Next time the Boss tells you "that the quality of your work is the best and you are the most productive in the system" don't interpret that as praise in any form just tell the Boss -"Didn't do the GM truck plant workers any good did it!"
So yesterday they shut the truck plant down and in this report from the TO Star the job loss is staggering, about 2,000 direct jobs and 10,000 indirect jobs. Real estate prices have fallen and the local economy is hit hard. Alright for those who look on it as justice because, "those guys earned too much" but for the intelligent ones who worry about the big picture, they don't have a clue what's coming next. The Deputy Mayor of Oshawa said, "We want to become or do something like Waterloo has done," Pidwerbecki said. "We know there will be ups and downs during the next few years, but I think the community will survive that." - We think don't know but in the meantime? (my words) Even that fat obnoxious loudmouth Denis "I hate the CAW" DeRosiers acknowledges the severity of the situation, "The impact is quite devastating," industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers said.

The big deal of the year is sitting at Home Hardware, on Division St. Low flush toilets are not a big deal anymore but this line is. The standard low-flush uses 13 litres per flush, this new style uses half that amount - 4.8 litres per flush. Using a new design this toilet can flush the poop with half the water. The design also eliminates the problem that besets every water utility - flapper leakage; no flapper no leakage.
Three models of toilet are offered and three prices prevail: the MSRP, the sale price and the sale price reduced if you are a LUSI customer. The cheapest model is priced at $99. So how long will it take to pay for this model with the promised savings kicking in? Looking at my water usage over the last year I used 77 cubic metres. That is 77,000 litres, daily usage is 216 litres and if we, only two of us in the house, each flush five times per day poop water equals 48 litres at 4.8 lpf new toilet and 130 litres at the present. So the potential savings are 82 litres per day. We spent 45 cents a day for the past year on water. The cost per litre per day at 130 litres is .0035 cents per litre so if we put in a new toilet we save .287 cents per day. A yearly cost savings of $102.17.
Simple decision new toilet costs $99 plus tax; payback equals twelve months. Bruce Craig of LUSI told me that the budget is $100,000 and that will buy about 600 toilets so get up there fast.

Good news for Cobourg, Provincial money for doing the right thing - switching light bulbs, and then a surprise from the light bulb maker - the sniff of jobs. Confirming that the Company is looking for a place to site a research facility and then possibly a manufacturing plant. Although it is hard to believe that a Chinese manufacturer would shun low cost manufacturing, it may be plausible - still I'm from Missouri!

The puzzle may be solved when the Cobourg staff release a report about the complex planning situation encompassing the growth of Cobourg, the new Official Plan and the application for a 265 acre development with 1702 planned dwellings.
The facts are clear. Cobourg is in the middle of a new Official Plan that has many constraints placed upon it by forces outside Cobourg. A developer has applied to build many houses in an area that may not be allowed to be built upon, by the application of the new OP, and the confusion of a local committee responsible for advising the Council on planning matters.
When the application to build (the Rondeau application) came before the Planning and Advisory Committee the committee was in the middle of another matter - the review of the Oficial Plan (OP). In the review the committee had been wrestling with the directive from the Province to focus development within existing Town boundaries. Research indicates that up to 11,000 people could be living inside that boundary if development was directed to those areas. So when the Rondeau application came before it discussion centred on its merit - why approve a build outside the boundary when all policy is directing them to build inside the boundary? But because the Rondeau application had been in process since before 2006 Provincial policy indicates that the new OP cannot be applied to it. But this is where it gets sticky for Council. Area C, the development area outside the boundary which has been planned for a population of 16,000, needs to be serviced. To service the area properly Sewage Treatment facilities need to be upgraded to the tune of $7.3 million. Only the Rondeau application has the right to build all the others yet to apply may be refused because they are outside the boundary. If that is the case then the servicing costs for the Rondeau development may be horrendous, if the ST needs to upgraded. Those costs are going to be paid for from development charges - in other words developer pay, perhaps they will not be able to afford the project?.
There were so many unanswered question on Monday, even the public meeting set up to discuss the application took two and a half hours, that the Council tossed the whole thing back to Staff . There was not even a motion from the Planning and Advisory committee recommending or disapproving the application. I hope that the staff can sort out this confusing situation.

There is a very interesting video on the video page. Jesse Ventura, former Navy SEAL and the ex-Governor of Minnesota (Ind) is being interviewed by Larry King about Dick Cheney and "waterboarding" Jesse gives a spirited interview where he outlines his disdain for DC.

Just came across this, an account of a "blogger" hanging out in Bildeberg watching the rich and powerful make up the rules for those others to rule the world. This page details all of his posts since May 13. Start reading from the bottom up. Warning, a couple of the links may not work -play around on the page.