Oct. 1, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn & More

Update post added. Scroll to: The state of academe aka "the university shopping mall"


I have added my own squesk--or is that a banshee's wail?--to one of Bud's posts and posted a few other items, as well. FHTR



The Conservative budget shines a beacon on accountability

The Opposition is furious that the Conservatives cut off the pork for some of their favourite voting groups. But what really got the Liberal and NDP's knickers in a knot was the pay-down of the national debt with the entire budget surplus. This effectively saved $700 million a year in debt servicing charges. This $13.2 billion was something that the Liberals had hoped to get their hands on, should they win the next election. Just think of its uses to them. They could actually use it to win the election, by making grandiose promises--sometimes known as bribes--to various disaffected groups. No liberal/socialist organization would go unfunded. Lavish a few billion on the Quebecois and they would stifle their resentment over Adscam. There would also be no need to alienate the West with another Trudeaupian NEP. If the CBC promised to be a more reliable mouthpeice for their policies, maybe a little extra beef could be put on their plates. Also, they could wean the gays back from their futile allegiance to the NDP with new bureaucracies to advance their agenda--say the Directorate of Transgendered Issues. The cancelled Court Challenges Program would be re-activated, thus allowing numerous "disadvantaged communities" to sue the taxpayers for billions in ancient discrimination cases. This last one would cement the loyalty of the NDP, whom the Liberals might need as coalition buddies. Finally, they could give the natives part of the $5.2 billion they promised them in the Kelowna Accord--nothing much would change positively of course, but their gratitude factor at voting time would be assured.

Harper could have done lots to buy votes with that huge surplus too; however, he decided to help pay down the debt instead, which was, by 1995, threatening to bankrupt this country. His stand signalled that he fully intended to govern without this flash money. The billion saved from the cut programs could be spent on health and security issues. In short, the Conservatives have signalled that they intend to act with fiscal prudence. How refreshing!

© Bud Talkinghorn


Related: gearing up

Bud, read the Globe & Mail, Friday Sept. 29, 06, Business section.

Sept. 29, 06, B2: Memo to Liberals and voters from Neil Reynolds: "Long-term strategy for surpluses needed" -- i.e. Let's not leave any loophole. If Liberals return to government power, they should lock in plans over ten years so that if they are ever voted out, their plans will go ahead anyway. Nothing will be able to be changed ... another Gift That Keeps On Giving.

Then, there's the doom and gloom under the Conservatives schtick: politicking already for the Liberals. Sept. 29, 06, B1-Heather Schoffield: "Recession stalking Central Canada -- Region's manufacturing-based economies can expect 'difficult ride' ahead, banks say". In response, I would suggest; think how bad it is going to be if Canada goes into recession with the debt load it has now. The same thing happens on an individual level if s/he bought a house and has a large mortgage, then, you loses ajob or has some other bad luck. What happens with personal debt if the individual cannot pay the bills on time? Downsized home, among other things. Well, that could be staved off if the individual chooses to buy less/smaller/what is affordable after saving ...... Hard concept for the profligate spenders to get their hands around ... whether the profligate individual or the leftist profligates counting on future taxpayer dollars. They mortgage the next generation's children every time they make promises to people too dull witted to understand that the bill always comes due and sometimes, the culprits who put the country in debt are long dead. Think Trudeau and his Libera team. Check what Trudeau era Minister Warren Allmand is doing today ... advocating for a Global Tax to be administered by the United Nations. No, I am not making this up. See a post below from a group over which he presides.

Kyoto and exchange of credits is not dead in Liberal / Globe and Mail la-la land.

Three pages of "A special information feature" starting Sept. 29, 06, B7 and up to B10 (strangely numbered B101 and B102). Check for yourself. There are on Sept. 29 or Sept. 30, 06 the arguements in support of the Kyoto Accord. On page B13, Tavia Grant: "Climate right for emissions exchange -- Federal government must provide framework, ME says". That's the Montreal Exchange. If Montreal wants it, the rest of us must do the same? Check further into who would benefit.

Note which business just scored big in Africa (Bombardier). Sept. 29, 06, B3, Bertrand Marcotte: "Bombardier unit ties up big rail deal in S. Africa -- Rapid transit contract worth $1.65-billion". The message is that next election if Canadians, particularly Quebec, just return the new Liberals--the not corrupt version--they will help business ... the businesses already connected to the network of those who fare just fine under Liberal ... mis-management.

An obligatory anti-US / anti-Bush / the US is scary article: Constance Brand (Brussels) re money transfer company "SWIFT accused of violating EU privacy rules -- Secretly passed personal data to U.S.". The problem is the terrorist transfers of $$$ so what to do? FHTR



Global Tax

Bud, I just happen to have a link to an article which will fit right in with your next post: Initiatives that break taboos: Innovative ideas broach the idea of global taxes, by John W. Foster

www.worldfederalistscanada.org/globaltaxes_jun06.htm

[....] The Levy

In Paris, March 1-2, 2006, President Chirac convened a large international ministerial conference to mark progress on this agenda and build momentum. The Ministerial Conference on Innovative Financing for Development was attended by approximately 600 people, including representatives of 93 states, 3 heads of state, more than 70 ministers, the UN Secretary-General and representatives of many multilateral organizations and NGOs. The involvement of a significant number of AIDS-related, development and finance-reform NGOs was demonstrated in both speakers and participants.

The French government detailed its intention to begin a levy graduated according to class and destination on air tickets. Together with Gordon Brown of the UK, it confirmed that the UK would contribute to the trust fund created by the air ticket levy, and that France would contribute to the UK’s innovative International Financing Facility for Immunization (IFFIm). The French-initiated fund would be aimed at issues of consistent and sustainable supplies of life-saving drugs for people with HIV/AIDS and other diseases. [....]

There is much more both before and after that ... but I thought this would prepare you for work tomorrow ... a little water-cooler subject.




La Francophonie, with the emphasis on the "phonie" syllable

Paris, in a desperate attempt to prop up its influence, is recruiting some strange new members. Romania is the host country, but French is spoken by a tiny minority, it seems. An acquaintance who worked there told me no Romanian even asked if he spoke French. Most of the well-educated used English as their second language. More absurd than Romania as a member was the near inclusion of Thailand. Hello! I know that in Thailand French is not widely spoken. Again the "lingua franca"--literally the tongue of the Franks--ironically, is English. The true global lingua franca should be called lingua Anglo-Saxon.

France bears 70% of the Francophonie's budget, so when France pushes for countries such as Greece and Albania to be allowed, the impoverished majority members go along with it. Paris also sets the political agenda for most members. This was seen in the Francophonie's final declaration that they attempted to pass. It would recognize only Lebanon as a victim in its conflict with Israel. I guess having 4,000 rockets raining down on you does not count as being a victim of violence. Had it not been for the principled stand of Harper (aided only by Switzerland's delegate), this totally biased declaration would have passed. It does well to remember the French ambassador to England's characterization of Israel as "that shitty little country". If you want to see some real "shitty little countries" you need look no further than the African contingent in the Francophonie. The socialism they espouse has led to their anchoring the U.N.'s least developed countries in the world. Most survive on various aid programs, while some like Eygpt get huge relief from America. This never stops them from badmouthing the Yankee imperialists. Proposed additions to the organization include Bosnia and Serbia. A great example of stooping to conguer. What's next, North Korea?

© Bud Talkinghorn



Good night Larry Summers and good luck

The Harvard radical professors finally got their way and President Summers is toast. You see, Larry Summers made two tragic mistakes--one race specific, the other on gender. Firstly, he tangled with Cornel West, who was Harvard's resident Black guru. West had the creds to be both the voice of embittered blackdom and of radical social paradigms. This modish stance served him well in faculty forums. Unfortunately, he started to take off an inordinate amount of time to travel and proselytize. The single class he had to teach almost never saw him, nor was he pumping out his polemics for publication. Summers told him to buck up or get out. West departed in a huff. The leftist professors were not amused at losing this key totem of oppression. Larry was probably one of those closet racists, they mumbled. So the stage was set for his next big faux pas, the sexist statement.

All Summers really said, in what was supposed to be an open forum of ideas, was that maybe women's complicated lives precluded them from reaching the top of the science fields. Thus he became--in some eyes--a racist, sexist pig, who continues to flaunt his outdated patriarchical ideas. One disgruntled female science prof walked out in protest. She was quoted as saying, "His speech made me physically sick to my stomach." She was soon joined by a hearty chorus of affronted profs. This spread outside Harvard to reach the whole leftist university cohort. Summers apologized profusely and promised to boost the budget for female/visible minority professors. However, the hex put on him was permanent. The last I heard he was accepted into a second-tier university. I'm sure he has learned his lesson. You do not cross the leftist wing of your university.


© Bud Talkinghorn---Why do I feel that many of our Canadian universities are controlled by the same venomous clique of lefties?

Because you are an intelligent man, Bud? FHTR


Update: I just happen to find a related article written by Ian Hunter, one of the best articles I have read on:

The state of academe aka "the university shopping mall"

Academia's road to ruin -- Stifling free inquiry has tainted our universities , by Ian Hunter, Originally published in The Next City, Summer 1999

www.canadianjusticereviewboard.ca
/article-Academia's%20road%20to%20ruin.htm

"The attorney general of Ontario, Ian Scott, then instructed the Ontario Provincial Police to begin an investigation of Rushton, including the university records of every student that Rushton had taught at Western since his arrival in 1977." — Ian Hunter

[....] And what of the students, the ostensible beneficiaries of the whole enterprise? Taught that there are no timeless truths, that all is relative, that the Western canon is the product of a Eurocentric, homophobic patriarchy, students now simply search for what pleases them in the university shopping mall. Toward the end of my tenure, I sensed that more and more students realized that something was wrong. Those who came to university strictly for commercial reasons — to enhance their job prospects — realized that few jobs beckon after graduation, in part, because employers have seen through the universities' propaganda and grow wary of the product they offer. [....]

Search: "edubusiness"

There is much more; the whole is worth reading.




The tar sands project--Let's get real folks.

The environmentalists never cease to slag this future energy lifeline. Yes, there is a downside, environmentally, to expanding the tar sands operations; however, unless we are content to go back to the horse and buggy era, we need it. I applaud the brave few who scoot around in their smart cars, which run on a thimble-full of gas. The caveat to that is that I see them as motorized coffins, should they collide with a behemoth Dodge Ram truck. Even I feel threatened by these brutes in my mid-sized car. We love our vehicles and for too many, size does matter, so we will need reasonably priced gas for the foreseeable future. The environmental destruction in Alberta's far north is the price will will have to pay. Something that Mr. Dosanjh might keep in mind the next time he steps into one of his two monster SUVs ... to ride off into ... another Conservative criticism and activism conflab.

© Bud Talkinghorn



Muslim converts answer jihad call , October 02, 2006

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story
/0,20867,20509202-601,00.html

A NETWORK of homegrown converts to radical Islam has emerged as a major terrorist threat in Southeast Asia, teaming up with higher-profile al-Qa'ida offshoots Jemaah Islamiah and Abu Sayyaf to plot attacks on Western and local targets. [....]

Muslim cabbies refuse to carry booze, October 02, 2006

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story
/0,20867,20509201-601,00.html

MUSLIM taxi drivers in Minnesota have declared jihad on duty-free, refusing to carry passengers who are carrying alcohol.

The ban has created chaos at Minneapolis-St Paul international airport, where about three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers are Somali and mostly Muslim.

Airport officials have begun working with taxi drivers to install colour-coded lights on taxi roofs to indicate which are alcohol friendly and which are not. [....]

Search: Koran strictly forbids , five to seven million Muslims in the US. , political representation , thanks to Minnesota's Keith Ellison, a Muslim convert who is a Democrat frontrunner

Why in **** are these people being accommodated in a Western democracy? Take away their licenses to run airport cabs if they don't want to carry what airplanes are allowed to carry and land with.



Special effects in movies--Enough already!

Once upon a time, actors were paid big bucks to act with a full range of emotions. Harrison Ford comes to mind, as the misguided survivalist in "Mosquito Coast". Now, mainly, he plays second fiddle to a host of special effects. Increasingly, top stars are simply fillers between images of the exploding scenery. Add to that the hyper-gore factor needed to entertain youth brought up on video games like "Postal" and "Grand Theft Auto" and you have an emotionally sterile movie world. Soon the movie producers will be able to forget the actors altogether and animate the action characters as well. Future films can have credits that say: "Character animation of Harrison Ford by Greg Kilner, voice impressionism by Voltan Jenkins." Of course, poor old Harrison can still collect "units" for actually being Harrison Ford. Hollywood does not condone complete identity theft. Unfortunately, it does subscribe to the dumbing down of its audiences. As one simple example: do we really need to have a urinal conversations between male actors in practically every film? Can't these people have their conversations in a bar or park? What's next, male/female f**ting [note that 't'] contests as a repeated comedic trope? The crassness in public life is more than half-way down the slide already. Let's arrest it there.

© Bud Talkinghorn