Reflections of an Old Man

We will likely never know the life history of COVID because nobody will want to reveal the steps that led up to the pandemic, for fear of consequences. Circumstantial evidence points towards the lab in Wuhan, but what about the lead-up? Conspiracy theories are swirling around, the substance of which depends on the bias of the promulgator. All that aside, this virus is both sneaky and deadly, in unpredictable ways, as I have discovered having been directly involved in local cases. Its long term health consequences are still unknown, for us to discover. Whoever you are, I respect your power, like I would a meteor from outer space, heading my way.

The other day, I spoke to an old fire fighting buddy of mine. He was sitting in his parked car and as we had a conversation. I noticed that his left leg, exposed on account of him wearing shorts, was a mechanical device. When queried about this, he explained that his leg had been amputated following the progression of gangrene, as he had to wait for 8 months to have problems with the leg attended to due to COVID related effects on the health care system. And we are now about to experience a health care system in crisis trying to cope with the fourth COVID wave.

The Trudeau clique in Ottawa was stupid enough to call a Federal Election on September 20. Polls are now swinging against these folks whose obvious selfish motives are laid bare for all to see. In their arrogance they failed to see that nobody wanted this election, as the fourth COVID wave is gaining momentum and federal politicians are busy navel gazing, dreaming of pensions down the road. One significant liberal character is absent from public view in this campaign: Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland who was seen to be the real power in the party until some time ago. I'm guessing she is busy preparing herself for a new career. All the crap is now hitting the fan for Justin Trudeau as he spouts off more empty promises falling on increasingly deaf ears. Erin O'Toole's conservatives and Jagmeet Singh's New Democrats are gaining momentum as Justin and his yaysayers are slipping behind. My guess is that as people see the real possibility of getting rid of Trudeau, the

The construction of an ideology serves the purpose of mind control. This has been the case in religion and politics forever and is now also the case in the realm of finance. We are told about the free market and all the advantages derived from this way of doing business. In contrast to monopoly capitalism where the supplier dictates all the terms of trade. In the real world, neither of these extremes actually exist, and practices vary greatly in between the two. In finance, people are tempted with all kinds of carrots to participate, based on the idea of an equal playing field. In reality, those that control vast amounts of financial resources can easily manipulate financial markets and skim off profits for themselves at the cost of inexperienced and under-resourced players. And as the aggregate value of a market increases, like the stock market for example, the big players are enriching themselves by grabbing an increasing share of that market.

That's the most accurate way of describing the UCP Alberta government at this time. During the early summer the inner clique of bureaucrats and politicians convinced themselves that the COVID pandemic was just too inconvenient to deal with, so they decided among themselves that it was behind them. The actions they had to take to stem the tide of the pandemic were inconsistent with their political ideology so they relegated the virus to a place alongside other pathogens, like the flu virus and others. And now, when COVID Delta is rapidly gaining the upper hand in Alberta, these folks are simply just talking amongst themselves, convincing each other about the rightness of their lack of action. Maybe they all suffer from stress and need some professional counselling?

Alberta suffers from many ailments, one of which is incompetent bureaucrats and politicians acting in consort to deny the emergence of the fourth COVID wave in the province. After Alberta Chief Health Officer, Dr. Hinshaw's pronouncement that COVID is behind us some time ago, these self appointed 'experts' have been lying low, with Premier Kenney off somewhere on a holiday and not available for comments. Meanwhile, frontline medical people are sounding the alarm as the fourth wave builds with an infection positivity rate of 9%+ on Saturday. Looks like Alberta is going to be a showcase for North America for new infections, once again. We might even beat the southern states in the US! (with whom we have a lot in common, attitude wise)

As COVID gets smarter, we have to follow suit. A simple proven way to do this is to upgrade indoor ventilation systems based on the simple principle of "bringing the outdoors inside" The technology is already there, just waiting to be installed. So, let's get with it.

That's what we are faced with as a society in relation to our choice of energy. The prevailing narrative is never ending growth based on hydrocarbon fuels, and it is unsustainable. What is the alternative? Can we have our cake and eat it too? I believe so, based on nuclear power as an energy backbone. The power of the stars is at our fingertips and can be used to generate hydrogen for use in combustion engines, alongside electricity in other applications. The only thing holding us back is our own irrational fear of nuclear power, based on 60 years of fear mongering by hydrocarbon producer based vested interests. Obvious changes in the Earth's weather patterns are a call to action, now!

I don't think so, in spite of mainstream media buzz to the contrary. Why? In the face of a mounting fourth COVID wave and the risk of losing seats to the Federal NDP party, Justin Trudeau's handlers are likely putting brakes on the idea as I write this piece. As masking and other behavioral restrictions are re-imposed on cranky Canadians, a scapegoat will likely be identified, and our Justin fits that profile perfectly. He may not be very smart, but his handlers are not stupid.

The decision to lift all health control measures related to COVID here in Alberta on August 16 has sent ripples across Canada, to the point where Canada's Minister of Health, Patricia A. Hajdu, has written a letter to Alberta's chief medical officer of health Deena Hinshaw, urging her to reconsider this recommendation to the Alberta Government. Based on my years of observation of, and participation in politics, I smell a rat behind the decision. Alberta was run by a conservative government from 1971 to 2015 with various politicians on the front benches and permanent interests behind them, mostly from the oil and gas sector of the economy. A four year interlude followed under Rachel Notley and her New Democratic Party government during which the conservatives reorganized under the leadership of Jason Kenney, with the same permanent interest groups in the background, resulting in a new conservative government with Kenney at the helm in 2019 under the "United Conservative Par

'Premier' (not so) Kenney made sure he was not present when Alberta's Chief Officer of Health announced the lifting of all health restrictions as of August 16. And he also stated that the decision to go ahead with this policy was made by the Alberta Government based upon the recommendation of Dr. Hinshaw. In other words, he was covering his arse, knowing full well that COVID DELTA is making major inroads across the world at this time. He was also conspicuously absent when Dr. Hinshaw made this announcement to the media, in spite of it being a potentially popular decision. So, when we put our masks back on again, Kenney can throw up his hands and say that he acted on the best 'scientific' advice available. I feel sorry for Dr. Deana Hinshaw being used in this way by a ruthless, unprincipled politician.