25 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. The CBC is not only kissing Young’s butt, they have crawled up it and are comfortable.
    “Of course, rock stars don’t need oil,” reads the statement.
    He points out that he drove his electric car all the way “from California to the tar sands and on to Washington D.C., without using any oil at all,” and he’s a rock star.
    His car’s generator runs on biomass,a future fuel Young says Canada should be developing …”
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/neil-young-responds-to-pmo-s-defence-of-oilsands-1.2494950
    What????
    Is it an electric car, or does it run on biomass fuels? How did he acess this future fuel?
    Does he have special plug-ins along the way that produce electricity from windmills and solar panels?
    The article closes with this; “Young offers two more zingers and then drops the mic.
    “When people say one thing and do another, it is hypocrisy. Our Canadian environmental laws don’t matter if they are broken.”
    He finally got one right.

  2. Re: Neil Young’s biomass powered vehicle.
    I suppose if he sits on a carpet and smokes pot–theoretically he’s traveling on a biomass powered vehicle. Depending on where the trip starts–and where it ends.
    I can’t believe that no one has challenged him on this. If indeed there is such a car that runs on biomass (straw-sawdust–manure etc.) it would most likely spew CO2 into the atmosphere. And if indeed his car has a generator–it would need a form of engine to power the genset. What engine runs on biomass?? Steam is the only only one I can think of.
    I think we need to call his bluff!

  3. PS: Re: Neil Young
    How much of his (and CBC’s) campaign is environmental concern–and how much of it is an opportunity to spew hatred against Western Canada??

  4. Your CBC subsidy dollars at work:
    http://www.rickmercer.com/Photo-Challenge.aspx
    “[W]hile you’re at work open your favourite photo editing software and turn it into something special, like this, or this. Save your masterpiece and email a copy to photo challenge…”
    Which would suggest, actually, that Mr. Mercer is advocating for an (illegal, really) interference with the productivity of Canadians in their places of work — how many millions will that cost the economy?
    Quite possibly much more than this “lead” story:
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-job-grant-ads-cost-2-5m-for-non-existent-program-1.2495196
    For argument’s sake, let’s call it “Adscam 2014” and a draw (with the Mercer business), and then take stock:
    – Adscam 2014 (with, you know, receipts): $0 impact on the economy.
    – Senate expense scandal (with, you know receipts): $0 taxpayer money missing.
    What are we up to now? 0% of the missing $40 million or so from the Sponsorship Scandal, or the $1 billion from the HRDC Scandal in Quebec? Remember the latter, at all?:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Resources_Development_Canada
    “In the late 1990s, HRDC gained public headlines across Canada following numerous poorly-thought procurements, notably dozens of server computers using the Unix operating system, this despite the fact that the purchase far exceeded the department’s computing requirements. Other problems relating to several incompatible email systems made HRDC a scapegoat for attacks on the government by opposition parties.
    In 2000, HRDC’s poor accounting practices were made infamous by the Canadian Alliance when it was claimed that approximately $1 billion (CAD) in employment grants could not be accounted for. Peter Donolo later claimed that this scandal was “phony” and the true amount unaccounted for was $85,000.”
    The Job Grant business maybe shouldn’t have happened — although I’m not at all prepared to take the CBC’s word for any of it; I’ll be waiting for a, er, credible explanation. Either way, the Conservatives are, at the extreme outside, nibbling on crumbs compared to the Liberal Kleptocratcy Juggernaut.

  5. There is what is known as the GenGas system. It has been around for years, and you can build your own. The operating principle is pyrolysis. Organic material (preferably not wet) is partially burned in a closed vessel with a restricted air supply. The heat breaks down long-chain molecules in the feed matter, and simple hydrocarbon gases like methane, ethane, and propane are generated, along with carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, and water vapor. Usually some effort is made to strip the water from the gas stream, and the rest is burned in a piston engine.
    During WWII, civilian cars on both the Axis and Allied side used these gas generators to some extent. Mostly in Britain, in the case of the Allies.
    I wonder how many miles I could get by gasifying a carton of Neil Young LP’s?

  6. “Game finally up for carboncrats”
    “It was promoted as the voyage to study the melting of ice sheets in the South Pole as well as to retrace Douglas Mawson’s perilous expedition a century ago.
    Yet the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, led by UNSW climatologist Chris Turney, has become a comedy goldmine.
    The climate-change Cassandras are increasingly marginalised here and abroad”
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/game-finally-up-for-carboncrats-20140113-30qqo.html

  7. Most of the media missed this story. The NP and the G&M had a bit on it, but both missed the connection between Justin and the CAF. The CBC was busy doing something else.
    ” Federal Court upholds government stopping funding to Canadian Arab Federation over concerns it appears to support terrorist organizations”.
    The article includes;
    “All of the statements and actions raised by the Minister can, in my view, reasonably lead one to the view that CAF appears to support organizations that Canada has declared to be terrorist organizations and which are arguably anti-Semitic,” the judge wrote.
    http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/01/07/federal-court-upholds-government-stopping-funding-to-canadian-arab-federation-over-concerns-it-appears-to-support-terrorist-organizations/
    Imagine if Nigel Wright, or anyone connected to the Conservative gov’t was the former head of a group that was associated with terrorist groups? Would the coverage be the same?
    The former head of the CAF is Omar Alghabra, one of Justin’s top advisors and BFF.
    There is much more on Omar at the old ‘Shotgun’ blog and also Daniel Pipes has a look at the Saudi-born man.
    Imagine Omar as Minister of Public Safety. That is not far-fetched tinfoil stuff. He is a former Liberal MP for Mississauga, and may run again.

  8. I’m am familiar with the use of straw gas in automobiles–I believe the University of Saskatchewan built one in the 1930’s. I just don’t believe that Neil Young used one–at least not to the extent that he claims.

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