May 27, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn

These are being posted late. Sometimes life gets in the way and my best intentions are siderailed, or I lose the copy and don't find them until later. My apologies, Bud. NJC



The Auditor-General's report

Well, shiver me timbers. It appears that the absurd cost overruns of the gun registry are not the whole picture. Sheila Fraser has also found instances of Liberals misleading Parliament about these costs. On top of which, the very data from the registry is suspect, as numerous errors have never been corrected. There are thousands of peices of misinformation, as well as the vast number who didn't even bothering registering their rifles. Pity the poor cop who is answering a distress call on this shoddy information. Former Toronto Police Chief, Julian Fantino, stated flatly that "The registry never solved a single gun crime in my city."

The Auditor-General was also disgusted that the Liberals had done almost nothing to correct the fraudulent prescriptions--many for uppers/ downers and sideway drugs. This blind eye to drug abuse suggests that the Liberals were too terrified of being politically incorrect to intervene. Of course it is just taxpayers' money. It does make the federal government a major drug dealer--shades of Britain's war with China to keep the Chinese addicted to opium. Other egregious offenses occurred in other sections of the Indian Act.

But CBC is on the case--big time. Mixed among the 20 jokes on Canadian Air Farce about Harper and his various stances was a skit, suggesting that most criminals steal their guns from lawful Canadian gun owners. Sheer nonsense! The Vancouver police maintain that 80% of illegal guns are bought in the U.S.. On The National news CBC interviewed two women who had daughters killed by Marc Lepin, nee Gamil Gharbi--the son of a woman hating Algerian father. Gamil's background is always frozen in time. You see "Marc Lepin" can be used, by the radical feminists, as a shorthand for the "average" violent Canadian boy. Was the .22 rifle he used legal? That is a question that CBC never thinks of asking. Seeing as Gamil didn't have a previous criminal record, what would stop him from getting a gun licence and being registered? The entire registry was founded on the single act of this madman and the CBC doesn't even tell the truth about his background. There has never been a single incident of men gunning down masses of women since. That fact, too, is ignored. The gun registry was a classical Liberal appeal to mindless hysteria. The move won praises from the usual leftist suspects. A good step to ensnare Joe Canadian in myriad intrusive legislation. It is enough to make one turn extremely cynical. Let's see a true poll of the urbanites, to see if they really support this monumental boondoggle. Especially, after the arrests of The Jamestown Gang and their illegal weapons pipeline.

Check out the sagacious Rex Murphy's commentary on CBC National within the last couple of weeks. Nobody can skewer a nakedly political program such as the gun registry as Rex can.

In a CBC interview with the new young guy on "Canadian Air Farce", he revealed that the satirizing and lampooning of all things Conservative would be front and center. The interviewer didn't even blink at this revelation. Nor did he challenge the wisdom of CBC being so biased. Of course, silly me, it was not a revelation at all. Well, Rex, you da man, as far as I'm concerned. Your dismantling of the Kyoto Accord's shell game was equally brilliant.

May you remain a thorn in CBC's side for years to come.

© Bud Talkinghorn




The shameless partisanship of the Opposition

First, they reject Harper's selection for the new accountability directo;, then they threaten to defeat his Kyoto realignment. By cancelling Gwyn Morgan's appointment, the Opposition have shot themselves in the foot. Here was a top businessman, who offered his services for $1 a year. As well, he promised to enlist other top CEO's as volunteers to straighten out the nest of patronage and corruption that the Liberals left as their legacy. The specious arguments of the Opposition rang hollow. This is not going to sit well with the voters. The Liberals and NDP don't seem to have grasped the nettle that the electorate handed them. Meanwhile, the Liberals want to chastise the Conservatives for taking a different tack as regards pollution control. They, unfortunately, have this albatross around their neck. In the years of Liberal stewardship, they allowed Canada to exceed its commitment to Kyoto by 34%. This is an embarassing fact that can't be spun away with bluster and wistful thinking. Likewise, it was interesting to see how the vote on an extension to the Afganistan mission has played out. Didn't the Liberals initiate this mission? They had better get a new leader soon and get a coherent message out.

© Bud Talkinghorn



Academic standards

The ugly truth is that for the last three decades we have given up any academic standards, and have developed severe grade inflation. Wouldn't want to traumatize the little ones, you understand. Years ago, I told professors that the barbarians were at the gate. They all shook their grave heads and said, "No way". Well, they don't make that denial now. Rather, they create a tissue of lying rationales for why grade inflation is rampant. "Diversity and affirmative action" are favourites.

From an acquaintance, this information:

Last year I became friends with a Chinese-Canadian student. He wasa mature student and trying to get off his last courses for a degree. He kept telling me of the incredible lack of standards at the uni today. He showed an essay paper on communication where the student included an entire hard core porn dialogue -- and got a B+ on it. At another campus I have heard of, it is even worse. The former Student President there actually said--"You can always tell a *** grad. He always politely asks, "You want fries with that, sir?" Also grade 9 students were tested provincially. Less than 1% scored at a high performance level on the writing exam. The "success story" was that only 56% scored as low reading comprehension students.

We are breeding a nation of sub-literate morons. In our senile dotage we will be more literate and knowledgeable than most college graduates.

© Bud Talkinghorn


Is it my imagination or is TV becoming even more mindless?

The reality shows and the "contest" programs are unwatchable. How "Survivor" survives year after year remains a mystery. Real life survivors don't get a day's recuperation stay at a resort and spa. They simply get to live another day, but with a whole new perspective, eh? Actually, there is one good survival story on the History Channel called "The Real SAS". A bunch of real SAS show how you must survive after you have assassinated an enemy general and have to travel 40 miles through enemy territory to reach safety--especially, if you are pursued by the enemy's professional tracker/killer teams. Everyone is fascinated by it. And if you want something really different, rent the movie "Memento" (may be available only in VHS format). It is so complex that you can watch it over again, trying to figure out the ending. Even then, from my experience, you still are not sure, so will have to watch it yet again. Book: "Chew on this: Everything you didn't want to know about fast food." by Eric Schlosser. It's an expose of the fast food industry. "The success of McDonald's chicken nuggets has led to huge breasted, cannibalistic birds that routinely keel over from heart attacks. A single Burger King hamburger may come from over a hundred cows--thus spreading E coli. The red dye used to "colourize" beef products is made from ground-up bugs" You want fries with that?

© Bud Talkinghorn


The bias of the CBC

Lately, on the 6:30 national news [date?] was almost exclusively devoted to "the plight of the illegals in Canada". They ended the segment with some professional protestor holding a sign reading: "There are no illegals here." Man, the CBC TV crowd is the bell that tolls for Canada. The invasion is on in North America--big time. And our tax-paid public broadcaster is at the front leading it.

© Bud Talkinghorn