Progressive Tory

There's an interesting article this morning on Canada's new 'closed door' policy, from an American on our 'do not enter' list. Canada wrong to deny entry to politician: barred prof OTTAWA — Canada is behaving like a “frightened, closed-up” society by denying entry to British MP George Galloway, says a controversial professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago who was himself turned away at the border in January. William Ayers, a co-founder of the radical Weather Underground in the 1960s, has since become a distinguished professor of education. In an interview Sunday, he said it’s “absurd on its face” to bar people like him and Galloway from Canada as security threats. “Are we living in some kind of McCarthyist nightmare?” asked Ayers, who made headlines when Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of “palling around with terrorists” because of his association with Ayers. Border security officials have declared Galloway “inadmissible” to Canada because he led a convoy to Gaza earlier this month that delivered humanitarian aid ... On Jan. 18, immigration officials at Toronto’s Island Airport refused to admit him when he arrived from Chicago for a speech at the University of Toronto. Ayers said the officials told him their records indicated that he had a 40-year-old felony conviction, which he denies. He said he asked the officials if they really thought he was a threat to Canada. “They laughed and said, ‘of course not.’ So I said, why am I not being allowed in? And they said, ‘it’s not our decision.’” Ayers said he was well-treated before officials put him on a plane back to Chicago. “I said to them at one point, ‘I’m an American — come on, where are the chains?’ And they said, ‘we don’t do that in Canada.’” A true Conservative government ought to defend freedom of speech vigorously, Ayers said. “Maybe what we’ve got instead of a Conservative government is some paranoia, some fear, some totalitarian tendencies So who is allowed in now? So far we've pissed off the Russians, the Brits, the Arabs and the Americans. Are we still friends with Australia or is there a kangaroo out there who once offended Jason Kenney? We have become an International embarrassment.

...and half as effective and twice as confusing (MacLean's magazine) Harper warns higher energy bills ahead March 25, 2008 ESTEVAN, Sask. — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is warning Canadians to expect higher energy bills as new technologies such as the underground storage of carbon dioxide develop and come online.... Clean coal and the ability to capture greenhouse gas emissions from large polluters for storage underground is a key plank in the Conservative government's plans to address climate change. When asked what effect these costly and experimental technologies will have on the average power consumer, Mr. Harper offered a warning. “All the cost pressures on energy, including admittedly cost pressures around environmental regulation, are likely to lead to upward pressure on power prices across this country in years to come,” Mr. Harper said. “Canadians have to understand that there is a price to this.”

And don't forget the guy who finds it an aggravation not to be able to keep a loaded gun handy to kill coyotes, for fear it is stolen and used in a crime. Duh! Hope he doesn't have kids.

That doesn't prove anything. Gangs use illegal guns and comparing gang violence to the gun registry is like comparing apples and oranges. Two entirely separate issues. For those Canadians not in gangs, they need to be reminded that guns should be registered, locked up and all ammo stored in a spearate place, preferably miles away from the gun. If it takes a registry to make them more responsible, then it's doing it's job. It's a shame that the fear of the gun being stolen and used in a crime, overrides a fear that their kids get hold of it and shoot someone.

I just finished reading the piece, and I don't agree. We need a gun registry and 67% of Canadians want a gun registry. He is only drawing attention to his pro-gun ideology, so soon after Garry Breitkreuz made headlines for attending an event where a handgun was being raffled off. I agree that the gun registry needs to be revamped, but definitely not scrapped. Harper is urging hunters to contact opposition MPs to scrap the registry, despite the fact that most of their constituents don't want it scrapped, including law enforcement. Police Officers say they use it regularly when answering a call, especially a domestic violence call, to see if there is a gun registered in the household. It doesn't prove there isn't one but is at least a heads up when they KNOW there is. Harper says: "I challenge you to press these MPs to follow their consciences." They have and while they know that the gun registry won't stop gang violence, it's a useful tool in forcing gun owners to be more careful with these lethal weapons. I loved the comments from one of the Gun Registry critics: Jim Magee, a cattle farmer from Drumbo, Ont., near Woodstock, called the registry "aggravation." He said wild animals, like coyotes, will sometimes kill his livestock. "As soon as I get my gun out and get my ammunition that's locked away, the coyote is a mile away," Magee said, who is also a former police officer. "But if I keep (my gun) out and it gets stolen, I'm in trouble." THERE IS NEVER A SITUATION WHERE YOUR AMMO SHOULD NOT BE LOCKED UP AWAY FROM THE GUN. YOUR GUN SHOULD NEVER BE LEFT AROUND LOADED AND IF THE COYOTE IS GONE, HOT DANG IF HE CAN'T GET ANYMORE OF YOUR LIVESTOCK NOW. Or how about this one: Frank DiRocco, an avid hunter and angler from Woodbridge, Ont., who was attending the Federation's 81st annual general meeting where Harper spoke. "Hunters are not the ones on the streets breaking the law -- they're enjoying the sport and the country," he said, adding he wants to teach his 12-year-old son to understand nature He needs to kill living things to teach his son about nature? Yikes. This article from a U.S paper is much better and makes a case for a better run registry of ALL guns. Canada's low crime rate and unique gun-control system have played into Canada's identity as a peaceful, progressive place, in contrast to its neighbor to the south. There is no right to bear arms in the Canadian constitution, so the policy debate is much less heated than in the United States. Canada created the gun registry in 1995, the result of persistent lobbying after 14 girls were shot at l'École Polytechnique in 1989 in an attack known as the Montreal Massacre. Catherine Bergeron, whose sister died in the Montreal Massacre, is fighting the repeal of the registry. "I find it incredible this debate still persists," she said. "Possessing a gun is a privilege, not a right." Homicide rates have increased, but shootings mostly have been confined to neighborhoods inhabited by gangs. A poll released in May showed that although 67 percent of respondents want gun control, they don't want the current system. The poll also illustrated the geographic split in Canada: Support for some form of control reached 71 percent in the eastern, more urban provinces of Ontario and Quebec but only 51 percent in the western provinces, a traditionally conservative stronghold populated by more hunters and farmers. Don't scrap it, fix it; but never ever allow one single Canadian to own one single gun and not register it. It reminds them of the danger of leaving a loaded gun in plain sight. Common sense should have told them that, but maybe the chance of it being stolen and used to kill someone, might force them to understand why.

This funding is important for research, and prevention education. Unless you've lived with a victim of a mother who's consumed alcohol while pregnant, you have no idea what it's like. The sad part is that FAS is 100% preventable. As to alcohol, I just watched a documentary on that in Canada (where they refer to Stephen Harper as the Baron of Boring). I can't remember what it was called but they showed riots after hockey games where drunks were destroying property. Then in contrast they show two people smoking a joint, without a care in the world, or inspiration to destroy anything. How often in domestic violence cases does the victim defend her attacker, claiming he only gets like that when he's been drinking. The rest of the time he's a saint. Pot smokers might want to dance with their significant other, but never want to beat her while under the influence. They're just too darn happy.

I don't even know where to begin, but our adopted daughter was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Her birth parents were both alcoholics, which might explain in part my fervent desire to see pot legalized, beginning with the hypocrisy. However, let's stroll down your lane. What if these babies had all been destroyed at birth? How would we have identified the danger of consuming alcohol while pregnant? There are fewer pregnant women now who would even dream of drinking while carrying a child. So rather than allowing the situation to run amuck we can now say with conviction that this can be prevented. Consider children born with FAS to perhaps be martyrs in this war against pre-natal alcohol consumption. The same can be said with many birth defects and childhood illnesses. Unless they reach the light of day we have no way of researching the inflictions and perhaps eventually preventing such birth defects, thereby creating your 'perfect' race.

If he came here and stood on a soapbox rallying to kill all Jews, he would be arrested. We would too if we tried the same thing in England. Was he not visiting here on another matter, but the fact that he empathizes with the victims of war, now all of a sudden he's a hate monger. I'm pretty sure we can say what we want in the UK so long as it isn't geared to incite hatred for any group. Chalk another one up for our new fascist government.

I guess Andrew Cohen got his facts wrong from the people who do know, and are experiencing the lack of respect Canadians now get overseas because of our ideologically driven gov't. As for Galloway, this comes from Kenney's office and Kenney is once again blustering over sheer nonsense. I wonder if Galloway had said that he sent fresh bullets to the Israel Defense Forces to kill more Muslim children in Palestine, if he would have been denied entry. He would have probably been given a parade.

The problem is that most of the western world has already taken the side of Israel (this is not about Arab and Jew. It's about two nations at war) Someone with even an ounce of humanitarian compassion would send relief to the people of Palestine. The world has turned their backs on them, just like they did with the Jews under Hitler, until it was too late. They created Hitler and we created Hamas. The people had nowhere else to turn.

Feeling empathy for the Palestine people and offering relief does not make you a member of, or supporter of, terrorists. Why do you think the Palestine people were so desperate that they saw Hamas as the only gov't who could get them out of the horrible restrictions imposed on them by Israel? We created Hamas for not helping sooner and giving them an option.

Exactly. Just when I thought this gov't had hit bottom with the whole Russian threat scam ... apparently not. Are we being punked?

I'm not sure, but apparently Canada no longer allows free thinkers. You get put on a list. I hadn't even heard of this Galloway person before Kenney made him a star. Now I want to invite him for tea.

If we believe the official version of 9/11, that the U.S. military was that weak, than how can we even think of them as a super power? They were a nation of bumbling idiots. I don't believe the official version. At the very least they would have whisked the President to safety. Obviously he was too engrossed in the story book to think about the children who would be blown to bits if the planes were headed his way. The U.S. is not that inept. The second plane would have been shot down before it hit the second building and the American missile that hit the Pentagon would not have been fired. It's kind of no-brainer. It certainly wouldn't have been the first false flag war or 'surprise' attack to justify going to war. They played it beautifully. You're right about Fox though. They have an audience so they exist. You don't have to watch it.

Apparently it is not a war but a 'mission', that our Prime Minister has admitted failed. Hill & Knowlton are happy though because the military contracts helped them tremendously. The families of the fallen soldiers must be so glad to hear that their sons and daughter died for nothing but cash. It's an embarrassment that our leading general now has to suggest that we take a year off from the 'failed mission' because we have no equipment to continue failing, and then ask our soldiers to go back and risk their lives again for a mission that has already failed and can't be completed successfully. Anyone else see that there's something wrong with this picture? Why take a year off? We should just come home. We've sacrificed enough.

Oleg ... keep this to yourself because it is absolute top secret stuff ... are you ready? Mr. Galloway has an opinion and is under the mistaken belief that he is allowed to voice it. Shhhh. I think I've been wiretapped.

Excellent point. Carrying signs like 'God Hate Fags' or 'When a homo dies, God smiles.' are not hateful at all and pose no threats to Gays and Lesbians. Making this such a public issue only reminds Canadians just how narrow minded this gov't is. Fake a security threat from the Russians then ban the Brits. Good job.

Excellent point. However, I think Kenney is again only stirring up hatred where there should be none. Mr. Galloway is not a threat to Canadians, and is certainly not the first person to empathize with the innocent victims in Afghanistan and Palestine. This will once again create rallies and protests, pitting Jewish and Arab Canadians against one another, while the rest of us may be forced to choose sides. Does Mr. Galloway have a rockstar status in Canada? Or at least did he before Kenney gave him such a status. How many would have even listened to him if Kenney hadn't introduced him to us. Galloway kept at bay Yesterday, Galloway was quick to fire off an angry salvo at Kenney, saying "this idiotic ban shames Canada." In a column in Britain's Guardian to be published today, he goes even further. "Kenney is quite a card -- almost a joker in fact. He's a ... gung-ho armchair warrior, with an odd habit of exceeding his immigration brief." "While on one level being banned by such a man is like being told to sit up straight by the Hunchback of Notre Dame ... On another ... for a Scotsman, to be excluded from Canada is like being turned away from the family home." Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Galloway should be allowed into Canada unless the government can prove he poses a threat. "If he's being barred on free speech grounds, that's an outrage," Ignatieff said. "I mean he can come to Canada and talk rubbish all day long as far as I'm concerned. (But) if there is a security threat, that's another matter." He's not bringing any Hamas members with him and hopefully Kenney won't allow members of the Terrorist Israeli Defense Forces into this country. They may pose a threat, but a British MP who dares to speak out on issues that this gov't doesn't agree with is ridiculous. What about Anne Coulter? Is she on the list? She wanted the US to level Canada. Jason Kenney needs to be fired, gagged or put in a straitjacket. He has completely lost touch with reality.

I agree. The whole thing has come off as rather silly. I wonder if he's now on the terrorist watch list.

Funny line. Fox is OK.

I never bought into the 'scarey' Harper thing, which I think might have even been fueled a bit by the conservatives because of how absolutely absurd the whole thing was. However, he rose to power on the Right-Wing horse because there was no competition. The socially conservative supporters sincerely believed that once he got a majority all of their prayers would be answered. However, with only minority status he has constantly had to shush them, to give the appearance of a centrist gov't., while he opened the big tent to fiscally conservative small 'c', Red Tories. Some walked through until they saw how reckless this party was with our money. So now as the conservatives, like myself, who want smaller gov't, an elected senate, and better money management; can no longer look to the Harper gov't (I always clung to the hope that the party would prove me wrong); we have nowhere to go but Left. Ignatieff has always been a centrist fiscally, recognizing the need of corporations for our economy; but left in terms of social programs and human rights; so I've found a new home. I don't agree with everything he does or says, but agree with far more than from any other party or leader. Now that Harper realizes that he's losing ground in the centre, he's madly making a right turn, to avoid losing the base of the Party, who have clearly become disillusioned. After Mulroney let his big tent occupants down, it resulted in two new parties: The Bloc and the Reform. If a new version of the Reform emerges, it's the end of this Conservative gov't, because that's all they have left. I posted this after reading an article on the Republican Party and how they had become one of exclusion. I'm glad you responded, because I was hoping for legitimate debate. I pretty much knew how many would respond, but still wanted to know if anyone agreed that maybe that was at least part of the problem for this country's conservative movement. It's not necessarily who they wanted to bring in, but who they wanted to keep out. As a result, they just kept pushing people like me to the Left, and I realize it's not such a bad place to be afterall. Who knew?

Some want a tax of cholcolate. Now that's just cruel.

I think they will, with the Conservatives out there campaigning for us and all.

It doesn't stop there. There is an almost full page piece by Andrew Cohen in our local paper entitled 'Citizen-Diplomats do it Themselves', where he criticizes the Harper gov't foreign policies, or lack thereof. It is very insightful and just reinforces what many of us already know. This gov't has become an international joke. And then of course Jason Kenney once again making an absolute fool of himself. Banning British MP a clumsy, dangerous move "Jason Kenney has gone over the edge. The increasingly erratic immigration minister made headlines last week when, in a fit of pique, he cut off funding to an Arab organization that helps newcomers learn English. Now, Kenney has banned British MP George Galloway from entering Canada, on the spurious grounds that he supports Middle East terrorism." I got an email regarding a petition that someone is putting together demanding that the Conservatives tell us where the three billion dollars went from last budget for infastructure, that was instead rolled into this budget as new money. It's missing. They want to know where it went, and so do I, so I signed. I also added that I would like a petition stating that Jason Kenney is no longer allowed to speak for us. I may go back and ask them to modify that to include all Conservative MPs. If they want to voice an opinion they must add the disclaimer. 'This message was brought to you by the Conservative Party of Canada and does not reflect the views of the majority of Canadians.' I wish they would just shut up.

His experience makes him qualified to speak out about the economy, since Harper was trying to downplay just how screwed we really are, instead of taking action.