Friday, October 03, 2008

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly


Just a skim of some Canadian headlines today amidst the turmoil south of the border.

I am reminded of Leonard Cohen's wondrous ballad 'there is a crack in everything, it's how the light gets in'.

Well, we can't continue living the way we are, right? The party's over. Rampant consumerism, sub-primes, endless oil, outsourcing, financial engineering et al, et al.

We finally cracked. Let there be light.

I think China's bloodless coup d'etat has not been heralded yet. But a coup it is.


The Good:


Finally, finally, a sizeable refundable deposit on those ubiqitous water bottles. Now can we stop using them forever? Did you know that it takes oil filling a quarter of the bottle to make that bottle?

The Bad:

Oh-oh, there goes some more arctic ice. Worse than 2007. Just about gone. We have wreaked this destruction in a couple of decades. We're seeing sediment that hasn't been seen in 1.1 million years.

And

The Ugly
And our TSX, our Toronto Stock Exchange has taken a really nasty tumble: we have the world record at 800 points down, putting us ahead of all the other tumbles. Who knew potash stock could throw us into the sewer?

12 comments:

  1. Your Good is my bad I'm afraid, WWW. I have to drink bottled water here in Oklahoma (never did in the UK). The chemical make-up of local water gives me a sick stomach.

    We've considered having a filter fixed to our system but are not sure that would eliminate the element which upsets my tum.

    Some bottled water firms here have started making their bottles of a thinner material and more economical shape - a little but probably insignificant change.
    I wonder if water could be sold in those cardboard like containers in which you can buy soup and juice.
    they at least would be bio-degradeable (apart from the lining).

    Your Bad : scary and each year makes it more unlikely that anything can be done to counteract the slide into catastrophe.

    Your Ugly: scary again. and we only hear about the half they are willing for us to know.

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  2. I'm with Twilight on the bottled water. Never drank it in Britain, but have no faith in the local authorities here to provide potable water through the tap.

    The rate of global warming will, I believe, take us all by surprise. People are still waiting for it to happen. They don't realize it already is.

    Your "Ugly" link doesn't work. It fetches a 404 page error. You need to delete the "tp://" from the end of the URL; just leave the .html
    If you place your curser over the link and look in the bottom scroll bar, you'll see what I mean.

    This looks remarkably like market manipulation. Why would Merrill Lynch downgrade the stock so drastically? Unless they know something we don't?

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  3. T:
    Some areas carry glass water bottles, the large kind that sit on coolers that you can keep recycling, some companies deliver these. And then fill small stainless steel bottles (that's what I use) for personal use. Plastic has an even worse affect on bodies than is publicized.
    Just a thought, though I know you and himself have probably explored all options.
    Re the arctic, it is like helplessly watching a trainwreck while the masters party on and on.
    Our pols keep reassuring us Canada is in good shape. Harumph.
    XO
    WWW

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  4. RJA:
    Sorry to hear your water not good, maybe glass as mentioned to T? Just a thought.
    Thanks for the heads up on the link, now fixed.
    I agree on the potash, something smells to high heaven, pun intended.
    XO
    WWW

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  5. www, is Canada fairly well insulated from the financial tornado in the USA or is it also affected? I don't hear much about what's happening to the Canadian economy if anything. Here in the UK unemployment is steadily rising, even in NI where the public sector is 63% of the economy.

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  6. We have a neocon government presently, Nick, I'm fingers-crossed that will change but not hopeful according to those darn polls.
    No question but there's a downturn and here is a quick overview of our situation here:

    http://www.muchmormagazine.com/2008/10/canadians-foresee-economic-downturn-even-recession/

    None of us are escaping the burning up of the US economy, long foretold.

    XO
    WWW

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  7. How is your election campaign going, www?

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  8. It's going to be an interesting election, Jenny. The only reason Harper called it was to get a majority. Polls are saying it's not going to happen but the interesting item is that the Greens' presence(after a stunning debate that included the Green leader Elizabeth May) is really growing.
    XO
    WWW

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  9. Interesting - I hope the Greens do well.

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  10. Medbh has a link to the Toronto Star report on the 24 Toronto householders subjected to a vicious attack on their homes and cars because they had Liberal posters in their windows. I see the brake cables were cut on their cars, their phone and cable lines were cut and their homes were spray-painted with anti-Liberal slogans. It just shows the level to which some sick right-wingers will stoop. I see practically all of them are keeping the posters on display - very brave of them!

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  11. Oops, my mistake, it was the Globe & Mail.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jenny:
    Me too! ;^)
    Nick:
    Yes, I read the report, rightwingers are a scary bunch, always a blink away from violence, it appears.
    XO

    ReplyDelete

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