A Lighthearted Look at Another Time

This arrived by email. I think it conjures up a childhood that many wish could be summoned up for their own families today, somehow. It a time that, generally, was good for children. Women were expected to actually do the mothering when they chose to have children; it was the responsibility of both parents -- though, because the men went out to work, the bulk of the child rearing was done by women, but when the Father arrived home, his word meant something. Mothers were supported in their efforts by Father's word and actions. Mothers knew their job was valued and did it.

It is so different today. I hate the very idea of daycare although I have talked to someone who seems to know a bit about the research which shows that, for the poor and those whose children would suffer if left at home, it is positive.

Of course, anyone can have children in our world; you might need a license to drive but reproduction is a free-for-all. Pity! NJC

It Was Good

Were you a kid in the Fifties or earlier? Everybody makes fun of our childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids snicker. Twenty-something's shudder and say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that bad? Judge for yourself:

In 1953 The US population was less than 150 million... Yet you knew more people then, and knew them better... And that was good.

The average annual salary was under $3,000... Yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life... And that was good

A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents... But it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one... And that was good.

Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and Lassie... So nobody ever heard of ratings or filters... And that was good.

We didn't have air-conditioning. . . So the windows stayed up and half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike.. And that was good.

Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins... But not Ms Becky or Mr. Dan... And that was good.

The only hazardous material you knew about... Was a patch of grassburrs around the light pole at the corner... And that was good.

You loved to climb into a fresh bed... Because sheets were dried on the clothesline.. And that was good.

People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives.. So "child care" meant grandparents or aunts and uncles... And that was good.

Parents were respected and their rules were law... Children did not talk back.... and that was good.

TV was in black-and-white... But all outdoors was in glorious color....And that was certainly good.

Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor.. And the Dad next door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs.. And that was very good.

Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard.. And chickens behind the garage... And that was definitely good.

And just when you were about to do something really bad. . . Chances were you'd run into your Dad's high school coach.. Or the nosy old lady from up the street... Or your little sister's piano teacher... Or somebody from Church.... ALL of whom knew your parents' phone number... And YOUR first name... And even THAT was good!

REMEMBER . . .

Send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics, Brenda Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk as well as the sound of a real mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, playing cowboy, playing hide and seek and kick-the-can and Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local theater before the Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, and wax lips and bubblegum cigars.

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that! And was it really that long ago?

It certainly was that long ago -- olden times But it delineates so much safer a world for a child to grow up. I love the feeling of security for children that this conjures. Sometimes, I look at old text books from my grandmother's home -- readers with uplifting stories that were actually intended to be uplifting -- meant to make children strive to become their very best. It presents a time of idealism -- that must have been good for children to be exposed to before they became so knowledgeable about the worst of the world -- before their world engendered cynicism and children became jaded -- as they appear to be today -- and so early. I often wonder if the benefits of the world wide web and instant communication outweigh the negatives for families in bringing up children. NJC

‘FACT CHECK’ REALITY CHECK

Throughout [the] campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Stephen Harper has kept to the high road by avoiding attacks on his opponents. It is his belief that the candidates should be taking full aim at the real enemy... the Liberals. Despite all the aggravation directed at him, you've seen him stick to his principles in media statements and in the televised debates. However, we must reiterate that the campaign team will defend Stephen, and he will defend himself, whenever he is challenged by personal attacks.

It seems the other candidates are growing ever more desperate, especially Ms. Stronach. They believe they only way to elevate their own support levels is to tear away at Stephen Harper and his campaign. But in the end, all they do is damage their own credibility and harm the party. We are in the process of choosing a leader... a leader who could become our next Prime Minister. That person must look and act like a Prime Minister. The conclusion is obvious and inescapable; among the 3 candidates, Stephen Harper is the only one with the credentials and demeanor of a Prime Minister.

For a little background, read the following dated March 4, 2004

Stronach’s Negative Campaigning Continues with Smear Attempts
OTTAWA – Once again, the Harper campaign is disappointed to see the Belinda Stronach campaign reaching into the depths of negative politics, attempting to smear her opponents in the Conservative Party leadership race. And sadly, the attacks get pettier by the day.

We’re getting used to refuting the finger-pointing by the Stronach campaign, so here’s the latest. They stated, “In a recently issued campaign brochure, Harper signs a message to conservative voters as ‘Leader of the Opposition’.” With trademark zeal, they seized upon the brochure in question with a news release – but with trademark carelessness, they never bothered to find out what actually happened.

A few moments of thoughtful investigation would have revealed that the brochure entered circulation in December, a month before Stephen Harper officially stepped down as Leader of the Opposition. Perhaps Ms. Stronach should check her dates – we know it’s been a quick and hectic campaign, and it’s easy to lose track of time. We’d be happy to send her a calendar.

In the meantime, we can only shake our heads at the continued petty negative campaigning from the other choices in this campaign. It cheapens this race, and doesn’t serve the party – and frankly, we expected more. And if this is the juiciest tidbit that our friends in the other campaigns can come up with, then perhaps it really is time to turn our focus back on the Liberals where the real scandal is.

For more information, check out One Conservative Voice

Thanks to R*** for this. NJC

Da liddle guy from Shenanigan gets his Revenge

If for nothing else, I must thank Diane Francis for her new title for Chretien. I think I will even start referring to his old scandal--or should it be this one?--as Shenanigate. In her National Post article entitled, It's not just Tammany on the Rideau, (Sat. Feb. 28), she explains how Chretien dodged the bullet which went on to hit Martin. He prorogued Parliament a few days before the Auditor-General's devastating report on the sponsorship scandal was to be tabled. He then quit office before he could be tarred with the breaking news. It reminds me of how Pierre Pettigrew emerged white as snow from the HRDC fiasco, while Jane Stewart was left to fend off the scandal he had created. [How poetic the justice -- were he to suffer the same fate as Pelletier, late of Via Rail. NJC]

Francis accuses the government of flagrant disregard of the public purse. She mentions the grand theft that the gun registry and the HRDC symbolize, but then zeros in on the other wastages of tax dollars.

Still others are the routine patronage excesses of pigs at the trough, like the Grand Oink of them all--Adrienne Clarkson--who will go down in the annals of Ottawa history as the Marie Antoinette of Governors-General. Her 5.3 million arctic swing, on behalf of her champagne-socialist consort and 59 friends, was let-them-eat-cake-behaviour that should have netted her the Bastille, or le blade.

Then Francis is off on the sponsorship scandal that involved crown corporation misdeeds, theft, money laundering, and corruption of the RCMP. Quite an impressive list of chicanery in anybody's books. Chretien might have dodged the direct flight of the bullet, but it will surely ricochet back to critically wound him, and his legacy. The first internal audit on the sponsorship program revealed the rot as far back as 1996. Chretien sat on that report, hoping that it would never come to light. However Fraser's more thorough audit in 2002 blew the lid off this boondoggle. Fingers started pointing in every direction. Chretien choose that as an appropriate time to scuttle off to China to do some more dubious business with people of Duhaime's ilk.

Diane Francis has a number of suggestions to stem the sleaze that I hope is super-glued to the Liberal government. Term limits, free backbencher votes, an independent investigation based on the Auditor-General's reports, and rotating the media reporters that cover the government. She thinks maybe this would end the cozy relationship between the government and the media / bureaucrats.

© Bud

Optimism -- for Canadians

At last a warm day, a few degrees above. I am breaking out the lawn chairs -- the three foot high snow banks around the bare grass make an excellent windbreak. It is also a perfect time to pick up the navigationally-challenged robins. As the news is too bleak to countenance--the suicide bombings of Shi'ite ceremonies in Iraq and simutaneously in Pakistan are being blamed by the Shi'ites on America and the Zionists--forget their twisted minds, I will give you The National Post's twisted minds on the envisioned "drugged driving police checkpoints legislation". Things the police should be on the watch for:

1. Car has giant bong strapped to the roof rack
2. When car driver is asked to get in the back of cop car, he says, "Fire up the Batmobile!"
3. Driver claims magic mushrooms are really chew toys for his pet hamster
4. A huge bag of nachos is strapped into the baby car seat
5. When asked to show his driver's licence and insurance, he pulls a crumpled picture of Bob Marley out of an empty poppycock can.
6. Driver takes ticket and starts rolling it up into a blunt
7. You place breathalyzer near suspect's lips; he grabs it and begins lip-synching Sly Stone's "I want to take you higher"
8. Every 30 seconds driver gets mesmerized by the rotating police car lights

© Bud

Robert (You the man!) Fulford's take on His Excellency John Ralston Saul

Robert Fulford (National Post, Feb. 04, 28) begins with a delightful statement, "There is nothing so grand that John Ralston Saul can't look down on it....Unfortunately he delivers his opinions in a way that is at once pompous and close to meaningless. It's often hard to know what he is saying." Fulford shows how Saul's Big Picture statement that economic theories rarely last more than a few decades, or if they did, they had to be supported by military threat. Even though that was true of communism in Eastern Europe, it does not apply at all to free enterprise--first promulgated by Adam Smith in 1776, and in current useage ever since by the vast majority of the world. John Ralston takes the Shavian approach of setting up straw men, then blowing them to smithereens. Half the examples he mentions of economic models have never been suggested by a competent economist. As usual, with someone as erudite as Robert Fulford, I give him the last word.

"After piling up some dozen unsorted facts, some related, some not, some illustrative of world trends, some not, Saul finally says, 'What this might mean remains painfully unclear.' A rare case of an author providing the perfect critique of his own work."

© Bud

The People Lose Out: Honesty and Integrity

I have been reading of good candidates, even some sitting MPs, losing their nominations in their ridings. What follows may be a reason. Inevitably, ** baffles brains, integrity, ideas, . . . . you fill the rest in for yourself. I am publishing this because it points up what is wrong with us when we listen to candidates speak, tune in to the hoopla and the hype, and forget to weigh what each candidate says and whether his/her character is such that what is said matches with what would be done -- especially, when push comes to shove. It was ever thus. NJC

Disillusioned by political process

Woodstock Sentinel Review re Charles Ward, by Peter Hutchison

It is no wonder that our political situation is in the shape that it is and it will never change, because the "people" will not change.

On Monday night I attended the candidate nomination meeting of the Conservative Party of Canada [. . . .]

However, I soon realized that the meeting was not about the best man for the job, but rather a popularity contest of more memberships and friends. Until people come to realize that they should choose the "best" man for the job to represent them, and forsake family, friends and loyalties, we will never change the political situation we always find ourselves in.

From all of Oxford County, only two persons were interested enough to put their name forward to give us a choice . . . .

I listened to Dave [MacKenzie] and heard absolutely nothing about issues or what he would do for me. All I heard was about him and past accomplishments. I listened to Charles [Ward] and heard about issues affecting us today, I heard what he intended to do for me, how he would do it and changes he would like to make.

So, who gets the vote? The man who would best represent Oxford? Or, the most popular, without vision or commitment?

[. . . .] The real losers in these situations are the people, and it is usually the people themselves who cause their own defeat. On Monday night, Oxford lost out on a good representative in Charles Ward. We can only hope now that Dave MacKenzie will strive to represent us in the way Charles Ward would have.

What follows is from an email sent to Charles Ward by a supporter; this is what is sad -- and how Canada and Parliament loses out.

I'm sorry you lost. . . but in another way I am happy about the result. Ottawa is a dirty business as you well know . . . Honesty and integrity is lost on most of these folks. You are different and perhaps someday Canadians might be lucky enough to get an MP of your calibre in the house. For now, I have no such illusions.

Think about that as you consider for whom to vote -- whatever party you support. It is the integrity of the individual that is important.

Francois on Adscam

Update to A Dummy's Guide to the Election Issues

Subject: adscam

$100 million

That's a lot of money. Our money. Money that could have helped a lot of people.

Think about this: We the Canadian taxpayers shell out $100 million A DAY on repaying JUST THE INTEREST on the national debt.

Exactly! Thanks, Francois. NJC

Listen up, Whitey! Dance to Multi-cult's Hip Hop Beat, or else We are Coming for You.

I recently read an article in The Spectator, UK, entitled: The Multicultural Thought Police. The author, Leo McKinstry, outlines the desperate measures the Labour party in Britain are taking to ensure racial tolerance. First of all, they use that old socialist trick of branding the police as racists. The message then is, the endless court line-up of blacks and other ethnics is not because they are really criminals -- but rather that the police "profile them". Of course any serious criminologist could refute this; however, their evidence is also stifled by the government and the loonie left-media organs--think the Liberals and the Toronto Star--among others--here in Canada.

In fact, as I read the article, I spotted numerous parallels between the two countries. Just as BBC beats the racist drum against the British police, you have the CBC and the Toronto Star doing the same against the Toronto police, accusing them of "institutional racism". Similarly there is the cry that the police (and everybody else) "must recognize the different experiences, perceptions and needs of a diverse society." Nothing is ever said about immigrants / refugees rounding off some of their corners to co-exist in their new environment. To take the most extreme multiculters' position would mean that we should do with all visible minorities what Canada does with its Native criminals, i.e. give them reduced sentences. Their rationale is explained with the spouting of all kinds of sociological gobbledygook--slavery, residential schools--blah, blah, blah.

McKinstry states, "Yet the terror of stereotyping anyone--except white police officiers--ignores the reality of modern British society. Islamic fundamentalism and black criminals are not figments of a twisted imagination. They are an intregal part of the cultural diversity we are all meant to celebrate. . . After decades of advancing multiculturalism, Britain is the most violent country in Europe, with the highest rates of gun crime, drug-taking and street robbery." How do the multiculturists face this reality? "

[The government ] are becoming more authoritarian in their suppression of negative thinking. In their eagerness to impose the ideology of diversity, they are like the old Soviet Politburo, which pretended that communism had created an earthly paradise, and anyone who claimed otherwise was a crank or a criminal."

The British race regulations committee have even overturned the historic burden of proof from being on the accuser to the accused. The Commission for Racial Equality warns that, "for the discriminator, the consequences of the new burden of proof will be significant." As chilling a statement in a democracy as could be conceived. But it goes further than that. Britons are supposed to turn a blind eye to the viscious ravings of anti-western Muslims--some who stand in Hyde Park and openly suggest that Blair should be assassinated. [called Hook Handed Hamza, an imam, as I recall -- NJC] Only after the ricin scare, did police close down the notorious Finsbury Park Mosque, which had for years been identified as an Al-queda-friendly institution. Here in Canada, we have the Scarsborough Mosque identified with various suspect Al-queda operatives--the Khadr family being the most infamous among them.

Multicult took a heavy blow when its minister, Hedy Fry, tried to whip up false racist charges against Prince George, BC. Her statement in Parliament, "KKK crosses are burning on the lawns of Prince George, as we speak", sealed her doom. Similarly, the government-supported--nay, taxpayer-supported--National Action Committee, a feminist/socialist front organization has slid into obscurity, when it elected as its head one unrepresentative figure after another. It is hardly a national organization that picks a New Yorker, then a transplanted Indo-American, then a Barbadian-Canadian, then an Aboriginal woman to represent the majority of Canadian women. Without substantial government funding it would disappear altogether. [The alternative would be to get rid of that profligate government. NJC]

In conclusion, McKinstry makes the ironic comparison between Britain today and yesterday's Nazi Germany. "In some ways, multiculturalism is a reaction to the barbarity of Hitler's regime. The sorry paradox is that, in its myopia over race and its hysterical intolerance of dissent, this doctrine is dragging us along the road towards tyranny."

© Bud

Haiti -- Ken vs Barbie in Court

I believe that Haiti is a basketcase; but it has always been a basketcase. Two hundred years of liberation from slavery has wrought only despotism and fathomless ignorance. America can't save it, nor can France. It is one of those beknighted countries like Mauritania or Guinea-Bissau that defy any rational solutions. Best just to say, "The train wreck's over, folks. Let's move along now."

Anyway, Haiti is a minor worry right now. Barbie's Ken is in total disrepute. I happened to have read Barbie's petition for divorce. Ugly stuff indeed. Here are some of the salient points.

Whereas Ken (henceforth to be named the respondent) has had a common law relationship with Barbie (henceforth to be called the petitioner) and, whereas he has never consummated their relationship of 43 years, the petitioner wishes to file for divorce in the state of California--Hollywood division. The reasons for said divorce, on irreconciliable differences, are as follows: to wit:

* The respondent is of ambiguous sexuality
* The respondent suffers from a lack of commitment
* The respondent refuses to wear his princely costumes
* The respondent has been unsupportive of the petitioner's numerous career moves
* The respondent has engaged in serial binge drinking with male friends, "inter alia" GI Joe and Mr. Potato Head
* The petitioner has formed a bond with the Australian surfer dude, Blaine, who assures her he is anatomically correct
* The petitioner was publicly humiliated by the respondent who stated that her boobs were 100% plastic
* Furthermore, the petitioner asks for sole custody of the pink sports car, the pink yacht, the pink condo retreat, and her 5,653 designer outfits. In addition, the petitioner requests $2,000,000 in damages for the mental cruelty and loss of affection that the respondent has brought forth. [Would that be because he was not anatomically correct? NJC]

IF YOU FAIL TO RESPOND TO THIS PETITION WITHIN A MONTH, JUDGMENT WILL BE GIVEN IN YOUR ABSENCE

H***, I always figured it was only my knowledge of Barbie's Ken that enabled the barmaids of the world to remember me. I have always thought that this was the reason that I was allowed to extend my happy hour in at the B********* in the country of ****** -- well, that and the fact that I always bought a grotestquely carved coconut from the roving artist, and then demanded an extra drink for "mi suegra".

© Bud -- thinking of changing my name to Blaine

A Few Short Bursts Ripped from the Pages of The National Post

George Jonas writes about the amoral heart of Canadian bureaucracy, when it allowed Canadian soldiers to be exposed to various chemical agents like mustard gas to "see the effects on the human body." Well, the effects were monstrous blisters that disfigured the poor grunts. In the name of compassionate thinking, the soldiers were given $1 for each blister. The compensation package now offered them--decades later--will come out of present-day Canadians' tax dollars, not from those who commissioned those Nazi-esque "experiments". Those bureaucrats all died years ago, with their health and a healthy government pension intact before judgment day.

The letters to the editor have lambasted the GG and her philosoher-king spouse for the rank nonsense of her cultural forays and his illogical essays. Quick, for Canadians, tell me what good came out of Queen Adrienne's swanning about the European polar regions? Not even a good recipe for sauteed whale blubber, to my knowledge. As for John Ralston Saul, he thinks globalization is a spent force. But as a sarcastic letter writer pointed out, old John Ralston hasn't really tried to find a Canadian-made product in Walmart or Zellars lately. ( But then, His Excellency John Ralston Saul does not have to shop at the WalMarts of this world, does he? NJC )

To track back a few millennia, there was an article on the first WMD--the catapult. Not only were they massively destructive of castle walls, they were the precursors of biological terrorism. Nothing like hoisting a few plague or smallpox corpses over the walls to create panic in the citizenry. Simply owning enough of these weapons kept the enemy at bay. Sort of an ancient mutual assured destruction idea.

Another writer makes the case that, without native children assimilating to the prevailing culture's educational and social norms, the children who arrived here from different language and cultural groups / countries will be light years ahead of them in a few decades--in fact, they already are. But of course these new hard-working immigrant children will have the privilege of supporting the non-productive natives (not all natives, of course). That must gladden their hearts somewhat.

There was an article that showed how the whole sponsorship scandal was conducted. A small Quebec "numbered" ad company that never had more than five employees and that was run out of a basement, was able to donate nearly $70,000 to the Liberal party. Now that its connection to lucrative Groupaction sub-contracts has dried up, it has gone into bankruptcy.

Over two and a half years after 9/11, a CSIS report still states that Canada is one of the main havens for every conceivable terrorist organization. [See excerpt from report here.] Undocumented refugees, many from the hot-beds of terrorist supporting countries, continue to flow into Canada because of our lax laws. When Al-Qaeda fullfils its threat of attacking Canada, the chips will fall, big time, for the authors of this mess. The Conservatives, likely, will then be left to try to ferret out the now-entrenched terrorist cells. Even the endless Liberal economic chicanery doesn't come up to this criminal disregard for Canadians' security. In the United States, that Abdurahman Khadr kid would be in jail for being an Al-queda supporter. Instead, in Canada, he is allowed to strut around defending what's left of his terrorist family. If the opposition parties don't make this an election issue--damn the charges of "racism" that will be forthcoming--then they lack the wisdom and courage to form a government.

© Bud

Rat Cunning, etc -- You Don't Have to Agree, to Enjoy David Warren's Writing

David Warren: A Meal Feb. 21, 2004

Mr. Chrétien had rat cunning, and Canadians respect that. A rat with cunning gets pretty much whatever he wants up here. In Mr. Martin we detect a rat that we can eat.

[. . . . One ] of the three contenders [for leadership of the Conservtive Party of Canada] is Belinda Stronach, the inheritor of a taxpayer-promoted auto-parts fortune -- a Bill Clinton golfing buddy who is Canada's answer not to Margaret Thatcher, but more to Paula Jones. [Hardly! NJC]

*** Stephen Harper is an intelligent backroom strategist with no stage presence. [Quality does not need to be amplified by something as superficial and ephemeral as stage presence, David. You should know better. NJC] Tony Clement is a failed provincial politician. [Failed provincial politician is almost a recommendation of good character since, failed politician in Canada simply means that the Liberals spread the dung of accusation and innuendo on all the candidates--good and bad--and their party, along with filthy lucre, of course. All emphasis is mine. NJC ] ***

One of them may well become our next prime minister.

On the other hand, we wouldn't have nearly-perpetual Liberal government were Canadians not an obedient people, across ethnic lines -- or, as Jonathan Swift once said of the Irish, "A servile race in folly nursed, / Who truckle most when treated worst." (We seldom complain except when they threaten to reduce our taxes.)

But we have the other side of the Irish in us, too, and we like to make a meal of the occasional politician (ask Brian Mulroney). And, having made a meal of this Mr. Martin, I expect we will emerge more Anglophonic in our attitude to the world.

I do like the way David Warren phrases things. Link to enjoy the whole article. NJC

A Dummy's Guide to the Election Issues

No offence meant here. It is just that the endless sleazy scandals that have marked the Chretien/Martin era are so fulsome that it is hard for the average voter to keep track of them, as they tumble on each other. There is even the fear that scam-fatigue will set in and the voter will say, "Politics is a dirty business, so, what else is new? The parties are all the same." What they really mean is that the Quebec side of politics always seems to be the same--riddled with self-serving pols. This was true in Mulroney's reign, as well as in Trudeau's and Chretien's. And it will continue to be true under Martin, as he dares not alienate his loyal Quebec base -- the base that gives the Liberals their Quebec votes. Therefore, before the few people still inclined to vote--the numbers fall every election--give up, let's outline the main indictments against the current government.

Paul Martin was either deeply implicated in the sponsorship scandals and those of the HRDC and the Gun Registry, or he is totally incompetent. On top of that, he feigned being "absolutely shocked" to discover that his Canadian Steamship Line was given, not $131,000 in grants, contributions and other dubious loans, but rather, the princely sum of $161-million! But he claimed to be personally unaware of this largesse being handed out to his company. This is the man who got on his high horse to demand that foreign tax havens be made off-limits to Canadians -- well, except for the Barbados, where he has registered his CSL company and pays only 2% (6%?) local taxes. Bugger all to the Canadian government, of course. To re-elect a man like this would be like proclaiming the CEO of Bre-X as the business manager of the century.

Another issue that the Conservatives have to tackle is our shameful immigation / refugee policy. It will be difficult, as the Liberals have tried to make this issue a sacred cow. Any attempts to stop the abuses will be met with the Liberal /NDP/ CBC cry of xenophobic redneck attitudes. But this concern need not be the death knell of the Conservatives in the huge immigrant urban areas--most of whom have entered Canada after an arduous process, often entailing years of paperwork. To Canadians, particularly those who have come to Canada through the front door, keep pointing out the inequality of the queue-jumpers, who flood into Canada from suspect countries and usually with no documentation to even prove who they are. Also expose the Liberal lie that the politicians are now trying to circulate that Canada has one of the most stringent refugee policies. The exact opposite is the truth. No country in the G-8 accepts even half the percentage of refugees that Canada does.

Zero in on the failed Liberal Aboriginal policies. As usual, the Liberals will throw more money at the problem of native pathologies. Another $800-million will be added to the over $7-billion that they aready give to the natives. This sum does not count the billions more that are off-book expenditures to them. Chretien was Native Affairs ministers in the late 60's, but the problem since then has only grown worse. Crime, unemployment, and domestic violence have risen, unabated, through the Liberal decades. Not only is the money sent out often wasted by kleptocratic chiefs and their cronies, but law and order is breaking down; witness the Kanesatake and Burnt Church incidents. Now consider that the Native/Indian population is the fastest growing one in Canada. It is estimated that in a few more decades they will comprise 40% of Saskatchewan. Who is going to support this perpetual welfare burden? The one good thing that Chretien's government did was to appoint Robert Nault responsible for the Department of Indian Affairs. Nault saw the corruption on the reserves and was going to bring in legislation that would enforce transparency and honest elections of reserve officials. Martin promptly dropped him from Cabinet and reversed Nault's policies. Henceforth, it will be turn-a-blind-eye to corruption again. Except, there will now be an additional $800 million to pilfer.

In the Maritimes, I have read of how the Liberals waste money through ACOA grants. These business grants are often tied to no particular chance of success, but merely to a favourite loyalist riding or a heavy contributor to Liberal coffers. Vast numbers of the funded businesses have failed. Still, in certain areas they last long enough to guarantee their boy gets re-elected. Harper wants to scrap these doomed enterprises and instead, give Maritime businesses a special tax break. That across-the-board measure would benefit everyone, not just Liberal supporters.

© Bud--who once--to his shame--actually voted Liberal -- but he was young and stupid, and Trudeau did seem really hip.

Hip? That must have been before Bud grew up. Oh, Bud, what a confession! Appalling! Hang your head! Do penance, and then pray that we might undo what that man instigated -- particularly, that Charter of Rights--but not Responsibilities--and Freedoms. Note that freedoms, the latter part just keep expanding in certain areas but contracting in the ones that really count -- such as in the Canadians' benefits from democracy department. More and more, there is court-ordered coercion impacting upon the individual's values and beliefs.

For example, where do people who never paid a cent into it get the right to Canadian taxpayers' benefits? Why should people who come here without identification and documentation have a right to welfare and other taxpayer-funding? Why is the right to privacy of illegal immigrants such that it trumps Canadian citizens' security rights? Why should the courts be rounding on expression of beliefs and personal values, such as demanding that a certain perspective on lifestyle issues be accepted as received wisdom -- though newly-minted in the last thirty years? Why should speaking truth be curtailed in the interest of a dubious harmony -- though labelled something else? Make up your own list. This is a Charter that needs to be revisited in the light of common sense.

© NJC

Lou Dobbs, Education and Exporting Jobs

I was listening to Lou Dobbs on CNN as he assayed a study done by Harvard that showed that, in the last four years, the number of blacks, hispanics and natives who graduated from high school was only 50%. Considering that they are breeders of the first magnitude, what is America facing down the line? The cities are going to be a battleground between these academic losers and the rest--although even the latter's jobs are being exported abroad in record numbers. It may come down to whether the ex-computer geek or the dumb drop-out gets to collect your garbage. Dobbs also mentioned that Vincente Fox wants open Mexican immigration into the States. Can you say, Bienvenido, amigo? Sounds as though Fox would like to export his unemployment problem to the US. Specifically, there was a report on the $99-billion deficit that California faces. Ideas punted around were severe state infastructure cut-backs and higher energy prices--which, from what you have told me, are not really a welcome option.

© Bud

NB: Contracts and Honourable Gentlemen -- or Women

NB is facing a budget deficit of $101-million this year, so I hear -- this, after the Conservatives were re-elected on the promise that NB would have a $100-million surplus. And the politicians keep wondering why fewer and fewer people bother voting each election. Speaking of energy, the monthly energy bills everywhere keep leaping up. Now we learn that NB Power has built a coal slurry processing plant, based on cheap Venezuelan imports--a verbal contract which the Venezuelans have reneged on. Seems there never was a firm written contract for this coal slurry. NB is suing the Venezuelans for $2-billion. From the media, we get the opinion that nobody thinks they will win -- though normally a verbal contract accompanied by a Letter of Understanding are considered binding. Of course, it presumes one is dealing with honourable gentlemen / gentlewomen whose word is their bond, in which case contracts are extraneous, though they do spell out the details. It will cost NB Hydro an extra $100-million a year to replace that slurry with other energy sources. The home improvement channel is about to feature igloo building. I am researching tasty blubber recipes in preparation for next winter. Can't have enough insulation these days.

© NJC -- I would like to end on a positive note, but the rumour is floating about that summer will be cancelled this year.

Picks of the Week: a Novel and a Film

My novel pick of the week is Lebanon: Death of a Nation, by Sandra Mackey. She details how Beirut, "The Paris of the East" was reduced to a chaotic hell of ethnic hatred, Islamic fundamentalism, and poverty. The fabulous city (and country) that my travel mate and I raved about is no more. The most interesting section was on the atmosphere during 1973. We never felt the rumbling of the volcano under our feet. There had been significant internecine warfare going on. The only clue happened when the Lebanese driver we had hired for the day took us back to Beirut from the Bekaas valley -- which we had learned was hashish heaven. As we entered Beirut, he pointed to the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp below us. He said, jabbing his finger angrily at the camp, "Those bastards are going to destroy Lebanon." This was in mid-November, 1973. On April, 15th, 1974, the civil war broke out -- and they did manage to destroy it. Now, they are at work on other destruction.

© Bud

My film pick of the week was on television somewhere. In the Time of Butterflies is set in the Dominican Republic during the time of Trujillo, and is based on the true story of the three Mirabal sisters and their family, one of whom came up against Trujillo's penchant for young, lovely girls from good families -- families who became complicit along with others in their set -- or they died. The film details one girl's response and Trujillo's revenge. The sisters' idyllic life was shattered as they learned the extent of the evil and joined an underground movement to raise people's consciousness and to rid the country of Trujillo and his thugs. The rest you will have to see. It is an excellent portrayal of how power works to ensnare all -- even members of the upper class and the Church -- who hold their noses and allow evil to continue, even to thrive -- with their complicity and with little knowledge of the lower classes. Disturbing, powerful, and worth watching -- the kind of film that most will skip in favour of another Dirty Harry film.

© NJC