Greetings and salutations!

THE WORLD

It's odd trying to reconcile decades of fear mongering about an energy crisis to the reality that seems to be so rapidly approaching. Recent weeks have seen oil prices at their highest levels ever, and it can be only a matter of time until we feel the pressure, not only in terms of gasoline prices (which averaged $1.20/L across Canada this morning) but the inflation that inescapably accompanies it.

As if typical OPEC hoarding wasn't enough, and ongoing events in the Middle East didn't help things along, the problems with Venezuela (which provides 10% of America's oil) came into play followed shortly by the human tragedy of Hurricane Katrina which, aside from destroying thousands of lives, shut down platforms in the Gulf of Mexico - the final nail in the oil prices coffin. One can only wonder what will happen next, and one can only hope that this present challenge will spur greater energy innovations or moves by oil rich governments to insure their citizens are looked after. The Alberta government is considering lowering taxes or eliminating health care premiums, but these are carrots that have been dangled before by a government clearly ignorant of the effects of degregulation and privatized.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"Thank God - what is today? Tuesday? - thank God it's Tuesday, and my whole family is alive." TONYA ROSE, of Biloxi, Miss., who narrowly escaped Hurricane Katrina.

For anyone still debating the western media comparisons of the Israeli settlers recently evacuated from Gaza and the West Bank with Palestinian refugees, I encourage you to read this brief article.

MOVIES

I had the pleasure of watching Terry Gilliam's The Brother's Grimm last night. While I found the visuals of the film (stunning as they were) to be slightly overbearing, I really enjoyed this movie. The story was a predictable collage of past fairy tales but it held together and genuinely entertained, even managing to be spooky. The characters of the French soldiers (partiularly Peter Stormare and Jonathan Price) were the most poorly played but Matt Damon and Heath Ledger were convincing as the brothers, and who could possible complain about Monica Belucci as the immortal queen? Very cool stuff!

With Hope,
Joseph

Oil Prices | Hurricane Katrina | The Brothers Grimm