Could it possibly be ….

 

The Raging Grannies?

The little guy who currently lives in the White House gave his second-last State of the Union Address and it lasted 1 hour – just slightly less than his average time of 1 hour 4 minutes.

Of note, Ronald Reagan’s average State of the Union Address time lasted but 40 minutes.

Of greater note – the little guy’s speech talked about Terrorism – a word he has only recently started to use in place of of a ‘handful of bad actors’.

But this aspect of his speech lasted but only 2 minutes or so out of his 1 hour discourse and this despite the fact that these Terrorists are slaughtering thousands throughout the Middle East, Africa and indeed the world.

So it appears the little guy still does not realize – the true danger these Terrorists pose to us all.  And more the point, if all we had were his wise words, we would not even know who exactly these Terrorists are…Raging Grannies anyone.

Memo to the little guy – these Terrorists are Muslim Extremists!!  Maybe by the time of your next and last Address you will have made that mental jump.

I suspect that you, like me, understand why it is important to make this distinction…

We are at War with these barbarians – recent killers of homosexuals, and youngsters watching soccer.

If one does not know – or pretends not to know who the enemy is – how can they effectively be fought?

To have any hope of success, one needs to attack the root of the problem, and this can only be done if you know whose root which.

Two more years of the little guy and then what – Hillary or Mitt – God help us.

Either though would be better.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

Another Back of the Hand from …

 

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC).

This time, the Justices have bestowed their blessing on the RCMP giving it the right to organize – aka unionize.

They lean on Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s infamous Charter of Rights that gives Canadians, among other things, the right to associate.

But the Court had at its disposal another option but chose to ignore it and more on that in a minute.

Readers of my Blog will know that I do not favour unionizing those who are paid from the public purse and the recent Provincial Elections, here in Ontario, can attest to the fact that Public Service Unions spent multi millions of dollars to tip the scales away from principled Conservatism which would restore balanced budgets and reduce the size of our bloated civil service.

And if you agree with me that public servants should not have the right to unionize – this is especially true as it pertains to the Police and to the Armed Forces.  Both must retain absolute impartiality.

A case in point is Ontario’s own Police Force – the OPP.  It is unionized and in fact for the first time in the most recent Provincial Election ran ads condemning the Progressive Conservatives.

All the while, that same organization was involved in several investigations for fraud, misuse of power etc on the part of the Provincial Liberals.

Most recently, the Provincial cops found that the Liberals had done nothing wrong in regard to the replacement of their expected candidate in the current Sudbury Bye-Election.  (More on that in an upcoming Blog).

But perhaps the most grievous dereliction of their duty to the public occurred with the native uprising in Caledonia.  Here radical indians seized lands and beat up home owners with abandon while the OPP stood back – some with tears in their eyes and let it happen.  Our distinguished Premier at the time was Dolton McGuinty who obviously sanctioned this serious breach of justice.

I no longer have faith in the impartiality of the OPP.

Do you?

I said at the beginning that the Court had a choice – they could employed section 1 of the Charter:

Section 1 reads as follows: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

I happen to think that restricting the police from unionizing is most certainly a reasonable limit justified in a free and democratic society like ours.

Once again the SCC has gone rogue and Society is left to deal with the consequences.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

Another Missing Native Girl…

 

And this time the system is behind it.

The young girl I am speaking about is of course 11 year old Makayla Sault a member of the New Credit First Nations of Ontario.

Little Makayla died yesterday of leukemia.

She need not have and there is much blame to go around.

Last year, her parents successfully challenged the Children’s Aid in the Society’s in its attempt to keep Makayla on chemotherapy, which her doctors said would save her life.

I am not going to criticize Makayla’s parents here since they have suffered enough with the loss of their child.

I do think the Children’s Aid Society did not try hard enough to get this little girl the proper medical help she needed but I save my main criticism for the Judge who inexplicably allowed Makayla to reject further treatment.

The Judge we are talking about is Ontario Justice Gethin Edward, himself an aboriginal.

He sided with the family wishes to see their youngster receive “traditional native medical treatment” in place of the tried and true chemo.

Most bizarrely, this traditional medical treatment turned out come from some hockus pokus white man’s clip joint in the southern USA.

Traditional Native Medicine be damned.

When this case first came up last year, I said then, in one of my Blogs, that the Judge would have to live with his faulty decision for the rest of his life.

The time has now come and I hope it rests heavily on his shoulders.

His decision undercuts once again the claim by - Native Leadership that they know what is best for their Band Members.

There is a serious disconnect here and sadly little Makalya Sault has just paid the ultimate price for it.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

The War Against Christmas has …

 

Finally been won.

So say the pundits.

Even I noticed - on those rare occasions when I ventured out Christmas shopping - that clerks and other shoppers seem to go out of their way to wish everyone within earshot – a “very merry Christmas”.

In past years, the phrase ‘Happy Holidays’ was much more prevalent.

But just to confirm this great victory over political correctness, I checked with ‘very close friends’ to see what type of Christmas card receipts they received this past December.

These ‘very close friends; had received 35 Christmas cards – much reduced from years gone by – but with postal rates peaking at a buck a card, one can understand that volumes are down.  

Of the 35 cards 25 mentioned the word ‘Christmas’.  Sorry, rather, 25 mentioned ‘Seasons Greetings’. (I guess by ‘Seasons Greetings’ these 25 cards are referring to the Winter Season so can we expect a similar offering for Spring, Summer and again in Fall?” )

Four (4) mentioned Christmas but did not deal with its significance.

Six (6) could be considered religious in nature but only 3 of those included an actual religious picture and only one of those portrayed a traditional Christmas scene – baby Jesus with mother Mary.

So maybe – just maybe, the war against Christmas has not been won.

In fairness to those who sent cards – I found it virtually impossible to find traditional Christmas cards for sale. 

So although the vendors have now instructed their staff to ‘Merry Christmas” away – their products remain just as politically correct as ever.

The War against Christmas continues and we as Christians need to demand that Christmas be put back into our Cards as we did with Christmas Greetings at the cash.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

To Call or not to Call… that is the issue

 

Will Prime Minister Harper await the statutory election date in October or go as early as this Spring?

And that dear reader, is the question.

I mentioned in my recent New Year’s Blog that I thought he would go to the polls this March and I have believed this ever since the trial date for Mike Duffy was set for this coming April.

Most pundits still predict an October vote but I find it interesting that of late, a number such as John Ivison – now tend to agree with me.

There have been a number of recent signals for an early election including the dumping of Julian Fantino as Minister of Veterans Affairs.  But I can tell you what will really seal the deal is when Harper fills the 17 vacancies in the Senate. 

If there is to be a March election, these appointments will have to happen soon and I predict it will occur just after the introduction of the Tories Spring Budget which the Minister of Finance just stated will come down in April but I believe it is more likely to occur next month – in early February.

With the dropping price of oil and its threat to the Tories’ balanced budget, I cannot see Harper delaying the general election until the Fall.  The longer he holds off, the worse the economic news is likely to be.

But the real reason I see for an early vote goes right back to the Mike Duffy Trial.

I said when this issue first arose that never in Canadian Politics has so much rested on the antics of one ambitious and ethically challenged individual .. the Duffster.

But to me the truth of the matter is that Harper had to have known about the $90,000 payment from his Chief of Staff – Nigel Wright – to Duffy and yet he not only denied such – he threw his loyal aide under the Bus.

Many behind the scenes have to know this and I cannot see Wright going under oath and claiming otherwise.

What then becomes of Harper?

Probably a resignation since he certainly would not want to go to the polls in October under such a cloud.

Hence my belief that if Harper truly wants to remain as Prime Minister – his only hope is to get the vote done before the trial starts.

I do not relish in any of this since I truly believe that Harper has been the best Prime Minister in many, many years… perhaps the best ever.

He has been able to at least partially meet the needs of Canada’s diverse regions and peoples. Former Prime Ministers have tried – often successfully - to play one region or one set of peoples against the others. 

Harper is what you see - you get and does not appear to have favourites albeit he rightfully hues to the centre right but even for me he is sometimes too ready to lean left.  Another example of having something for everyone.

But Canada is a difficult country to run and he has run it better than most.

I hope that he goes for the March Vote and that he wins it since we will be poorer without him despite his great mis-step in the Duffy Affair.

If the Grits bitch, as they will – one need only remind them that Jean Chretien swore up and down that he never said he would ‘scrap the hated GST’ despite the fact that time and again during that election he did just that.

Whether I am right or wrong – it will be an interesting year in the life of Canadian Politics – as it more than not is.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

2015 Predictions / Possibilities Part 2

 

Okay, so for this year, much of the world will continue on its journey to hell in a hand-basket.

That is not a prediction as much as it is a statement of fact.

The other night, I was watching Peter Mansbridge and a CBC panel dealing with countries / areas at risk for this coming year and the number identified was simply staggering.  Indeed, there appears to be more at risk than those like Canada which enter the year in fairly good shape.

All I can say is thank God we live here.  We are most blessed.

So let’s now look at what is specifically likely to happen this year in reverse order to my list in Part 1.

Ottawa

The election is over so not too many entrails to paw over.

Gang Shootings are the big issue though – nearly 1 per week – an all time high last year and likely to continue for 2015.

The Police say that if only they assign more officers to their guns and gang unit – the problem will lessen but as one distinguished defence lawyer said – to double down on what has not worked in the past will only insure continued failure in the future and he is correct.

So I predict the problem will persist.  I do have a suggestion for the City and the Police on how they should really be dealing with Gangs, guns et al and that will be the subject of one of my very next blogs.

Ontario

Again the election has passed so little to comment on.

And no doubt you are getting tired of my saying this is Ontario’s worst government in history but sadly I truly believe it and thus nothing of substance will likely improve in 2015.  Again not a prediction but a statement of fact.

One of the only predictions I will make is in regard to May’s Tory Leadership Vote – Christine Elliott will win but she would not be my pick.  With Elliott in place, Ontario will have 2 liberal parties – the Tories and the NDP and one NDP Party – aka the Liberals.

I think the group of candidates is wanting but my choice from this meagre list would be Monte McNaughton if for no other reason than he is the only candidate of the 5 or 6 to come out strongly against Wynne’s pornographic sex education plan for our young public schoolers.

The Tories should have used this time to lick their wounds – give the Grits a chance to self destroy and beat the bushes for some really good candidates – John Baird anyone?

The only other prediction I will make in regard to Ontario is with respect to our economy.  With the drop in oil and the drop in our dollar – economic activity will pick up – (it cannot get any lower given the Grits’ devastating policies that have caused business to flee the Province). It will not though be as robust as it should otherwise be and it will not enable the province to escape its ‘have-not’ status.

Canada

The big news here will be the upcoming Election.

I believe Harper will call it before the Duffy Trial this coming April.

If he does not call it and awaits the statutory date in October I think there is a very good chance Harper will not even be at the helm then.  I will explain in a moment.

By all accounts given that two-thirds of Ontarians lean to the left, Harper et al should have no chance of forming the next government.  That said, I predict he will win and by a slight majority.  I say this because neither the Dippers nor the Liberals have staked out policies that resonate with the voters and this coupled with my prediction of a March election should be enough to carry the Tories to victory. 

If the election is in the Fall, the dirt that comes out of the Duffy trial will plaster the Prime Minister and he will be lucky to personally survive let alone win an election.  I say that because I believe he mislead the public by saying he had no idea that his Chief of Staff paid out $90k to Duffy and if he did, it will all come out at the trial.

The Keystone Pipeline will not get the okay from the little man’s in the white house.  Congress will need a two thirds vote to over-ride his veto and the chances of this happening over the course of this new year are about 50/50 and accordingly does not count as a prediction.

Oil will rebound this year – it cannot get much lower.

The Feds will have to slash even more in staffing and programs to keep its budget balanced – many because of the lost oil revenue.

Harper will use his about to be introduced Bill to fight terrorism as an excuse to go the public early – i.e. an Election in March.

The World

Russia – Putin is wounded – e.g. falling oil prices is causing havoc to the Russian economy and thus he is more dangerous than ever.  That said, I think 2015 will see Russia withdraw back into its borders primarily because NATO has shown at last that it is  prepared to stand and fight him.

ISIS – too will continue to decline (but by no means disappear) in importance throughout the middle east - again because the West has called its bluff especially with its very successful air campaign.

The EBOLA scourge will finally come under control as Western Countries like Canada send the needed resources to fight it.

Greece will leave the EU with Germany’s blessings.

Iran will not be stopped in its ongoing efforts to develop and establish a delivery system for the Atomic Bomb.

Israel -  Netanyahu will win this coming March’s election.  His popularity is being given a big boost by the region’s terrorists. 

Israel will sadly not though launch an attack against Iran despite Obama’s continued dithering.

UK – Cameron will win the May 17 General Election.  Like Netanyahu – he is being helped by the greater aggression on the part of terrorists.

So that’s it – otherwise 2015 will be business as usual – terrorists will continue to terrorize – innocents suffer, the USA will dither, China bully, the world’s economies will languish although cheaper oil will help somewhat.

2015 will be a replay of last year.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

My 2015 Prognostications …

 

As I mentioned earlier, I will come at this differently from previous years – more along what are the possibilities and less on concrete predictions.

But first I would like to set the stage by reviewing how things are continuing to go in the international, national, provincial, and municipal spheres which sadly are more or less the same as the way they were in 2014:

1. International

Iran remains the world’s number one issue as the US continues to diddle around, making no significant attempt to force Iran to roll back its atomic program.  When Iran is able to ‘deliver’ its bombs all bets are off for peace in our time.

Russia will continue to threaten the former USSR nations.  With the drop in Oil / the Ruble, Putin is a wounded bear and is more dangerous than ever.

ISSIS will remain the beasts they are throughout Iraq and Syria.

Terrorists will continue to stalk the jungles of Africa preying on the innocent – mostly girls and young women.

The fires of the Middle East will continue to burn brightly.

Europe will continue to struggle economically.

The US will continue to be led by its most inept President in its history and since he cannot seek re-election – he is at his most dangerous.

Another $ Trillion will be added to the US debt.  The Government is on life lines.

Black militancy will continue to threaten.

International foes will continue to not fear the States and friends will continue to realize that they can no longer depend on America as it once did.

2.  National

Canada will face an election this year which at this point will likely end in minority government.

The plunge in the value of oil will severely dampen the economies of Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia and as such will put pressure on Canada’s ability to balance its budget.  It will also put a strain on the equalization program.

We will continue to be involved militarily throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Pipeline construction will continue to idle.

3.  Ontario

Will continue to be governed by the worst government in its history – the McGuinty / Wynne Regime.

Our debt will continue to rise with no balancing of the budget in sight.

Public Service Unions will finally start to be told ‘no’ or perhaps ‘maybe’ but it will be at the margins and will have little effect on the ill state of the Province’s finances.

Green Energy will continue to get the green light despite the fact that our Auditor General just told us that since the Grits came to power, Ontarians have paid $50 Billion more for hydro than we should have.

Our Health and Education Systems will continue in decline.

4.   Municipal

Ottawa will continue to spend too much on its operations, too much of it is wasted on too many expensive employees and too many pet projects not aligned with the city’s core service responsibilities.

The biggest issue in that regard is with respect to garbage collection as residents continue to be subjected to only twice monthly pick up of real garbage.

Gang Shootings which reached a record level last year, will continue unabated.

The above are not predictions as much as they are just statements of fact - that is to say it is just a rehash of how things were last year and will continue to be in 2015. It takes no genius to identify them.

My next Blog will though contain some predictions and some possibilities …. Stay Tuned.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’