Mere Pawns on a

 

Very Big Board.

I am speaking of the late Trayvon Martin and his recently acquitted killer, George Zimmerman.

Non-Blacks – tend to say that race played no part in this young chap’s death.

Blacks, on the other hand, say race had everything to do with it.

And the Blacks are correct, but not for the reasons you might think nor for the ones they espouse.

The ‘racist’ dye leading to this unfortunate incident was cast when the first slave arrived on America’s shores in the early 1600s.

And we all know the history leading up to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Slavery was abolished from that day forward but had to await the end of the Civil War in 1865 to see it put into effect in the Confederacy.

Blacks though continued to be treated as lesser citizens, until the passage of the Civil Rights Legislation in the 1960s, most especially in the old south.

Since then, White America has moved on – racism is no longer rampant amongst them but sadly it continues to fester within the Black Community itself. Tragically, many Blacks harbour feelings of hate and ill will against their White Brothers. 

And who can blame them; how would we feel if our ancestors had been held in slavery for over 250 years? And how would we feel being the brunt of racism well into the last century?

But, as is the case of with our natives here in Canada, resentment against Whites only serves to keep them from fully participating in society – and most especially, economically. Blaming Whites gives them a scapegoat, but does nothing to alleviate their problems; and boy do they have problems.

So given this hatred, coupled with the following statistics, who can blame Whites for fearing their Black Brothers?

• 55% of all crime is committed by Blacks although Blacks make up only 13% of America’s population;
• 75% of all serious crime is committed by Blacks;
• 70% of black children are being raised without fathers;

So what exactly does this have to do with a young Black being killed in the streets of Miami some 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation?

One need go no further than to consider the reaction of Whites and Blacks following Trayvon’s shooting:

• White America came out saying let the judicial decide the facts and determine whether or not Zimmerman was guilty.
• The Black Leadership – the Reverends Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson came out quickly to say how this was just another case of a white racist killing a defenceless black person. (This despite the fact that Zimmerman’s physical appearance is Hispanic).
• And not to be out-done, the little guy in the White House too piled on saying that young Trayvon was just like the son he never had - suggesting thereby that Trayvon was faultless in bringing about his own death.

(Imagine you or I facing a murder charge here in Canada believing in our innocence and out comes the most powerful figure in our land – the Prime Minister to say he personally believed in our guilt before we were even tried!)

Zimmerman was part of Community Watch an organization which has sprung up right across America, along with Gated Communities. And an organization deemed necessary due to America’s high crime rate – one in which Blacks overly participate in.

On the night Trayvon Martin died, Zimmerman was trying to do his civic duty, but he made a mistake which would end badly.

After he called 911, he continued to follow Martin when he should backed off and let the police takeover. In the end he was found not legally guilty  but he most assuredly was morally to blame and he – as they say – will have to live with that for the rest of life.

But the evidence at trial showed that Zimmerman was no racist but rather if there was some minor racism evidenced that night – it was on the part of young Trayvon who called his follower at one point a “creepy ass cracker”.  But then again, here was a kid who innocently was out that evening buying some skittles. I would have probably called Zimmerman worse.

So for me, racism was not that evident on the part of either fellow.

But yes it was indeed present, it began hundreds of years ago and has hung on through great diligence and efforts on the part of Blacks and their Leaders. 

Perversely, racism gives their Leaders power to address boogie men when they should be addressing the very real problems that affect their people and racism excuses Blacks generally from for their failure to successfully integrate into modern society.

(If this is not the case – just ask yourself why immigrants of colour – especially those from South East Asia as well a Hispanics, do so well economically?)

So while White Society and American Society generally has moved on, Blacks continue to wallow in self pity.  It may be understandable, but it certainly does not help them in their cause for equality.

All the while, two star crossed actors played out their insignificant roles, ending with a preordained finish.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

 

“There You Go Again” …

 

As per Ronald Reagan’s reply to Jimmy Carter during the 1980 US Presidential Debate.

But I use his comment today to apply equally derisively to CBC’s lead item on last night’s news complaining about nutritional studies allegedly carried out on native children in the early 1940s.

This ties in with the the operation of Residential Schools of the same era and I believe the main purpose of yesterday’s CBC coverage is to once again poison relations between natives, the government of the rest of Canadians. 

(It was interesting to note last eve CBC’s failure to mention that the government of the day was headed by one Liberal Mackenzie King).

As anticipated its coverage caused great indignation amongst the aboriginal community which is now – surprise / surprise - demanding an apology from the Stephen Harper government despite the fact that none of his government was even alive when these ‘atrocities’ took place.

Money demands are sure to follow.

What CBC fails to grasp in all of this is that the only group it is hurting with its report are the Indians themselves since such old news items only serves to delay the day when they begin to take responsibility for themselves.

I say that since this reporting only further entrenches their perceived victimization which may well have a basis in history but does nothing whatsoever to help them now. 

So why does CBC go out of its way to cause such hardship and poisoning of the well?

First off, it is seen by the CBCers as another golden opportunity to embarrass the Tory Government an opportunity they are not apt to pass by;

Second, it cannot resist poking a stick in the eye of organized religion prepared as it is to go back over 70 years to do just that.

And third, it sees itself as the keeper of all things politically correct regardless of the harm it does to those finding themselves in difficult circumstances.

Harper and company can take care of themselves but organized religion is at a disadvantage in that it is not in their makeup to fight back.

In fact, I can easily see why the Residential School Systems were established in the first place ; native children faced a very bleak future on the reserves and in many respect this sad state of affairs remains to this very day.

That there was abuse – I have no doubt – but that it occurred on the large scale reported – I doubt it very much.  It is obvious to me why it would be overstated and I expect you can guess why too.

I have heard some natives kids that went through the system so many years ago report that they owe their success and happiness in life due to the good work done in those very schools.  You are not likely to see those types of reports ever appear on programing of nation’s broadcaster.

In my wish list in a recent blog I hoped for the day when CBC T.V. was defunded and yesterday’s segment only serves to reinforce my wish.

One final comment.  James Moore’s name has been bandied about as a possible heir to Stephen Harper – but I can tell you this will never happen – given his soft spot for CBC.

I guess I should never say never – indeed he could become Leader but it would have to be with the Liberal Party and certainly not the Tories.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

It’s High Dudgeon…

 

In Ottawa.

All over the Prime Minister’s Office asking outgoing Ministers to list who their friends and enemies were for their incoming replacements.

Why, Canadian Press Journalist Jennifer Ditchburn was beside herself with delight; you could tell by the glint in her eye that she thought she was on to the biggest political scandal in Ottawa since Senator Mike Duffy fudged his expense accounts.

(Never mind that it has just been confirmed that Ontario’s orange ambulance fiasco resulted in avoidable deaths)

As a former Minister’s Chief of Staff, I can tell you that I would have welcomed such a list coming into my new office.  Sadly, the vacating Government was Liberal and they did not see fit to leave me with any such valuable intelligence.

So we had to take months trying to sift the wheat from the chaff on our own.

But back to our story, it does not surprise me that The Liberal Media is trying to classify this as Nixonian in scale but that said, I do find it a little rich in that they steer clear of calling it Obamaonian since it is his administration that recently sicked the IRS on their Teaparty enemies.

But sadly too is a fact that this is the state of media in the Western World – it tilts solidly to the left and goes out of its way to play gotcha politics against any Conservative. 

That said, if it comes out that the Tory’s had any sinister intent in regard to their lists – such as that which happened south of the border – I would be horrified and would be the first to commend the Ditchburns of Ottawa for their journalistic integrity.

But between you and me – but given their reputation, don’t expect this to happen.

Harper too has made it clear that he has little use for the media as he recently demonstrated by announcing his new cabinet via twitter.

In that, I am reminded of Joseph Heller’s quote in Catch-22 – “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you” since in the case of our Media that would not be an unreasonable assumption to make.

But to return pettiness for pettiness is not the answer either.

If I was advising Harper, I would encourage him to play nicer with them and if they continue to get that glint in their eyes, then let the people decide what best be done.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

Not With A Bang…But A Whimper.

 

As in today’s Harper Cabinet Shuffle.

The key spots all remained unchanged – not that it matters though since the only real change needed is in Stephen Harper’s mind.

In other-words, breakout the Hidden Agenda!!

So following is my wish list for the Prime Minister over the second half of his mandate:

• reduce the civil service salary / benefits by 10 – 20% across the board (this to apply to MP and Cabinet as well);
• reduce the size of cabinet by 10 – 20%;
• sell off the Crown Corporations;
• jettison the green energy nonsense;
• impose a term limit on abortion;
• put through the pipelines;
• balance the budget;
• reserve the term ‘marriage’ for heterosexual couples only;
• introduce private medicine into medicare;
• deep six the Senate;
• no more corporate welfare;
• expand NATO into an economic, as well as military, union for Democratic Nations which respect the Rule of Law;
• drop the requirement that federal employees need be bilingual;
• cut income taxes across the board by 25%;
• stop funding CBC television;
• freeze Muslim immigration for 5 years;
• put the right of property ownership in the Charter of Rights;
• make all votes in the House of Commons free votes unless it pertains to the budget vote or a vote of non-confidence;
• give MPs real power by increasing the power of Parliamentary Committees with the resources needed to make that function properly.

I could go on and on – but you get the idea.

No doubt I have missed one or more of your own pet wishes – and if so, please let me know and I will publish those as well.

This would put the C back into Conservative and give us something to be proud of.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

Well Why Didn’t He Say So ?

 

As in Well Why Didn’t He ?

The ‘He’ in this is of course Ottawa Senator’s owner – Eugene Melnyk.

Poor Mr. Melnyk, he feels cheated by Ottawa City Council’s decision to back the Rideau Carleton Raceway as it’s preferred site for OLG’s proposed Casino.

Indeed, Melnyk was so incensed by this that he threatened – no promised, that he would not to spend any more money in Ottawa.

My question again for Mr. Melnyk is why did it take you so long to come out and say you were even interested in tendering for a new casino. 

This debate has been going on for well over a year and if the media is correct, it was not until just very recently that you came out to express interest in submitting a bid.

This issue has bounced around more than a tennis ball at Wimbledon.

And the fact is, Council finally came to the correct conclusion – that is to say, the best site for a casino is on the grounds of Ottawa’s current casino site – Rideau Carleton.

I say this because choosing Rideau Carleton helps to alleviate the damage done to Ontario’s Horse Racing Industry by former Dalton McGuinty’s Government.  In short, expanding the existing casino at Rideau Carleton means that Horse Racing here in Ottawa will not wither (pun?) away.

Indeed, had McGuinty gotten his way, 10’s of thousands of jobs in that industry would have been lost as well as hundreds of horses ending up in glue factories.

We can thank our new Premier for giving horse racing a second chance.  Wynne, like me, is no fan of government gambling but she, unlike me, does not let her principles stand in her way of getting government out of the business. 

But I digress – maybe more on that another day.

But back to the issue at hand – Rideau Carleton is the best casino site available for a host of good reasons.  If Mr. Melnyk wanted his own site to have been considered he should have said something before positions hardened.

As for his threat / promise to stop spending money in Ottawa – he should look to his captain Daniel Alfredsson as an shining example of a loyal Ottawan.

Oh – bad example.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

EDWARD SNOWDEN …

 

Hero or Traitor ?

You either fit into one of two camps – there is no middle ground and very little ‘I don’t know’.

As for me, he is very much a Hero; and this from a law and order guy.

But what is surprising is that this issue crosses liberal and conservative lines.  Many of Obama’s biggest cheerleaders on the Left feel totally betrayed by Snowden’s revelation that Big Brother America is spying on their tweets, emails and phone calls while a good number on the Right are equally turned offed.

The question that remains outstanding though is when do security measures go too far in their encroachment of our freedoms?

When do we tell the airport security folks to stop checking the elderly’s pacemakers and the infants’ diapers all the while electronically strip searching the rest of us … all in a bid to uncover radical Muslims?

Why do we paralyze our border crossings with useless delays?

And why does the US believe it is necessary to spy on all of our electronic communications with the same objective in mind?

Their supporters parrot back “if you have nothing to hide, then you should have no objection to being monitored”.

It has a certain logic but it misses the point entirely.

In a free and open society citizens have the right to carry on their day to day activities without having to worry about someone looking over their shoulders.

If someone is…we no longer have a free and open society.  Full stop.

And until Snowden enlightened us with his recent disclosures we thought such espionage was restricted to police states such a China and Russia.

Yes dear reader – we owe him a great debt of thanks.

My question in all of this is what has gotten into the once great United States of America?

They are engaging in activities they once railed against.

A parallel example can be seen in the case of waterboarding.  To his credit Obama has discontinued this method of torture but it was prevalent during the time of George W Bush’s Presidency and many look back in fondness of its effectiveness. 

Again the Walter Mittys’ of this world seem to favour this type of torture and even torture in general because it “saves lives”.

Again a true statement but do we lower ourselves to the level of evil regardless of how noble the objective?

Either we in the West stand for Freedom and Liberty and Humaneness or we do not.  There is no middle ground. And as for those who say we need to jettison our freedoms for safety – let me assure them – once we jettison the former, we will never enjoy the latter, despite their best wishes.

But of even greater importance, we will no longer be Free and it appears to me that that is exactly where we are all headed and it is scary.

As I see it..

‘K.D. Galagher’

It Defies Belief…

 

As in Stephen Harper’s continued assertion that he knew nothing of his Chief of Staff’s gift of $90k to Senator Mike Duffy.

In my Blogs of May 21 and 22 of this year, I recap why I thought it highly unlikely that Stephen Harper was telling the truth about not knowing of Nigel Wright’s gift to Mike Duffy.

I ended though by saying that he should be given the benefit of the doubt unless new facts came out that would prove otherwise and in such a case, dear Mr. Harper would be “toast”.

Sadly, this is exactly what has transpired as recent reports seem to suggest that virtually everyone in Harper’s own office – including his lawyer – knew of the gift in advance.  It defies credibility now to suggest that Harper did not know.

In short, it is obvious to me now that he lied to the Canadian people and as such the only honourable thing for him to do is to resign.

Will he?

Not likely, but that does not mean he should not. The main thing leaders have is their credibility and when that is discarded, all respect for the office goes with it.

I hope both McGuinty & Wynne are listening.

And it is all so sad since it did not need to happen over a petty falsifying of the books by one little thief.

If you will recall, poor old tricky Dick Nixon fell on his sword in similar circumstances.  History tells us that he did not know of the bungled Watergate burglary but he too got caught in the cover-up. 

All tricky Dick needed to do was to report those at fault and he would have been in the clear.  His failure to do so made him the first President in US history to resign.  

In Harper’s case, he obviously should have told the Duffster to get lost and told Wright to keep his cheque book closed. 

Failing to do that, he should have come clean and said he knew what was transpiring and quickly apologize for his stupidity.

At the very least, he should have kept his mouth shut and let the cops do their investigation.

His failure to do any of the above and then do the worst thing possible – claim he was always in the dark with respect to the Wright – Duffy loan meant that he lied and for that he must too fall on his sword and make way for someone else to take over the reigns of power.

It was all so needless but regardless of how one loses his or her credibility - once lost, it is almost impossible to reclaim especially in cases of leadership.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’