National Post Headline.

The headline of the National Post the other day made me laugh out loud. "Is Conservatism Dead?" The right is in asendency, yes even in Canada, and the National Post would have you believe otherwise. The problem facing small c-conservatives is that the federal Liberal party has taken the fiscal issue away from them. So, with the fiscal conservative angle not there to assist them they are left with social conservatism and with the religious right parked (uncomfortably) in the Conservative camp they have'nt been able to gain any ground because according to the bell curve 66% of Canadians are moderate. And being moderate, you accept, for example, a womans right to choose an abortion and tolerate same-sex marriage. The other issue facing the Conservative Party of Canada is that the current leader, Mr. Harper, is not articulating a clear concise vision of what he wants for Canada. I'm sure some will disagree but I don't see or more importantly hear exactly what his plan for the country is. I hear: proper fiscal management, more power to the provinces, experimentation with Health Care delivery, more money for the military. Thats not a vision thats mangement. Trudeau had a vision, hell even Mulroney had a vision. Canadians are progressive, tolerant and believe in fair play and as soon as a Leader, any leader, taps into that they'll form the government. Remember, the one closest to the centre wins.

Paul Coffin

I would like the Crown to appeal P. Coffin's sentence. That slap on the wrist won't deter anyone from stealing millions of dollars from the federal government. The Liberals have zero incentive to appeal: because they want it all out of the way by the time the next election is called. He should have gone to jail, for at least as long as Martha Stewart, (was that 5 months), but if he had, the Liberals could have made some political hay with it. Aargh! Someone has to pay for this fraud. I'm afraid the people who really should go to jail won't be going to jail. Hopefully, soon, guilty induviduals will be placed in handcuffs and escorted out of the courtroom and remanded into custody.

Judges


I find myself defending judges more and more. I agreed with the deportation of the convicted streetracer. I agreed with the judge who recently put some young offenders, three 12-13 yr. old males--who repeatedly sexually assaulted a classmate, in jail. Well, Juvie really, but it still shocked the defence and surprised the Crown. I stated above how I disagree with Coffin's sentence. Here's what I do when I start thinking about (so-called activist) judges: I take a deep breath and try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Think about it, would you really want to be a Judge? I know I wouldn't. All that reading, dealing with Lawyers all the time, let alone the criminals. Wouldn't want to do it. I have daydreams about being the Governor-General. That would be great because you're the Commander-In-Chief of the military. I digress, I know some politicians want to go to a more american way for choosing judges, but I like how we do it. I'm open to improvements but please lets stay away from voting for Judges. If some sort of parliamentary judical committee wanted to ask induvidual judges questions similiar in manner to what Judge Roberts faced at his confirmation hearings, I wouldn't be opposed to that scenario. The Roberts hearings were interesting, he'll be confirmed and I my biggest hope is that he's like a few other U. S. Supreme Court Judges in the past who managed to make both Democrats and Republicans angry. I personally believe that if both sides are grumbling a little bit than the Judge probably got it about right.

Mulroney.

I'm so glad that the truth is finally coming out about this pimp. Apparently, he's "devastated" about Peter C. Newman's new book. I really disliked him when he was in power and was very pleased when I heard about this. I recall an interview with Newman saying he and Mulroney had had a falling out. Now I know why. This is great. At long last Mulroney's true self will be revealed for all to read. In all his vainglorius self-delusion.

Katrina.

It was, and still is, hard to watch what happened to the Gulf Coast this past week or so. I've spoken with people who are mad with Bush--he is ultimately responsible because he's the President. I agree, just like after Sept. 11 there was no leadership at the top. There was no Juliani-like figure to step in and since FEMA is now part of "Homeland Security" it's easy to understand where the priorities were focused. Rumsfield & Rice kept their jobs or recieved a promotion, so Chertoff will keep his and Brown the head of FEMA, the one who actually did incredibly well under the circumstances, will be the one who gets the blame. I don't get that one: how could any agency anticipate the worst natural disaster in American history?. People also seemed to have forgotten that there is a whole protocol from county to state to the federal government. I know its semantics when people are dying but folks we're just trying to follow the rules. Also, with Florida getting hit by hurricanes no one thought it would be that bad. Some people over the years had made predictions on what could happen, the local newspaper just days before, but unfortunatly that information got lost on the current administration and that cost some people their lives. Putin, I recall, got a lot of flak after that Russian Sub-disaster a few years back because he didn't quickly enough recognize public opinion and leave his holiday. Bush repeated this mistake, I'm sure that when you are President every phone call is 'an emergency' but he should have gone and started barking orders because he is the President. I've been thinking about it, the Boxing Day Tsunami last year was worse. Someone mentioned the 1970 Bangladesh flood, the one George Harrison did the concert for, as being worse. Anyway, its up there. Listening to Aaron Brown beak off was particularily galling. Hello, there is no infrastructure, no roads, no electricity, no water, no food. Where are the helicopters supposed to land? Refuel? We're not talking about a 3 or 4 person news crew we are talking about thousands of tons of supplies. I've always known that when a big natural disaster happens that essentially you are on your own for at least 72 hours. New Orleans will become a bench mark for what you don't want to happen, before or after a disaster. I'm hoping the predictions for the body count will be one-tenth of one-percent of what some people are saying. The mentality of the arrogant North Americans with our instant lifestyle somehow expecting our lives to be inconvenienced only and then quickly back to normal is the real problem. Its sad that people had to wait for food and water but why were some folks, it seems mostly African-Americans, still there? Well, of course, the poor people we're still there and that issue surely needs to be addressed. Hopefully, the finger pointing will stop, the recovery will get some real momentum and then they can analyse what happened and learn about what to do so next time, and believe me there will be a next time. If not a Hurricane, maybe an earthquake or who knows what(giant meteor?), and high paid lessons from Katrina will ensure that everyone is better prepared.