Posting from beautiful Billings, Montana…
Things are going to be light here for a few days. I have the laptop with me, but precious little energy for blogging after a day in the sun and wind.
Check out the Shotgun (on the sidebar) for their take on the federal election leaders debate. Doesn’t sound like I missed much.
Positive Vs Negative Rights
Professor Bainbridge has a piece on the difference between positive rights and negative rights. For Canadians, a worthwhile reminder that governments that purport to protect one’s “right” to employment, to health care, for example, provide them at a great cost to negative rights and personal liberty.
If the majority thinks all employees should be paid a living wage, the freedom of individual employees to take a lower wage and of individual employers to offer a lower wage is circumscribed. Again, we often see the same sort of disregard for private property and freedom of contract in nominal democracies as in totalitarian regimes.
Saskatchewan provides a recent example of the danger of postive rights governments – withdrawel of government “guaranteed” rights to health care in rural Saskatchewan.
In forcing a “right to health care”, the state has prohibited private providers from operating in the system. So, when the state decides that it cannot or will not provide service to a segment of the population, those citizens suddenly find that instead of having a “right” – their access to health care has been effectively prohibited by the same government that claims to guarantee it.
SubLiberal Advertising
| In the latest Harper attack ad, the Liberals use a series of “negative” images – among them the barrel of a gun, pointed directly at the viewer, ostensibly to illustrate the dangers we face if the gun registry is revoked…. but that isn’t all there is in the ad. |  |
Free Dominion;
I downloaded the Liberal attack ad off their own website and converted it to quicktime to have some fun editing it. I didn’t expect to find what I found though.
…
The location of the flash matches up with the gun and it CLEARLY is a subliminal message that the gun has been fired at the viewer. It seems to be the only subliminal message in the ad. If that commercial gave you a creepy, uneasy feeling you couldn’t explain, that is why.
Go check out the images for yourself.
hat tip – Shotgun
Rarer Than Anyone Knew
Via my my favorite blog in the world this little story on environmental protection run amuck…
[T]he LeSatzes aren’t able to build their own riding arena. The only decent site on their property in southeastern Wyoming lies within 300 feet of Chugwater Creek, and building there is far too expensive because of Endangered Species Act restrictions intended to protect the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse.
“The mouse that doesn’t exist,” Amy LeSatz noted drily.
After six years of regulations and restrictions that have cost builders, local governments and landowners on the western fringe of the Great Plains as much as $100 million by some estimates, new research suggests the Preble’s mouse in fact never existed. It instead seems to be genetically identical to one of its cousins, the Bear Lodge meadow jumping mouse, which is considered common enough not to need protection.
Flashback Saskatchewan Highways fined for fishless habitat destruction.
Super Size Good Sense
Something tells me Sean is going to win this battle, if attitude counts for anything.
I Get Butterflies
Someone else has managed to turn the normal into the diseased to carve out yet another psychology employment niche.
CTV; Child psychologist Steven Feldgaier is using a program called “Friends” — a child program started in Australian schools — to teach kids how to walk through their problems, tackle life’s stresses in small steps — and relax.
For example, “you can go to a quiet room and relax where no one can bug you,” he told one class.
The Friends program is slowly making its way through schools in Winnipeg, as well as a school in Vancouver.
In today’s hectic, fast-paced world, more and more people are feeling overwhelmed. But experts say stress is no longer just an adult problem, but one affecting children as well.
Children as young as five years old are falling victim to stress.
I have an idea – let’s make this program self-supporting, through the taxation of children’s allowances. Then, Steven Feldgaier can explain to them how it’s all for their own good. Let him convince them to go to a quiet room to think about it.
I’d buy a ticket to that.
Ghost Of Boredom
You know, when I find a topic “boring”, I don’t link to the subject on other blogs. Or criticize the interest of others or suggest that opposing views constitutes “hatred”. If I don’t care about a debate, I don’t demand that new arguments must be found, because previous ones have exceeded their entertainment value half-life.
Nor am I likely to make multiple entries in my comments section to stress how little I care. before shutting it down to replies.
I just don’t write about it. Easy? Easy.
But that’s just me.
Tax Revolt
Three percent of Saskatchewan’s taxpayers pay 28% of education taxes.
They are getting tired of it.
Trudeau Was A Clueless Idiot
Not that this is a startling revelation. But, in contrast to the timeless wisdom we are reminded of in the wake of Reagan’s passing, Jaeger has some quotes to remind us just how clueless our former prime minister was.
“We have a great deal to learn from the Soviet Union . . . a country from which we have a great deal to benefit.”
Harper Support Continues To Rise
As the media and political adversaries begin to spew charges of “intolerance” towards the Conservatives – “intolerance” towards abortion, “intolerance” of homosexuality, and yesterday, “intolerance” of the Metis – I predict that during this coming week, they’ll be reviving the anti-Reform rhetoric charging out and out racism.
And through it all, momentum continues to build. Canwest is reporting that the Conservatives may be within striking distance of a majority government, if poll trends prove accurate.
Paul Martin’s Liberals would do well to consider that the majority of Canadians oppose gay marriage and aren’t nearly as supportive of our no-holds barred abortion policy (Canada has no laws at all governing abortion) as left wing activists would have you believe. Being profiled as an “extremist, intolerant bigot” isn’t likely to convince the majority of Canadians who have quite reasonable objections to abortion and gay marriage to vote for you.
Small Masticated Animals
Via Drudgereport;
Two Australian men may be prosecuted after they chewed live mice and bit off their tails as part of a pub competition to win a holiday.
The RSPCA called the incident “outrageous” and said it would seek the maximum penalty against the men.
RSPCA chief inspector Byron Hall said they could face two years in prison and fines of A$75,000 (US$52,050).
Mr. Hall added that the RSPCA is also tracking down unconfirmed reports of mouse-chewing involving cats.
Berkeley Intifada
Michael Totten, at Tech Central Station;
It’s bad enough that the torchbearers of Political Correctness compromised their honorable anti-racist principles with expediency and hypocrisy. But what’s left of Political Correctness is worse even than that. There’s also something implicitly racist about it. White Christians are held to the highest possible standard. They’re expected not to have a racist thought in their heads and are called out for the slightest infraction. Culprits who really are racist (and who aren’t merely guilty of checking the “wrong” box on their voter registration) deserve all the shellacking they get. Meanwhile, however, ethnic and religious minorities are allowed to behave like skinheads. It looks as though the activist set expects hatemongering anti-social behavior from Muslim immigrants just as they expect a dog to pee on the rug. It’s the “soft bigotry of low expectations” with a racial twist.
Read the “Berkeley Intifada”.
You Don’t Say
A story you won’t find on the CBC.
UN inspectors: Saddam shipped out WMD before war and after
The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.
The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam’s missile and WMD program.
The briefing contained satellite photographs that demonstrated the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war. Council members were shown photographs of a ballistic missile site outside Baghdad in May 2003, and then saw a satellite image of the same location in February 2004, in which facilities had disappeared.
An obvious explanation that is conveniently avoided by sophmoric critics of the Iraq war and “absence” of weapons of mass destruction. (Not that weapons and precursor materials haven’t been found – more sophmoric denial there). The months long “rush to war” didn’t exactly deprive him of advance warning.
And of course, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was “Mother Of All Exterminators” Again – far, far too many dots to connect for mere media consumers to digest, so it’s been ignored by the press “analysts”.
update – some have expressed speculation that this is the only source.The New York Times also reported on this story on the 9th.
UNITED NATIONS, June 9 – Equipment and material that could have been used to produce banned weapons and long-range missiles have been emptied from Iraqi sites since the war and shipped abroad, the head of the United Nations inspectors office told the Security Council today.
Demetrius Perricos, deputy to the former chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and now the acting executive chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, told a closed- door session of the council that many of the items bear tags placed by United Nations inspectors as suspect “dual use” ones having capabilities for creating harmless consumer products as well as unconventional weapons.
Mr. Perricos accompanied his briefing with a report showing satellite photos of a fully built-up missile site near Baghdad in May 2003 and the same site denuded in February 2004.
Putin Smackdown
Putin is blunt about Democrat hypocrisy at the G8 summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped into the U.S. political campaign on Thursday, saying the Democrats had “no moral right” to criticize President Bush over Iraq.
The Kremlin leader, answering a reporter’s question in Sea Island, Georgia, suggested that the Democrats were two-faced in criticizing Bush on Iraq since it had been the Clinton administration that authorized the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia by U.S. and NATO forces.
The reporter had asked Putin to respond to U.S. press articles questioning Russia’s place at the G8 feast of leading industrial countries.
Putin brushed these off, saying such articles were part of an internal U.S. political debate.
He went on: “I am deeply convinced that President Bush’s political adversaries have no moral right to attack him over Iraq because they did exactly the same.
“It suffices to recall Yugoslavia. Now look at them. They don’t like what President Bush is doing in Iraq.
hat tip – The Commisar
Taylor & Company
Welcome Chris Taylor to the ever growing Canadian blogosphere.
Good stuff, Chris. Now, link me, bitch.
The Myth Of Peacekeeping
Via Pol:Spy – General Lewis MacKenzie (RET) has some things to say;
Ottawa’s general ignorance regarding the state of our Armed Forces is reflected in the current election campaign.
Consider, for instance, the partisan hype surrounding the Conservatives’ announcement that a Stephen Harper-led government would purchase new “hybrid carriers” to transport Canadian troops and their equipment to overseas mission areas in the future. For the past year, a number of distinguished senior retired officers (most of them were my bosses at one time or the other) have been working on a proposal that would recommend just such a purchase. We don’t care which political party implements the purchase as long as it’s done as soon as practical, thereby enhancing Canada’s ability to project force abroad.
You can imagine our disappointment when the Prime Minister recently denounced the Conservative plan to purchase “aircraft carriers” — an erroneous charge suggesting a Cold War-type military spending spree that threatens support for social programs. A hybrid carrier is about as similar to an aircraft carrier as my Honda scooter is to a Kenmore 18-wheeler, and the cost relationship is also about the same.
And on the ingnorance behind a persistant Canadian mythology;
As we improve our military’s ability to project force abroad, we should dispense with the all-too Canadian conceit that what the world needs is “peacekeepers.” Peacekeeping in the classic, Pearsonian sense — whereby our troops occupy a piece of territory at the request of local belligerents — is no longer in much demand. What is needed now are peacemakers with the weapons and mandate necessary to kill belligerents who don’t want us there.
Go read it all. Read Ray’s comments too
Big Media Misses The Point
The recent Pew study on trust levels in the media has been generating some discussion. Typically, the media who is shown to be overwhelmingly distrusted, doesn’t even notice. CNN’s Matthew Furman rejoices.
“”We’re obviously pleased — once again we’ve been voted the most trusted news organization in America.”
Will Collier has a pithy response;
Memo to Matthew Furman: When 68% of your potential audience doesn’t trust you, you don’t have any reason to brag.
As one of the commenters says – give America credit.
Frankie
14 years ago this month, I spent a very long, tiring day and night tending to the birth of a litter of puppies. When it was finally finished, I had a male and female puppy to show for my efforts – efforts, as it turned out, that were just beginning.
The mother was an older dog, one I had leased at considerable expense from a breeder in New York. Things started out well enough, but after a few days it was clear something was wrong. The puppies refused to gain weight. Her milk had turned toxic and they had to be removed and raised on a bottle.
Bottle feeding newborns is round the clock work. Every two hours they require feeding, then burping and cleaning. Night and day. It means guarding their temperature carefully – they cannot control it on their own. It means packing them in a little beer cooler to take to work with you. And usually, it means some will not survive despite your best efforts. The male died when he was a week old.
The remaining female was thus plunged into the perfect storm of dog psychology – a hand raised “singleton”. No competition from littermates. No discipline from an experienced mother. No rough and tumble games to learn the rules of bite inhibition. A surefire recipe for creating a canine sociopath with no fear.
And, it goes without saying, absolutely no gratitude.
By the time she was 6 weeks old, “Frankie” was a beady eyed package of self-centered malevolence – utterly without respect or remorse, demanding instant gratification. A cuddle was as likely to draw teeth as it was a “kiss”. Attempting to discipline her into submission could send one to the emergency room for digit reattachment.
| This was my type of dog. And she was beautiful. |
 |
She became officially known as Am/Can Champion Minuteman I Eat Tigers.
Frankie had a pretty respectable show career, ending up top female in the country in 1992. She was bred and had two top producing champion sons – she has descendants all over the world now. But, unlike most of my other show dogs, she was never placed in a retirement home, and has been the bane of my existence ever since.
She’s become especially baneful as of late.
A few days short of 14, she has long ago lost her springy step, her keen sense of hearing and her teeth. She sleeps 23 hours a day, waking only to eat and pee on my floor and occasionally, wander aimlessly about. On her bad days, I am the personal servant of a four legged ill tempered boa constrictor. On her good days, I am the personal servant of a four legged ill tempered boa constrictor – the only difference being the intensity with which her gums snap together in the air as she whirls around to strike.
In the fleeting moments that she is awake, she travels in stiff-legged, drunken, random bounds that do not always direct her in a meaningful direction. She gets stuck in corners, having completely lost reverse gear. She has become known as the “pinball pogo-stick dog”.
And she has forgotten how to get home.
Yesterday, I put her outside to enjoy a bit of sun in a warm part of the yard. The gate was closed, but the yard is not secure. I brought her in a little while later.
Or I thought I had. The hours rolled by into late afternoon, and it was time to feed the dogs. As I mixed bowls, I reached for Frankie’s and as I did, realized that I had not seen her for some time. Did I bring her in? I honestly couldn’t remember. A check of the yard revealed no old dog standing around in a daze, and two surveys of the dog run area confirmed I hadn’t put her out there.
Perhaps she had gone around the end of the garden and wandered down the sidewalk. It’s happened before.
I walked out to trace her usual path – she always wanders to the light pole at the corner to check out the smells, then heads north with the down slope of the street. Path of least resistance. How far north depends upon how long she’s left to wander. She’s not a fast mover. And if she encounters something solid, she will usually just stop and lean against it.
I searched up the street and the neighbor’s yard. No Frankie. No point in calling her name, as she either can’t hear, or doesn’t care to. Time for the bicycle.
I rode up and down the streets for at least an hour, down all the back alleys, along the golf course behind my house – slowly, checking in yards, under hedges, stopping to ask people on the street. Nobody had seen a thing. Finally, I decided that it was time to check back at the house in the improbable hope that she had turned back around and headed south to come in for dinner.
No Frankie. Time to get the truck out and have a proper look. As I walked through the kitchen to get my truck keys, something caught the corner of my eye.
Like I said, she has no reverse.
Frankie isn’t going to be with me for very much longer. She has an aggressive mammary tumour and it’s grown to a size that can no longer be ignored, and that will soon become painful , so we are taking things day by day. Today was supposed to be the day, but I changed my mind.
Again.
I just thought I’d share her with you.
Military Coverage In The Media
Inspired by Reasons Chris Bray, Joe Katzman at Winds of Change discusses the ineptness of the media when reporting on matters military. Great round up of links to illustrate how bad it can get.
It seems like a simple problem that could be cured by some basic diligence, research; and professional standards that demand real subject expertise to the same level as, say, sports journalism. But that doesn’t seem to be happening, which leads one to wonder why not.
With examples like this it’s hard to argue.
“One of the things you learn quickly in the military is to never, ever rile an Army Ranger, as foes have learned the hard way from Normandy to the Middle East,” wrote Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Kilian, with near-audible grunts and chest blows. How tough are the Army’s elite infantrymen? So tough, Kilian explained, that Rangers brag about parachuting into Alabama — and walking all the way back to Fort Benning, Georgia.
It’s worth pointing out that Fort Benning, Georgia, sits on the Alabama border. In fact, part of Fort Benning sits inside Alabama, including the part with the parachute drop.
Actually, anyone who has ever been interviewed about a specialty field can probably relate similar stories. Even in my own little niche sport, they very nearly always get something completely wrong.
Even worse, they often get confused about what constitutes an expert source – such as when they consult a humane society spokesperson to flesh out a piece on purebred dogs. Rather like asking the concession guy at a Nascar race about engine specifications.
Zero Tier Health Care
A month ago, the NDP government in Saskatchewan announced another round of bed closures and service reductions in rural areas. In fact, this was a greatly scaled back version of what had been suggested. With the finance department still juggling budget figures as of May, the cuts proposed were dramatic. Fearing the political fallout, a smaller package of service cutbacks were decided on at, quite literally, the eleventh hour.
Rural hospitals are not well utilized – some serve as little more than expensive long term care for the elderly. Until, of course, a farm accident or heart attack occurs. My father, for example, went into the local hospital about 12 years ago for observation and suffered a heart attack while under a monitor and nursing care – and survived as a result of it. Forced to drive an hour that afternoon to seek medical advice when he wasn’t feeling well, he may not have attempted – or completed – the trip.
That hospital was one of the ones reprieved in this last run of closures.
Closing beds in an urban center (in the city of Saskatoon, pop 200,000, there are three fully equipped hospitals) results in surgical delays and lengthened waiting lists. But 24 hour emergency and critical care services are not shut down.
Closing beds in rural communities forces rural families and ambulances to make increasingly lengthy trips to get treatment for critically ill or injured people – often over substandard, poorly maintained roads. The opportunity to stabilize a patient at a local facility is lost.
With the publicly funded hospital closed and private hospitals prohibited by law, large geographical areas are created where emergency medical care is effectively forbidden by the government.
In other words, zero-tier health care.
There may be a solution where these two problems – a shortage of advanced diagnostic services, and a shortage of rural emergency care – could be blended under a privately provided system. A government with imagination and courage could re-examine these small communities, and having satisfied themselves that hospital emergency services are not affordable under the fully funded public system, designate these areas as “free enterprise” health zones. In these zones only, investors would be allowed to set up private diagnostic facilities. Existing buildings would already be available for sale or lease.
There would be one provision – private servers would be required to provide basic 24 hour emergency services in the same facility. Residents who qualified to have their services covered under SaskHealth would still be covered in the usual manner, while those who wished to could purchase diagnostic services (or any other health service offered) privately or through different insurers.
The side benefit? Increased economic activity in smaller rural communities. Instead of farm families having to find expensive accomodations in the cities while awaiting diagnosis and treatment, urban residents would be travelling out of town to seek theirs – thereby, taking pressure off the existing MRI facilities in major centers while stimulating local rural economies.
Crossposted at the Shotgun