CALL IN THE ROBOCOPS

 

To Catch the RoboCallers.

Galagher – ‘tell us what you really think about this Robocaller nonsense’.

I do think in many respects that it is just nonsense – I call it a prank albeit a serious one that sadly needs to be dealt with.

I say nonsense due to the fact that we in this country have many truly serious issues to deal with – as do all other countries but it never seems to fail, we continually get distracted by the minutiae.

In that respect, I would give Robocalling a 1 in the scheme of things in contrast to the 10s I would allocate to our debt situation, the aging of the Boomers, the green energy fiasco, the desperate need for cheap energy on so on.

I blame the opposition parties for once again making an issue out of nothing.  I guess it is easier for them to deal with trivial matters.  The problem with that though is we all suffer in that it takes away from the truly important issues.  We have seen it time and again – regardless of which party is in power.  As voters and as citizens we should all be appalled.

That said, I still believe the Robo Issue needs to be addressed now that it has become a matter of public concern.  In democracies we need to be fully assured that our system is free from manipulation, even of the prankster variety.

I’d make it Elections Canada problem to deal with – that is what they are there for.  If their investigation determines that their is sufficient truth to the opposition complaints – then call in the Mounties to do a full scale criminal investigation.

To waste everyone’s time with the expense of time and money on a Commission of Inquiry is stupidity in the extreme.

Further, Elections Canada is now on notice that this type of thing may be happening so they should get into the modern age and come equipped to deal with these types of complaints at future elections.

Two can play at Robocalling – the Robocaller and the Robocop.

Harper and company have taken the approach I have recommended above and for that they should be given the benefit of the doubt.  If Elections Canada does investigate and finds that his party or any other party for that matter, is officially involved – they will have some serous explaining to do and hopefully some serious fines to pay.

All this though reminds me of times past when local parties of all stripes engaged in some very questionable activities come election time.

Booze was the biggest culprit and not in the sense of having consumed too much but that was indeed a problem.  It was handed out like water to prospective voters in the hopes of securing votes for their candidate.  When I was a young conservative the going rate was a mickey per vote.

The locals were also quite adept at ‘reverse canvasses’  - this would take place when the other parties went around delivering pamphlets to the various door steps and putting up their signs – these guys and gals were followed at a safe distance by a competing team who deftly went about their business gathering up these self same pamphlets and taking down those self same signs.

Everyone grumbled about it but no one lodged a complaint because these nefarious activities were universal.

And the stories – one in particular comes to mind:

This chap and his wife each voted for another party. Come election day, the husband asked his wife to go down into the root cellar to fetch something.  As soon as she got off the latter – the husband shut and locked the door and left her there all day until the polls closed.  I forget whether or not their marriage survived but it likely did given that there was less divorce back then. They certainly became legend.

I must confess that I did something along those similar lines.

On one Election Night I received a call from a voter who said he would go and cast his vote for the Tory –only if I drove him to the poll.  A vote is a vote so off I went.

When I got there he introduced me to his new common law wife.  My mind quickly went into overdrive.  ‘Would you like to come and vote too” I enquired.  She responded by saying her hair “was a mess” but I persisted and she finally agreed to go with us.

It was at this point, while putting on her coat, that she admitted she would be voting for another party and would therefore “be cancelling out her husband’s vote”.  I was sick – here I came all this way to realize a vote for the good guys and now I would be taking along a voter who would only neutralize it.

My mind swung again into overdrive.  “Perhaps your hair is a bit of a mess” I proffered, “you would not want to go out not looking your best”.

She readily agreed – the day was saved, or should I say vote.

Looking back to those days, I have to wonder if we’d have used Robocalling too, had it been available to us?

It would have been wrong to do then – it is wrong to do today, but in the scheme of things there are far more important things our Elected Officials need put their minds to.  Leave Elections to Elections Canada.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

I Feel Betrayed....

Dalton McGuinty told me so and now I find out from Don Drummond that it was all a lie.

I would have been inclined to think Drummond was the liar, except for the fact that McGuinty now says Drummond is the one telling the truth. Imagine.

What a fool I've been.

A little history.

Readers will know that prior to the last Ontario Election I was an outspoken critic of our Premier - the Rt Hon. Dalton McGuinty. It will therefore come as no surprise that I did not cast my ballot for his candidate in my local Riding.

Once the Election was over however, and he was returned to power , I accepted my fate and indeed conceded that the Electorate At Large - EAL - knew better than me and therefore I turned my thinking around 180 degrees. McGuinty had been correct all along.

When he said, as he did in the many months leading up to the last Election, that Ontario never had it so good - post Election, I realized that the man knew of which he spoke. When he said manufacturing was booming in this Province, that new jobs were being created all over the place - the guy had to be right and I had mistakenly voted against him.

When he told us Green was good - that it not only saved the environment - but created 000's of new jobs - post election, I was now on side. The People had spoken and who was I to go against the grain.

Hydro rates too high - it was all nonsense.

Ontario's new Have-not Status was good for us since it provided us with Transfer Payments from the Feds for the first time in our long and distinguished history as a Province.

I could go on and on - but you are smart readers and will by now have gotten the drift. I was wrong to have suggested Dalton was lying - oh sorry - misleading us - he was right and I was wrong and the EAL could not - nay would not be fooled and saw the Premier for the upstanding gentleman that he was.

I say 'was' because again - that was then and this is now. With the Drummond Report - commissioned by the Premier and accepted as fact by the self same Premier - we now find out that I was right in my Pre-Election Suspicions all along.

Simply stated - the Province of Ontario is falling apart economically.

Unemployment is up - manufacturing jobs are becoming as scarce as hens' teeth. The Debt / Deficit is running out of control.

Indeed stats show that Ontario's financial situation is worse than California's a State that is considered for all intents and purposes as bankrupt. And not only that -our total debt is about $250 billion - just slightly less than Greece and yet our populations are similar. We are quickly becoming the Greece of North America.

I can feel some smirks out there - "exaggeration" I can hear some of you saying - but we'll not have long to wait to see how much of an exaggeration it is. The Ontario Budget will start to set the course to a leaner, meaner Province. And the Budget after that and the one after that will continue full speed down that road to solvency.

But just think, had Dalton and company started on this conversion earlier - say in his first term - how much less pain there would be.

I think some believe that I want to see Ontarians / Canadians lose their benefits but, in fact, the reverse is true. I want to see us all hold on to as many benefits and entitlements as possible, realizing that in order to achieve this - some restraint is needed on the part of each and every one of us. The longer it takes to seriously address our fiscal imbalance, the greater the loss of these benefits and privileges will be.

Dalton McGunity and his cohort have fiddle away years in delaying action but more sadly, they have gone off on expensive tangents - such as his Green Energy Program which has made our Debt Situation even bleaker, all the while encouraging business to move elsewhere to escape dramatically rising energy costs.

So I feel betrayed - but not surprises.

As I see it...

'K. D. Bell'

Big Meeting Tonight....

Your Local Council has called an important meeting for this evening, beginning at 6 p.m.

We now flash ahead to the meeting:

The Mayor opens with some well chosen innocuous words guaranteed to offend neither the religious nor atheistic. God, like the Queen, makes no appearance in the blessing.

Council is then invited to deal initially with some minor administrative matters:

First - the 8% increase in transit fares. Passes unanimously.

Then, the 6 % increase in the cost of garbage collection. Again all vote in favour.

Next the 10% jump in the cost of city sports registration. This on top of the 9% increase the previous year. Again, it meets no objection.

Water and Sewer increases are successfully dealt with next - a big 11% jump due the "high cost of replacing worn out pipes".

Then it is on to increased costs for building permits, parking fines and the like.

Indeed, there seems to be no end to the need for various fee and permit increases.

By 9 p.m. Council reaches the main agenda item for the night's meeting - passing the coming year's Budget. The Mayor tables the Budget and notes with great pleasure the fact that it will hold the line at a 2.5 % increase, promised at the last election.

Council applauds and gives the Mayor a standing ovation. They then quickly resume their seats to vote unanimously on the Budget's adoption.

All then retire to a special reception put on specifically to celebrate the Budget victory. No expense is spared on these festivities.

At one point, the Mayor breaks away for a brief media Scrum.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media I am pleased to advise that this Council has once again proven itself a good steward of public funds - we promised in the last election that we would hold spending at no more than 2.5 % and that is exactly what we have done. You can be proud of your elected officials."

And then it was back to the Soiree - the cost of which was only 14.5% higher than last year.

As I see it...

'K.D. Bell"

It's Deja Vu ... All Over Again

Harper is in full retreat on his promise to raise the age for Old Age Security from 65 to 67.

In that respect, it reminds one of Mulroney's retreat on attempting to de-index this self same pension in 1985.

Another example of government not being run like a business.

A Radio Commentator said today that the real issue here was not the saving of money, but rather, it was all about when should we retire. Not surprisingly, given that the radio host was well into his 70s, he believed people should work as long as possible and most certainly should not be retiring in their 50s or early to mid 60s.

I do not agree. Rather I think retirement is a personal decision and if you like what you do, and are able to do what you do, then work to 100 if you want. But for the vast majority of us, having worked 35+ years, I believe we have fully earned retirement. Life is too short to continue work, just for the sake of working and for continuing to pay into the government coffers.

I also disagree with him stating that the real issue here revolves around when to retire. It is part of the issue facing western societies - but only part.

Many of you will no doubt have heard the python and the pig analogy whereby the python is Sate Spending and the pig is the mass of us Boomers heading down to our eventual demise.

We all have seen the stats - Boomers will triple the ranks of Seniors, before the end of their time, while less and less workers will be out there working to provide for them.

Even while we worked in great numbers and paid high taxes, ui, cpp etc., States still managed to rack up astounding debt and deficits. These liabilities are so high that our children and grandchildren will be left after we're dead, paying our bills.

The overriding issue then is Government Expenditure - it cannot be sustained at current levels. But more to the point, it cannot rise in unison with the spectacular rise in the number of 65+ Boomers. Health care currently represents nearly half of government expenditure and is increasing at the rate of 6% a year. And don't forget a significant portion of that 50% is borrowed. And just think how much of an increase will be needed by the aging boomers as their health deteriorates over time. If left unchecked, governments will be paying everything and more they can get their hands on, just to pay for our health care.

And then you have the pensions - cpp, oas, gains, disability etc - they too will skyrocket.

Now back to Harper's backtrack.

So if 67 is too high - what is the correct number; 65, 63, 59?

Again I believe if a person has worked 35+ years, he or she has done their bit and are entitled to retirement. If they can afford to retire younger or if they wish to work well beyond that timeframe - more power to them.

I have been retired now for several years after having worked over 35 years and I tell people that retirement is the best job I ever had.

So if we are to preserve a well earned retirement, we'll have to consider all government expenditure, as a whole, and determine what we can live without. This, in the end, will result in severe and deep cuts. But without them, the roof will indeed fall in on all our respective heads. One need look no further than what is currently happening in Europe and bear in mind that their Boomers are the same age as ours so things will likely only get worse for them too. Do we have the stomach to do what is needed? Not likely.

And in this respect, the antics of the NDP and Liberals this week are simply deplorable. I am not surprised by the NDP stance since their thinking is so far out and off putting, but I had hoped better for the Liberals. This Party is claiming renewal - they will do things differently - they will be responsible and so on - but in the end, it is the same old thing. Rae and Co. know full well that the status quo in government spending is not sustainable - so what do they do - they scare the hell out of our seniors the first time the Government attempts to start to get our finances in order. (i.e. Harper made it quite clear that current Seniors and near Seniors would not be affected by the age amendment).

This was totally irresponsible and does not bode well for future attempts by any Government to do what needs to be done.

As I see it...

'K.D. Bell" p.s. that's it for a while, I am working on a book about investing - well sort of a book on investing, and that among many other things is taking up much of my time of late. KDB

I Have Been Wrong Before...

And Will No Doubt Be Wrong Again.

And speaking of being wrong, I think I may have blown it in an earlier Blog when I dissed the Wall Street Sit-ins.

I labelled them ne'er do wells who would have no effect on the American psyche.

I still think of them as ne'er do wells, but I must admit, they have had an affect on average American thinking. Possibly an affect even greater than that of the Tea Partyers.

For me, this is a major admission.

But dear reader, as many of you can guess, I do not view their supposed "affect" to be a good thing - quite the opposite.

It all starts with Obama and ends with Romney. Obama came into the Presidential Race of 2008 promising to do politics differently; he was going to seek out consensus - work with all americans and consider the views of Democrats and Republicans alike. His new way of doing politics lasted right up until inauguration day in January of 2009.

From then on - he was always right and anyone who dared oppose him, wrong. It was always someone else's fault - George W. Bush, (or anyone having a kind word for Geo. W.), the Bankers, the Car Manufacturers, Big Business generally, the Republicans, the Tea Partyers etc., all became targets of his pettiness and mean-spiritedness. So much for politics anew.

By the time of the 2010 Congressional Elections - Obama's blame the other guy approach was wearing thin and the Republicans advanced mightily.

But then came the Wall Street Occupiers and their dumb campaign to blame the richest 1% for all that ails America.

You know their line - this 1% admittedly controls lots of America's riches but they fail to point out that the 1% also pays the lion's share of the nation's taxes. But the Wall Street Occupiers are never ones to let a fact like that get in their way.

And they will not be happy until everyone is the same boat economically. This, despite the fact that Marx and Engels, tried to do that on a large scale and failed miserably. Plus even under communism - there were the haves and have nots - the Communist Elite fitting nicely into the first grouping.

And don't forget the Iron Lady's warning that Socialism is a great system until the folks run out of other people's money to spend.

Simply stated, the problem with the Occupiers' theory comes down to a number and that number is their own - 1%. There just are not enough rich to satisfy the remainder.

But boy, did this way of thinking come just at the right time for dear old Obama. His 'blame the other guy' having apparently lived out its usefulness, was granted new life; he now had an even better target - the rich one per centers. And he has been using it most effectively as his rise in the polls can attest. Props, like Warren Buffet and his Secretary are frequently paraded out to bring home the message that the rich are not paying their fair share and the remaining 99% are suffering miserably for it. And maybe the 1% is not paying its full share in taxes but presumably those in the 70/80/90 per centiles are not paying their fair share either.

What is known of course, is that nearly 50 % of Americans pay no tax at all and most of that number are in receipt of government payments of one type or another.

What also is known, is that the American debt stands at over $15 Trillion Dollars - a sum too large even to imagine.

And a sum so large that taking even all of their income will do little to reduce that Debt.

What is needed, is a combination of income tax increases along with significant reductions in government spending. Obama has no appetite for the latter and thus focuses exclusively on increasing the taxation on the richest of the rich, a slight of hand trick that could get him back in the White House for a second term. And he has the Wall Street Occupiers to thank for this.

And then there is Romney. In recent debates he is being castigated for being a 1 %er, a money grubbing capitalist. Imagine? These criticisms are coming from his fellow Republicans who up until the Wall Street Occupiers prided themselves in being supporters of a Free Market Economy.

There was a time not long ago when even the poor supported capitalism since they viewed themselves as potential recipients of its bounty. All they had to do was to work hard and they too would be enriched. But sadly, this has changed with the USA having joined the ranks of the Western Society Welfare State.

Capitalism made the USA great. It is why so many of the world's people dream of migrating there. But when you have the leading candidate for the Republican Presidential Nomination being pilloried for being a 1%, you know things are changing dramatically.

That the Republicans will come to their senses, I have no doubt and that Mitt Romney will in the end prevail I have faith in that too. But the mere fact that the masses can be so readily manipulated by such a few rag tagged anarchists is simply unbelievably scary.

As I see it.....

'K.D. Bell'

Ottawa Police Chiel Vern White...

Has Gone To Heaven .... as in Canadian Senate Heaven.

But first, a few did encourage me to keep writing my Blogs and ever since my hiatus, have asked me to reconsider.

So, in honour of them, I will bang out a few this week starting with Chief White.

Chief White came to Ottawa relatively recently and was viewed by most as an exceptional Police Chief despite his inability to speak French. I though lost much respect for the guy when several of his officers arrested a young lady for merely asking them why they stopped her and asked her her name. She was taken to the City cells where she was subdued and strip of her clothing by a male cop. Bear in mind the jail film shows that she was not resisting arrest. So what gives?

White came out initially saying that such action on the part of his force "would not be tolerated". A day or two later after the Cop Union got to him, White back tracked like a scared politician and began to give weak knee reasons for the assault upon this young woman. White had lost me as a fan.

In the recent Senate Appointments, gold olde Vern White was among their number. You know my view of the Canadian Senate - it is an anachronism, it is undemocratic and a monumental waste of Canadian Tax Dollars. If offered such a position myself I would tell the dear Prime Minister in as gentle of language possible to shove it.

Thankfully, most Senatorial Appointments are from the ranks of political hacks, flacks and ne'er-do-wells. And this strangely is a good thing since there is no point appointing good productive people to such a worthless institution.

Some uninformed people say that Senators do good work - and I will concede that a few - very few, do. But put yourself in the position of an MP who has to go to the people for his authority. Do you think that that MP has much use for a non-elected Senate appointee. You guessed it, in the majority of cases they hold the Senate / Senators in contempt.

So how does Chief White fare in all of this. If, as many of his fans proclaim the guy is a good top cop, appointing him to the Senate only compounds the damage done to Canadian Society. Ne er-do-wells are not missed - good cops are. Another sterling example of this is the Senate appointment of Dr. Wilbur Keon. The good this guy has done in the field of heart surgery and research is immeasurable. To have a chap like him languish in an unelected Senate is simply unconscionable.

Or maybe, given White's apparent ability to so readily jettison his principles he is just the kind of guy the Senate is looking for.

Either way, we need to get rid of the Senate as soon as possible and in the meantime continue to fill it with dead-wood to ameliorate the damage to Society.

As I see it...

"K. D. Bell"

I Need Your Help...

Dated Sat. January 7, 2012: The results are in - from here on in - just call me a 'Compassionate Libertarian' G.


But First -

Only a few contacted me to encourage me to continue with my regular Blogging.

Ergo, I will now move to infrequent writing.

But before I 'write off into the sunset'... I need your help.

From the outset, I have felt rather smug in my Libertarian Cloak - even most recently poking fun at the names of the three major parties in Canada - ie that their names do not reflect their true identities.

So in that context, I did some more research in regard to the word 'Libertarian' and here is what I discovered.

Wikipedia defines a Libertarian generally as one that considers "liberty (t0 be) the moral principle of Society. In the broadest sense (it) advocates strict limits to government activity and sharing the goal of maximizing individual liberty and political freedom".

If my research had ended there - I would have continued to remain smug....however...

Further reading found that there is a broad spectrum to be found under the Libertarian Umbrella ranging from out and out Anarchists, including those who would have the poor and disadvantaged fend for themselves, to economic philosophers such as Libertarian Guru Milton Friedman who called for a negative income tax - otherwise known as a guaranteed income for those without.

No wonder then when I mention to some folks that I am a Libertarian, they physically recoil.

For me, I believe that I am a Libertarian as described in Wikipedia. I am also a firm believer that the poor and the poor disabled are in need of society's financial assistance.

So how do I describe myself? A Conscience Libertarian?

Here then is where I need your help.

I would welcome your ideas of what to name Libertarians without including the weird and wacky.

In the meantime, I might find myself joining the New Liberal Party which is currently under development.

Articles today by two of its candidates for Party President - one the ubiquitous Sheila Copps - call for their New Party to use modern media - face book, tweeting and the like to tap into the 'grass roots' of society. It would be "bottom up democracy" rather than the top down models we have endured for far too long.

And this you will recall, is exactly what I called for in my recent Blog.

The problem of course is that with Power - it corrupts absolutely and given that, it is difficult for the leadership of any party to share power - even with the 'grass roots'. The Reform Party is the most recent example of how principle and practice struggle to co-exist.

So before I am forced to take out a Liberal Membership, I need your help in coming up with a descriptive of 'Libertarian' that best defines me and like minded persons.

As I see it...

'K. D. Bell'