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Tuesday, May 31, 2005
A friend sent me this story about a KFC being torched in Pakistan:
Six employees of American fast-food franchise KFC were burned to death in Karachi during a riot that followed a suicide attack on a mosque in the southern Pakistani city, rescue workers said on Tuesday.To paraphrase my friend, in order to protest Musharraf's support for America, Sunnis blow up a Shi'ite mosque. Then, to retaliate, the Shi'ites burn down a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet because it is a symbol of America.
Angry Shi'ites set fire to the restaurant after the mosque attack in which five people died on Monday night, but the bodies of those burned were only found on Tuesday morning, said Rizwan Edhi of the Edhi Foundation, a private emergency service.
Excuse me, but I'm confused...
Below is a list of articles I that I had every intention of commenting on but I just couldn't find the time. Enjoy:
In Defense Of Certainty
UK 'crippling Africa healthcare'
Pressure Points
Our Spoiled and Unhappy Global Elites
What Left-wing PBS Bias?
European, Not Christian
Thoughts On Poverty
A teaching manual for Al-Qaeda terrorists has been found in Manchester, England, during a raid on a terror cell. The manual says that members of the organization should claim that they were tortured by authorities if they are ever captured. For more about this article, check out Daimnation!
If you were wondering what is going on with the Gurmant Grewal tapes, then you should check out blogs like Andrew Coyne, Angry in the Great White North and Political Staples, which are all keeping things up to date with this progressing news story.
I don't know about you, but I wish this thing would hurry up and play itself out, I'm getting tired of all the he said, she said crap. I can't believe it has taken this long to get to the bottom of what was actually said on those tapes.
If you thought that American Jennifer 'The Runaway Bride' Wilbanks was a little on the wacky side, then you should check out this story about Hasmawi Hassan, a Malaysian man who called off his wedding because he says he was a victim of black magic.
There is always going to be gruesome work place injuries and deaths, but I would say what happened to a 36 year old Western Australian man has to be one of the worst workplace deaths that I have heard of in the past few years. I don't envy his co-workers or the emergency staff that had to deal with this terrible accident at all.
Monday, May 30, 2005
How serious can the United Nations be about human rights when they have countries such as Zimbabwe on the Human Rights Commission? Check out how the government of Zimbabwe, as reported by South Africa's Mail & Guardian, starts what it calls an 'urban renewal campaign'.
"Police in Zimbabwe continued demolishing thousands of shacks and vendors' kiosks in opposition strongholds on Monday, burning a 10km-long line of curio stalls along the road near Victoria Falls."
"Trudi Stevenson said in the preceding 24 hours, police had 'at gunpoint' forced 2000 more people in Hatcliffe township in northern Harare to destroy their houses and leave. On Friday and Saturday, 7000 were evicted, although they had lease agreements issued by Mugabe's government."
"Thousands of street traders have been arrested and their wares seized or destroyed since the May 19 start of the crackdown, which the government has described as an urban renewal campaign. Police using torches, sledgehammers and bulldozers have also burned and demolished the homes of the urban poor in informal settlements around the country."The government of Zimbabwe is even arresting reporters that are trying to report the misdeeds of the government,
"In the eastern city of Mutare, police said they arrested an American, identified as Howard Smith Gilman, under media laws for allegedly covering the destruction of 9000 illegal structures there."Burning the homes and businesses of the citizens of your country, forcing many others to leave their homes at gunpoint, and arresting journalists that are trying to cover the event, and that's just in the last week. So what would a country have to do to not be considered for a position on the Human Rights Commission, or is it even possible to be a big enough abuser of human rights that you may not even qualify? I was just wondering.
crossposted to The Shotgun
Canada is providing China with millions and millions of dollars in foreign aid, this fact has been reported by a few different news agencies, but in my opinion not enough of them, this should be a bigger story. If more people knew about this and were presented with the facts, I think a lot of them would question why our government is providing China with any money at all.
China has one of the fastest growing economies in the entire world, is undertaking a huge expansion of their military, they spent $67.49 billion on its military in 2004, has their very own space program, has a GDP of $7.262 trillion, GDP growth rate of 9.1%, and has exports of $583.1 billion. Also, China is not a democratic country, with a long history of violating human rights.
Add all those facts together and its a pretty strong case against giving China any foreign aid at all. Is the Canadian government attempting to buy a slice of the growing Chinese economy, and is that slice of the economy worth aiding a communist regime that oppresses its people?
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Some politicians just have too much time on their hands, take for example State Assemblyman Craig Stanley for instance. Mr. Stanley wants to change the name of the New Jersey Devils to something nicer and less satanic. Full story here
“I’ve always cringed when people say they’re going to see the Devils, the merchandise, the paraphernalia is based on the actual demonic devil. Personally, it causes a little bit of an issue with me.”My good buddy Joe Floyd, a life long Devils fan, would not be impressed with Mr. Stanley's actions at all. He may even tell Mr. Stanley, a Baptist deacon, to go straight to Hell, and I agree. Pansies might be a better suited team name for the actual hockey team, but Devils is a good name. It's menacing, strong and says bad ass, just the sort of thing you want from a hockey team.
People that take team names this serious need to relax, the poor children that grow up cheering for the Devils aren't going to turn into satanic goons, intent on destroying all that's good in the world. If everyone took team names this serious, half of the team names in all of sports would have to be renamed. I say leave em, how about you?
[ Via Neale News ]
Saturday, May 28, 2005
For the past little while the government of Prince Edward Island has been trying to come up with some ideas on how to reform elections here on the Island. Yesterday they announced the plan that they came up with and here it is.
"Under the plan, 10 of the province's 27 seats in the legislature would be filled from party lists on the basis of the popular vote each party received."Voters will get a chance to vote on whether we should adopt these reforms in the fall. I agree that reforms are needed on PEI seeing as the popular vote is often much different than the actual number of seats parties win.
"The other 17 would be filled the old fashioned way – victory would go to the candidate getting the most votes in a given district. The number of districts would shrink to 17 from 27."
"For example, the Liberals got 43 per cent of the vote in the last P.E.I election but won only four of the 27 seats."The one thing that I think the government is over looking is the actual number of seats on PEI, we have a population of roughly 140 000 and in my opinion don't need 27 MLAs. I think the total number of seats should be dropped from the current 27 to about 12 to 17 range.
I'm sure making the new districts would be extremely difficult, and cause much angry amongst certain parts of the population, but who ever said electoral reform would be easy. In the long run having less MLAs would not harm the overall performance of the government and would save the province a lot of money. Sometimes less is more.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Well today we are blessed with another classic from Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson points out the hipocrisy exhibited by global elites:
The anti-Americanism that we frequently see and hear, then, is often a plaything of the international elite — a corporate grandee, a leisured athlete, or a refined novelist who flies in and out of the West, counts on its globalizing appendages for wealth, and then mocks those who make it all possible — but never to the point that their own actions would logically follow their rhetoric and thus cost them so dearly.As Hanson points out, it is always quite amusing to watch the spoiled elite of the world whine and complain about the systems that provide their cushy lifestyles. As he says, normal folks who work 9 to 5 don't seem to be so obsessed about the 'evils of capitalism'.
We might expect that a chagrined Ms. Nooyi would resign from Pepsi since it is the glossy fingernail of the American middle finger that apparently so bothers her. We pray that Mr. Khan will stay among the mobs and rioters of the madrassas and mosques he stirred up. Perhaps novelist Roy can write in an indigenous Indian language, peddle her books at home, and thereby disinvest from this hegemonic system that drives her to fury.
Then there is the director of anti-American films from Denmark, Lars von Trier, who whined, “Mr. Bush is an a**hole. So much in Denmark is American. . . America fills about 60 per cent of my brain. So, in fact, I am American. But I can't go there to vote and I can't change anything, because I am from a small country. So that is why I make films about America.”
Memo to poor head-pounding Mr. von Trier: There is no compelling reason to have anything American in your country — except in the past to expel German invaders you either could not or would not keep out. Simply stop buying American. Don’t watch American movies. Admonish not us, but your own leaders to get out of NATO, pronto — the faster the better. Deny entry to all American troops — and tourists. Embrace the EU. It’s bigger and more populous than the U.S. Create an all-EU defense force. Go for it all!
...
In other words, Khan, Roy, and Nooyi are, by their own volition, knee-deep in the supposed greed of the West in a way that most ordinary Americans surely are not. Maligned Americans on the tractor in Kansas or walking the beat in the Bronx have not a clue about the privileges that a Roy or Nooyi enjoy — and they are not whining, complaining, or biting the hand that feeds them far less well.
No, these ungracious operators all seem to gravitate to, profit from, and then spite the paradigm that created rich global business, media, publishing, and entertainment conglomerates — and themselves.
I guess that is why I always find it amusing when some celebrity takes time out of their busy schedules to lecture us about what a terrible world we all live in.
Now I should point out that none of this really surprises me since the rich and spoiled have always been disconnected from the real concerns of the people around them. This has been true since the times of ancient Rome, medieval Europe, or ancient China, and it will be true a hundred years from now.
No matter how much things change, some things always remain the same.
This is what you get when Bob starts working for Environment Canada.
It contains some foul language so consider yourself warned.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Someone should call the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on the 'Iraqi insurgents' (terrorists, Jihadists or as the MSM calls them, rebels). Its seems that in a new twist to the ever popular road side bomb, the terrorists are now strapping explosives to dogs and detonating them when a military convoy passes by. The good news is that the attacks have had little or no effect so far.
But rumor has it that some on the anti-war Left are very excited about this news. Now they can claim that even the dogs in Iraq are taking up arms against the evil Anglo-Israeli plot to control their country and the world's oil supplies. When dogs start taking up arms against Capitalism, it surely has to be on its last legs.
It was bad enough when the Canadian government were doing nothing to hold Iran accountable for the death of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, but now this.
I didn't think that our government could get any dumber, two days after Iran warns us to stay out of their internal business, Canada goes and puts the MEK on our terrorist list. A move that makes us look like spineless jellyfish, at a time when we should be showing some backbone.
The MEK is based in Iraq and have cooperated with American and Iraqi forces since the invasion. They do not target civilians and are only concerned with getting rid of the ayatollahs from Iran, not a bad idea if you ask me. Iran has been trying for years, with little success, to get Western countries to put the MEK on their terrorist lists. Why did we do Iran the favor of doing that just now? Is there a deal in place?
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
A South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday that Kim Jong-Il, the wacko little leader of North Korea, wears platform shoes to increase his height.
"North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il wears a pair of platform shoes to boost his height, Kim uses the platform shoes to increase his height when he meets foreign leaders."Poor little fella, thinks he's too short, just add it to the long list of Kim's problems. He should hire Verne Troyer (Mini Me) to hand around with him. It would be great for Kim, word is it that he's a big movie fan and Troyer would make him look like a giant. Plus, I imagine Verne could use the work after "The Surreal Life" is over. It would be a win win situation.
It is a sad day for Conservative MPs that had their eyes on a position in the Liberal cabinet, now that Paul Martin seems to be bringing Caroline Parrish back into the fold. Add in the Liberal win in the by-election in Newfoundland, and I just don't see Paul Martin needing a vote bad enough in the near future to offer up a Belinda Stronach type deal up to any would be floor crossers. It would seem that those days are over for now.
Well it seems that those terrible Americans are writing hate speech again. OK, I'm joking about the hate speech, because out there somewhere I'm sure there is some twit who considers the article just that.
Anyways, Clifford Krauss has some harsh words for us Canadians:
The recent spectacle of scandal and tawdry politics has some Canadians now wondering if all the self-congratulatory virtue is not mixed with some old-fashioned hypocrisy, or what Robert Fulford, a leading literary journalist and columnist characterizes as "a fable" expounded by generations of Liberal leaders.Darn those Americans are mean. See, we'ld never say such things here in Canada. It's in bad taste damnit!
"During recent decades our politicians have told us a sweet bedtime story about Canada being an exceptionally compassionate country, a world leader in multiculturalism and wonderfully generous to the poor countries," Mr. Fulford said. "All of this expresses something called 'Canadian values.' All lies."
Most Canadians would probably consider that assessment harsh.
...
While Canada signed and ratified the Kyoto accord, making a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions 6 percent below 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012, emissions have risen to 24 percent above 1990 levels. The powerful domestic oil industry has lobbied effectively to guarantee that the development of oil sands - a noxious source of carbon dioxide - will go on expanding.
In fact, Canada, where logging, mining and oil interests are extremely powerful, has a less than sterling environmental record. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Canada produces more nuclear waste per capita than any other member country and ranks as the fourth per capita emitter of carbon dioxide, following the United States, Australia and Luxembourg. Environmental activists say that only Finland and Sweden log more forest land per capita among industrialized countries.
When European governments sought to ban the import of Canadian asbestos for its toxicity in recent years, Ottawa complained to the World Trade Organization that such an action would violate free trade.
"Canada for years has fought against international controls on asbestos because of the importance of that industry to Quebec," noted Michael Bliss, a leading historian at the University of Toronto. Mr. Bliss, for his part, dismisses as "posturing" the idea that "Canada is some kind of moral superpower."
Canadian officials constantly lecture Europe and the United States on the need to level the playing field in agriculture for third world producers. But at the same time Canada runs monopolistic dairy product marketing boards that raise tariffs of 200 percent and more to protect its own producers of milk, eggs and butter.
Now of course, when it comes to Americans, the Canadian media throws this stuff around every day. Canadians, it seems, don't want to think about ourselves. We just busy ourselves with the faults of others.
Canadians love to criticize others but we get into a huff everytime someone does that to us. We pretend that we are some sort of model for other countries, all the while, never caring to ask ourselves how or why this would be the case.
As Krausse says, the Liberals have managed to create a bizarre myth about themselves and the country they so effectively mismanage.
[Via Nealenews]
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
My sister and I went to see Star Wars on the holiday weekend here in good old PEI. Overall I thought Revenge of the Sith was one of the better Star Wars movies, better than the two newest editions for sure. Probably even better that Return of the Jedi in my opinion.
But I did have one major problem with the movie, but it was no fault of George Lucas. Every time that Senator Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker were involved in a scene talking to one another, all I could picture was Paul Martin having a similar conversation with Belinda Stronach. In my mind I would substitute Palpatine's face with Paul's and Belinda's with Anakin's. Paul even looks a little like Palpatine.
As Palpatine was trying to turn Skywalker to the dark side, he carried on about how the Jedi don't trust you, how the Jedi are trying to steal my power, how the Jedi are lying to you, how the Jedi don't appreciate you like I do, and how he was the only one who could help him reach his vast potential, not the Jedi.
It was hard not to think that the conversation between Paul and Belinda was very different from the one between Palpatine and Skywalker, if you just substitute Conservatives for Jedi, I bet it would have a very familiar ring to it. Don't you think?
Reports say that scumbag terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been wounded in Iraq. I just hope Zarqawi wasn't over doing it on the Aspirin lately, it would be a shame if he ended up bleeding to death in some dark hole.
You can find the Red Ensign Standard XXII at The Monarchist.
And while you're there check out this post:
What exactly have we witnessed over the past two weeks? We have witnessed a parliamentary government of the British Crown and tradition, faced with a protracted and clear demonstration of a loss of majority confidence, refuse to adhere to the most fundamental tenets of responsible government by submitting itself to an immediate and declared confidence vote. We have watched that government instead suspend democracy until its bribes and enticements to the characterless could bear fruit. We have watched a blonde Judas cross the floor, oblivious of how ephemeral her new friendships will prove; casting the will of her constituents - and with it, the core mechanism by which the will of the people is translated into the reality of parliamentary power - into the dust; for obvious, crass and fleeting personal gain. And we have watched the chief architect of this farce declare, with a straight face, that he had secured the renewed confidence of the House and assured the future of a united Canada.The truth hurts but The Monarchist has hit the nail right on the head.
As this tragedy concluded, I listened to some around me, here in Ontario, actually declare their relief that they would not soon have to make another trip to the ballot box. And in that moment, I reached my tipping point. I realized that a people unprepared to devote a single hour – without sweat, cost or blood – to the enforcement of democracy, to the assurance that they might be governed by decent and responsible people of their actual choice; that a people too selfish and shameless to care whether their countrymen felt respected and represented under the common roof; that a people too brain-dead to understand how deeply their traditions of democracy have been compromised, and how dangerous a precedent has just been set - were not worthy of my allegiance.
Canadians have recently watched as their political heritage was brushed away in one foul swoop. And through it all, all Canadians could muster was a collective shrug of their shoulders.
Monday, May 23, 2005
I'm always interested when I come across an article about someone's thoughts as they 'leave the left'. Since I often have a hard time understanding the rational behind many lefty policies I find these articles particularly interesting. Writers such as David Horowitz are particularly insightful.
The latest such article I've come across is written by a Keith Thompson of San Fransisco.
I suspect that many people develop relationships and beliefs based on a large part of what the people around them believe. This is of course no great insight but I think it is greatly overlooked by people. The fact is that society, and the politics that govern it, constantly changes while in many ways a lot of people, and the terms used to define them, don't. In this sense, modern conservatives are the inheritors of classical liberal ideals while modern liberals have embraced socialist, or progressive (newspeak for commie) ideals.
As an example, consider that liberals today love to hold John F. Kennedy up as a role model and will often spew out his name as some sort of justification of one of their contemporary policies. At the same time, George W. Bush speaks language, and advances policies, that in many ways is totally indistinguishable from Kennedy's but yet they oppose Bush's policies (not in the general sense but in the particular). So we have these people, who at one point in history identified with Kennedy's ideals, who have drifted away from them and are now opposed to the man who has inherited them.
That is why you'll find people like Keith who wake up one morning and asks himself if he is on the wrong end of the political spectrum. As Keith says:
I'm leaving the left -- more precisely, the American cultural left and what it has become during our time together.This use of terms to define political ideals is one thing that particularly vexs me. Here in Canada we have the national Liberal Party which in my humble opinion isn't liberal in any real sense of the term. Without resorting to profanity I'd have to classify it as a socialist party. This as well works at the provincial level as in the case of the B.C. Liberal Party would more closely identify with the national Conservative Party (which would be liberal if we stuck to the definition of the terms used in the 50's and 60's). Did any of that make sense?
I choose this day for my departure because I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity with oppressed populations everywhere -- reciting all the ways Iraq's democratic experiment might yet implode.
My estrangement hasn't happened overnight. Out of the corner of my eye I watched what was coming for more than three decades, yet refused to truly see. Now it's all too obvious. Leading voices in America's "peace" movement are actually cheering against self-determination for a long-suffering Third World country because they hate George W. Bush more than they love freedom.
...
A turning point came at a dinner party on the day Ronald Reagan famously described the Soviet Union as the pre-eminent source of evil in the modern world. The general tenor of the evening was that Reagan's use of the word "evil" had moved the world closer to annihilation. There was a palpable sense that we might not make it to dessert.
When I casually offered that the surviving relatives of the more than 20 million people murdered on orders of Joseph Stalin might not find "evil'" too strong a word, the room took on a collective bemused smile of the sort you might expect if someone had casually mentioned taking up child molestation for sport.
My progressive companions had a point. It was rude to bring a word like "gulag" to the dinner table.
I look back on that experience as the beginning of my departure from a left already well on its way to losing its bearings. Two decades later, I watched with astonishment as leading left intellectuals launched a telethon- like body count of civilian deaths caused by American soldiers in Afghanistan. Their premise was straightforward, almost giddily so: When the number of civilian Afghani deaths surpassed the carnage of Sept. 11, the war would be unjust, irrespective of other considerations.
Anyways, this all gets me to my final questions. First, do people (people not totally plugged into the issues that is) vote based on an outdated definition of the political terms? Second, can people find themselves as members of a political group simply because they haven't seen the politics around them change?
[Via RealClearPolitics]
Sunday, May 22, 2005
George Galloway just gets home from the United States where he was defending himself from allegations that he was being paid off by Saddam in the U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal, and the first thing he does is jump right into a rally at Trafalgar Square where people are calling for the destruction of Israel. Full story here
Galloway wasn't one the people calling for the outright destruction of Israel, he probably keeps those thoughts to himself or in private, he was just calling for a general boycott of Israel. But you should go and read the whole article anyway and see what kind of company Mr. Galloway keeps. Its scary to think this guy actually got elected in a fair election. He's a real class act.
It seems that rookie Conservative MP Steven Fletcher has gotten himself in a little hot water for something he said last week. Full story here
Here's the offending statement,
"The Japs were bastards."He made the statement last weekend at a veteran's convention in Winnipeg but followed that up with an apology to the media today. The apology should put this story to bed, but I have one problem with what Mr. Fletcher said and its the fact that he's an elected member of parliament and should know better.
Mr. Fletcher's statement was referring to Japanese soldiers from the Second World War, and for all intents and purposes his statement is correct. The Japanese were brutal during WWII in many respects, but as a MP, he should have worded his feelings in a different manner knowing that the media, and the morally corrupt Liberals would be all over him for making the statement in a crude manner.
I feel for the guy, he seems to know his history and cares a great deal about what went on during that time in our nation's history, seeing as his grandfather was a prisoner of war and seen some things that I hope none of us will see today. But Mr. Fletcher represents the people of his district and must be more careful of the things he says.
If Mr. Fletcher was a private citizen, such as myself, I would have no problem with him saying what he said. But he's not, he's a politician and is held to a higher standard. Members of parliament, especially members of the CPC should not give the media or any other members of the House a chance to unfairly paint them as racists. In my opinion, its just careless and shouldn't happen, that's all.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
It seems that quite a few people are upset that the New York Post ran some pictures of Saddam Hussein in his tighty whities. And I agree with them 100%, Saddam should not have been shown in his underwear at all, he should have been dressed up in something nice, Saddam deserves better. Maybe in a nice flowered dress, a classy hat, a stylish handbag and stunning pair of heals. Oh yeah, don't forget the blond wig. Full story here
But on a serious note, I can't for the life of me understand how anyone could be actually put out over this issue. This man is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, he is pure scum. He's lucky to be treated as well as he is, in my opinion he should have never gotten out of that hole they found him in.
Here is what Saddam's lawyer, Ziad Khasawneh, had to say,
“In our opinion this is a violation of all international agreements and human dignity, therefore, we must sue the people responsible and the providers of these pictures, because if you look closely you can see that they were taken from his prison cell,”That takes the cake, since when does Saddam give a shit about 'international agreements and human dignity', wasn't it his distaste for both of those things that got him where he is today? Is it just me or is it very hard to have any sympathy for a man with as much blood on his hands as Saddam does?
It seems Jack Layton is concerned that Liberal's tried to buy Gurmant Grewal's vote last week:
NDP Leader Jack Layton is joining calls from Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe for the RCMP to investigate allegations of vote-buying on Parliament Hill.Now of course Layton is referring to the offer of a plush government position being given in exchange for Grewal's vote but I have to ask, didn't the entire NDP sell out to the Liberals?
"Naturally we have concerns about any conversation that suggests or even begins to discuss even the remotest of possibilities explicit or otherwise that there would be positions available or not available in exchange for votes. That is the kind of thing that causes real consternation amongst Canadians," Layton said, according to The Globe and Mail.
"Ultimately the officials responsible for the enforcement of the laws of this country will have to take a look at any situation that has been brought to their attention to see if laws have been violated," he said.
Layton is referring to a statement made by Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal earlier this week, suggesting Liberals approached him with a deal to sit out the budget vote.
The laughably self-proclaimed 'conscience of the Parliament' sold their souls by propping up a corrupt government. So much for principles.
Canada is doing such a poor job of protecting its citizens abroad that even the United Nations, and we all know how good their record is at protecting people, is criticizing the Liberal government for it lack effort to protect Canadians from suffering at the hands of other countries. Full story here
Friday, May 20, 2005
By now most of you have heard about the story Newsweek published about a Quran being flushed down a toilet by US interrogators at Gitmo. But can a book actually be flushed down a toilet? For a scientific experiment, click here. You would think Newsweek would have thought of this before running the story.
[ Via John Hawkins ]
Does anyone know if our beloved Prime Minister, Paul Martin, is still planning on sending 150 of our troops to Sudan now that David Kilgour has voted against the budget? Does anybody think he will follow through with the deployment? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be too fussy about my son or daughter being put in harms way, with a chance of being killed, all because Paul Martin tried to buy off an independent MP to remain in power.
I would support sending troops to the region for the right reasons, but what Mr. Martin is doing is not for the right reasons. A troop deployment would have made sense a year or more ago, but most of the damage to the population of the Darfur region has been done. When the region needed action from Canada and the international community the most, they did nothing to stop the genocide. How does Paul Martin sleep at night?
crossposted to The Shotgun
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Sex-trade workers all across Canada are unhappy with a couple of Conservative MPs for associating Belinda Stronach with their profession. Earlier this week a couple of MPs referred to Stronach as a 'whore' and a 'prostitute', for selling out to the Liberals for a cabinet post.
Long time Pimp, Big Earl had this to say,
"Those MPs have no right calling that Ho, a Ho. My girls were a little off all day thinking about it. When my girls have their minds somewhere else, it hurts their earnings, which in turn hurts me. The little guy always gets hurt."Enraged sex-trade workers have filed a protest though their union and would like a retraction of the offending statements. They found it very demeaning to have themselves compared to person of such poor character. They also stated that a better understanding of their industry would help avoid such damaging comparisons in the future.
Kate from over at Small Dead Animals just thought it would be a good idea to let us know that it is a crimanl offence to offer MPs bribes, check out Bill C-46: The Criminal Code of Canada.
She is also keeping updates at her blog about a taped conversation between Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and British Columbia MP Gurmant Grewal in which a few offers were made, and whether the Tories are going to release the tape to the press. So stay tuned, things are going to get even more interesting.
Belinda Stronach is wasting no time in making a couple of major changes, that she says are for the good of the country. Check what she has done with the 5 dollar bill here, and once you have done that check out her design for a new Canadian flag here.
[ Via The Raging Ranter ]
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Here are 10 things that the Liberal party could do that might finally turn voters in Ontario away from the Liberal party, but I doubt it.
1. Declare that May 19th from this day forward will be celebrated as "Make Fun of the Mentally Challenged day".
2. Introduce the "Lifestyle Tax", it would be a 5% tax on all consumer goods aimed at increasing the living standards of Liberal MPs and their friends.
3. Change the rules so George W. Bush can become leader of the Liberal party after he finishes up his second term as President.
4. Sacrifice puppies in a bizarre daily ritual inside the House of Commons to fend off evil spirits.
5. Make it easier for Quebec to separate by offering to eat the provinces debt and to continue transfer payments after Quebec separates.
6. Introduce "American Style" healthcare.
7. Hurt the elderly by suspending social security payments.
8. Buy an aircraft carrier.
9. Legalize not only pot, but crystal meth and cocaine in order to secure the youth vote.
10. Ban all forms of hockey nation wide.
What would it take for the people of Ontario to not vote for the federal Liberals? Will Ontario ever turn against the Liberal party? I'm sorry to say, it doesn't seem like it is going to happen any time in the near future.
Jonah Goldberg has a nice writeup on the Newsweek... do we call it a scandal or a screwup? Anyways, he ends with this:
But what on earth was gained by Newsweek’s decision to publish the story — whether it was true or not? Were we unaware that interrogators at Gitmo aren’t playing bean bag with detainees? To me the similarities with the Abu Ghraib are greatest not in terms of the abuse but in terms of the media’s unreflective willingness to undermine the war on terror. We saw the photos from Abu Ghraib on the nightly news and in the newspapers far, far more than we saw video of American leaping to their doom from the top of the Trade Towers. Why? Well, according to the Brahmins of the media, it would be irresponsible to stir American passions with such inflammatory images. But the relentless gray strobe light of images showing Arab men in dog collars and black hoods was necessary to inform the public — even though the abuses were already being investigated by the proper authorities. In other words, American passions are to be feared and tamped down on whenever possible, while there’s nothing to worrisome about inciting Arab and Muslim passions, even when that attitude plays perfectly into the hands of the people we’re fighting.I've been asking myself the same questions the last few years.
I just can’t help but think the media’s priorities are backward.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Well the big news today is that Belinda Stronach has crossed the floor and joined the Liberal Cabinet:
In a move that's given a sudden boost to the minority government while sparking calls of betrayal from the Tories, Conservative MP Belinda Stronach crossed the floor Tuesday to join the Liberal party.If I wanted to complain about the Liberal Party I'ld have plenty to talk about but I'ld prefer to discuss Stronach herself and her relationship with the Conservative Party.
Stronach, who was considered one of the rising young stars of the Tory caucus, has joined the Liberal cabinet and was rewarded with the portfolio of minister of human resources.
First off, would someone please explain to me what conservative principles Belinda ever stood for? I can't remember any. Her entire political career to this point has consisted of nothing but her attempting to be a liberal without actually being a member of the Liberal Party. Does anyone disagree here?
The simple fact is that she has found her true home. She always has been a liberal and as such she belongs in the Liberal Party.
My real point of contention though is with those conservatives who somehow led themselves to believe that she was a conservative, and who for some bizarre reason are upset by this entire episode.
It kind of reminds me of people who date someone who treats them like shit. They totally put up with it until the very end and then after the breakup occurs they mope around sulking and wondering why the person didn't treat them better. It's pathetic. Get a bloody grip people.
Update @ 2:51pm
Angry in the Great White North makes a pretty solid observation about the types of information Stronach might provide the Liberal leadership on the election plans of the Conservative Party.
This of course would require the Conservative Party to have 'plans', the existence of which could be convincingly disputed.
Update @ 3:02pm
Daimnation! provides this interesting quote (follow all the links to the original):
The lede here--that this move pushes the constitutional crisis which began last week into full-scale red-alert mode--hasn't just been buried, it's been taken out and shot. It is arguable whether Stronach's defection is a "blow" to the Conservatives in either the short or the long term. What's not arguable is that the delay imposed last week on a formal non-confidence vote in the House of Commons has now--with the balance of power in the House teetering on the razor's edge--visibly become a banana-republic power tactic.The author makes a very good point. The Liberals did lose a vote in the last election, and no matter how the Liberals try to spin it, if everyone taking part in the vote considers it a confidence motion then it is a confidence motion. The governing party does not get the pleasure of determining which votes 'count' and which don't. That's how a parliamentary democracy works.
[...]
The whole point of the tradition that the confidence of the House will be tested at once, upon the government's defeat in a supply-related division, is to prevent exactly the sort of shenanigan just perpetrated. Martin has used the delay he imposed unilaterally to purchase the services of a disaffected Conservative leadership candidate--one, it bears noting, elected by her constituents as a Conservative. (She'll be in charge of "democratic renewal", says Martin--never let it be said the man lacks a taste for irony.) "I am not sure," Bliss concluded, "that Canada has ever had such a serious parliamentary crisis." There can be no doubt about it now. If the Liberals win Thursday's confidence vote by virtue of Stronach's presence on the government benches, we will continue to have a government openly acknowledged to be illegal by most if not all of the major constitutional authorities in the country.
It really makes you wonder about the future of the country when the governming party can ignore a confidence measure and simply reschedule it till after all their bribes have paid off.
Bizarre.
From The Smyth Report we have this piece of childhood wisdom
In one 5th grade class, the teacher asked each student to come to the front of the class and tell everyone about what their father did for a living. Obviously, there were many typical responses, like firefighter, police officer, salesman, etc. David, strangely quiet at the back of the class, was trying to avoid the teacher's eyes. This, of course, did not phase the teacher, who pointedly asked him what his father did for a living.Rimshot!
After many seconds of hesitation, David sighed heavily, got up and went to the front of the class. "Well, my dad is an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret. He takes off all his clothes in front of men. Sometimes, he goes into another room that looks like a confessional, with another man and lets him do all sorts of sexual things to him for money."
The teacher, floored by these revelations, promptly sends the other kids out for recess and keeps David inside, to ask him if these things are really true about his Dad. "Of course not," replied David. He works for the Liberal Party of Canada, but I couldn't admit THAT to everyone!"
Monday, May 16, 2005
- Newsweek should be ashamed of themselves, 17 dead, dozens more injured and the already tarnished reputation of the United States has been dragged through the mud by more irresponsible reporting, disgraceful.
- How about Canadian politics, the NDP will bankrupt the country if given power, the Conservatives are promising to honour all Liberal deals made before an election, and how about the corrupt and morally bankrupt Liberal party, what a complete clusterf*@k!
- Russia and France were paid by Saddam to try and end the sanctions that were put in place against Iraq, nothing like getting stabbed in the back by your supposed allies, how does it feel America?
- Iran is starting up its nuclear program again, and North Korea is thinking about testing a nuclear weapon, you would think that the countries of the world could a least agree on stopping these two basket cases from continuing down their current paths.
- The government of Uzbekistan cracks down on the rights of its citizens, and when the oppressed population finally has had enough and rises up in protest against their government, what does it do? It guns down hundreds of them while the world does nothing, pathetic.
- The Queen is visiting Canada, let's save her the trouble and get rid of the Monarchy.
- 54% of Quebecers think its a good idea to separate from Canada, with what has been going on, who'd blame em.
- Is it just me or is it harder and harder to find good music, or am I just becoming my parents?
- Anyone who takes religion serious enough to hate someone else because of it, whether they be Christian, Muslim or Jewish needs to chill the f*@k out and think about how hypocritical they are being.
- Judges should be elected, not appointed. We need accountability on the bench.
- Message to all governments, both federal and provincial, stop wasting my f*@king money and give me a tax break.
Any Questions?
Saturday, May 14, 2005
So it seems that not everyone can be bought off with our tax dollars:
Sudan has rejected a Darfur aid plan crafted by the Canadian government to send military advisers to the war-torn region, accusing Ottawa of not having consulted with Khartoum on the package.Mind you the Sudanese government is allowing and encouraging genocide within it's borders. Either way, I wonder how Canada intends to send military personel to Sudan without Sudanese approval? Could Canada be preparing to break out 'the stick'?
Despite Sudan's opposition, Canada said it would go ahead with plans to send military advisers.
Breaking out 'the stick' isn't bloody likely which is why I find this whole sharade by the Martin government laughable. The entire story concerning Sudan is a sad joke and our media isn't helping the situation. Every time an article refers to the Jahaweed as 'rebels' I want to reach through my computer monitor and choke the idiot who wrote it. And to make matters worse, our own government encourages this sharade by pretending to work with the Sudanese government.
Message to Mr. Dithers... the Sudanese government is the problem, not part of the solution.
But of course, to recognize that the Sudanese government is the problem would require Mr. Dithers to make some hard decisions and actually take a couple of risks. Unfortunately for the non-Arabs in Sudan, that isn't going to happen.
With the evidence that has come out this week about the U.N.'s oil for food scandal, it would seem that France's position of opposing the war to liberate Iraq was actually tainted by oil, not the other way around like most people suggested. Before the war, Paris tried to claim that they were opposing the war as a matter of principle, but now that we know that a couple high ranking officials, with very close ties to Jacques Chirac, were receiving millions of barrels of oil as payoff from Saddam from 1996 on. Full story here
The Times of London calculated that French and Russian companies received $11 billion worth of business from Oil for Food between 1996 and 2003. Not a bad haul for using your vote on the security council to veto any action against Saddam's Iraq. But this is nothing new for Chirac's France, they have always been a very special friend of Saddam in his times of need.
Take for instance the time Saddam was shopping the globe trying to buy a nuclear reactor so he could build a nuclear weapons program. When no other country would sell Saddam what he needed, his good friend Jacques Chirac came through for him selling him whatever he needed for some lucrative contracts.
"France was dependant in Iraq for 20% of its oil. As part of the deal, Hussein offered France 70 million barrels of oil a year at present market prices for ten years. In addition, Iraq would purchase billions of dollars of French military hardware, including tanks, helicopters, antiaircraft missiles, radar and 100 mirage F-1 fighters. Chirac practically trembled when Saddam threw in gratis contracts to purchase 100 000 Peugeots and Renaults in two blocks of 50 000 each. And as a final sweetener, the French would develop a planned billion dollar lake resort outside Habbaniyah, the location of a large airforce base west of Baghdad. In return Saddam got his nuclear reactor."Chirac did get a hell of a deal though for selling out to Saddam, the list price of the Osirak reactor that France sold Iraq was about 150 million, Saddam paid Jacques 300 million, double what it was worth. Saddam didn't mind paying the extra money,
"We were happy to pay, after all, who else was going to sell us a nuclear reactor?"Did Jacques Chirac and his staff feel bad for arming Saddam with the ability to build nuclear weapons, from what the Iraqis could tell, no they weren't. Those on Saddam's staff noticed that the French were all too eager to deal with Saddam as long as they got their price, damn the consequences.
"Saddam knew Chirac and his entire cabinet would happily have eaten old tires from the Tigris if it would have bought them hundreds of millions in cheap oil."So as far as I can tell history repeated itself, the French were looking for money and Saddam needed a big favor, so Chirac steps up to the plate for his old friend and gives him a helping hand for a price. The first time Saddam came calling, Chirac gave him the future ability to kill millions. The last time, Chirac sold out his NATO allies to a brutal dictator, for what? Oil money. With friends like Jacques Chirac, who needs enemies.
Friday, May 13, 2005
If you were wondering how one time Conservative MP, Scott Brisson, is feeling now that his new party is in a little bit of political trouble. Boy have I got good news for you.
KTP Corp., a South Korean mobile phone operator, said Thursday it will begin offering a service that will enable dog owners to know whether their pets are feeling happy or sad. All you have to do is enter your dog's breed and age into the phone, then record the dog's bark. The owner then receives a text message telling them how their pet is feeling, such as 'I am happy' or 'I am frustrated'.
So now all we'll have to do is ask Prime Minister Paul Martin what kind of mood his lap dog Scottie is in and he'll be able to tell you in a few short seconds. Isn't technology wonderful?
The Liberal House leader, Tony Valeri was speaking before the media yesterday and had this to say about the perception the Parliament is paralysed.
"I reject the comment that there's a paralysis in Parliament."Later in the day, Mr. Valeri was asked about another perception that most people commonly hold.
"I reject the comment that the sky is blue."Now that we all stand corrected by Mr. Valeri we can all get back to wondering about other things, such as which came first, the chicken or the egg? Maybe Tony could set the record straight on that one too.
Victor Davis Hanson has a wonderful article about how the history of World War II is being rewritten:
The German novelist Gunter Grass — who served in the Wehrmacht — recently lectured in the New York Times about postwar “power blocs,” in terms that suggested the Soviets and the Americans had been morally equivalent. German problems of reunification, he tells us, were mostly due to a capitalist West, not a Communist East that caused them.My Friday mornings would be a waste without Hansons' amazing understanding of history and the personalities that shape it.
Grass advances the odd idea that Germany was not liberated from American hegemony (“unconditional subservience”) until Mr. Schroeder’s recent anti-Bush campaign distanced the Germans from the United States. To read this ahistorical sophistry of Grass is to forget recent European and Russian complicity in arming Saddam, their forging of sweetheart oil deals with the Baathist dictatorship, and the disturbing German anti-Semitic rhetoric that followed Schroeder’s antics. Unmentioned are the billions of American dollars and years of vigilance that kept the Red Army out of Western Germany, or the paradox that the United States is ready to leave Germany on a moment’s notice — which might explain the efforts of the Schroeder government to keep our troops there.
There is a pattern here. Western elites — the beneficiaries of 60 years of peace and prosperity achieved by the sacrifices to defeat fascism and Communism — are unhappy in their late middle age, and show little gratitude for, or any idea about, what gave them such latitude. If they cannot find perfection in history, they see no good at all. So leisured American academics tell us that Iwo Jima was unnecessary, if not a racist campaign, that Hiroshima had little military value but instead was a strategic ploy to impress Stalin, and that the GI was racist, undisciplined, and reliant only on money and material largess.
There are two disturbing things about the current revisionism that transcend the human need to question orthodoxy. The first is the sheer hypocrisy of it all. Whatever mistakes and lapses committed by the Allies, they pale in comparison to the savagery of the Axis or the Communists. Post-facto critics never tell us what they would have done instead — lay off the German cities and send more ground troops into a pristine Third Reich; don’t bomb, but invade, an untouched Japan in 1946; keep out of WWII entirely; or in its aftermath invade the Soviet Union?
Lost also is any sense of small gratitude. A West German intellectual like Grass does not inform us that he was always free to migrate to East Germany to live in socialist splendor rather than remain unhappy in capitalist “subservience” in an American-protected West Germany — or that some readers of the New York Times who opposed Hitler might not enjoy lectures about their moral failings from someone who once fought for him. Such revisionists never ask whether they could have written so freely in the Third Reich, Tojo’s Japan, Mussolini’s Italy, Soviet Russia, Communist Eastern Europe — or today in such egalitarian utopias as China, Cuba, or Venezuela.
...
After all, this was a week in which thousands of the once-enslaved Dutch in Maastricht were protesting the visit of a president of the nation that once liberated their fathers, while thousands of neo-Nazis were back in the streets of Berlin. A Swedish EU official recently blamed the Second World War on "nationalistic pride and greed, and…international rivalry for wealth and power" — the new mantra that Hitler was merely confused or perhaps had some “issues” with his neighbors. Perhaps her own opportunistic nation that once profited (“greed”?) from the Third Reich itself was not somehow complicit in fueling the Holocaust.
How odd that Swedes and Spaniards who were either neutrals or pro-Nazi during World War II now so often lecture the United States not just about present morality but about the World War II past as well.
If there were any justice in the world, we would have the ability to transport our most severe critics across time and space to plop them down on Omaha Beach or put them in an overloaded B-29 taking off from Tinian, with the crew on amphetamines to keep awake for their 15-hour mission over Tokyo.
But alas, we cannot. Instead, the beneficiaries of those who sacrificed now ankle-bite their dead betters. Even more strangely, they have somehow convinced us that in their politically-correct hindsight, they could have done much better in World War II.
Yet from every indication of their own behavior over the last 30 years, we suspect that the generation who came of age in the 1960s would have not just have done far worse but failed entirely.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
I think I posted this quote before, but it explains Jack Layton and the supporters of the NDP perfectly.
Yup, Jack and his true believers are absolutely in the two plus two equals 97 crowd. They operate on a little bit of a different wave length than the majority of the population."If you ask a man how much 2 plus 2 is and he tells you 5, that is a mistake. But is you ask a man how much is 2 plus 2 and he tells you 97, that is no longer a mistake. The man you are talking with is operating with a wholly different logic from your own."
If Neville Chamberlain were alive today and ran for the Labour party in the election that just took place in Britain, he would have won it going away. It would have been a landslide victory, how does that grab you?
The British economy is good, social programs were expanded, you'd think that would be enough to keep most Europeans happy. But the one big problem the people over there have with Tony Blair is that he took the country to war in Iraq, and with Neville Chamberlain in power, that would have never happened. Neville would have been a lock to win the election easy.
If you think that gas prices are high now, just wait till the demand for oil in China doubles. It is predicted that China's consumption will go from 7 million to 14 million barrels of oil a day by the end of 2012. Also take into account that several other countries, such as India, have economies that are starting to take off and consume more oil than ever. I just don't see the price of oil going down anytime soon, it will reach $100 a barrel before we ever see it at $25 again. Just thought I'd let you know.
According to a recent poll:
Mr. Layton is also seen as the most charismatic of the four men. On a related question, 23 per cent said Mr. Layton is the leader they would most like to have dinner with, more than Mr. Harper and just below Mr. Martin.As a right wing wackjob my opinion of the leaders my fellow citizens elect isn't very high.
Saddly though my faith in my fellow citizens has sunk to a new low. How in God's name could Paul Martin's hand puppet be considered to be the most charismatic of the four party leaders? He looks and talks like a used car salesman for Pete's sake!
Oh the humanity!
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Does anyone remember the cereal commercial where the guy is eating his bowl of cereal at work and his boss has to keep on telling him he's been fired over and over. Yet the guy keeps showing up to work everyday because he can't hear his boss tell him he has been canned because his cereal is so crunchy? Do you know the one?
Anyway that guy and his cereal remind me of how Paul Martin was acting in the House of Commons today. A vote passed today in the house demanding that the lame duck Liberal government resign, but Paul Martin is ignoring the vote and pretending it didn't happen. Could anybody tell me if Prime Minister Martin was eating cereal today while the vote was taking place?
crossposted to The Shotgun
Monday, May 09, 2005
It seems to be the trend in Canada for politicians to go out of their way to make their constituents stupid. Canadian politicians would rather have the people of this country ignorant of the problems that it faces today and in the future. In today's fast paced world, Canada needs politicians who are willing and able to plan and explain a course of action for Canada to follow into the future.
We need politicians who are willing to listen and learn, arrogance has no place in government. What kind of negative effect is the current attitude of our leaders having on the country? Are we moving forward as a nation, are we preparing as a nation to complete on a global scale? Are we ready to meet the challenges that emerging economies, such as China and India, are going force upon us?
I'm afraid our leaders are asleep at the wheel, our healthcare and education systems need to be overhauled. Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control, but no one is willing to stand up and admit that anything is broken. People from China, Eastern Europe and India are going to be competing on a level playing field for our children's jobs in a global economy, but yet our schools continue fall behind in Math and Science.
What will it take for our leaders to wake up and focus on Canada's future instead of their own? Canadians need to be inspired to achieve greater things, not looked down upon as a mere vote. When is someone going to step up and lead this great country into the decades to come?
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Anyone who spends any amount of time visiting canadiancomment knows that I'm not a big fan of the European Union.
Today I provide another reason to dislike the EU by pointing out that according to the EU itself, voting against the new constitution will make you and your country turn into genocidal murderers:
A senior European Commissioner marked VE Day yesterday by accusing Eurosceptics of risking a return to the Holocaust by clinging to "nationalistic pride".All I can say it that these people have to get their heads out of their asses. So let's see here... we have the European Union being encouraged and promoted by the likes of France and Germany. Germany of course was the country that performed the Holocaust. France, on the other hand, turned a blind eye to the Holocaust and for the most part were willing participants to it.
Margot Wallstrom, a Swede and the commissioner who must sell the draft constitution to voters, argued that politicians who resisted pooling national sovereignty risked a return to Nazi horrors of the 1930s and 1940s.
Mrs Wallstrom, vice-president of the commission for institutional relations and communications, was speaking in the former Jewish ghetto of Terezin in the Czech Republic.
She blamed the Second World War on "nationalistic pride and greed, and … international rivalry for wealth and power". The EU had replaced such rivalry with an historic agreement to share national sovereignty.
Her fellow commissioners also issued a joint declaration, stating that EU citizens should pay tribute to the dead of the Second World War by voting Yes to the draft constitution for Europe.
The commissioners also gave the EU sole credit for ending the Cold War, making no mention of the role of Nato and the United States.
But hey, why bother fussing over historical details.
Then, by claiming that the EU should get sole credit for ending the Cold War they show to what lengths they will go to rewrite history. Would you trust a group of people, so ignorant of and disdainful of history, to prevent a second Holocaust? I sure as hell wouldn't.
And let's be honest here. Germany's goal under the Nazis was the same as that of the EU: to unite Europe under one government.
Trust it at your own peril.
Update @ 11:00pm:
Richard Bernstein writes this interesting article titled History's End Scares Europe. It provides some interesting quotes concerning European views of the future:
Europe is more peaceful, prosperous, healthy and secure than ever in its history. Nevertheless, the French are crabby. The British, a majority of whom in recent polls also opposed the European Constitution, just voted to keep Tony Blair as prime minister after an idea-free campaign dominated by the issue of his credibility, or lack of it. A recent poll of Germans showed only 28 percent expecting life to be "very good" in the next 5 to 10 years and 40 percent saying they are unhappy.Go read the whole thing.
"We look at the future as an opportunity," said Jeffrey Gedmin, an American conservative who is director of the Aspen Institute branch in Germany. "They look at it as a risk."
Perhaps an explanation for the current European spiritual condition was provided in that famous 1992 essay by Francis Fukuyama, who argued that history has ended. His idea was that the last great ideological struggle ended with the fall of Soviet Communism and the triumph of the liberal democratic idea, and that there could be no more advanced idea.
That is a cause for rejoicing. But as Mr. Fukuyama wrote, there was also something dispiriting about a post-historical world in which the Big Question no longer revolves around freedom but over how much New Zealand butter a nation could import.
...
Europeans aren't happy. They are anxious, threatened not just by the Brussels bureaucracy but by immigration, economic stagnation and unemployment. "It's a nightmare of the end of history," said Alexander Adler, a commentator at Le Figaro, the French daily. "I don't think that Fukuyama thought it would lead to a foundering of historical optimism."
Mr. Hassner added to this idea: "The mood is not one of satisfaction or boredom but one of threat."
"In this sense," he said, "it's not the end of history but the beginning of a world that one doesn't understand. It's this feeling of having a big wind carrying us forward but we don't know where we are going."
Steve Nash has been voted the NBA's most valuable player for 2005.
Steve is not only the first Canadian raised (he was born in South Africa) player to win the award but he is one of the few true team players to win the award the last several years.
I've always enjoyed watching basketball but over the last couple of years I've drifted away from the professional game and have spent more time watching college ball. I simply don't find the professional game very interesting due to the lack of team play and the focus on pure athletics. Steve brings the team focus back to the game and he is a joy to watch.
Congrats to Steve and to the NBA for making a smart choice.
Just in case you were wondering who Paul Martin was going to try and buy next to keep his Liberal party in power. Looks like Ontario is the winner today. Full story here
"After almost nine hours of talking with Prime Minister Paul Martin, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty emerged with a $5.75-billion promise of additional federal support over the next five years."That a boy Paulie, spread it around. There is nothing quite like getting bought with your own money, how does it feel Ontario?
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Greg at Political Staples has complied a list of the Top Canadian Political Blogs using the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem. Are you wondering if canadiancomment is on the list? Of course we are, Dana and I come in at number 28, why else would I be mentioning the list?
I must say that I am very surprised to be included with such a fine group of bloggers. I had no idea we would be that high, I would have guessed top 100, maybe. Congratulations to everyone who made it on the list and good luck in future lists, seeing as it will be harder and harder to maintain our positions as more and more people take up blogging. But for now we can all bask in the glory.
Update @ 4:53
Crap! We're down to 31 already, I fear this is the beginning of the end. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
I'm not a very big fan of American Democrats, but Pastor Chan Chandler of the East Waynesville Baptist Church takes his dislike of them too far with this boneheaded move.
[ Via Neale News ]
Satellite photos are suggesting that North Korea is making preparations to test a nuclear weapon for the first time in its history. Full story here
The first thought that comes to mind is 'nuclear blackmail', the North Koreans have been raising the stakes for years, trying to squeeze more and more concessions out of the countries that are interested in ending their nuclear program. This will continue to be that Kim's strategy as long as he thinks it is working.
Some hard decisions are going to have to be made. As a first step, Kim should to totally isolated and a strict and crippling regime of sanctions should be put in place. This game between Kim and the civilized nations of the world must not continue beyond this incident. It is going to be vital that all nations cooperate with one another to solve this problem.
The people of North Korea will suffer under brutal sanctions, but in the long run they will be better off if Kim's reign of terror is ended. This is a very difficult situation to say the least, but history proves that concessions will only guarantee another chapter is this tragic story.
Update @ 10:50am
With the above news, I'm not really excited about having the newly crowned Premier League champions, Chelsea FC, traveling to South Korea for a friendly against the Asian champions, the Suwon Bluewings on May 20th. I hope things calm down quite a bit before the trip is made.
Friday, May 06, 2005
I don't often post jokes here at canadiancomment but today I'm going to make an exception. Here is a classic sent to me by a co-worker:
A man on his way home from work in downtown Ottawa came to a dead halt in traffic and thought to himself, "Wow, this traffic seems worse than usual. Nothing's even moving." He notices a police officer walking back and forth between the lines of cars so he rolls down his window and asks, "Excuse me, Officer, what's the hold up?"Rimshot!
The Officer replies, "The Prime Minister is so depressed about the corruption scandals that he stopped his limo in the middle of the highway and he's threatening to douse himself in gasoline and set himself on fire. He says the country hates him and he can't quit because he hasn't a big enough pension to retire. I'm walking around taking up a collection for him."
"Oh, really? How much have you collected so far?"
"So far only about a hundred litres, but I've got a lot of folks still siphoning."
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Maher Ahmad Zaydan, of Surrey B.C., the holder of dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship has been arrested and placed in a Syrian jail. There is very little information related to the arrest of Zaydan at this point, but it will be interesting to see how our government reacts to yet another one of our citizens being arrested by a brutal dictatorship. Full story here
So far the Liberal government's record for dealing with situations like this has been lacking to say the least. This is the third high profile case in the last while, with Maher Arar being tortured in Syria and the death of Zahra Kazemi at the hands of the Iranians. It would appear that the lack of a strong message and follow up actions from Ottawa in situations such as this has made it open season on Canadian citizens abroad.
I can hear it now, Pierre Pettigrew will insist that justice be done, and that the process has to be both transparent and credible for the truth to come out. It will be the same old song and dance, nothing will change. Syria, Iran or any other country wishing Canadians harm will simply refresh their notes on Canada's actions, that there will be no price to be paid for killing, jailing or torturing Canadian citizens as long as that person holds a dual citizenship. That in my opinion is a poor message to be sending.
What are you if you are amused by a poster that depicts a bunch of corrupt government officials, who just happen to be all French, as members of an Italian mob family?
If you said a comedian you'ld be wrong. An amused political junkie? Wrong again. This is getting tough eh? Well it seems that here in Canada if you find such a poster amusing it can only mean that you're a card carrying member of the Klu Klux Klan:
Immigration Minister Joe Volpe refused to apologize for linking the Conservative party with the Ku Klux Klan after Liberals were depicted as characters from TV's The Sopranos.What the hell has Canadian politics become?
Mr. Volpe ignored calls for his resignation, saying he was angry over the attempt to link Liberals to organized crime.
Opposition Leader Stephen Harper wasn't about to forget about it.
"The last thing this country needs is a race-baiting immigration minister," Mr. Harper said, calling on Mr. Volpe to apologize.
Mr. Harper defended his party's insult of the Liberals, saying said the cover of the Western Standard magazine was a spoof on criminals, not Italians.
"There was nothing about ethnicity in that," Mr. Harper said Wednesday after a caucus meeting. "This was about criminal allegations that are very serious and I think those allegations should be taken very seriously."
Mr. Volpe had said Tuesday that a photo of two Conservative MPs looking approvingly at a magazine cover featuring 'The Liberanos' showed that, "The Klan looks like it's still very much alive.
Is this not typical of leftie politicians? If you disagree with them on anything you're naturally Adolf Hitler or a racist of some sorts. And what the hell does the clan have to do with any of this anyways? From what I remember the Klan primarily targetted Africans, not Italians. Maybe I misread something somewhere.
Heck, I guess I shouldn't let such little details get in the way of a good soundbite.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Well it finally seems that the goods on Paul Martin are finally coming to light:
When he was still finance minister, Paul Martin was one of three cabinet ministers who intervened to make sure that a Toronto ad agency wouldn't lose its lucrative government contracts if it was to be sold to a foreign conglomerate, the Gomery inquiry has been told.Now I can't say that I'm terribly surprised by all of this since Martin has never troubled himself to explain his supposed ignorance about this entire scam.
The startling claim linking the prime minister to the Adscam scandal was made at the inquiry headed by Mr. Justice John Gomery by Chuck Guité, the former head of the federal sponsorship program.
Mr. Guité's testimony last week was under publication ban until Judge Gomery lifted the embargo Wednesday. A Quebec Superior Court judge temporarily placed the ban back on his testimony but later allowed the details to be published.
Why is it that it never occurs to our media to ask Paul Martin how it is even possible that he could have been in the dark about Liberal corruption given that he was the number 2 in the party and the nations finance minister for so long? If he claims that he knew nothing then at least get him to explain how his ignorance is possible. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently so.
Anyways, all I can say is that if you thought the last election was interesting, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Are conservative and liberal voters different? I certainly think they are (luckily for you I'll spare you the reasons) and Steve Hocevar quoted in this article says it best:
"The sponsorship scandal has defined the major differences between liberal voters and conservative voters. When Brian Mulroney's government became arrogant, conservative voters decimated (it), leaving (it) with only two seats. Conservative voters know the only way to make governments accountable is to show them the door. They put honesty, integrity and the belief in good governance above political philosophy.Indeed. Conservative voters were willing to destroy the PC Party in 1993 when it failed to govern properly. Today, we watch Liberal voters twist themselves into pretzels trying to justify their vote for the Liberal Party. It can be quite entertaining to watch at times but deep down I know such a thing isn't in the long term interests of my country.
"It's very unfortunate liberal voters are not so astute. They rationalize, stating things like, 'Paul is not Jean', 'politicians are all the same' and 'the PCs are just as bad.'"
When a population is willing to accept a corrupted government (corrupted in any sense) then you know the long term prospects of the country are weak. We all know (or at least we should) that as humans, politicians will make mistakes and that they will try to protect their own interests over those of others. We may all know this little fact but that doesn't mean we should accept it.
[Via Nealenews]
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
It seems that Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has no sense of humour at all and needs to give his head a shake. Apparently Mr. Volpe took offence to the Western Standard's Libranos poster, because he figured that it was making fun of Italians. Volpe even went as far as to compare the Conservative party to the Ku Klux Klan over the image depicted on the poster. Full story here
In my opinion, Volpe is blowing this whole situation out of wack, maybe I shouldn't use the term wack, it might offend Mr. Volpe. How about, out of proportion, is that better? Anyway, here Ezra Levant of the Western Standard explains,
"Volpe knows that we didn't call the Liberals the Libranos because they're Italian -- Chretien, Martin, Brison, Brault, these aren't Italian names. We called them the Libranos because their party is an organization that has engaged in a criminal conspiracy to steal money from the public purse.Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me, the poster in my opinion is in no way, shape or form racist. The poster simply refers to the Liberals as the The Libranos, a mocking reference to a television Mafia family. And for that playful reference, Joe Volpe brands people Klan members. For Mr. Volpe to call members of the Conservative party Klan members over the poster is both reckless and pathetic.
Volpe knows that. He hates that. He can't rebut that. So he's trying to turn this into an Italian thing -- anything to distract from the fact that his party festers with corruption."
The type of behavior displayed by Joe Volpe is typical of the Liberal party in the run up to elections, they use scaremongering and gross exaggerations to paint the Conservative party and its members as extremists. This has been going on for years and people have to be made aware of these slimy Liberal tactics, Canadians deserve better than this.
The Liberals try to continue their campaign of maintaining political power of our country by giving away cushy jobs or our hard-earned tax dollars:
Mr. Mark said in several interviews Tuesday that he was approached by an unnamed cabinet minister who offered him a position in a phone call last Friday.Isn't it nice to see that the Liberals consider important government positions nothing more than tools to be used to maintain their grip on power? Of course I'm not particularly surprised by any of this but it is still worth mentioning.
"The suggestion was that well, maybe, well, there must be something that I want, right?" Mr. Mark said in an interview with CBC Newsworld Tuesday in Ottawa.
"The minister said this?" the reporter asked him.
"The minister said that. Perhaps I would like to be an ambassador for Canada. I said, no, I travel enough. I don't think I want to do that," Mr. Mark answered. He did not disclose who it was.
He repeatedly declined the offer, saying he was not interested, he said.
Then the Liberals implied that a Senate position could come his way, Mr. Mark told CTV Newsnet.
Anyways, the reason for this post is because I simply couldn't get past the name of the Conservative MP approached by the Liberals: Inky Mark.
Now I'm not usually the one to make fun of a person's name but what the heck were his parents thinking? Inky Mark? Inky's website can be found here and unfortunately there is no mention of his parents or their history of drug use.
Am I the only one who finds this amusing? Maybe I need a nap or something?
I think it would be great if a women were to be elected president of the United States, it makes no difference to me whether a man or a women is elected to America's highest office. But I doubt the first one will be this women. She doesn't have a chance, Madonna would beat her all to pieces.
[ Via Neale News ]
Former Global Television newsman Peter Kent, the newest Conservative candidate was introduced in the Toronto riding of St. Paul yesterday by leader Stephen Harper. Mr. Kent announced his candidacy and also talked about what drove him into seeking office as a Conservative, he said simply because it's time to act on outrage instead of reporting on it.
Kent said that he was 'as mad as hell' at the Paul Martin for sacrificing the country's economy for his own 'personal survival' after brokering a deal for budget protection with the NDP. He also thinks that the Liberals have hindered the city's 'attempts to build and move ahead'. He also brought up the Liberal election tactics,
"I am determined to do something about Liberals resorting to scaremongering, demonizing and lying,"And what did Liberal incumbent Carolyn Bennett have to say to defend her party's corruption, mismanagement and election tactics? She talked about Iraq and the fact that Stephen Harper supported the American efforts to bring freedom to its oppressed people, therefor we should be concerned about Peter Kent.
You can't blame her for avoiding the issues that most Canadians are currently concerned about, she is just following the Liberal party play book, avoid the real issues and slander the Conservatives. Forget the city of Toronto, forget healthcare, forget Gomery, and forget about the economy, let's talk about Iraq. The sad part of it is, people actually fall for that crap.
crossposted to The Shotgun
Would you like to know what it is like to live in Paul Martin's world, and see how the Prime Minister thinks? Is so, check out this story that I found over at Neale News which does just that. Here are a couple samples,
"In Paul Martin's world, NDP Leader Jack Layton is a reckless, free-spending socialist who would bankrupt the country, up until the moment Martin needs him to save his own hide."
"In Paul Martin's world, it's wrong to have an election this year before Judge John Gomery holds his final public hearing into AdScam, but it was right for him to call an election last year before Judge Gomery held his first public hearing into AdScam."At first I thought the story was funny as hell, but then I realized that the joke is on me, and Canadians in general, because all the insight into the Prime Minister's thought process are dead on. I'm not laughing anymore.
Check out this writeup in The Boston Globe about none other than our very own Nealenews.
Hat-tip to ...? Nealenews or course!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Sticking with the nuclear theme, the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned the United States to stay out of Iran's business, especially since Iran is planning on restarting its nuclear program later this week. Khamenei even went as far to say that the U.S. 'deserved a punch in the mouth.' Full story here
The Iranian leadership seam to be upping the ante lately. They have cut off negotiations, aimed at ending their nuclear program, between themselves and the European Union just last week. Add to that the increased venom directed at the Americans, and you would almost think that the Iranians were trying to force all the players' hands that are involved. Let's just hope that the Iranians don't have any aces up their sleeve.
Its nice to know that people in high places read canandiancomment and take what Dana and I have to say very seriously. Just a couple weeks ago, I had this to say about the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
"Add to those factors that the NPT is a joke and should be replaced with a better treaty, one with some bit and tougher guidelines. The NPT allows a country to acquire every step in the process of uranium enrichment and the extraction of plutonium legally. The only thing that the NPT prevents is a country from actually taking fissile material and placing it into a delivery mechanism."And in what surly can't be a coincidence. Today at the U.N., 189 nations from all over the globe are meeting to begin reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty amid fears that it is outdated and irrelevant. Full story here
Chances are, yes I do live in reality, that not one of the negotiators or leaders from any of the 189 nations taking part in reworking the NPT have read my blog entry, but it is nice to see something being done to address the issue of nuclear proliferation. This treaty has been useless since it was signed in 1970 and its about time they are getting around to changing it. Better late than never.