Sept. 21, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn

Afghanistan and the rutted path to democracy

I think it is a given that most Westerners want to see a democratic and reasonably prosperous Afghanistan. Even Jack Layton wants this--just with no guns involved. The trouble is that guns are one of the few tools of technology that most Afghans own. Entire regions hate other ones. Even within provinces, the tribe counts more than any external authority. A harsh landscape inhabited by primitive peoples, living by a religious code unchanged in centuries, does not augur well for democracy. Throw in the Taliban resurgence, with Pakistani connivance and hope is further diminished.

With Pakistan as a refuge and endless recruiting ground, the Taliban cannot be defeated. It is also suspected that Pakistan's Intelligence Service has active Taliban supporters. Whole sections of the western area are essentially lawless, thus no-go spots for the regular Pakistani army. President Musharraf has to appease the fundamentalists, as they are politically powerful. In short, Pakistan has become the new Afghanistan ... one with nuclear weapons. What, short of outright war with Pakistan, could destroy the combined al-Qaeda-Taliban nexus? The allied forces can't even control the opium kingpins or the various warlords within sight of them.

On the other hand, what can the Western nations do except try to bring progress--needed in every single field. Are we to condemn the Afghanis--especially the women--to the Taliban's brutal theocracy? Maybe we, by our nature, are condemned to fight a quixotic war against invincible ignorance. A classic example of damned if you do, and damned with you don't.

© Bud Talkinghorn--Perhaps for me the most chilling statement came from a Taliban commander. "The Russians had their watches, but we controlled the time."



The Dawson college shootings--a pattern emerges

Elliot Leyton, the author of "Hunting Humans", has investigated these types of mass murders. He admitted that he didn't know Quebec well, except for investigating the three mass murders occurring there. He pointed out that there was a strange pattern operating. All three massacres were committed by immigrants or their children, they happened in Montreal, and all occurred at universities or colleges. He concluded that the elites who have encouraged these misfits to emigrate here need to re-evaluate their immigration/refugee stance. Of course if things get too tough in their cities, they can always commute from their cottages-cum-mansions. Joe Average can't, unfortunately. He gets to try to daily navigate around the increasingly messy cities.

I agree with Leyton that this country has a small, but powerful, "elite" group, who indirectly influence government policy--when not attending various ceremonies to give each other Awards for Excellence. Their lives and that of the average Canadian's are worlds apart. They pontificate on the injustices of the world, and how Canada should respond to them -- almost always from a leftist position. They harbour grandiose visions of social equality and humanitarian refugee policies. The dangerous leftist notion of "Nobody is illegal" is the latest incarnation of an already overly-generous refugee system--the highest acceptance rate in the Western world. If only their social engineering could prevail completely, the country would receive manna from Heaven for all. Well, actually there would be crippling taxation and almost zero social improvement across the urban landscape, as more and more unable-to-be-assimilated immigrants crowd in. If the elites are lucky, their tinkering wouldn't cause a hideous decline. However, from their lofty heights, they tend to miss these small negative aspects. Their latest gig is try to make the Dawson shootings a plus for the gun registry--even though Gill had acquired guns legally.

It is time for these people to take one more of ex-Queen Adrienne's Circumpolar Tours, but with a one way ticket only, please. Or Michaelle Jean could take them home to Haiti, where they could be kidnapped. Might give them a small taste of the real world.

© Bud Talkinghorn--These elites wouldn't be so galling if they had been elected to influence wide-ranging political decisions. They are the true Fifth Estate and Fifth Column.


Bud, don't the "Awards for Excellence" have a Liberal trademark?



Multiculturalism and its discontents

Some blog themes cannot be easily abandoned, even if you have written on them before. Multiculturalism is one of them. While not condoning the conspiracy theory that says this government policy was devised to destroy any Anglo-franco power bloc, it has nearly succeded. While French-Canadians and Anglo-Canadians don't always (Never?) see eye to eye on numerous issues, they do come from the same cultural and political backgrounds. What multiculturalism does is suggest that the customs of the Third World are equal to those of our founding fathers. If Third World immigrants came with our attitudes towards equality, democracy and scientific progress then there would be no need for this imposed mosaic model. However, they don't, as a rule. Most still carry some of the cultural attitudes which doomed their homelands to Third World status.

Mark Steyn in The Western Standard (Sept, 26, 06, 60-61) presents a definitive argument against the cultural relativism that sits at multiculturalism's heart. The great strength of this doctrine is "that it short-circuits the possibility of argument. If there's no difference between English Common Law and native healing circles and Tamil Tiger fundraisers and gay marriage and sharia, then what's to discuss?" Steyn goes on to say that even to try to debate this cultural relativity is expose yourself to the label, "bigot". The big "however" though is that some beliefs, but only from some segments of society are not to be allowed. Some Edmonton guy was sentenced to 16 months in jail for referring to Jews as "debauched and demonic". However, if you carry placards down a main street calling for the death of Jews, or you are an A-list imam who calls Jews "the brothers of pigs", you are exempted from censure. Of course it is not just the Muslims who get a ride free from criticism. Gays, women, bogus refugees, bilingualism, and Wiccas are beyond criticism. The Hate Laws seem to have a large number of loopholes embedded in them.

Steyn quotes the eminent Islamic scholar, Bernard Lewis, who stated that whatever glue kept Britain together during WW1 and WW11 has dissolved. "It is different today. We don't know who we are, we don't know the issues, and we still do not understand the nature of our enemy." Our Western universities and leftist media make sure of that. How long before we'll be able to earn our degrees, with a major in "Western Guilt"? In the last half century we have diminished the role of Christianity, the family, and our Western social progress. In their place we have instituted a grab-bag of values. Chief among them is gross consumerism. When our main thought is how far Wal-Mart has dropped prices, rather than how our values of social justice and common decency have been dropping, then we are in deep trouble. We can see that decline in how the RCMP brand has fallen and is disparaged. One slip-up in their security handling of the Arar case and suddenly they are racist. Or as the left likes to describe it, "endemic racism in all police forces". That certain groups are vastly over-represented in domestic terrorism or street crime is another no-no for discussion. Our Muslim associations are quick to pick up that "racist" epithet.

Until we openly proclaim the inherent values that made Canada (not Somalia) great, we are facing ruin. When sharia law, with its various degrees of female devaluation, can be considered seriously as legally equal in Canada, then we have a problem. The core values of our Western ideology must be "bred in the bone", as Steyn would say. It would then be possible that our university students would boycott the radical socialist professors. They would understand the hokum of "deconstructionism and neo-colonial hegemony" for what it is. I feverishly await that day, but I am not holding my breath.

© Bud Talkinghorn