If you’d like to better understand the bizarre series of events that propelled Alison Redford into the top job in Alberta, listen to this discussion between Charles Adler and Kevin Libin.
No fair minded person can make any sort of salient argument that Redford’s election represented any semblance of “the will of the people”. Besides the peculiar mathematical formula that was used to elect her, it’s now clear that she recruited all sorts of public sector union members to become temporary PC members; folks by the way, who would normally never vote anything other than NDP or Liberal. THIS is the system that the province’s governing party has in place within its own house?!?
In a new column, Libin points out that Redford appears set to invoke a wide swath of undemocratic policy changes, essentially ruling by decree:

“Ms. Redford claims she is all about change, but within 12 hours of being crowned Premier, she announces she is shutting down the legislature for nine months so she can avoid facing the opposition in the people’s democratically elected House,” said Rob Anderson, an MLA for the Wildrose party.
Brian Mason, the New Democratic Party leader, says Ms. Redford is “overreaching her authority.” Since she has yet to face voters herself, he calls the decision to axe the legislative session “high handed and anti-democratic.”

Is it too far a stretch to conclude that a peaceful coup d’état has just occurred in Alberta? The question is, will the voters of Alberta put a stop to this come the next election?

In somewhat of a surprise victory, Alison Redford has won the leadership of the Alberta PC Party and will now be the Premier of the province.
Alberta voters now have a clear choice to make in the next provincial election:

• Spendaholic, unaccountable same old, same old “progressive” policies under Redford
• Responsible conservative policies under Danielle Smith

Let’s hope they make the right choice!

Hanging out in Calgary these days, I’m getting a first hand look at Alberta politics. In this morning’s Calgary Herald was this story by Lorne Gunter. A fellow named Ken Boessenkool has formed the Alberta Blue Committee as a grassroots effort to ensure that some semblance of conservative policies remain in the province. Given that a CINO Party has been running Alberta for many years now, things don’t look too hopeful at this time.
However, there is hope! I trust (and pray) that the voters of Alberta won’t be as stupid as those back in my home province of B.C. and take things to a point where there are only two choices: Centre-Left and Far-Left (aka Tweedledee and Tweedledum), each with absolutely no clue about fiscal responsibility.

The nonsense going on at the airports in America will continue to grow elsewhere unless the sheeple stand up and say ‘No More!”.

Immigration Levels and Mix: Stakeholder and Public Consultation

Publius takes mighty umbrage at a slashing slight to his ethnicity of origin:

…
What? There’s no Portuguese? They’ve got Tamil and not Portuguese? Do you have to occupy an elevated highway to get any respect in this province? Leaving aside the inappropriateness of producing a campaign document in languages other than English and French, what exactly does Tim Hudak have against the Luso-Ontarian community? Did his cleaning lady abscond with the silverware?..

He’s also not best pleased with the Ontario PC’s election platform (which for some reason in not titled Changebook)–read all about it, esp fans of e. e. cummings.

A most interesting article about Sarah Palin has appeared in the NY Times. It actually appears to be … wait for it … in support of much of her message.
At a recent speech in Iowa, Palin touched upon several themes that should strike chords with true conservatives. In doing so, she made a distinction between conservatives and big-government Republicans. Here’s a key section:

Ms. Palin may be hinting at a new political alignment that would pit a vigorous localism against a kind of national-global institutionalism.
On one side would be those Americans who believe in the power of vast, well-developed institutions like Goldman Sachs, the Teamsters Union, General Electric, Google and the U.S. Department of Education to make the world better. On the other side would be people who believe that power, whether public or private, becomes corrupt and unresponsive the more remote and more anonymous it becomes; they would press to live in self-contained, self-governing enclaves that bear the burden of their own prosperity.

Well worth a read!
h/t Morris

What a Sun TV man is posting at his personal blog:

Friday, August 26
Details on the music, readings, and eulogies for Jack Layton’s funeral
by DavidAkin on Fri 26 Aug 2011 01:41 PM EDT
Eulogies from Stephen Lewis, Karl Belanger, and Mike and Sarah Layton; music from Richard Underhill, Lorrane Segato, and Steven Page and other details of Jack Layton’s funeral.
more »
The Bells of Parliament Hill ring out for Jack Layton
by DavidAkin on Thu 25 Aug 2011 11:09 AM EDT
This just in, the music programme today on Parliament Hill as Jack Layton final few hours lying in state in the foyer of the House of Commons:
Today Dr. Andrea McCrady, Dominion Carillonneur, will be playing the following program to commemorate the late Honourable Jack Layton, Leader of the Official Opposition.
more »
…

Might Mr Akin be being ironic?
Update: The conclusion of a piece byKevin Libin at the National Post’s “Full Comment”:

The crass exploitation of Jack Layton’s death
…
When columnists in this newspaper dared to crash the public shiva for Layton with controversial critiques of his deathbed letter or plans for his state funeral, they were vehemently attacked as insensitive and disrespectful to the dead. But there’s a point where publicly advertising your sympathy while calculatedly drawing attention to yourself looks awfully insensitive and disrespectful, too. Imagine if a company like Trek bicycles marked Layton’s passing by issuing press releases expressing grief, while advertising how much he enjoyed pedaling their durable, light, fast, and fun-to-ride two-wheelers. Or if Sleeman offered a public consolation while asking us to take comfort in the fact that his living years were made that much sweeter by the extra body and clean finish of their Silver Creek Lager. Even if there was some truth to the claims, we’d have no trouble recognizing them as crass exploitation of the man’s death for promotional purposes. When activists and non-profits spike their eulogies with commercials for their pet causes, the tactlessness may be slightly subtler. But it’s there, just the same.

Upperdate: Even one of the Ottawa Citizen’s house progressives, Janice Kennedy, can’t take it no more:

…A great deal has been embarrassingly over the top.
Hordes of sobbing strangers on the street, a questionable state funeral (with full television coverage), Imagine pealing out from the bells of the Peace Tower – all this reflects little but a collective popcultural desire to bathe in the waters of emotional excess.
To defend, as some experts have, this mass outbreak of recreational grief as appropriate because the public “knew” Jack is charitable, but awkward. Unless you know the deceased as family member, colleague or friend, you simply don’t know him on a level personal enough to permit full-bore, teardrenched grieving. “The nation’s grief,” as media call it, is manufactured…
Not only does the post-mortem hyperbole do nothing to honour Layton’s name or memory, it cheapens it, turning it into something so grotesquely untrue it becomes laughable…

Tee hee.
Uppestdate: Mr Akin keeps crankin’ em out:

NDP organize “celebrate Layton’s life” events across Canada
by DavidAkin on Fri 26 Aug 2011…
Sun News Network will have live coverage of Jack Layton’s state funeral from Toronto beginning at 1400 ET Saturday. But if you can’t make to Toronto (or to your TV set), the NDP have posted a list of places where well wishers and supporters will be gathering across the country.
“This Saturday, in communities across the country, people are coming together to watch Jack Layton’s Celebration of Life, live from Toronto. From St. John’s to Victoria and from Terrebonne to Courtenay, these large and small communities will have the opportunity to celebrate the life and honour the work of the popular New Democrat leader. Here is a list of events we have heard are taking place across Canada tomorrow…”

Beyond Uppestdate: Publius summarizes:

The Layton Lamentations
The Cult of Jack Grows and Grows!
Scenes from the mourning:
Christie Blatchford fails to genuflect to an idol of the age…
All this for an innocuous piece on Jack! Do recall the Leftist vitriol that flowed at the death of John Paul II. I doubt the writers of those slander pieces received a fraction of the hate directed at Ms Blatchford. Then again JP II was only a Pope…
There we have it. Dippers, Canada’s reality impaired community.

I think so but a friend of mine in Vancouver certainly doesn’t. Here’s the public conversation between us. His words are in regular type-face whereas mine are in italics:

Contrast [what is happening in France] with what is happening in the US where a President once asked: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” J. F. Kennedy, 1961; A country that is the most generous in the world, can’t seem to get citizens who are more than capable, to shoulder more than its share of taxes for the good of their own country, except when asking its young to die at war.
So, if I understand you correctly, if my government, who already wastes oodles of our tax dollars, asks for even more then I’m unpatriotic if I say “Hell No!” ???
What about a government that strives to keep the rate of growth down to that below the inflation in the private sector?!?
The issue is not about condoning waste or efficiency, nor about patriotism. The issue is the willingness to give of ourselves more or not. With blessings and power comes responsibility – how we exercise it, is the issue. In terms of taxes, the top earners got reduced tax rates, which were to expire – the discussion is about the willingness of those who can, to pay more or not. In contrast, in the name of patriotism, the country has no problem in asking young people to die on their behalf at war (regardless of its value) but have excruciating difficulty asking those who can pay, to pay a little more. I find this quite odd.
http://ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html

The conversation continues below but I’m posting this here to see what others on SDA would say to him. Please strive to be polite!

Continue reading →

It is often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In America these days there appears to be a growing uncertainty amongst those who want President Obama defeated in November 2012 as to who would be the best Republican candidate.
Obama’s foot soldiers in the mainstream media are convinced that Jon Huntsman is the best candidate for the GOP. Any serious person should be most wary of their opinions because their ultimate goal is clear.
But still, the question of whether a true conservative candidate is electable is running through the minds of many on the Right. Several recent polls suggest that the likes of Bachmann and Palin cannot defeat Obama. However, if we look back 31½ years ago, something very interesting can be found. Back then, 7 months before the election, polls indicated that Jimmy Carter lead Ronald Reagan by an enormous 25 percentage points. Yet we all know what eventually happened.
The America of 2012 is arguably in a lot worse financial shape than in 1980. Indeed, life was not grand back then either, with unemployment & interest rates through the roof. While the latter is not the case right now, the former definitely is. Plus, America’s overall fiscal position is in much worse shape, with its debt at truly frightening levels.
Can a true conservative candidate get elected President in 2012? With America’s financial situation in terrible shape, and getting worse, and a sitting president unwilling to deviate from his Far Left Spend-Spend-Spend mantra, the odds seem probable.
h/t Mark Levin & Ken Kulak

“And why should the Globe and Mail care?” (h/t Adrian)

Think about it:

…
Does this portend the vigourous, burden-sharing foreign and defence policy that the prime minister has talked about? Or is it a public relations plan to distract attention from major cuts to expenditure on new ships, planes, and army equipment ?..

A question well worth asking. On verra, verily.

I’ve long thought of the Pivot Legal Society as a victim-baiting organization / Leftist front group. Perhaps elements of them actually are. But on the show that I photographed yesterday, I thought Katrina Pacey sounded more like a reasonable libertarian:

What say you?

Last Thursday evening, WABC’s John Batchelor had a guest co-host named Mary Kissel, who works for the Wall Street Journal. In one of the segments, they interviewed a journalist named McKay Coppins about a recent article of his. You can listen to the interview here beginning at 19:00 (about half-way through the podcast).
Mr. Coppins tried his best to defend what he was saying in the article but Batchelor & Kissel kept battering him with questions, eventually shattering to pieces his defense of Romney. Towards the end, Batchelor asks a most important question: “Doesn’t this suggest to us that Mr. Romney would do better in another party?”
Mitt Romney might be a nice guy, might look like a President, and absolutely does have a good track record in business. But he’s too much of a flimsy fellow when it comes to any core set of values and a concrete vision. Sometimes compromising is a good thing but often it’s absolutely the wrong thing to do.
America is in trouble. A whole lot of trouble. The next Republican American president simply cannot compromise when it comes to fixing the economy and restoring a large semblance of fiscal sanity to government spending. For if it’s more of the same then the whirlpool of financial ruin that the nation is cascading down into will only pull it down in a stronger fashion. That’s not a good thing for anyone in the world except America’s enemies.

Continued!

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. Up until my late teens I was a very strict follower of the faith, went to church every Sunday, etc. But then I gradually fell away from the Church. There were several reasons for this but here’s a recent story that reminded me of one of the most significant ones.
There have long been two distinct trains of thought within the Christian faith. One involves always turning the other cheek and providing constant handouts to whomever asks, no questions asked. The other involves holding transgressors accountable for their misdeeds and acts of charity more in line with “a hand up”. Ayn Rand’s philosophy is definitely connected with the latter. While I don’t agree with everything she has written, there’s absolutely no doubt that Atlas Shrugged had a profound effect on me when I read it in late 1993.
The earlier referenced news story refers to a group called American Values Network (AVN). Within the article, AVN is exposed for the frauds they actually are:

While the AVN is officially a non-partisan organization that wants to see Christians at the helm of both political parties, they’ve been vocal supporters for a number of Democratic initiatives, such as health reform and the anti-nuclear START treaty. They also focus on non-political initiatives such as medical aid for impoverished populations and housing aid for veterans, and advocate for morality-based policy solutions to climate change.

Reading between the lines, they’re mostly just a Leftist front group. The problem with that is that Leftism is, in practice, a religion (read “cult”) all on its own. Its precepts always supercede those of any formal religion. Leftists (aka “cult members”) can talk all they want about being Christian but in point of fact, that’s almost always just a talking point.
Getting back to the difference between a hand out and a hand up, Dennis Miller explains it another way: The Clueless versus the Helpless

Today, on the TV show I’m involved with, was a woman from Richmond, BC named Leila El-Khatib. She spoke with host, David Berner about Islam and about the Middle East:

What are your thoughts on what she had to say?