Voices without Votes » Canada

Blame Fly to Canada!

Aggregated from: England for Obama — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:00:16 +0000

That’s right - Barack Obama’s first foreign trip as President won’t be to Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Israel - but to… Canada!

Well, the place has gone downhill ever since Kids In The Hall ended.

But wait! What’s this? There’s a good reason for it?

“[His trip will restore] a long-standing tradition abandoned eight years ago by George W. Bush…

New U.S. presidents, dating to Warren Harding in 1923 and Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933, have typically made Canada their first international visit following their election. But Bush deviated from that historical pattern after his inauguration in 2001, travelling to Mexico to meet with then-president Vicente Fox in a bid to improve ties and strike an immigration deal with America’s southern neighbour.”

So there you go. Incidentally, President Obama will be in Britain on April 2nd, for the G20 summit. Ooh! .

HOW BUSH WILL BE REMEMBERED

Aggregated from: CHUCKMAN's CARTOON COMMENTS — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Obama In Over His Head

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:06:00 +0000

It's becoming increasingly clear that Obama has no idea what he's doing. The junior senator from IL lack the experience and knowledge to effectively manage the country in times of economic difficulty let alone a crisis. The current situation is not a crisis, although the media and Obama would like you to believe so in order to pass whatever legislation the Democrats want. The GOP is controlled by moderate losers like Michael Bloomberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger and other hapless deadbeats in the House and Senate.

Obama seems intent on repeating the mistakes of FDR which prolonged the Great Depression by as much as 8 years. Mark Steyn has also pointed out that the Depression was only "great" in the US because of the New Deal. Everywhere else in the world, the economic situation was merely a "depression" lacking the "greatness" it obtained in the United States.

Rush Limbaugh had an excellent segment today on the floundering of the President-elect:
The other side of the conflict is I am convinced that Obama is a radical, extreme leftist who, like all radicals, is like a flower child. He has all these dreams, all of these visions of a utopia. And, of course, it's not possible. So the conflict is, does he not really know what he's doing, or does he know what he's doing? 'Cause that speech he gave yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, it spooked everybody. It spooked the Democrats on Capitol Hill, it spooked the markets. It's like I said yesterday, inside of two months we've gone from a nation of people that believe we have to have some discipline in the size of our government and our spending, and now the mainstream thought is government spending and as fast as we can and only government can solve the problem. None of that is true. The success of this depends on how fast we spend money, and then he had this little press conference today where he's answering questions. I listened to this, and I don't know if I'm sure that he knows what he's doing. Even if he's a committed leftist, does he know what he's doing, does he know what he's gotten himself into? His whole campaign was platitudes. He's still speaking in platitudes, as though his very presence will make magic happen.

So now the markets have no idea what to expect from Obama. The welfare check he'll be sending to everyone which he stupidly calls a "tax cut" will be useless to stimulate the economy. The cost of doing business needs to be lower. Providing employers with $3,000 to "hire new workers" as Obammy promises will also be useless. Anyone with even minuscule business experience knows it costs almost twice that to hire someone. But even if that did help, it would only provide minimal hours. Let's say someone hires someone to do work at $10/hr, over the minimum wage - that will account for 300 hours of work. Whoopdedoo.

Mr. "Hope" and "Change" seems determined to continue President Bush's "bailout" and "injection" strategy of cash into failed businesses and increased regulation. It was regulation that got the US economy into this whole mess to begin with! Is that what all these absent-minded Obama supporters wanted? I thought McCain was McSame?

Then again, check out these Obamaniacs and you'll understand. The media and the electorate have descended into celebrity worship without proper scrutiny of a presidential candidate, not that I think McCain was any good either, far from it.

What I lament is that politics has ceased to be a deadly serious activity: we have the comedian Al Franken who will likely be the next senator from Minnesota, Caroline Kennedy possibly receiving an appointment solely because of her last name, Chris "Leg Tingle" Matthews wanting to run for Congress, Gov. Schwarzenegger (enough said), and Sanjay Gupta of CNN being considered for the Surgeon General.

What will it take to realize that politics determines the course of peoples lives, the future of a nation, and the survival of liberty?

The Conservative Way Forward

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:30:00 +0000

The current GOP leadership is clueless. I supported Newt Gingrich for president in 2008 although he didn't run, but I'm praying he will in 2012. Hopefully, democracy in America will still exist then. Watch Gingrich's very informative and challenging address to ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) HERE.

Let me suggest a very radical first idea that perfectly fits the reason ALEC was founded. If you would go home and identify every stupid thing the federal government is requiring you to do which wastes money, and offer them a swap: if they would pass the omnibus smart-government-and-waste avoidance act that liberated you from all the federal regulations that are stupid, you wouldn’t need them to pass you a stimulus package to send you cash because you would save more than enough cash by not having to let them micromanage you.

America, and most western governments (Canada included), are trapped in the utter stupidity of bureaucratic regulation which cripples business, stifles creativity, prolongs suffering, increases poverty, limits individual accomplishment, and endangers lives. Yes, it even COSTS lives.

Gingrich points out, "We won the Second World War in forty-four months. From December the 7th 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, to victory over Japan in August of 1945 is three years and eight months. We beat Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in three years and eight months. It recently took 23 years to add a fifth runway to the Atlanta airport. You can’t compete in the world if you are determined to be stupid. It’s a very major problem."

The disaster known as Detroit only graduates 26% of its students, and continues to elect Democrats as it has for 58 years straight. Watch the Gingrich video linked above, it's worth it! We, not conservatives or liberals, need to make government work better because our civilization will deteriorate if we don't and our future could be in jeopardy, indeed our freedom could be doomed if we don't.

Obama's Tax Cut Isn't a Tax Cut

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:34:00 +0000

You can't cut the taxes of people who don't pay any (Did I really have to just say that). Apparently I do because the media and every moronic Obama supporter doesn't seem to realize that. Similarly, you're not offering a tax cut if you don't cut the tax rates, which Obama is not doing. All he's doing is offering another rebate which will do nothing to stimulate the economy. The Obamessiah's plan is really the largest welfare check in American history... but who's counting now that the bailout is reaching epic proportions in the trillions of dollars.

What will happen is the government will grow and the economy (and taxpayers) will be no better off. Obama is doing a great job paving the way to socialism and government control of more industries however. His dire predictions of disaster, despite that the stock market seems to have bottomed out, will enable him to push forward his statist agenda in cooperation with House and Senate Democrats.

In the meantime, the GOP remains mired in introspection and self flagellation over the past 8 years and dozens of missed opportunities.

The American Dream is a Nightmare

Aggregated from: The Murgatroyd Blog — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:56:00 +0000

The American dream turns out to be a nightmare. The economy is in meltdown and the true nature of American management is revealed.

Personal debt in the US in April 2008 was at 133.7% of personal income. This is a significant sum – it is around $2.5 trillion. Worse, core personal assets are declining in value – many families now have negative equity in their property and their savings levels are low. Most families are not managing money at all well. Living the Master Card dream is what most families are doing.

They model their behaviour on the Government of the United States, where debt is now running at $10.6 trillion – with some of these debt being held by China (which owns 15% of US debt), India and emerging economies. Soon, US Bonds will be junk bonds.

American management practices and unions have driven key industry sectors into the ground – banking, automotive and airlines being examples. Their ability to be nimble, responsive and most of all focused on ethical management seems to have disappeared. The combined indebtedness of the auto sector, for example, simply boggles the mind.

Obama’s biggest economic challenge is the change the mind set from debt fuelled management, whether of personal finances or business finances, to a more balanced approach which focused on savings (or profit in the case of business), spending less and using debt judiciously. This is a big cultural shift, especially for the post boomer generation who appear to have difficulty comprehending how the financing of the world works. “No we cant” might be a better mantra when looking at a purchase than “yes we can!”

Obama Duped Into Green Nonsense

Aggregated from: The Murgatroyd Blog — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:49:00 +0000

President Elect Obama has now committed to massive injections of capital and policy shifts aimed at alternative energy, CO2 reduction and climate change management. He has been convinced that, despite clear evidence to the contrary, that the "science is settled" (no science is ever really settled) and that action is now needed.

He said "The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising, coastlines are shrinking, we're seen record drought, spreading famine and storms are growing stronger with each hurricane season". He's been seduced by Al Gore.

Some facts:

1. According to the International Commission on Seal Level Changes - many areas of sea level have fallen in recent years, not risen. The Indian Ocean, for example, was higher between 1900 - 1970 than it is now. The biggest concern has been with the islands of Maldives and Tuvalu - where sea levels have fallen. The worst case scenario, according to the UN IPCC, is a rise of between 4 and 17 inches, not the 20 feet claimed by Gore in his wildly inaccurate film An Inconvenient Truth.

2. Coastlines are only "shrinking" where land is subsiding - e.g. the North Yorkshire coast. There is no evidence of shrinking coastlines linked to climate change - only to the loss of wet lands due to over-building.

3. In terms of drought - of the 20th century's 30 major droughts, 22 of these occurred between 1900 - 1960, with only five between 1961-1980. Droughts are reducing, not increasing.

4. There is no known connection between global warming and hurricane activity. The most active hurricane season of all recorded time was in 1955 and there has been a steady reduction in such activity over the last four years, according to the most comprehensive study from the University of Florida.

5. He is pushing wind power - a terrifically inefficient source of energy. The US currently has approximately 10,000 turbines with an installed capacity of 18 gigawatts - yet these produce app. 4.5 gigawatts annually - less power than could be had from a single coal fired power station and much more expensive, since wind power exists only through subsidy.

6. He is also committed to carbon capture and storage, as is the Government of Alberta. The technology for CO2 capture is problematic, and will not capture more than a small % of the CO2 emitted.

I like Obama, but the fact that he has been seduced into being green is worrying. Lets hope some of the dissenting voices around his cabinet table start to challenge a lot of the rhetorical nonsense (Christopher Booker in the UK's Daily Telegraph calls it "clap trap").

Gingrich on Politics

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:25:00 +0000

An interesting discussion with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on culture, politics, parties, Clinton, America, and more.

A Government Spending Stimulus Will Fail

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:16:00 +0000

A government spending stimulus will fail. Throwing money at failing corporations or even at individuals through "rebates" will not succeed in getting the economy growing again. To do this, individuals and business must have the right incentive to spend money. They need to be convinced that their money will benefit them after it is spent.

The best way to do this would be to cut taxes on income, business, and especially capital gains. Many people believe that there are serious deals in the stock market, but want to hold on to their money for fear of the market falling lower. The opportunity for making bigger gains by removing the capital gains tax would help provide this stimulus towards investment.

Similarly, allowing businesses and individuals to retain more of their earnings by sending less to the federal and provincial (or state) governments would allow companies to keep more workers on the payroll, invest in new technologies and capital resources, and expand their businesses.

The Democrats pledge to keep the automakers going is a fruitless adventure into more corporate welfare and corruption that will only lead to another "needed" bailout in 10, 15 or 20 years. The same is true for Canada. Any bailout would have to be coordinated with the United States for any remote hope of having even a minor effect. Even if such a bailout would work, which I strongly doubt, it should only take place after bankruptcy protections are utilized to renegotiate union contracts and obligations to debtors.

An investment in infrastructure is nice, but its effects would be felt for some time. Government moves very slowly, by the time ground was actually being broken, the economy might be in far worse shape or well on its way to recovery.

A US Republican, Congressman Louie Gohmert, has proposed a tax holiday for businesses and individuals in the first two months of 2009. This would involve the same amount of funds as the stimulus package which has proven useless so far. Gohmer argues:

"We need to give this money to the people who earned it. I am sick of Washington millionaires trying to decide which of their cronies should get the next wad of taxpayer money," Rep. Louie Gohmert continued. "Think about how much you would have if you didn't have any social security or income tax withheld from your pay check, or if you didn't have to pay those taxes for January and February! Americans could take and invest their own money where they believe it should go - to paying down mortgages, buying a new car, making credit card payments. The economy would get relief where it is needed the most. Why try to decide how to prevent foreclosures? Just give taxpayers their own money to catch up on their payments. Those in lower income brackets who are hit the hardest by the FICA tax would see huge money back, and then THEY could choose who should benefit from their hard earned money. Even the self-employed and small business owners would receive a fantastic amount of their own much-needed money, and they will be able to invest that back into their businesses and even create the ability to hire more people.”

This is the best idea out of Washington in decades and it deserves a good, hard look. It would certainly help me pay my school loans and car payments, and I suspect a lot of tax payers would welcome this option over the corporate welfare and bureaucratic waste that is the norm in Ottawa and Washington DC.

Wrecking the Economy

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:31:00 +0000

The Democrats are doing a mighty good job of adding uncertainty to a weak economy. What the economy desperately needs now is certainty and predictability, to the extent that is possible. They've made matters worse by putting off a decision on bailing out automakers. Their ingenious plan is to let Barney Frank and Chris Dodd "review" the proposals from Ford, Chrysler, and GM before a vote is put forward on whether to bail out the troubled giants.

Let's recall it was Frank and Dodd who were primarily responsible for the disasters known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was these two idiots who led the charge in preventing reform of the two GSE's that Republicans had attempted as early as 2003.

What should be occurring is that Dodd and Frank are under FBI investigation for corruption, fraud, and whatever else they may have been involved in while perpetuating these colossal masses of waste and malfeasance.

There is absolutely NO REASON not to push these companies into Chapter 11 first, if a bailout is truly deemed necessary. This bankruptcy provision will allow far greater flexibility to the entities to reorganize and prepare a plan for long term viability.

The only reason not to allow Chapter 11 first would be to ensure that the unions primarily benefit, to create a nice little political slush fund for the willing conspirators, and to avoid proper scrutiny.

Gingrich has suggested that "crony capitalism" has contributed to the economic mess:

"The agents of this expansion are elected officials. Call them “predatory politicians.” Crony capitalism practiced by predatory politicians is at the root of the current financial meltdown. In exchange for campaign cash and support for favored constituents, predatory politicians aided and abetted the government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they created and fed the subprime mortgage market."

Solutions:

1. The Congress needs to immediate move towards making the cost of business lower. This will stimulate economic activity and investment. This can be done immediately by slashing corporate taxes and capital gains taxes.

2. Sarbanes-Oxley should be scrapped. This ridiculous law has only added red tape and increased the costs of business. It has failed to make companies more transparent to investors, as AIG has proven, and has prevented new companies from being able to blossom into large companies because of the massive costs of compliance.

3. Individual tax rates and capital gains taxes should be dramatically cut. This will enable people to keep more of the money they earn which will help them pay their mortgage, meet debt obligations, and spend on consumer items.

5. A major criminal investigation should be launched into AIG, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Congress to root out corruption, fraud, bribery, obstructing justice, larceny, and embezzlement. Yes, I'm calling for a witch hunt.

When this much money, $800 billion, is thrown around with little or no accountability amongst persons of immense political and economic power, the danger of corruption and the weakening of democracy is critical.

Enough is enough. Will Obama bring "real change", or will he go along with the tired old Democrats like Frank and Dodd like he did in the US Senate?

Palin turkey pardon interview blooper

Aggregated from: Darryl Wolk Blog — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:55:00 +0000

Palin turkey pardon interview blooper

I feel bad about posting this, but for the record I do not blame Sarah Palin for this blooper. Clearly her staff dropped the ball on this one and as a result they should be replaced. I understand the interview was live but the camera man could have cut Palin a break and moved to a close up shot once he saw what was happening in the background. Also the guy in the background with the turkey should have used some common sense when he saw the interview taking place and was stairing right at the camera when Palin was talking. Unfortunately this is a lesson to anyone in politics on how not to do a photo op. The decision to have her speaking with those machines in the background was questionable to say the least. Clearly Palin's people let the Governor down and should be held accountable for the embarassment caused to their boss. When you consider the prank call as well, one really has to wonder about the compotence of the people surrounding Gov. Palin. She has taken several shots recently in the media - some legitimate others unfair. This type of thing is the last thing she needs and it seems her staff are making 2012 harder and harder with each passing day. I suspect there are several blogging tories who could do a better job for her and at a much cheaper rate than those currently running the show. Governor Palin deserves better than this.
-Darryl

A Breath of Fresh Air

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Feeling disgusted about corporate welfare, the ever expanding nanny-state, the global warming non-sense despite record cold weather? Well, enjoy some common sense and 10 politically incorrect thoughts as a breath of fresh air from renowned historian Victor Davis Hanson:

6. Something has happened to the generic American male accent. Maybe it is urbanization; perhaps it is now an affectation to sound precise and caring with a patina of intellectual authority; perhaps it is the fashion culture of the metrosexual; maybe it is the influence of the gay community in arts and popular culture. Maybe the ubiquitous new intonation comes from the scarcity of salty old jobs in construction, farming, or fishing. But increasingly to meet a young American male about 25 is to hear a particular nasal stress, a much higher tone than one heard 40 years ago, and, to be frank, to listen to a precious voice often nearly indistinguishable from the female. How indeed could one make Westerns these days, when there simply is not anyone left who sounds like John Wayne, Richard Boone, Robert Duvall, or Gary Cooper much less a Struther Martin, Jack Palance, L.Q. Jones, or Ben Johnson? I watched the movie Twelve O'clock High the other day, and Gregory Peck and Dean Jagger sounded liked they were from another planet. I confess over the last year, I have been interviewed a half-dozen times on the phone, and had no idea at first whether a male or female was asking the questions. All this sounds absurd, but I think upon reflection readers my age (55) will attest they have had the same experience. In the old days, I remember only that I first heard a variant of this accent with the old Paul Lynde character actor in one of the Flubber movies; now young men sound closer to his camp than to a Jack Palance or Alan Ladd.

And...

9. As I wrote earlier, the shrill Left is increasingly far more vicious these days than the conservative fringe, and about like the crude Right of the 1950s. Why? I am not exactly sure, other than the generic notion that utopians often believe that their anointed ends justify brutal means. Maybe it is that the Right already had its Reformation when Buckley and others purged the extremists--the Birchers, the neo-Confederates, racialists, the fluoride-in-the-water conspiracists, anti-Semites, and assorted nuts.--from the conservative ranks in a way the Left has never done with the 1960s radicals that now reappear in the form of Michael Moore, Bill Ayers, Cindy Sheehan, Moveon.org, the Daily Kos, etc. Not many Democrats excommunicated Moveon.org for its General Betray-Us ad. Most lined up to see the premier of Moore's mythodrama. Barack Obama could subsidize a Rev. Wright or email a post-9/11 Bill Ayers in a way no conservative would even dare speak to a David Duke or Timothy McVeigh--and what Wright said was not all that different from what Duke spouts. What separated Ayers from McVeigh was chance; had the stars aligned, the Weathermen would have killed hundreds as they planned.

Aaaaah... much better. Full article.

Breaking News: Hillary Clinton Secretary of State

Aggregated from: Darryl Wolk Blog — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:13:00 +0000

Breaking News: Hillary Clinton Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton has accepted the role of Secretary of State in Barack Obama's administration. Congratulations Mr. Canon.

Details to come...

Update: Full Story from New York Times

Global: On Obama's Cabinet Choices

Hoa Quach — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:26:13 +0000

Two weeks since Barack Obama was elected president and a little less than eight weeks away from his inauguration, and world bloggers have commented on every move the he’s been making and every post he’s assigned.

From the Netherlands, Michael van der Galien writes that President-elect Obama seems to be moving towards the Center, rather staying on the Left.

“With about only 60 days left until inauguration day I am becoming increasingly hopeful that Barack Obama will govern like Bill Clinton did; as quite a centrist rather than a leftist Democrat.

Not only has Obama started to surround himself by (former) Clintonistas, which is a hopeful sign indeed, it seems likely that Hillary Clinton herself will become his Secretary of State.”

The Dutch blogger explains further, why Clinton would make a great choice for Secretary of State and comments on other moves the President-elect has made.

“Clinton is much more hawkish that Obama. She is a staunch supporter of Israel, supported the war in Iraq, and seems determined not to let Iran develop nuclear weapons. Obama seems a different kind of politician himself, but it is highly unlikely that Clinton would be willing to work for an administration which she would deem overly dovish.

Then there is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; a true, old school Republican realist. President George W. Bush chose Gates as his SecDef after the horrendous and highly authoritarian Donald Rumsfeld resigned. Unlike his predecessor, Gates was able to communicate and work well with the State department, military leaders and foreign politicians such as Nouri al-Maliki. Gen. David Petraeus is often credited with turning the tide in Iraq but Gates’ role in the process should not be ignored; he too played a major role in bringing the different factions in the Middle Eastern country together.

As if that is not enough, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) has been chosen to head the Department of Homeland Security. Napolitano is a Democrat, of course, but she does well with Independent and moderate voters. She is a hard worker and a pragmatist rather than an ideologue. When the illegal immigration problem became prominent Napolitano did not focus on the illegal immigrants themselves but on the institutions that allowed foreigners to move so easily into the U.S. illegally. Conservative immigration hawks may not like her too much, deeming her soft on illegal immigration, but the rest can certainly live with her.”

Meanwhile, Mary Newman in Palestine finds Hilary Clinton as a possibly becoming Secretary of State, “alarming.” Newman also quotes Harper’s Magazine Ken Silverstein on his five reasons why she wouldn’t be a good choice, including the Kissinger endorsement.

“of particular concern is point 5: who else endorses her? none other than the war criminal henry kissinger. to understand what i mean read christopher hitchens piece in harper’s called “the case against henry kissinger.” “

Newman ends her post with one suggestion for the soon-to-be-president.

“I think that obama should change his website from change.gov to same.gov.”

And, in neighboring Canada, blogger Strong Conservative, comments on the Rahm Emanuel choice.

“Obama is off and running in his post-election plans. He's announced that Rahm Emanuel will be his chief of staff. Despite promises of transcending party lines and working across the aisle, Emanuel signals a decisively partisan start. But don't take my word, take Paul Begala’s statement about Emanuel being “cross between a hemorrhoid and a toothache.” Despite this tough side, Emanuel was also a ballet dancer. I'm not kidding.

That said, Emanuel is a tough partisan cookie, and he might be twinkle toes in the dance studio, but he's not afraid to fight it out in the political forum. The GOP will certainly have their hands full.”

Don't Bailout the Big Three

Aggregated from: The Strong Conservative — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:13:00 +0000

In capitalism, losers must be allowed to fail. Period. It would be wrong to bailout the auto companies because it is not the government's job to rescue companies that have failed because of flawed business models and a failure to innovate.

The unions are killing the Big 3. It's no wonder that Nissan, Toyota, and Honda aren't asking for a bailout. Their labour costs are almost half that of Chrysler, Ford, and GM. Because the UAW and CAW can't figure out that they're destroying their own livelihoods by perpetually begging for more "legacy" money, less accountability, and more inefficiency means they deserve to be thrown onto the street.

Unions should have learned the lessons of the steel industry, and other out-moded industries for that matter. It is no secret that union workers do the minimum rather than work to help the company be successful. Wal-Mart could not exist if it was unionized, there is no way that it could run the efficient, quality controlled, highly mechanized processes it does with union workers who were demanding half hour breaks every two hours.

Don't bail the car companies out. Chapter 11 will be their saving grace. It might force the CEO's to give up their luxury private jets which they had no problem flying to Washington on to testify before Congress too.

If Obama (or Harper for that matter) bails out the car companies, which it appears he wants to do, it will be a purely political move to cater to the unions who are fast becoming a relic of the 20th century. Hardly "change" or "hope" that was promised, seems like the old ways of the past.