No New Taxes: Like We Haven't Heard That Before

I have no idea who Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty has working on his press team but I think they need to be fired. Either that or McGuinty really is as stupid as I think he is. Dalton McGuinty has announced that if he were reelected, there would be no new taxes for Ontarians.
This is the same man who declared before the October 2003 election that we would not have to pay a penny more under a Liberal government then we would under a Conservative one. He then proceeded to levy the largest tax increase in Ontario history in his first budget. McGuinty was aware of the deficit situation well before he made the no new taxes promise yet refused to retract his statement until after he was voted in. This was just one in a long list of broken promises the Liberals made.

Arguably, McGuinty was only elected because people were fed up of the Mike Harris Conservatives. Running on a platform for change, when elected, McGuinty failed to deliver. The situation in Ontario has not improved and in some cases has gotten worse. McGuinty says he's being honest this time when he says no new taxes but why should we believe that? He's given us no reason too. He's a weak leader and that's not simply because he's Liberal but his personal character has shown that time and time again.

So here's my election prediction. Polls are showing an even tie between Liberals and Conservatives with the NDP making up the bulk of the difference. Ontario is going to have a minority government come October. I don't think there is any way that will change between now and then. Based on the stubborness of Canadians to blindly follow the Liberal party, I'm predicting a short lived Liberal minority. If the Conservatives do win, their minority will also be short lived. Unlike the federal parliament, which has four parties, with the Bloc currently holding the balance of power, that's not the case in Ontario. The NDP is too ideologically different from both parties, though they would be more likely to side with the Liberals. The Liberal minority will last longer but not four years.

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Going Green By Loosing Green

We are being forced to go "green" by ever growing governments who have hopped on the environmentalism bandwagon. To the casual observer, this seems like a noble idea to help clean up pollution but it has costs, big costs. When Kermit the Frog sang "it's not easy being green", he wasn't kidding. Turns out its not exactly cheap either. It turns out it doesn't matter to environmentalists if you're a poor villager in Kenya or a middle class person living in a North American city. We're all being called upon to pay more and more for this initiative, and it's hurting.

Toronto, or as I like to call it "San Francisco North" has become quite overzealous on the green fad. Seems each week, the council cooks up a new scheme to "help the environment." Recent efforts have to do with garbage. Toronto wants to charge you extra, on top of your taxes, for how much garbage you put out. Basically, you pay to "rent" this bin and you pay more for a larger bin. On the outside, this seems to make sense. That is until you consider the fact that the quality of garbage pickup service has been declining across the GTA. Everyone is paying higher and higher taxes each year but getting less service in return. Will this bin system in Toronto improve garbage collection? Well, no, they never said it would. The sole purpose of this bin concept is to encourage people to throw out less garbage for the sake of the environmentalists. It won't improve the system. Not only will it not improve the system, it will encourage illegal dumping. People with large amounts of garbage will just dispose of it elsewhere rather than paying for the larger bin. The REAL purpose of this project is to help Toronto pay for the dumping site it purchased near London for $20 million. What makes matters worse is that large areas of Toronto still do not receive regular recycling pickup.
Of course, once Toronto adopts an idea, the rest of the GTA will likely follow suit. Here in Halton, we used to get recycle pickup once a weak. It was reduced to twice a month. Garbage collection is also inconsistent. Wednesday is garbage day but it has been known to happen, on several occasions, where garbage is not picked up until Thursday. Just another case of paying more for less.

Garbage collection is only one case, in a long list, where this environment fad is forcing us consumers/taxpayers to shell out more of our hard earned money, so the elites in our society can feel good about themselves. Gasoline is another excellent example. Arguably the government's most lucrative tax next to income. We are paying more and more at the pump, and we're being forced to contend with both government and oil company greed. What's worse, environmentalists are demanding that prices be kept high so people use less oil. So basically, we loose our mobility for them to feel good.

Electricity is another example of government greed that is hiding behind the cloak of the environment. We've been paying insane amounts thanks to the McGuinty government here in Ontario. Now he wants us to use smart meters to help conserve. Apparently to reduce emisions form coal plants. Turns out the high price of electricity is making the government a tidy profit and hides their incompetence from closing Lakeview.
Electricity is not only an issue here in Canada. According to the documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle, environmentalists are forcing developing countries to use the most expensive forms of electricity generation there are (solar and wind) rather than cheaper hydrocarbon (oil and coal) based alternatives. Sure, solar panels can run a few lights but they can't be used to run a smelter or an assembly line. Heavy industry requires a lot of electricity and solar and wind power are simply too costly and inefficient to provide it. These countries need heavy industry to develop so they are being kept in an economic hole to "save" the planet. That's why we have so many countries, literally sitting on gold mines, that are dirt poor.

Of course, this is typical. The ordinary person is always forced to pay more in order to keep the liberal elites happy.

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Censorship in 2007: The Internet

I was originally going to talk about China for part 3 of this series. However, this topic has a great deal to do with how China has been censoring its people. It's not simply a Chinese problem but a global one.

The internet, with all it's faults, is truly one of the seven wonders of the modern world. We live in the information age, of course you knew that or you wouldn't be reading this. I can discuss politics with someone in Europe, or play an online game with someone in Japan. Amazing to think that only 15 years ago, that was impossible for the majority of people. The internet was originally created as a free and open environment to share knowledge and information around the world. It does that job quite well. In recent years, this has become more true with the introduction of Web 2.0, so the buzzword goes. This blog, as all blogs are, is part of this concept. This also includes online forums, Wikis (such as Wikipedia), video sharing (such as Youtube) and social networking sites. The internet has become such an integral part of our daily lives worldwide. As such, the demon of censorship has begun to take notice. There are generally three types of censorship that occur on the internet. Government, corporate, and private. Lets take a look at them.

GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP

Government censorship of the internet in North America isn't very common, not that it doesn't happen but it's still very rare. Cases of such usually include "hate" sites. In other countries, it is far more common. China is perhaps the most notorious. There exists the Great Firewall of China, which monitors all incoming and outgoing internet traffic from the country. Chinese internet users are required to use their real names when posting to blogs and forums. Also, China has blocked certain information from being accessed. In China, if one does a search of the Tieneman Square incident, they will be told this information is prohibited. China's oligarchical government does this to insulate itself from criticism and possible rebellion if people were to find out what actually happened during these events. Though China is no longer a communist country in the traditional sense, the government still operates on the Soviet/Maoist model and is very secretive. China will punish citizens who post information that the government disagrees with. The Chinese government has also put online gaming under their radar and will forcefully "treat" people who seem to be spending too much time in these games. Shock treatment (aka electro-therapy) is sometimes used.

China isn't the only country that does this. Cuba is yet another example that we have plenty of information about. Cuba is a more traditional communist country. Cuba has a state owned "intranet". Cuba's censorship of the internet is harsher than China's in many ways since it doesn't allow most people to access the outside world. When it does, it monitors them heavily. Cuba's reasoning for doing this also somewhat differs from China's. Their idea is to keep Western influence out of the country.

Turkey is another country that has been in the news recently for banning Youtube due to a video that insulted the country's founder. The ban was repealed. Morocco is also suspected of banning Youtube though there is no solid evidence as of yet.

Other countries with substantial and pervasive censorship of the internet include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Syria, Myanmar, Maldives, North Korea, South Korea, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

At this point though, as I know there are some people who think this is censorship, I'd like to draw the line at child pornography on the internet. This is not free speech. It is a criminal activity and I find it acceptable for governments to block those sites.

CORPORATE CENSORSHIP

Corporate censorship of the internet is not as pervasive as government censorship but it does exist. Perhaps the best example is this blog's host, Google. The problem with Google is the fact that has given into certain demands from highly censored countries such as China. Google China prohibits searches for certain topics. Yahoo has done similar things for France and Germany concerning neo-nazi material.
There is also the case of corporate groups such as RIAA and the MPAA trying to censor file shares.

Corporations have also been known to censor employee email though filters to make sure they cannot receive personal emails at work. They have also been known to censor websites. The idea is to keep employees focused on work, but it is still censorship none the less.

PRIVATE CENSORSHIP

Private censorship of the internet is the most common type of censorship that most western internet users will encounter. Particularly with the way in which private, non-corporate websites deal with their members. Comments on this blog as well as it's (unused) companion forum are unmoderated. Private forums tend to be particularly bad. Most forums will censor certain words to avoid being flagged by search engines and attracting undesirable attention. For example, words such as "porn" will be censored to prevent it from being accidentally flagged as a porn site. Swearing may also be edited out of posts if the site has many young visitors. These are both understandable. Most of these communities are heavily moderated, and that is where the problem lies. Moderators on these forums are there to maintain the site and handle member disputes. However, some become overzealous and abuse their power to delete posts and remove people that they have disagreements with, no matter the severity. These sites are not compelled to comply with free speech laws. Censorship here is much more implicit but is a reoccurring problem.

Another topic of private censorship of the internet concerns the recent treatment of sites such as Myspace and Facebook. The latter in particular has become hugely popular here in Canada, especially in Greater Toronto with as many as 600,000 members in that region.
This stems from anti-bullying laws and the new concept of cyber-bullying. There are several recent examples of students being suspended from school for expressing their dislike for teachers and fellow students at school. This type of censorship is done under the guise of anti-bullying but has become more of a way of solving personal vendettas. Since this action happens outside of the classroom, this calls into question school authority concerning the issue. In my opinion, once the bell rings and the student is off school property, then school staff no longer has authority over them. This is what has made the recent Facebook suspensions concerning.


Internet censorship is indeed becoming a concerning trend in society, especially since it was never meant to be censored. Aside from government and corporate censorship, it has now opened the door for private individuals and organizations to censor other web users in order to fulfill their own agendas. It's high time to put the breaks on this trend and return the internet to what it was originally intended to be. The obvious solution is to lobby governments to extend freedom of expression laws in the constitution to apply to non-government organizations and private individuals as well.

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Censorship in 2007: Venezuela

Part two of our look on censorship in 2007 looks at one of the great enigmas of politics in the Americas. That would be Venezuela under it's socialist leader Hugo Chavez. Communism was marred with censorship and abuse of citizens. This is a simple truth that has occurred in every country that has signed onto this political and economic doctrine. Since the fall of the USSR, it has been dying a slow death. There are only five communist countries that remain: China, Laos, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba. Arguably, China is communist only on paper now though the abuses continue, which I will address in part three of this series. Vietnam has also largely followed China's path.
So communism is dead, but in comes Hugo Chavez. A mid-ranking military officer, he staged two coup attempts in 1992 against the Venezuelan government. He later became president in 1999 through democratic means. (There is definitly parelles that can be drawn between Chavez and Hitler here) He was briefly removed from office in 2002 after an anti-socialist coup but regained his position two days later. He is the leader of the Fifth Republic movement, an increasingly radical socialist movement that seeks to dramatically change the country. Since Chavez's landmark reelection in 2006, the movement has become increasingly radical. At a recent visit to the UN, he referred to US president Bush as the devil. In ironic choice of words in my opinion considering his political stance and the events of 1992. Chavez hails Fidel Castro, Cuba's long time president. In many ways , Chavez wishes Venezuela to become the next Cuba. He is attempting to stamp out private enterprise, and many of the country's industries have been nationalized under his rule. Chavez has gained a vast number of supporters across Venezuelan society.

The problem with Chavez comes with his treatment of those who do not support the Fifth Republic movement. Though they are the minority, they are a large and vocal one. According to Chavez, they are also a threat to national security. This week, the Chavez government denied RCTV, a popular TV station based in the capital of Caracas, a broadcast license renewal. The station will remain on cable TV (which the vast majority of Venezuelans don't have access to) and will be replaced by TVES, a pro-Chavez, public television station. This move has outraged the Venezuelan political minority. Chavez cited a few reasons why the license was not renewed. He claimed the TV network has supported the 2002 coup attempt against him, something that RCTV denies as the station blocked off by demonstrations during the events. He also claims that the station corrupts the masses through it's pop culture entertainment programs such as soap operas and a popular satire/comedy show that often pokes fun at Chavez. RCTV was the only opposition aligned TV station in Venezuela that has a nation wide free-to-air broadcast range. Today, there are none. This further solidifies Chavez's power as he now controls the media. Any good revolutionary knows that one must control the media to control the country. Chavez has known this since his first coup in 1992. However, by doing this, Chavez is leading Venezuela down a very dangerous and all too familiar path. The government has threatened severe punishment if RCTV broadcasts illegally. This basically cuts off any opposition to his leadership. Without a voice, the opposition will shrink and Chavez becomes a dictator, and Venezuela yet another totalitarian country. I somehow doubt that this is what Venezuelans bargained for when they first elected him. Social change does not mean social silence and no revolution can be legitimate if it doesn't allow people to speak their minds.

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PAC

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Censorship in 2007: The New McCarthyism

This is part one of a series looking at political censorship today in 2007. I'll be examining a variety of countries in which censorship comes from both left and right political forces. Part one looks at the United States.

Society in the United States is collapsing. No, it's not because of Bush but rather small groups with too much power leading a witch hunt against America's most sacred institution: free speech.
First we had the Black Nazis led by Al Sharpton get Don Imus fired for a single comment. Latest on the chopping block is popular comedy show hosts Opie and Anthony. I have XM and listen to that show. I haven't been in my car much this week since I've been on vacation, but when I do go out, I found myself asking why the other comedy show Ron & Fez was running all day. Now I know. Though I don't know the exact circumstances of their firing, it's very disturbing and has me now considering canceling my satellite radio subscription.

This my friends is the new McCarthyism. We'll call it the Blue Scare since it seems like conservatives in the media are being targeted, though many liberals have found themselves targets as well. Indeed, this is something that the two sides of the political spectrum need to get together on.
We live in a feel good age. These days, it's a crime to make anybody feel bad, provided they aren't white males. Boy, if I could successfully sue every person that has offended me, I certainly wouldn't be living in Milton. This trend though is very disturbing. It seems like it takes only one person among legions of listeners or viewers to be offended by the content of the program to get it pulled off the air. I'm no expert when it comes to American politics but I'm pretty sure that's a violation of the First Amendment. Right now, powerful groups on both the left and the right are leading a witch hunt to get offensive things off the air. How does one define something as being offensive though? The thing is, you can't. Of course we don't want programs targeted at young children that talk about graphic sex and what not. However, the programs being targeted by these special interest groups are shows specifically for adults. If you are so offended by a program, why the hell are you even watching it in the first place! Turn it off. That's the problem. Nobody is forcing these people to view or hear offensive content, yet, these interests groups are forcing people not to view it. Isn't that fascism? With increasing FCC fines for obscene content, it seems the US government is on their side.
Why do networks pull these shows though, even when the FCC doesn't threaten them with fines? Well, that's a very good question. It's primarily due to manipulation of advertisers, implicitly and explicitly. Special interest groups threaten product boycotts of the advertisers unless they pull their support from the show. That's how shows with huge ratings that bring in stations huge amounts of money can get pulled. It makes little business sense but it just shows the power that these small groups have. Mind you, these advertisers have nothing to fear as those loyal to the shows (who are in the majority) would probably buy more of a product if the advertisers continued support in the face of a minority boycott. That was the case with Sinefeld DVDs after the Michael Richards incident and the subsequent call by African American fascists for a boycott of his works.

Now what about Canada. Well, that is what this blog is about. I like to ask, can this happen here? Canada is significantly more tolerant of content than the US is. The CRTC and Industry Canada regulate how the communications industry does business but they don't really care about content. Not as much as the FCC does anyway. For example, one of the few countries that allows all South Park episodes to be shown is Canada. Don't say it cannot happen here though. It can. A few years ago, the CRTC pulled the license of a Quebec radio station due to the "offensive" comments of two popular shock jocks. The CRTC received 10 complaints on a show that had tens of thousands of listeners. To them, that was cause to shut it down. There's also some Broadcast Standards thing, that is separate from the government. It's a board made by the industry to self-police. In other words, it's yet another group for the special interest people to manipulate to promote their fascist agendas.

Censorship is running rampant in North American society and it must be halted. People blast the McCarthy era for censorship yet they blissfully ignore it happening today. Do somethign so stop it. Here's US based website dealing with it. It's down for maintenance as a write this now but it might be a good idea to check it out later.
http://www.peopleagainstcensorship.com/

Here's a video from CNN about the issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuzdaFajByg

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The War on Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is on the rise world wide, or so it would seem. The media has given a great deal of attention to this issue but it seems to have gone under the political radar. Every week we hear about another internet predator being arrested for assaulting a child. It is truly sickening at the amount of people willing to do such things. I've talked about this in the past but I think it's worth bringing up again.

Last year, the Harper government made a move to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16. Still not far enough in my opinion but a good start. It really should be 18 to bring us inline with the United States. This was done to prevent older men from having relations with young teens, while still allowing teens to have legal relations with each other. Personally, if I found some 40 year old guy having relations with my 14 year old daughter, even though it's legal, I would probably murder him. I sure most sane and responsible men wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing. However, this does not solve the larger problem caused, at least partially, by the internet. Of course it's not the internet's fault that sick people do sick things but it has made child abuse more accessible, and dare I say acceptable to these disturbed people. Therein lies the problem. How do we fight this?

I think we need to start looking at these cases from a different perspective. These people are obviously mentally ill. This activity is not a sexual orientation. They cannot use the same argument that homosexuals as gays are still two consenting adults who understand what's going on. That is not the case with child abusers. A child cannot possibly consent to those actions. Rather than jail, which has proven itself time and time again, we should label sexual offenders who target children as being criminally insane. As such, they will be sent to maximum security mental institutions. This offers numerous advantages over jail. The public is still protected as these people are in these institutions indefinitely until they are well. It also allows opportunity to study and develop better treatments for this condition, which could be used to hopefully cure these people. Sure, it's a long shot, but it makes more sense than the revolving door prison system that these people are subject too, where they're back on the streets to reoffend rather quickly.

In the mean time, how should our society protect children? Well, keeping offenders off the street is the first way. Being smart is the second. In most cases, the offender knows there victim. They aren't the stranger in the car with candy as most people imagine. Be weary of other adults around your children. That doesn't mean you shouldn't trust people, but just don't let them get too close. Keep an eye on your kids. When it boils down to it, suspicious activity is fairly easy to spot out.

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Justin Trudeau: So It's Come To This Again

Pierre Trudeau was Canada's worst Prime Minister. Definitely debatable but true none the less. The laughing stock that Canada became under the Chretien government all roots back to Canada's most questionable political figure. A staunch communist, with friends such as Fidel Castro, Turdeau latched onto the Liberal party as a ploy for power. While there, he did such memorable things as flip the bird to reporters and made smart ass comments. Hardly appropriate for somebody at his level of education, power, and responsibility. It took far to long to get that joke out of office and he seemed to keep coming back like a bad cold. The man died seven years ago. Good riddance, or so we though.

Now we come full circle to a politician who is just arrogant. No, not Chretien. Though Trudeau was Chretien's mentor, he was more interested in furthering his own goals and could hardly be called a communist. No, I'm taking about Trudeau's son Justin. He's now running for office under his father's old Liberal banner. Justin will be running in the next election in the ridding of Pappineau, Quebec. Perhaps the Liberals believe he will revitalize the party as Stephane Dion has proven to be an ineffective and unpopular leader. I caution them that this is a path they do not want to go down again. Considering that Trudeau and his lackey's antics didn't save the party but doomed it to loose. Twice to Mulroney and now to Harper.

Still, the Turdeaus have become Canada's unofficial royal family, for some largly unknown reason. Sure, he did give us the Charter of Rights but even it has its flaws. Native special treatment and legalizing affirmative action come to mind. Other than that, he did relatively little to make Canada a great nation. Arguably, the slump and malaise began during his rule as Prime Minister. Now here comes Justin, seemingly at the right time. Justin though is simply an echo, a clone of his father. He even continues the legacy of questionable actions. While in Windsor recently, Justin Trudeau gave a speech to high school students telling them to question our capitalist economy and suggested that it would bring the downfall of this country. He has suggested that our environmental and social justice records have deteriorated. Is this true? Of course not! Canada is wealthier than it ever has been and is still the sixth best country in the world to live in according to the UN. The UN cites lingering problems with aboriginals as part of our decline from first, though the top five are countries that have been developing very rapidly over recent years. We are still ahead of the US and Japan and we are still one of the eight richest countries in the world. We successfully eliminated poverty in our country years ago. We must be doing something right.

Justin, like his father, is a communist that is just latching onto the Liberals because he knows he would never make it to power as a member of the Communist Party, or NDP. Personally, I think the NDP would feel a little uncomfortable with his ideas as they are very far left. Like his father, he is a friend of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. We all know how well those people are living it up in communist paradise. If the Liberals are smart, they'll keep this man from getting any serious power in their party. God forbid if he ever were to become Prime Minister. I'd head south for good at that point.

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Yet Another Liberal Scandal

When will Canadians get the message. When you elect Liberal governments, they naturally turn to corruption. Once again, we have another scandal. Ontario's sponsorship scandal. It seems that the Ontario Liberals were handing out tax payer dollars to Liberal friendly immigrant groups. One in particular was an Iranian charity that received a huge pile of money only a few weeks after it was registered as a charity. Before, it claimed to be an animal welfare group. Come on.

This is a case of buying votes. Many immigrants will tend to be lifelong voters of the political party that does the most "favours" for their community. The Liberals buying votes? Wow, as if that's never happened before. The Liberals just can't seem to help themselves from sticking their hands in the cookie jar. In the mean time, Canadians are paying record high taxes while services are decreasing. All we're paying half our salaries for is so Liberal governments can waste money on administration and slush funds to help their friends. Of course, Finance Minister Sobara dismissed the issue as an election tactic by the opposition.
What's worse is that Canadians simply just tolerate this kind of behavior with nonsense comments like "better the devil you know." I think I'd rather take my chances by voting in somebody different that to have my hard earned money being handed out to shady special interest groups. Remember that this is the same government who broke all their election promises including levying the largest tax increase in Ontario history after they said they wouldn't raise taxes at all. On average, you have $900 less in your bank account at the end of the year due to that "health premium". (It's hidden in your income tax so it was actually an income tax increase.) Has health care improved on account? No.
Quit being so spineless my fellow Canadians. Open your eyes and see the fraudsters that these people really are.

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Commie Wars: Buzz vs Gore

The Harper Conservatives have found an unlikely ally. Buzz Hargrove, president of the CAW. Once again, the subject is environmentalism and how the issue has become out of control. This is perhaps the only time I agree with Buzz. He's predicting doom to the Canadian economy, especially the auto sector, if Al Gore and David Suzuki get their way. Rightly so. It's a bad time for selling cars in North America right now and American auto makers are struggling. Though I'm no economic expert, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg which will eventually lead to a recession in the auto industries of Japan and Europe as well. High taxes, high inflation, oh my.

The car, arguably the life blood of today's economy, has become public enemy number one for the likes of Gore and Suzuki. Obviously these two men are not gear heads. They've attacked everything from the family compact to your lawn mower. Even ethanol fueled vehicles haven't escaped. Buzz launched an attack against his fellow socialists stating that their environmental plans will cripple the auto industry, forcing the layoffs of possible thousands of workers. With that, you can kiss the likes of Oshawa, Windsor, and Brampton good bye as these cities rely on auto making too keep going. I guess that doesn't really matter to Gore. It doesn't seem to matter that killing industry will alienate a large part of the Democrats' voter base. I guess Gore hopes he can make that up by scaring others into electing him as president om 2008. Global warming is a rich persons, bandwagon issue.
Hargrove called the Conservatives environmental platform more realistic since it takes the economy into account rather than totally ignoring it which the Liberals and NDP have done. Though I suppose if the economy collapsed, we would have reduced emissions. I guess that's their plan. I still think the Conservative plan goes to far. Banning incandecent light bulbs comes to mind. There are many appliances and fixtures that use special bulbs where more energy efficient replacements aren't available. These energy efficient models don't work with dimmers either. I'm off on a tangent now though.

Hargrove likened global warming to Y2K. Remember that. The disaster that wasn't. It became an industry out of people's fear that the world would end. Indeed, global warming has become an industry, and a powerful political machine. As I said, Gore is just in it for the presidency. Suzuki, well, he's just another idiot who was wrongly given a PHD. I'm not sure what his political motives are but I know they are playing a major role.
Gore himself is really starting to bother me. Where's an assassin when you need one. He has the nerve to come into Canada and starts telling us how we should run out country. Rot in hell Mr Gore. Don't bring your election campaign north of the border. At least Hargrove has become an unlikely ally from the socialist side. He seems to be one of the few people who isn't afraid to point out the hoax that global warming actually is. We need more people like that if we want to stop this apocalypse madness.

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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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905ers Will No Longer Have to Pay for Toronto

Some good news in the Ontario budget, which is rare coming from this particular government. The McGuinty Liberals have decided to ax a program that saw 905 tax dollars going to support the city of Toronto. There will be no more 905 money going to the city. It's about time, though still not enough to sway my vote. Of course, this has upset Toronto mayor David Miller. It has not been a good week for him. Both the federal and provincial budgets did not provide any more money for cities. Bad news for Mr Miller, good news for everyone who lives outside of Downtown Toronto.

Mr Miller is a man who has plenty of wonderful ideas, but he wants everybody else to pay for them. Ah, the credit card mentality of our society. Champaign tastes on a beer budget. That whiny little kid he's got running the TTC now, I just want to punch him in the mouth. Almost makes me wish Howard Moscow was still in charge... almost. Tis the hallmark of NDP governments. Always spending beyond their means and incurring massive debts in the meantime, with little benefit to ordinary citizens in return.

What else can I say about the two budgets? They were pretty solid. Nothing really to complain about. Neither government wants to stir the manure pile at this point. I would have liked to see more tax cuts for the middle class though. Especially the axing of the controversial health care premium. Since Ontario is now running a surplus, this is something that should have been done.
In Ottawa, the Liberals and NDP has both stated that they will vote against the Conservative budget. Natch. The Bloc and at least one now ex-Liberal is voting in favour of it though, so it looks like it will pass. Recent polls have shown that the majority of Canadians like the budget and don't want an election. It's not in the best interest of any federal parties to trigger an election right now, since none of them can form a majority.

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Toronto Teens in the Right

While we may never know the exact details of the case, teens protesting outside Birchmount Collegiate in Toronto are in the right. The whole mess started on a social networking website known as Facebook, which is popular among teens and young adults. Five students had been criticizing the school's vice principal. Based on what the media had released, there were no threats against this person, just criticism. The school board, however, felt that they were bullying the teacher and suspended the five students. This has caused outrage on campus, with a protest being held. Of course, with teens in large groups, they get rowdy and four teens were arrested. It's important to note that that was not what the protest's organizers had intended.

The fact is, this should have never gotten to the point it did. The people in charge who originally decided to suspend the students did indeed violate their rights. As long as no threats are made, people are supposed to be free to say whatever they wish about authority figures, especially in private. These students should never have been suspended, especially for remarks made outside of school. The suspensions should immediately be lifted and the officials involved should be made to make either a written or public apology to the five students involved (not the other way around as some have suggested).

Of course, there is always a broader issue. In this case, it's school bullying and teacher unprofessionalism. Bullying has been a part of school since schools have existed. In the last four years, however, there have been serious efforts to try and stamp it out. That's because a few deranged youngsters have committed suicide due to bullying; not to mention the rash of school shootings beginning with Columbine High in 1999. Bullying is a very difficult thing for many youngsters to deal with. Many people have encountered it, most get over it. I don't find anything wrong with helping children deal with bully issues. However, can student's really bully a teacher?
Back when my parent's where in school, the teacher was the unquestioned authority figure. If you got out of line, you'd get the strap, and then another whooping from your parents when you got home. Things are different today. Many parents take a spectator stance on parenting. In those houses, the child never really learns who's boss. When they get into school, the world becomes very bizarre to them. There's this adult who wants to make then do things. Mommy and daddy don't do that. As the teacher tries to assert authority, the child becomes confused and refuses to accept. Child lashes out, and they're at the principal's office with a phone call home. Of course the parents don't do anything. After this happens a few too many times, the child eventually gets put on some mind bending anti-ADHD drug.
It's quite difficult being a teacher today, with so many kids like that. However, that's why they get paid an obscene amount of money. Teacher's have very little to complain about. Teachers are still the authority figure in the classroom. I don't think they can be bullied by their students. Issues with students need to be dealt with in a professional manner. Suspending students, especially for remarks made outside of school is highly unprofessional. In my opinion, the teacher involved was not being bullied at all. That person a sissy, plain and simple. Buck up, that's what the world is like now. If you can't deal with it, you should not have gone into teaching in the first place.

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