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.”

Powassan limits pit-bulls

Powassan has passed a bylaw requiring pit-bull owners to pay a $250 restricted license fee. This makes sense, because the government has to provide us with “services” like these, and naturally pit-bull owners should pay for them.

Pit bulls must also be kept indoors or in a restricted area. Despite the fact that the streets are public property, apparently pit-bull owners aren’t members of the public and so don’t have the same freedom to use public property as everybody else. Any Powassan pit-bull owners should try that line at tax-return time, but somehow I don’t think it’ll work. In any case, it really defeats the notion of public property when some members of the public are less free to use it than others, or when some people can attach conditions to its use that are to the detriment of other people.

Powassan contains 10 pit-bulls. Is there seriously nothing else worth the time of the legislature? I’m sure there are more than 10 burglars or muggers in the town.

Ontario town slaps limits on pit bull ownership

An Ontario town has moved to restrict ownership of pit bulls, requiring them to be spayed or neutered and kept in secure areas.

Where’s my snowplow?

Yesterday, the first real snow of the season started to fall at around noon. Seven hours later, I decided to venture forth and pick up a few last-minute gifts for people I’d overlooked so far. My car half-drove, half-glided down the 4-inch-deep layer of snow on my suburban street, then onto the 4-inch-deep snow on the main road that feeds it, then onto the 4-inch-deep snow covering the four-lane road that leads to the highway, and then I struggled up an onramp covered in 4-inch-deep snow and proceeded to plod along to the mall at 30km/h through the 4-inch-deep snow on the highway.

Is there a pattern emerging here? Why was it that, seven hours after snow had started to fall heavily, the only place that had been plowed and gritted was the mall parking lot – privately? Do I pay municipal taxes out of the goodness of my heart?
[Read more]

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.
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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.

Don’t smoke, stupid!

As was forecast here, the campaign to demonize cigarette smoking is underway. A new website at stupid.ca labels cigarette smoking and, presumably, smokers as stupid.

The arrogance is tangible. In a free market, we all make choices and trades, and the concept of value is subjective. What I might like, you might not, and what I think is a fair trade, you might not. Except in the case of smoking, apparently, where some people are right and others, stupid. A person who chooses to smoke and is aware of the health risks is making a simple trade: health for pleasure. People do this all the time in extreme sports, recreational shooting, even in driving cars. If condemnation of these free trades is correct, then in reductio ad absurdum one is “stupid” to leave one’s padded cell, where one should sit quietly for a natural lifespan, wearing a crash helmet and body armour, eating bland and definitely microbiologically safe food. Down with risk! Down with fun! Down with free will and choice!

There’s nothing wrong with telling the truth and presenting fact, of course, but to take a subjective opinion and present it as truth and fact is to be on very dangerous ground.