We Asked You Nicely

"We asked you nicely not to hurt anybody, if you keep doing it, we'll have to ask you nicely again." This seeems to be the philosophy of Canada's justice system. Just this past week, six innocent people where gunned down on a busy downtown Toronto street. I say six as it looks like the seventh person shot was somehow involved with the gun fight. One of the innocent people was killed for simply going out shopping with her mother. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
This past year, Toronto has been plagued with gun fights right out of old western movies. Over 80 people have been killed. Some would say this statistic is realtively small as some US cities have almost 4 times the murder rate. I find this unacceptable. One murder is too many.

What makes the crime truly disturbing is that one of the people arrested in connection with the shooting was out on parole. He is innocent until proven guilty but he still had a gun on him, while on parole, at the time of his arrest. How the hell did he manage to get a gun on parole! Why wasn't his parole officer checking up on him! Canada's justice system is going down the toilet. You can make the laws as harsh as you want but you can never make liberal judges enforce them. Minimum sentences are needed.

Lets move onto the subject of guns. Politicians like to beat around the bush on the subject of violent crime. It's easy to blame the US for the guns coming into Canada. *sarcasm on* You do know that George W. Bush is handing all the Canadian criminals guns and teaching them to kill. *end Sarcasm* The truth is that criminals are smuggling guns across our border. The border that our border guards are supposed to be checking. It is not the US government's jurisdiction to make sure things don't go into Canada, that's our job, nobody elses. It's time to own up, Paul Martin and his Liberals, Dalton McGuinty, and Mayor Miller or Toronto cannot protect the people who gave them the mandate to govern.

To stop the violence, I propose the following solution which I posted on another website. The shootings are all drug related. Drugs are the great destroyer of modern civilization. Junkies are always chasing the high, and gangstas are there to sell it to them. Gangs then get into fights over who has the 'right' to sell drugs in a certain area, gang wars break out, people die.
Drugs are smuggled into the US and are used to buy guns. No currency to track. Guns then smuggled into Canada. Liberals like to blame gun theft in Canada for gun crime but a lot of the weapons they are using are illegal for sale in Canada. The drugs smuggled into the US from Canada and Latin America then start the cycle all over again down there. Guns brough up feed the violence and keep the cycle going up here. The issue itself is so complicated, its mind boggling.

The only way to stop the gangs is to cut off their drugs and guns. Harsher sentences for trafficing, harsher sentences for using a gun in a crime. More money into vice squads to higher more cops and to equip them better. Having armed border guards trained to look for illegal weapons, and more border patrols to keep the guns out.
Once that's under control, attack the root problems of society that are pushing youths into the gang culture. Particularly focus on education. Encourage disadvantaged youths to explore trades. Home life also needs to change. Particularly these youths need same-sex role models to encourage them to better themselves. We also need to help drug users kick the habit so they don't need the high, and thus no longer feed the gangs. It's not something that can be done in a quick fix. I don't have all the answers. It will take years, millions of dollars, and dedication from all levels of government and society to solve this problem. It can be done though. The least we can do is try.

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. Happy Chanuka. Happy Kwanzaa.

The election campaigning is on break until after the holidays so I'll be taking a break from writing too. I hope everybody has a good holiday.

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A New Low: Demeaning a People

I once made a remark that Martin's propaganda would make Joseph Gobbels pround. His latest attack ad could almost be right out of the mouth of the infamous Nazi propaganda minister.

The Liberals have released a misleading attack ad. The ad makes people believe that Stephen Harper and Giles Ducept are conspiring together to bring down the country. The picture itself was taken at a recent holocaust memorial dedication in which all party leaders attended. The leaders had no choice in seating. The ad itself has been declared a lie by both Harper and Ducept and has been called an insult by Jewish groups.

The Liberals have now stooped to a new low. Not only have they committed libel, they have also offended an entire religion. Jewish groups have stated that the Liberals are using the death of 6 million innocent people in WWII for their own political gains. I am not Jewish but I did have family who fought in the war. I have always been disgusted with Paul Martin but now I truly hate him. It just shows that he doesn't care who he runs down to keep his power. Martin has done a lot to harm Canada but this is just sick. If any Liberals reading this still have a shred of decency, they should switch their vote to NDP or Conservative, or some other party. Martin does not deserve to run a hotdog stand, let alone a nation after making these comments. The Liberal party issued a rather press release but has refused to apologize for the ad. As I said when it began, Martin's only tactic is to attack everybody else, he has no platform. Elections need not be this dirty.

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Fab Hollywood

It's not very often that I comment about other countries but this one is bugging me. It is less common for me to comment on social issues so bare with me here.

Homosexuality is becoming a major (and irritating) political issue. Gay marriage has already been approved in some countries such as Canada, the UK, and parts of the US. I do not approve of it and I find it in poor taste. If they want to do it though, I know I cannot stop them as majority rules and increased gay 'rights' just happens to be the way the winds are blowing. What really bothers me is the gay agenda that everybody has now taken up. This is what I find the most disturbing, espcially with Hollywood recently. It has become hip for Hollywood stars to take on political issues, despite the fact that they know nothing about them. Take Bono for example. I don't think he has a degree in third world politics and I didn't vote for him.

The latest celebrity of sorts is Britain's "other queen", Elton John. He has just married his male 'lover' of several years. Like all Hollywood marriages, this is just another publicity stunt for the latest activism trend for the stars, gay rights. The top movie right now is Brokeback Mountain, about gay cowboys. It has already been nominated for numerous awards and is said to be a big Oscar contender. The problem, nobody has even see the movie yet. I can think of at least four other recent movies about gay people. Nearly every TV show has featured a gay episode or has introduced a gay character.

I'm just getting tired of people pushing the gay agenda. People are forcing it down our throats. Its ok if you want to be gay, just don't force your beliefs on other people. It's not like streight people parade in downtown Toronto declaring Streight Pride. Have a little modesty. The overwhelming display of extreme gay sexuality is offensive to many people and only proves the what anti-gay rights advocates have been saying.

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Cattle Drive

The government of Ontario has just opened High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) on its 403 and 404 highways. These lanes are designed to help ease traffic on local highways by giving people who carpool a special lane. A car with a minimum of two people can drive in these lanes and it is claimed that they can shave up to 30min off a drive during the peak of rush hour.

I come to wonder though. What is the real purpose of these lanes. Fines for driving in these lanes with only one person in the car are quite steep. Up to $500. This seems like a lot when fines for more dangerous offenses (ie speeding) are much lower. It seems that the government of Ontario is trying to make another cash cow on fines for a realtively minor offense.

The lanes themselves are really only a bandaid solution to a much larger problem. That problem is that too many people with cars are coming into the GTA. Not everybody can carpool. There is nobody I know that takes the same route as I do so who do I carpool with? HOV lanes are a good short term idea but the money would have been better spent improving other types of transit.

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CRTC Silencing Stern A Rights Violation

It sure has been a busy week for political talk.

Satellite radio is now in Canada. For as little as $13 a month, you can get hundreds of radio stations filled to the brim with Canadian and American content, well except for one America.

The titular king of shock radio and TV Howard Stern has been banned from Canadian airwaves. For those who don't know, Stern is known for his bathroom humor and has coloured American talk radio until the FCC shut him down this past year. Not being one to leave a good lewd joke behind, Stern has moved his show to Serius Satellite Radio. Serius is available in Canada but Stern will not be. The CRTC has determined that his show is too crude for Canadians' sensitive ears.

I have never been a fan of Stern. I watched his TV show a few times but never found it all that funny, but I didn't find it offensive either. The problem I have is this disturbing trend with the CRTC shutting stuff down. It is a violation of the constitution because it is silencing expression and free press. I don't care how crude it is, these are basic rights. If I call someone a jackass or tell a dirty joke, I'm not going to get arrested or have my mouth taped shut so why is this any different? This past year, the CRTC closed down a Quebec radio station because one person complained about something they heard. The show had 100,000 regular listeners who had no problem with the show but the CRTC still closed it down. As I said, very disturbing. I see the thought police are out again. The Canadian government will let someone like Fiddy Cent into Canada, a convicted fellon who preaches hate and violence against women, enter the country and perform but shuts up Stern for telling rude jokes? This has gone to far. It's time Canadians silenced the CRTC for good.

CRTC: Colossal Retareded waste of Taxpayer Cash

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The Right to Non-Association?

On the campaign trail, Jack Layton is making his comrades glow red with glee. He supports a worker's rights bill. The bill promises workers basic rights including the right to form unions.

I am not against the rights of workers. It is important that workers be protected from abusive bosses, and vice versa. What I do disagree with is the right to unionize. What about the right not to unionize? The Canadian constitution is a tricky thing. It states that all Canadians have freedom of association. However, if your job requires you to join a union, you don't have the choice not to associate with them. Does this make sense? It doesn't to me either. I think this is a blatant abuse of people's rights. If someone does not want to join a union, why should they be made to. To me that is stripping away a basic right. I think we know who pulls the strings. Unions are worried about scab labour and the fact that freedom of non-association would make them obsolete in today's world. People would leave so they don't have to pay large amounts in dues. Unions do not have the right to strip rights away from others, nobody does and the constitution should be amended to reflect this.

If you want to secure workers rights, let them choose how they want to be represented. Do you hear me Mr. Layton?

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Life's A Bowl of Popcorn

The Liberals never cease to amaze me. This week a senior advisor on the Paul Martin campaign stated that parents would simply waste their baby bonus on beer and popcorn.

The message I'm getting is that parents cannot be trusted to do what's right for their kids. Only the government knows what is right. The $1200 baby bonus is an excellent idea. The liberal idea of socialized daycare would not work. First off, a state run daycare system would be quite expensive. Second, would this be federal or provincial jurisdiction? Daycare falls under the category of education, which is provincial. In other words, the Liberals do not have the constitutional right to it. Are the provinces going to get the money? With Martin's track record on giving the provinces their fair share, I think its unlikely to ever happen. Thirdly, will all communities have access to it? Some don't even have schools yet their parents may still need child care.

I think the $1200 a month baby bonus takes care of the first and third problems, and eliminates the second entirely. Its cheaper than education because the government doesn't have to pay daycare worker's salaries and it doesn't need to maintain the buildings that they are in. In more remote communities, daycares aren't needed as the parents could use the money to pay someone or even use it so one of the parents can stay home.

The Liberals however are worried that people will abuse the money. Well, what about the welfare system? There are a large number of people on welfare who get the same amount of money plus benefits without doing a lick of work. I'm talking about the people who haven't fallen on rough times, but rather those who have made welfare a living. They are doing the same thing that the Liberals are worried about. Wasting others hard earned cash on beer and other junk. The Conservatives plan is putting hard earned money back into the pockets of parents, where it belongs. Paul Martin is only upset because he didn't think of it first. He has been promising a socialized daycare for years and we haven't seen any action. Will this election change any of that? I think not.

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A Special Time of Year

It's the Christmas season again. The malls are packed with busy shoppers, the lights are going up, soon Santa will be on his way. It's the time of year to think fondly of our fellow man no matter what religion you belong to.

This year, I urge people to help those in need. However, don't just be lazy and give money. An anchient Chinese proverb says that if you teach a man to fish he will have food for life. Give a hand up instead of a hand out and volunteer your time with a organization of your choice. Make a difference.

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Take my PM, Sleeze

Same crap, different election. Prime Minister Paul Martin has already started on his fear tactics by claiming Steven Harper doesn't love Canada. It is generally agreed upon that the question posed to Mr. Harper caught him off guard and was likely asked by a Liberal goon.

Liberals are very good at one thing, propaganda. I'm sure Joseph Gobbels would be proud. The problem, Canadians are starting to wise up to their usual tactics. Elections to the Liberals are not about why you should vote for them, but rather why you should not vote for the other guy. The truth is that the liberals lack any clear direction and its easier to mudsling. This is why campaigns have been so dirty lately. Mr. Martin is a very weak leader and if the party were smart, they'd remove him from power.

The NDP hopes to gain ground in this election. Layton claims that his party is what got things done in the last few months. Unfortunately this was at the expense of selling out the country in order to give Toronto more money. As I said in my last entry, Torontonians seem to think that the universe revolves around them. The NDP should not be given more power simply because they are too extreme and have too narrow a focus to really serve Canadian citizens. An NDP government did not work in Ontario and it would not work at the federal level either. Do we really want 'Layton Days'?

The Conservatives have some good ideas bit I think they are missing a lot of important points. The whole gay marriage issues was decided upon undemocratically and should have been open to a free vote. However, it is not a good idea to reopen the issue. The winds have been blowing in favour of it and it makes no sense to try and push it again. It is a lot more difficult to remove a "right" than to grant one. I believe their ideas to cut taxes is important. Canada needs government reforms and tax reforms. We waste too much. Too little of what Canadians are giving out is actually going where it is supposed to. I used the example of the gas tax in my last entry. In my opinion, GST should not just be reduced but eliminated entirely. At least it should be eliminated on essentials such as all food, shelter, fuel, and clothing expenses and I'd even go as far as to cut it from educational materials. Ontarians pay 15% which is just too much, some provinces pay even more. The federal government's role, with the exception of making equalization payments, is not that big when spending is concerned. They don't need all that money as they don't even spend it wisely when we give it to them. It's easy to forget that someone worked hard for them to have it.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes in the next two months. I'm predicting will have another Liberal minority. Canadians just don't get it. Anyway, people need to pay close attention to what's going on. All people above the age of 18 need to vote as well. You should not have the right to complain about political matters if you can vote but simply don't. Think of all those Iraqis that faced certain death in order to vote. What's your problem?

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