if you follow the logic in the statement he made last year about it being contingent on a state department review, the reality is that he has already approved the pipeline. and, in fact, it's already pumping. he's just waiting for the right political moment to announce it.

you have to understand that this is a national security issue. the oil is going to china. and, what does the united states focus it's entire foreign policy around? controlling the oil supply. this isn't an economic argument. environmentalists are trying to engage in a debate about the ecological problems, while correcting people on the economic value, but they're missing the point. from the government's perspective, it's not about this...

if canada doesn't ship it through the united states, it's going to be shipping it through british columbia, which is a national security problem because it's draining resources out of an area it considers it's backyard and towards a country it considers it's dominant rival. the military will not allow that to happen. the oil is going through the united states, and harper is going to be removed if he throws any wrenches into it. but, he's not actually throwing wrenches into it. the terms of conditions for the bc pipeline are going to take a decade to work out, the courts are going to slow it down, and by then the oil will be pumping from the south. so, harper can go to his chinese investors and say his hands are tied. it's no accident...

....because if they pump the oil through the united states, the military maintains control over it, including the ability to block export in the event of sanctions or war. this is what is going to happen whether anybody likes it or not.

it's also the reason canada is not allowed to build refineries, or airplanes or anything else. that would provide us with too much independence.

he'll probably announce it after the midterms, but he might wait as long as the end of his term, or even dump it off to a republican successor, if the politics allow for it.

line 9 goes through the state of michigan (allowing the americans to block the line in case of sanctions or war against china) and has a proposed terminal in portland, maine - giving them ultimate control over exports.

http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/06/13/if_keystone_gets_nixed_canadian_pipeline_operators_have_a_plan_b_olive.html

this is about the americans controlling the supply, and harper being stuck in a tug-of-war between chinese buyers wanting to control it and the americans seeing that as a security threat.

for a long time, i was worried that harper was giving in to those chinese interests and possibly putting western canada under threat of american occupation.

thankfully, he seems to have stepped back from the brink.

if he wanted the western pipelines built, he wouldn't have approved them with hundreds of conditions.

it's going to be decades before anything gets done, and by then the other lines will be operational. it's not worth the cost. they won't be built.

but, what harper can do now is go to his chinese investors and say his hands are tied. which is true. it's just that they're not tied by regulators, they're tied by the americans.

the oil is already pumping south through the keystone. if obama doesn't approve the wider pipe, his successor will. it's a matter of time.

in the mean time, the line 9 will ship it through michigan and out to maine.

it's all about controlling the oil supply. we know that this is what the americans spend billions on their military to do, but we think of ourselves as special.

there's nothing more obvious than that the americans will insist they are in control. and it seems to be that what that means is having the oil pumped through their borders.

so, keystone is allowed because it goes through the us. line 9 is allowed because it goes through the us. the western pipelines get drowned in bureaucracy because they don't go through the us. and the chinese get stuck with an unstable investment.

that's the cost of doing business in the shadow of the elephant.

and it has nothing to do with ecological concerns.

so, my nightly roach sightings have recently been replaced by nightly centipede sightings. i haven't seen a roach in almost a month. together, this suggests that i'm winning, but i know this species is seasonal and i can't really make any conclusions until i haven't seen one an entire year. i don't know if there are any eggs anywhere, or what's going to happen when they hatch if there are. you can't really spray the eggs, you have to actually go find them, and i simply can't get in under the pipes or kitchen counter to do that. so, it's a waiting, reacting game...

see, the centipedes (i've identified at least two separate ones) are out looking for food, and it seems like they're having a hard time finding any. i haven't seen any spiders around, either - i suspect the centipedes ate them all. the centipedes have been spotted in unusual places, where they're not likely to find much to eat. what this tells me is that there isn't any food left in the more likely places, so they're getting desperate and scouring areas they wouldn't otherwise bother with. i guess they'll have to leave or die, and at that point the process of getting the insects out of here will be finished. as centipedes eat all the other bugs, it's a good idea to keep them around until it's clear the other bugs are gone, then get rid of them - or keep a few around to prevent the others from coming back.

the thing i'm concerned about is that they might leave or starve before the eggs hatch, i.e. that the eggs might outlast the centipedes. so, i'm toying with the idea of bringing them some dead spiders.

but, i'm worried that if i start feeding them they'll become reliant on it. "don't feed the animals". well, yeah, don't. it would also sort of suck if they started getting a little too friendly and decided they want to snuggle or something. they *do* bite, when they're big, and i don't really want them hanging out around my pillow. i need them to hunt for me, and i'd rather if they kept a mild fear of me.

my sun room has some spiders in it, but the webs are full of termite-like things, so i don't really want to let them loose in there, either. i'll be cleaning the room up when i get a chair in there, probably in august. for now, i have a towel under the door to keep the area separate...

so, i dunno what the better thing to do is. i don't want them to die until i'm sure the roaches are out for good, but i don't want them to get too friendly or stop hunting, either.

although i should point out that the centipedes may actually eat the eggs. all i've found are anecdotes, though, nothing solid.

i think i'm going to hope this is true. i can't get in under those spots, but they can.

hopefully, they're out looking around for something else because they ate all the eggs already. meaning, the best thing to do is let them die off on their own....

yeah. decided.

so, i'm thinking i should apply for some kind of artist's grant. i just want to go down to odsp first and determine if i'm allowed to do that or not. it could conceivably provide me with another year or two, if the odsp gets cancelled. and, if i'm able to make enough progress, i could conceivably see myself putting the music aside within a year or two and focusing solely on writing and organizing. i've been preparing myself for this for some time now. the goal is to finish all the things i've left unfinished, and then make a decision about whether i want to carry on or not after that. i mean....yes, it's what i'd rather be doing. at the same time, i need to face reality that i'm not going to be able to find ways to allow myself to do this forever.

i've mentioned before that this is part of the reason i moved down here, to the center of canada's collapsing industrial base. it's a matter of time before the area has some serious homeless issues, brought on by mass joblessness. if i'm going to be organizing, i want to be organizing within this "lumpenproletariat", rather than within organized labour, who i've come to see as an obstacle in revolutionizing distribution to a more communistic approach. i really do not believe that organized labour has any revolutionary potential beyond increasing their own salaries, and i'm rather convinced that the corporate state has effectively derived ways to co-opt workers and keep them in line. i'm following the early anarchist thinkers in declaring organized labour a dead-end.

the only reason i need an odsp check instead of a welfare check is to house that studio. if i were to give up on this, i could see myself being relatively content bouncing around libraries with a laptop, sleeping in squats and spending all my time reading while i'm waiting for the shit to hit the fan. but, i know better than to plan beyond the immediate future, because that shit just never works out.

so, for now, i just need to focus on ways to pay the rent for another year or two. if odsp doesn't think i'm qualified, maybe the council for the arts might. and i'll go from there....