A Voice for Freedom

I came across an article buried about halfway through today's Calgary Sun which mentioned that a Senate report is being released today which will recommend that the CBC become "a truly public, commercial-free broadcaster".

Let me get this straight: one of Canada's most important news sources is now going to be wholly government-owned and -run? Message for Beijing: we love your ideas.

CBC News is already biased, left-wing tripe. But a one hundred percent government-controlled media outlet masquerading as a source for real information? That's dangerous.

So in conversation with a few Ontarian friends (yeah, I have some) last night, I happened to refer to Pierre Trudeau as "that idiot" - and you wouldn't believe the dumbstruck looks I got. To tell the truth, I'm actually sorry I said it. I should have called him "that bastard".

For most Easterners, I guess it's taken for granted that Trudeau is considered the best thing that ever happened to Canada. We in the West, who actually bother to question Those Who Know Such Things, know better. We know Trudeau as the prime minister who idolized Pol Pot; as the man who, some years before taking office, rode a motorcycle around Montreal wearing a Nazi uniform as a protest against conscription; as that amoral denizen of #24 who introduced the NEP and crippled Alberta's economy for years. We remember that it was Trudeau who sent tanks into the streets of his own country to deal with a simple kidnapping in Quebec. We understand that it is Trudeau whose official multiculturalism and official bilingualism continue to needlessly cost taxpayers millions of dollars every year. Most of all, we know (or so I am told, by Canadians who remember the days before Emperor Pierre) that it was Trudeau who ushered in the era of rampant hypocracy and paternalism that still grips this country today.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the hero of Central Canada, is the man who destroyed this country.

Ever heard of David Ahenakew? Let me refresh your memory: he's a Native leader of some sort who was convicted of "hate speech" for slandering Jews and espousing an admiration for Adolf Hitler. Basically, he's a complete bastard and, in my book, pretty much certifiably insane. And yet here I am, about to thank him. For what? His conviction has been overturned by the chief justice of Saskatchewan, and my hope (and the hope of all proponents of free speech in Canada) is that his case will be the beginning of the end for the idiotic "hate speech" legislation that currently curbs Canadians' rights to speak their minds.

Ahenakew has not been acquitted and may be retried (an unquiet rabble of morons mistakenly calling themselves a "human rights group" have already started pushing for him to be tried again immediately), but for now, it appears we've seen a major defeat dealt to those in Parliament (*cough*-Liberals-*cough*) who would take away our most basic political rights.

As for Ahenakew, nothing would make me happier than to see him wind up as a powerless, ostracized, marginalized, free citizen of Canada. Brainlessness does not a criminal make.

First off, I should mention that I've been AWOL lately because I've just started a new job up in Banff, and between work, mountains, and living with my best friend, let's just say I don't take up as much time with reading the news as perhaps I should. But I've now been "tagged" by Mary Ann over at In The Pines, and I'm therefore required to tell all of you what sitcom character I would like to grow up to be.

The fact is I can't grow up to be her, since she's younger than me, but my choice just has to be Kyra Hart of Reba. She's smart, incredibly sarcastic, yet loyal (at least, when nobody's looking). I named my Jeep after her also.

Note: I also considered Colonel Sherman Potter (of M*A*S*H fame), but Kyra won out I guess because I watch Reba more often than M*A*S*H these days.

So, who to tag…definitely E-man at ConservaGlobe, PTG at Plains Feeder, and Albertanicus at…well, Albertanicus.

The rules are as follows:

1.) Ask and answer the question, “What television sitcom character do you want to grow up to be?"

2.) Tag three people (And link their sites on your post.)

3.) Link and track back to the post that tagged you.

District Judge Kristine Cecava of Cheyenne County, Nebraska, tasked with sentencing a man convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a minor, decided last week that the pedophile in question was too short to survive prison and sentenced him to ten years probation instead.

Personally, I wouldn't really care if he survived prison or not, but even if you do give a damn about this slimeball's wellbeing, how in the world can there be a height minimum for prisons? Isn't this discriminatory? How is it the ACLU hasn't forced the government to build a Facility for the Correctional Incarceration of Vertically Challenged Persons? If this is really going to be a concern, I think Judge Cecava needs to get the ball rolling on the construction of Nebraska's first midget prison. I can see it now: "midget prison area - do not pick up short hitchhikers or leave large suitcases unattended - be aware trash cans may contain armed fugitives".

In the meantime, maybe this particular criminal should just suck it up and go to jail (revolutionary thought, I know). Just give the guy some lifts and tell him not to try out for the prisoners' intramural basketball team. Unless they want to use him as the ball.

I went to Tim Hortons for lunch today, and enjoyed a sandwich, a donut, and a big ol' plate of crow - for I happened to find a table with today's Calgary Sun sitting on it, and there on page 15 was the news that Stephen Harper has started pushing Senate reform.

The first item will apparently be fixing maximum Senate terms at eight years - no more "feel free to collect your paycheck and do nothing until you die or hit 75". Harper also says he will not appoint anyone to the Senate who has not been elected (even if it means the seven seats currently vacant remain that way until 2009). He hopes to have a senatorial election process set up by the next federal election. Whether Harper will appoint Alberta's senators-elect or require us to participate in the Tories' new federal scheme hasn't been discussed yet.

So I'll admit it, I was wrong about Harper. I predicted his minority government would crumble under the weight of the opposition, the left-wing Canadian media, and the lackadaisical principles Harper himself seemed to show in his campaign. Instead, he has skilfully put the opposition parties in their place, told the media exactly where they can stick their microphones, and plowed through with a reformist agenda that would make Preston Manning proud.

I'm beginning to develop a love/hate relationship with this Prime Minister. I love what he's doing for Canada, but I fear he might do serious damage to the separatist cause in Alberta. I come at separatism from the perspective of "why stay?" - and there's still no good answer for that - but for those on the "why go?" side of things, their list of reasons gets shorter every day.

First the Cookie Monster discovers health food, and now Batwoman is gay. What's next - will this summer's Superman Returns portray the Man of Steel as a bisexual single father struggling to learn quick Vegan dinner recipes that will fit into his busy lifestyle? Will he be transformed into the poster boy (sorry, poster person) for alternative lifestyles, or do the tights take care of that?

In ten years, I'm sure my kids will be asking me why none of the heroes in the comic books are straight white men.

Although in the case of Batwoman, I guess the outfit kinda suggested this development from the start.