SpankyMcFarland

Mulroney’s verbal skills - he always spoke in well-formed sentences - and those brown envelopes from Mr. Schreiber led many to dismiss him as a con man, Lyin’ Brian, but he got an awful lot done: the Free Trade Agreement was a watershed moment for both Canada and the US, paving the way for NAFTA; the much maligned GST is still with us; and the US-Canada Air Quality Agreement that tamed the acid rain threat gets far less attention than it deserves. What an unlikely rise from Baie-Comeau. Was he our first PM from a working-class background? Although it’s the fate of most politicians, even prime ministers, to fade into obscurity, I think the tributes being paid to him are more than the usual boilerplate responses: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/brian-mulroney-death-politicians-reactions

We really do have a private health care sector in this country whether we like it or not. And it’s only going to get bigger. A friend of mine just paid a lot of money for the King Charles treatment in another province. But does that cover the entire cost of drugs in BC? Do some people out there not claim they are struggling with those bills? It doesn’t sound like a universal program to me.

As Hitchens remarked, we are all atheists about other people’s gods.

I doubt Israel will ever permit a Palestinian state now, no matter how peaceful and secular the Palestinians become. Netanyahu has made clear in English what he often implied in Hebrew and what his party has always been committed to - an Israeli state from the river to the sea. What this means is permanent, stateless ethnic segregation for Palestinians in the West Bank under 24/7 Chinese-style harassment and surveillance in perpetuity. A South African politician recently objected to the term Apartheid for this system, saying what the Israelis have created is more severe. In any case, it seems destined to last a lot longer.

That sounds rather biblical. Does the next verse mention stoning by any chance?

We have arrived there too in our typically chaotic way. A lot of procedures and drugs are paid for by patients and employers already. BTW Europe’s systems have many differences among themselves. Really? A single universal program? What I see in my province is a higgeldy-piggedly mess of plans that have ‘just growed’ over time. Just in terms of negotiating prices with the drug companies, we’d be better off doing it as one group.

What you are saying applies to Gaza - it seems to be in a doom loop at this stage that will take at least a generation to recover from and hopefully see more secular leadership emerge. But in the West Bank, how can Palestinians build a future there when Israel is clearly intent on paving the place? Where are they supposed to go? Even through this current Gaza crisis, Israeli settlers, often dressed in IDF uniforms, continue to harass and kill Palestinian farmers in an effort to drive them off their land. The other day, plans for thousands more settler houses were announced by America’s ally. The only reasonable thing to do for individuals who can do is to leave which is what Israel wants, of course.

They are in the sense that they and the British took Palestine from them in the 20th century. That’s a fact independent of living standards. Palestinians have done well enough in other countries when they’re given a chance, not least the Arabian peninsula, Central America and Chile, so it’s not unreasonable to surmise they would prosper at home under the right conditions. I’m sure Lebanon and an independent Palestine could do much better than they are doing at the moment if they could end instability in their territories. Their record of indigenous entrepreneurship is stronger than that of, say, Egypt. Of course, only a fraction of the issues holding the ME back have anything to do with Israel.

Advanced countries in Europe can afford universal pharmacare programs. It’s about time we started down that track.

The successful reform of Germany and Japan after WWII gave Americans a highly inaccurate perspective on the effectiveness of regime change. These were two highly advanced and centralized ethnostates keen to avoid Soviet invasion and the ruin it would bring. After Korea, things really went sideways. When I think of state decay the first place that comes to mind is Russia. With his corruption, incompetence and wars, Putin has blighted the prospects of several generations in his country and abroad. Unfortunately, however, authoritarianism may be the default state of government. Democracy is rare in human history and usually does not last long.

The persecution of Jews in the western part of the Russian empire was partly a side effect of Russia expanding into those regions and destroying Poland. Judged from a longer perspective, Europeans drove Jews out of Europe and made Palestinians pay the price.

There’s no question that Jews had to leave Eastern Europe. Long before the Nazis appeared, the Russian pogroms against them that followed the assassination of Tsar Alexander in 1881 forced them West and the British effectively closed the door in 1905. It’s a pity European nations didn’t pursue policies that could have led to a softer landing for everybody in Palestine.

In what way is it claimed our freedom has declined? Some of the criteria used in this index are fairly difficult to understand.

Netanyahu’s approach to the war has shown less concern for the hostages than one might have expected. After the extraordinary bombing campaign of the last few months he is now publishing his plans for the Territories after the war which can only make negotiations even more difficult. Incredibly, they include yet more settlement in the West Bank which seems to be the cure for everything. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-west-bank-settlement-homes-palestinian-shooting-attack-smotrich-netanyahu/ Why release them now? The only people who will like this are hardliners in Israel.

Zionists themselves had organizations that described what they were doing as colonization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Jewish_Colonization_Association The European Jews who started arriving in Palestine in modest numbers under the Ottomans and as a great flood under the British after 1917 were of mixed ancestry: part European and part Middle Eastern. Both Jews and Arab speakers in that part of the world have deep connections ethnically to pre-existing populations in the region.

Likud did a lot more than say that in 1977. They made it happen: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/original-party-platform-of-the-likud-party

Where have I ever defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza?

So this document is hundreds of pages long. Has anybody read it and can they say why our relative position has declined and whether it matters at all?

Whatever one thinks of climate change in general, Alberta is facing some serious challenges on the environmental front. Firstly, not enough water, especially in the southern part of the province: https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/02/19/Alberta-Brutal-Water-Reckoning/ And the fire season has started early:

Are you knocking Russia‘s friend China there? Russia and China are allies in this war. Indeed, Russia is well on its way to becoming a Chinese satellite like North Korea. All three regimes hate liberty.

Dictatorships are all too stable. I just want to see a free Ukraine survive a bit longer.

It’s more a hope than anything else. Guys who aren’t running again like Mike Gallagher don’t have to fear primaries any more.

Given the siloed way people consume news these days, I’m afraid fake news will only get stronger.

Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York State, struck a rather strange note recently. While trying to show her support for Israel in Gaza she got a little carried away and offered this scenario about her northern neighbour: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/nyregion/kathy-hochul-israel-gaza-canada-comments.html And she’s a Democrat. Lord help us.

This is a 17’th century debate, the sort of thing deranged dinosaurs like Ian Paisley used to go in for.