"I wrote my thesis on the Benefits Of War"

Your profound piece from TWO YEARS AGO in the National Post,
is also well worth repeating, Kate!

And along those lines, to the bleeding heart "free clean needle" advocates in Vancouver and elsewhere, I would add something else worth repeating ......

"Never insulate anyone from the consequences of their choices. If death is the result - so be it."

Kate being a a relative newbie to the site, this is the first time I have read that piece and it is a gem..

Thanks for what you do.

"Kate being a relative newbie to this site..."

No, Kate's been here a while.

I had similar thoughts a year ago but shamefaced kept them to myself. My family experienced the starvation of the Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944. I don't want to.
Ironically this is talk about wishing hardship upon ourselves to undo the good times our grandparents worked for so that we can recreate them for our children.

BTW Kate, I loved the labradoodle line.

Gee that pesky Personal Responsibility message again! That little weasel of an interviewer got spanked on the Global Warming stuff and he knew it.

I agree with the Congressman on US Healthcare, comprehensive is a word that should be struck from the congressional lexicon, it implies that a bill does everything. When lawmakers look to do everything at once is when unintended consequences impact the most. Pass the reforms one part at a time in a balanced way (Change the rating structure to stop people from lying about having health issues to get better rates which will stop the pre-existing conditions problem, also do not allow denial of coverage if the policy is issued, combine that with Interstate Policies to help mitigate the rate increases that will result due to the first part by pushing the rates down through competition), do the easy stuff first.

There is no limit on the number of bills that can be passed each year! You choke if you try to swallow a whole apple, priceless common sense.

Hey, someone called into a radio show somewhere & complained they had to hold their breath while walkin' past smokers, so I'm-a gonna write an article about it!

Here is something for you to ponder go to you tube and search ron paul CPAC 2010.The tea parties in their original form are all about support for Ron Paul and his libertarian platform while still working under the banner of the Republican Party.The future of the republican movement will look very different from what we have seen in the last forty years.The end to fractional reserve banking will be one of their top priorities from this point forward.The focus and direction of the conservative movement is in flux.I for one find this encouraging and refreshing,preaching to the converted is not going to push the american conservative movement into majority territory,anymore than it will for the cdn conservatives to expect the same.I believe Ron Paul is credited with a win at the CPAC debate.

*
"Though a hoax, it is a political satire, and thus not without merit. And whereas many Americans
are divided over its status as a genuine report or a hoax, in the end, this should not really matter.
Whether someone wrote it for the US government, or Lewin wrote it for the American public,
there is a message. Full stop."

*

mikeg at February 21, 2010 12:11 PM

With liberty comes GREAT responsibility.

If I could be "king for a year" I would bannish all laws. Throw the society to the wind and let the chaff blow away and collect the seeds for the new society.

What would the the new society look like? Kind of like a good famine, me thinks!

Great time for this topic of legislated intolerance......Had the occasion to go to a Junior B game last night with the family.

As we are walking thru the parking lot after the game, I separated from my wife, walking thru the field to warmup the truck, as she had the heels on, and stayed on the pavement.

As she was was approaching our truck, she was beside a couple, one of which chirped up "What an idiot, having to bring a truck to a hockey game" as another fella pulled away. Wish I had been there to take on this ecotard. Instead, the F350 crew cab was warming up....

The ecotards, if they ever get their way, will ban us from driving anything but bicycles, electric and hybrid weenie wagons. We must resist these narrow minded intolerant lefties

Regarding your comment DanBC about the phobic 'trucktards'...hubby and I were commenting just last wk about how the majority of vehicles in our Costco parking lot were 4x4 trucks,SUV's and not a hybrid in sight! I saw not one,but 2 Hummers..there were no flex-fuel vehicles..I know,because we did a drive-thru as I was really curious about how eco-friendly the city was!It is interesting that being in Manitoba,common-sense and the neccessity of being able to get thru snow to get to work does seem to take priority over the green agenda!

War is the only thing that prevents the very worst in this world from ruling us.

The Calgary Ikea has designated parking for "Hybrid Vehicles".

One of the big words on campus these days is Diversity (the other is Sustainability). Diversity, diversity, diversity. It's supposed to make the collegiate experience so much more rewarding.

But they mean only certain types of diversity. True diversity. the diversity of viewpoint, is not tolerated.

Sammy at February 21, 2010 1:24 PM

Has anyone done a "greenie weenie" calculation of how much it costs to clear the snow so the vehicles which cannot traverse the typical Canadian winter can ferry the eco-ferries to their yoga classes and go shopping for tofu?

I feel a government study grant racing through my veins!!!!

Abe Froman
[......War is the only thing that prevents the very worst in this world from ruling us.]

Aye! That is a lesson each and every generation must learn on it's own.
Gwyn Dyer thinks it is no accident that major wars occur every 20 years or so....the length of time necessary to grow a soldier.
No...it is the duration of the learning process....before they realize that accomodation/appeasement does not work.....and the worst parts to finally cross the line.

rabbit
[One of the big words on campus these days is Diversity (the other is Sustainability). Diversity, diversity, diversity. It's supposed to make the collegiate experience so much more rewarding.
But they mean only certain types of diversity. True diversity. the diversity of viewpoint, is not tolerated.]

Yeah the more things change....the more they remain the same.

Us old COLD WARriors have came to adopt a mantra...
WE THE WILLING...HAVE DONE SO MUCH...FOR THE UNGRATEFUL...FOR SO LONG...WITH SO LITTLE....THAT WE CAN NOW DO ANYTHING WITH NOTHING

I wish more Congressmen were that plain speaking. Even the ones I disagree with.

Sage words from an Alaskan:

"There Isn't anything pretty about ice! Ice grows nothing!"

Neo. A clear understanding of war is helpful when looking for the truth about it and its purpose.My dad served in a recon outfit from Swift Current during WW2.Theirs was a record of distinction and valor.When I asked him to tell me war stories he told me this over and over.All the heroes are still over there,all war is stupid,we were brainwashed, nothing was really acomplished in the end.I have tried to make sense his of words and experiance.This is my conclusion he through personal participation came to understand the popular acronym FUBAR in its every form.This is what we are seeing everyday in all the events as they unfold.A simple answer for me to make a plausible explanation for everything no matter how f****** up beyond all recognition it seems is that a force of unseen or unrecognised individuals has us working as wage slaves in an ever increasing burden of debt and waste to their benifit.We individuals so divided,distracted and confused never realise the futility of our efforts.It is only by recognising the ultimate threat that we can put efforts forth that will actually make any difference in the final outcome.Debating right left politics is FUBAR when you see the ultimate objective for what it truly is.I invite everyone to view a video on wwwgigisup.net for a introduction to the ultimate goal and how to achieve it.

Sammy

Yes, the necessity of getting around in a typical Canadian winter trumps ecotardism.

The problem is, the majority of the population here in Greater Victoria have been conditioned to depend on Mother Gaia and Big Government,instead of depending on personal responsibility first. Hence the 'need' for the nanny state, and all the policies of great intentions ('safe' injection sites, omnipresent government) from the converted.

Here's the typical Victoria attitude, as previously described. Here's another example:

The company I work for, a large multinational hightech, is in the process of upgrading its services. One of the boulevard terminals was upgraded, and the hue and the cry from the neighbour, he couldn't 'see' around it, in his 'smart' car....jeez....this reached the socialist mayor of Victoria, whose reaction to the work was "Cash grab!". Typical dumbass socialist. That side of the political spectrum is just clueless. Instead, they pour good money after bad on the junkies

I enforce a regulatory Act, people phone and complain about an Act interfering with their activities, but at the same time demand more laws to stop other people doing what they enjoy. People want us to bring in laws against stuff they don’t find pretty or to noisy. I ask them if they really want the feds to decide what is in good taste, because you know that would be really bad news…

Very good. I found myself cheering out loud. Reading it was a profound relief--like the day I ditched my girdle. (We used to wear those at the office. For you younguns, it was like stuffing yourself from waist to knee in a steel belted radial tire).

Al Gore's Weather (AGW): Railbird Al says, deja vu, again.

"there is no sign of the sun."

Key words: "BAD(sic) weather conditions"; "four inches of snow"; "a frozen track."; ""The temperature is not yet above freezing"; "Furthermore, as soon as I hit the abandonment button, low and behold, it started snowing."

"No racing in Britain nor Ireland this afternoon"
http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-racing/weather-wreaks-havoc-with-todays-racing/684546/related/

I urge everyone to read PJ O'Rourke's Give War A Chance. As he usually is, he's hilarious while thought provoking.

I've often thought of the endless ebb and flow of war in the West in terms of the Chinese yin-yang. Build up a surplus of young men who have no jobs, and you get an excess of testerone (yin), anger, and war. But war used to wipe out mostly young men (until WWII, anyway), so afterwards, there'd be an excess of yang, as women dominated society. Because so many young men were killed, there was lots of work for everybody, so few were angry. But, eventually the population of men is rebuilt, productivity increases, and so does unemployment, and we need another war to get rid of all the extra men.

The Atlantic this month has an article that paints a frightening portrait of an America with 10 million nearly permanently unemployed men. At the same time, because of China's one baby policy, the Chinese preference for boys, and the use of abortion to terminate girls, China now has a large surplus of young men who will be unable to find brides. And with the world economy in a protracted slump, there's going to be unemployment in China as well. I don't care to predict where the Sino-American war will occur, but I'm not going to book any visits to Taiwan for a long, long time.

Now, KevinB, we all know Barry will defend Taiwan if push comes to shove. He won't stand for violations of democratic liberty and International Law. The Chinese wouldn't mess with a man like him.

What a profoundly stupid view: the benefits of war! Sure, you can always point to specific, isolated benefits, but on balance, NET benefits ... from WAR!? You can also point to specific beneficiaries of a government intervention, while ignoring the greater but diffused damage done elsewhere.

He needs to read some Bastiat and pay attention to the broken window fallacy.

War is the health of the state.
- Randolph Bourne.

'Crisis' can be readily be substituted for 'war'. Same racket.

There seems to me a continuum that we are stuck at the far, far end of right now. There is such a thing as too much government, We've been there my whole adult life.

There's also such a thing as too -little- government, which is something a lot of Libertarians just can't seem to wrap their heads around.

We can lose a LOT of government before we even get to the "happy medium" where government does what it is good at and stays out of the way otherwise.

And as the guy says, the best (IMHO only) way to shrink government power down to a functional size is BUDGET CUTS. You starve 'em. It doesn't matter what insane laws get made, if the entire enforcement arm is two guys in an office with one phone.

A dandy economic crisis like what we have now is an excellent opportunity to do just that. Tax cuts are the only policy worth discussing these days. Everything else is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Very good article Kate, though I wasn't able to get to part 2 of it. Two of my father's siblings died in the great flu of 1919, he lived through the economic catastrophy of the 30's and two world wars. When I think of some of the complaints we have these days, what he lived through makes most of them look pretty small.

Here in the USA, there is a huge shift going on in our financial industry. People keep on saying that the worst of the storm is over, but I would like to disagree. There are still many many foreclosures going on, people buying cheap houses and dumping their old house to foreclosure. I have to figure that at some point there will be a reckoning for all of this. Before too long, this generation is going to experience some REAL hardship. I presume as a country we'll likely survive it, but it will change the attitude of people. When people have to struggle to survive, suddenly the minutia becomes quite a lot less of a concern.

I want this man as my Premier! Actually scratch that, can we get him to run against scaredy cat Steve for CPC leader?

WE deserve better than a Conservative in name only.

Who wouldn't vote for this guy?
Of them, who wouldn't he destroy in a debate?

After winning the debate and comforting the sobbing Bob Rae with a "How it's done son", as he walks by, he approaches the moderator and rips the head off Peter Manbridges with his bare hands revealing a bunch of wires and speakers and shorting fuses to the open mouthed wide eyed CBC debate viewers.