Conrad Black on Harper vs. Ignatieff

I was pleased to see that Conrad Black published an article today about the current political situation in Canada, in particular focusing on the Liberal and Conservative leaders. I'm currently reading Black's excellent biography,The Invincible Quest: The Life of Richard Milhous Nixon. What makes it compelling reading is his ability to describe the tactics and intrigue of the political process. (I will have a review of this book coming soon.)

Despite his current predicament, his sense of humour and wit are still intact. Laurier vs. Macdonald, Ignatieff vs. Harper

Michael Ignatieff removed any lingering doubt that he had the character to lead when he did not scheme against the hapless Dion, and kept his distance from the hare-brained exploration of a coalition government with Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe. Canada needs, and surely deserves, deliverance from the sort of nasty, hyperactive political adolescents who confected that mad enterprise.

I think Black might be a bit too generous here. It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination that Iggy schemed against Dion. Also, during his interview with CBC this week, he was unsuccessful in distancing himself from the coalition. I think the Tories will pound home that he was a signatory of this agreement over and over. He'll have to dream up a convincing counter-measure to this attack. He hasn't yet.

Perhaps because of the brilliance of the Florida summer sun, compounded by the foibles of my American hosts, I have been conducting a completely unnoticed, rear-guard argument in favour of the theory that Stephen Harper is something of a Mackenzie King, an ungalvanizing public personality but a cunning political operator.

It is conceivable that there was an element of calculation in his suggestion of ceasing to finance political parties, reviewing some of the rigidities of pay equity, and revisiting the right to strike in the public service. These are all respectable policy options, and my impression is that the country was more offended by the absurd opposition response than by Harper's heavy-handed, yet sneaky and reckless introduction of these thoughts in a financial message. This episode should be out of mind when the budget is presented in January, but Harper can still revive these issues more promisingly, later.

Read it all.

Can the Chinese Government Withstand the Financial Crisis?

When the Soviet Empire started collapsing in 1989, like everybody else, I remember thinking it was all happening too fast. It was difficult to properly comprehend the situation. The Berlin Wall came down, those pictures of Ceauşescu in Romania with a bullet in his head. It was unimaginable, even a year before. Could we end up seeing this kind of chaos in China?

Marcus Gee takes a look at China and potential trouble for a shaky Communist government.

... But in its transition to the "socialist market economy," China remains in a halfway house, with far too much intervention by government. Beijing still won't allow prices for fuel or power to find their own level, its currency to trade freely on the international market or (despite recent, half-hearted reforms) its farmers to fully own the land they till. Inefficient state enterprises still control too much of the economy and banks are too tethered to Beijing's political aims.

The Communists know that the people relate the prosperity of the last 20 years to their reforms. If the economic crisis hits hard, the people won't have any reason to support them.

Unlike 1989, we don't have an all powerful United States to insure stability. If chaos is unleashed in China, there is little the Superpower can do these days, as worries pile up at home.

We live in interesting times.

Hope!

Feeling good about government is like looking on the bright side of any catastrophe. When you quit looking on the bright side, the catastrophe is still there.

-PJ O'Rourke

Lame Duck: Forget About Congress, Use TARP to Bailout the Big Three

The Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) is supposed to be a $700 billion fund for the troubled financial industry. However, since the Senate blocked the proposed auto sector bailout, Lame Duck W thinks, what the heck, lets send some of that cash to the Big Two and a Half. (here)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The White House said Friday that it may tap a 700-billion-dollar Wall Street rescue to spare US automakers from an "immediate collapse" that the US economy "could not withstand."

"Given the current weakened state of the US economy, we will consider other options if necessary -- including use of the TARP program -- to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers," spokeswoman Dana Perino said, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program conceived to help financial services firms.

Perino, speaking aboard US President George W. Bush's official Air Force One jet, declined to say when a decision would come but said the White House understood "the urgency of the situation."

I'm not a lawyer, but how can they play fast and loose with appropriations like this? What is this, Quebec? Isn't this illegal? Where's the media on this?

Having Difficulty Tracking All the Bailouts?

You can use this excellent interactive guide from Slate Magazine. (Here)

It is staggering how much they are spending. Now all we need is a clear guide for how it is all going to be paid for. It's amazing to me that this whole crisis was brought on because Americans were racking up ridiculous mortgages, credit card, and personal loan debt. Now the solution is merely shifting this unmanageable debt to the government. It will not bode well for the future. You have to start paying the bills at some point.

UAW Do a Plaxico

My God, the UAW refuses to agree to wage cuts for auto workers, which might sink the bailout package. Out of control labour costs are what's killing GM, Ford and Chrysler. Paying people $73 an hour for unskilled labour can't work. The New York Post has the story:

He spoke shortly after Republicans left a closed-door meeting where they balked at giving the automakers federal aid unless their powerful union agreed to slash wages next year to bring them into line with those of Japanese carmakers.

Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, a strong bailout supporter, said the UAW was willing to make the cuts - but not until 2011.
...

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the GOP point man in the talks, said the two sides had been tantalizingly close to a deal, but the UAW's refusal to agree wage concessions by a specific date in 2009 kept them apart.

Why the f--- should the public support these people? What's the point? The Detroit Three should declare bankruptcy. Maybe somebody else can pick up the pieces and start over. This model is unsustainable. What ever happened to 'lean and mean'? These fat cats are still stuck in the Carter era.

If they bail them out now this will be extremely unpopular. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina predicts rage and doom:

“We’re going to have riots. There are already people rioting because they’re losing their jobs when everybody else is being bailed out. The fairness of it becomes more and more evident as we go along. The auto companies may be hurting,” he said, but “there are very few companies that aren’t hurting and they’re going to hurt. We don’t have enough money to bail everyone out.”
...

“If you look at where we’re going, we’re not on a sustainable course as a country,” DeMint said. “Frankly, GM is in a better financial situation than we are as a country. The only difference is we can print money. But as other countries around the world lose confidence in the value of a dollar – that’s going to come home very shortly.”

Washington Times: World Temperature Cooling?

I feel like piling on today against the Global Warming Theory. Over the years, I got tired of hearing about this unarguable truth. Here's a great commentary from David Deming:

These cold weather events were not abnormal or isolated incidents. Global measures of climatic conditions indicate significant cooling.

A preliminary estimate by the British Met Office says 2008 will be the coldest year of the last 10. The extent of global sea ice is at the same level it was in 1980. The mean planetary temperature, as monitored by satellite, also is the same as in 1980.
Last March, NASA reported the oceans have been cooling for the last five years. Sea level has stopped rising, and Northern Hemisphere cyclone and hurricane activity is at a 24-year low.

Environmental extremists and global warming alarmists are in denial and running for cover. Their rationale for continuing a lost cause is that weather events in the short term are not necessarily related to long-term climatic trends. But these are the same people who screamed at us each year that ordinary weather events such as high temperatures or hurricanes were undeniable evidence of imminent doom.

Recently, I had walked into the kitchen at work and two women co-workers were talking. One of them was saying: "There are actually people out there who don't believe in global warming!? How ignorant can people be?"

Try saying that you don't believe in global warming to co-workers. You might as well say that you support genocide. People get very upset.


David Suzuki took it further this year when he said deniers should be jailed:

What I would challenge you to do is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether there's a legal way of throwing our so-called leaders into jail because what they're doing is a criminal act," said Dr. Suzuki, a former board member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

"It's an intergenerational crime in the face of all the knowledge and science from over 20 years."

I Thought All Scientists Agreed About Global Warming?

Maybe the world isn't ending after all. More skeptics in the scientific community are emerging. Now hopefully the hysteria will die down.

Here is a US Senate Minority Report on the subject:

“I am a skeptic…Global warming has become a new religion.” - Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.

“Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain skeptical. “The main basis of the claim that man’s release of greenhouse gases is the cause of the warming is based almost entirely upon climate models. We all know the frailty of models concerning the air-surface system” - Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology, and formerly of NASA, who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years.”

Warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in the history…When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” - UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.

“The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn’t listen to others. It doesn’t have open minds… I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists,” - Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the UN-supported International Year of the Planet.

I'm curious how green militants read this type of thing? Do they even consider the possibility that there might be more to this issue than they think? I wonder what David Suzuki would say about this?

Roger Sterling Fan Club

Roger Sterling: I bet daily friendship with that bottle attracts more people to advertising than any salary you can dream of.

Don Draper: It's the way I got in.

Sterling: So enjoy it.

Draper: I'm doin' my best here.

(for more Mad Men quotes...)

Mad Men

Earlier this summer, on a blog, somebody mentioned that Mad Men was a great show. At that point I had not even heard of it. It seemed like a good tip. My wife and I picked up Season 1 and ended up watching all the episodes within a few days. Soon afterwards Season 2 started and we watched every Sunday night. The season finale was a bit more than a month ago. So if you haven’t watched it yet, I hope to spread the word to you.

Much has been written about the show and it won eight Emmy’s this year. It centers around the lives of people working at an early 1960’s Madison Avenue advertising agency. They drink, they smoke, they sexually harass. Political correctness did not yet exist. The baby boomer left wing movement had not come about. America, during the late Eisenhower, and early Kennedy administrations was at its zenith of power.

I doubt there’s a guy out there who doesn’t wish they could spend some time in that era. A meeting with the boss doesn’t start until he hands you a scotch in a rock glass as you’re lighting up a Lucky Strike.

I'm not going to do an overview but want to write about some aspects of the show. (And don’t worry I won’t give plot spoilers.)

Don Draper, played by actor Jon Hamm (seen above) is the main character. He is the head of the creative department of ad agency Sterling Cooper. Draper is a throw-back; serious, deep voiced, square jawed, spare with his words. Like Gregory Peck (I can’t help but think of Peck in The Man with the Grey Flannel Suit). No modern day, sissy, metro-sexual here. In an interview with NPR,(click here, for your listening pleasure) Mad Men Creator and Executive Producer, Matt Weiner explains that they knew Hamm had an old fashion quality that didn’t go over very well these days. He was the type you’d cast as the boring tennis pro, as a foil to the livelier quirky guy like Adam Sandler. However, this made him perfect to be Don Draper.

Draper comes up with some brilliant angles for commercials. One account was Heineken Beer. The brewery was worried because it was Dutch beer and thought regular Americans would reject it. Draper realizes that the very fact that it is European will make it appealing to upscale consumers who want to appear classy and worldly. (Beer in general, particualrly domestic was considered vulgar and low class.) He tests his theory by strategically displaying the Heineken in the foreign foods section of some select upscale markets, including his own neighborhood in Ossining, NY. Unwittingly, his wife Betty buys some Heineken for an ‘around-the-world’ themed dinner party she puts on, showing it off to guests as “fine beer from Holland.” (I think how true, even today. In Europe Heineken is a common, cheapy beer. In North America it is considered upscale).

Betty is a housewife in the 50’s mold. She smokes cigarettes in front of the kids. Once Don and Betty were having a family picnic at a nice green park. When it was time to go home, Don tosses his empty beer can and Betty cheerfully shakes off the blanket full of rappers and packaging onto the grass. It’s a wink to the modern audience, where not recycling and littering is viewed as a crime akin to murder.

The domestic front can drag a little. Betty is a former model, who never quite made it to the big time and is bored of being a housewife. She has an insincere fake smile and Don is tired of her. (He makes up for it by spending a lot of time in Manhattan sleeping around.)

I prefer the action at the office. Silver-haired partner Roger Sterling is the old school boss. He’s rich, drinks and smokes, sleeps around with the better looking secretaries, and he’s racist. He’s still my favorite character and always has the best one-liners. (see comment section in Quote of the Day)

Mad Men exploits the style of the times. The suits with thin ties, the fedoras and Brylcreem. Fantastic shots, featuring the art-deco style of the Manhattan bars and restaurants. (I cringe thinking of Vancouver office workers with requisite golf shirt and kakis, drinking coffee at Starbuck's or Artigiano's.)

Character Joan Holloway, played by actress Christina Hendricks, is giving the modern audience an appreciation of womanly curves, the syle back then. She caused a sensation with the dress she was wearing at the Emmy’s this year. Hopefully Hollywood will re-think the anorexic waif look in actresses that it prefers these days.

I love how they can invoke the time and place. Rat-Pack humor was popular back in the early 60’s. People flocked to Vegas to see Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the gang’s stage act. This involved getting drunk, making obnoxious personal cracks about people’s appearances and ogling broads. In this spirit, Sterling Cooper hire the hilarious 'Don Rickles-like' insult comedian Jimmy Barrett to do a television commercial. Jimmy’s style of humor doesn’t go down well with the old money wasps whose company hired them. Painfully funny to watch.

It seems that for the last decade the only dramas worth watching are on cable. The shows that I actually looked forward to and watched religiously were HBO’s Band of Brothers, Sopranos, and Rome and now AMC’s Mad Men. Regular commercial television is so universally awful, I don’t think I can name a single network show that I watch.

Mad Men can be a somewhat of a soap opera but I look forward to Season 3. I'm not sure when that is going to arrive either, because AMC might not be able to afford to renew it.

Excellent Scrap in the Comments Section

Just after midnight on Tuesday I posted a quote from the former CIA Director Allen Dulles. In came some comments from the articulate, and cutting "Anonymous' and conspiracy theorist Tim Fleming.

Check out the fight here: Is This What they Call Making Lemon-aid Out of Lemons

Anonymous, it would be great if you could leave a name or moniker.

Nortel Explores Bankruptcy Protection

From today's Globe and Mail:

Nortel's already crushed shares plunged still further on the report, falling to 50 cents in early afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down 14 cents or nearly 22 per cent from Tuesday's close.

Nortel's spokesperson said no court filing was imminent, although the Toronto-based company has engaged several advisers to plan ahead, the newspaper reported.

This still comes as a shock to me. Back at the height of the tech boom when it was trading at $100+ per share, I remember somebody giving me unsolicited advice that I didn't need an investing strategy, all I needed to do was buy Nortel.

This Photo Is Going to Hurt

Time: Massimo Calabarsi has the dirt

CBC: Illinois Governor trying to sell Senate seat

Debating Gitmo

The Wall Street Journal has an Op-Ed by William McGurn about how Obama's promise to close the detention centre at Guantanamo is not as simple as it seems:

What the American people need today is a sensible policy that recognizes three facts: that terrorists present a unique challenge to our rules of war; that capturing and holding terrorists is different from capturing and holding criminals or prisoners of war; and that the men and women who set up Guantanamo did so not because they were out to shred the Constitution but because, faced with some very imperfect choices, this was thought to be the best way to protect the American people.

It always struck me how quickly people would get outraged over the detention of "illegal combatants." It's against the Geneva Conventions! They scream. However, the enemy here is stateless, doesn't wear a uniform and blends into the civilian population. What part of the Geneva Conventions are they following? (Isn't the whole point of the agreement is that it's reciprocal? We won't play dirty if you won't?) Knowing the American and coalition troops are not allowed to wantonly fire on civilians, they use this to their advantage. If innocent people get killed, then it's a bonus for them. So while Gitmo is troublesome because it's not quite clean legally, I can't summon the outrage to feel that it's unfair.

How To Depress a Quebecois Reporter

Here's a refreshing take on the the Separatist Coalition from former Anlgo-rights activist Howard Galganov. Don't hold you breath waiting for it to be published in the main stream media. (Read here)

The next consequence really shook her when I explained that a coalition with the Quebec Separatist Bloc would hasten the departure of Quebec from Confederation, allowing Canada to finally grow without the Quebec anchor around our neck.

....

Then I reminded her that certain inalienable decisions would be made the moment Quebec and Canada part company.

By federal law, Canadian Banks and Insurance companies must be headquartered within Canada. There go the banks. By law, airlines cannot pick-up and deliver passengers from one national location to another national location unless that airline is headquartered in that nation. Goodbye Air Canada.

Then there’s the Canada Export and Development Corporation that underwrites just about all of Bombardier’s sales abroad. Goodbye Bombardier along with other federally financed corporations in Quebec.

Goodbye all the federal government jobs that disproportionately employ French Quebecers. Especially those who can speak some English.

And Goodbye official bilingualism.

Read it all. If an article like this becomes popular, it would never find a way onto the CBC or Globe and Mail. He would be written off as a kook, and defamed as an extremist. Even though this sort of opinion is something you would hear everyday at your local pub or Tim Horton's.

CBC Tells Us What Lessons We've Learned (cough!)

It's hilarious, despite the polls about Canadians rejecting the power-grab coalition and Harper riding high in the polls, CBC is still trying to pin the blame:

What happened: The Conservatives recklessly risked their minority government by acting as though they had a majority. The decision to load an economic update that was thin on policy proposals with enough partisan attacks and manoeuvres to tempt even an enfeebled opposition to try to unseat them was both reckless and careless.

So that's what happened? Harper wanted to cut off taxpayer supported subsities for political parties, that according to Ipsos Reid 61% of Canadians supported, and that's reckless and careless? That's the number 1 reason for this crisis? C'mon for God's sake! There's no end to CBC bias.

Then we get to the Quebec issue. (My bolding.)

What happened: Desperate to save himself and his government, Stephen Harper ratcheted up the rhetoric, exaggerating the role of the Bloc in the coalition agreement and attacking them, the Liberals and the NDP for putting Canada at risk.

Lesson learned: Separatists and the Bloc Québécois are the third rail in Canadian politics. Any arrangement with the Bloc is lethal outside Quebec. Its subsequent rejection is lethal inside Quebec. In the short term, Harper swayed public opinion in his favour outside Quebec and dug himself into a hole in that province.

As prime minister, at some point Harper could come to regret his effort to exacerbate differences on the founding fault line of the country. Canadians are likely to regret his picking at the scabs over the wounds of national unity. Not only is it not something a prime minister should do. It wasn't even necessary. The issue of proroguing the House of Commons was constitutional and legal and not driven by public opinion.

Exaggerating the role of the Bloc? What pointing out that they are part of the deal, and that they are separatists? We've learned a lesson not to do this?

The lesson of course, is that the CBC has an agenda and that you're a fool if you believe what they say.

Is this What They Call Making Lemon-Aid Out of Lemons?

At least we're getting the kind of experience we need for the next war.

-Allen Dulles

Virtual Fireplace

This is a shot of my television screen. They have a channel on my cable entirely devoted to filming a live fire. I love it. There is the crackling sound as well. I live in a Vancouver high rise, so it's as close as I come to a fireplace. Nice and cozy to sit back with a book while it's dark, rainy and horrible out there.

NFL Football in Toronto a Bust

I watched a little bit of the Bills-Miami game played at the Rogers Centre. I was shocked at the empty seats and quiet crowd. Bills fans must be fuming. The Toronto Sun has a first hand account:

But the first National Football League game to be played in Canada ended up accomplishing what nobody really envisioned. It angered people in Buffalo. It angered people in Toronto. It cost Rogers Communications all kinds of money. And it entertained almost no one.

"We don't have a clue," said Buffalo receiver Lee Evans after the 16-3 win by the Dolphins yesterday at Rogers Centre.

He was talking about the Bills offence. He could have been talking about the promoters of the game, the good Rogers people who put out $78-million US for eight NFL games and then assaulted just about everybody's sensibilities with ridiculous prices and an introductory news conference that played the public for rubes.

He could have been talking about the stadium operators or those running a tailgate beer-stand who refused to serve two 50-plus Bills fans who failed to produce I.D.

Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

The NFL should forget about playing outside of the US. If Toronto fans want to see the Bills they can go down to Buffalo.

Ongoing Hypocrissy: The Pakistan Policy

One thing I've learned in all these years since 9-11 is humility when it comes to foreign policy decisions. What to do about Pakistan is a question I couldn't even begin to have a strong opinion about. It bothered me that they propped up military dictator Pervez Musharraf' while preaching democracy. It did not set a good example. But he represented stability in a nuclear armed and potentially hostile country. He's gone now. Nowadays it's hardly a western style democracy, even less stable and the US still sends $1 billion a year in military aid.

What is really unacceptable is that they openly harbour terrorists. Patrick French has an Op-Ed in the New York Times Today

But there is no sane reason to think Lashkar-e-Taiba would shut down if the situation in Kashmir improved. Its literature is much concerned with establishing a caliphate in Central Asia, and murdering those who insult the Prophet. Its leader, Hafiz Saeed, who lives on a large estate outside Lahore bought with Saudi Money, goes about his business with minimal interference from the Pakistani government.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is part of the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders (the Qaeda franchise). Mr. Saeed’s hatreds are catholic — his bugbears include Hindus, Shiites and women who wear bikinis. He regards democracy as “a Jewish and Christian import from Europe,” and considers suicide attacks to be in accordance with Islam. He has a wider strategy: “At this time our contest is Kashmir. Let’s see when the time comes. Our struggle with the Jews is always there.” As he told his followers in Karachi at a rally in 2000: “There can’t be any peace while India remains intact. Cut them, cut them — cut them so much that they kneel before you and ask for mercy.” In short, he has an explicit political desire to create a state of war between the religious communities in India and beyond, and bring on the endgame.

Like other exponents of Islamist extremism, he has a view of the world that does not tolerate doubt or ambiguity: his opponents are guilty, and must be killed.

This is unacceptable. The potential for a high scale catastrophe could happen at any time. What on earth can be done? I don't envy Obama when he has to sort through this.

Iggy: Gentleman Scholar Turned Tough Guy

"He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survive."

- Buck, Lead Pack Dog from "The Call of the Wild"

Call of the Wild: Ignatieff Siezes Liberal Leadership

Oh boy! Iggy is ready to become the lead dog in the Liberal pack. What a fantastic power play. Brilliant tactics. (The Globe breaks the story.)

OTTAWA — Michael Ignatieff appears poised to become federal Liberal leader on Wednesday with the support of a majority of Grit MPs and senators.

But his chief rival, Bob Rae, is not going down without a fight. He's challenging the legitimacy of a leadership process that excludes tens of thousands of rank and file Liberals.

The prospect of a caucus vote installing Ignatieff in the top Liberal job emerged late Sunday after the party's national executive gave a rough reception to a last-minute proposal to give all party members a vote by a combination of phone and online ballots early next month.

...

Caucus support has been shifting somewhat since last week, as Liberals fracture over whether to pursue the idea of forming a coalition with the NDP, propped up by the Bloc Quebecois. Rae has emerged as the champion of the coalition idea while Ignatieff has been decidedly cool to the notion.

On Sunday, Ignatieff insiders accused Rae of advocating an unconstitutional process in a desperate bid to find some way of overtaking the frontrunner.

“Bob Rae is trying to find any formula that avoids us winning, even if it's unconstitutional,” said one member of the Ignatieff camp.

Start mobilizing Harper. This guy is going to be a tough opponent.

UPDATE: Dion steps down.

Eagles at Giants

The Iggles drive up the New Jersey Turnpike to the Meadowlands to play their arch-rival Giants. Games start at 10am on the west coast, so for me, its bacon & eggs and then kick-off. Giants clinch the NFC East if they win. They will.


UPDATE: They lost 20-14. The Eagles out-played them, plain and simple.

UPDATE II: They still clinched the NFC East because Dallas lost to Pittsburgh 20-13. Yay!

People Bought This Car in the 70's

The Globe and Mail Not Getting It

I can't believe the Mop and Pail, pre-internet, used to be almost my sole source of written news. Today we get a scolding not to say "separatist":

“If [the harsh rhetoric] goes on, there could be long-term consequences. If you are mainstream, to be depicted as a separatist is a source of great annoyance. But if it stops, the collective memory being what it is, people are going to go on with other things.”

It's a source of great annoyance? Am I reading this? You vote a majority to the Bloc in every election since 1993 but don't say the "s" word? Huh?

Ezra Levant has fun with it. Separatists aren't the separatist threat. People who point out they're separatist are:

The separatists are divisive by definition -- they literally want to divide Canada. Their explicit mission is to undo Canada, to remove Quebec from Confederation. And they make up a third of the coalition's manpower -- without which the coalition wouldn't have the numbers to unseat the Conservatives.

.....

But! But if you mention that, if you call separatists by their own name that is divisive! That is dangerous to national unity!

Canadian Coup d'Etat 2008: Winners and Losers

Winners

Stephen Harper: If you watched the CBC and read the Globe and Mail during this episode, you would have thought that he caused the whole thing, and needs to resign immediately. The propaganda didn’t work. Canadians rejected the coalition. A new COMPAS poll has Conservative support at 51%. That would bring a massive majority if an election were held today.

Gilles Duceppe: He’s a sly fox, and I respect him. His electorate in Quebec knew that the Bloc agreeing to this deal would bring extra goodies. He made it clear that his government only does what’s good for Quebec. I’m sure he had a chuckle watching the Liberals and NDP squirm trying to pretend that the Bloc weren’t part of it. Quebecers knew it, and the overwhelming amount of people in the rest of Canada knew it. Now if only he’d use those talents to motivate Quebec to separate and save us the hassle.

The Canadian Public: I’m glad to see the Canadian public saw a power grab, recognized the skunk in the room and were properly outraged.

The Jury is Out

Michael Ignatieff: I say Iggy is a Cassius figure who watched, and probably encouraged the clown Dion to try this stunt, in the hope of ruining Harper, while taking no risk himself. If he ends up Prime Minister in a few years, he’s a genius. If not, he’s an un-honourable Cassius figure who stirs things up but crawls away when the going gets tough.

Bob Rae: He is taking the lead to sell this Coup to try and topple the government when it comes back in January. He’s rolling the dice. It’s the only chance he has. This is the guy who destroyed Ontario when he was Premier in the early 90’s. Don Quixote tilts toward the windmills.

Jack the Mustache: The NDP is the fourth party. They’ll never form a government. This is his shot at the big time. It’ll never get this good.

The NDP: A power grab is always good in socialist circles. Because they know they’re RIGHT Goddammit! (See 1917, Russia.) Who cares about voters! They don’t know what’s good for them!!!

Losers

Stephane Dion: The Coup failed. He was a dupe figure-head like Brutus. He was used and got reminded again that Canada can’t stand him. Then the late tape submission, and the unfocused recording. Some might feel sorry for him. I don’t. He looks like the type of kid you couldn’t stand in school, and as his revenge he’d tell the teacher on you.

Justin Trudeau: I don’t know a lot about the guy, but Mike Duffy asked him how his father would feel about making deals with separatists. He tried to explain it away weakly that these were different circumstances. He looked, and sounded like a member of a boy’s band. (New Libs on the Bloc.) Go back to teaching drama.

The Liberal Party: They are dead in the West and most of Ontario. Quebec thinks they’re a joke.

UPDATE: My brother made a good point. Bob Rae is another Joe Clark. A failure and a disgrace who won't go away because he has nothing better to do.

A Day To Examine Drug Prohibition

Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the 21st Amendment which repealed the 18th Amendment regarding the prohibition of alcohol, the Wall Street Journal has an excellent Op-ed by Ethan A. Nadelmann examining the folly of the present day War on Drugs.

Some opponents of prohibition pointed to Al Capone and increasing crime, violence and corruption. Others were troubled by the labeling of tens of millions of Americans as criminals, overflowing prisons, and the consequent broadening of disrespect for the law. Americans were disquieted by dangerous expansions of federal police powers, encroachments on individual liberties, increasing government expenditure devoted to enforcing the prohibition laws, and the billions in forgone tax revenues. And still others were disturbed by the specter of so many citizens blinded, paralyzed and killed by poisonous moonshine and industrial alcohol.

...

Consider the consequences of drug prohibition today: 500,000 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for nonviolent drug-law violations; 1.8 million drug arrests last year; tens of billions of taxpayer dollars expended annually to fund a drug war that 76% of Americans say has failed; millions now marked for life as former drug felons; many thousands dying each year from drug overdoses that have more to do with prohibitionist policies than the drugs themselves, and tens of thousands more needlessly infected with AIDS and Hepatitis C because those same policies undermine and block responsible public-health policies.

It is completely crazy that this continues. Marijuana should be legalized right away. It's not an attractive habit, and I mostly can't stand thin-skinned pot-heads, but really, it's their choice. Talk about people who don't harm others. Let them go listen to their Grateful Dead albums in peace. (They can be tiresome bores, but it's my right not to associate with them.) The fact that people can get criminal records for this or jailed is criminal in itself.

I'm from Ottawa. From the time you have your driver's license, you can take a 15 minute drive over the Quebec border and buy beer there. Technically the drinking age was 18, but nobody seemed to care, they never asked for ID. I grew up in a beer culture. I found out later in my early 20's, when I'd visit down to the US, that Americans as a whole were big dope smokers. Pot was their choice for parties. The simple fact was that it was easier to get dope than alcohol. 48 out of 50 states have a 21 drinking age that is rigorously enforced. It's a hell of a lot easier to walk down the street to your local dealer. One time in New Orleans, we were at a college house party and my friend and I were panicking over our low beer count. We were trying to organize a beer run. The Americans at the party were saying "relax, look at the bag of weed we have on the table, it will more than last all night." We were stunned. A party is over is the beer runs out where I come from. It just goes to show that pot is as mainstream to them as beer is to your typical Canadian hosers.

Legalization of hard drugs is more difficult to debate. Heroin and Crystal Meth ruin people. And those people become a menace and nuisance to society as whole. This plays out in Vancouver every day. Our property crime is one of the worst in North America because junkies need to feed their habit but can't hold down a job. I've personally witnessed people shooting up in broad daylight, even in the financial district. The Crystal Meth people go into psychotic rages, which is dangerous for the public but also for police and medical staff.

It's difficult to just turn around and legalize it. It feels like you are condoning its use. But whether we like it or not, it's easily and readily available on the street. It's a better idea if we can get it out in the open. We can use the tax money for treatment, and put the dealers out of business.

I've met a few people in my time who did recreational coke, and still held down jobs and were productive citizens. One time I was out with some people having after work drinks. A guy brought his friend along who was visiting Vancouver. We were on this very topic and I said, 'why shouldn't coke be legalized'? The visiting friend got very upset. He told me he had almost ruined his life doing "speedballs" which was some kind of cocaine mixture. He blew his and his wife's savings, almost lost his job, marriage crumbling, health affected, etc. He said we can't legalize it, it's too dangerous. We have to keep people away from it. But the point is, it was illegal when he was doing this and he got his hands on it anyway. Prohibition did nothing, and in fact probably made it easier for him to get these drugs.

So we really need to re-think this whole thing. Canada has become much more liberal about it, but the US remains steadfast in its folly.

The Liberals Really Think We Are Stupid

This is unbelievable! I decided to check out Liberal Hedy Fry's website (who is my riding's MP). I'm amazed at how she can say 2+2=5. Look at these consecutive posts, one addressing her constituents and one a press release. You don't even get a page break!

At the bottom of the first one: (read in full here)

The proposed coalition government is between the New Democrats and the Liberals only. The Bloc will continue to sit as an opposition party; they have only agreed not to bring the coalition government down, on a confidence motion, for 1 1/2 years in order to allow for stability of governance in a national crisis. Yet, the Conservatives deceive Canadians by suggesting that the Bloc will be part of a coalition government.

At the top of the VERY NEXT press release, (scroll down slightly still in the same view)

OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, New Democrat Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe today announced that an agreement has been reached among the three opposition parties to support a cooperative government to address the impact of the global economic crisis on Canadians.

HEDY IT'S YOUR OWN PARTY'S PRESS RELEASE!!!! They really have to cut out this crap about the Bloc not being part of the coalition. They also need to say what they promised them as a bribe to join.

This is the same woman who said in 2001"Crosses were burning in Prince George as we speak." It never happened. Truth is not all that important to her.

Party Time for the Aussies

Towns brace for drunken violence on heels of handout.

TOWNS across the nation are bracing themselves for a potential wave of drunken violence when the federal Government delivers one-off payments for families next week as part of its economic stimulus package.

....

"We will have additional police working over the period of the payments," Mr Robinson said yesterday. "There's no point ignoring the fact that a percentage of people will spend the money on alcohol."

This comes as no surprise to anybody who has spent time with Australians. The tone of the article is negative, but I bet it will be a good time. No worries mates! Stimulate that economy.

While We Are Having This Break

Been sure not to be a meany-pants to separatists.

Like it or not, Bloc MPs are the legitimate representatives of a large number of Canadians living in Quebec. No one should doubt their raison d'être, but then again, the Bloc are not Basque separatists either. They do not blow up municipal mayors. They do not blow up mailboxes. They are democrats who have contributed to debates outside matters of Quebec's status and powers, on everything from climate change and Afghanistan to efforts to repatriate Omar Khadr. In other words, they have not played an entirely malevolent role, in spite of their chief objective.

This shows how clueless the Globe and Mail can be. They are separatists serving in the Canadian Parliament. They are not acting in good faith for the nation. They want to weaken Canada and separate. They don't care about the rest of the country, but just want what is in Quebec's best interests.They openly say this. You can't reward them for this. For the Quebecers who voted for them, they should have done so soberly and realized it would be an offensive action to the rest of the country. They can't expect cuddling.

Yawn: Prorogue

Parliament will be suspened until January 26. I wish the GG would have ruled that a confidence vote must proceed, and if you coalition folks are serious, we have to have an election if you vote it down. That's when people would start jumping ship.

We Wait

Jack the Mustache Looks For Inspiration From the Beard

The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong.

- Fidel Castro

Shakedown Artists

Mark Steyn is right, the so-called separatists in Quebec are phony:

Quebec separatism is mostly one almighty bluff, a giant racket by which the francophone minority screws out of English Canada a hugely disproportionate share of the spoils. The Bloc Quebecois are separatists who have no interest in separating: no matter how wide you open the stable door, the flea-bitten old nag refuses to bolt

...

In the last Quebec referendum, the then "separatist" leader, M Parizeau, ran on a platform by which Quebec would become a separate country but would continue to use the Canadian dollar, the Canadian armed forces and Canadian passports.

Go ahead Quebec, separate: Why Isn't Quebec an Independent Country

High Comedy!

Had some good family time waiting around for Dion to make his speech. It was 20 minutes late because "the tape hadn't arrived yet." (The networks were all waiting live.) It was hilarious watching the nervous CBC talking heads waiting and waiting, trying to make the best of it. Keith Boag was looking around thinking 'please, Stephane, get the tape here.'

While we were waiting, we flicked to CTV where a McGill University commentator Antonia Maoini was saying that Quebecers are upset at how rudely Harper is speaking about the separatists. You know, because this is a mainstream movement in Quebec. What a joke. But this is about comedy so...

Finally Dion comes on. The cheap camcorder video is out of focus. I strained my ears trying to figure out what he was saying. We just ended up laughing at the absurdity.

BTW: Harper was pretty mediocre.

UPDATE: We flicked to CBC for the Dion speech but apparantly CTV never got the tape. They played Harper twice. LOL!

Step #1: Get Rid of Caesar

I find it humorous that Cassius Ignatieff's spin doctor, Warren Kinsella, has nothing to say about the merits or faults of the Coup itself, but keeps beating the drum that Harper needs to resign. Here he is on his very popular blog:

Anyway. What we do know is, whatever she decides, Stephen Harper – as yesterday, when no less than the Globe's editorial board called on him to resign– seems unlikely to survive. If he were to indicate his intention to resign - if the Tories were to sign on to the coalition's main principles, and demonstrate some flexibility for the first time in their lives - it would go a long distance towards lowering the temperature.

Will they? Of course not. These guys are prepared to burn down the country to get their way. They've made that quite clear.

*Note: I use Caesar as an example of somebody who is in power but I'm not comparing Harper to him. Harper was elected. Caesar, like the clowns of this coalition, was a usurper.

UPDATE: To spell out the conspiracy theory I have: Ignatieff stands by and watches while Dion, a lame duck and pawn, tries and fails to pull off a Coup. Harper gets taken down with it, which is the point. All the while Iggy has clean hands because he is hiding out. Iggy then assumes leadership of the Liberals and runs against a rookie leader and a divided and chaste Conservative Party.... Am I crazy?

Rage Building in the West

I know that most Ontarioans don't notice or care about such a thing. (And Quebecers don't even realize where their cheques are coming from.) But there is a real anger building up over here about the Coup d'Etat. It's not only seen as a left wing power grab but a regional one.

Gary Mason of the Globe has a piece about it.

After the ballots were counted, the party had a single MP in Manitoba, a single MP in Saskatchewan and five in British Columbia, down from the 10 seats it won in 2006. The leadership of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion was resoundingly rejected.

It was visceral. Many westerners felt no connection with the erudite Liberal Leader and believed he was a pointy-headed personification of the lack of connection his party had with their views and values. Many Liberals concurred.

...

In all my years listening to the callers who make talk radio in Vancouver such a hit, I have never heard such anger. Of the dozens who phoned in yesterday morning to Bill Good's No. 1-rated talk show on CKNW, calls were running 95 per cent against the coalition. If there were Liberals and New Democratic supporters out there who thought the coalition was a good idea, they weren't dialling in.

I posted about this a few days ago: Western Canada Check-Mated by Quebec

UPDATE: The timing for this story is bad.

Vancouver's Olympic Games have the opportunity to be a model for showcasing Canada's bilingual heritage, but more must be done, the country's official languages watchdog says in a new report.

Resources allocated to translation must be beefed up, and increasing the numbers of bilingual volunteers and staff needs to be a priority for VANOC...

From the article's comments section: Dave AAA from Canada writes: More funding to foster bilingualism at the Olympics will be approved as long there is a benefit to Quebec. Gilles will soon have the power to ensure this.

Harper and Dion to Address the Nation Tonight at 7PM EST

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will address the country at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday to talk about the political crisis that could topple his Conservative minority government.

Harper will make a 10-minute pre-recorded statement in English and French to rally support to prevent a Liberal-NDP coalition from taking power.

The networks have agreed to a coalition response. The NDP has also asked for equal airtime but it is unknown if that request has been granted.

(story)

The NDP were not granted their request. I don't think Jack the Mustache understands that the NDP don't exist anymore and that Stephane Dion is his leader.

Harper needs to give the speech of his life. It would be nice if Andrew Coyne could write it.

Andrew Coyne: Voice of Sanity

It's a joy to read this post by Andrew Coyne. There are so many great parts, and here are a few:

Absolutely no one pins even a sliver of blame on the Liberals, the NDP or the Bloc. Of course not. Faced with the unreasonable and extreme proposal that they raise funds in the same way as the Conservatives have been doing for years — by asking people for their money, rather than taking it from them — they really had no alternative but to seize power. What on earth were they supposed to do? Revamp their moribund fund-raising organizations? Find a message and a leader capable of motivating large numbers of Canadians to click the “donate” button on their websites? Get off their collective duffs? What were the Tories thinking?

....

Again, the commentariat is as of one maddened mind. How could the government be so blind? Can it not see that unemployment has soared to 6.2%? Why, that’s four-tenths of a percentage point above its recent, thirty-year low. And what about Canadians’ fears of losing their home, what with the proportion of mortgages more than 90 days in arrears standing at an all-time record 0.2%?
Okay, it’s an all-time record low, but still. When will it realize there’s a Depression on? Or coming? Or quite possible, certainly, in other countries.

Ignatieff to Dion

Men at some time are masters of their fates;
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

- Cassius (Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 139-141)

Ignatieff: The Great Disappearing Act

Where is Iggy? If he wants to be the future PM, can he at least have a comment about the greatest crisis in Canadian Parliamentary history?

It could be a master stroke. The coup will fail. Dion will be gone. Harper might get fired by the Tories. Then Iggy moves in.

Dion is Brutus and Ignatieff is Cassius.

Hat Tip: Strach Attack who originally brought forward the Iggy conspiracy theory to me.

UPDATE: At Bourque Newswatch, he reports that the Coup is cracking with Iggy and backbenchers getting cold feet. Check out the site at the link. Great scoops in there.

Shameless Sound Bite of the Day

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said her party unanimously supports the coalition.

"[The Conservatives] have lost the confidence of the House. It's broken
and it can't be fixed."

"We really need on the urgent basis of our national economy and the urgent issue of the climate crisis to see a government that’s prepared to take action. It clearly isn’t the Conservatives and now the Canadian public, the majority of whom did not vote for Mr. Harper, have a coalition that meets that need."

Ummm... Ms. May: YOU LOST YOUR VOTE! YOU DID NOT GET ELECTED TO ANYTHING! Who is asking you? Why aren't you looking for a job in the private sector? The voters told you to go away! Your party does not have a single seat.

How Will the Coup Sell? A Big Night for Public Opinion

I have been watching coverage all day on CTV and CBC and I think this coup is going to fail. I'm anxious to see how the public react when they get home tonight and watch the news.

1. Tax payer subsidies for political parties is not exactly an issue that needs to have an emergency change of government, under unprecedented circumstances in our country's history.
2. Even the Quebec appeasers in Ontario surely can't think you reward separatists by bringing them into the government?
3. What did the Liberals and Dippers offer up to the Bloc to join? Mike Duffy on CTV said that it will be 6 Senate seats to separatists and transfer payment goodies.
4. Ignatieff, who is the real leader of the Liberals, is invisible and rumour has it that he will refuse a cabinet position in the coalition if it becomes government.
5. I don't think Canadians are happy that Elizabeth May, who lost the vote in her riding and heads a party that has no seats has been promised a senate seat, and possible cabinet appointment. Seriously, the will of the people said they don't want her.
6. I watched Dion in the press scrum today defend the Bloc as being a positive part of the government. Not a winning line to take. (And we already know Canadians find him an unattractive politician.)
7. Duceppe said today in the scrum that the coalition is good for the Quebec sovereignty movement.

On the other hand, what if the plotters pull this off? I don't know what I'll do. Will there be rioting? Western separatism?

UPDATE: Here is an online petition against the Coup. The backlash is in full swing.

UPDATEII: The CBC National was a disgrace, even for CBC. They kept saying the Bloc weren't part of the coalition. They are trying to say it is the Liberal-NDP coalition. Bullshit! The Libs and NDP don't have enough seats. Duceppe and the Bloc signed the agreement. How can they say that?.... They grimly reported that Harper and the Conservatives were going to put out attack ads. Before Harper has spoken to the Governor General they had a long segment of what would happen if she agreed to prorogue Parliament.

Trillions are the New Billions

Once again, Peter Schiff is the voice of sanity in this economy. The bailouts keep going on and on.

It was inevitable that the size of these bailouts would up the ante for an economic stimulus package aimed at consumers. Not missing a beat, Barack Obama announced a $700 billion dollar fast-tracked package that will likely exceed $1 trillion before passage. (Trillions are the new billions.) The plan must be sending shivers down the spines of our foreign creditors who are expected to foot the bill. Add this cost to the hundreds of billions of prior stimulus and bailout packages, and the cost to our creditors is quickly heading into the multi-trillion dollar range. It can’t be long before they cry uncle and repeat the words of prizefighter Roberto Doran “No Mas.”
....

It is no surprise therefore that both Democrats and Republicans offered healthy “huzzahs” to Henry Paulson’s latest bazooka: $200 billion to purchase securities backed by auto, student, and credit card loans. It is hoped that with this transference of risk to taxpayers, lending institutions won’t be so cautious, and the credit-fueled American economy can thrive anew. This is unalloyed insanity that can only lead to total ruin.

We need a full Congressional inquiry about this. We need the media on top of this. It seems like they are making irrepairably disastrous mistakes and everybody is asleep.

Memo to Harper: Give Them Rope to Hang Themselves

Let them go and form a government. Lame Duck Dion, the Separatist and Jacko the Mustachioed Socialist. What a terrible cast, time and situation for a coup.

What surprises me is that Iggy is letting it happen. He's rolling the dice on these clowns with his future on the line.

UPDATE: The backlash is already in full swing, even in the Liberal stronghold of Toronto

Prediction: This time next week, this will all be flamed out.

UPDATE II: Uproarious Question Period in the House of Commons today. Great viewing. Don't miss the highlights on the news. Harper performed at the top of his game.

UPDATE III: Dion was taking questions from the press in the lobby and saying it is good for national unity to have the Bloc in the government. Oh boy, that's not going to play well in the west.

UPDATE IV: As per reader Fydor's request, the direct quote from Dion, when asked about the Bloc being part of the coalition is: "I think it's good for unity." I still do not have the video for it.

When the Opposition Coup Coalition Talks About Saving the Economy

And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ,
And seem a saint when most I play the devil.

-Richard III. 1. 3

An Important Member of Our New Government

* Note, caption was translated from the original French.

Western Canada Check-Mated by Quebec

Western Canada overwhelmingly voted for the Conservatives in the election a few weeks ago, and they are going to be thrown out of power by a coalition including Quebec Separatists. Quebecois people have voted in a majority of their seats to the Bloc Quebecois in every election since 1993. Now they are part of the ruling government. What a horrible joke.

Can you imagine what massive pork spending is coming to Qweebec -yes, I called it Qweebec- as part of the deal to include the Bloc in the ruling coalition?

Hello Carbon Tax Alberta! Are you happy? Don't worry, your money will go to good use on worthy projects in Quebec.

As I have written before, Quebec needs to separate. This is ridiculous.

Why Isn't Quebec an Independent Country Part I
Why Isn't Quebec an Independant Country Part II

Peace, Order and Good Government

I was discussing with some people today about this whole Coup d'Etat by the opposition. I think it's going to be an absolute disaster and in the long term, maybe a good thing for the Tories.

1. People are going to start realizing this spat started with the opposition whining about their party funding subsidy. I can’t believe people are going to be too sympathetic during these tough times
2. Harper was saying in the House of Commons, (paraphrase) "you are going to give separatists a veto in your government?" ..... If Duceppe has balls he will push for everything he can get.
3. Right now the 3rd quarter stats for the economy are still decent. Wait until this thing really starts stinking. Do you think Dion is going to inspire confidence?
4. Do you think Dion is going to willingly step down after being PM, in May?

It’s going to get very ugly. People might start looking to the Tories for sanity. It’s a big play the opposition are trying to pull off. I think it’s a disaster in a country that uses as their national motto: "Peace, order and good government."

Reckless Idiots

The leader that Canadians overwhelmingly rejected at the polls a few weeks ago is going to be our new Prime Minster

Despite Canada having the most stable economy in the G7 the new socialist coalition have a huge $30 billion bailout package for the auto and forest industries.

The TSX is already down 744 points. That shows the confidence these clowns are inspiring on Bay Street.

Gilles Duceppe as Foreign Minister?

I'm watching question period in the House of Commons live. Dion accused Harper of playing politics. Harper replied, that Dion is about to make the biggest political play in Canadian history.

UPDATE: A great article from Jack Mintz of the G & M on why the restraint in Harper's spending proposals is a good thing:

We are also witnessing a massive monetary and fiscal stimulus package taking shape throughout the world, which will do a lot more to solve the global financial crisis than anything that Canada can do by itself. Waiting to see how all this pans out in the next two months makes a lot of sense. Besides, as Bob Rae found out when he was the premier of Ontario, it is not easy for governments to spend themselves out of a recession. Instead, they could create a massive deficit, which would become an albatross for the future.

Giants v. Native Americans

The Giants travel to Washington to play the Redskins. Plaxico is out (he accidently shot himself, you see.) Brandon Jacobs is questionable with a bum knee. I still think the Giants will win handily.

UPDATE: The invaluable profootballtalk.com reports that Plaxico will be facing felony gun charges. In New York City, if convicted of illegally carrying a fire-arm will get you a mandatory 3.5 year jail term. You have to think that this will end his career. Less than a year ago he caught the game winning TD pass in the Super Bowl.

UPDATE: 23-7 for the Giants. They keep rolling.

Who Says You Can't Live Well In These Lean Times?

A kindly neighbour took this photo of the wife and I after our new home reno. Even if the budget is tight these days, we found a little bit of room for improvement. Happiness begins at home.

Future Queen's and Carleton Graduates?

"Parsons was Winston's fellow employee at the Ministry of Truth. He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the thought police, the stability of the Party depended."

- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 2

Queen's Speech Police Update

Here's a transcript from Ezra Levant's website, as he discusses the Queen's issue with CTV's Mike Duffy. Duffy makes a great point here:

I've had a number of Conservative MPs say to me, Duff, this will be used by people at Queens of a left wing persuasion to go after Conservatives. They'll try to bait the Conservatives into conversation and then have the speech police have them up on charge for daring to defend their political point of view which is at odds with the lefties.

I will post the video of this interview if it is available.

Earlier posts on this: Official Language Police at Queen's and Hello Queen's University

Accidents Happen, Right?

Giant's star receiver Plaxico Burress accidently shot himself in the leg:

The New York Giants wide receiver accidentally shot himself in the leg on Friday night, FOXSports.com has learned, not long after being ruled out of Sunday's game against the Redskins with a hamstring injury.

He spent the night in the hospital and the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The team is still trying to gather further information on the incident.

Oh boy. The Giants never would have won it all without him last year, but this guy is really bad news.

UPDATE: ESPN reports that it happened at a nightclub.

I Hate These Plates

I don't feel comfortable crossing the border with these babies.

Inflation

These four items cost me $15.16. I asked the cashier if she made a mistake. She showed me the receipt, and nothing was accidently added. Vancouver is expensive, and so is my downtown grocery store, but really. (That's No-Name flaked tuna by the way. And the small sized Parmesan.)

Intrigue In Ottawa

The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois have supposedly agreed to shoot-down a confidence vote on Monday.

Canada's opposition parties said Thursday they will vote against the Conservative government's fiscal update, sparking speculation the country could face another election in the midst of a global economic crisis.

I'm not going to get too excited about this because I simply don't believe it. The Liberals are leaderless and party funds are exhuasted. Canadians will be angry if they have to go to the polls again. It's all just bluster.

I welcome the Dippers and Liberals forming a coalition. Combined, they have 114 seats to the Tories 143. That means they'll have to join up with the Bloc, and no self respecting Liberal or NDP MP would want to be in government with separatists.

He might be sweating a little, but I think Harper is mostly sitting back and enjoying this.

UPDATE: Strack Attack wrote in the comments:

I'm starting to doubt my original thinking on this matter and maybe just maaaybe, the opposition is serious and will bring down the gov't. They have tabled a non-confidence motion and plan to put it in motion on Monday. Still this could merely be optics of playing tough this time around. The Tories can also avert this or postpone it with procedural tactics. Still, there seems to be some sort of agreement among the Dippers, Libs and Bloc and it appears Dion will lead it which in theory makes it all that much more plausible. Contrary to my own thinking the Libs must feel there is some sort of long term gain in doing this. I can't see them doing this for the good of the country. Who wants a flimsy coalition government lead by a guy who very few Canadians have confidence in to run our country through some of the craziest times we've had in decades? Did we not send a message saying just this a little more than a month ago??

UPDATE II: The Globe lists the opposition's gripes. This one has me hoping Harper hangs tough.

But it is the lack of movement on the economic front that both New Democrats and Liberals cited as the real impetus behind the decision to hold coalition talks. And neither party, they said, would be willing to back down unless the Conservatives do something dramatic in terms of economic stimulus — specifically help for the auto sector — over the next few days.

UPDATE III: Harper delaying the vote until December 8

"Horror Has a Face"*

It makes me ill to read this. Wal-Mart worker killed in bargain-hunting stampede

The 34-year-old Wal-Mart worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., an hour after the store opened, when a throng of shoppers “physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground,” a police statement said.

It reminds me of the tribesmen in Apocalypse Now. I hope that Play Station was worth it. (spit!)

* Kurtz from Apocalypse Now.

UPDATE: The internet moves fast. Check out this guy's site with freshly designed jokes. Make sure to scroll down to "Wal-Mart Bingo".

Appalling Irony

Don't worry, sleep tight. It's all taken care of.

Remember this AIG commercial from a year ago?

Seriously, this is evil. This is Hansel and Gretel going into the gingerbread house.

Iraqi Sovereignty?

The Iraqi parliament has passed an agreement that declares a full US withdrawal of its military by 2011 and makes an unabiguous statement about Iraqi sovereignty. This agreement sounds like a big deal, but you have to search to find it. This from the International Herald-Tribune.

"This is the day of our sovereignty," said Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

"Together we will go forward toward a free, prosperous and glorious Iraq, where Iraqis can live with pride and dignity and can be proud that they are sons of this beloved country," he said.

....

The timetable set out in the document requires U.S. troops to withdraw from cities and towns by June 30, 2009, and for all troops to leave by the end of 2011 unless the Iraqis and Americans negotiate a separate pact to govern an extension of the American military presence.

I hope this goes smoothly. A messy emergency evacuation by the Americans and then a retaliatory sectarian slaughter afterwards a-la Vietnam is a scary scenario.

UPDATE: From the reaction of the few people I've talked to about this, I should file it in the "Who Gives a Damn" section. Amazing how bored people are with it.

The Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin

To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girl friends. Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards. Fish and visitors stink after three days.

Benjamin Franklin (January 1706 – April 1790)
- author, printer, theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, activist, statesman, diplomat and satirist.
- a Founding Father of the United States of America.

Hat tip: HP

Former Ottawan Harbours Pirates

In despair after the Rough Riders folded, Mohamud Muse Hersi went back to Somalia. (article)

Hersi emigrated to Canada in the 1980s, bought a gas station and raised a family, but his clan connections to Somalia remained strong. When the elders of Puntland were looking for a new president in 2005, they chose Hersi.

There are about a dozen hijacked ships anchored off the Puntland coast at the moment, waiting as the pirates and shipowners haggle over ransom money.

Hersi's critics accuse him and his ministers of taking bribes from the pirates to look the other way.

UPDATE: The Ottawa Citzen has more details. They mention that he owned a Richmond Road gas station. I wish they would say which one. When I was in high school, I worked pumping gas on Richmond Road.

Touching Thanksgiving Message From the Governor of California

I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.

-Arnold Schwarzenegger

Disgrace at Carleton - update from yesterday

UPDATE: to my previous post Disgrace at Carleton - My Alumnus

Looks like they are going to repeal the decision , no doubt after a huge backlash. (Hat Tip: Strack Attacks)

"I think everyone at the council really did have the best intentions with it," Smyth said. "Nobody meant any ill will to anyone who has been affected or touched by cystic fibrosis at all. And we really do apologize for all of this confusion. It's not what we meant for Carleton students at all."

I love the half-assed apology about the "confusion." They were on record saying it affected "white men" and wasn't "inclusive". There was no confusion. It was interpreted loud and clear.

Also see story at CBC News "Carleton student council to rethink Shinerama cancellation"

Thursday UPDATE: Margaret Wente (who has been on fire lately) looks into the issue and finds unrepentance:

The author of this offensive motion, which passed by a whopping 17-2, is fourth-year science (!) student Donnie Northrup. "I want to make it clear that he DOES NOT represent the will of the students," wrote Leah Hargreaves, one of the Facebook protesters. But Mr. Northrup is standing firm. He told Ms.Hargreaves in an e-mail that continuing to support CF would reflect "the same mentality that kept slavery legal, and prevented the women's vote."

This is the type of robot that the educational system has produced. That kind of talk gets rewarded.

Fear and Hysteria at the Guardian

One hears a lot from the leftists that people on the right exploit fear. For example, Noam Chomsky says:

The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.

Michael Moore often plays this card as well. It's as if terrorists are mostly just bogeymen made up by the right.

But where else can you find anything more hysterical than the fear mongering about Global Warming doomsday scenarios? I was taking a look at The Guardian today, and they take fear to a new level in this article:

If it is too late to prevent runaway climate change, the Bush team must carry much of the blame. His wilful trashing of the Middle Climate - the interlude of benign temperatures which allowed human civilisation to flourish - makes the mass murder he engineered in Iraq only the second of his crimes against humanity

....

Is it too late? To say so is to make it true. To suggest there is nothing that can be done is to ensure that nothing is done. But even a resolute optimist like me finds hope ever harder to summon.

....

The trajectory both Barack Obama and Gordon Brown have proposed - an 80% cut by 2050 - means reducing emissions by an average of 2% a year. This programme, the figures in the Tyndall paper suggest, is likely to commit the world to at least four or five degrees of warming, which means the likely collapse of human civilisation across much of the planet. Is this acceptable?

My brother made a good point that Environmentalism is the new religion. Built in is the clause that if you don't believe, the WORLD WILL END! So start believing now!

Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai - Glued to Cable News

You've heard by now of the gun, and bomb attacks in Mumbai. Some 90 dead and over 250 injured. Luxury hotels were targeted. There, the terrorists are going after westerners, and particularly American and British passport holders. It looks like a hostage situation, according to the London Times:

At least 80 people were killed tonight and 20 Westerners taken hostage as suspected Islamic terrorists mounted a series of coordinated attacks on India’s financial capital.

I'm watching Fox news and they have very little information. They haven't confirmed if they have American hostages. The White House is having an emergency meeting... Now they are saying there are at least 90 dead... A great deal of carnage... The Indian army may have been called, there are rumors that they stormed a hotel and there is a gun battle going on.

It's obviously not just a local conspiracy against Hindus, but global in scope by targeting westerners.

In related news, Federal agents warn of a terror attack on the New York subway system.

The New York Post has more detail from India:

"They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said: 'Where are you from?" and he said he's from Italy and they said 'fine' and they left him alone. And I thought: 'Fine, they're going to shoot me if they ask me anything - and thank God they didn't," he said.

Sign of the Decline of Western Civilization

Dating service for people who want to cheat on their spouses. (See here)

The Big Picture on Bailouts

These numbers from Barry Ritholtz put things into perspective:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

Related: Citigroup Bailout? Is Anybody Tallying These Bailouts?

Book Review: Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan

I was 10 years old when President Reagan took office and 18 when he left. At that age I was influenced by pop culture not newspapers. Hence, Reagan was presented as a senile, war monger, harebrained ex-actor. Frankie Goes to Hollywood videos, 99 Luftballons, Land Of Confusion, the TV movie The Day After. Mushroom cloud imagery invaded my thoughts regularly. The term “Reaganomics” to me meant poor people cut off from lifesaving welfare funds. It was nonsense of course. The entertainment industry is overwhelmingly left wing. Their propaganda worked though, I was shocked when he was re-elected in a landslide in 1984. I thought everybody hated him. Since then I have read a few books. David Stockwell’s The Triumph of Politics. It detailed Stockman’s time as head of the budget office, and how necessary spending cuts were virtually impossible when you’re trying to get elected. Also, The Power Game: How Washington Works by Hedrik Smith. This was an inside view of the process of what it takes to pass legislation during the Reagan years. Lobbyists, military bureaucracy, congress, the executive branch. It’s a miracle anything got done; what did was not done well.

Amazon.com

So, even though I lean to the right, I’ve never had a great opinion of Reagan.

Recently I was visiting family in Ottawa and my father-in-law lent me Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan. (Read the blurb, there’s no point of recycling it.) I knew that there something controversial about this book. It was love-it or hate-it among critics. I found out why very quickly. For his early years, author Edmund Morris creates a fictional, Illinois born narrator who witnesses Reagan first hand after meeting him at Eureka College. It’s a stretch, and very annoying at first. I was close to putting it down. But Morris is a gifted writer, and Reagan’s life from small town nothingness, to sportscaster, to Hollywood leading man and then on to General Electric spokesman and of course to politician, is too difficult to resist and I was compelled to keep going through the whole thing. (874 pages, including extensive notes and an index.)

Hollywood was as shallow back then as it is now. Reagan had one chance, one tryout, when he was down in Los Angeles covering spring training for his broadcasting gig. He got up, read from a sheet of paper for two minutes and that was enough. He was a good looking guy, with big shoulders and a great voice. He was signed by Warner Brothers for a long term contract a few days later. No Juilliard, no Actor’s Studio. (I’ve spent some time with a few actors in my day and that’s my way of saying “stuff your pretention”.)

Reagan’s first wife was street-wise actress/bombshell Jane Wyman. He was truly shocked when she left him and asked for a divorce. She became bored with him, especially his long political monologues at Hollywood parties. Jane was heard saying to a friend: “I'm so bored with him, I'll either kill him or kill myself."

This was telling of Reagan; the author made it clear that he was impersonal, and impervious to even the closest people in his life.

*Note on his Hollywood career. Bedtime for Bonzo is not a joke movie. Reagan plays a university professor who uses Bonzo the monkey for behavioral experiments to argue nature vs. nurture.

Reagan’s shift to the right was the result of two things. First simply, when he was a top grossing actor he had to pay the crippling 91% income tax that the top bracket had to pay from the WWII until the Kennedy administration. Secondly, was his disgust at radical labor movements. When the Screen Actors Guild, which he was president of, did not support a stagehand strike at the studios, he was threatened by union thugs who said they were going to throw acid in his face and ruin his movie star looks.

He spent his middle age as a company spokesman for General Electric, where he was able to go on the road throughout America to GE Plants and make speeches. His message of fiscal conservatism, tax cuts, and not being held hostage by labor unions, was received with tremendous approval from the middle class employees. As a politician he used this experience with great aplomb. He knew how to reach out to the people.

His political career is more well known to me but still made for great reading. He was a two term governor of California. In 1976, the incumbent Gerald Ford was chosen as the Republican nominee for president in 1976 even though Reagan had more popular support. He had to wait until 1980.

His two terms were groundbreaking for his tax cuts and de-regulation. With the booming economy he was re-elected by a record landslide in 1984.

It took Edmund Morris 14 years to compile research and write this book. Reagan himself had chosen him to be his “official” biographer. That does not mean it is a biased fluff piece; far from it. If Reagan had have been of sound mind to read it when it was published in 1999, I believe he might have been outraged through most of it. For me, it was a captivating read.