1957 seems so long ago…

 

And in many respects it is, but it is even longer ago than one can imagine.

Take Pipelines for instance.

In 1957 the Liberal Government under Louis St. Laurent lost to the up and coming John George Diefenbaker of the Conservatives.  The issue was over a national pipeline to be built to provide gas to Ontario and Quebec from the West.

The issue was not though whether it was needed, indeed everyone agreed that it was and no one opposed its construction.

Rather, the issue was one of cost and American involvement in its construction.

How things have changed in 50 some years.

Now everyone who is anyone seems to be on the side of opposing pipeline construction: environmentalists on both sides of the border, indian bands wherever located, liberals generally and more recently, the two main parties engaged in the current BC Election (the Libs oppose oil pipelines / the NDP opposes all pipelines). 

Like many have said, if CPR applied today to build their railway across Canada – as it did successfully in the 1880s, it would be turned down for environmental reasons.

What nonsense.

Today, the main thing that Canada has going for it is Oil.  It is not coincidental that our only three have provinces can point to oil for their have status.

And it is no coincidence that the other 7 have-not provinces can point to the country’s oil revenues as the major source of their transfer payments from the feds. 

It takes a lot of nerve for these have-nots to, day in and day out, complain about dirty oil… it is like biting the hand that feeds it.  And it begs the question, if the oil is so dirty why don’t they see the money it generates in transfer payments as just as dirty?  Hypocrites the lot of them.

What to do.

Well I am glad you asked.

For an answer, let’s go back to Newfoundland’s development of its Churchill Falls Electric Power Generation in the early 1970s. Since Churchill Falls is located in Labrador, the only land border they have is with Quebec so to get their power out to its customers …it has to use Le Belle Province’s power lines.

Quebec though had other ideas and demanded that Newfoundland enter into a Contract in 1969 which forced Newfoundland to Sell its power to Quebec for below market cost.  Not only that, Newfoundland would be locked in to these below market prices for the term of the contract some 40 plus years.  For instance, in 2009 it was estimated that the cost of 1 M.W.H. was between $40 and $60 dollars; Newfoundland received but $2.50 per from Quebec.

Mindboggling.

Newfoundland appeared to have no other choice because it could not get its power to markets outside of Quebec without Quebec’s cooperation.

But dear reader it did have an option.

Inter Provincial Power Transmission now and then  falls under federal jurisdiction …not provincial.

Back in those days, the ruling Liberals simply did not have the stomach to rock the boat so to speak with Quebec.  In fact, I discussed this several years back with a lawyer who told me he was directly involved in those discussions and said that in a meeting he attended, Pearson himself, said that neither he nor his government would intervene even though he knew they had the authority to do so.

Flash ahead to 2013.  Now we have British Columbia blackmailing Alberta and to a lesser extent Saskatchewan.  Its government and its official opposition have both said ‘no oil pipelines can cross its borders’.

So we find ourselves – Canada that is, producing more oil than we can get to market and the oil we do sell is sold at a discount.

South East Asia is begging for our fuel and we cannot deliver.

Well the law that existed in 1969 remains today – inter provincial pipelines are a federal and not a provincial matter.  The Feds could push it through.

Moreover our Constitution contains the over-riding power in favour of the Feds to act for ‘peace order and good government’.

All of this is in addition to the Tories majority status which could be used, I suggest, to suspend existing environmental laws for the purpose of getting these pipelines completed.

If Harper wants to do the right thing and get re-elected with another majority, the above provides him with a blue print as to how both can be accomplished.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

CRAZY ED

 

Crazy Ed lived with a relative of his whose job was to keep him from getting into trouble…the kind of trouble that had befallen Ron’s older brother.It is well over 50 years now that I had my first and last run in with Crazy Ed.  It was a summer like day as today – warm – lots of sun and few clouds.  The grass was a rich green and growing like weeds.

I was visiting my friend Allan’s home that day and at one point we decided to cross the street where our mutual friend Ron lived.  Ron’s house was right next door to Crazy’s.  He lived with a relative whose job supposedly was to keep Crazy from getting into trouble.

The three of us were in the 7-9 years of age category.

When we got to Ron’s we found several others there as well including some of this brothers and sisters and we all ended up perched around the family picnic table.  Before long, Ron began telling us about an incident which had occurred earlier in the week when Crazy Ed had come over unannounced and had beaten up his oldest brother with a stick. 

We were spell bound at the hearing of this story and made frequent glances towards Crazy’s to make sure he was not sneaking up on us.  I think that I checked the most given that my back was towards Crazy home. 

The discussion continued when all of a sudden the group in front of me jumped off the table and hightailed it.

I looked around and sure enough there was Crazy Ed moving in on me and holding one very big axe.

I took off with Ed right behind.

I ran around Ron’s house, scared out of my wits, when I came across the ditch which ran in front of Ron’s house between the road and his lawn.  The ditch thankfully was full of nice long healthy grass into which I leapt; just as Crazy Ed came around the corner.

He looked up and down but did not discover my hiding place and soon returned to his abode. I though stayed hidden, barely breathing, until the others came and gave the all clear.

I cannot say for certain what Ed would have done had he caught me but I am glad to this day that I never found out.

Crazy Ed … another one of Brighton’s Characters in the 1950s.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

Minocchio finally …

 

Comes Clean.

The former Premier of this once great province (aka minocchio) came before a Committee of the Legislature today to give his testimony about the cancellation of the two gas power plants that occurred just days before the last election and saved 2 to 3 Grit Seats in and around Toronto.

The cost for these two shutdowns now totals well into the $ Billions of Dollars.

But I am getting side-tracked; the purpose of this Blog is to let you know that Minocchio – let’s just call him Minny, finally came clean with what had occurred here and not only that, he took full responsibility.  What a guy!! 

Yes he ordered the work stoppage and no he had no idea what the total costs would be for his doing so. 

Now that’s transparency.  Too bad it took so long for him to bite the bullet and tell all.

But dear reader that is not the end of the story.  No Siree.

Minny had a good a valid reason for his actions; he was worried about the health of safety of children having to pass by these belching monsters.

Now why didn’t he just tell us that in the beginning?  I can tell you, had he done so, he’d still be Premier.  Who could fault anyone – even the Devil himself – for taking action to preserve the health and wellbeing of kids.  Why the guy is a hero.

And here we all thought that his actions were solely motivated to save Grit Seats.  Makes one feel pretty small doesn’t it.

I just wish Minny had stayed in office, wouldn’t you love to have just one more opportunity to vote for him.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

Two Completely Different Trials …

 

But Two Common Themes;  both involved 17 year old female (girl?) witnesses to the alleged separate crimes said to have occurred here in the Nation’s Capital …Ottawa.

Here is a brief summary of the facts as alleged by the Crown:

In the first case, the 17 year old, from a village outside of Ottawa, while in the company of her mother, came across a destitute man lying in an Ottawa street.  Not knowing whether he was dead, alive or injured, the young girl convinced her mum to call the police to investigate.  In due course, two officers appeared whereupon in their dealings with him, are alleged to have caused this fellow to fall hard, face down on the pavement. 

The girl and her mum brought this to the attention of the Ottawa Police and in due course charges of assault were brought against the two officers.

Those are the alleged facts, I do not know if they represent the truth or not, but that is what the mum and daughter have testified to in good faith.

In the second case, a 17 year old girl, amongst others, alleges that three other teenage girls forced her / them into prostitution by threatening her / them with physical violence – even death. 

Again this is what the Crown alleges and again, I do not know whether or not these allegations are true. 

It will be up to their two trials to determine that.

But here is how I feel about these two cases and the common link – the two 17 year old witnesses and more to the point, how they have been poorly treated by the Judicial System.

From my perspective they have both been needlessly battered and abused by Defence Counsel.  If I was the Judge in both cases, I would have come down hard on these lawyers.

The two young girls have come forward of their free volition.  In the case of the first girl – to right a perceived wrong allegedly committed by two of Ottawa’s finest sworn to serve and protect.  She should be given a medal for her actions even if it turns out ultimately that she was in error in what she thought she had seen.  Unless, of course, it can be proven that she came forward for malicious purposes – i.e. fabricating her story …but there is no indication that such is the case here nor in the second case.

In that case, the 17 year old felt she was being forced into prostitution and certainly from her testimony displayed true fear of her antagonists. 

Both have been grilled so intensely that in the case of the young girl in case one, she had to leave the court room during her testimony, feeling sick to her stomach. 

You have to ask yourself, what ends of Justice are satisfied by such aggressive cross-examination?

If there was any hint of maliciousness on the part of either or both young witnesses, I would say let the Defence go to it, but in both cases, as mentioned, there is not.  

I can just imagine other young people out there watching this battering going on and saying to themselves …lesson learned, ‘I’ll never bring my concerns to the attention of the Authorities’.

After watching this myself, I certainly would not blame them for coming to that conclusion.

As I see it…

“K.D. Galagher’

Helicopter Ben …

 

As In Ben Bernanke, US Federal Reserve Chairman, who made himself famous by saying he would drop money out of the sky, from helicopters, in order to stimulate America’s economy.

As it turns out, he must have been correct in his analysis since governments around the world are doing exactly that, not dropping dough from the sky, but printing it as if it going out of style.

The USA has become a master at this practice and most recently Japan has signed on to the massive dollar (yen) printing as well.

And the result?

US Stock Markets are at record high levels and the heretofore moribund Japanese Market is finally showing signs of revival.

So hats off to Helicopter Ben.

But all this gets me thinking.

If money can be printed indiscriminately, without underlying value, why can’t it be used to manage a country’s debt?  Or even eliminate it for that matter?

So back to the US of A with its $17 Trillion Dollar Debt – which equals approx. 100% of its annual GDP. Why not just print enough money to pay the debt in full?

Take Zimbabwe for instance.  Its debt is a mere $10 billion dollars or 113% of its annual GDP.  And they, dear reader, are in the excess monetary printing business too.

Indeed, their largest denominated note is for a whopping $100 Trillion Dollars.  You read correctly…a 100 Trillion Dollar Bill.

So here is my idea for Bernanke and company.  Stop wasting time, you have a debt of $17 Trillion, issue yourselves a banknote in the total amount of $20 Trillion.  With that you can not only pay off 100% of America’s total debt, you can also bank $3 Trillion to apply to future debt.  Just like helicopter money …no?

Or they could ask Zimbabwe for a loan, heaven knows they now have the money.

Think of all the millionaires … more like billionaires that will result from the State’s paying of its massive debt.  Why everyone will be ecstatic, including the taxpayer since jettisoning such a large debt will take pressure of the need for more and more taxes.

A win win.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

AS Sun Tzu So Aptly Put It …

 

‘Know Your Enemy And Victory Will Be Yours’.

The Corollary would then be, ‘Failure To Know Your Enemy Will End In Defeat’.

Sun Tzu of the Zhou Dynasty spoke those words some 500 hundreds years before the birth of Christ. 

They were as true then, as they are now.

Which leads me to the ending of my most recent Blog where I admitted that I was not certain who would come out victorious in the War between The Islamists and the Secular West.  

Realistically speaking, I believe the end game will not favour the Islamists…for many reasons…but that may be wishful thinking on my part.  What is true though is that in the meantime the Islamists will cause great carnage to us in the West in fact they have been doing just that.

The greatest fear though is only spoken of in the corridors of power, and that is that these Extremists will successfully launch a nuclear attack on one of our cities with a portable launcher.  The numbers killed and wounded would be in the millions and dear reader, such an outcome is not beyond the balance of possibilities. 

So that takes us back to Sun Tzu.

Do we really know who are enemy is?

I’d say no and use as exhibit one the stance taken by the Leader of the Free World …the current occupant of the White House – who for nearly five years now has refrained from even using the word Terrorist to describe these thugs.

For the first time he lowered himself to do so just that after the recent Boston Marathon massacre.  But did you notice, he did not say who these “Terrorists” were.  In fact, he went out of his way to say they could not be categorized. 

If you are going to beat your enemy …best them at war … you need to have a good idea as to who they are.  Just ask Sun Tzu.

And can you just imagine Churchill saying in his famous ‘we will fight them on the beaches speech’ including in that speech – “whoever they turn out to be?”

But that is exactly what we are left with today.

I suspect that if we asked 10 different people Who are common enemy is since 9/11, we’d get 10 completely different answers:

1.  It is Al Qaeda;

2.  It is Extreme Muslims;

3.  It is all Sunnis and / or all Shiites;

4.  It is all Muslims;

5.  It is Iran;

6.  It is anyone..any where who deals in terror;

7.  It is the United States since it is the root cause of Middle East extremism;

8.  It is the United States who are doing these acts to blame others;

9.  It is the Jews;

10.  It is the Christians;

And so on and so on.

So Who Exactly Is It?

These Terrorists we are at war with are the Extreme Muslims who kill others, even other Muslims, for their petty religious purposes.

And yet our politicians and our liberal media is loath to say just that. Label it Political Correctness. So we end up getting 10 separate answers to the same question.

But more troublesome – much more troublesome is the fact that failure to identify our common enemy makes a concerted effort to defeat them impossible.  

One last thing.  Muslim Terrorists come in two colours:

The first are the Al Qaeda’s largely composed of Extreme Sunnis.

The second are more the State Sponsored Muslim Terrorists exemplified by the rogue states of Iran and Syria.  Both states contain Shiite Majorities.

That of course does not mean that all Sunnis and all Shiites are Terrorists… not at all.

They only become Terrorists when they murder and maim in the name of their God. Of note here, Extreme Sunnis and Extreme Shiites dislike one another.

In that regard, maybe the West should just sit back and let those two extremists groups have at each other. 

But first of course we would have to admit they are our enemy.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

 

 

Our New Cathedrals …

 

Are Shopping Centres …so say the many.

And they would be right.

When Anne and I head off for church on Sunday we often remark on how busy the roads are.  In the past, Sunday morning traffic was light at best but now it varies little …perhaps it is even more than on regular weekdays.

And for the most part, these travellers are not off to Church; rather, they are off to shop.

Sadly, Secularism and not Spiritualism is the watchword of our time.

And that brings me back to the events that have unfolded in Boston Massachusetts over the course of the last several days.

When all was done and the all clear whistle sounded, the good denizens of Boston did not flock to their nearby churches and synagogues for comfort, rather they headed to the Boston Red Sock’s Stadium to come together as a community in one large group hug.

In years gone by, in the face of such evil, congregations would gather to sing How Great Though Art, but this week at Boston Stadium the songs ricocheted off the score board were Sweet Caroline and of course their National Anthem.

There was not much room for God in their zeal to mend.

That is not to say the group hug at the Red Sock’s Stadium was a bad thing since truth be told I would have loved to have been part of it.  It is just that this reaction to evil without including a Spiritual dimension, seems hollow.

Spirituality itself can be misused as exemplified by the two young militant terrorists.  They, like countless others of their comrades in arms, have distorted one of the World’s great Religions for their own selfish mean-spirited purposes.

We in the West on the other hand have turned away on mass from the Greatest World Religion…Christianity.  It is a Religion of Love, Kindness and Forgiveness and in it we would find the strength to persevere against our adversaries. 

And without Christianity, it comes down to Secular vs. Misguided Spiritual.

As to the outcome of that struggle, your guess is a good as mine.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’