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PTBC J-Log

A conservative OPINION blog --with bite. OPINION by Joel Johannesen.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

The typical liberal-left fallacy in technicolor

Written by Joel Johannesen on Saturday October 01 2005 at 06:59 AM

I was mystified at Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Frank McKenna, yesterday, when I’d read that he told a Canadian audience that “the government of the United States is in large measure dysfunctional.”  He then went on to praise Canada in comparison—like a child might do—or a liberal—to say that Canada’s government, economy, health-care system and natural resources are way better than theirs. 

What kind of thing is that to say?  What kind of “diplomat” would say such a thing?  And of course this question:  was he smoking pot immediately prior to making those remarks?  Because nobody in their right mind would.  That’s what I thought. 

So I didn’t even blog about it because I literally thought it was a misprint or some sort of an error.

But it demonstrates—in technicolor—the abject fallacy of much of the philosophy of the liberal-left in Canada. 

First, they think that it would appeal to Canadians to act—or be—anti-American.  Frighteningly and embarrassingly, it is actually effective among the liberal-left set.  It betrays an abysmal lack of political sophistication among my Canadian compatriots.

Second, they appeal to the fallacy that in order to build oneself up, one must tear another down.  In order to get rich, one must make someone else poorer.  In order to win, somebody else must win less.  This mentality is astonishingly provincial and jejune.

The U.S. Ambassador is apparently far more mature.  Sophisticated.  Enlightened.  And I take no great pleasure in saying that. 

The National Post article explains as much:

But Mr. Wilkins said Canadians do not need to put down the United States to feel good about themselves.

“The majority of [Mr. McKenna’s] speech was about building Canada up and bragging about the wonderful attributes of Canada and the government of Canada and I agree with that totally,” Mr. Wilkins said.

“I simply don’t think you have to tear one country down to build the other up, and that’s where I disagree on that…. I think the United States can stand on its own and be proud of what we do.”

And he added something else, addressing my first point above:

He said be believes anti-Americanism in Canada is “blown way out of proportion.” He said for every negative letter he receives, he has 20 conversations with Canadians that are positive. “From a personal standpoint, I don’t detect the negativism that I read about and hear about.”

The negativism is a liberal-left created and nurtured product, much like so-called “Canadian Culture” is, and much like what they are trying to foist upon Canadians as “Canadian values”.  In actual fact and as a general matter, Canadians a far smarter than that.  Far smarter than the self-anointed liberal-left elites are.  They are being insulted by the liberal-left, and they should feel exactly that way. 

 

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Saturday, October 01, 2005 at 06:59 AM

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And predictably… it’s a huge headline

Written by Joel Johannesen on Saturday October 01 2005 at 06:39 AM

I’m not Karnac the Magnificent and luckily you don’t have to be in Canada, where we’re wrapped like old school fish ‘n chips in old school liberal-left print media newspapers and it makes predicting headlines and their message a snap. 

My last post yesterday spoke of the liberal, anti-conservative media making a mountain out of a mole hill.  And as if they were a slippery live fish taking the silly wormy bait, Canada.com (that’s Canwest/Global of Global TV fame, National Post, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun, the Province, and more) blasts the predictable headline across their web site. 

And what are we greeted with this morning?  Well it’s like they’re trying to prove the point in my blog entry.  Thanks, Canwest/Global, I guess.

image

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Saturday, October 01, 2005 at 06:39 AM

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Friday, September 30, 2005

How the media makes a mountain out of a mole hill - 101

Written by Joel Johannesen on Friday September 30 2005 at 01:54 PM

Quickly setting this up for you: the Premier of Nova Scotia is retiring from politics.  Turns out it’s deputy Conservative Party leader Peter MacKay’s home province.  You won’t be tested on this.

Naturally, then, there’s speculation—only in the media, not among any other person in Canada outside of Nova Scotia’s parliament buildings at all whatsoever—about whether Mr. MacKay might abandon the federal Conservative Party and run provincially in Nova Scotia and become Premier.  Or as the media would have it, “The Conservative Party is falling apart, the sky, she be fallin’, the end is nigh… blah blah blah”.  You’ve already been tested on this kind of anti-conservative media-driven nonsense a thousand times, and you’ve all passed.

Now they’ve found a new angle.  Crafty lot.  And here it is:  Has the Conservative Party leader, Stephen Harper, actually asked him to stay?  I mean ACTUALLY physically ASKED him personally?  (And the method, by the way, is to ask the question over and over 89 times, unless you’re asking a Liberal a question about Adscam, at which point you whisper it unintelligibly once then go for coffee and a Hot Pocket in the Parliamentary cafeteria). 

And did Mr. Harper’s little heart-warming note include a smiley face? smile  ...

...Or the dreaded frowny face?  downer 

...Because Mr. MacKay is a big baby, don’t ya know, and he has to be made to feel “embraced” at all times, or else he’ll go away.  A hug—or better yet a big ol’ group hug—is the minimal requisite at this juncture, mm you see.

The media has confused the Conservative Party with the liberal-left girlieman party.  And you for a complete and utter idiot.

But furthermore (extra credit, class, if you figure this out!)  this Canadian press story seems to have morphed—by accident!—-  into a commentary story, or what we here like to call an “opinion column”, in which the writer conjectures and ponders inner meanings based on his inner thoughts and opinions.  Let’s review, class:

[...] One senior Tory insider insisted “there’s no story here. That’s Stephen’s personality.”

Harper is a professional, said the source, and expects others to behave the same way. “You shouldn’t need to be cajoled into staying.”

And Harper’s spokeswoman, Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, said the point is moot because MacKay has repeatedly indicated to Harper that he would be staying with the federal party.

“Peter always said he was going to stay in Ottawa, so it’s kind of an odd story,” she said.

Then the reporter morphs into an opinion columnist before our very eyes right about here:

That’s not to say there isn’t an issue.

The easy speculation is that Harper wants his deputy out because MacKay keeps stealing the limelight. More Machiavellian minds might see MacKay painting Harper in a negative light.

Or it could just be the latest case of poor Conservative optics, a byproduct of Harper’s debilitating lack of people skills.

See how that works?  The story, which is being invented in the first instance, isn’t therefore able to be anti-conservative enough on its own—simply because there’s no story!  So it needs a little help.  You sometime have to help make the Conservative Party look “debilitated”.

Class, this serves as an excellent example of how to turn a mole hill into a mountain of fantasy. 

Sometimes you gotta, I mean if you’ve got a personal message you need to get out there to the public, and you feel as though you need to have the public see things in a certain way.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Friday, September 30, 2005 at 01:54 PM

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New PhotoBlog picture up

Written by Joel Johannesen on Friday September 30 2005 at 01:07 PM

...and I couldn’t even come up with a zinger of a caption.  I’m sure you can though.

Check it out in the PhotoBlog section—there’s always a link to the latest PhotoBlog photo over there along the right column. image

Here it is, just to get your creative juices flowing.  (Note you can’t comment here in this blog entry—it has to be in the PhotoBlog section by clicking the link from the column at the right!) which will open the picture in a small separate window for you to view and make your comment.

“Hey media: Is this right? Do I look good?”

Oh my.

(Photo credit: REUTERS/Andy Clark)

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Friday, September 30, 2005 at 01:07 PM

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I wrote right-wing things today.

Written by Joel Johannesen on Friday September 30 2005 at 08:24 AM

Actually bunches of fantastic conservative-friendly folks said conservative-friendly things in the latter part of this week in our Columnist section, including me. 

I started with a theatrical thang.  I hope to make it into a CBC movie someday.  It could happen.  Here’s a snippet—it’s called ‘Morning, Canada!  Would you like your Liberals coddled or fried?:

image

Media cafe waitpersonage: And how much pork would you like with that coddled Liberal?

Me: No, no pork.  I’m just a

citizen

Canadian.  And I’d like my Liberals fried.  Well done.  Scrabble ‘em.  Boil ‘em. Cook ‘em.

Media cafe waitpersonage: Yes it will be coddled.  No, you cannot have it fried.  Just eat it.  EAT IT NOW.

Me: Visit ProudToBeCanadian.ca!

Media cafe waitpersonage: La-la-la-lala-la-la!  I can’t hear you!  Now.  For desert? In Canada, the Fraser Institute is “right wing”. Radically left-wing organizations are just “normal”.  Eat it NOW.


As the liberal media fumbles through the end of what was a weekus horribilis for Liberals inside and outside the media, in which they had to come to the Party’s rescue almost as if it were a replay of the 2004 election when the Conservatives were gaining on them—they must have thought they could take the day off today.  [...]


Anthony Oluwatoyin wrote an excellent piece on the effort from the Conservative Party this week to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 (or even 12) to 16—or as I can personally note was reported in a Vancouver Sun headline this week (with my emphasis), “Tories fail to raise age of consent”—as if it were the Conservatives’ fault.  His piece is called “Uncle Wally, Aunt Sally, Huck Finn, Puppies and a BC pervert”.  Here’s a snippet of his excellent writing:

image

[...] Les Liberanos, our federal Liberals, those masters of perverse pleasures, were as gleeful in reminding critics that it was Mulroney’s Conservatives, in 1987, who lowered the age to 14, as Chrà ©tien used to be in pointing to the same source for the GST.

Leading the charge against the age raise, Justice Minister Cotler said he did not want to criminalize teenage “puppy love.” But normal Canadians worry about much older predators taking advantage of youth. Cotler’s move is plain deception, so much so as to make people wonder if the liberal understanding of puppy love involves actual puppies. [...]


We also heard from Ann Coulter just yesterday, and she’s not hot on President Bush’s endorsation record, nor on what drives it—the Republican Party establishment.  Let’s roll the snippet as we bear the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada establishment (which likes to think it should run the new Conservative Party) in mind:

image

[...] In 2004, Bush backed Mel Martinez for the open Senate seat in Florida and asked the magnificent Katherine Harris not to run against him, so she graciously bowed out. Martinez has since called on Bush to shut down Guantanamo. What’s Spanish for “buyer’s remorse”?

This year, rumors have it that Bush is again discouraging the magnificent Harris not to run for the Senate. Here’s hoping she ignores him. How much would Bush’s support be worth to Harris at this point anyway? If Bush really wants to keep Katherine Harris out of the U.S. Senate, maybe he should just endorse her.  [...]


John Martin wrote a great piece about the race card being played by the media and liberals. 

Barbara Kay wrote the best—bar none—encapsulation of the new Governor General, Michaelle Jean, that you will read anywhere, period.  (This does not surprise me). It is a great read.

Cinnamon Stillwell co-authored a brilliant piece on anti-war protesters, saying “At some point, the radical Left will have to do more than simply tear away at the fabric of society and march against their own country and in support of overseas terrorists and totalitarian regimes. They’ll have to actually offer something constructive to build a better world.” 

Steve Milloy fill us up with FACTS… about gas prices and how the government—yes the government as well as environmaniacs, not the oil companies, can once again be blamed for those prices we’re all so fond of. 

And Mike Adams responds to a fan mail asking him to help the fan get into the world of gun ownership.  This is great reading for us law-abiding Canadians who like guns and have the right to protect ourselves and engage in the fantastic world of, for example, the Marlin .22 Magnum, Model 25 MN. 


That was just from Wednesday until today in our Columnist section!

image image
image image image

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Friday, September 30, 2005 at 08:24 AM

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Friday happy post

Written by Joel Johannesen on Friday September 30 2005 at 07:05 AM

Warning: Do not sip coffee during the read.

Good week-ender read for today (hat tip: Exile)—-from the WuzzaDem (good name!) blog:

CNN: Cindy Sheehan, By The Numbers.

Too funny.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Friday, September 30, 2005 at 07:05 AM

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Thursday, September 29, 2005

Conservatives closing in on “Grit’s”

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 04:59 PM

The Conservative Party’s own polling shows a much closer margin than this latest Decima poll. 

But note the typo—or misunderstanding of how apostrophes work—in this non-pajama-wearing professional journalist’s title (story written by Alexander Panetta of Canadian Press but the CP version doesn’t have this error; so I blame it on the National Post staff, because that’s where the story appears with this title).  Should be Grits’:

Grit’s lead over Tories slimmer: poll

The federal Conservatives are climbing back after a bruising few months and have sliced in half the Liberals’ lead in public opinion, a new survey suggests.

[...] The new numbers support a trend reported in private Conservative polls and offer the party qualified hope for an election campaign that is either weeks or months away.

[...] The Tories trailed the Liberals by seven points nationally (36 per cent to 29) and by 10 points in Ontario (43 per cent to 33) in a three-week survey that ended Sept. 26. The NDP was at 17 per cent nationally.

[...] Decima’s results are based on rolling three-week averages. The latest portion, which was conducted Sept. 22 to 26, questioned 1,015 adult Canadians and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.


The Conservative Party’s own polling suggests that the Liberals have the support of 32 per cent of decided voters outside Quebec, with the Conservatives running just one percentage point behind.

The poll, conducted by party pollster Praxicus Public Strategies, also reportedly shows an increasing portion of Ontario voters have switched from Paul Martin’s Liberals to the “Undecided” category.  This according to a story at CTV.CA

The survey of 1,500 people between Sept. 15 and Sept. 23 is considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 04:59 PM

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Let me complete the sentence, Mr. Prime Minister

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 03:37 PM

The Liberal Prime Minister’s news release (just released moments ago) positively oozes with socialist muck.  It’s about the Liberal-left’s newest grand socialist scheme to make still more Canadians completely reliant upon the benevolent liberal (LIBERAL—make no mistake at voting time, dummies!) government, rather than on themselves, for their very lives and that of their families. 

Socialist blather to follow—and I’ll complete the thought because obviously the PM was shy:

“The surest measure of a forward-looking society is the effort it makes to help its youngest citizens,” said Prime Minister Martin. “This Agreement in Principle between Canada and British Columbia moves us closer to a shared vision for early learning and child care. Decades ago, it was a series of such agreements that led to the creation of Medicare in Canada—a program that now helps to define us as Canadians.”

... as a joke of international proportion. Can you imagine that he—our government’s leader—is holding up our decrepit North Korean-style health care system as a beacon of success?  As something that defines us?  As something we should be proud of?  What an insult to all Canadians!  Especially those who have been waiting 2 years in pain and agony for (for example) a hip replacement. 

TWENTY EIGHT COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD HAVE “FREE” (ha-ha) UNIVERAL ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE, AS CANADA DOES.

So how does ours help “define us as Canadians”?  Well let me help you out there a little more, Mr. Prime Minister:

Canada spends (wastes) the MOST of any of those 28 countries in the entire world.  All of the others spend less money and many of them have better health outcomes.  At least six countries have NO LINE-UPS.  ALL of them allow/encourage/thrive with the participation of PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.  So you see the rest of the world looks at Canada as an example of what to avoid, Mr. Prime Minister.

When will the liberal-left start to engage in an honest debate about health care, among other things, instead of deceiving you in order to sucker you into voting for them?  Perhaps when they’re defeated at the polls.


Meantime:  more socialist blather:

“This Agreement in Principle is another step to making sure that children in British Columbia will have the best possible start in life,” said Minister Dryden.

Yes, you see, “the best possible start in life” from a socialist’s perspective is to get the little tykes hooked not on phonics, but on government entitlements and handouts. 

As part of this Agreement in Principle, the Government of Canada will work with British Columbia and other interested provincial and territorial governments to develop a National Quality Framework that will guide the development of early learning and child care programming across Canada.

To me, that just reads like a threat.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 03:37 PM

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“No no… in Canada we’ll restrict it to just two people. Yeah I’m sure.”

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 02:26 PM

“Progressive” in action!  Canada’s liberal-left will be in a funk over this story but only because they didn’t get there first. They were grumpy that Canada didn’t “lead the world” at becoming the first gay marriage country—beaten by the Netherlands—now it’s the story of liberal (that’s “progressive”!) Netherland’s first triple wedding.  In this case, between one man and two women.  Well that’s exciting this week but who knows what next week will bring.  It’s all about the progress folks! 

But that’s OK because the women (but not the man) are “bisexual”, see.  And they weren’t “married”, they were “civil unioned”.  That’s what Canada’s Conservative Party calls their version of gay marriage too.  Fun with words!

Over in our Discussion Forum, “Exile” started a topic about it after he found it at Michelle Malkin’s most excellent blog. 

Here’s the story from the Brussels Journal

First Trio “Married” in The Netherlands
image

The Netherlands and Belgium were the first countries to give full marriage rights to homosexuals. In the United States some politicians propose “civil unions” that give homosexual couples the full benefits and responsibilities of marriage. These civil unions differ from marriage only in name.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands polygamy has been legalised in all but name. Last Friday the first civil union of three partners was registered. Victor de Bruijn (46) from Roosendaal “married” both Bianca (31) and Mirjam (35) in a ceremony before a notary who duly registered their civil union.

“I love both Bianca and Mirjam, so I am marrying them both,” Victor said. He had previously been married to Bianca. Two and a half years ago they met Mirjam Geven through an internet chatbox. Eight weeks later Mirjam deserted her husband and came to live with Victor and Bianca. After Mirjam’s divorce the threesome decided to marry.

Victor: “A marriage between three persons is not possible in the Netherlands, but a civil union is. We went to the notary in our marriage costume and exchanged rings. We consider this to be just an ordinary marriage.”

Asked by journalists to tell the secret of their peculiar relationship, Victor explained that there is no jealousy between them. “But this is because Mirjam and Bianca are bisexual. I think that with two heterosexual women it would be more difficult.” Victor stressed, however, that he is “a one hundred per cent heterosexual” and that a fourth person will not be allowed into the “marriage.” They want to take their marriage obligations seriously: “to be honest and open with each other and not philander.”


Comments accepted only in our Discussion Forum, where “Exile” has started a topic.  (A separate registration is required in the discussion forums to participate, but it only takes a second.)

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 02:26 PM

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Greg Weston on Liberal Dingwall: “It’s quite a legacy, all right”

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 09:45 AM

A liberal voterLooking for a mini synopsis of what Liberals are capable of in a short amount of time?  The good Greg Weston of Sun Media’s Ottawa Sun provides a goodie. 

My fellow Canadians, this is just ONE out of the MILLIONS who are, work for, were appointed by, or who are “friendly to” the Liberal Party of Canada.  Imagine what all of them together are doing.  Or do like me:  when you need to spend a bit of time day dreaming, sit back and imagine what we don’t know.

Money trail goes on and on

[...] The prime minister, seizing another golden opportunity to look ridiculous, rose in the Commons to praise Dingwall for having “dedicated most of his life to the public service.”

It’s quite a legacy, all right.

Back in 1994, Dingwall was Liberal public works minister when he publicly vowed to eradicate patronage and corruption from the awarding of massive federal advertising contracts.

The senior bureaucrat handpicked by Dingwall to clean up the advertising swamp was Chuck Guite, the same official who helped create it under the Tories.

The rest, as they say, is history. Adscam was born in Dingwall’s department the next year, $350 million was blown on the scandalous advertising sponsorship program, and Guite is now facing criminal fraud charges.

Last year, Dingwall testified at a Commons committee investigating Adscam that he couldn’t remember ever meeting Guite.

[...] In 1997, Dingwall was turfed out of office by voters who were evidently not nearly as impressed with his record of public service as the current prime minister seems to be.

Dingwall promptly hung out his shingle as a lobbyist, and quickly began raking in the big bucks in some unusual deals.

Testimony at the Gomery inquiry into Adscam indicated that in 1998, for instance, Dingwall was paid $12,000 a month by a Montreal advertising executive he apparently had never met, supposedly to provide lobbying advice to VIA Rail, a Crown corporation prohibited by law from hiring lobbyists for anything.

The Montreal ad executive, Jean Lafleur, is a key player in the Adscam fiasco, and told the Gomery inquiry he was ordered by VIA to hire Dingwall and send the bills to the public railway.

Dingwall also put his considerable lobbying talents to work to help a number of Canadian biotechnology companies get multi-million-dollar government grants.

In August of this year, Industry Canada froze $6.6 million in federal financing for one of Dingwall’s clients after it was discovered he had neglected to register as a lobbyist for the firm as required by law.

The industry department has also frozen federal financing for another biotech firm that agreed to pay Dingwall a $350,000 “success fee” if the company landed at least $15 million in government loot.

Dingwall said in a written statement yesterday that he looks forward to a “new chapter” in his career.

Teaching ethics, no doubt.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 09:45 AM

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Hey what happened to that Paul Martin “Mad as Hell!” tour during the campaign?

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 09:02 AM

Paul Martin certainly is mad….I remember it clearly because I found it to be the source of uproarious laughter—second only to ”...and we lead the world in [fill in the blank—anything that sounds good! ...]” during the election campaign of 2004, where the Liberals were, and I quote, “MAD AS HELL!” about the scandals that they themselves created and got caught being in.  Turns out they weren’t mad at the scandals per se, they were simply ticked that they got CAUGHT in the scandals, some of which are still popping up just this week.  Two just yesterday alone! 

Given how “mad” they are, why is it that Sun Media and various Conservative Party MPs have to be the ones who find the scandals, fight to get Access To Information material, then bring it up, and only then be acted on (defended, actually) by the Liberals?  Then the Liberals act all “mad as hell!” again.  Quite a bunch of honorable folks, no?

What happened to the “Mad As Hell!” tour?  Perhaps it was a hidden agenda…. to dupe voters into voting for them.  Well it worked.  Congratulations.  Election please.

The Winnipeg Sun’s editorial today (hat tip Ross M.) speaks to the corruption which is, I would say, systemic within the Liberal Party and—importantly—all of its bureaucracies.  It’s a hellacious mess.  But expensing a pack of gum worth $1.29?  Taxpayers pay for Liberals’ chewing gum?  What else do we pay for?

Nickel and dimed

Being around all those coins obviously got the better of mint prez David Dingwall. Dingwall, a former Chretien-era Liberal cabinet minister, resigned yesterday as head of Canada’s Royal Mint after Sun Media broke a story about his lavish spending habits on the taxpayers’ dime.

Conservative National Revenue critic Brian Pallister is livid about the big-ticket items Dingwall racked up courtesy of John Q. Taxpayer.

Pallister wants to know what taxpayers received in exchange for Dingwall’s lavish spending on golf club memberships, gourmet meals and extravagant travel.

We’d like to know that, too, but what really upsets us is the revelation he billed us $1.29 for a lousy pack of chewing gum.

Dingwall earned $277,000 a year, while he and his top aides racked up $130,000 in foreign and domestic travel, $14,000 in meals and $11,000 in hospitality.
 

Then there is the $5,297 for golf membership fees and $2,500 for domestic limousine service, despite having a government car at his disposal.

Those are big numbers, but we’ve grown all too used to seeing them in connection with allegations of misuse of public money by cronies of the Liberal government.

But $1.29?

Perhaps Dingwall felt he could justify expensing a pack of gum because he had to freshen his breath after a meal of expensive wine, caviar and other delicacies most Canadian working stiffs cannot afford.

After all, one of his aides billed us for $5,300 that appears to have gone toward a single meal.

Dingwall’s nickel and diming us for a few sticks of gum tells us plenty about the attitude of entitlement rampant in the Liberal party and its hangers-on these days.

As long as they have the public trough to stick their nose in, they don’t have to spend a penny of their own dough.

Prime Minister Paul Martin promised to clean house when he took office, but his shameful reaction to Dingwall’s expensive habits and subsequent resignation—praising the fallen Liberal soldier—show it was yet another vow that isn’t worth a dime.

Or maybe that should be $1.29.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 09:02 AM

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End to noxious polluting gas and global warming found!

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 08:47 AM

A Canadian, Johanne Gelinas, who is, as I understand it, “commissioner of the environment and sustainable development division” of the Liberal Party bureaucracy secretariat (and wiener stand!), is being credited (by me) with making a huge step forward in ending “global warming”.

Apparently the chief source of greenhouses gasses leaking into the atmosphere has been discovered, and it is, as all conservatives already knew, liberal-left governments and their hordes of bureaucrats blowing smoke and bloviating endlessly about Kyoto and greenhouse gasses and industrial pollution ruining our lives and global warming and Bush. 

Apparently these noxious gas bags are contributing to the problem and spending all our money doing it, simply for P.R. and vote-buying purposes, rather than actually making any sense at all whatsoever, nor being even half honorable and trustworthy. 

There’s so much I can add to this it’s best I just stop now.  Well let me just add:  vote liberal!

Feds flunk environmental report

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal environment watchdog says the government produces a lot of talk, but not much action on environmental issues.

Johanne Gelinas, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, said the government tends to make loud announcements which are forgotten “as soon as the confetti hits the ground.”

In a report released Thursday, Gelinas chides Ottawa for doing a poor job protecting the oceans, promoting biodiversity and ensuring safe drinking water on native reserves.

It also says the government has no policy for buying green, environmentally sound products, nor has it pushed departments to co-ordinate policies on sustainable development.

Gelinas, who oversees environmental issues for the auditor general, said the government makes bold promises, but doesn’t provide the resources or structures to follow through.

“The federal government is chronically unable to sustain initiatives, once they are launched.”

Bureaucratic infighting and turf wars hamper efforts to co-ordinate programs that cross department boundaries, she said, and senior bureaucrats aren’t held accountable for following through on programs.

“In many areas, the federal government keeps reinventing the wheel by changing key staff and changing the design of programs, without regard for achieving results.”

Highlights from the report of the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development:

-The federal government makes big environmental announcements, but they are soon forgotten.

[...]

-The government urges Canadians to buy green, but has no green purchasing policy of its own.

[...]

 

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 08:47 AM

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Oh and by the way, Canada’s defence budget should be DOUBLED: Senate

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 08:22 AM

Seems almost a trivial matter to the liberal media, given the short shrift they pay to this news item from Canada’s Senate committee on defence.

In a sane world, people would be shouting, as I have, that the systematic dismantling and degradation of Canada’s national defences by successive liberal-left governments is simply treasonous, and this would warrant huge news.

But this is liberal, “progressive” Canada, and the dismantling and degradation of Canada’s national defences by successive liberal-left governments is worn as a badge of honor in some sort of quixotic, twisted, vacuous, liberal-left dream come true.

And it ties in amazingly well —perhaps even shockingly so— with my previous blog entry, a press release from the Canadian Coalition for Democracies.

Double defence budget, enlist thousands more people, says Senate

OTTAWA (CP) - A Senate committee says the defence budget should be doubled and the military should enlist thousands more soldiers, sailors and air personnel.

The defence committee report says the budget should be $25 billion to $35 billion a year instead of the $14.3 billion earmarked for 2005-2006.

Defence spending as a portion of GDP has fallen by 62.5 per cent in the last 15 years, the report says.

The senators also say that the Forces should have 90,000 people in uniform instead of today’s authorized strength of 62,000.

They also say that ways have to be found to purchase new equipment quickly, even if it means buying used gear from other countries.

The report says Canadians are living under an illusion of security in a dangerous world.


The CTV.CA site reports as follows:

The budget for the Canadian Forces needs to be doubled to about $30 billion a year if Canada is to secure the country and its sovereignty, says a new report by the Senate Defence Committee.

“At some point, the elastic snaps. And we think we’re at that point right now,” Sen. Colin Kenny, the chair of the committee, told a news conference Thursday.

“We are seeing so many things degrading simultaneously that they may not recover.”

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 08:22 AM

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Tamil Tigers banned from EU, courted in Canada

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 08:17 AM

The good Canadian Coalition for Democracies has come out with another press release and as always I’m happy to share it with you here in full. 

Tamil Tigers banned from EU, courted in Canada


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(416) 963-8998

Toronto, Canada — Thursday, September 29, 2005 — On September 27, the European Union declared it’s “condemnation of the continuing use of violence and terrorism by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [and the] continuing recruitment and retention of child soldier cadres by the LTTE.” The EU has banned members of that organization from visiting any European Union member state and the United Kingdom, the United States and India have designated the LTTE as a terrorist organization.

“While the world is waking up to the threat of terrorism, this government allows Canada to remain the largest source of foreign funding for LTTE terror,” said Alastair Gordon, President of the Canadian Coalition for Democracies. “The question is, why?”

In January, that question was put to Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, who said, “Toronto I think has the largest number of Tamils ... outside of Sri Lanka, so we’ve got to be very careful just in terms of our own relationships.” Minister Cotler never explained the connection between the number of Tamil voters in Toronto and the murder of innocents in Sri Lanka.

In February, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew contradicted his justice minister, saying, “Most of the people we’ve been consulting, including the United States State Department ... are demanding that we do not do [designate the LTTE as a terrorist organization] at this time.”, a claim dismissed by the US State Department.

Prime Minister Paul Martin and several of his MPS have actually attended LTTE fundraising events, lending credibility to those responsible for unspeakable suffering in Sri Lanka.

Perhaps most damning are the written words of the late Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar, before he was assassinated in August, who said, “At one time it was reported that the LTTE raised approximately $200,000 a month from the Tamil community in Canada” and “the argument that banning the LTTE would hamper the peace process does not stand.”

“Will Prime Minister Paul Martin follow the lead of our European, British, Indian and American allies in recognizing the terrorist nature of the LTTE?” asked Gordon. “Or will we continue to hear conflicting excuses from Irwin Cotler and Pierre Pettigrew while terror rips apart the lives of Sri Lankans?”

-30-


For additional information, please contact:

Alastair Gordon
President
Canadian Coalition for Democracies
PO Box 72602
345 Bloor Street East
Toronto, ON M4W 3J0 Canada

Web:  http://CanadianCoalition.com
Tel: 416-963-8998

Mobile: 416-452-6957
Fax: 425-944-3546
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Public Discussion on this Press Release http://canadiancoalition.com/forum/ccd-forum.shtml#currentMessages

CCD Mission Statement http://canadiancoalition.com/
CCD in the media http://canadiancoalition.com/media.shtml

CCD Public Message Forum - Speak your mind!  http://canadiancoalition.com/forum/ccd-forum.shtml


They included this statement from the European Union:

European Union Statement  
C/05/248

Brussels, 27 September 2005
12669/05 (Presse 248)

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union condemning the actions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

The European Union hereby declares its condemnation of the continuing use of violence and terrorism by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The pursuit of political goals by such totally unacceptable methods only serves to damage the LTTE’s standing and credibility as a negotiating partner and gravely endangers the Peace Process so much desired by the people of Sri Lanka.

The European Union repeats its condemnation of the shocking murder of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and of so many others in Sri Lanka in recent weeks.

The European Union is actively considering the formal Listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. In the meantime, the European Union has agreed that with immediate effect, delegations from the LTTE will no longer be received in any of the EU Member States until further notice.

The European Union has also agreed that each Member State will, where necessary, take additional national measures to check and curb illegal or undesirable activities (including issues of funding and propaganda) of the LTTE, its related organisations and known individual supporters.

The European Union furthermore repeats its serious concern at the continuing recruitment and retention of child soldier cadres by the LTTE and reminds them that there can be no excuse whatsoever for this abhorrent practice to continue.

The European Union takes this opportunity to underline the Statement of 19 September by the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference calling on the LTTE not least to take immediate public steps to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and their willingness to change.

The European Union calls upon all parties in Sri Lanka to show commitment and responsibility towards the peace process during the coming period of elections and to refrain from actions that could endanger a peaceful resolution and political settlement of the conflict.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 08:17 AM

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Site back up.  Phew.

Written by Joel Johannesen on Thursday September 29 2005 at 08:13 AM

It was an on again, off again ordeal, but things are looking up again here at ProudToBeCanadian, as the server ballet is all done.  It did not go according to plan!  I blame Bush.

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Posted by Joel Johannesen on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 08:13 AM

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