The more they talk, the more I want to see, the more I think we need to see...
Why all the fear folks?
You know, I don't trust a single one of these people as far as I could spit a wet rat, and the second they begin telling me that I don't need to know what they are spending my taxed money on, well that really piques my interest.
It is our money, they have been entrusted to spend it wisely within agreed upon terms on agreed upon expenses. If they are doing that then they shouldn't mind giving us a peek. An honest man fears nothing, a criminal fears all, so I'll ask again...
Why all the fear?
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
No Escape Hatch
This kind of forthright honesty ought not to be a rarity in politics. The fact that it is indicates how much more effort modern politicians put into maintaining their place at the government trough than anything else. Their desire to hold on to power wins out over principle, over conscience, over law and even over ideology.
Congratulations to Governor Christie for being in the 1 percentile.
Congratulations to Governor Christie for being in the 1 percentile.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Become an Anti-Fascist (for real)
The Ann Coulter event that was shut down by a legion of Brownshirts at the University of Ottawa on the 23 of March, 2010 at the veiled instigation of the University's Vice-President Academic and Provost.
As Mark Styen so eloquently puts it:
"Alliances between the state’s ideological commissars and street mobs are a familiar feature of certain kinds of societies, and I suppose Canada will soon get used to its membership of this unlovely club."
Do we really want to become part of this unlovely club? should we sit still while Fraud and Force become the ruling imperatives of this society? We are already pretty far along this path already, do we want to finish with our children inheriting a Fascist society?
Fight Fraud by shining the light on government accounting at every level. All parties and politicians are guilty to a greater or lesser extent, basing deficit reduction on rosy predictions of GDP growth is as fraudulent as labelling crony capitalism as "economic stimulus". Putting items off the budget or obscuring public audits and scrutiny are equally bad. Individuals can explore and expose government fraud and waste, we need legions of bloggers to do so at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal level.
Fight Force by doing everything possible to deny funding to Universities which promote Brownshirt behaviour like shutting down free speech or promoting "Israel anti-apartheid week". No money to fundraisers or endowments. Withdraw from these institutions so they don't get your tuition fees. Refuse to hire graduates from these Universities and let the applicant know why.
Ayn Rand laid it out for all of us:
"It is the greatest moral crisis in history, and the last"
Which side of History do you want to be on?
Freedom is a self help project
As Mark Styen so eloquently puts it:
"Alliances between the state’s ideological commissars and street mobs are a familiar feature of certain kinds of societies, and I suppose Canada will soon get used to its membership of this unlovely club."
Do we really want to become part of this unlovely club? should we sit still while Fraud and Force become the ruling imperatives of this society? We are already pretty far along this path already, do we want to finish with our children inheriting a Fascist society?
Fight Fraud by shining the light on government accounting at every level. All parties and politicians are guilty to a greater or lesser extent, basing deficit reduction on rosy predictions of GDP growth is as fraudulent as labelling crony capitalism as "economic stimulus". Putting items off the budget or obscuring public audits and scrutiny are equally bad. Individuals can explore and expose government fraud and waste, we need legions of bloggers to do so at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal level.
Fight Force by doing everything possible to deny funding to Universities which promote Brownshirt behaviour like shutting down free speech or promoting "Israel anti-apartheid week". No money to fundraisers or endowments. Withdraw from these institutions so they don't get your tuition fees. Refuse to hire graduates from these Universities and let the applicant know why.
Ayn Rand laid it out for all of us:
"It is the greatest moral crisis in history, and the last"
Which side of History do you want to be on?
Freedom is a self help project
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Charitable State.
Invariably when arguing for complete laissez-faire policies and the dismantling of the welfare state the question that the statist asks is...
"What are we to do with the people who can't fend for themselves as well as others and who need assistance in order to survive in society?"
The Objectivist response is that the individual can do whatever he wishes to do, but that he can not claim the right to force others. That he can not take his personal penchant for charity and with the loaded gun of government force others to be charitable.
There are two man-centric ideologies at work here, represented by the welfare state, and the charitable state.
The welfare state is ruled by conflicting premises.
On one hand is the claim that we men are caring creatures and that we are not "wired" or "evolved" in such a way to act as self-centered, egoists and individualists. The claim is that each and every one of us needs the community, the collective and as a result men overwhelmingly realize that the collective is greater than the sum of its parts. This reasoning is used to indicate that men should help one another, that we ought to be charitable, altruistic toward our fellow men.
The other (and contradictory) premise, which leads the welfare state to use its ill gotten force is that men are nasty, selfish, ignorant brutes who would never stop to help their fellow men and therefore must be forced to support all sorts of initiatives and progams to alleviate the suffering and hardship of those less fortunate.
Yes, the claim is that we are simultaneously "hard wired" to be altruistic and yet need to be forced to think of anyone but ourselves. This is a contradiction of epic proportions.
The Objectivist stance on the less fortunate is simple. Let each and every individual choose whether he is going to be charitable or not, depending on his preference and his ideals, his values and his own situation. There is no need to force charity.
Without government forcing the charitable to pay for every politician's pet project or well connected pressure group's personal agenda the amount of disposable income available for charity would be immense.
The benefits to the contributors would similarly be valuable to them. "Contribute to a home for the homeless? Sure! It might reduce crime, it would certainly make the city look better. Donate to the family down the street in their time of need, but of course..."
Funny isn't it that it is the selfish egoist's that are certain that individual, honest, uncoerced charity can function as required, and that the altruistic, collectivist humanists see the need to point a gun at your head and demand your money for their life.
"What are we to do with the people who can't fend for themselves as well as others and who need assistance in order to survive in society?"
The Objectivist response is that the individual can do whatever he wishes to do, but that he can not claim the right to force others. That he can not take his personal penchant for charity and with the loaded gun of government force others to be charitable.
There are two man-centric ideologies at work here, represented by the welfare state, and the charitable state.
The welfare state is ruled by conflicting premises.
On one hand is the claim that we men are caring creatures and that we are not "wired" or "evolved" in such a way to act as self-centered, egoists and individualists. The claim is that each and every one of us needs the community, the collective and as a result men overwhelmingly realize that the collective is greater than the sum of its parts. This reasoning is used to indicate that men should help one another, that we ought to be charitable, altruistic toward our fellow men.
The other (and contradictory) premise, which leads the welfare state to use its ill gotten force is that men are nasty, selfish, ignorant brutes who would never stop to help their fellow men and therefore must be forced to support all sorts of initiatives and progams to alleviate the suffering and hardship of those less fortunate.
Yes, the claim is that we are simultaneously "hard wired" to be altruistic and yet need to be forced to think of anyone but ourselves. This is a contradiction of epic proportions.
The Objectivist stance on the less fortunate is simple. Let each and every individual choose whether he is going to be charitable or not, depending on his preference and his ideals, his values and his own situation. There is no need to force charity.
Without government forcing the charitable to pay for every politician's pet project or well connected pressure group's personal agenda the amount of disposable income available for charity would be immense.
The benefits to the contributors would similarly be valuable to them. "Contribute to a home for the homeless? Sure! It might reduce crime, it would certainly make the city look better. Donate to the family down the street in their time of need, but of course..."
Funny isn't it that it is the selfish egoist's that are certain that individual, honest, uncoerced charity can function as required, and that the altruistic, collectivist humanists see the need to point a gun at your head and demand your money for their life.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Peace? Order?? Good Government!?!?
"In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit." Ayn Rand
This travesty stems directly from a pragmatic (and cowardly) approach to law enforcement.
The fact that a massive operation would have to be undertaken by police to secure the Brown's rights and that native bands across the country would respond with force and violence means that the Browns are left without any rights.
That is the compromise here, a festering standoff, masquerading as "peace" for the rights of an innocent family.
Disgusting.
This travesty stems directly from a pragmatic (and cowardly) approach to law enforcement.
The fact that a massive operation would have to be undertaken by police to secure the Brown's rights and that native bands across the country would respond with force and violence means that the Browns are left without any rights.
That is the compromise here, a festering standoff, masquerading as "peace" for the rights of an innocent family.
Disgusting.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Still seeking "Galt's gulch"
Right now, I am still thinking about how a "virtual" Galt's Gulch would work, since we are living in an era that does resemble the collapse of American free enterprise in Atlas Shrugged. While it is very nice to stand and declare your beliefs, most readers can see there is an ever increasing trend towards State intervention in everything, and State oppression is pretty close at hand (if not there already, see the CHRC or the American Congress openly considering a bill of attender against AIG executives...).
Being able to disappear from the view of State censors or other Brownshirt thugs will be a real survival mechanism for anyone who wants to keep liberty alive in these conditions. I am also not so confident that civilization can be rebuilt on Classical Liberal principles as easily as making the sign of the dollar in the air; I am thinking in the worst case we actually need to consider a sort of Irish Monastery project (although this could also just be natural paranoia peeking through).
Sadly, a physical Galt's Gulch is probably not practical or feasible in the here and now (at least not if we like hot and cold running water), and attempts to stake out a physical space in the oceans or deserts is probably doomed to failure in the face of State competition (and the reason we have "States" is because they were the best form of organization for creating and controlling military power ever devised). Unless someone comes up with inexpensive access to space so communities can be established on the Moon, asteroids and moons of the gas giant planets far away from current State competition, then we are stuck with the virtual world.
I am still heartened by ideas that the Libertarian Revolution is actually a social rather than political movement, and Objectivism is certainly part of this movement. The T.E.A. party movement shows there is a groundswell of opinion against the current political and social situation, but no one has managed to capture it just yet, and of course there is always the danger that the T.E.A. party could either devolve into irrelevance or be captured by "the man on the white horse".
Of course, hunkering down in a real or virtual bunker against the impending Apocalypse is pretty defeatist. As Jerry Pournelle reminds readers of his blog "Chaos Manor"; Despair is a Sin. We need to move outwards in all kinds of unexpected directions, small furry mammals in the Jurassic political park.
-Using virtual tools to create and operate in an underground economy
-Going Ragnar Danneskjöld and applying for government grants equal to the taxes you have paid
- Boycotting companies and media that actively promote or support statist views and policy (GM anyone?)
- Supporting political candidates of the Freedom Party or Libertarian Party (a small "c" conservative party if there are no representatives of the first two parties available).
- Working at the municipal level against statist policies
- Becoming energy self sufficient and getting off the grid. Minimizing the use of other centralized services as much as possible or practical is also encouraged.
As you can see, there are lots of possible options, and not every one is possible for every person. You will have to decide which ones work for you, and then execute the plan. The individual actions of thousands or millions of people will have a huge impact, and you can vote with your dollars and your actions every single day.
Freedom is a self help project!
Monday, June 22, 2009
First Casualty Of The Left - Truth
This story doesn't document a retelling of the story, nor even a misunderstanding of the original event it is a bald faced, politically motivated fabrication.
What is Ignatieff's intent here?
The article's author suggests the only plausible one, to make this crime the responsibility of the nation... which is to say, make the white man responsible for every "evil" action taken, from the colonization of this land right up to the moment that Christopher Pauchay's innocent daughters drew their last fridgid breath.
This is the Left's ideal. They withdraw personal responsibility in favor of collective responsibility. When the time comes that no one man is responsible as an individual but everyone is responsible collectively for his actions, the government no longer has to concern itself with those pesky individual freedoms (and responsibility). From that point on our rights will be those printing press ones the government dreamed up for the Canadian Charter. Granted and denied at whim.
Life, liberty and property you say? Don't be such a philistine.
What is Ignatieff's intent here?
The article's author suggests the only plausible one, to make this crime the responsibility of the nation... which is to say, make the white man responsible for every "evil" action taken, from the colonization of this land right up to the moment that Christopher Pauchay's innocent daughters drew their last fridgid breath.
This is the Left's ideal. They withdraw personal responsibility in favor of collective responsibility. When the time comes that no one man is responsible as an individual but everyone is responsible collectively for his actions, the government no longer has to concern itself with those pesky individual freedoms (and responsibility). From that point on our rights will be those printing press ones the government dreamed up for the Canadian Charter. Granted and denied at whim.
Life, liberty and property you say? Don't be such a philistine.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Perpetual Peasants
We Canadian peasants aren't saving enough for our retirement according to this article. Okay, this is news. The people should know and be warned, perhaps they will strive to put more money away.
Yeah... You know that is not the way the author or the talking heads are going to react on this though.
What is the first conclusion our 'White Knights' in government suggest? Is it that Canadians should be warned that they have to do more or they will not have sufficient funds to carry them through retirement? Um, no.
Is it a call to personal action and personal responsibility? Don't be ridiculous.
"Stand back Peasants!"
"I, Government the Good will do all the hard work for you..."
Yeah... You know that is not the way the author or the talking heads are going to react on this though.
What is the first conclusion our 'White Knights' in government suggest? Is it that Canadians should be warned that they have to do more or they will not have sufficient funds to carry them through retirement? Um, no.
Is it a call to personal action and personal responsibility? Don't be ridiculous.
"Stand back Peasants!"
"I, Government the Good will do all the hard work for you..."
“More and more people are going to start realizing they don't have enough savings,” Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan predicted.
He and his provincial counterparts joined federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty last week in launching a sweeping reappraisal of retirement savings – one that's set to spark a heated debate about whether to expand the Canada Pension Plan or create some other supplemental scheme."
Yup. The first action of government, any government in Canada these days seems to be to say "Look, we can't trust people to take care of this themselves. They are just too stupid or apathetic or poor... so the Government /sigh/ will
Alright... the
This automatic and reflexive jump to governmental control or expansion every time a "bad thing" is occurring or might happen is government's secret weapon.
It makes us what the government wants us to be... Perpetual peasants looking to them for answers, solutions and salvation.
The government points at a negative outcome (any negative outcome) and offers to leap to our rescue like a knight in shining armour, and we, sit like peasants cowering in the dirt marveling at their power and the shininess of that armour.
The problem is that most of us poor peasants never realize that the government has the shiny armour because we peasants paid for it, and if they didn't take so much from us we would probably be able to stand up for ourselves, to do for ourselves in whatever way makes sense and fits with how we want to live our lives.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Episode IV: A New Hope
GALT LEADER: All Taxpayers report in.
Atlanta Tea Party standing by.
Orlando Tea Party standing by.
Chicago Tea Party standing by.
LA Tea Party standing by.
Raleigh Tea Party standing by.
Ridgfield Tea Party standing by.
Cincinnati Tea Party standing by.
New York Tea Party standing by.
GALT LEADER: Lock S-foils in attack position.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Circunventing the censors
This article is interesting, especially given recent efforts by the CRTC and CHRC to promote the idea of more State control over the Internet in Canada (and the potential return of the "Fairness" doctrine under some other names in the United States)
The Best Way to Leap China's Great Firewall
Copyright Technology Review 2009.
Gather the tools to fight back
Freedom is a self help project
The Best Way to Leap China's Great Firewall
Copyright Technology Review 2009.
Gather the tools to fight back
Freedom is a self help project
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tea Time in Chicago
Santelli's Chicago Tea Party
CNBC's Rick Santelli and the traders on the floor of the CBOE express outrage over the notion they may have to pay their neighbor's mortgage, particularly if they bought far more house than they could actually afford, with Jason Roney, Sharmac Capital.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853
Here's to Hope and Change people!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853
Here's to Hope and Change people!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Self-sentencing Circle
Aboriginals in Canada are a people apart. Apart from the society they live in or, more rightly outside of. We as a nation have in our quest to be ever more progressive and inclusive embraced the native culture. We've allowed the existence of stone-age governance within our own borders, permitted the fabricated "tradition" and the folksy shamanism of the sentencing circle to replace justice and a judicial system developed and codified for thousands of years.
The result is that another circle has been created, lets call it the vicious self-sentincing circle.
The headline reads "The 'national disgrace of aboriginal housing", it lists a litany of what are (and should be) disgraceful conditions in a first world country. The presence of mould, a shortage of housing, poor designs, shoddy construction, overcrowding, fire deaths. The question being asked is why?
Then, if you read further into the article you see more problems...
The result is that another circle has been created, lets call it the vicious self-sentincing circle.
The headline reads "The 'national disgrace of aboriginal housing", it lists a litany of what are (and should be) disgraceful conditions in a first world country. The presence of mould, a shortage of housing, poor designs, shoddy construction, overcrowding, fire deaths. The question being asked is why?
Then, if you read further into the article you see more problems...
"- Space and money shortages on most coastal reserves that prevent bands from building the homes they desperately need.
- Confusing funding formulas that deter many bands from applying for intersecting government grants, subsidies and loans.
- Problems collecting rent on reserves that force bands into financial ruin because they can't pay the mortgages.
- Poor maintenance and a lack of pride in homes."
Hear that sound? No it's not the rain, or snow, it's the dropping of contexts.
Space and money shortage - Oops, someone is being sneaky here. these are two completely unrelated issues. Let's look at the space issue first. Seems to imply that the places where these people live are overcrowded. Funny, I don't think I've ever seen a reserve where the residents were packed into the land like people are packed into a Calcutta slum. Come to think of it, I seem to remember a historical fact that while the walls of the city of Rome only measured 10 square kilometers there were a million people living within them, now that is crowded. For that matter Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are more crowded in terms of bdies per square kilometer. The reserves? Not so much.
Shortage of money - Ten billion, yes billion with a "B" is transferred from the federal government to Native Bands every year in Canada. The native population is estimated at 1.2 million. A little simple math will tell you that $8333 per year is spent on every native man woman and child in Canada. And that figure is not really representative of those on the reserve because I took the total population of aboriginal people in Canada and not just the ones on reserves. Money shortage? I don't think so.
Confusing funding formula's - Excuse me? Lets say for a microsecond I actually have no problem with the federal government stealing my hard earned money and giving it to other people, I still have to ask WTF? My taxes are complicated, I have to do those. Now since they are so complicated what do I do? I hire someone who's job it is to know how to do them, to figure out how I can comply with government red tape and "confusing funding formulas"
Don't apply because the process is too hard? Give me a freaking break! I can imagine the conversation now...
"I'm sorry Suzie, Jimmy, but the band thought that the funding formula was too confusing so, sorry, no clean water or safe housing for you. We're really sorry, but maybe if you die in a house fire or get TB you can still be a horrible statistic."
I'll come back to the money later...
Problems collecting rent - Poor maintenance and lack of pride - Wait a second, you mean to tell me that there is a problem collecting rent from people who in most cases are not allowed by custom to have any proprietary claim or connection to the homes they live in?
Are you saying that when housing is allotted by the arbitrary whim of some outmoded form of stone age governance that people do not feel compelled to honour their responsibilities?
You mean that giving people housing and paying them because of their ethnicity, out of some unfounded guilt hasn't fostered a work ethic or led to responsible citizenship even within their own communities?
Huh? Who would have thunk it?
Getting back to the money...
I just found an interesting statistic... "According to the 1996 Census, approximately 225 000 Indians live on reserves and other Indian settlements, while 60% of Indians live elsewhere." So lets say for the sake of argument that another 100,000 natives have been born or moved onto reserves in the last 12 years, (that is a gross overestimation and we both know it) that gives us a total of 325,000 natives living on reserves. Now, lets take that 10 billion dollars and see what we get.
Are you ready for this?
And the grand total of government spending on each and every aboriginal man woman and child is...
Thirty thousand, seven hundred and sixty nine dollars and twenty three cents.
I think I'm going to be ill.
Hold on, I'm going to break this down a little further. 365 Days in a year... minus 104 weekend days = 261
Minus two weeks holidays = 251
Minus stat holidays (call it another 10 days per year) = 241 days.
$30,769.23 divided by 241 = $127.67 a day or for an 8 hour work day = $15.95 an hour.
We are paying every native man woman and child living on a reserve $15.95 an hour just for being aboriginal. That looters, moochers, wastrels wage is $6.45 OVER Ontario's minimum wage.
Disgusting.
But the whole question of how much we are paying is dropping the most important context of all, that we pay in the first place.
The truth of this situation is that my life, my work and my effort is mortgaged. To claim that I live in a capitalist society is a sham. My productive effort is not my own, I am a wage slave to people like these. My government views me as some sort of sacred calf, to be bled for the benefit of others.
The cause and effect (getting back to my long forgotten title) are circular.
When I work I make money that helps me live and have a good life. I get satisfaction out of a job well done and I feel good about myself and because I like that feeling I try to work harder, be better and earn more to feed my self-esteem.
Then the government steps in and takes my money telling me that it's for the "common good". This doesn't make me feel very good, and although I am not one, I understand some people actually don't work harder because they would just end up paying the government more... Already I'm seeing a problem, but I digress...
Then the government takes my money (and dealing with the subject at hand) and gives it to a specific race of people at a rate that makes those people ask the question "Why work?" and so many don't.
So without productive work they achieve little, the satisfaction of supporting themselves by the labour of their own minds and bodies is gone, and along with it their self- esteem.
Soon there is no incentive, and because these people are identifyable by race and a perverse form of national and self isolation from the rest of our society they resent the society that props them up.
But instead of attacking the root cause, (the unearned) they demand more money, illogically comming to the conclusion that it's not that the money has robbed them of their self worth but that they are worth far more, that the money they get now is not enough...
And so you have it... the vicious self-sentencing circle.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Finding levers to move the world
In the sound and fury surrounding the CPC budget, many people are proclaiming the end of the Conservative movement in Canada. Some left wing commentators are expressing glee at the prospect, while ideological Conservatives are expressing disgust. The budget was a political response to the problem of remaining as a minority governing party in power during an economic crisis. While it is not "conservative", it did allow the CPC to retain political power, and provide stability during this difficult period, which is the role of a political party.
The bigger long term question for people espousing "Classical Liberal" values should be "what do we want to do with this power?" Objectivists, Libertarians, Reformers and Conservatives of various stripes have either never answered the question or done a poor job of selling the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility and the rights of freedom of speech, property ownership and Rule of Law. If "we" are really serious about achieving these goals (and most people who believe in the "Classical Liberal" philosophy agree on the ends, if not the means) , then focusing all our attention on the CPC and Ottawa is distracting us from the real problems.
Some of the commentators have noticed that we should be making our voices heard on talk shows and letters to the editor (especially on the on line versions of the newspapers, where you are far more likely to be published and read). Directing your attention to the culture wars, we also need to make our voices heard, both directly by commenting on the fare we are presented on radio, TV and other media, and applying pressure to support positive messages and eliminate negative messages through contacting advertisers and offering praise for sponsoring media that supports freedom of speech, property rights and the Rule of Law, and boycotting advertisers who sponsor media that supports "Progressive" tropes.
As well, "we" need to start focusing our electoral power on the other levels of government. City Councils have become havens for "Progressives", and their antics affecting ownership of property are as great a threat to freedom as the CHRC, indeed greater since property ownership is one of the few practical expressions of our political rights and freedoms. Joining local groups promoting responsible civic government is a good start. Some examples in Ontario include: the Windsor Association of Concerned Taxpayers (WeACT); the Forest City Institute; the Toronto Party and Eye on Ottawa. If you have a group, let us know. If you want to start a group, contact these people and ask for advice.
Provincial governments are next, since they have been given a carte blanche to extract tax monies from us through Federal equalization payments. Seeing your tax dollars go to provide a tax cut to taxpayers in a different province is hardly a recipie for delivering responsible local government or even a strong national federation. Success stories are rare, but the remarkable growth of Saskatchewan after the demise of their long standing NDP government and culture should be a beacon and example to us all. The provinces have a much larger selection of political parties as well; Ontario has a Libertarian, Capitalist and even a Reform party as alternatives to the Progressive Conservatives. Large scale support to those parties will cause the other parties to take notice and react (even if electoral success is denied the smaller parties).
Face it. Ottawa is only one piece of the puzzle, and indeed it isn't even the largest piece. If we want to move the social, cultural and political landscape to support the values of freedom of speech, property rights and the Rule of Law, then we need to become active in many other areas besides Federal politics.
Freedom is a self help project.
The bigger long term question for people espousing "Classical Liberal" values should be "what do we want to do with this power?" Objectivists, Libertarians, Reformers and Conservatives of various stripes have either never answered the question or done a poor job of selling the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility and the rights of freedom of speech, property ownership and Rule of Law. If "we" are really serious about achieving these goals (and most people who believe in the "Classical Liberal" philosophy agree on the ends, if not the means) , then focusing all our attention on the CPC and Ottawa is distracting us from the real problems.
Some of the commentators have noticed that we should be making our voices heard on talk shows and letters to the editor (especially on the on line versions of the newspapers, where you are far more likely to be published and read). Directing your attention to the culture wars, we also need to make our voices heard, both directly by commenting on the fare we are presented on radio, TV and other media, and applying pressure to support positive messages and eliminate negative messages through contacting advertisers and offering praise for sponsoring media that supports freedom of speech, property rights and the Rule of Law, and boycotting advertisers who sponsor media that supports "Progressive" tropes.
As well, "we" need to start focusing our electoral power on the other levels of government. City Councils have become havens for "Progressives", and their antics affecting ownership of property are as great a threat to freedom as the CHRC, indeed greater since property ownership is one of the few practical expressions of our political rights and freedoms. Joining local groups promoting responsible civic government is a good start. Some examples in Ontario include: the Windsor Association of Concerned Taxpayers (WeACT); the Forest City Institute; the Toronto Party and Eye on Ottawa. If you have a group, let us know. If you want to start a group, contact these people and ask for advice.
Provincial governments are next, since they have been given a carte blanche to extract tax monies from us through Federal equalization payments. Seeing your tax dollars go to provide a tax cut to taxpayers in a different province is hardly a recipie for delivering responsible local government or even a strong national federation. Success stories are rare, but the remarkable growth of Saskatchewan after the demise of their long standing NDP government and culture should be a beacon and example to us all. The provinces have a much larger selection of political parties as well; Ontario has a Libertarian, Capitalist and even a Reform party as alternatives to the Progressive Conservatives. Large scale support to those parties will cause the other parties to take notice and react (even if electoral success is denied the smaller parties).
Face it. Ottawa is only one piece of the puzzle, and indeed it isn't even the largest piece. If we want to move the social, cultural and political landscape to support the values of freedom of speech, property rights and the Rule of Law, then we need to become active in many other areas besides Federal politics.
Freedom is a self help project.
Friday, January 9, 2009
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.
Luckily for us, there is also a blueprint for gaining our ultimate freedom within as well.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
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:
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.
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?
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.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
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
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
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
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
All the history that's fit to ignore
The MSM has been strangely silent on Iraq since the "Surge". The crushing of the insurgency in the "Tikrit triangle", the defeat of the Al-Sadr militia in Basra and the "Anabar Awakening" which drove out the Al Qaeda in Iraq's footholds in that promise were entirely at odds with the MSM narrative of defeat and dispair.
As well, the crushing of the insurgency is a humiliating blow to the US anti war movement and totally overturns the narrative of Senator (now President elect) Barack Obama, who has constantly and consistently been against the Iraq war, and has publicly stated that the "Surge" was not effective and the US would be defeated in Iraq.
How much better if they simply pretend it never happened.
For those of you who do not have a personal memory hole, real reporting of the situation in Iraq has been provided by such independent "blog" journalists as Micheal Yon, and professionals like Robert Kaplan, and can be found on the web.
November 22 should become a new day of celebration for Americans: VI day. Since this conflicts with the "official" narratives and the new Administration, VI day will have to be a private memorial celebrated on November 22 each year by patriotic Americans and their friends throughout the world. Let the Administration and MSM know what you are doing, they may publicly ignore your celebrations but should be hanging their heads in shame (and will if they have any decency left).
Congratulations to the Bush Administration for seeing the conflict through to victory.
Congratulations to the American and Allied servicemembers who made such great sacrifices to bring about victory
Congratulations to the Government and people of Iraq for perservering against all the odds.
Congratulations to the American people who supported their troops during the hard times.
As well, the crushing of the insurgency is a humiliating blow to the US anti war movement and totally overturns the narrative of Senator (now President elect) Barack Obama, who has constantly and consistently been against the Iraq war, and has publicly stated that the "Surge" was not effective and the US would be defeated in Iraq.
How much better if they simply pretend it never happened.
For those of you who do not have a personal memory hole, real reporting of the situation in Iraq has been provided by such independent "blog" journalists as Micheal Yon, and professionals like Robert Kaplan, and can be found on the web.
November 22 should become a new day of celebration for Americans: VI day. Since this conflicts with the "official" narratives and the new Administration, VI day will have to be a private memorial celebrated on November 22 each year by patriotic Americans and their friends throughout the world. Let the Administration and MSM know what you are doing, they may publicly ignore your celebrations but should be hanging their heads in shame (and will if they have any decency left).
Congratulations to the Bush Administration for seeing the conflict through to victory.
Congratulations to the American and Allied servicemembers who made such great sacrifices to bring about victory
Congratulations to the Government and people of Iraq for perservering against all the odds.
Congratulations to the American people who supported their troops during the hard times.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
"I am a free Canadian" -- election day blogburst
"I am a Canadian,
a free Canadian,
free to speak without fear,
free to worship God in my own way,
free to stand for what I think right,
free to oppose what I believe wrong,
free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold
for myself and for all mankind."
a free Canadian,
free to speak without fear,
free to worship God in my own way,
free to stand for what I think right,
free to oppose what I believe wrong,
free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold
for myself and for all mankind."
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Men, not Law
I was visiting a Conservative Party candidate at her open house when it was crashed by several people "protesting" the deportation of American servicemen who have deserted and fled to Canada.
Now, while I support free speech, I most certainly don't support the position of these people. The servicemen volunteered to serve the United States, expecting to receive pay, benefits and training, but failed to maintain their end of the commitment. The short description of their action is desertion, and is a crime against the American government.
These servicemembers claimed refugee status in Canada, and have made various arguments such as being real refugees (in danger of persecution by their home government), contientious objectors (a legal process which American servicemembers can claim within the American military, but which these servicemembers either did not claim or failed to prove their case) and various other claims. They were provided with access to the Canadian legal system, and went through the legal process and lost.
The people who support the American servicemen and want to stop the deportations are explicitly attempting to overturn the Rule of Law in Canada. Their ideal state was inadvertently revealed in London Ontario on October 10, when several thuggish "War resistor supporters" pushed a women into traffic for disagreeing with them. (Luckily she was not injured). I wonder if these "War resistor supporters" have contemplated what sort of society they are advocating for, or how they will fare against larger and more organized groups that disagree with them in such an anarchistic state?
Now, while I support free speech, I most certainly don't support the position of these people. The servicemen volunteered to serve the United States, expecting to receive pay, benefits and training, but failed to maintain their end of the commitment. The short description of their action is desertion, and is a crime against the American government.
These servicemembers claimed refugee status in Canada, and have made various arguments such as being real refugees (in danger of persecution by their home government), contientious objectors (a legal process which American servicemembers can claim within the American military, but which these servicemembers either did not claim or failed to prove their case) and various other claims. They were provided with access to the Canadian legal system, and went through the legal process and lost.
The people who support the American servicemen and want to stop the deportations are explicitly attempting to overturn the Rule of Law in Canada. Their ideal state was inadvertently revealed in London Ontario on October 10, when several thuggish "War resistor supporters" pushed a women into traffic for disagreeing with them. (Luckily she was not injured). I wonder if these "War resistor supporters" have contemplated what sort of society they are advocating for, or how they will fare against larger and more organized groups that disagree with them in such an anarchistic state?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
