Bush v Kerry

Just finished watching the U.S Presidential debate. Some of my impressions:

No clear winner. My impression of Kerry improved seeing him in this context, but it was low before. I heard that Bush was an expert at staying on message and I really saw that. Bush had several points he wanted to get across and was relentless in pushing them. Kerry survived the attack pretty well, but I do not think his message will be as well received as Bush. Bush appeared more Presidential. Kerry seemed to be presenting his policy on Iraq as similar to Bush but he would have done "more" or "better". I think Bush effectively highlighted the weak areas in this plan and neutralized it.

Advantage: Bush

I think we will see an increase in the Bush poll numbers over the next week, but likely only a very small one.

Misquoting and Pants

The one thing I really hate is being misquoted. When others say you said something you did not say, it really gets under my skin.

A few days ago, the GF got home from work and we were going to go out and get a few things from the grocery store and rent a movie before making supper. So I said to her "I am going to put on some pants" and I changed out of my blogwear (pajamas) and put on a pair of jeans.

Later that night she gets mad at me about something and start going on about how pathetic I am and I am always asking her for help, and saying things like "Where are my pants? I can't find my pants. Honey, help me find my pants." This, of course, really bugged me because I said nothing of the sort. I specifically told her that I was going to put them on. I had no trouble finding them. However, somehow in her mind this entire exchanged happened that no one in this dimension experienced.

This exchange reminded me of what is going on in the blogosphere, particularly between the left and the right in the U.S.

This is probably just my own opinion, but it seems the left are more likely to put words into others mouths, such as the Bush said Mission accomplished speech in May 2003. He never said those words, although the big sign did say that.

Accuracy is important to me, so I was sure to call her on the pants thing.

However, this got me to wondering: Is the misquoting thing due to her politics and if it is, maybe if my plan to convert her is successful I can put an end to it.

Links

My apologies to those who have linked to me and I have yet to reciprocate. The truth is I am not too good at this HTML stuff. I will spend some time over the next few days trying to figure it out.

If anyone can recommend a good HTML book, it would be much appreciated.

Canadian Forces Recruitment

Read this article in the Globe and Mail. It talks about a probe by the Canadian Forces Ombudsman into complaints of discrimination in the recruitment of the CF.

I have some experience in the recruitment of Reserve soldiers into the CF, and I have never noticed a classic case of discrimination (based on gender, race, religion, etc).

However, it is no secret that the reserve recruiting process is incredibly slow. It would boggle your mind to know how slow. Just imagine you were an 18 yr old high school student and you wanted to join the Army Reserve for the summer to earn some extra money. It would take you, on the average of at least 3 months, likely more.

When the government claims they want to increase the size of the Reserves, I just laugh. How can you increase the size when it takes so long to get in that any sane person would quit from the frustration of waiting?

NEP II

Thanks to canadacomment for putting me onto today's poll at the Globe and Mail. The Globe appears to be promoting the cause of the Alberta Separatist parties but asking this question:

"Should the federal government introduce a short-term 'windfall tax' that redistributes some of Alberta's oil wealth to provinces in need?"

With a provincial election expected in Alberta in Nov, what is this all about? Is this a trial balloon?

This would not go over well in Wild Rose Country.

Is Anyone Surprised?

Is anyone surprised by this article in the Edmonton Sun. It seems that the health care fix "for a generation" barely lasted two weeks before the provinces are claiming they will need more money.

What will it take for our political leaders to reform the system instead of just throw money at it?

Asymmetrical Federalism

Andrew Coyne and the editorial board at the National Post have put up a few stories lately about health care money and the special deal received by Quebec. The feds are talking about asymmetrical federalism and the pundits are comparing this to some sort of Meech Lake II.

I am of two minds on this. As a Canadian, I want a strong federation, where everyone is equal. I am against special status for Quebec on principle. Is not every part of Canada different from the rest?

However, as an Albertan, I am sick of the feds impinging on provincial territory and do not trust them not to trample over the rights of Alberta by putting up some sort of NEP II, or something similar. I am also tired of transfer payments. What incentive is there for "poor" provinces to sort out their economies with transfer payments? As long as more of the tax money from the rich provinces go to support the poor, the more they can continue to follow tired, failed economic policies. I am not against some type of transfer, as we have, in principle, a requirement to help the less fortunate. However, there is no reason for Quebec to be one of these provinces. It is a large province with abundant natural resources, and should be a net contributor to Canada.

Therefore, any time Quebec gets some type of special status, my Canadian side worries, as this makes out country less united, but my Alberta side is happy, as this erodes the ability of the feds to interfere with the jurisdiction of all provinces.

Does anyone have any comments on this?

Update: I was unable to link to Andrew Coyne's site and the article (http://www.andrewcoyne.com/) which appeared in the the 25 Sept 2004 edition of the National Post. His site has some sort of page error and I cannot find the article.

Fringe Benefits of Bloging

I have discovered that this blog may actually help me with my relationship with the GF. Now, whenever we fight, argue or have some sort of disagreement over something, the GF always asks me "Is this going to be on your blog?" If I am mad, (which is most of the time) I answer, "You will just have to see tomorrow".

I think that maybe, just maybe, the threat of these incidents going on the net is giving me an edge. I will have to experiment a bit to test the theory.

I will keep you posted.

The Responsibility of the Media

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Rathergate post. You can read the comments here. I consider this topic so important that I will clarify my thoughts on it.

Firstly, there is a considerable difference between a media company and the government. The main job of government is to protect its citizens. And while a government should not lie to the people, even in a democracy it invariably keeps information from its citizens for security purposes. We accept that this is required.

The news media developed as a way of getting information to the people, about the actions of their government as well as other things going on. The media in the west has always questioned the statements of the government and their reputation rests on being fair and impartial, reporting the facts. There are, of course, the opinion pages, but it is usually clear where news (facts) end and Opinion begins. This is mostly true, but we all know that newspapers, for example, have a certain editorial slant, such as the Toronto Star, which has a leftward lean to it. Everyone accepts an editorial slant, but this should not carry over to news.

As for the Iraq WMD question, I would agree that the media did not dig enough and do its job. However, I am not sure how much you can blame them, as they lack certain resources that are available to the security organs of the state to determine the hostile capabilities of foreign countries. I am not convinced that the US President lied about WMD in Iraq. It seems obvious the US was wrong about Iraq having WMD, but not finding something does not mean it is not there. However, I will admit that it is unlikely WMD's are in the country and the US is unable to find them. As for making a mistake, believing there were weapons when there were none, here are a few points that support that conclusion:

Saddam kicked out the inspectors. Why would he do this if he had nothing to hide?

He clearly did not cooperate fully with the inspectors, and he tried to hinder them. (See above)

He had used WMD on Iraqis in the past (the Kurds) and during the Iran-Iraq war. It was not far fetched to think he might have some of those squirreled away.

The countries which were against the war, such as France, Germany and Russia, did not question that he had these weapons, likely because they had sold him the technology to build them ( to be fair, so did the US, to a lesser extent). They could have directly questioned Powell's assertions, but did not.

Most of the above would be considered circumstansial evidence in a court of law, but this is not court. We now know that the US was wrong, or at least cannot prove it was right, which is different. However, I personally believe that Saddam should have been take out anyway, and it was a mistake for the Bush Administration to use the WMD reason, when there were many others. Since the 1991 Gulf War did not really end, the US could have attacked again simply because Saddam did not comply with the terms of the cease fire (ie inspectors, etc).

We in the west did not understand Saddam well enough. It is my opinion that he sent signals that he had WMD to maintain his credibility in the Arab world, even though he could have stopped the US invasion cold by opening up to inspectors in a timely fashion. However, he could not do this, for then he would have been seen as weak. Maintaining the "tough guy" image was more important than the risk of losing his position.

Back to the media. There are two types of sins: Sins of Omission and Sins of Commission. A sin of omission is when you failed to do something you were supposed to do. This is the type of mistake the media made regarding Iraq, but it has to be willful, which we have no proof of. As Ron mentioned, the US media is notoriously liberal, so it is hard to believe they would not hold Bush's feet to the fire if they had any info on WMD. Anything is possible, but that scenario is just not probable to me. I hesitate to blame the media on Iraq, as it is difficult to get this kind of information by the way they are set up. The media is not the CIA. Also, it is difficult to prove a negative.

As for a sin of commission, this is when you do something you were not supposed to do. This is what Rather did. He knew the documents were forged, but used them anyway. "But Marcel" you say, "Dan says he was fooled, tricked, its not his fault. His only crime is being duped". Let's examine the facts:

The documents which purport to prove Bush did not satisfactorily complete his National Guard service were supplied by Burkett, who is well know to have an axe to grind with the Bush family. This should be enough to subject his assertions to extra scrutiny.

CBS made initial claims that they were happy with the chain of evidence, yet they never saw the original documents.

They "authentication shopped", showing different documents to different experts. Why not show all the docs to your experts, so they could compare and you could get the most accurate information?

Their experts told them the docs were probably false and they should not use them in their story. Yet they did. Why?

They did not present any contrary evidence, such as the fact that both the wife and son of Killian, who supposedly wrote the documents, believed them to be false. News should show both sides of the story. Why was this not in the report?

Anyone with any military background would be suspicious of the writing style of the memos. The military does write memos to cover its ass (CYA) but we don't call them that.

CBS went with 4 of the 6 documents, because the other 2 did not pass the smell test. Yet they made no mention of this in their report. If their piece on Bush was news and not opinion, they should have presented contrary evidence, in the interest of fairness.

Within a few hours of the docs being released to the public, some guy in his pajamas (well done lgf) made uncanny reproductions of the documents by simply typing them out on the default setting of Microsoft Word. How could CBS not see that the docs were false with all their money and resources?

Therefore, it seems clear to me that this story did not meet journalistic standards. Yet CBS still went with it. Considering the fact that this story made potentially damaging allegations about a sitting President during and election year, you would think Rather and Co would want to be extra careful to get the story correct. Yet they seemed to be extra sloppy. I can only conclude that Dan Rather willfully ignored serious questions about this story. He crossed the line and reported his opinion as news. For this he deserves the tarnish his reputation is getting, and, in my opinion, should be fired.

What is “Real”ity TV

I am not much of a fan of most of the programs on TV, however, the GF and I seem to enjoy some of these reality TV programs and will be watching The Apprentice II tonight. The only other show we can watch together is The Simpsons, as political/news programs are out and I get pretty tired after 3 hours of Trading Spaces. (There should be more of the host, Paige, on that show).

Unfortunately, reality TV gets pretty repetitive after a while. I mean, what are we on, season 400 of survivor now? Does anyone not know what is going to happen this season? People will make alliances, some will break them and someone gets $1 million. As for Big Brother, the problem with it is that it is based on a European show, which, being European, is all about putting young, sexy people in a house and seeing who “shares bedrooms”. Unfortunately, Americans are too prude for that, so the show sucks. CBS was fined $550,000 this week for the Janet Jackson nipple. Over half a million dollars for showing a split second of something that anyone can see by taking off their own shirt? Ya, Nipplegate is much more serious than Rathergate.

Slowly Sinking into the Vortex

I am being sucked into the Vortex of the blogosphere. I have been surfing the blogs a lot the past few days, reading opinion, mostly about Rathergate.

This is a shame, as the weather has been particularly nice in Edmonton this week. It has got so bad that the GF invariably asks me when she gets home “So, did you go outside today, or even downstairs?” to which I reply “Of course, honey, the cats’ food is downstairs and you know how annoying they get if not fed in a timely fashion.

Maybe I will go outside tomorrow.

The Fringe Benefits....

As you may be aware from this post, the GF and I are getting married. So, last weekend, we decided to get the ring thing sorted out. Before I proposed, I went to a store that allows you to pick the diamond you want and put it in just about any ring you want. Complete customization, and you can scale it to fit what you want to pay. However, it takes 3 weeks to get the ring back, which was great, as I had no idea what to get her. They gave me a loner, which I could present to her, then we would come back and pick the ring she wanted. Foolproof for an idiot like me.

So, some of these diamond ads on TV say spend 2-3 months salary. Considering I am basically unemployed right now, I decided to go with about $1500. Call me a cheap bastard, as I could have gone with my old salary, which would mean I would spend about $10-15k!

So I had picked a diamond out, and with a standard ring, it would be about $1400. I figured this would give me some flexibility, so if she wanted a bit nicer ring, I would probably go to about $1500. I was willing to spend more if necessary. However, I told her to browse the store and get what she wanted, as I wanted her to be happy with the ring.

So, contrary to popular belief, the one she most likes comes to about half of what I wanted to spend. To me, it makes sense to spend less on the ring so you can spend more on a house, vacation, etc.

How can she be so practical on this and still support the impractical, illogical leftie positions on everything else?

Women are quite a mystery.

More Rathergate

Interesting stuff at Little Green Footballs on the Rathergate stuff. Here are some interesting bits of info on this:

1. Mary Mapes, the CBS News producer, was "quite liberal" and disliked the current President (Bush). here

2. The Dems are starting to spin it. here

3. The real provider of the memos is Lucy Ramirez, not Conn, as Burkett originally stated. here

Can anyone believe any of this stuff? Burkett keeps changing his story, he says he copied the originals and then burned them because he was afraid. If this is true, that means CBS never had the originals. Would you go with this serious a story without the originals? You would if you were biased and trying to infulence an election.

Check out Dan Rather's apology here. These "mistakes in judgement" do not appear to be "in good faith", in my humble opinion.

Update: Check out Communists for Kerry and their investigation on CBS bias.

Further Update: Great post at Let it Bleed comparing the Rathergate flip-flop in the blogsphere to others in history and fiction.

Further Further Update: Timeline of Rathergate can be found here. Thanks to PoliDock for this.

Political comments on the US from a Canadian

I have been starting to vist Skippy at The Sandwich Shop lately. Although he seems to be a bit perverse, I find his writings on the Kerry campaign very interesting, particularly his essay on the failing Kerry campaign and why it may be failing.

Warning: Skippy writes long essays.

Michael Moore aides the Bush Doctrine?

Interesting post from Daimnation! titled Unintended Consequences regarding Iran and Fahrenheit 9/11. A past example being a Soviet propaganda film which showed the misery and violence of America, however, audiences noticed that even the poorest Americans had their own cars, apartments, television sets, and based on their size, had too much to eat.

A similar thing is happening in Iran, where Fahrenheit 9/11 has been approved by Iranian officials for viewing. Notice this comment from a younger, twenty something viewer:

"It sure is a great country, where someone like Moore trashes the president and gets away with it -- and makes so much money!"

Or how about this one:

Another woman said she was impressed with the scene where Moore chases US congressmen to ask them if they would send their children to Iraq.

"How many top officials here sent their offspring to fight in the Iran-Iraq war?" asked the woman, one of several who directed their frustrations at Iranian authorities -- and not President Bush.

Dan "Blathering Idiot" Rather

This story about Dan Rather gets more interesting all the time. See here what Dan said on CNN last week about the Bush memos.

“The story is true. The story is true.” Dan then goes on about four questions raise by the story (ie the memos) regarding Lt Bush’s service in the National Guard. The four questions are serious, but, guess what Dan, since the memos are fakes, the story is now about how and why CBS and Dan Rather went with a story that their document examiners had serious reservations about and that some guy in his pajamas could prove was a fake in no time.

More quotes from the CNN interview:

“We are in a time of war and I stand behind my president…It’s no joy in reporting such a story. But my job as a journalist is not to be afraid and when we come with facts and legimite questions that are supported by witnesses and documents which we believe to be authentic, to raise those questions no matter how unpleasant they are…..I stand by my story.”

Later on he lectures this woman who states that she read in the Washington Post that there was an internal investigation at CBS on the story. “You know, the internet is filled with all kinds of rumours and I like a good rumour as well as the next fella but it is important to recognize what is a rumour and what is a fact.”

Unbelieveable.

One of the theories going around the net is that Rather, (as part of the Liberal Media) hate Bush so much and they believe the 4 questions are important so are willing to use fabricated evidence. Rather’s idea seems to be that the facts (Bush failed to take a physical when ordered, there was pressure on his superiors to write a good performance review) are correct so it does not matter if the evidence is fabricated. At about the 4 minute and 10 second mark of the clip, Rather states, “ This story is true, and that more important questions than how we got the story, which is where those who don’t like the story would like to put the emphasis, the more important question is what are the answers to the questions raised in the story which I just gave you earlier.”
In this portion, note that he never claims the memos are true, but that the story is true. While there is a case to be made that a lack of evidence is not necessarily proof of innocence, I am surprised a journalist would make this case. This is like some episode of the Twilight Zone and we are in some version of George Orwell’s 1984.

I would Rather not retract the story....

This story about the Bush National Guard memos being faked is making a lot of hay in the blogosphere. Ignoring which side of the political fence you sit on this issue, it sure seems CBS and Rather got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Below is a comment I sent to CBS.

I am very dismayed by reports I am reading on the internet that documents used by Mr. Rather in a story regarding President Bush's military service may have been forged and that CBS had information to this effect and may have ignored it. The journalistic integrity of your network has been greatly diminished due to this incident in my view, and I suggest that you quickly move to tell the truth about these events if you want to have any hope of protecting your integrity. Rest assured I will not watch any CBS news program until this matter is cleared up.

For more info on this story, point yourself to Little Green Footballs, who broke the story or to here for a summary of links.

Go to CBS and scroll to the bottom to send them a comment.

How about a little appreciation....

I usually make the GF lunch for her to take to work. Lately I have been lazy and not doing it, so I thought I would start again and surprise her. This morning I told her I would make her lunch, thinking she would be pleasantly surprised (and hopefully making me look good). She says not to bother, as she and her co-workers are going out for lunch. I reply that I have already made it. She then says she will take it. Getting suspicious now, my reply was "Don't take it if you are not going to eat it, I don't want you to just throw it out". Her reply: "OK, I won't take it".

Women

Free Speech as long as I agree

Kudos to AcademicBias for their short film, Brainwashing 101. If you are interested in the issue of free speech, what is happening to conservatives on US campuses will stun you. I highly recommend downloading this film.

An Open Letter to the First Ministers

Dear Prime Minister and Premiers,

I am aware, as I am sure are most Canadians that you have spent the last few days in Ottawa, trying to come to an agreement to fix health care “for a generation”. This is a noble cause. I am sure you receive many letters from Canadians regarding poor service or their dissatisfaction with the health care system. This is not one of those. I want to relate a positive occurrence I had with one of our family members.

This member of the family is getting older and had a condition which turned out to be crystals in his urine, similar to gall stones, making urination very painful. We were able to get an appointment immediately, and drugs and diet changes were prescribed. One month later we had a follow-up, which determined that, although the problem was starting to clear up and he was feeling better, it was not fully resolved. The doctor decided to continue the original treatment, which is still ongoing, and he is doing better every day. I am confident that he has received excellent care and is on the road to recovery.

Specifically, I am impressed with the following aspects of our visit:

We received an appointment almost immediately, and did not have to use an emergency room. This is of great comfort, as it is difficult to watch a family member in pain.
There was no lineup at the office, as in some doctor’s offices, and we were in to see the health care professionals very close to our appointment time.
The staff was excellent, completely professional, and very caring. In fact, the office phoned our home a week later to ask if we had any questions and to inquire on the health of our family member. I was especially surprised that it was the doctor himself who called.

Based on what I have heard from friends, other family and the media, it seems our health care system has some serious problems with waiting times, access and aspects of care. Yet my personal experience does not bear this out. Now, you must be thinking that such a positive letter is a rarity, and perhaps this did not take place in Canada. I can confirm that it did, and, with the extremely positive experience I had, I am hoping some aspect of the operation of this clinic could be considered by you in order to improve the system for all Canadians. For, in this example, there is indeed a catch. The excellent care our family member received was not in a provincial system. It was within a completely private system, for this family member is a cat. “Koko” received a far higher quality of care than I can get for myself. I find it incomprehensible that the governments of Canada seem to think that a cat deserves better health care than a person. Surely some positive aspects of this private system can be incorporated into our public system in order to bring the quality of human care up to that of animals.

Marcel Berridge
Edmonton, AB

Today, on the Healthcare Channel...

Too much info on this topic to talk about it all, so I will mention one thing I found very interesting. A Fraser Institute report states that the entire government increase to Ontario hospitals between 1997 and 2002 went to increasing payrolls. But guess what, it wasn't the doctors that got that money. The average income for Ontario physicians has declined for the last three decades and is at three quarters of its peak, which was in 1972. Pay for doctors has dropped by half compared to average Ontario incomes. So where did the money go? This statement is telling "Nurses, mid- and low-level unionized workers, and senior management has relatively high pay, often 20 percent beyond the private sector and hospitals in other provinces." Will all this new money the feds are promising just go to the unions as well?

I will leave you with two other quotes from the report:

"It is impossible for the public sector health system, as currently structured, to solve access and control issues at the same time."

"The best way to encourage better allocation of hospital funds and to increase access and quality of care is to introduce competitive markets in health services and insurance."

A view from a "customer"

Great article in the National Post written by Daniel Timmons on how he was treated by the system for Lou Gehrig's Disease. The most shocking point is regarding the 12 weeks it took to get diagnosed. Our health care system is like the Soviet system. No one is treated fairly, but as long as everyone is treated fair (ie the same, as in everyone has to wait 12 weeks), that is OK. The only conclusion I can draw is that the primary emotions Canadians have regarding health care are envy and jealousy. As long as my neighbour is getting less than I am, I am happy. Is this really what we are like?

Fond remembrances of Communism

So my GF rented one of those left wing, foreign films last night. It is called Bye Bye Lenin and I highly recommend it. It is about this family living in East Berlin under the Communists. Their father leaves the family for the west, and some years later, just before the fall of the wall, the mother has a heart attack and is in a coma for 7 months. When she wakes, the wall is down and radical changes are taking place. Any emotional shocks might kill her, so her son goes about trying to convince her that the East German “socialist paradise” still exists. From how the son has to bribe kids 20 marks to come and sing socialists propaganda songs, to his older sister’s comments about forcing her daughter to wear crappy plastic diapers, the movie is quite funny. At one point they want to take the mother on a trip in the new car bought by the daughter’s West German boyfriend (who is a manager at Burger King). As they are trying to explain why they have a new car, to their mother, she exclaims words to the effect that how did we get our car already, it’s been only 3 years since we requested one. Her son, who lost his job as a TV repairman, now works for a satellite company, installing satellite dishes. At one point his mother remarks about how tired he is after work and how he never used to work this hard before. For anyone who wants to be reminded about why socialism doesn’t work, I highly recommend it.

Left Wing Logic

So last night the GF burnt dinner. Try to blame me for her burning dinner provided an excellent example of the convoluted logic of the left. She worked on Friday and I did not, so I prepared supper, which was not burnt. On Saturday, I had to work and she did not, so it was her turn to make supper. She made tacos and everything was done except for heating up the shells. I was reading in the living room which is right beside the kitchen, and she went upstairs while waiting. The oven beeps when it is done, so she asked me, and I quote, “Let me know when the oven beeps”. So about 5 minutes later, it beeps, I call up to her to let her know, and she acknowledges that she heard me. A few minutes later she comes rushing down, mad at me saying “can’t you smell something burning!” Truthfully, I did not, as smoke tends to rise and the way the kitchen and stairs to the top level is situated tends to funnel smells and smoke to upstairs. She then proceeds to blame me for the burnt taco shells. I pointed out that I followed her directions to the letter, informed her when the oven was done, and confirmed that she heard me. She says that I should have known to take the tacos out. I replied that it was still her fault as it was her job and if she wanted me to take them out, why did she not say “take out the taco shells when it beeps”, instead of just letting her know. She replied it was my fault that she did not tell me to take the tacos out, as I am lazy and would not listen anyway.
In addition to her illogical logic, while the tacos were burning, she was upstairs on the net, reading emails from her ex-boyfriend, Todd, my hated enemy. Todd is an unemployed left wing Canadian living in San Francisco with a blog here, and he constantly sends emails with various anti-right wing/ anti-Bush attached, which she takes too much delight in showing me.

Not Holding My Breath

The First Minister's Conference on Health Care starts on Monday. I don't have much confidence in this one. All the talk is about more money, and nothing about reforming the system. Why do Canadians fear change when it comes to Medicare?

"Would you like a Manicure with that shank?"

There has been a lot written about the "scandal" of various nefarious female prisoners at the Grand Valley Institute for Women in Kitchener participating in a Spa Day, which included manicures, pedicures, aromatherapy and tea on fine china. After seeing the HBO program "Oz", I promised myself to ensure not to run afoul of the law, but perhaps I was wrong. A correct view might actually be the difference between Canadian and U.S. prisons.

Which leads me to my main point. All this discussion of whether or not convicted murderers should get a pedicure is wasted time. What we should be discussing is the model of our prison system, whether it should be based on retribution (ie. punishment for your crime), or on the present rehabilitation. If you think rehabilitation is the way to go, who is to say a spa day is any better or worst than psychotherapy, 12 step programs or holding hands and singing kumbaya?

MB

Another reason to hope Bush wins

Forget the military service thirty years ago and the war in Iraq. The real reason Canadians should be hoping for a Bush win on Nov 2 is a lot closer to home.

Canada's trade with the US is now around $350 billion each year. Though Bush is not a big supporter of free trade, Kerry is even less so. Kerry has denounced free trade and would review all trade treaties if elected. Some 80% of our trade is with the US. Try paying for that Pharmacare program or reducing waiting lists with no money.

If Kerry is elected, expect an exodus from Ontario as people try to escape the mounds of steaming garbage. Kerry has said that he will review within 120 days the present trucking of Ontario garbage to the Town of Waltz, southwest of Detroit. Rob Cook of Ontario's Waste Management Association states that he doesn't know where the 3 million tonnes of garbage will go and there is no Plan B.

MB

Merger Forthcoming

Yesterday was 2 years since our first date, so I took GF out for a fancy dinner, we went for a walk and I popped the question. To my surprise, she said yes. I had the whole thing planned out, but at dinner we started talking about Michael Moore, and I almost changed my mind. Luckily I was able to focus. This is the real reason the cat got the full treatment and not the big needle. He is the most sick on the date I want to ask his "mother" to marry me. That is one lucky cat.

So I thought I was being really sneaky, but she said she knew I was going to do it. Maybe this is why she sort of agreed with me about Moore after a bit. I will have to watch her. I also do not put it past her to tell me she knew when she did not, just to keep the misdirection going.

Just before I popped the question, we saw Ralph Klein at an MLA function. I did not even recognize him, GF had to tell me. I guess I was nervous. I will take this as a good sign. Can provincial premiers preside at weddings?

Over $500 to have 3 teeth pulled and a cleaning for the cat! In two days we spent more on the cat than I spend on the mortgage. The cat better learn some tricks or go in TV commercials to earn that money back.

MB

Note to self: May have to change name of the blog

Health Care and your Pet

Took one of the cats to the vet today. It took 3 hours, about the same amount of time in a people emergency room. However, there was no lineup. I had to wait for the tests. The cat had a urine test and x-ray, no waiting and no questions. However, I had a few questions: 1) Why can a cat get private healthcare and I cannot? 2) Does an x-ray really cost $120?

The cat is old so he has some problems, specifically what looks to be gall stones. This is a followup visit to see if the antibiotics he was taking worked. You will be happy to know he is better, but still needs more drugs. I spent $280 in one day on that cat. That is a lot of money for a cat that was free. I figure we could get an infinite number of cats for that money. Also, that is about how much I have spent on myself for medical all this year ($132 every 3 months for health care premiums). Tomorrow he goes in for dental, we will see what that sets me back. The GF was working so the decision to get the xray was mine alone. Although I really did not have a choice. It is her cat, I am just the step father, and I am trying to be nice. More on that later.

MB

Sheila Copps

Can't say I like her much. However, she has been writing a column in the National Post every Friday that has got the masses seething. Of the five or so columns she has written, I have seen letters every Saturday taking her to task, pointing out inconsistencies or disagreeing with her points. (Full disclosure: I have written two myself, but they were not published).

Good job to Sheila for increasing the amount of debate in the country, just work a bit on the logic of your positions.

MB

Reducing Pesticide Use

Was just reading an article in the National Post on farming and pesticide use. It was by the director of the International Conservation Program for the World Wildlife Fund Canada, and they focus on, among other things, reducing the use of pesticides. When I started reading, I was worried that the article would be the usual left wing rant against pesticides, without proposing an alternative. I think it is a given that most farmers would want to reduce pesticide use, after all it is expensive and is basically poison on food we eat. Who would want that? Very low levels of arsenic will not kill you, but no one is exactly lining up to test the theory.

However, the left never takes the time to examine the end results of their wacky schemes.

If we eliminated use of pesticides, how would we maintain our level of food production? Prices would skyrocket and people would go hungry. And the one thing that does allow farmers to reduce pesticide use but maintain production, genetically modified foods (GM), the left is even more against.

So I was pleasantly surprised when Ms. Julia Langer talked about organic foods, pest resistant plants, crop rotation, disruption of pest reproduction (I guess that is like when your young children burst in the bedroom when you are making love to your wife), anti-pest organisms and other types of ideas. I am not sure if pest resistance plants refers to GM modified, maybe Ms. Langer recognizes the value of GM foods, but cannot say the name for the howls from the left wing groups.

So, everything was going well and I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, there is one other problem with all lefty arguments. If they ever, by chance, make a logical, well reasoned argument, the second law comes into effect. Sure enough, I was not disappointed when Ms. Langer, in the last third of her article, asked for, guess what? Drum roll please: Tax payer money. Never was there a scheme from the left that did not require more of my tax dollars. But there is good news. It would require no more than the average payment the Europeans give their farmers. Yippee! The cloud has a silver lining. Any idea that cannot pay for itself perhaps is not such a good idea after all.

MB

Sex and Politics

Had a big fight last night. We were watching Bush's speech, and the GF started making snide comments which I had to refute. Then, when Kerry came on with his midnight "rebuttal" speech, I started making snide comments. Let's just say it was a bit frosty in bed last night.

MB

Kerry and the Swiftees

Was watching CNN and just had an argument with the GF about John Kerry's lying and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Ignoring the whole Bush v Kerry thing, Kerry has lied on his war record. He states that the memory of his 1968 Christmas and Christmas Eve in Cambodia is "seared" in his memory. This is a lie. Kerry was not in Cambodia on Christmas in 1968, as a entry from his journal makes clear. Whether or not you like Bush, these lies by Kerry cannot be ignored. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth make some very strong arguments against Kerry that greatly threaten his credibility.

Check out their site here.

Of particular interest to me was the transcript of an interview with John O'Neill. Ignoring the obvious bias of the FrontPage Magazine's interviewer, Mr O'Neill makes some compelling points. I would be interested to see a reasoned, logical rebuttal of these charges.

MB