Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Command Ecology...
Back in the evil old days of the USSR we in the west would deride the command economy. The commissars would dictate the production of everything resulting in gluts of one product and shortages of others. We laughed, the economic system is too complicated to try to control in such a way.
Well now we have the Command Ecology... the same premise applied to our environment, a system a billion times more complex than a market economy. So what does the CCCP (Church of Climate Change Predictions) have to say about this?
If there is anything that frightens me it is the idea that these people want to start screwing with our planet to offset the "effects" of human habitation on our environment when they obviously have no idea how it works.
Well now we have the Command Ecology... the same premise applied to our environment, a system a billion times more complex than a market economy. So what does the CCCP (Church of Climate Change Predictions) have to say about this?
If there is anything that frightens me it is the idea that these people want to start screwing with our planet to offset the "effects" of human habitation on our environment when they obviously have no idea how it works.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Land of No Smiles
This is communism, this is where the socialists want to take us. Its the final destination of the nanny state, the collectivist's wet dream...
This is the future "progressive politics".
Don't forget it.
This is the future "progressive politics".
Don't forget it.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Not The News
Read this article.
What is wrong with it? Which story is the story? I get the feeling that the real story, the one about the guy's livelihood and life being destroyed is ignored. Why? Because journalism isn't about reporting stories any more it's about scoring political points.
You can almost hear it...
Someone out there in newspaper land calls that journalism? WTF are these people smoking? What a useless piece of garbage and fluff. Glen McGregor has just enshrined himself in the hack hall of fame.
Way back when when journalism was something less than the mouthpiece of its owner's political ideology, the writer would have interviewed the individual involved. He would have approached the MP on the point of the injustice, not with a loaded question about his views on the agency. The reader would have been given a story worth reading, with a beginning a middle and at least the the promise of an end.
What does this "article" provide? Very little.
The reporter got hold of an email which a reasonable person would assume was confidential correspondence between an MP and a constituent and instead of asking about the nature of the incident the only question the hack can think of is to ask if the MP still thinks that Revenue Canada are bastards?
How did the reporter come across the email?
I so wish I could have been that MP. I would have loved to answer that question in the affirmative. I would so love to use that opportunity to expose a bureaucracy gone mad that treats a law abiding citizen like a criminal because IT lost his paperwork.
But that isn't the world we live in. Because the question wasn't intended to expose the righteous anger of a concerned politician it was designed to ruin, or at least to damage. And the politician who would answer as I suggested would have suddenly found himself in the spotlight of the media's newest three ring circus of nonsense and been dogged into an apology within a week.
Of course opposition politicians would have only been too happy to oblige. There would be accusations during Question Period "Does the honourable member really think the employees of Revenue Canada deserve the title "Bastatrds"...
But the questions should have been about the actual injustice, not the MP's reaction to it. But alas, you can see from the bite marks in the subject that this news dog was not interested in such a travesty, he was only interested in the kind of drive by smear that his profession now takes as its highest form.
It's far more important that an MP used harsh tones, than why he used harsh tones. It's far more newsworthy that an MP was upset by the actions of a government department than the reason he was so angered. And it was FAR, FAR more important that the hack reporter score a political point than expose the sloppiness, inefficiency and callous disregard of a government department for the individual citizen.
Pfft, the guy only lost his house, his business and "other assets"... What kind of story is that?
What is wrong with it? Which story is the story? I get the feeling that the real story, the one about the guy's livelihood and life being destroyed is ignored. Why? Because journalism isn't about reporting stories any more it's about scoring political points.
You can almost hear it...
Someone out there in newspaper land calls that journalism? WTF are these people smoking? What a useless piece of garbage and fluff. Glen McGregor has just enshrined himself in the hack hall of fame.
Way back when when journalism was something less than the mouthpiece of its owner's political ideology, the writer would have interviewed the individual involved. He would have approached the MP on the point of the injustice, not with a loaded question about his views on the agency. The reader would have been given a story worth reading, with a beginning a middle and at least the the promise of an end.
What does this "article" provide? Very little.
The reporter got hold of an email which a reasonable person would assume was confidential correspondence between an MP and a constituent and instead of asking about the nature of the incident the only question the hack can think of is to ask if the MP still thinks that Revenue Canada are bastards?
How did the reporter come across the email?
I so wish I could have been that MP. I would have loved to answer that question in the affirmative. I would so love to use that opportunity to expose a bureaucracy gone mad that treats a law abiding citizen like a criminal because IT lost his paperwork.
But that isn't the world we live in. Because the question wasn't intended to expose the righteous anger of a concerned politician it was designed to ruin, or at least to damage. And the politician who would answer as I suggested would have suddenly found himself in the spotlight of the media's newest three ring circus of nonsense and been dogged into an apology within a week.
Of course opposition politicians would have only been too happy to oblige. There would be accusations during Question Period "Does the honourable member really think the employees of Revenue Canada deserve the title "Bastatrds"...
But the questions should have been about the actual injustice, not the MP's reaction to it. But alas, you can see from the bite marks in the subject that this news dog was not interested in such a travesty, he was only interested in the kind of drive by smear that his profession now takes as its highest form.
It's far more important that an MP used harsh tones, than why he used harsh tones. It's far more newsworthy that an MP was upset by the actions of a government department than the reason he was so angered. And it was FAR, FAR more important that the hack reporter score a political point than expose the sloppiness, inefficiency and callous disregard of a government department for the individual citizen.
Pfft, the guy only lost his house, his business and "other assets"... What kind of story is that?
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Robbing Harper - Steals From You to Give To Them
So now my money is going to be given out to Kids in the Caribbean so that they can go to university in Canada paid for by my taxes?
WTF?
I might sound insensitive here but perhaps these countries should be putting their own students through fricking university and my money should be left in my pocket so I can put MY two kids through university.
I find myself looking forward to the next election, and wondering if these guys have a candidate in my riding...
WTF?
I might sound insensitive here but perhaps these countries should be putting their own students through fricking university and my money should be left in my pocket so I can put MY two kids through university.
I find myself looking forward to the next election, and wondering if these guys have a candidate in my riding...
Thursday, April 16, 2009
London Ontario stands up
Ezra Levant, Kathie Shaidle and Salim Mansur spoke before a full house of about 600 people on the topic of HRC's in London, Ontario April 13.
Rory Leishman, another newspaper columnist, said this was the largest political gathering outside of an election ever held in London: way to go Londoners!
For more see:
http://ezralevant.com/2009/04/more-photos-from-london.html
http://ezralevant.com/2009/04/london-rally-against-hrcs-draw.html
http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/1981/128/
http://mooseandsquirrel.ca/2009/04/14/the-hrc-denormalization-squad-in-london-ontario-part-2/
http://torydrroy.blogspot.com/2009/04/smashing-success.html
http://www.lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Columnists/Leishman_Rory/2009/04/04/9001571-sun.html
http://torydrroy.blogspot.com/2009/04/salim-mansurs-speech-in-london-ontario.html
Oddly enough, the local newspaper, the London Free Press, failed to send a reporter (although invited to do so by both institutes that sponsored the event) and maintained a studied silence afterward. Yet the editor of the Free Press chose to publish a smear aimed at Kathie Shaidle several weeks prior to the event, and had this to say on his personal blog:
Some say we shouldn't be giving people like Kathy Shaidle any publicity. Others say the story was a smear job.
We quoted Warren Kinsella, author of Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network, as saying,"Any group that associates with or defends her is diminished by her."
I wasn't here last week, but the suggestion for the story came from a reader, who rightly (I think) decided this was something Londoners should know about -- i.e., that this kind of person was invited to speak within our midst.
She (and others) will be speaking about the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Canada's anti-hate laws, and freedom of expression.
It's a favourite topic in the blogosphere (as you know), and a useful debate for the community.
The question today is whether the story was part of a "smear campaign," as some have suggested, or whether we should have done it at all, as others have charged.
As we've managed to annoy both groups, I can only assume (again) that we're doing our jobs well, that it was not a smear job, and that it was warranted. (And the fact Mark Steyn has apparently decided to blog about Randy Richmond can only be good for lfpress.com. I'd link to it but I'm sure most of you are well aware of where to find him.)
For our part, it would be unthinkable for us not to do the story just because we might find Shaidle's views unpleasant (to say the least). The more people who know about events like this, whether to support it or take steps to fight it, the better. If you don't believe that, you don't believe in democracy.
To do anything but tell readers what is going on in this region, good or bad, is not responsible from a journalistic standpoint, from a business standpoint, never mind our duty to society.
So what does silence mean?
You might want to inquire, so send Paul a line here:
http://www.lfpress.com/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=blogs&s=blogs&search=blogs&s_blog_id=15
or here:
Paul Berton
Editor-in-chief
The London Free Press
National Comment Editor
Sun Media
519-667-4514
paul.berton@sunmedia.ca
Rory Leishman, another newspaper columnist, said this was the largest political gathering outside of an election ever held in London: way to go Londoners!
For more see:
http://ezralevant.com/2009/04/more-photos-from-london.html
http://ezralevant.com/2009/04/london-rally-against-hrcs-draw.html
http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/1981/128/
http://mooseandsquirrel.ca/2009/04/14/the-hrc-denormalization-squad-in-london-ontario-part-2/
http://torydrroy.blogspot.com/2009/04/smashing-success.html
http://www.lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Columnists/Leishman_Rory/2009/04/04/9001571-sun.html
http://torydrroy.blogspot.com/2009/04/salim-mansurs-speech-in-london-ontario.html
Oddly enough, the local newspaper, the London Free Press, failed to send a reporter (although invited to do so by both institutes that sponsored the event) and maintained a studied silence afterward. Yet the editor of the Free Press chose to publish a smear aimed at Kathie Shaidle several weeks prior to the event, and had this to say on his personal blog:
| Posted: 2009-03-15 18:20:04 | Last updated: 2009-03-15 18:20:04 |
PAUL BERTON: We're getting it from both sides (as usual) for a story we published Wednesday.
The story was by Randy Richmond and headlined, "Controversial right-wing blogger invited to speak at London event," with the subhead, "HUMAN RIGHTS: Some members of the city's Jewish community have brought in speakers critical of anti-hate laws."Some say we shouldn't be giving people like Kathy Shaidle any publicity. Others say the story was a smear job.
We quoted Warren Kinsella, author of Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network, as saying,"Any group that associates with or defends her is diminished by her."
I wasn't here last week, but the suggestion for the story came from a reader, who rightly (I think) decided this was something Londoners should know about -- i.e., that this kind of person was invited to speak within our midst.
She (and others) will be speaking about the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Canada's anti-hate laws, and freedom of expression.
It's a favourite topic in the blogosphere (as you know), and a useful debate for the community.
The question today is whether the story was part of a "smear campaign," as some have suggested, or whether we should have done it at all, as others have charged.
As we've managed to annoy both groups, I can only assume (again) that we're doing our jobs well, that it was not a smear job, and that it was warranted. (And the fact Mark Steyn has apparently decided to blog about Randy Richmond can only be good for lfpress.com. I'd link to it but I'm sure most of you are well aware of where to find him.)
For our part, it would be unthinkable for us not to do the story just because we might find Shaidle's views unpleasant (to say the least). The more people who know about events like this, whether to support it or take steps to fight it, the better. If you don't believe that, you don't believe in democracy.
To do anything but tell readers what is going on in this region, good or bad, is not responsible from a journalistic standpoint, from a business standpoint, never mind our duty to society.
So what does silence mean?
You might want to inquire, so send Paul a line here:
http://www.lfpress.com/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=blogs&s=blogs&search=blogs&s_blog_id=15
or here:
Paul Berton
Editor-in-chief
The London Free Press
National Comment Editor
Sun Media
519-667-4514
paul.berton@sunmedia.ca
If You're Happy And You Know It...
Clank your chains...
Yesterday, all across the US regular people from all walks of life, and all sorts of political stripes gathered together to protest the unprecedented waste of their money, the undeniable infringement upon their liberty and the unqualified attempt to stifle their right to live their own lives.
These "Tea Parties" have taken on a viral quality in the US as this map shows though sadly, it isn't an election year in the US and all this will likely be forgotten by the next Senatorial elections in 2010. But at least it was done.
Some vainglorious and ignorant Canadians deride our American cousins for wearing their patriotism on their sleeves, but what have we done?
We Canadians are being ripped off just as badly as our compatriots to the south (proportionally), our individual rights are in worse shape than the Americans, just ask Ezra Levant, Mark Stein and others. But instead of doing something we shrug our shoulders, adjust our manacles issue a barely audible "Meh" and carry on.
Meanwhile our government talks about paying other peoples bills, is spending our money like a drunken sailor and narry a peep... Silence from the herd. Hell, we Canadians collectively make more noise and fuss over the $%#@ hockey playoffs than we do issues that confound, limit and erode basic freedoms.
If I could choose two words to describe the prevalent Canadian attitude to individual rights they would be ignorance and ambivalence.
No, I don't think some demagogue is going to enslave us... (just yet) and we're a long way from living in tyranny and dictatorship. Besides, we're not going to go that way.
The apathy will destroy us first...
Yesterday, all across the US regular people from all walks of life, and all sorts of political stripes gathered together to protest the unprecedented waste of their money, the undeniable infringement upon their liberty and the unqualified attempt to stifle their right to live their own lives.
These "Tea Parties" have taken on a viral quality in the US as this map shows though sadly, it isn't an election year in the US and all this will likely be forgotten by the next Senatorial elections in 2010. But at least it was done.
Some vainglorious and ignorant Canadians deride our American cousins for wearing their patriotism on their sleeves, but what have we done?
We Canadians are being ripped off just as badly as our compatriots to the south (proportionally), our individual rights are in worse shape than the Americans, just ask Ezra Levant, Mark Stein and others. But instead of doing something we shrug our shoulders, adjust our manacles issue a barely audible "Meh" and carry on.
Meanwhile our government talks about paying other peoples bills, is spending our money like a drunken sailor and narry a peep... Silence from the herd. Hell, we Canadians collectively make more noise and fuss over the $%#@ hockey playoffs than we do issues that confound, limit and erode basic freedoms.
If I could choose two words to describe the prevalent Canadian attitude to individual rights they would be ignorance and ambivalence.
No, I don't think some demagogue is going to enslave us... (just yet) and we're a long way from living in tyranny and dictatorship. Besides, we're not going to go that way.
The apathy will destroy us first...
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
87% Of Canadians Will Never Check The "Facts"
I woke up this morning to find this, a complete and utter repudiation of everything I have come to believe about how the free market would out perform the welfare state.
So, that's it folks. I'm done. How could I ever have thought to question the wisdom of state run services. Why, I've been such an ungrateful citizen. I should just be hauled off to a frost-bitten gulag somewhere... How dare I dream about being permitted to spend more ofmy the states hard earned money? Mea culpa.
Rest assured fellow sheeple, once I have been sufficiently reeducated I will redouble my efforts to praisegovernment indoctrination our public education system, the tax supported cultural and racial partitioning of Canadians multiculturalism, and the black hole of our lord and master the healthcare system.
I've been such a bad, bad Canadian taxpayer.
*
CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
Valuing public services — benefit vs. cost
With limited exceptions, public services are not exchanged in markets. As a result,
they cannot be valued at market prices the way privately-produced goods are. Furthermore, most public services are public goods, in that the benefits from the service cannot be isolated to an individual who purchases the good or service. That is obviously the case for services like public health, for which there is generally no individualized benefit.
Really?
So when the "news" article says...
Hmmmmmm,
On further, cursory study I see that the study is 40 pages long, yet there is no bibliography. It backhandedly cites 4 sources in the "NOTES" section on page 40, one of which is from the same left wing thought tank that produced this vile little piece of newspeak. Another is from the OECD entitled “Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries”. (what the hell does that have to do with the cost of Canadian public services?). The 2 remaining sources come from Statscan which should be an unbiased source of information, but you know what they say about statistics...
This 'study' is an exercise in political gamesmanship and statistical masturbation. It is intended to cause a stir, to repudiate the claims of free market thinkers and to be propagated by the mainstream media. It has lived up to it's purpose.
JUST THINKING - This whole thing raises another question, though probably not for the first time. The question is, that with all this marvelous technology at their fingertips,(it took me 2 minutes it took me to track down this study and link to it on the web) how come the main stream media still doesn't put links to actual sources in their articles?
They claim their job is to educate the masses, to ensure the story gets out, but do they really care about doing that?
From my point of view all they really do is regurgitate press releases and play their own games, spinning the story whatever way they feel will generate press, further their own political ideology or worse yet, push it at us as "infotainment".
And they wonder why their industry is circling the drain of history.
So, that's it folks. I'm done. How could I ever have thought to question the wisdom of state run services. Why, I've been such an ungrateful citizen. I should just be hauled off to a frost-bitten gulag somewhere... How dare I dream about being permitted to spend more of
Rest assured fellow sheeple, once I have been sufficiently reeducated I will redouble my efforts to praise
I've been such a bad, bad Canadian taxpayer.
*
CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
Valuing public services — benefit vs. cost
With limited exceptions, public services are not exchanged in markets. As a result,
they cannot be valued at market prices the way privately-produced goods are. Furthermore, most public services are public goods, in that the benefits from the service cannot be isolated to an individual who purchases the good or service. That is obviously the case for services like public health, for which there is generally no individualized benefit.
Really?
So when the "news" article says...
"Canada's average middle-income family would have to spend more than half its paycheque to buy health care, education and the other "free" public services now paid for with tax dollars..."that information is in fact unsupported and unprovable by the studies own admission? In fact all of those handy figures, "80% of the population" here, "the majority" there, "63%" of this that and the other thing are unfounded interpretation?
Hmmmmmm,
On further, cursory study I see that the study is 40 pages long, yet there is no bibliography. It backhandedly cites 4 sources in the "NOTES" section on page 40, one of which is from the same left wing thought tank that produced this vile little piece of newspeak. Another is from the OECD entitled “Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries”. (what the hell does that have to do with the cost of Canadian public services?). The 2 remaining sources come from Statscan which should be an unbiased source of information, but you know what they say about statistics...
This 'study' is an exercise in political gamesmanship and statistical masturbation. It is intended to cause a stir, to repudiate the claims of free market thinkers and to be propagated by the mainstream media. It has lived up to it's purpose.
JUST THINKING - This whole thing raises another question, though probably not for the first time. The question is, that with all this marvelous technology at their fingertips,(it took me 2 minutes it took me to track down this study and link to it on the web) how come the main stream media still doesn't put links to actual sources in their articles?
They claim their job is to educate the masses, to ensure the story gets out, but do they really care about doing that?
From my point of view all they really do is regurgitate press releases and play their own games, spinning the story whatever way they feel will generate press, further their own political ideology or worse yet, push it at us as "infotainment".
And they wonder why their industry is circling the drain of history.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Mouse Roars.
Tell me again how the strong Canadian Dollar is killing Canadian business'...
"Canada recorded its first ever surplus in bilateral direct investment with the United States last year, overtaking an economy 10 times its size."LINK
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Silly Me...
I should have bought a Chrysler or GM...
Oh, wait! Maybe I did...
Nope, I didn't. I chose a Toyota, because Chrysler and GM didn't produce the kind or quality of vehicle I wanted.
Thanks to the government I will get to make payments on them though.
So let me get this right, it is now the responsibility of government to honour the warrantees of private companies to individual consumers?
And this current cleptocracy calls itself "Conservative"? WTF ever happened to limited government?
Oh, wait! Maybe I did...
Nope, I didn't. I chose a Toyota, because Chrysler and GM didn't produce the kind or quality of vehicle I wanted.
Thanks to the government I will get to make payments on them though.
So let me get this right, it is now the responsibility of government to honour the warrantees of private companies to individual consumers?
And this current cleptocracy calls itself "Conservative"? WTF ever happened to limited government?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Yay Communism!!!
I'm surprised the American writers fawning over the Cuban agriculture system didn't claim that organically grown Cuban food has 50% fewer calories...
Let me see... 50% less food = ...
Dirt Poor.
Helooooooo? It's been 161 years! All you closet and not so closet socialists out there...
WAKE THE FUCK UP!
Let me see... 50% less food = ...
Dirt Poor.
"If you are going to have a sustainable agricultural paradise, it helps to have a nearby neighbor with a million or so industrial farmers."Ok, can we put the embarrassing social experiment that is communism to bed now, I mean really people. Not one, single solitary communist success story since Marx and Engels sat in a London library in 1848.
Helooooooo? It's been 161 years! All you closet and not so closet socialists out there...
WAKE THE FUCK UP!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Summing up the Obama Administration
And in only two months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsrFa9jrpv8
Share this with everyone you know for the next four years........
Share this with everyone you know for the next four years........
New Blog
For the few that follow this blog I've started another on my own without Thucydides to help me this time.
It is going to have a narrower focus that this one, and deal specifically with what I call the nuts & bolts of creating a Laissez Faire Capitalist Nation.
I hope you stop by and check out the Undiscovered Country.
It is going to have a narrower focus that this one, and deal specifically with what I call the nuts & bolts of creating a Laissez Faire Capitalist Nation.
I hope you stop by and check out the Undiscovered Country.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Anarchists and Idiots...
But I repeat myself.
Pretty hard to find a job when you are spending the day or perhaps a week throwing a tantrum, dressing up like Darth Vader, or the Easter Bunny.
Pretty hard to find a job when you are spending the day or perhaps a week throwing a tantrum, dressing up like Darth Vader, or the Easter Bunny.
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