Bill C-10 and Taxpayer Say

globeandmail.com: Senator caught saying Verner hates Bill C-10

Its nice to hear that folks in the government have mixed feelings about funding the arts in Canada — or more precisely the kind of arts that are funded from the public purse. It is being labeled as censorship — a terrible word to be sure. But is it really so terrible to have some sort of control of what messages through the arts are being funded?

I for one am tired of all the ugliness on the six pm news — so I choose to not be entertained by even more of it in the theater or TV. And being an old fuddy duddy find nothing of interest in films about hostels run by serial killers and the like. There is enough of this in the news, we don’t need ideas for more.

There used to be things called standards of good taste — which seem to have gotten lost. I for one would applaud any measures that would lead us back to a better place. And how my tax dollars get spent is certainly one way. I expect my government to apply some standards to the entertainment messages they fund. I am sorry that they are unhappy about being asked to do this. But they did ask for the job.

Burning Food – My Experiences

globeandmail.com: Why costs are climbing

The story of soaring food prices being helped along by competition from ethanol production for fuel supplements hit a nerve today. The Globe article mentioned that to fill an SUV tank with ethanol consumes more corn than a typical African eats in a year. This is a pretty frightening picture alone. But then there is the additional question of how efficient is a typical car tuned to gasoline when fed with higher precentages of ethanol? Here in Ontario the government is talking about mandating adding ethanol to vehical fuels. I have been tracking fuel consumption for my cars since day one — and find that with my current car, a 1999 Cirrus, there is an effect depending upon the type of driving. For highway cruising, rare now, the mileage impact of gasahol blends is minimal. But in urban-type driving the hit can be substantial — more like 15-20% poorer. If my experience is typical, the forced addition of ethanol to road fuels in urban areas will have a double whammy — overall fuel consumption will go up in addition to the loss of foodstocks for everyone. So instead of reducing the dependency on petroleum we are likely to increase it. Another dubious achievement.