I can't think of a good title. Sue me.

First off, I would like to give my condolences to the family of Benoît Sauvageau, a Bloc MP who died yesterday. I don't agree with his politics at all, but from all reports Canada has lost a good man.


Jack Layton, our NDP leader, seems to always be good for a laugh. I've been having trouble figuring out exactly what his or his parties stance is regarding the Middle East, the "War on Terror" (good Lord do I hate that term), Afghanistan and such. On Sunday, Layton in an interview with Canadian Press said that Canada has the ability to contribute as many as 1200 troops to the "peace-keeping" mission to Lebanon. This info comes from an internal gov't document obtained through AOI laws. Still haven't been able to find a copy of this yet (help us out here Jack).

Now putting aside the various statements coming out of the NDP camp in recent months (removing Hezbollah from the terror list, a confused message on Afghanistan, etc). There are few problems with this statement that seem apparent to me. The first being, how many of these "troops" would actually be useful in that area? One fact often overlooked by those not close to the military, is that many of these numbers include support staff, logistics staff, transport and maintenance personnel. Now these are all essential elements of the CF, but how many of them would be useful in what is effectively a combat zone? Next, if these personnel are in fact combat troops we need to consider their recent deployments. During the last big peace-keeping blitz the Liberals went through in the 90's in the Balkans, Rwanda and elsewhere, many of the troops were being run into the ground by the deployments (as well as bad pay and whole host of other factors I won't get into). Many of these troops have wives, husbands, girl/boyfriends and family back here in Canada. And one can only be seperated from them for so long before they start to get a little resentful of the military for keeping them apart for so long. I believe that after they've put their lives on the line for me, someone they've never met and probably never will, they deserve a decent amount of time with their families. Otherwise I fear we'll hear stories like one from the 90's I remember in particular, where an infantry soldier in the PPCLI had a 7 year old daughter that he had seen for a total of 2 1/2 years. The last fact was pointed out by a friend of mine in conversation we had. Europe has how many people? (approx. 800 million) And how many troops have they contributed? (6900) Now Canada with approx 30 million is going to contribute 1200? We Canadians are a hard-working, resilient group but I think this might be a little much.

Some other tidbits I gleaned from the internets:

Animal rights protester force UCLA reseacher to quit
Alright you can disagree with the guy and his methods, but terrorizing his family and colleagues? I mean a Molotov cocktail on the doorstep? Reminds me of the pro-lifers killing abortion doc's, still haven't heard a decent explanation for that one.

Christian zealots destroy ancient Arctic petroglpyhs
I've got it. Lets round up all the religious crazies: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, any sort of religious extremist we can find (are there fundamentalist Buddhists?) and ship 'em to Pluto and let them kill each other off (who cares, its not a planet anymore)

Top 10 theories in Physics
For all you other fellow science geeks out there.

Tags: NDP, CF, Canadian Forces, Jack Layton

Wrong turn in the Drug War

One of the most pointless so-called "wars" that western governments are fighting, is the "War on Drugs".  The Harper government has indicated that it will move towards a more American style in trying to combat drug sales and use.  I can only see this as a huge mistake.

By simply arresting the users and dealers, all we are doing is creating a larger class of citizens that now have a criminal record, making it harder for them to get jobs, travel, credit and numerous other things.  Meanwhile, the drug trade simply continues to grow. For example, some estimates of BC's marijuana industry put the value of the annual crop at approx. 6 billion dollars a year, making it one of, if not the largest industry in BC.  And the organized crime groups that supply this trade continue to grow larger and more powerful.

This underground economy causes other costs that are less obvious.  Many a landlord has been hit with a hefty reno bill after a grow-op is discovered in one of their homes.  Crystal Meth labs produce incredibly toxic fumes that are a danger to not only the police shutting it down, but the surronding neighbours as well.  Many of the "harder" drugs (Heroin, cocaine, etc.) vary in purity and ingredients from batch to batch, increasing the risk of an overdose for an unaware user.

Decriminalization and/or legalization of these drugs seems to be the obvious solution.  In my view, legalization of the "soft" drugs like marijuana and such could be coupled with government regulations on sales similar to that of alcohol and tobacco.  Age regulations along with large fines for selling to minors would be vital.  This would limit the exposure to young people, hopefully increasing the age at which they try it (if at all).  This should be coupled with increased punishment on unauthorized selling and/or growing, making it less attractive to criminal organizations overall.  That and the government could get a nice tax boost from legal sales.

For harder drugs, decriminalization is the way to go.  This should be coupled with increased funding (perhaps from the pot tax) for detox centres to help addicts get clean and on to productive lives.  That and the way most detox centres are run would need to be changed to be more effective.  AARC, the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre provides a good model to build upon.  This approach allows the user to get clean and as well come out without a conviction that could haunt them for the rest of their life.  This also creates a drop in demand for the drugs they are using, decreasing the profitability of bringing them into the country. 

Our other option is to keep building bigger and better prisons so that we can lock these people up.  Personally, I'd like to see the room used to jail the serious threats to us (pedophiles, repeat offenders, etc.) than to jail a bunch of stoners and addicts.

Technorati Tags: marijuana, decriminalization, legalization, war on drugs

Public Works(?)

Well this damn near floored me when I read it this morning. Sheila Copps had something nice to say about Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.

I really think that no matter what political stripe you are, you have to be disgusted with what's happening in the Public Works department. This "culture of entitlement" is sickening to anyone who pays taxes.

Now, I don't think the solution is more bureaucracy or another oversight board. What needs to happen is almost a complete upheaval of the entire department. It needs to be torn down to the bare essentials and then rebuilt in a more responsible and accountable fashion. This was priority for the Conservatives during the election. Now, frankly I don't believe that 7 or 8 months is long enough to root the problems in that department (or the rest of the government) but we should hopefully be seeing something happening soon. It'll be a long haul but if they can get it done, as Sheila says "he will accomplish what many before have tried with little success."

Also:

The Globe & Mail has a great article on the CF's mission in the Arctic.

And DazzlinDino over at BPofC has selected a few bloggers he'd like to see in Cabinet positions, check it out and the BPofC's policy platform (now if only they were a real party).

Tags: Sheila Copps, Public Works

BC's Parks

Well, I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later.

So far, its been a pretty good 5 years for the BC Liberals. This year has probably been one of their best by far, even if you are only counting the fact that they managed to get all of the public sector unions under contract.

But, I feel this will come to a screeching halt with their Park Lodge strategy, which is calling for the development of lodges/resorts in provincial parks. These lodges are slated to include: pools, tennis courts, golf courses and more.

Numerous campaigns have started up, including the usual environmental group ones. The BC Wildlife Federation (hunter /angler group) has also joined the fight. A few blogs have started to pick up the cause, including frodowm and David Grant.

The Conscious Earth, written by Odiyya, has some of the best coverage I've seen so far. He has a list of the initial 12 parks that have been slated to be developed.

Our parks are one of BC's greatest riches, and should remain that way for our children and their children to enjoy. If these resorts/lodges have to be built then I make the argument, why on park land?

I believe these places could do quite well in the so-called "frontier" or "gateway" communities based near the entrances and exits of each park. Especially as most of these "towns" seen to be simply a few gas stations and maybe a restaurant or two and could probably benefit from some commercial investment. However, this is not public land that can be obtained cheaply by the developers.

I encourage any of you from BC, or that have a had a chance to visit some of our wonderful parks, to please e-mail Premier Gordon Campbell or Environment Minister Barry Penner, or your local MLA (for those in BC) and voice your opposition to this plan.

Technocrati tags:
>BC
>Provincial Parks
>Park Lodge Strategy

I love Lazy Sundays

Ahh, another great sunny day on the West Coast and its Sunday. Perfect day to sit around, have a beer and try as hard as possible not to do anything constructive.

I don't know if you find the intense partisan bickering and name-calling on blogs(and their comment pages) interesting but if you do, check the Globe & Mail's comment sections. Here's a good one (the story is about the ban on liquids in planes) or this one (about the G-Wagons being used in Afghanistan). I almost always find it to be a pretty good laugh. I imagine it would sound like the elementary school down the street. Good way to waste time too.

Then again, sometimes people take it too far.

Lolly, over at Women in politics, posted an e-mail she received regarding some CF soldiers and the support they got from the public. I don't know if any of you have gotten this but the Red Friday thing is kind of interesting. Wonder if it'll catch on?

We are NOT Americans

I was reading "What do I Know Grit" and he pointed out an article by Mike Harris in the Ottawa Sun. Now I don't really care about the Liberal leadership race (actually its not that I don't care, its just too boring so far).

My problem is more or less with the comparison to the USA and American politics. Mike Harris is not the only one to do it either. I don't understand why some members of the media in this country seem determined to view everything in Canada as having some parallel in the US. For a country that seems proud of its anti-american stance on many issues (something else I disagree with but...), we sure seem to define ourselves by them a lot.

I think Canada can do just fine on its own. We don't need to define ourselves by using others (unless you define yourself as being pro- or anti- american). People on both sides use this constantly and it just gets tiring. Have some pride people, its your goddamn country for chrissake.


On a different note, I think the Wajid Kahn thing is a good thing for Liberals. Remember, he's the Ontario chair in Joe Volpe's leadership campaign. This can only take away from the time he would spend on Joe's campaign. And that can only be good for the Liberals.

In parting, I'll point you to anyidiotcanhaveablog, where you find out about the real threat we face, nope not terrorists but Bathtubs!!

Blue on Blue

Canadian Press is reporting that a Canadian soldier has been killed today in Afghanistan. Possibly as a result of accidental discharge by a fellow Canadian.

Canoe.ca has the story by Terry Pedwell.

The military is investigating, so far no timeline for their findings.

A friendly fire incident (or blue on blue contact) is one of the most disturbing things that can happen in the military. Most occur through no fault of either party and the results can often be disastrous on the other person involved and possibly the morale in the unit. Hopefully the CF can quickly find out what happened and try prevent something similar from happening ever again. And I hope they have the soldier involved talking with a psychiatrist to help him deal with this horrific incident. My heart goes out to both the family of MCpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh and the other soldiers involved.

On a slightly different note, James Bow has an excellent piece that begins Reuters photo scandal, but then goes into a commentary on the eroding level of debate in politics today (thanks to Andrew @ boundbygravity.com for pointing it out).

A whole bunch of randomness

Well first off, Declan over at Crawl across the Ocean, is having a bit of spat with his blog. They're in counseling right now, so hopefully things work out for them.

Damian P. at Daimnation! has a excerpt from the Georgia Straight on the Canadian peace movement. Actually its more of condemnation for their support of a active terrorist group.

KevinG at Oddthoughts, found an article discussing a poll released that says the number of americans that believe Saddam had WMD's has increased from 36% to 50% over the last year. As he said, it's "Independant of Reality".

Finally, Celestial Junk has a intriguing post on Afghanistan, the Canadian left, the MSM and whole bunch of others.

UPDATE:

DazzlinDino has a great post IMO, regarding our mission in Afghanistan and how we got there.

The Mainstream Media

I'm generally supportive of the MSM. However, recent incidents have began to etch away at my support.

The CBC, always rumored to have a left-leaning slant, was caught quite red-handed by Stephen Taylor. Now, I have never really liked the CBC, but not for its politics. My problem was with the perceived Eastern (read Toronto) bias to their news/sports/anything coverage. Seeing stuff like this only makes one wonder why the taxpayers are still on the hook for these guys.

The other coverage I had a huge problem with was of the evacuation of Canadians out of Lebanon. For either the press, or the evacuees to expect 1st class service during an evacuation out of a WAR ZONE, is to me, insane. However, most of the coverage went to these whiners. One of my favourite quotes I heard was: "There was no A/C". Really? Thats a damn shame.