Little Tobacco

2006-10-24T07:21:00.000-05:00

Mark Steyn rightly calls Canada a "superwimp pussy -nation", while singing the praises of the Canadian troops:

And that, Mr. Binn, is why Canadian soldiers don't get the credit they deserve. Not because they're nancy boys but because the Canadian state is deeply invested in the idea of Canada as the nancy-boy nation. That's why in April 2002 the politicians, media and large swathes of the public preferred their Princess Pats as victims rather than as killers. Look at the words of almost every prominent "official" Canadian--Chr‚tien, Martin, Axworthy, Ralston Saul--in the first four-and-a-half years after 9/11. The underlying message is: this isn't our fight. Canada, in the peerless formulation of the great Christie Blatchford, mistook the sidelines for the moral high ground, and, in a great civilizational struggle being waged in a media age, it's not enough to have great fighting men when every other force in your society is communicating 24/7 that you're the superwimp pussy-nation.

State sponsored speech - biased at the BBC

2006-10-23T13:49:00.000-05:00

Indeed there is a bias at the BBC as this leaked report indicates, ( I assume it is this report) . An excerpt:

The full account of the meeting shows how senior BBC figures queued up to lambast their employer.
Political pundit Andrew Marr said: 'The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias.'
Washington correspondent Justin Webb said that the BBC is so biased against America that deputy director general Mark Byford had secretly agreed to help him to 'correct', it in his reports. Webb added that the BBC treated America with scorn and derision and gave it 'no moral weight'.
Former BBC business editor Jeff Randall said he complained to a 'very senior news executive', about the BBC's pro-multicultural stance but was given the reply: 'The BBC is not neutral in multiculturalism: it believes in it and it promotes it.'
Randall also told how he once wore Union Jack cufflinks to work but was rebuked with: 'You can't do that, that's like the National Front!'
Quoting a George Orwell observation, Randall said that the BBC was full of intellectuals who 'would rather steal from a poor box than stand to attention during God Save The King'.

Time to free up speech - at Chapters/Indigo

2006-10-23T12:47:00.000-05:00

Chapters not carrying Mark Steyn's new book. Decisions like this really help the bottom line.

AMERICA ALONE NOTE TO CANADIAN READERS
We have had hundreds of complaints today from would-be customers unable to find copies of the book in Chapters, Indigo, Coles, SmithBooks or any of the other aliases of Canada's multi-appellated monopoly bookstore chain. It's not our fault and I'm afraid there's nothing we or the publishers can do about it. Heather Reisman doesn't want to sell it and that's that. And that's what happens in as coercively regulated a cultural environment as the decayed Dominion's. Try Amazon Canada, where it's been Number Two on the bestsellers all weekend, even though, as one Calgary Chapters clerk told a thwarted customer, nobody wants it. If you're weary of listening to excuses from Canada's monopoly retailer as to why they didn't order a book that hit the Top Ten 24 hours after publication, try the SteynOnline store's premium fast-track UPS shipping option for Canadian customers who'd like the book within a few days.

Update on the gun registry trial

2006-10-23T11:59:00.000-05:00

I said I would update on how the trail of the gun charges turned out. Here it is.

9 months and 7 court appearances after the charges were laid, (including a judicial pre-trail) the trial for possession of a firearm without a licence, unsafe storage of a firearm and possession of an unregistered firearm is finally going to proceed. I have come to realize that the defence I have concocted is quite solid and that the crown will not be able to prove their case. It is a technical defence but fatal to the charges.

We arrive in court only to find out that there is a sexual assault trial ahead of us and the possibility of getting reached is next to nil. We wait. Six hours later another court opens up. The new Crown looks at the file and turns to ask why this is at trial. The reply: "Your office would not take the deal that was offered". He again looks at the file and offers: forfeit the gun and the charges will be withdrawn. My guy had already signed a quit claim to the property prior to my involvement so it was an easy deal to take.

It is over and my guy wasted thousands of dollars and plenty of time.

I am not going to get into the details of the defence as I will use it in the future.

Rex Murphy calls out Bono

2006-10-22T22:58:00.000-05:00

Rex Murphy is on to Bono. Slowly but surely everyone is coming over to my side.

The gang at The London Fog are also on this and are all members of the Bono Fan Club.

Global Warming Skepticism

2006-10-22T22:56:00.000-05:00

David Janes is on to skepticism about global warming ... here & here.

2006-10-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or does this story seem to drop in every couple of years? (via Bourque)

Islamic Imperialism

2006-10-18T11:37:00.000-05:00

Victor David Hanson is writing on historical islamic imperialism. It is well worth the read. Here is an excerpt:

But unlike the West, where Christianity began as the persecuted victim of the Roman Empire and conceived of its own empire as a spiritual one apart from the political realm, Islam “was inextricably lined with the creation of a world empire and its universalism was inherently imperialist. It did not distinguish between temporal and religious powers.” Muhammad could thus “cloak his political
ambitions with a religious aura,” a rationalization of domination that drives the contemporary jihadists like Osama bin-Laden and Ayatollah Khomeini, who just like centuries of warriors before them justify their aggression by quoting Muhammad’s farewell address, in which the Prophet laid down the injunction “to fight all men until they say ‘There is no god but Allah.’”

policy slavishly driving election

2006-10-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

It's good to see policy driving an election race somewhere. (via Instapundit)

Time to free up speech - in the press

2006-10-17T07:01:00.000-05:00

The BBC is in court to block the release of an internal report that is thought to be quite critical of the BBC's Middle East coverage:
The BBC has spent thousands of pounds of licence payers' money trying to block the release of a report which is believed to be highly critical of its Middle East coverage.

The corporation is mounting a landmark High Court action to prevent the release of The Balen Report under the Freedom of Information Act, despite the fact that BBC reporters often use the Act to pursue their journalism.

The action will increase suspicions that the report, which is believed
to run to 20,000 words, includes evidence of anti-Israeli bias in news programming.

Read the article. I am sure there will be plenty of commentary on the same. I simply point out that the BBC is government funded and that freedom of the press is an included part of the freedom of expression. I would love to see a similar report on the CBC.

A must read for those who trust the state

2006-10-17T06:36:00.000-05:00

My loyal reader will know that I am no fan of the police, the state, etc. That I believe in the rule of law and individual rights. If you are one of those who believe, as the current Harper Government does, that the police are benevolent or that Crown Prosecutors are not in it for themselves, take a look at the Duke lacrosse case (via Instapundit)This is a US example but I have posted on similar examples.

Note in this excellent analysis the reaction of the Duke University faculty and administration. It is appalling at best. For you Arts students out there, the lesson is: do not believe any of your professors' social commentary. Communism, racialism, multiculturalism, and just about every other "ism" work only in the make believe worlds of the academic, the trade unionist and the civil servant. In the real world you get only artificial results enforced by a gun. When the government is involved or has control, the first decision will always be political.

Gun Registry Charges Proceeding?

2006-10-15T21:59:00.000-05:00

I am in court this week defending a 55 year old gentleman, with no criminal record, on the charges of:

Illegal possession of a firearm (section 91(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada);
Illegal Storage of a firearm (section 86(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada; and
Possession of an unregistered firearm (section 112(1) of the Firearms Act of Canada.

The facts are simple. Wife leaves husband after 30 years of marriage. Husband goes on a drinking binge. Wife does not hear from husband and he does not show up to work for a few days. Wife gets worried that he may have hurt himself. Wife calls the cops and says that there is a long-gun in the house. Gun is in a closet without a trigger lock. The gun has not been used nor thought of for 30+ years. Husband is charged with the above crimes. There is also an application brought under section 117.05 of the Firearms Act for forfeiture of he gun to the police to be destroyed. Husband and wife reconcile.

The disclosure from the Crown included a screening form stating that the Crown would be seeking a jail term for this clearly victimless crime if my guy proceeds to trial. Did I mention that he is a 55 year old man without a criminal record? Did I mention that he has never been charged with a crime? Did I mention that he is never going to jail? He does, however, face the problem of having a criminal record. The Crown will not deal though I still can't figure out who got hurt in all this.

I will let you know how it turns out. I have concocted a defence that may work. We will see. The problem for my guy is the insistence by the Crown that any deal involves my guy getting a criminal record. What nonsense.

As for the Registry charges, the Crown is proceeding but it will be interesting to see how a judge will deal with these charges in light of the plans of the Consrvative government to scrap the registry.

UPDATE: The charges were withdrawn at the beginning of the trial.

Time to free up speech - I mean repress speech - In Canada

2006-10-15T20:39:00.000-05:00

I read this in the print version and intended to post on it. Then I see Tim Blair in Australia has beaten me to the punch. The circular logic of this letter is the stuff of the dark ages:

The fact that someone could call the Koran a "book of inherent
violence" tells us how ignorant and uninformed that person is about our religion. Secondly, what I found interesting was Prof. Redeker's comment, "We must distinguish between Islamists and those responsible Muslims out there who should without a doubt support me." I find it hard to understand what he is looking for. Does he want moderate Muslims to support him when he is insulting the basis of our religion without putting in the time and effort to understand it completely? Even though he will not face a violent backlash from moderate Muslims, Prof. Redeker will not gain any kind of support or encouragement either.

Muslim "reactions" and "retaliations" against supposed "free speech" are not coming out of thin air. In fact, authors such as Prof. Redeker are adding fuel to the fire and expecting it to extinguish itself. There is a simple solution to these "violent" retaliations. Let's keep practising free speech, but eliminate the ignorant insulting of Muslim beliefs. The retaliations will stop. It is pretty hard to clap with just one hand.

Hamid Rizvi, Toronto.

What the???? We are vicious and violent only when you point out that we are vicious and viloent? It really isn't ours to wonder why.

Time to Free up Speech -Scientific speech

2006-10-15T20:15:00.000-05:00

(from Instapundit)
Freedom of speech concerns the use of force by the state to restrict speech or the refusal of the state to use force to prevent the use of private violence to restrict speech. This excerpt from Brendan O'Neill's column concerning free speech on climate change is not so much about state action as the call for such action by the state:

The message is clear: climate change deniers are scum. Their words are so wicked and dangerous that they must be silenced, or criminalised, or forced beyond the pale alongside those other crackpots who claim there was no Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. Perhaps climate change deniers should even be killed off, hanged like those evil men who were tried Nuremberg-style the first time around.

Whatever the truth about our warming planet, it is clear there is a
tidal wave of intolerance in the debate about climate change which is eroding free speech and melting rational debate. There has been no decree from on high or piece of legislation outlawing climate change denial, and indeed there is no need to criminalise it, as the Australian columnist suggests. Because in recent months it has been turned into a taboo, chased out of polite society by a wink and a nod, letters of complaint, newspaper articles continually comparing
climate change denial to Holocaust denial. An attitude of ‘You can’t say that!’ now surrounds debates about climate change, which in many ways is more powerful and pernicious than an outright ban. I am not a scientist or an expert on climate change, but I know what I don’t like - and this demonisation of certain words and ideas is an affront to freedom of speech and open, rational debate.

South Park, 9/11 & Quiz for "Liberals"

2006-10-13T11:03:00.000-05:00

Over at Political Pit Bull, the latest South Park is YouTubed (via Damination). Read this comment and quiz that follows the video:

The Brown Hornet said,
October
13, 2006 04:16 AM
These must be extremely tough times for a liberal to live in. The root of all leftist belief in kRaZy 9-11 theories, is that no matter how off the wall these theories are, no matter how disgusting, no matter how idiotic, all of them are much more believable than 19 radical islamic
fundementalist hijacking the planes.
Radical Islamic Fundementalist are never to blame for anything, because they never make mistakes, and never have to appologise for anything (according to the modern liberal)And if a liberal
does get caught in a trap where they would have to be intellectually honest and admit it, they then side-step and put the catagory of Radical Islam under the rather large banner of "all religion" (i.e. all religion is dangerous etc,.)
Watch a liberals head explode if they have to answer any of these
questions

-1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b.The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim maleextremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and 70 year old Leon Klinghoffer, an American passenger confined to a wheelchair, was murdered and thrown overboard by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and Robert Stidham, a US Navy diver was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill' s women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer
Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d . Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

3 Strikes and you're out is bad law

2006-10-13T06:07:00.000-05:00

Details of the Canadian government's 3 strikes and you're out legislation have been released and at first glance it appears that the shifting onus and the indeterminate sentencing will make it difficult for these provisions to pass a Charter challenge. CBC reports:

The Tory government will introduce new legislation next week that would make it easier to designate criminals found guilty of a third sexual or violent crime as dangerous offenders, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday.
The bill would put the onus on a person found guilty of a third
violent crime to convince a judge not to designate them a dangerous
offender.
As it stands now, the Crown must show at a hearing why the
individual should be declared a dangerous offender. Under the proposed legislation, the person would automatically be considered a dangerous offender and would have to prove the designation should not apply.
Harper said if the person cannot prove this, he or she will be put in prison for an indeterminate period of time and won't be eligible for parole for seven years.
The prime minister said he was convinced that the proposed law would respect the Charter and strikes the necessary balance between protecting individual rights and protecting society as a whole.
As part of the same criminal justice package, the government wants the maximum length of a peace bond doubled from 12 months to 24.

Bridge Collapses due to corruption

2006-10-13T05:36:00.000-05:00

Let's see if the Quebec Government has the guts to follow this old story of corruption, known on the street in Quebec for 40 years, to its dirty, rotten conclusion.

The devastating overpass collapse in Laval, Que. That left five people dead happened because steel reinforcing rods were installed incorrectly in the structure, according to reports.

On Thursday Montreal's La Presse quoted unnamed sources who said the inquiry probing the collapse has concluded parts of the overpass were poorly aligned and corrosion weakened the structure.

Transport Minister Michel Despres has refused to comment on the report.

Hellen Christodoulou, a bridge engineer, told CTV Montreal the conclusions fit with a visual inspection she made of the de la Concorde overpass after it collapsed on Sept. 30, killing five people.

"It was evident from visually inspecting the bridge that the problem did lie with the reinforcement," Christodoulou said.

"Initial speculation again was that there was corrosion. In fact, what we saw on-site was that the rebars were not corroded, but it was kind of obvious the way the damage had occurred and the concrete had sheared off, given the weakness of the concrete, that the rebars were the problem, and as it is confirmed now, this is the case."

Christodoulou said concrete on its own is a very weak material. It gains its strength from the reinforcement, typically steel bars known as rebar, that run through the concrete.

When the rebar is not placed correctly, the structure can become very precarious, she said.

Rebar placement was not the problem, it was the symptom of the problem. Many a prominent resident, dead and alive, made their fortune on shoddy construction and kickbacks. The unions will certainly be resisting any look back in time.

Time to free up speech - In France? (impossible)

2006-10-13T05:20:00.000-05:00

Closing down freedom of speech in France. From the BBC (via Bourque):

Turkey has condemned a French parliamentary vote which would make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered "genocide" at the hands of the Turks.

Turkey called it a "serious blow" to relations and has threatened
sanctions. The vote was also criticised by the EU.
.....
The French vote came as controversial Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature.
He has faced prosecution in Turkey for talking about the murder of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during World War I and thousands of Kurds in subsequent years.
The charges have since been dropped.

This reminds me that it is time for me to do a post calling for the repeal of the Hate Laws in Canada.

Negotiating with North Korea is volunteering for extortion

2006-10-13T04:49:00.000-05:00

Why all the talk about negotiating with North Korea, about failed diplomacy and the like. You can't negotiate with someone who is never willing to settle or compromise. Negotiaions with the North without a credible threat to the power of the dictator is simply volunteering for extortion. North Korea will not come to the table unless you pay them, will not stay at the table unless you pay them and will break any "deal" they enter regardless of whether you pay them. Why would they do otherwise? There is no downside for the dictator and the world will blame America.

2006-10-13T04:35:00.000-05:00

Victor David Hanson takes a look at North Korea and China's role. It is well worth the read.

Kyoto = Dictator's Utopia

2006-10-12T13:54:00.000-05:00

Norman Spector thinks that Jeff Simpson of the Globe & Mail is onto Kyoto. In some respects Norm & Jeff are correct, but the entire point of Kyoto is alluded to but missed by both. Simpson writes:
Canada could buy emission credits from other countries, but the cost would be billions and billions of dollars. Nothing would have hanged in Canada. A stupider public policy choice would be hard to imagine.

The point of Kyoto and the reason why Canada should not participate and rescind any participation to date is that no modern industrial nation can meet the emission standards at this time. The only realistic route to compliance is to purchase emission credits. The vast majority of the sinatories to the agreement will be vendors rather than purchasers. What is the effect of such a purchase? From whom are we purchasing? These are the questions that count. The United Nations sees all countries as equals regardless of the form or legitimacy of their governments. Countries under strongmen and dictatorships will have credits aplenty to sell. Of course they will use the money for the betterment of their peoples' lot - or not. They will use the money as they use all the money, to line the pockets of themselves, their buddies and those they need to stay in power. In the interim the economies of these countries will not improve at all. The statists & environmentalists will be thrilled! Rather than subsidized production there will be subsidized non-production. Utopia.

The Canadian Angle on North Korean Nuclear

2006-10-10T05:18:00.000-05:00

It did not take long for CBC to find out that the Korean-Canadian community is in fear over the North Korean nuclear tests... As Mark Steyn would say, if Jean Chretien were still in power he would be eating a bowl of Dog Soup, while denying that Canada ever had troops in Korea for other than peace-keeping:

Jean Chrétien, after 9/11, went to a mosque; after SARS broke out, he went to a Chinese restaurant. After the tsunami, the prime minister no doubt toyed with going to a luxury resort in Phuket for three weeks, but as it turned out three quarters of the cabinet were already on the beach in their thongs and in no hurry to return.

FBI Invade Canada to protect us from RCMP

2006-10-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

Why all the fuss about the FBI operating in Canada? It's not like we can trust the RCMP.

Greg Weston writes of the RCMP in The Sun:

But as we have pointed out on numerous occasions before, this isn't the first time in Zaccardelli's six-year tenure that the venerable Horsemen have been up to their britches in manure. Let's remember, the Mounties were caught red-handed in the sponsorship scandal, the force having illegally funnelled almost $3 million of Adscam money through a secret, non-government bank account.

No one in the force was disciplined -- heck, Chuck Guite, the now-jailed bureaucrat at the centre of Adscam, was once invited to take the honour salute for the Musical Ride -- and Zaccardelli dismissed it all as an administrative error.

No wonder the RCMP were slow to go after their man at the outset
of the sponsorship scandal under Jean Chretien. In fact, the force failed to even investigate the $350-million program for almost two years after an internal government audit showing all kinds of hanky-panky.

If there is one chapter in Zac's tenure that rankles almost as much as Arar, it is surely the collusion of the Mounties in the shameful hounding and intimidation of Francois Beaudoin, the former head of the federal Business Development Bank.

Beaudoin was the honest banker whom Chretien repeatedly tried to
pressure into approving a $650,000 federal loan to the then-PM's pal and Shawinigan innkeeper at the centre of what became known as the "Shawinigate" fiasco.

When Beaudoin refused to approve the loan as a bad risk, and
threatened to blow the whistle on Chretien, the RCMP were called in to help hound the banker out of his job and through years of personal hell.

Two cronies Chretien had appointed to the federal bank appealed directly to Zaccardelli to turn the Mounties loose on Beaudoin for all kinds of unfounded wrongdoing.

Before Beaudoin finally got his day in court, he had been subjected to three years of a smear campaign, aided and abetted by RCMP raids on his family home, cottage and -- as a final act of attempted public humiliation -- his Montreal golf club.

In 2004, Quebec Judge Andre Denis issued a scathing 200-page judgment on the Beaudoin case, awarding the former banker $4.3 million in damages, and describing the actions of the RCMP and Chretien's goon squad as "an unspeakable injustice."

But, hey, the Harper government has "full confidence" in Zaccardelli and the Mounties.

Weston fails to mention the APEC Conference where, at the behest of the PMO, the RCMP arrested potential protestors prior to the protests. No crime. No complaint. not even a bylaw violation. Of course Chretien put an end to the inquiry once the request came for him to testify.

Time to free up speech - for Tobacco Companies

2006-10-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

Is anyone else sick of the anti-tobacco lobby and the way they assume we are all a pack of children? The labeling of packages with light and mild was the brainchild of Health Canada, not the ever so evil Big Tobacco.

Time to free up speech - at Columbia

2006-10-05T12:11:00.000-05:00

I thought I was looking at footage from Concordia University ... turns it it's a little more Ivy League.

With that said, I was in Montreal last weekend and did see the standard scruffy looking Concordia activists handing out pamphlets and selling books equating Dick Cheney to Satan.

Political Correctness and Psychology Kill

2006-10-05T06:53:00.000-05:00

I would assume that in the make believe world of social work, they will be revising their pamphlets after this.

The Creeping Darkness II

2006-10-04T12:36:00.000-05:00

YouTube is in the censorship game.

(Via Instapundit)

Time to free up speech - in Poland

2006-10-04T06:17:00.000-05:00

Via Bourque

Police hunt farting dissident

Police in Poland have launched a nationwide hunt for a man who farted loudly when asked what he thought of the president.
Hubert Hoffman, 45, was charged with "contempt for the office of the head of state" for his actions after he was stopped by police in a routine check at a Warsaw railway
station.
He complained that under President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, the country was returning to a Communist style dictatorship.
When told to show more respect for the country's rulers, he farted loudly and was promptly arrested.
Hoffmann was arrested and released on bail but failed to turn up at a Warsaw court early this week to be tried, and
the judge in the case rejected an appeal by defence lawyers to throw the charges out.
A court spokesman said: "Such a case of disrespect is taken very seriously."
Instead the court ordered the police to start a nationwide hunt for the man, and interpol have been alerted

Time to free up speech in this country

2006-10-02T19:28:00.000-05:00

You do not have to be a serious observer of Canadian politics to figure that a spring election is somewhat likely. Neither the NDP nor The Bloc have any interest in allowing the new Liberal Party Leader get his feet under him and start running. The Tories are in a similar situation but have to play more coy. As such there is little chance that the 2007 budget will be passed and we will find ourselves at the polls.

There is little time then to tackle a few issues that need tackling and we should start with free speech. This writer is calling for the repeal of Part 17 of Canada Elections Act which places spending limits on third parties during elections. The Limit is $150,000 with no more than $3000 in any riding. The alleged purpose of this act was to protect the public, who clearly must be stupid and/or gullible and/ r selfish from being influenced by non registered political parties. In other words, it protects state sanctioned speech. Here are sections 350 -352 of the Act:

350. (1) A third party shall not incur election advertising expenses of a total amount of more than $150,000 during an election period in relation to a general election.

Spending limit electoral district
(2) Not more than $3,000 of the total amount referred to in subsection (1) shall be incurred to promote or oppose the election of one or more candidates in a given electoral district, including by
(a) naming them;
(b) showing their likenesses;
(c) identifying them by their respective political affiliations; or
(d) taking a position on an issue with which they are particularly associated.

Expenses re party leader
(3) The limit set out in subsection (2) only applies to an amount incurred with respect to a leader of a registered party or eligible party to the extent that it is incurred to promote or oppose his or her election in a given electoral district.

Spending limit by-election
(4) A third party shall not incur election advertising expenses of a total amount of more than $3,000 in a given electoral district during the election period of a by-election.

Third party inflation adjustment factor
(5) The amounts referred to in subsections (1), (2) and (4) shall be multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor referred to in section 414 that is in effect on the issue of the writ or writs.

No combination to exceed limit
351. A third party shall not circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, a limit set out in section 350 in any manner, including by splitting itself into two or more third parties for the purpose of circumventing the limit or acting in collusion with another third party so that their combined election advertising expenses exceed the limit.

Advertising must name third party
352. A third party shall identify itself in any election advertising placed by it and indicate that it has authorized the advertising.

One would think that it is indefensible and that the Supreme Court of Canada would never allow this violation of free speech. Think again. Apparently the majority of the Court believed that when harm cannot be defined it is best to err on the side of regulating speech. The majority worked around the obvious and adopted the statist position that equalityt is found at the finish line, not the starting blocks.

The reasoning of the Chief Justice in dissent makes much more sense, though it still is not completely satisfactory. Here is an excerpt:

35 On the other side of the equation, the infringement on the right is severe. We earlier reviewed the stringency of the limits. They prevent citizens from effectively communicating with their fellow citizens on election issues during a campaign. Any communication beyond the local level is effectively rendered impossible, and even at that level is seriously curtailed. The spending limits do not allow citizens to express themselves through mail-outs within certain ridings, radio and television media, nor the national press. Citizens are limited to 1.3 percent of the expenditures of registered political parties. This is significantly lower than other countries that have also imposed citizen spending limits. It is not an exaggeration to say that the limits imposed on citizens amount to a virtual ban on their participation in political debate during the election period. In actuality, the only space left in the marketplace of ideas is for political parties and their candidates. The right of each citizen to have her voice heard, so vaunted in Figueroa, supra, is effectively negated unless the citizen is able or willing to speak through a political party.

36 On this point, this case is indistinguishable from Libman, supra, where the Court held that the spending limits imposed on citizens in the course of a referendum campaign did not satisfy the requirement of minimal impairment. The Court held that the
legislature in a case such as this must try to strike a balance between the right to free expression and equality among the citizens in expressing their views. The limits imposed failed to meet the minimal impairment test in the case of individuals and groups who could neither join nor affiliate themselves with the national committees. The Court stated that the restrictions were so severe that they came close to being a total ban and that better, less intrusive alternatives existed. The situation is precisely the same here.

37 In Libman, supra, at para. 63, the Court stated that Â[i]t can be seen from the evidence that the legislature went to considerable lengths, in good faith, in order to adopt means that would be as non-intrusive as possible while at the same time respecting the objective it had set.Here, too, Parliaments good faith is advanced, said to be evidenced by the ongoing dialogue with the courts as to where the limits should be set. But as in Libman, good faith cannot remedy an impairment of the right to freedom of expression.
38. There is no demonstration that limits this draconian are required to meet the perceived dangers of inequality, an uninformed electorate and the public perception that the system is unfair. On the contrary, the measures may themselves exacerbate these dangers. Citizens who cannot effectively communicate with others on electoral issues may feel they are being treated unequally compared to citizens who speak through political parties. The absence of their messages may result in the public being less well informed than it would otherwise be. And a process that bans citizens from effective participation in the electoral debate during an election campaign may well be perceived as unfair. These fears may be hypothetical, but no more so than the fears conjured by the Attorney General in support of the infringement.

39 This is not to suggest that election spending limits are never
permissible. On the contrary, this Court in Libman has recognized that they are an acceptable, even desirable, tool to ensure fairness and faith in the electoral process. Limits that permit citizens to conduct effective and persuasive communication with their fellow citizens might well meet the minimum impairment test. The problem here is that the draconian nature of the infringement to effectively deprive all those who do not or cannot speak through political parties of their voice during an election period overshoots the perceived danger. Even recognizing that [t]he tailoring process seldom admits of perfection (RJR-MacDonald, supra, at para. 160), and according Parliament a healthy measure of deference, we are left with the fact that nothing in the evidence suggests that a virtual ban on citizen communication through effective advertising is required to avoid the hypothetical evils of inequality, a misinformed public and loss of public confidence in the system.

In any event, the time has come for the law to be repealed. This is particularly so if you look at the nominal plaintiff in the Charter challenge to the Supreme Court (Hint: He is the Prime Minister of Canada). The Harper Government can give people back their voice, allow them to organize and to attempt to influence people to subscribe to their point of view. Perhaps you will not like the position of someone. Perhaps you will find it offensive. Perhaps it will motivate you to get involved in the process and work for a particular candidate or party. Or, perhaps the advertising and spending will have no influence on you at all. The fact is that the ability of individuals to express themselves as they see fit is worthy of protection while the electorate need less protection from themselves than the social scientists happen to believe.

So, Mr. Harper, if you happen to be reading, repeal the third party election spending provisions of the Canada Elections Act. There will not be a public outcry and you will make some friends on the Libertarian side of the fence.

And while you are in the mood for good policy, drop the three strikes and you're out idea.

The Darkness Spreads

2006-09-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Self-censorship in the face of the islamic ideology in Germany. More tolerating intolerance. So long to Mozart.

Toronto Island Airport & Miller's Statist View.

2006-09-27T12:55:00.000-05:00

David Miller is putting people ahead of profits:
Asked by a reporter what he would tell Porter Airlines Inc. president and CEO Robert Deluce if Deluce was to call him, Miller replied, "I'd say it's time that you put your private interests aside and let the public interest prevail, and the public interest is in a revitalized waterfront. And a busy commercial airport doesn't have a place there.

The public are certainly going to get a vote. If Joe Public does not want an airport on the island, he will not use the airport on the island. It is pretty simple. Of course for David Miller, Joe Public is either too stupid or too selfish to know what is in his best interest. Joe Public will simply use the airport because of its convenience without a view to the collective good or if he is viewing the collective good, it is not the same view as Mayor Miller. This stupidity/selfishness forces the benevolent Mr. Miller and his statist ilk to force Joe Public to do what is in his own best interest under the penalty of law. Imagine the gall of Robert Deluce to see a demand and then provide the supply. Doesn't he know that in Toronto we like to put the cart before the horse.

Coyne calls out Volpe and the ruling class

2006-09-27T08:29:00.000-05:00

Andrew Coyne's latest is well worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

Many indictments may be laid at the feet of Joe Volpe, but the most severe I can think of is this: I think he means it. I accuse him of sincerity. I accuse him of believing his own humbug: that all those children of all those Apotex executives each individually decided to donate the maximum $5,400 to his campaign of their own free will and out of their own bank accounts, because they were excited about his "message"; that the dead people his Quebec campaign signed up as members are the kind of "anomalies" one should expect in the
"hurly-burly" of politics; that he is the victim of an anti-Italian smear
campaign on the part of unnamed members of the party "establishment," but that he will fight on because, after all, it's for the kids.

It would be one thing if Mr. Volpe mouthed these absurdities in a
cynical, calculating attempt to divert attention from his campaign's multiple misdeeds. That at least would be recognizably human behaviour, the kind of thing you expect from your average grifter: Caught in the act, deny. Caught again, deny again. But in fact it's much worse than that. We haven't seen this sort of self-delusion since Sheila Copps's encounter with the woman at the bank machine.
You remember: The reason she finally agreed to abide by her campaign promise to resign her seat if the GST was not abolished was that she found herself unable to look the woman behind her in the eye -- a fabrication of quite mind-warping dimensions, inasmuch as it was supposed to illustrate how deep-down honest she was: how troubled she was at having broken her promise to resign. But the promise, as her subsequent behaviour made clear, was never intended to be kept. It was itself a lie, told to make people believe the original, ur-lie, namely that the Liberals would abolish the GST. Only Ms. Copps had been in the game so long she was genuinely unable to see this.

The moral she drew from the whole experience? "I don't think I'll ever be putting my seat on the line again if the voters are generous enough to reinvest their confidence in me." Spend a couple of hours plumbing the depths of that one.

Taliban murder

2006-09-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

The ideology of Islam claims another victim. This time an Islamic woman who dared push for the education of Islamic women.

Volpe in death throws ...blame society

2006-09-25T10:46:00.000-05:00

That poor innocent Alfonso Gagliano apparently finds himself in the political wilderness because of his Italian Heritage. His sympathies lie with Joe Volpe who is apparently suffering the same fate.

Creating a Chinese Monopoly

2006-09-25T07:28:00.000-05:00

(Via Bourque)

The BBC is reporting that a high ranking member of China's politburo has been fired for corruption. As posted here (and here) before, corruption is part of the norm in China. It is a police state and the new economy is all bout taking money. You can look at this as a corporate takeover if you will. Corruption is the excuse for taking out a political competitor who has not been paying up the chain. The operative part of the article reads:

The sacking of Chen Liangyu comes ahead of the key Communist Party Congress later this year when Hu Jintao will be hoping to consolidate his leadership.

Until now, Shanghai - China's second city and financial centre -
has been considered a stronghold for officials loyal to Mr Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin. Mr Chen was a protege of Jiang Zemin.

There has been a continuing power struggle between Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Shanghai says.

Mr Chen's dismissal is being widely interpreted as Hu Jintao strengthening his position both within the party and the country as a whole, our correspondent adds.

The sacking of such senior Communist Party members are rare.

Polling Liberals: Nothing determined

2006-09-20T22:13:00.000-05:00

The polls are in and the winner of the Liberal leadership is.... who knows. A lot is being made of this poll showing Iggy in front of Rae & Dion. Rae is the second choice for most Liberals. Dion has a decent second choice showing but Iggy is lagging. This apparently shows that Rae & Dion have the most room fro growth. Actually, this poll shows next to nothing. The Libs still use the delegate system and while the delegates may well be inclined to vote on the first ballot pursuant to their "mandate" on the second ballot all bets are off. Stage one of the campaign is getting your delegates elected. Stage two of the campaign is directed towards the delegates. Look for DIon to make a move when it comes to delegate support, particularly in the second round.

This is worth a read

2006-09-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

Here is how you get the boys in blue to respond to your call.

NB Election - polls correct

2006-09-19T10:57:00.000-05:00

The pollsters said New Brunswick election race was too close to call and it seems that they were right. Shawn Graham's Liberals defeated Bernard Lord's Tory Government yesterday but the Libs actually had a smaller vote percentage. The Libs took 47% of the vote while the Tories outpaced them with 47.65% of the vote. The logical assumption in 21st century politics is that Graham stole the election and his government will lack legitimacy forever. Carl Rove is to blame.

Ditching the Gun Registry

2006-09-19T07:02:00.000-05:00

Good news on the gun registry front, the Tories are committed to its demise.
The gun registry has done harm to some of the otherwise law abiding citizens of Canada. What has become unfortunately more and more common is the use of the registry law in family law matters. A typical example: a couple splits up and the wife, to assist in getting exclusive possession of the matrimonial home and/or primary care of the children (and the corresponding support payments), calls the police to tell of a gun in the house. The police seize the same and charge the husband under the registry laws. Often, this is a gun that has been in the attic for decades and is not being used. Worse for the husband is the fact that there is unlikely to be a trigger lock on the gun so he is also going to be criminally charged with unsafe storage. Now there is a criminal record to go along with the registry charges. And after all of this, Canada is supposed to be a safer place?

Great Reporting in the Globe

2006-09-18T22:46:00.000-05:00

Nice for the cover photo on today's Globe and Mail:

Dawson College, Montreal : A pain that will not go away.

Really? Tens of people shot up less than a week ago and the students and families are still a bit shook up? Thanks Sherlock.

So Long Bernie Lord

2006-09-18T21:57:00.000-05:00

The results are in from New Brunswick and Bernard Lord is long gone. 30 seats for the Liberals led by Shawn Graham to Lord's 25. A healthy majority for Mr. Graham. I doubt that the return of the Liberals will mean a return to the good government brought to New Brunswickers by Frank McKenna who is a rare individual. McKenna used virtually absoulte power not to his personal benefit (in typical Liberal fashion) but to bring fundamental change to the structures of government in an effort to provide better government. Did McKenna succeed? Hard to say, but at least he was honest and gave it a true shot. As for Mr. Lord, I believe it was his dithering that got him in the end. He never seemed confident in his decisions which always seemed to come a tad too late. He played his federal leadership potential card a little too cute and in the end, his end in NB will indeed be his end on the political scene.

Dawson College Montreal

2006-09-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

When I heard about this school shooting at Dawson College in Montreal, the first though that entered my mind was: I wonder if it is a Jewish School? Turns out it is a prep school with some 10,000 people. Still, it was my first thought.

UPDATE: I'm not sure if the above says more about the world in which we live or more about me.

With this said, these poor kids at Dawson did nothing to deserve this. There will be probably some talk in the not so distant future about bullies, outcasts, American guns, violence on TV, violent video games, dungeons and dragons and the like. However, I suspect that the shooter was just simply crazy. You have to be nuts to pull a stunt like this and chances are at some point in his life he was going to pull a stunt like this regardless of the video games and DVDs. The talk will be idle at best. The standard root causes crap. The kids at Dawson did not deserve this and no amount of blame on external factors will change that. Society did not pull the trigger, the shooter did.

UPDATE: Sept. 15, 2006 : Here it goes.

Not long ago, kids amused themselves shooting baskets in the park. Now millions of them are shooting the all-too-human characters that populate the strangely addictive world of videogames.

When I was a kid, pre-Atari, we had toy guns and played cops & robbers, cowboys & indians and the like. When we did not have guns we used sticks. The same holds true through the generations. Games with violent themes are part of growing up. We also played basketball, baseball, hockey, tag, spotlight, football, risk, monopoly, 120s and the like. There are tens of millions of gamers (of which I am not one) playing first person shooter games and they are not any danger. Remember when Dungeons and Dragons was the big threat? A guy like Gill is going to be attracted to FPS but it is hardly the cause of a guy like Gill going postal. If it were, these incidents would be far from isolated.

Sure I have Nukes... What are you gonna do about it?

2006-04-16T20:55:00.000-05:00

Iran has entered the handful of countries that have nuclear capability according to its glorious leader. While this announcement is sure to piss off the the glorious leader in North Korea, who should start shouting anyday that he has bigger and better nukes, the west has acted with a certain ambivalence. Maybe you do but we doubt it. You're such a backwater that we figure its going to be five maybe ten years before your really come up with that sort of technology. Damn camel herders.

The Soviets had nukes. Those in charge of the nukes had no real interest in the afterlife. They were interested in living large on the people's dime. There is/was no god. This is pretty important stuff when you think of blasting off a nuke at a country that has the ability to wipe you and yours off the face of the earth. Iran is, how would you say it, slightly different. Those in charge believe in the afterlife, or at least some of them do, or at lest some of their followers who are going to have access to "the button" do. What happens if you are wiped off the face of the earth? You get to go to a better place and shag young girls. Why not opt for the mutually assured destruction. The Jews will all go to hell and you will be hanging with Allah, Mohammed and the girls. (it is unclear the reward for the Muslim women, but it is probably better than what the Jews are going to get). France and Russia are lined up to sell the technology to the Iranians and to get some nifty oil contracts. I note that Chirac is now trying to remove the Iranian nuke issue from the Security Council. After the international force commitments from France with respect to Lebanon we know who not to trust. But with the potential contracts for Security Council members, there is no sense turning to the UN. But there is also no sense in waiting around for the bomb to drop.

The approach advocated by Europe and the New York press Corp is to negotiate. The Iranians really only want more security. France is saying negotiate with no preconditions. The question is why? Unlike our North Korean clowns, Iran has the cash and geography to make it a legitimate threat. They also are governed by a twisted ideology that is a great deal more unstable than the communist ideology that killed so many.

Layton's simplistic ways on Afghanistan

2006-03-27T12:31:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't it be great if we could all just get along? Well, so long as we do not get along with the Americans, that is. This is the foreign policy of the NDP. Watching Layton on CTV's Question period gave me that jerk feeling you get when someone is embarrassing themselves and they don't even know it. Apparently, Mr. Layton wants to debate the application of the Geneva Convention to Taliban prisoners if they are turned over to the Government of Afghanistan or to the Americans. That debate should be simple, the Geneva Convention has no application. Geneva sets the rules for war between sovereign states. The Taliban are a deposed government with some members hiding in the hills. It is the government of the sovereign state that we are assisting. There is no application. Non-uniform combatants can be summarily executed. The Taliban are non-uniformed combatants. While that may be shocking, it is a rule designed to stop soldiers from disguising themselves as civilians which in turn helps the uniformed soldiers in not killing civilians.

But the kicker here is the good old USA. Layton is simply saying that we need to know if we are going to turn our prisoners over to the USA to suffer, as David Janes would say, the indignity of the naked human pyramid. It would be better that we let the Taliban return to stone their women for adultery than face the horror of battery cables not attached to a battery.

Canada vs. America summed up

2006-03-23T06:05:00.000-05:00

Mark Steyn in MacLean's magazine:

A couple of years back, I began some generalization or other by saying, "The difference between America and Canada is . . ." And the American I was imparting this insight to interrupted me with: "The difference between America and Canada is that Americans don't care what the difference between America and Canada is."

That just about says it all, though the whole thing by Steyn, as usual, is worth the read.

Leadership Vacuum And The Fiddler

2006-03-21T09:48:00.000-05:00

Does anyone recall the brothers that ran for the Tory leadership after the departure of Jean Charest as leader? As I have written before, the leadership vacuum that is created when there is no heir and the leader suddenly disappears in a time of turmoil can be a disaster for a Federal Party. Well the Liberal Party of Canada has no heir. They have no one who resembles the same. Paul Martin was to govern with a 200+ seats for years. Now the choices are Scott Brison, Belinda Stronach and ... this is great... Ashley MacIssac, the "bad boy" fiddler of Cape Breton who has turned everything he touched to stone: From the National Post:

Ashley MacIsaac says he is hoping to trade his fiddle and bad-boy ways for a new career as leader of the federal Liberal party.
The Cape Breton musician -- best known on stage for his electrifying performances and off stage for his drug troubles and sexual peccadilloes -- called his hometown paper on the weekend to
say he plans to join the race to succeed Paul Martin.
He said he wants the job because he fears the threat of Quebec separation is poised to further divide Canada. "I would say it's going to take a very charismatic figure to turn Quebec into the province that has elected as many Liberals as it has in the past again," he said in an interview from Toronto.
"Clearly, there's a war happening in Quebec right now. And it's happening under the guise of we're just going to let it slip away because people aren't talking about it enough in the rest of the country. "I see that's going to rear its ugly head really, really
soon."
Mr. MacIsaac also said he wants to run to bring his youth to the party
and to end the "continuous mockery that's been allowed to take place of my party."
This not the first time Mr. MacIsaac, a voracious reader of political
books and newspapers, has mused publicly about running for elected office. He canvassed for a seat as an Independent in Dartmouth, N.S., before the 2004 federal election, but dropped the plan when it became clear his past was too big a roadblock.
Mr. MacIsaac burst on to the Canadian music scene as a teenager
and went on to play with such musical luminaries as Phillip Glass and Paul Simon. However, scandal dogged him. Maclean's dropped him from its 1996 "Honour Roll" after he told a reporter about his 16-year-old boyfriend (Mr. MacIsaac was 21 at the time) and an appetite for kinky sex that included urination.
He struggled with marijuana and crack addiction. He filed for
bankruptcy.
At a concert during the height of the SARS scare he made a comment -- which he has since insisted was an innocent joke -- about an Asian
woman in the audience spreading the virus.
But he has been working hard to
clean up his act. Last fall, he said he hoped to study constitutional law at the University of Toronto. And in his interview with The Daily News in Halifax, he insisted he is serious about his bid to lead the Liberals.
Mr. MacIsaac said he will finance his bid by selling some art he owns. Leadership contenders must pay the Liberal party $50,000.
The three pieces consist of paintings of the House of Commons, a Canadian flag and a cartoon depiction of the Last Supper with 9/11-era world leaders and terrorists.
He said the transition from entertainment to politics is something he has thought about all his life. "I've never in my life had any reason to speak my mind if I didn't think that I had something that was politically motivating me to do so. As an entertainer, you're given a platform to be able to do that on a stage."

Tough times for the Liberals when the joke candidates start showing up.

First instinct - Lie

2006-03-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

Scott Brison is continuing his bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party despite being caught in a email exchange hinting to a buddy at CIBC as to the the direction the government was gong on income trusts. Caught is the operative word. He was specifically asked and he reacted in the manner of any good Liberal: he lied. He would have continued to lie but the press had copies of the emails. Then he came clean and demands that he be rewarded for his new found honesty.

From the Globe & Mail:

The interview came just one week after Mr. Brison called a news conference in which he admitted e-mailing a senior bank official the day before the government's income-trust decision was announced. Initially he had denied to a Globe and Mail reporter that he had sent it.

Asked yesterday why he lied to the newspaper, Mr. Brison said, "I was caught off guard at the time. I was not expecting the question, and the moment I read The Globe the next day, I immediately knew that I wanted to correct the record and to do a press conference."

We have always been at war with Oceania.

Tim Blair and Those Crazy Cartoons

2006-02-23T07:04:00.000-05:00

Damian Penny is again linking to Tim Blair's coverage of the cartoon crisis. This time Blair has a different spin, comparing the Nazi reaction to English cartoonist David Low's depictions of Adolph Hitler and the appeasement attempts of the UK government. It is well worth the read. Here is an excerpt from a speech by Australian treasurer Peter Costello that makes up the bulk of Blair's post:

It wasn"t only Hitler complaining about Low. In 1938 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain singled out Low while appealing to newspapers to temper their critical commentary of Germany. Chamberlain said:
"Such criticism might do a great deal to embitter relations when we on our side are trying to improve them. German Nazis have been particularly annoyed by criticisms in the British press, and especially by cartoons. The bitter cartoons of Low of the Evening Standard have been a frequent source of complaint."

Update: The London Fog has the best headline: Cartoon Fuhrer. They also show one of the cartoons

Supreme Court of Canada Nominee process.

2006-02-21T15:16:00.000-05:00

Supreme Court of Canada Nominees will have to jump through the hoop of a public questioning prior to being appointed to the bench. This will please some of the electorate, annoy others and most will not know that it happened.

The complaint being addressed is the political nature of the appointments. For reasons difficult to decipher, the solution will be to subject the nominees to the most political of processes. The questions for the nominees will be designed only to promote the political success of the questioner. In short it will be a populist sham.

Good judges need the courage to do that which it is most difficult to do. The easy thing for a judge to do is to make a politically popular decision. It will be wrong legally, bring uncertainty into the system and increase the power of the police or the state. It will destroy the certainty of contract and lessen individual responsibility for individual actions, but the masses will cheer.

Take the worst case example, the police collect evidence on a serial rapist in a manner that violates the rights of said rapist. The easy thing for a judge to do is to allow that evidence to be used at trial to get a conviction. The result will be popular. The masses will cheer. The downside is that the methods used by the police will now be permissible in any investigation. By diminishing the rights of the rapist, the rights of all are diminished.

The tough thing to do, that which will be the most unpopular, is to protect the rights of the accused, throw out the evidence and in the end protect the rights of all individuals from police illegality. The masses will go nuts and the judge and the system will be vilified, but the result will be the correct one and the one that best ensures freedom from the state.

The court is the protector of the individual from the state. The independent court system is what separates Canada, the USA, Britain and those handful of other democracies from a tyranny of the majority. Politicizing the process will not get us better judges, it will get us more popular judges and we will be a lesser society for that.

Screw You Taxpayer!

2006-02-17T10:12:00.000-05:00

The CRTC, no longer content to decide what you can watch, has now decided how your money should be spent.

GATINEAU, QUE — The CRTC said yesterday that Canadian telephone customers have been overbilled to the tune of $652.7-million over the past few years, but the money will not be going back to them.

The federal regulator ruled instead that telecommunications companies such as Bell Canada and Telus Corp. should use
most of the money -- equivalent to about $50 a customer -- to expand offerings in underserved markets, primarily rural and remote communities.

A great redistribution of income to benefit of all, except for those that actually paid the bulk of the money. A great subsidy to Bell & Telus, which they decided to collect without amny real authorization, except some sort of near authorization for the CRTC who don't think that you need that $50 anyway.

Emerson, Fortier and building a Majority

2006-02-17T06:41:00.000-05:00

I am going to wade in on the new Tory Government's slip coming out of the gate. The appointments of Emerson and Fortier to the cabinet, and in Fortier's case the senate, have sparked no end of criticism from the media, fellow Tories and the opposition. Why, the question must be asked, did Stephen Harper bring his Conservative Government out of the gates this way? Greg Weston is writing in the Sun that the gravy train is still running in Quebec:

Lawrence Cannon, an able former minister in the Quebec government, has been put in charge of a new and giant federal cash cow that combines the transport and infrastructure portfolios, the latter spewing money at cities for everything from subways to sewers.
But no one in Harper's new cabinet will be more popular in the Quebec business community than Michael Fortier, the newly
unelected political boss of Public Works (via a Senate appointment), the minister responsible for the awarding of more than $13 billion a year in federal contracts.
Harper's putting so much spending power in the hands of Quebec
ministers is a clear signal that the federal spigot will once again flood La Belle Province with public largesse.

Again, the question being asked is why, but the real question is why not? The road to a majority government for Stephen Harper lies in Quebec, not Toronto. Ask yourself, will Harper lose his Western base over these appointments or will he actually be helping himself in Vancouver? Will these appointments help or hurt Harper in Quebec? Will these appointments help or hurt Harper in non-416 Ontario? Will they help him or hurt him in Atlantic Canada? The answer to all will be that they either help or do not hurt.

Harper has gotten these things out of the way early and they will be forgotten when the House opens and a budget is prepared. The end game for Harper is a majority government in 18-24 months and to do this he needs Quebec and to increase his seats in British Columbia. This will allow him to jump over Toronto where he stands virtually no chance of picking up more seats even if he was endorsed by Gretzky, Don Cherry, Mohammed and Jesus.

Quebec and Atlantic politics are about the gravy train and having epresentation in cabinet that can deliver the same. There are no two ways about it. Harper's approach is the obvious one. Instead of just trying to change the political game in this country he is trying to play it.

Tim Blair calls the media on Islamic Cartoons

2006-02-17T06:23:00.000-05:00

Best quote on the cartoon crisis comes from Tim Blair:

"They won"t publish cartoons, but they will run anything they can get out of Abu Ghraib. Both sets of images provoke Islamic anger; note how the media behaves when that anger is directed at them."

There is a lot of rationalizing going on in the media these days. As commented before, the media are not printing the Mohammed cartoons out of fear and then justifying it as respect. Why, the question is asked, do you need to show the cartoons to report the story? Well, it kinda puts things perspectiveive. The reader/viewer can see what the stink is all about. It seems obvious to me.

With that said, opposition to printing pictures from Abu Ghraib will never be found at this site.

UPDATE: Damian Penny has more

UPDATE II: You will note that I do not have the cartoon posted. Frankly I do not know how to post a cartoon, but here is a link.

Going after the the law abiding

2006-02-16T14:24:00.000-05:00

Normally, when a politician or an interest group cannot or will not take the necessary steps to tackle a legal problem they react by going after those who actually obey the law.

Look at the feds with the gun registry - the use of guns in the commission of a crime is a problem; the solution is to have those who use their guns for legal purposes register the same under the threat of criminal sanction.

Check out MADD these days - not content with getting those at .08 off the road, they now are going after those law abiders who have a couple of beers and call it a night, wanting to reduce the limit to .05.

It is the mayor of Toronto, David Miller, however, who is taking the cake. We have a gun problem in Toronto.... I'm not sure but I think the Jamaican gangsters vote for Miller..... I know! Let's ban toy guns! That's the ticket!

Like a crazed fundamentalists, Mayor Miller will not tolerate even the image of a gun.

I'm sure this will work and things should be getting a lot safer around Jane and Finch

Colby Cosh Calls It Right On Islamic Cartoons

2006-02-10T15:22:00.000-05:00

Colby Cosh is dead on when he says that it we are not free to say fuck Islam then we are not free. Freedom of speech is not an isue when someone is saying something we want to hear, it is only an issue when the statement is something that we find offensive. Expression is a right, not a privilege,to be allowed or revoked by the state or some dark ages religion.

The Gretzky Non-Scandal

2006-02-10T07:55:00.000-05:00

I lost major interest in NHL hockey some years ago. A stupid game run by stupid people slowly became my view and every time Booby Clarke opened his mouth it confirmed it for me. With that said, I was a big Gretzky fan. The way I saw it, he was the Babe Ruth of hockey, the greatest to ever play and I was lucky enough to be around to watch.

Now, the Great One has himself in the middle of some gambling ring and the media are gone mad. Did you know that his wife bet $5000 on who would win the coin flip on Superbowl Sunday? What a shock!I bet $5 on the same thing...and $5 on whether a field goal would be made along with another $5 on what side would be the miss (if any). I had a little over $80 in a variety of bets on the game itself. Relative to the wealth of the Great One, it is hard to say who had more on the line. A lot of these bets took place on my blackberry with some buddies a couple of time zones away.

I also chipped in on some pro-line, and that brings me to my point: the biggest sports books in Canada are run by the Governments of Canada. In the good old USA, the state also has the bulk of the interest in gambling out side of Vegas. The scandal that is so widely talked about is this... the state is pissed off that it did not get its cut. It may be couched in the language of organized crime and protection of some unknown innocent, but the reality is that gambling is one of the vices that the government likes to hold for itself. The reason is obvious, there is so much cash involved.

So the Great One, his wife, his buddies and some underworld figures may well have been throwing a few bucks on the game. Who really cares? Unless he was betting on his own team in hockey then I am sure that the Gretzky family, like all other gamblers, win some and lose some with more losses than wins.

4x4 Tag

2006-02-06T15:26:00.000-05:00

Tagged by Ian Scott:

4 vehicles I have owned

Ford Escort
GMC Jimmy
Dodge Caravan
Caprice Classic Station wagon inherited from my folks

4 jobs that I have had

Tour Guide
Lawyer
Communications Consultant (planning, not writing)
President of a Garden Supply Company

4 places that I have lived

Waterloo, ON
St. John's, NF
Halifax, NS
Fredericton, NB

4 vacations

Iceland - a beautiful island with a unique history.
China - they won't take over the world because they can't get their own shit together
Eagle Mountain -best ski-dooing in the country
Gander River - most pleasurable fly fishing (Atlantic salmon) in the country

Day of Anger

2006-02-06T09:17:00.000-05:00

Apparently the Muslim world is up in arms over some Cartoons or some such thing. Burning the ever ready supply of Danish flags during protests in the Muslim Street, the submissives are ready to defend the honor of the prophet by slaughtering the non-believers. Before the Cartoons, they were ready to slaughter the non-believers so I don't see how this is news.

Plenty of media outlets have decided not to publish the cartoons out of respect. Those media outlets are simply lying. They will not publish the cartoons out of fear. The editors have families and no real interest in being killed by some Muslim whack job, thus no publication of the cartoon.

Has anyone else noticed that western tolerance is simply tolerating the intolerance of others?

Where have the Liberals Gone

2006-02-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

When Jean Charest left the Federal Tories for his adventures in Quebec, the Tory party collapsed. Charest was a strong leader with the support of what was left of the party and there was not an heir in sight. The result was a leadership vacuum that left the Tories with Joe Clark, who really was persona non grata with the Canadian public and his own caucus. More interested in being Joe Clark than in building the party, the Tories wallowed.

The follow up to Clark was just as weak. Peter MacKay, Scott Brison, Belinda Stronach, David Orchard all ran for the job, but none were leaders to inspire. MacKay, who had been positioning himself for years as the successor to Clarke, proved the victor; but the victory was hollow. MacKay came to power by striking a deal with David Orchard and his dangerous ideas. Watching the Tory Leadership Convention's last day was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. By the time it was done, MacKay and the Tories were finished.

Then along came Stephen Harper and his Alliance crew to bail out MacKay and give the old Tories something that they could again work towards - defeating the Liberals. The stars line up, Harper is stronger than anticipated, and after 12 years in the wilderness, the Tories are back in power.

Now look at today's Liberals. There are plenty of heirs in sight but they all face the same problems:

The next leader of the party has to have clean hands. There cannot be a hint of scandal. If you are a powerful Liberal, this is near impossible. The stink is all over them. The scandals surrounding the Liberal Party are far from over. Those of the Chretien camp are rotten to the core with the graft. They simply cannot run.
Those in the Martin Camp are discredited and disillusioned. They were geared up for internal fights but they had no plan B. Plan A was to govern with 200 seats and undue the damage done by Chretien. Instead they did the impossible and lost the Government. Still, they do have control of the party apparatus and they will not be turning it over to the Chretien crowd without a fight.
Those who would be heirs cannot be bothered to take a crack at rebuilding a party with compound fractures and tens of millions of dollars of debt.

Since there are no heirs willing to take it on ... Copps, Tobin, Rock, Manley, McKenna, are all out ... the non-heirs start to look good to the Liberals. Dryden, Brison & Stronach, with no history or base in the Party are looking good. Our Man at Harvard would have to be a front runner though he could take a lesson from Charest about returning to a jurisdiction that you left so long ago. Again, where is his base? Dion is the Frenchman, and it is a Frenchman's turn, but the Quebec wing of the party is so heavily damaged that one has to wonder about Dion's base as well.

None of these cats three years ago thought they had a chance at being Prime Minister. The Liberals are in a leadership vacuum and their party, while not as spilt as the Tories & Reformers were, is going to require major surgery to put the pieces back together, particularly in Quebec. All of this is good news for Stephen Harper.

when is an expert not an expert?

2006-02-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

School kids denied pot by 25lb bust

2006-02-01T10:34:00.000-05:00

Apparently the high school students in Nefoundland are not much for smoking pot. The RCMP seized a whopping 25 pounds of the green stuff and, according to the Mounties, this is going to have a significant impact on the school yard supply. Now that they are off the pot, perhaps the students can do the math : $225,000 / 25lb = $9000/lb.... wow, that is great business. Forget about University... hell don't even bother finishing high school... with that 25lbs off the school yard, it is not like you can even get high.

TCH bust kept dope off schoolyards: police
A St. John's man has been arrested in connection with a seizure of
marijuana on the highway near Corner Brook.
RNC and RCMP officers seized marijuana they said had a street value of about $225,000.
The marijuana was seized from a car stopped late last week on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Michael Francis Reardon has been charged with possession for the purpose of
trafficking.

RNC Deputy Chief Bob Johnston said the find was an important one.
"What you see before you is – from a street level perspective – a significant amount of marijuana that could have an impact in schoolyards and with our young people," Johnston said.
"We think it's 25 pounds less than probably would have ended up on the streets."
Police suspect the marijuana was imported from another province.
Reardon is set to appear again in court at the end of February

Pam Anderson the new Bono?

2006-01-30T14:21:00.000-05:00

Pam wants to have labels on egg packages letting the consumer know that the eggs come from caged hens . Note to Pam: All the eggs are from caged hens...it is easier to label the few that are not from caged hens. You need to cozy up to the PM and he will tell you that he is going to label the eggs, hold a press conference and tell the world that VIP is his favorite show, just beating out Baywatch, and then he will not follow through...wait a second....there is a new PM .... forget I said anything.

Can't get off the government tit

2006-01-30T14:16:00.000-05:00

Caroline Parrish, like any socialist elite, has made her living off of telling people what to do for their own good and then using the force of the state to make them do it. Out of a job and with her meal ticket reduced to 103 seats, she is now off to once again impose the greater good on the people of Mississauga. If the people of Mississauga has any common sense, they will force Ms. Parrish off the taxpayers dime and on to her own before she forces their taxes through the roof.

David Janes

2006-01-25T11:39:00.000-05:00

My good buddy David Janes is getting his fair share of play at Steynonline these days. Good for him. He has been at the blogging racket from the beginning and has programmed some real useful tools, including blogging software and aggregators, which can be found over at blogmatrix.com.

Dave is right, anytime you hear someone say that politicians are all corrupt, that someone is a Liberal or is voting Liberal.

2006-01-17T08:48:00.000-05:00

The polls in Quebec are stunning. I have written before that for the first time in more than a decade, the Federalist vote is in play in Quebec, but who would have thought that the Soverignist vote would be as well? While the Tories have doubled the support of the Liberals in Quebec 28%-14%, the interesting numbersw revolve around the number of PQ/Bloc supporters who are giving the Tories the long look during the last week of the campaign.

The Globe is reporting that 55% of Canadians would welcome a Tory majority and that the majority of Canadians would like to see a majority government. I agree. If anything is to be learned from the last Parliament, minority governments only work if you believe that massive spending on dubious programs is good government. Every decision in a minority Parliament is political; sound public policy is out the window.

Note to Paul Martin

2006-01-17T08:42:00.000-05:00

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Re: Your entire tenure

With regard to the above mentioned, please stop begging. Have some dignity.

Regards
Little Tobacco

Liberals may just stay home

2006-01-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

Many a Liberal is disenchanted with the Liberal Party these days, but is that enough to get them to vote for the Tories or the NDP? I suspect that in many instances, it is not. Instead, i expect to see a larger than normal number of Liberals simply sit this one out rather than sully their hands by marking an X for another party.

Perhaps I have been too hard on the NDP

2006-01-16T22:17:00.000-05:00

In all probability there will be Tory government next week. I have been dismissing the NDP play for Liberal votes as too little too late, but perhaps I have been too hard on the NDP. It is my anti-socialist bias. If the Libs are gone and you were only voting for them because "Harper is scary" then why not vote for the NDP. Collectivism will still be your choice, but you can say that you punished the Liberals for their corruption.

I could not have been more wrong

2006-01-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

I published a memo that was given to the Tories after the last election that outlined where the Tories had gone wrong in that election and what they should do to acheive success in the future. I said that the Tories were given good advice, but it was not heeded. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Parts of the memo could be a blue print for this campaign, particularly with regard to social conservatism and taking a moderate approach to policies such as tax reform. The link takes you to the memo.

Orchard enters the fray

2006-01-15T11:44:00.000-05:00

David Orchard is waging in on the campagin on behalf of the Liberals. The only problem is that Orchard's position on just about every issue is not worthy of comment.

NDP point guns at Liberals: Layton Ignoring the Tories

2006-01-15T11:22:00.000-05:00

The NDP are gunning for the Liberals in an unprecedented manner, and well they should be. While the Liberals are facing the loss of their government, the NDP are facing a move to oblivion. The NDP are in some ways the creators of the monster that could lead to their near complete demise. The NDP have had a large hand over the years in vilifying the Tories as Right-Wing, American style whack jobs. They have not really ever stopped positioning the spectrum in that manner. This anybody but the Tories approach may cause their soft support to head to the Liberals in an effort to stop the Tory tide. Layton et al are staring it in the face and have changed tactics. They are now focusing almost exclusively on the Liberals with a message that the Liberal ship is lost, the Liberals do not deserve your vote and that at this point a vote for the NDP is as effective as a vote for the Liberals. It may, however, be too little too late. Look at the coverage in the press this weekend. Those in the electorate who will not be voting Harper essentially take the position that Harper is scary and, to some extent, I think these people believe it. This will be hard for the NDP to overcome as they try and stop the transfusion of votes from the NDP back to the Liberals.

Amother Isolated Incident

2006-01-15T08:05:00.000-05:00

Here is another isolated incident of the Libs using the public prse for their individual political gain.

Harper Victory means the end of the BQ

2006-01-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

Why has Gille Duceppe has turned the guns on Harper:

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe turned his guns from the Liberals to Harper Wednesday in Quebec, where the Conservatives are steadily rising in the
polls.Duceppe tried to tie two top provincial Tories to possible wrongdoing by
Option Canada spending prior to the 1995 referendum."... The Conservative and
Liberal federalists allied together to ridicule democracy and break Quebec law
with premeditation," said Duceppe, adding that federalists are ready to do
anything to stifle the aspirations of Quebecers.

Becuase the end of the Bloc's long run in Quebec can be solved if Harper addresses and fixes the Fiscal Inbalance. And with Tory Government in power chances are the said imbalance will get fixed. Good news for Harper. Good news for Charest. Bad news for Duceppe. The Bloc have made their living off the fiscal imbalance. If fixed, the Bloc will have virtually no utility for the average Quebecer. More power to the provinces means a more unified Canada. Who would have thought?

Attack Ads Can Work - If you let them

2006-01-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

Attack ads, particularly the Liberal Attack ads, have been dominating the news as of late. While the ads are of the worst fear mongering variety, these ads can work, if the attacked is so inclined. Take as a given, that these ads help shore up the Liberal base and serve to move the NDP vote to the Liberals in an anybody but the Tories way. However, the ads real value will come from the swing vote, those who have no real loyalty but whose normal inclination is to vote Liberal, but of late their inclination has shifted to the Tories. These ads will work if the Tories respond. For those who watched the debates, the Prime Minister took run after personal run at the Tory Leader, and Mr. Harper, to his credit did not respond in kind. By not responding and instead focusing on Tory positions, the attack is diffused, the attack loses its legs and the attacker appears negative.

Contrast this with the Tory attack ads. These ads focus on what has been a constant barrage of bad news for the Liberals. The press are all over the PM over the issues that have been portrayed in the advertisements. These ads reinforce the perception or the reality of Liberal corruption and sense of entitlement which the voters already hold. The PM is being forced by the press to respond to the matters that the advertisements cover. As such, the PM is indirectly responding to the advertisements. This gives the advertisements a sense of truth. Thus, the negative campaign ad can work.

Tory Majority? Not Likely

2006-01-11T09:29:00.000-05:00

The debates are over and the campaign begins. The Liberals are playing the tried and tested fear-card, however, it does not seem to have the requisite legs. The press, though, are helping out the Liberals with the headlines screaming for a Tory Majority. At this point, not only could the media be accused of dreaming in technicolour, they could be accused of being outright misleading. No one following polls can read them to predict a majority.

The 40% number means a great deal more to the Liberals than to the Tories. The Tories are statistically tied with the Liberals in Quebec, but the Liberals are gong to win a double digit number of seats while the Tories at best could win three, if there is a substantial change in direction in the Pontiac. Just as likely as winning three is the possibility of a shut-out for the Tories in Quebec.

Speaking of shut-outs, Toronto is pretty well closed off to the Tories. That is 40 seats out the window. A breakthrough for the Tories would be to win a handful in the area. Likewise Ottawa.

A complete collapse of Liberal support to the Tories outside of Quebec is the necessity for a Tory majority and it simply does not appear to be in the cards.

The raw totals do not matter. The Tories are at 60% in Alberta, but they can only gain two seats. What counts is where the support lies, and the media know this. Barring a complete liberal disaster....actually, even in the face of a complete Liberal disaster....... the prospects for a Tory majority is nil.

The media, sick of the vilification of Harper, have found the new means of fear mongering in this election.

And the best advertisement goes too....

2005-12-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

... actually, it is the best advertising story..... TVA is reporting that one of the Liberal campaign ads in Quebec was created, under sub-contract, by a former VP of Groupaction .... cleaning up in typical Liberal fashion.

There is an election on?

2005-12-13T11:01:00.000-05:00

I'd better dust off the keyboard .... Why didn't someone tell me? Actually, I have been working and I think, like many, that the election will not get going until the first debate and then it will really heat up after Christmas.... With that said, it would appear that the Tories are setting the agenda and that the Libs are simply coasting along, wondering how they will respond...Though we did get an indicator from Paul Martin, when in the face of the beer and popcorn controversy, he asked Harper to clarify his position on gay marriage. The strategy is clear, the Tories try to appear reasonable, the Libs demonize and fear monger and the NDP reverses itself on every position in an effort to remain relevant. I think I have seen this somewhere before.

More property rights out the window

2005-11-17T16:58:00.000-05:00

The Supreme Court of Canada has yet again put the State ahead of individual rights. I thought their job was to protect us from the state.

The whole thing stinks

2005-11-16T08:01:00.000-05:00

So Prime Minister Martin will not take up the Opposition Parties offer to call an election in January in order to be able to deny that the Liberals forced the electorate to the polls over the Christmas season. In the interim, Parliament continues as the opposition do not want to get blamed for having an election over Christmas. The NDP want to strike while they are hot in the polls, the BQ are all over an election at any time and the Tories, well they are trying to figure it all out.

As I have posted on many an occasion, if the Tories do not have confidence in the government they should not be polling just to find the right time to say that they have lost that confidence. Sure Harper played it right to get Layton to make a move, but allowing a government in which you have no confidence to continue is a disservice to the people of this country. Sure the people may speak and the Libs may get back in, but keeping them their merely to time your shot makes you complicit in the rampant corruption that abounds in the governing party and allows the Liberals to continue to use the public purse to run for office.

It is time to pull the trigger.

At What Cost Canadian Compassion

2005-11-14T19:58:00.000-05:00

From The Star:

At first, Lynne Yelich thought it was a misprint.
The Conservative MP, ever on the lookout for waste and mismanagement, had requested the financial records of Ottawa's 3-year-old compassionate care leave program. The numbers she got from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada stunned her.
In the first year of the program, 2003-04, the government paid out $3.9 million in
benefits to Canadians who took time off work to care for a dying spouse, parent
or child. It cost $34.3 million — 10 times as much — to administer the program.
In Year 2, the government disbursed $4 million to caregivers and spent $27.5
million running the program.
There were no budgetary figures for the current fiscal year.

Read the whole thing.

Election loming?

2005-11-13T21:42:00.000-05:00

An election over the Christmas season? The electorate given the chance to choose who was naughty or nice? This could be entertaining. The most entertaining will be the non-issue of who to blame for the calling of the election. Parliament has lost the faith of the government but the press will not be asking why, they will be asking, why now?

The last series of elections have been predicated on fear. The Liberals know that their main goal is to give the electorate pegs on which to hang their hat. As I have written before, it is one thing to tell a pollester that you are willing to vote for the Tories or that the NDP will get your vote, it is quite another to mark your "X" on the ballot for other than the Liberals. The Liberals and to some extent the press, breed an air of uncertainty during elections that make the electorate uneasy. So the voter heads home to where he is comfortable, the Liberal Party.

That of course would be the electorate that is paying attention. The vast majority don't know Martin from McGuinty. Why would they?

No idea about rights

2005-11-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

Here is an interesting (read crazy) perspective in the Khadr case. Apparently this kid who was fighting in Afghanistan, where Canadian troops were deployed, was captured by the Americans and is about to be tried. According to The Star, the fact that he is a Canadian is enough to get him off the hook. He was afterall fighting against those evil Americans. It's his right as a Canadian to be tried by Canadians or some such nonsense. Here is a lesson, if you go abroad to fight for your religion you cannot expect the Canadian Government to bail you out if the winning team captures your ass. This is not a case of a Canadian visiting Iran, getting arrested for taking some pictures and turning up dead a day later. This is about fighting aginst your own country. The US is our ally in Afghanistan. We are fighting together. We can't say because you killed one of them and not one of us it's okay. Admittedly he was only a kid, but when he was captured he waited til the medics came in and then unleasehed a grenade. What orders was he following at this point? If a Canadian fighting as a US Soldier killed some civilian, The Star would be calling for that soldier's head.

Jack Layton doesn't have the guts

2005-11-09T07:46:00.000-05:00

A lot of Conservatives are grumbling about Harper's unwillingness to pull the trigger on a non-confidence motion now that NDP Leader Jack Layton has announced that he will support any non-confidence motion that is brought forward in the House. The grumbling appears to be misplaced. Jack Layton does not have the guts to pull the trigger. He will only do so if forced. Layton has announced a new bargaining position, not a true intention to act. All he needs to solidify that position is for some sucker, read Harper, to bring forth a motion of non-confidence. Jack will then negotiate his way to being a prop for the Liberal Government. Harper is right, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Liberal Wet Dream

2005-11-09T07:38:00.000-05:00

John Efford, who according to CTV's revisionist history was instrumental in bringing about a resolution to the Newfoundland - Canada offshore oil dispute, is still collecting a cabinet salary despite not actually being an active member of the Liberal Government Cabinet. In fact he has not taken a foot off the sailboat and set it in Ottawa in over 6 months. Mr. Efford has announced that he will not be seeking re-election in his Newfoundland riding due to health issues. And with the new election boundaries, the seat is hardly safe.

No work and full pay? Is this guy a member of the Senate?

Non-Uniformed Combatant deserves to be shot

2005-11-08T07:32:00.000-05:00

Ah the Khadr family ...fine upstanding Canadians who used their connections in the lIberal Party to assist in terrorist attacks world-wide. Thomas Walkom of The Star contends that the youngest Khadr deserves a trial in an American Court for a crime that took place during an Afghan military action in which he was a non-uniform combatant. For being such, the Geneva Convention envisions that young Khadr can be shot summarily. Instead, he gets put before a military tribunal, which is the appropriate forum.

In any event read the article and you will see that it is just more anti-Bush screed.

Danny Williams in the Black

2005-11-03T15:23:00.000-05:00

A Newfoundland Government in the Black???? I recall Brian Peckford's Government wearing black arm bands and I recall Tobin's claim of breaking evening and no one wore a black tux like Moores, however, the Williams' Government is staring a surplus in the face. Good job.

Hopefully, the suplus will go to debt reduction and tax cuts. Combine that with a further decrease in spending and the economy should really start to tick.

Elections Canada & Gomery

2005-11-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

I know I have asked it before, and I know the Gomery report has been referred to the RCMP, but where is Elections Canada? Election fraud has clearly been perpetrated by the Liberal party.
Speaking of things that I have asked before, are their any politicians in the Liberal Party who cut a pay cheque from the Party or were in possession of a major credit card that was paid for by the Party during the time of the sponsorship scandal?

This seems to be a question that has not been asked, but if their were kickbacks to the Liberal Party and there was a politician running around with a credit card for personal expenses, the money is pretty easily laundered.

While I'm on the theme, let's say that the Liberals have to pay back $1million, what about the interest and the tax benefits that come from donations? Are these being accounted for? Lord knows the government rarely let's Johnny Lunchpail off without interest and penalties when he misses a payment or dicks around with his taxes.

UPDATE: Colby Cosh knows what I am talking about.

Not Much Sleep for Layton

2005-11-02T08:58:00.000-05:00

Jack Layton and the NDP have some thinking to do. They hold the key to an election, one non-confidence vote by the NDP and it's off to the election bus.

The NDP, a party based on a set of principles that include the belief that their principles are the only principled positions in the country and that anyone who disagrees with them is unprincipled...or something like that... has indicated a distinct tolerance for government corruption in return for movement on their principles. Ahh the socialist... there is no option but to turn a blind eye to corruption in return for the cause.

In any event, Layton has named his price and the only question is whether Martin will open the car door and let Jack in off the street corner. Still, Layton has a problem. If he gets reductions in private health care on the agenda, he will be setting up an election that will devolve into a traditional election with the conservatives on one side and those trying to stop the Conservatives on the other. The other in this case will mean the Liberals. The NDP will already has approved the concept of getting into bed and voting with the corrupt, why should they expect more of the electorate.

With that said, the polls seem to indicate that due to the Federal corruption and the unpopularity of the current Liberal Government in British Columbia, there is a willingness on the behalf of some voters to shift their votes from the NDP to the Liberals. Layton has to weigh this against the potential gains if he can get some movement on health care.

This is a tough game for a shallow man, and Layton, while bright, is shallow. Harper summed it up when he indicated that while he wants tax cuts he will not cozy up to corruption to get them. He will cozy up to the electorate. Layton's best bet may be to try that tack with regard to healthcare.

Paris race riots into 6th night

2005-11-02T08:53:00.000-05:00

Where are the commentaries about the systemic racism in France? If there was a race riot for 10 minutes in the States we would be hearing about it for years. There would be a Fifth Estate Special on how Rove masterminded the whole thing to benefit the oil industry. With that said, if this continues much longer, expect the French Government to utilize a Chinese solution.

At the request of the Gods of the Copybook

2005-11-01T21:51:00.000-05:00

At the request of the Gods of the Copybook, here is a link to a short film about health care.

Classic Chretien

2005-11-01T20:43:00.000-05:00

If you missed the Chretien press conference to announce his bid for judicial review, you missed a classic Chretien performance. Shifting blame, abrasive and defiant, he stuck a shiv through Martin's ribs, attacked Gomery, praised the worst parts of his record as great achievements, insulted his own lawyer and scoffed at his detractors.

At the end of the day, he claims it was not his fault at that when he learned of it he called the cops. That is not quite the way I remember it. I recall stories in the press, questions in the House of Commons, a general knowledge throughout the political country of the program and denial after denial. It was only when the cat was out of the bag, and Chretien had shrugged his shoulders at the theft that he called the RCMP.

And what difference does that make? The RCMP were up to their eyes with the Chretien corruption, from taking orders from the PMO to pre-emptively arrest people at the APEC Conference to the politically motivated Mulroney investigation to the BDC forgery to the RCMP involvement in taking sponsorship money and hiding it in illegal bank accounts, the Chretien PMO and the RCMP appeared to be walking with their hands in each other's back pocket. So call the cops, there is a biy of immunity in that relationship.

Still, Chretien is the most ruthless bastard in the country and if he is going down, do not expect him to go solo.

How much stink can Jean Chretien wade through?

2005-11-01T12:41:00.000-05:00

So Gomery can't trace the money directly to Chretien, but who believes that Chretien did not know and was not benefiting? How much stink can this guy wade through? No evidence on HRDC, BDC, APEC, Shawinigate, Sponsorship and so forth. Chretien and the Liberals are good at both covering their tracks and leaving no tracks and then claiming the standard of proof is without a reasonable doubt.

Martin is the same way. He saw no evil because he looked the other way. The veil of secrecy only involved the specific details which were not written down or written on sticky notes per the instructions of Guite so that they could be removed from the files. The standard for Government accountability cannot be beyond a reasonable doubt, it is the smell test. And it sure stinks in Ottawa.

was it just me...

2005-11-01T08:52:00.000-05:00

...or did anyone else find the timing of CBC a little odd last night. The night before Gomery, Haloween night, they air part II of a documentary on the 1995 referendum that focuses on the Montreal Rally and Chretien's "saving of the country".

Why IS THIS NOT SURPRISING?

2005-11-01T08:41:00.000-05:00

It seems that Gomery did not give the liberal Government permission to look at the report early, they just, as is their wont, decided that they would go ahead and take a look and then lie about the permission they received.

The Liberal spin machine started gearing up last night to defend against
the negative fallout of Judge Gomery's first report, while opposition parties
railed against the fact that the Prime Minister's Office had received it 12
hours before them.
Mr. Martin argued last week that he was only responding to Judge Gomery's wishes by getting an early peek at the report, but Judge Gomery issued a letter yesterday saying he only approved the release of the report to the top bureaucrat in the country.
Judge Gomery said he was disappointed that the dispute over the report's release has resulted in questions being raised about the impartiality and fairness of the way in which the commission had planned to submit its first report.

I can't wait

2005-10-31T13:24:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, like all political junkies in this country, I am like a kid in a candy store waiting for Justice Gomery to release his report. I can't wait for the Chretien reaction if any of the blame gets laid directly or indirectly at his feet. I cannot wait to see the spin that the Liberals will put on this. I can't wait to hear Peter MacKay's incomprehensible sputter. I can't wait to see how the Conservatives are going to screw it up. I can't wait for Jack Layton to sell out again. I just can't wait.

No more back of the bus

2005-10-26T15:23:00.000-05:00

Rosa Parks has passed away.

Principle

2005-10-26T07:48:00.000-05:00

While this is going to stir up some controversy, at least he's sticking with his side instead of cashing in...though I expect he will do some cashing in when the PQ get back in power.

Keep your eye on the guns

2005-10-25T06:32:00.000-05:00

The Spaceman, Bill Lee, was talking about how simple a game base ball is.."See the ball, hit the ball. See the ball, catch the ball. Don't look at Yupiee. Don't look at The Chicken. See the ball." In the most Orwellian way, Canadian politics has taken a lesson from this; if you do not want people to see the ball, have them look at the chicken.

The Star is on the American gun problem.... yep, it's the American Guns that are the problem ...Combined with the education system. Be assured it is a Canadian problem, not a Toronto problem, or more specifically a Jane & Finch problem, or, to come to the point, a Jamaican problem.

The National Post is headlining that our biggest fear is gun crime. You know, the gun crime that is not exclusively in the Jane & Finch area of Toronto and is not carried out exclusively by Jamacians.

Paul Martin is on the file. As with all Canadian Liberal policies, the last thing we want to look at is the fundamentals of the problem. Let's just dance around it and come up with the easiest bad guy to blame. Your kids are fat, that's the transnational conspiracy of McDonald's advertising. You are a smoker, that's the evil tobacco company advertising. We are letting in immigrants who are amongst the most violent gang members in the world, the problem is the American guns.

The Liberals are going to pull a Germany over the next few months - focus on America so you will not focus on us. Canada's productivity is lagging our competitors and we have lost all relevance in foreign affairs, particularly with our neighbor. We have given up the responsibility of making international decision to the corrupt dictators of the United Nations in the name of not giving up our sovereignty to the United States. So give it to Russia and China. That's how we should live, like Russians with male life expectancy down to around 50 years.

Cut down on American guns, however you plan on doing it and you will cut down crime by about 0%. The problem is not American guns. We need to keep our eye on the ball.

Crown to appeal Coffin sentence

2005-10-21T16:19:00.000-05:00

The Globe Reports:

Montreal - The Crown will be allowed to appeal the sentence given to Paul Coffin, the first person charged in the federal sponsorship scandal.
The Quebec Court of Appeal will hear the case next spring.
Quebec Crown attorneys argue that the sentence of just under two years sends a message to the public that crime pays.
Mr. Coffin received the sentence after pleading guilty to defrauding the Canadian government of more than $1.5-million.
A Quebec Superior Court judge let Mr. Coffin avoid jail time because of his clean record, his repayment of more than $1-million to the federal government, and his
remorse.
The Crown's appeal says the judge gave Mr. Coffin too much credit for his remorse and his offer to speak to university students about ethicalbehaviorr in the business world.

My regular reader of my irregular posts, is fully aware of my position on corruption and the rewarding of the same. And I am not suggesting that Mr. Coffin's sentence was adequate. However, why is it that all I can smell is politics in the prosecution office when I read this story? The Feds need more than convictions to show that they are serious, they need jail time.

Polls vs. Votes

2005-10-21T08:14:00.000-05:00

There are polls and then there is casting your vote in the lonely confines of the voter booth with just you and your fears. The poll mentioned in the update to my previous post has the Liberals running away. A poll out today has the Tories within five.

The breakdown of electoral seats makes most of the polls useless and the whims of the electorate change easily when they do not count.

The Tories are on track to win no seats in Quebec. Thus, they need to make gains in Ontario. However, unless there is a breakthrough in urban Ontario - Toronto, Ottawa, London, and the like - there will be no change in the administration.

If we recall the last election, the Tories had it somewhat in the bag after the debate, at least according to the polls. But as the election approached, people were just looking for a way not to vote for Harper and his crackers. There is a big difference between saying that you will vote one way and then actually casting your ballot that way when it matters.

Liberal corruption continuing:

2005-10-19T11:14:00.000-05:00

Liberal corruption just does not seem to stop. But then why would it? We reward the corrupt with power which is tacit permission to carry on as normal. The only offence is getting caught and the punishment... well we don't punish. The cited reason is that Harper and the Conservatives are too scary and perhaps they are. But how hard is it for people to get up off their behinds and get involved in nominating candidates that are not so scary? It is easier than you think.

UPDATE: And the polls show that corruption will not only be tolerated it will be rewarded. Time heals all wounds.