The Detainees Are Starting To Get Away...

On The Liberals.

Ignatieff has made much on the Detainee Issue despite the fact that like the Prorogation Issue, it is but a tempest in a teapot.

The simple fact is that other than for the left wing Media, Canadians do not give a Tinker's Damn about the so-called rights of Terrorists in far off countries. That is unless, as in the Shidane Arone tragedy, Canadian soldiers are directly implicated.

It only goes to show that the Opposition Parties have nothing of substance available to attack the Harper Government. This despite the fact that unemployment is historically high, and the economy is just now coming out of the most serious Recession in our history.

But as I said at the outset, the beleaguered Grits are now starting to lose control of the issue.

It is morphing into a Constitutional Issue as to whether or not the Government can keep classified documents from Parliament. There is no easy solution - the Opposition states that as Parliamentarians they have a right to see any and all documents pertaining to the Detainee Issue. The Government for its part truly believes that for matters of security this cannot be allowed.

The compromise proposed by Harper to have a former Justice of the Supreme Court review all the documents seems to me to be a fair and just one. The Liberals do not appear to be at all satisfied.

If it goes to its logical conclusion it could very well precipitate an Early Election. And no one - especially the Liberal Party wishes for that.

Personally, I do not see an Election being called on this issue but I do see Harper making it a matter of Confidence. What I expect to see is the Liberals blinking on the issue and standing down. Failing that, they will vote against the Government but only in such a small number to avoid election calamity.

As I see it...

"Galagher"

Fowler's Follies

At this past weekend's Liberal Think Fest, Robert Fowler - a former Canadian Ambassador to the UN - lashed out at the Government for not sharing his vision of the world. Such arrogance.



Indeed, from my long time in Canada's Civil Service - his arrogance is consistent with those who spend time in the Foreign Affairs Department. Only the Immigration Department can rival DFAIT in this regard and it comes in at a poor second.



Fowler, you will recall, was recently held hostage by the Al Qaeda in Africa and it was the same Tory Government, he criticizes, that saved his sorry hide. Some gratitude.



Fowler was also the Deputy Minister when Canadian Forces Clayton Matchee and Kyle Brown tortured to death a young Somali, by the name of Shidane Arone, in 1992. There was definitely a cover-up and it was starting to unravel when the then Liberal Government shut down the Somali Inquiry established earlier to ferret out the facts. This has to rank as the most blatant interference on the part of a Canadian Government in living memory. And yet, there were probably more complaints earlier this year about Harper's prorogation of Parliament than there were complaints about the cancellation of the Inquiry in 1993.

Fowler was the Deputy Minister of Defence when the killing took place and the Inquiry Report concluded that the scandal stemmed from a distinct lack of leadership on the part of the Senior Officials at Defence. You don't get much more senior than the Deputy Minister.

Of note, Fowler was one of the next witnesses to be called when Chretien disbanded the Inquiry.

Flash ahead to 2010 and we find a new revitalized Fowler quick to give his comments when some 16 years earlier - when it counted - he was no where to be seen.

One particular comment from Fowler that I found particularly galling was his assertion Canada is too supportive of Israel. He suggested that this was caused by a blatant attempt by our politicians to woo the Jewish Vote when in actual fact their are more Muslims living in Canada than there are Jews.

And this despite the fact that none of the world's Terrorists are Jewish and the only truly democratic state in the middle east is Israel.

It is time that Fowler returned to his enforced silence.

As I see it...

"Galagher"

I Like Ann Coulter...

Though I do not have much use for Ottawa U - so called 'Canada's University. (It is not by happenstance that the CBC calls upon the tenured left wing professors of Ottawa U to support its politically correct point of view)

And my above feelings long preceded Ms. Coulter's recent attempt to speak on its campus.

I have followed Ann Coulter over the course of the last couple of years and I must admit that initially I too found her to be a right wing loon. But as time went on, I realized that she was simply trying to be provocative - and in so doing to make points which needed to be made.

Permit me to give you a recent example.

Coulter has been accused of saying that Muslims should not be allowed to fly - I guess on the premise that not all Muslims are terrorists but nearly all terrorists are Muslim.

Well the fact is - Ann Coulter never made that statement - and as she herself has pointed out - this is consistent with most of the statements that she has alleged to have made. This is not surprising given the inherent bias of our left-wing media.

What she did say - and she admits to doing so, is that all Muslims who fly, should be profiled.

Even with that she has gone too far but the essence of what she is saying makes imminent sense.

Here we have democracies around the world suspecting everyone of being a terrorist with this leading to grandmothers, babies and the like from the general population being searched for bombs and weapons and indeed most recently being electronically stripped searched.

As I have pointed out in past Blogs, this state of affairs is utter nonsense.

Alas with current state of technology, Profiling is still the way to go.

But Profiling itself need not apply to the whole of the Muslim Community. It too can be targeted to those most likely to fit the description of a terrorist - e.g. young, not married. And it can be further supported by counter terrorist measures such as continued development of the no-fly lists.

Anyway, what I am trying to say, is that although Coulter exaggerates for effect, but the essence of her message is solid.

Political correctness and aversion to profiling are fall-outs from the transition in society which began in the 1960s and for which I am planning one day return to in greater depth.

Canada has sold out to such thinking - as has Europe. The United States is the only country remaining where the fight against it remains but even America is split right down the middle.

Like it or not, the Ann Coulters are part of this fight - from the right, and if they lose, all of us in the West will lose too.

As I see it...

"Galagher"

Obama on the health care attack...

Let me predict that Obama is about to get his way when it comes to the passage of his most controversial health care bill. The one that the vast majority of Americans oppose.

Let's recap.

Some 15 to 20 million Americans do not have health care - some of that number do not have it as a matter of choice since they do not want to incur the cost even though they can afford it. Granted, though, most go without because of their inability to pay.

So rather than find a way to incorporate those who cannot afford care, the Obama bill revamps the entire system to reflect the Canadian Health Care System. The System where millions of Canadians do not even have their own GP to tend to their health.

In spite of this, you still hear the old canard that Canada has the best Health Care System in the world. And this despite the fact that World Health Organizations rank the best systems as those which have a true mix of public and private care.

In addition, we all have our own experiences to counter the Myth about Canada's wonderful care. Just last week I went to my GP for a referral to a dermatologist to check out some spots on my face. I was told that it would take at least a year to get in to see a specialist here in Ottawa. It will be interesting to see how Americans deal with such delays when their system begins to sputter along like ours.

And it is just not poor care that comes along with Obama's Bill. It includes at least a Trillion Dollar price tag. The States currently have a deficit that is approaching their annual GDP and with the additional health care costs - it will soon exceed this milestone. Their dollar is going to continue to tank and inflation will eat away at what little value remains.

What will the Danny Williams' of Canada do when the US is reduced to our standard of care? Cuba?

Back to my prediction.

Stats indicate that Obama is but 4 or 5 votes away in the House of Representatives from passage of his notorious Bill. Such a small number of votes will not stand in his way; Obama controls the purse strings and the US Political System is, after all, based on pork barreling.

He has promised a vote within the week and I suspect when the dust settles, the Bill will be on its way to the President for his signing.

As I see it...

"Galagher"

Don't Play It Again Sam ...

Note: Anne tells me that I erred in suggesting motives to Ms. Aimes that do not bear out. Apparently when she referred to politics on the part of the Academy she was referring to the unconventional role she had played and not to her race. I apologize to the actress for my misunderstanding.

Anne tells me it is my age showing and maybe so, but I really have no use for much of what comes out of Hollywood these days - yesterday's Oscars included.



For me, it is all about the maxim - garbage in - garbage out and if all the Academy Awards gets to consider is junk then it is no wonder the results of the awards are so disappointing.



Just to let you know, I have not yet heard which won best movie nor who the top male / female stars were but I suspect those honours will be shared among the following three movies: Avatar; Hurt Locker; and The Blind Side.



Of the three, I have seen all but Avatar - and from the previews, it's a movie I consider nothing more that a Cartoon on Steroids. It used to be, when I was a kid, such films were just preluders to the main event.



Hurt Locker had all the trappings of a poor documentary, sans acting.



The Blind Side had potentially good script but again, came up short on acting. That said, Bullock was passable but certainly not 'great' as in the past tradition of the Oscars.



I did read the following comment in today's paper by Monique Aimes upon her winning Best Supporting Actress - "it can be about the performance and not politics".



Indeed, she should have stated that it "should (all) be about performance" and I suspect the 'politics' thing was just code by Aimes to suggest that minority actors are discriminated against by the Academy. Indeed from my knowledge of lefties who composes the Academy, that if any discrimination exists, it would be in the favour of a minority. In any event, I think Aimes' comment cheapens her award but on the 'performance issue' - she and I most certainly agree.



It was nearly 70 years ago that Boggie and Bergman squared off in Casablanca and yet it remains today one of the best acting performances by a male and female lead. Of note, neither received an Oscar.

My guess is that within a year's time, The Hurt Locker will be relegated to the dustbin of Cinema History along with the Oscar Winners of recent years - Slumdog Millionaire; No Country for Old Men; The Departed; and Crash.



As I see it...



"Galagher"

Two Many Cooks...

In The Kitchen.



I am recently retired, while my wife Anne has continued on with her working life - commuting daily into the City.



When we both worked, we had an agreement that Anne would do the cooking and I would take care of the clean-up. My Retirement changed that... now I do both.



At least in the main.



My favourite meals are those that can be cooked (Microwaved) in 5 to 8 minutes. I say 'favourite' only because of the ease of preparation.



These dinners are the ones that promote on their packaging 'no calories, no sodium, no fat' and all have 'no taste' to speak of.



Even more than the no-taste complaint, the thing that amazes me is that anyone can think that one of these tiny presentations would be sufficient to sustain life and limb. Even a gerbil would find the need to come back for seconds or thirds.



I get around this problem by microwaving a half dozen of these frozen, tasteless entrees at once.



Anne is so kind, she never complains and when asked what she thinks of these 'dinners', invariably replies that "anything tastes good if you don't have to prepare it yourself"'.



I'm skeptical.



Anyway, to the 'Two Many Cooks' issue.



Recently I decided to vary my menu - from fast food - to cooked from scratch. I decided to make homemade baked beans.



I immediately consulted Anne - "take out a large pot, put in the beans and cover them with water and let them stand overnight". Hell, other than the time factor, this is not much harder than microwaving the weight watcher special.



It got more difficult, starting next morning.



I looked at the pot of beans - now well and truly wet and thought 'what next'?



Back to Anne, who was busy getting herself ready for her day at the office.



"Just find a good cook book", she said, "they all have recipes for baked beans".



Sounded simple and it was - in no time, I had found a recipe and started my preparations. A teaspoon of that, a tablespoon of the other and so on.



Then Anne entered the kitchen.



"What are you doing" she asked. I told her following a recipe for the baked beans as per her instructions.



"I never use a recipe for that" she countered, at which point Anne started to fire this that and the other thing into my pot of soaked beans.



She got half way through, when she announced it was time for her to go. Her last words to me were to 'throw in the balance of the ingredients and cook the beans throughout the day'.



I was optimistic, but what I failed to take into account was the fact that half of the ingredients were put in by memory - Anne's memory, and the other half were the result of me religiously following a recipe.



Nevertheless, I cooked those beans and watched over them like a loving parent all day long. They smelled pretty good - but not as quite as good as I remembered other bake beans smelling.



And then the moment arrived - or at least Anne did from work. I set some of the beans out in two large soup bowls and as I did, I admired my first 'from scratch dinner' - no more frozen dinners for us.



Until I tasted the beans that is.



They were awful.



I looked at Anne and saw a look of abject horror - she concurred.



What went wrong I thought?

"You did follow the recipe did you not Galagher"?


As I see it..


"Galagher"

'Galagher's' Top Four

The following 4 shorts do not deal with the major stories / issues of the day but they do deal with major irritants to us all.

1. Haiti & The Group of Ten:

• The news outlets are full of the story of the Group of Ten Baptists involved in "Child Trafficking" in Haiti. Indeed, the President of that poor and broken country has cast these 10 Traffickers in Jail. As a former bureaucrat, who dealt personally with the issue of Human Trafficking, I can tell you that the Baptist Ten were not engaged in that activity since their motivation was humanitarian and not criminal. It begs the question though as to why the Haitian President and the major media would occupy themselves with such minutiae in the face of hundreds of thousands dead, injured and destitute. It would be quite funny if the situation was not so desperate.

2. Prorogation:

• This is another example of where the Media has its antenna skewed. Prorogation has been used over 100 times since the time of Confederation - three times alone during Chretien's recent administration, all without much ado. I understand why the Opposition makes an issue of it; they have nothing of substance to use against the Prime Minister. That said, I was surprised to see the Polls drop for the Tories and believe that much of that drop was due to the traction this issue has received in public thanks again to the Media. I do not see this issue as sticking since it has no basis and fully expect to see the polls rise again soon for the Tories.

3. Deficits - Ontario and California:

• California has 3 x the population of Ontario (36 to 12 million) and yet they have something in common - the same deficit; $26 Billion Dollars each. California though, with 3x Ontario's population, is seen as being the basket case of the United States. Many view it as being bankrupt: it has issued I.O.Us; borrowed heavily from the Feds; and levied a 10% surcharge on all income tax withholdings. In contrast, in Ontario it remains business as usual albeit our Province has for the first time in its history sunk to have-not status. In all of this, what do the people of California know that we here in Ontario seem oblivious to?

4. Ottawa City Tax Increase:

• Another year another tax increase - this time an additional 3.77% not counting the numerous user fees levied beneath the covers. This figure, as with increases in past years, far exceeds the increase in the rate of inflation (i.e. by almost 3 fold). This affects us all but is really noticeable for those on fixed incomes. OAS and GIS for 2010 did not increase at all them, while CPP payments increased by a paltry .4%. And yet our Mayor and Councillors pat themselves on the back for a job well done. This being Election Year you would think for their own self interest they would have tried harder to balance the books. Hopefully the voter will send them a well deserved message come October.

As I see it...

'Galagher'