the watcher

Interesting that it was reported recently that a independent study found that Manitoba had one of the best vaccine rollouts in Canada. It was reported in several news outlets. Bartley Kives questioning at the press conferences borders on ignorant and belligerent. And repeatedly when called on for his turn there is dead air which has happened enough that I suspect he walks away from his computer and isn't there when called upon. One of the worst reporter's in Winnipeg in my opinion.

So 3 weeks ago I had a set to with a maskless father and daughter in Winkler Superstore. Last week my wife was in the checkout lineup and the store manager is standing there. So she asked him why don't you do something about the maskless people ? He said I can't. ( BS ) The local cops won't ticket them and those orders are from city council. Now I don't know if he is telling the truth on that or if he is using them as a scapegoat. That damn place is going to be center for a breakout.

There's " I'm sorry " and there's " I'm sorry I got caught " I put all of these into the latter.

Is there a slimier looking guy than Gaetz ? He would get my vote in a " looks untrustworthy " competition. He's even got the 1960s televangelist haircut.

Ya, thats a scary threat. Straight up wrench in the gears of fighting this pandemic.

One of the issues with having the farmers decide was that there is a huge amount of older farmers who aren't actively engaged in farming but are still technically farmers and permit holders. Most of them were pro wheat board. And dont forget , the Conservatives didn't abolish the Wheat Board. They just allowed farmers the option of marketing wheat and barley on their own like the rest of their crops. This issue is one that alot of people had opinions on because of the propaganda put out by BOTH sides. Alot of disinformation. Alot of misunderstanding by people who really had no understanding of the issues or had any hand in the game.. As far as farmers it was a real split down the middle. I had my own farm at the time and worked for my neighbor. He was %100 anti Wheat Board.. Hated it. He figured he lost 30,000 one year because of the wheat board. I also had a neighbor on the other side that was % 100 Pro board. If you want to pick something Harper screwed up on the Wheat Board probably isn't the one. Despite what non farmers in the city were led to believe. As I said previously I had cattle and sold hay so I had no dog in the race. I suspect if actual farmers had got to vote and not just permit holders it probably would have went open market. It certainly would today if it happened

I hate being a cranky old man but when I read that I just want to go on a old man rant about people having no common sense. I KNOW people that have spent their life using crutches because of polio. It's not that long ago. Vaccines saved everyone from that. F##k people are stupid !

The US has lost all semblance of a functioning state,

Not really. I know lots of smallish farmers that wanted it gone. Lots wanted it kept. Often the split was aged based. Young farmers are pretty savy about marketing their crops. It really didn't make sense that a couple of their crops couldn't be marketed like the rest. Canola, corn , soybeans, and special crops have shrunk the wheat acreage anyways. The wheat board was a good way to battle the big grain companies but it had also morphed into a gigantic bureaucracy. I was producing non wheat board products at the time so had no dog in the race. I could see both sides of it. But I did find it odd that you could grow wheat in Ontario and market it however you wanted. But not here. You could market your canola however and where ever you wanted. But not your wheat.

The UK started building facilities last April after the pandemic arrived. They developed and produced their own vacine since then. They have now vaccinated about %46 of their population. And this was done in a toxic political environment. Our Federal government should be ashamed of itself. They attempted a poorly arranged joint deal with a Chinese government that has few ethics and was already angry at us. What a surprise it fell through. They then sat on their thumbs for months. Kudos to our provincial government for putting money into a Alberta/ Manitoba made vacine even though it won't be available till maybe October. Those guys were beating on the Feds door for a long time and couldn't get action.

Agreed nobody to blame but ourselves. But we had the time, knowledge and money to be doing our own vacine. It's a major screw up that is costing lives.

My theory on UBI is it is an absolute must. Robotics ( or whatever term you choose ) is ending jobs worldwide. The answer to that has always been " but it opens high tech jobs ". Those jobs will dwindle as well as our technology begins to both repair and develop itself. And thats here. It is one of the main reasons that the very, very rich are increasing their wealth. At a unprecedented rate. It no longer trickles down and the tap is getting shut off. Alot of our current social unrest both left and right can be attributed to this. Fair and equitable taxation for Corps, rich and Joe shmoe and UBI can solve or perhaps halt some of the ugliness we are seeing. Or we continue on as we are and tailspin to oblivion.

Here's an interesting story. I know a former high ranking cabinet member in Filmons government. About as co servative as you get. We were sitting around having coffee after dinner and I asked " what's your opinion UBI ? " His answer was " It all depends on what it replaces "

I always thought Gary Doer was a good example of fiscally responsible and socially left. There was a good reason Harper sent him off to be the US ambassador . I think he scared the hell out of him. If the Federal Libs had got a hold of him he would have been tough to defeat.

Think Jean Chretien and Paul Martin . They worked hard and succeeded reducing a debt built by Pierre T. Caring for people doesn't necessarily equate with throwing money at whatever makes you popular. That's it ! Interestingly there is a conversation on CJOB about being a " political orphan." Which is a good way to describe it.

I tend to be fiscally Conservative and socially left. I have voted for all the major parties at different times for different reasons. I had great hopes that O Toole could move the party to a more sensible and electable platform. Silly me. This isn't good for Canada's future. A sitting government with a unethical PM that says all the right things but acts in the complete opposite. And spends like a drunken sailor just into port. A PC opposition party that won't look at science and facts ,determined to remain in the 1970s . And a NDP party led by a someone I doubt we are open minded enough to elect and who has got way to cosy with the current Gov. It's going to be a tough choice

I feel like I'm standing at a roulette table. " Come on 63 ! Aw, 65 again. Damn it ! "

The whole thing makes me nervous as hell. I love the CFL game . I have no friggen idea if there is a solution other than tieing ourselves to an unsuccesful American leauge but you would think there would be. To me it smacks of curing a painful broken leg by shooting yourself in the head. I hope I'm wrong.

I know I shouldn't have, but I went off on a guy in Superstore. Him and his 20 something daughter were walking around no mask, no space with other shoppers and I just lost it. Then he said he didn't have to worry about Covid because Jesus was his salvation. That really put me over the top. It got a bit ugly. I must be getting Covid fatigue to get sucked into that. Hurry up vaccines . ( I'm getting close )

Some what. Renewables, (wind and solar )most countries that source them heavily require another source that is more reliable. Thorium reactors /natural gas, supplemented by wind and solar would do it. But its not cheap or easy. That Coal is cheap and already exists is probably the only reason it's still there. That and the private energy companies ( USA) that won't change unless they are forced. To pretend this is simple is wrong. To ignore global warming is wrong. A practical working temperature for super conductors would be a game changer for the world but I have heard very little on that for a long time. 10 or 15 years ago there was a huge amount of excitement about them.

Boy that's a wholesale uprooting of the school system. It will be interesting to see how it turns out

I thought the carbon tax was a way for the current government to throw out a quick bone and say " Look at what We are doing " I really question it's effectiveness and who the money will go to. A good example was the 12 mill. to Loblaws to fix their refrigerators as soon as the program started.. As if they couldn't do that themselves. We definatly need action . But it is really friggen complicated. Alot comes down to how countries are generating power. Some studies are showing that electric cars are causing more CO2 than combustion cars if the electricity is being generated by coal ( alot of the USA ). Norway is interesting as they have been stowing away their oil money for years and years and are now using it to promote and advance the use and sale of electrics.( Rather than a punishment model like us ) Canada with our massive ( like Norway ) hydro electric systems are definatly going to benefit with electric vehicles. The thing is we create such a tiny percentage of the world's CO2. And our massive forests eat that and alot more up. Despite the way it is often worded and the hate layed on the Tarsands we remove more CO2 than we produce. Now if you can tell me some way to get China, India and USA on board I will vote for you as King of the world. What really pisses me off is that both the Oil industry and the more extreme Greens talk so much bullshit. Global warming is a real threat. The extreme green don't need to twist things to make it worse. The Oil industry would do us all a favor if they admitted to it. My answer ? Thorium reactors ! They should be at the heart of every green discussion.

Then they failed at getting experience. To my knowledge she never came to the riding. What politician or even someone who is interested in politics would not bother to send a bio and a note on their beliefs to a newspaper when asked.It was the total lack of effort that blew me away.

Let me tell you about the candidates that ran in my Provincal riding. But first I got rearranged and am now in Turtle Mountain. I'm 40 minutes from Morden/ Winkler. I am there at least once a week. .... My current MLA. has his office in Virden. About a 3 hour drive away or a 6 hour round trip. 2x as far as I am from Winnipeg. But back to my candidates. The Pcs are going to win here no doubt but the NDP candidate was a young women who lives in Winnipeg. Born and raised in Eastern Manitoba. I never saw her. No phone call. No meetings. No one came to coffee shops to talk. Nothing. A local small town paper contacted ALL the candidate's but only the Pcs and Green responded to give a bio and get some FREE advertising. At one point I promised myself that I'd vote for the 1st candidate that asked for my vote. So apparently the NDP a party that started out as a farmers party doesn't believe there is one person in the riding that covers almost half the width of the province, worthy of being their candidate. I'll add in, I'm the voter opposition parties want . I've voted PC, Liberal and NDP in the past. It's alright to complain that these rural ridings that could run a poorly trained seal and still go PC but that will never change till the other parties at least try.

I don't get it. They are trying to figure out a way to play a season. Is this supposed to help with that ? If not, if it's a separate plan or idea, why now ? Why tie the CFL to a wanna be league that has never worked ? This makes me nervous.