Independent Canadian News

Gas Prices Going Up.

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  • MacEwen (+ethanol) = 99.7 ¢ per litre
  • Most other stations = 98.7 ¢ per litre.
  • Petro Canada = 98.9 ¢ per litre.

I didn’t check the outlying stations yet.

Remember, “There is no gas shortage, there never was a gas shortage, and with what we know now, there never will be a gas shortage. The Earth manufactures oil by some process we don’t understand, but it has nothing to do with decomposing dinosaurs or vegetable matter.” <—  Exxon oil company big wig, when addressing VIPs in Alaska.

The Alaska Pipe line was built to handle three times the volume it now handles. They do now want you to know that oil reserves are at a higher level now than they ever have been, even while oil usage keeps doubling. They are deliberately holding back on the amount of oil they process to avoid letting the price go down at all.

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I thought they were trying to use the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as an excuse to raise their prices.

More likely, they’re blaming it on the Harmonized Sales Tax. (Harmonized as in 1984 quack talk?) (Love is Hate, etc?)

Conservative mailings last month want everybody to believe the Canadian Conservatives are wonderful people giving them back tax money. They say the average Canadian should pay $80.00 less in income tax. (I had to pay a lot more than last year.)

But the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) kicked in here in Ontario May 1st (I believe it was May 1st) and it has been calculated that this will cost the average household between $470.00 and $740.00 more per year.

So they toss you a bone and pick your pocket when you bend over to pick up the bone? Sounds like politix as usual.

Overheard on the street, (actually, the Mall) : “I heard somebody say the Prime Minister gave a moving speech in the Netherlands today. The only moving speech I want that &^**&^*%&%$$$!!! to give is, ‘I’m moving out of the Prime Minister’s residence and back into my private residence….’.”  ((And I thought this was a solidly Conservative area.)) ((maybe this old guy was just fed up with all politicians, regardless of what they publicly claim to believe in.))

—————Jim

Gas Prices Update

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To quote top Exxon officials: “There is no gas shortage, There never was a gas shortage, and from what we know now, there never will be a gas shortage!”

This planet and many others manufacture oil by some process we don’t yet understand. There are more oil reserves now than ever before and consumption has more than doubled since 1973.

And in 1973 many many huge tankers full of crude oil stayed off shore of New England until they were declared “New Oil” and could be sold for $30 a barrel instead of $3 a barrel. Oil company officials were running all around the state of Connecticut, looking for closed gas stations, any place they could find to hide as much gasoline as possible so they could free up their tankers to go get more. Gasoline trucks were meeting drivers in New York State (the Ithaca area) in the middle of the night to fill their gas tanks so they could deliver whatever they were delivering. The above two examples are just what I am personally aware of.

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Gas prices in Arnprior:

As of Thursday Morning, 29 April, 2010, 7 am:

After at least two stations (Ultramar and Mr Gas) tried to raise their price to over 98 ¢ per litre, prices have rolled back to 96.3¢ at most stations with MacEwen (+ethanol) at 97.5¢ and Petro Canada at 96.5¢ per litre.

I haven’t driven the extra half a kilometer to check out the Stinson station with the car wash (which is usually the most expensive in town) or the extra 6 kilometers ((3 each way)) to the other side of the highway to see how the Stinson station there and the Ultramar at the truck stop are doing.)

—————Jim

Another Day Closer to Spring

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-Monday, 08 March, 2010. 8˚C @ 3:00 pm.

Ducks gathered on the Madawaska River, North of the Weir.

This photo was taken by Cathi Harris a couple days ago. She caught the ducks landing on the water. Snow is melting. I wish I could say hearts were melting too. I heard a politician giving a speech this afternoon. He was stumbling over the phrase “The Great Recession” that I believe he was trying to use, maybe to coin, for the financial mess the media have been trying to convince us we’re in the middle of. I heard somebody else explain that this is an attempt to manipulate millions of people into a panic so a few unscrupulous people who want to rule them can take action toward that end. Anyway, the politician stumbled over the words and it sounded like “the great reception” and then my brain went to work and called it “The Great Deception.” Wouldn’t it be nice if that description sticks and we throw the bumbs out and start again with a nice clean slate?

—————Jim

Gas Prices Update

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Monday, 08 March, 2010. -2C @ 9:00 am:

Full Service:

  • Stinson (+Car Wash, Madawaska Blvd near PJ’s) 97.5 ¢ per litre.
  • McEwen (+ Ethanol, Madawaska Blvd, Near Tim Hortons’s) 96.9 ¢

Self Service:

  • Petro Canada (Daniel Street/White Lake ?) 95.9 ¢
  • Everybody else: 95.7 ¢

Heading Toward Ottawa:

  • Prices have gone above a Dollar Per Litre

—————Jim

Sunday Sights About Town

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-Sunday, 07 March, 2010:

Dog Sign Photo
It's Dog Walking Season in Arnprior. This is Madawaska Street, Town Hall to the right.

I was zooming into the studio to check on things. When I pulled over to the curb to park I saw this long line of people, single file, walking their dogs across Madawaska Street, from the corner with Macs all night convenience store toward a pizza parlor. I thought, “How cool is that?” and dug out my camera, but I couldn’t get set up in time.

Then I climbed out of the vehicle and almost stepped into, well, the cute line of you know what photographed above.

Do you think the dogs or the people are making a statement by leaving this curiously spaced string of stuff at the Town Hall?

Hmmmmmm-

—————Jim

Interesting Quote from the States.

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“The current financial crisis here is not a problem with the economy. It is entirely political. It is all about powerful individuals with a definite agenda attempting to manipulate millions of people into a position of powerlessness so they can be more easily controlled. Their agenda has nothing to do with guaranteeing the freedom and comfort of the U.S. citizenry. It is all about power and greed and the lengths that unscrupulous individuals will go to to line their own pockets at the expense of anyone and everyone around them.”

(I think the person being quoted is Catherine Austin Fitts (Link), but I want to be good and sure before I assign the credit or blame for this one.)

—————Jim (not the person being quoted)

A Little More Spring Like

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-Tuesday, 02 March, 2010:

Madawaska River, Noon, March 2, 2010
Looking East across the Madawaska River just north of the weir.

The thermometer that appeared magically after my van was last serviced said it got up to +4˚C today (about 40˚F?)

The sun was bright and it looks like we might actually get a springtime this year. (Should we be surprised? No- but it helps?)

—————Jim

Gasoline Price Changes

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-02 March, 2010; Midnight:

Self Service Stations:

  • Canadian Tire: Daniel Street: 95.7 ¢ per litre.
  • Ultramar: Madawaska Bkvd: 95.7 ¢.
  • Mr Gas: (2 pm-ish) 95.7 ¢

(only changes seen so far. Most other stations at 96.7 / 96.9 for Petro Canada & McEwen / 97.5 Stinson Car Wash.)

Remember there never has been an honest gas shortage, & froom what we know now, there never will be one. People are discovering abundant pockets of oil beneath their Texas property, Oil companies swoop in, get them to sign exclusive contracts. Oil wells are dug, capped and left “Until it makes sense for us to bring it in and distill it.

—————Jim