Brain Dump for Saturday, September 24

Thoughts ..

1) Geese

The Winnipeg Free Press article on goose overpopulation touched on several ways to deal with the problem, none of which are as good as my idea: There are millions of these 15-lb pea-brained menaces assaulting our city and country side ... and there are millions of people starving in Africa. It's time for a mass slaughter of geese so that they can be ground up and shipped to the Horn of Africa where they would provide desperately needed protein to little children with distended bellies and their skeletal mothers.

2) Rex Murphy

I completely disagree with Rex Murphy this time. He proposes that the NDP change their party voting structure to give Quebec greater say in the upcoming leadership race, saying that not doing so "is not a winning formula for the long run." Perhaps his bloated vocabulary has started invading grey matter normally reserved for logic, but the exact opposite is true: Changing a fundamental party rule to favour Quebec, where there is very little grass-roots support (as evidenced by the mere 1600 memberships province-wide), is "self defeating politics". The Quebec anomaly is no more than a flash in the pan, and if they tilt their rules to favour that province they will piss off their base everywhere else.

3) Garbage

What the heck am I supposed to do with my big plastic garbage can when I get my big plastic garbage cart? This is a serious question.

4) Coloured Rods

Another Rod has joined us in the local bloggosphere. Rouge Rod started posting a little over a month ago and has kept up a torrent pace since then. Rouge joins the original Black Rod, The Blue Rod, and The Purple Rod who hasn't posted much lately. The Orange Rod has closed up shop, and there was also a Red Rod that didn't make a very good go of it. You can understand my hesitation to accept new Rods, given some of the fly-by-night rodders in the past, but Rouge seems to be making a genuine effort, so good luck Rouge!

5)Vladimir Putin

Barack Obama needs a little Vladimir Putin in him. No .. that's not what I meant. Oh God, you guys are so immature.

6) Dinner tonight

Do you leave the cover off the roaster when you're cooking a Canada Goose? What do you think: rosemary, cracked pepper and thyme?

Free: F35 stealth fighters

alternate title: Foreign Policy: It's not really his thing

I had a "holy shit" moment reading The Economist on-line today during my coffee break. The story was one that initially appeared to be a good news story about Israel re-freezing development in the West Bank.

“I think it is promising,” Mr Obama told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I commend Prime Minister Netanyahu for taking, I think, a very constructive step. It’s not easy for him to do, but I think it’s a signal that he is serious.”

This is indeed very promising ... and surprising coming from Netanyahu. I wonder what motivated him to do this? Maybe he was visited by a ghost in his dreams that showed him the toll that unending conflict with the Palestinians would have on the Israeli people. Or maybe it was something else:

Under this new deal, Israel will agree to a 90-day re-freeze in return for a generous package of military and diplomatic goodies from America. These include an additional 20 F-35 stealth fighters, worth $3 billion, to be added at America's expense to the original 20 ordered by Israel.

(emphasis added by me, to indicate when the "holy shit" moment occurred.)

And here in Canada we have to pay for our F35s. With money. Hey ... if we build a settlement on Hans Island, do you suppose ....

3 billion dollars of jet fighters to freeze development for 90 days -- less than three months. Jet fighters.

The Economist says that it would be hard for Netanyahu "to backslide now that the president had publicly announced the accord." Uh. I guess not. Why would he want to? He's getting a fleet of brand new stealth fighters and a bunch of other stuff for free, and all he has to do is give the construction workers an extra long Hanukkah break. It's not the President's influence that is responsible for the freeze, but the billions of dollars in bribes.

American diplomats say "they hope that by then the two parties will have agreed on the borders of the future Palestinian state, so that further argument over the settlements will be unnecessary." I think Obama and his advisors have gone mad. The likelihood of that magically happening over the next three months after decades of failed attempts, is about the same as the chances of Hugo Chavez privatizing Venezuela postal delivery.

Obama, by gambling billions of dollars on this unlikely scenario (in spite of the massive fiscal deficit he faces at home) appears extremely desperate to live up to the quasi-success that some of his predecessors had in middle-east peace broking. If not that, then the desperation comes from trying to earn ex post facto the Nobel Peace Prize that he was awarded last year ... and he's trying to do it by giving away jet fighters.

A message to my American friends

Health care reform is one of those topics -- like global warming -- where rational debate is as common as a Panamanian golden frog. Any discussion almost invariably degenerates into ideology-driven exaggeration and fear mongering. I have seen the absurdity of the Canadian debate, and I think I can help add some perspective for my American friends.

To some in Canada, health care is a sacred enterprise that must not be tampered with. Any mention of reform immediately sends the left-wingers into a tizzy. They wave their arms and yammer on about the evils of the U.S. system and how only rich people will be able to get x-rays while the rest of us will have to sit at home dying of easily preventable maladies.

I see the same thing happening in the U.S. right now in response to Obama's health care reform plan. Republicans are comparing it to the Canadian system, and going on about how over-paid bureaucrats will decide if you're worthy of being treated. Sarah Palin, God bless her screwed up little soul, took the hyperbole to a whole new level with her talk of "death panels". ... I don't even think North Korea's health care system has death panels.

Now, I don't know the details of the Obama proposal, but I do know this: you in the U.S. do not want the Canadian system (trust me), but you will never get the Canadian system so there is no need to be afraid of it. Just like how we in Canada will never have to worry about living with the evil U.S. system, and thus have no reason to be afraid of it, or even talk about it. The U.S. and Canadian systems are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Any comparison between the two is pointless. Let me illustrate:

What you have to realize is that there is a whole world of options between the two. Private delivery of health care and universal health care are not mutually exclusive. Private insurance can exist in a publicly administered system. There are all kinds of possibilities.

Australia, for example, has universal health care and private insurance. Health care is provided by government institutions and private companies. You could go all over the world and find many other variations, many (perhaps most) of which include some form of universal health care.

Both the U.S. and Canadian systems, while completely different, are deeply flawed. They are also among the most expensive in the world. (One report that I read claimed that they are in fact the two costliest health care systems -- U.S. first, Canada second.) Thus both systems are in desperate need of change. You should not let opponents of change paralyze discussion of reform with their ideological hyperventilating. Open your minds and engage in an informed debate.

And as a person who is generally conservative, I don't mind telling you that universal health care is a good thing. Just don't do it like we do it.

Obama Day in Canada

The media is, like, totally freaking out about this Obama visit to Canada. What is he going to do? What are they going to talk about? Will he get out of his car and wave to people? What are they having for lunch? How will he react to the snow? Good lord people .... this Obamagasm is out of control. He's coming in to Ottawa, meeting for 6 hours with government representatives and leaving. It's an important meeting, yes, but there is not exactly a whole lot of suspense or uncertanty about what is going to transpire.

As far as I'm concerned, the most exciting thing happening today is this: The Northern Trust Open. Mike Weir is coming off a second place finish at Pebble Beach and heading back to the technical Riviera course where he won twice in a row back when it was the Nissan Open. Defending champ Phil Mickleson is having a brutal year, but is off to a good start today. Should be an interesting showdown between the two lefties and the rest of the field.

If I turn on the TV today, it will be to the golf channel and not CBC.

update (1:27 pm) -----------------

aside from a little bunker mishap on #10 ...

... Mike Weir is solid but not spectacular. Phil is tearing up the course, in the lead with a bogey-free -7 thus far.

James says that CBC is going nuts. I'll take his word for it.

update (3:00 pm) ----------------

Weir finished with a pair of birdies to get back to -1. Good enough for day one.

Phil is the club house leader at -8.

Obama has left Parliament Hill and healed some lepers en route to the airport.

Don't say it again Sam.

Barak Obama is recruiting America's business elite to help him fight this recession. That's great, but he might think twice before giving one of them a microphone next time. Here's part of an exchange with Sam Palmisano, Chairman & CEO of IBM:

What Sam said:

Smarter infrastructure is by far our best path to creating these new, globally competitive jobs and to stimulating growth. Our research shows that a $30 billion stimulus investment in just three areas -- healthcare IT, smart electric grids and broadband -- could yield almost one million new jobs within one year.

What Barak said:

But even as this plan puts Americans back to work, it will ... lay the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity, and will invest in broadband and emerging technologies, like the ones imagined and introduced to the world by people like Sam and so many of the CEOs here today, because that's how America will retain and regain its competitive edge in the 21st century.

What Barak wanted to say:

A million jobs? Are you fucking kidding me? You're killing me over here. All I want to do is stop the economy from shrinking, and you're telling people that we're going to create a million high-tech jobs in one year?? Hey, you know what would really help, Sam? If you stopped outsourcing jobs to Banga-fucking-lor, India! The would really be helpful.

You would think that Sam knows something about setting expectations. A $30 billion stimulus generating a millions jobs in one year? I wonder if Harper's budget will get those kinds of results.

CBC has a crush on Obama

Gosh, I hope he likes these songs...


Tune into CBC Radio 2 on Tuesday to hear it live!.

B.O. is the new P.O.T.U.S.

John McCain would have made a good president. His concession speech was grateful and positive. In it, he mentioned that everybody makes mistakes, and he is sure that he's made his share during the campaign too. He has indeed, and it is primarily because of one of those mistakes that I am glad that Obama won.

I'm talking about Sarah Palin. I mean, seriously, how could somebody so close to death pick somebody so incredibly under-qualified to be his back up for such an important job?

Barack Obama will make a good president too. Many people's expectations will be crushed simply because they are far too high (notice that in his acceptance speach Obama was already trying to lower expectations) and the situation that he is inheriting is too fucked up, but I think he will choose expierenced people (some republicans maybe, even) to help him steer the country in the right direction.

Speaking of directions, what's next for the Repulican party? A shake-up is needed for sure. The "neo-con" philosophy must be purged and a new direction must prevail. But what direction will that be? A turn towards the center? A turn further towards Palin-esc evangelical conservatism? A turn back towards it's Ron Paul-esc libertarian roots? Choose your road wisely, guys. (Yes, of course Republican strategists read this blog.)

Now, the important question: will my stocks get a post-election bounce?

The nail in the coffin

I don't comment much on US politics, but I just want to say that this is the nail in the coffin of Hillary's hopes and dreams (at least for 4 years):

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Edwards will get the VP ticket that he was hoping for, and Obama will get the white middle-class draw that he was looking for. Hillary will get a loan to pay for her campaign bills then take a seat on the bench. 48 hours tops before she calls it quits.