We're interested in hearing fact-based testimony today, and we'd encourage the witness to do so as well, Ms. Rempel reminded Mr. Bennett.

In his statement, Mr. Bennett highlighted the lack of public input into CEAA's review, pointing out that his appearance came on the heels of the federal government's decision in late October to end its funding to the Canadian Environmental Network.

There has not been consultation with the stakeholders this time, Mr. Bennett told the committee. The decision to stop consulting environmental organizations and withdraw support for the CEN at precisely the time CEAA is being reviewed clearly is no coincidence. It sends a clear signal.

Conservative MPs did take the opportunity to question the Sierra Club's executive director on how CEAA could be improved, but the majority of questions from the government side of the committee were directed to representatives of the Canadian Water & Wastewater Association and the Canadian Electricity Association, who stressed the need for simplifying the environmental assessment process by eliminating the duplication of assessment steps by the federal government and the provinces.

There was a similar disparity between questions posed by government members to industry and those posed to public interest groups when representatives for the Assembly of First Nations appeared before the committee on Nov. 17.

Let the AFN be very clear, First Nations are not opposed to development, AFN strategist Roger Jones declared in his opening remarks to the committee. In these cases, First Nations have already determined that development is entirely consistent with our obligations to the Earth and to our peoples.

Mr. Jones went on to call for a more inclusive environmental assessment process that worked to reconcile First Nations' rights with industry interests, including the establishment of a Crown-First Nations process to reform CEAA.

The time and resources it takes to do so should be seen as an investment to get it right for all actors, rather than simply an exercise in First Nation engagement, said Mr. Jones.

The two-hour long hearings on Nov. 17 were shared between representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Mining Association of Canada, and the James Bay Advisory Committee on the Environment.

AFN's strongly worded opening statement was overshadowed by the presence of associations representing two of Canada's largest industries. The overwhelming majority of questions from Conservative MPs were directed towards CAPP and MAC, while Liberal and NDP MPs the bulk of their questions towards AFN and the James Bay Advisory Committee.

However, Conservative MP and committee member James Lunney (Nanaimo-Alberni, B.C.) took exception to the suggestion that committee members from his party were only interested in hearing from industry.

I directed questions myself to AFN and to the James Bay Council, Mr. Lunney pointed out. I think that it's unfair to say that we have not engaged with other people at the table.

Mr. Lunney specifically asked the James Bay Advisory committee for examples of mining projects that had brought development and employment to their region. He also asked the Assembly of First Nations how the controversial Prosperity Mine project on B.C.'s Fish Lake could gain the support of the area's First Nations.

If we start with no' as a beginning, how do we resolve issues like that, and is there a process? Is there going to be any hope of resolving this through process, without going to the Supreme Court, Mr. Lunney asked the AFN representatives.

[S]ometimes you have to look at it more broadly, Mr. Jones responded. That means you have to look at alternative options in terms of what is potentially available by way of economic development in that area. Is that the only one, or are there others that may in fact serve the needs and interests of everyone in that area?

The Taseko Mines Ltd. gold and copper mining project failed to pass a federal environmental assessment under former Environment Minister Jim Prentice last November, despite having passed a provincial environmental assessment by the B.C. government. Earlier this month the company submitted a new plan to CEAA that would spare Fish Lake from mine tailings, but the area's First Nations continue to oppose the project.

Mr. Lunney also defended the current committee review process for CEAA.

It's all about balance, but it's a balance and people are coming around to the perspective that socio-economic values should be considered as well, he told The Hill Times. There has got to be better ways to coordinate a response so that we can accomplish what we're setting out to do in terms of environmental protection and still not impair economic development and job creation.

A number of issues with CEAA have emerged throughout the hearings. The act currently uses a trigger process to determine whether or not a project is subject to a federal environmental assessment. In CEAA's present form, a project triggers an assessment if the federal government is the proponent of that project, or if the project receives some form of federal funding or assistance, utilizes federal land, or requires federal licences or permits. Under this criteria, installing a bench in a National Park requires some form of environmental assessment.

In Oct. 25 testimony Vancouver-based environmental lawyer Paul Cassidy suggested eliminating the trigger process for environmental assessments, replacing it with a defined list that bases assessments on the anticipated environmental impacts of a given project. Others have warned that such a framework would be unable to keep up with forms of development that have yet to come into existence.

Another issue that has dominated the hearings is the jurisdictional overlap between provincial and federal environmental assessments. The addition of a federal environmental assessment can add years to a project's approval process.

In his Nov. 22 testimony, Saskatchewan Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Mark Wittrup argued for a one project, one assessment approach to environmental assessments.

Saskatchewan supports a vision that would redefine federal and provincial responsibilities in order to endow Canada with a system based upon a principle of one project, one assessment, Mr. Wittrup told the committee. Saskatchewan recommends CEAA acknowledge provincial environmental assessments as equivalent to a federal environmental assessment for all projects on provincial lands.

While government members of the committee have focused their questions on how CEAA could be reformed to eliminate duplication between federal and provincial assessments and reduce assessment timelines, opposition members have focused on how CEAA can be made to improve public input into the process.

If you watch the Conservatives, they are mimicking the exact language of the Environment minister about streamlining assessments for big energy projects, Ms. Leslie told The Hill Times. All the questions are directed to industry, and it's basically So, what do you want us to do?'

In their 2011 election platform, the Conservatives promised to streamline the regulatory approval process for mining and energy projects, which could signal significant changes to how the federal government assesses future development.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.), who has followed the committee hearings closely, said that CEAA has been unfairly demonized by the government.

The environmental assessment process is ideally a planning tool to get better projects at the end of the day, said Ms. May, who has been. The Conservative members are so misunderstanding the process that they're treating it as though it's the enemy, it's red light/green light and they don't want it. So they're undermining the environmental assessment process.

Ms. May submitted a request to appear before the committee to discuss CEAA, but she is unlikely to receive an invitation. Committee chair and Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley, B.C.) told The Hill Times that he expected the CEAA hearings to wrap up by Nov. 24.

Last week the Conservative members of the committee also voted to go in camera following Ms. Leslie's motion to have Environment Minister Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.) appear to review his department's supplementary estimates prior to their Dec. 10 approval.

Obviously I can't tell you what happened in that meeting but I suspect that if you check the agenda for the coming week you're probably not going to see the Minister on it, Ms. Leslie said following the Nov. 22 meeting.

Mr. Lunney said that the committee had an obligation to review the supplementary estimates, but Mr. Kent's appearance depended on scheduling. Ms. Leslie had moved to have the Environment Minister appear no later than Nov. 29.

I think that some of the members are perhaps adjusting to the new reality of a majority, said Mr. Lunney. What we had in the last five years was not normal Parliamentary function, so there are some adjustments on the opposition side. When we were in opposition, when push came to shove we knew we might lose a vote, but in the meantime we tried to collaborate, communicate and do what we could to influence the agenda.

The Players:

Mark Warawa Mark.Warawa@parl.gc.ca>
Megan Leslie Megan.Leslie@parl.gc.ca> - NDP
Kirsty Duncan Kirsty.Duncan@parl.gc.ca>
Stella Ambler Stella.Ambler@parl.gc.ca>
Bruce Hyer Bruce.Hyer@parl.gc.ca>
Laurin Liu Laurin.Liu@parl.gc.ca>
Lise St-Denis Lise.St-Denis@parl.gc.ca>
James Lunney Lunney.J@parl.gc.ca>
Michelle Rempel Michelle.Rempel@parl.gc.ca>
Robert Sopuck Robert.Sopuck@parl.gc.ca>
Lawrence Toet Lawrence.Toet@parl.gc.ca>
Stephen Woodworth Stephen.Woodworth@parl.gc.ca>
Marie-France Renaud ENVI@parl.gc.ca>

WHAT DID OCCUPY WALLSTREET ETC REALLY WANT?

2011-11-28T15:57:00.001-05:00

No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Prevent boundless sums enter the campaign process.

No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks. This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.

No 3: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.

Naomi Wolf
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 November 2011 12.25 EST
Article history

CEAA Review Wraps Up - A VERY UNSATISFACTORY STATE OF AFFAIRS

2011-11-28T10:44:00.002-05:00

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.), who has followed the committee hearings closely, said that CEAA has been unfairly demonized by the government.

“The environmental assessment process is ideally a planning tool to get better projects at the end of the day,” said Ms. May, who has been. “The Conservative members are so misunderstanding the process that they’re treating it as though it’s the enemy, it’s red light/green light and they don’t want it. So they’re undermining the environmental assessment process.”

Ms. May submitted a request to appear before the committee to discuss CEAA, but she is unlikely to receive an invitation. Committee chair and Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley, B.C.) told The Hill Times that he expected the CEAA hearings to wrap up by Nov. 24.

CEAA review hits the wall

2011-11-25T15:12:00.000-05:00

a deadline of 5pm Eastern time for written submissions on CEAA is now imposed by the ruling majority;

the Library of Parliament analysts until December 6 to produce “a draft
version of the Committee’s report to the House of Commons (“the draft
report”) regarding the statutory review of the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act (CEAA), with recommendations including:

1. The inefficiencies of current practices and the need for improving
processes;
2. Duplication of environmental assessment activities which cause
unnecessary delays in the overall process;
3. Ambiguities which exist in the current CEAA legislation;
4. Other timeline issues;
5. How to address small projects;
6. CEAA triggering mechanisms;
7. Concerns brought forward by project proponents and stakeholders;
8. Substitution and equivalency as options for EA;
9. Simplifying the process when and where possible; and
10. Improving predictability and consistency in processes.”

In other words,.. the TAR (oil) sands seems like a great idea!

Your Police Force at Work - to serve and protect...

2011-11-20T22:51:00.000-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

For more pictures

What the F$$K - MF Global disappears segregated funds?

2011-11-18T10:22:00.003-05:00

In Canada brokerages are "insured" or insure their clients money via their membership in the Canadian Investor's Protection Fund the CIPF.
Fund resources. CIPF is funded by its Members.

The CIPF Board sets the size of the fund to be maintained for the client assets it protects. It also sets the quarterly Member assessment and the policy on how monies in the fund are to be invested.

Fund size: The Board uses a model to assist it in setting the fund size. The model weights client assets for the relative risk of the Member that is responsible to the customer for those assets. Members with strong internal controls, profitability and capital will have lower risk scores.

Assessments: The model is also used to determine the amount of the quarterly assessment that is allocated to each Member. Members with relatively more client assets, or a higher risk rating, will pay a larger percentage of the total assessment. CIPF also levies an additional assessment on Members that have not complied with the industry rule that requires them to maintain positive capital at all times.

Investment Policy: All investments must be in highly liquid Canadian or provincial government guaranteed debt obligations that mature over an 11-year period.

Other resources

For liquidity purposes the Fund has two lines of credit provided by two Canadian chartered banks totalling $100 million.

The Fund has also arranged insurance in the amount of $116 million for any one loss and in the annual aggregate in respect of losses to be paid by CIPF in excess of $100 million in the event of Member insolvency.

To put this into context:

The losses at MFGLOBAL are in excess of $600 million.... Poof!

The term for this is "taking a haircut" the investors must take a haircut....

Is anybody upset about this?

Some Thoughts on "Occupy" Wal nuts

2011-11-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

from the commments
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/11/16/f-rfa-macdonald-occupy-wall-street.html

"The people won't make a revolution until revolution costs less than status quo".

The tent cities have mostly come down. The problems that encouraged their advent have not gone away.

From Neil MacDonald, CBC
Wall Street, in the years leading up to the crash in 2008, created what amounted to a giant, multi-leveled con, packaging and selling garbage, while secretly placing bets against the very products they were peddling.

When it all collapsed, the 'Masters of the Universe' turned to the politicians they'd helped install in Washington, to be rescued with a few trillion in taxpayer dollars.

The business model here was nakedly obvious: privatize profits, socialize loss."

Don't make saints out of the Silicon Valley types. Much programming and data centre work is farmed out to developing countries so they can pay much smaller wages taking jobs from domestic markets.

OWS has focused media attention on the 1% corporate-government kleptocracy in a way that Neil and his complacent colleagues somehow failed to do -- despite their messaging virtuosity and fine hygiene -- over the decades that this system of organized looting has taken shape.

1. Revamp tax law to close loopholes. Not until you plug the holes can you have time to fix the sinking ship.

2. Remove Corporations as people in law. Make executives directly accountable for their actions and decisions.

3. Better distribution of pay in business, perhaps like a military pay scale.

4. End Too Big to fail. If a business can't maintain itself it doesn't deserve tax-payer bailouts. Add regulation to stop that from ever happening again.

5. Limit the number of lobbyists per business sector. It's ridiculous right now.

6. Government prints their own currency again. Every dollar borrowed from the central bank is repaid with interest. You can not get rid of debt by adding more debt

Take heed, we have only seen the beginning of a revolt, that will not go away Neil, mark my words.
Now that they have a clear message(s), bigger and general strikes are bound to be the next level in this bar of social revolt. Look Out!!

MSM press performance is something to be either 1) explained or 2) ashamed of.

To say the Occupy Movement has thrown it all away or that it's over and done with when the unfairness of the current social structure is becoming more obvious and affecting more people as time goes on seems quite premature at this point. The media should not be too quick to tie a neat bow on this and move on to the next sound bite. It's not over yet.

Citing Apple as somehow 'good' or at least not as bad as Wall Street shows a misunderstanding of the extent of the rot. Apple products are made by virtual slave labour at Foxconn (13 suicides) in China. Apple is an advocate of software patents which act to stifle innovation.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the
support of Paul.'
-- George Bernard Shaw

The movement is more than tents in a park. It's profoundly anti-death-of-the-planet, profoundly opposed to life as a series of opportunities to consume. It is the antithesis of the trivialization of the human being. It is revolutionary, not reformist.
Note, as well, it is occurring before the massive cuts in social spending coming down the line.
It is a majority opinion that bourgeois media will not be successful in ridiculing. Time is on its side.
The problems won't go away with the tents

let me get this straight. A group of people who do not have the capacity or resources to function well in a complex capitalist society cannot articulate precisely what needs to be changed in order to give them the capacity and resources. Well, I guess that means everything's okay then.

Me?

I agree with what Neil has said.

Those encampments are being pulled down, but the people are still riled.

By removing them, the government may be creating a subterranean monster, out of sight and much more deadly.

It isn't over until its over.

Nicole Foss Lecture

2011-11-16T10:26:00.000-05:00

We had 50 people come out to Nicole's lecture. It was enough to pay her speaker fees but in the end it did not break even.

Still I was happy to have brought her in.

It raises the question: what would I have to have done to get more people to attend?

Dimitry Orlov Nails it

2011-11-11T09:15:00.000-05:00

"However, it was cheap energy, in the form of fossil fuels, that has enabled this cultural and industrial progress, and the recent recognition that world oil extraction has peaked surely signals the prospective collapse of industrial economy, and, with it, the dissolution of its core institutions."

from his blog ... ClubOrlov.blogspot.com

How to handle terrorist bankers

2011-11-08T17:13:00.000-05:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Economies Find out about the laws of Gravity

2011-11-06T00:00:00.001-04:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

What about those nasty CDS's

2011-11-03T13:59:00.002-04:00

"Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou backed away from his controversial referendum plan Thursday, saying the government is ready to move forward on talks with the opposition as the country tries to find a way out of its economic crisis."

okay why are the cds holders paying premiums if this is not a default. A 50% loss of principle doesn't sound like all is well in Euroland.

Determining the Health of the Kipawa River

2011-11-01T17:01:00.001-04:00

Fundamental characteristics of a healthy rivers include:

A natural flow

that varies in magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, and rate of change. A natural flow regime is a critical component for a healthy river because the flow of water provides the base on which all other river functions are built. The plants, fish, and wildlife in any given river have evolved to adapt to that river's unique rhythms.

Transportation of sediment and nutrients.

Rocks, gravel, sand, silt, and organic debris are important components of a healthy river, creating floodplains, sandbars, riparian areas, and nourishing a river's bed and channels. A healthy river in equilibrium does not allow too much erosion or excessive scouring of the riverbank and riverbed.

Strong and varied plant communities.

Native plant species provide critical habitat for fish and other riverine animals, regulate water temperatures, prevent excessive erosion of riverbanks, and can remove pollutants from river water. Vegetation as it decomposes is also an important source of nutrients and habitat.

Productive and diverse habitat

that can support numerous animal species. The natural movement of sediment throughout a river creates riffles, pools, side channels, and backwater areas providing both spawning and rearing habitat for many species of fish.

Good water quality.

A healthy river has temperature levels, dissolved oxygen content, salinity, turbidity, hardness, acidity, and alkalinity (water pH) that are all within a natural range for that river and its species. A healthy river will also have minimal amounts of pollution and toxics, such as pesticides, nitrogen, phosphate, fecal coliform, and heavy metals.

Many macro invertebrates (bugs!).

Aquatic insects are the primary food for many riverine species. Abundance and diversity of insect species can be a strong indicator of river health.

Diversity of fish and wildlife species.

While the number of fish and wildlife species will vary with each river, a diverse number of species is often an indicator of river health.

A community that protects it through wise management and community planning. For example community groups work to ensure that new development is as river-friendly as possible or organize river clean up days and engage other community members in issues related to river health. A healthy, caring community is an essential facet of a healthy river.

From http://www.elkhartriverrestorationassociation.org/river-education/how-healthy-rivers-work/

River friendly things

clean-ups,
plantings,
reminders,
recreation activities etc

These show the "authorities" we care about OUR river.

Build up a body of knowledge about the river,
Form a network of individual experts and demonstrated public support that make us the "river experts"

With this "expertise" and recognition from various decision makers - begin encouraging a partnership with the appropriate authorities to help maximize the use of the PUBLIC SPACES associated with the river.

.

A short history of fiat (paper) money

2011-10-25T15:43:00.002-04:00

Mr. Monopoly

2011-10-25T15:12:00.000-04:00

Old yet sage advice for the ages - why democracies fail

2011-10-24T21:29:00.002-04:00

Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747-1813), a Scottish-born British lawyer once wrote:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage." - Anonymous

FOSS TAKES

2011-10-18T15:22:00.001-04:00

on Finance and Economic Bubbles:

on Nuclear Energy

on Cheap Energy

on Decoupling

on Alternative Energy

After listening to these: go have a drink!

7 Year Review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

2011-10-13T10:06:00.000-04:00

Based on our case with the Federal Government: the CEAA was a waste of time and effort. It saves nothing, protects nothing.

But here we have the seven year review - already a year and a half late in starting.

Nonetheless:

We should

1. Mobilize groups which belong to environmental NGO's.

2. Mobilize other ENGOs, NGO's and affiliated organizations given the same fate has befallen them.

3. Mobilize national, provincial, and local unions and labour organizations.

4. Which "target audience" can influence the decision makers. Who in the target audience may have the greatest impact.

5. We cannot count on traditional main stream media (papers and TV) to cover the story. Implement social media to influence MSM to cover this issue.

Make the case that EA and regulation and monitoring is a health and safety issue.

["Mobilizing" entails assessing what are the values and core concerns that move the respective communities to action. Arguments must be at the emotional level rather than the rational/technical/legal level.

Comparison to Libyan, Syrian, and other Arab spring protests and the Occupy Wallstreet Protests

2011-10-12T12:48:00.000-04:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

The Irony is inescapable. Obama and Clinton have lost credibilty.

Does anybody else see a real problem with this?

2011-10-04T10:32:00.001-04:00

Quote from Ron Paul, future USA president:

Regarding the execution of Anwar al-Awlaki

"If the American people accept this blindly and casually that we now have an accepted practice of the president assassinating people who he thinks are bad guys, I think it's sad."

People aren't getting executed right and left, as far as we know, but what if they were?

Sometimes there is an innocent implicated - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar

Silver Spot Price Versus Physical Silver Price

2011-09-30T13:46:00.002-04:00

Date * Spot Price * Maples * 1oz bar * diff * diff * 1oz bar premium

20110718* 40.3 * 43.56* 43.07* 3.26* 2.77* 6.87%
2011 09 30 1300 *30.36 * 36.57* 36.04* 6.21* 5.68 *18.71%

Blah,blah,woof woof spot price but physical silver is getting more expensive by the day. Try and buy some. By the time you add shipping, taxes and administration fees: You'll have added another 10% on 100 ounzes.

Finance and Economics Lecture with Nicole Foss

2011-09-20T18:05:00.004-04:00

Nicole Foss (Stoneleigh) has agreed to present her ideas (http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com
6:30 PM -10:30 , November 15, 2011
St. Paul's University Auditorium, 223 Main Street, Ottawa www.ustpaul.ca
Admission Fee: $10.00 Students: $8.00

Greek default? Italian default? US debt ceiling? This will be an engaging review of the state of world economics with a focus on whether the next big thing will be Hyperinflation or Deflation (unwinding) of debt.

Event: Nicole Foss Lecture - Understanding our Deflationary Predicament

Nicole Foss (Stoneleigh of http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com) will compare and contrast deflationary and hyperinflationary scenarios falling out from our current financial crisis of sovereign debt, peak oil and global climate change. Foss is a leading thinker in this field, traveling the US, Europe and Canada discussion the main issues and the urgent need for building local community resiliency. After the talk questions will be received from the audience.

Category Courses & Workshops

Start Date:Tues Nov 15, 2011

End Date:Tues Nov 15, 2011

Date Notes:This is a one time lecture a leading thinker on our current economic situation

Time: doors open 18:30 lecture at 7:00 PM

Cost:$10 adults, $5.00 students with card

Venue: St. Pauls University Auditorium

Address:223 Main Street, Ottawa, Ontario

Postal Code:K1K 1K9

Contact:Peter Karwacki

Contact Email:kayaky@hotmail.com

Phone:613-842-5448 (home line)

Website:http://allaboutwhitewater.blogspot.com

Location Details:

Plenty of Parking availabe on site, for $4.00. The auditorium is called Guigues Hall. Volunteers will be taking admission at the door. This is a fundraiser for the non profit river preservation group: Les Amis de la riviere Kipawa (www.kipawariver.ca)

Money Masters - These experts trace the sources of debt based money

2011-09-20T16:35:00.001-04:00

In this video the improbably named Bill Still stirs the pot. His analysis is thorough, exhaustive, and no doubt disturbing to central bankers.

What's new pussy cat? - Silver Wheaton does a trick

2011-09-16T16:36:00.002-04:00

All this happened near the end of the trading day: If I didn't know better smart money is telling us where silver is going before the end of the weekend.

This is 23 times its normal volume about 24 million shares all within the space of what, five minutes?

Been around...

2011-09-16T15:11:00.002-04:00

Who Speaks for Canadian rivers?

2011-09-15T17:55:00.003-04:00

I speak for Canadian Rivers? - Error 404, Dead on arrival.

I Speak for Canadian Riversgreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

GreenPeace Images: What is the message for whitewater preservationists?

2011-09-15T17:20:00.004-04:00

What could be done, with humor, minimal resouces, something that provokes others to think, and act.

I don't think this means having a parade at parliament hill with kayaks on our shoulders.

What is it then?

Summary of the 25th Annual Kipawa River Rally

2011-09-13T16:47:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Wayne Donnison for once again organizing an extremely fun rally. The paddling and scenery was better than expected. The Ottawa and Montreal kayak clubs had an amazing time.

One thing planned is to convert the www.kipawariver.ca website int a 'contact management type' system to give everyone access to the website. Our website may get a lift from volunteers as a student project.

We might be better to engage the locals through a family walk day and fish fry and the local kayak shop at first. First and foremost this is a paddling weekend too.

The intended location of a new fish derby may be in Laniel, to attract locals. Danny from Esprit my help with a work party to fix the Hollywood trail; Scott has all materials prepared and ready to go.

The exact release volumes that we received from Hydro Quebec need a formal thank you letter - best to come from a French speaking member of our group to establish a future relationship with the dam operator.

We had a total of 61 people register for the rally and 8 people paid for the day use of the takeout, for a total of 69 people officially registered this year.

The executive now stands relatively unchanged:

Francois Diebolt Treasurer
Peter Karwacki - President
Rick Issaacson - Vice President
Wendy Sladen - Secretary/Membership Chair
Wayne Donnison - Rally Coordinator
Sandra Kiviaho and Annie Valale agreed to assist with next years rally along with Philip Lavalee. Phillip suggested we consider organizing a Fish Derby along with the rally to entice local interest.

We need to update our Website to a content management system so that we can more easily update the content. Web content was not updated quickly enough leading up to the rally. People need to have more information about Scott's place, about the Kipawa River Trail, and about the rally itself. Another raised the possibility of promoting sea kayaking as well during the rally.

Jim Coffey made the point that organizations such as Les Amis sometime experience an ebb and flow and that we are presently in a low cycle. Is it important to increase the numbers attending the rally? The number that can be comfortably be handled at the lodge is about 70 from what I could tell. Any expansion would have to take place in Laniel.

Jim raised the prospect of running raft trips from Laniel to the Park for $25 or so to increase participation.

I have names and contact information from those attending our AGM

JD will send you the membership lists and so forth. Perhaps some of the new bodies will come through for us during the preparations for next year and beyond.

Financial information Francois provided:

April 2010 through March 2011

starting balance 1342.

Income
Donations $775
Memberships $40
subtotal 815

Expenses
Web hosting 153.
Quebec Registration fees 36
Les amis income tax report 51
subtotal 239

closing balance 1918

Tommy Allan did install some new portage signs. We are waiting for the invoices but I believe these were about $200.

Sandra Kiviaho has offered to help us to upgrade our website content, something that is much needed. As mentioned either a CMS system or something like "wordpress" would help. We should try to start work on this ASAP.

Something that was not mentioned but is in order is to try and organize a work party to fix up the Hollywood portage. This would likely be in the fall and we'd have to make it so we coordinate it with weather, the Sorenson's and try have some fun as well as get the work done.

Current state of the middle class

2011-09-13T12:52:00.003-04:00

You load sixteen tons an' what do you get?
Another day older deeper and debt.
St Peter don't you call me I cause can't go:
I owe my soul to the company store.

Alternate Power Source - Alternatives to Hydro Power

2011-09-12T14:19:00.004-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXJgAmft2jI&feature=player_detailpage

More Details: http://www.solarfire.org/P32

Some General Details:

1000 watts per square meter of sunlight
The cost of the concentrator with boiler is 5000 - 7500 USD depending on quantity purchased. The cost of a 3 HP steam engine would be about 1300 USD.
5 HP steam engine is being run

Some General concerns:

Mirror Cleaning
Automated Solar Tracking
Effects of Wind and elements especially in freezing climate
Power Modulation
Energy Storage for power flow
Boiler regulation and licensing

Possible Efficiency Improvements:

Recycling steam and water to conserve BTU's in a closed loop
Improved insulation of high pressure lines
Use of a turbine such as the Capstone Microturbine instead of a piston style steam engine

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Burning Bank Image Evokes Ebay Run

2011-09-06T13:02:00.002-04:00

by ALEX SCHAEFER, oil 22 x 28

For more information on the painter see Burning Bank

Who speaks for the Kipawa River?

2011-08-23T16:29:00.000-04:00

Who speaks for the Kipawa River?

In reference to a letter by Scott Sorensen published in the Témiscamingue Le Reflet newspaper, as president of Les Amis de la rivière Kipawa I wish to make the following comments.

For the people of Témiscamingue region it seems clear that the proposed Opemican Park is unwanted and most could care less about the Kipawa river. Hydro-Québec has made some grand promises to the MRC of Temiskaming and they have the power to construct their Kipawa River Diversion Project within the proposed Opemican Park in any case. To many this just seems crazy but it is the sad reality.

In the province of Québec, Hydro-Québec seems to be able to do anything it wants to do. The population doesn't see the consequences of diversion of the Kipawa river as negative but something that will bolster the local economy afterall, there was a dam in Temiskaming before and which depending on water being diverted from the Kipawa's main flow. It seems that the general population believes that any new industry is preferred over the preservation of a prestine natural resource such as the Kipawa River flowing in its natural stream bed.

However, as a river preservation organization, dedicated to the ecological and recreational values of the Kipawa River this all smacks of municipal corruption. The MRC mayors have made their decision based mostly on the all mightly dollar, a short term view and really could care less about the future, the environment and other long term possibilties.

Further, the provincial minister who wants (and will ultimately create) the park has no power to stop Hydro-Québec's Tabaret project. To Les Amis this all seems a bit too surreal. It's incredible that the Kipawa River, where we have run our Kipawa River Rally for the last 25 years may soon become a dry gulch.

Some of the local municipalities want the Tabaret project to proceed, and others prefer the private proposed Gordon (Innergex project). It certainly seems that there are no mayors who chose neither hydro project. Lets be clear however, just because the majority is chosing an option, this does not mean that the best alternative for Temiskaming includes diversion of the Kipawa River or the construction of a powerstation in the midsts of a proposed provincial Park (a Quebec National Park), Opemican.

Recently the Laniel water control Dam was refurbished an modified to prevent the public from using the sluice of the dam as a recreational resource. Les Amis petitioned the government all the way to the Supreme Court to maintain this right of navigability but ultimately lost. But who really loses in a case like this? Ultimately it is the people of Temiskaming who are affected. Les Amis believes in the collective power of the people, firmly grasping the facts of the situation and with a clear head to the future.

Les Amis will continue to lobby on behalf of the river since nobody else seems to want to do this. Our position is that no water should be diverted from the Kipawa River - period. We would consider run of the river projects on the river itself or the use of the Laniel dam as a generating point. True, there is loss of electrical potential at this point but the trade off is water flowing within the river itself, now and for perpetuity. We also encourage the further development of the Kipawa River Trail and its extension along Lake Temiskaming. We feel that the public will see this as the right decision in future, and an opportutnity lost should the MRC leaders opt for cold hard cash in exchange for the natural wonder that is the Kipawa River.

River Preservation Rant - whining dirtbags who can’t carry their own weight?

2011-08-23T16:20:00.001-04:00

Edited Words of Rob Monti taken from Boater Board Post following the Kipawa River Judicial Review and impending dissolution of Les amis due to court costs.

We got the money, Les amis is still functioning but....

You remember what the Judicial Review was all about – the big picture?

Navigability and its preservation - (which implicitly preserves rivers in their wild state and provides an underpinning of thriving ecosystems and a sustainable world).

At a minimum the concept of protecting navigability as that concept has been handed down to us over the centuries and is a concept that is the foundation of what has protected waterways and their ongoing navigability to the current day should be seen as a right that presumptively takes precedence over other competing rights. The right of navigability should only be encroached upon where the proponent of such encroachment can demonstrate, using objective and consensus based criteria backed by science (not petty politics or cronyism or labels like economic stimulus) that such encroachment or impairment is justified and is always done in a way wherever possible so as to exact minimum impairment.

The Kipawa case was the first real real opportunity for a whitewater organization to flesh out that discussion, in the context of a rapid that had been safely navigated for decades, had become an international draw to paddlers and was being eliminated at the stroke of a pen. Why? Is the choice the government made, the best choice? What went into the decision-making? What factors were considered? Who was consulted? What is being gained? What is being lost? What are the implications of not just the final decision, but the process by which the decision was arrived at?

I saw this as an important case. Too few agreed.

Nothing the government did surprised us in this case. The biggest and saddest surprise and part of the problem going forward is that the so-called boating community is lame. There’s a whole lot of talk but very few walk the talk. In the U.S. there is American Whitewater fighting the feds, getting dams busted up, getting releases, defending access.

We wanted a precedent. A precedent may take time coming. What has to happen first is people ( a whole lot of people) just need to recognize and agree that here was something worth saving. Could people mobilize around a river festival that has gone for decades is known far and wide and has publicized a gorgeous river with excellent first hand evidence of navigation. This case was about sending a wake up call and seeing who out there was even listening and how many people cared.

Save for exceptional individual bright lights: this so-called boating community proved to be just a theory. The “community” was expected to put a big shout out and make this a political issue but proved to be a pretty marginal subgroup in the end.

If that community is out there, it never really woke up. What needed to materialize didn’t. We had the first level hearing in the Supreme Court of Canada building. There was an opportunity to send a message. It didn’t happen. Well, maybe it missed that one and would show in the Federal Court of Appeal. No again.

Boaters couldn’t agree that this case mattered. Even less would dig into their pockets to contribute. Too many saw it as marginal and not worth the effort. Most failed to see it as the “thin edge of the wedge” that will embolden other interests and make damming other rivers with the stroke of a pen and ignoring the concerns of whitewater boaters that much easier. If boaters didn’t get it, then what possible chance is there to build a persuasive case that will convince the average citizen, a politician or a legislator that what you care about matters or should matter to the broader citizenry?

So the NWPA comes under attack and a demonstration was organized on Parliament Hill. Here was a real opportunity for boaters at the grass roots to come together, to make some noise and to celebrate the rivers they love in a show of mass support for river preservation. It was an extremely low effort investment required from the community to show you care about paddling rivers and want to keep paddling those rivers. All you had to do was show up. The Rupert is gone. Part of the Ashlu is gone. The Pet is being assessed for a hydro diversion. Anybody see a pattern? You want to see how a river gets saved, read up on the dam that was never built on the Franklin river in Tasmania and how support was rallied to the point where numbers reached 20,000 – in Tasmania! Something like 1200 people were arrested in protest and blockades. Ask yourself the question. How did they get so many people to care and why don’t enough care here?

So how many showed for the cause– maybe 50. Fifty! I can see how some might superficially dismiss the Kipawa case because ostensibly it was just about a dam. But surely you would care enough about other rivers in Canada to show up when it mattered right? Nope. That sent a very clear message about how much this issue resonates or doesn’t. More importantly it shows how many boaters will get their asses out of boats and move them to be a political force. Not showing up does send a clear message. The community did a good job of showing industry and politicos that they can keep on ignoring the arguments because when push comes to shove, some would rather stay home or just go boating.

Stopping the loss of rivers and protecting rapids will only happen with cohesion, dedication, hard work and persistence. Most importantly, if there is a ww boating community, it has to wake up. It has to mobilize en masse. It can’t sit back thinking one, two or 10 people will get the job done while the rest benefit without having to lift a finger. There has to be a critical mass. Until there is ww boaters will just be brushed off with form letters and ignored. Based on what I’ve seen and what I continue to see on this board (with stunts like Pete’s) I’m pretty sure it will not happen anytime soon. Most here are just looking to be entertained.

Whitewater boaters in this country will continue to lose and lose and lose until people get their s@#(t together, roll up their sleeves and do some real work. At least boaters in the U.S., through American Whitewater got it right. At least I live close to the Adirondacks, so I’ll always have place to paddle protected rivers. But it saddens me as a Canadian, a paddler, a father to see the places that make this country not just great, but spectacular and a draw around the world, being diminished and pilfered away for short term gain of very few at the expense of Canadians generally through a combination of shortsightedness and the indifference of the silent and apathetic majority who are just letting it happen.

Paul Krugman hypothesizes that Aliens from Space are good for the Economy

2011-08-23T13:49:00.006-04:00

Aliens

Just so you know, Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times, a nobel prize winner, and professor of economics at Princeton.

Prosecute the Inside Jobbers

2011-08-16T15:16:00.000-04:00

William K. Black - of the Savings and Loan prosecutions against white collar crime

"If the people will wake up and demand that real prosecution becomes a priority, then it will happen."

I tend to agree. But how do you wake up the sheeple?

some ideas:

Stop broadcasting Hockey Night in Canada

Reduce credit card and banking fees and usurious interest

Legalize drugs and drug use

That should get their attention.

Then what?

Reduce the size of the military and repurpose it to civil defense

Give all police psychiatric examinations for sociopathic behavior

Limit terms of MP's. Eliminate MP pensions.

Let's get a list going here?

New Budget Cuts threaten Environmental Protection

2011-08-15T12:59:00.002-04:00

Ottawa River Keeper Newsletter

Coming to a neighborhood near you.

2011-08-11T12:05:00.000-04:00

You don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing (Bob Dylan)

Will the powers that be use the civil unrest brought on by the austerity invoked by IMF, ECB, World Bank, Federal Reserve and Central Banks to inflict further impingement on civil liberties and rights... I think - Yes.

What has all this to do with preserving Whitewater Resources?

2011-08-09T11:56:00.003-04:00

FOLLOW THE MONEY!

"It's no coincidence this would happen so soon after the world-wide freakout about stocks and the economic crisis.

"When you listen to the local voices [on social media] in London, who are not represented by mainstream media for the most part, they are talking about the lack of jobs, inequality, the youth clubs that were cut. So they have no jobs and nothing to do.

The real reasons for this rebellion, which is a better word for it than riot, are economic conditions, racism and police brutality."

Megan Boler - UofT Media Studies Professor

**********Have a Nice Day**********

MAX KEISER - The Oracle Watch for the Money Shot - "RISE UP!"

2011-08-09T11:50:00.001-04:00

"Have some Respect - and stop accusing me of being a rioter"

2011-08-09T11:20:00.008-04:00

What the hell is really happening over in the United Kingdom?

Well...

Darcus Howe: "I don't call it rioting, I call it an insurrection...of the masses of the people. It is happening in Syria, it is happening in Clapham, it's happening in Liverpool, it's happening in Port-au-Spain, Trinidad, and that is the nature of the historical moment."

Gerald Celente said:

"When people are suffering, have lost everything and have nothing left to lose... they lose it!"

Max Keiser Said:

"When the social contract has been broken, the people must rise up!"

Not a single banker, or politician has gone to jail, not a single rating agency employee, no one has gone to jail over the financial meltdown of 2008. Its an inside job and all the "smartest guys" are still in the room.

People who face these facts are going to revolt.

as Leonard Cohen said " Democracy is coming... to the USA".

See what happens when you don't eat your peas?

2011-08-07T20:47:00.001-04:00

First US politicians dither over the debt ceiling, ignoring the rest of us who depend on them playing nicely.

Then they agree to raise the debt ceiling but do very little to reduce their gratuitous spending... like cutting their too big to win military.

Then their credit rating is reduced by Standard and Poors, true AA+ but its downward.

What next?

Likely rising interest rates, reduced government services.

This cannot end well.

USA faces Debt Ceiling: Stand by for Action

2011-07-12T14:52:00.001-04:00

Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime;
Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

Voodoo Economics...

1.Banksters create money out of thin air.
2.They lend this 'money' at usurious rates.
3.Together with market gangsters they gamble on markets.
4.They create derivatives bubble 10-20 bigger than world's GDP.
5.They get bailed out by 'our' beloved sold out political geniuses.

If this is not racket, scam, Ponzi scheme, fraud... then I don't know what is.

The only acceptable stimulus package is canceling all debts and ending fraudulent monetary system where banking barons play and 7 billion humans pay.

An UnHoly Alliance Between Bankers and Politicians

2011-07-03T12:20:00.000-04:00

When the credit tide goes out, you get to see who cannnot pay for their unsustainable credit/lending/borrowing practices.

Vivre la rivière Kipawa Libre!

2011-06-29T14:37:00.002-04:00

Main Lodge Kipawa River

Kipawa River at Dusk by Laura Duncan - 25th Annual Kipawa River Rally June 25th, 2011

2011-06-29T13:21:00.006-04:00

Fish Fry for 60 People

25th Kipawa River Rally - Water Releases from the Quebec Ministry of Government Services

2011-06-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

130 cubic meters per second for Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the 25th Kipawa River Rally.

A very good paddling level.

Kipawa River Rally 25th Annual Festival de la Riviere Kipawa

2011-06-14T16:43:00.000-04:00

Hollywood Rapid from the air

2011-06-14T16:04:00.000-04:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

by Christian Belisle

Spring Paddling on the BEAVER (not the Black)

2011-06-12T22:49:00.002-04:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

Credit to Creator of the Kipawa River T-shirt design

2011-06-07T21:02:00.000-04:00

**********Have a Nice Day**********

If you need some graphic design work consider:

William Hibbard
764 Birchwood Rd, North Bay, ON P1B4T6
(705) 472-8195,Email: whibbard@sympatico.ca

Kipawa River Information

2011-06-07T11:25:00.003-04:00

The Kipawa River is considered to be one of the best intermediate class rivers is North Easter North America.

Base of Grand Chute: anticipating Elbow Rapid

Distance: 16 km (10 miles)
Difficulty: Class III-IV river rating, Class III-VI individual rapids (volume dependent)
Gradient: 30 feet/mile Volume: 20 cms (740 cfs) to 357 cms (13,209 cfs)

Getting There:
The Kipawa River is located in northwestern Quebec, on Highway 101, between the towns of Temiscaming and Ville Marie. It is a 16 km (10 mile) run of the river from the village of Laniel to Lake Temiscamingue.

Put-Ins and Take-Outs:
Road access at six locations include, the Dam at Laniel, a roadside park at Hwy 101, Broken Bridge rapid , Kipawa River Tral at Picnic, the Grande Chute (some walking required on a good trail), and at the take-out next to Hollywood rapid at the Kipawa River Lodge owners Scott and Pat Sorenson.

Description:
The Kipawa River is one of the best, intermediate white water runs in eastern Canada. The first exploratory river runs on the Kipawa were made in 1971 in an open canoe by Jose Mediavilla and Joseph Jacob, paddlers from Rouyn. Runnable at all levels, the lower Kipawa does not get above a Class III, with the exception of Pete's Dragon, the middle three drops in Hollywood rapid (a tight technical Class IV) run only at low to medium levels.

There are 16 named rapids. For ease of reference we talk about the river in three sections:
- Section I...The Upper (Dam to Highway Park)
- Section II...The Middle (Highway Park to Island Rapid)
- Section III...The Lower (Log Jam to Hollywood)
The Dam (Class III all levels):
The flood control dam under the highway bridge in Laniel used to be safely, legally and signficantly very runnable at any level above 120 cms. It has been rendered unrunnable by recent dam refurbishments. It was the loss of this dam sluice run which was the focus of the Judicial Review commenced by Les Amis in 2006. Sorry folks, we lost. Put in below dam on river left, near overlook.

Rock and Roll (Class III-IV+ level dependent)
Don’t be embarrassed to walk the easy portage around Rock and Roll on river right. It’s routinely walked by boaters who don't like its steep rocky character. Typically enter right of centre, just to the left of a couple of very small holes reacting to a rock shelf near the surface. Move right then straighten out to run a narrow deep water channel that passes to the right of all the big holes out in the middle. Move left, back out to the centre of the drop as soon as you pass the big holes.
Alternative run at levels from very low up to 140 or 150 cms, is to enter just left of centre and work left down a slide drop so that you work to the far left of the rapid about half way through it, then run the bottom half hugging the left shoreline through a steep, abrupt hole. This is an easy run at low water when you can actually eddy out half way through. It gets progressively tougher the more water there is.

Tumbling Dice (Class III all levels):
Around the bend past Rock and Roll the river narrows a bit signaling the start of a long easy rapid called Tumbling Dice. The second portion of the rapid has a very sweet surfing wave called the Two-Four Wave developing above 120 cms and at its best at levels between 140 and 220.
Tumbling Dice dog legs left and then into a series of easy waves that end with the beginning of a stretch of flat water that runs past a roadsite park area on Hwy 101. The park is no longer maintained. It was perfect for camping, very private, lots of parking, no camping fees, but a fence is up now.now.

Buttonhook (Class III-IV+ level dependent)
At low water, Buttonhook is where you get your first real look at the Kipawa's rocky river bed. At high water, people who aren't comfortable in big pushy stuff, call this rapid a Class V and portage river right. At low water, pick your way down.
At levels above 80 run the classic line, start left of centre, move almost immediately to the centre, move right towards the bottom of the upper section to get to the big eddy on the corner. Run the bottom section starting right, then working left at lower water, and staying right at higher water.

Huey, Duey and Louie (Class III all levels):
Three little drops, sometimes called Sex, Lies and Videotape are easy. There is a small play wave on the left in the second drop.

Broken Bridge (Class III all levels):
Beneath the logging access road bridge is a glassy 3-boat wave that just won't quit. Enter from either side. Attainment may be difficult. The wave is surfable between 80 cms and 220.

Island Rapid (Class III all levels):
Below Broken bridge the river splits around an island. River left is easier. River right is runnable at all levels but gets a little rocky at low water and requires more care. The river flattens out for 500 m. after Island Rapid

Useful Information
Centre de santé Sainte-Famille
22, rue Notre-Dame Nord, C.P. 2000
Ville-Marie, Québec, J0Z 3W0, (819) 629-2420
Centre d'urgence
9-1-1
http://www.cum.qc.ca/cum-fr/urgence-911/accuurgf.htm

Camp 3 saisons inc.
http://www.3seasoncamp.t2u.com
2011, route 101, C.P 39
Laniel, (Québec), J0Z 2K0
(819) 634-2582, 627-3737 (Été/Summer)

Camp de la Baie Smith
2050, chemin du Ski
Laniel, (Québec), J0Z 2K0
(819) 627-9858, 634-2425

Campinglaniel@hotmail.com
1991, route 101, Laniel, Quebec, J0Z 2K0
819-634-2666
fax: 819-634-2776

Log Jam (Class III all levels):
The river steepens here. The upstream side of Log Jam Island is undercut.
Run with the main flow on the left side of Log Jam Island. Pick a line just right of centre and stay on it.

Zipper (Class III-IV level dependent):
Home of the biggest wave on the river run with the main flow around on the left side of the river or portage river right. Around the corner, a shelf forms a hole on the right side of the river and a wave on the left. The wave is sometimes rolling back on itself but is always runnable. 175 cms - big. above 220 cms - huge. 315 cms -really big. You tend to get pushed left where the shore is rocky. If the wave looks pushy, hit it moving right for best results.

Upper White Pine (Class III all levels):
This is a series of corners and waves that is a small but very popular surfing spot.

Lower White Pine (Class III all levels):
Also know as Cattle Prod, this is a short steep drop that is actually a five-foot ledge at low water. Good fun with diagonal waves and lots of quick action. Run left down the chute.

Picnic (Class III-VI level dependent):
Picnic, can be a problem above 100 cms. At 357 cms it can recirculate trees. Portage river right. At low water, pick a line and go. At medium to high water run from centre pushing right to hit right in the corner where the reactionary wave coming off the shore, joins with the edge of the big hole. Or run far left, careful for the ledge hole below.

Le Grande Chute recently run by the team of Brent Cooper, Mike McCubbin and Ben Aylsworth at low water. (But, don't even think about it and portage river right). Its a 90-foot waterfall with three Class IV-V drops above it that we have run at low water. The walk is on the right. At low water there is a tall shelf rock at the bottom of the waterfall that is used for diving into the deep flat pool below. WARNING: scout for debris collecting below the falls before diving.

Elbow (Class III-IV+):
Below the Grande Chute is Elbow Rapid. At 130 cms a large hole develops at river right at the elbow where all the water is going.. At low water, just pick your way down. At medium to high water, start right and work immediately to the centre, and then to the left as you hit the corner. The objective is to make the big eddy on the left side of the river. The bottom section of Elbow (175m) is straight forward with waves and small holes. Bush whack river right to portage.

Hollywood (Class IV-VI level dependent):
Show time! Hollywood is a tough run, and unfriendly to swimmers. Portage river right. At low water the rapid is runnable top to bottom. At all levels you can run from the top to take out above Pete's Dragon keeping in mind that you will need to get your boat into a small eddy river right in solid Class III+ water above a very serious drop. If you are not comfortable with that, best to do the carry right around the top of Hollywood. When running remind yourself to stay right, and make the eddy before starting out.

The middle section, Pete's Dragon, has three drops. Run the first drop through a small chute on the right, through a small but steep hole that can mess with your line a bit (the tail of the Dragon) so most skirt the edge of this thing rather than punch it. Immediately follow the second drop. Run up onto the rocky pillow on the right then let your boat turn a bit and slip slide sideways to the left. You end up dropping down and bracing left onto a curling reactionary then right on the rocky slide in the last half of the second drop (the belly of the Dragon).
Typically try to end up in the big eddy on river right. The 10-12 foot fall is next (the mouth of the Dragon). The fall is less of a plunge the further right you go, it has been run everywhere up to about 75 cms. The choice is yours.
At higher water take the short walk, river left, around Pete's Dragon, then back in your boat for the bottom half of Hollywood. Ferry out to the centre and then to the left side of the river. This is a challenging run in big swirling, churning water with surprisingly energetic waves in it. Run down the left side at the bottom, when most of the water is trying to talk you into going right where a dynamic large hole, Davey Jones Locker, has surprized a lot of paddlers.

Association touristique regionale de l'Abitibi-Temiscaminque
phone - Toll Free: 800-808-0706

Chalets Diane enr.
1948, route 101, Laniel, (Québec), J0Z 2K0, (819) 634-2576

Centre de santé de Témiscaming

180, rue Anvik, C. P. 760 Témiscaming (Québec) J0Z 3R0, Tél. : (819) 627-3385 Téléc. : (819) 627-3629