The Profit Motive

As soon as you allow government to immerse itself in the provision of services for which people are normally paid, or in which businesses or individuals have a vested interest then you have a recipe for corruption, nepotism and cronyism.

A case in point.

The thing is, the only reason that the hiring of these companies was a crime, the only reason why there has to be this air of transparency is because the Government is involved.

Why this is a problem is because the Government forces you to pay and since it steals your money it wants to assure you through the tendering of contracts or some other mechanism that it isn't going to their friends... at least the ones that don't deserve it. It's all done to assure you that your money isn't being stolen twice.

The reason why I say this is the only reason, is because if you voluntarily called a private company providing the same service, as long as you received those services you wouldn't care if the Doctor or Nurse advising you was related to the company owner would you?

I'm sure that there will be an inquiry into this affair. I'm sure it will cost us (you and I, the taxpayers) a lot of money and I'm equally sure there will be recommendations and reports and news stories and on and on and on and on.

You know what else I'm sure about, that Telehealth Ontario is a pitiful attempt by the government to provide "healthcare".

As costs soar our collective dollars are worth less and less so our level of healthcare is reduced. They take our money and try to pass off a 1-800 number as an innovation in healthcare while people wait months for knee and hip surgery. "Don't go to the emergency room, don't go to the clinic, call this 1-800 number and get medical advice over the phone!" Sounds like a really good idea... Riiiiiiiight..

I'm also sure that if there was such a thing as market competition in the medical field in Canada our costs would be going down... Competition does that, and you know what else, if there was market competition and someone wanted to set up a "Telehealth Business" we wouldn't be left paying for a "commission of inquiry" every time the Owner contracted his buddy to work as a consultant.

Business and Government...

Separate them NOW!

A simple prophecy

Lady Thatcher made a spot on observation which predicts and explains the (coming) total failure of the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress:

“The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money” –Margaret Thatcher.

Stock up on canned goods and barterable skills

From Fiction to Fact

Atlas Shrugged was supposed to be a warning, not a blueprint.

Luckily for us, there is also a blueprint for gaining our ultimate freedom within as well.

CHRC Shakedown

Jennifer Lynch pressures a company for thousands of dollars of freebies, like some mafia don. Ezra Levant outlines the sordid story here. Suffice to say that a quasi judicial agency with police powers demanding that an entity under its jurisdiction provides goods and services is the sort of thing we might expect in Russia, Venezuela or some third world kelptocracy rather than an liberal democratic nation like Canada.

The most telling part:

Lynch sent a letter to Newcap Radio – a station that comes under her jurisdiction. She asked them to fall into line with the CHRC’s way of thinking. And what came out the other end is hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free ads featuring Lynch herself.

Question: Does that massive donation to Lynch constitute a political contribution? Is it a form of lobbying? What are the legal implications of Newcap simply gifting that to a bureaucrat for her vanity project? Where will the value of that gift be disclosed? What were the terms of the deal?

But much more important than the legal taxonomy for the gift: what was the quid pro quo?

What indeed?

The only way to ferret out the corruption in the "Human Rights" racket is to Fire. Them. All.

Writing your MP is a good first step, and following up by suggesting that you will refuse financial support to the political party in question until substantive action is taken might focus their minds on the problem. Blogbursting this story (particularly to our friends in the United States) and asking your local MSM outlets why they are not following this story are also worth doing to raise the profile and shine the spotlight on corruption.

Take action. Freedom is a self help project.

Winston Smith Lives!

It seems that Google's unofficial motto "do no evil" is situational. Perhaps it is time to migrate en mass to another search engine that does not attempt to censor the Internet:

http://thesecretsofvancouver.com/wordpress/now-cached-pages-are-going-away/oddities

Now Cached Pages Are Going Away

December 11th, 2008 Posted in Oddities

It seems like web articles critical of Obama are disappearing faster than you can say Change.

The current crop of disappearing web stories are keeping bloggers busy, but now even cached versions are disappearing.

It’s starting to look like Obama’s machine has really kicked in.

Can you say cover-up?

Here’s Googles policy:

The “Cached” link will be missing for sites that have not been indexed, as well as for sites whose owners have requested we not cache their content.

I think that Google may be kept busy with requests over the next few days.

Control of information is how dictatorships and authoritarians survive. The question we should be asking about Google is who is directing this activity, and what are the owners and managers of Google receiving in return?

The action we should take is to start changing our search pages away from Google and informing advertisers we will start boycotting anyone who appears on Google.

Freedom is a self help project

Take action against the Canadian Coup

We need to think about how we the people should react to this attempted coup by the Liberal PArty of Canada, the NDP and Bloc Quebecois (who were apparently in collusion and planning this coup since the election results came in six weeks ago). Since this is a grab for taxes and power, we should be prepared to resist in any way possible, including a tax strike (a la John Galt) and various forms of active and passive resistance.

As well, overwhelming the MSM through letters, bogs, posting on their sites, call in radio neds to be done in order to push the message through that this is not about the economy but only about grabbing for entitlements from our pockets.

Finally, we can take action directly against the Liberal Party for their part in these events, do everything possible to cause them to spend money, call for the return of the stolen $20 million in ADSCAM money and find out which banks loaned the LPC money for their operating expenses; find out and tell these banks you will withdraw your savings and refuse to do business with them unless they call the loans right now.

Take action now.

Freedom is a self help project.

The Progressive "Surge"

Progressives of all stripes are discovering that insurgencies can be waged with ideas as well as guns and IED's. Progressives have taken effective control of the MSM, educational institutions, government bureaucracies and even a large portion of the market, but those nasty Classical Liberals (who often go by names like the Conservatives or Republicans, depending on where you live) still seem to be ahead of the game.

In Canada, Classical Liberals have become the governing party (and may possibly win a majority government mandate on Oct 14, 2008). Classical Liberals are also in charge of Alberta and Saskatchewan, two of the wealthiest and fastest growing provinces in Canada, and seem to be making inroads elsewhere.

In the United States, Senator Barack Obama is either tied or only marginally ahead of his Republican rival, despite the adulation of the press and a finance machine that can raise and spend cash at an astronomical rate, far beyond any rivals. Indeed, Senator Obama only defeated Senator Clinton by a small margin, despite having much the same advantage over her.

The reaction of the Progressives is quite illuminating. Consider how open the bias of the MSM has become against any manifestation of Classical Liberalism, its proponents or works. War reporting is astonishingly one sided. Victories are never reported, either spectacular events like the retaking of Anabar province in Iraq, or the small, incrimental gains that the Canadians make every day in Afghanistan. Political reporting is similarly hypocritical; think of the cone of silence which surrounds scandals like John Edward's illicit affair (while his wife is dying of cancer, to boot), the relationships between Democratic party congressmen and senators and "Freddie and Fannie", the two GSE's implicate in the current financial crisis, Elizabeth May's participation in a pro Hezbollah, anti Isreal rally or the almost open collusion between the Canadian Green and Liberal parties; then look at how political figures on the Classical Liberal side of the political spectrum are treated. Govenor Sarah Palin is constantly smeared or belittled in the MSM; a reader is much more likely to find her characterized as a "porn star" rather than the only candidate among the Presidential contenders to have executive experience (and in a large, wealthy and demanding state at that). Prime Minister Stephan Harper is compared to political figures like Hitler or George W Bush (although perhaps the Bush comparison can be seen as a compliment by the Classical Liberal side) and all manner of "Gotcha" journalistic tricks are brought into play rather than examining issues (although to be fair, the Conservative Party of Canada does this as well against their opponents).

Progressives see the ground being cut out from under their feet, and are mounting a surge from their commanding heights to block or limit the Classical Liberals from gaining or retaining power. All manner of dirty tricks are in play: In Canada, "Human Rights Comissions" target Bloggers and journalists who support Classical Liberal principles. In the United States, members of the Obama campaign threaten to prosecute people or organizations who present any contrary view of fact about Senator Obama, possibly fearing a "Swiftboating" of the Senator through revelations about his unsavoury mentors, his connections with the financiers involved in the financial crisis or even just the totally ineffectual nature of his "community organizing". Selective and manipulative press coverage is a given. Discussions in institutions of higher learning or even elementary and high schools are blatent indoctrination (and in many Universities, Orwellian "Speech codes" are employed to silence students and facilty).

It will be difficult to fight against the surge; the Progressives have the power and resources of the State behind them. They still control many of the largest and most important channels of communication, and the mechanisms of the Law are available to be used selectively in favour of the Progressive cause. Still the fight is of critical importance to each and every one of us. Only by standing for our rights can we maintain them. Blogging is perhaps the most notable weapon we have, but even if we are reduced to passing messages by Samisdat we should still make the attempt.

Our ultimate advantage lies in the fact that Progressiveism is a parisitical concept; if they are denied access to State power, they begin to wither on the vine. As usual, Ayn Rand has provided the template; Ellsworth Toohey may have been a "power" with his newspaper column, but once the newspaper chain folded, Toohey's power was gone; he did not create, but was only a parisite upon the creators.

Ezra Wins A Victory

Of sorts...

This more than anything exposes the Human "Rights" Commissions for the capricious, malicious and malevolent group of petty apparactchik that they really are.

Like a bully that's had his nose bloodied by one of the little guy's he's been picking on the HRC's have run away in fear, but now isn't the time for us "Freespeechers" to pick up our books. Now is the time to chase the bastards down and finish giving them the thrashing they so richly deserve.

Fire. Them. All.

Blessed is Sarcasm, Yea Verily it Speaks Truth!

Wait till Buzz sees these, he'll have some of the boys blockade the Internet!

SOTCA

Never mind human rights violations, torture, executions, mass murder, extremist jihadists or totalitarianism... That little old lady in Windsor Castle is the real concern.

Eliminating freedom and prosperity, one industry at a time.

Filed under "credible source"; Seriously, anyone paying attention to our casualty rate in Afghanistan or to the effectiveness of the Taliban resistance knows that this is the Taliban begging for their lives from the bottoms of their little rat caves. The Mujahideen these losers are not.

Google Couillard, now tell me we'd still be paying attention to this crap if she looked like this.

"Mr. Poilievre also suggested aboriginals need to work harder rather than receive more money." The first casualty of politics is truth.

And Canada's status as a totalitarian banana munching state without free speech, castrated by corrupt star chambers, fed by pompous petty bureaucrats who have never really fought for a right in their lives grows... Fire. Them. All.

Fire. Them. All.

Thank you Ezra.

H/T SDA & No Libs

The National Post Gets It...

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

The article is one of those equivocation pieces the main stream media is so fond of, and in true style it paints a picture of modern (Canadian) man as a petty, selfish immoral brute that needs to be told what can and can not be said.

That mentality drags us all back to the darkest Dickinsonian days of the industrial revolution, where abuse, exploitation and racism abounded. But is that the kind of world we live in today? Are the majority of Canadians predisposed to racism and hatred? It’s a basic question, are we moral creatures or are we just animals with utensils?

I can tell you how some would like us to answer those questions, for it has long been the joy of traditional media to cast humanity in the worst light. To twist our society into a caricature where one is either an oppressor or a victim, with a dash of “Yes Veronica there is a Santa Claus” thrown in for stark contrast.

This perversion has been accepted over time by populations and governments. It has led us to the garden path we are on, strewn with fabricated rights like potted plants, for because we are so evil and so predisposed to harm, abuse and degrade other men we must be constrained against ourselves.

We can’t rely on human nature because human nature is weak and evil.

We can’t appeal to compassion because we are only animals incapable of caring.

In truth, it is possible to look at our society and see all of that, but the premise is incorrect.

The reason we see our society in decline is because of these potted plant rights. Because of them we can’t rely on hundreds of years of liberal thought and the few basic and true rights like liberty, equality and property because the fabricated rights we’ve created have weakened those inalienable rights and rendered them impotent.

With every new right, with every caveat included in our national laws we weaken our liberty. And those fabricated rights, incapable of sustaining themselves need to be watered and nurtured by fabricated bureaucracies who’s sole purpose is to ensure that the fabrication is given due consideration. And having precious little to do these bureaucracies seek to ensure their survival by perverting the weakness that they themselves have created in our society. Soon the garden path is a jungle, a jungle in need of a clear cutting.

There is not one, single solitary complaint brought to the CHRC that could not have been resolved with pre-existing law.

Ernst Zundel didn’t need to be tried in a kangaroo court, he needed to have the full weight of existing law rallied against him. Furthermore he needed to face the honest and righteous wrath of ordinary Canadians, he needed to be ostracized, to be loathed, and held up to contempt by every honourable, moral Canadian. And what is more is that we Canadians needed to do it. We needed to stand up as individuals and as a society to be counted, to counter the idea that we don’t care, that we are immoral and that we need to be prodded to act.

We don’t need the CHRC we need freedom of speech, freedom to speak in unvarnished, blunt and forthright language. We need to speak up and out for our society against racism, against intolerance against fanaticism and against all those who would seek to silence such speech.

As Ezra Levant has said time and again “Fire them all”

Signs of the Collectivist Apocalypse (SOTCA)

It is obvious to anyone who reads Atlas Shrugged, that throughout it, the policies and programs undertaken by the ubiquitous Thompson government and the so called Peoples States, combined with the altruistic and nihilistic tendencies of anti-heroes like James Taggart and Wesley Mouch are leading to the final destruction of society. Indeed the book culminates in a collectivist apocalypse and the escape of the heroes and heroine to Galt’s Gulch.

Like the canary in the mineshaft I seek to warn you all that we may be looking at the same fate somewhere down the road.

So just to keep tabs on the situation I introduce a recurring theme to Uncommon Sense, a chirp here and there which I will call…

Signs of the Collectivist Apocalypse (SOTCA)

My first entry is about the US Treasury and a sweeping power grab by its new Head

The regulatory blueprint proposes eventually vesting new powers in the Federal Reserve as a "market stability regulator" -- effectively formalizing a role the central bank already has adopted recently by expanding the list of financial firms which can borrow directly.

It would give the Fed authority to demand that all financial system participants supply it with full information on their activities and grant the Fed a right to collaborate with other regulators in setting rules for their behavior.

Woosh!!! Super Finance Cop to the rescue!

Hold on a sec... Weren't these the same guys that were at least partially responsible for the sub-prime fiasco? Foxes in Hen houses anyone?

The great Cash and Cars Giveaway

Or How Dalton Made us all Pay

WINDSOR, Ont. - Ford of Canada will use a $17-million investment from the Ontario government as part of a $168-million plan to reopen the Essex engine plant in southwestern Ontario, but the company warned Monday it will not expand the project further without direct participation from the federal government.

Excellent Dalton McSquirmy throwing good money after bad, just to be threatened by the Ford company that it will all be for naught if they don't get more!!!

It's almost like he wants to be the Premier of a have not province...

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.