Legalize It?

In a classic Simpsons episode, the town is overrun by pigeons. Bart's lizards loved pidgins and thrived and multiplied. Now the city was infested with lizards. The solution was to have snakes eat the lizards, than have gorillas eat the snakes when there was too many of those. When the town was overrun by gorillas, it was hoped that the winter would kill them off.

Now that sounds downright silly doesn't it. Not for author Michael Chettleburgh. He has proposed an odd solution to solve North America's problem of urban street gangs, legalize street drugs. Ah the talk of left wing idealists. It would be nice if things worked like that, but they don't. In order to solve one problem, Chettleburgh is creating another. Two wrongs don't make a right, and giving addicts more open access to the drugs they crave. Sure, it might get rid of the street gangs, and I stress might. However, it does not solve the equally serious problem of addiction in our society, which is considered to be a serious mental health disorder.

The ideal way to stop drugs is to kill the market, not by legalizing but be hitting drug operations in Canada hard and tightening our border with the US to prevent drugs from being smuggled into Canada. Furthermore, we desperately need to increase funding to addiction treatment centers. Apparently the waits for these facilities can be weeks or months depending on the location. The current system is a disgrace.

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Parliament: Canada's Green Circus

Green, that's the new buzz word these days. We're all trying to fight global destruction. However, is this distracting our leaders? In Canada it sure is. It seems that many of our leaders are preoccupied with the green issue, even the Conservatives. All other issues in Canada have gone out the window in favour of this green crap. All the things about the economy, health, gun crime, native issues, they seem to have been forgotten. This is a major problem as the government promised to address these issues, and they are not. All parties are equally responsible for throwing out the important issues.

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Victory for Old Milton, but Questions Still Linger

It's been some time I've posted a comment about our little town. Old Milton residents won a major victory yesterday. I first posted a commentary about this back in November 2006 about the medium sized mall that was planned to be built at the corner of Derry Rd and Bronte St. In a shocking turn of events, the proposal to change the zoning from light industrial to medium commercial was unanimously turned down by town council. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the meeting personally so I don't have the full details in front of me, as the term breaking news doesn't mean much to the local newspaper.

The location indeed was highly inappropriate, with only one known resident voicing support for the complex. Near by residents and developers had been strongly opposed to building the mall. The decision to deny the zoning change simply makes sense because a mall that size would have played havoc with traffic, and would not fit in with the areas overall plan. The idea was to focus Old Milton residents into the downtown without creating box stores in the south within current city limits. The developer who wished to build the mall may still appeal it to the OMB but their case is pretty weak and the opposition is strong. Both Matamy Homes and Fieldgate Homes had opposed the mall as well.

This of course leads to another direction. Oddly enough, with the announcement of canceling the zoning change, what comes up is a plan for Matamy and Fieldgate to help pay for the widening of Derry Road from Bronte St to Termaine through an interest free loan. Now this is owned by the
the region but the timing still seems a little odd to me. Corruption is still there as this is obviously a ploy for some reason as it is extremely rare case that private companies would pay for government projects interest free. Especially for projects amounting to that much money; probably several million dollars worth. Of course, this is all speculation, but something smells off.
Also of note about this particular project is a railway underpass, or rather a lack there of. The loan pushes the widening project start date back from 2009 to 2008. However, the underpass was not slated to begin until 2012. This of course, makes very little sense since they would need to redirect road traffic during construction. The Milton fire department has been pushing for this underpass for years now to no avail. As it stands now, if a fire or accident happens on the other side of the tracks when a train is coming, fire trucks either need to wait for the train or drive down to Main St and back track up Termaine. With the housing going in, this presents a major safety hazard. Milton is one of the few towns that still has level crossings over its busiest roads.

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Kyoto: Death to Canada's Economy

Kyoto, the now infamous environmental accord that the Liberals foolishly signed onto would mean death to Canada's economy. Not only that, it would cost Canadian tax payers and additional $3000 to implement. That's according to environmental minister Baird. I'm inclined to agree. The political parties that have signed onto the global warming lie have all failed to consider how much this would cost our economy.

This simply has to end. The Environmental Bolsheviks have Canadians by the balls by brainwashing people to buy into their false claims about the existence of global warming. I'm pretty sure people think that the sun is going to send out a beam that will blow up the Earth just like the Death Star. The sheep simply follow what ever the left has manufactured in order to gain political power. All global warming really is about is socialism, that is, making the world socialist. The cold war has never really ended in that sense, it's just that Communism has found another front to hide behind.

Then you have the politicians and activists who have been sent out to fight something that does not exist. They are environmental Don Quixotes, out to fight the windmills of global warming. The global warming issue has perfectly illustrated the complete failure of the government, the people, and the media. They are all victims in this conspiracy.

Simply put, the Kyoto agreement is unrealistic. The United States was smart when they refused to sign on to it. If Canada tries to meet its agreement, I don't think our economy could handle it. Businesses will simply pack up and move elsewhere, where Kyoto does not apply. The higher taxes will drain our wallets. Is fighting the windmills really worth it?

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If it Ain't Broken...

The McGuinty Liberals have been proposing some electoral reforms throughout their tenure in office. Of course you all know about the fixed election dates, which was a good idea. Their latest one however, is highly questionable.

Do you know what a mixed member proportional government is? No? I didn't think so. Well it's an electoral system. The one we use now is commonly referred to as first past the post, where the person with the most votes wins. They don't have to have the majority of the popular vote, just the most votes. Mixed member proportional is similar. Here's the mechanics of the new system. The current Legislative Assembly in Ontario would be expanded from 109 seats to 129 seats. 90 of these seats would continue to use the old system. The remaining seats would use proportional representation. Mexico uses this system for its Chamber of Deputies (the lower house), remember that, it's important.
Proportional systems work like this. When you go to the ballot box, you'll have to vote twice. One for a person for your riding as you already do now, and again for a party. The remaining 39 seats will be divided up by this second vote. Say the Liberals get 40% of the popular vote, the Conservatives 30%, the NDP 20%, and the Greens 10%. The 39 seats would then be divided up to directly reflect those numbers. The Liberals would get 16 seats, and so on. Who gets to fill these seats is chosen from party lists. A party selects 39 people and ranks them from first to last choice. In the above example, the Liberals would choose the top 16 people from the list. Voters have no input on who gets on those lists.

The first obvious question about this system is why. Well, the idea is to give fringe parties such as the greens some representation in the legislature. It is argued that it gives more fairness since in a multi-party system, it is unlikely that one party would receive the required 50% plus one to give them a true majority. However, is this system really necessary in Ontario? No. There's nothing really wrong with the current system in terms of how our leaders are elected. If the Liberals want to reform something to make the system more fair and equal, try getting rid of that silly party discipline rule. Secondly, the lists would just reek of patronage positions and elitism. Gordon donated $1,000,000 to the party so he's at the top of the list. Frank is my buddy so he's definitely going on there. How is that fair to voters when they don't even get to choose the people who will represent them? Back to Mexico. The system for their Chamber of Deputies was created by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, a highly corrupted party that has similar ideology to the Liberals here. They set up the system for the same supposed reasons, but twisted it to make sure they would always get the majority of proportional seats. What's stopping the Liberals from doing the same here?

Mixed member proportional representation is just a bad system, plain and simple. It confuses voters it will do nothing to improve democracy. A referendum will be held during the next provincial election in October regarding the issue. Now that you know how it works, be smart and vote no.

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Will Banning Guns End Tragedy

Yet another frosty chocolate nut bar has decided that the best way to deal with his problems is to kill himself and take as many others down with him. I'm sure everyone is now aware of the events that transpired at the Virginia Polytechnical Institute today. A foreign student from Korea,, Cho Seung-hui, shot 32 people before turning the gun on himself. 32 innocent people died needlessly today because some crazy person couldn't deal with his problems in a civilized manner. Police don't know the motive, but it's looking like it could be a case of domestic dispute.

Once again, this has raised the issue of gun control. The issue is already being raised on internet forums and I'm sure both the US congress and the Canadian Parliament will be discussing it in the next few days. I discussed this already back in October of 2006.

Perhaps it is time to ban handguns, as they seem to be more trouble than they're worth. I don't buy the all armed avoids tragedy that some pro gun advocates are making since this would likely have caused even more chaos and perhaps more death. However, I don't believe banning guns all together is the solution either. After all, if we ban guns, what's to stop a crazy person from strapping a home made bomb to themselves and detonating. Most of the people who have died from terror attacks in Iraq have been killed in that manner, not with guns. If a crazed person really wants to kill as many people as possible, they will find a way.

It seems Cho was indeed a very disturbed individual and should have been given psychiatric help before this could take place. Though, it is possible that nobody knew he was capable of this. This incident in Virginia raises many questions such as foreign students and safety on college campuses. I believe our institutions of higher education are as safe as we can possibly make them. These events, while tragic, are unlikely to happen and they cannot be planned for. Unfortunately, I cannot make recommendations at this point.

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Belinda Quits

Well, good news. The bimbo of Canadian politics, Belinda Stronach, is deciding to leave office. Finally. That woman has been no more than a joke, wrapped up in scandals, and accusing everyone of sexism whenever they disagree with her. Not to mention betraying those who elected her by crossing the floor to the Liberals in order to get a short lived cabinet position. It makes me wonder why she would even become a politician in the first place. Well, she's run back to daddy at Magna. That's a good place for her.

Now if only Garth Turner would get the message and quit.

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The High Price of Racial Equality in America

Racism was one of the blackest marks on American history. America has come a long way since the civil rights movement began in the 1950s to the point where African Americans can feel relatively comfortable and should no longer fear harassment. Of course, there are some who would like you to believe other wise.

Once again, another American entertainment personality is back on the hot seat. Sports talk show host Don Imus is felling the heat because he referred to a woman's college basketball team as a bunch of "nappy headed hoes". Imus later apologized but that doesn't seem to be enough. People like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are still dragging the old man through the dirt. I must admit I didn't even know who Imus was until a couple of days ago. What he said was a little inappropriate, and was dumb of him to say, but now people are calling for his job. Spineless advertisers are pulling away support from his show. Americans, black and white alike, should be very, very concerned about this. What people like Al Sharpton and other supposed representatives of the black community are doing recently is a direct assault on one of the most fundamental rights in the United States. The right to freedom of speech.
As radio host Ron Bennington put it, freedom of speech in America today is like being told you can say whatever you want, and then being punched in the face immediately after. That's not free speech. Many people say free speech comes with consequences. No, it does not. Then it's not free speech. In a free and democratic society, you should be able to say whatever you want, no matter how idiotic, without the fear of loosing your job, your livelyhood, or being physically assaulted.
People like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and all the others who supposedly represent blacks in America are fascists. They are no different than the fascists that exist in Africa, such as Robert Mugabe. They want to silence anybody who says anything they disagree with, they are ultra nationalist, and want to separate black society from everybody else. Hardly the melting pot that some envisioned. I'm sure Martin Luther King Jr is turning over in his grave. Then you have the self-hating whites who feel guilty for slavery who stand behind black fascists, without really knowing what they're saying, simply because they think this is what blacks want.

My stance on racism is that actions always speak louder than words. You can't limit words like the n-word just because some people find it offensive. That's an attack on freedom of speech. Of course it would be nice to have a society where this no longer goes on, but we can't actively silence people for using them, since that goes against freedom of speech. I don't care how deeply it hurts African Americans. Sticks and stones people. If somebody calls a black person the n-word and then beats them with a pipe, that's where I draw the line. That's hate. Words are not. This, I feel, is one topic blacks and whites need to get together on, and fight for their rights. It's time for blacks to disown, vocally, the fascists in their community. If they don't, racial tensions in America will never end.

Of course, I forgot to mention why Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do what they do. The answer is simple: money and power. They are not for their people, they are only for themselves.

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