The Freeway to Serfdom
"One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license." - P.J. O'Rourke
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Recycling: The Feel Good Racket
Warren Meyer comments on the direct and indirect subsidies making scrap paper the "No. 1 Export Product" of the US West Coast:
I've mentioned the proclivity for litter dropping among Vancouverites before. Is it a Liberal west coast city thing? Vancouver is essentially a Canadian version of San Fran, after all (with Surrey filling in nicely as Oakland) and even though the residents can't resist covering any available horizontal surface with trash, they diligently observe the daily religious sacrament of rinsing plastic bottles and sifting their unwanted paper from their unwanted cardboard.
Warren Meyer comments on the direct and indirect subsidies making scrap paper the "No. 1 Export Product" of the US West Coast:
The last time I visited, San Francisco was one of the grubbier US cities I have seen of late, with trash everywhere on the streets and sidewalks. It may just have been a bad data point, but are residents really happy the city trash department is focusing on scrap paper pricing yield rather than picking up the trash?
I've mentioned the proclivity for litter dropping among Vancouverites before. Is it a Liberal west coast city thing? Vancouver is essentially a Canadian version of San Fran, after all (with Surrey filling in nicely as Oakland) and even though the residents can't resist covering any available horizontal surface with trash, they diligently observe the daily religious sacrament of rinsing plastic bottles and sifting their unwanted paper from their unwanted cardboard.
Monday, May 05, 2008
The Deranged Dominion
Actual Canadian news items, not parodies of such.
Macleans.ca: Need to see a specialist fast? Too bad you're not a dog.
In another Maclean's-related item, Mark Steyn interviewed on the hellish unreason of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunals:
Actual Canadian news items, not parodies of such.
Macleans.ca: Need to see a specialist fast? Too bad you're not a dog.
Our pets may not be able to talk, but they can get an appointment with a primary care vet within 24 hours and a specialist within the week. "I have a friend who had a dog with cancer and it got treatment within two weeks," says Tina Kelly, an IT buyer in Waterloo, Ont. "For something like that in a human, I bet the response would've been 10 times as long."
And how. There are just 10,800 vets in this country compared to over 62,000 human doctors. But try, as a human, to get an appointment with a specialist. Try, for that matter, getting a GP — five million Canadians, about 15 per cent of the population, don't have one, while 15 per cent of those who do still report trouble receiving routine care. And a referral from your family doctor to a specialist puts you in store for a new ordeal.
In another Maclean's-related item, Mark Steyn interviewed on the hellish unreason of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunals:
Sunday, May 04, 2008
"Pot Growers" today, Climate Criminals tomorrow
From the Vancouver Sun:
Read the comments. There's the predictable law'n order bootlicking going on, which is disgusting enough, but note also the deployment of global warming and energy crisis rhetoric to minimize any sympathy for the home invasion victim. Look on down the road, and tell me where you see this could be headed.
UPDATE: The Province digs up a few more. Couple charged $5000 to inspect a grow-op that wasn't there.
From the Vancouver Sun:
Drew Smith drove home on his coffee break one morning to find a shocking notice stuck to the front door. The posting, from the city of Coquitlam, warned that the premises were being used as a marijuana growing operation.
"I just about fainted," said Smith, a construction supervisor.
The longtime Lions Club fundraiser, who dresses as the Easter Bunny to hand out candy to children every spring, had been found guilty without due process.
"The notice said they had concluded their investigation and knew I had an illegal marijuana-grow operation and that BC Hydro had been contacted and would be terminating my power."
What happened to Smith and his family is an example of how the zeal to root out marijuana-growing operators can leave innocent victims facing what Smith sees as persecution.
No marijuana growing operation was found at the Smith home in a subsequent inspection. But hundreds of such inspections have been carried out across Metro Vancouver in the last two years, without search warrants and based solely on the amount of electric power consumed by the homes.
Read the comments. There's the predictable law'n order bootlicking going on, which is disgusting enough, but note also the deployment of global warming and energy crisis rhetoric to minimize any sympathy for the home invasion victim. Look on down the road, and tell me where you see this could be headed.
UPDATE: The Province digs up a few more. Couple charged $5000 to inspect a grow-op that wasn't there.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Stop me before I buy another used book
Here's what I've been into lately and what's on deck...
Life at the Bottom: Theo Dalrymple
Prison psychologist Anthony Daniels documents the shallow and pitiful afflictions that beset the modern western world's underclass. Namely, poor impulse control, staggering ignorance and a habit for getting themselves snared in violent and abusive relationships. Everyone's a victim, of course, and personal responsibility is an alien concept. Daniels is naturally a critic of the welfare state, however, he notes that it is a necessary but not sufficient condition to produce the rot that has taken over Britain. The other key component is a pathologically non-judgemental intellectual class.
God of the Machine: Isabel Paterson
A nice piece of work, plenty of similar themes and tone as Rand. The mechanical / electrical analogies wear a little thin, however, and help to date the work back to the early fourties. They certainly don't make brash individualist females capable of expounding on the power of ideas anymore.
Explaining Postmodernism: Stephen Hicks
An effective documentation of the philosophical trends that have led to the default intellectual setting of postmodernism. An Objectivist, Hicks of course identifies Kant as the switching point where the enlightenment came off the rails. It's truly remarkable the amount of subsequent nonsense that has been unconsciously integrated into the culture over the years. For instance, have you ever wondered where phrases like "leap of faith" had their origins? Hicks traces common socialist tendencies such as the undermining of reason and the need to deconstruct language from their roots to their modern manifestations such as the violent, indignant, and nihilist culture of protest, the vulgarity of modern art and rendering impotent those who wish to reclaim moral certainty. One of the highlights is the much discussed Socialist Flow Chart, that made an appearance at Dr. Sanity's place a while back. Definitely a keeper.
Junk Science Judo: Stephen Milloy
A short and straightforward expose of flawed epidemiological tactics and the scientifically illiterate media that propagate them. Once you understand the limitations of clinical, cohort, case control and ecologic studies, you'll never fall for a scare story again. A great loaner for the hysterical worry wart in your family.
Dumbing Us Down: John Taylor Gatto
Short, punchy essays present everything from the seven lessons of the modern schoolroom (Confusion, Class Position, Indifference, Emotional Dependency, Intellectual Dependency, Provisional Self-Esteem and Relentless Surveillance) to his contention that kids need less school, not more (basic math, reading and writing skills can be taught in under a hundred hours to willing subjects). Everything you ever needed to know about why the government schools are as rotten as they are, from someone who's made a career out of walking the cell blocks.
The Vampire Economy - Doing Business Under Fascism: Gunter Reimann
I first saw this title under Billy Beck's "Recommended Books" and was excited to see it offered as a .pdf through the Mises Institute's print on demand. Essential reading for anyone who's brain doesn't shut off after the invocation of "Godwin's Law", The Vampire Economy exhaustively documents the regimentation of the German economy in the decade leading up to war, including correspondence with anxious businessman on what may come. Skip over the "N" words in the text, and you'll find the investment climate described strikingly similar to our own - complete with powerful lobbyists, ersatz "national self-sufficiency" schemes, wage and price controls, industrial investment policies, bankers as state officials, the element of well-connected speculators in the remains of the stock exchange, and a bureaucracy in control.
On Truth, Universally Preferable Behaviour and Real-Time Relationships: Stefan Molyneux
Now available for free through the Freedomain website, Molyneux's books on secular ethics, philophical truth and interpersonal relationships dig deep below the conventional libertarian themes of government tyranny (which is, after all, simply an effect of corrupted values transformed into adult neuroses) into the constraining effects of religion and family structure. If you want to see your way out of the choking haze of politics as usual and find some real personal freedom you owe it to yourself to pick up these books. Bear in mind that you will absolutely find many of the observations and proofs presented extremely uncomfortable. You could say that this intense discomfort is what keeps most of the world from ever finding freedom.
Note: if you're planning to sample Molyneux's podcasts before reading his books, be sure to start in chronological order to get the most out of the conversation development.
Next up, one I've been neglecting way too long: Human Action - with the Mises Institute Study Guides.
Here's what I've been into lately and what's on deck...
Life at the Bottom: Theo Dalrymple
Prison psychologist Anthony Daniels documents the shallow and pitiful afflictions that beset the modern western world's underclass. Namely, poor impulse control, staggering ignorance and a habit for getting themselves snared in violent and abusive relationships. Everyone's a victim, of course, and personal responsibility is an alien concept. Daniels is naturally a critic of the welfare state, however, he notes that it is a necessary but not sufficient condition to produce the rot that has taken over Britain. The other key component is a pathologically non-judgemental intellectual class.
God of the Machine: Isabel Paterson
A nice piece of work, plenty of similar themes and tone as Rand. The mechanical / electrical analogies wear a little thin, however, and help to date the work back to the early fourties. They certainly don't make brash individualist females capable of expounding on the power of ideas anymore.
Explaining Postmodernism: Stephen Hicks
An effective documentation of the philosophical trends that have led to the default intellectual setting of postmodernism. An Objectivist, Hicks of course identifies Kant as the switching point where the enlightenment came off the rails. It's truly remarkable the amount of subsequent nonsense that has been unconsciously integrated into the culture over the years. For instance, have you ever wondered where phrases like "leap of faith" had their origins? Hicks traces common socialist tendencies such as the undermining of reason and the need to deconstruct language from their roots to their modern manifestations such as the violent, indignant, and nihilist culture of protest, the vulgarity of modern art and rendering impotent those who wish to reclaim moral certainty. One of the highlights is the much discussed Socialist Flow Chart, that made an appearance at Dr. Sanity's place a while back. Definitely a keeper.
Junk Science Judo: Stephen Milloy
A short and straightforward expose of flawed epidemiological tactics and the scientifically illiterate media that propagate them. Once you understand the limitations of clinical, cohort, case control and ecologic studies, you'll never fall for a scare story again. A great loaner for the hysterical worry wart in your family.
Dumbing Us Down: John Taylor Gatto
Short, punchy essays present everything from the seven lessons of the modern schoolroom (Confusion, Class Position, Indifference, Emotional Dependency, Intellectual Dependency, Provisional Self-Esteem and Relentless Surveillance) to his contention that kids need less school, not more (basic math, reading and writing skills can be taught in under a hundred hours to willing subjects). Everything you ever needed to know about why the government schools are as rotten as they are, from someone who's made a career out of walking the cell blocks.
The Vampire Economy - Doing Business Under Fascism: Gunter Reimann
I first saw this title under Billy Beck's "Recommended Books" and was excited to see it offered as a .pdf through the Mises Institute's print on demand. Essential reading for anyone who's brain doesn't shut off after the invocation of "Godwin's Law", The Vampire Economy exhaustively documents the regimentation of the German economy in the decade leading up to war, including correspondence with anxious businessman on what may come. Skip over the "N" words in the text, and you'll find the investment climate described strikingly similar to our own - complete with powerful lobbyists, ersatz "national self-sufficiency" schemes, wage and price controls, industrial investment policies, bankers as state officials, the element of well-connected speculators in the remains of the stock exchange, and a bureaucracy in control.
On Truth, Universally Preferable Behaviour and Real-Time Relationships: Stefan Molyneux
Now available for free through the Freedomain website, Molyneux's books on secular ethics, philophical truth and interpersonal relationships dig deep below the conventional libertarian themes of government tyranny (which is, after all, simply an effect of corrupted values transformed into adult neuroses) into the constraining effects of religion and family structure. If you want to see your way out of the choking haze of politics as usual and find some real personal freedom you owe it to yourself to pick up these books. Bear in mind that you will absolutely find many of the observations and proofs presented extremely uncomfortable. You could say that this intense discomfort is what keeps most of the world from ever finding freedom.
Note: if you're planning to sample Molyneux's podcasts before reading his books, be sure to start in chronological order to get the most out of the conversation development.
Next up, one I've been neglecting way too long: Human Action - with the Mises Institute Study Guides.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Who's up for a Carbon Party?! [updated]
Big, fluffy flakes of snow are falling on Vancouver as I type. Although we are assured that global warming and climate change are distinct phenomena, why not take action now to try and secure a warmer climate for future generations? Here are some helpful hints to increase your emissions this weekend, and counteract the Earth Hour lemmings pitching themselves into darkness.
[via fellow "Illumination Activist" Jay Currie]
MORE: Music to emit to. London Fog has a roundup of some hateful, frightening Denialcore tracks.
MORER: Mitchieville is one of the few Canadian municipalities not participating in the greenist candlelight vigil.
MORER STILL: How many of the darkened households and businesses actually understand the difference between peak load and base load in energy transmission systems?
BACK FROM THE CAR SHOW: I rushed home to catch the rest of the IRL season opener. 200 laps, 300 miles of cars going around in a circle under a fully illuminated 1.5 mile asphalt oval (according to the track info: "2.4 millions watts of power per hour are necessary to illuminate the Speedway. Equal to the amount of power needed to light 17,143 blocks with residential street lighting in South Florida").
Snapped the pic below in the middle of a sleet / snow downpour. Looks like everyone was trying to make it home in time to turn their lights out.
THE HOUR OF POWER IS UPON US: In case you think we reactionaries are taking this way too seriously, get a load of the comment thread at CTV. The thought of anyone deliberately sabotaging Earth Hour is bringing some members of the Khmer Vert to the brink of tears.
SMALL STEPS: 8:30 PM PST - With a few non-essential lights on, you too can help resist the Endarkenment.
Big, fluffy flakes of snow are falling on Vancouver as I type. Although we are assured that global warming and climate change are distinct phenomena, why not take action now to try and secure a warmer climate for future generations? Here are some helpful hints to increase your emissions this weekend, and counteract the Earth Hour lemmings pitching themselves into darkness.
[via fellow "Illumination Activist" Jay Currie]
MORE: Music to emit to. London Fog has a roundup of some hateful, frightening Denialcore tracks.
MORER: Mitchieville is one of the few Canadian municipalities not participating in the greenist candlelight vigil.
MORER STILL: How many of the darkened households and businesses actually understand the difference between peak load and base load in energy transmission systems?
BACK FROM THE CAR SHOW: I rushed home to catch the rest of the IRL season opener. 200 laps, 300 miles of cars going around in a circle under a fully illuminated 1.5 mile asphalt oval (according to the track info: "2.4 millions watts of power per hour are necessary to illuminate the Speedway. Equal to the amount of power needed to light 17,143 blocks with residential street lighting in South Florida").
Snapped the pic below in the middle of a sleet / snow downpour. Looks like everyone was trying to make it home in time to turn their lights out.
THE HOUR OF POWER IS UPON US: In case you think we reactionaries are taking this way too seriously, get a load of the comment thread at CTV. The thought of anyone deliberately sabotaging Earth Hour is bringing some members of the Khmer Vert to the brink of tears.
SMALL STEPS: 8:30 PM PST - With a few non-essential lights on, you too can help resist the Endarkenment.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Steyn in fine form
Describing the proceedings of the Canadian "Human Rights" tribunal.
I of course quibble with his second to last line. This country needs another Royal Commission / Public Inquiry like I need a bag on my hip.
Describing the proceedings of the Canadian "Human Rights" tribunal.
I of course quibble with his second to last line. This country needs another Royal Commission / Public Inquiry like I need a bag on my hip.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Link Potpurri, Week of March 28th
**My brother and his wife have set up a blog documenting their adventures in Australia. Follow along at "Red Faced Canadians". Any place with L98-powered Holden Utes and plenty of flat, wide-open spaces sounds like a place I'll have to visit.
**Private provision of public goods in northern Ontario. An ice road built to serve a diamond mine is getting plenty of use by residents of Moosonee, normally only reachable by a rail spur.
**Not In My Carbon Footprint! BC's eco-hypocrites help to shout down a hydro-electric project (seems they're not big on the Wind Farms either), the rural municipalities are raising hell about the carbon tax, and the stewards of Stanley Park are contemplating $200 K in structural engineering measures to prop up a cherished tree that died (get this) natural causes. I guess flicking off the lights in an eco-mystic candlelight vigil is as far as they're willing to take this whole green living deal.
**Speaking of which: Earth Hour's soft fascism. Foster minces no words:
Well, I'm doing my part by going to the car show this weekend.
**Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Transportation Engineer
**Chew through this advanced Austrian analysis of the credit crunch by George Reisman (personally, I still prefer Billy's distillation). Consider how incredibly difficult it is to conceptualize what's going on in that whole mess. Now try and imagine your average voter and their elected representatives intelligently addressing the matter.
**Race fans, be sure to check out my picks and pans over at Black Flagged. I'm hoping to keep pace with a full season for the first time.
**I suppose I should ask. What do you think of the black layout? It actually came about as a result of my incompetent web design skills. The text turned white one day for some reason (blending in with the background) and I couldn't figure out how to change it back, so I painted the background black instead. Too hard on the eyes or what?
**My brother and his wife have set up a blog documenting their adventures in Australia. Follow along at "Red Faced Canadians". Any place with L98-powered Holden Utes and plenty of flat, wide-open spaces sounds like a place I'll have to visit.
**Private provision of public goods in northern Ontario. An ice road built to serve a diamond mine is getting plenty of use by residents of Moosonee, normally only reachable by a rail spur.
**Not In My Carbon Footprint! BC's eco-hypocrites help to shout down a hydro-electric project (seems they're not big on the Wind Farms either), the rural municipalities are raising hell about the carbon tax, and the stewards of Stanley Park are contemplating $200 K in structural engineering measures to prop up a cherished tree that died (get this) natural causes. I guess flicking off the lights in an eco-mystic candlelight vigil is as far as they're willing to take this whole green living deal.
**Speaking of which: Earth Hour's soft fascism. Foster minces no words:
If you love civilization, freedom and the use of reason, keep on all the lights you need on Saturday. Take Back the Night.
Well, I'm doing my part by going to the car show this weekend.
**Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Transportation Engineer
**Chew through this advanced Austrian analysis of the credit crunch by George Reisman (personally, I still prefer Billy's distillation). Consider how incredibly difficult it is to conceptualize what's going on in that whole mess. Now try and imagine your average voter and their elected representatives intelligently addressing the matter.
**Race fans, be sure to check out my picks and pans over at Black Flagged. I'm hoping to keep pace with a full season for the first time.
**I suppose I should ask. What do you think of the black layout? It actually came about as a result of my incompetent web design skills. The text turned white one day for some reason (blending in with the background) and I couldn't figure out how to change it back, so I painted the background black instead. Too hard on the eyes or what?
Monday, March 24, 2008
An eight and a half minute case against voting
Jerry Springer nation is voting your life away one hoof-marked ballot at a time.
[link via Brad Spangler]
Jerry Springer nation is voting your life away one hoof-marked ballot at a time.
[link via Brad Spangler]
Friday, March 21, 2008
Prohibition-related violence continues
The Province: Oppal calls for calm after shooting
The media, police and politicians still like to peddle the gun-related or drug-related angle on these incidents, but I insist on referencing them by their essential causes.
Always be sure to thank your local gun grabber or drug warrior for ensuring only the most ruthless, violent and amoral individuals continue to control the firearms and recreational stimulants market.
The Province: Oppal calls for calm after shooting
[Attorney General] Oppal called the shooting "alarming," but pointed out that killings related to the drug trade in Metro Vancouver are not a recent phenomenon.
"It indicates how evil this whole underworld is, where people end up killing each other all for money and drugs and all the rest of it," he said.
The media, police and politicians still like to peddle the gun-related or drug-related angle on these incidents, but I insist on referencing them by their essential causes.
Always be sure to thank your local gun grabber or drug warrior for ensuring only the most ruthless, violent and amoral individuals continue to control the firearms and recreational stimulants market.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Malfunctioning Bullshit Detectors?
Rich Nikoley asks a good question in the context of the Spitzer flame-out:
It is amazing how good kids are detecting and calling out things like insincerity, phoniness and general B.S. Sort of like a natural survival mechanism that can only be disrupted over time through constant exposure to their parent's euphemisms and concrete-bound thinking.
Rich Nikoley asks a good question in the context of the Spitzer flame-out:
Why is it that elementary school children have a keen eye for poseurs: do-gooders, tattletales, and teacher-pets whom they can see right through in an instant; yet the moment they're handed a voter registration card they become complete morons?
It is amazing how good kids are detecting and calling out things like insincerity, phoniness and general B.S. Sort of like a natural survival mechanism that can only be disrupted over time through constant exposure to their parent's euphemisms and concrete-bound thinking.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Tyranny of the Keys
On most days, I can be heard carrying the following access devices (pockets jingling like a janitor):
-keys to front door
-proximity card for condo lobby
-mailbox keys
-garage door fob
-main office swipe card
-field office swipe card
-field office bathroom key(!)
-car keys
-"The Club" steering wheel key
-dongle for office software key
-dongle for field office software key
-field office parking pass
-main office transit pass
I say on most days, because if you're as absent-minded and scatterbrained as I am, you often drive forty-five minutes across town before realizing there's something important left behind on the kitchen table. I'm thinking I should take a cue from our highly successful crackrat population and just start stuffing a crowbar down my pants.
Don't even get me started on the website/softwarelicense/cellphone/voicemail/network/onlinebanking passwords cluttering up my cranium...
On most days, I can be heard carrying the following access devices (pockets jingling like a janitor):
-keys to front door
-proximity card for condo lobby
-mailbox keys
-garage door fob
-main office swipe card
-field office swipe card
-field office bathroom key(!)
-car keys
-"The Club" steering wheel key
-dongle for office software key
-dongle for field office software key
-field office parking pass
-main office transit pass
I say on most days, because if you're as absent-minded and scatterbrained as I am, you often drive forty-five minutes across town before realizing there's something important left behind on the kitchen table. I'm thinking I should take a cue from our highly successful crackrat population and just start stuffing a crowbar down my pants.
Don't even get me started on the website/softwarelicense/cellphone/voicemail/network/onlinebanking passwords cluttering up my cranium...
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Were the Liberals ever this bad?
In the few hours a week I watch TV (hockey, NASCAR, news as available) it's incredible how many federal government adverts are up in my face. The following is a brief, though not complete list of the daily barrage:
- The "Healthy Eating" spot with the little rugrat walking the grocery aisle with her mom. Voiced by the same irritating woman who voices all the fed's ads. It's like she's got some sort of tongue piercing or obstruction that makes her sound slightly spastic.
-The "Service Canada" spots where complete failures (guy who can't even run a successful lemonade stand) can get easy access to job training and loan programs. We are also reminded that Canadians can't get a job without their government-issued Social Insurance eartag.
-The ads announcing the whopping 1% sales tax cut. Could they have ditched the ads and cut it another 1%? Probably.
-The ads announcing new and excitingsocialist behavior modification initiatives targeted tax credits. Tax Savings For All Comrades!
-The "What's In Your Luggage?" advisory from the Border Services goons.
-The Canada Deposit Insurance advert hyping one of the financial world's great moral hazards.
These are in addition to previous propaganda campaigns under Canada's New Government including:
-The ads for the transit pass tax deduction. "This suck-up's goin' out to all the city folk..."
-The Fill Out Your Fucking Census Forms Or Go To Jail ads that sounded like something a collection agency would leave on your answering machine.
-The "Big League" corporate welfare promotion from Export Development Canada.
Any others I forgot? Does it strike anyone else as ironic that the Conservatives would pursue such an in-your-face advertising strategy seeing as a sponsorship scandal is partly responsible for their ascension to power in the first place?
In the few hours a week I watch TV (hockey, NASCAR, news as available) it's incredible how many federal government adverts are up in my face. The following is a brief, though not complete list of the daily barrage:
- The "Healthy Eating" spot with the little rugrat walking the grocery aisle with her mom. Voiced by the same irritating woman who voices all the fed's ads. It's like she's got some sort of tongue piercing or obstruction that makes her sound slightly spastic.
-The "Service Canada" spots where complete failures (guy who can't even run a successful lemonade stand) can get easy access to job training and loan programs. We are also reminded that Canadians can't get a job without their government-issued Social Insurance eartag.
-The ads announcing the whopping 1% sales tax cut. Could they have ditched the ads and cut it another 1%? Probably.
-The ads announcing new and exciting
-The "What's In Your Luggage?" advisory from the Border Services goons.
-The Canada Deposit Insurance advert hyping one of the financial world's great moral hazards.
These are in addition to previous propaganda campaigns under Canada's New Government including:
-The ads for the transit pass tax deduction. "This suck-up's goin' out to all the city folk..."
-The Fill Out Your Fucking Census Forms Or Go To Jail ads that sounded like something a collection agency would leave on your answering machine.
-The "Big League" corporate welfare promotion from Export Development Canada.
Any others I forgot? Does it strike anyone else as ironic that the Conservatives would pursue such an in-your-face advertising strategy seeing as a sponsorship scandal is partly responsible for their ascension to power in the first place?
Saturday, March 08, 2008
"Do you really think our society is so weak and incapable of cultural self-defense, that it requires us to close the borders?"
-Publius at Gods of the Copybook Headings neatly rejects the false equivocation of capital "M" Multiculturalism and open immigration.
I'm obviously not terribly optimistic about the prospects for a resurgent (classical) liberal civil society in my lifetime. We're now several generations into the modern welfare / nanny state and a long way gone from the values of the enlightenment. However, (and I recognize that anecdotes do not replace statistics) even in the shape it's in, there can still be a marked difference observed in the attitudes and values of second and third generation immigrant families. Erecting walls along lines on a map simply guarantees that millions of these people will be consigned to mystic/collectivist savagery.
This is not about all cultures being equal. Quite the contrary, Western culture is still superior (in spite of its sorry current state) and if the underlying ideas have any traction left in them, they should be used as a vaccine for the disease that afflicts the minds of most of the world.
Before you answer that question please keep in the mind the price to be paid, not by Canada, the United States or Great Britain, whose immigration departments are flooded with worthy applicants from through out the world, but to those you will refuse entry. What fate do you leave them to?
-Publius at Gods of the Copybook Headings neatly rejects the false equivocation of capital "M" Multiculturalism and open immigration.
I'm obviously not terribly optimistic about the prospects for a resurgent (classical) liberal civil society in my lifetime. We're now several generations into the modern welfare / nanny state and a long way gone from the values of the enlightenment. However, (and I recognize that anecdotes do not replace statistics) even in the shape it's in, there can still be a marked difference observed in the attitudes and values of second and third generation immigrant families. Erecting walls along lines on a map simply guarantees that millions of these people will be consigned to mystic/collectivist savagery.
This is not about all cultures being equal. Quite the contrary, Western culture is still superior (in spite of its sorry current state) and if the underlying ideas have any traction left in them, they should be used as a vaccine for the disease that afflicts the minds of most of the world.
