BILLY GRAHAM

Is being laid to rest today.

A child asked his son and successor, Franklin, if it was true that his father was dead, he replied "no, his father had simply changed his address".

My wife Anne and I were fortunate to see Billy Graham in person several years ago at one of his 'revivals' in our home city of Ottawa. 

As an aside, we were also privileged to see Mother Theresa in person and why I combine the two is that both were the leading icons for God and Religion over the course of the last half century and more.

Graham spoke from the heart or should I say 'soul'.  He was one of the good evangelists who was not out for glory or money but to save as many souls as he possibly could.  And boy did he save souls.

I saw a cartoon the other day of Billy Graham meeting Saint Peter at the Gates of Heaven where Peter said to him, since your preaching began we have had to open up a lot more spaces here.

He walked with Kings and Presidents and yet was comfortable with the common man and they with him.

Canada has a claim to Graham's success via George Beverly Shea even though Shea was known throughout as America's Best Gospel Singer.  He was arguably the closet person to Graham other than for Graham's wife and was born some 25 miles south of Ottawa in the small town of Winchester.

With Religion under attack it is unlikely we will soon see the like of Billy Graham any time soon even though the need for such is greater than ever.

You served us well Mr. Graham, enjoy your new digs.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

TRUMP ON GUNS & ROADS

THESE TWO IMPORTANT ISSUES ARE IN THE NEWS OF LATE AND THANKS TO THE DONALD'S TWEETING WE KNOW HIS THINKING ON BOTH ...at least at the time of his respective tweet:

Let's address the lesser emotional one first...Infrastructure.

One of President Trump`s election promises was to spend great wads of money to restore America`s worn out infrastructure.  As far as election promises are concerned this was a good one since quite frankly the roads, bridges and sewers and such, are desperately in need of upgrading.   

But as I have pointed out in the past, his promise was Dead on Arrival simply because the Federal Government is flat busted broke.  It`s Debt is larger than the annual GDP and sadly it continues to grow at a rate far exceeding inflation.

So Trump`s recent tweet that there will be Infrastructure if necessary but not necessarily Infrastructure, came as no surprise.  In making this statement he turned the matter over to Congress ...where it rightly belongs but he also said that any Federal contribution to renewed infrastructure spending would pale in comparison to what he expects the States and Private Sector to pony up.

I knew from the outset, that he would wiggle out from under this election promise and all things considered, I believe he did a good job of getting out of it.

The second issue is Gun Control in the wake of the mass shooting of students and teachers in Parkland Florida.

President Trump has a real opportunity to reduce the chance of future such mass killings even though, by doing so, he will upset a core Republican Philosophy i.e. that the Second Amendment is sacrosanct.   But Trump is in a unique situation since is not per se a Republican... the constituency he has carved out for himself is his and his alone.  Plus he should be able to count on Democratic Support since this is one of the pet policy. 

He has indicated that he will promote changes to gun procurement including raising the qualifying age, greater scrutiny of prospective buyers and a longer waiting period.  All good, but really do nothing substantive to ensure the likelihood of future such tragedies are significantly diminished.

The one thing that would make a difference is if Trump came strongly out against Assault Rifles...that would really make a difference.  But the likelihood of him doing so a slim to none. 

So on the issue of Gun Control he is partially correct but it will be seen a mere window dressing.  More problematic for Trump and the Republicans is that it will reduce their chances for electoral victory come this November.

As I see  it...

K.D. Galagher

AND THE WINNER IS....

OF ONTARIO'S PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP ..THAT IS.

AS WELL AS THE NEXT PREMIER OF THE PROVINCE...

Well first let's review the 5 candidates and a motley crew it is:

Patrick the recent leader Brown; Tanya the 1 issue Granic-Allen; Caroline the famous daughter Mulroney; Doug the less famous brother Ford; and finally, Christine two-time loser Elliott.

In that order then:

Brown - he should not have resigned as leader, he should not have entered this race and for his stupidity he will finish dead last..assuming current reports of him dropping out are not true.

Granic-Allen - surprisingly, has the best chance of winning it all if her social conservative followers voted for her enmasse.  It will not happen though since she is an unknown and has not had the time needed to effectively mobilize her base.  For her then, 4th place.

Mulroney - big name, no experience as was evident in the debates.  Third for her, but if she gets elected in the upcoming General Election and hangs in there, she may earn serious consideration next time.

Ford - the only conservative in the race, will come in second, for that reason alone.  And the winner is...

Elliott - it is a case of third time lucky for Christine.  A compromise candidate, in every respite, who will go on to defeat the worst Government in the History of Ontario. 

Sadly for the Conservatives the Big Guns never materialized which is most puzzling given that the winner of the March 10 Leadership Race will go on to be the Premier of the Province.

Could it be that after 14 years of Liberal ( read Progressive) Rule the state of the province is so bad that no one in their right mind would want the job of trying to restore it to its once vaulted place.

As I see it...

K.D. Galagher

IN THE NEWS....in both Canada and the United States.

FIRST...Another day, another mass school shooting.  This time in South Florida.   I have a novel idea ...ban guns!

SECOND...President Donald Trump yesterday stated that it would be up to Congress to consider the issue of infrastructure renewal.  He made clear though his personal ambivalence with his following statement:  'if they allocate money to it...that's fine...if they decide not to do that...that's fine too'.  As many of you know, I never took seriously Trump's promise to pump multi federal dollars into Infrastructure.  The cold hard fact is ...the United States of America is dead broke.

THIRD...Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and his Justice Minister who is of native blood, have vowed to reform the Justice System in the wake of a Jury verdict which found a farmer not guilty of murdering a young native indian.  Why not just dispense with the Jury System and deem the defendant guilty whenever the 'victim' is from a minority community.

FOURTH...Ontario's Conservative Party finds itself in a Leadership Race mere months from a general election.  Despite the fact that the Party has a massive lead over its opponents, there is a paucity of candidates...only 3 and none particularly stellar.  This could be the result of 14+ years of Liberal / Progressive rule which has literally destroyed the province's economy...once the engine of the country, Ontario is now a have-not province relying upon the generosity of its sister provinces to pay its bills.  I believe the winner will be Ms Caroline Mulroney, daughter of one of Canada's Prime Ministers, with that being her only claim to the brass ring.  As with our current Prime Minister, nice hair and nice teeth are more important than experience and earning your stripes.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

WHERE HAVE ALL THE TORIES GONE ...

LONG TIME PASSING ?

I AM THE FIRST TO BEMOAN THE FACT THAT THERE ARE LESS AND LESS SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES IN THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENTS AROUND THE WORLD AND EACH YEAR IT SEEMS THOSE OF US THAT REMAIN, ARE PAID LESS AND LESS ATTENTION TOO.

THEN I GOT TO THINKING...

THERE IS ALSO LESS AND LESS FISCAL CONSERVATIVES AS WELL.  WHAT WE HAVE ENDED UP WITH ARE VARIOUS SHADES OF LIBERALISM (aka PROGRESSIVES).   

In Canada, we had a Prime Minister in the 1950s who was fond of saying that the only protection a Conservative had "was under the game laws". 

I am not sure that even that applies any more!

Let me be clear, when I say Fiscal Conservative I am defining those who favour the smallest government possible, and one that pays its own way without going into debt.

Over the course of the last 50 years, governments of all stripes have added greatly to its Growth while Debt & Deficits have become the norm. Why the United States Debt exceeds its annual GDP while Japan is in even worst shape with its Debt totaling 250% of its GDP.

We are heading for a reckoning ....it may not happen today or even tomorrow but you can rest assured it is coming.

In this vain, a few days ago, US Senator Rand Paul made an impassioned plea for common sense in the debate to pass a 2 year budget extension for the Federal Government.  Estimates suggest that this Budget will add at least an additional $3 Trillion Dollars to the already $21 Trillion Dollar Debt.  If those sums do not appear scary it is only because of its enormity.

Back in 2009 in Senator Paul's own words he said, 'a $Trillion Dollars, stacked in $100 Dollar Bills, would extend 789 miles into the sky'.  Today, multiply that by 21 Trillion Dollars....realizing that this number continues to grow exponentially.  

Senator Paul's plea did not change the debate ...the budget was approved by all sides, but it also did not go unnoticed. 

Here is some of what he had to say:

SEN. RAND PAUL: When the Democrats are in power, Republicans appear to be the conservative party. But when Republicans are in power, it seems there is no conservative party.

You see, opposition seems to bring people together, and they know what they're not for. But then they get in power and they decide, we're just going to spend that money too. We're going to send that money to our friends this time.

The hypocrisy hangs in the air and chokes anyone with a sense of decency or intellectual honesty.

The right cries out, 'Our military is hollowed out!' Even though military spending more than doubled since 2001.

The left is no better. Democrats don't oppose military money as long as they can get some for themselves... for their pet causes.

The dirty little secret is that, by and large, both parties don't care about the debt.

The spending bill is 700 pages, and there will be no amendments.

The debate, although it's somewhat inside baseball that we're having here, is over me having a 15-minute debate. And they say, 'Woe is me! If you get one, everybody will want an amendment.'

Well, that would be called debate.

That would be called an open process.

That would be called concern for your country, enough to take a few minutes.

And they're like, 'But it's Thursday, and we like to be on vacation on Fridays.'

And so they clamor. We've been sitting around all day. It's not like we've had 100 amendments today, we're all worn out and can't do one more. We're going to have zero amendments. Zero, goose egg, no amendments.

It's a binary choice. They love that word, it's a binary choice.

Take it or leave it. You know what? I'm going to leave it. I didn't come up here for this. I didn't leave my family throughout the week and travel up here to be a part of something that is so much inertia, and so much status quo, that they're not leading the country. They're just following along, and it's a big ball rolling down a hill grabbing up your dollars as the boulder rolls down the hill, it gets bigger and bigger, it's going to crush us.

But nobody has the guts to stand up and say no.

Over the past 40 years, only four times have we actually done 12 individual department of government appropriations bills. You've heard of like the Appropriation Committee? This is where the spending is. You have the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, Health and Human services.

We're supposed to pass each individual bill, and what would happen when we pass the bills, they would go through committee and each committee would look and see, well, this spending seems to be working. We're getting a great result, and we want some more next year. And this spending appears to be, have been put in a closet and lit on fire, and so next year we're not giving that person who put the $10 million in the closet and lit it on fire, we're not going to give them any money.

Guess what? That doesn't happen. So people keep putting your money in a closet and lighting it on fire.

God Bless Rand Paul.  It is just too damn bad that those like him are so few these days.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

WHO DOESN'T LIKE A PARADE !

Well I certainly do...especially if it is a Santa Claus Parade.

Way back, in one of my earliest Blogs, I mentioned being in one cross-starred  Santa Parade in my home town of Brighton where the wind was so strong that day it blew every float away save the sturdy Santa Float.

The parade consisted of that one float plus a station wagon which provided the only music...Gene Autry's Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with yours truly winding the gramophone and its 78 rpm record.  

So it probably comes as no surprise that upon Donald Trump's return from Paris earlier this year where he witnessed its annual Bastille Day Military Parade, he started planning one of his own.  

A Parade with marching bands, armed forces personnel and tanks.

After all, what is a parade if it does not contain tanks and hopefully a bucket load of nuclear rockets thrown in.

I am sure that you, like me, this brings to mind such worthy defenders of Democracy as Vladd Putin, Xi Jinping and North Korea's Yong-un and their impressive military shows of power and might. 

Not to leave out a plethora of petty dictators and tyrants that circumnavigate the world.  And their need for such displays has more to do with scaring the bejeepers out of their countrymen to ensure none of them have the temerity to challenge their enlightened rules.

And we know of course that this would never be Donald Trump's goal... why he is only out to have a nice sunny 4th of July and enjoy America's delicacy... the Hot Dog.

At least I hope that this is the intended goal for his parade.

But maybe...just maybe there is something else at play here.

Maybe it has something to do with xxxxx envy as was evident recently when the Yong-un bragged about the seize of his Nuclear Button to which Trump quite rightly responded that his Nuclear Button is much Bigger and in fact can kill more than any other country in the world. 

Not though in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt and encompassed in his oft repeated quote,  'walk softly but carry a big stick'.

From the beginning of Donald Trump's Administration there were several areas where I had reservations about the direction they might be going.  One of those and one of the most important was his reliance upon elderly male Generals.  Indeed his top 3 Advisors all fall into this category.

As a Libertarian, I do not trust Big Government including Big Military especially a Military which is not held in proper civilian check. 

I have written about the Cuban Missile Crisis where had it not been for President Kennedy and to a lesser extent his brother Bobbie, the world would have likely experienced its first nuclear war.  The Joint Chiefs wanted to go into Cuba with guns blazing but thankfully neither Kennedy trusted the Chiefs all that much and devised a less confrontational response, namely, a naval blockade.

I say thankfully since post crisis, America discovered that the Russian Troops on the ground had been instructed from Moscow to respond to any attack, with nuclear missiles.

So have a parade and enjoy your hot dog President Trump and leave the scare tactics to those leaders who are insecure enough to  need them. 

THE NUNES MEMO

This past Friday saw the long-awaited release of the above-noted memo.  

It was light on specifics but the following are the facts I was able to glean from it:

1. In October of 2016 at the height of the bitter Election Campaign between Republican Trump and Democratic Clinton, the FBI and the Department of Justice applied to the Courts for a warrant to allow surveillance of one of Trump's campaign workers...Carter Page.
2. This same Carter Page had been the subject of their investigations prior to the time that Donald Trump came onto the scene.
3. Key information, without which, it is agreed by all, the Judge would not have allowed the issuance of the Warrant was supplied by Hillary Clinton's Campaign and by the Democratic Party at great expense ($) to them both. 
4. All of this Information in due course turned out to be false.
5. It was obtained by Clinton et al from the Russians through an intermediary by the name of ChristopherSteele ...a self professed 'Trump Hater'.  
6. Finally, the application to the Court did not expose the fact that Hillary / Her Party were the principals involved in obtaining this data, but it did allow that it had come from a 'political rival of Trump. 

Trump claims that the Nunes' Memo 'completely vindicates him'.  It does not, but in truth does not matter since he never needed vindication...there has never been any evidence tying him to Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 Election.

The Democrats on the other-hand  say 'there is nothing there ...move on'.

'Nothing there?'  Other than the fact that it confirms both the FBI and DOJ were fully aware of the fact that it was Hillary and her Campaign who were playing footsies with the Ruskies in advance of Election Day.

So in the post Election period is it not the height of hypocrisy for Hillary to blame the Russians and their ties to the Trump Campaign as one of the major reasons for her election loss?  The woman has no shame. 

And how is it that the Meuller Special Prosecutory  Commission was allowed to form to investigate the non-existent Trump - Russia connection when these senior FBI / DOJ officials knew all along that the real culprit in this sorry mix was Dear Hillary?

Talk about being in the bag for one candidate over the other.

Long time readers will know that I jokingly say that you can be sure a politician is lying as soon as their lips start to move.  Sadly this is more often true than not.

But at least you get an opportunity every 4 years to vote the most notorious out of office.

What can you do though in the case of faceless senior enforcement officers who try to influence the outcome of our democratic elections.

More on that another time.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'