Robin Williams: The Continental Divide

Canada may be “the unquiet country,” but there is more than a grain of truth in how Robin Williams describes the differences between Canada and the U.S.:

“It’s like we’re two children separated at birth. We left home early. You stayed with Mom.

Williams said unlike the U.S., which fought a War of Independence against Britain, Canada signed the BNA Act and was “still part of the Commonwealth, still part of the family, and it was all good and well, and then eventually you got your nationhood. And we were like: ‘F— you!’ “

Actions Speak More Than Words

News that the Prime Minister has returned home to his suburban Calgary digs for the Easter weekend is one more example of how genuinely modest Mr. Harper is as a leader; especially considering he could have gone to the Prime Minister’s retreat, Harrington Lake. This is a good sign that Harper takes restoring public trust in government seriously because to do so will start with how he himself lives, and how he expects his cabinet ministers to manage public privilege as well. Long will it be remembered that the governments of Martin and Chretien spent monies from the federal treasury like it was the Liberal Party piggy bank. And historians will write that Liberal hot air of compassionate and tolerant big government was more smokescreening than substance to cover cronism and corruption.

Also in the news, the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and his wife, donated nearly $7 million of an $8 million dollar income to charity. This stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Al Gore, who reputedly gave a mere $353 of a nearly $200,000 income to charity in 1997.

Is there a lesson to be drawn from these two stories? I would wager a yes. With so much of the media coverage of politicians being unapologetically cynical, it helps to see demonstrated examples of good personal character in our leaders.

We all know that words are cheap, that actions speak more than words. We should be wary of leaders who find umpteen ways decry social oppression and disenfranchisement, yet somehow don’t think the example of their own character should be judged at all.

Private character is always judged in politics! One has only to recall the epic controversy of Bill Clinton’s impeachment to know how little people respect divorcing the public and private lives of their leaders; poor Clinton’s arguments for his private life barely stood up to criticism and he remains the butt of many, many jokes.

Conservatives do their reputations a huge service when they recognise that their private lives matter in public opinion, that they best live as conservatives, whether by a modest appreciation for material wealth and the trappings of power, or by generous donations to private charity. And this is good! Demonstrated good character reminds us that good government is possible because good leaders are possible to get, irrespective of how cynical media report their Machiavellian, sinister motives for everything.

Ethnic Cleansing and Euro-Trash: Listening to Natives in Vancouver

I came across about thirty aboriginals today protesting on the corner of Robson and Burrard. A cross with the words “native holocaust” was prominent and several people were lining up to speak with a bullhorn. The first old lady complained that some government pay-out to natives was giving “only” 10,000, whereas Albertan natives were receiving 15,000. The next woman used the term “sovereign nation” at least five times during the course of a two minute speech, complained about the white people driving by in fancy cars, and took the opportunity to assert that single mothers work “real hard” and that “our work isn’t honoured.”

Then came the keynote speaker, a towering man who reminded the audience (finally!) that the rally was meant to illuminate the struggles of natives that were abused in residential schools. From here he launched into a blistering attack on Canada’s armed forces. The soldiers had become tired of genocide of native people and so had gone off to Afghanistan to engage in “ethnic cleansing” of those people. And anyway, the Afghanistan mission is all about building a pipeline from Russia to some ‘Stan country, and did you know that the current president of Afghanistan once sat on an oil company’s board of directors? George Bush came up for abuse here, which received approving shouts from the audience.

“It’s ironic that our soldiers are in Kandahar,” he chuckled. Kandahar is Arabic for “Alexander,” which is ironic because Alexander was the first “piece of Euro-trash” to emerge from Europe and trample throughout Asia (there was no mention of any Mongol-trash). Canadian soldiers are following in the great tradition of “ethnic cleansing,” a dismal tradition founded by, to emphasize the term once again, “that piece of Euro-trash.”

It really is too bad that natives in this country have adopted the vocabulary and the demo tactics of the left. Leftist ideology is a cancer, eventually ravaging coherant arguments and transforming them into incomprehensible gibberish from which only the terms “George Bush,” “Organized Religion,” “Racism!,” and “Iraqi Invasion” can be heard.

Playboy Starlet Phylis Syd: Doing Edmonton Proud!

A visitor claiming to be “Shameless Phylis” left this comment at Civitatensis yesterday:

Howdy Boys, It is I, yes, the bold font emphasis [there was no bold emphasis in the original comments] on my comment makes it run parallel with your deliciously red-necked views about yet another “scandal”. I mean football incident notwithstanding, I assume my posing for a coed edition of a world acclaimed men’s magazine runs in tandem with the sickly and shocking discovery that (gasp) there’s wild partying in college. I won’t try to convince you to embrace women’s lib or even appreciate that the McGill [University] pictorials were indeed quite classy and tasteful. But just to add another fact: I wasn’t just “representing” McGill Nudie spirit, I also happen to be a proud native Albertan– a fellow hick chick– a fine Edmonton raised cowgirl who knows only too well that lewd drunken party spirit is unrivaled in good ole Alberta (need I recollect our Premier’s own gin soaked visit to a homeless shelter?)

Phylis Syd is the self-acclaimed nuddie (but tasteful, I’m sure) representative of McGill University in the recent Playboy spread (Phylis Syd is a stage name deliberately and tastefully chosen for its proximity in sound to the venereal disease: syphilis, backward. Strippers –er, sorry, exotic dancers, typically choose that type of playful and tasteful pseudonyms).

She claims to be a cowgirl from Edmonton (who knew that there were cowgirls in Edmonton?) and to have represented her native Edmonton/Alberta in the Playboy spread (sorry, pictorial!). I wonder if she studied diplomacy and representative institutions at UofA with Tom Pocklington. With representation like that, who needs Ralph?!

Syd seems to be have gotten the impression that my original post had something against parties. Hello! She apparently missed the part that I grew up in Montreal, went to McGill. Been there, done that! She does make a good point about the embarrassing drunken antics of our Premier, but as I recall Ralph kept his clothes on at the homeless shelter!

I ignore whether the person leaving the comment is in fact the nude-modelling McGill student who appeared in Playboy. “Shameless Phylis” made her/his comments from:

OrgName:    McGill University
OrgID:      GILL
Address:    Department of Electrical Engineering
Address:    3480 University Street
City:       Montreal
StateProv:
PostalCode: Quebec
Country:    CA

NetRange:   132.216.0.0 - 132.216.255.255
CIDR:       132.216.0.0/16
NetName:    MCGILL
NetHandle:  NET-132-216-0-0-1
Parent:     NET-132-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Allocation
NameServer: KONA.CC.MCGILL.CA
NameServer: MOKA.CC.MCGILL.CA

Crossposted from Civitatensis.ca

One loss for the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission

To parse Delwin Vriend, “Ha ha, we win!”:

Saskatchewan’s highest court has ruled a Regina man did not violate the human rights code when he published a newspaper ad that criticized homosexuality.

See here.

Warren Kinsella: The Polling Practices of Jean Chretien’s Government

Anyone who ever feels the urge to dismiss Warren Kinsella as a partisan flak should read his response to the new government’s accountability act. Kinsella is interested in this:

“Opinion surveys under Chrétien to be scrutinized

Another section of the act hints that an inquiry might be called into the spending practices of a past Liberal government.

An independent advisor will be appointed for six months to look at public opinion surveying commissioned while former prime minister Jean Chrétien was in charge, before November 2003, “and determine whether further action, such as a judicial inquiry, is required.”

Remember: We’re talking the government of Chretien (Kinsella thumbs up), not Martin (Kinsella thumbs down) here. Warren’s response?:

I suspect that I, and quite a few others, intend to write to this independent advisor and offer whatever assistance and documents he or she requires. And, personally, I think a judicial inquiry is an excellent idea.

Chickens, time to come home to roost.

Which would seem to indicate that Harper is not setting out on a wild goose chase in unleashing such an “independent advisor.”

Taking Shots: The Liberal Leadership Race

Courtesy of The Cyber Menace.

Fred Barnes on Tom DeLay

Fred Barnes on why the loss of Tom DeLay is a tough one for House Republicans and the president, and therefore why Republicans and conservatives should have fought harder to protect DeLay when Democratic prosecutors came for him.

Sabre Rattling on Iran Working?

More news the Bush administration is mulling a military strike against Iran.

This treatment of the chaos within its ruling establishment, including the complaints of lot of Ahmadinejad’s enemies, puts Bush’s strategy into context.

While sabre rattling might rattle the political establishment, I’m doubtful it will help the reformers - the people the West wants to help the most.

Mr. Scott: More Power to the Forward Shields!

A very cool new countermeasure, developed by the Israelis, to be used against RPGs (link directs you to Fox News video). (h/t NLT).

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