The Real Agenda Revealed

The postponement of the Greenland quota for hunting humpback whales reveals the true agenda of the IWC.  Their own scientists say killing 10 whales is sustainable for the humpback population and yet the members can come to no agreement.  This is because the IWC is no longer about managing the whale stock for sustainable use but to ban their use altogether.  The IWC has lost all legitimacy as a regulation commission and instead is a dysfuntional organization that has been distorted by the anti-whaling members to fulfill an agenda for which the organization was never intended to do. 

GTB

Ákvörðun um hnúfubaka frestað

Price Based on the Market -Not the Cost

I wrote in a previous blog http://www.gregg.blog.is/blog/gregg/entry/892704/ about how the oil companies determine the price of fuel. I said I knew how they did this because it is the same way the company I worked for determined the price of milk. Not on the cost but on what the market will bear.  Olís tried to raise the price but the competition would not follow so they had no choice but to lower it again.  Just as I said we used to do with milk prices in the US.  This is nothing but a legal way of fixing the price within the market.  The oil companies need to do it this way since they got caught doing it the illegal way last time.  And I bet people are still going to but fuel from Olís tomorrow, so what do they care?

GTB

Olís lækkar lítrann aftur um 12,50 kr.

Animal Park (Húsdýragarðurinn) in Reykjavík to Close

In a move to pacify a small opposition, the animal park in Reykjavík will be closing.  Opponents have long claimed that there are millions more kronur made in killing domesticated animals and selling their meat and skin than can be made by simply allowing people to look at them and pet them.  Shocked visitors to the park were told animals could only have one single use, that according to International Fund for Animal Welfare who reported that whales should only be used  for whale watching since more money is made with that activity than whale hunting.  Some people expressed their disbelief in such an illogical move to close the park, but it was  thoroughly explained to them that conservationists seldom use logic or even science in making decisions so closing the park fits that rationale.

GTB

Hvalaskoðun veltir milljörðum

Biodiesel

Besides the meat, one fin whale has enough blubber to produce between 50 to 70 barrels of oil.  If the quota of 200 whales was filled that could produce between 10,000 to 14,000 barrels of oil per year.  That is nearly 3 million liters per year.  If the oil was converted to biodiesel and sold it would have a market value of nearly 500 million kronur.   Just using the blubber would justify the hunt and make it very profitable. And these figures don't include the blubber from the minke whales.  Just something to think about.

GTB

Fyrstu langreyðarnar í land

Tragedy- No Longer Just for Greeks

The elements of a tragic hero-

1.A great or noble person Icelanders and their Viking history, strength and attitude

2.Makes a mistake of some kind usually because of hubris-tried to buy the world on credit 

3.Reversal of fortune-KREPPA

4.Has a downfall- buried by debt, they begin to bury their houses and cars

5.Recognizes his mistake- this final act has yet to be played out

 

An important part to a tragedy is that the audience should feel pity for the hero and experience fear.

We feel pity for the Icelandic hero beause we can place ourselves in his position.

We feel fear because we too do not know our future or our fate.

Aristole himself would be impressed by how well the Icelandic crisis is following the classic Greek artform.

 

GTB

Eyðilagði íbúðarhúsið

More Republican Hypocracy

Normally I could care less about any politican having an affair.  They are just regular people, believe it or not, and their personal life should really have nothing to do with their jobs.  Except of course when the politician is a conservative Republican who feels the need push his social agenda on the rest of the country, as Senator Ensign is and does. The best part of his affair is that he is a born again Christian. Well someone needs to tell Ensign that to be born again is not to be taken literally.  There is no need to try to get back into a woman to be "born again".  Another funny fact that should be mentioned is he was a member of the group Promise Keepers, a male evangelical group that promotes marital fidelity.  I love that I don't need to make stuff like this up.  Life is so full of real comedy.

During the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, Ensign, who was a Senate candidate, called on Clinton to resign. But Ensign has no plans himself to step down. Can you say -HYPOCRITE? When asked what he planned to do now that his affair is out in public, Ensign stated that he remains committed to his Senate duties.  I hope not in the same way he was committed to his faith, his wife, and his values.

GTB

Bandarískur þingmaður viðurkennir framhjáhald

Kaupthing is Not to Blame, Sort of

There is only one problem holding up the paying out of Edge accounts in Germany, and it has nothing to do with Kaupthing's ability to pay.  Kaupthing has the money to pay back all the accounts in full. The problem lies with the German bank to which Kaupthing must tranfer the money so the Edge customers can get paid.  It seems that Kaupthing has a debt not only with the Edge accounts but with the German bank itself.  So Kaupthing is afraid to transfer the funds for the Edge accounts for fear that the German bank will sieze the funds to cover Kaupthing's debt and not pay out the Edge accounts. Kind of humorous to the point of being sad, really.  Poor Karlheinz has come here when he should be at home, petitioning his bank to guarantee the transfered funds actually make it into his account and not into his bank's own account. Gook luck with that.

 GTB

Vill svör um spariféð

Negligence

Few things irritate me more than to read about how overcrowded the prisons are becoming in Iceland and how something needs to be done about it.  It was reported that the problem is so bad, two people have to share one cell.   The first thing that needs be done is to stop running a prison like a hotel. As Edda pointed out in her blog http://ek.blog.is/blog/ek/entry/896621/, it is normal to share a hospital room with more than one person so why should the prisons be different.  These are criminals we are talking about here; are we to treat them better than patients?  If two or more need to share a room so be it.  If the prisoners don't like it they should stay out of prison. 

The next thing to be done it to remove the TV's and computers from the rooms.  Is it a prison or a country club?  Sure it would be nice to rehabilitate people and that attitude is fine with non-violent criminals and actually Iceland should have a separate facility for such offenders.  As for the violent scum, two to a cell, no computers, no TV, and no phones is what they deserve.  Plain and simple. If more room is really needed the authorities can always use the brig on the airbase.  Maybe it is not up to Icelandic hotel/country club standards, but it is ready to hold prisoners.

All the foreign prisoners should be sent back to their home countries to do the time.   Being a foreigner I am going to do the Icelanders a favor here as say something sometimes they are too shy to say.  The influx of foreigners into Iceland without the need for work permits or background checks was and is the biggest mistake the Icelandic government has made-EVER.  Bigger than privatizing the banks. Bigger than the ICESAVE agreement. 

The opening of the borders was to fill jobs. Most people that came to work were youn men. By allowing this type of immigration of mostly young, foreign men, a situation was created I like to call the Wild West syndrome. It has increased crime in Iceland. The criminal element that found its way to Iceland did not phone home to invite their families, they invited their criminal friends.  Anybody who wants to argue otherwise is a fool, period.  Don't talk to me about the "majority" of prisoners being Icelanders. They should be! This is Iceland! Notice no one mentions how many are foreigners. Or how many are violent offenders. Too afraid to be called rasist. I thought we were all from the same race. The human race.

So Iceland opened the borders, women were violently attacked, people were beaten, and millions, millions of kronur of property was stolen.  And all for what? What was gained by this great experiment? Is Iceland better off because of it? Are Icelanders better off? What is the purpose of having this open border system?

Don't misunderstand me, I am not against foreigners living in Iceland (for obvious reasons). There is just a better way to it.  When I came to Iceland I had to have employment first.  I had to provide documented proof that I was not a criminal.  I saw nothing wrong with such a system.  It was the right way to do it and it worked fine.  Why it was changed I will never know.  The country is too small to allow unlimited, undocumented immigration.  The police force was not prepared to handle to increase in crime, although they have done a commendable job with the resources they have, the shops were not prepared for the increase in shoplifting, the bars not prepared for the increase in violence and the women not prepared for aggressive, sometimes criminal behavior that they could encounter.

And yet the government let the policy go forward and allowed it to continue even with all the evidence to the negative effect it was having on the country.  They only seemed to care about the economical benefit, and now that benefit is gone.  And Iceland is stuck with all the negative effects thanks to a government that should be charged with negligence in their handling of immigration.  And now the prisons are full, what a surprise.

GTB

Aðbúnaður fanga ekki nógu góður

Please, Please, Let Them Take it to Court!

Iceland should not enter into an agreement without exausting every legal avenue.  The debt that Iceland is required to pay is something that shoud be decided by the courts and not by the politicians. Especially since the politicians have made mistakes handling this issue since day one. The courts certainly can't force a worse deal on Iceland than the one it has now.   And it is not the Icelandic governments's job to bring the case to court.  That was a stupid question by the interviewer on Kastljós.  It is the British and Dutch goverments that must bring the case to a court.  They are the ones seeking repayment.  How the hell would Sigmundur Davið know which court the British or the Dutch should go to? 

The Althing needs to vote this agreement down, not only for the high cost but the ridiculous interest rate.  Who the hell negotiated that rate? Someone needs to be fired for that mistake.  Just vote this agreement down and get a better deal or let the countries sue Iceland.  The funny thing is, Britain and Holland say they don't want to sue.  Now why do you think that is? Any ideas, Steingrímur?  Here's one- because they think they might lose! 

 

GTB

Blekkingar, heimska og hótanir

Fólk er Fífl

It is never a surprise to see the oil companies trying to make even more money than usual by taking advantage of every single situation they can.   It sucks that they all do it but they are private companies and there is nothing stopping them from charging what they want for fuel. 

 However it is surprising that after all the three big companies have done here in Iceland, people continue to buy fuel from any of them.  It is difficult for people out in the country to buy from another company, but in Reykjavík and the larger towns there is no reason for anyone to keep buying fuel from the big three as they continue to screw the people every way they can. 

 If everyone tomorrow stopped buying fuel from only one of the three big companies for the rest of the month you would see the price drop.  One company deprived of it's earning will have no choice but to lower the price and then the rest will have to follow suit to stay competitive.  But we actually help them. Most of us seem to be content with the high price and  continue spread the wealth around as all the fuel stations are always busy selling their overpriced merchandise and so there is really no competition.

I know how the system works because the oil companies use the same system that the industry I worked for in the US used for milk prices.  No one could tell us how high the price of milk could go so we would raise it and then see what the competition did.  Usually they would follow. Sometimes they raised the price and we would follow.  This movement was hardly ever based on the cost of milk but on what people would pay for it.  We would only lower the price when the competition did or when the sales started to decline, meaning the customer had reached the point that they would no longer pay the higher price for milk and would go elsewhere.

The problem in Iceland is that no one seems to be going elsewhere.  People can't even go to the discount fuel stations. (Yes I know they are owned by the big three, except the company I use, Atlantsolia, but it would be better than paying the full price.)  They have continued to overpay at the same companies that they always complain about. When people are complacent about something, it never changes. So I guess the marketing director or Olís was right after all.

GTB

Skeljungur lækkar bensín