Glass Houses

“It is better to be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt.” George Eliot.

Wise words which have been attributed to many, but few take counsel. The past few weeks have seen two politicians splay open their mouths much to the aghast of their supporters and adversaries.

First it was Lisa Raitt our federal resource minister who appeared insensitive to those suffering from cancer when she was caught equating the recent radioactive isotope shortage as being, ‘sexy’ political fodder. In her case she knew is was a fubar the moment it spewed forth. Raitt not only has lost her grandmother, grandfather and father to cancer she also lost her brother to the disease. That fact did not hinder the opposition from calling for an apology and a demand for her removal from office. Why would they hold back, it is the opposition’s policy to kick’em while they are down. Even though the PM publicly stood behind her, she offered an apology in very short order.

With the federal conservatives stumble passing, the good old Alberta Conservatives took a run at the Darwin Award. In walks our finance minister Iris Evans. In an address to the Economic Club of Canada she is quoted as saying, “They’ve understood perfectly well that when you’re raising children, you don’t both go to work and leave them for somebody else to raise. This is not a statement against daycare. It’s a statement about their belief in the importance of raising children properly” Later in her address she stated, “The huge failure of Canadians is not to educate the children properly, and then why should we be surprised when they have mental illnesses or commit dreadful crimes?”

Apparently, Evans has no problem pointing fingers at “They” who she equates to either single parent families or those who have both mother and father working out-of-the-home. In light of the fact that very few families can afford not to have two incomes supporting their needs, Evans appears to be out of touch with reality. This coming from a woman who four decades ago, juggled work as a registered nurse, teaching piano and raising three sons. Did she not have someone else watching her boys or did she just fill the bathtub half way and let them splash around while she was at work.

Since Evans holds the purse strings for the province and her apparent disrespect for working mothers, or should I say “They” don’t expect any additional tax relief or assistance for childcare in the very near future.

But let us take a closer look at what was on her mind. Three key points Evans put forth, first it was 1: working parents not raising their children properly, 2: lack of education causing mental illness, and 3: “They” plus mental illness causes dreadful crimes. Or better yet, “They” the negligent are the reason for increased mental illness and the crime rate.

Shame, shame on they! Where does she get this stuff? It appears that she wandered from her speech notes and only relied on her collective experience as our former minister of Children Services and minister of Heath and Wellness. When did she have the time to do extensive studies of the effect of working parents and lousy education on social ethical structures? Admittedly, all these can have a cause and affect on society but not always with detrimental results.

If her belief is that only education produces law-abiding citizens, then take the example of what a good education can bring us.

Ted Bundy was a graduate of the University of Washington; he went onto using his intelligence to lure over 30 women to their graves. Bonnie Parker was a straight “A” student and achieved honours in high school. Her and her lover went onto robbing banks and killing those who got in their way. Then there is Osama bin Laden, who is a graduate in Economics and Business Administration. These fine examples seem to contradict Evan’s belief that education affirms ethical behaviour.

I can find many examples that either agree or contradict her tenant, but the point being that her position is flawed, and a person of her station in life should be choosing her words more carefully.

Famous journalist Albert Edward Wiggam once said, “Intelligence appears to be the thing that enables a man to get along without education. Education enables a man to get along without the use of his intelligence.” Where do we find our finance minister in this quote?

It would be a refreshing thing if the likes of Iris Evans can remember where she came from and show a little humility when representing our conservative government.

The Cost of What?!

Over the past few years I have become more and more aware of my personal health. Suffice it to say that like many, arthritis has set in with a vengeance and people I care about around me have started to tackle serious health issues. Like many a baby boomer I have read a few books and articles discussing healthier living. The result, gravitating to organically grown foods. Pesticide free produce, free run chickens, and all natural ingredients have been pounded in my head as the only way to go. That was until I found a frozen turkey on sale for $102.50!

Just in case you missed it, I found a frozen turkey on sale for 102.50! In the same location I found a pound of butter for $8.99, 12 eggs for $5.79 and a litre of milk for $2.89! I was told that this store specialized in ‘organically raised’ produce and turkeys. I didn’t think of seeing how much a Foghorn Leghorn cost. Let me ask you, would that be a sales flyer you would respond to?

This high cost of chow brings a couple of questions to mind. First was just how expensive would this ‘healthier’ diet cost me, and second is it really any healthier than conventionally raised produce and penned up birds.

I have no problem in believing and actively advocating raising awareness of what you put in your mouth has an adverse or inversely a beneficial affect on your heath and lifestyle. Things like avoiding chemically processed foods, and understanding that when a food label lists the word ‘spice’ as an ingredient it is a legal way for process food manufacturers to hide MSG in their products.

The first question is a real no-brainer. If you paid the inflated cost of food based on the market price of food identified as organically grown, your average grocery bill would run you in the range of $2,200 per month. Of course this is a very rough estimate but based on the prices found in the store I mentioned the cost is rather conservative. The average Canadian is still only making $30,000 per year, which is a whopping 2500/month before taxes. Therefore it would be reasonable to assume that the ‘organic way’ is the affluent way.

Lets take a look at food value. According to a study conducted on organically and conventionally produced apples published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (08/16/2007) showed that there were no statistically significant differences. They discovered that consumption of neither organically nor conventionally grown apples caused any changes in antioxidant capacity of low-density lipoproteins. Further they showed that a significant increased capacity to protect DNA against damage induced by iron chloride were determined 24 hours after consumption in both organic and conventionally grown apples. That mouthful states simply an apple is an apple.

That tackles antioxidants; lets take a look at vitamins, proteins and minerals. In a study conducted by the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (13/11/2000) it was concluded that nutritionally important differences relating to contents of minerals, vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates are not likely, nor were present levels of pesticides residues in conventional products a cause for concern. But to be fair, this study did report that on average, organic vegetables and fruits more likely contain more of these compounds than conventional ones allowing for the possibility that organic plant foods may benefit human health more than corresponding conventional produce. That mouthful states simply nutrients are comparable in both groups, but organic may be better, they are just not sure.

Lastly let us take a gander at how residues and pest management affect you and I between organic and conventionally grown foods. In a study published by Taylor & Francis Ltd (Organic Materials Review Institute and the Consumers Union of the United States, 22/10/2001) they found that organically grown foods consistently had about one-third as many residues as conventionally grown foods and about one-half as many residues as found in their samples. They concluded that conventionally grown samples were far more likely to contain multiple pesticides residues than were organically grown samples. Simply put, if you spray pesticides and herbicides on your fruits and veggies, you will consume the poisons. In this instance, organically raised foods have less chemical residues. But note, that this study did not find that organically grown produce was chemical free, only had less chemicals.

Organics are the latest corporate success story. Big business has over the past ten years jumped in the fray, and in the USA one natural food retail chain grosses around one billion US dollars annually. In California, as an example, five gigantic farms control half of that states $400 million organic produce market.

Is this really considered wholesome organic farming? It has been societies experience that when something good becomes big business, quality control, the mission and the vision of the market makes way for profits. In light of these studies findings, I would suggest that any business that tries to produce ‘organically’ grown produce on a global commercial scale is no different than the less expensive and more efficient conventional method of commercial farming.

It can be argued that the grass roots farming methods definitely produce better tasting vegetables, chickens and even turkeys. Anyone that has eaten a roasted farm chicken raised on chicken feed and sour milk can testify on taste and appearance. But as far as the scientific studies are concerned the jury is out on many areas of human benefits. As far as I am concerned if I want to buy ‘organic’ food, I will stick to the smaller local operators and farmers markets. $102.50 for a frozen turkey, who do they think I am!

Is Turnabout on the Horizon?

Since the world went into an economic meltdown we have seen large sectors of industry palms-up for tax payer assistance in not only Canada but from every western nation.  Bad news seemed to be coming at us from all directions.  If not from the press it came from your neighbours.  Even true optimists are having a tough time keeping their chins up.  

But last week started with Canada officially calling the economic slump a recession.  Having posted the sharpest two-quarter downturn since 1991, the numbers indicated that our gross national product contracted 5.4 percent, short of the 6.6 percent that was predicted by the so-called experts.  This tidbit of information hit the newsstands on June 2nd. 

Then only four days later, so-called experts in the USA tallied up the American experience, and their numbers indicated that the recession is very close to coming to an end.  According to U.S. payroll statistics the month of May showed that job losses had sharply abated.  Giving rise to an optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy since that country officially fell into it’s recession in December of 2007.  Considering that when the Americans `pass-gas` and the rest of the world smell it, Canada’s late official entry onto the economic fray should give rise to hopeful thoughts. 

So if all this really means anything, we should be seeing some indications of our economy turning around.   So I went looking.  Newspapers have always been the best source of information, since it still holds editorial integrity over the internet, I went to the dailies to fulfill my feel-good assignment.

The first thing I spotted is a story that reported house sales reversing course.  According to MLS, the number of resale homes sold through MLS in May rose 18.7 percent over the same month last year.  This proved to be the second month in a row that house sales were up.  April showed an increase of 1.1 percent for the previous month.  Considering that house sales bottomed out at an all-time low of 40.5 percent during the economic slow down, it appears that perhaps on the heels of Canada officially entering a recession, it may be short lived.

So we see the U.S. ball-and-chain losing weight in the form of abated job losses, house sales increase in Canada, our dollars is now worth 91 cents to the U.S. buck, that is up from a recent low of 80 cents.  So what does the Alberta experience say about our economic misery?

The week started out on a low note to hear that Alberta went to the Feds with their hand out for some assistance.  Yes, it was a bit like a fifty year old family man crawling to his parents for some gas money, but we all know that in essence it was only a cash-back move.  But it still hurt.  Then my eyes peered on Alberta’s pride and joy, the Athabasca Tar Sands project.

On June 5th Petro-Canada and Suncor merged to become the newest world energy giant.  It was enough to make a Greenie cringe!  Greenies aside, anyone with half a brain knows that it is our fossil fuels industry that keeps the average Albertan youth hip deep in Xbox 360 games and designer jeans.  If mom and dad are not working, local businesses suffer, and the brats will have to blow the dust of the Atari 2600.

So on the heels of the merger, the very next day a story breaks that states that Alberta oil sands output could grow 50 percent by 2025.  According to the so-called experts, Alberta will be producing 4.2 million barrels of oil per day.  In comparison, we currently produce only a measly 2.7 million barrels.  

With this news it appears that we are heading for another strong period of economic prosperity.  

But before I get a bunch letters from my Green friends I must point out that according to the U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the environmental concerns regarding oilsands production is solvable.  Reforestation, GPS challenged ducks and CO2 production is being addressed and if the oil Czar is right, all those issues are being solved.  In the case of recovering the forest reserves that is already underway.   

So is turnabout on the horizon?  I believe so.  But then again I have been accused of being a true optimist.  My only advise would be to keep reading the daily newspapers for those indicators.  You may have to sift through some crap, but it is definitely worth it.