Pope calls abortion, gay marriage insidious threat - World - Canoe.ca

Pope calls abortion, gay marriage insidious threat - World - Canoe.ca

Mock invitation to f�te Count Michael Ignatieff and Czar Nicholas - Inside Politics

Mock invitation to f�te Count Michael Ignatieff and Czar Nicholas - Inside Politics

OK... Come on... Some people NEED a sense of humor... remember humor... ie: FUNNY... some thing to have a good laugh, etc. etc. Good grief.

Frankly, I do not begrudge Him his heritage at all. It would be fun and interesting to have that background as part of one's ancestry. Of course the people who are really upset by this political satire... ie: political FUN are the same that want us all to suffer in EQUALITY... meaning, of course, equality of outcome... meaning that we should all suffer in the pit equal to the lowest common denominator. Anyway... have a read...AND... have a good LAUGH!

The disturbing similarities between Quebec and Greece

The disturbing similarities between Quebec and Greece

Interesting take... in bringing it even closer to home.

CBC News - World - Are we all facing a Greek-style future?

CBC News - World - Are we all facing a Greek-style future?

Neil Macdonald

"European states run famously costly social cradle-to-grave social programs, which basically rely on each new generation to support the one that just retired, and in remarkably generous style, compared to the U.S. or even Canada.

The trouble is, the European generation about to enter the workforce is much smaller and its workers will be groaning under the burden of servicing all that government debt.

You don't have to be John Kenneth Galbraith to figure out what's going to happen over there next: slashed pensions, medical care and services. A systemic collapse of the European nanny state.

Imagine the Greek riots, but, oh, say a hundred times worse."

(mjd) Now... to things on this side of the puddle...

"The Americans don't count unfunded liabilities when they calculate their national debt. Things like public pensions, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which are about to face a stampede of aging, retiring baby boomers.

By most estimates, the bills that will be arriving in Washington for the next few decades will total more than a hundred trillion dollars — several times the size of the entire American economy. Unpayable, by any realistic measure.

In other words, Americans are driving toward the debt wall in an out-of-control Toyota, too. And given the realities of the North American economy, they will be dragging Canadians right along behind them."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/10/f-rfa-macdonald.html#ixzz0neQtAO7v

The Big Fat Greek Bailout - HUMAN EVENTS

The Big Fat Greek Bailout - HUMAN EVENTS:

by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers

"Greece’s economic crisis was caused by too much government spending and borrowing which weakened its already over-taxed, over-regulated economy. Although Greece’s population is just 11 million, it has more than one million public-sector employees. Greek civil servants enjoy 14 months of pay for 12 months worked, and their average retirement age is 53. Once retired, they enjoy generous pension benefits worth 80% of their salary. Greece will run a budget deficit this year worth 14% of its GDP, and its entire national debt will equal 113% of GDP. These policies proved unsustainable, and so the European Union and the IMF were called in to rescue Greece before international investors stopped lending them any more money."

"The Obama Administration on Sunday approved U.S. participation in an international bailout of Greece that will cost American taxpayers billions of dollars."

(mjd - my comments)

So let me see if I get this:

Greece (and other nations in Europe... and to a large extent this happening in Canada & the US as well) creates a false economy by having massive amounts of people working in the public (ie: Tax dollars funded) sector with cradle to grave care and babysitting, along with generous vacation time and early retirement.... and now YOU are going to write a large cheque, from your hard earned funds... or from your kid's college account... and send it to these people who now riot in the streets (think temper tantrums like babies) because they won't face the reality that their 'soft-life' system is not sustainable. How big is that cheque anyway... how big is the next one... and the next? Make NO MISTAKE... those funds that are being sent to Greece now, and others later... oh and don't forget the cheques you already wrote to GM and all those banks and Insurance companies... well those funds, those dollars... TAX DOLLARS... they come from somewhere... YOUR POCKET - YOUR SAVINGS - YOUR EARNINGS... or those of your kids and grandkids or both.

Feels pretty good eh!

America’s Greek Tragedy - HUMAN EVENTS

America’s Greek Tragedy - HUMAN EVENTS

A great read. Mr. Bauer puts it succinctly and forcefully. It is a message that needs to be understood.

The End of La Dolce Vita - HUMAN EVENTS

The End of La Dolce Vita - HUMAN EVENTS

ABOUT THE FINANCIAL COLLAPSE OF GREECE... and Europe? ... and North America?

by Patrick J. Buchanan (article linked above)

(I have cut & paste this one because I want to hi-lite some of Patrick's VERY IMPORTANT comments.)... read on:

Are Europe and America headed to where Athens is today?

To answer the question, consider what brought Greece to where she is -- running a deficit of 14 percent of gross domestic product with a debt approaching 100 percent, with Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Great Britain not that far behind.

How did this happen?

Protected by the United States through a half-century of Cold War, Europe cut back on defense and ratcheted up spending for La Dolce Vita.

All of Europe adopted universal health care. All voted in a shorter workweek, a higher minimum wage, greater job security, earlier retirements and munificent pensions.

As the cradle-to-grave welfare states rose, an ever-increasing share of the labor force left the private sector for the security of the public sector.

(NOTE THIS... it is KEY! - mjd)

Tax-consumers, the beneficiaries of the welfare states and the bureaucrats that ran them, grew in number, as taxpayers declined as a share of the labor force. Though Greece was far from the most productive nation in Europe, Athens led the parade.

After the baby boom ended, the pill arrival in the 1960s. Then came abortion on demand in the 1970s.

The fertility rate of Greece and every European nation fell below the 2.1 births per woman needed to replace an existing population. Greece's birth rate has been below zero population growth for three decades.

Result: In Year 2000, Greece had just under 11 million people and a median age of 38. In 2050, Greece is projected to have just under 11 million people, but the median age will be 50.

Were Greece a company, the solution would be bankruptcy.

But Greece is a country. And a bailout of $141 billion is being put together by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Why? Because, should Greece decide not to take a chain saw to her welfare state, but walk away from her debts and default, she would blow a hole in the balance sheets of the biggest banks in Europe.

Then the banks would have to be bailed out.

Seeing Greece's bondholders being burned, terrified holders of Portuguese and Spanish debt would start dumping their bonds, forcing Madrid and Lisbon to pay a higher interest rate both to sell new bonds and roll over the old ones coming due. Rather than savage their welfare state programs, and risk riots in the streets and a massacre at the polls, Madrid and Lisbon, too, might look agreeably at default.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, though exasperated with the Greeks, is urging Germans to back the $141 billion bailout: "Nothing less than the future of Europe ... is at stake."

Merkel believes there is no alternative. But there is an alternative -- a restructuring of Greece's debt or a default where the holders of Greek bonds suffer the fate of the holders of bonds from Lehman Brothers and General Motors.

Inevitably, this is what is going to happen.

For how long will Greeks work longer, retire later and live on smaller pensions, so holders of Greek bonds can get their interest payments right on time?

The EU and IMF may, with the bailout of Greece, kick this can up the road. But the crisis will return. For the nations of Europe have made commitments beyond their capacity to keep, given their growing debts and aging populations.

And America is not all that far behind.

While the federal deficit is not 14 percent of GDP, it was 10 percent in 2009 and may reach 11 percent in 2010. Trillion-dollar deficits are projected through the decade, bringing the public debt -- held by citizens, companies, foreign governments and sovereign wealth funds -- close to 100 percent of GDP.

And the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and federal pensions rival those of Western Europe.

States like California and New York, larger than Greece, look a lot like Greece. Were it not for the scores of billions dished out to them by Obama's stimulus, some of these states would have come close to the brink New York City went over in 1975.

Many of these states are today laying off teachers, letting felons out of prison, and looking hard at the salaries and pensions of civil servants. While the temptation is great for Washington to bail them out again, the United States government itself has now begun to attract the concerned notice of holders of U.S. debt.

That we are witnessing Oswald Spengler's "Decline of the West" seems undeniable.

La Dolce Vita is coming to an end. The ever-expanding European and American welfare states of the 20th century will contract in the 21st. Some have already begun to shrink. A time of austerity is at hand.

Indeed, what is about to be tested is democracy itself.

Can democracies that attracted universal applause in the golden years of rising expectations impose upon their citizens the enduring and painful sacrifices necessary in a time of retrenchment?

We are about to find out.

Who's the Bigot, Mr. Brown? - HUMAN EVENTS

Who's the Bigot, Mr. Brown? - HUMAN EVENTS

Getting into some interesting territory here... but there is some very important thinking that needs to go on about this issue. There is, particularly, a line that I will attempt to hi-lite (see below) that goes directly to my previous post. At any rate... do read and give it some thought and share your ideas.

"Does the desire of a people to preserve its unique and separate ethnic identity and cultural character, de facto, constitute bigotry?"

Conservative News: Aging world population is a profound crisis. - HUMAN EVENTS

Conservative News: Aging world population is a profound crisis. - HUMAN EVENTS

I've been pondering these issues for some time... I'm glad to see that some others are as well. However there are not nearly enough people considering these issues... and they are very OBVIOUS problems. The answer to one nagging question continues to allude me however. Why do our political elites - across the Western World - promote and adopt policies that are so brazenly deleterious to the propagation of the caucasian race? I can't find any logical explanation. This should in no way be seen as "racist" or "white supremacist" in any way shape or form. Other racial and cultural groups readily celebrate themselves and properly take pride in their heritage, history and racial and cultural characteristics. We, as caucasians, should do, and be free to do, the same without regret or apology. (I like the the title of Mitt Romney's new book and the attitude it represents.) We have done some great things! Created some great... perhaps the greatest governing systems for the promotion and maintenance of freedom and liberty. Problems? Yes certainly... mistakes? Of course... like everyone else we are human and and prone to human foibles. I would argue though that our great moments are far more numerous and far greater in substance than are our negative ones. We should celebrate our successes, our freedoms... and our existence and learn and improve from our mistakes and look to a brilliant future.

However the negative, apologetic and seemingly shame-filled handwringing and head hanging that has been going on now for some time, especially amongst our elites, has got to be overcome.

I have noticed that in each generation there seems to be some looming, "sky is falling" crisis that makes "us" look "bad". Whether it is the population boom, the oil crisis, or now the "global warming... er... global cooling... er climate change" junk science that has been slapped on us by the likes of Al Gore and his minions to attempt to make "us" feel badly and ashamed of our industrial and technological prowess and progress. It is simply absurd!

In the Western World (meaning "western" in an historical and cultural sense) our political elites need to start THINKING about, and DOING something about these problems, instituting policies that will increase "our" numbers. OR we will soon, like has befallen our part in Europe, be facing our own take over by the Muslims, or the Latin Americans ( and they have many of their own great traditions and accomplishments) or others and the demise of our own race. And what, logically, would be the point of that? What is wrong with being "white" and celebrating it and increasing our own numbers?... Hello!

A Dangerous Evolution

A Dangerous Evolution: "Alexis de Tocqueville"

Well done Ian Hunter. It seems to me that so many have forgotten about the simple basics of freedom and democracy in the pursuit of comfort and and 'rights' and supposed equality. One problem is that there is a law of opposition... meaning that how would ween know good if there was no evil, or happiness if there was no sorrow... wealth, if there is no poverty, intelligence if there is no idiocy? Point made?

We're drowning in climate stupidity | Lorrie Goldstein | Columnists | Comment | Ottawa Sun

We're drowning in climate stupidity | Lorrie Goldstein | Columnists | Comment | Ottawa Sun

People need to read... and THINK! Good for Lorrie and the many others who are finally seeing the light on this abhorrent monstrosity of a fraud!

Fairy godmother says Quebec separatists telling tall tales

Fairy godmother says Quebec separatists telling tall tales

More...

Playing fairy godmother to Quebec not so fun

Playing fairy godmother to Quebec not so fun

Deliciously witty! But well to the point. Enjoy this article and share it with any anti-Oil sands types - but mostly with your friends who are too busy working and raising families and actually making the economy work, to be out protesting all the time.

Kelly McParland: Attila the prime minister - Full Comment

Kelly McParland: Attila the prime minister - Full Comment

I am glad to see someone with some brains in this debate... my goodness, the moronic and childish whipping up of false hysteria about the prorogation of Parliament is simply foolish and idiotic. In my experience - I was a constituency EA (executive assistant) to Bob Wenman MP (now deceased) - MPs work very hard and work long hours, even in - especially in - their constituencies.

The problem with actually being in Parliament all the time is that they are usually making more and more laws and, frankly, that is not always in our best interest. So I don't think that a break once and a while is a bad thing!

The other issue, and I think the most likely and best reason for Harper's shutting down of Parliament, is the blatantly political one - to reshuffle the Senatorial deck. It is a brilliant, and necessary move. The Grit Senators have been holding up progress on important conservative legislation and the PM has the constitutionally legal and political right and opportunity to make this great tactical move. It will improve his government's ability to get things done. Any leader worth the name would and should do it.

All the crassly hypocritical crying by the Libs and the NDP, and the stoking of the phony fire by some in the media, who are disingenuous at best or brain-dead at worst, is simply dishonest nonsense.

Good for you Mr. Prime Minister!

The Associated Press: White Americans' majority to end by mid-century

The Associated Press: White Americans' majority to end by mid-century

A Prayer for America

For My American friends... and for a country that I love and often feel a part of. For a nation, whose borders, when I often cross both in my youth and now in my adult years, seem as a gateway to a wide expanse of freedom - and entering through which one encounters the very breath of Liberty laying on as a luscious layer of a fresh and misty mountain dew... richly palpable indeed. 

My current concern, in which I am not alone by any means, has to do with the Obama and his  liberals who are quickly descending down a path of nationalizing of whole sectors of the economy and large corporations as well as socialism as a governing philosophy. I can feel that fresh dew of freedom beginning to frost over and become oppressive as its people and its leaders and it businesses and business leaders have, in large measure it seems, lost their way. 

Thus I here pass on a prayer that I found in my daily readings. It is by Gordon B. Hinkley from his book entitled, "Stand A Little Taller".

" May God bless this nation of which you and I are a part. Bless her leaders that they may rise above pettiness and live after the tradition of the Founding Fathers. Bless our industry that it may benefit all mankind. Bless our science that out of it may come health and happiness for the peoples of  the earth. Bless the people of this nation, you, every one of you, and me, and all who walk beneath its glorious flag with gratitude and appreciation, with respect and reverence, as well as with love"

A Conundrum

I have been reading Robin Sharma's, "The Greatness Guide", again and I came across a quote that I had underlined previously by neurologist, Donald Caine. This time, however, it hit me in a different way. I just stared at it for a while trying to gather my thoughts. Here are some:

First the quote: "The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusion." 

I have been turning over and over in my mind, for quite some time now, the simple question, 'how could so many Americans be so stupid and so idiotic, so unthinking, as to put Obama in the White House?' And thus the quote, above, has finally shed some light on the issue for me. I am admitted that he was an attractive candidate in that he was young, well spoken, energetic and black. Yet... really are those qualities enough... or rather SHOULD those qualities be enough to make someone the President of the most important country on the earth?

 He had so many down sides... The  most liberal senator in the Senate, a short and spotty history, no substantial career background, years of attending  a church where the pastor had a history of being antagonistic to the country, numerous votes of "absent" on important issues instead of taking a stand, and we still have not seen a legitimate birth certificate for Pete's sake! For all we know he may not even be legally qualified to be the president!

So much on the down side! And yet... and yet, a slight majority of Americans put him in power. How could they be so foolish?!

Now... I also must admit that the other side did not offer much in the way of an alternative. I have never really understood why the US system allows anyone to vote in the primaries as opposed to just the members of the particular party. I do not think that McCain was an attractive candidate for the Republicans. There were others who had more intellectual weight, and better policy positions etc., etc. I also admit that Bush, in many respects, was a disappointment. (that is a discussion for another time.) 

So... here we are, this conundrum with respect to emotion and reason.

What is needed in politics and governmental leadership is intelligence, thinking, logical analysis. A well thought out sense of right and wrong, a healthy and intelligent understanding and respect of and for the constitution. In short, a reasoned approach that leads to useful, helpful and masterful conclusions as pertaining to public policy and national and international leadership!

And yet... as we continually see... the masses, or at least a great many, vote for these political 'leaders' based, in many cases, almost completely on emotion.

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room � DeMint: Capitol Visitor Center Fails to Honor Faith

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room � DeMint: Capitol Visitor Center Fails to Honor Faith: "“The fundamental principles of the freedom we enjoy in this country stem from our Founding Fathers’ beliefs in a higher power, beliefs put forth in the Declaration of Independence and manifest throughout our Constitution,” said Senator DeMint. “If we cease to acknowledge this fact, we may cease to enjoy some of the freedoms we take for granted. We must not censor historical references to God for the sake of political correctness. And we must truthfully represent the limited form of government the Constitution lays out so that our ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’ So help us God.”"

Read DeMint's full statement. Bravo Senator! 

A New "Coalition" government... NO!

Here is my take on the recent developments with respect to the Liberal-NDP-BQ coalition:

Firstly, and this needs to be clear, the Members of Parliament, in the final analysis, are voted individually to seat in the Commons. They are constitutionally "free" to band together in any manner they so choose. That means that the maneuver they are considering is constitutionally legitimate. 

It is also the case that PM Harper is within his rights to ask the Governor General to request dissolution of parliament and a new election. Conventionally the GG has not (save once) refused such a request although technically she could and instead call upon Dion, or any other Member of the House, to form a new government. 

In keeping with parliamentary tradition the GG should, if requested, dissolve parliament and call a new election. My main reasoning for this is that in the recent election Canadians soundly rejected the Liberals, and in particular Dion. None of the parties who are party to this coalition agreement even came close to the Conservatives in popular votes or in accumulated seats in the House of Commons. People either voted for Lib, Cons, NDP, Green or (in Quebec) the Bloc... they did not vote for the bloc and according to Norman Spector the individual parties, during the campaign, expressly said they would not work in a coalition.

The Conservatives under Harper, and in a minority situation have arguably governed very well. None of the despicable scandals that continually attended the Liberal goverments under both Chretien and Martin. Frankly I do not think that the Liberals have been in the political wilderness anywhere near long enough to atone for their unprecedented arrogance and their vast array of political sins and misdeeds while they were in office.

About the issues that supposedly precipitated this crisis:

My first major point is this... and it deserves some critical thought and evaluation on the part of the Canadian citizenry... The main issue that seems to have led to this is that Harper & his Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, announced that they were going kick the squeeling, snorting pigs of the political parties from the public trough. There would no longer be public financing for the political parties. This was done, at least in part, to set an example for the public. The politicians would tighten their belt first before they asked the civil service and the public to do the same. And... the Conservative party stood to lose the most given the current formula because they have the most votes and the money is doled out on a $1.95 per vote won basis! Now... admittedly, there is a political poison pill involved here too. BUT... in my view it is a very legitimate one. It is that the other political parties would loose more, by way of percentage, of their over all political party funding than would the Conservative Party. Why would this be? Because more average individual Canadians give more money in donations to the Conservative party than they do to the other parties. Let that sink in for a minute! HELLO!!! That means that more Canadians support the Conservative Party...  democracy with your pocket book! But alas... this unfortunate detail upsets the other parties enough to band together and upset the results of the recent election.  - It reminds me of the Talk Radio issue in the US. Conservative talk radio has a huge market in the US (and elsewhere I might add) and the Liberal talk radio does not and thus can not stay afloat because they do not have a significant listener base... imagine that! If there was a market for their "ideas" then they they would capture a significant listener base and there would be counterparts to Rush and Sean and Glenn and Michael, etc. , all over the place. But there are not... none of any significance. So what do the liberals want to do... they want the government to declare it "unfair" (the "fairness doctrine" - don't make me laugh... ) and shut down talk radio because they can not compete. this is the same thought pattern that we are seeing at play here presently. - The other parties want to wallow in the public trough and get through taxes that which the majority of us will not give them of our own free will and choice.

The other issue they are wailing about is the fact that Flaherty did not include a "stimulus package" in his recent economic update. that is because WE DO NOT NEED An ECONOMIC STIMULUS at this point. Largely because of the Conservative governments of Mulroney and Harper and yes I would also give some credit to Martin when he was Finance Minister, we have entered this world financial crisis in amazingly positive shape. Our financial system and our banks are in very solid shape. In the Economic Update Harper and Flaherty have charted a very prudent course. They have not been reckless and they want to avoid a structural deficit situation and yet they have not closed the door on a stimulus package if one becomes required. The coalition group on the other hand is already proceeding full steam ahead on on a reckless course of announcing their plan of Billions of OUR DOLLARS for a stimulus package. Well think about it! Those billions have to come from somewhere... service cuts, higher taxes, huge deficits (which are simply taxes that are due tomorrow!) or printing more money thus causing the value of the existing money in circulation... and in our pockets, to be severely reduced. Which option do you like?! 

 I favor the prudent course of the Harper Conservative government. I know it is not exciting and "sexy" like the rip offs and scandals that the Liberals are used to, but it is stable and if there is one thing that is vital in both government and in the economy right now, it is stability!

One more thing... This maneuver is a certain affront to the WEST! the Premier of Alberta, and others of his counterparts, should be on the phone to the players of those three parties and perhaps to the GG's office and stating, emphatically,  that if they pull this off... We are out of here... Period!