Stop the War Build-up

This letter to the editor was published today in the Globe and Mail. It was edited so I am attaching the original text.

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The title proclaims “a victory for PM”, and the article
implies recent Libyan events provide credence for Canada’s current massive military build-up; the largest since WW2. In fact the existing hardware worked just fine for this mission. Indeed it seems easy to argue that no-one that is likely to attack us has the planes that the new F-35 are designed to fight, least of all 2 bit dictators.

While I too celebrate the death of this dictator, I question the base premise that we should be sending our military half way across the world to fight in other people’s wars. The U.S. is close to bankrupting themselves fiscally and morally with their constant wars, and Mr. Harper seems intent of doing that to us too.

It was the fiscal restraint of Mr. Chrétien that allowed us to weather the
last economic storm better than most. Mr. Harper has already squandered
that with 5 years of reckless spending increases. Worse he now seems
unopposed to taking us down the road of increasingly interventionist foreign
policy, with all the moral and security risks that implies. This is not
to be celebrated. The military should be for the defence of Canada only.

The US Debt Debate.

My letter published today in the National Post:
Obama is partly responsible since he has done little to resolve the debt problem, and some of his program will make it worse. I am therefore unhappy about the title above the letter, so please don't take that as indicative of the content.

The nonsense posturing of conservative commentators about how the Republicans are saving the nation from Armageddon are near insane rhetoric. The Republicans are most of the reason the U.S. have such a huge debt. The Republicans are planning to increase spending significantly with this bill, but they claim their proposal is cuts. This is a lie, nothing less. What they are doing is making tiny reductions in the rate of increase, and with the large spending items all not included of course this is tinkering at most anyway. This leaves the deficit in the 40% range. That the anger of many people against bigger government in the public has been diverted into supporting the Republicans has ensured that until a new party is formed the situation will get worse.

Indeed the Republicans hijacking of the desire for change (lets call it the Tea Party since at one time this may have been a force for change) I fear will set the movement to reduce government back for years. The resulting transparent nonsense is already being noticed by the public and once again the concept linking the idea of small government to a large government seeking party is there and people will (correctly) reject that, but the public will not have the energy to start a new party so they will just flip between the two large government seeking parties and the problem will get worse.

I was up watching one of the 'Tea Party' branded members of the Republicans talking last night on national TV about the vote last night on the debt ceiling. He was talking about how the debt will be increased to $25 million by this plan, so he voted against it. He used the word millions several times so not a simple slip of the tongue. Of course the correct number is $25 *trillion*. By voting against it he was doing the correct thing and I would have liked to have been able to say here is someone making a principled stand, but there he was and he had no clue on the scale. Even worse he had no problem with the lack of cuts to spending in the bill and indeed mentioned support for the military and social spending that is so much of the problem. He seemed oblivious that just maybe there being no cuts had something to do with why the debt goes up. I note the CNN interviewer did not seem to notice the fundamental inconsistency either. A good interviewer would have roasted the Republican, instead the chance was lost on some partisan nonsense supporting the senate bill (the Democratic offering that is virtually identical). Sigh politics as normal.

Here is a link to the chart I reference in the letter.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150254838807036&set=a.115888632035.101862.706437035&type=1&theater

Trying to Separate Libertarian From Conservative

Conservatives and Libertarians on many, if not most, things are at the opposite ends of the debate. There is a 4 day debate now in the letters to the editor section (National Post) on the picture that was above my letter (it was of a Conservative politician who some call libertarian, he is nothing like us). I attempt to clarify things in my letter, but with the appalling change to my wording near the end, I am made to support his candidacy !?@?#$>$, I think we are still at the stage where he who owns the printing press controls free speech.

Here is the letter as published today, as I wrote it and as it was published.

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I was also a bit surprised to see a Conservative above my oped. I suspect the confusion comes from us not interpreting property rights in the narrow fashion many people do. To Libertarians property rights apply to anything you own and these include intellectual property, physical property and your own body as well. This is a huge change from common law, as say anyone who tried to exercise free speech against say the king under English common law would have found.

More specifically it is fair to say there is something in common with the Land Owners in that they reject land stewardship that is unfortunately the way government increasingly views private property. This does not imply they are libertarian though if an individual within those organizations are among the people who reject the property rights of others. Examples specific to the farm community would be support for restrictive tariffs, quota systems and a monopoly on supply as ways to increase the costs to consumers for their personal benefit. Traditionally Conservative politicians have been among the worst for supporting these attacks on property rights. Perhaps that will change to the libertarian’s wider view of property rights with Mr. MacLaren, but that change needs to be there first before the label libertarian goes on.

Libertarian Party Oped.

The article pretty much says has to start it all. It is a shame a typo got introduced and then highlighted by hey the basic message is there.

The Party of Peace.

While the other parties are all talking about which wars to fight, I believe the more reasonable approach is to say no to any war you can say no to. The military should be for defence only, not for aggression against others.
My letter to the editor today in the National Post.

When is a Tax Reduction not a Tax Reduction

The Conservatives are talking about all their tax reductions. Of course this is all bogus intended for people who do not follow what is happening. When you raise structural spending you have also raised taxes. It is just a matter of when.

My letter to the editor published today in the Era (Newmarket community paper)

Spend more For Less.

The desire of the Conservatives to make us a less safe seems to know no bounds. Their supporters believe that spending money on fancy jets will make us more secure, but the evidence is increasingly that they are the wrong weapon if what they want to do is defend the country.
My letter as published today in the National Post.

A Bus Lane too Far.

The local regional government is showering money on ill thought out mass transit. My letter to the editor today in the Era. Per usual some words are changed, not to change length either. "The" population became "our" population and similar use of wording I would never use.

They Just Don't Get It

The Conservatives are looking for election gimicks, but this is sillier than normal. The press and many people are just lapping it up.

My letter as published this morning in the National Post.

How Cold is It?

I don't have an on-line link to the cartoon so this is a bit out of context. Basically a Harper like figure was putting ice in his drink to combat global warming. My reply was published in the Era, with the only change being to introduce an error by converting degrees to C - which turned 54 F into 54 Celsius?!?

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Looking at your editorial cartoon I was thinking this is misleading. With the climate change conference in Cancun being held in the coldest temperatures recorded there in over 100 years the scene in the pool must be from historical stock cartoons not a contemporary observation. More likely they were sipping lattes to warm up. I guess as with the record cold in Copenhagen last conference the weather just has not read what the climate models are predicting and laws need to be passed to make them obey doom and gloom predictions, even if 54 degrees on a tropical beach seems gloomy enough to my way of thinking.

Harper as a Junkie?

Stephen Harper has of course taken on a back up job as a piano man. His choice of songs is a bit puzzling. I sent this to the National Post in reply to his latest gig yesterday, no tongue in check no not me.

It was published this morning, including corrections as I had not noticed there was indeed a picture of him playing (with no article)

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I was surprised to see no coverage today of Mr. Harper’s latest singing gig with “Jumping Jack Flash” as the grand finale at the Conservative Christmas Party. This song is of course well known as a tribute to the joys of heroin use by unrepentant junkie Keith Richards. Other songs included “Share the Land”, a collectivist anthem of social redistribution, and of course this gig is a follow-on to his earlier debut at the NCC where he sang the line “I get high with a little help from my friends”.

While Mr. Harper’s policies are clearly increasingly collectivist, so that seems consistent, the other choices do seem at odds with his importing of extreme policies from the U.S. war on drugs. Is there some major policy change in the works perhaps?

So Wikileaks is down this morning, and conservatives across the world are calling for murder of the messenger. I took a tiny stand today to the National Post. The NP were strong defenders of press freedoms when the Liberals came calling on them, maybe they can pushed to help others too.

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I was extremely disappointed to see Tom Flanagan’s comments advocating Julian Assange “should be assassinated” relegated to only a short blurb, without editorial comment. Tom Flanagan is a driving force of the Conservative Party of Canada with senior access to their policy process. Such a person issuing the moral equivalent of a Fatwa on a reporter for leaking material needs to be held to the highest scrutiny. Other conservatives in the U.S. are also calling for his murder, and this will be seen as international support at an official level from Canada.

Regardless of how any organization feels about the legality of publishing leaked material clearly what Mr. Assange has done is no different morally than what the National Post and every major media organization in the world has done when they have published portions of the same material made available to them. Will you protest after they come for your writers who are doing the same as Wikileaks, or will you stand for freedom of the press now?

The Conservative Party of Canada, Leviathan on Steroids

Leviathan is on the march, now sending in the storm troopers for the most minor of commercial issues and they will do any and all things they feel like doing.

The National Post very rightly takes exception to this, and I add a little more. The National Post will of course always endorse Conservative candidates and so has been fairly quiet on Fantino's election run, but hopefully I can prick that bubble.

Your editorial very properly outlines Bill C-36’s violation of basic rights, rights supposedly protected by the Charter. Mr. Fantino has also openly discussed his outright contempt for the Charter prior to his public silence on substantive issues during the current by-election.

Mr. Trudeau, author of the Charter, famously said “just watch me” in reply to how far he would go during a real crisis. Hopefully people will watch the Conservatives and will say “too far already” before Mr. Fantino, if elected today, tries to use that ‘iron fist’ he craves for items where a ‘velvet glove’ is appropriate.