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Alberta Bulldog Rescue.

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I am due to deviate from partisan political ramblings for a posting. Dog abuse and puppy mills are a real problem in Alberta. I want to expand on bulldogs in particular.

Jane and I have been bulldog owners for some years now. Responsible dog ownership is always an ongoing learning experience, particularly when dealing with a breed as unique as an English bulldog. Aside from the lessons in maintaining and living with these dogs, one of the harder lessons was finding out just how many bulldogs are abused and abandoned in Alberta by unprepared pet owners and unscrupulous breeders. There is a real sad trend happening in Alberta and I hope that we can reduce the number of dogs being poorly treated like this.

Jane has been active with Alberta Bulldog Rescue for awhile now and we have hosted some foster dogs over the last few months. It is heartbreaking to see such great dogs neglected like this. I know that these issues exist with all breeds of dogs but it is bulldogs in particular that we are dealing with and they are pretty unique in the dog world with their behaviour and needs.

I will start with a bit of background on how Jane and I got into bulldog ownership and later fostering.

Stewie (pictured below) was and still is our first bulldog. When we decided that we wanted to get an English bulldog, it was far from an overnight process to get one. The cost for a well bred bulldog puppy runs from $2000-$3000, there are often waiting lists to get puppies and reputable breeders are very particular about who they will sell their beloved puppies to. After a long search Jane and I found Stewie at an Idaho breeder and after being able to convince the breeder that we could provide Stewie a good home we picked him up from Hayden for an average price.

 

Stewie settled in excellently and soon became a solid member of our family. After a couple years though, we thought that perhaps Stewie could use some company of his own breed. While Stewie loves other dogs, they often do not care much for him due to his snorting and odd appearance. We thought that another bulldog would be the best companion for Stewie and found Lonnie (pictured below) being offered for sale locally on kijiji. This is how and where we learned about what happens with “breeder” dogs.

 

We knew Lonnie was an older dog from the ad and that she had been bred a couple times. The price was only $500 and with her apparently being only 5 years old, we thought she would be a good match for Stewie. Lonnie came from a central Alberta breeder and the process of purchase was glaringly different with her than it had been with Stewie. The seller had no concern about who we were or if we could care for the dog properly and we literally met to exchange the dog for a cheque in a truck stop parking lot in Calgary. No followup from the breeder ever occurred and it was clear that their only interest was in getting a cheque and moving on.

Lonnie was a beautiful dog with a very loving and cuddly personality. She and Stewie became fast friends and she settled into the household quickly. It was immediate that we noticed that some things were odd with Lonnie too though. Lonnie’s teeth were decayed down to tiny nubs and her breath was wretched. While Lonnie loved human company and playing, she did not know how to play with toys though she would sort of try. Most disturbing was that Lonny would cower at any noise or even if a person approached her too quickly. Lonnie’s cowering stopped after a few months with us so it is clear that it was a learned behaviour. She quickly learned that nobody in our house was going to strike her.

On visiting with our vet it was determined that Lonnie was quite a bit older than what we had been told. It is impossible to tell for sure how old she really was but the vet was confident that 5 was a large understatement of her age. She had been bred multiple times as could be seen by the c-section scars and the condition of her teats but again it was impossible to tell just how many.

Unfortunately after about 8 months with us Lonnie acquired a case of chronic diarrhea. With many visits to the vet and countless experiments with medications and food changes we simply could not beat this disorder and Lonnie began radically losing weight. Upon an x-ray it was found that Lonnie had tumours throughout her entire body including one that was pressuring her trachea. There was little choice left and we had to have Lonnie put down last January (Stewie refused to eat for days after Lonnie was gone).

We certainly do not regret having gotten Lonnie and are happy to have been able to give her one good final year as a part of a family.

Jane and I had been watching the Alberta Bulldog Rescue group on Facebook for some time. After the Lonnie experience, we saw a trend happening in the facebook updates as abandoned female breeder bulldogs were commonly turning up with the rescue group. With bulldogs being so expensive and hard to come by I had figured that there would be little need for fostering or rescuing them. I was quite wrong. With the high demand and high price, unfortunately the breed draws the most unscrupulous of breeders who hope only to make a few bucks.

As with most puppy-mill operations, bulldog bitches are kept kennelled and bred essentially mercilessly. These breeder dogs often never get to leave their kennel environment and are often killed through having been sedated too many times for c-section procedures. The internet has provided a new means for breeders to squeeze just a few more dollars from these poor dogs as they get posted on sites like kijiji and sold to unsuspecting people such as Jane and I.

Below are pictures of Phoebe (French Bulldog) and Karma. Both of these girls stayed with Jane and I for a little while until foster homes were found. Both were breeder dogs. Karma was a very passive and affectionate dog and she has been permanently adopted. Phoebe is very playful and while blind in one eye and having had three c-sections and one natural litter, she loved wrestling with Stewie with gusto. Despite her age, she was not housebroken due to kennel living. That has been rectified since. Phoebe is still seeking a permanent family to join by the way.

Phoebe

 

Karma

 

I am going to go into extended details of what makes bulldogs unique and how they can be very difficult and expensive to own. They are excellent dogs but they are most definitely not for everybody.

Many people get these cut-rate breeder dogs from internet sites like Jane and I with the best of intentions. Not everybody who buys one of these dogs is prepared for the amount of maintenance required and the vet bills that often can and will run into the thousands of dollars. If people have not been properly briefed on what bulldogs are all about before they purchase one, they can be in for many rude awakenings. Unfortunately this leads to many bulldogs being abandoned or neglected when people find they simply can’t take proper care of (or afford to get treatment for) their bulldog.

I am going to list all of the downsides of bulldogs below as it is important that people who are considering getting one know what they are getting into. There are many upsides to the breed, but it is more important initially for a person to know what they do not want first.

Did I mention that bulldogs are expensive? 

It is not just that multi-thousand dollar purchase price that makes bulldogs expensive. Due to overbreeding and poor breeding practices by many unprincipled breeders, bulldogs are often loaded with all sorts of health issues. Many bulldogs have allergies and need specialized foods that cost a small fortune. Cherry eye is very common and requires expensive surgery. Hip problems and breathing issues are common among bulldogs along with digestive challenges.

Between his cherry-eye surgeries, an anaphalactic episode, a digestive infection and simple regular visits to the vet Stewie has already cost us much more in vet bills than he did in his purchase price.

Nobody should own any kind of dog if they can’t afford basic veterinary care for their pet at need. That goes doubly so for bulldogs. I saw a person posting on kijiji begging for somebody to sell them a bulldog saying that they had saved $500 but would make up the purchase price deficit with love. I wish I was kidding here. Vets do not accept love in lieu of payment and I really hope that nobody sold a dog to that person. If that person does get a bulldog, I expect that the Alberta Bulldog Rescue group would be seeing it soon.

Bulldogs are gross in many ways!

I am not talking about common occasional farts as all dogs are prone to doing. Bulldogs are flat-faced and gulp their food which leads to excessive gas. Any trip to google can determine that English bulldogs far and away are considered the most flatulent dogs on earth. Bulldog farts not only smell terribly they are loud and sound grossly almost human.

While talking about the flatulence can be funny, that actually is a serious issue to some people. I remember speaking with a fellow at an off leash park who had a French bulldog that was somewhat new to him. He was feeding it all sorts of new foods and diets in hopes of ending the farts. He found the smell of his dog unbearable and embarrassing and was seriously considering getting rid of the dog for that reason alone. If you can’t handle gas, do not get a bulldog.

Bulldogs are not the top droolers but they are well capable of it. They love sneezing and honestly seem to try to do so with a human target. Their nose-ropes are legendary.

Bulldogs snort and gag regularly. They seem to take pleasure in vomiting at least once weekly and they snore very loudly.

Dedicated bulldog lovers find the above traits endearing in many ways (though nobody likes the farts). If you are easily grossed out however, bulldogs are not for you.

Bulldogs are lazy! 

 

Stewie is in one of his favorite poses in the picture above. He likes to creatively sleep in all sorts of circumstances.

While bulldogs can have some profound spastic moments, they tire quickly and spend most of their time resting. Their endurance is very limited with activity and it cannot be stressed enough: bulldogs can’t handle heat! No dog should be left in an environment that is too hot but bulldogs can and will die at temperatures that other dogs are comfortable with. Bulldogs are not great with cold either and are not “outdoor dogs”. To keep a bulldog living in an outdoor kennel without full temperature control is simply outright abuse and in Calgary’s climate it likely will kill the dog.

If you want a hiking, biking, jogging etc. partner then a bulldog is not for you. The breed simply can’t do those things. One more reminder: most bulldogs can’t swim. Never toss one in the water.

Bulldogs are passive.

Bulldogs were bred centuries ago for the incredibly cruel sport of “bull baiting”. The sport was banned in the early 1800s but the breed was kept by aficionados. What breeders did was kept the strong build of bulldogs but purposely bred out all the aggression. Many people view bulldogs as some sort of tough dog and some foolishly get them thinking they are getting such. Realistically bulldogs are incapable of aggression and they make terrible guard dogs. I have encountered aggressive bulldogs but that is typically due to abuse of the animal.

If you want a guard dog or a tough dog, then a bulldog is not for you.

Bulldogs are high maintenance.

Those cute wrinkles on the face of a bulldog are irresistible. Those same cute wrinkles are also traps for all sorts of gunk and buildup which will cause terrible infections if the wrinkles are not cleaned regularly. Their ears can get pretty gunky and their anal glands often need expression. Bulldogs can’t reach their nether regions for a tongue cleaning as other dogs can. While some who hate seeing dogs lick themselves may see that as a plus, keep in mind that if the dog can’t clean it, then we have to.

If you don’t want to do regular and sometimes gross maintenance on a dog, then bulldogs are not for you.

Upsides of bulldogs.

Enough on all the downsides. Bulldogs are some of the friendliest and most loving of dogs that you could ever find. If you want a dog that loves kids, bulldogs are for you.

Bulldogs are beautiful to those who appreciate the breed. If you like attention while walking having a pair of bulldogs at the dog park is a sure way to turn heads. They are exceptional and fun to take out.

Bulldogs need very little exercise. One or two good walks around the neighborhood are more than enough to keep a bulldog content. If you are not too mobile, bulldogs are a good breed as opposed to some dogs that require hours of heavy activity regularly.  Bulldogs make good urban dogs as they love interaction with people and don’t need the space that other dogs may.

Bulldogs are natural clowns and their odd habits and tricks are an endless source of entertainment. Bulldogs not only look weird, they act weird. I truly see bulldogs as being more like another species of animal rather than a breed of dog. Their neurosis while disturbing to some is entertaining to weirdos like me. 😉

Now after all of that, should you choose to get yourself a bulldog I would like to suggest a few things.

Please begin by looking into the Alberta Bulldog Rescue group. The perfect dog may already be waiting for adoption. Please be patient when considering the bulldog rescue group. It is volunteer run and all processes take some time. Homes for prospective adoptees must be inspected and adopting the dogs is not free. The rescue group is truly seeking “forever” homes for these dogs and must ensure that the home is appropriate. It would be terrible if a dog that already found itself in the rescue society’s care found itself back in there yet again due to being adopted into the wrong home. One abandonment is enough.

If you are looking to go to a breeder please take every precaution to ensure that the breeder is principled and cares for dogs well. Any good breeder will invite you to see their facilities! If somebody is asking a few thousand dollars for a puppy, it is not at all unreasonable for a prospective buyer to see where the dog came from. While excuses about disease control and such are trotted out by some breeders who jealously hide their location and keep people from visiting for some reason, those are simply nothing more than excuses. While it is understandable that a breeder does not want a train of gawkers coming and going from their facilities, mitigating infection and limiting the visitors to serious buyers is easy to do.

There is pretty much no real regulation regarding dog breeding or protection of these dogs from puppy-mill environments. The best way to halt these nasty facilities is simply to stop buying from them. Check references and see for yourself if the breeder is principled and good to their dogs. There are many good breeders out there who love their dogs and care for them well. It is up to buyers to be patient and to seek them out.

So after a couple thousand words, I do hope that I have helped inform about the unique breed that bulldogs are and the problems that we are having in Alberta due to puppy-mills churning them out. Please consider lending a hand to the bulldog rescue group or even adopting a dog. They really need the help.

 

The dreaded robodial!!

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 The tone of this last provincial election was simply horrific. Serious discussion of issues and policy was completely lost as every party engaged in a shrill fear and smear campaign where demonizing their opponents appeared to be much more important than highlighting what they perceive as their own merits. I admit, I jumped into the noise and hysteria in the twitter realm for awhile and yes I was as nasty as any on there. Still, even I who likes a degree of rough and tumble debate lost all appetite for the vulgar scroll of attacks online and backed off on the twitter scroll of insanity hashtagged #abvote. Only the NDP and their supporters tended to stay clear of the fray as they stuck to targeting their concentrated union support and indeed won all the seats they could in Alberta.

 We now have four years to dwell on how to avoid having such a nasty election campaign again if avoidance or at least mitigation is even possible after a performance like this. I hope some new behaviour and ideas surface that can lead to the retention of some degree of rationallity in future elections. I look forward to those discussions.

 Right now I still want to look at some simple and smaller things such as the visual pollution created by public campaign sign placement that I discussed in my last posting. What I want to touch on now is automated dialing which has really become prolific in politics this last few years (ht to Jeremy Nixon for bringing it up). While not earth shattering issues, the autodials and signs added to the buildup of white noise that led to many people simply shutting out the election altogether rather than dwelling on ideas and choices as they should have been able to do.

 Technology has radically changed autodialing in the last ten years. I remember us setting up an autodialer unit in the old Wildrose office years ago. It was great. We only needed to tie up three lines in order to dial out a blistering 180 calls per hour. In only two days we could get a message out to our whole membership for only a couple hundred dollars in long-distance fees. It was a great tool for getting out information to a reasonably small number of people in relatively short time at a decent cost. Compared to mailouts this was a huge advancement for us in member communication. We never really abused it as it was still awkward and expensive to do large dials so it was only used at need. That all changed quickly with the advent of web based voip-style autodial technology.

 In a few short years the technology developed to the point where for a couple hundred bucks and with 1/2 hour online setting up an individual could send out a phone blast to tens of thousands of numbers simultaniously. Polls can be set up and run through these systems quickly, easily and inexpensively. Even worse, it has become very easy to do these sorts of calls anonymously which has led to apparent abuses both federally and provincially.

 For anybody who has their number on the electors list it was an irritating election as our phones were simply barraged by calls from all parties and some unidentified groups. Campaigns with limited budgets found it hard to resist large broadcasts for small costs as was demonstrated by my local Liberal candidate who hit my phone a couple times on election day with what was clearly an untargeted (and ineffective) phone blast.

 The campaign that I worked on along with many others anticipated the pushback that autodialing abuse was causing and we utilized only live callers through volunteers and a paid live-dial service. Still, harried and tired voters while more appreciative of having a live voice call them were still tired of being contacted and it strongly reduced the efficacy of our GOTV campaigns. People stopped answering all calls from numbers that they didn’t recognize and responded with exhaustion and sometimes outright hostility to the volunteers making the calls. People had long stopped distinguishing between the parties when it came to the phone calls and simply lashed out at whoever called them next whether live or not. It didn’t matter if we used a live volunteer calling when the voters phone had been hammered by 8 autodials in the 24 hours prior to our live-dial. That voter was sick of it.

 Again I am not much on instituting more regulation but I think that the degree of abuse we have seen in autodialing calls for at least some examination of the issue. Perhaps allowing autodialing to people who have opted in or are already members of an organization is the best way to do it. Parties and groups simply will have to market to encourage people to opt in through doorknocking and other conventional forms of marketting. Stronger controls would also help in defending against unprincipled false autodials as we saw in the last provincial election.

 Banning or regulating are the options before us with public space signs and autodials. I think with open discussion and reasonable legislation we can take care of both of these annoying marketing techniques that have a very limited impact anyway. As long as rules are equally applied, no party would be disadvantaged.

 In an indealistic world, people should look forward to elections as they will see the discussion of ideas and options leading up to their casting a ballot in choice of their preferred candidate. In the realistic world, people are increasingly disconnecting as the campaign simply turns into unbearable noise and even if they still choose to cast a ballot they likely have not been exposed to good policy discussion.

Regulating/ending use of autodialers and public space campaign signs would not lead to a massive shift towards voter engagement or a sudden trend of civility among parties. Ending the abuse of those marketing tools would be steps in the right direction though.

It’s not wrong to be right.

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Shortly after composing the blog below, I encountered the video below that makes my point for me perfectly. This is the level that the PC party supporters are now sinking to.

 

 

The hysteria from the small but shrill and vocal community of Alberta’s left-wing has reached a fever pitch since the Wildrose Party took a commanding lead in this provincial election. The hipster-latte community is aghast that Alberta would dare embrace a new political alternative without swinging towards the left. The insults towards Albertans at large are piling up and the spite and loathing being displayed by the self-styled progressives is striking.

The secret that really should not be a secret is that Alberta is predominantly populated by people who are right of center on the political spectrum. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT SO GET OVER IT!

The typical fearmongering is in full force as people try to imply that all people on the right/libertarian end of the spectrum are secretly intolerant racists who want to set Alberta back decades in social policy as abortion is outlawed along with being gay. Spectres are being raised of segregrated water fountains and comparisons made between Alberta and the American South. I have seen many indignantly howling that they will leave Alberta should a Wildrose government be formed (I wish).

All of the above tactics should sound very familiar because they were all used before by the federal Liberal party through the 90s and early 2000s. What people should also realize is that those fear and smear campaigns invariably backfire terribly with Albertans.

While what is considered right wing has evolved over the years, the makeup of people on that side of the spectrum has not. Gone are the moralizing days of the Social Credit regime of the 50s but what is here is a population of individualists who want limited government that allows people to live their lives prosperously and in peace from moralizing busybodies (both left and right). The balance has been reached between the traditional model of social conservatism and the new “South Park Conservatives” with the current incarnation of the Wildrose Party and it shows as a groundswell of Albertans are embracing this party.

Most people do not sit and dwell about where they formally land on the political spectrum. People will gravitate to parties that are indeed more solidly placed on the spectrum and in Alberta the majority of the citizens prefer to sit on the right. Nothing wrong with that and no apologies.

So here is the root of the failure of the attempted shaming and fearmongering. When the sanctimonious left tries to label entire parties as being racist, intolerant, hicks etc., they are attacking most Albertans. When you call a person a pile of disparaging and offensive names how can you possibly expect to draw them into your cause? All the left does when they use these tactics is entrench the supporters for the right of center parties and encourage them to get out to vote.

Look at the old Reform Party. Chretien and his Liberals called Reform supporters racists among all the other stereotypes despite 70% of Albertans supporting that party in the 90s. How did that all work out for Liberals in Alberta? The same tactics were attempted by Liberals against Harper’s Conservative Party only a few years ago. How did that go? Well there still is not a single federal Liberal seat in Alberta and Harper is our Prime Minister with a very comfortable majority.

The last time the Progressive Conservatives were strongly threatened in their reign was in the early 90s and it was by the Liberal Party being led by Lawrence Decore. What is being forgotten by many though is that Decore campaigned not from the left but the right despite the name of his party. Decore brought out the debt clock to demonstrate the out of control spending by the Progressive Conservatives and gained a great deal of traction as conservative Albertans. It was only through the appearance of Ralph Klein who campaigned on government austerity and cuts that the government of the day was narrowly saved.

Klein followed through on his promises to Albertans. Aggressive cuts were made to spending while the size of the bloated civil service was reduced (never saw service decline due to that). The illuminated left went ballistic as predicted. Protests sprung up and unions went postal in their entitlement and rage. Pundits and academics predicted that Albertans would lash back and fiercely punish the Klein government for having swung right. What happened? Klein won an even stronger majority.

Over the years, Klein’s government began to lose support as they began to drift back left into the lazy cycle of tax and spend rather than responsible governance. The inevitable insular attitude of government grew as they remained unchallenged and Albertans began again to drift away from the Progressives and new alternatives were being developed. Klein was pushed out and the rest is all history that we know.

The Wildrose Party has embraced those unapologetic and truly conservative people. The party worked hard for years building the foundation that has put the party into the lead in this Alberta election. In response to this growing threat, the Redford Progressives actually swung left and it shows. Weeks of gross post-budget spending promises from the Redford Progressives have repulsed Albertans and the Liberal style fearmongering from her party is falling flat. If the PC party was to have a hope of recovery it would have been by turning to the responsible-right as Klein did. Redford pulling government hard to the left sealed the fate of this 41 year old dynasty as she clearly has no clue what most Albertans really want.

Many are stumped. Alberta has been growing in population for decades and predominantly the people have come from provinces that swing left. The left has hoped that this influx of people would change Alberta and make us eventually embrace the left-wing. This has not happened and the reason for that is quite simple.

People with the courage to take a chance, leave their friends and family to cross a nation seeking a better future are not by their very nature left-wing. People with that kind of ambition and courage are individualists. These are not people who want a large and pampering government nannying their every move. These are the people who want governance by parties such as Reform, the old PCs and now Wildrose. These will never be left-leaning people.

People who are naturally left-wing are the folks who will sit at home in hard times and demand that somebody solve their problems for them. These people want government created jobs or even outright welfare. They will not move and will always vote for whoever promises the most goodies with the least personal responsibility. We in Alberta need never fear an influx of these people as they simply do not have the courage or ambition to move from wherever they are. What few strong left-leaners we have in Alberta are often home-grown.

The temptation is always there to swing left and spend more. The ivory-tower gang is always pushing for such. Thankfully the electorate knows better and consistently embraces the right in Alberta as long as it is reasonably packaged for them as the Wildrose Party is.

As long as we happily and unapologetically stick to our principles we will continue to be the properous and truly conservative province that we are.

Can we legislate against cheesy campaign songs????? Campaign planners, just say no!

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OK what do all of the songs below have in common?

Well for one, they are all Alberta political campaign songs, they all have likely had utterly no impact in encouraging people to vote for their person/party and they all make me want to stab myself in the ear with a pencil.

 I understand that the production of these songs was likely fun and they helped in some small way to bond existing supporters. Come on though, they typically sound as low-budget as they indeed are and only really serve to irritate.

 It took talent and work to create these songs and I can appreciate that. At this time though, I think that talent and effort may better be utilized on doorsteps than in low budget recording scenarios.

 When it comes to these songs too, it should be kept in mind that musical genre crosses political lines. I understand that many in Alberta love country music. While I am a born and bred Albertan, I despise country music. I have tried to learn to like it but alas like brussels sprouts I just can’t make myself enjoy that stuff. I would rather listen to a choir composed of Helen Keller clones trying to sing Handel’s Messiah than listen to country music. Does that mean that Wildrose or other parties should then model campaign songs playing classic rock to appeal to folks like me? No! Then the country crowd won’t want to listen. Just stick to platforms.

 Not the end of the world I guess. Many people are complaining about being called too much, too many flyers in their mail and too many ads. Well I want to complain about the rotten songs composed and recorded during campaigns.

 Should you want to torture yourself, by all means listen to the songs below. I won’t try to rate which one is less bad than another. I will post more as they surface if they do. With any luck these will be all I find. 😉

Whose money is it?

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 I will begin by saying I am not terribly enthusiastic with the latest Wildrose Party campaign pledge which is to cut a dividend cheque back to Albertans from future surplus funds. This concept has potential to become terribly inefficient and complicated and I could foresee the administration costs of this alone eating up a great deal of the funds being given back to Albertans. I much rather would see a more efficient and simple cut to the rate of our income tax with any future surplus funds being dedicated to a fund that could generate revenues thus leading to even more tax reductions.

 That all being said, what I fully agree with in principle is getting those dollars back into the pockets of Albertans even if I don’t feel that the Wildrose picked the most efficient way to do so. Government is way too big and encompassing as it is and getting money back to citizens where it belongs is always a good idea.

 Now there is a class of folks who really do not think much of Albertans at large out there. These people feel that we are a province populated by hicks and uncultured folks who really need a big nanny government to guide and direct us in all of our actions and expenditures. We have seen this in the actions of Nanny Redford as the bulk of her legislation has been dedicated towards further controlling the actions of Albertans whether it is in educational choice, healthy living or even control of the disposition of our property. We are not to be trusted with those responsibilities and they really should be taken out of our collectively incompetent hands and put into the wise guidance of a large intrusive government for our own good.

 What has been interesting lately though has been how open this attitude has been getting. Redford came right out and said that she wants to change the very character of Albertans. Nanny Redford truly feels that it is her right and responsibility as Premier to adjust the character of Albertans to whatever her personal vision for us is to be.

Parties even farther to the left such as the NDP and Alberta Party are of course even more inclined to have big-government control all of our actions as individuals thus their minuscule support in a province like Alberta which is populated by individualists.

 Now I do have to thank Alberta Party representative Chris McClure for encapsulating the patronizing attitude held by the big government set in two tweets.

 First Chris said:           “yeah, give the masses back more money to waste, rather than using it to make healthcare and education better. Dumb policy”

 Yes, to these people Alberta citizens are simply “the masses” who are assumed to waste any money that may end up in their hands as opposed to being taken by government. We simply cannot be trusted to have our own money. Now there are two assumptions being made here by Chris. One is wrong and the other is simply offensive. Chris’s assumption that government will always spend excess dollars to improve healthcare and education for Albertans is simplistic and outright wrong. The offensive assumption is that Albertans will simply waste money if allowed to keep it themselves.

 Next in response Chris goes even further with: “if people could spend money wisely, personal debt issues would not be an issue. Expect most people to go buy a new tv”

 Yes, Chris feels if only government were big enough we all would not have personal debt issues. Perhaps we could ban borrowing? Who knows. Chris has made it clear that if we are allowed to have OUR OWN MONEY in our pockets we will simply waste it on unimportant items.

 Now who the hell are you to determine what is unimportant to individuals anyway Chris? It is our money. If we want to give it to charity or blow it on magic beans, it really is none of your damned business.

 Control is what it is all about people. That is why folks like Chris and his Alberta Party and Redford with her Progressive party try to assume more and more control of our lives and why they are terrified of empowering things such as personal choice, property and wealth.

 Again, I may not fully agree with the release by Wildrose Party I most strongly agree with the principle that it represents in that we as Albertans know how best to spend OUR  money.

 It appears so far that only the Wildrose Party is showing the respect  we deserve in working towards further empowering Alberta citizens and working towards the smaller more accountable government that we need and deserve.

 The “beer and popcorn” patronism fell flat when the federal Liberals used it and it will not win the hearts of Albertans as Liberals within the PC and Alberta Party use it either.

Some pics of what I get up to when not doing political stuff.

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It is getting near breakup from a long season. I am tired thus have not kept up at my normal rate of ranting and raving unfortunately. With a stretch of time off coming soon and a provincial election, I don’t doubt that I will be brightening the world with a record number of political postings. Today to shake things up though I am going to post a series of pictures of things I have run across in the field in the last few years. I keep losing/breaking computers so I should document these things somewhere out of my hands as the world would certainly miss out should these shots be lost.

 I have spent most of my adult life working in oil exploration survey. In just the last few years I have worked as far North as literally on the ice of the Beaufort Sea, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Pennsylvania and pretty much everywhere else in between. When I get lucky I work in Western Canada as I have been this last few months. No matter where I go I find strange things. Unfortunately, it is only in these last few years that I have had a camera/phone on me at all times to document some of the stuff I find. I found an entire standup phone-booth deep in the woods of upstate New York for example. No trail or road or indication on how it possibly got there. Alas, I didn’t get a shot.

 Here are some shots that I did get. They range from interesting, to weird to gross.

 Below are a few shots from here in Central Alberta from this last couple months.

Today deep in the bush I found the rust covered remnants of a recliner chair which is what inspired me to post some shots. From  the overgrowth, rust and moss I would guess it had been there for decades. What is most odd though was that somebody had put casters on the bottom so it could be rolled, a small table on one armrest and most disturbingly foot and hand restraints. It really weirded me out so I only took one picture and moved on. The pic does not show the details well though one of the foot restraints can be made out on the bottom. It gives an indication of just how weird things can be out there. I don’t really want to know the story behind this one.

In the middle of the trees I found the wreckage of a pedal boat. There were no ponds for miles. Who knows who dragged it there and why.

On the edge of a field with nothing really to look at and no reasonable access I found sets of stands.

 

 Texas was a great place to find odd things. Below is a shot of an occupied hillbilly compound near Waco that I had to map. While walking around the outbuildings I had a near heart attack when I encountered the stuffed dog pictured below. Lassie had not weathered well outdoors over the years. The occupants of that place were photo worthy as well but I really didn’t want to pause to ask if I could take shots of them.

 Going farther south in Texas, I encountered a bull with a metal plate hanging from it’s horns by a chain so that it covered it’s eyes. It could see side to side but not straight ahead. I am guessing that perhaps this bull was aggressive and this kept it from charging. As this area was only a few miles from the Mexican border in an area that was indeed loaded with runners, I am sure that the aliens appreciated the effort of the rancher if indeed it was an aggressive bull. The poor devils I encountered down there had enough hardship without being chased by livestock.

 

 I have encountered all sorts of wildlife from polar bears to alligators. I tend to take that in stride. When the creepy crawlies get into my living quarters though it can get a bit challenging. While working near Corpus Christi I awoke to find that my roach trap had ensnared a sizable scorpion. The lights were never turned off for the rest of my stay at that motel and I am sure my sleep was reduced by 30%.

 

 While working deep in the hills of West Virginia, myself and another fella were staying in an isolated cabin. Due to roach infestation, we bug bombed the place to try and keep the walls from crawling. Now, while dozens of roaches died, the fella pictured below apparently was unphased by the mass toxic gas attack within the cabin. It came out and was likely ticked off at us for having killed off it’s food. We moved out shortly after.

 Heading north to the land less creepy I found a memorial to a sunken bulldozer in the muskeg in Northern Alberta last winter. I guess while the operator got out, they never managed to recover the machine.

On a smaller scale, he is the outcome of one of my less than wise compatriots when he decided to quad across thin ice.

Now below is a barge-camp that I lived in for several months on the edge of the Beaufort Sea. It was towed out in summer and anchored. Once frozen in, we built an ice-road to it from Inuvik. The picture was taken at peak daylight.

Finally, here is a shot that everybody should keep in mind whenever they complain about some snow in Calgary. It is a truck buried after a storm at the camp pictured above.

 Well that is it for now. I am sure I will acquire and share more shots as time passes and I end up working in other odd spots. I hope these photos at least draw a picture of what contributes to my own lunacy. 😉

I will get back to my usual political ramblings in further posts. Now nobody can say I don’t post about anything but politics.

Peeling the bandaid off ever so slowly.

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In reviewing the events and behaviour in Alberta politics in the last few weeks, it becomes clear that the need for fixed election dates is more acute than ever.

For those who watch twitter, the traditional hashtag #ableg has become almost completely dysfunctional as partisan supporters of all stripes from literally cabinet ministers to anonymous accounts engage in an ever-heightening  vitriolic battle to win the hearts of the one or two undecided people who may follow that hashtag.

 In the news, editorials are becoming more harsh and investigative journos have been engaged in an ongoing game of “gotcha” as increased general political scrutiny exposes slips and scandals of varying degrees of severity and importance.

 Alison Redford broke her promise for fixed election dates and instead substituted this “fixed election period” which has led us to this politically toxic mess. For weeks now we have been in an election that is not officially an election. Frustrated opposition members watch as a Progressive Conservative campaign bus tours the province, tax funded radio ads for the government of Alberta fill the airwaves and taxpayers fund fancy election planning retreats in Jasper for PC candidates while non-PC parties can’t even place a lawn sign yet.

 Doors are being knocked as they have been for months but the early contacts are becoming stale as an easily distracted populace forgets a past candidates visit.

 Candidates are being worn down and frustrated as their literature goes out of date and signs gather dust in garages or expensive campaign offices that can’t be fully opened yet. Expensive phone lines sit idle while volunteers tire and lose interest. The human cost can’t be understated here. While many don’t participate in politics it has to be kept in mind that the vast majority of people who do are volunteers whether candidates or campaign managers. These people are taking time off work and time out in their lives in order to pursue political change and having no real schedule makes this nearly impossible and terribly taxing physically and emotionally.

 Elections Alberta tries to maintain the temporary staff that they have trained and they pay for booked office spaces while they wait for the formal election call that Redford appears afraid to make.

 Worst of all an already cynical and increasingly apathetic electorate is becoming disgusted with politics as we live in this circus of a hybrid almost-campaign period. A fixed election date would not solve everything but it at least would put a light at the end of the tunnel and a deadline to the show.

 Simply picking a day and sticking to it would have been Redford’s easiest promise to keep yet she broke it. The reason for this is clear. This election date tinkering provides a huge advantage to the party in power while it demoralizes and tires out opposition campaigns. It also however abuses and tires the electorate. Unfortunately Redford has demonstrated like so many other PC leaders that she cares about the retention of personal power far more than the interests of Albertans.

 Just call the election and get it over with already Redford. Show a little glimmer of principle for the first time in your short leadership.

You can’t have a center without a left and a right.

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 There has been a trend lately by some to try and paint the tried and true political spectrum of left/right as being outdated or irrelevant. Much of this attitude is of course coming from some with political interests who are trying to find some mythical middle ground that will appeal to a vast majority of voters. Today the CBC released a poll that concludes that: “Ideology is not guiding Alberta voters.”.  That conclusion is simply wrong. Ideology guides all voters to varying degrees. The only thing concluded is that people no longer self-identify as much with their place on the political spectrum. If a person does not consider themselves to be on the right or the left in political thought, it does not mean that their personal philosophy does not land to the left or the right. This if anything is more an indication of the growing political apathy and indifference. People don’t put time or thought into ideology even if they unconsciously follow one.

 The left/right spectrum is a simple measure and does not cover everything. Very few people fall fully on one side or the other in every regard. To do so is the mark of a fanatic actually.

 Most issues will have responses that clearly can be considered to be either on the right or left side of the spectrum. Just because some people land on different sides at different times, it does not mean that the spectrum is not valid or that it does not exist.

 The right/left measure of ideology is a broad measure and is of use when looking at groups such as political parties. While a party may have indeed have policies landing on both sides of the spectrum, it is their general slant that truly identifies the party as a whole and again the left/right measure is the most basic yet indicative and important of measures for this. A voter has to make their choice based on the broad ideology of the party rather than one policy at a time.

 Here is a note by the way, an almost fanatical pursuit of a mythical “center” is an ideology in itself.

 Can it be denied that Alberta’s NDP is on the left or the Wildrose is on the right? Sherman’s Liberals just released a platform calling for increasing taxes on those they perceive to be “rich” and Redford’s PCs just released another big-spending budget which drifts both parties to the left.

 While some try to cloak their leanings in claiming a center ground and putting out vague and inconclusive policies, their roots always show clearly in the end. Twitter is a great way to see the true leanings of groups and individuals. What you do is watch the tweeters and see which side of the spectrum they pejoratively spit about when annoyed. When a large group of people is prone to bitterly spitting out “right wing” and “right wingers” when somebody has a policy they don’t like, you have just been able to accurately place them on the spectrum even if they did not want to be placed there. In Alberta we have the Kitten & Rainbow party that tries it’s darndest to hide their place on the spectrum. In their being led by a former NDP candidate and in their supporters online loathing of the nasty “right wing”  they expose themselves.

 If the electorate truly was free and clear of ideology they would have rushed to embrace the Alberta Party that furiously is trying to claim the center. Alas, the disingenuous stance of this is transparent to voters and is reflected in the Alberta Party sitting at 2% in the polls despite years of claiming center ground. People may not self-identify much in ideology, but clearly they chose sides when it comes to parties.

 Recognizing and understanding left/right positions is important when consuming data from think tanks too. If one doesn’t recognize the Fraser Institute as right or Parkland Institute as left, then you will not be able to take that grain of salt when looking at their statements and studies.

 Left and right are indeed only two sides of a complex equation but they are still valid general measures. To broaden things into a four way measure, Political Compass brings authoritarian and libertarian into the mix. Left and right are still rather essential of course. While the quiz is not perfect or all encompassing by any means, it is fun and does give an interesting measure of where one lands on the spectrum.

Give it a try and see where you land in comparison with the political leaders on the chart below.

Now below we see where I land. Looks like a dead-zone when compared to existing and past political leaders. This may indeed explain much about my history of personal political success 😉 Either way my ideological place is distinct if in a minority and there is utterly nothing wrong with measuring it and thinking about it.

 A person should not pidgeonhole themselves within one side or another of the spectrum. That closes thought and is indeed the route to extremism whether left or right. Most people have thoughts that land all over the place. The center is a moving target. There is no sense fighting to find it. Choose your place issue by issue. It will be found by most that trends emerge and one isn’t as close to the center as they imagined they were.

 Left and right don’t measure it all but they exist as sides on issues and are valid. They are not going away and we should quit pretending that they are.

You know who is just like Hitler? Hitler!

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In the early years of internet discussion, a wise fellow named Mike Godwin coined “Godwin’s Law” which stated:

“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving
Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”

I have seen the inevitability of such hyperbolic comparisons on every kind of discussion forum whether about cars, kittens or politics.  This occurs in political discussion outside of the internet as well as we see with recent foolishness from Conservative MP Larry Miller in Owen Sound.

The flippant use of comparisons of contemporary actions or figures to Hitler, Nazi’s, Fascists and the Holocaust is not only offensive, but it desensitizes us all to one of the most horrific periods of human history.

Below I will list pictures to indicate where the use of terms such as Hitler, Nazi, Fascist and Holocaust may be appropriate in discussion. Please review these before considering using any of the aforementioned terms.

Above is a picture of Adolf Hitler. There is no other Adolf Hitler, there has been no other Adolf Hitler and there will not be another Adolf Hitler. There are other dictators and nasty people out there but none of them are Adolf Hitler so don’t compare the two.

 

Above is a picture of Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was a fascist leading a fascist party. There are currently no fascist parties nor fascist leaders in existence so do not try to compare such to current parties, their leaders or their supporters.

 

Above we see a picture of a bunch of Nazis. They are the only Nazis in human history. There are no Nazi parties or leaders in existence so don’t bother comparing current leaders, parties and supporters to such.

Yes, there are indeed some who identify as Nazi’s right now. They are neo-Nazis and really are loose collections of idiots that can’t be realistically compared to the true Nazi movement of the early 20th century.

Above is a picture from the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a large scale organized effort to eradicate an entire people based on their religion (as well as gays and Gypsies). That was genocide of which indeed there are unfortunately multiple examples of in human history.

Let’s get something straight however, poultry farms raising chickens for KFC are not committing a “holocaust” and any animal activist continuing to use that comparison should be soundly kicked in the reproductive organs. Ongoing land-claim settlements in Canada do not represent “genocide” of Canadian natives either and I am sick as hell of people using that term. There is not even a sniff of genocide in Canada right now and please tell people who claim such to GFT.

Political discussion can be and often is heated. Hyperbole and cheap shots are often utilized (I use those methods myself) to varying effect. The use of the above comparisons though is simply lazy debate and is offensive.

Save a link to this page and forward it to the next person who uses any of the above terms in discussion. Sadly the chances of your needing to use that link are pretty close to 100% if you participate in political (or many other kinds) debate.

I am a full supporter of free speech. People are certainly free to use the above terms without legal intervention and they should be. We should call them out for the fools they are when they do so though.

I wish the environmentalist set would look at the real offenders.

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The small Metis community of Conklin Alberta made headlines around the continent a couple years ago when twelve black bears had to be shot at their local garbage dump. Outrage was expressed by many towards Sustainable Resources and the officers who had to do the cull. The officers can’t be blamed in this circumstance. When bears have been spoiled by humans, there is no rehabilitation and relocation for them. Black bears will travel hundreds of kilometers to find new human created sources of food once spoiled and they will be increasingly dangerous and irritable once that trip is completed.

The bottom line is that a ready food source was made available to the bears for years due to irresponsible waste management in an area highly populated with bears. To be honest, I don’t know who’s responsibility the garbage dump is but the past (and current) management of the facility is completely unacceptable and will be leading to more bear shootings soon. The municipality is Wood Buffalo and the village is Conklin. I imagine that among those two entities one is responsible for waste management.

Below is a picture of black bears eating at the Conklin dump a couple years ago. Following that picture are pictures that I took of the “improved” Conklin garbage facility a few days ago.

Clearly international embarrassment has not been enough of a motivator for this community to solve it’s garbage problem.

 Bears at Conklin dump pre-2009

bears

Open unprotected bins at Conklin dump January 2012

 Conklin dump

Below are pictures of the garbage I found that animals had dragged from the dumpsters into the nearby trees.

bushjunkb bushjunka

 The bush surrounding the dump area is nothing short of disgusting. Garbage is strewn for acres as entire bags have clearly been pulled from the open dumpsters and dragged into the trees by animals for consumption. Ravens then spread the smaller pieces even wider.

There indeed is no longer an open landfill at the Conklin dump. They have put up a partial fence and a warning sign about bears along with the open, unsupervised bins packed with domestic waste.

PICT0419

The sign goes into detail on the small print about how people should not approach or feed bears. The fence stretches about 30 meters to either side of the gate and stops. It is meant to keep people out of the dump area after hours. The fence is not meant as any form of animal deterrent. There really has been no deterrent measures put in place at the dump.

The Conklin dump is providing a virtual buffet for animals and it is doubtless that more animals will become spoiled and will die as a result. Foxes, coyotes and wolves are being harmed by this mess too.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Banff Alberta. I remember well as a kid in the late seventies and early eighties tourists being directed to hit certain parts of town on garbage day to see black bears and people were directed to the dump out by Lake Minnewanka to see grizzly bears. Part of the summer routine was often to clean up the garbage out back before school as the coyotes and bears had gotten into it.

Banff got it’s wakeup call in the early 80s when a grizzly terrorized the town for weeks with five people mauled and one killed in a series of attacks before the bear was located and destroyed. I hated that period as a kid as we loved playing in the bush but understandably our parents kept us all well within the townsite until the bear had been killed.

After that tragic happening, Banff transformed quickly into a town that did not feed the bears. Home collection of garbage ended as bear proof bins were placed around town. Open landfills ended with transfer stations where domestic garbage was taken to a bear proofed site for disposal.

 If a town of 5000 (with 15,000 tourists) in the mountains can responsibly manage their garbage in the 1980s, why the hell can’t an oil-rich community of a few hundred do the same in 2012??

It only takes a short trip through google to see how many communities in areas with bears have learned to keep bears from their dumps in cost effective ways. There are many solutions out there if a community wants to seek them. Conklin apparently is not interested in seeking a solution unfortunately.

Now where is the outcry from our environmental crusaders on this? Well they are busy yelping at the big bad oil industry whether justifiably or not.

I am currently in a camp in the Conklin area. The energy industry is very careful to mitigate wildlife impact in every possible way while working. Garbage containment is actually one of our easiest areas to deal with. Our industry rarely gets credit for it’s responsible and ethical environmental practices unfortunately.

Throughout our camp we have bear proof garbage cans for spot disposal of small amounts of garbage. These are the exact same bins that are present in Banff.

bins

Larger volumes of waste go to a compactor to be trucked out to a proper landfill.

compactor

 There are about 750 people in my camp. There is not so much as a french fry left out for wildlife to get at. Is it too much to ask a town of a few hundred to do the same?

Where is the outcry on towns and their shoddy waste practices? It is lost among those loudly and wrongly targeting the oilfield. Rest assured if we (oilfield) behaved like the town of Conklin in our practices, our operation would be quickly shut down and we would be heavily fined.

I strongly suggest that people concerned about wild animal welfare contact provincial authorities and demand that they crack down on towns with irresponsible waste practices. Put down your signs protesting the oilsands for a minute and try to make some realistic and worthwhile change come about. We sure heard loudly from groups when some ducks died.

Lets hope my next series of pictures does not involve shots of dead black bears.