After another soldier's death yesterday I am once again questioning this mission to Afghanistan that is costing the lives of our young men & women and for what gain? Our military has one main purpose which is to protect our Country and its citizens. When the allies attacked Al Queada and the Taliban after 9/11 it was a just reaction to being attacked on North American soil and the loss of Canadian as well as other Ally's lives. This clearly was under the mandate given to our military and should be supported by all Canadians from shore to shore. However after several years the situation slowly changed to a point where today we are defending a position not fighting a war. A new but corrupt government was not accomplishing its objectives and worse, it was alienating it's own people leaving our troops in the middle. Our collective Governments issued orders to the troops to have no collateral damage and in fact began bringing charges against our very own soldiers for various infractions which, apparently, was to show the world how righteous we are. Now the nifty know-it-all politicians who have no knowledge about warfare, or fighting in the trenches have changed this action from waging a war to nation building which has clearly put our Military in the role of a glorified security force. In fact our government has stated we are leaving our jobs as security guards next year. It makes sense when you think about. Have you ever heard of any Country picking a time in the future to end fighting a war? If Churchill, in 1942 had said " We the British Empire will lay down our arms, cease fighting and return home in June of 1943" you can probably guess what Hitler would have done. He would have bided his time and limited his casualties until the scheduled date of England's withdrawal and then probably wage a major offensive sometime thereafter. It is absurd to stop in the middle of a war and go home. Therefore of course this makes my point "WE ARE NOT AT WAR". Trying to imitate what was done in Iraq won't work either because, in Afghanistan, there are a whole lot of different dynamics which won't allow it to happen. This has been apparent to the top dogs in Government for some time and yet they still retain the same profile which continues to allow our soldiers to die in a cause that has nothing to do with protecting our Country. A well trained Military should do two things very well, 1) Break things, and 2) kill people. So when you send them to war you can't tie their hands behind their back and severely limit their options because then they have almost no chance to win. I don't want my son or my friend's son fighting battles to keep politicians happy or to satisfy our so-called image on the world stage. If none of these righteous pols have the knickers to allow our soldiers to fight a "WAR" then get them the hell out of there NOW! Don't wait for another year. What in God's name will that get us, another 15 or 20 dead soldiers? I love my Country, I respect our closest ally the USA and I hold both of our Military's in the highest regard. I wish our leaders felt the same way and would yell the words, "To Hell with Political Correctness I'm going to do the Right Thing!" Do you think it will ever happen?

If you think back 40 or 50 years ago the general population had certain values and principles that were reaffirmed daily by the media in the content of the news they covered. Basic rights, good and bad, right and wrong were all things that were very clear and could be understood by almost everyone. Common sense also was a predominate factor in the logic behind most occurences in the day to day lives of our citizens. Then the Liberals and social engineers began to usurp power within the media and things began to change whereby simple logic became passe and every issue had a complicated series of factors that was responsible for every act. For instance, criminals were not bad people who did bad things. No they were misunderstood, mistreated victims of society who were crying out for help and needed the rest of the world to take them under their arms and provide comfort and care. Heroes became the enemy of this group of intellectuals because in their minds they glorified war. The flag, the love of Country, the honour of serving your nation in the Military and dying on the battlefield were things they felt should not be publicized so began the slow process of changing the public appetite from the John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart types to the Michael Jacksons and the Rosie O'Donnells of the world. Trashing our moral standards and diminishing the love of Country became the rallying cry of the left wing elites. In this way they hoped we would become less violent and then less likely to go to war. Of course their logic was off base because our nation wasn't a warmongering group of idiots. The only time we ever went to war was in defense of our rights and freedoms and those of our allies. But that made no difference to these god-like people (at least thats how they saw themselves). Finally after all these years things are starting to turn around. Of course 9/11 was the impetus which shook people up and since that time our military, which had been demonized for years, suddenly became respected and the soldiers honoured as they should be. While the media still spends an inordinate amount of time on the Lindsay Lohans of the world the news networks led by "Fox News" are forced to report on other things that our citizenry holds dear. Although it is a start it will takes years to reestablish moral codes and principles and only if we have leaders in politics and in the media that will offer a rebuttal to these left wing "know-it-alls" who try to push their ideology on to all of us. Patriotism and freedom are at the core of our Countries greatness and if we don't realize that, the loss of these things will bring us down to the level of the rest of the world and our lifestyle as we know it, will cease to exist. I am optimistic however as I view the upcoming generation that the changes initiated after 9/11 are still underway and will eventually be the menu of the day once more.

After following USA politics over the past ten years it has become apparent to me that the stigma of racism is alive and well albeit from a different sector of the population. Because of its history the US has struggled with this issue for years but I would suggest it is no different than any other Country in the world except for one thing. The American dilemma has been debated and fought in the public eye which is not the pattern in the rest of the Globe. The blood spilled over this issue in America has been primarily lost by one race(white vs white) fighting over the legitimacy of holding another race under the chains of slavery. Around the rest of the world it is usually one race killing others of another race through the guise of ethnic cleansing or genocide consider, Bosnia, Germany, Rwanda, Zimbabwe the Middle East and on and on. Only in the USA do the predominate race (whites) bend over backward to right practices of the past and provide equal opportunity for all its citizens. Unfortunately but predictably it has become an issue mired in politics and the latest elections have begun to dsimantle any progress made to date between blacks and whites. In fact the Hispanics are now being drawn into the picture because of the ever increasing numbers of their race now residing in the Country. Obama, instead of drawing people together has actually created the opposite situation because of his base belief system of inequality developed over years with his association with radicals and people who hate the way the United States has been governed. Couple this with his policies which are socialist or communist in nature and his outright misrepresentation of his intentions while campaigning, the white population is realizing that voting for him in 2008 out of guilt and high expectations has backfired. They see the things that made America the richest and most powerful nation in the world being dismantled and discarded under the guise of compassion and helping the needy. This of course is a lie like so many other things the Democrats have done to ram through legislation that will make the Federal Government the main player in the lives of all citizens. The "Tea Party" movement is the most vocal and the most public, but underneath the mild and non violent older generation of whites are the white violent and racist folks that are finally seeing their worst fears come to pass with a black man in office who is turning the tables on their race. Unless Obama and his administration reverse course and quit pitting the races against one and another the Country is facing a major disruption of which there will be much bloodshed regardless of what the pundits say. History of this type has played itself out in other places in the world and make no mistake it can and will happen in America if they stay on the same course. I hope this doesn't happen but the man is an ideologue and these type of people are stubborn and wear blinders when it comes to conflicting opinions and ideas. So don't hold your breath as we enter the 2011 elections where the first battle lines have been drawn.

Pow pow.... another banger bites the dust in the big city. Two things then happen almost immediately. First we hear about the traffic in illegal guns and how it must be stopped in order to end this violence and second we hear about "what a good boy the victim was". This is usually accompanied by a picture of the victim, his mother or both on the front page. The next several things usually happen but not always. We see a local organizer speaking to a group of people about regaining control of their community and saving their children from a similar fate. Next is a police officer pleading with the public for help in finding the "perp". Then the outrage and sympathy quickly fades away after it is overshadowed by the next gunshot that finds the chest of a inner city youth. So much huffing and puffing and nothing ever changes except the faces of those gunned down in the streets of our city. If anybody was serious about correcting this situation it would have been done by now because common sense and history have always had the answers. Accountability and responsibility are the simple corrective actions. Make people accountable for the severity of their actions which interprets to a jail sentence that is clearly a deterrent not just a slap on the wrist. Any crime commited with a firearm should carry a minimum 20 year sentence and shooting someone should start at 25 years with no chance of parole. Knowing these are the consequences of using a gun the then would be shooter is sending a clear message (I don't care) to society and then becomes solely responsible for his/her actions. Responsiblity means "YOU" are to blame not your mother, not the welfare system, not your abusive Dad, not the wrong crowd etc etc. Therefore suck it up put on the orange suit and slippers and head for your cell without any tears or pleas for leniency. Unfortunately our politicians and judges are of a Liberal slant and therefore see this type of answer too abrupt and simple and doesn't take into account all of the psychological, heredity and environmental factors that are the real cause for these misguided victims of society. They prefer to put these people's rights ahead of the law abiding folks who are always the real victims of these crimes. Sure the prison population would rise at the outset but it will even out after the shooters decide to lay down their arms for another weapon of choice. Nothing is 100% affective but this type of action has proven time and time again that when implemented it can almost eliminate its intended target. Take Thailand for instance, they have some of the toughest drug laws on the books anywhere in the world and you rarely hear of any problems with smuggling etc except once in a blue moon when a foreigner is caught and the Liberal media rushes to their assistance. How about chewing gum in Singapore? I know this isn't as serious as gunplay but it illustrates the type of action required if a society truly wants to put an end to a particular practice in it's community. Hey I have an idea, put me on the bench and then watch the prison vans line up for new tires on a very regular basis.........................

Arising the next morning after my early morning ride from the airport I proceeded to hook up with my partner from Boston who flew in the night before as well but managed to get picked up and chauffeured to the hotel in the proper manner. He was an engineer from head office who was born in New Jersey and sounded the part to a tee. He was six ft four inches tall and had a litany of one-liners just like Rodney Dangerfield. We had breakfast and then proceeded to a van that was to drive us to the factory in Cherkassy. As I said before, a foreigner wasn’t allowed to travel by themselves inside the Iron Curtain so we had a driver and a Communist Party Member assigned to us for the duration of our trip. We also had an interpreter that I got to know quite well during the time I was in the USSR and I learned many things about life inside the Republic from him during various discussions. Foreigners weren’t allowed to drive in the Soviet Union and I believe it was because of three things. First there were no insurance regulations so, if you got in an accident may the best man win, so to speak. Second there were very few service stations or repair shops (if any) so if your Lada broke down you had to fix it yourself otherwise you were out of luck. Last and probably the most important was fact that road safety was almost non-existent. I actually saw trees growing out of manholes in the middle of the street. I asked my friend (interpreter) why this was so and he explained that manholes were stolen regularly and no one was assigned to check and replace them. This was true of signs as well as road kill etc so anyone driving had to have an idea of what lay ahead of him in order to survive behind the wheel. The next thing that struck me as odd was the number of apartment buildings in the city and their overall condition which was not very good to say the least. These building looked similar to those built in the 50’s & 60’s in Toronto with about 12 to 15 floors and balconies on each. The problem was that every balcony was piled up with furniture, clothes and any other thing you may find in a garage sale. There obviously weren’t any by-laws against this type of eyesore in the city because it was evident on every building. My friend explained that because of the housing shortage the government one day decreed that each apartment was to be split in half and turned into two apartments so they could house people. Therefore balconies became prime storage facilities so that the inside of the apartments could be used as living space. What was even sadder was the fact that most young people had very little hope of having their own place even after marriage. My friend was 29 and his wife and two children still lived with his parents. As we pulled out of the city and onto the highway I was very impressed with the tall trees lined up on each side of the road. They were straight as an arrow and rose majestically 40 to 50 ft in the air. I also noticed that the trunks were white about 8 feet above the ground on each tree. I commented that it was good to see that the government took care of the trees by putting insect protection on them. My friend then explained to me that this wasn’t an environmental thing it was a safety issue as there were few parts for cars available in the Soviet Union so most cars could not replace burnt out headlights and therefore the white paint was put on the trees so it would reflect moonlight and help drivers to see where they were going at night. The last thing that I learned on the ride to Cherkassy was to never stop at a roadside BBQ. There was no such thing as service centers or McDonalds in the Ukraine just roadside grills cooking “who knows what” at the side of the road. Even my interpreter said that eating their food was a risk he would not take. By now I was starting to understand why there was no free press in the USSR because a revolution would have started long ago if these people could see the outside world. They totally relied on the government to look after them for the last 60 years and this is what they got.

Over the past 4 days we have seen the idiots that everyone had predicted would show up to “Protest??” the G20 summit meeting in Toronto. But these are not the fools of which I speak. No I am talking about the talking heads on TV and the men (or women) on the street who are being interviewed for their perspective of the entire affair. Was this event worth it? Were the police to abrasive? Were the police to soft? Were the police too late in taking action against the violent protesters? Sample some of the answers; - “No it wasn’t worth it we could have given the money to the Indians or the poor and homeless.” Funny they never say “we could have cut taxes or reduced the deficit”. How about the comment about the police being too abrasive because they arrested so many people or because they used tear gas? – “Yeh da cops were big bullies pushing everybody around and arresting innocent bystanders” Of course they were and what would you have done if Molotov cocktails and bricks were being thrown at you? Probably run like a deer. –“ Da police were too soft on these criminals I would have hammered them with my nightstick after I shot them” Funny this is a sentiment held by many albeit silently. “Yeh the coppers waited too long before they clamped down on these hoodlums”. Of course they did, they should have waded right in and locked everybody up and put them in the Rogers Center until the summit was over. Boy would the “Civil rights” dudes have had a field day. I can never figure out why they go through this process of analyzing an event like this with a bunch of people that have no idea of what the purpose of the summit was or what it is like to be on riot duty during one of these violent escapades. Why is their opinion even relevant? One of the stupidest comments is the one that states “they are trained to be spit on and duck when broken bottles are thrown at them”. Well you should have been trained to keep your mouth shut so as not to offend anyone’s sensibilities! And what about the reporters on the street who run around inside the mob and then get offended when they are arrested along with the bad guys? “ I had my press badge on”! Oh I see and a terrorist couldn’t make a fake press badge and carry a mike to slip by the cops?? This isn’t news. I would rather see and hear from the individual cops and learn about the challenges they faced and about the wonderful job they did in such difficult circumstances. About handling rioters who were out to maim them while being under the watchful eye of the media and those who are looking for any opportunity to criticize them. These people are heroes and should be lauded for their efforts. Most of them are family people that have been locked up away from their loved ones for days on end while this event was taking place. No we can’t do that because it would show some sort of favouritism towards the police and that is taboo in the world of political correctness. Instead we get to hear from those “experts” on the street that have such a wealth of knowledge to pass on or the TV news people that have so much experience in the trenches. Sorry I’ll pass and get my update from Peter Worthington a man I can trust.

Today I heard several people making jokes about the Premier of Ontario's latest tax grab (HST) since he has been in power and it reinforced the image of the ever subserviant Canadians who get in line and accept anything and everything the Liberal government does. No hue and cry from the special interest groups or the big unions, particularly the public service types who never fear tax increases because they know that they can still negotiate their wage and benefit increases with little or no resistance from the Liberal administrations of the day. Those that earn a decent wage in this Province have at least 50% taken from them in taxes and at least another 10% gobbled up in user fees (licences etc), obscene levies on (sin) products such as liquor and tobacco and the 40% paid at the pumps for fuel. Yet all we can do is moan and whine or make jokes about the tax and spend group now in charge. Where are the voices of common sense and reason who see the waste and mismanagement of our hard earned dollars? The so-called silent majority who still have values and believe we should be a free Country of individuals not a collection of special interest groups trying to get their slice of the pie without a thought to the rest of the citizenry. When these people kicked Bob Rae and his incompetent minions out of office in the 90's we all thought that Mike Harris would get the Province's finances in order again and he almost did before the Liberal media, the big Public Service Unions and other special interest groups finally bombarded the uninformed masses with lies and spin in order to get them back in line so they would elect the Liberal junket we now see at Queen's Park. Harris passed a law requiring the government tp balance the budget before politicians could vote themselves raises for example but McGuinty rescinded this law almost immediately. Harris tried to get the Health Care System reorganized in order to curb the ever rising cost and the ever diminishing services. The unions, associations (doctors etc) fought tooth and nail against any cuts his government tried to pass. Even though everyone agreed that something had to be done they just didn't want to be the ones who suffered the cuts. He transferred the education responsibility from the local municipalities onto the Provincial Government so he could try and curb the waste in this area and keep the taxes down but again he faced the large and powerful Teachers unions who vilified him daily in the media, and who by the way eagerly joined in the fun. Mike Harris was voted into office because of his "Common Sense" policies but once again common sense be damned if it ventures into my back yard. Maybe he tried to do too much who knows, but eventually the constant drumbeat of negativity made people crave peace so they sold their souls to get it. Since McGuinty has been in office this Province has seen the highest tax increases ever levied on its citizens and yet all we can do is quietly moan and joke about it. Our manufacturing base under the Liberals has eroded so much that Ontario is now a "have not" Province under the rules of Confederation. Once the engine that drove the Country, "can you believe it?" Mike Harris was a brave man who tried to do right by his Province but today he is painted as a troublemaker who made enemies of the bloodsuckers in our society. He tried to revamp welfare by eliminating fraud and introducing accountability to the taxpayers for the money they doled out to every Tom Dick and Harry that requested it. Well people, you got what you wanted "Peace". There are no big battles anymore because the Libs just cave into the big public sector unions and the special interests groups who will stimulate the news media to get their way. It now may cost you several thousands of dollars a year more but hey the teachers and other government employees are happy. The question is "How long before we can find another man of principle like Harris who is willing to withstand the visciousness and partisanship in order to save our Province?" If only I was younger.....................................

Here we go again with the Liberal mentality of “when faced with a problem blame someone else”. Obama has an environmental disaster on his hands with the Gulf Coast oil leak and he has exhibited a complete lack of leadership in his approach to dealing with it. First he ignores it, hoping it would go away and BP would absorb any fallout from the spillage of oil. When this didn’t happen he was forced to step up to the plate and make statements contending that he and the government have been in control from the beginning which was a blatant lie. Then as the heat from his own party rose he finally went to the sight of the spill and pledged to do what was necessary to fix the problem. As his lack of competence became obvious he started to bloviate by threatening anyone who was even remotely responsible with the deep sea accident. When it became clear that he hadn’t even made contact with the CEO of BP he answered by smearing all CEO’s as people who give him words but no actions (in other words they are all liars). None of his actions have changed the truth and none of them have changed his standing with the majority of the American public so now he and his cronies go back to the playbook and try to blame GW Bush. Unbelievable that even after 2 years they still try to pawn off their inadequacies by pointing the finger elsewhere. Imagine if after 9/11 GW Bush had floundered around for over a month and then tried to blame Bill Clinton for the attacks on NY City. Think what would have happened if he had tried to blame the Military or the FBI for the lapse in security that allowed this terrorist act to occur. Can you hear him saying that he didn’t have any answers but he would gather information so he knew which ass’s to kick? No he didn’t blame anyone; he just got down to work and began putting together a plan to refurbish New York. He pulled together all Americans in a consensus to attack Afghanistan and destroy the terrorists living and training there. He developed a department of Homeland Security and introduced the Patriot Act which had the effect of preventing any more attacks during his tenure as President and therefore keeping his Country and its citizens safe. I certainly didn’t agree with Bush’s economic policies but he was a leader who did what he thought was right while providing logical and persuasive arguments to build a consensus of followers to support him. He had the class of a President not the mealy mouthed attitude of a incompetent leader that has no plan or enough confidence in his own abilities to do anything but find someone else to pass the buck to. Sad but this is what Liberalism is all about, gaining and maintaining power. Unfortunately there is no requirement for leadership qualities, integrity or competence so what you are seeing now is a Liberal at his best or worst depending on what side you are on.

When you were a teenager I bet you heard from your parents this famous phrase, "While you are living in my house and I am taking care of you my rules must be followed." And rightly so because you are not an adult, have little to no experience, no money and no job to earn a living. And yet when you become an adult, begin attaining experience, have a job and can support yourself why do you want to turn over your freedom to a "mother" state? Before you pooh pooh this statement let's think about how you have done this over the past 100 years. Old Age Pension was the first major program sponsored by the Government in which they required you and your employer to pay into a fund which would provide you with some funds when you hit 65. Next came the Canada Pension Plan that also required you to pay into a fund to reap some benefits when you hit retirement age. I would suggest to you that if you took this same money and put it into a private plan you would be reaping much better benefits than the few hundred dollars a month that the government sends people. It is impossible for anyone to live on this paltry amount but you had no choice and as any insurance or investing scheme would do the government itself invested this money. Now because its government I can't tell you that they made a lot of interest on it but the point is that they made the rule and you had to abide by it. Next is the Health Care Plan that everyone raves about until they need it, particularly at an older age and they find out you are bound by many rules and really have little or no choices (loss of freedom). If you want to choose a doctor forget it, there is a massive shortage of doctors (government created) and you are lucky to find one (Almost 3 million people are without doctors). Because of socialized medicine many laws have also been incorporated purporting that it is for your own good. While it may be the case, you have still lost the choice for instance, to smoke inside everywhere except in your own house. This is because you may get cancer and the Social Health Care system will be burdened with the cost of caring for you. The law regarding seatbelts and motorcycle helmets are in place for the same reason. At one point in time you were free to smoke, drive without seatbelts and go helmetless on a Harley because it didn't infringe on anyone else's freedoms. The smoking ban has gotten so ridiculous in Ontario that you can't even see the products on the store shelves because of government infringements on our rights. Remember I'm not arguing the merits of doing any of these things I am explaining that you have lost the freedom to do so even if you chose to. Because it is very costly to administer all of the many laws that are "for your own good" the government then needed money so they legalized theft. To do this they created taxes. Now look at this in a simple manner. If a man came into your house with a gun and took your money that would be theft. This is what the government does without the gun (they call it the tax code) but it is still theft. The freedom to keep the money you earned has been lost and if you try and retain any more than they say you will quickly be put in jail. The worst part of this "Nanny State" is that it creates more and more "adult kids" that need to be taken care of by the government. Sooner or later when a larger portion of the population become dependants rather than suppliers of tax revenue guess what will happen?

Whether you are an Israel supporter or not the facts seem to point to an unusual bias against this small middle east nation. Here are a few that are undisputable:
1. If Hamas and the Palestinians laid down their weapons there would be peace in the area.
2. If Israel laid down their weapons they would be anhialated.
3. Hamas has stated categorically that they want the State of Israel destroyed and their peoples wiped out before there can be peace.
4. Hamas continues to send rockets into Israel daily but around the world there is no news coverage of these events.
5. The Iranian President has said that he wants Israel wiped from the face of the earth and Iran is close to obtaining nuclear weapons.

Currently Israel is being vilified for attacking a ship identified as a supply boat bringing food and clothing to the people in Palestine. Apparently the ship tried to sail through an Israeli blockade set up to stop weapons from reaching Hamas which will in turn be used on Israel and its citizens. I think if any country had the same situation it would take similar actions. The problem is however that these people were not aid workers but instead were Al Queda operatives who attacked the Jewish soldiers when they boarded the ship. There is some video tape supporting this story. This nation of people formed after the 2nd world war when Jews were trying to establish (some say reestablish) a homeland has been facing war and violence since its inception. Over 6 million Jews died in the Holaucost because of bias and racism and today it seems that history (the hatred and bias)is repeating itself. The difference of course is that Jews will not be quiet and timid as they are being led to slaughter like they were with the Nazi's. No these people will defend themselves to the bitter end because they know all too well of the consequences if they don't. The USA has always been a staunch ally of the tiny Jewish State but Obama has shifted away from that policy and the Europeans have grown silent as their Muslim populations have increased. So it looks like Israel is on its own and I think that should cause everyone to shudder. The reason being that Israel will not stand idly by and let Iran get nuclear weapons without an attempt to stop it from happening. Therefore there will be a pre-emptive strike on Iran if nothing else prohibits them from attaining these weapons. If that happens all hell will break loose in the middle east and then sides will be chosen and the makings of a large war is a possiblity. I hope I'm wrong but with the USA becoming a weak sister in the world of Nations there is no other democracy with the will or the might to stand with Israel. Its ironic that at one time some 75 years ago the piece of land now known as Israel was considered worthless and uninhabitable. As Ripley says "believe it or not".