Ed, Is the 1st Law of

Ed, Is the 1st Law of Thermodynamics the same as the 1st Law of Economics? Scum will rise to the top?

LUCKY FOR THE FIRST LAW

Van: We can all be grateful that the scum which rises to the top, is cleaned and filtered by the main stream media and the ballot box. It's all as clear as the driven snow (job).

The scum will always rise to

The scum will always rise to the top, waving different flags and religious symbols, licencing their rise.

Like the English proverb: "You hang on Joe, I am in the lifeboat"

When we look at the proverbs of different cultures, there's more wisdom in them than in all the ideological and economic textbooks put together.

Ed Deak.

There's that name Gwyn Morgan again!

Having Gwyn Morgan being Chrusty Clark's chief political advisor is like having the wolf looking after the province's chickens. This is the first time that I have heard of the "New West Partnership", or was it really that secret?

I wonder why the MSM haven't brought this agreement to our attention? Nothing like having an agreement that ensures that "all three provinces must operate by similar environmental standards or the lowest common denominator", in other words a race to the bottom as far as environmental regulations! Is there no limit to the scummy things that this government will stoop to? It sure seems more and more apparent that the environmental groups were sure hoodwinked when they supported the Lieberals during the last election!

Not a balanced discussion

Nikoforuk is noted for his rants against the petroleum and natural gas industry. He has gone so far as to write a book sympathetic to a group accused of terrorism in northern Alberta. This article is typical of his work and is full of innuendo. For example:
"Much of the province's shale gas is contaminated with CO2."
- All BC's natural gas contains CO2.

"The highly subsidized shale gas industry is the largest source of revenue for British Columbia and Premier Christy Clark's chief political advisor is former shale gas baron Gwyn Morgan."
- The auctioning of rights to explore for shale gas in BC has provided billions of dollars for health and other government services in BC. Much of the money spent by industry will never be recouped through production. Incidentally, Morgan previously worked for Encana, a major investor in oil and gas throughout North America, not just in BC.

"According to the plan, the three western provinces will shortly unveil "consistent communication documents and key messages about shale as development" as well as baseline water evaluations within the next couple of months."
- Now here is a truly subversive activity: three western provinces working together to address a resource development issue.

The issue is not the

The issue is not the "resource development", but the "consistent communications documents"

In other words, the propaganda to sell the development.

Ed Deak.

reallife

Have you any idea how the royalty program 'works' in BC...?

You should do a little more digging - the kind Nikiforuk has done and the reason he's won quite a number of awards for his journalism.

Here, take a look:
http://www.magazine-awards.com/index.cfm?ci_id=1397&la_id=1

How many writing awards do you have?

another

very fine piece of reporting, Andrew! Well done. And if any of the rest of you have the fortitude to do it, read Andrew's book on The Tar Sands...know before you do that your blood will boil and your tears will flow.

Thank you, Tyee. Thank you , Andrew.

When even the MSM begins to notice

...that';s theres something wrong, it's gratifying, even as it's too late.

Don Cayo gets it partly right in his column today.

http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Spending+resource+royalty+revenue+deprives+future+generations/5277657/story.html

Spending our inheritance today, saving nothing for tomorrow, and fouling our own nests. Our kids will all piss on our graves.

It's time the electorate ...

took the default position that 'nothing' between the corporate powers and government is on the 'up and up'. It's sad that the obvious is so hard for us to see.

The obvious is hard to see,

The obvious is hard to see, because the public and all our political parties
are being misled by miseducated, lying and paid off economists.

There's no such thing as "cheap" and there's no such thing as "monetary efficiency".

These are lies to cover up the transfer of real, disastrous physical costs on the public and the environment.

Costs can not be cut, only transferred.

Ed Deak.

Lies cause unintended consequences

Here's the thing. If we view the absolute truth as a line through history, then everyone living on that line will base all decisions and actions on it. I mean all their efforts will be designed to have whatever effect they are hoping to achieve based on their understanding of reality. Truth is a way to understand reality.

Every time somebody lies, especially somebody influential, then everybody who believes the lie will base all their plans and strategies on that false belief. Every action they take will still be designed to create a particular effect, but will begin to have effects that will appear random and unpredictable. Acting on false beliefs.

This randomization will multiply both over time as the lie persists, and people attempt multiple plans based on it, and also with the increased volume as more and more people believe the lie and start to base their planning on it.

This is the main reason why our societies are going so terribly wrong lately. Political and corporate leaders, with stunning tunnel vision and very limited objectives are polluting everybodys understanding of the true nature of the world, and subverting their hopes and dreams for the future, consigining them to complete and predictable failures with the reasons hidden.

We no longer even understand why our actions are having the wrong outcomes, because we can't see the truth at all anymore, only the lies our leaders are telling us.

Why should the world be allowed to need water or food when some crooks might be able to get money for them, after all?

Bailey

And in the simplest of ways:
http://www.globaltvbc.com/thrifty+foods+goes+back+to+plastic+bags/6442467091/story.html

GWEST

Yes, I most certainly do know how the royalty system works in BC. I specialize in oil, gas, coal and mineral regulatory systems and provide a balanced view for my clients - something Mr. Nikoforuk does not appear inclined to do.

shale gas

so what should we do? we are told the fantastic wealth that will be created by the very same people who say they need the freedom to do whatever it takes to generate wealth. in the case of gas fracking...there is a glut of gas on the market, still more is searched for and the environment is damaged and guess who pays! not the developer....we do with a diseased environment, diseased people, diseased business climate, and the developers get to walk away from the disease.

christy clark is gordon campbell in drag! she is a neo-liberal and a globalization free trader...maybe she is a traitor as she is possessed by the corporations to skew things their way, not ours!

the royalty system and a balanced view ...

is somewhat of an oxymoron.

Understand that fact and you'll see you are likely peddling legal fictions to your clients.

Governments and crooks are

Governments and crooks are collude in more fields than just on shale gas.

That's how directorships are earned.

Ed Deak.

Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
Matt Taibbi reports: "For the past two decades, according to a whistle-blower at the SEC who recently came forward to Congress, the agency has been systematically destroying records of its preliminary investigations once they are closed. By whitewashing the files of some of the nation's worst financial criminals, the SEC has kept an entire generation of federal investigators in the dark about past inquiries into insider trading, fraud and market manipulation against companies like Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and AIG."
READ MORE

For those wanting more details about the sweetheart deal

For those wanting more details of the sweetheart deal from the BC government that makes investing in BC oil and gas exploration and development such a great deal for the gas and oil companies and such a bad deal for the people and the economy of British Columbia you can find the details here:
http://www.empr.gov.bc.ca/OG/oilandgas/royalties/infdevcredit/Pages/default.aspx

Enjoy