A modicum of common sense

The bloated HRM gets a haircut. Finally.

The province’s biggest municipality needs seven fewer councillors, a regulator has ruled.

The provincial Utility and Review Board rejected Halifax Regional Municipality’s application to keep the existing 23 councillors but change district boundaries. It said 16 councillors, plus the mayor, is the right size.

The board’s decision, released Wednesday morning, says that the municipality has a much lower number of constituents per councillor than other similar-sized cities in the country, and public opinion has favoured a smaller council.

And check out the tidy table provided by the ChronicleHerald. Good job URB.

There is no sharia-lite

Australians are beginning to understand the problem on their hands.

(Via)

Die, GR! Die!

At long last, the CPC will kill the long-gun registry.

The Conservative government will introduce legislation in the fall to scrap the long-gun registry, this time using its parliamentary majority to back it up.

In other news, many Quebeckers remain as deluded about the GR as ever.

Bruce Hicks, a political scientist at the University of Montreal, said the NDP’s large Quebec base is pushing the party to be firmer in its support for gun control.

He said support for gun control is higher in Quebec than in any other province, in part because two massacres — the Ecole Polytechnique and Dawson College shootings — occurred there.

“Now that their caucus is so overwhelmingly populated by Quebec members, I tend to think this will decide the issue for them,” Hicks said. “They have too much to lose by not being strong on the long-gun registry.”

Black youth riots in America

Arnold Ahlert with a clarion call for the United States and Canada. A more important article I have not read in some time.

On Memorial Day weekend, there were riots in Charlotte, Rochester, Nashville, Miami, Myrtle Beach and Boston. Last Friday, fighting broke out at Brighton Beach in New York City, where five people were shot and a young girl was killed. Flash mobs have been attacking people in Chicago on the streets and on public buses. The common thread? All of the mobs were black youths — and there’s been a concerted effort by the media to ignore that reality.

Toward what end? Sparing America from a having a real conversation about race? Here’s what the see-no-evil crowd doesn’t want to talk about: there’s a thug element in the black American community which has been glorified for years. The seed was planted during the Johnson administration, which spawned the Great Society and the massive expansion of the welfare state.

Despite all protestations to the contrary, that expansion destroyed the basic underpinning of any civilized society, namely the nuclear family. Nowhere has that destruction been more prevalent than in the black American community, which now boasts an out-of-wedlock birthrate of 72 percent.

It’s not as if no one saw it coming. Daniel Patrick Moynihan predicted that America would pay profound consequences for “defining deviancy down,” specifically citing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program as the prime culprit. Before the advent of the Great Society, AFDC had been reserved for widows, as a means of funding once-married women who had lost the primary male supporter of the family. In the 1960s, president Johnson and Congress changed the qualifications: any household where there was no male family head present became eligible for taxpayer subsidies.

Moynihan knew exactly where this was leading as far back as 1966: ”From the wild Irish slums of the 19th-century Eastern seaboard, to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles,” he wrote, ”there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: a community that allows large numbers of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future–that community asks for and gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, disorder…are not only to be expected, they are very near to inevitable. And they are richly deserved.” [...]

Why can’t we eliminate poverty? Because the progressive approach is one which completely misunderstands the human condition, positing that a lack of financial wherewithal is the disease. It’s not. It’s a symptom of the disease. The disease is a toxic mentality that leads to one horrendous life choice after another, highlighted by the choice to have children out of wedlock, followed by a father’s choice to abandon his own children as casually as one would toss away yesterday’s newspaper — even as the society at large, courtesy of progressive infatuation with “flexible” morality, has eliminated the shame that ought to attach itself to such irresponsibility.

Throw a little white guilt into the mix, perpetrated by the same white progressives who believe personal responsibility is a bridge too far for the “benighted classes,” and couple it with the black racial hucksters who egg the guilty on for personal aggrandizement and financial gain. The perfect storm of social dystopia continues unabated.

Toronto, anyone?

Selective history

According to the Mi'kmaq, Governor Edward Cornwallis was a bad dude and his name should be erased from Halifax.

The Halifax Regional School Board voted unanimously Wednesday night in favour of a motion from Mi'kmaq member Kirk Arsenault to have the school renamed, citing Governor Edward Cornwallis' checkered history with the native people.

Cornwallis, the founder of Halifax, vowed to clear the peninsula of the Mi'kmaq people, ordering their killing and putting a bounty on their scalps.

Now, if you just read the reports you will have no indication of WHY Cornwallis instituted the bounty on Mi'kmaq scalps.

Raid on Dartmouth (1749)

The Mi'kmaq saw the founding of Halifax without negogiation as a violation of earlier agreements with the British. On 24 September, 1749 the Mi'kmaq formally declared their hostility to the British plans for settlement without more formal negogiations. On September 30, 1749, about forty Mi'kmaq attacked six men who were in Dartmouth cutting trees. Four of them were killed on the spot, one was taken prisoner and one escaped. Two of the men were scalped and the heads of the others were cut off. The attack was on the saw mill which was under the command of Major Gilman. Six of his men had been sent to cut wood. Four were killed and one was carried off. The other excaped and gave the alarm. A detachment of rangers was sent after the raiding party and cut off the heads of two Mi'kmaq and scapled one.

The result of the raid, on October 2, 1749, Cornwallis offered a bounty on the head of every Mi'kmaq. He set the amount at the same rate that the Mi'kmaq received from the French for British scalps.   - History of Dartmouth

Ah, history. Too bad that, in our politically correct environment, historical facts are meaningless when privileged minority groups are aggrieved by events that occurred nearly three centuries ago.

And French money for British scalps. Somehow Kirk Arsenault isn't aggrieved over that.

Capital, not aid

When it comes to laying groundwork for economic growth and stability, international aid (money for nothing) has "as many negative, unintended effects as positive ones."

Much of the [U.S. Afghanistan] aid effort was premised on the assumption that development would foster stability. Young men with jobs wouldn't plant roadside bombs. Communities with growing economies would reject the Taliban. This assumption was based on the modern prejudice that bad behavior has material roots. Give people money and jobs and you will improve their character and behavior.

In Afghanistan, as elsewhere, this assumption seems not to be true. A conference of experts brought together last year in Wilton Park in Britain concluded that there is a "surprisingly weak evidence base for the effectiveness of aid in promoting stabilization and security objectives" in Afghanistan.

Violence doesn't stem from poverty. It stems from grudges, tribal dynamics and religious fanaticism — none of which can be ameliorated by building new roads. The poorest parts of the country are not the most violent.

Meanwhile, the influx of aid has, in many cases, created dependency, fed corruption, contributed to insecurity and undermined the host government's capacity to oversee sustainable programs.

Yet there are glimmers of hope.

Symbiotic Parasite Host Relationship Model

The Captain breaks down Economics 101 so low even a five-year-old can understand it.

Symbiosis aside, the key thing is the SPHRM is correct in that it puts the horse before the cart. Therefore if you want job creation, guess what?

Yep, I'm sorry, that means you have to grow the private sector.

See, there is no public sector if there is no private sector because the private sector is the host the public sector needs. But if you look at how public sector has been crowding out the private sector you are seeing a parasite that has gone form just 3% the size of the host to now 40% (the chart below just shows federal spending, not state).

The host is frankly going into shock and dying. [...]

If you want jobs you have to grow the private sector. Which means doing things like;

1. ELIMINATING (not cut) ELIMINATING corporate taxes and BANNING THEM FOREVER
2. ELIMINATING (not cut) any form of capital gains or dividend taxes
3. Simplify the tax code.
4. Put limits on how large the parasite can grow as a percent of the economy
5. Scale down the size of the parasite itself so that the host may grow again

The final word on Vancouver

Alex Tsakumis. Bravo!

Game. Set. Match.

Why I refuse to purchase ANY Apple product

Apple is fascist to its core.

The leading computer company plans to build a system that will sense when people are trying to video live events — and turn off their cameras.

And police forces around the world rejoice.

Vancouver riot

First, before getting to the idiocy, a huge victory note for my beloved Boston Bruins: You earned it, You deserved it. With perseverance, tenacity, grit, skill, heart and fortitude did you outplay the Canucks and all your competitors. Thomas deservedly won the Conn Smythe, but you are indeed the best team this year. Enjoy the victory and the year with the Cup. And Brad Marchand, I'll be attending your parade fo' sho'.

Now, about the appalling riots.

The post-Stanley Cup Final looting and burning of Vancouver should come as a surprise to nobody. A disappointment? Yes. Surprise? No. Vancouver's populace, or at least a subsection or subculture thereof, has a history of looting and burning the downtown based upon any pretext whatsoever, and with joy they took full advantage of the situation again last night.

It's hard to believe the Vancouver police weren't better prepared and more strategically deployed, but perhaps - just perhaps - they thought this year things would be different and gave the locals the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, they were wrong and were obviously caught off guard.

To quote Brian Hutchison, "something is fundamentally wrong in the city and the surrounding region." That 'something' is two-pronged -- the inculcation and nurturing of a decadent and ignorant anti-globalist, anti-capitalist, anarchist "anti-establishment" subculture combined with a police force that is constrained by fear of public reproach and bad press for man-handling destructive rioters.

Canada is a country where the projection of police force is widely decried as unjust in the left-dominated major media, particularly where those doing the destroying are protesting against all things capitalist, even though at street level there is more support for the use of force to quell riots and arrest rioters. I am a strong proponent of constraining police powers, but when people start looting businesses and burning people's possessions, the gloves should quickly come off and the police reprisals should be swift and painful. It is the fear of negative public perception that causes police to hesitate, and it is the innocent public, bystanders, businesses and taxpayers who pay the price, not just in the pocketbook but more importantly in the loss of privacy and freedom to ever-increasing levels of police intrusion through big brother instruments, like CCTV. In coming days, watch for the police to ratchet up demands for investment in constant monitoring of everyone, or lobby to prohibit large street gatherings.

Incidents like last night's riot are precisely the junctures at which police need to intervene and project ample force to protect the city and its citizens and its interests. Those Vancouverites who exult in destroying business store fronts, stealing merchandise, burning vehicles, and other anti-social behaviours, need to pay a harsh price for their inherent hypocrisy and gross disrespect for their fellow working citizens. Cue the cavalry, water cannon and riot gear and smack down the morons, hard. I have no problem with police drawing their blood and dragging their idiotic asses to the paddy-wagon. Make it painful now and make the pain endure with fines and criminal sentences.

The city of Vancouver needs to authorize and publicly endorse and support the police to slam its degenerate anti-social elements so they come to understand that rioting will result in short- and long-term pain. Only then will the ongoing trashing of Vancouver end. Only then will Vancouver become a "world class city."

Related (excellent).

Update 1: Vancouver Police Chief, "... young men and women disguised as Canucks fans who were actually criminals and anarchists." Exactly. It didn't matter if the Canucks won or lost; the downtown was going to burn. Let's hope the police are ready next time to bring the pain.

Update 2: Morons, in full colour. Abominable.

Update 3: Of course some of the rioters were Canucks fans.

Update 4: Brian Hutchinson is killing it again.

There are problems with [the] assertion [that violence was caused by a "small group of troublemakers"]. First, it’s false. Eyewitnesses saw hundreds of men and women become involved in the destruction Wednesday night. We watched as they turned over port-a-potties, tore down fences, broke windows, looted from shops, set fire to vehicles, jumped through the fires, photographed themselves in action, egged on one another, called their friends and told them to come down to the party, and assaulted, verbally or physically, the few brave private citizens who called them out on their behaviour and tried to put and end to it. And thousands — thousands — more people remained in the downtown core to watch and cheer. Consenting, condoning, enabling adults. I’d call them participants, too. Their presence and their gleeful expressions seemed absolutely sinister.

The mass involvement Wednesday night is deeply troubling and there is no simple explanation for it.

More sanity in Wisconsin

Not only do the cheeseheads have courage to oppose and overcome thuggish, spoiled unionists, they have legalized conceal carry.

The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed weapons in the state Capitol and other public places, but not in police stations, courthouse and other specifically exempted locations. [...]

Wisconsin would become the 49th state to legalize carrying hidden guns. Those who want to carry the weapons would have to obtain a permit. [...]

"This is about allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves," said Rich Zipperer, R-Pewaukee.

Indeed. Meanwhile in Canada.....

But there's no such thing as a slippery slope

Amoral Belgium.

The organs of people killed by euthanasia in Belgium are being harvested for transplant surgery, a report revealed yesterday.

A quarter of all lung transplants in Belgium are from people killed by lethal injection. [...]

Dr Peter Saunders, of Care Not Killing... ‘Given that half of all euthanasia cases in Belgium are involuntary it must be only a matter of time before the organs are taken from patients who are euthanised without their consent.

‘The matter of fact way the retrieval process is described in the paper is particularly chilling and shows the degree of collaboration that is necessary between the euthanasia team and the transplant surgeons - prep them for theatre next to the operating room, then kill them and wheel them in for organ retrieval. All in a day's work in Brave New Belgium.’

Related. "Men doing fiendish things used to prove the existence of evil. Now it casts doubt on the existence of God."

I hope CUPW craters

Overcompensated is an understatement.

By any objective measure, a job at the post office is well-rewarded, despite the weather. Research by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in 2008 found postal workers enjoyed a 17 per cent wage premium over comparable private sector jobs. The current offer from Canada Post would raise wages by 7.4 per cent, on a cumulative basis, over the next four years. Union officials are demanding 11.55 per cent — a massive increase for workers who are already demonstrably overcompensated.

As with most sinecures, however, the real advantage to working at Canada Post is in the benefits. Postal workers currently accumulate sick days at the rate of 15 per year, with no maximum. The extent of this bottomless bank of sick days is illustrated by a recent Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) bulletin that offered up the apocryphal example of “Narinda,” who has “402 days of sick leave credit.” Canada Post is sensibly proposing to buy out this improbable inventory; Narinda would receive $3,000 cash for her hoard of sick days.

Then there is the matter of paid vacation. Current full-time Canada Post employees are eligible for up to seven weeks of holiday, a prospect far beyond imagination for most in the workaday world. And the pension plan has an unfunded liability of $3.2 billion.

Update June 15, 2011: Lorne Gunter at NatPo.

Have you ever used the courier DHL? You might know it by its distinctive yellow trucks with big red lettering. It’s owned by the German post office, Deutsche Post. Since privatization in 1995, Deutsche Post DHL has grown to become the world’s largest logistics company with 2010 revenues of nearly $100 billion. It’s bigger than UPS or Fedex — almost twice the size of UPS and three times that of Fedex. And, to repeat myself, it is a privatized, former state-owned post office.

So when during the current post strike here in Canada you hear representatives of Canada Post or the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) claim that Canada needs a public-monopoly postal service, feel free to cry “Poppycock!” (Rural MPs and some business owners often make the same claim. You can call “B.S.” on them, too.)

Deutsche Post delivers mail six days a week in Germany with a far better on-time delivery rate than Canada Post.

We need a Crown corporation delivering our mail the same way we need government-owned telephone services or public buggy whip makers. [...]

There is no longer any justification for public postal monopolies.

Hear, hear.

That peaceful Iranian nuclear programme

Code-named KABOOM!

Any mention of an Iranian nuclear weapon is taboo in the Islamic Republic, which insists that its nuclear programme is entirely for peaceful, civil purposes. So it is remarkable, to say the least, that an article has appeared on the Gerdab website, run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, anticipating the day after Iran's first test of a nuclear warhead.

I'm sure it's nothing.

WAKE UP, CPC!

Canadians want small government. So, get smaller. Quickly.

Two out of three Canadians say they want the government to “get smaller” and out of their way so they can do more for themselves.