Republican Ad

Look at all of the apoplectic Liberals:

U.S. campaign ad critical of Canada yanked

"Is this what Canadians should be expecting as the outcome of cozying up to Mr. Bush by the prime minister and his Conservatives?" said Alghabra.

RT: Republicans Suck (Part XXVIII)

Aside from my own parochial resentment at this thoroughly despicable advertisement, is it any wonder that right-wing is held in such profound contempt these days?

Assuming the comment about Canada was the one non-sarcastic comment in the ad, it is unbelievable to see Liberals going off their rockers at an an election advert that lobs a pot-shot over the border for domestic gain.  Such things are beneath the high standards of Liberal election discourse. 

At least some wise soul figured this whole thing out:

Tart Cider: So very, very stupid

For the love of god, it's a joke. It's a bad joke, but it's not at Canada's expense. If anything the good old boy's sarcasm implies that Canada is busy.

Technorati Tags: Liberals, attack ad, Republican, Harold Ford, Politics, Canada, USA

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Technorati Tags: Liberals, attack ad, Republican, Harold Ford, Politics, Canada, USA

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Cops for Coffee

Today I was in a Starbucks and heard the employees talking about the practice of coffee shops giving police officers free coffee when they come in. The employees all looked down on the practice. Though, it appears that the practice is alive and well in Nanaimo It reminded me of my fabled time spent as a late night doughnut jockey in an sub standard suburban sweatshop turned coffee and doughnut joint outside of Ottawa. The owner basically told me that he expected me to give cops free coffee and doughnuts because that way they would spend more time in the area and keep the undesirables away. Of course, I relished being the only employee who charged the cops as they strolled in expecting a bribe free coffee.

Of course this practice is completely contemptible and when examined as coffee for protection the whole practice stinks to high heaven. We look down at countries where bribes are expected and criticise places that are corrupt, but the difference is a matter of degree and not category. That is to say the cops and coffee shops that take part in this practice are in the same category as those places that we criticise for corruption because the cops accept cash for increased protection; cash or coffee is a matter of scale.


Technorati Tags: Police, corruption, Nanaimo, Ottawa, coffee, bribes, protection

OIfficial Secrets

This is an old issue and one that did not seem to get a lot of attention.  It is also an issue to which I have no answer, but one that does not seem to be adequately resolved.

globeandmail.com: Secrecy law quashed, RCMP admonished

"Increasingly, the courts are recognizing that in order to have a healthy and vigorous media, governments simply have to respect the rights of journalists to have their sources." Hurriedly enacted after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the anti-leakage provisions were used by the RCMP in 2004 to seize documents from the home and office of Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill, after articles she wrote caused the Mounties to suspect that she was receiving leaked material.

Here is the problem: If it is ilegal to divulge some secrets, it should not be permitted to harbour those individuals who break the law.  The fact that a secret was divulged to a reporter does not make the breech permissible. Protecting the source is at least morally equivalent to harbouring a criminal - if not worse.  When you harbour a criminal you are not furthering a crime.  When a reporter reports a state secret they are compounding the security breech.  What privellege do reporters have? In order to have protection must one find a national reporter? How 'bout a small town reporter? student paper? blogger? man on a soapbox at the corner? 

I have no doubt that there are times when secrets out to be revealed, but often secrets MUST be kept secret and a legal situation that gives protection to those who break the law permits the exploitation of national secrets for partisan purposes.  And here is my dilemma: without risking legitimate national secrets, or elevating certain ordinary citizens to be public confessors how does one ensure secret whistle blowing?  Maybe a few judges have to be actual confessors with security clearences to hear whistle blowers [which would also protect the whistle blower from reprisals].  I don't have the answer, but airing national secrets to reporters is probably a bad idea.



Technorati Tags: Freedom of the Press, Arar, politics, canada, journalism, national security, secrets

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Taiwan

If this is true it is a worrisome.

Cherniak on Politics: Harper: Taiwan "an integral part of China"

In today's Vancouver Sun, Barbara Yaffe reports on comments that Stephen Harper made to Mary Yang of the Sing Tao Daily. This paper is widely read in Canada's Chinese community. Mr. Harper said: We believe it [Taiwan] is an integral part of China. Yes. Mr. Harper, a man of supposed principle, believes that democratic Taiwan is an integral part of authoritarian China. As Taiwan consular official Brian Su explained, the Liberals "never so bluntly referred to Taiwan as an integral part of China".

Technorati Tags: China, Taiwan, world, politics, international relations, CPC, Harper

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Times Colonist Letter:

One of today's yesterday's letters to the editor in the Victoria Times Colonist was classic:

Stop glorifying violence, war

The recent display by the Armed Forces at Odgen Point and the prior military parade in downtown Victoria is false advertising and disguised militarism.

The forces, with total impunity, continue to solicit and peddle their trade without disclosing the entire picture to unsuspecting "customers," mainly youth.

Joining the Armed Forces can be fun, entertaining and perhaps lead to a prosperous career; this may be so, but it may also lead to premature injury, psychological illnesses and possible death.

I just can't believe that people can say these things when the armed forces are seeing so many comrades as casualties on teevee. The letter writer goes onto claim that there is a:

a general drive to glorify violence and the corporate war machine, in a slow descent to hell.

I'm not sure what this means and I'm not sure what kind of policies would be the result if one were to take this kind of thing seriously. In my dealings with folks in the military there are few serious people who repeat the old lie, but that doesn't mean that the need for armed forces is a lie or that armed forces are not needed. To me it means that, in the end, the work is
more tragic.

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori. [Link]

Technorati Tags: Newspapers, letter, Victoria, MSM, pacifism

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Political Discourse on the NET

I love reading political commentary both amateur and professional; I enjoy reading My Blahg. Sometimes they are a bit hard to take and today I just had to shake my head and make a comment. I guess it is difficult to criticise and to be conscious of your foibles. No doubt I and most people are similarly guilty.

Recently the guys over at the Blahg have been on a "Uncivil Discourse" theme. Ironically enough, repeatedly refering to the Prime Minister of Canada as PMS and calling conservatives "whories" is an incredibly elevated form of discourse.

My Blahg » UNCIVIL DISCOURSE II

A few examples of how the rightwing corporate media is leading the charge to make Canada’s political discourse less civil.

My Blahg » THE BLOGGING WHORIE POLICE STRIKE AGAIN

Heehee, more trouble in blogging whorieland

My Blahg » GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT

PMS is going ahead with his guilty till proven innocent law.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Civil Discourse, Canada, Politics, Commentary

Rawls Socialism and Liberalism:

Just a quick note on Rawls... I don't have any of my books here so please forgive the vagueness of this post:

Rawls ends up as a socialist only if you don't understand or accept the priority of liberty.  By that I mean that you end up with a strong redistributive society that provides equality of outcome (as opposed to opportunity) if you do not give the first principle of justice (the one that guarantees equal basic liberty) priority over the second principle of justice (the difference or redistributive principle). 

The point I am trying to make is one about liberalism and its concern for the individual above its concern for the overall outcome or end-state of the society.  I believe that this is one of the big differences between liberals and socialists.  Where the one is concerned with affording individuals opportunities equally (say to become a philosopher) where the other is concerned that the society has not produced an equal number of pink and purple, male or female philosophers. 


Technorati Tags: Rawls, philosophy, politics, liberalism, socialism

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Progressive Bloggers

So, I'm joining the "Progressive Bloggers".  This group does seem to be a nicely organised bunch of political blogs.  They claim to attract bloggers who are:

Liberal or liberal, New Democrats or democrats, Green voters or voters
who want a green country, or even Red Tories searching for a home,

 There is no mention of "Progressive-Conservatives", or Conservatives (regardless of capitalisation).   I've always considered myself a conservative, but also a liberal.  That is I believe strongly in the principles that constitute the liberal democratic tradition from Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke?, Kant, Hegel?, Mill and to their greatest expression in the work of the late John Rawls.  I understand Canada to be (or have been) one of the greatest examples of this tradition.  So, to my mind, a conservative in Canada ought to wish to conserve the institutions of liberal democracy.  Now, to be a liberal in the sense that I am so rooughly referring is to be progressive- that is concerned about the progress of the individual in society. 

To make a long story short that is how I rationalise my attempt to get more hits at Ramblings.


Technorati Tags: Politics, philosophy, liberal, conservative, individual, progressive bloggers, canada

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Sites I link to: Dinner Table Dont's

So Dinner Table Donts won the contest to identify the person that is on my profile and I promised to link to his site.  He already has a link so I thought I'd start explaining why I link to the sites that I do - starting with his.

I strumbled across his site by way of various links throughout the blogosphere.  I was looking for a leftward leaning political blog.  I liked the fact that he is philosophical in outlook and yet still interested in actual political affairs.  There are few blogs that will discuss both proofs of god and the NDP convention. He has a nice range and is clearly interested in engaging in civil conversations about the things that he posts to his site.  There are not enough sites with well reasoned posts and a desire to engage others and that's why his blog is worth reading.


Technorati Tags: Politics, Favorites, NDP, Canada, Philosophy, Politics

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Good Link

I have really enjoyed most of Jordan Coopers contextless links. Here is a phenomenal set of stories out of Afghanistan. Read them and think about what the guys in Afhanistan are going through, trying to accomplish and the attitudes of the Taliban foot soldiers.

jordoncooper.com: Contextless Links [Jordan's Site]

An account from the front in Afghanistan [The Link]:: "We had to manoeuvre across open ground for 200 metres. The scene was like a human abattoir. We fought off the Taliban, but were too late to save the French guys. All of us were shaking when we were flown back to base. One of the Afghan survivors said the French had been tied up, then gutted alive by the Taliban. It was one of the most shocking things I had ever heard."

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Not Entirely Satisfied

I'm not fully satisfied with the tone and ambiance of this blog yet, so I may change the name in the near future. The postings, I hope, will continue apace but with less focus on Afghanistan.

I am uploading a profile picture. I was inspired by Red Tory and Aeneas the Younger. Guess who it is, I'll link to your site!