Hello from D.C.

As promised I have entered the belly of the beast, strolling down the National Mall yesterday as they ready themselves for the "Rally to Restore Sanity". I also stood and watched as they closed down the length of Pennsylvania Avenue as the President drove by - probably on his way to visit Jon Stewart.

Meanwhile, as the President hops from talk show to talk show, the police struggle to stop extremists plotting to blow up the Metro here at Arlington Cemetary and to track down shooters firing on the Penatagon and the Marines Museum earlier this week.

It brings to mind a very stirring exhibit regarding the Lincoln Presidency at the Smithsonian.

In response to the effort and ultimate sacrifice of President Lincoln to overcome the evil of slavery and to assure the security of the Union, on a wall in the Smithsonian reads this quote:

"Some men stand still, amazed, when the tempest darkens around them; others grow and rise to the height of the occasion; but few have ever grown and risen as did this man; his mind maturing and his views expanding under the stirring of his times."
—Robert Dale Owen, reformer and Indiana congressman, 1870

I walked to the Washington Monument today, through the World War II Memorial, along the Reflecting Pool and up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. There I stood looking into the eyes of Lincoln's great statue.. then moving aside to read his Gettysburg Address.

I took time to consider the significance of his sacrifice and the sacrifice of so many others. I confess to having a tear in my eyes, but said nothing to my wife until as we walked by the Vietnam Memorial - watching a woman in tears copying a loved one's name with a pencil and a piece of paper -I said "What they did matters".

With all respect to the President and other well-intentioned liberals, I think they miss the point. The purpose of government is not to equalize wealth or even opportunity.. for what do we have if we do not have freedom? First and foremost, the job of a democratic government is to assure the liberty of it's citizens. To acquire comfort without freedom betrays the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for little more than an abstraction called "liberty".

So many have given so much to assure that "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The Quest for Fire(arms)

Well.

Recall a few weeks ago, I was a little perturbed because of the vote regarding the gun registry.

And, in response, even though I have never owned a gun, and never even contemplated owning a gun, I pledged to undertake obtaining training and applying for my PAL (Possession and Acquisition License).

Good news..

This past Saturday, I successfully completed testing to obtain both my non-restricted and restricted PAL.  And while I don't have it, I have submitted my application - and having no history if anti-social behavior of any type (other than this blog) I feel relatively confident that the granting of my PAL is a formality.

What then?

I'm not sure.  One thing I can pass on is that the materials in support of the course, and the training provided made it very clear that the use and possession of a firearm is a significant responsibility and what started out as a bit of a lark on my part, provided me a much better sense of the significance of proper training in the use and possession of firearms, whether rifles, shotguns, or pistols.

I am guessing that I'll probably take up target shooting, and will probably acquire a handgun - but that it isn't likely that I'll take up hunting any time soon.

So.  With appreciation to Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton, I have commenced a new and interesting hobby.

Advice on selection of a new firearm would be appreciated..  my immediate sense if that something along the lines of a 9mm semi-automatic Beretta PX4.

Liberals, Rights, and Privileges..

The Conservative Government is seeking to emulate Australia to some degree in dealing with illegal immigrants.  To stem the growing number of human beings being smuggled into Canada - they are seeking to pass new legislation that will allow them to hold these people brought to our shores in cargo containers from places like Sri Lanka for up to one year - making it much less attractive to those who would pay smugglers significant fees to try and illegally enter Canada.

As a lawyer, I see first hand, almost daily, the mish-mash of rhetoric and inconsistency inherent in the patchwork quilt which is the Canadian judicial system.

Words, once somewhat innocuous, at the urging of lawyers and judges become pillars of power - and impact significantly upon those to whom our laws apply.

Two such words are "rights" and "privileges".

And their application in this Country is somewhat interesting and more than a little troubling.

For example.

Driving a motor vehicle.

If you asked most non-lawyers how important having access to a vehicle is to their fundamental ability to carry out their lives, and in many cases, their fundamental ability to retain their employment - I daresay most Canadians would say that driving a vehicle comes in, not too distantly, behind eating and breathing.

In a country as broad and dispersed as Canada, having access to a vehicle for our daily needs is akin to the need for a good horse a few generations ago.

However, it is trite law in Canada now that driving a vehicle is a "privilege" and not a "right".

And, as such, we now are subject to suspensions of drivers' licenses simply because we are suspected of a crime, before even being permitted to appear before a Judge, or because we are suspected of not paying child support - in some cases without even judicial power to immediately reinstate drivers' licenses in the case of errors and mistakes by maintenance enforcement offices (and the mistakes, as any family lawyer will tell you, are frequent and never-ending).

On the other hand, thanks to the Liberal government, in 1977 with the sweep of a pen they created the perplexing legal gymnastics of declaring that, to qualified applicants, the acquisition of citizenship to Canada by prospective immigrants is NOT a privilege.. but is a "right".

Why is that significant?

Well, because if you don't live in the GTA, and don't have access to mass-transit - your ability to keep a job, your ability to travel from your farm to buy food to feed your family - is subject to being taken away from you without any entitlement to due process or the application of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

However - if you are an illegal immigrant, being smuggled into Canada - you have the full range of rights under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and, no doubt, this will figure strongly in the Conservative effort to prevent smuggling of human beings into Canada.

Anyway.. strikes me that we're going down a dangerous road in this country.. where more and more the rights of Canadians are being diluted with haste, and the interests of those who do not live here and pay taxes are being strengthened every day.

More new on our "friends" at the U.N.

U.N. Poster Boy - Dictator Obiang

Well.

Seems like just yesterday I was musing on just how tragic it isn't that we weren't selected to sit at the table with the "good people" at the U.N. Security Counsel.

Today, we learn more about what it takes to be respected by the United Nations.

In 2008, the United Nations scientific and cultural agency, UNESCO, proudly created the "UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in Life Sciences. Deadline: 30 April 2010".  The prize was a $3 million endowment paid for by Equatorial Guinea President Teodor Obiang Nguema.

As set out on UNESCO's website:

The purpose of this Prize is to reward the projects and activities of an individual, individuals, institutions, other entities or non-governmental organizations for scientific research in the life sciences leading to improving the quality of human life.

Well.

Isn't that special? President Nguema wants to "improve the quality of human life".

Problem is, this guy is becoming somewhat typical of the U.N. crowd.

In so far as, according to Amnesty International has reported on his government:

Political opponents of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea face abduction, detention, torture and execution. In August 2010, four men were executed within an hour of being sentenced to death by a military court in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s capital. They had been abducted from Benin where they were living as refugees. In the same trial, two prisoners of conscience (who had earlier been acquitted) were jailed for 20 years.

You don't say?

What else can we learn about the good President Dictator?
Well, as reported by Peter Maas in Slate, asking the rhetorical question, "Who's Africa's Worst Dictator"?:

Mugabe may not be Africa's worst. That prize arguably goes to Teodoro Obiang, the ruler of Equatorial Guinea whose life seems a parody of the dictator genre. Years of violent apprenticeship in a genocidal regime led by a crazy uncle? Check. Power grab in a coup against the murderous uncle? Check. Execution of now-deposed uncle by firing squad? Check. Proclamation of self as "the liberator" of the nation? Check. Govern for decades in a way that prompts human rights groups to accuse your regime of murder, torture, and corruption? Check, check, and check.

Color me not surprised.

The U.N. has evolved from an organization that was, in it's past life, a beacon of hope and peace, to a mouthpiece for the worst of the worlds tin-pot dictators and terrorists.

While it is now bowing to growing world pressure to remove itself from it's association with the dictator, as commented in my earlier blog, the U.N. is no longer a club one yearns to be associated with.

It's becoming a gang of corrupt thugs, and, frankly, Canada is well-off not sitting arm in arm with them.  Frankly, I would be embarrassed if we were "good U.N. citizens" as, obviously, to be a good citizen of the U.N., is to be no good citizen at all.

Into the Mouth of the Beast.. Journey to the "Rally to Restore Sanity"

I have seen the enemy..  and he smirks.

Well, I have managed to convince the bean counters at SFL to fund a journalistic excursion to Washington, D.C., to report first hand on the "Rally to Restore Sanity" being hosted by Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.

Alright.. so the accounting department, the personnel department and the editorial board are all, well, me.

Never matter.

This, this conservative is wading into the belly of the beast October 30, travelling to Washington, D.C., to take in this "libfest" of sorts.   Set up to be the "intelligent and sane" response to the Tea Party rallies, I'm curious enough to want to see for myself how the "nicer" Americans are.

(Alright, I'm not really attending Washington only for the rally, I'm actually attending a conference on Collaborative Law..  a wonderful process by the way to help people stay out of Court in family law disputes.. for more info: www.collaborativelaw.ca or http://www.collaborativepractice.com )

I expect to be surrounded by thousands of liberals, swooning and hanging on every word of Stewart and Colbert.. and who knows what other guests will be speaking.

I'm a curious sort, however, and as my blog page says, you can't learn anything if you don't listen.

So, I'll be taking my life in my hands and wandering about the Washington National Mall on October 30, 2010.

If you check out the Rally site you will note that they are encouraging the bringing of signs to show how "sane" you are.

If you're feeling creative, you can upload your own sign at the Rally site here.

My effort?

I will keep you all posted.. if I don't come back, don't worry about me.. save yourselves. 

Buy a gun.  Go off-grid.



The "Rednecks" in Calgary Elect a Muslim Mayor

Newly Elected Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.. 

Future candidates.. ignore technology at your peril..

Well.

"Rednecks" in Alberta just elected Canada's first Muslim mayor in a major city.

Dark horse candidate Naheed Nenshi came from behind in pre-election polls and succeeded in overcoming favorites Barb Higgens and Ric McIver.

This bodes well for Calgary, and, I think, for small "c" conservatives in Canada.. though not necessarily for big "C" conservatives.

Why?

Well, ignoring partisan politics for a moment, it sends a pretty clear message to the rest of Canada that Albertans have known for a long time.

That what matters in this Province is not the color of one's skin, but the effort they are willing to make.  Nenshi is the son of immigrants from Tanzania. He was born in Toronto but his family moved to Calgary when he was young. Educated at Harvard, Nenshi worked for many years as a business consultant before becoming a professor at Mount Royal University.  As reported in the National Post today:

He sang from Alberta’s fiscally conservative song sheet, insisting that “people deserve to feel burned because our city council has burned them. It has thrown money away. It is a city council that has forgotten why they are there.” And thundered populism as well as any Tea Partier when he vowed he would “stand up to the forces arrayed against helping people get better lives.”

While Nenshi may have risen to academia, he came from very humble roots, being the child of hard-working immigrant parents, and it appears he did not forget where he came from, being quoted as saying “I know how to talk to the guy in the muffler shop because he’s my cousin.”

This is the conservative credo.  That success is not a "gift" from government, and that it arises from hard work and personal sacrifice.  That government taking our tax dollars should consider those funds a trust for the taxpayer - not a personal entitlement, a la Adscam and, to be fair, the multi-partisan waste of Canadian tax dollars used to buy votes in Quebec.

This doesn't, necessarily, however bode well for the large "C" conservatives, Provincially or Federally.  The taxpayers want responsible use of their tax dollars, and there are questions in taxpayers minds in Alberta and in Canada regarding just how conservatively they are being managed.

It's an odd thing - but in this time of financial stress for many Canadians, we see that people all over the social spectrum have an inherent understanding that in times of recession, proper budgeting is critical.

We have seen the dive in the polls of Barack Obama, primarily related I would suggest to the image he has gathered as a person more concerned with "ideas" than pragmatic realism.

The federal Conservatives in particular would be wise to take notice.  Their "ideas", whether discarding the long-gun registry, building more jails to put more people away, or scrapping the long-form census will not hold a candle, at the end of the day, to the fears of financial mismanagement.

The Liberals are starting to get it.  Talk is that they are shelving the national daycare program in favor of a commitment to balance the budget quicker than the Conservatives.

Then again, they promised to repeal GST.

And the last time they balanced a budget it was on the backs of the Provinces.. smiling at their bottom line, while heaping scorn on Provinces seeking a "third way" to balance their growing health care budgets when the Feds squeezed their funding down (except in Quebec).

I think it also goes without saying that it might be just a little more difficult for hard-line Muslim clerics to suggest that there is no place for moderate Muslims in Canadian society.

And that's a good thing.

Well done, Naheed Nenshi.



More Media Comedy.. but I'll be Kinder and Gentler Today

Alright.

So my wife, who's somewhat right of Sarah Palin, wasn't as amused with my rip on Jane Taber yesterday..  so I'll be a little less strident today in my media commentary.

For those who haven't seen the (narrow) View clip yesterday, you may find this as amusing as I did:



Let's break it down, to really understand just who the "pinhead" was, to use Joy Behar's mature commentary on Bill O'Reilly:

a) They are discussing why Barak Obama has plummeted in his approval ratings;

b) O'Reilly offers that perhaps it's because of the gulf between Obama and the hearts and minds of average Americans, specifically, on the Ground Zero Mosque issue;

c) Joy Behar, at :29 into this clip, then exhibits her mature and thoughtful response when someone disagrees with her by putting "bunny ears" behind O'Reilly, and squealing, "pinhead, pinhead".  Effective retort Ms. Behar, thoughtful and responsive I'm sure;

d) O'Reilly continues, offering up the fact that 70% of Americans disagree with the appropriateness of the Mosque being built near the 9-11 site, at which time, the insipid Joy Behar then again disagrees suggesting that "she" is American and she agrees with him.. and says, "show me the polls";

e) O'Reilly then offers to place a bet respecting the poll, because unlike Joy Behar, he is aware of what's going on in America beyond the liberal thought vacuum, and upon it appearing that she is going to be shown to be the dunce that she is, Ms. Behar then returns to the "well, I'm American" shtick..

f) Whoopi Goldberg, knowing that O'Reilly is correct, then essentially suggests that Americans are just wrong to not like Obama's position.. and when O'Reilly explains the obvious - that Americans are aware that Muslims killed Americans on 9-11.. which apparently, according to Behar is "hate speech" and her and Goldberg continue their intelligent response to a point they disagree with by walking off of their own show.

Now.

Whether you agree with O'Reilly or not regarding the "appropriateness" of the Mosque, he was correct (thought marginally exaggerating) because a widely publicized CNN Poll (not Fox News) found that 68% of Americans disagree with the wisdom of the location of the Mosque.

So.

Behar is just wrong.  And she probably knew it.

Now.

Whether you agree with O'Reilly or not, a significant majority of Americans feel strongly about their innocent citizens being attacked on 9-11, and they are very aware that the killings took place in the name of Islam.

Is anyone up in arms and offended when we talk about the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbour?  It wasn't ALL of the Japanese people who attacked Pearl Harbour..

The other point, which is more subtle, but perhaps more significant, is the way in which Goldberg and Behar just blithely ignore the feelings of so many people who disagree with them. 

The perspective of the liberal elite - I don't need to listen to you because you're just not as smart as me..  but don't ask me to back up what I say, and don't confuse my superior intellect with things like "facts".

Personally, I think the most profound discussion I've ever witnessed on the view was the following:

Jane Taber on the Conservative Increase in the Polls.. Cheap Comedy

Classic Canadian Comedy.. the Globe and Mail

Well.

Thanks, in part, to the continued inability of Michael Ignatieff to articulate anything other than whining complaints over issues that matter little to Canadians, the Conservatives have again increased their support among Canadians.

Of course Jane Taber does her best to spin the results, doing a little race-baiting and region-polarization, writing the headline:

"White, male seniors from Alberta’ give Tories solid upper hand"

Using this forum, I would like to offer my own counter-point to the meandering babble that Jane Taber considers "reporting":

Jane, you ignorant slut. The voting intentions of 10% of 10% of the Canadian population are responsible for the current Conservative lead?

Your obvious ignorance is only exceeded by your no-doubt voracious appetite to one day copulate with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. Oddly enough, Alberta has the lowest percentage of seniors in Canada - so, your pathetic skeeze-bag excuse for analytic reasoning has once again exposed you as the two-bit Liberal whore that you really are.

I suppose you'd like to have our country run the way you conduct your private life, then what do you have? An old, dried-out scuzz that no decent man would be seen with. Is that what you want for Canada? It's too late for you, Jane, but our country still has some dignity left, you hosebag!

Thank-you.

Now, back to the unvarnished facts:

The details?

"Conservatives widen lead: poll"

Tories increase their lead by 1.3%, Liberals drop another 2.1%.

Word to Michael Ignatieff..  do something, anything.. other than complain and criticize.

Then again, from a Conservative perspective - keep up the good work.

U.N Security Counsel - Rapists, Murderers.. Pity we weren't asked to join them.

U.N Security Council Member.. Do these guys know how to party or what?

Have you ever really wanted to belong to some club, and been willing to do almost anything to be accepted.. maybe it was a team, maybe it was a fraternity or sorority.. or some such thing, only to later realize, looking back at the people you thought were so cool, that, in the harsh light of sober second thought, they were really a bunch of losers?

Think about some admitted members of the U.N. Security Counsel for a moment..

Turkey;
Bosnia;
Lebanon;
Brazil;
Nigeria;
Mexico;
Gabon.

And we, in Canada, feel slighted that we can't hang with the "cool kids"?

Bosnia?

While it may be difficult to decide who was the most atrocious in the Bosnian/Serbian conflict.. certainly the Bosnian Muslims had more than their share of brutal and savage murders and mutilations of Serbian civilians during the conflict.

And it strikes me that "they did it to" isn't really a defence to THIS sort of non-human behavior.


How about Turkey?

Recall the systematic genocide of Armenians by the Turkish Government after World War I..  reportedly killing 1.5 million Armenians.  And if that seems too long ago, well, how about the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights last month that ordered reparations for the refusal of the Turkish Government to protect and then properly investigate the murder of Armenian activist Hrant Dink.  Dink was murdered in 2007 and it is strongly rumoured that the Turkish government was complicit in the murder.

But then every other day here in Canada some critic of government is murdered, don't you know? 

Lebanon?

Wonderful "world citizen".  The non-partisan think-tank, Counsel on Foreign Relations describes Lebanon, currently, as a "haven for terrorism", reporting that:

Terrorist organizations operating in Lebanon include the radical Shiite militia Hezbollah, several Palestinian groups—Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command—as well as the Abu Nidal Organization, al-Jihad, Asbat al-Ansar, the Japanese Red Army, and some local radical Sunni Muslim organizations.

Nice. Sad that we won't be hanging out for post-counsel drinks with these crazy bastards.

Brazil?

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'd love to visit during Carnival.

But then again.. recall the horrendous abuse of its citizens during it's military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985, including rapes and executions by its military and concerted cover up by the Brazilian government.  But it's all good now, no?

Well, apparently not.  It appears that the Brazilian government while wanting to appear all squeaky-clean, isn't really all that interested in investigation of the atrocities occurring as recently as the mid-80's.  As reported in June of this year:

A case against Brazil in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for violations of human rights committed by the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, and the country's failure to bring those responsible to trial at home, are a smear on the image of an emerging power that has taken on an increasingly prominent role on the international stage.



"How can Brazil present itself as an international leader if it is incapable of trying those who have violated the human rights of its citizens in the name of the state?" Beatriz Affonso, a lawyer with the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), asked IPS.

Nigeria?

Where do you start with this crew?

How about the Amnesty International Report, "KILLING AT WILL: EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS AND OTHER UNLAWFUL KILLINGS BY THE POLICE IN NIGERIA?":

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial executions, other unlawful killings and enforced disappearances every year. The majority of cases go uninvestigated and unpunished. The families of the victims usually have no recourse to justice or redress. Many do not even get to find out what exactly happened to their loved ones.

Look at the furor in Canada over tasering criminals..  I guess we should just kill them all and bury the bodies without trial.. then we would be "good world citizens" worthy of the security counsel apparently.


Mexico?

The most dangerous city in the world?  Nope, it's not Kandahar.  It's not Bahgdad.  Number 2 on the list of the most dangerous cities in the world is Cuidad Juarez, Mexico – This place has a serious problem with robbery, kidnapping, sexual assault and drug-related crimes. 120 killings per 100,000 residents. Cuidad Juarez is located just across the USA border. It has 1.5 million people and a really bad reputation. Recently drug Cartells have started a war against one another, making it very dangerous for travellers. This place is Violent. They are the number two city in the world for murders, most of them drug-related. 50% of all murders in Mexico come from Cuidad Juarez.

Crime is out of control with police and government officials murdered on a daily basis - or themselves being fed with money from organized crime. The response of the Mexican government under President Calderon has been to let loose a military without control on it's citizens.  In an open letter to President Calderon by Human Rights Watch it is disclosed that:

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has found the military responsible for grave human rights abuses in nearly 60 cases during your administration, including unlawful killings, rape and torture. In that same period, the Commission has received more than 4,000 complaints of abuses by the army alone. Distressingly, the numbers of both complaints and comprehensive reports of human rights violations committed by members of the military have grown significantly with each year of your presidency.

Rape and torture you say?  Are you getting the idea of what kind of people pal around at the U.N. Security Counsel?
Gabon?
Great place if you're not a woman.  According to Amnesty International:

Domestic violence is illegal, but common, and police rarely intervene. Rape is also against the law but seldom prosecuted, and only limited medical and legal help is available for the victims. Female domestic workers, a number of whom are trafficked women and children, have been threatened and sexually harassed, with almost no recourse to legal help or justice.

Beyond that, while there was an election in 2009,  it was marred by violence against opposition party members and widespread allegations of electoral fraud. Gabon's government is a centralized, autocratic presidential bureaucracy where power is distributed largely through patronage - "democracy", really is a myth in this country where the Bongo (I kid you not) family has been ruling the country for 41 years.  Effectively, it is just another military autocracy with little if any respect for human rights or the rule of law.  Recently, the New York Times disclosed Gabon's government as engaging in money-laundering into the United States, essentially, the government stealing untold wealth from it's citizens who live on an average of $2.00 per day.

Are you still feeling "left out" of this club?

Are these the kind of friends you would be proud to bring home to meet your family?

Let's be honest.  The above information isn't coming from some disaffected conservative. They are, by and large, coming from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the like.

The sort of people populating the U.N. Security Counsel, including China and Russia, as permanent members, are a wonderful selection of murderers, rapists and scum of the worst ilk.

Anyone, including Michael Ignatieff who suggests we "don't deserve" to be there, is completely correct. 

Problem is, he's disappointed. 
I'm not.

Monday Thoughts..

Dirty Little York.. Over-compensate much?

 

T Dot.

 

As if we didn't have enough reasons to hate Toronto.  The city doing its best to drag a a whole country down to its level has given itself a nickname.

 

I hadn't heard about this until a buddy explained this to me, which he hadn't heard of until his brother (Toronto resident) explained it to him.

 

Uh.. word to Toronto.. when you give yourself a nickname, that no one else knows but you, well, that's the height of lame.

 

Personally, I prefer "Dirty Little York" and will be using that nickname here on in.

 

 

Flaherty Delivering Budget Today.. how "Conservative" will he be?

Word is the new budget will not allow for new stimulus funding.  Good. Word also is that the government will proceed with planned corporate tax breaks.  Not so good.  While I am in business, and would personally benefit, the current tax regime is not unduly harming business in Canada and our deficit is becoming a monster that will do more harm to business than tax rates if we don't get it under control.  Cut spending, retain current tax rates.



Greaseball Drug Addict at Center of "Vigilante" Dirty Little York Arrest.. is Arrested Again.

Remember the "biggest loser"?  No, I'm not talking about one of those rotund reality tv contestants - I'm talking about Anthony Bennett - the guy who stole flowers from David Chen's store, and then went back less than an hour later to try it again and was finally captured and detained for police by Chen.  Chen was then charged criminally for doing so, and Bennett was given a break for testifying (and admittedly lying) against Chen.

Are you shocked?  Neither am I - but welcome to "justice" in Liberal Land.


Ontario's Power Bills Are Doubling..  to satisfy pointless Liberal Green Initiative.

Recall my post last week on Dirty Little York - the test ground for stupid Liberal policy.

Read this article in the Globe and Mail and then imagine that sort of animal set loose on the country as a whole.  And be afraid.  Be very, very afraid.

Friday Bits and Pieces.. Highlight? Torontistan's losing jobs, everyone else doing well!

Some Friday Short Notes:


Layton Losing Non-Toronto Support:

Manitoba Poll on Federal Support, from today's Winnipeg Free Press:

Conservatives up 3% (47% from 43% in June)
NDP down 6% (28% from 24% in June)

Well played, Mr. Layton, well played.


So, Quebec won't stand up and fight for others.. shocking!

As reported in the Montreal Gazette, in the face of the major sacrifice being made by Canadian soldiers to support democracy and human rights half a world away in Afghanistan, to no one's shock, some Quebec group doesn't see the point if it isn't helping Quebec.

Federation des femmes du Quebec put out a YouTube video decrying the efforts of our troops, referring to them as "cannon fodder" - ignoring the very real truth that efforts to depose the Taliban have saved many women from abuse and a future prohibiting them from even learning to read.

In response, Celine Lizotte of Loretteville, the mother of 23-year-old Jonathan Couturier, who died in Afghanistan last year, exchanged words with the so-called "women's rights" activists - "We are proud of our children and respect their choices,"  How can you say we sent them when it is their own choice? Who are these mothers who say they are cannon fodder?"

I guess, in fairness, it's only "Quebec" women who matter to the FFQ..  or was that F "L" Q?


Curious Stat Respecting Torontistan Jobs

According to most media reports today, Canada has experienced a loss of 6,600 jobs in September, as compared to the projected 10,000 job gain.

But, before you get all blue, take a closer look at the actual StatsCan report.

Ontario lost 23,000 jobs ("Liberal Land maybe isn't the happiest place on earth). That means the REST of us gained 16,400 jobs - well beyond projections.

So.

Good for us.

Too bad for Torontistan. 







Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Cannon+fodder+video+takes+flak/3642400/story.html#ixzz11m5y1gYP

More Horror Stories in Liberal Land

Liberal Land.. the happiest place on earth

I love Toronto.

I really do.

Because the so called "Greater" Toronto Area, or "Liberal Land", is like a classroom for Canadians on the so-called "promise" of liberal ideals.

Today's lesson from the Globe and Mail:

David Chen is a hard-working owner of a small grocery store in Toronto, the "Lucky Moose Mart".
 
While trying to make a living in a difficult economy, Mr. Chen was victimized by some drug-addict street scum named Anthony Bennett.  Bennett is the darling of the Canadian liberal establishment - a poor, misguided victim of drug addiction..  who has happened to amass a criminal record of 43 convictions for offences as varied as theft, fraud, trafficking and uttering a death threat.  Poor Tony.  Who gives a rat's ass about the scores of victims in his wake.
 
So.
 
Anyway.
 
Bennett decides to now expand his calling at Mr. Chen's expense - and he enters the Lucky Moose, and steels some plants - and while he is seen committing the act, he manages to scurry away before he's caught - like a the rat he is.
 
Well.
 
To no surprise, Bennett decides to commit yet another criminal offense not 59 minutes later.
 
And, emboldened by his success, he comes back to the Lucky Moose, seeking to take more of Mr. Chen's plants (by his own admission).
 
But this time, Chen has had enough.  With the assistance of two others, they chase Bennett down, catch him, and hold him until the police can arrive.
 
And when the police arrived, Bennett (by his admission) lies to them about what happened when he was questioned - but later admits, in fact, that he had earlier stolen the plants and had returned to steal more plants.
 
The net result?
 
The police charge Chen with assault and unlawful confinement..  and notwithstanding Bennett's amazing criminal record, for his theft, he was sentence to a scant 90 days in jail.. reduced to 30 days in APPRECIATION for him testifying against the real criminal David Chen.
 
Welcome to the world of Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton.
 
Welcome to Torontistan.
 
Welcome to Liberal Land.
 
Where law-abiding Canadians are made criminals and criminals are given a pat on the back.
 
And in case you believe this is just an isolated act of stupidity - as opposed to a more broadly infected liberal social disease, let me illustrate the reaction of the GTA liberal zombies.

Toronto Now Magazine reports on the incident - the headline being:

David Chen's vile vigilantism

And - the point of the article?

"Amid the squeals for “justice” from some media observers – as in, where’s the justice for David Chen? – Bennett’s rights seem to have been forgotten.

There.  Now you have it.  In Liberal Land - the rights of people who do nothing other than struggle to support their families - take a second place to the rights of scumbags like Bennett.

Welcome to the world a government supported drug addicts - in every way you can imagine.  Giving them needles, changing the laws to prohibit charging addicts with possession of heroin, actually giving them disability benefits to help them continue their addication in comfort - and now, charging their victims for defending themselves against them.
Lesson over.

Any questions?

Congratulations.. Liberalism has succeeded!

Well.

I guess congratulations are in order for our Supreme Court of Canada (with credit to decades of Liberal government).

The "Family" is dead.

According to a study released from the Vanier Institute of the Family, reported in the Globe and Mail today, most Canadian adults are unmarried - for the first time in our history.

As also reported, "Twenty years ago, 81 per cent of children under 15 were living with parents who were legally married, but by 2006 that proportion had fallen to just below 66 per cent."

Well done Supreme Court.

Well done Ottawa.

We have assured that a growing number of children will grow up without really knowing both of their parents, most likely their father.. and more importantly, we have assured that fewer children will be born at all.

Why do people NOT get married?

As a Family Lawyer, I can tell you.  They have the mistaken idea that if they aren't married, they can leave the relationship at will.  They seek to remove themselves from the shackles that our courts and legislators have imposed upon marriage.  In the never ending liberal dream of securing the "I", we have assured the demise of the "We".

But, as they are learning very quickly, the legislators and our courts have done a great job of assuring that the option of cohabitation is no less onerous than marriage.

And, as that message permeates the masses, two guesses what the net result of that realization will be.

Fewer committed relationships at all.. married, common-law, or otherwise.

Because normal human behavior militates against slavery and socialism.

The idea that you can be forced, against your will, to provide for someone who doesn't give something back is anathema to most human beings.

And so, with that, more and more people will decide that safe sex, without children, while both adults live in separate households will be the only choice for a thinking person.

And, as the stability of family relationships disintegrates to nothing - two guesses who will be asked to pick up the slack.

The tax payer. Through senior homes, through daycares (can you say, "Universal Daycare Program"?)

The only people who don't "get this", are newer immigrants.  They come to the country bringing with them more traditional concepts of family, with larger numbers of children.. but they learn quickly.

They learn that their spouse can choose the end the relationship, leaving them without a home and without an ability to rent, let alone buy, accommodation to allow them meaningful contact with their children.

They learn that with the odds of a relationship failing hovering around 40 or 50%, they can't afford to have more than one or two children.  Or, quite often, they just leave and go back to their home country..

So.

It's fair to say, the "Family" is dead. Or at least we're seeing it's last gasp.. it's death rattle.

In it's place, we have equality and freedom and independence.. and ipods and ipads and our Priuses.

And what we don't have is the knowledge as a child than when I fall off the monkey bars and break my wrist, my mom or dad will be there for me when I get to the hospital.  Instead, what I have are "safe" play areas built to accommodate the reality that I'm being raised by an institution instead of my parents - and institution that needs to guard against civil liability.

What we don't have is the hope that when we age, and we become confused, someone will be there to help us find our pants in the morning and to listen to our stories about our long-ago youth.. because we can't remember what happened yesterday or even 5 minutes ago.  Instead we will have holding areas where we'll be shuffled like sheep, feeding and sleeping and nothing more - until it's time for the abattoir.

What we have is some Disneyland version of "family".  An institution that is there for when it's easy and fun, but can be either discarded or passed on to the government when it's difficult or unpleasant.

Which is no "family" at all.

Rest in peace family..  you deserved better.

Time to Re-Frame the Description of "Dirty Oil"

**WARNING: EXPLICIT IMAGES OF VIOLENCE BELOW**

Most of you know I started a Facebook Group a while ago, "Re-Think California", urging people to reconsider putting California in their travel plans as a result of their rank hypocrisy in criticizing Alberta's oil sands, but burning so much fossil fuel in their own backyard that they are killing 66 people per day through air pollution in Los Angeles.

Well.

Reading Ezra Levant's blog today, I see that the Oil Sands critics are out in force in Britain as well, with the The Co-operative Bank of London exposing themselves as the same sort of gross hypocrites the Corporate Ethics crowd has shown themselves to be.

As Ezra points out, they tell their members they don't invest in the oil sands, and then they go and pat themselves on the back for being so ethical.. but in fact, hiding in their "U.S. Growth Fund" are millions of dollars invested in Exxon.. who, as we all know, is a major developer of the oil sands.

So.

Color yet another "ethical" critic of the oil sands as the grossest form of hypocrite.

And as if that isn't enough stupidity and ignorance for one day, well, over the weekend we are now told that those traveling in Europe should be on the lookout for terrorist attacks on tourists, as a result of threats coming from Al Quaeda.

And just to refresh the memories of the idiots with Corporate Ethics and The Co-operative Bank, Al Quaeda is a terrorist group formed by Osama Bin Laden - the insane leader behind the attacks on the World Trade Centre September 11, 1998.

And, as one might imagine, the bulk of Al Qaeda's funding comes from Muslim countries, specifically, in the oil rich middle-east.

So.

When you're talking about "dirty oil", perhaps a review of the terms of reference are in order.

Perhaps "dirty" is a term more properly used to describe the use of oil money to kill human beings, instead of a few ducks.

Perhaps in response to the exaggerated and miss-used photos of oil sands activity, we need to show photos of what really dirty oil creates..

Al Qaeda beheadings in Baghdad, 2005

Al Quaeda Murder of American Businessman Nick Berg, 2004

Taliban (funded by Al Quaeda) Murders in Pakistan, 2008

Jumpers from the World Trade Centre on 9-11..

Just a few of the 2977 deaths at the hands of Al Quaeda murderers

Victims of the 2008 Mumbai Terrorist Murders.. 

a few of the 172 murdered by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba,

a Pakistani terrorist group linked to Al Quaeda

Perhaps, the next time someone sends you a link to a tailings pond in Northern Alberta, and talks to you about "Dirty" oil, you should send this link and ask them, "Where do you want to get YOUR oil from?"

And, yet again, Jack Layton confirms the NDP is a party of Metro Toronto

Well.

Jack Layton wants Stephen Harper to remove GST from heating bills, because heating costs have gone up in Ontario.

And he's very fond of lying to the Canadian Public and calling the Harmonized Sales Tax, "Harper's Tax".

What is he really asking?

He's asking the rest of Canada to subsidize Ontario's bloated provincial tax policies.

The federal portion of the HST is actually less now that it was under the past Liberal government, as Harper has reduced GST from 7 to 5 per cent.

The balance of the tax is ALL Provincial.

So - in Alberta for example, we aren't likely to stand in line for the HST subsidy the federal government is handing out, because we have no Provincial sales tax.

We pay GST on the same stuff everyone else in Canada pays GST on, so for us, the GST isn't a massive problem (aside from the issue of what our tax dollars get spent on generally... ie) appeasement of Quebec and Ontario).

Jack Layton.

He's a Toronto boy.

For all his talk about Conservative "wedge" politics, he doesn't give a rat's ass what happens outside of the GTA. 

So this is what Jack wants to do.

He wants to reduce the consumption tax that the millions of residents in the GTA pay.  While that may apply to the rest of Canada as well, the fact is that it will mean a massive reduction in tax being paid by Ontario and Quebec, relative to the rest of Canada, because as has been pointed out before on this site, "they are more important than the little hamlets" the rest of us hail from.

And so while they will stand there with their little hands out for the per capita benefits the Federal government hands out, and then some.. they don't want to PAY tax on a per capita basis.

Beyond that, removing GST on heating costs will make it more palatable and easier for the leftist ideologues of the GTA to do things like increase the cost of carbon-based fuel.. so, what will happen is CANADA will get less tax, so ONTARIO can collect more tax in it's aim to save Polar Bears..or David Suzuki.. or whatever asinine leftist policy they will dream up this week to tax and spend towards.

The bottom line, however, is that the HST makes Canada more profitable because it makes it easier and less expensive for business to operate.  And that means fewer people losing jobs in a difficult economy - and if we all have to pitch in to help that happen - well, I'm onside with that.

But not Jack.

Not in the GTA.

Jack and Torontistan are all about Jack and Torontistan.

The only REAL problem with the HST is the fact that it's needed at all.  That Provinces have become too habituated to skimming off of their citizens backs over the years.

The HST is a problem only to the extent that Provincial governments' portion of tax is a problem.

Of course if you believe that the GST is a bad tax from the get go, the Liberals have promised to scrap the GST.. remember?

Conservativism.. a vision for our youth, by Jason Mattera

A good post by Jason Mattera, author of "Obama Zombies".

Articulates the disconnect between the liberal "promise" and the liberal "reality", and why our youth needs to understand just what the liberal promise means.

Government oppression.  They control guns, and next will be seeking to "control" youtube, myspace, facebook..  the essential freedom that our youth yearns for will be taken away by the liberal need to control us for our own good.

Think about it.

We could use a guy like this in Canada to take up the job our media isn't doing..

Québec.. pauvre bébés (poor babies)!

And the ski is blue, and water is wet..

So, ALL house leaders support the following motion this week:

"That this House, while recognizing the importance of vigorous debate on subjects of public interest, expresses its profound sadness at the prejudice displayed and the stereotypes employed by Maclean’s Magazine to denigrate the Quebec nation, its history and its institutions."

Fair is fair, I guess.

I mean all party leaders got behind Alberta when those hypocrites at "Corporate Ethics" launched their anti-Alberta advertising campaign.. "Re-Think Alberta".. remember?

What..  they didn't?

Let me check that..  google "Re-Think Alberta" and Jack Layton, Michael Ignatieff, Stephen Harper and Gilles Duceppe.

Hmm..  nothing.

Well, in fairness, it's not like Alberta is exporting it's wealth to all of the other Provinces,most notably, the big bon homme province of Quebec..

What.. they are?!  Massive oil sand money going to Quebec?

But then, Quebec is also happy to share the wealth and help other Provinces find their own financial success aren't they?

What's that Danny Williams?  Quebec is "hypocritical, a bad neighbour, and guilty of "highway robbery"?  Trying to block the progress of Newfoundland for their own selfish benefit?

Well.

So, then..  why would Parliament completely ignore the ongoing attacks on Alberta, but jump immediately to deny the scum which has pervaded Quebec politics for generations, culminating in Adscam?

Oh yeah, almost forgot..  the crack cocaine of to all politicians.. "votes".

Well done Maclean's.

Shame on Quebec and every party leader in Ottawa.