Blue Like You

Archive for August, 2007

Why polygamy will never likely be legalized: Vancouver Sun - Legalizing polygamy shapes up as societal nightmare.

So we will just stick our heads in the sand, and hope it goes away.

But what about decriminalization?

Ah, the joys of Liberal-watching and you don’t even need a pair of binoculars.

Over here we have a rather quaint one who seems to be the dominant male, and likes to huff and puff. He has also been know to use phrases like “shilly-shallying”.

And here we have another alpha male who is a rival for the leadership crown, and enjoys waxing eloquent on Puffins themselves, and how they hide their excrement. A noble mascot for their tribe.

Now there is a crew you can take seriously.

Watch out PM Stephen Harper. You are in big trouble.

Christiana Blizzard does a find job pointing out the weakness of the Liberal position on Faith-Based funding - “Ah, Sweet Hypocrisy” (H/T National Newswatch)

Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara in particular is the focus of scrutiny:

If, as Finance Minister Greg Sorbara did yesterday, one is going to slam funding for private religious schools because they are divisive and separate kids from one another, it is useful if you can show yourself as a public school supporter.

Sadly, Sorbara cannot. His six kids went to the exclusive Toronto Waldorf school — not a faith-based school, sure, but not exactly the kind of place where your kids mix and mingle with children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

When Blizzard calls him up on it, Sorbara attempts to duck the question (not unlike the obfuscation you see in Question Period), and then he throws in this zinger:

We will see kids from any number of different religions spending all of their time with people of their own faith and I think defining that as our future is very dangerous.”

Blizzard muses:

Let me get this right: Rich people like Sorbara can put their kids in posh private schools without dangerously setting them apart from public school kids. And Catholics can put their kids in fully-funded religious schools without the world coming to an end. But low-income people and non-Catholics are — what? Too stupid? Too poor to put their kids in private religious schools without it being a problem? Sounds very elitist to me.

In any case, it appears that Greg Sorbara and his cronies are still bent on snubbing the Jewish community.

Big mistake, Greg.

(Update follows original post.)

Excellent op-ed by guest columnist James Morton in today’s Sun (Our broken bail system). It’s definitely worth the read.

Our courts are clogged, and people who are still a danger to society are released on bail. Reforms are in the works, but action is needed now:

So what’s the solution? Directions to Crowns requiring real bail terms and appointment of enough Justices of the Peace to make sure bail is dealt with thoroughly and quickly are happening at the provincial level. Federally, we need to expedite the approval of bail reform which has stalled in Parliament. Sensible changes to the Bill have been suggested, but the basic terms of the reform are sound and should not be delayed. Both the province and the federal government are working to increase legal aid so people accused of crimes get to present their cases properly.

Our patience is wearing thin.

This is a topic that really hits close to home because last year our own Region put in a compromise ban on pesticides during the months of July and August only. Coupled with the lack of rain, this has had a devastating effect on people’s lawns. Only lawn companies are allowed to apply pesticides during these months and then only in situations of extreme infestation and lots of signage. Many folks have simply given up rather than incur the extra cost.

I also read a few weeks ago that next year the Region may be sending out lawn police to check soil samples in lush lawns to make sure nobody is using pesticides during banned months.

Now Premier McGuinty wants to enact a province-wide ban on pesticides. In one way, it might be good to have a uniform law, rather than this patchwork of city and regional bylaws on the issue.

However, it does mean another ban on a product that Health Canada is still allowing for sale on the store shelves; just like tobacco.

So where do we draw the line between safety and a homeowners right to protect his investment?

There are some environmentalist dingbats in Waterloo who are still not satisfied with the partial ban. They prefer to see dirt and weeds in place of lawns, I guess.

A total ban would have a devastating effect on lawn care companies and their employees. As Richard Maas of Peerless Turfcare notes:

A total ban will destroy lawns and force residents to try to use pesticides on their own because they won’t be able to hire a lawn-care company, he said.

“They’re not going to stop people from using pesticides,” he said. “They’ll just kill our industry.”

The regional ban has already cut into Maass’s business this summer because large commercial clients who usually purchase extra lawn-care services on top of pesticide spraying are cancelling their contracts.

Maass said he’s lost about 200 customers this year and as much as $40,000 in business.

“Companies are laying off people in the middle of summer when they should be busy or doing more hiring,” he said. “But nobody is crying the blues about the loss of jobs in our industry.”

Yet pesticides continue to be used on farms. According to a 2005 report by The College of Family Physicians of Ontario “many fruits, including peaches, apples, pears and grapes, were found to contain residues of pesticides”. The Globe article states however, that “the ban the Liberal Party is contemplating would not apply to farmers.”

Great. We can eat the stuff but we can’t have it on our lawns.

This subject gets my blood boiling to the extent that I’m having trouble looking at it objectively.

Let’s see, what’s left to ban in Ontario now?

How about McGuinty?

One thing for sure - I was ambivalent about this election until now.

Dalton, this is the last straw - which is what my lawn is going to be if you get re-elected.

John Tory certainly has Dalton McGuinty by the um, scruff of the neck!

How would you feel if your good friend and neighbour wrote an op-ed in the National Post begging you to reverse your stance on a key electoral issue on the principle of ‘fairness and inclusivity’?

And that now that friend feels extremely offended?

Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka writes:

The Premier has said: “If you want the kind of Ontario where we invite children of different faiths to leave the publicly funded system and become sequestered and segregated in their own private schools, then they should vote for [Conservative Opposition leader John] Tory. If they think it’s important that we continue to bring our kids together, so that they grow together and learn from one another, then you should vote for me.”

I was stunned to hear this coming from the Premier. Most troubling is the suggestion that funding my faith’s schools could lead to problems with social cohesion. The Premier that I know cannot argue that children who attend publicly funded Catholic schools contribute to social unrest. So why does he argue that other faith communities, who have thus far been denied the opportunity to participate in the public system, would be any less able to contribute to the peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom that abide in Ontario, especially when their tax dollars help pay for the current system?

Then you’re slammed with a statement from Bernie Farber, chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress:

Mr. Farber said yesterday he was floored to hear Mr. McGuinty attack faith-based schools as segregationist and harmful to Ontario’s “social cohesion” last week.

Those comments represent a complete departure from Mr. McGuinty’s earlier statements on the issue, Mr. Farber said.

It gets worse:

Not so long ago, Mr. McGuinty believed in much the same thing. In 1998 Mr. McGuinty met with Mr. Farber and 50 other executive members of the CJC and told them he was open to faith-based school funding. It was the first positive sign from a provincial leader on the issue since the group began campaigning for it in 1984.

“At the time that was a hugely significant statement,” Mr. Farber said. “He stood up in front of the leadership of Ontario’s Jewish community and said he was prepared to do it.”

He went further in a 2001 published interview with the Ottawa Citizen.

“There’s an issue of unfairness there that will have to be addressed,” Mr. McGuinty said at the time. The future premier went on to say that “somewhere down the road” he planned on issuing some sort of tax credit for faith-based schools, albeit “with all kinds of strings attached.”

So, it appears we have another broken promise to add to the already lengthy list.

Losing the support of the Jewish community in Ontario is gonna hurt.

What will Dalton do???

It’s not at all surprising that Warren Kinsella is not a big fan of John Tory’s faith-based school funding plan. After all, he is working for the other guy.

However, this analogy intrigues me. Warren says in his August 26 post as a way of explanation for his objections to Tory’s plan:

…My Dad, you see, was the guy who persuaded me to object to euthanasia, a subject about which he was considered an expert.

“Who will we get to carry out these state-sanctioned acts of euthanasia?” he would ask me. “Once it becomes legally permissible, will we then train people in medical school how to kill people? All of my students, I can tell you, went to medical school to save lives, not terminate them.“

Mmmmm… What about the abortion doctors, Warren?

O.K. That was just a tangential question, but I still don’t see how this relates to faith-based schooling, which as Sandy points out has already been going on quite successfully in an Ontario Mennonite school for the last 20 years!

Eden High School can be used as a model for province-wide implementation of the funding plan, if it is deemed to be workable and has public support.

And which faiths should be allowed to be publicly funded?

Here’s a suggestion - How about the same ones that are allowed to have their clergy abstain from performing same-sex marriages? If that includes Yogic Flyers, so be it.

NO!!!

That is what I will be voting - against MMP.

Why?

Just read who is supporting it here.

H/T Steve Janke who opened my eyes. A brilliant comment from one of his readers:

Reject MMP it’s a scam to allow liberals to split the vote by running sycophant indi candidates and win the house through cooperative alignment after the election.

An insider sleaze paly if there ever was one.

If a Liberal is fogging a mirror they are actively plotting to scam you.

Posted by: WL Mackenzie Redux at August 28, 2007 09:10 AM

Great post here by Porno Christian - Proportional Representation: Invoking Godwin. (H/T to reader Brian in Calgary).

Lily-white Stephane Dion, the model of self-professed integrity, reiterates his plan to vote against the Throne Speech if a new session of Parliament is started in the fall (Election is possible, Dion warns).

This of course could force an election if the other two parties join him. If strict adherence to Kyoto becomes the pivotal issue, then I don’t see how the NDP or Bloc could avoid this action and still maintain their own credibility.

Kaptain Kyoto assures us that we can trust him:

“I never broke my word in 11 years in politics,” Mr. Dion said. “I am a trustworthy person … I want to destroy the sense of cynicism that no politician will stick to his or her word. I always did it. I don’t over-commit and when I’m committing, I will deliver. It’s the message this whole caucus will carry.”

Never mind that the previous (Liberal) government’s record on greenhouse gas emissions under the stewardship of then Environment Minister Stephane Dion was abysmal.

As Dion continues his ‘Yeah-but-you can-trust-me-now’ tour, he assures Nova Scotia and Newfoundland that “he would respect offshore revenue deals with Nova Scotia and Newfoundland even though, as the New Democrats pointed out, he strongly opposed such agreements when he was a cabinet minister.”

CNEWS reports that Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald is prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt (Dion forced to defend previous opposition to offshore deals for N.L. and N.S.) - H/T CBL.

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams of course welcomes him with open arms since ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’; whatever he may have said or done in the past.

Of course, Stephane Dion is not the only politician who said one thing in the past and then appeared to change course when it was deemed politically expedient.

Stephen Harper himself once called Kyoto a ’socialist scheme’ before having his apparent climate change conversion (although the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive concepts).

But Stephane Dion is trying to paint himself as some kind of guileless pillar of integrity; a politician who would never break his word.

That is an oxymoron in politics, and anyone who believes otherwise is a fool.

Still catching up on goings-on from the last little while, but I have to agree with Steve Janke - Stephane Dion has no choice but to try to bring down the government.

He must vote against the throne speech. However, the other two parties have to be on board as well. He will need to win over their support. Are they ready to go to the polls?

Both the Globe and the National Post seem to be tired of hearing Dion’s whining and threats as well.

The Post says to “Bring it on”. I agree.

Show us what you’re made of, Stephane!