Yikes

The illustrious Mr. Yoshida is at it again:

Someone Who Should Be Shot

“I hate Jeremy Hinzman. I want him dead. The “American??? deserter from the 82nd Airborne Division, presently attempting to convince a review board that he should be allowed to remain in Canada as a refugee, is scum of the worst sort. The world can only be made better by his inevitable exit to Hell.”

From what I know, Yoshida, to the suprise of his American detractors, lives in and posts out of Vancouver. Which makes me wonder how it is that his site hasn’t yet been shut down by Canadian authorities. Conservatives don’t need nuts like this running around.

What will happen in 2005?

You gotta love the folks at the Weekly Standard.

Their current poll-of-the-week (scroll to the bottom of the page) asks readers what they think the biggest story of 2005 will be. I voted for:

“France apologizes for obstructionism; expresses gratitude for twice being saved from German rule; joins coalition of willing in gesture of humble and eternal appreciation.”

More whipped cabinet ministers

Pat O’Brien, God bless his Irish soul, is now reporting that up to six whipped cabinet ministers have doubts about the upcoming vote on same-sex marriage.

Four more Cabinet ministers to struggle with same-sex bill

“Government backbencher Pat O’Brien, who is pushing for national referendum on same-sex marriage, says at least four other Cabinet ministers, along with Natural Resources Minister John Efford and junior Cabinet minister for Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario Joe Comuzzi, have serious reservations about supporting the upcoming same-sex marriage legislation and would vote against it if it were a truly free vote.”

The article also has a list of Liberal MPs who supported a three-year-old Alliance motion which re-affirmed the traditional definition of marriage.
[Read more]

Pop Quiz on Same-Sex Ruling

Let us get a few things straight about the recent Supreme Court reference on same-sex marriage. First, the reference was significant in largely a juristictional sense. The court ruled that the federal government, not the provincial governments, had the power to decide whether or not to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. This was bad for Ralph Klein, but no one else.

Second, the court in no way ruled that denying same-sex couples marriage rights constituted a violation of their section 15 equality rights. In fact, the court refused to answer this question as it was asked. Does this mean that the court is indifferent to the question? Hardly; the court had a mountain of jurisprudence from lower courts (in BC and Ontario in particular) upon which it could have decided the question on the basis of precedent alone. Instead, the Supremes essentially snubbed their noses at multiple lower court rulings which found that denying them marriage rights infringed upon their Charter rights.
[Read more]

Contributions from Calgary

I am glad to see that Calgarians are contributing in a positive way to the national dialogue on a pan-Canadian identity, and also on Paul Martin’s tenure as prime minister. You have to watch until the end in order to see the more insightful moments:

Talking to Canadians: Calgary, Alberta

One of the more memorable quotes: “Who in the hell is Paul Martin? I thought Darryl Sutter was the prime minister.”

Memo to old people: GET A LIFE

Add this article to a recent Macleans cover story on the refusal of sixty-somethings’ unwillingness to go on permanent vacation in Florida, and it becomes painfully obvious that the noble idea of mandatory retirement is all but on the way out:

Majority of retirees don’t want to go: study

“Altogether, nearly 60 per cent of those surveyed who retired between 1992 and 2002 left earlier than they wanted…

The study shows that only about 40 per cent of participants retired willingly and without second thoughts.”

Apparently, only 40% of Canadian old people have discovered the joys of fishing, golfing, or spending time with the grandkids. The other 60% seriously need to get a life, in my humble 20-something opinion. Suffice it to say: In forty years, I will be quite strongly committed to eradicating any peskiness in my life which inhibits my ability to fish, most prominent being my job.

Cosh, Kinsella, and JFK

NatPost columnist Colby Cosh recently made the mistake of buying a new computer game which allows you to re-create the assasination of JFK, and made the further mistake of writing rather gleefully about the game on his blog:

You can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you, Mr. President

“With the “chaos level” of the motorcade increased in the game settings, shooting the driver can create what I am obliged to describe as frankly delightful pandemonium; sometimes his weight falls on the gas pedal and the limo shoots off crazily into the distance, hitting a tree or jumping General Lee-fashion over the entrance to the Triple Overpass. Often the passengers end up flying through the air like ragdolls and dying without having even been wounded. (The ballistics report that follows the gameplay is careful to fill you in on stuff like that.)”

Now, Cosh took an enormous risk in writing such a post when the forces of political correctness are forever thoroughly marauding the internet. I am speaking, of course, of Warren Kinsella:

“A Canadian newspaper columnist has purchased the infamous “game” in which players get to assassinate John F. Kennedy…A game in which you get to murder John F. Kennedy (or George W. Bush, for that matter) isn’t even remotely “funny.” That is so obvious it barely merits saying. What isn’t obvious is why the columnist in question is still employed by a reputable Canadian newspaper. If I ran it, he’d be gone, and pretty damn quick, too.”

In sum: In Warren Kinsella’s world, people are fired for playing video games. I’ve heard of hard-ass managers, but this is ridiculous.

And rather amusing given the pride with which Kinsella wears the label “liberal.” I visited the game’s site, and was frankly repelled. My fiance empathized with the pain that such a game would inflict upon the Kennedy family. Certainly, I would neither buy nor play it myself, but it does not follow from this that I think people who do so should be fired from their jobs. Tolerance, putting up with that which you hate, is apparently an aspect of liberalism that is lost on Kinsella.

Not that we should be suprised by this, given his difficulty in applying labels to himself. For example: Kinsella identifies himself with the “Albertan Diaspora” which apparently exists in Ottawa. Except that a diaspora consists not simply in displaced peoples, but in a cultural and sentimental attachment of those peoples to the “mother ship.” Obviously Kinsella, given his propensity to turn his back on his native province, has no such attachment to Alberta.

More chatter on Alberta politics

For political junkies, nothing rocks more than leadership politics. Which is why Alberta is going to be such a hot item of discussion for the next while.

Which brings us to two new items. First, Klein failed to appoint Ted Morton to his new cabinet. Second, he brought back Rod Love as his chief of staff. Seemingly unrelated, these two developments are strongly intertwined and good news for the leadership aspirations of Morton.
[Read more]

Ukraine’s Future

Adam Yoshida presents a negative, but intriguing, interpretation of the events unfolding in Ukraine:

Are We Back in 1938?

“My expectation is that, at the present time, President Putin is waiting for some pre-arranged signal. Probably rioting by opposition protestors which spins “out of control” which will be followed by a request for the assistance of Ukraine’s Russian allies in the restoration of order. Then the tanks will come to Kiev like they did into Prague in ’68 and Budapest in ’56. And they won’t go home.”

Reflections on the Alberta Election

Was I hasty in the last post on the Alberta Alliance? Yes indeed. But election night was full of interesting tid-bits anyway. Here are a few observations, listed in order of importance.

1. Ralph Klein won a massive majority government, four in a row. No matter what wet blanket election-night commentators could find to toss on that accomplishment, it remains a remarkable one. As the Globe headlined the next day, “Klein goes out a winner.”
2. Ted Morton was elected for the first time with a massive lead in Foothills-Rockyview, the first step in his leadership campaign. We’ll see if Klein lands him a cabinet position.
3. Mark Norris was a frequently-mentioned potential successor to Klein. He was the only cabinet minister dumped. Too bad, one less challenger to Morton.
4. Of the three remaining candidates, Morton and Gary Mar are on their way to the Legislature. But where was Jim Dinning last night? Oh, thats right, Mr. Dinning does not need to earn the trust of the electors of any particular riding before he benevolently graces us with his leadership. Upon the given hour, he will ascend the premiership without having dirtied his hands in any sort of mucky democratic contest. How very, very lucky for us.
5. The two most prominent members of the Alberta “Firewalls Committee,” which masterfully stonewalled public consultations and rejected the Alberta Agenda recommendations, were dumped. So long Ian McClelland and Jon Lord. Maybe the Reform Party and Calgary municipal council respectively will have you chumps back.
6. Outside of Edmonton and Calgary, a transformation of the Alberta party system is occurring. In most cases, the Tories came in first and the Alberta Alliance came in second. The Liberals and New Democrats weren’t on the map. The Alliance won a single seat (in Cardston, suprise!) but were competitive in many more, particularly in Dunvegan.
7. The Liberals and the NDP increased their seat shares. In particular, the Liberals cleaned up in Calgary’s inner city ridings (with the exception of the downtown Buffalo riding) and took the Varsity university riding, which suprised Klein. With typical Liberal humility and virtue, the Liberal victor in Varsity celebrated his win by criticizing Klein for sitting down during the past leaders debate. Then again, who cares what the Alberta Liberals and NDs do.
8. Kevin Taft has one evil smile, but thats OK. The funniest moment of the night was during his speech when he was listing off the victorious Liberal candidates (the fact that he could do so in a reasonably short span of time is in itself fairly funny) and suddenly shouted, “MEEEEEEE!” before letting loose with one helluva cackle.

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