I will tell you why I support moving to the “Single Transferrable Vote” system of elections.

Many say that it will be too complicated because you have too many “choices” to make, and the system of counting is complex. So, let me simplify it down to one statement.

Under BC-STV you can mark ONE choice on the ballot with an X….just like you always have.

You are not required to do anything else. What’s more, by doing this you are not “throwing away” your vote anymore than you are under the current system. In fact, in a STV system, your one vote is more valuable because if your choice doesn’t win the outright majority on the first count, your single vote can still be “transferred” and recounted.. giving you 1, 2, 3 or even more (depending on the number of candidates) chances to have your choice win!

I believe this is the message that the “Yes” side needs to get out.

People can vote as they always have and still benefit from STV!

I’ve been very disappointed at the lack of information about the Referendum on Electoral Reform that is happening during the BC Election. While I am definitely a supporter of the BC-STV system in place of our current system… I think that the lack of information is a detriment not only to the “Yes” side but to the “No” side as well because it speaks to a lack of will to foster debate about the issue.

Yes, counting votes under a STV system is far more complicated than what we have currently… our current system is as simple as it can get. “Most Votes Wins”.

Under STV. “Most Votes” still “Wins”… but the difference is that there will be more than one candidate from each riding. So in order to elect those 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th candidates, a calculation of the votes has to take place.

In the end… the candidates who receive the most votes still wins. Only the process in doing so changes.

In essence… STV takes away nothing and gives so much more than our current system.

How can you argue with that?

Here are some links.

CBC-BC has a great feature and demonstration of BC-STV.

The Elections BC site has lots of information.

The Citizens Assembly decided on STV and has the final recommendation along with explanations and FAQs.

Lots of interesting news today relating to Alternative Energy Research, Technology, and Policy.

1. President Bush is set to announce new initiatives to make building Nuclear Power plants more attractive, building oil refineries on old military bases, extending tax incentives to clean Diesel cars and building more Natural gas terminals. Kind of an odd mix. I’m happy to see emphasis finally being put on Nuclear power. In the near term, it is really the only feasible way to create electricity in place of fossil fuels.
2. Mercedes is producing a new diesel-electric hybrid. Interesting because all the hybrids currently on the North-American market are gas-electric. Diesel is more efficient than Gas
3. Along the same lines, Cal-Cars is advocating “plugin hybrids”. That is, regular Hybrid Toyotas, Hondas or whatever, that allow you to plug in the car to charge its’ batteries. Thus eliminating the need to gas up the car, yet without removing the capability to drive long distances using the gas engine. Makes sense to me!
4. Honda in America selling a Natural Gas powered Civic as an option to buyers. I don’t know of any other manufacturer who sells alternative fuel vehicles off the lot.
5. The fourth link to Gizmag reveals that the American Army in cooperation with GM has introduced its’ first Fuel Cell powered Hummer. You may dismiss it out of hand.. but remember than most technology that we use today has its’ roots in the military. Indeed, I wouldn’t be typing on this computer if it weren’t for the DOD. And the US Army also represents the largest fleet of vehicles in the World.. so entering into that market is important for further fuel cell research and success.
6. Now for the really far-out stuff! New Scientist reports that scientists demonstrated nuclear fusion… at a desktop level. That is, Nuclear fusion created at normal temperatures on a small scale… very cool stuff!
7. And Finally… scientists have discovered that if you electrocute bacteria with micro-amounts of electricity, you can get that bacteria to break down waste effluent/water into Hydrogen! This could be a nice way to clean up water and biomass from agricultural, industrial and residential sites and reduce costs by selling the Hydrogen produced for use in fuel cells or what have you.

Thats’ about it. Enjoy!

I’m a little late on this story… but since none of the MSM reports (BBC, CBC, CNN, FoxNews), including the BBC, which is usally really good at linking, provided a link to the actual final addendum to the Duelfer report then I will post it here.

Here is the CIA Website with the report.

I will also archive the PDF in my Original Documents and Media. (link coming)

Now… If you read the articles above you will get the same gist from all four sources. No WMD were found. The FoxNews article even went so far as to say that any WMD/Chemical ordnance found to be in the possession of Iraqi Insurgents would be pre-1991 era munitions that were improperly destroyed or disposed of.

So rather than produce the same sound bites I would like to point out a few passages.

1. On “Prewar Movement of WMD Material Out of Iraq”

(Page 4 of PDF)

• ISG formed a working group to investigate the possibility of the evacuation of WMD-related material from Iraq prior to the 2003 war…. The declining security situation limited and finally halted this investigation.

• Interesting to see that the security situation figures prominently in the reports conclusions… I wonder just in what way the security situation hindered the ISGs fact finding ability. Was it lack of Human Intelligence? Lack of mobility? Lack of access to important areas? Also interesting to see that, in the ISG eyes, apparently the security situation in Iraq has deteriorated since 2003… are they the first government organ to really admit to this?
2. On the “Deck of Cards” and other Wanted Iraqis

• The “blacklist” of individuals targeted for arrest and detention was drawn up prior to the 2003 war, and it was shaped by various organizations with a range of considerations and objectives…. While the top 55 names on the list were well publicized (due in part to their circulation as faces on decks of cards), the blacklist contained over 300 names and the full list was not publicly known… Up to the publication of this report 105 of the blacklisters were detained.

  • 300 names. That’s a lot of people. The report says that many of the names shouldn’t have been on there and were actually people who supported the Coalition and anti-Saddam forces. They also said that most of the people who they deemed to be the most important were captured, even though some remain at large.
  • On pages 8 and 9 there is some significant complaining about the role the Military played in debriefing the prisoners. How their shorts tours of duty meant that prisoners were often debriefed multiple times on the same subject… and also that the military/tactical focus of the debriefers did not lend itself well to gather information on the nuances of Saddams Regime and the International political scene.
3. On Residual Proliferation Risks

• A senior Iraqi official associated with the pre-1991 program stated that the numbers of WMD-associated scientists reported in Iraq’s declarations to the UN were grossly inflated to confuse inspectors…it is likely that the subset of former regime scientists who still possess potentially dangerous expertise is shrinking.
  …
  So far there is very little evidence that either foreign jihadists operating in Iraq or Iraqi insurgent groups are attracting experts from the former regime’s WMD programs.

• Somebody please write that down because I’m *sure* that at some point Bush & Co said that all these evil Scientists will defect to Al Quaeda and build a bomb.

• There are many reports of Iraqi professionals who have left Iraq because of the lack of security, rampant crime and kidnapping in Iraqi cities, especially Baghdad. Kidnapping for ransom and death threats allegedly have forced doctors, scientists and many from the wealthier sector of the population to migrate to safer countries.
  …
  By March 2004, according to press reports, insurgents assassinated more than 1,000 Iraqi professionals and intellectuals, including Muhammad al-Rawi, the President of Baghdad University. Whether such reports are accurate or not they reflect a widespread concern among the technical elite.

  …For over ten years they have endured, much like the rest of the Iraqi population, a steady decline in their living conditions. Post-[Operation Iraqi Freedom] Iraq for them is worse still.

• Truth in Reporting.
4. On Remaining Chemical and Bio Weapons (Page 18)

• ISG assesses that Iraq and Coalition Forces will continue to discover small numbers of degraded chemical weapons, which the former Regime mislaid or improperly destroyed prior to 1991. However, ISG believes that any remaining chemical munitions in Iraq do not pose a militarily significant threat to Coalition Forces because the agent and munitions are degraded and there are not enough extant weapons to cause mass casualties.

  [Also of note] we have no previous reporting indicating that Iraq weaponized pesticides. [But what about those evil “dual use” drums??

• Really the report says all there needs to be said, but let me make it more clear. There were no stockpiles of post-1991 WMD! oh, and if you don’t like me “editorializing” the report… then just read a little futher in. “ISG found no stockpiles of precursor chemicals necessary for synthesis of militarily significant quantities of agent.” (Page 22) Without the precursors how do you make stockpiles of actual WMD that pose an “imminent threat”??

Anyway, I think that’s about all I can bring myself to post about this. If you read the entire report you will see that it is complete and unequivical in it’s estimation that Iraq did not possess any significant WMD military capabilities after 1991. What’s more, the pre-91 programs were effectively shutdown and non-operational.

As a cap for this post, I think I will leave you with pictures… and quotes from the past.

---

Rumsfeld: “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”

Tony Blair: “Saddam… has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes”

Colin Powell: “Saddam Hussein has never accounted for vast amounts of chemical weaponry: 550 artillery shells with mustard”

George W. Bush: “We know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today”

So are you one of those people who roll their eyes when I say “all governments are corrupt”.

Well.. get ready because I’m saying it again.

Today, the BC Liberal Party got hit with a nasty scandal. God forbid they’re actually looking a little like their left-leaning namesakes in the Federal government.

The B.C. Liberal campaign has been hit by controversy over taxpayers’ money paid by municipalities in northern B.C. to attend a conference, with the dollars going directly to the local Liberal riding association.

Now, we’re only talking about $400, not $400,000 But I just hope that all the people out there who equate “socialists” with “kickbacks” take a step back and see this for what it is… confirmation that power, not politics, corrupts at every level.

For those not familiar, the BC Liberal Party has absolutely no affiliation with the Liberal Party of Canada. The BC Liberals share much more in common with the Conservative Party and Alberta Conservatives.

Good news from BC!

Elections BC has broken a record for voter registration before a General Election.

Currently over 90% of eligible voters have registered leaving only 300,000 remaining.

This is obviously great news! And hopefully it means there will be a good turnout on Election Day.

If you live in BC and haven’t registered yet, you can still Register Online until 12AM tonight.

You can also always register on voting day. Just make sure you bring TWO peices of ID to the voting place.