Oh Ezra, why you gotta be like Godzilla?

So this was supposed to be an early night for me until I came across this piece by Ezra Levant. Let the dissecting begin:

"Don't believe what the Alberta-bashers tell you."

I'm really sick and tired of this everyone against Alberta mentality. Can we (that's all of Canada, just in case anyone's wondering) all please grow up and start acting like mature adults?

"Oh, sure, crude oil hasn't been $65/barrel before. But that's not because oil is more expensive than ever. It's because inflation has eroded the value of the dollar."

I'm not an economist nor have I followed gas prices, but it sounds reasonable.

"Of course, nobody talks this way about other items that we have to buy -- like, say, automobiles. The average auto in North America is 62% more expensive today than it was in 1980, in real dollars. But cars are made in Ontario and Quebec. Oil is drilled in Alberta. It's easy and fun to pick on Alberta for its oil wealth. (Want proof? Canada's auto industry negotiated an exemption from the Kyoto Protocol. No fanfare, just a quiet side deal. Alberta's oil remains in the Kyoto bulls-eye.)"

It's not that we're purposefully avoiding the discussion about automobile prices or other petroleum-based product, it's just that we're a little slow. Sorry, our bad.

And again, who's picking on Alberta? This isn't a schoolyard! Anyone who thinks Alberta controls world oil prices and thus screwing them of their money are idiots. I frankly wouldn't want the auto industry to get that exemption and instead be forced to raise fuel efficiency standards, but my government dropped the ball on that one.

Oil companies are demonized as large, impersonal, profiteering organizations rigging prices.

Mr. Levant should know that EVERY large corporation is demonized as such. Stop singling out Oil Patch. You're biased against the rest of the corporations in Canada!

"Most reporters have an anti-business bias to begin with. Add in oil and you tap into their environmentalist biases, too."

Most reporters also work in a 'business.' I guess they're biased against themselves. Damn self-hatin' reporters.

I also didn't know that not liking pollution was a bias. I guess I'm biased against pollution.

"There are some notable voices -- Gwyn Morgan of EnCana and James Buckee of Talisman are examples of oilmen with the courage to challenge the economics and science of Kyoto."

Here's what I pulled off of EnCana (bottom of the page, "the Voluntary Challenge and Registry Inc.") and Talisman's (2004 Corporate Responsibility Report, section titled "Kyoto Protocol") website. Granted, EnCana's more vague on what they're doing about climate change, but they acknowledge it while Talisman has a full section on working on the Kyoto Protocol. Either Morgan and Buckee are saying one thing but doing another (which is which is the reader's guess) or Mr. Levant's behind in the news...

Take out the inflammatory rhetoric about Canada against Alberta, the Feds against Alberta, the auto industry against Alberta, the media against Alberta and Godzilla against Alberta (Alberta just can't get any breaks, apparently), and what you have is, well, 3 paragraphs arguing that oil prices aren't that high but everything else has become more expensive, so suck it up. Which is pretty reasonable. It's too bad it got buried by the other nonsense. It's just frustrating when pundits from one side or the other accuse their opposites of being inflammatory. The hypocrisy is just so blatant, kinda like the people in the Godzilla costumes. Now if only we can all stop fighting imaginary battles and get on with governing the country.

On a related note, I don't want people to think I'm just picking on the conservative pundits. They just tend to be the loudest and get noticed more often. If I find a liberal pundit saying stupid things, I will go to town on it.