Are there 11,000 scientists warning of 'untold suffering' caused by climate change or is it a scam? It's a scam!

11,000 scientists warn of 'untold suffering' caused by climate change

I am shocked but honestly not surprised that one of the top news stories of the past week was just fake news.

You would think that the worldwide Climate Change Alarmist community would do a better job of vetting and delivering their message. Not in this case. The mainstream media of course have totally accepted the alarmist bullshit.  The identical story was broadcast and published around the world, apparently no one or vetted or checked the list of scientists. It was just accepted as the gospel truth in a paper that was not peer-reviewd: 11,000 scientists are warning of dire consequences unless major changes are made in people's lifestyle, diet, energy use etc. As the image says, scientists have a moral obligation to warn people. How could so many scientists be wrong? That's why the "11,000" was emphasized. It sounded plausible, until some people dared look at the signatories to the document. Unfortunately access to the list has now been blocked because they are vetting them. Bit late because, among the "scientists" when access was allowed was a Professor Mickey Mouse, and Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster  at Hogwarts and well... others of that calibre of scientist. Here is a news report from Australia on this topic:

....and another video from Canada. By the way, in this one someone I know is mentioned. He is not a scientist, he was a candidate for the Ontario Libertarian Party in Hamilton ON. He was a cab driver and he publishes emails (which I get) regularly with his opinion. If you don't watch the whole video below just check out the part after the 19 minute mark and you will meet my friend Hans.

Enjoy.

Why I've been absent from this blog.

94% of a full slate for the Ontario Libertarian Party in June 2018

It’s very hard for me to believe, but March 22, 2019, marked the 10th Anniversary of this blog. Just as difficult is the realization that the last time I posted to this blog was Dec. 30, 2015, almost 4 years ago. Lots of things have happened in the past 10 years, and big changes have occurred in the last four.

In November 2011, I became Leader of the Ontario Libertarian Party. After that it became difficult to cater to the blog because I was heavily involved with social media, policy work and candidate recruitment, etc. for the Party. But after two “successful” provincial elections in 2014 and 2018, it was time for a change. I resigned the Leadership in July 2018, mostly for health reasons.

The Party successes involved candidate recruitment and voter turnout. In 2018 we had technically recruited 117 out of 124 possible candidates. I say technically, because we had to remove one candidate just before polling day, so 116 was the final tally, almost our goal of a full slate. That was the best we had ever done. Of course the more candidates, the more votes, and our vote total was almost 43,000, also our best ever. I suspect these numbers are going to be difficult to match in the 2022 election.

My health began to deteriorate in the spring of 2018. After going through a winter for summer tire swap, I experienced shoulder pain, then back/rib cage pain that did not get better with time. Early in July of 2018, I woke up one morning with unexplained permanent central vision loss in my left eye. By August I was experiencing problems in my right eye. Doctors called it bilateral CRVO of unknown cause. I had no idea that the rib cage pain was related to my vision loss and the CRVO. But it was. By September of 2018, the back pain was unbearable and became chest pain, so my family doctor suggested I admit myself to a hospital emergency. Initial tests suggested a heart attack, but further examination showed no apparent coronary blockages, but my heart was not right and so I was kept in cardiac ICU. Eventually I was diagnosed with Takutsubo cardiomyopathy and Multiple Myeloma in my spine and chest. The good news was my heart righted itself by early December 2018, and now its normal, though I’m still taking heart medications because they are “good for me.” 

In hospital September 2018

The bad news was Myeloma is an incurable cancer of bone marrow cells, and it also increases the viscosity of blood which is what caused the vision loss and CRVO. I did a course of radiation in my spine and chest, before I left hospital in late September 2018, followed by 10 brutal months of chemotherapy which ended in July 2019, the side effects of which I’m still recovering from. The Myeloma is in remission for now, but I’m assured it will return in months or years and then another course of chemo will be tried, and so on.

On a much more positive note over the past 10 years, I became a Grandfather twice, way more fun than anything I’ve ever done.

So here I am, back at you, with commentary and opinions on issues local, regional and planetary.

I’d also like to remove the “Bright” designation in the header, changing it to “Right.” The Bright’s are secular humanists, advocating social justice and climate justice (whatever that means). Atheism is all I have in common with the Brights now, so I’ve decided that I am not really one of them as they are currently defined. I also prefer the insinuation of being “right,” who wouldn’t? And I like the political direction implied. Problem is, if I change the URL to “right,” then I’ve erased hundreds of posts over the years. So I will keep the URL, but modify the page header. I’ll try and post once a week for as long as I can. Thanks for coming onboard you won’t regret it.

Referendum or bust......

In 2011, the Harper Conservatives won a convincing majority in the Canadian Federal election. They did it with just over 39% of the popular vote.
Imagine if Stephen Harper had campaigned for election reform back then, saying words to the effect that the 2011 election would be the last one using the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system for selecting a Parliament. But at no time during this imaginary campaign, was it revealed what alternate voting system was preferred, just that it had to be changed. Choosing an alternate would be left to an all party parliamentary committee, and the choice would be put to a vote in Parliament where the majority party, the Conservatives, would likely prevail even though it had earned just 39% of the popular vote. Would people be incensed?

Since this is all hypothetical, and moreover would be antithetical to the very idea of 'conservatism,' I leave to your imagination what kind of outcry might ensue. Suffice to say that the main stream media would lead the charge with wall-to-wall coverage of the 'Harper Haters,' placards in hand, marching on Parliament Hill and in every similar hill in every village, town and city across the nation. The outcry would be deafening - maybe. I know there is wide spread support among the politically connected, especially Liberals, NDPers and other parties that see this as a chance to grab a seat in the House of Commons. Even some Libertarians erroneously view electoral reform as a good idea. But most people don't give it a second thought, and probably have no clue how the Parliament works currently. Their view might be characterized as: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The imaginary scenario I've described is what is actually happening right now, but its Justin's Liberals that are leading the charge. They too were elected with a convincing majority on the backs of just 39% of the popular vote. At no time in the campaign did Justin proclaim which system he favours. But he did pledge that this 2015 election would be “the last federal election held under the first-past-the-post voting system.” However, there is no outcry from media, no marching to the Hill, in fact very little reaction from most main stream media and very few 'letters-to-the-editor' on the issue. Some, politically connected media types have weighed in on the matter, but their main issue is: shouldn't this be put to a referendum?

Absolutely I say, as do several with no particular affection for young Justin and his gang. There is plenty of precedent for a referendum both inside and outside Canada.

I was a Poll Official in the 2007 Ontario Provincial Election which included a referendum on an alternative voting system. It was soundly defeated. Many that voted that day at my Polling Station had no clue about alternative voting methods, and as a "neutral" poll official I could not explain it to them without committing an election violation. I just pointed to the printed explanation Elections Ontario had given me to tape to the wall. Very few went to read it.

National Post columnists, none that love Justin, have written columns supporting the idea of a referendum. Rex Murphy did, then Colby Cosh, both gave good arguments for a referendum. But last week, Liberal House Leader Dominic LeBlanc ruled out an explicit referendum on replacing first-past-the-post in federal elections. Dumb move I think, but I expect many, many more from this gang.

Aaron Wudrick, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation, also wrote in the National Post and explained the debate this way:

"......this debate has largely polarized into two camps: those who prefer the status quo and want a referendum on the presumption that any change can be defeated; and those who prefer some alternative system and fear a referendum would scuttle any chance for change. Both sides are more interested in getting the outcome they want and are merely using the question of a referendum as camouflage for predictable self-interest."

That's fair, but we still need the referendum, regardless of what LeBlanc said. 

Ignition.....or is it re-ignition?

Time to fire up my dormant blog again. It's not as though I have been absent from online commentary over the past year, far from it.

Facebook is where I spend much of my online time, posting comments, news stories, memes, even doing rudimentary graphics on behalf of the Ontario Libertarian Party. I also post on my own behalf but often it feels like a waste of time. For me ultimately, the purpose of posting comments in a publicly accessible venue, is to have those comments available for anyone who is interested (even me), at anytime. 
But my Facebook posts quickly fall into cavernous Facebook servers, still available yes, but not easily, and for all intents and purposes, lost unless Facebook decides to repost the comments or event as a "memory" in the future. Its in their control, not mine. Blog posts are different. Anyone can easily, and quickly, scroll down to my original posts almost seven years ago.
I'll be posting these blog posts onto my own Facebook, and a page with the same name as the blog. By the way, I've decided to turn OFF comments. Have something to say? Do it on Facebook, it will disappear in time.