Month: March 2007

Buddy Can You Spare A Blog Post?

Mulder

This is a very hard thing to announce, but due to a commitment I recently made to the political process, I will be stepping away from blogging. The situation is definitely temporary, but it may be an extended period of time. (at least 9 months and no I am not pregnant).

I am looking for guest bloggers who may help keep the site fresh and active over the coming months, and I will be sharing my video layout with a friend of mine so he can continue the tradition of the Video Smackdowns. I think showing the world some of what goes on in Question Period is important.

If you feel you would like to help out by being a monthly guest blogger and cross posting here at OfficiallyScrewed.com, I would be glad to consider you. Just drop me an email at webmaster@officiallyscrewed.com and I will do what I can to eithersplit up the time in some appropriate manner, or arrange for multiple guest bloggers.

Please include your current blog name and URL, a contact email, a nickname you want to post under (preferably the name you use on your blog).

It really is leaving a pit in my stomach to step away from writing for even a few days, let alone several months. I will still provide the back end support on the site with things like the poll, graphics, links and the Ottawa Valley Blogroll, but my writing needs to hop into the backseat.

Another Liberal Supporting The Budget?? Is Keith Martin Coming Home?

Mulder

If I heard correctly in todays Oral Questions, Jim Flaherty mentioned that the member from Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca (Liberal Keith Martin) plans on supporting the budget.

Hmmmm…..

Keith Martin actually left the Canadian Alliance Party to sit as an Independent before running for the Liberal nomination back in 2004 according to Wikipedia in protest of the merger between the CA and the PC Parties. He eventually won the nomination and the seat and sits as a Liberal now.

This could be a very interesting turn of events shaping up. Perhaps a homecoming?

Thank You For Officially Unscrewing Me Mr. Flaherty

Mulder

I still say spending on tax credits is not really spending. And because of this, I want to thank the Minister of Finance for his budget because it DID drop my tax burden.

The new $2,000 child tax credit will help my family with $310 more for Cookie and $310 more for T-Bone, my two children. The end of the marriage penalty will help my family with $209 more dollars for TBH, my wife.

Thank you Mr. Flaherty for giving me back $829 every year. This may not seem like much to some people out there, but it’s a month’s groceries to me. It’s the cost of the registration fees for my children’s sports. It’s the cost of two out of town trips when my kids compete in a sport that they excel at. It’s two or three monthly car payments. It’s 14 or 15 gas tank fill ups. It’s the cost of that new computer for my kids. If you’re Scott Reid or John Duffy, it’s 20 cases of beer or 1000 bags of microwave popcorn.

But more than anything, it is just plain appreciated.

Thank you.

Releash….The Hounds

Mulder

No, that’s no typo. This post is going out to all those who have jumped on the “Bash the Tories for spending like Liberals” bandwagon.

Call off the attack dogs.

The Tories are NOT spending like Liberals. They are, in fact, spending like Tories but making it LOOK like they are spending on Liberals. How so you ask??

Well let’s start off by looking at how they have structured many of their spending announcements since taking office. They offer tax credits for companies to open up on sight daycare. They offer tax credits for people who use bus passes and submit them. They offer tax credits for tools for apprentices. They offer tax breaks to students on text books. They offer tax credits for many other “specific” needs and I am sure there will be more “tax credit” initiatives to come.

This is great for those who can take advantage of them. But I honestly think that most, if not all, of the “tax credit” programs will rarely, if ever, reach the financing levels that the government has allocated for them. This is not a bad thing. It just goes to show us how a little money can go a long way by letting people take advantage by reducing their taxes without the need of a giant bureaucratic brick and mortar office complex to run it.

This means there is more money in the surplus which means a bigger debt pay down and/or more money for other tax credits. The last budget was touted as a “something for all” budget, but in reality it was a “we’ll take less from more people at tax time” budget.

An added benefit to this method is that you get to spend on what YOU want to spend on and then receive bigger tax credits for those expenditures that help build up a strong Canada.

It may take another year or two to see how effective the plan is. Because the bottom line is the bottom line. And whether your taxes go down via tax credits or a reduced tax rate is really quite irrelevant. They are still going down.

Problem Solved : Just Get Everyone Voting At The Same Time

Mulder

So the Supreme Court Ruled that a publication ban was acceptable in order to ensure west coast voters were not influenced by the east coast results before the western polls close.

This whole situation is ridiculous. We all know that with the internet, American bloggers like Captain’s Quarters kept us all in the loop on Gomery despite a publication ban.

How does the Supreme Court suggest we monitor for those breaking the law? In a day and age of instant information, live, up front, and in your face, there is no way they can lock up every blogger that posts results. Heck, there are people who live blog this kind of stuff on the minute.

This problem does not affect most smaller nations in Europe or Africa because they only have one time zone. But Canada has four. So what are we to do?

My suggestion? Open up the BC polls at 6 am, the Mountain time zone polls at 7am, the Central time zone polls at 8am, the Eastern time zone polls at 9am and the Newfoundland time zone polls at 9:30am. Run them for 12 or 13 hours each and close them all up at the same time. either 9:30pm or 10:30pm.

If society can’t adhere to the rules, then simply adjust the rules so that it doesn’t matter.

Hey Kashechewan … Get Out Of Dodge!

Mulder

The residents of Kashechewan do not want to be relocated just outside Timmins as has been recommended. Three times the community has been evacuated with a cost running in the millions, and rebuilding would cost them $500M.

What is a government to do?

There is compassion, but there is also reality. If a commission recommends they should move and they choose to ignore the recommendation, my cold heart says turn the taps off on government funding. I would call it tough love. Tax dollars come at a cost and wasting half a billion on a new town is not acceptable.

I admire the first nations for their desire to stay, but I would admire them more if they chose a path that allowed them to sustain themselves.

The ironic part of this whole choice is that the town is built on a flood plain and the only real answer to rebuilding is to relocate to a different location off the floodplain. If they are going to relocate anyway, it would just make sense to relocate near an existing urban area like Timmins. They would have access to far more benefits like good health care, clean water, a decent school system, abundant jobs, etc. The effect would be noticeable on the suicide rate alone.

No one ever wants to move. It’s a hard choice to pick up and change everything about your life. But sometimes a major change creates a new attitude in a community. Sometimes it gives a fresh start, a rebirth of sorts.

Give your children a chance. Get out of Dodge.

The Supreme Court Had Ruled … (but Citoyen Dion doesn't care)

Mulder

When the highest court in the land makes a ruling, there isn’t a whole lot that can be done to change that ruling. The 9 member panel that is often divided on issues makes decisions regularly without a unanimous consensus. The whole reason for having an odd number of justices on the highest court of the land is to make sure there is not a tie on decisions.

Although a few weeks late, I came across some video which shows Stephane Dion disrespecting the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the anti-terror measures which the Liberals voted against extending. (well, all Liberals present except Tom Wappell.)

Dion claims that the divided court means it is a contentious issue.

No Stephane. A divided court that has ruled means the decision is made and the majority wins.

Watch Citoyen Dion disrespect the Supreme Court by clicking the play button on the video below once.

If you can’t see the above video play, please try clicking the link below and don’t forget to rate the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l47BDssPtxk

Canadian War Museum Simply Awe Inspiring

Mulder

Being on vacation can be a lot of fun. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, I took the kids skiing Monday and yesterday (Tuesday), I took Cookie, my ten year old daughter, to the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. The cost of her company was a sushi lunch and a Beavertail later in the afternoon which I consider a small price to pay to get a chance to show her a part of our history.

This was my first visit to the museum and I was pretty impressed with the layout and displays. Once you go through one of the galleries, you can easy step out to the main lobby or continue on to the next gallery which made the tour flow wonderfully.

The first gallery (Battleground:Wars on Our Soil, earliest times to 1885) covered much of the historic battles between French, English, First Nations, and to me the highlight was the War of 1812. There was also a great hallway walk through showing what it was like to stand on the line separating British and French soldiers lining up in the traditional manner of war. The courage displayed was quite moving.

The second gallery (For Crown and Country) covered the South African wars and World War I (The Great War). The highlights in this section were the Billy Bishop display, but even more so the display on Vimy Ridge and the depiction of the Creeping Barrage, the brainchild of my favourite Canadian Hero, Arthur Currie. Those of you who have read my blog, or watched some of my videos, know that I am as proud now of our victory at Vimy as Canadians of the day were. I enjoyed watching Cookie kneel down to touch what she thought was mud in a section that was made to look like the battlefield and seeing how surprised she was that it was plastic.

The third gallery (Forged in Fire) covered the 1931 to 1945. Most of this exhibit was dedicated to World War II. It was at this point that I started to notice the artillery progression that the museum displayed. The first gallery showed a French mortar, and the second gallery a proper artillery piece with the big wheels (which my daughter asked about) and in the third section you started to see shielded field artillery and howitzers. The highlights of this section was one of Hitler’s cars, and the informative sections on Dieppe and D-Day. The trench walk through was also really interesting (and one of the fun parts for the kids).

The fourth gallery (A Violent Peace) covered 1945 to present. It was at this point that I could see Cookie glazing over so we didn’t get as much time to spend here as I would have liked but I would say the highlights were the advanced weaponry and the Korean war display and the Cold War section.

There is also the massive LeBreton Gallery which was a bit hard to find without looking at the map and it contained dozens and dozens of vehicles, artillery pieces, tanks, and was a real highlight of my trip. Seeing the size differences between a Sherman Tank and a Leopard was something you just couldn’t get a real feel for unless the two were very close to each other as they were in this gallery. I would call this a must see. The kids at the gallery seemed really impressed with this section.

The highlight of the Special Exhibition galleries was the Afghanistan exhibit. Below is a photo of what a roadside bomb can do to a vehicle. Seeing this vehicle really made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was also in this gallery when I was proudest as a father. There were various sections throughout that let you and your children write on stickynotes to leave answers to questions or notes for the troops. Cookie really impressed me with all the notes she wrote. Her message to the press was so touching. I am paraphrasing but the message was “Tell the truth. Tell about all the good things soldiers do.”

Canadian Jeep Bombed

I think that everyone should visit this museum at least once in their lifetime. You may get more out of it with older children, but living in Ottawa, I know I will have the luxury of going back a few times to take a slower time going through the museum, and perhaps spend a bit more time talking to the several veterans roaming the exhibits.