News You Can Trust
It was messy today. After it began with snow early, the temperature rose to about 4°C (40°F?) At about 4 pm there was a very white fog on the Lake/River here. By the time I got the camera the fog was gone, but this was what it looked like- and….
—————Jim
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) what are they?
CAFR is a set of government financial statements, which goes beyond the minimums established for Annual Financial Reports.
So your Town/Province is broke, are you sure? They HAVE to raise taxes right?
If we explore the issue we find a different story. A double set of books is set up,( Similar to the Mafia) only one of which the public sees that being, operating budget/expenditures. Arnprior for example is KNOWN to have the $7 million it received from the sale of Hydro Arnprior which has been invested untouched for 9 years, (in 2002) but they can’t fix the roads. Other previous investments over 70 years we will not know until people demand it. (Arnprior annual budget is $10 million)
(New York City alone has $1 trillion of “hidden investments”, but they can’t fix the roads) ALL levels of Government/School boards/Pension funds etc. perform this deceit . The Ontario Teachers’ Union owns The Toronto Blue Jays for example, ….. Rogers….. Buying a majority stake in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan http://benmaller.com/2010/12/blue-jays-owners-to-buy-nbas-raptors-nhls-maple-leafs/
http://cafr1.com/STATES/ listed CAFR by US states Can. Provinces, (slow loading)
Listen to a US expert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTNl_GTFOp4&feature=related
So when your cars suspension/steering are continually demolished on the rocky road to the great car graveyard, or as you foot the bill for hundreds of dollars in repairs have pity on the poor Town struggling to manage its vast locked-in investments from which you will NOT benefit.
Rookies hit the Prior.
Blackwater/Haliburton training Canadian cops, AND soldiers!
A little rumor from a reliable source:
If you’ve been out and about in the Prior in the past year and usually late evening you may notice more police activity than we were previously used to. Reason being whereas in the past “Rookies” were posted to the ‘Frew they are now being posted here and they are gung-ho to collect taxes (in the form of tickets) for daddy McGuinty.
It is further rumored that Blackwater/Haliburton (the US mercenary outfit seen on YouTube shooting ‘em up in Iraq and run by Dick Chaney, ex VP) is now training Canadian cops. (Is that why they have the hand on the gun approach? It happened to me for a taillight out, I kid you not!)
http://cantontruth.blogspot.com/2008/03/blackwater-training-us-police.html Check out # 35. Ottawa-Carleton, Canada Police.
AND soldiers!
…”Select Canadian soldiers have been sent to Blackwater U.S.A. in North Carolina for specialized training in bodyguard and shooting skills. Other soldiers have taken counterterrorism evasive-driving courses with the private military company now at the center of an investigation into the killings of Iraqi civilians and mounting concerns about the aggressive tactics of its workers in the field.”…
http://www.savevid.com/video/petitions-on-spp-feb1308-security-prosperity-partnership.html
You only appreciate “oldtimer cops” when they are gone. Happy retirement Cont. Gudgeon who gave me a few breaks in my day.
Worth listening:
http://www.thatchannel.com (Conspiracy Café)
http://www.thepowerhour.com
With all the talk lately in Arnprior News of landfill lifespans and the inherent pollution and runoff I’m reminded of a proposal 20 years ago led by Arnpriors Tommy Sullivan to install a county wide garbage incinerator to be supported by the various Townships. At that time the proposed cost was $10 million and while it was an “unknown” to most people in Canada it may be time to revisit this idea. Not only will it pay for itself in the production of electricity to business’s and homes it also provides a clean alternative fuel.
Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags
HORSHOLM, Denmark —…..Far cleaner than conventional incinerators, this new type of plant converts local trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago.
.. such plants have become both the mainstay of garbage disposal and a crucial fuel source across Denmark,…. Their use has not only reduced the country’s energy costs and reliance on oil and gas, but also benefited the environment, diminishing the use of landfills ….. The plants run so cleanly that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration.
With all these innovations, Denmark now regards garbage as a clean alternative fuel rather than a smelly, unsightly problem. And the incinerators, are known as waste-to-energy plants,…
….
Denmark now has 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of 5.5 million people, and 10 more are planned or under construction…..
….Nickolas J. Themelis, a professor of engineering at Columbia University and a waste-to-energy proponent, said America’s resistance to constructing the new plants was economically and environmentally “irresponsible.”……
Hi,
Has anyone in your new council considered why Arnprior parking restrictions regarding snow removal are vastly different to that of most major cities in that they only require “no parking “ in the event of at least 7 cm of forecasted Snow…
….in effect throughout the city from November 15 to April 1, permitting the City to clear the way for you. This means that you cannot park on City streets between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. when a snow accumulation of 7 cm or more is forecast by Environment Canada in the Ottawa area. This includes any forecast for a range of snow of more than 7 cm, for example 5 to 10 cm…
http://ottawa.ca/residents/parking/regulations/winter_parking/index_en.html
People are being unreasonably ticketed when no snow/removal is forecast.(the spirit of the law?) In many areas of town, (Townhouses) there is very limited parking normally, but when visitors are here there is a scramble to find adequate space. Would it be that difficult to amend this antiquity of a bygone era.
Thank you
From: DAVID Reid
Thank you for your e-mail. The Town is setting up a special advisory committee to review all our Policies, Procedures and By-Laws. I have forwarded your email to the Clerk & Chair of the Committee, for their consideration.
Regards
Dave
Home: 613.623.7259
Cell: 613.229.0578
A recent letter to David Reid, Mayor of Arnprior.
Calgary Council makes right decision on the ethics of mass fluoridation…. Removes fluoride from water .
I think it’s now time to remove this toxic waste product from our water and let ME decide if I choose to fluoridate/be poisoned.(not to mention the costs to our taxes) Mass fluoridation has been linked in many cases to bone degeneration, dental fluorosis and osteoporosis.
“It is well known that chronic ingestion of fluoride, (NOT calcium fluoride) can cause osteofluorosis or skeletal fluorosis, and hip fractures (crippling bone disease).”
http://www.fluoridation.com/bones.htm
The Phosphate Fertilizer Industry, the supplier.
….However, the impacts of the industry’s fluoride emissions are still being felt….That’s because, after being captured in the scrubbers, the fluoride acid (hydrofluorosilicic acid), a classified hazardous waste, is barreled up and sold, unrefined, to communities across the country. Communities add hydrofluorosilicic acid to their water supplies as the primary fluoride chemical…..
http://www.fluoridealert.org/phosphate/overview.htm
Video from Australia: production of Fluoride
http://www.firewaterfilm.com/
The moral imperative
Calgary Council makes right decision on the ethics of mass fluoridation… Removes fluoride from water.
Calgary Herald
Calgary city council deserves praise for voting overwhelmingly Tuesday to remove fluoride from Calgary’s drinking water. The 10-3 vote, with Mayor Naheed Nenshi absent for meetings in Toronto, is a courageous step on a contentious issue.
…Imposing mass fluoridation on an entire population is ethically questionable.
With the many widespread topical applications of fluoride that are available today, we have argued that fluoridation is a vestige from another era and that fluoride should be removed from Calgary’s water –…..
http://www.canada.com/health/moral%20imperative/4247985/story.html
http://www.fluoridation.com/bones.htm
**I think I figured out the dashboard, so duplicate post for testing
Wednesday, (Groundhog Day), February 2, 2011. Golden Sunlight coming through this tree was almost physical, I’m glad I almost captured that here. While nastier than usual storms hit all around us, Arnprior somehow missed its usual accumulation of snow. But then Groundhog Day happened and boom. Welcome to winter.
—————Jim
Death by a thousand cuts is not a new phrase, or title; in fact it is an old form of Chinese torture though I understand Caligula was partial to this form of amusement as well. That being said, this is what I am feeling right now.
In the past couple of years I have suffered an unending stream of financial woes brought on by various utility companies. First was the electric reseller that locked me into double the current rate for five years and I could get out of it by paying a mere $800 or something like that. Now before you think I’m totally stupid, I had been fed a line that the amount I’d be paying would actually be less than the current monthly rate due to another line that would rebate a certain amount. You have 30 days to cancel contracts like that after signing, but when your bill comes two months after the last one, well, you’re screwed. As I was. It took two painful years of bills that at times were in the range of $1200 and fighting to get it canceled – to their credit they did lower the amount to around the average rate but with the provincial benefit that gets added on to such accounts, it was high for the one year I suffered with that before I was legally able to tell them to stick it.
I did tell them that. And life was good. For one month. The next month the time of use hydro meters came in and my bill went from my happy $400 (this was the summer bill) to $770. Why? Who the hell knows but we’re walking around in the dark a lot these days, and laundry and dishes don’t happen until after 9:00 p.m. The next bill was about 2/3 which is better, but still very high.
Now comes the gas bill. I paid off my air conditioner and thought, yay! Here’s $100 a month less I’m paying. Am I? Nope. Like one of thousands of equal billing customers I was slammed with a $500+ gas bill because “oops, we made an error and it seems we underestimated something so sorry, you have to pay.” So I did and they recalculated my monthly bill to an amount that is, strangely enough, the same as what I was paying before when I was purchasing the air conditioner. And gas rates have gone down. How can that be? Who the hell knows.
I live in a town that up until a couple of years ago had reasonable water rates, much better than the neighboring big city. Then eegads, the system was substandard and had to be replaced immediately which would cause an increase in water rates. Then they put in new meters as well. My water bills doubled. Then last summer I got a bill of over $500 to catch up for a year and half worth of estimated bills. Seems their accounting system wasn’t working so they just guessed. There’s a big kerfluffle over that one so I, like many, haven’t paid the exorbitant mysteriously appearing bill while the town decides what they can do with themselves about this. My last bill was double the estimated double bill from before because it seems I have a leak. After the huge summer bill I did a bunch of replacing of flappers and leaking taps etc., and it seems that out of the goodness of their hearts they will give a one time rebate for people who’ve done repairs. Provided they give all the receipts. Now I don’t often hang on to all my assorted Canadian Tire receipts, especially when it’s for stuff I know I can’t return so I don’t have them. What do I do now? I fill in the form and say what the eff, how do I prove this. In the meantime my water bill is now as high as my hydro bills (and isn’t the similarity in names interesting?) so how do I deal with this? Who the hell knows.
Last night I came home to a lovely little pamphlet, beautifully printed and compliments of the provincial government explaining why they are increasing rates and helpful hints on when to live your life. We, according them, now need to be vampire bats in order to do such horrible energy hogging things like washing dishes and laundry and cooking and heating the house and reading and using appliances. If I want to live a normal life, well, there’s always a rock and pail of water and candles and a wood-stove to suit my needs.
There’s been a big hoopla in the news the last few days about a cap being put on internet usage so I thought I better check on our unlimited account. Effective today my unlimited account has a 25GB cap. I checked last month’s usage. Uploads and downloads combined, for 4 people using it, came to 167GB. At $2/GB over, well, if we do the same this month we’re screwed. That’s getting into hydro bill territory. So I phoned. There’s a limit they can charge more, that being $60 so then that merely puts the internet into water bill territory. I can add an overage amount for $15 more a month but that won’t take effect until next month. So how do we deal with this month? Who the hell knows.
If there’s anything I do know, it’s this: all of these bills are not being caused by extreme shortage or the weather or anything other than somebody signing something into effect without any recourse by the people who not only need these things but have no choice but to swallow it. I want solar, but apparently the one plan that allows people in my area to purchase by paying for it from what’s generated doesn’t work for older houses with trees nearby.
The problem with swallowing it is that even if I turn off all the lights, spend my evenings and nights huddled in blankets and only take baths once a week, my salary simply isn’t going up enough to deal with this.
I’m at my wits’ ends and I’m not the only one. I watch with a mixture of curiosity, hope and fear at the situation in the middle east, most particularly Egypt. We’re seeing a nation of fed up people. We’re seeing people made even more angry by the controls on their communications. The government clamps down, but enterprising people are finding a way to get the word out, and equally resourceful people are hearing those words.
My country, the one of which I am so proud and thankful to live in, is making it nearly impossible to use what are considered by most rational and sane people as necessities and now, as of today, the extent of my words are being limited on the internet.
What am I going to do, now that my utilities are effectively more than half my take home pay?
Who the hell knows. But what I do know is that add enough of me together, let a few people die of the heat or cold in this very extreme weather country and you have the makings for some pretty serious business. Just ask Egypt.
——-
Sign the petition! http://openmedia.ca/meter
An American company offers to download stuff for Canadians and ship it to us on CD: www.canadiandownload.com
Tags: canadian, electricity, fed up, gas bills, hydro, internet usage cap, ontario, water rates
(also posted on the blog “Mrssauga” but we thought it should be posted here too)
We have a new reporter, Sean posted a comment to the ‘About Page’ and I tried to set it up so anything he posts would automatically be okayed. But- that isn’t working. I don’t know, maybe there’s something intrinsic in WordPress’ subroutines that is confused and doesn’t like his global account or something. So anybody, if you’ve sent us a comment or tried to write an article that disappeared, send email to “ttalxalot@aerendel.ca”. And if that doesn’t get to me, we might have to get Alex Jones or Jesse Ventura on the case. hmmmmm-
—————uh, who am I? This 24 hour alzheimers stuff is a pain in the brain…
Arnprior had the biggest voter turnout in the Province of Ontario. (And thank you, Sean, for giving the results in your reply to the “Elections Coming” article.)
64.6% of eligible voters voted.
One town councillor and the Reeve were the only two incumbents to return (out of 7). Ex Mayor Terry Gibeau lost his bid to become a Councillor (he said he wanted to work on the loose ends left over from the last 4 years) by 9 votes.
There was a controversy over the Town Clerk’s call to extend voting 24 hours when ‘Intellivote’ nearly imploded with the volume of people trying to vote at the figurative last minute (I think, if you try to call something “Smart” ((as in smart meters)) or hint at a product being intelligent- That should be a giant red flag to everybody who might use that product to stay the he(ck) away and spend their money more wisely somewhere else. Smart meters have been used by electric companies in Texas to turn down the amount of electricity flowing into apartments, thus turning off air conditioners on a 100˚F + day (over 40˚C) which resulted in the deaths of senior citizens who were not able to get out of those apartments as the temperature soared way above 110˚F/45˚C. I haven’t heard of the utility companies that do stuff like that being charged with murder, YET! )
Other municipalities, facing the same problem had extended their deadline by one hour. Arnprior extended the deadline by 24 hours in an attempt to be as fair as possible. There was some local grumbling, but most of the feedback from ‘experts’ said Arnprior did the right thing.
ah well, I should climb down from the soap box and get on with things….
—–Jim