George Clooney arrested for protesting against Sudanese dictator

By Suzanne MacNevin - March 16th 2012.

POLITICS - Actor/philanthropist George Clooney was arrested today outside Sudan’s embassy in Washington for protesting against the Sudanese dictator / mass murderer President Omar al-Bashir.

Omar al-Bashir is currently engaged in ethnic cleansing in South Kordofan in eastern Sudan, in and around the Nuba mountains.

For George Clooney it is basically its the equivalent of protesting against Hitler and then being arrested for it. For the people living in the Nuba mountains it is genocide.

President Barack Obama recently visited the affected region, but the USA has yet to take any diplomatic action on the topic of Sudan's genocide.

Gasoline Vs Electric Hybrid Vs Hydrogen

By Charles Moffat - March 2012.

CARS - I witnessed an interesting argument recently on Facebook which saw gasoline cars pitted against electric hybrid cars and hydrogen cars.

What was interesting was two things:

#1. How entrenched people were with their beliefs regarding choice of fuel and fuel economy. Everyone assumed they knew more than others.

#2. How ignorant many of the people were about the actual numbers.

One of the few people who actually knew what they were talking about came up with the following comparisons:

(Gasoline) 2012 Honda Civic XL which gets 40 mpg.

(Hybrid Electric) 2012 Toyota Prius Hybrid which gets 50 mpg.

(Hydrogen) 2012 Honda FCX Clarity gets 60 miles per kg of hydrogen.

Now these 3 cars are all roughly the same size and quality.

However we should note that the price of gasoline vs hydrogen is different.

In the USA right now the average price of gasoline is hovering around $3.80 per gallon. The price varies from state to state and from gas station to gas station, but that is roughly how much you can expect to pay.

The cost of hydrogen meanwhile is pegged at $4.999 per KG in California (one of the few states that currently has hydrogen filling stations).

So now we have to do some fancy math to see which is best...

2012 Honda Civic XL is $15,805 USD, and will cost you approx. $9.50 USD to drive 100 miles.

2012 Toyota Prius Hybrid is $33,000 USD, and will cost you $7.60 USD to drive 100 miles. (The Hybrid will keep its value longer however and you will get a better resale price.)

Buying a 2012 Honda FCX Clarity currently in the USA is currently impossible. They're only available for a 3 year lease (at $600 per month or $21,600 for 3 years). However I did some research and found an United Arab Emirates website which was selling the 2012 Honda FCX Clarity for 97,000 AED (roughly $27,000 USD)... which means it was probably stolen and shipped overseas.

The fuel economy for a 2012 Honda FCX Clarity is $8.32 USD to drive 100 miles.

"Aha!" we both say!

Fuel economy wise hydrogen is currently better than gasoline cars, but not better than a hybrid car. Currently. What happens if gasoline prices go up to $5 per gallon?

Honda Civic XL = $12.50 per 100 miles.
Toyota Prius Hybrid = $10.00 per 100 miles.
Honda FCX Clarity = $8.32 per 100 miles.

Mind you the cost of gasoline probably won't reach $5 per gallon until 2020. But the good news is that Honda and several other major car manufacturers are planning to release mass market hydrogen fuel cell cars by 2015, which means that will give them a few years to bring the manufacturing prices down.

To reach $5 per gallon we would have to see oil prices rise to approx. $165 USD per barrel. This is assuming the current ratio of oil prices to gas prices stays stable, the ratio has been getting worse in recent years as gas companies are price gouging in an effort to get higher profits.

Who is Joseph Kony?

POLITICS - In the next two months you are likely going to hear the name of Joseph Kony... but you won't know who he is.

Now is your chance to learn.

If you've never heard of Joseph Kony (but maybe you've heard of the LRA) before today you are not alone.

Jason Russell's web-based film "Kony 2012" is calling for international action to stop the Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony is pure digital activism and quite simply brilliant. The video is being spread at an exponential rate due to bloggers, journalists and activists who are putting their name on a list of millions seeking to publicize and make it clear the objective of stopping the war criminal Joseph Kony should be given priority.

Who is Joseph Kony?

If you didn't watch the video above and still don't know. Joseph Kony is a warlord from northern Uganda who for 3 decades has been abducting thousands of children, turning them into child soldiers and feeding his own power struggle. He takes children and turns them into mercenaries, butchers and rapists.

So much so that Joseph Kony is one of the most wanted war criminals in the world. The top of the list depending on which list you are looking at.

Joseph Kony and 4 of his lieutenants were all indicted by the International Criminal Court in July 2005... One is rumoured to be dead and one is known to be dead, but Kony and his other 2 lieutenants have all evaded capture and have yet to be brought to justice.

LINKS

Facebook Group: Invisible Children

Barack Obama's Letter addressing Joseph Kony and the LRA

PDF on Conditions in LRA controlled region of North Uganda

US Committee on Foreign Affairs Vs Joseph Kony

CIA World Factbook: Uganda

Stephen Harper's caucus committed election fraud

CANADA - Tampering with election results by tricking voters using Robocalls into going to fake voting booths set up by the Conservative Party isn't just a lame trick... its election fraud.

And its illegal.

And it calls in question the legitimacy of the current Canadian government.

Now Stephen Harper has two choices...

#1. Flagrantly ignore the illegality of his party's actions and let various members of the party take the fall for it.

#2. Step up to the plate, take some of blame and call a new election and prove whether his party really deserves to lead Canada for another 3 to 4 years.

It is obvious that the Conservative Party was so obsessed with winning a majority government (with just 24.31% of Canadians who voted Conservative) that they resorted to cheating and criminal acts just to win.

And now EVERYONE KNOWS that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives cheated and committed fraud.

How will we ever be able to trust a leader who won fraudulently? We can't and we won't.