Racing to the Bottom

The level of political discourse has been sinking in the last decade or so to the level of schoolyard taunts and bullying, not only in our own House of Commons, but almost anywhere you care to look. From the American administration or Houses of Congress to your local municipality, civil discourse, much less thoughtful discussion of the issues, is a rarity.

My take on this is the stakes are now so high due to the ever expanding reach and influence of government power. To take one example, the Paul Martin government gave a $4 billion dollar ministry to Belinda Stronich for crossing the aisle, and another 4.5 billion in the budget to the NDP party (abruptly canceling long planned business tax cuts). In return, they stayed in power a bit longer, controlling hundreds of billions of dollars worth of spending, vast areas of the economy and maintaining their personal perques as well. Not a bad return for an 8.5 billion dollar "investment".

I don't see any party or person as being immune to this level of temptation. Conservatism (Classical Liberalism) attempts to solve this through strict boundaries and limitations of government power, and alternative measures such as term limits could also be used to reduce the problem, but clever people always find ways to overcome these limitations. The solution on the Left goes all the way back to Plato's Philosopher Kings, with the idea some sort of elite will be able to efficiently control all resources and power due to some sort of innate superiority of thought, ethics or will.

Given human nature, this problem will always be with us. Readers of this blog can take matters into their own hands by becoming politically active and doing all they can to limit the powers and activites of governments at all levels. Speaking up, writing letters, starting petitions, supporting candidates (or opposing them) or even stepping up to the plate yourself to run for political office are all options, and far more effective than sitting around and complaining at home.

An Inconsistent Truth

"Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news. "

Ignore the chart or you too shall find yourself at the mercy of at least one failed politician and an inconsequential fruit-fly scientist

Burn the Heretic! Burn Him!!!!

Capitalism Contravened...

They made it.
They researched it.
They paid for it.
They designed it.
They marketed it.
They distribute it.

But apparently others deserve to be allowed to profit from it.

An Inconsistent Truth

"And remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last
fall had melted to its "lowest levels on record? Never mind that those records
only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological
evidence of much greater melts in the past.

The ice is back.

Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in
Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only
recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time
last year."

The Polar Bear cull will begin in the spring.

Un-Fairtrade

"But Café Britt is not welcome on the Fairtrade scheme. Most of Café Britt's farmers are self-employed small businesspeople who own the land they farm. This is wholly unacceptable to the rigid ideologues at FLO International, Fairtrade's international certifiers, who will only accredit the farmers if they give up their small business status and join together into a co-operative. "It's like outlawing private enterprise," says Dan Cox, former head of the Speciality Coffee Association of America. ..."

Come again?

That's not fair trade that's collectivism/communism dressed up as social responsibility... never mind. Some things really don't change.

Thanks to Samizdata, read the whole article at the Telegraph

How Come Some Smart People are so Dumb?

Now I'm not an Economist, nor am I a fruit fly scientist but if the Government charges corporations billions of dollars in Carbon Taxes aren't the corporations just going to turn around and make consumers pay for it?

Yes, yes they are.

Perhaps if someone took the time to explain the economy to Dr. Suzuki in terms he might understand, like, oh, I don't know, perhaps in terms of an ecosystem with complex interrelationships between all the individual parts, then maybe, just maybe, he'd shut his cake-hole for long enough to understand that you can not severely damage one part of the system without suffering the consequences elsewhere.

.

Give 'em Hell Ezra

To quote...

"You're in trouble now lucy"

Lies, Damn Lies and Artists

So, my daughter wants to be an artist , no, not that kind of artist, a graphic artist. You know the kind that is actually interested in making money.

Months ago she sent out applications to 4 Universities/colleges that have degree programs in Graphic Arts. Each of these schools required a portfolio which my Daughter dutifully and painstakingly produced from her sketchbooks and paintings. She also had to include “artist’s statements” on her work and write an essay as to why she wanted to become a commercial graphic artist.

Having written the essay she brought it to me to proofread. I had only gotten about one paragraph into the essay when I stopped. It was full of statements about her “making a difference through her art” and extolling the virtue of art to change society.

“Do you really believe all this?” I asked.

“No, but that’s what the schools want.” She said.

“So telling them that you want to make lots of money so that you can be a functioning and productive member of society is out of the question?”

“Yes.”

So I read the rest of the essay, and corrected only for grammar and not content. The socialist mantra my daughter had espoused was a means to an end, I was happy about that at least.

But the incident bothered me, and still does.

Why is it necessary for us to hide the healthy, rational and logical reasons for our desire to work?

Why is it necessary for my daughter to lie and refer to the social ramifications of art and artists when all she wants to do is earn a decent living off of something that she enjoys and is good at?

But this tendancy is not new, when I joined the Army and was asked why, I would often say that I did it to serve my country, but slowly I began to realize that my reason, the real reason I joined the Army was to make a living. I was a mercenary, pure and simple.

I would not have spent 22 years soldiering if I had not been well paid for my service. Yes I served my country but making a living was THE reason behind it, not the other way round.

Sadly though altruism trumps honesty, integrity and rationality in the socialist age.

Until we as individuals learn to reject the altruistic lie and tell the whole truth about why we do something as fundamental to our way of life as work, we will continue to win the battle but loose the war with socialist thought.

Shirlene You Jest...

"But what is more marvelous still is the bovine indifference of the hearing officer."
c/o Lee Duigon @ MitchNews.com

And with reporting like that it is little wonder that Ezra Levant's verbal bolt gun has claimed its first victim...

Coming at it from Another Angle

As I was reading this, and planning to share it here, the thought occurred to me that some might find this opinion at odds with the proceeding post and the scorched earth ideal in general, but that is not necessarily so. Just as there is more than one strategy at play in our current shooting war in Afghanistan, then we too must use more than one strategy to win the cultural one at home.

J.S. Mill argued vocally that in order to understand any freedom or belief, we must allow those who do not to voice even the most odorous of thoughts in order, not only that we would have a better understanding of our beliefs through confrontation and argument but that the stupidity, ignorance and even evil of the other persons belief or position could be made apparent to them.

To that end, I finally bring you to the quote I wanted to show...
thanks to The Gods of the Copybook Headings

"To win the war against Islamism we need only be ourselves and proclaim it loudly. At every turn denounce the violation of liberties and basic humanity. Every author censored, every women beaten, every daughter denied an education, in Karachi, in Tehran and in Mississauga. Speak loudly, speak boldly, have no fear of causing offense. The truth will set us and them free."

Leave Nothing For The Enemy

The post may be UK centric but the sentiment is universal. The question is how long until the tipping point is reached and like brave Denmark we all just say no?

"If the price of getting the extra two million votes needed to win an election is to lose a few thousand “scorched earthers” on the right..."

Little Thinkers....

Because it's never too early to start reeducating your children.

Marx
Che
Wow, I can't wait for the next members of the little murderers series, perhaps a plush Hitler or bean-bag Stalin

Little Thinkers

Yay Socialism!

Most Zimbabweans now earn more than $100,000.00 a week! To compete with these growing salaries the government has introduced the $200,000.00 bill.

Of course inflation for the month of December was 66,212% and your new .2 million dollar note might buy you a kilogram of sugar.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7244769.stm

Hahahahaha... hahahahahaha... hahahahahahahah...

That wacky Buz and his off-beat lefty humour.

"The head of the auto workers union says he told Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a private meeting yesterday that he will actively campaign against the Conservative government if it doesn't do something to rescue Canada's endangered auto sector."

Like he was ever going to do anything else.

I say again.

Hahahahaha... hahahahahaha... hahahahahahahah...

Not Thick... Soundproof.

Alan Shanhoff's article is based on the premise that publishers should view defending free speech as a "cost of doing business". He also states with regard to Ezra Levant's case;

"Let's not feel sorry for Levant. As publisher of the now defunct Western Standard he knew that he could be subject to some form of legal action for publishing the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed."

And you know what, I could go along with this premise if not for that one, little, almost inconsequential, phrase. "Legal action". But you see, I was raised in a nation where the requirements for legal action are laid out and known to all.

I'm no Lawyer but I know that during the process of a "legal action" in my country if I'm accused of a crime I am served notice by an officer of the court, not a bureaucratic functionary. I also am made aware of the charges against me, there is due process, burden of proof, the hearing is public and anyone can watch the proceedings to satisfy their curiosity or to ensure themselves that the whole thing is above board. I face my accuser in court and unless the state is the one charging me with a breach of the law then my accuser has to hire his own lawyer to argue his case.

I guess Alan Shanhoff forgot all this. In his rush to preserve the powers of the human rights tribunals to prosecute that 1% of racists, xenophobes and hatemongers in Canada he forgot to prevent the use of these powers to persecute the remaining 99% of us.

Ooh, I almost forgot.

Could someone please point me in the direction of the edict that states that we here in Canada CAN NOT PUBLISH PICTURES OF ANYONE WE DAMN WELL PLEASE?!?!?!?



As an aside, the tendency to err on the side of totalitarianism seems to me to be a leftist trait. It is a manifestation of the collective belief that the individual is evil. It's a pessimism of the Socialist condition that reeks of the phrase "they can not be trusted". But beliefs which hold the individual as a free thinker and a rational being, such as old fashioned conservatism and objectivisim are optimistic, believing instead that man will choose good over evil 99% of the time without being compelled to do so, and for his own good.

The Unarmed Man

In a battle of wits

To quote Bugs Bunny "What a maroon."

More Free Speech in Canuckistan

Last time I checked Public Service Employees did not swear an oath to the government. So what's up with this?

Have we already gone so far down the collectivist road that the government feels it can now prevent people from expressing negative opinions about it?

I've little hope for Kieth Martin's motion, (M446) now. It's not a Human Rights Commission problem, it's a Canadian problem.

But then, when a Canadian institution like the Liberal Party of Canada calls on a parliamentarian who is fighting for freedom of speech to withdraw such a motion we've already lost quite a bit haven't we.

Can't Never Could Do Anything

NDP Leader Jack Layton says the Taliban cannot be defeated by international troops and there's no point continuing to fight an unwinnable war in Afghanistan.

"It's an endless mission. There's no end in sight. We say it's a dead end,''

I'm confused, is Taliban Jack Bin Layton talking about The Golan Heights? We've been there since 1967. That's a long time. Cyprus perhaps? 30 years and counting. Or is he referring to Bosnia, because we were there for over 15 years.

"Layton's emphatic statement about the futility of the mission comes amid a new push to present his party as the sole anti-war option."

Nope Jack the coward is talking about Afghanistan, because all morality, principals and integrity aside the real reason behind taking a strong stance on anything in politics is to distinguish your party from the rest. Right, wrong, honest conviction and human rights be damned eh Jack?

What a POS.