36 Comments
Mar 19, 2021Liked by Line Editor

Jen, I really enjoy your articles. They are funny and scathing at the same time. This was my favorite part and it really sums up all the blatant hypocrisy right now.

"Oil is a morally compromised product, and that compromise touches everyone who extracts and consumes it. Reducing this problem to the caricature of the black-hearted Texas oil baron is just scapegoating. It's an attempt to ameliorate the collective guilt we possess for living in car-dependent suburban tract housing with a hefty camper van that allows the family to escape to weekend adventures in the wilderness."

I hate that we are so dependent on oil but, until we develop better technologies, it's a necessary evil. It would be nice to see more people reduce their oil consumption, but it doesn't appear to be happening. Once restrictions are lifted, people will resume their yearly trips down south (of which far too many seem to feel entitled to). And, to those that travel close to home, great, but do you really need such a huge trailer or RV?? The purpose of camping is to get away from home, not to bring it with you.

Expand full comment

#1: you got drunk on one (shared) bottle of wine? When I lived in AB, that wouldn't even qualify as drinking. #2: you then compounded this by adulterating innocent alcohol with tea? What kind of a monster are you?

Other than that, tolerably ok piece.

Expand full comment
Mar 20, 2021Liked by Line Editor

Oh man, I forgot about the smoogies.Even though that song was rattling around in my head,I never knew where it came from.

Expand full comment
(Banned)Mar 19, 2021Liked by Line Editor

Jen nearly hit upon my favourite point about children's propaganda is that: It Does Not Work.

Captain Planet and the Lorax and several others were all that was warping the fragile little minds of impressionable children who are now 40+, and they all went out and bought vans and SUVs instead of the subcompacts that were going to be the only cars soon, when I was in engineering during the 1970s oil crisis.

But, no: when the price of gas went back down, everybody got 2400 sf houses instead of 1600, and the average vehicle weight went up 30%.

Some indoctrination. Perhaps it did indoctrinate them to blame "corporations" instead of themselves, but the corporations have pretty thick skins.

Expand full comment

As an Albertan I am tired of the constant beating down of our industry and the war against the Tar Sands. It is a legitimate and actual fact that a war is being waged and not against Texas, Norway, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, or Africa, its strictly against Canadian oil. This is why they canceled Keystone XL, its why that Line 5 will be shut down, and also why Jane Fonda has launched a campaign against Line 3 as well. Its not Texas oil that is being decried, as no other oil suffers from the destruction and misinformation sold by environmentalists that Canadian oil seems to attract. The environmental movement admits it lies to push their message and due to that they are winning. If we don't stand up for truth and reality, who will? Even in our schools the children are taught the evil of oil but are not told about what it has done for society and how it has improved every area of our lives. Films such as Bigfoot only solidify what they are taught. Critical Theory is not teaching children objective thinking and does not allow for one to even consider what is good about anything in our world today, including democracy and capitalism. Its one sided drivel that anyone teaching such horror should be ashamed of. If fighting for truth and reality embarrasses you, then it is you that has a problem and was obviously taught through the critical theory educational system. Journalism itself has lost all objectivity for the reasons I state above and the very fact that Environmentalist are running our Governments in many Provinces and our Federal Government should cause all Albertans anxiety. There intent is similar as is their thought process on Canadian oil and they too are attempting to destroy the industry. That is as long as it does not effect Ontario and Quebec. The hypocrisy and ignorance of those in powerful positions is extremely dangerous. If the oil and gas industry in Canada goes down, so shall the entire country. The costs to import what we need will be astronomical and unaffordable just as are Trudeau's taxes which will only continue to rise. What is happening needs to be fought in anyway possible or we will be having some seriously cold, cold winters. Global warming seems to disappear come January regardless of what the scientists say. If you think electric anything will fair better price wise, your wrong. It will be come the new oil of society and you will pay for it at a much higher rate than any oil and gas today as it will cost triple to make it viable for the whole country. Meanwhile all this destruction for 1.5 percent of the entire worlds emissions. That is a whole lot of destruction for what will make absolutely no difference in the worlds emissions as they will continue to rise. Do we do nothing, no but what is happening is due to misinformation that has caused the war against Canadian oil. We are not the villains of world emissions, in fact quite the opposite, but we are targeted as such. We must fight back as we will be the big losers, not those spreading misinformation or outright lies, as most do not live in the colder areas of this country or in Canada. They moved to warmer climates or they would not be destroying oil and gas here.

Expand full comment

I prefer the depiction of Big Foot from the Six Million Dollar Man.

That being said, the UCP is still a better choice than the NDP.

Expand full comment

Well done, Jen. (again)

Alberta does not deserve to become a laughing stock, but that 'War Room" is making it so.

Expand full comment

I was highly entertained by your review. Thanks for suffering through the children's movie. I sometimes wonder why it is that conservatives are always talking about liberal snowflakes & tears, and yet they go crazy over shit like this. I guess we are ALL highly offended by everything, not just the illiberal-left. ;)

Expand full comment