It Is Probably Just A Matter Of Time…

 

Before The Conservatives Come Out In Favour Of The Wearing Of The Niqab and The Burka whenever and wherever a Muslim Woman wishes.

I say that because just the other day, the Tories unceremoniously dumped their Toronto Area Sikh Candidate – Jagdish Grawal from their list of candidates for the October 19th Election.

Grawal’s offence was that he had written an article supporting the proposition that homosexuals could be medically treated to transition them into heterosexuals.

His position was based upon his religious belief that the state of homosexuality is not normal.

Many Christian Faiths – as well as the Muslim Faith – share his belief.

Grawal was not saying – that Homosexuals were not equal to Heterosexuals or that they are deserving of discrimination.  He was saying that Homosexuality is not normal.

Nor is it; certainly not in the statistical sense.

Statistics show that only 2% of the world’s population consider themselves to be homosexual.  (One would think otherwise, given the Media’s propensity to depict homosexuality the norm).  But the ‘norm’ would have to go to those 98% who deem themselves to be heterosexual.

It is though a very emotional topic and I really do not like dealing with it – but I believe I have to since I foresee the day coming when it is just not candidates like Grawal who are punished for their thoughts and their religious views – but our Church leaders will soon find themselves on the wrong side of this Politically Correct Equation.

Indeed, one Catholic Priest in Calgary has already been prohibited by the State from preaching passages of the Bible which condemn the practice of homosexuality.

So to sum up, if Grawal was calling for the beheading of homosexuals – course he should be condemned for his hateful speech.

But to simply have a personal and/or religious belief that Homosexuality is not normal and to be punished for it - begs the question of whatever happened to the Rights of Free Speech, Expression and Religion the corner stones of a free and vibrant society.

So if you are still wondering why Donald Trump is making such a big splash in the Republican Presidential Race – look no further than to Politically Correct Decisions like Mr. Grawal’s.

As I see it…

‘K. D. Galagher’

 

And Of Course He …

 

Does Have Nice Hair.

I was not going to do this Blog until closer to our Federal Election which some outside Canada may not know is coming up quickly – Monday October 19th.

It has been a long campaign – frankly too long but still not the horror show South of the Border where it consumes the best part of two (2) years.

And during our long campaign – each of our three main parties have at some point held the lead.

But if today’s polling is correct, the Liberals under Justin Trudeau appear to be pulling away from the pack and since time is running out – I am obliged to start taking the polling numbers more seriously.

In my plan to do this Blog later, I was going to recite the troublesome policies of the Liberals and the New Democrats (NDP) but with the latter Party in apparent free-fall, I have decided to just concentrate on the Libs.

So here is why I will not vote Trudeau / Liberal and am hoping that you will be inclined not to as well:

1.  Trudeau and his Party are about death – they support unrestricted abortion and euthanasia. In fact, Trudeau prides himself on being so open and that his Party is a ‘Big Tent’ – but no one is welcome in that Big Tent unless they support death over life.  

2.  On the foreign front – Trudeau does not want to fight ISIS – those Barbarians who behead men, rape and kill women, and bury babies alive. He’d rather send blankets to refugees hiding in the hills.

3.  Connected with this and like his father before him – he will let our military dwindle away.  If you do not mind ISIS freaks terrorizing the Middle East and think peace comes from the end of feather – he is your man.

4.  He is okay with extreme Muslim Women taking our Oath of Citizenship with her Niqab on.  I am strongly opposed that as per my very recent Blog.

5.  He does not want Islamic Terrorists to be stripped of their citizenships – presumably so they can trollop unfettered across the world all the while doing their worst.  Chretien took Conrad Black’s Citizenship away from him solely because Black wanted to become an English Lord.  I guess those who commit heinous crimes against humanity and treason to boot – get a pass from the young guy.

6.  The Guy loves deficits – again eerily similar to his father in the 1970s and 80s.  In fact he has pledged to have 3 of them right off the bat and if you believe those deficits will miraculously disappear in year 4 – I’d like to introduce you to fellow Grit – Kate ‘the spender’ Wynne who never met a deficit she did not like.  Plus both he and Wynne claim to worry about the negative affect our environment will supposedly have on our children – but do not seem to share the same concern when leaving these self same kids to face repayment of our ever growing and behemoth debt

7.  His support of oil and gas pipelines is tepid at best and if Harper – who is supportive – cannot get even one pipeline through in the 10 years he has been in office – guess how successful Trudeau is likely to be.

8.  When asked recently how much his Election Promises added up to – he had to confess that he did not know.  But I can tell you they add up to plenty.  There is no way in hell that he will be able to restrict his projected deficits to $10 Billion per year.  If the young lad gets in I look forward to reproducing this Blog on the 1 year anniversary of his election.

9.  He said he will make voting mandatory and I thought we lived in a democracy that valued freedom of action. I have never ever missed a vote in my life but I can tell you if this was to come about – yours truly would not be voting.  I would go to jail first.

10.  Related to 9. Trudeau wants to get rid of first past the post elections and is prepared to replace it with proportional representation which is just another word for the Leaders to install whomever they wish.  Margaret Atwood anyone.  This is not democratic.

11.  He wants carbon taxes implemented.  A tax by any other name and it will only serve to generate a steep rise in the cost of living for all – including his so called beloved middle.

12.  Like his mentor – Premier Wynne – he is in love with Green Energy even though it has destroyed Ontario’s economy. Once the proud engine of Canada – it is now wallowing in Provincial Have-not Status.  The recent Report by the renowned Fraser Institute sets out the facts in clear and unadulterated fashion.  Hopefully I will get the time to do a Blog on their Report before the 19th.

I could go on and on but the above are most of the highlights of what we can expect from this misguided individual.

Will it happen – that is to say will he get elected.

Quite possibly – many of you know my saying – Never Over Estimate The Intelligence Of The Electorate – as amply evidence by the 4 successive election victories of Ms. Wynne and her predecessor Dolton McGuinty.

Say a prayer.

As I see it…

‘K. D. Galagher’

       

The Eyes Have It …

 

Or Maybe Not.

Who would have thought that the lowly niqab would become such of an election issue that it could very well decide the outcome of October’s election.

Mulcair, who just recently was cleaning up in the Quebec Polls recently came out to defend the use of the Niqab during Citizenship ceremonies – this despite the fact that over 80% of Canadians generally and over 90 percent of Quebecer’s are opposed.

Either Mulcair is the most principled politician to ever come down the pipe or he is the dumbest.  You decide but since his courageous stance his polling numbers in the Belle Province have tumbled.

Even Young Trudeau claims to have no difficulty with Muslim Women wearing the veil during the service.

As some of you may know – I have a theory about the Hand of God directing events unexpectedly and it seems to me that this issue has the potential to fall under that category.  I often refer to the Battle of Gettsburg where the great Southern General – Robert E. Lee inexplicably threw victory away guaranteeing the eventual loss of the War by the South as an example of His Hand directing events.

But let’s get back to the Niqab itself and our Citizenship ceremony.

Initially and consistent with my Libertarian beliefs, I was inclined to think that this was a very minor issue – so let the dear woman expose her face in private to a female official and then move on to the actual ceremony itself where she could appear with her Niqab intact.

But then I got thinking about this more.

By permitting a Muslim Women wear the veil during the Citizenship Ceremony sends the wrong message not only to the woman herself but to the World at large.  Woman here have fought for over 100 years for equality and sadly, still have a little ways to to go.  For women coming here from male dominated societies that demand of they women hide their face – among many other discriminatory practices it would be most wrong for Canada to permit a woman to start her life as a Canadian citizen as a subservient being whether she is aware of that or not.

Hopefully taking the oath without the Niqab will at least plant the seed in her mind that we here in Canada do not expect her to import discriminatory practices from her former homeland.

But regardless of whether or not the seed takes root – it at least sends a very strong message to the world – especially to those male dominated countries that we here in Canada do things differently and respect the Human Rights of all of our Citizens both new and old.

I get the feeling that grumpy Mulcair and Young Trudeau are stuck in the original thought that it was no big deal – which does not speak very strongly for either of them becoming our Prime Minister.

As I see it‘

'K.D. Galagher’

Signs of Fall …

 

And it has nothing to do with the changing colour of the leaves.

Rather it is the Election Signs sprouting up in advance of October 19th’s Federal Election.

Like me, do you happen to notice that one Party’s signs are consistently being ripped out – ripped up or taken away?

And if so, you will of course know the signs targeted are those of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Liberal and NDP signs seem to go untouched.

Which is somewhat strange given how the Left is constantly berating the Right for being mean spirited when it is mean spirited itself to stalk in the night destroying Tory lawn signs. 

These petty vandals with hat sizes larger than their IQs really tick me off and I would love to see them caught out punished … but it never seems to happen even in this day of ubiquitous camera equipped cell phones.

And this from amongst the ranks of the left who view the Conservative’s quest for profit obscene not thinking for a minute that it is these self same profits that pay for their airy fairy, expensive schemes and as often their public salaries. 

I started putting up Tory Election signs before I even reached my teens and although I cannot honestly recall ever tearing down an opponent’s sign – though I may have covered the odd one up – I soon grew to know that it this activity was wrong and quite juvenile.

And yet nothing – absolutely nothing in the Press or other media to condemn this one-sided practice.

These signs are not only expensive they use up the valuable time of volunteers who spend hours putting them up and having to replace them because bozos.

Now I have a confession to make. 

A number of years ago I did intentionally take down a few strategically placed election signs.

The Liberal Candidate for our riding was a personal friend of mine and on election day I received a frantic call from his wife -

“How dare you … you have placed Tory election signs in close proximity to the voting polls.”

I knew exactly of which signs she spoke and told her that they were carefully placed ensuring that they did not infringe the election law – that is to say – they were beyond the required setback.

Nora was not satisfied – “technically maybe but morally you guys are reprehensible”.

“Okay Nora, I will take them down” and with that I got in my car and in broad day light took down the offensive signs all the time thinking would it not be funny to get caught by the cops taking down our own signs.

I did not get caught and often think back to that time … to bad the pin heads out there do not have similar memories to temper their actions.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

Move Over RCMP–Now It’s The OPP That…

 

Always Get Their Man !!

This week, the OPP laid charges against Sudbury Liberal Supporter – Gerry Lougheed - ostensibly because he offered a bribe to - then Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier - to drop out of the February 5th 2015 By-election in favour of a Queen’s Park anointed replacement.

Let you be the Judge as to whether or not they – the Ontario Provincial Police - have sufficient cause for their action:

In a telephone call recorded by Olivier, Lougheed said the following:

“We should have the broader discussion about what is it that you’d be most interested in doing and then decide what shape that could take whether it’s a full-time or a part-time job at a constituency office, whether it is appointments to boards or commissions, whether it is also going on the executive.”

Looks pretty conclusive to me – don’t you think.  They’ve got dear Mr. Lougheed ‘dead to rights’ !

But of course those quotes were not made by Gerry Lougheed – local Sudbury Grit – but rather by Wynne’s Deputy Chief of Staff – Patricia Sorbara.

Below is what Lougheed was actually caught on tape saying -

“The Premier wants to talk to you. We would like to present to you options in terms of appointments, jobs, whatever,” .

And I guess, by mere happenstance, shortly thereafter Premier Wynne did in fact call and speak with Olivier.  Quelle Surprise.

So why dear Reader was Lougheed charged by the OPP and Sorbara not?

Excellent question – could it be connected with the OPP’s Union …’forcefully’ .. so to speak – supporting Wynne during the last election?

Even Ontario’s Chief Electoral Office when referring both Sorbara and Lougheed to the police for investigation called their attempts at bribery “unprecedented”.

To conclude – the OPP certainly ‘Got Their Man’ in this case but just a certainly ‘Not Their Woman’ or more correctly – ‘Not Their Women’.

As I see it…

“K. D. Galagher’

Don’t Grow Old …

 

Since there’s no room in the Inn.

My Elderly Aunt – in her 92nd year – admonishes me ‘not grow old’ since she has found it to be not so much fun.

I tell my Aunt that I will do what I can to avoid it and we laugh.

But what many of you may not be aware of is the fact that when you do grow old and sick  – don’t count on Ms. Wynne or her Liberal Ontario Government to come to your rescue.  Hence the ‘no room in the Inn comment.  I guess they are just too busy jacking up Hydro Rates and building Windmills.

My Aunt was diagnosed many years ago with Alzheimer's disease but with modern drugs and although her short term memory is totally gone – she still recognizes and is able to communicate with my wife and me but that is all.

My Aunt lives in a Seniors’ Retirement Residence and for the privilege she pays nearly $6,000 per month.

About a year ago, it became obvious to us that her health needs were no longer being met by the Residence despite its horrendous cost so we placed her on the Province’s list for a Nursing Home via the Province’s Watch Dog - CCAC. 

Nursing Homes not only are a third of the cost of a Retirement Residence they also are equipped with more staff and the ability to provide greater care to folks like my Aunt.  The only problem, it is virtually impossible to gain admission to one.

In my Aunt’s case, in addition to her long time Alzheimer's diagnoses she has become so frail that she no longer participates in any of the the activities of life – she does not participate in any of the Home’s activities, she neither reads or watch television.  She told me recently that she just “cannot understand what is being said”.  This is partly due to her poor hearing and of course to her Alzheimer’s.

But dear Reader – if you can imagine – it gets worse.

For the last month or so my Aunt has even stopped eating or drinking for the most part.  You could always count on Aunt Joyce to wolf down a dish of ice-cream but even that decadence has been lost to her.

And more recently my Aunt has been complaining of great discomfort and pain. This has been met by the staff and residence’s doctor more or less with indifference more out of not being able to do much for her than neglect.

Given this, my wife and I decided to have her admitted to a local hospital’s emergency ward this past Saturday to see what was going on.

The Parameds who came for her – made it clear that they thought my wife and I were wasting everyone’s time.  I suspect they have heard the message from on high (i.e. Ms Wynne and company) ‘don’t clog the system with the elderly’.  We met with a similar reaction from the Emergency personnel.

We told them that we really did not care what they thought – our Aunt was in great pain and discomfort and we wanted to know why.

We spend nearly 10 hours with her – through many tests and finally the results came in confirming that my Aunt was suffering from heart difficulties and was experiencing minor heart attacks.

Attitudes of the hospital staff changed for the better.

Her hospital doctor recommended that my Aunt be admitted to a Nursing Home ASAP and I told her that I would get on the phone this past Monday to let CCAC know about the deterioration in my Aunt’s health.

Monday came and I called – I advised the nice woman on call about my Aunt’s health deterioration and although she sympathized with me – she made if very clear that the dramatic deterioration in my Aunt’s health meant nothing insofar-as gaining access to a Nursing Home Bed.

Not only that, she advised me that my Aunt’s place on the Nursing Home Waiting list had actually gone down.

I was astounded to some extent albeit my wife Anne works in the Seniors’ Home Care Health field and the horror stories she tells me about the sad condition of our Province’s health care would truly frighten you even more than my Aunt’s case.

So thank you Ms. Wynne – the next time you hear her or one of her entourage brag about the great state of Ontario’s health care – think of my Aunt and 1,000s like her here in Ottawa who are so sick and suffering and yet shut out from proper care.

I don’t think it is too much of an exaggeration to say that our Provincial Liberal Government not only wants the elderly to die awaiting proper care – but is also actively helping that to come about sooner than necessary.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

They Treat Hardened Criminals With …

 

More Respect.

The ‘They’ in this case are the Airlines.

Take this past Thursday for instance:

But let me begin first by saying I hate flying- not out of fear – but about how one is treated …like criminals – like cattle.  I do not think I need to convince you of that but I now have an even greater example of this lack of respect and inhumane treatment.

Thursday past, at noon, I flew from Sarasota Florida to Chicago on route to Ottawa.  I got to Chicago at 1:30 pm central time and was scheduled for a flight out at 5 p.m. so I had lots of time to make my connection.

The Big Board said my flight was ‘on time’.

Great I thought – I would be in Ottawa by early evening.

But then the slippage started.  The Big Board, in hourly increments, set back departure timing claiming the delays on “awaiting an aircraft”.

After several of these hourly add on’s I was beginning to think that ‘They’ – in this case ‘United Airlines’, had more than enough time to drive the damn plane to our Gate.

At around 5 pm, with our departure now scheduled for 9 pm – the O’hare Airport was hit with a thunder and lightning storm – it was quite a display and went on for the best part of … one half hour - giving ‘Them’ another excuse – “weather” now added to “await aircraft” as reasons for the continuing delay.

We remained positive throughout given that we were still scheduled to fly out – albeit much later than we had planned.

At 10 pm a plane rolled up to our gate and it soon became common knowledge that yes indeed it was our long awaited – lost?- bird.  Problem though – it came without crew, but not to worry an announcement over the speaker indicated that a replacement crew was on route from Dallas Texas.

11 pm still no sign of the awaited crew so time of departure was once again set back … this time to midnight.

Midnight came and with it - our hopes were finally dashed – the flight “was cancelled”.  Throughout we had no personal contact from Airline staff and were offered not so much as a bottle of h2o.

A voice over encouraged us to head to ‘Their’ Customer Service Desk – so off we rushed where we found an existing line-up of more than an hour – our group added a second. I could still count so I figured it would take until 2 am before I got to speak with a live person. 

I then noticed a sign which offered help via ‘Their’ 1-800 number which I quickly dialled.

A nice ‘Lady’ answered and she advised me that ‘Their’ computer had already rearranged for my return to Ottawa by 1:30 pm – problem being – for Saturday and as you will recall, we were now in the early hours of Friday morning.

Not to worry ‘Nice Lady’ said – “we can do better” – a 6:15 am flight out of Chicago that very morning bound for Baltimore – then to Newark and finally to Ottawa.  In desperation I said I would take it.

All the while – we most unfortunate passengers were offered zilch – no meals, no drinks, no hotel, no compensation – zippo.

I was though offered a COT.

And with that Dear Reader the real fun began.

I had to walk miles to reach the COT Encampment – which when found consisted of hundreds of COTS – each about 6 inches shorter than my height.

It gets worse.

The COT area was lit up like the 4th of July.

And not only that – Public Service Announcements carried on – every 5 minutes; No Smoking, No Restricted Items Thru Security … and so on.

These announcements shook the Room.

My mind thought back to the movies where Spies were subjected to Sleep Depravation in an attempt to get them to break.  Our COT Area had been reduced to that.

It was now 1 am and I was given a blanket – thread thin with a pillow – 6 inches by 6 inches.  The former was problematic since the COT Room was kept at subarctic temperatures.   The latter was of little use.

So let’s recap – Flood Lights, Constant Noise, A COT too small, a blanket too thin – nighty night to one and all.

But Dear Reader there is more.

These 100’s of COTs were placed end to end – side by side – so that you were quite literally sleeping with the guy or girl next to you.

I remedied this somewhat by finding a COT Space – beside an aisle so I only had a COT beside me, above and below me.  I felt pretty smug.  That would soon disappear since the Aisle refuge turned out to be an artery to the main Bathrooms.

All night long; well really ‘not all night’ as I will  explain shortly – a constant stream of humanity passed by me on their way to and from the toilets. It felt like Time Square.

It was also like a gulag with some pretty strange characters cruising about.

To finish my inmate analysis – special security personnel, dressed in what would easily pass for jail guard uniforms – stalked the Halls of COT Area continuously.  They looked upon us as the enemy and we considered them … well like jail guards.

But the final insult was yet to come – at 4 am it as UP and At’em – Rise and Shine – and the Jailers did not take no for an answer.

COTS were literally pulled out from under tardy risers and that included the infirm as well as the healthy.

If you are counting – that is 3 hours sleep – bearing in mind of course that no one in their right mind could have slept in that din anyway.

Finally, I was given a tooth brush and tooth paste on my was out – the brush was less than 3 inches long and the tooth paste … well you get the idea.  I guess ‘They’ were afraid we would carve a larger one into some type of a weapon.

So no – I don’t like flying.  Maybe next time I will ask for a nice comfortable jail cell – Inmates have it better.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’