Thou Shalt Kill- But Only If You're Under 18

I question the purpose of having a law on the books that makes murder illegal. After all, this law certainly is not taken seriously in this country, along with many other so called 'indictable' crimes. This week, it was announced that a teen who killed another teen who had been protecting a pregnant friend would be receiving a 64-month sentance for the murder. He was convicted of manslaughter. In my opinion, if you have a knife and stab somebody repeatedly with it, that's not manslaughter as you obviously intended serious harm. That's second degree murder. They boy who was killed was unarmed and outnumbered too. Of course the killer's friends were highly delighted with the linient sentance. The person convicted, a Kimo George who is 18, will likely be out by his 21st birthday.

Once again, this brings the Youth Criminal Justice Act into serious question. It's not like a 16 year old does not know that a knife can seriously harm or kill somebody. It's not like the killer did not know that killing another person is wrong. So why are these youth being treated as if they didn't know? When a youth committs a summary crime, that's forgivable but not with an indictible crime. Youths charged with indictable crimes should be treated as if they were adults, and should be given adult charges and adult sentences. I do agree that those under 18 should serve in youth facilities. In adult facilities, impressionable youth can easily pick up the tricks of the criminal trade from their fellow inmates and fall into a life of crime. However, we must stop using the age excuse. If a kid does not know that indictable crimes are wrong by that age, perhaps they should be in a mental institution instead. It's also time to end this protection of names from the media by youths who commit criminal offences, as the public has the right to know.

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Voices of Canada

I have come to disagree with the limits being placed on the Media by Steven Harper. One such example is closing CFB Trenton when the bodies of the four soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan arrive. I can understand where they are coming from but I don't think this is right. They claim it is to protect the families but I think it's to prevent any political controversy.

Disallowing the media creates a certain level of mistrust and the Conservatives better open up soon or face a backlash at the next election.

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Flag Follies

Canada has a long list of problems, but what have the Liberals set as their proiority? An argument over whether the flag should be up or down on the peace tower.

There has been quite a bit of argument over whether the flag on the Peace Tower in Ottawa should be lowered to half mast. People believe it should be lowered to honor the four soldiers killed. The Conservatives do not want to lower the flag instead opting to remember them on November 11th, an 80 year old tradition.The Liberals have been quite upset claiming that the conservatives are going along on the Bush bandwagon and trying to downplay deaths.

This has been the topic of many radio and TV talk shows. Canadians per usual agree with the Liberals. However, soldiers do not. Most soldiers interviewed would rather keep this tradition of Rememberance Day arguing that it is a day where all men and women who died in battle are remembered equally.

Now Toronto's Mayor David Miller has come under fire for chosing to lower the flag at city hall. This has once again fueled the fires of Toronto centricism. Two of the men killed were from the GTA. Many believe that this would not have been so big of an issue if the soldiers had been from elsewhere in the country.

Do the Liberals really care about these men so much, no. Based on their terrible treatment of veterans in the past, such as the refusal to help pay for a monument at Juno Beach in Normandy for one. Then there was that piece of election propaganda that insulted veterals for political gains. The Liberals are simply back to their old games. They are using these poor men who fought and died for their country as a political football. They are doing this for the sole purpose of making the Conservatives look bad, since the Conservatives are gaining in the poles and the Liberals are falling far behind. Obviously the Liberals have not learned from the mistakes they made and the election hardly humbled them. Why do people keep voting for these sick, sleezy people?

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Time to Call In the Military

An short edition to my post earlier on the native protest. It is getting dangerous and it is time to call in the military to deal with them. This sort of action cannot be tolerated by anybody. The police cannot be left to deal with such a large force that intends to commit violent acts. If Canada keeps showing its weakness, it will be taken advantage of.

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Return "Their" Land?

One of the biggest topics in the news this week has been the native occupation of a consturction site in Caladonia, near the City of Hamilton. The land is intended to be used as a new housing development. They claim the land belongs to them.

This is another one of those topics that is difficult to discuss without sounding racisit but I can ensure my readers that that is not the goal here. The goal is to argue whether or not they deserve the land and criticise their actions and the actions of the government.

Do the native protesters in Caladonia believe the land belongs to them? Yes they do. Does it belong to them? No it does not. The land is not on the near by reserve and therefore they have no right to it. They have not purchased the land either. One can make all sorts of arguments about how we stole their land but things like that cannot apply anymore as that happened some 200-300 years ago when Canada was not even a country. Most of the people set to live in these new houses probably didn't even arrive into Canada until the 20th century so they cannot be blamed for the downfall of native society.

The problem here is that the Native communities seem to be involved in some ficticious war to protect something that is not theirs. They often turn violent as what happened yesterday. So how do we solve this problem. I have several proposals that I'm sure will not sit well with natives or Liberals.

First off, we need to eliminate the reserve system. I'm not saying that we should kick them off that land as they do own it. However, their time as wards of the state must end. It is a huge burden on the rest of Canada. It may not have been fair to them to have their land expropriated but it is not fair to me either. My parents are immigrants who came in the 1950s. No one in my family lived in Canada before them. Therefore why should I be punished for something that I and nobody in the entire history of my family took part in.

The natives even being declared wards of the state has also been extremely harmful to them, more harmful in fact that any land expropriation could have caused. They dislike the way the Department of Indian Affairs runs things but they have become addicted to the special funding and treatment they receive. Their culture and society lacks the encouragement that other cultures have received. Therefore my next proposal is to eliminate the Dapartment of Indian Affiars. Natives should not get special treatment but rather be included under multicultural policy. This cosntitutionally entrenched policy would allow them to practice, maintain, and expand their cultural traditions while allowing them to become active in the rest of Canadian society, as opposed to being outsiders in their own country.
If saying they lack they encouragement of other cultures and my demands to take away special treatments appears as racist, what about the current system. It treats them as being incapable of living like the rest of us, and therefore they must be babysat by the government. Canada's current system under the DIA basically treats natives as an inferior people who need to be protected from the big, bad world. At least the elimination of special treatments would make them equal members of society. In my opinion, to treat natives in the way they are currently being dealt with is un-Canadian. They should be treated no different as someone who is White, Black, Indian, Arab, Chinese, etc.

These proposals would not solve all native problems, but would certainly go a long way.

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Black Gold, Bad Business

What happens when you have a capitalist business who becomes anti-capitalist. One who breaks competition laws and brings down the economy. You have oil. Gas prices are on there way up again, but there's no Katrina this time to blame. For a industry that claims to be struggling due to damage to refineries and crisis in the middle east, they seem to be doing very well for themselves, making obsene profits. The problems is that they are harming other industries. Recently, American car company Chrysler lashed out at big oil for gouging consumers and hurting their industry. I agree with them on this. The price we are paying is not the true price but rather one resulting from collusion and back door dealing. Unfortunately, there seems to be no proof of this, accoding to our government, which is making an obsene profit for itself though gas taxes.

So what is a fair gas price. Well at today's oil prices, gas should be at 70 cents per liter. In itself, this price has been grossly over inflated from $20 per barrle in 2002 to $70 in 2006. It makes me wonder where all this oil that the US is supposedly stealing from the Iraqis is, as socialists claim. There are no oil shortages as big oil claims. In truth, they hold back production to jack prices up, then increase production slightly to drop them down a bit. Dumb consumers think they are getting a bargain and get used to paying the new higher prices. It's just toying with the simple supply and demand concept.

What makes matters worse is that high prices for oil are ruining other sectors of the economy. Businesses can no longer afford to ship goods so they must raise prices, making draining more from consumers who have less and less in their pockets after taxes. Businesses that rely on machinery such as construction and the automotive industry are seeing their profits dip. All this so a monopolistic and anti-capitalist industry can line its already stuffed pockets.

So what can be done. First off, the federal government should cut gas taxes immediately. Once a good has a specific tax levied on it, it becomes imposible for governments to regulate it. Take cigarettes for example. It's not as if the government is using these taxes to fix roads as the roads are crumbling even with record government incomes. Most of the money is wasted in some way or another to pay useless civil servants for busy work. Once a government has cut its addiction on taxes from that specific good, it becomes a whole lot easier to clamp down in order to protect consumers and other industries.

Next, we must find alternative fuel sources that cost less. They exist in the form of hydrogen power and alcohol based fuels. Money needs to be given to help develop a practical vehicle that runs off them. Hybrids are no good as they still use gasoline and often have grossly exaggerated fuel efficiency ratings.

Thirdly, we need to get rid of unnecessarily large vehicles. There are too many SUVs and minivans on the road that are being used for communter vehicles. They usually only have one person in them, and they usually are not hauling cargo. These vehicles are not safer nor better for families. I can fit just as much in the trunk of my compact car as most SUVs, and hold just as many passengers.

Next, transit efficiency must be drastically improved, especially in Ontario. People are not going to ride the bus or train if you keep raising ticket prices. They have to be a cheap and convinient way to work and play. First off, the GO line needs to increase the number of trains. By doing so, people will take them downtown instead of their cars for day trips. Cities must also make connecting bus routes with neighbouring cities, which is particularly lacking in the west end of the GTA.

It's time to take a bite out of big oil before our entire economy collapses under their games and greed. If it does, the 1930s will look like a walk in the park so lets stop that before it happens.

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McGuinty's Shocker

I have made several remarks that Dalton McGuinty should be recalled. The time has come for him to be removed from government.

This week, he has hiked electricity bills for consumers on average of 15%. This huge increase is another shot in the back against consumers who are already conserving but are still struggling to pay the bills. This is yet another proof that the man is not capable or running Ontario. %15 is not a small hike, but rather translates between $6-15 per month depending on where you live. Guess who will have the smallest increase. Toronto yet again. Toronto the biggest consumer of electricity in all of the province gets to pay less than smaller towns and cities.

McGuinty has already shown a poor track record of managing the power. First he closed coal plants, putting us in a shortage situation without plans to replace them. Next he forced people to pay $50 for his dumb (aka SMART) meters in order to squeeze more money out of consumers. If you refuse, they'll charge you a fee to read your meter each month. Next he gives the president of Hydro One an undeserved $500,000 raise, while most Ontarians don't even make one tenth of that. Now he forces consumers to fork over even more cash to pay the bills because of his closing of the coal plants.

Well Ontarians, it's your fault. You voted for change and you got it. Too bad it's not what you expected. That's what happens when you let the Fiberals take the reins. All is not lost though. Don't wait until 2007. Petition to recall McGuinty. Based how they've been working to destroy Ontario, don't give McGuinty's Liberals a single seat in the next election.

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